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.
"I need you to give me names, when you're ready. Faces, if nothing else." Because she was going to fuck some people up if that's true.
Nina sighed. "I meant there's stuff in the woods too. Pretty sure I've seen some busted up cottages, but fine. I'll bring you shit if you need it. Just let me know."
"No." He's gone from kneeling to squatting back on his heels. Our boy is flexible. Also this way he's less likely to have a reflexive oopsie again.
"I have rescinded my right of retaliation." It's over. He's...not fine, but whatever. And he regrets already having pledged that to Maedhros, only to feel the betrayal in discovering Maedhros and the man who killed him were companions. It felt like he'd cut his own throat. Again. For them. How they must have LAUGHED at him when they'd gone off comms. It burns to think about.
But he'd given his word and a word given even to someone unworthy of that trust was still a pledge of honor.
"I can take care of myself, Nina. But thank you." If anything comes up, she's the only one he'd even contemplate asking.
"You haven't rescinded my right." She didn't know the whole... law or code or whatever be abided by, but she didn't follow it. The only way she wouldn't retaliate was if he insisted one more time that she didn't.
And probably once she knew who was involved and what happened, but she'd still be pissed about it.
"You're welcome." She wouldn't press. "I live in the lighthouse not far from here with a few others, if you can't get a hold of me."
It was tempting. It was seriously tempting. But he'd already felt enough dishonor at plotting their revenge-murders himself. He would not let himself fall further into the corruption eating his soul. "Sister. No." He shrugged. "Besides, if I were to be avenged by a mortal female..." The shame! the horror. His pride would suffer a fatal injury.
He suspected she would slap him for that, and he would deserve it. But also that it was an attempt at levity and to desperately change the subject.
"I am fine. I need nothing." But he does remember, just in case.
He absolutely deserved it. And he took it like a man. But just in case she was actually upset, he added, rubbing his arm where she'd struck him. "Nina. If I were in need of someone to avenge my death, I could think of no better person than you."
That was basically an Astartes marriage proposal. If they did things like marriage.
"Now?" Yeah well. Wow. That was the question. He pushed to his feet, returning to where he'd lain his armor. Time to get dressed and buy some time.
Deep sigh. "It is clear no one here wants my aid. And they are not under the protection of the Emperor, so I am not obligated to help them in any way." In other words, get rekt, Calderans. "Simply try to return home."
Aww. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." Not true, but it was definitely one of the best things someone like her could hear.
Nina remained where she was lounging on the ground. "I don't think that's true — the people that summoned us want our help." But fair, she guessed. "And how do you plan to do that? Walk?"
"It was meant as a compliment." So, yes, she coud take it as such. It was about the highest compliment he could think of.
He began the slightly less time consuming process of redonning his armor. This time it was simply a matter of putting the armor pieces on, and letting the communion commence through the connection. He paused, looking over at her, face hardened. "And what loyalty do we owe them? They kidnap us, strip us of all that makes us ourselves, humiliate us, expect us to perform for the privilege of getting to be more like ourselves...and in any of this did they ASK for our help?"
Here is where they differed, though perhaps unsurprisingly.
"What did they take from you?" She asked. "I guess I don't have the same... need, like you and a lot of others might? So being asked to help is just a normal day for me, different world or otherwise. I'm sorry, for whatever it's worth."
He started putting on his armor more hastily now, almost angry. It stung a bit when you drove the connectors home, instead of letting them self-initiate, but that didn't matter right now.
"Everything. I am pathetic as I am right now. No better than a mortal." There might be some contempt in the word. For all the time and effort and pain he spent becoming an Astartes, having it all yanked away and returned to some...lesser state was a betrayal of all he had hoped to escape. It was why he had no idea why people found him so threatening. To him, he's...pathetic. Empty. Useless.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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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"I need you to give me names, when you're ready. Faces, if nothing else." Because she was going to fuck some people up if that's true.
Nina sighed. "I meant there's stuff in the woods too. Pretty sure I've seen some busted up cottages, but fine. I'll bring you shit if you need it. Just let me know."
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"I have rescinded my right of retaliation." It's over. He's...not fine, but whatever. And he regrets already having pledged that to Maedhros, only to feel the betrayal in discovering Maedhros and the man who killed him were companions. It felt like he'd cut his own throat. Again. For them. How they must have LAUGHED at him when they'd gone off comms. It burns to think about.
But he'd given his word and a word given even to someone unworthy of that trust was still a pledge of honor.
"I can take care of myself, Nina. But thank you." If anything comes up, she's the only one he'd even contemplate asking.
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And probably once she knew who was involved and what happened, but she'd still be pissed about it.
"You're welcome." She wouldn't press. "I live in the lighthouse not far from here with a few others, if you can't get a hold of me."
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He suspected she would slap him for that, and he would deserve it. But also that it was an attempt at levity and to desperately change the subject.
"I am fine. I need nothing." But he does remember, just in case.
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She shrugged. Whatever. She offered. Nina leaned back on her palms with a sigh. "Whats your plan now?"
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That was basically an Astartes marriage proposal. If they did things like marriage.
"Now?" Yeah well. Wow. That was the question. He pushed to his feet, returning to where he'd lain his armor. Time to get dressed and buy some time.
Deep sigh. "It is clear no one here wants my aid. And they are not under the protection of the Emperor, so I am not obligated to help them in any way." In other words, get rekt, Calderans. "Simply try to return home."
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Nina remained where she was lounging on the ground. "I don't think that's true — the people that summoned us want our help." But fair, she guessed. "And how do you plan to do that? Walk?"
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He began the slightly less time consuming process of redonning his armor. This time it was simply a matter of putting the armor pieces on, and letting the communion commence through the connection. He paused, looking over at her, face hardened. "And what loyalty do we owe them? They kidnap us, strip us of all that makes us ourselves, humiliate us, expect us to perform for the privilege of getting to be more like ourselves...and in any of this did they ASK for our help?"
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"What did they take from you?" She asked. "I guess I don't have the same... need, like you and a lot of others might? So being asked to help is just a normal day for me, different world or otherwise. I'm sorry, for whatever it's worth."
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"Everything. I am pathetic as I am right now. No better than a mortal." There might be some contempt in the word. For all the time and effort and pain he spent becoming an Astartes, having it all yanked away and returned to some...lesser state was a betrayal of all he had hoped to escape.
It was why he had no idea why people found him so threatening. To him, he's...pathetic. Empty. Useless.
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