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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 3, 2016 22:48:54 GMT -7
"It's called conditioning. Ever watch a kung fu movie and they are punching logs and stuff? You make your body get tougher."
He relaxed though, looked like they could keep this clean. Which was a relief, he prefers it when things resolve cleanly. Her being The Bird was problematic, but only if she made it so. As far as he was concerned it changes very little. He can seperate work and play, and they can go on dates and be friends as long as she understands that if she gets in his way he won't hesitate to smash her skull into the pavement.
"I'm fine though, thank you for the concern."
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 4, 2016 5:23:36 GMT -7
"There's a lot of embellishment, then. Most people can't survive a fall from the sky.." That was actually a thing? On some level, Kasey could understand: she herself had learned to condition her body towards mobility and built up the strength to do her routines, but she wasn't sure how much a martial arts training montage was just the media's dramatic flair. It seemed the end results were the same, however. Literally, considering when she'd first met Gilgamesh, and that was with giving her the chance to leave. It had felt weird at the time that he'd done it, but her goal had been information and heckling someone else, not him.
Then he had showed up at the radio station, threatening both her and Sanduleak around Limen. The thought caused her frown to return as they continued walking. She missed the days that were more smiles than not.
"I can understand that, though. Hate to see what you do for training." Again, breaking down walls like they were nothing. The reputation of breaking in skulls, she could also see and believe more readily. People didn't need super poswers for that. It was something else history showed time and again.
"You certainly seemed fine enough at the radio station." Her frown deepened at the memory as a hand went to her ribs. If Limen hadn't jumped in the way, it would have landed flush, and she really didn't want to have to deal with that again. She'd be prepared for things not going smoothly on a bigger scaled next time. She had to.
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 4, 2016 9:08:27 GMT -7
"Except all the people that have survived parachutes not opening when skydiving. Or suicide attempts when jumping off of bridges and the like."
He'd point out. It was hardly impossible. And it's not like he'd walked away without a scratch. Yeah, he bounced back quick but there had been a super healing him and apparently a lot of people. He didn't see what was so hard to imagine about that. He'd been out cold for days, and longer still before he was back to fighting condition. He had no clue how long it would have taken if that Super hadn't meddled in his business.
"I'd had some chances to recover by then."
What was she getting at? Was she upset that he'd hit her? Threatened her? That was her fault for not standing down. He'd given her and others plenty of chances to back off and leave peacefully. They almost never took that option though, and then he was the bad guy for following through because they tried to call his bluff. Well it wasn't a bluff.
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 4, 2016 17:25:33 GMT -7
The logic to his words isn't lost on her. Kasey nods with a quiet, thoughtful hum of consent. Stranger things had happened to those who were just regular humans, be it flukes of nature or something innate that came out when the worst came at them bearing its teeth. Between that and the healer she'd seen tending to him, it wasn't so much a surprise that he was here with her now so much as he'd lived to be healed in the first place. It was yet another reminder that she had enough to learn.
"I noticed." She made a face and let it simmer for a minute. "So why threaten us? Nothing even came of it." She seemed more than nettled with the latter part of the statement than the fact that he'd hit her. It felt like they'd had that little scuffle for nothing.
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 5, 2016 17:47:33 GMT -7
"Plenty came of it."
He wasn't trying to stop the broadcast. He didn't give a fuck about that, it was a pointless fear mongering waste of time so people could brag about how badass they thought they were. It was trying to turn one person into a martyr over the countless that other's had died. It was stupid and selfish, but it also wasn't his problem. What he wanted was to force Limen into conflict. Force her to stand her ground.
And while he wouldn't call it a resounding success there was progress. She had faced him dead on. Her attack wasn't what he had hoped she would do. But it was a step forward from ducking around him and trying to avoid him. So he'd take that as some kind of win.
"And I got what I wanted out of it."
Mostly.
