If war were a game that a man or a child Could think of winning [Open]

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Lafiel staggered out and away from the sensorium pod, clutching her bruised jaw. Blood pooled between her teeth, coppery and salty in her mouth and she swallowed it.

There was a special kind of humiliation that came with being physically bested and though Lafiel knew she was in the right, it still stung.

Master Chief or Captain Kirk would have known what do immediately, but she had only exacerbated the situation. She knew this to be her own fault. The punch had been a predictable consequence of her actions.

She couldn't even curse for fear of spitting more blood.

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[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She'd had sleep, finally. She figured she was going to take it easy from now on too, since Toph had had a point: she wouldn't be useful in any way if all that happened was her falling unconscious at an inopportune time. But doing that didn't mean she was going to stop training either, so Katara was on her way to do some more training before she started making any more plans-only someone was already coming out of the Sensoriums.

"Oh, sorry," Katara said apologetically, and then saw it was someone she knew: Lafiel. "Oh h..." her voice trailed off when she noticed the newly bruised jaw, and Katara went into immediate mother mode. "Lafiel, your jaw! What happened?" Her hand went to her pouch immediately. "Are you okay?"

[unsc-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Kelly had been heading to the Sensoriums to get in some practice. She hadn't run through a combat sim in what seemed like weeks. But then, with the amount of sleep she'd been getting, or rather, the amount of sleep she hadn't been getting, it probably couldn't have been more than a few days. She needed to do something to keep herself active, so she'd grabbed a sonic shower and headed down to the simulators to let loose some tension. That was when she saw Lafiel.

The Abh was clutching at her jaw, and by the expression on her face, it was obvious she'd been hit. Knowing full well the Abh's light build, the Spartan frowned. Coming up behind the girl, she laid a hand gently on the Empress' shoulder.

"Let me see." The tone was gentle, but firm. If Lafiel knew what was good for her, she wouldn't argue.

[aworldnevermade.livejournal.com]

Meluly had been going along to do some laundry. It was a strange little guilty pleasure, using the limitless possibility of the Sensoriums for something so banal and practical.

And then—

"Lafiel!" If the stitched-out-of-a-tarp bag hadn't been slung over a shoulder, she'd have dropped it in her rush to get closer to her friend.