ataraxion | 003. Video

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003. Video

[ Did someone say don't put on the masks? Casey doesn't remember hearing anyone say that. Maybe suggesting caution but not outright saying 'kid don't touch that it might bite your face off'. Besides, his looked pretty cool. What's the harm in trying it out? What's the harm in doing anything just because he wants to?

Whoever said compulsion was such a bad thing?

So here is Casey on the network chilling away his off-time with a video feed to the network. His unreasonable sense of humor is still very much intact despite the difficult few days. He puts on his very best robot voice. ]

Attention passengers. Your deaths are imminent. Resistance is futile. You will be exterminated.

[ A second to let that sink in, and then Casey's face is back on the network, sans-mask, not quite smirking but still distinctly amused at his own reindeer games. ] Nothing strange here, just a guy in a cheap mask. It hasn't even got a voice-changer.

[ He holds it up in front of his face again, but just for a moment to demonstrate that it isn't about to come alive all on its own, then tosses it carelessly aside. ]

And I thought I was the one taking everything way too seriously.

[ How he got through this message without uttering the words 'I'll be back' is beyond him, but there you go. ]

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You need to work on it.

[ She sighs heavily, crossing her arms over her chest. ]

Let's do something productive with your time instead of this. You wanted to "throw down", didn't you?

[ There are no actual airquotes, but they are pretty heavily implied. Carolyn is not hip with the lingo. ]

[ That depends if you're going with 'throw down' with the same double meaning as Casey was going with when he actually used it. ]

I did. You offering?

[ She probably isn't at the moment, no. She just knows they might as well hit each other and work this out. ]

I am.

[ Hit each other not hit on each other, got it. That's the way he prefers it too. ]

Holodeck 1 in ten minutes, then.

Leave the mask behind.

[ And she cuts the feed. ]

[ That is. So. Mean. He was totally ready to bring it, too. But he resents leaving it behind just as much. What if someone comes and takes it? But why would anyone do that? Casey shakes his head hard, hides the mask under his mattress and then backs toward the door.

But it's not enough. No sooner has he half opened his door, then Casey is taking out his knife and heading back over to his bed, using the sharp blade to score a gap into the underlining of the mattress and pushing the mask inside to hide it. Good, that's better. Not brilliant, but it'll have to do.

With the knowledge of his hiding place none the less itching at his mind, preoccupying him, Casey left his room, heading up toward Holodeck 1. ]

[ Carolyn's own mask is shoved away -- it'll show up on her door again when she returns to her room for the night.

She's just inside the holodeck when Casey gets there and hasn't been there for long; she barely even bothered to get some of the engine grease off of her. She's taking her utility belt off though, dropping it to the side so that her knife is out of her reach for this. ]

[ Casey is still wearing his jump suit, filthy from spending days in it, with burns and grease stains all of his own that are rolled back into his sleeves. When he arrives, though, he empties his pockets of knives and laser pens and things, unzips it down to his waist and slides his arms out of the sleeves, pulling them loose so that he can tie them into a double knot around his waist.

Because if he's going to wrestle, he's not going to leave her anything to hold onto if he can avoid it. There are scars pockmarking him. Clear, ragged gouges made by gunshot wounds and knife wounds alike in his torso and on his arms, flak from grenades, clear burns and scraped away skin from near misses, powder embedded in his forearm that occasionally stings. He's one man and a warzone. ]

You sure you can handle this?

[ Her gaze flickers over when he speaks and she nearly starts. Carolyn had known, logically, that Casey likely had scars. She simply hadn't thought he would have so many, and she stares for a moment before shaking herself out of it. ]

I'll be fine.

[ From the looks of things, she's not the one who needs to work on dodging. The top of her jumpsuit stays up, though it's less for any modesty reasons than because she doesn't want to show off her own scars. ]

[ Hey. He'll have you know that he's dodged most of them. It's just the ones he's dodged doesn't leave such nice scars. And he's not showing off.

Well maybe a little.

