the dream i left behind was never real [ open ]

[lunardreaming]

where: all around magisteria
who: lucy + others
when: october
what: an ota post for october questboard starters
warnings: tba as necessary





[ ooc: all of the following are the tech quests from the october questboard, starters to be posted in the comments ]

Comments

[floweroftheapex]

Musashi can't resist miming clasping the kiss to her chest and swooning a bit, and not entirely affected. The flirting comes easily, and it was cute as hell. Almost like the bath house never happened. Like there aren't heavy things still between them.

Almost.

But after all is said and done it's closer to ten seconds before Musashi resumes her pursuit. "Here I come, Lucy-chan! Better be ready!"

Interesting! Lose your balance on this and it's all over. No saving her from any falls here. So as Lucy approaches the midsection, Musashi pauses, takes a breath, centers herself...and steps into the log.

Balance is key when you're a swordsman. Musashi always liked to forgo armour; too bulky and hard to move in. Had to stay light, had to home her speed without sacrificing control. Had to learn to keep balance. One false step in battle, one errant slip, and it could all be over in an instant.

Musashi has a VERY good sense of balance. Where Lucy must pinwheel to stay upright, Musashi practically strolls. A shame Lucy has to keep her attention ahead of her or Musashi might feel tempted to work her hips a bit more. Ah well.

She's making up the distance quickly.

[lunardreaming]

Ugh, Musashi is so frustratingly good at everything!

Lucy doesn't have eyes in the back of her head (yet, though that might be a useful augment, or maybe just a personal drone like the Bursterfly but with a camera attached), but she can feel Musashi getting closer and closer. Lucy's balance is okay, but nothing she's got can help with something like this -- her new short-range flight implants could get her over faster, but landing on the rotating log would be way too tricky without a lot of practice. So, all she can do is continue to make her way, slow and steady.

By the time they reach solid ground, Musashi is just one step behind her. The finish line is in sight, just a short sprint in the distance, no more obstacles.

Lucy takes off, throwing one palm behind her to give her an initial speed boost, face set in determination as she runs.

[floweroftheapex]

Musashi hops down off the log and, ahhhh, here they are at last. The home stretch lies before them. No tricks, no obstacles...just whoever can cross it the fastest wins. Lucy is determined to claim that victory as no sooner has Musashi stepped off, then she's gone, rocketing herself forward, and giving herself a speed boost.

Well, time to see what she can really do. Musashi won't do her the disservice of giving this anything other than her all. She breaks into a sprint, her strides covering long distances, even with the speed boost Lucy is getting. Soon, they're in a dead heat, and the finish line is approaching.

"Time to...see what you're...really made of...Lucy-chan." Musashi says, eyes forward, between gulps of air as she pushes herself for one last burst of speed...

And begins to pull just ahead of Lucy...

[lunardreaming]

Cursing under her breath, Lucy pushes another burst of her implant behind her, but it's still not enough to let her overtake Musashi. On her own, with no chrome, she knows she wouldn't be a match, not even close. With chrome, she might just be able to win this thing, if she's creative.

Her legs are starting to burn, lungs are starting to strain, but this is where Lucy really excels; pushed down to the wire, everything on the line.

A wild burst of inspiration has her eyeing up a pillar next to the finish line, and she throws out one hand, Spider-Man style. She knows how to turn her wrist so that the cutting edge of her mono-wire doesn't slice through the pillar but just wraps around it, and when she intiates the withdrawal of the wire back into its container on her wrist, it pulls her forward instead--

Just fast enough for her to cross the finish line a split-second before Musashi does.

Lucy stumbles to a stop, the mono-wire slipping loose from the pillar and pooling on the ground as she leans over, hands braced on her knees, as she catches her breath.

"Fuck, you're tough to beat," she swears. "I'm going to ache for days."

[floweroftheapex]

Musashi sees the monowire thread around the pillar out of the corner of her eye, but doesn't grasp Lucy's plan. Is she trying to bring it down, hope to gain a crucial split-second of surprise to take the oh there she goes.

It's a photo-finish, but Musashi knows the second Lucy pulls ahead by that crucial few inches that she's lost. And she's just fine with that. She would never have disrespected her friend by giving it anything less than her all, but still...

Musashi would have been disappointed if she'd won. She does find that she's never been happier to lose, though. Not like this.

