mingle o' clock

[softlyfalling]

Who: y'all
When: Day 321
Where: Tokyo-F, generally

[ it's the general mingle!

what problems will you cause on purpose today? ]

Comments

[gigadevilbreaker]

Uhnfph--!

[He hits the wall, but plants a foot on the wall to push right back with twisting horizontal force to thrust Adora towards the ground.]

Caring--! About someone who's been hurt and betrayed! Who's angry and guarded all the time!

[adorabilities]

[well, that worked, and she starts to respond before remembering, oh yes, they are fighting and she should probably get to her feet as fast as possible after hitting the ground.

so she twists and rolls away, though not neatly to her feet]

Oh! Well--... How-how do you manage it?

[gigadevilbreaker]

It's not easy, for sure.

[He dusts himself off and readies himself for Adora to come at him again.]

At the start, he tried to make me hate him. 'Cause he was so damn sure I'd be better off without him around.

[adorabilities]

I— don’t know if that’s what Kohime’s trying to do...

[but she doesn’t sound sure as she says it. So of course, she runs forward to try to punch him again, rather than think too hard on it]

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Nero puts his fists up to block, but the impact still rocks against his face.]

N--nugh, Kohime's--! She expects everyone to hate her - she's braced for the world t'prove her right.

I bet... she thinks you're happier without her.

[adorabilities]

I've never said that!

[it's a defensive reaction, but she slows in her aggressing for a moment]

Never! Not once!

[gigadevilbreaker]

Oof--!

[Okay wow she's mad now. He really needs to start dogding - he sidesteps a real slugger of a punch, giving her a shove to tilt her mass forward when she swings.]

You don't need to! Jealousy don't make sense - but that's what it is!

[adorabilities]

[oh he's dodging, she turns on her heel to try and follow him.]

So, how-- how did you manage it? [and then she dips low to try and gut punch him]

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Please hold it's hard to talk when you got the wind knocked out of you

WHEEZE]

[adorabilities]

[she will be here, waiting, letting her guard down as she does.

because she legitimately wants the answer here.]

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Once he catches his breath,]

It... comes down to persistence. You have to learn what she's comfortable with and meet her there. Trust her, but know when she's sabotaging herself.

Most of all, you have to protect her.

[adorabilities]

Protect her?

[the other stuff... well, she might have gotten there eventually. But also, the concept of sabotaging yourself is the very opposite of her perfectionism]

What do you mean?

[gigadevilbreaker]

[This time, he sweeps his leg to knock Adora off her feet.]

What do you think I mean?

[adorabilities]

[she lands with a 'whumpf' and then immediately rolls back to her feet in case he's going to follow with a hit.

she clearly! knows some stuff about fighting, and is very practiced, even if she's not got his raw energy.]

I'd guess the games? Which... Of course I'm gonna. I don't-- want-- [and she lunges forward again to grab his arm to try and pull him into an arm lock] -- to watch her get hurt like that ever again.

[gigadevilbreaker]

[Oh no you're not out-grappling a grappler. He twists his entire upper body, rolling her off of him and going for a headlock in retaliation.]

Get in her head. How d'you think she feels when it happens?

[adorabilities]

[SHE CAN TRY. but for now she slides her hands underneath his arm and both kicks back and pushes out with her arms to create enough space to duck her head out]

Betrayed?!

[it's a little labored because, well, headlocks.]

[gigadevilbreaker]

[He's pushed back, but waits for Adora to press on with the offensive instead of continuing the attack.]

That's part of it.

But it tells her, her view of the world's correct.

[adorabilities]

That people hate her.

[well, that's something to mull over, but she's still not sure what to do about it.

but-- well. punching. punching is something she can do, and she'll turn around, shoving her elbow into his gut as she does.

even though she could probably take the time to observe what he's doing.]

[gigadevilbreaker]

Ungh--!

[He grabs that arm, and wrenches Adora around to try and knock her into a wall]

That-- the world's against her. She has to fend for herself. No one's gonna listen - she can't trust, she can't hope, and she'll never be good enough.

It's not about just protecting her body. It's her heart.

[adorabilities]

I--

[well, that cuts her off as she slams into the wall. ow. ow, ow.

she twists, her leg jutting out to kick him back, away from her]

I want to, but-but...

[let her catch her breath, and then slowly slide down to the floor.]

I don't think she trusts me.

[gigadevilbreaker]

[He eases off, letting her stop and think. Idly rubs the soreness from the hits he's been taking.]

I do hear you two have a pretty storied history, back home.

[adorabilities]

Yeah.

I left. And I still don't know why... All my memories before that, I knew I wanted to be a Force Captain? That the Horde was where I wanted to be?

But I left. And she didn't come with me.

[gigadevilbreaker]

Eh... I'm not gonna mince words. The Horde fuckin' blows. It was a shithole of a place that did nothing but exploit people and suck'em of any humanity they had, from everything I hear.

Gold says, when your world's been one thing your whole life, you hold onto the instincts that helped you survive there. It's hard as hell to break out of that and learn new ways t'be. So she couldn't let go of her world, for you. And you couldn't bring yourself to stay, just for her.

Getting out was probably the smarter idea. But Kohime probably wasn't in the right headspace to even think about that.

[adorabilities]

... Thanks.

[there's a breath as she shifts her position]

It doesn't even matter, we ended up having bigger problems than the Horde.

[oh, she frowns, and lets her chin rest over her knees that she's pulled up]

[gigadevilbreaker]

Oh yeah, you all... went to space, or something?

[SHRUG???

He's gonna lean against some piece of nearby gym equipment]

Anyway-- that was then. Nothin' you can do about it if compromising wasn't in the cards before. Doesn't mean things are still the same now.