legionworld | only a week and she's already been here too long

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only a week and she's already been here too long

Who| Videl & Open
What| Being new and finally free from the med bay
Where| Training Gym OR Mess Hall
When| Daytime
Warnings/Notes| Varying levels of hostility from Videl

A. Training Gym

Videl had been laying into a punching bag in the training gym for the better part of an hour, working through the mess of problems that had been cluttering up her mind over the past week since her arrival. A week interned in the Med Bay was enough to test anyone’s patience, but Videl reached her limits in only a matter of days. It was Officer Erin who, noticing how tense Videl seemed during her swearing-in, had suggested the girl find an outlet for her feelings. Vocalizing those feelings in a message recorded for the future hadn’t brought Videl the kind of closure intended, so a different approach was clearly needed. For Videl, that meant training.

Training had been Videl’s go-to method for working through her emotions ever since she was four years old, when her mother died. Back then, people were constantly crowding her, peppering her with questions about how she felt and ‘if you ever need to talk, I’m here’ -assurances. But Videl didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to be coddled. She didn’t want platitudes. She wanted her mom, and if she couldn’t have her mom, she wanted to fight the person who took her mom away.

That was what prompted Mr. Satan to teach his daughter how to use a punching bag. ‘When using words doesn’t help you get all the hurt out,’ he explained, ‘you can use your fists, like this.’ The older Videl got, the harder it became to expel negative feelings with words, and the punching bag in the family gym became the recipient of a great many upsets.

A punching bag in the Legion World training gym had been “listening” to Videl’s problems for about an hour now. Sweaty and winded, Videl steadied the swinging bag, then plopped down on a bench to catch her breath.

B. Mess Hall

Videl sat at a table by herself, working her way through her second large plate of okonomiyaki, frowning at her Legion ring and where it lay on the table beside her drink. In spite of how things appeared, it wasn’t the right that was bothering Videl; it was its power to bestow flight.

Or, more specifically, how it allowed her to fly.

Flight itself was not special to Videl; not anymore. It hadn’t been for the past few months, since Gohan had taught her how to do it. Videl had practiced every day since then, every moment she had spare time. She flew everywhere she needed to go, even long distances when she should have taken her helicopter. She practiced hovering at different heights while she did her homework. She even tried to incorporate it into her training, to mixed results. But ever since she got to the Legion world, she couldn’t lift so much as an inch off the ground, even with all of her concentration. Unless she used the ring.

Videl put her chopsticks down and pushed her plate out of the way, making room for her to put both hands on the table. What was it Gohan said when he first taught her about ki? Something about drawing it out of yourself? She turned her palms toward each other, about twelve inches apart, as Gohan had showed her. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the noise and bustle around her and just focus on her own breathing.

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Back home, being Chat Noir had been Adrien's stress relief. It was exhilarating to dash about the rooftops of Paris free from the demands of civilian life, often with the opportunity to both help people and take out any irritation he'd had building up on the Akuma of the week. Here, he hadn't needed that relief so badly, without perfection at school and work and his father's events to juggle, but eventually even sitting around on a spaceship lost its novelty. He was getting seriously antsy.

So he'd taken to exploring, and stumbled upon a gym. Nothing super exciting, but hey, maybe a good workout would help ease his built-up tension.

Approaching the door, however, he could already hear someone inside going at it pretty intensely. Adrien poked his head around the doorframe, cat ears perked up curiously, just in time to see the tail end of Videl's "training".

He gave an impressed whistle, eying the heavily beaten sandbag.

"I think you got it," he said, prodding the sandbag like he might have a downed villain. "Yup, it's dead."

Videl had been thinking about where she might be able to get a drink of water when she heard the impressed whistle. She turned to the source of the sound, a boy several years younger than her but already taller. She shrugged off his compliment, same as she would those from her father's students when she trained with them. No rudeness intended on Videl's part, but no interest in brown-nosing, especially by people trying to get close to her because of her parentage.

But that wasn't the way things would be here, Videl reminded herself, then quickly attempted some civility in return for the genuine complement. “Thanks.” She lifted a hand to motion toward the punching bag. “It put up a pretty good fight, for a bag of sand,” she quipped.

While Adrien admired Videl's handiwork, her gaze flicked over his lanky form, from feet to idly swishing tail to… furry ears. Videl's mouth fell open slightly, eyes glued to the unexpected feline appendages, unable to conceal her shock at the sight.