As Lucy struggles to catch her breath, Musashi just laughs. She's sweating, and breathing hard, but not bent over the way Lucy is. "Sure will! Revel in them, Lucy-chan. Every single one is a sign of a victory well and truly earned."

Kiss her.

The thought enters Musashi's brain, slipping in like a treacherous serpent, and coiling there at the base of her skull. Kiss her. She won. You want to. She wants you to. Kiss her.

The impulse is so strong as Lucy catches her breath and stands back up, Musashi almost leans forward to do it. It would be so easy to cup her chin, turn her head slightly, lean in and...

No. You shouldn't ask me that.

But the memory of Lucy rising out of the bath and walking away is strong, even now. They're both pretending that it never happened, but Musashi remembers all too well what happened when she pushed too far. If it happens again, then maybe next time Lucy won't come back, and Musashi...well. The thought bothers her quite a bit. It's reason enough for any sane person not to follow through.

If that person were not also a Berserker, that is.

"Well, a victory like that ought to be commemorated don't you think?" She asks brightly, then dips in and kisses Lucy...on the cheek. Her EX-rank Madness Enhancement means she compromises and settles for a gesture of affection that could be seen as platonic...if both parties were intent on seeing it that way.

"You're really cool, you know that, Lucy-chan?"

[lunardreaming]

The kiss on the cheek comes as a surprise, and--

More than a little guilt, actually. Fuck, Musashi's being so nice to her. And Lucy was a shithead to Musashi back at that bath house.

"You're pretty nova yourself, samurai," she drawls with a small, satisfied smile. She never thought she'd actually be able to beat Musashi, but somehow she managed, through a combination of luck and stubbornness and chrome. But soon enough, it gives way to a sigh, and even as she straightens up to stand properly, Lucy ducks her head, fringe shading her eyes. "And..."

Just say it, Lucy. Be fucking brave. This has been lingering on her mind the entire race, a point of friction interrupting their usual dynamic.

"I'm sorry," she finally says. "For being an asshole in the baths. You didn't deserve that."

Fuck, she doesn't know how to even begin to explain why she acted like that, though. Musashi had smiled at her and asked Lucy to take her to the moon, and it was like something had shattered a little further inside of Lucy, leaving her unable to do anything other than leave. Those broken fragments have been grinding around inside her for nearly two years now, and the wounds just keep getting worse.

She wishes she knew how to get better.

"I can't... tell you why I acted like that," she admits. "But it was a dick move."

[floweroftheapex]

"Ahahahaha, I do have my moments every now and then." Musashi laughs with a cock flick of her side-bag. "But this moment is all yours."

She looks back in curiosity when Lucy hesitates, and when the apology comes, her eyes go a bit wider. It's not that Lucy apologizing is surprising, Musashi knows her not to be a callous person, but whatever it was that she'd inadvertently tapped into, whatever pain or trauma Lucy is carrying is clearly a deep one, and one Musashi would have left untouched if that was how the other woman wanted to play it. Maybe it wasn't the smart or healthy thing, but if the alternative was to push Lucy away, well.

So when it comes, an acknowledgement of what happened in the bath house, even if she can't bring herself to explain why, it's...a gesture Musashi knows Lucy wouldn't extend to a lot of people. Maybe she's the only person Lucy would allow herself to be even this small amount of vulnerable to.

She reaches down and takes Lucy's hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "It's okay, Lucy-chan. I was...afraid I might have screwed things up that night. I'm a lot more at ease now, so thank you." She gives Lucy another cheeky wink.

"Hey. Chooms for life, you and me. That's a fact."

[lunardreaming]

"No. To sound like a fucking cliche, it wasn't you. It was me. It was..."

Lucy trails off. Her mind is a hectic jumble, thoughts crashing into each other as she struggles to come up with something to say. She knows she can't tell Musashi everything yet. But should she come up with something, at least a little bit, to give her? Should she keep it vague? If she hints at it, will that come off like she wants Musashi to try to pry?

She's not ready for that. She knows she's not. All those memories are a jagged bundle that keep digging deeper and causing even worse wounds, and if she tries to pry them loose now, she's not sure she'll be able to staunch the bleeding. She's made it this by desperately suppressing everything.

"Just dealing with my own shit," is what she settles on, apologetic. "Shouldn't have gotten any on you, though."

But Musashi's declaration wrestles a smile from her, and she gently squeezes Musashi's hand.

"Chooms for life." And then: "I think you should buy me a drink for winning that race. Maybe a few."