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Brimstone
Weighted Discussion
By Sylvana Lorrdain and Josh Nolan
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Punch, Kick, Hit... growl.  Sylvana stopped as a shot of pain ran up her 
right leg, again, across her back and through her shoulder.  She tried to 
stretch out the cramp.  The newest set of surgeries had her almost up to 
snuff, as she found out while pounding the Firrerreo... she was supposed to 
be doing physical recovery training during the day with the doctors, but it 
was going too slow for her liking - and their ways were too prying for her 
own good.  Or, so she believed.

Besides, this way she could work on other kinds of training and not have to 
worry about getting stunned again when someone invaded her personal space.  
HER space!  And she was the one who got a talking to.  Pfeh.

With a sigh, she wiped the towel across her forehead and fanned herself.  
Even the white, thigh-length tank top she wore was starting to stain with 
sweat, and the purple t-shirt she wore underneath it was soaked.  The knee-
length black 'bike pants' she wore were starting to chafe a little as sweat 
seeped through.

As usual, she was barefoot.  A long scar from the surgeries to put her 
shattered right leg back together ran up beside her knee from halfway down 
her calf, to beneath the snug shorts she wore.

"Alright, maybe something else?" she asked Fate, who was nearby.  He 
tweetled something she pretended to understand as she fingered the round 
patient's badge attatched to the outer shirt, then picked up a free-weight 
bar, and began to set a few weighted discs onto one end.

Meanwhile, outside the room, Josh paused in front of the gymnasium door, 
taking a moment to try and puzzle out the word in Aurebesh. He'd spent a 
little time working on it today, but was not making the progress he'd 
hoped.  Sure, the words and the grammar were all the same, but the 
spellings... the spelling was a problem.  It was like trying to decipher 
Old English, sometimes.

He took a deep breath, and palmed the door open, striding through, trying 
to figure what would stand the best chance of putting him to sleep tonight.

As the door began to open, Fate tweedled a warning, and without thinking, 
Sylvana took off the single disc weight she'd just put on the bar and 
whipped it behind her toward the sound, grabbing up the empty bar and 
holding it before her like a bo-staff as she turned automatically.

The flying disc barely registered in Josh's conscious mind before his hand 
whipped up and caught it, snatching the hefty disc out of the air even as 
the rest of his body moved to seek cover.

And that was when Sylvana's mind caught up to her.  "Sithspit, Oh heavens, 
I'm so very sorry," she bit her lip, dropping out of the aggressive stance 
and leaning on the bar a little more staff like.

Josh stood and emerged from behind the treadmills where he'd taken cover. 
Aimlessly, he gestured with the weight and shrugged.  "No harm done.  Don't 
tell me that was Fate again."

She winced, "Uhm... no..." she let out half a laugh, leaning heavily on the 
staff a moment before using it to walk over.  Maybe she was overdoing it a 
little, but she been having these dreams....  "It was me."

"That's what they call a greeting, where you're from?"  Josh blurted before 
he could think.  *Dammit, she's not from Earth, remember?  Hope you like 
the taste of foot...*

Syl tensed a moment, then decided to let it drop, "No... I guess I just 
wasn't expecting any friendlies to show up in the middle of the night."  
She sighed.

"Herthrir's still stalking you, huh?"  Josh sat on a nearby bench, dropping 
the weight beside him.  He paused and looked at his hand, flexing the 
fingers.  "Ow," he said, apparently surprised.

"Yeah... I honestly wouldn't be sorry if that had hit him in the head... I 
don't even know when I'm going to turn around and see him spying on me 
anymore.  It creeps me out," she said bitterly, tossing down the bar and 
moving toward him, watching his hand.  "Sorry...."

He waved her off.  "I've had worse.  But, listen, about last night...  I've 
been wanting to talk to you about that."

She sat down on the floor in front of him, more comfortable down there than 
sitting on a bench, as she absently massaged the sore muscle in her right 
leg.  "Last night...?"

"In the garden, you know, where you did that... thing."

She frowned, looking down at her leg, "Yeah...?"

"What *was* that?"

"It's.... hard to explain?" she tried, biting her lip.

