Day 60: Intercom, Evening

[damned_intercom]

The intercom jingled at its standard time, with the Head Doctor still in his over-the-top, jovial mood. It seemed not even the evening light could keep down the love he held for his job.

"Good evening, everyone! I hope your soul is filled with music from last shift; I know mine is

Comments

F16

[avengingfists]

Despite her waking up in a good mood Ilia found herself pensive about the night to come. She would meet with Rose and Gamzee, but did they dare move further into the basement? Did she dare test Claude and Anise's warnings? In normal circumstances that would be cause for her to have trouble eating, but this was real food and Ilia couldn't afford to waste it. Or time. She had promised Lana she would teach her a thing or two about self-defense before the night came and she would need her strength.

At least I can think of it as a warm-up, Ilia consoled herself then stuffed a bite of turkey and potatoes into her mouth. Politeness would call for her to wait for her roommate to arrive but tonight she could sacrifice a few etiquette points

[fourstonewalls]

Ilia didn't have long to wait.  Lana appeared in the doorway, the nurse behind her peppering her with idle question, each of which Lana answered with one word.  Finally, the door was shut, and her expression softened.  It wasn't a smile -- another death wasn't anything to smile about -- but it was nice to be around someone who would both understand and only press if she needed to know.  Lana had made the mistake of asking the woman -- the nurse, not Ilia -- about Gant's whereabouts, and while she'd gotten the expected lie, it had also prompted the woman into attempting conversation.

She hadn't been very good at picking up a hint, or professionally oblivious, and Lana couldn't decide which was more annoying.  Let it go, Skye, she told herself.  Ilia was going to be showing her a few things, and both focusing and relaxing were key in this sort of lesson

[avengingfists]

Ilia looked up at Lana and smiled despite her dark thoughts. Her roommate was still here and was definitely dependable. She couldn't think about "what ifs" now, especially since the situation she would be walking into required her full attention. Now she just needed to stay focused and help Lana as much as she could before even more trouble was caused by her screw-ups. Still, she hoped to whatever deity could be reigning over the multiverses that Tifa was all right

[fourstonewalls]

"I'm aware of that." It was good advice, but it also wasn't anything Lana hadn't thought about, and she resisted the urge to start pacing as well

[avengingfists]

"Fascinating..." Ilia watched Lana's ring with amazement, impressed by the ingenuity. Blood memory transfer? Augmented with some sort of science that Ilia wasn't familiar with, no doubt. As much as she wanted to be a part of the experience herself, she understood that tonight was not the time for science. Unfortunately

[fourstonewalls]

She hadn't thought of self-injury, but it made a certain amount of sense. These weren't humans she was worrying about, and the smell of blood could be a momentary distraction.

"I'm afraid not. How to break a hold, but not how to attack." And even those lessons were a bit fuzzy. She'd been naive, assuming she'd never need to put them into practice. Even if she'd never landed here, it had been a mistake not to review them, and not to get Ema into the same classes.

[avengingfists]

It was nature, really. Creatures understood self-sacrifice even in survival of the fittest. That's why some creatures like lizards had developed ways of leaving parts of their tail behind to trick predators. The blood-letting, however, was a bit more of an extreme tactic.

"Okay, then that's our first goal." Ilia pulled her arms to her sides, fists forward and her legs apart; a typical stance in martial arts. "The trick to a good punch, Lana, is focus. Focus above all else."

She moved slowly, going through the motions of a straight, right punch. Then she slowly pulled back into the previous stance and punched again, this time with the left. "You put your whole body into it, and get an idea in your mind that you are going to smash bones and cause injury. If you can't follow through..." The left the rest unsaid.

Ilia motioned for Lana to take up the same stance as herself. "Try it."

[fourstonewalls]

Lana watched, all of her attention on Ilia's hands until the words she was saying brought her up short. She knew what people could do with their bare hands, and it didn't take being a hulking brute to do it.

Then she thought of Ema staring down one of those patchwork creatures, and put away the image of another person at the end of her fist. She mimed the motion slowly, then more quickly, and then she couldn't stall any longer.

"Take that," she thought, as she thrust her right fist forward.

To her mortification, she said it out loud, and loudly enough to startle herself.

The punch itself was angled wrong, and she'd made one of the classic novice's mistakes, though she hadn't realized it yet -- her thumb was inside her fist. Easy way to break it, and a tell-tale sign that someone had tried to punch something, which was the only reason she might have even possibly have known better. But her hand whipped out, followed by her shoulder, throwing weight behind it without losing her balance.

[avengingfists]

Lana's shout was unexpected but showed a true spirit of determination. She apparently hadn't expected to speak out, though, but Ilia only smiled. "That's the spirit! Now, you wanna be careful here..."

Ilia reached out and took Lana's extended fist and pried open her fingers, moving her thumb outside and just a bit under her knuckles. "You'll want to keep your thumbs outside your fist. And make sure you throw your arm out straight. You don't need to add extra injuries to yourself if you can help it."

Ilia stepped back a moment, considering. "Pretty good for a beginner. Nice balance.... Oh!" Ilia motioned to the closets. "I noticed we have our uniforms still. I suggest taking your gloves with you. The extra padding will help protect you hands a bit, too."

[fourstonewalls]

That was a good idea; and with as cold as it was, practical even if they ran into nothing at all. "You have a point."

She wasn't sure if Ilia was humoring her with the praise, but she tried another punch, this one a little surer. It still didn't feel like something she could really do when faced with something with two heads and five-inch-claws, but people could do remarkable things under stress. Some of them even good.

"Had you ever fought, in earnest, before you came here?" Was that poise Ilia maintained the voice of long experience, or something that had come together under pressure? It was idle curiosity, but Lana liked knowing what made people tick; it was an instinct she couldn't quite turn off, and didn't especially want to.

[avengingfists]

If Ilia had a good caestus lying around she would have offered it to her roommate for extra protection, but at the moment the gloves would have to suffice

[fourstonewalls]

So Ilia was one of the people with otherworldly powers. "Were you less encumbered last night? It seems quite a few were." Lana tried a punch with her left hand; that felt distinctly odd, and it showed in her technique. So she repeated it, her brow furrowed as she concentrated.

"I wish I knew why they even wanted people like me here. Those of us who fight with words, rather than weapons," she said, clarifying, even when it was pretty obvious what she meant. Like, oh, a lawyer. Hah. "They haven't given us much opportunity to use our skills. They haven't even bothered limiting those."

[avengingfists]

"For a bit," Ilia admitted, her eyes still on Lana's form. "My team found ourselves in a bit of a... special place last night that didn't have the same freedoms, though, so we lost that boost

[fourstonewalls]

"I'll leave that to you, then." A smile tugged at the corner of Lana's mouth. Confidence was key; while it didn't guarantee victory, its lack was a road to certain defeat