(no subject)

[theresnodoor]

Tobias was off hunting, which meant Rachel had some time to do some training. Her gun is at the bottom of her bag back at their campsite - which is where it's been since even before Tobias arrived. She hasn't lifted it in ages, much less practiced shooting, but there have been other things to do.

Forget the job at the farm. She didn't understand it anyway.

Morphing was all well and good but the difficult part only lasted thirty seconds, a few minutes at most. After that, her mind is free to wander. Rachel wants to be distracted, occupied but hiding behind the mind of her morph is... not an option. Not right.

It was stupid. A couple of ghosts and she already knew she couldn't fight them. What was she going to do? Research? Watch and learn? They didn't need her for that.

Gymnastics was good to keep her mind occupied. If she worked hard enough, she'd be too focused on her body to think much. And things are fine anyway, she'll stress herself out over nothing.

She didn't want to go anyway.

She'll work up to gymnastics. Right now, she's running on the road out of Metropolis, working up her heart rate, stretching before trying anything new.

It was a stupid job.

Comments

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

He's done before she is, and when he finds she's left the campsite he gains altitude and starts looking. It doesn't take long.

<I've been wondering,> he says without preamble. <How long did it take to get used to the new body? Was it like morphing?>

[theresnodoor]

It's really hard to run and carry on a conversation at the same time, especially when the person you're speaking to is a few hundred feet above you. Rachel slow to a walk before stopping at the side of the road, bent double with her hands on her knees as she catches her breath.

Then she shakes her head.

"Kinda? But-- worse. No instincts and-- I'm in it all the-- time. Hadta-- get used to-- moving around with new weight-- and height."

She sits up and tosses her hair back, hands on her hips while she looks up to scan the sky for him.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

He's ahead of her and to the right, just circling around.

<Do you like it?> Rachel had never been vain, but she had been pretty aware of how she looked.

[theresnodoor]

Hard not to be aware of it, for how often it was commented on.

Rachel wrinkles her nose and shrugs, arms over her head to stretch. "Not really," she replies, breath mostly caught. "It's mostly inconvenient to me and I don't think it made as much of a difference as the Ellimist thought it would. I would've been fine how I was."

And she wouldn't have to re-learn a lot of gymnastics for the sake of a new body type either.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

<That makes sense.>

Tobias falls silent. He's still not sure what he thinks of it.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel lets the silence stretch between them for a little longer before looking up at him again. "Does it bother you?"

She keeps her voice as blank as possible.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias' answer is immediate. <No. I love you for who you are. What body you're in doesn't matter.>

[greatestofease.livejournal.com]

Dick's out by the side of the road, a few miles from Metropolis. The girl running past gets a wave and a grin.

He looks very little like the commanding Nightwing she met a little while ago. Just a handsome young man with a motorbike.

[theresnodoor]

Very, very handsome, though. Rachel glances over when she sees the movement from the corner or her eyes and slows to a walk. Does he recognize her or is he just being friendly?

She's about to find out, most likely, coming to a stop and tossing her ponytail back with a deep breath. "Hey."

[greatestofease.livejournal.com]

"Nice day for it." Dick grins, offering her a hand, cheerfully. "You're a fair way out of the city."

[theresnodoor]

Rachel nods, breathing hard and takes his hand for a quick shake. "A few miles, yeah. So are you."

[greatestofease.livejournal.com]

"I'm on my way in - looking for a guy who's meant to be coming to help out with this ghost problem." Dean grins ruefully, aware it sounds a little nuts.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel nods, still panting and puts her hands on her hips. "Yeah, that's Dean. He should be right inside the city."

Since he and Jo want to get out of town as soon as possible and never go any deeper than that.

[hector-aframian.livejournal.com]

A little way into the woods, there's a shooting range set up. Primitive and uncomplicated; Dean's just picked the biggest clear space and painted targets on the trees.

He doesn't have a silencer; he won't be hard to find. Gunshots, in a world gone silent and dead, tend to stand out.

[theresnodoor]

That they do, and they are eardrum-splicing even for human senses.

Rachel slows her run as she comes closer, trying to peer into the trees. The shots are coming too often and too steady and there isn't a single noise of protest. That's enough for her to realize it's a shooting range.

She makes a face, looks around to see if anyone's coming and starts a slow walk into the woods toward the sound.

[hector-aframian.livejournal.com]

Dean's focused, intent. The trees are suffering; his shooting is very accurate. The EPA would be pissed. If, you know, they weren't all dead.

He still looks up sharply when he hears someone coming.

"Who's there?"

[theresnodoor]

Rachel walks into the clearing, lifting a brow at the condition of the trees as she crossed her arms. "What, did you think you were being quiet?"

After her last discussion with Tobias, she briefly wonders if Dean is shooting at the trees hoping to catch a hawk.

[hector-aframian.livejournal.com]

"Quiet like you're sweet," Dean agrees cheerfully, snapping off a couple more shots.

[theresnodoor]

"And like you're subtle."

Rachel watches him for a few minutes, getting control of her breath. He fires off the gun so easily, hits what she assumes is his mark every time - and assumes so if only because he doesn't look disappointed after every shot.

She thinks briefly of the gun she left at the campsite, wonders how long it'll take before Tobias finds it.

And, for completely unrelated reasons, turns to go back to the road.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's been around the forest a while. Checking it out, avoiding the populous.

It's more boring than she'd like. Stupid safe zone.

It'll be late evening when she's head out again.

[theresnodoor]

Really, really boring. The woods aren't the city, which is better, but there's nothing in the woods either.

And Rachel, for whatever reason, has been hesitant about telling Tobias she'd rather be back on the coasts with the refugees.

She's still running when it gets dark but it's on the way back to the meadow rather than out of it. Blondes are still recognizable at night, though.

[tobeclosetohim]

They so are.

Which is why Jo stops, hands in her pockets.

She's watching from a distance, critically.

[theresnodoor]

It's easy to catch sight of Jo, too. Which means Rachel starts slowing, eventually coming to a stop about five feet in front of Jo, hands on her hips and breathing deeply.

"Hey."

The what? is obvious in her tone. It has not been a good day for Rachel.

[tobeclosetohim]

Rachel looks exactly the same as always, is what.

"Good run?"

[theresnodoor]

It has been said that Rachel could be in the middle of a flash flood, tossed three miles in a tornado, get caught in a desert sandstorm and still walk out of it like she'd just been in a photoshoot.

Just because she's currently dressed for what would be a Sport Chalet photoshoot doesn't make that any less true.

"Good enough," she replied, with a shrug that plainly said 'not long enough.' "What are you doing out here on foot?"