Cliff Fittir (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aerialassault) wrote2014-08-25 09:09 pm
aerialassault) wrote2014-08-25 09:09 pm
Entry tags:
007 [Action/Audio]
[...It had started off small. A flash here or there in middle of the night, an awareness that made his heart dance and his blood run cold. Sleep always evaded him after that, leaving him to fiddle away with his hands on his small robotic vacuum until the golden rays of dawn peeked through the apartment windows. His mind would settle down after the sun arose, and he could always go about his day like nothing was wrong at all.
But, like all things, it grew. The sporadic flashes in the night grew into haunting images that stuck in his craw and nagged him to a point of annoyed frustration. They were sometimes grim recollections of the chaos that was the battleground in Zompania. Othertimes he was in that run down building with Fayt again, injured and outnumbered-- that spear still left him reeling with a white-hot rage--
--And then there was that eerie sense again. An instinctive, almost animalistic awareness of a threat that at once unnerved him and pissed him off. It was that thing that existed in a space he couldn't reach, something that could hurt him and everything he loved....and something that he couldn't even touch.
Sleep never returned on those nights, but his engineering projects just weren't enough to soothe his boiling temper.]
[Action]
[The Battle Dome had become his friend. It was the most high-tech spot in Luceti, and it was always open. He could slip out of his apartment and work out his frustrations in the hours before dawn without disturbing anyone else...and, that was just fine by him.
He had work to do anyway. The battle at Zompania had forced him to pay a price and, while he knew there were worse fates, this one was still damn annoying.
The program that he used in the simulation chambers was deceptively simple to the inexperienced observer. It was a series of targets that he had set up around the stark room, at randomized intervals along the walls and ceilings. It looked almost like a firing range in many respects, except it was clear that they weren't used for any ordinary firearm.
...or anything ordinary for that matter.
Anyone who happened to be wandering through early that morning would find a ragged, sweating Cliff in one of these simulations-- clearly, he had been in there for a while. The broad grin and wild look of glee in his eyes made it doubly clear tht he had accomplished something.
Surely, it had nothing to do with all of the noise that had been coming from that simulation room during that time. The ricochets of energy bouncing off the metallic walls and his own cries of frustration or whoop of glee had nothing to do with any of this.
Nope. Not at all.]
[Audio: Private to Vegeta]
Yo. It's me. Can ya meet me at the Dome....say, sometime before noon? It's been a while since we beat eachother up.
[Audio: Open to All]
...back where I'm from, the quiet was always sort of a bad thing to hear in the middle of the night. It meant that you were having mechanical trouble, and that was usually a Big Deal if ya understand that sorta thing. Sleeping planetside was never a problem though-- there's always something outside making some kinda sound, and normally you just...I dunno. Sleep.
All you guys who've been doing this thing for a while....well. How do ya handle it? I've been working on a few projects myself, but those are gonna run dry pretty soon at this rate.
[Then, softer and mostly to himself:] --can't keep sittin' around like this--
[The feed clicked off as abruptly as it began, as if the whole question were an afterthought, meant to be forgotten.
Cliff doesn't do talking well.
Other early risers can find him hanging around the plaza that morning, nursing a cup of coffee as he made plans for the rest of his day. Time waits for no one, after all, even if the progress hear could amount to nothing at the end.]
But, like all things, it grew. The sporadic flashes in the night grew into haunting images that stuck in his craw and nagged him to a point of annoyed frustration. They were sometimes grim recollections of the chaos that was the battleground in Zompania. Othertimes he was in that run down building with Fayt again, injured and outnumbered-- that spear still left him reeling with a white-hot rage--
--And then there was that eerie sense again. An instinctive, almost animalistic awareness of a threat that at once unnerved him and pissed him off. It was that thing that existed in a space he couldn't reach, something that could hurt him and everything he loved....and something that he couldn't even touch.
Sleep never returned on those nights, but his engineering projects just weren't enough to soothe his boiling temper.]
[Action]
[The Battle Dome had become his friend. It was the most high-tech spot in Luceti, and it was always open. He could slip out of his apartment and work out his frustrations in the hours before dawn without disturbing anyone else...and, that was just fine by him.
He had work to do anyway. The battle at Zompania had forced him to pay a price and, while he knew there were worse fates, this one was still damn annoying.
The program that he used in the simulation chambers was deceptively simple to the inexperienced observer. It was a series of targets that he had set up around the stark room, at randomized intervals along the walls and ceilings. It looked almost like a firing range in many respects, except it was clear that they weren't used for any ordinary firearm.
...or anything ordinary for that matter.