"I'm not asking you to teach me..."  He closed his eyes for a moment, shook 
his head, then shifted down from the bench onto the floor.  "I just wanted 
to know what it was.  I didn't know you could do something like that."

"Until recently... I didn't remember, It's kind of... a healing thing." She 
pondered a moment, then reached out. "Give me your injured hand."

He leaned over, offering it, palm-up.

She chuckled, "I'm not going to read it," she said, taking it in her own 
and clasping it between her palms.  She closed her eyes, and a warmth 
flooded into it, the blue glow enveloping as it had before, and washing 
away the pain.  *Be thankful for simple injuries in object lessons....* she 
thought.

Josh stared at where she held his hand for a while, and then looked up at 
her.  "Who else knows you can do that?"

She folded her hands in her lap, crossing her legs with a small wince.   
"Well.... Master Skywalker, Lord Atner..." she paused in thought. "Arrek 
MIGHT, but I made him close his eyes and told him I gave him a shot," she 
paused in thought.  "The Major -  he had me work on Lenka in the field, 
promised he'd keep eyes away from us... I assume he did as he promised."  
She spoke quietly.  "I think that's everyone... other than --" she shook 
her head.

"So this is why you're mad at Farmboy?  He made you able to do this 
somehow?"

"No.... he's the one who made me remember.  It's... not really a Force 
thing, I think... I dunno..." she put her hand to her head, massaging it.

Josh dropped his eyes to the floor, withdrawing his hand.  "I'm sorry," he 
said, quietly.

"Not your fault," she sighed.  "Been hurtin' since Coruscant."

In spite of himself, Josh began to chuckle.

Syl looked up, blinking, "Did I miss something?"

Josh shook his head, his expression somber again.  "Just.. just the way you 
said, 'not your fault', like... like I hadn't done anything wrong.  Like 
all you need to do is drink some water, or something. That's all."

She shrugged, "It is all... well, and to get my hands on a painkill that 
actually works!" she grinned.

Josh didn't even look up at her face, and gave a half-hearted grin in 
response to her tone of voice.

Syl leaned forward and tipped her head almost upside down, or at least as 
much so as she could, so she could get a look at him.  "Hey, cheer up.  
This is the galactic looney bin."

"There are other things I'm sorry about, too," he said, ignoring her quip.  
"I'm sorry you revealed your secret to me, of all people.  And I'm sorry 
for..." he closed his eyes again.  "I'm sorry for a lot." With that, he got 
up and started to leave.

Syl jumped up and limped over putting a hand on his arm to stop him. 
"Hey..."

He shook her hand off his arm, and turned to face her.  "Would you stop it?  
You don't need to make me feel better about it.  I've got no right to feel 
good about it!  So stop trying to cheer me up, already!"

Sylvana slapped him, "Will you quit beating yourself up over something you 
can't control!" she shouted back.

His fists clenched and his eyes blazed.  "Oh, listen to you, miss 'I-kill-
people-because-I-can't-control-it'!  I *can* control it, I *have* 
controlled it, but I *didn't*!  You understand me?  I *failed*, and for 
that failure you almost died!  You can hide from the truth if you like, but 
don't expect me to!"

Sylvana's eyes blazed momentarily, and she backed away with a soft growl.  
"Stop living in the past...." she said quietly.  "I'm trying not to, if I 
stay there too long I know I'm going to self distruct.  I have too much 
that I'm honourbound to take care of.  I plan on doing whatever I can to 
get out of this place and somewhere I can make a difference.  What do you 
plan on doing, Josh?"

He glared at her for a moment, then drew a deep breath.  "Penance," he 
snarled, then turned on his heel and stalked out of the gym.

"And what good is that going to do the rest of the team back on Earth?" She 
shot at his back.  "Jack shit, that's what..." she whispered to herself as 
she fell back to her knees, shaking her head as a tear splashed on her 
hand.

A light swishing sound alearted her that he'd left, and she sighed.

Deep inside, she knew he was right.  But one thing he'd missed... they were 
both failures.  She had to find a way out of there, even if it meant she 
had to seem like she was playing Anreson's game.