shatterverse | (no subject)

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.

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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.

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.

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.

<That makes sense.>

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

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.

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

Maybe too immediate? Rachel's eyes narrow and she glares at him for a few seconds.

If he's trying to tell her something, she doesn't like it.

He wasn't, but he could have been.

<What?> he asks after a minute.

"...nothing."

It's been on Rachel's mind since they argued. Or at least, what passes for an argument between them. But she trusts him not to play dumb.

She starts walking back to the road, dropping her gaze to it. "I'm gonna keep going."

<You want company, or...?> After all, if there's one thing Tobias is good at it's being quiet.

Rachel hesitates, but not for long. Things might be complex now but Tobias' company was never anything but helpful when it came to complicated issues.

She shrugs but looks up at him with a small smile. "Whatever you want."

He'd smile back if he had lips. He falls into a slow glide not too far away, circling slowly and splitting his time between watching her and watching the area around them.

It's almost like the bad old days.

Rachel misses them.

But if she runs faster, she might be too tired to think about that or the stupid job at the farm.

Watching her, Tobias can tell that she's pushing herself hard. And he knows why.

He just wishes there was something he could do.

Once she's got something in her head, it's nearly impossible to get Rachel to drop it. And in this case, what's in her head is to get everything out of her head.

Tobias was always there when she needed a distraction. For now, that's enough.

It's odd. It's been over three years since he's seen her, and somehow it doesn't seem like any time has passed. They still... fit.

As well as they ever did. She's spent months in unrest in this world and Tobias' presence alone has calmed her.

Even if it takes a few miles before she stops again, bent double on the side of the road and breathing. Though when she falls back to flop in the grass, her eyes track him in the sky and she grins.

It's Tobias. Whatever else is happening, his presence will never be anything but comforting.

He's circling slowly, watching.

She's... impressive. Even without the war she doesn't stop pushing herself.

That's his Rachel.