smash_logs | Dorm Log: Scorching Summer Edition

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Dorm Log: Scorching Summer Edition

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Samus is typically a very elusive lady and doesn't live on campus, but she can possibly be found in either of the following places:

a) Ah, yes, the Smash Academy brawling stadium is truly a marvel, sporting highly advanced hologram technology for all your brawling needs. Samus might be here (pertinent to note, clad only in her skivvies because damn it's hot out and she could care less) at random times from dawn until dusk, working up a sweat. She can breeze through a round of Hit the Targets with her gun and make mincemeat of hologram fighters in short time. Maybe an actual opponent would be more challenging...

Or if you're feeling brave, late at night there might be a mysterious, ominous looking robot wrecking havoc on the training programs with a wide array of beams and missiles. Do they even go to the school?

b) With no classes to teach there's little other reason for her to stay on campus. If not at the stadium, she might be found prowling through the hallways, checking her mailbox for a missing check, peeking in the faculty lounge, bothering a certain someone in the autoshop, or just briskly going from point A to point B. She's probably here only for business, and idle talk and chit-chat really isn't her forte; whatever you might have to say, make it quick!

...However, she just might decide to utilize the parking lot's big, empty, open space to wash her bike, hoping to have a good run of privacy but hardly expecting it.

c) If she's not on campus, she might actually be in FDC! Curiosity is a bad habit of hers; maybe she's playing detective, looking into all these suspicious robots of Eggman's, on Bounty Hunter Business™, or simply food/provision shopping. Most likely, Samus is hitting up one of the local bars for a good drink. ~~Hi Desmond.~~

Edited 2013-06-19 06:50 (UTC)

One of these days that Samus could be found, a small, familiar girl dashed up to her. Likewise, she didn't have a residence on campus yet, but still would come by to watch people and raid the cafeteria.

"Miss Aran!"

"Dachora!" Look at that little speed demon. It still astounded her to see something she had acute familiarity and long history with in a down-to-earth (in a manner of speaking) place like Smash Academy. It seemed like the farthest place from Zebes and Tallon IV that you could get. Much less presented in a humanoid form.

"What are you up to?" Odd as it was, seeing the little Dachora was a nice reminder ~~not everything she touched died~~ of where and how far Samus had come from.

Maybe she needed something...

"Nothing," the small alien replied, tucking her hands behind her back. "I came onto campus to get lunch."

Her speech had improved since she'd been on Earth, but she still carried an odd, hard to place accent. And then, there was the conjunction thing.

"I am happy to see you. The "summer vacation" is a strange thing to me."

Baby steps, little bird. Baby steps.

"It's a period of rest and growth, especially for younger students." Rest of course being very subjective here as summer was riddled with the same kinds of whacky events as the school was year-round, if not moreso. She would learn that in time.

"Even the teachers get a break from all the paperwork and grading."

"I am looking forward to the start of classes again, but I think I am one of the only students that feels this way," Dachora chirped, "But, this is my first human summer. I suppose that is a lesson in itself."

"I'm sure you're not alone." While no specific names came to mind (except perhaps Ishimaru) Samus was confident there were other types here who wanted nothing more than to further their education. About as much as there were students who'd be plenty happy without.

"Have you been to the lake yet?" Samus asked. It would come as a surprise to her if she hadn't by now. (Then again, did she even know how to swim...?) "That's usually where some kids swim and hang out during the summer." Now that it wasn't inhabited by a giant Kraken. Just a different kind of giant fish serpent.

"I have," she replied, though Samus' assumption had been correct. "I have been to it, but not in it."

"...Can you swim?" An important question to be asked.

She thought for a moment.

"... I have not. Tried. Yet."

He was watching her. He did it on occasion. Most of the time, he tried to do so in an inconspicuous fashion. Not because he felt like he had anything to hide, but considering he didn't count himself as a particularly sociable person - or her, for that matter - it seemed easier just for them to occasionally check up on each other. As long as they were still alive and moving that seemed to be good enough.

At least it was for Snake.