"I bet. You look pretty winded." He's sounded pretty at ease. Then the ears in question flattened themselves against his head as he noticed her stare, only perking back up as he realized the cause of it.

"Oh! Um." Suddenly aware of and a little embarrassed by his new appendages, Adrien attempted a smile but was betrayed by his own tail curling self-consciously around his legs. "Yeah. I, uh, didn't have these before waking up here," he said with a completely unnecessary gesture at the cat ears. "That's a new development."

Edited 2016-04-06 00:57 (UTC)

Aware now that she had been staring, Videl turned her gaze down from Adrien’s new ears to his eyes. An apology had been starting to form, but was immediately forgotten when she caught the phrase ‘waking up here.’

“You're not from here?” she asked, her inquisitive nature taking over where politeness should have been.

"No?" Grateful as he was for the subject change, he seemed confused by the question. "I'm from Paris. Paris a few thousand years ago, at least. We definitely hasn't made contact with any aliens in my day."

Unless the Kwami were aliens? Definitely seemed more like a magic thing to him, but the idea that he might have had an alien living in his bookbag was somehow much more uncomfortable than what he already knew of the situation and he had to brush away the thought.

"I know there's a bunch of us like that, though. Even one of my friends from back home is here." Adrien frowned, staring at Videl like he could figure her out from looks alone. As she seemed apparently human, though, that was a pretty pointless effort. "Are you a local? Sorry if this was like, a 'natives only' gym, I didn't know."

Edited 2016-04-07 17:31 (UTC)

Somehow, ‘Paris’ was what stuck out the most to Videl from Adrien’s explanation. Aliens, unknown planets, multiverses... even time travel wasn’t too absurd to consider after what Gohan had told Videl about his childhood. All of Videl’s preconceptions about outer space and aliens as little green men in comic books had been unceremoniously thrown out the window several months ago and replaced with something much more concrete and diverse. Space wasn’t populated by little green men (although big green men were a different story); aliens looked as much or as little like humans as animals on Earth resembled or differed from each other.

Videl turned over Adrien’s information in her mind, contemplating how it stood up with what Officer Erin had told her. Come to think of it, Erin had mentioned that Videl wasn’t the only person to appear unexpectedly on the hostile oven planet. A number of other people had as well, many of whom had also joined the Legion.

She extracted herself from her thoughts at his question, shaking her head in answer. “No, I’m not from here either. I’m from Earth.” She straightened up a little, casting a glance around the gym. “I’m not really sure who the locals are, now that you mention it. Everybody seems to be from somewhere else.”

Gwen was catching a meal, too. She was actually just about done, and was really just scrolling through old text and pictures on her phone instead of actually going on her way. Then she brought up her list of contacts and stared at a couple of them for a bit. Her dad, the band, that job she was supposed to start but didn't even get a chance to before whisked away to a near-death experience.

Thanks for that, by the way.

She doesn't really try to call them. Her phone is pretty sweet and important, but even its power has limits. Those limits being enough to prevent it from making a phone call across universes. Would not want to get the bill for that. So once she's done, she decides to head on her way until...

What. Is something supposed to be happening over here?

Gwen's just spotted this girl doing... something. She didn't even know what it was, but it was definitely a something.

Perspiration beaded above tightly knit brows as Videl forced all off her concentration on her task… to absolutely no effect. Not even a flicker sparked between her palms. She held her breath and pushed harder, hands so tense they were shaking, but still nothing.

Videl released her breath in an aggravated huff, slamming her palms down on the table with such force that they rattled the dishes. Stupid! This was so easy back home. Why couldn't she do it now? She curled her hands into fists, fighting the urge to throw something. Breaking the Legion’s tableware wouldn't solve anything, including her exasperation.

She stood abruptly, intending to leave in a huff, when she noticed that she had attracted an audience of one. One who had probably just seen Videl lose her temper over what looked like nothing.

“It's fine,” said Videl testily, in a tone that indicated that everything was clearly not fine. “I'm just… way more out of practice than I expected, I guess.”

Woah, well that sure was a display of seemingly unprovoked annoyance. Plus, Gwen was pretty sure that 'it's fine' meant the exact opposite regardless of what universe was from. It was just one of those things that always stayed the same. Like taxes.

"By any chance, do you mean that things aren't really working the way they should be? Because, uh, pretty sure it's not just you." She moved a little bit closer to her, but not too close. Gwen didn't want to be within punching range, not when she'd just ate.

