trans_9 | Sitting quietly in preparation

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Sitting quietly in preparation

She had gotten faster. It started out as a demonstration to Diana in gun play, but now she found her hands moved in a blur, a side effect of her involvement in the tournament. When she'd had the powers that Alex Mercer guy possessed, she experienced a clarity of movement that she never had before: it was as if something that had been blocked in her became clear. It was like putting on a kind of armor, but an armor that worked WITH you, that you guided.

She'd felt like that a little with her barrier jacket, but of course Big Daddy had its own sentience, so it felt like tag team in a way. She didn't mind that: hell, it was the reason she had beaten Alex in the first place. But having the ability to control a strength she never had, to use it to her best ability was different.

And not having that ability but wanting it had changed something in her body. Now it was looking for something it didn't have, and compensating with speed. And in a way, Hit girl didn't mind this: Ruffnut being brigged brought out a frenzy of needing to do something, to work on her body more.

So she was in her castle, working on her speed, leaping up and down crevices, working out her body. the doors are wide open, though, to let anyone in.

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Sandy on the other hand was stationary in one of the hallways examining a long stretch of wood paneling. Goggles on, a bandanna wrapped around her nose and mouth like a bandit.

A can of florescent green paint in hand she shook it with practiced ease and set to work. The hissing sound filled the air and she could almost see the swirls of dust above her as the ghosts of the Tower swooped by to see how she was defacing their home now. They usually only rose objection if they didn't like what she was painting for one reason or another.

Oh, an intruder? She knew there was someone here because by now Hit girl knew when there was someone unfamiliar around. Somehow people like Ruffnut or Hana carried a weight she understood, but someone who didn't usually hang? She knew they were a stranger, so she was quick to act.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Sandy gave a start and the can fumbled in her hands. She had to catch it on the third bounce and peered through her goggles.

"Oh hey." She answered trying to sound casual like she hadn't just been caught off guard. Pulling up her goggles and down her bandanna she revealed her face. While neither of them had spent much time together Mindy would recognize her from the original introductions when she and Hana had moved into the tower.

"Sorry I was just...there was this stretch of wall here that looked bare and Ruffnut told me I could paint stuff. She also said if she didn't like it she'd just make me change it till she did."

So much for being on the defensive. With that explanation Hit girl shook her head, laughing lightly. "Of course she'd say something like that and not let me know. What a douche."

She looked at the tag closely. "Add a little red here, actually. It'll make it pop more."

Because hit Girl had NEVER seen graffiti before.

Sandy followed her gaze and thought about it for a moment. "Yeah...yeah I see it." She set the can down and brought up another filling in the tag giving it more form. It looked like a demonduck of some sort.

"I can take more time and actually enjoy it here. Back home it always had to be quick before someone saw."

"You come from New York, don't you?" Hit girl commented. "I remember you saying that. I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions there, but seeing you do that just made me think of home. I kinda like it: gives this place a little flavor."

She winked. "So you had to be quick and exercise caution. Can't really say that I don't know what that feeling is like."

"A New York yeah, near Queens. Though from what I've heard my New York isn't as friendly and freedom loving as some of the others." Something she resented even more now that she was living about as free as she had ever been.

She smiled at the compliment and took a moment to add a pair of horns to the demon duck.

"Mine isn't all pretty, but sounds a little better than yours" she said. "Then again, who can say? The city kinda made me what I am, if you want to get technical. Some people definitely don't like seeing someone like me having to exist."

Which she was just fine with, really.

"Nice duck, Sandy."

"You and me both sister." Sandy laughed with a bitter dark sense of humor.

She looked back to the duck and smiled nodding. "The ghosts seem to like it. I mean...I can't tell for sure but they haven't defaced it yet so that's a good start."

Hit Girl snickered. "If the ghosts didn't like it, believe me, you'd know. They have a way if letting you know what they don't care for."

She shrugged. "How are you liking this place?"

"This place as in the tower? It's totally creepy and great. Way better then the little room Hana and I had before." She grinned playfully. "Could do with a bit more privacy, but the spooks are Hana's friends so I don't mind them too much."

"With more privacy...oh yeah, the ghosts," Hit Girl said chuckling. "Yeah, they do kinda make it difficult to just chill out or other things. It's just something you have to get used to."

Although even she had limits. The ghosts knew enough not to mess with her and Ruff's alone time.

"Oh right, you and Hana did have a room before," she said. "Totally platonic back then, right?"

Sandy's face flushed red and she stiffed a little laughing embarrassed, "Uh, well, not exactly, I mean for awhile but I just...and he..." She was clearly not used to discussing their relationship with others.