Night was well on its way and he'd stood by for ten minutes or so already. Arms folded across his chest, he was perfectly content remaining still, leaned up against railing that separated the seats and the green of the stadium. She really did serve as a formidable opponent, or would have if they'd been on opposite sides. But Snake much preferred being on her good one.

There would be times Sneaky Snake would live up to his name and she'd not even notice, a lingering small of cigarette smoke on the wind the only indication he was there at all. There would be times she'd spot Snake and she'd say nothing of it, despite often wanting to say a million things.

It's rude to stare, Snake. I know you're there.

I thought I smelled an ashtray.

Why don't you come down here and train with me?

Or she'd just give him a glance--sometimes with nothing more than brief smile or brief frown as a greeting. To say she still had mixed feelings about the mercenary would be putting it lightly. But his company, for the most, was not unwelcome.

Today would be one of those days she actually says something. Today she came here later than intended, the setting sun giving some reprieve from rising summer temperatures, and the sweat she was threatening to work up through her blue tank top and short shorts.

"I didn't think I was putting on such a great show." She barked across the stadium defiantly, taking a moment to redo her pony tail and move closer to Snake so not to give need to shout any more.

Edited (word choices) 2013-06-24 21:32 (UTC)

She looks nice.

A very brief, but sincere thought. Quick and fleeting, like a lot of the more serious thoughts he had regarding her. As if he knew very well that trying to entertain something of that nature was only going to lead to disappointment. And to be fair, Snake had suffered more than enough disappointment in his life that he came to expect it around more corners he turned.

He gave something of a derisive snort when she addressed him and he shook his head, waiting until she got within earshot before he offered up a vocal response. "Is that modesty? Looks good on you." And it was almost followed up with a sneer. Almost. Instead, just a standard crooked Snake smile.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was sure entertaining any serious thoughts about him just as well would lead to inevitable disappointment. It was a bitter, sad thought, but also quick fleeting.

"I've never worn humility well." She mirrored his sneer but that too was fleeting. It didn't look quite right on her face, there just for his sake. She whipped her head to the side and gathered her disheveled hair back into her red scrunchie with a few flicks of her wrist and a snap; a well-experienced master at taming her long golden locks.

Samus didn't wear pride very well for that matter either, but she was a very objective woman, on or off the battlefield.

"...But I know what I'm good at."

If she wanted his undivided attention, she got it. Easily too. Especially when she started to pull her hair back. For as much as logic tugged at him, there was no denying something factual.

And Samus was one hot piece of ass. No disputes. No arguments. No two ways about it. It was kind of agitating, really. In a masochistic kind of way.

"Puts you a step above most people. In the world, we either devalue ourselves what we're really worth, or we think we're a lot greater than we actually are." He pointed to her as he pulled pulled himself from where he'd been content leaning. "And then there's someone in the world like you. And everyone else knows you're not just blowing smoke either."

Words of wisdom from an experienced warrior such as he. Or words of flattery from a experienced Snake such as he. Either way it did well to give her a moment's pause, and feel a trickle of heat pool in her cheeks. Compliments were never easy for her to take.

"And you would know how to blow a lot of smoke, wouldn't you?" The sneer flashed back, again, just accentuate the friendly tease. It was more of a literal statement than a figurative one. He seemed to be the type who was earnest with his words, positive and negative, and it was something she greatly respected. For a few tense moments she locked eyes with him, feeling an unbearable amount of feelings threatening to spill over until she looked away, sighing deeply.

There was so much she wanted to say, and didn't even know where to start.

"I can't help but wonder what I'm doing here sometimes, now that I'm not chasing bounties or ghosts that much anymore." It wasn't as though Samus had stopped doing that (nothing paid the bills like a quick peak at the local 'most wanted' sign) or felt like she lost her sense of purpose or a desire to go combat space horrors like no one else could, but, she often wondered her purpose of being here--at this whacky fighting Academy, training in this whacky fighting Academy stadium for a fight that felt like it would never come again.

Or worst of all, a fight that didn't even need her.