"It's like... a side effect of being in this world. Stuff might work the same, but some of it might be different. I'm talking about powers, by the way."

She missed you, spider sense. She missed you lots.

It was a good thing Gwen spelled out her insinuation so clearly, because Videl was busy telling herself that there was no way this stranger could be implying about powers. That would be too weird. No one back home could use ki --or even knew about ki-- besides Gohan's family and their acquaintances.

"Yeah," Videl said with an answering nod. "I could use my ki just fine back home, but not anymore." She shrugged her shoulders. "There's no way I should be having this much trouble after only a week."

This girl (who looked uncannily like a dour version of Videl's best friend back home) seemed to know more than she was letting on. "So what's the deal? Why do I have to have this ring to fly instead of doing it on my own?"

She took out her own ring from her pockets, starting at it momentarily. "I think it's like a power they want to make sure we all have? Kind of like... 'Hey thanks for signing up and agreeing to help us out, here's a complementary flying ability to get you started!'" Yeah, it was exactly like that.

"Or maybe they didn't know if you could still do it on your own and that's why you get the ring. But honestly?" Gwen stuffs it back into her pocket.

"I'm not all that into it myself." Web swinging was the way to go, for her. "It doesn't feel as natural to me. And what if the ring malfunctions I end up just floating up unable to stop? I'm pretty sure I've had nightmares about it."

It sounded like Gwen was just making up excuses for the Legion right here on the fly, but Videl was inclined to believe there was some truth to these words. Partially because, she assumed, Gwen had been here longer than Videl (although how much or how little “longer” actually was could be irrelevant).

“Well, I'd suggest training your ki just in case, but it looks like that's not going to be possible,” Videl offered unhelpfully in answer.

She picked up her ring and held it close to her face between two fingers, examining it dubiously. It didn't seem to have an ‘on’ button or any sort of controls, or look particularly special in the first place. Videl was picking up Gwen’s skepticism about the ring’s reliability.

“I guess if it craps out in the middle of the air, you could always sue the Legion for endangerment or something,” she offered.

"I think I'm good on any ki training for right now." What the heck was "ki" anyways? Sounded pretty martial artsy, if she had to make an assumption.

"I'll be sure to do that from the comfort of the medbay as I recover from having every bone in my body broken." Overreacting much? Definitely. Plus one had to believe that they had the technology to fix up someone suffering from body-wide bone fractures.

"You know, that's assuming I'm even still conscious and can think through the excruciating pain."

Still overreacting...

Geez, jump right to the worst-case scenarios. But those were the ones where you needed a lawyer the most, and not necessarily when you were the one hurt.

"Broken bones aren't that bad, as long as they don't puncture any of your internal organs," Videl offered matter-of-factly. Having broken most every bone in her body at least once since childhood, she rather figured she was an expert on the subject.

"But if you pass out, you can probably still press charges after you regain consciousness," she mused, tilting her head up as she contemplated the U. P.'s judicial system. "Unless they have really stupid statutes of limitations here." She shrugged. "You usually learn these things pretty fast when you work with the police."

"I get totally get what you're saying." Oh, what was this? Someone else who was involved with the police. Man, talk about a small multiverse. "My dad's a cop, so I sort of learned a lot of about what it is they do and how they work. It sort of just happened throughout, you know? Not really my type of job, though." And what a fun childhood that had made for Gwen.

"I'm more the type to get stuck working minimum-wage at a grocery store while I try to fulfill my dream of being a famous drummer."

Just... don't ask her how famous she actually was. That part was still a work in progress.

Yeah, that punching bag was definitely listening to her problems. It was listening so well, Gohan was pretty sure it was about to come apart at the seams. This wouldn't have been the first time either, given what he'd heard from Mr. Satan's students when he started hanging around Videl's house more often. But honestly, the state of the sandbag wasn't really what Gohan cared about right now. Something that became evident, given how his gaze was practically glued to Videl.

"V-Videl...?"

He had just walked by, on his way to the observation deck. He hadn't expected to look inside, but the telltale sounds of someone beating the sandbag drew him in. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, probably some other Legionnaire getting their workout in. In a way, he was technically right.

"I... Videl, is that you?"

Edited 2016-04-06 19:46 (UTC)

Videl almost discounted the sound of her name spoken by a familiar voice. Training calmed her mind, allowed her to shut out all the noise and distractions of the rest of the world. The heavy weight of the sandbag and the thud of legs and taped fists striking its lumpy surface was almost enough to convince Videl that she was home again. But only almost.

