[It's mostly because he can't sleep anyway and everything is just grating on him that he goes. At least she doesn't seem to judge him. Or hate him. Or want him dead. Yet.
He'll take it.
Do I want to know what these trees did to offend you, Sister?
[Shhhh shhhhh don't complain, just roll with being called sister.]
Sister? Fuck it, whatever. He's a soldier, she's a soldier, close enough.
"Less the trees and more the asshole that I'm pretending is the tree." She offered, shaking out her hand, bloody splotches on the bandages around her knuckles. "I'm not allowed to kick his ass yet."
The Sororitas were the only mortals that made it into Astartes archives with respect. They were held even higher than the Astra Militarum, for their zeal in battle.
"...is it me?" Am I the asshole? He knows many would say YES. "Because I could take off my armor and--" He's offering, well, not a fair fight, but a less unfair one.
Nina laughed. "What? No. I don't know what you did exactly, but I'm not mad at you." Should she be? Probably. "I'm mad at some dickhead elf that's here now."
"Yet." This Ultramarine optimism is a thing. Eventually she'll be mad at him. Probably.
Uhhhh. "Does this elf have a name?" Please don't be Maedhros because things would get *awkward*.
He'll just hold up one palm in front of her face. His hands are...not small. "You sure you want to?" Make good choices, little sister. He believes in you. "I am a little harder to take down than a tree."
"I'm sure I'll be mad eventually. I usually am." Would it be his fault or would she just be in a bad mood and he the unfortunate target? Time will tell.
"Solas. Tall, bald, apparently a god." Deserved a swift kick in the ass. The usual.
Nina shrugged. "They don't call me The Ogreslayer for nothing, and you're not even remotely the size of one. How good are you against fast opponents?" Like. Well — he'd seen her fight. She moved a lot faster than a normal person; borderline supernatural, even.
"Fair enough." Seriously. Valid. He gets it. As long as they can still do quests together, as she is one of the few willing to be seen in public with him, she can be as mad at him as she wants at any given time.
"I do not know him, but I am sure you have cause." He's not prying, but he trusts her appraisal. "He claims to be a manifestation of Chaos or some other gods?" See, Gadriel IS learning.
He shrugs. "We could find out." If he gets beaten, at least it would be an honest combat, not shameful like being tied down and slaughtered like a Macragge boar.
"Some other gods? Fen— something. Dread Wolf. A lot of magical bullshit involved and, the real reason I don't like him, he fucked with people I care about that I met here. They don't want me to start shit yet though, they want to plan, see what he does." Ugh. Stupid.
Good enough for her. "Take the armor off. I'd fight you with it on, but I think that would break even my hand."
Don't mind that slight grimace. He may also be rightly accused of 'fucking with people that other people care about here'. It is why he's not at his best right now. "I do not need to tell you that most plans fall apart on first contact with the enemy." Too much planning is a tactical waste.
"It would." No ego, just facts. Even depowered it's still four hundred pounds of ceramite and steel.
It takes a bit because he has to disconnect each piece individually, so hopefully she's keeping herself entertained until he is done, and kneels before his armor in respect before he rises. "Ready?"
"You don't. I know. That's why I don't make plans, but it's their god from their world so technically it's not my place to start shit."
Even if she so desperately wanted to for all the shit she heard he had done.
Unlike a certain elf, Nina didn't get a rat fuck how his armor worked, so she busied herself by retying her bandages and shadowboxing a few feet away until he was done.
"Always am."
Nina was aware of their difference in size, and she moved accordingly, wasting no time using her speed to her advantage to get to him before he, hopefully, had time to react. Getting grabbed by a big fucker usually ended with a lot of broken bones.
feel free to godmod him to whatever end of the fight you want bc neither of us dig long fights
He's the wrong man to talk that line about. His literal meaning in life is to drop down on planets that never heard of him and prayed to go hundreds of years without seeing an Astartes, and start all the shit. "Gods are powerful. You are right to take some cautions. And you should not go alone."
It had taken three of them to free Lord Calgar from Imurah's prison in the Immaterium. Nine if Talasa and Veridian squads were counted for their actions outside.
Gadriel hasn't slept properly since...the incident, so he's not at his best, and his reactions are slower than usual. However, he, unlike others, has no qualms about hitting a girl. Probably many of the Tyranids he's killed were female. A talon is a talon. A fist is a fist.
