[PRP] Corporal Punishment (Zephyr/Empy)

[Auric Halcyon]

The day outside was just warming up, strange birds chirped in their trees, sunlight dappled over the ship and the scent of rain on the breeze. Long streaks of light wound over canopies and through windows, airing out even the darkest of labs and giving life to all wonder of birds and animals that inhabited Utopia.

Empyrean shied from the sunlight, his eyes had grown accustomed to the glare of the halogen artificial lights inside the labs and the natural light left him blinking and slightly disorientated, he was currently crouched down outside his favourite science-lab, room 01, trying, unsuccessfully, to get the door open. Mother had locked both the regular locks and the safety locks and his codes for overriding had been reset. Something about his access being revoked- that should have been enough of a warning to stop him from continuing to try and gain access, but he had a petri dish in there that was about to mature and if he didn't apply the saline solution it would be totally ruined! He couldn't believe how stubborn Mother was being about this, lately she had been doing nothing but trying to sabotague his work!

Frustrated and still denied access, the child sat back on his heels, blowing out of his nose with a grunt. Well he wasn't getting in, unless.... right! He could use the bolt-cutters in the armoury- just bust the door open, someone could fix it later. But for the moment, he sat back, a little puffed from all the exertion that he had just been through. Maybe he was a little out of shape.  

[Kesmi]

It was a new day and Zephyr was ready to head outside to explore this new world she had crashed upon. While she was well content to remain inside the ship and train in the rooms required, but she was an outdoor person. Walking down the hall towards one of the training rooms, she required something from one of them before heading out. As she drew closer to the rooms, she spotted a rather pale child heading that way too.

"Hey there, headed to do some training?" Zephyr called out not recognizing the child, but had heard of troubles one had been causing. She had to wonder if this one was the one that Mother had been telling her about. Blowing up one of the labs and causing a great amount of damage. If it was, she was going to have to do something about that.  

[Auric Halcyon]

Empyrean jumped with that sort of 'I've been caught doing something I shouldn't be' jump that children and cats shared between species. His too wide eyes rounded on the adult that was casually speaking and he swallowed. He wasn't used to adults paying much mind to his activities (they had other matters to concern themselves with, and most children didn't need much supervision. Of course Empy didn't need much supervision either... really. He did just fine on his own; those conduits had disconnected themselves last time...

"Uh... I'm just getting something from the... armoury..." He knew he couldn't lie to the adult, after all, they seemed to be able to scent the deception on your skin... or was that snakes? Perhaps he should run a trial of scents and see if it was true; adults did have such stunning capacity. He shuffled a little, looking up at the blue haired adult. "I don't really like the physical training. It wastes time I could be using to uncover the secrets of the universe and cataloguing the advances of science." He waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the training rooms. Besides, they were genetically engineered to maintain a decent physique, and with no war, why should he need to run a few miles or climb a tree? Peace time meant there was no reason for him to sweat or die in the training rooms, right? So what if he had no outlets for stress or fell victim to colds easier? He was a scientist, not a warrior!  

[Kesmi]

zephyr frowned as the child spoke of training being a waste of time. Brows furrowing together, her hands placed themselves on her hips. So it was a waste of time huh? Well, she had a few things that she could teach this little whelp. "So you must be the child that Mother has told me about. The one that happened to blow one of the labs to utter ruin." Zwphyr's arms crossed themselves as she leaned 'casually' against the wall near the training room door. "From the look of you, you could use some time outside. In the fresh air and doing something other then pining over a desk."

Mother had asked Zephyr to do something, not wanting the whole ship, or what was left of it to be blown to bits in the next explosion that was bound to happen. Zephyr had assured Mother that she would do something for the youth and she certainly have hands full with this one. "Come with me. You have work to do, work you consider a waste of time. Your body needs to be kept healthy, what's the use if a brain if the body fails to the point you can't even lift a hand to adjust the focus of the microscope? You would be deemed useless and room bound, feeding tube and all." she tried painting a grim picture for the youth to what might happen to him if he didn't do something to keep in shape. While she was sure that what she said would fall on deaf ears, it was worth a try and she was more then willing to 'pull' an ear to get the youth to comply.

