Training! [closed]

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

 Alex stood in the sensoriums, once again without his sweatshirt. He checked his omnicomm for the fifth time this  minute and rubbed at his arms, unaccustomed to the feeling of air against them. He was wondering if he had gotten the wrong time, or gone to the wrong place, or something else equally as distressing, even though it hadn't even yet hit the agreed upon time.

He inadvertently summoned his house- specifically his room. It was ridiculously bare, with a low coffee table to house his sensorium-laptop, a bed with a broken frame, and a floor lamp that was a little off-kilter, though at least it had a shade. From the other room a base-ball game could be heard, his father occasionally cursing at it in German.

He laid back on his bed with a heavy sigh. Was he really missing this place of all places? Well, he didn't miss his father, but the familiar sounds of the street outside, the hum of his laptop fan, the sound of the TV, the feel of his bed under him as he stared at the familiar ceiling, it was just all so familiar and in it's own way comforting.

Comments

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

There's too much stuff in this room. It's going to make putting Alex through his paces difficult.

Zuko casts his eyes around the room when he enters the sensorium, crosses his arms, and looks at Alex.

"Change it."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex jumped out of the bed, making the frame crack and shift a bit more. He was red in the face, embarrassed to be caught as he was. "Y-yessir! S-sorry sir!" The room faded and was replaced with his memory of the place they had trained in the last time.

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko, approving of the surroundings, sits cross-legged. "You'd better have practiced."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex nodded, remaining standing, "I-I d-did. I-it's a-actually r-really helpful f-for w-when I'm e-eating shadows..."

[found-myway.livejournal.com]

Zuko would normally continue without encouraging conversation, but . . .

". . . eating shadows?"

Eyebrows.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alex looked a little surprised, "Oh! Y-yeah... I see negative emotions as th-these... sh-shadow things... An' I n-need ta eat them ta survive. It's... th-they're p-probably easier ta show than e-explain..."

He closed his eyes and raised inside of him a sickening feeling of dread and used that to extend out to Zuko, so that Zuko could see shadows as Alex does.

Around Alex was a dense fog of black, as if a blurred swarm of gnats was surrounding Alex, though it was far more intimidating. It was looming above him, menacing, threatening, as if it might consume him whole and then move onto Zuko. It closely cloaked Alex, though it's volume increased about his shoulders, making it seem as if it might topple him over. It somewhat obscured his appearance, but at the same time all details were still paradoxically visible. Another shadow loomed around him as well, though smaller.

"I... I hafta eat th-these for food. But, they... are n-normally not as... large. O-or strong."