adastrea | idiots in spaaaaaaace

idiots in spaaaaaaace

[In a world with, perhaps, a passing resemblance to a one we know well--where Mars and Luna had their civil war, but, perhaps, the dwindling lifespan of humanity was not an insurmountable force. And where, as the years of living in space had continued, young martians had begun to display odd powers, rarely.

Such espers did not usually live so long, but for a girl with a familiarly tragic loss of family in the final days of war, her incredible and somewhat uncanny luck in avoiding the series of disasters that had befallen everyone she cared about wasn't of much concern.

What was was this base tour of the new cadets, and someone had snuck off, trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary war heroes or, perhaps, the dyne in all those stories.

This certainly can't end badly.]

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[Annd she's falling into step, and if she's exhausted (she is) she's damn well not going to let him see that. Really, at this rate she'll probably end up hurting herself keeping up with this pace...]

[Well he was only joking about the underwear part, but it's rather punishing PT in the morning and then breakfast and then technical training handled by the actual instructors.

She can probably tell he's watching her, though.]

[He will get the psychic equivalent of a forehead flick after a while. She's doing her best, but she is tired, and as the day wears on, it's obvious she's forcing herself to keep going on sheer will alone.]

[Well, lessons stretch into the evenings, so there's no late night run this time. But he's waiting for her.]

Riou, come talk to me for a moment.

...If you wish, sir.

[She's about 200% done with you, Leo.]

[He'll walk her off back to his own quarters.]

Ready to quit?

Not a chance.

[Well that's flat.] You can't break me, Laukkanen. And if you think breaking me is going to get you my respect, you're only proving to me you don't deserve it.

I don't have to break you. You're breaking yourself. Training is thirteen weeks, Riou. You've lasted two days so far. You picked a fight with me, and whether you respect me or not is irrelevant. I'm offering you a chance to stop this.

It doesn't matter what you do.

[She sighs, and shakes her head.] I was already broken, long ago. If I can't do this now, then what's the point? I won't stop. It was never about you, not really. It's just easier to have something more...immediate.