Lifting away from the wall, she turned to enter the training room. Here she was going to pick up a few things and then take this pale youth outside and give him a dose of sunshine. Something she would die without.  

[Auric Halcyon]

What-- Mother had been telling the adults about his activities? "That incident was just a minor miscalculation of the right chemicals. Really Mother blew it out of proportions. I admit, I might have been forced to take cover when the substances reacted.... and the door might have needed replacing.... and all my work in the lab might have been ruined.... and two of the monitors were damaged... but it was really not that dramatic."

He crossed his arms over his chest, like... well, an obstinate child. "My body is a perfect specimen of health; we're engineered to be beyond such weakness as physical labour." He objected, and then, when he realized that tact held little leverage with her, "And you're not the boss of me just because you're older!"

The last, apparently sounded as childish to him as it must have to Zephyr because he quickly changed tactics. "I mean to say, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself! I don't want to go outside in the sunlight. It's too... unfiltered."

"I would never need a feeding tube." He announced, but then he had started to follow her- as arguing required that he make his point and he couldn't do that while she was inside the training rooms. As always the places smelled un-sterilised to him, it was foolish, since the whole ship was cleaned perfectly by Mother's protocols, but these places always had so much scent to them; not like his pristine science labs. "And I've never heard of an incident when a Genome degenerated so badly. So you're making that up." That being said... he'd never really researched into that sort of thing... could she be telling the truth? if he didn't go outside and exercise would his arms fall off? A small niggling doubt squirmed in his stomach. "You are making that up... right?"  

[Kesmi]

Zephyr stopped a moment and looked back at the youth behind her. Her fierce blue eyes narrowing as he mentioned being a picture of health. What she saw was a withering flower that had yet to blossom. "You are far from a healthy specimen, your skin is too pale and you look like you wouldn't lift a staff to save your own life. Science is fine, but there are limits to what you can do."

She said little more before entering the training room and walking over to a wall lined with many practice equipment. Here she ran her hand over wooden staffs and staves, swords and many other things. Here she stopped in front of a long wooden staff, it was about eight feet long and was tipped with a two foot blunt blade. Pulling the weapon from the hooks that held the weapon she tossed it towards the youth. "Here, catch."

The weapon would feel heavy to those unused to its weight, truthfully, it was lined with a metal core. Purposefully crafted to strengthen the arms of the wielder. Zephyr was familiar with this particular weapon, though preferred swords for close combat, but she could use this one as well. "That is going to be your new best friend. You are going to polish it, keep the blade from rusting and if it somehow breaks, you are going to be crafting a new one with your own hands." There was a firmness to Zephyr's voice as she pointed at the youth.

She had forgotten about the threat she had given to him about wasting away to nothing and being bed ridden. For the moment, getting this youth quiped with something other then a petri-dish. But the last of the questions did finally sink in as she still stared down at the pale youth. "I have been in many battles and seen a lot of things that would give you nightmares at night. One would be a genome being bed ridden and unable to do anything. I watched one, I was at her side as she passed from this land." Zephyr turned away to select a practice weapon for herself, stating finally, "It was my own sister."  

[Auric Halcyon]

Empyrean almost buckled as he took the heavy weapon into his arms, adjusting his grip quickly so he didn't drop it. He knew it was some sort of pole-arm, a weapon, the sort that they must have used in the war so long ago. Energy projectiles ran out of energy, magic ran dry and ballistics were primitive, but blades; blades would last forever. He stared at the thing in his arms, weighed down by the fearsomeness of it. This was nothing to be taken lightly. It was a weapon of a more primitive time, a time when their very race had fought for their freedom against tyranny and slavery. A time that still haunted the adults of their race. His eyes darkened with the knowledge of what this weapon represented. He would hopefully never have to see the fires of war, the ravages of death and such horrors.

"You want to teach me how to fight?" He asked, his voice almost outraged for a moment before he stared at the weapon once more and back to Zephyr. "Why?"