The empty holodeck is quiet as Casey heads over, dragging some of the large mats left down here from fight club into the center of the room. It's not like they need them, but it gives them a hot zone. When one puts a foot on solid floor, they break hold and come at it again. ]

Any training in anything like this?

Some Judo.

[ Before Alice left, anyway. ]

I'm probably better with a knife at this point.

[ It's something she never thought she would say, never thought would happen. But things change, and people change most of all. Haymitch has been incredibly helpful when it comes to learning how to handle a knife properly. ]

We can do Judo.

[ That was easy. Judo was something that Casey, with his upper body strength, had been quite capable of getting down. Smaller had it on him, admittedly, it was hard to anchor yourself when you were as tall as he was against a smaller attacker, but it gave her a good advantage, at least until they were actually on the ground.

But she had to be strong enough to actually throw him, too. He assumed the opening stance, shoulders low, center of gravity over his hip, close enough to her to grab or be grabbed. ]

Whenever you're ready.

[ She's not going to be the one to try and grab him first. She's been the one to do it in her most memorable "fights" and the one who had ended up on the floor each time, so she simply moves into the stance Alice had taught her, exhaling slightly in an attempt to calm down.

It doesn't really work. ]

I'm ready.

[ Judo was about trying to use jabs and kicks to try and get the other wrestler off balance, try and get a grip on them and then somehow to get them over onto the ground and pinned. It was balance and strength and skill - but mostly it gave you a good idea as to how to use your body to escape from holds, since the idea was to make the hold unbreakable, to respond quickly to shifts and never submit.

It was the martial art of never give up, never surrender and it was exactly what Carolyn needed.

He slides in quickly, light on his feet, ready to dodge back if she makes a grab for him, reaching for her shoulders. ]

[ He's surprisingly fast, even though Carolyn should know better than to jude speed by how someone looks. She's smaller and a little faster for it, but Casey's not wearing the top half of his jumpsuit and that is, in all honesty, going to make it harder for her.

He slides in and grabs for her shoulders and Carolyn's not going to try and grab him just yet, instead moving on one leg to try and pivot out of the way while kicking at his ankle with the other. ]

[ It was his evil plan, don't you know.

He stumbles, missing his grip on her, and has to evade her to find his balance again, turning to smirk at her as they circle. ]

If you still don't know how yet, I'm good Thursdays for showing you how to fire a gun. So long as you're not more afraid of it than it is of you, like certain people I could mention.

[ Distracting with words. He likes to play dirty. In lower this time, head down and his own center of balance a little too far forward, but he's trying to throw her over his back and follow her down, a scoring move. ]

[ Carolyn can pilot a ship, can crash land it well enough not to kill everyone on board (despite trying) while having a shouting match with her navigator. She can talk and work at the same time. But this is Casey's field and as much as she tries not to let it show, his speaking is a bit distracting. ]

I'm not afraid.

[ He goes to grab her again and this time it works, but Carolyn's first instinct is to lash out at his throat with her hand whether she's going over his back or not. Oops. ]

[ It's a damn good shot, and even if Casey has a vast neck he's straining as he throws her, and the jab to the throat is painful. Still, he makes the pin then backs off, raising a hand to his throat to rub at it. ]

Not exactly Judo. You consider karate? Reckon you could do some damage with that if you tried.

[ On the ground again. It takes her a moment to recover but then she's back up, shaking her head. ]

Judo was the only thing being offered aboard the ship.

[ She holds up one hand though -- wait, I have something to do -- and, after a moment, goes to remove the top half of her own jumpsuit. The bras provided by the ship aren't exactly skimpy, after all, and with everything Casey saw with her in the desert...

...well, the scars on her torso, the exit from a predator's tools in front and the larger, nastier entrance in back could be worse. She doesn't mention them, looks up at him with something hard in her eyes, daring him to say something. ]

We might as well be on a little more of an even footing.

[ And maybe the extra skin will distract him, too. ]

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003. Video

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