"I've been here a long time, Snake."

Ha, ha.

"Very funny," was his sarcastic reply.

But he didn't say anything more past that. Mostly because she had spoken up. And he thought he heard himself in what she had to say. What was he even doing in the academy? Why had he even come? Mostly because they had needed him. Partially because he was trying to put things together on what he'd lost. Why did he stay? Closure, he guessed.

What after that?

It was less about him, however, and definitely more about her. At least he wanted it to be more about her. Most of the time he didn't know how to do that, though. So perhaps for once, she needed him to listen. No humourous remarks. No laughing things off. No being a dick purely for the comedic effect. Just... being plain old David.

And for a while, he'd wondered if he'd forgotten how to be a normal man. If he even knew what 'normal' was.

He nodded, "Yeah. Seemed that way to me." No rush. No hurry. Just one moment after another.

Closure--maybe that was something she was searching for too, without wanting to admit it. It wouldn't come with Ionia, and she wasn't sure if it really came with Jeff. As of right now, she definitely didn't have it with Snake--little bubbles of tension that had no where else to go.

"Yeah." She ran a hand through her bangs, despite her fussing with her hair just a few moments ago. "Nearly five years now. It feels like forever sometimes... and sometimes it feels like no time at all. Five years ago I would've been questioning if I lived long enough to see today."

She was... really beautiful then.

Hand in her hair, expression as it was. 'Wistful' wasn't the word for it, but it was the best thing he could think of. Samus Aran was a little awe-inspiring, whatever the case might have been. She had always been the queen of incentive. Definitely a leader and when she barked orders, even if he was scoffing, Snake was willing to play along. But in the present, something about her seemed... different.

And increasingly familiar. As if they had talked this way before. And it really dawned on him that they had.

"Five years is a long time," Snake agreed with another slow nod, far more subtle than before as he wondered where she was really trying to drive things. "You've got good things here, though. A life. A reason. A necessity." He didn't think it was an empty existence for her by any means.

People needed her, after all. In some form.

"I have a reason back out there too, you know." There wasn't any hint of vitriol or even disagreement in her tone, but something more akin to disappointment. It was a grande, vague, big reason "out there" meant; back in space, that is. It's what she was made--genetically crafted and trained--to do. Fight monsters that no one else could. Save the universe. Carry on a legacy of a dead race and their dead bioweapons. The last of her kind--a bioweapon herself.

Samus would never understand what a life of normalcy meant.

"When I first crash landed here," And again, she surprised herself with how much ease came with speaking to him about things like this, "I couldn't wait to fix my ship and leave. I thought there were all kinds of monsters out there that needed slaying, and people that needed protecting. After only a few days here I learned there were monsters here too."

She paused, letting a grim expression settle on her face, and with no small amount of venom in her voice. "Porky."

Edited 2013-07-14 22:02 (UTC)

There was...

Something eerily familiar about the way she ended. Snake tried to remember the last time she had a conversation like this with him. He knew there was one. He couldn't recall it vividly enough, though, but in a way it was like she left some kind of wistful ache when she spoke. Like he suddenly needed to know everything. Anything and everything.

And he ignored it. At least as best as he could.

His eyebrows knit together as he tried to focus on what she said and eventually he moved to fold his arms over his chest comfortably. Well, as comfortable as he could be, which was edging into an anxious flutter that he wanted to squash down promptly.

"I think," he breathed easily. "Wherever you go, someone's gonna need you." And he supposed he wasn't too different either. Alaska. The Academy. Anywhere else. Always a place for soldiers like them, because there was always a threat and always a war. At least until they got tired of fighting for existence.

"Back then..."

I needed you. The words didn't make it out of her mouth. Not even out of her throat, lumped together like a thick tar. Her face felt hot, but she kept her composure.

"Things were different back then." She justified, more so to herself than to him.

It was difficult to ignore that he had changed her life in so many ways, positive and negative. There was a danger in soldier types forming bonds like this, knowing they could be ripped away in the heat of battle in the blink of an eye... but he was standing before her now, in a way like a ghost. Maybe he wasn't a part of her current life so much, but he remained an echo of her past which has sculpted her into the woman she was today.