However, this is sparring, and not a fight to the death. He does know the difference. This is play, just...violent play. And she needs to hurt something that can feel pain, and right now, he needs to get hurt. A lot. So he'll visibly signal the punch he throws, and if she has any sense, she could dodge it or...make more use of it. This isn't about skill or competition. It's catharsis.
"I'll invite you when and if the time comes to kick his ass." She wouldn't be alone regardless, but a giant fuck off space marine wouldn't go amiss either.
Nina liked to win, but in moments like this, she also liked to feel something. Pain was something she was used to, and while she dodged the majority of his punches and landed plenty of her own, she also took some just for the rush of adrenaline and aches that came with it.
It had to be said, too, that Nina hit hard for a woman her size. Small as she was, she was fit and trained constantly, her kicks and punches strong enough to break bones in a lesser man or beast. She was fast, too, hopped around like an annoying gnat. Their fight ended with a lot of bruises, definitely cracked or broken ribs, and a decent amount of blood.
Oh, and with Nina hopping up (what a fucking vertical leap), latching her legs around his head, and using his weight against him to flip him onto the ground, landing with a grunt next to him on her back, panting with the exertion of their fight.
"I would be insulted if you did not." Nina going to face danger without him? She better not try.
He has no real scale of how hard a woman should hit, but he's seen her fight, and he knows what to expect. She doesn't manage to break any of his bones, but he would applaud her effort.
He'd landed hard on his back, taking a moment to catch his breath, panting with what might be laughter. "You're going to have to teach me that one."
Still lying on his back, he's going to close his eyes for a minute, like he's trying to remember something. "Phase three. I was twelve." The third round of surgeries. He opens his eyes. "Plus we train a lot." Just not that particular move. He wasn't keen to wrap his legs around a tyranid's tusks.
...though if he had a heavy bolter in his hands that would be fun to try.
He nods, watching her move. "Are you good?" Because he may have gone a little too hard on that one kick to her ribs.
Twelve. Nina didn't know how old he was now, probably couldn't guess. Twelve was when she got out, when she started to learn to live again. Twelve. "Makes sense. I mean, I don't know what Phase Three means, but training a lot. I get it."
She didn't move, eyes focused up on the sky just beyond the treetops. "Yeah. I've had worse. It's always good to feel something once in a while, you know? I've been too complacent since I got here."
"The third round of surgeries. They must be done in a specific order, and even then some times the geneseed is mutated." Not in his case. He was one of the earliest Primaris, and they were scrupulous about following Magister Cawl's directives.
Gadriel rolled to one side, pushing up to kneel by her. "I as well. We should do this again." He reached over, prodding her hip. "After you teach me that takedown."
This is the best mood he has been in since he arrived. And he almost, for a moment, forgot all that weighed on him.
There's a time for thinking, but in general on an Ultramarine ship it's limited to fifteen minutes a day.
"The physics wouldn't work. I'd have to at least try it on something my mass or larger." Don't ask him how he knows, he can just see in his mind how that would work and it would end up with him getting dropped on his head.
His hand on reflex clamped down on her wrist, pinning it to the ground. He was also playing but also he's wrapped very tightly around the axle, as it were, when it comes to aggression. He grimaces an apology as he withdraws his hand.
"Guess we'll have to find something your mass or larger, then. Do they make dummies that big?" She'll check the guild hall later—
"Hey—" Nina narrowed her eyes up at him in those split seconds where her hand was pinned, her own reflex pulling her leg up to kick him in the head and away from her. Luckily for them both, he let go with her knee only slightly raised. "Easy, brother."
She pushed herself into a sitting position then, grunting at the ache in her side. "Gonna have to give me a day before I can show you how to toss yourself around, but I've probably got time. Where are you staying?"
"If you show me a few times on another I can figure it out." Hurray for hypnoindoctrination. And a few thousand years of training.
So, if there was anyone about her size who was willing to be thrown around by her while Gadriel watched....
He snatched his hand back. "It was...it was just a reflex." He would have taken the kick in the head if she's managed it. But she'd called him 'brother'. He hadn't heard that word in...too long. Hopefully it meant she understood. Hopefully it meant what he thought.