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 5, 2016 17:56:47 GMT -7
She waited for elaboration, but there wasn't any. Just that plenty came of it and he was satisfied. Satisfied? With what? They had told a story no one would believe, and she'd been part of it. The rush had been enjoyable, but the results unexpected, so was that her fault for anticipating too much? Not taking control? But she'd also claimed nothing more than a support role from the start, so maybe that was the problem.
"And what did you--" Her words stopped as the memory came back to her, the wall fo the station falling down around them, how it had been three against one at first glance until the others joined the fray. The focus that had made her and Sanduleak nothing more than pawns when compared to their partner in crime.
'"You can leave, or I'll make your little friends wish they had died during the Dragon attack too."'
"You didn't want her to run."
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 5, 2016 18:00:59 GMT -7
He'd tap his nose. Now she was understanding. It had never been about the message or the Dragon. It was never about killing them, though he would have should he have felt it necessary. Everything had been about Limen, about molding her into the fighter that she could be. He'd told her what being his disciple meant to him, and that meant he was going to do what he needed to in order to push her to reach her potential. That meant surpassing limits. That meant learning how to stand your ground. She would never reach it running away from every fight she encountered.
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 5, 2016 19:28:34 GMT -7
For all her revelation, Kasey was greeted with silence and a single hand gesture. she wasn't sure if he was pleased that he didn't have to explain himself or not, and when she tilts her head upward a notch to look at him better, there's no frown on her face, but serious consideration. She wanted to ask him if he'd have done it, in the end. The words dance along the tip of her tongue, pressing against her lips. But she knew who he was, and his reputation for being brutal was true. Then again, he had given her time to walk away before, so who knew?
"So what happens now?"
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 5, 2016 19:33:44 GMT -7
"That depends on you. We can be friends, go on dates and see where life takes us. But, if you stand in my way I will kill you if I feel the need."
They could have been discussing where to go out to eat for all the venom in his voice. Or lack of venom, even as he threatened her life. It wasn't something that was overly complicated to him. He had specific goals in mind, and anything that stood in the way between what he really cared about were obstacles to be overcome. That wasn't to say every encounter was that way, he'd given her time to leave on things he didn't care as much about before. But he had an end game, and he would not fail. Because his failure meant his own death, and he did not plan to let anyone, or anything have the honor of killing him for a long time yet.
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 5, 2016 20:05:22 GMT -7
So this was it, then. The ball was in her court, as it had been before. She could chose to keep on walking and not look back, or to agree to be friends with a guy who had not only threatened and hurt her in the past, but promised to again if she stood in his way. Because absolutely nothing about that was creepy in the least.
It reminded her of what she'd said in the cafe, what they'd agreed on. How you didn't need powers to be a killer, or worse. That just made things more unpredictable and dangerous. And yet, she'd met supers and befriended them in her own way. Sort of. When the relationship didn't fall apart at the reveal. Her hands folded behind her back as they continued walking, looking forward as she contemplated exactly what it was she was choosing. Alex was her friend, but Gilgamesh wasn't. One was a good person, someone she trusted, the other the exact opposite. Or was that too simple, considering they were one and hte same as much as Canary Claw was the same as Kasey? They were part of the other.
So, to be friends or not be friends with a known murderer? She herself didn't believe that was the answer, was never actually violent herself. But she knew others were. She knew it wasn't always black and white, hard argued that same thing with other people, that you couldn't just have us vs them. There was always going to be at least a little gray in the picture. And anything she might ask him? She'd answered herself, or faced. How could she say the same and not be a hypocrite?
But that didn't mean she enjoyed the cheerful tne with the promise of death. It was visibly unsettling.
"I see."
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 5, 2016 20:28:51 GMT -7
"Do you?"
That would be a surprise. Most people couldn't really separate themselves from different sides of themselves like that. The divide between work and play. To play the role one needed to play for the situation. They could argue back and forth over which persona was an act and which was the real him. But the truth likely lay somewhere between the two of them. Somewhere in those murky grey waters.