Maybe it was romance, maybe it was friendship, maybe it was just a bond Samus had with Snake, but it ached keeping it to herself after he'd left and come back seemingly with little to no memory of it all. It ached simply wondering if the other half of that echo meant nothing at all.

"...And I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you."

She still wasn't sure how to say all the things she wanted to say to Snake, but she knew that was a start.

Many times before, Snake had felt a kinship with her. Fuzzier at some instances and less fuzzy in others. After his last run-in with Falcon, it was very clear that his suspicions were not unfounded. It seemed complicated. Falcon had said it was complicated. That Snake wouldn't be happy to learn of it in its entirety. Or to remember it.

Perhaps it would have been worse to one day wake up with the full realisation of things. But with how he was putting things together, though hardly anything concrete, Snake had long since prepared himself for ill tidings. How much of the world he lived in was a joyous one? For him, personally, the instances of happiness were rare - few and far between. Yet it was that occasional bout that made him appreciate them all the more.

"Me," he said as he motioned to himself.

Looking aside from her, he thought about how he wanted to put things together, "If you'd said something like that to me last year, I would have looked at you as if you were full of shit." Folding his arms over his chest, he looked back to her, "Since I know you're not, I'd be lying if I said I knew how to take that. I remember a little. I remember you, and Falcon. Some other people. Some conversations."

Then he shook his head at her, "Whatever the case, don't underestimate your own ability. I can influence, and I'm sure I have. Will continue to. Your decisions are always ultimately yours. Your strength is always yours, Samus."

He remembers a little. Any time he or she confirmed that, she wondered how to tread from there. It was only a small comfort that he too, didn't know quite how to take it. It was especially difficult trying to scale over walls she herself put up, but common features that united the duo were cracks worth chipping at.

Samus valued her freedom and independence so much, and would fight so valiantly to protect other people's freedoms--to fight for a future. It was always a thankless job, something so simple yet so important always taken for granted. For Snake to recognize that, how important that was, she considered a great strength of his. She deeply respected him for it.

"You've always been... You still are an important person to me." Words started to tumble out a little easier after that admittance. "Some things have changed ~~like war~~. Maybe we aren't... as close as we once were, but..."

She breathed, locking eyes with him, harsh and vulnerable all at once. "You are someone precious I would risk my life for."

The greatest and most bittersweet irony, the part she just couldn't tell him, was that she already tried. She couldn't save him from what FOXDIE would take one day, despite everything she sacrificed to try and prevent it from happening. He had to go on living his own life. He had to grasp what window of freedom he had left, and live.

"I want you to know that hasn't changed, David."

Edited 2013-07-29 07:39 (UTC)

"You are someone precious I would risk my life for."

He didn't want to hear that. In a way, he'd kind of known about it. Claiming 'kind of' made him full of shit, actually. He did know. Or had an idea. There was no winning. If he seemed so certain of it, he felt like it made him disgustingly vain, which normally he didn't have a huge problem with.

The real problem was that he felt the same way. And he didn't want to say it. He didn't want to admit to it. Not because of a weakness or a vulnerability, but because he thought it was sort of pointless. She'd moved on with her life, and he'd wanted her to. He was fine playing cameos in her life's story. He really was. At least he told himself he was.

He really hated that any words he might have had were taken from him so easily. Her words were like a knife in his chest, just plunged in easily and twisted about. Why did she want to have this conversation? How did they even get onto it? How long had she thought about having it? He had so many questions. He was so irritated by all of it.

Snake looked aside and found himself ruffling his hair. "What's brought all of this on? Something going on that I need to know about?" Looking back to her, his gaze was direct, as pointed as his words. He could say things as he needed to in his own way. "You're making it sound like you're going far away. Not coming back."

I'm not ready to say goodbye yet. So you've got to wait a little bit more.

Dorm Log: Scorching Summer Edition

Samus - stadium, FDC, general around

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