Burning It Off [Open]

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

She's mad. She hasn't stopped being mad for the last few days.

She was mad when the zombies hit, mad when she found out what happened to Paco, madder and madder and madder for B5 and Jaime and Querl and no matter who she's talked to or what she's done she's frothing and nauseous with how USELESS she feels to change any of it.

She's barely slept, can't stop thinking, can't stop herself from lurching her way through little crying jags every time a bad thought or memory seeps in. Her oldest scars ache like they're new again... Her new bed in the crew quarters is so comfortable but she ends up back in her podsleeper some nights just for the close warm security of feeling shut away in a bubble for a while. She still can't quite drop off to sleep but it's better than feeling so exposed.

Brenda's had about enough of not sleeping though, she just wants to REST, and working herself down to exhaustion seems like a way to get there. So she's been camped out in one of the sensoriums, plowing her way through beating up opponent after spectral opponent, working already aching muscles into a mass of cramps and pain. Another hour or so of this, a hot bath, and with any luck she would be too tired to stand much less resist a comfortable bed.


[ooc: Will you mentioned wanting Leon to thread with Brenda some time? Feel free to hit this one. Sair, the Luthor thread I asked you about yesterday exploded in a whole other direction so maybe DSP can hit this one? He and Brenda should talk. ANYONE ELSE PLZ FEEL FREE TOO! ♥]

Comments

Oh heck, why not. Have a Grif.

[whyarewehere]

Grif hasn't been out of his armor since he got it back, though his helmet's in his room somewhere. It's not that it's comfortable (well, it's not bad really) but the suit makes him feel safer. It also reminds him of home, and as much as he hates home he does miss it. It's... familiar.

He has a sandwich. A real sandwich. Considering what he's been eating for the last several months, this is a near-divine experience. He's eating it as he walks down the hallw-

Oh, hey, that sounds like somebody beating something up.

He walks backwards a couple of steps to peer into the sensorium.

And whistles. "Dude, what are you doing?"

Hi Brenda! He met you before. Now there is no escape.

Om nom nom goes the sandwich.

Yay! A grif!

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda pauses in the middle of gut-punching a very soft imaginary man who falls down and then starts to struggle back up.

"Stacy, pause would you?" she pants, and the guy freezes halfway to his feet, leaned over in such a way that he should be falling by now for not having put a foot out to catch him.

Brenda turns toward Grif, wiping her brow with the back of her arm and leaving a swipe of blood where two of her bruised knuckles have split open. She doesn't seem to notice really.

"Hey Grif. Just... trying to burn off some steam." She BLINKS. "Oh man, is that a sandwhich. A real one? What kind?"

Re: Yay! A grif!

[whyarewehere]

He was going to comment on that blood streak and like... how teenage girls aren't supposed to be in the sensorium beating the crap out of things, but the sandwich comment throws him. He swallows the current bite, looks at the rest of it, and smiles.

"Peanut butter and banana. The sandwich of champions!"

Okay, so it's not the manliest sandwich in the world. But it's good dammit!

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda swallows thickly, still staring.

"Oh man, can I have a bit? Pretty please?"

[unsc-rabbit.livejournal.com]

They'd met before. The first Time Kelly had used the Sensoriums. They'd talked a little about home and the situations thereof. Kelly remembered at least that much. It was Brenda wasn't it? Stepping into the Sensorium, Kelly stood off to one side, silently watching the girl whale away on the imaginary opponents.

A slight frown furrowed her brows. Obviously something was eating this girl. Of course, something was eating everybody. But this was something that made the fighting the only option of release, the only way to get any peace. Kelly knew the feeling. Most of her life had been lived with it after all. But she didn't like to see anyone else hurt like that.

Over her time on the ship, she'd learned about looking out for others, caring for others. Maybe she wasn't quite as open as any other person yet. But she was trying. That being said, she moved up behind the girl and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You're going to hurt yourself like that." Her voice was calm, soothing almost. It was a new way of speaking for her.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda gave her poor imaginary opponent another solid punch and let him fall, giving her visitor a sharp brief laugh in response.

"Already well past hurt." she said tiredly, holding up one bruised split-knuckled hand to show over her shoulder, stepping out from the other woman's grip to kick her downed opponent one more BRUTAL time. The illusory fighter faded out, as did the others she's already felled, and she was left standing in the empty room, turning back to look at who had stepped in to see her.

It probably spoke volumes about her state of mind that all that existed in the sensorium for her today was an open plain, white nothingness domed above a ground of dust.

"...Kelly right?" it took her a second too remember. It had been a long time since they had met face to face. Brenda shook out her sore arms, shuffling her feet in their Stacy-gifted sneakers. She might have smiled, asked how the other woman was, but she was too tired and miserable to play at friendliness just now.

[unsc-rabbit.livejournal.com]

The Spartan's jaw clenched. Her first instinct was to reprimand the girl. Whatever issues you had, damaging yourself was a stupid way to work them out. But Kelly held her piece on that. The girl was hurting, that much was evident. It was better to let her finish.

When the simulation ended, her eyes flicked over the fallen opponents. Not bad. Not the most efficient way of fighting. But definitely not bad. She nodded unconsciously.

"That's right. Brenda, isn't it?" She took a seat on the ground, leaning back slightly against a wall and looking up at the sky. The girl was free to join her, or leave. She didn't speak for a long while, simply keeping sielnt, before she finally refocused her gaze on Brenda. "I know how it feels." She spoke slowly, trying to find the right words. "I know what the hurt is like."

