Bulma's Lab

[sexystrife]

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Gohan’s light tone seemed to die, and it was then he began to regret asking her such a question. Gohan bit at his lip, allowing his hand to travel along his wounded arm lightly, grazing the lotion covered burns. He could almost hear his mother’s berating voice, scolding him for being so forward to a kind soul like hers. Though, as she turned and smiled at him he could feel his unease fade away, and a spark of curiosity quickly took its place. She was a fighter? She seemed so kind and gentle, not the usual type that looked like they enjoyed a good throw down.

Gohan could only laugh at his own thought. He and his father had been the very same.

“So you can transform?” Gohan ventured, his eyes glimmering with curiosity as he scooted closer to the edge of his table. He’d seen only two transformations in his short time as a warrior, and both times he’d been on the opposite end of the immense power. Gohan smiled, shrugging off the thought and spoke again, his voice tinged with a child-like wonder that he had not displayed in many years,

“Really? That’s so cool!”

[redpyrocat]

Everion laughed. She noticed his eyes lite right up when she mentioned that she was a fighter. It seemed like everyone here is so serious, and depressed. She could understand, but that will not help them grow and improve. She had a feeling Gohan had a lot of potential, maybe she would teach him her favorite technique, vine.

Her smile broadened, she liked that idea…plus that would give her the chance to see where he stands in his fighting. She crossed her arms, her smile now a grin. She could hardly wait to start.

“I’ll make you a deal; I’ll show you my transformations, AFTER you’ve totally healed up. You’re not allowed to do any training until you’re in tip top shape. Okay?”

Everion glanced at Bulma, she seemed to know what everything was. Everion needed to know what everything was, especially that magic bean…that was amazing. She would ask her later, right now Bulma seemed to be in a foul mood…and Everion wanted nothing to do with it. She looked back at Gohan, trying to remain focused on what was currently happening.

[Turtle]

Tomta stepped back, surveying the room and its occupants from a safe distance. Bulma and Everion seemed more than willing to care for their wounded, and far more comfortable than she would be.

Her attention swept around the room and the various bits of machinery and equipment strewn about in a wonderfully literal representation of organized chaos. Boxy, alien pieces stuck out amidst the more familiar items, some a kind of modified amalgamation of the two that Bulma had undoubtedly put together.

She'd noticed movement on one of the monitors and was eyeing it warily, trying to take a discreet step away as she returned her attention to the conversation. "I'd like to see that as well, Everion." She smiled. "I'm not sure I've ever heard of a people targeted by Freiza making that kind of a recovery. It's very impressive."

[sexystrife]

“I’d like that.” Gohan responded softly, offering Everion a warm smile in return for her kind gesture. The only thing he could give her in return for being so forgiving of his earlier actions. His thoughts warmed at the idea of someone else joining his spars—Hell, perhaps he could remind Krillin, as ironic as the idea was to him, that you shouldn’t judge others simply on their appearances. The demi saiyan settled back onto his side and relished in the cool sensation that graced his skin as he did so, feeling at peace for the first time since boarding the ship. Chores for later aside, he was glad he’d managed to make some friends.

Gohan stretched lightly as he settled in, growing more comfortable now that he’d finally laid himself down, the pounding in his head easing somewhat as he did so. The white noise was nice; the occasional clattering of bulma’s utensils against the surface of her work bench, and the soft voices of Everion and Tomta seemed to put him at ease, lulling him into a state of half sleep. Strange, the young warrior thought, he hadn’t felt tired earlier.

Gohan yawned softly as his weariness set in; taking no notice of the unusual purr that seemed to escape him when he did so. Gohan curled into himself, tucking his hands beneath his head as he finally gave way to his body’s fierce demand for rest. He would have apologize to the others for being so rude later on, he was just so tired.

Perhaps, he hoped, he would be feeling better when he woke again.

(OOC: Think I might bring vegeta through here with my next post ))

[redpyrocat]

Everion removed Mo from the sleeping child’s head, and placed him back on her own. Mo nestled into his usual place, and stared at Tomta. Everion looked over her shoulder at Tomta, still smiling, and nodded.

