Agent South Dakota (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ownperson) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
goneawayworld2020-12-29 01:59 am
ownperson) wrote in goneawayworld2020-12-29 01:59 am
Entry tags:
Being Alone
Who: South and anyone who encounters her
What: South trying to avoid everyone and her problems at once, and failing
Where: Various places on the Rig
When: Several days after South and York's arrivals
Warnings/Notes: None up front
South’s not really used to being alone, not really. Growing up with a twin you can’t shake for trying does that to a person, she supposes. As much as she resents it, resents him, it’s… a difficult adjustment, to make, one made infinitely harder by her lack of anywhere else to turn.
Turns out pissing off everyone you know from home is a poor choice, who’d’ve thunk it, huh?
Dealing with things in a healthy manner isn’t one of South’s strong suits, so rather than doing so she decides the best course of action is to simply avoid anywhere she might encounter her brother or get into another fight with Washington (he’s more than capable of handing her ass to her on a silver platter and she’s getting tired of it, if she’s honest) or have to deal with York (who’s just a pain in the ass, really).
For days, rather than get involved in anything festive or going out of her way to get to know the other New Hires, South spends her time in a few places:
a) On the Top Deck, which she finds supremely uncomfortable thanks to the daytime heat, but it also means most people won’t appear to bother her, so she considers it a fair trade. Sat near the edge, she sits and watches the fucked-up world outside and finds that it is possible to miss home, even when home sucks too.
Of course, it’s not a fool proof plan. When someone does come by and join her, she sighs to herself, but comments, “Weird fucking view, huh?”
b) In the Training Area, where she spends all of her time whaling on punching bags, lifting weights, running, or beating up training droids violently enough to break a couple. She could request her equipment but she’s not training to train, she’s there to exert restless energy and rage without directing it at the poor fucks around her. Easier to focus on the feeling of punching something than on your emotional turmoil!
The sound of someone coming up behind her makes her pivot, fist raised— but she holds back and huffs, instead, rolling her shoulders as her arm falls. “Watch it. Unless you wanna get hit, stay the fuck back.”
c) She wanders the gardens, the once, because even South sometimes needs somewhere relatively quiet to go. She’s not looking for anyone; quite the opposite, really, she just wants to get away from everything else for a while.
Unfortunately for her, she’s not the only one. Fortunately for whoever else she encounters, she’s at her least combative down here and simply says, “Kinda nice in here. Don’t remember the last time I saw so many fuckin’ plants.”
d) The Mess, is one of the few times she can’t get around communing with the group, but even during their shifts there the she tries her best to keep to herself by sitting as close to alone as she physically can. Perched at the ends of tables, not looking anyone in the eye, but occasionally glancing up at the sound of familiar voices before setting her gaze firmly back on her plate.
When someone sits nearby, she rolls her eyes and swallows her mouthful of food. “There’s other open seats, y’know.”
What: South trying to avoid everyone and her problems at once, and failing
Where: Various places on the Rig
When: Several days after South and York's arrivals
Warnings/Notes: None up front
South’s not really used to being alone, not really. Growing up with a twin you can’t shake for trying does that to a person, she supposes. As much as she resents it, resents him, it’s… a difficult adjustment, to make, one made infinitely harder by her lack of anywhere else to turn.
Turns out pissing off everyone you know from home is a poor choice, who’d’ve thunk it, huh?
Dealing with things in a healthy manner isn’t one of South’s strong suits, so rather than doing so she decides the best course of action is to simply avoid anywhere she might encounter her brother or get into another fight with Washington (he’s more than capable of handing her ass to her on a silver platter and she’s getting tired of it, if she’s honest) or have to deal with York (who’s just a pain in the ass, really).
For days, rather than get involved in anything festive or going out of her way to get to know the other New Hires, South spends her time in a few places:
a) On the Top Deck, which she finds supremely uncomfortable thanks to the daytime heat, but it also means most people won’t appear to bother her, so she considers it a fair trade. Sat near the edge, she sits and watches the fucked-up world outside and finds that it is possible to miss home, even when home sucks too.
Of course, it’s not a fool proof plan. When someone does come by and join her, she sighs to herself, but comments, “Weird fucking view, huh?”
b) In the Training Area, where she spends all of her time whaling on punching bags, lifting weights, running, or beating up training droids violently enough to break a couple. She could request her equipment but she’s not training to train, she’s there to exert restless energy and rage without directing it at the poor fucks around her. Easier to focus on the feeling of punching something than on your emotional turmoil!