"Dude, we're both girls, its no big deal," she said casually. Of course, hit Girl was also assuming they hadn't done anything worse than second base. Hana seemed dim when it came to stuff like that, and Sandy...well, sort of reserved there. "You needed a place to live, you're here. I'm just curious how far its gone, so we know what we have to do for you in the future or whatever."

That didn't help much to dial back Sandy's blush. The fact that they were both girls didn't even cross her mind. To her it was all relationship stuff.

"I just, I'm happy with him. And when we're together it feels good." She mumbled sheepishly. "I don't really think about anything else right now." Which was not entirely untrue. She had of course thought about it about as far as knowing it was what other people did. But those people were usually older.

Oh, it was a stab in the dark, even for Mindy: she was sure girls DID talk about this stuff, even if up until the ship, girl companionship wasn't anything that ever entered the equation. So it was seriously something she assumed girls did. If those bullshit girl tweeny shows were to be believed, anyway.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's kinda cool, when relationships start out like that with people you really care about. It's really all you need to know. You ad lib the rest."

Which obviously she and Ruff did like a motherfucker. Neither of them had an idea what was happening.

"You look smart enough to know what to do when it gets to that level though."

Mindy was doing nothing to ease the embarrassment Sandy felt on the topic. She shrugged sheepishly, "We get along alright. He taught me to be a better kisser." She mumbled and then bit her lip flustered that she'd confessed that.

"He makes me feel safe." She added decisively.

Hit Girl shook her head, smiling. "Least he knew how. Me and Ruff pretty much had the luck of both sorta being social retards in a way. But you guys sound cute. All adorable and everything."

And full of less complications, that was for sure.

"That guy? Really?" She smiled. "Then again, I seen him fight. He's no wimp."

"No way." Sandy grinned suddenly smug, "He's one of the best fighters I've ever seen! And he's so young just imagine how amazing he'll be when we grow up?"

She was already planning on them growing up together.

"You sorta realize you're preaching to the choir, right?" Hit Girl said, looking a little exasperated. "Of all the people on the ship, a little girl who can do what I do is not gonna doubt someone like Hana. The key is making sure he grows up to do all that shit, of course."

Sandy shrugged having only heard of Mindy through Hana, "Or making sure he grows up stable." She had heard of people who had wild and adventurous heroic childhoods growing up to be jerks. And though she couldn't imagine Hana being mean she didn't want to think it could happen to him.

Hit Girl thought about this a moment.

"I think that whole stable part will depend on you too then. Fighting adventures, doing all that stuff you gotta go, you sometimes need an anchor, makes you remember what normal feels like."

For Hit Girl, it had been Ruffnut: otherwise, she would have been a worse jerk than she was.

"An anchor huh?" Sandy laughed lightly, "Well he picked the perfect girl for that." And to show what was so funny her skin, hair and clothes turned to solid stone.

"Show off," Hit Girl said, grinning. She didn't mind, not with all the stuff that she could do with her barrier jacket and her own prowess.

"Hey, how did you get that power again? I don't think I ever asked."

Edited 2012-06-06 21:10 (UTC)

She shifted back before answering, "It's a metagene thing. Some people in my world are born with the potential for superpowers. Sometimes it's a genetic thing passed down from their parents. My dad could turn himself into sand and was really powerful so I guess I got this from him." She shrugged. Since she'd taken an interest in Medicine she'd studied Stacy's files on the Meta gene. She hadn't figured out anything to do with it in particular but understanding it was a good step.

"Sounds bad ass," she said, raising an eyebrow at the shrug. "Have you ever used it to fight crime or anything like that? What's its function?"

Sandy laughed a little, "Well no, not exactly. So far all it's done is keep me from getting hurt too bad. I used to be more of the "Run away" kind of girl when it came to crime...and police officers for that matter." A fact she wasn't proud to admit but was honest about.

"Is that right?" Hit Girl raised an eyebrow. "How did that happen? Kinda interesting, since, you know, my dad used to be a cop before he decided to take matters-and me-into his own hands."

Sandy flushed hotly and stiffened embarrassed "A-ah geeze I didn't...I'm sorry I just- Open mouth insert foot." She lamented feeling as though she had insulted Hana's dangerous friend, or at least made a bad impression by mentioning running from the police.

Wait, what?

"Nah, chill Sandy," she said with a chuckle. "I'm not pissed or anything! It's been awhile since my dad was a cop, and honestly, it didn't work out well considering what went down. I was just really curious as to WHY you were running from the police, that's all."

"Oh um...well." She shuffled and decided it was best to come clean. After all what would Mindy care?