Gadriel has no idea why she's asking, but he pulls out his device and sends her the coordinates. It's...the middle of the woods, basically. "Here." One benefit to 'here' was that there were zero people trying to murder him there, and another, he had clear lines of fire in 360 degrees. Perfect spot.
"It's all right." She got it. She understood. They were... very similar, in a lot if ways, and she was glad to have someone that just said 'yes' and didn't ask questions when she wanted to hit something.
She looked at the indicated area and frowned. "Are you sleeping on the ground? You know they have beds here, and houses. You don't have to live like you're out in the field — I mean, you can, I won't stop you, but you don't have to."
"Sister." Come on, be serious, Nina. He posed it to her in terms she would understand, he hoped.
"Would you, if you were I, choose to rest among the very people who slaughtered you like a hog in the street and left you in a pool of your own blood?"
Town? beds? OTHER PEOPLE? "They," whoever 'they' were, "can have whatever they want. I choose not to be beholden to my captors. Or those who view me with contempt." Thank you but no.
He wants to change the subject because this is really killing his mood.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thecodexabides) wrote2025-01-01 01:22 pm
Are we format changing? Let's format change
Yet.
He'll take it.
Do I want to know what these trees did to offend you, Sister?
[Shhhh shhhhh don't complain, just roll with being called sister.]
Bitches love format changes
"Less the trees and more the asshole that I'm pretending is the tree." She offered, shaking out her hand, bloody splotches on the bandages around her knuckles. "I'm not allowed to kick his ass yet."
you format changed my format change! I dig.
"...is it me?" Am I the asshole? He knows many would say YES. "Because I could take off my armor and--" He's offering, well, not a fair fight, but a less unfair one.
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But... "if you want to brawl, then I'm willing."
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Uhhhh. "Does this elf have a name?" Please don't be Maedhros because things would get *awkward*.
He'll just hold up one palm in front of her face. His hands are...not small. "You sure you want to?" Make good choices, little sister. He believes in you. "I am a little harder to take down than a tree."
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"Solas. Tall, bald, apparently a god." Deserved a swift kick in the ass. The usual.
Nina shrugged. "They don't call me The Ogreslayer for nothing, and you're not even remotely the size of one. How good are you against fast opponents?" Like. Well — he'd seen her fight. She moved a lot faster than a normal person; borderline supernatural, even.
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"I do not know him, but I am sure you have cause." He's not prying, but he trusts her appraisal. "He claims to be a manifestation of Chaos or some other gods?" See, Gadriel IS learning.
He shrugs. "We could find out." If he gets beaten, at least it would be an honest combat, not shameful like being tied down and slaughtered like a Macragge boar.
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Good enough for her. "Take the armor off. I'd fight you with it on, but I think that would break even my hand."
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"It would." No ego, just facts. Even depowered it's still four hundred pounds of ceramite and steel.
It takes a bit because he has to disconnect each piece individually, so hopefully she's keeping herself entertained until he is done, and kneels before his armor in respect before he rises. "Ready?"
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Even if she so desperately wanted to for all the shit she heard he had done.
Unlike a certain elf, Nina didn't get a rat fuck how his armor worked, so she busied herself by retying her bandages and shadowboxing a few feet away until he was done.
"Always am."
Nina was aware of their difference in size, and she moved accordingly, wasting no time using her speed to her advantage to get to him before he, hopefully, had time to react. Getting grabbed by a big fucker usually ended with a lot of broken bones.
feel free to godmod him to whatever end of the fight you want bc neither of us dig long fights
"Gods are powerful. You are right to take some cautions. And you should not go alone."
It had taken three of them to free Lord Calgar from Imurah's prison in the Immaterium. Nine if Talasa and Veridian squads were counted for their actions outside.
Gadriel hasn't slept properly since...the incident, so he's not at his best, and his reactions are slower than usual. However, he, unlike others, has no qualms about hitting a girl. Probably many of the Tyranids he's killed were female. A talon is a talon. A fist is a fist.
However, this is sparring, and not a fight to the death. He does know the difference. This is play, just...violent play. And she needs to hurt something that can feel pain, and right now, he needs to get hurt. A lot. So he'll visibly signal the punch he throws, and if she has any sense, she could dodge it or...make more use of it. This isn't about skill or competition. It's catharsis.