The sound of someone coming up behind her makes her pivot, fist raised— but she holds back and huffs, instead, rolling her shoulders as her arm falls. “Watch it. Unless you wanna get hit, stay the fuck back.”
c) She wanders the gardens, the once, because even South sometimes needs somewhere relatively quiet to go. She’s not looking for anyone; quite the opposite, really, she just wants to get away from everything else for a while.
Unfortunately for her, she’s not the only one. Fortunately for whoever else she encounters, she’s at her least combative down here and simply says, “Kinda nice in here. Don’t remember the last time I saw so many fuckin’ plants.”
d) The Mess, is one of the few times she can’t get around communing with the group, but even during their shifts there the she tries her best to keep to herself by sitting as close to alone as she physically can. Perched at the ends of tables, not looking anyone in the eye, but occasionally glancing up at the sound of familiar voices before setting her gaze firmly back on her plate.
When someone sits nearby, she rolls her eyes and swallows her mouthful of food. “There’s other open seats, y’know.”
no subject
He doesn't explain any of that, though. "Nah," he says instead. "Not like that. He's my partner."
Which isn't much of an explanation either, but explaining Companions to a human from a world where they don't have them would be a pain in the ass.
no subject
She isn't sure if him answering 'yes' would have been better or worse, what she does know is its an effort not to cringe again. Yep, that definitely said more about her than him, regardless of how little Brand cares himself.
"Right, partner," she says, not daring to actually make any assumptions about the word choice because she is not looking to further embed her foot in her mouth. Partner can mean a lot of things and they all cover what Brand described well enough. "Sorry. That was a fuckin' leap of logic on my end."
no subject
"I'm not gonna ask," he says. "I wasn't kidding about not being a talker. Your business is your business unless it becomes my problem, and you don't want it to be my problem because I solve those by yelling and hitting things."
He's already committed to emotional labor for himself and Rune, he's not taking on anyone else's shit.
no subject
South immediately seems to relax, shoulders dropping from a tense line and her fist loosening around the crumpled roll of wraps. She starts unwrapping her other hand, at last.
She even snickers, a little, at his self-described method of problem solving. That’s familiar in a way that isn’t intensely awkward.
“Thank fuck. Some people get so fuckin’ nosy,” she says, because in her experience, that’s been true more often than it hasn’t. It only ever gets worse when the fact she’s a twin actually makes it out of her mouth, or out of North’s.
Guess the silver lining to them not talking is he probably isn’t running around introducing her to everyone as ‘my sister’. A flash of a frown goes over her face at the thought but then it’s gone.
no subject
"I'm only nosy if I'm getting paid for it," Brand says, though he can't help but be amused that a bald "I don't care" is what it took to get her to calm the fuck down.
"I assume you don't want to discuss what I saw in your fighting style either," he adds, because if she's not talking about siblings or whatever she's not talking about she certainly doesn't want to discuss that it's obvious she's used to fighting with a partner. "So I'll stick with "good fight, we should do it again sometime"."
no subject
She rolls her eyes idly, not even directed at Brand so much as at herself; she's almost certain she knows exactly what he picked up on, she felt hyperaware of every time she made a move that relied on North's follow-up, so she's more than grateful he's not the type to push that shit.
She needs to work on it, and sparring with someone that isn't North is an opportunity to do just that.
So she nods. "Hit me up if you need someone to go a few rounds with, I'm rarely not in the mood for a good fight. Name's South, by the way."
no subject
"Brand," Brand answers, because there's no reason to keep his name a secret. "I'm also always in the mood to throw down with someone who knows what they're doing, so at least we can fucking entertain each other."
no subject
South snorts, "Yeah, nice to know there's someone around that's actually a fun fuckin' challenge to trade blows with."
She stretches and groans, really wishing she could go and shower after how long she's been down here. As it is, the best she can do is head back to her room and change, which'll probably lead to crashing for a while.
"Alright, well, I've been at this shit for hours, so I'm gonna go... pass out, or something, christ." She scrubs her hand over her face. "So, y'know, until next time."
no subject
"Next time," Brand agrees, waving her off. Time to go play Hide-and-Seek with Rune so he can drag his ass back to the mats.