Gym [Saturday evening]

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory had immediately checked her messages when she woke up from a nap that evening (lack of caffeine shockingly seemed to make her tired all the time) and headed straight down to the gym.

She didn't really feel like doing much, but she brought her gloves and a bottle of water just in case. When she arrived, she sat down by the bags with her legs folded under her and opened up a book.

[Rory's here to meet Aeryn, natch, but open for all your gym-like needs! And it's fine to say Rory and Aeryn talked, but the subject matter is NFB, pleaseandthankyou!]

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

The pieces are slowly coming together in Rory's brain. "Does this have to do with him seeing things that weren't there awhile ago?"

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Another nod. "He was having visions of Scorpius, but got it under control," she answers.

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Rory nods. "And then this Scorpius guy came back and made it all go to hell. Okay. Is he all right now?"

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"The chip's been removed. He won't be bashing anyone's heads in. I'm not sure about 'all right'," she says, thinking Rory honestly deserves to know.

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"I wouldn't expect him to be perfectly okay after that," she amends. "But as long as he's physically fine."

She looks at Aeryn carefully. "And you?"

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"Fine. I had a Diagnosan check things out. I'm fine," she says, only answering the physical part.

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"Is that like a doctor?" she asks.

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"Yeah. He's the same one who did John's surgery," she tells her.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"And he says you're physically okay?" Rory double-checks, because she's not enough of an idiot to think that Aeryn's fine in any other way. She isn't, and she's just John's friend.

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"Mm hm. Concussion, nothing I didn't already know," she replies.

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"Oh, hey, we can be concussion buddies," Rory says, trying for levity and probably failing. "I'll totally share my ibuprofen with you."

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"I'm fine," she repeats. "I heal quickly." Either that or John got Rory worse than she thought, and that'll bother her.

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"I bruise like nobody's business," Rory says with a slight shrug. "So I look worse off than I am." She chews her lip. "Do you think he would want to see me? Or is it too much? I want to let him know that I'm okay and I don't hate him or anything."

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"He made mention of it yesterday," she says. "If you're going to do it, I'd do it quickly. He was talking about going home today." And that's Aeryn going to the bag and hitting it. It took her a while, huh?

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory watches quietly before asking, "Like for how long?"

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"Couldn't tell you," she says, hitting the bag again. It's going to get a workout tonight.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"He won't," she says. "I mean, not forever, if he does go."

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"We'll see," she says. Aeryn's kind of made herself numb to it. It'll backfire badly on her if he doesn't come back, but for now, she'll take numb.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory sighs a little. "So what happened on the trip?"

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"Jamie and Molly helped me subdue him, we took him off planet, it was three days of someone else talking at us through John's mouth saying John was as good as dead and when he actually did come back to us for a little while before the surgery, it was so he could beg me to kill him and tell me what to tell his father."

Aeryn hadn't been expecting to say all that. She's past caring. If John's going to go, frell him. She's being made to deal with it on her own, so fine.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory stares at her. "Oh, Aeryn."

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"He can do what he wants," she says, shaking her head.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"You're going to let him be an idiot?" she asks tentatively. "I mean, if he needs space or if you do, then maybe he should go home for a bit. But if he's just saying that as a reaction to everything...."

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"He's always an idiot. I've been unable to prevent that in a year and a half," she says. "If he needs to go, then he should, I won't tell him not to. But if he comes back, I can't guarantee what he's coming back to."

Yeah, Aeryn's not in a great place right now.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory chews her lip, and says, "If you need a place to stay over the next few days - just for, you know, space - you're welcome to crash with me."