“That’s fine by me. I hope you don’t mind waiting for Gohan to heal though. I don’t want him to cause any more damage to his body.”

Everion found a blanket and draped it on his sleeping form. She thought wistfully of her family back home, she remembered her mother doing the same thing to her. Everion brought herself back to reality, she needed to keep her chin up. She wasn’t here to mop about the past and dream of being back home. She was here to help stop the pain that Frieza took pleasure in spreading.

She turned to Tomta, she was so quiet. She was so strange, but then so was everyone else on this ship. Everion frowned slightly, did everyone here have the same reason to fight Frieza?

“Why are you fighting against Frieza? Where are you from? Why do you have a tail and others do not? What are your motives? Are you a fighter? If not, what do you do?”

[sexystrife]

(Continued from The Gravity Room)

Vegeta neared the door leading out of the massive chamber, but hesitated as he felt the Ki of the Bald human and the half breed dip, as though unconscious. As the prince spanned his awareness, the sudden shocks of other Ki signatures flooded his senses. More of them, there were more of them in there with her. Vegeta’s jaw tightened, his displeasure simmering for only a few moments before it vanished and left him empty. It took not but a second for the prince to ready himself, wiping the sweat that still lingered upon his brow with the back of his gloved hand.

He would deal with the woman as he always had, the others made no difference in the slightest. Perhaps, if they were smart, they would steer clear of him. Vegeta inhaled slowly and disengaged the locking mechanism, crossing the threshold from the gravity chamber and into the mess that was Bulma Briefs’ laboratory.

[Turtle]

Tomta blinked slowly, trying to arrange her thoughts at the sudden barrage of personal questions. "I...." She sighed. She supposed there was no point withholding information from the other crew members, though she chose to address the most harmless of Everion's questions first. "I have a tail because I'm a Saiyan. We look rather similar to Humans," she indicated Krillin and Bulma with a nod of her head, "in most other respects. Tarble, and two other Saiyan women on board still have their tails, though Vegeta's was amputated."

She glanced around quickly before continuing. "I was raised off planet, so don't really feel comfortable speaking for the other Saiyans on the ship; however, we were annexed, used and eventually destroyed by Freiza. The remnants of our people, to the extent of my knowledge, are all present on board."

[redpyrocat]

“Okay, but why are you her-“ Everion was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Everion’s head snapped towards the door and stared at the man with the crazy “hair” as he walked in. She blinked, he has scares. Where did he get them? Who was he?

The tip of her tail started to wag, she wanted to know everything. She walked past Tomta, forgetting about what she was going to ask, and right up to the new stranger. Everion inhaled deeply, filing her lungs to full capacity, and opened her mouth.

“Hi my name is Everion. What’s your name? Where are you from? Why are you here? How are you? Why do you look angry? Are you a fighter? Did you get your scars in battle? Do you have any candy?”

With each question, Everion spoke faster and faster, almost to a point where it was impossible to understand her. She stared at him intently, he had her complete attention. Everion bounced in place, patiently waiting for his response.

[Queen of Cunts]

Waking up had always been the worst time. The feeling of dislocation, the loss of equilibrium as he passed through the grey area between reality and what lay inside his own head. He always thrashed when he surfaced, like a drowning man fighting his way to air.

Ironic, because when he’d been young, just an orphaned boy at the Oran Temple, the others had taken a particular delight in making that transition a literal one. They’d slipped a wet cloth over his face while he slept on more than one occasion. Sometimes they’d even held it down, when he’d been too small to do anything about it. He’d kicked and punched and struggled, but in the end they’d always made their point - he’d been at their mercy, one way or the other.

Maybe that was why he always struggled awake now. He sat up with a start, filling his right palm with crackling energy and cocking his arm back, ready to throw. He cast around, looking for whatever had started him from his sleep. He was in Bulma’s lab, but he wasn’t alone. There were more people milling around in here than there should have been. He did a headcount, closing his fingers around his energy ball and letting it dissipate.

Bulma was there, fretting as usual. Gohan had probably told her about the damage to the Panic Room and now she’d be bent out of shape about it for days. He’d take responsibility. It had been his fault anyway. And he wanted to share with Bulma just how strong Gohan had become, how well he was coming along as a fighter.