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

For a minute Brenda was peeved when Kelly just sat herself down, intruding on Brenda's alone time in clearly more than passing, but before she could say anything rude Kelly spoke up and Brenda just flopped against the wall, sinking down to join her with a sigh.

"Yeah? You do? You've had every friend you're really close to jacked up by multiple sources before, and then had your love life complicate itself up something fierce on top of that? Cause that sounds a bit unique to the life of Brenda to me."

She held her hands out in front of her. "Or do you just mean the messed up knuckles cause yeah I'll give you that."

[governmentninja]

Leon watched the display for a while, not bothering to interrupt just yet. He could spot the difference between someone practicing and someone who was venting. It was especially glaring with her, considering her lack of technique.

Finally, though, he decided to interrupt. "Stacy, pause the program."

There was a fine line between venting your frustrations and hurting yourself. She a lot closer to that line than he was comfortable with.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda stumbled as a fake opponent she was going in to hit just blinked out of existence seconds from impact, she staggered into the velocity of the punch, half turning to see Leon standing them before staggering backward and falling on her butt.

"Hey what the hell!?"

[governmentninja]

Leon didn't laugh, but his usual stoic expression cracked a tiny bit when Brenda fell on her butt.

"You look like you needed a break," he told her. From the workout, and from a number of other things most likely.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

"I'm was doing FINE thank you." she growled, climbing up to her knees to dust off the seat of her pants and then struggling back up to stand on wobbly legs. She ended up bent over, hands on her knees, all of her just trembling.

"Also why could you not wait till AFTER my punch?"

[not_the_philistine]

Goliath is surprised not to find a familiar place when he looks in on the room he visited the previous night following his awakening. Strange - he was certain there was a karaoke bar here.

Instead, a human girl is fighting many opponents, having already been driven to the brink of exhaustion. Goliath has no idea what the fight is over, but he knows an unfair one when he sees it, and so the next simulated fighter that tries to snag Brenda from behind instead finds itself in the crushing, taloned grip of an 8-foot tall medieval warrior, and shortly after, hurled across the room.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda yelps in surprise when someone grabs her next challenger and pitches him clear across the room, whipping around toward the towering creature and staring at him, stunned.

... She should REALLY be more put out by having a giant clearly not-human guy step in on her practice fight but she's well past being shocked by weird appearances by now.

"Holy... warn a girl before you join in, would you?"

[not_the_philistine]

Completely oblivious (he gets this all the time), Goliath just nods at her.

"I mean you no harm."

And oh look, the guy's getting back up. Goliath spreads his wings and growls, sending the simulation stumbling backwards a few more feet.

Yeah, you're going to have to explain this one to him, Brenda.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

"Stacy pause it would you?" Brenda says, and their 'attacker' freezes halfway to standing - locked in place.

"It's okay!" She says hurriedly. "They're not real, they're just for practice!"

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

Cujo had wanted to play.

Danny had wanted to mope.

Cujo could drag Danny around by his ankle.

Needless to say, Cujo got what he wanted.

"ARFARFARFARFARF!"

"Cujo, would you please just calm down for once in your afterlife... Oh, whoops. Sorry Brenda, thought this one was empty."

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda stopped midway into punching another opponent, pausing the simulation to stare at Danny, on his back in the dirt being hauled around by a dog.

"Hey, uh... don't worry about it. Not like I was in a bath or something." she smirked, reaching down to pat Danny's companion on the head. "Who's the pooch?"

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

Cujo has decided to lick your face repeatedly Brenda.

"His name's Cujo. Wel,, I call him that anyways, and he doesn't seem to mind it."

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate heard the familiar sounds of fighting and sparring, and knocked before entering. She could definitely understand what Brenda was doing and why. It was a familiar way to vent for her as well.

"Hey," she called out so as to not startle the other girl.

"You feel like some sparring practice with a real opponent, let me know."

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda turned from her mock attacker, Stacy's program freezing up automatically as Kate got her attention.

"Huh, I really don't think I want anybody who's real flesh and blood on the other end of how I feel right now, but thanks." she said with a sigh, wandering over to where Kate stood. "How're you holding up?"

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

Kate gave a shrug and a nod of understanding.

"As well as anybody around here. I mean... my world's been through some rough moments, but it's always come back before this."

[gangstageek.livejournal.com]

And then there was someone she was fighting who was doing better than the spectral enemies at deflecting her blocks. "You've been pretty sloppy. You sure you should be training?"

Sean had, admittedly, been following her a while. Trying to think on how to APPROACH her and talk to her. He just...wasn't sure how to do it right. He figured now was as good a time as any.

He knew fighting. That he could do. And Brenda had been rather sloppy. Seemingly from exhaustion.

[shes-intense.livejournal.com]

Brenda yelped when a punch came within inches of her face, startling for a second before stepping back from Sean and bending at the waist to put her hands on her knees, breathing hard as the simulation ground to halt.

"Jeez, Sean you scared the heck out of me!" she panted, wiping at her face. "This isn't... I'm not really TRAINING, I just needed to blow off some steam."

After a minute she stood up straighter, looking at him more head on and sighing. Aw hell this was gonna get so awkward so fast.

"How're you doing?" she asked finaly, sheepishy brushing her hair back.

[gangstageek.livejournal.com]

"Good, because that would have been horrible," Sean said, crossing his arms and looking her up and down. she really did look worn down.

And there it was, attention focused back on him. "Uh...fine. I'm fine," Sean said, glancing away before forcing himself to look back at Brenda. No, now wasn't the time to be awkward! "What about you? Are you holding up okay?"