Likewise, change or add whatever
Nina liked to win, but in moments like this, she also liked to feel something. Pain was something she was used to, and while she dodged the majority of his punches and landed plenty of her own, she also took some just for the rush of adrenaline and aches that came with it.
It had to be said, too, that Nina hit hard for a woman her size. Small as she was, she was fit and trained constantly, her kicks and punches strong enough to break bones in a lesser man or beast. She was fast, too, hopped around like an annoying gnat. Their fight ended with a lot of bruises, definitely cracked or broken ribs, and a decent amount of blood.
Oh, and with Nina hopping up (what a fucking vertical leap), latching her legs around his head, and using his weight against him to flip him onto the ground, landing with a grunt next to him on her back, panting with the exertion of their fight.
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He has no real scale of how hard a woman should hit, but he's seen her fight, and he knows what to expect. She doesn't manage to break any of his bones, but he would applaud her effort.
He'd landed hard on his back, taking a moment to catch his breath, panting with what might be laughter. "You're going to have to teach me that one."
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"Can you even jump that high?"
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"Feel better now?" Because he does.
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Later though. "Yeah. I usually do after I hit something hard enough. You?"
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...though if he had a heavy bolter in his hands that would be fun to try.
He nods, watching her move. "Are you good?" Because he may have gone a little too hard on that one kick to her ribs.
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She didn't move, eyes focused up on the sky just beyond the treetops. "Yeah. I've had worse. It's always good to feel something once in a while, you know? I've been too complacent since I got here."
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"The third round of surgeries. They must be done in a specific order, and even then some times the geneseed is mutated." Not in his case. He was one of the earliest Primaris, and they were scrupulous about following Magister Cawl's directives.
Gadriel rolled to one side, pushing up to kneel by her. "I as well. We should do this again." He reached over, prodding her hip. "After you teach me that takedown."
This is the best mood he has been in since he arrived. And he almost, for a moment, forgot all that weighed on him.
It was what he had come here trying to forget.
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Nina grunted and swatted at his hand — there was no malice in the movement though. Playful, almost.
"So you can use it against me?" A joke. "Sure."
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"The physics wouldn't work. I'd have to at least try it on something my mass or larger." Don't ask him how he knows, he can just see in his mind how that would work and it would end up with him getting dropped on his head.
His hand on reflex clamped down on her wrist, pinning it to the ground. He was also playing but also he's wrapped very tightly around the axle, as it were, when it comes to aggression. He grimaces an apology as he withdraws his hand.
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"Hey—" Nina narrowed her eyes up at him in those split seconds where her hand was pinned, her own reflex pulling her leg up to kick him in the head and away from her. Luckily for them both, he let go with her knee only slightly raised. "Easy, brother."
She pushed herself into a sitting position then, grunting at the ache in her side. "Gonna have to give me a day before I can show you how to toss yourself around, but I've probably got time. Where are you staying?"
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he is the dummy that big"If you show me a few times on another I can figure it out." Hurray for hypnoindoctrination. And a few thousand years of training.
So, if there was anyone about her size who was willing to be thrown around by her while Gadriel watched....
He snatched his hand back. "It was...it was just a reflex." He would have taken the kick in the head if she's managed it. But she'd called him 'brother'. He hadn't heard that word in...too long. Hopefully it meant she understood. Hopefully it meant what he thought.
Gadriel has no idea why she's asking, but he pulls out his device and sends her the coordinates. It's...the middle of the woods, basically. "Here." One benefit to 'here' was that there were zero people trying to murder him there, and another, he had clear lines of fire in 360 degrees. Perfect spot.
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She looked at the indicated area and frowned. "Are you sleeping on the ground? You know they have beds here, and houses. You don't have to live like you're out in the field — I mean, you can, I won't stop you, but you don't have to."
Just so he knew he had options.
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"Would you, if you were I, choose to rest among the very people who slaughtered you like a hog in the street and left you in a pool of your own blood?"
Town? beds? OTHER PEOPLE? "They," whoever 'they' were, "can have whatever they want. I choose not to be beholden to my captors. Or those who view me with contempt." Thank you but no.
He wants to change the subject because this is really killing his mood.
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