redshiftlogs | A great book begins with an idea; a great life, with a determination.

[She can usually get some time to herself here, not that she minds the occasional company (provided it's respectful), and it helps with the occasional twinging aches she gets in the various old injuries that litter her body after the years spent hopping between worlds.

Today, she's sitting on the edge of one of the hotter pools wearing a swimsuit, with her lower legs dangling in the water. Her ankle is throbbing against the heat, but it's a far more pleasant sensation to the one that had her limping in here in the first place.

A sound pulls her attention up from watching the steam playing over the surface of the water and her head jerks up, searching for the source.]

Hey-- [She sounds braver than she feels.] I can hear you.

Mhm, now say 'ah'.

[Poison isn't talking to a person, but rather to a small robot that she has sitting up on a bench in the labs. Her pet project for the past several months, it's the size of a small child and made entirely from spare and salvaged parts.

When she speaks, it opens its mouth obediently to allow her to make an adjustment to something inside... then leaves it hanging open at a strange angle as she turns away for several moments. She turns back and flinches, then pulls a face.]

You can close it now. Ugh... that's another subroutine you need...

[Sitting in the corner of the VR suite in the dark, not actually indulging in any of the technology on offer, Poison is reading a book with a torch.

If anyone opens the door she bolts upright, hissing out 'close it' and shrinking back into the corner until they either do as she asks... or don't, depending on who the person is.]

I'm having nothing to do with those ridiculous fitness tests.

[He would have gladly taken fitness test, the obstacle course looks fun. Of course, he got injured fighting the spider and is even now sneaking out of his bed.

Maybe he can at least get some activity in the VR Room because if Hayato finds him, he is toast. When he enters the room and finds Poison his smile is automatic. He slams the door closed instantly, his hand going up in greeting.]

Poison, are you okay? [he scratches his cheek, Shigure Kintoki on his shoulder. If she doesn't want to take the tests, she isn't taking them, he'll do what he can to make sure of that.]

Yes, I'm fine.

[She relaxes as soon as he closes the door, grinning slightly at him. Well, well, well...]

You look like you're sneaking around, too.

[Probably not avoiding the tests, if she has gathered anything about him from their interactions before now, but... something else? He looks a little roughed up.]

[He grins sheepishly, moving over to sit down with his back to the wall. He is not in his best physical shape for sure.]

Yeah, I've been stuck in bed after the spider beat me, I'm bored but if Hayato finds me I'm a dead man.

[Or at least lectured to no end but he could not stand being stuck in bed one more day.]

[The source of the noise does not answer, because it's busy cannon balling into the pool like a CHILD.

Sorry, Poison, you're dating this.]

[Oh, but it doesn't take more than a few moments for her to realise just who is there. A moment more to realise exactly what he's doing.

She does not have any moments spare to do anything other than vainly cover her head as he dives on past and promptly drenches her.]

Peter!

[Peter quickly resurfaces and shakes his hair out like the stupid dog that he is, flinging even more water in her direction in the process. She might be super annoyed but he's still grinning like a dork anyway. because of course he is.]

What? You looked like you needed some excitement.

Ugh!

[He's grinning like a dork and she's struggling against her own smile, because he's an idiot but he's her idiot. She cups her hands into the water and splashes two handfuls of it in his direction.]

It's always exciting with you around.

[He takes that splashing like a champ, wading over and resting his hands on the edge of the pool on either side of her.]

You mean when I'm not talking about boring stuff like math, right?

[She leans down, losing the battle with her expression entirely, and bumps her forehead against his.] I don't think anything you talk about is boring.

[Because he lights up with that infectious enthusiasm when it's something he finds interesting, and she wants to listen.]

Not even when it's maths.

Oh good, because I know how super unexciting math can be. Even I can get burned out on it sometimes.

[Sometimes, but not often. He leans in to give her a quick smooch on the lips before scooting back a bit and glancing down into the water.]

Your foot bothering you again?

[ Annie is not a stranger to the labs. Not these ones. Not even if she mostly deals with the fisheries, and with Cho gone, she's the most tech-orientated of her and Finnick. Sometimes, things need repairs. Or maintenance.

Which is why she's here. And why she's caught Poison hovering over the... robot?

She thinks it is a robot. ]

Um.

Is. Is that for fun?

[ It's a sincere question. Everyone has hobbies. Right? ]

[She makes a face at him. A similar face to the one she makes at anyone who went out fighting that spider thing.]

Well, I won't tell. You can hide in here with me. Use the VR if you want to.

Mm... a little.

[She's never really examined the damage that the vines did to her too deeply. It never stopped her from walking or getting around, but it left her with a bone-deep ache that never truly goes way, but gets worse or better depending on how much moving around she's doing.

Poison sticks her foot up out of the water, the peculiar scars winding through her ankle and calf showing up reddened by the heat.]

I'll be fine, though. Don't worry about me.

Fun?

[She looks up like she doesn't understand the question, her hands hovering over the robot as she looks at the other young woman. Someone who isn't a stranger to her, but not someone she's gone out of her way to speak to before.]

It's something to do. It's interesting.

[Poison shrugs.]

But I don't know if I'd call it 'fun'.

I worry about everybody, you're no exception.