He understood the ideas behind conflict; the strong showing their might, the right to lands and rulership, the basic instinct that most sentient creatures had to prove their dominance over others, but part of him was still surprised.

As she spoke of her sister being bed ridden he frowned, gaze drifting down to the weapon once more, but his question all about the history that Zephyr hinted toward. A history of war and loss he had not studied, where others saw conflict, he had focused on the development of weapons and technology, science flourished in battle. It was a time of tremendous achievement. Horrible, maybe, yes, but tremendous. And so he was confused by this murmur of Zephyr's about horrors and nightmares. Because to him, war was a remote thing, a faceless word that was all about statistics and numbers. He clutched the shaft of the weapon in his hands, head tilted to one side and stared at Zephyr as though he might pry open her mind and read the thoughts inside if she didn't answer to the questions of the universe he had. "What happened?"  

[Kesmi]

"There will come a day when your science will fail you and you will have no other choice but to pick up arms to defend yourself." Zephyr said dryly as she ran a hand over another of the long staffs. "But seeings that you would rather just stay in your lab all day, we are going to be doing some training. Sharpen those reflexes and your thinking."

Pulling a staff from its place on the wall she hefted it around as if it weighed nothing, but it too was lined with a metal based core. This weapon was crude and rather unused in these days, but many of the weapons she liked were considered of the older era, before they found this new home. And well, weapons were more modern and better handled. Taking her staff in a hand and standing on its blunt end, she stared down at the child that was beside her.

"Hm?" She looked at the child as he asked, 'what happened'. She assumed he was speaking of her sister, there was a story she wished not to elaborate on. But, from the expression on his face, he had to hear something."She was like you, a lab geek. She hated leaving her lab, her studies even when she had time off. She became as white as her lab coat and thin as a rail. Her lab was attacked and everyone inside was badly injured." Zephyr looked away a little "She came to wish she had had some combat training. Because she could have saved many of those she worked with and even herself. Who would have thought a lab would be a big target for attack? Hmm?" she looked back at the child. "What would you have done if your lab were suddenly attack. People firing guns everywhere and there's no where for you to run? Hide and hope not to be found? Or would you rather fight and survive?"

She turned away from the child headed back towards the door, while the room was large enough for the training. She liked being outside, preferred it really, she even had a small tent set up outside. While it might have been hazardous in the long run, it made her remember going on outings with what family she had.  

[Auric Halcyon]

Empyrean's gaze widened to almost comic porportions as Zephyr related her terrible tale. He was too young to remember such battles, but like all children he had been educated about them. Still, the very thought of someone getting into his labs with the intention of... Mother, the thought of the outer defences to the ship being breached like that? That would mean that the defenders would have been defeated, it would mean that Mother's anti-intruder measures had been overcome, that he had been cutoff from escape. For a moment Empyrean's selfish gaze cleared and he looked sullenly to his feet.

"Of course that makes sense. It is natural that I would want to fight..." He frowned, realizing that the adult had won this argument. He followed her in a sullen, pouting mood for a few minutes before his mind eventually clicked over.

"Alright, then I expect the best of your instruction. I want to know everything that you have to impart. I expect a full dedication on your part. I don't like doing things by half-measure." He announced in his most imperial voice, as though he could boss the adult around.  

[Kesmi]

Zephyr nodded as she reached the door of the training room, there she stopped and looked back at the child. The weapon she had given him was a big big for him, but he would likely grow into it, but she was being a little too tyrant like, perhaps. Looking over at the staff rack she looked them over some were shorted then the one that she had given the youth. Others were somewhat longer and had more deadly blades on the ends. "You shall be getting the best, but for today we won't be spending much time on weapons, we're going to be building up your strength. Never know what you will have to use as a weapon in times of need."

She looked back to the youth that she had yet to catch his name. "You will be training with me for a while, with limited access to the labs. You will have one hour to do what you need in there then its outside. Do we have an agreement?" Zephyr asked as she entered the hall, the staff weapon over a shoulder, looking back at the youth for a reply.