"Well, for what it's worth. I like you Kasey, and I'd rather not be put in a situation in which my hand is forced. But there are bigger things at work here, things set in motion long before we met. And there is no stopping those things. I'm not gonna ask you to side with me or support me. I'm not gonna tell you to oppose me or preach about what's right and wrong. That's for you to figure out. Just know that if you stand against me I will not hesitate to kill you if I must. But, I'd take no joy from it."
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 6, 2016 14:05:55 GMT -7
Do you? Those two words made her wonder. Kasey would like to believe she did, but she was struggling enough with her own thoughts that she realized she might be more more unaware than she realized. She was getting a lot about where he stood, and in logic, it made sense, but she didn't function strictly on logic. Most people didn't. What he said was true: there were things bigger than both of them in the world, and they both had goals before meeting each other. Kasey would have also liked to think that their friendship would mean something when the chips were thrown down, however. Maybe she was being foolish.
"...Maybe not." He'd take no joy in killing her? Was that supposed to be a comfort? At first, she'd felt a small bit of relief with what he was saying, but that changed with each passing word. Now it was also a great deal of weirdness and distress. She was worried about being friends with a murderer, though he wasn't the first. He was just so...so chipper about it! Like it was nothing.
And yet, those same tactics made walking home from work relatively safe now, far more so than it had ever been for as long as Kasey could remember, and she had an excellent memory. The concern that she would be mugged or worse still existed, and would as long as she and her loved ones lived in the slums, but the risk had been lowered without her having to resort to her own tactics.
"I don't intend to fight you, Alex. You're my friend." Ish. It was complicated now. Again. She looked at him, a mix of friend and not friend and, let's be honest, a puzzle that could become a headache if she let herself overthink it.
"How do you do it?"
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 6, 2016 15:50:06 GMT -7
"Do what exactly?"
Did she mean his physical tactics? How he trained himself to the bone every day to reach where he was. The years of torture, torment, and promise of death as he clawed himself over every physical limitation that he encountered. Always hitting another wall. Always having his progress stalled. He'd never been the most talented of the disciples. He'd even go so far as to say he was the least talented of them. At least when it came to natural talent and ability. But that had never once stopped him from pushing further, pushing harder. What he lacked in natural ability he made up for in sheer determination.
Or did she mean how did he distance himself emotionally from his actions? He did he take life so easily, talk about killing his friends so casually. How did he keep it from eating him up inside? And truth was that was a much harder question to answer. There wasn't an easy answer to it as far as he was aware of. Or if there was he'd sure have loved to have heard it years ago. But it had been trial and error, crying himself to sleep. Years of nightmares and venting his frustration and loathing on wooden poles and dishonorable scum preying on the weakest of society. Time, time was what allowed him to become okay with what he was, and with the fact that the right thing wasn't always pleasant. That sometimes one had to be the villain to be a hero to someone.
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Post by Kasey James on Aug 6, 2016 16:20:21 GMT -7
"Separate yourself from what you're doing." She wasn't looking away now, despite the uncomfortable topic. Little glances were spared here and there long enough to see if she was going to have to move or if people would move out of their way, instead, but those were few and far between with the focus on the conversation and how much his answer meant to her. Even if he didn't have an answer himself, his attitude would make things profoundly clear.
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Post by Alex Spencer on Aug 6, 2016 16:29:50 GMT -7
"Time mostly."
That part was said quickly, that was the easy part of the question. It wasn't an immediate switch. Like everything in his life, this sense of self peace with what he did was hard fought. He had to claw his way to it or be buried under the weight of his sins and failures. And he'd seen first hand it wasn't something everyone could do. He didn't know what that said about him, but he'd be lying if he said it had been easy at first.
"I've come to understand that we all have our roles to play. Call me hero, call me villain in the end it doesn't matter. I do what needs to be done to cull away those that prey on the helpless, and I know that it is done in a brutal way. However brutality is all these people understand, fear and death is the only way to stop their advance. And I know I am more than just my actions."
He'd shrug.
"I'm not asking you to like what I do, or accept it. But it is what I do."
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