"Where I come from the police were corrupt. Cruel. They did whatever they wanted and kept everyone scared and weak. So I would paint the buildings, or their cars. Inspirational stuff if I could. It was usually gone in a week."

Hit Girl sighed. "I'm not surprised. It's the reason dad wound up going to prison: cops where we were were expected to take a bribe from a certain guy, and dad wouldn't. It killed my mom, on her own end anyway. I don't know much about that, but I do know that my dad stopped being a cop foe a reason. So good on you for shaking the system.."

She grinned. "Who were the cops working for anyway?"

Listening to their shared grievances towards crooked cops filled Sandy with a righteous anger. Were corrupt police forces in place in each world?

"The Mayor. In my time the city of New York had separated itself from the United States and the police became more like a military force. Full armor, high powered weapons and absolute authority. They made it clear that if they caught anyone, man, woman or child breaking the law they could do whatever they wanted to them." Her words were filled with a venom that the young girl didn't normally hold. Cynical and rough though she was her time on Stacy had given her some peace and restored a part of her childhood by giving her Hana.

But old memories had a habit of bringing out old pains.

Oh, that was some anger she could definitely get behind.

"If there was one thing I ever hated," she said, "it was a fucking dirty cop. And it's kinda ironic that you and I would be from completely different New Yorks but still have to deal with that. It was that kinda shit that made me want to be a hero in the first place. Those guys don't sound like cops: they sound like stooges who like to hurt people for fun."

She shook her head. "I'm glad you're not there anymore."

"That makes two of us. Three of us if you count Hana and four of us if you count Eva...but she's back in the pods now." She sighed. "Either way anywhere is better then home for me."

"I'm glad to hear you say th-wait, Eva who?"

Her heart sunk slightly.

Sandy's heart sunk too as she saw Mindy's reaction, two awkward moments in one conversation. She was off to a great start.

"Uh yeah...I don't know her last name. I just called her Eva. This pretty lady with dark hair. Really nice but tough as nails when she had to be." And Sandy's adopted mother figure. Even the young and inexperienced Sandy had been able to tell she was bonding more with that woman then her own mother.

"Oh," Mindy said. "Damn. There were two people on the ship who kinda looked after me when they could. One was her, the other is AJ. That sucks...but water girl is gonna take it harder than me, that's for sure. Really seemed to like her, that one."

That was really crappy news though. Mindy had little to no idea about mothers, but if hers was still around, she knew she'd want her to be like Eva.

Sandy nodded as if she knew who the Water girl was. "Yeah Eva was pretty great. So that just means we can't lose this war. I may not give a care about my old home...but Eva should get to go home and make herself happy there." She distracted herself by cleaning up her paint supplies. Thinking too much about Eva being gone was depressing.

"Yeah, exactly," Hit Girl said. "And I'm really glad you said that: I meet way too many people on this ship who want to get to a point where we can go, but don't wanna do the work it takes to get there. So at least you're a better person than some people on the ship."

She paused. "Hey, I can give you a hand with that."

Sandy shrugged "Well don't get me wrong, if I could go live somewhere else tomorrow I would, but I'd be miserable there without Hana and Eva. And Hana wouldn't leave without the people he cares about so here I am." She smirked sardonically even if she didn't know what that word meant.

"I'm not a better person, I'm just not brave or strong enough to fight along side the best people here."

Hit Girl watched her a moment. "I think you're at least being honest about yourself. These people mean something, and they made an impression. You might be weak, but you could be better. I know you can: I was a regular kid before."

And she thought that she COULD fight, no matter what she said.

Sandy laughed and gave Mindy a disbelieving look, "I'm not so sure. Are you positive you didn't hatch from an egg or maybe come to Earth in a pod as a baby?"

Never thought of that, did you Mindy?

"Well that would mess up my whole origin story," Hit Girl chuckled. "I have the whole 'mother died at my birth/have to get revenge' thing going. It's why dad trained me in the first place."

Sandy laughed a light solid sort of laugh, "I rest my case. Not normal. But cool."

Hit Girl grinned. "Then I think I'm cool with not being normal. Hell, its probably why you and I are on this ship to begin with."

She stretched. "I haven't gotten to hang with you much, we should change that. What do you do for fun?"

"I'm still betting on dumb luck." Sandy shot back smirking.

"Oh well um, I run, I paint stuff, study the medical stuff...and try to catch up on TV and movies and stuff in the library.

"Hey, you can only get by so much on dumb luck. After that, its bad assery all the way!"

That sounded kinda interesting. "What kinda TV do you watch? It's been awhile."

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Sitting quietly in preparation

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