driftfleet | (no subject)

continued from here

[It's remarkable hypocrisy, really, that allows Katara to frown at that for a moment before smiling wryly.]

I can understand that. And you said you guys haven't really hurt each other, right?

[Assuming he's got his stuff together, Katara will start heading toward the door.]

[he will follow after her, giving the house one last look around before shutting the door behind them as they leave]

Nah. At worst, a couple of bruises. You know, on my side, since he's built like a fuckin' tank.

So... it's kind of like sparring, but with intent. [That... is an excuse, and she knows it, but whatever.

Also, he might notice the slightest flinch at that curse. The others, not as much, because she felt they had merit, but she's starting to get the picture that this is just the way Ben talks and... it takes some getting used to, okay, she's from a YA setting.]

I have a few friends like that. Although I know that's not what you mean this is. [She's just... handing you an excuse to use.]

Uh - yeah, kind of like that. [that's absolutely an excuse he's going to use from now on.

He would apologize for his language but that would involve another curse, because that's just how he is. Probably]

I get what you're saying - I do have a couple of friends like that. But he is not one of them.

Edited 2018-03-24 15:00 (UTC)

[A soft heh.] Gotcha. So what kind of sparring do you do?

[He said he didn't really use weapons, and you can't really spar with guns unless he's from a really different world, so...] Mostly hand-to-hand?

Yeah, mostly. [more or less, did it count as sparring if he just wanted to get a fight out of someone?] Took a couple of self defense classes over the years, just in case - you know, the arm goes and I'm at a disadvantage. [sometimes he's smart] Some boxing, if you even want to call it that -

[...]

Couple of guys I know run a fight club every week, so I'll pop in and go a few rounds if I got nothing better to do.

[...no, Katara wouldn't call fight clubs boxing. She only knows what that is, in fact, because someone ran one in Luceti once. Two of her closest friends had gone in and been matched against each other and she'd patched them up afterwards and she'd thought the whole thing was a stupid waste, not really sparring at all, and her residual disapproval manifests. It's more at the world in general than at Ben in particular, though.]

Oh, I know what that is. Someone put one together in Luceti once. [Frowning, frown, frown. Sidelong glance at him.] I'm guessing your world has some pretty good medicine?

[he glances over and - uh oh. That's the same look he gets when he has to make a call to fix up something]

—it's not - as dangerous as it sounds. Nobody ever gets seriously hurt, they'll stop the fight before that happens. [er. He rubs at the back of his neck] I mean, if the arm wasn't a clue - yeah. Medicine's pretty damn good back home.

[There's a lightening of her expression at that information - that they stop the fight.] Oh, really? That's different than the way it was run in Luceti. Sorry, I shouldn't have assumed... it's so hard to remember that every world is different. [Speaking of that, maybe she should check:] ...Unless you're counting broken ribs as nothing serious.

Nah, it's okay - I know how it sounds. ["fight club" is always synonymous with "beat the shit out of each other" after all. His eyebrows furrow] Who thinks broken ribs aren't serious? That shit hurts.

[There's a moment of just - relief - that passes over her face. As in: Finally, someone with a sane estimation of the severity of an injury!

Then there's an abrupt switch, as Katara proceeds to get indignant at people she knows far better who... aren't even here, yup.] I know! [And she does, having experienced them.] And they're dangerous, too. A sharp edge could puncture a lung, or rip open major blood vessels! If you're fighting and you break a rib, and you have the option to stop, you should stop!

[Huff.]

Edited 2018-03-24 16:11 (UTC)

[sometimes Ben really worries that he is as incredibly reckless as people tell him he is when they yell at him.

And then he hears things like this and it's nice to know that there are people out there far worse than he is]

I've had a rib puncture something before, I don't know why anyone would think that's something you can just walk off.

Because some people have no sense of proportion and a limited sense of self-preservation. [Still so much huff.

...especially when they think they have something to prove.]

Besides, they knew I'd be there to patch them up after. [The smallest excuse for her friends...] Even if I had to drag them out of the tunnels to do it properly and the delay could have been deadly. [...that is quickly negated because she was Not Happy with them.

She doesn't miss them yet. She's been too busy. But she will.]

That sounds like a pain in the ass. [as someone who is both reckless but careful enough to not let it get out of hand, he's offended on Katara's behalf] Guess they were lucky that nothing got punctured, but that isn't an excuse.

No, it wasn't. [Thinking back on it now, her expression shifts to something more contemplative.] But it was important to them, for some [stupid] reason, and I couldn't change their minds. So I just had to accept it and do what I could afterwards.

Ah, stubborn-minded. [. . . oh look over there is interesting] That part I get. Pride and shit gets in the way.

It's good that you helped them despite that. Some people won't put up with it.

[Katara shrugs, feeling a little uncomfortable with the compliment. She is self-aware enough to know that there was a time in her life when she wouldn't have put up with it. She's learned enough since then, though, to be able to allow for differences of opinion (even if she still thought the other opinions were flat out wrong).]

Everyone who was down there agreed to it, so... [It wasn't like helping them crossed some moral code. Just her tolerance for stupid violence.] I wasn't just going to leave them like that. Even if they did it to themselves.

Still. [he's just matter of fact about it, because compliments are hard to give when they aren't followed by insults. He's too used to being a jackass all the time]

You sound like Gema, just with - less cursing, and less yelling at me inbetween.

[Oh good, yes, she can ask a direct question about this and get off the subject of a compliment she's not sure she deserves! Score!]

Gema's your mechanic, right?

[The grocery store looms in the distance.] How long have you been going to her?

[oh no it's been turned around on him. But it's just talking about Gema, that's totally safe]

Yeah - kinda. She's really good with cybernetics and mods, probably other stuff but I'm already giving her too much credit. [Ben you're in space she's nowhere around] Been going to her - probably since I got the arm? She's my first call, at least.

['Already giving her too much credit,' huh? Heh. Katara's not fooled.]

So she was working as a mechanic before you got the arm -- is she called a mechanic? Or is it something else, since it has to do with medicine and [...what were those words?] ...cybernetics and mods?

I think she got all her schooling done around the time I - was discharged. [look at him, he's being delicate about what happened] She's a . . . med-tech? Something like that? There's an official name for it, but I don't really remember what it is.

She's my - former partner's sister. [he makes a face] That's how I met her.

[Katara nods, but there's a new thread of interest here. Former partner? Do they have partners in the army in his world?]

I see. And your - former partner? Is that from your time in the military?

[She's trying to keep it on his history and not on the partner him/her/itself, because she saw that face, she's just trying to piece things together.]

No, no - we were in the army together, but he was stateside, I was overseas. [there it is, there's the sullen look that's usually on his face] We, uh . . . we dated for a few years. That's why I'm still close to his sister.

"Former partner" sounds less interesting than "ex-boyfriend".

Oh. [Yeah, awkward. Katara shakes her head.] Well, we don't have to talk about that, if you don't want to. Besides, we're almost at the grocery store -- still up for ice cream and a long story?

[ locked to Ben ]

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