gym - sunday very early in the morning

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

One stance. Two stance. Three stance. Four stance.

Fall.

He was in the gym, long warmed up and stretched and now busy practicing everything Ino had taught him almost like the possessed.

Because he was angry.

He was angry with himself for not being able to stop his madness, angry that he would have to upset Karal to tell him what he'd seen, angry with what he'd seen, angry with the rest of the fever dreams because they all seemed to damnably horrible, and angry with the Witch for not being there for him to question. She might have mocked him for his insanity as she mocked him for everyone else, but even that would have been comforting.

He didn't go near the bag. It just wasn't a good idea.

So he switched between stances, threw himself at the floor over and over in various falls, and even practiced his sword drills a little in an effort to drown out the rage inside his own head.

[ooc: waiting for Ino, obviously, but also open for all your spazzing ozian and atheltic needs]

Comments

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael had slipped out of his room early, for a visit to the gym for lack of anything else to do.

He hadn't expected to find anyone else there.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir was in the midst of the drills now, the broom in his hand serving as a sword. He didn't notice Michael, didn't even look up, but the expression on Liir's face is probably not one Michael would deem in any way normal.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Nooot so much. When he got close enough to actually see the other boy's face, he stopped in his tracks.

"...Liir?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

There's a sound, halfway between a snarl and a grunt.

He finished the drill repeat and the broom was returned smoothly to its holster. He didn't speak for a moment, though. Instead, he closed his eyes and breathed in and settled himself.

Rage helped nothing, especially undisciplined rage. He would not be her. He would not be her.

"Michael," he said.

And he knew he had to tell him.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Is... everything okay?" he asked cautiously. Liir looked calmer now, but whatever had made him look like that... it couldn't just have gone away.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Everything is fine," he said. Because everything was not him. The world at large, the people here, the school, the grounds, the sky, the squirrels. Everything was fine but him.

It was an easy lie.

He shook his head.

"Am I in your way?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael shook his head in turn.

"Gym's big enough for both of us, if you weren't done."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I'm waiting for Ino," he said.

Then he finally looked at Michael.

"I have to ask you something."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael looked back at him, carefully.

"Go for it."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Do you prefer honesty or blissful ignorance?"

Because after Teddy, he wasn't going to spring his announcements on people. Sometimes, perhaps, they didn't want to know. And with Michael, considering, he wanted to leave the option open.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Depends what it's about", Michael told him. "Is it something I'd need to know?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"Need? No. Would probably want to know? Yes."

There was a pause.

"You can hit me after if it'll make you feel better."

He feels the need to present this option as well.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael blinked at him.

"Okay... then tell me, I guess."

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"I'm insane," he started off. "And it was an accident, though that's certainly no excuse..."

He beckons Michael over. While proximity isn't exactly what his instincts are screaming, this deserves a private moment.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

That sounded vaguely alarming, but Michael stepped closer anyway.

"What did you do?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He looked right at Michael.

"I remembered something I had no right to. I was asleep, but--"

There was a pause.

"Your, er," and it reminded him of his own issues concerning what he might call himself in relation to the Witch and she to him, "Hank. That was his name, yes?"

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"That's right", Michael said cautiously. "I told you that. You... remembered something?"

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"One of your memories. Two, actually."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"And Hank was in them?"

His expression was as flat and empty as his voice now.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He nodded.

"One. A teacher was in the other."

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

Michael snorted.

"Couldn't've got the good ones, could you."

Not that there were many of them. And in one case, he actually did.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

"A little girl offered you her food when you couldn't buy your own," he said. "But the other wasn't good, no."

[intraspective]

Ino was there, leaning against the door frame and just watching. The anger Liir was putting into his movements was... was impressive.

[rebelheartalien.livejournal.com]

"Isabel." He half-smiled. "First time I'd seen her in years."

He didn't need to ask what the other one had been.

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

He noticed her as he slung the broom back into its holster to start on the stances again.

It was like watching a duck shake the water off.

The rage wasn't so much vented as dismissed, taken off like an old coat in good company. It's an interesting sight, really, as the angles of his face slash and realign themselves to a more normal expression and the frenetic energy that seems to be filling him is grounded out until it's almost gone. Just his eyes, green and unsettled, remain as they were.