She turned around and saw Gohan by the entrance to the gym. Her heart lurched at the sight of someone so familiar standing in what felt to Videl like stark contrast to this alien world.

“...Gohan?” Her voice sounded somehow detached, like it belonged to someone else. Training was completely forgotten as she hesitantly, then hurriedly approached him, her mind momentarily unwilling to believe it was him.

“Gohan!” Videl threw herself against her boyfriend with the force of a week's worth of unshed tears at the thought that she might never see him again.

He'd been so entranced by the sight of Videl here, that he hadn't prepared himself for her incoming tackle. As such, the moment she threw herself at him, he completely and utterly lost his balance, falling on his butt with a quick yelp. This was... not even remotely close to what he'd been expecting, especially given just how many potential universes were out there. The chances that Videl would end up here with him were practically infinitesimal. And yet... she was here.

She was here.

"N-Nice to see you, Videl...!" Gohan said with a slowly forming smile, a not-so-soft chuckle slipping past his lips. His gaze practically glued to her black mop of hair, as his arms pulling her in for a... pretty tight hug, actually. "I... honestly never thought I'd see you here..."

And boy, was he incredibly happy that he was wrong.

Videl fell forward on top of Gohan when he lost his balance, but made no effort to get up; instead, grabbing fistfulls of his shirt with both hands and burying her face against his chest. She was of no mind to extricate herself from this man when half of the feelings she had been trying to work out against the punching bag suddenly bubbled right up to the surface again.

She choked on a sob as emotions overwhelmed her. “I thought I was never going to see you again,” she said, voice muffled against his chest. “Or that I would go home and everything would be different. Or…” Videl left the rest of her fears unsaid, biting back tears. Why did Gohan always turn her into a blubbering mess?

She lifted her head and released one of her hands from his shirt, roughly rubbing her eyes with the back of her arm. “What are you doing here?” Her tone was unintentionally accusatory. “What’s going on?”

Rich watched Videl go to town on that punching bag as he silently did his warm up stretches and when she finally stopped, he couldn't help but say something.

"Somebody's feeling a little cranky about being stuck here," Rich said teasingly. "Don't worry, though, you're not alone. A lot of us are pretty frustrated by it."

Just like Rich was pretty damn frustrated with his lack of coordination. That was what he was working on right now. Plyometric drills. Calisthenics to work on his coordination and reflexes. He was clearly having trouble with them, in a way that didn't really suggest he was just incompetent. He looked more like someone coping with a new disability, fighting against numbness vor paralysis in his limbs.

"Aside from grabbing us from where we're supposed to be, this place has a nasty way of laying extra limitations on a lot of us."

A patronizing greeting from an unexpected and unfamiliar source just about set to boil the small level of chill that Videl had achieved through her workout. She wheeled around and the scathing retort that had been on the tip of her tongue smoldered at the sight of the tall, imposing man as he approached. Despite the teasing tone, it didn’t look to Videl like his heart was all in it; something beyond his gaze seemed somber.

Her temper diffused as she picked up a towel from a nearby bench and rubbed it over the back of her neck. Rich’s words and tone of voice suggested that the situation they (and apparently others) found themselves in now wasn’t a first for him --or even a second or third, Videl suspected.

“What kind of limitations?” she asked with evident wariness. This situation sucked enough; did it really need to be worse?

"A few of us lost powers." Rich tried to do a little skipping leg exercise he'd been taught and tripped over his own feet, only barely catching himself before faceplanting onto the mat. "In my case, it means I'm --"

He was reluctant to describe it the way it really was, but if he was honest with himself...

"-- well. Disabled, I guess. My powers back home are caused by me carrying around this energy source called the Nova Force. Somehow, in coming here, a huge portion of my powers got blocked off. Normally, with the full Nova Force, I can do hairpin turns at near lightspeed -- I've got that much control over my body. Perfect coordination. Conscious control over even the tiniest movements. Having so much of it blocked off, it's like having nerve damage."

He stopped trying to do his drills because he honestly couldn't talk to her and do them at the same time, not without tripping over his own feet.

"My limbs are numb and my coordination is completely shot. I used to take on intergalactic dictators and now I can't even walk in a straight line without tripping over my own feet."

Edited 2016-04-23 07:42 (UTC)

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only a week and she's already been here too long

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