Anyone who happened to be wandering through early that morning would find a ragged, sweating Cliff in one of these simulations-- clearly, he had been in there for a while. The broad grin and wild look of glee in his eyes made it doubly clear tht he had accomplished something.
Surely, it had nothing to do with all of the noise that had been coming from that simulation room during that time. The ricochets of energy bouncing off the metallic walls and his own cries of frustration or whoop of glee had nothing to do with any of this.
Nope. Not at all.]
[Audio: Private to Vegeta]
Yo. It's me. Can ya meet me at the Dome....say, sometime before noon? It's been a while since we beat eachother up.
[Audio: Open to All]
...back where I'm from, the quiet was always sort of a bad thing to hear in the middle of the night. It meant that you were having mechanical trouble, and that was usually a Big Deal if ya understand that sorta thing. Sleeping planetside was never a problem though-- there's always something outside making some kinda sound, and normally you just...I dunno. Sleep.
All you guys who've been doing this thing for a while....well. How do ya handle it? I've been working on a few projects myself, but those are gonna run dry pretty soon at this rate.
[Then, softer and mostly to himself:] --can't keep sittin' around like this--
[The feed clicked off as abruptly as it began, as if the whole question were an afterthought, meant to be forgotten.
Cliff doesn't do talking well.
Other early risers can find him hanging around the plaza that morning, nursing a cup of coffee as he made plans for the rest of his day. Time waits for no one, after all, even if the progress hear could amount to nothing at the end.]
no subject
But she too, meanders by the coffee place before finding him. Taking a sip, she sits down next to him on his good side and nudges him with an elbow.]
Are you having trouble sleeping? Or...are you just bored?
no subject
Little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. It's kinda annoying, and I'm running outta things to do.
no subject
[There's a note of amusement there, but also sympathy.]
Honestly, if it wasn't for the shrine, I'd be in a similar position.
no subject
Yeah, right? [He chuckled wryly.] I never had this kinda problem back home-- what, with politics being what they are and people being who they are. But...well, it ain't like I can just go and start Quark up here, and I'm getting tired of waiting for an opening to actually do something. Vacation's nice, but it's not gonna help if we get drafted again, yanno?
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[Rei's thinking more out loud...]
And you could always do what I do in my spare time.
no subject
Some would even dare to call it his life's work, he knew, but he never went that far. It was just something he handled because he couldn't bear to sit idle while injustices were happening around him.]
Yeah, it is. Not that it would even work anything like it does at home if I tried to start it here.
What do you do in your spare time?
no subject
[Honestly...Cliff, she's a little surprised you asked. Not because she doesn't think you care, but because she's a teenage girl, and you're very much...not.]
I study magic, for one. I practice what fighting skills I have, and I read?
no subject
Magic goes over my head, [he muttered, ticking off the list with his fingers,] I'm already doing that, and the library only has so many books.
[He hummed thoughtfully, before shaking his head in frustration.]
Gah-- I'm startin' to see why some of the old-timers 'round here seem a little odd on a good day.
no subject
[He doesn't really seem like the artsy sort of man.]
And oh? Are you calling me an old timer? Just because you've run out of things to do? Because if you're bored...I can always find things to do.
no subject
[Granted, that still wasn't as long as Souji and a few others, but his point stood. A year or so seemed to be the difference between those who only stayed a short while compared to those who were in it for the long haul...
He eyed her suspiciously.]
What sorta things would you find?
no subject
[This is one of those traps, Cliff. You should run. Run fast.]
Something with your hands, probably. There's all sorts of things a big strong man can do.
no subject
Unfortunately, he was curious.]
What, you've got more roofing for me to do at the Shrine? I think I might bust more than a few tiles if I'm doing that at 4am, Rei.
no subject
[She leans back, looking up at the sky.]
There's a shack I found out in the forest. It's a little run down...but I was thinking you could fix it up. It might give you something to do.
no subject
A shack? Like, a little work shed or something? How far into the forest is it?
[And why would someone put a workshed in the forest? It seemed like a strange location-- why would someone build something like that in a place that was inconvenient?]
no subject
no subject
I'm game. It ain't like sleep's gonna be a thing for a bit anyway.
no subject
[And a short, dull walk later, they are in front of the dilapidated boomshack.]
Here we are.
no subject
That ain't so bad looking, [He said, propping his hands on his hips.] With a little work and a little patience, we could make something nice outta this thing.
[It wasn't too far from his place in the Ground Building either, if he was getting his directions correct. This would be a nice side project!]
no subject
[She taps her chin.]
I wonder who made it...honestly.