trans_9 | Things We Never Said [Open]

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Things We Never Said [Open]

Billy could see it clearly in his mind's eye:

Billy, Cassie, and Jamie would be wielding the new and improved Slop Immobilizer Gun, wearing their brand new non-stick safety uniforms, and presenting the project with triumphant smiles on their faces. They finally built something that wouldn't stick when it wasn't meant to. With that great weapon, they could trap their opponents non-lethally and be considered heroes for finding a use for the almost universally loathed slop.

It was now a scene that would never come to pass. Oh, Billy was still there, and Jamie was, and the gun was, and of course the slop would never ever go away, much to their dismay, but nothing remained of Cassie Lang but their memories.

Their partner, their friend. Dead. Billy thought back on all he knew of her: her family life, developing as a hero, her friends, her spirit, her contributions. All of that culminating in one of the better people he'd known, never to be seen again. Never to be thanked for all she'd done, and even he saw this. Comparatively he hadn't known her extremely well, but she was one of his own. Like B5 had been.

It was that thought that drove Billy into another version of the attack simulation, wielding the gun from his fantasy once more. He'd thought he was going to call Jamie and Cassie for the victory after the crisis, but he would now be running the test alone. Soon enough, the moving targets were in place and the first shots were fired.

Blam. Blam. This time, it worked exactly as intended, but there was no joy left in Billy's heart to celebrate. Instead, he found himself lowering his gun arm and starting to cry.

"Cassie..."

((Open because he'll be mourning here for a little while, even knowing that everyone knows where he is. Renne's last chronologically for now, but I'll work out some semblance of chronology at the end. I don't wanna leave anyone out.))

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Tenaya watched Billy, mostly in silence. She knew this was the time when they could afford to grieve, and she was trying to do her hardest to respect that. After all, hadn't she been just as devastated when her brother had gone comatose saving her life?

"Hey," she called out, softly.

Now it was Tenaya's turn.

He scrubbed at his eyes furiously, eventually turning around with a bowed head.

"Hey," he answered back, trying to downplay what he felt. "Did you pull through all right?"

"All things considered," Tenaya said. She really didn't want to say that she'd come out of it perfectly fine, not under these circumstances.

"I'm sorry," she said finally. "Were you friends?"

"I'm glad more people weren't badly hurt. That you weren't." Or killed, he thought with the feeling of a stake through his heart.

He nodded, mute for a few moments before speaking again. "Yeah. We'd worked together in the Engineering department for a long time, and we'd just recently started to become friends. After the trouble I caused for her a few days ago, I was planning to invite her to engage in a more enjoyable activity to apologize."

It was rotten luck, though Tenaya didn't say it out loud.

"I'm sure she forgave you," she insisted.

Dealing with emotional situations wasn't exactly her forte. In fact, she tended to shut down in complete shock, unable to deal with the feelings. So she knew she wasn't the best person to try to help Billy through it, at least not in the long term. In the short term, however...

"Up for a little sparring?" she suggested.

It would distract him, and hopefully leave him too tired to grieve.

Billy considered this.

"Sparring requires discipline, emotional control, and balance. I might manage two out of three, but I can exert myself another way. Do you want to run? Perhaps with a few obstacles?"

The creative effort combined with running might tire him more, but he knew he was overdue for another butt-kicking come next training session.

Tenaya gave him a small smile.

"Sure," she agreed. "That'll work."

The scenery began to change into the form of a deserted stretch of beach, similar to the coastline outside Corinth. As it began to form, Tenaya said, "Pick your obstacles." Already, she was thinking of high dunes.

Billy did so quickly. A mudpit with a rope swing, a few hurdles, rocky hills, a wall or two to climb. Nice and long, and the heat would cause a pleasant burn.

He changed his attire to something more suitable for running an intense course and then warmed up a bit. "Ready when you are."

Tenaya's clothes also changed into a good running outfit, and she stretched only slightly. The modifications to her body meant that she didn't need to stretch much.

"All set," she said.

"Then let's go."

He took off in the desert heat, first navigating the long stretch of desert at the start. First came the dunes, and he batted through them as quickly as he could. It was something to concentrate on.

Glancing to the side, he briefly admired how efficiently Tenaya seemed to handle these things.