[Sorry, Poison. You're dating the world's biggest worrier. He cups her heel in his hand and leans in to inspect the scarring a little closer.]

Have you had it checked at the medbay? I'm sure there's something in there we can scan it with, maybe see if there's anything we can do about the pain.

[He actually didn't go out after the spider. Hayato and him were out looking at the tombstones when it came upon them and that was basically it. It was either fight or risk it getting close to the colony. Yamamoto is always one to fight for the people he cares for.]

Thank you! Why are you hiding?

[She watches him, then twists her foot and splashes a little water up into his face with her toes.]

I don't enjoy being scanned with medical equipment. [Poison says with a small wrinkle of her nose. There are many things she wants to try and ascertain about herself, and the least of those thing is whether or not she can keep her ankle from hurting...]

But I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if you come too.

[He cocks a brow after she splashes him in the face, and then tickles the bottom of her foot in retaliation. Carefully though, he doesn't want her to hurt her ankle again by trying to pull away too hard or something.]

I know how most of the stuff in there works by now, so I can make sure it doesn't get... I dunno, too invasive?

[She twitches when her foot is tickled, her expression twisting as she valiantly controls the urge to (accidentally) kick her boyfriend in the face. It would not have been the most ridiculous thing she'd ever done.]

... Will it help you stop worrying about me?

[The young woman tilts her head at him and smiles, then lifts her foot out of his hand so she can slip off the side of the pool and into the water.]

I could be persuaded.

[He makes an MEEHHHH sort of noise and shrugs. Nah, it won't help him stop worrying about her, but he might be able to worry about this one particular thing a little less.

When she slips into the pool with him, he rests his hands on her hips and leans down to give her a quick smooch on the forehead.]

Like if I just said 'please', or are you expecting something that takes actual effort?

Because the bots are very insistent that you join in whatever nonsense they're brewing up, and I don't want to spend the day running an obstacle course.

[She thinks, sometimes, that these little events of theirs are always made to cater for far more people than they have living here. She wonders if they even know they're only having to watch around twenty people for a place that should have housed thousands.]

So I'm hiding in here until they stop.

Do you think I'd so something like that to you?

[She makes a frowny-face at him, though she's sure he would go to all kinds of efforts if she asked him to. The kiss to her forehead is answered by one planted on Peter's lips.]

Maybe I just want you to hold my hand while the machine is running.

Yeah, they are pretty stubborn, I had to hit one with the end of my sword to getaway.

[He has not considered that but it could definitely seem that way. There are only a couple of handfuls of people in Anchor but there definitely seems to be a set up for a lot more. This is only his second time going through something like this the Daisy Darling and neither involved the bots having a field day this way.]

How long do you think they'll be out there?

[He makes a thoughtful little humming noise while he smooches her back.]

I think I can manage that. I think this is where I'm supposed to say something sappy like, 'I don't need an excuse to hold your hand' or something.

You could say something like that.

[Poison grins, bumping her nose against his and draping both of her arms over his shoulders.]

You know, if you were feeling very sappy. I might even like it.

Probably for the rest of the day. Sometimes it's like they're following some kind of pattern.

[She looks to the door, pursing her lips slightly.]

So this will probably happen again. Maybe in a year.

Huh.

[He goes thoughtful, well that makes sense, once a year they have a physical especially for athletics. It would seem plausible then that the dome would have things in place and the robots know what it's time.]

But it's like they expect a bunch of us, I wonder if we'll get more next year.

But see, now you're putting me on the spot and I can't think of anything sappy to say. 'Nice butt' probably wouldn't fly instead though, would it.

[And then Peter ruined the moment, but that's okay. He wraps his arms around her and gives her a light squeeze.]

Mm. Don't know.

[She marks her spot in her book and sets it aside.]

I don't think I'd wish it on someone. Would you?

[When she puts it that way he shakes his head. No, he wouldn't no matter how much he misses people, like Squalo or his old man.]

No, I mean for Hayato it's better but me, I came from home and I guess without him I'd really miss it more than I do. So I wouldn't want someone else to have to feel that way.

[She laughs, dropping her head to his shoulder and giving him a soft punch in the shoulder. No one could say she loved Peter for how smooth he could be, but she didn't need someone to be smooth if they could make her laugh.]

I'm sure you'll come up with something. [Poison thinks for a moment, then puffs out a breath.]

But I suppose I've been thinking about it for long enough, I should really just... do it.

I've been away for a long time, now. [She tells him, huffing out a little sigh as she does.]

Years. I don't know if anyone even knows I'm gone. I hope they don't.

[He goes thoughtful a moment but then decides without revealing the nature of Amoi he can tell her what he thinks about that.]

I know, Hayato was gone from our world for two years, but he never went missing, I was with him right before coming here, even though when he arrived here the same day it had been two years for him. So they probably don't.

[She nods a little. Poison has been out of her world for long enough to know that this is a common story across many places like this one.]

I might have gone home already. This version of me... I don't think it's the original.

[As naive as he can seem, that is a subject he actually knows at least something about.]

Like the parallel worlds back home, where ours was the only one we still had a chance to save everyone. I guess there had to be different versions of us in each of those worlds because we kept losing.

A great book begins with an idea; a great life, with a determination.

open; baths

open; labs

open; VR rooms

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