Two of the other passengers were there too. He recognised them from the Main Deck. They’d been standing behind Gohan. He needed to apologise to them for what he’d done. He’d risked their lives, but he’d felt - somehow known instinctively - that the time was right, that Gohan would come through for them.

All those well laid plans and best intentions evaporated when he saw Vegeta standing at the door to the Gravity Room. Suddenly, it made sense. The thing that had jerked him awake had been the upsurge of the Saiyan’s power. The feel of it was engraved into his mind and tagged with danger. He couldn’t sleep with someone as potentially harmful as the Saiyan Prince around.

He didn’t speak. The words were gone. Instead, he just snarled.

[nightriddler]

Bulma had been mostly ignoring Everion and Gohan’s conversation while she treated Krillin’s burns. She had tunnel vision when she got absorbed in her technical work, and had grown that same diligence over the years towards mending Krillin and Gohan’s wounds from their training sessions. She did catch Everion’s tale regarding Frieza, a tale she hadn’t heard before. Still, it felt like she’d heard it hundreds of times. Just more reason that Frieza needed to go down as she felt sympathy towards the alien woman she’d snapped at earlier. She glanced over and was relieved to see that Gohan had fallen asleep. The kid needed rest.

She’d been so absorbed in what she was doing while she tended to Krillin’s broken ribs that she didn’t hear the door open at first. It wasn’t until she heard Everion unleash a stream of questions that Bulma finally came out of it. Looking over, she cursed under her breath when she saw the alien woman stroll right up to the Saiyan prince himself. Vegeta had never lashed out in violence on the ship that she’d seen, and she’d been watching the man quite a bit. Still, he kept to himself, and as such probably didn’t appreciate someone getting up in his face – though that surely wouldn’t have stopped her from doing the same.

Just as Bulma was about to go pull Everion away from Vegeta, her attention was suddenly diverted back to Krillin. As if on cue, her friend stirred and then he abruptly sat up, startling her in the process.

“Oh, shit,” she muttered under her breath, seeing Krillin’s eyes settle right on Vegeta. There was always such a dark change in her friend when Vegeta’s mere name was mentioned, and right now that darkness was a hatred that made Krillin look frightening, even injured as he was. Still, she knew him and wasn’t afraid, and got right in his line of sight to Vegeta. She gently put her hands on his shoulders.

“Hey there buddy, you got pretty banged up so just take it easy. Now’s not the time to start anything, okay?” Bulma told Krillin, making eye contact with him and hoping he would understand.

She let him go and then went over to Everion, taking her arm and gently pulling her back a step from the Saiyan.

“It’s Everion, right?” Bulma easily asked, hoping to diffuse the tension in the room. “You know, Everion, I think we should maybe give him some breathing room.” She looked back at Vegeta, making direct eye contact with him for the first time. She looked at him curiously, and then offered a tentative smile for the sake of keeping the peace.

“He just got done training after all.”

[sexystrife]

Vegeta hadn’t known what to make of the creature that bounded up to him at first, or what it wanted from him for that matter. He stared, taking in her vibrant markings and gem like eyes as though he would staring at an inanimate object. He did not hear her words, nor did he see her natural smile as she addressed him, he saw only her eyes. There had been a familiar air to them, something he had seen often since he’d been drug aboard. He noticed the focus of her gaze shift, taking notice of his ruined right eye; however, before she could say another word she was drug aside by the very creature he’d been hoping to avoid. No, he should have waited, he should have just waited, what was another night without sleep? It wasn't like he slept much these days anyway.

Vegeta twitched inwardly, taking a silent notice of Krillin’s waking and obvious displeasure of his presence with a look of indifference. He needed to hurry now, he could feel the human's Ki churning with a bubbling rage with every passing second. The saiyan prince caught bulma’s gaze and saw what looked to be traces of a smile, faint and strained for the sake of peace as she drug the other woman away. He snapped his gaze away from Bulma’s after a second, and continued his trek towards the door that would lead him away from the others and out somewhere else. Anywhere else would have been ideal so long as he was alone.

He kept his gaze grounded, watching only the floor as he walked. Not long now, not long now, he would soon be away from them.