Running--particularly when you weren't running for your life--was pretty fun. She was able to run pretty fast at first, though the dunes slowed her down. Her body mass was enough that she was sinking in the sand as she climbed, making her fall behind Billy. But once she was past them, she managed to catch up.

"Not trying to slow down or anything, are you?" she teased.

"It's too early for that," he responded, wondering if perhaps he should have adjusted the sands to be fairer to her. He knew she would prefer things as they were, though.

Another empty stretch was ahead of them, and then the mud pit. He was glad for that---even as an organic human, running in sand was far from easy. He'd been lucky to live near a desert on Earth.

He leapt, misjudged due to some sand in the eye, and fell in the mud. Ah well, time to silently crawl out.

"Good," she answered. "I hate it when people let me win."

Of course, that never really happened to her, given all the in-fighting among the generals and that she'd been the Rangers' enemy for so long.

Calculating fast, she managed a leap that cleared the mud pit. Seeing that Billy had fallen in, she smirked and said, "Better catch up!"

"I wouldn't consider anything else."

He ran and kept running, hoping the heat would dry the mud quickly enough. He needed a grip to navigate the walls ahead of them, one of which Tenaya is quickly approaching.

Tenaya hesitated only momentarily upon reaching the wall, taking the chance to calculate how much of her weight each grip would hold. When she did start climbing it, she did so rather carefully, being sure not to let herself lose her grip. It wasn't that high, but she'd had enough bad experiences with falling from heights.

Billy launched right into the wall, only slightly slippery from the mud. That was fortunate.

Tenaya still had a lead, but he probably wouldn't be beaten too badly if he didn't slip up again.

Tenaya reached the second wall, but in her haste, she failed to be as careful as before. Her hand slipped as she reached the top, and she dangled there for a moment, frozen in fear. Her last memory of her past played in her head for a moment--the sense that she'd fallen into a bottomless pit, Dillon's hand slipping from hers...

"Don't let go!"

She reached up and grabbed the ledge again, pulling herself up.

Billy hit the second wall hard, slipping a little, but his shoes gripped the wall well enough. He saw something out of the corner of his eye, though, that worried him.

"Tenaya?" he asked from the top of the wall.

Tenaya offered him a somewhat shaky smile once she'd recovered.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "Had a bad fall about a year ago--last thing I can remember. Slipping just shook me up a bit."

He nodded in understanding, hopping down with her and ready to continue when she was.

"If that had happened to me, I'd be afraid too. For the longest time I was terrified of fish because I'd been bitten by one as a child."

He had worse fears now, but everyone was allowed their phobias.

She smiled slightly at the mention of Billy's phobia. Fish. Well, there were much worse things to be afraid of. Lighter ones were easier to cope with.

"Everyone's got something," she agreed. "Let's go."

"And some of us have multiples," he agreed, the darkness of grief from before crossing over his face for a moment.

"Yeah, let's go," he agreed, charging off in the hopes that the adrenaline would pull him away from his grief again. Another long stretch, then a large hill.

He slowed, trying for a steady climb.

Tenaya watched the darkness cross Billy's face for a moment, wondering if she should mention that she'd never even told her brother about her fear. But she decided against it, knowing it might be too much for him to take right now. Maybe she'd tell him another time. Or at least, she'd tell him that her brother's idea of a rescue consisted of grabbing her, jumping out of the window of a very high building, and parachuting to the ground while precariously holding her over the city.

The ground was firm and comforting under her feet, and even the hill was nice and solid, as she too kept her pace steady.

This was just one of the last few hills he'd ended the course with. A perfect test of endurance, something he needed to feel right now.

Up and down, up and down. Most of his energy was focused on the climb, but there were some calming thoughts mixed in his head. It felt like a metaphor for life---when knocked down, he could climb back up.

Coolant flushed through Tenaya's systems as she kept her pace, some of it condensating on her skin, along with sweat from her remaining organic skin. She would have to shower later to cool herself down more thoroughly. As long as she dried herself well, she should be fine.

It was easy to start thinking as she ran. It was easy to start wondering about what pods had been destroyed in the explosion, if it had been anyone she'd known. But with endorphins flooding the organic portions of her brain, it was at least hard to brood about it much. Clearing her mind, she sped up her pace a little bit.

Things We Never Said [Open]

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