[Turtle]

With Everion successfully restrained, Tomta edged herself back as slowly as she could until she was flush against the wall behind her, eyes darting carefully between Krillin and Vegeta as the other Saiyan made his way across the crowded space. She kept her face disinterested with deliberate focus, willing her breathing steady though her muscles had all gone tight and ready in instinctual anticipation of danger. She was very aware of her distance to the exit, and the clutter of machinery and other people in her way if she did have to make a very speedy getaway. There was a twinge of something like guilt at the thought. There were noncombatants present. If things did go south, there was Bulma, potentially Everion, and an unconscious Gohan to consider first. This whole 'team player' business was taking some getting used to, but she owed it to Tarble and the rebellion effort to try.

[Queen of Cunts]

His breaths were coming in short, sharp pants. The effort of forcing himself off the bed and to his feet had taken more out of him than it should have. His chest was burning. Something felt like it was seriously wrong with his body. Every intake of air was like a knife through his ribs. Some of them had been broken, and now his ribcage was crushing his lungs. It was hell just to stand there, breathing. And yet, somehow it just didn’t matter. All the pain, all the suffering, he endured was just swallowed up by the knowledge that he deserved it.

He’d launched an attack, in a room full of innocent people, some of them non-combatants, all to get a child ready for a battle that he couldn’t - or wouldn’t - fight himself. He was trying to goad a child - the child of the best man he had ever known - into killing someone. And that wasn’t even taking into account what he’d done before that day. There was no doubt he deserved it, and so much more.

They expected him to believe that the man who had killed Goku was reformed, that he was there to fight the good fight all of a sudden. And yet, here he was, strutting around like he owned this ship, like this was his personal kingdom and they were all servants. He tolerated that from Bulma, because underneath her bratty princess exterior was a woman with a kind and compassionate nature.

It had probably never even occurred to her to do the things that he was doing now. The way that he was treating Gohan was likely hurting her more than anyone else. He only hoped that when he died, his fate was not decided by Piccolo. He’d burn in hell with that judgement.

That was all he could think about nowadays - falling into a sleep so deep that he would never wake up from it. It was selfish. If anyone deserved to live on in this world, it was him. But he felt so tired.

Especially right now. Between the fatigue and the crushing pressure in his chest, the fluid rattle in every breath he took, he was too weak to even lift his arms, let alone take on Vegeta. That was the only reason he’d come. He smelled weakness and come sniffing around, like a wild dog. The only thing standing between him and annihilation was Bulma, standing between them like a human shield, like she thought Vegeta could be reasoned with, like she thought he was capable of compassion or moral restraint.

He could already see her collapsing, a cauterised hole through her chest, dead before she’d even seen his hand rise. And Gohan would hate him for it - hate him for not keeping herself. Maybe then he’d have the stomach to finally end his life.

He drew his breath in as far as his crippled torso would allow, and threw himself at Vegeta with a guttural howl.

[sexystrife]

The room chilled with Krillin’s waking eyes, and with every second he lingered Vegeta could feel the tension building between each of the creatures within the room. All of them waiting with baited breath for him to leave so then maybe, maybe they could breathe normally again. Even within a room full of people watching, waiting, and praying for the calm to continue he still somehow felt isolated. Vegeta halted his steps after finally having reached the door, but hadn’t the time to make his way though it as he suddenly found himself whirling back around to face the others in time to catch his would-be attacker’s fists in his own.

Krillin snarled viciously, his dark eyes burning with a need that he had only ever seen within the eyes of fellow saiyans, the insatiable need for blood. Vegeta’s face remained neutral, not once giving way to his thoughts as he locked gazes with the smaller human. They remained still, neither moving for some time as though calm had come over them. Vegeta huffed inwardly, taking a small interest in the other’s eyes as his own abnormal gaze bore straight back into Krillin’s own. There was a knowing suffering there, one he’d known far too well. His were the eyes of isolation. Vegeta’s fists tightened instinctually as the smaller warrior began to struggle, trying with what little strength he possessed to break the other’s hold to no avail. He thrashed like a wounded animal in the last throws of its pitiful existence. The saiyan prince nearly frowned, and without any real warning finally released krillin from his hold and allowed him to fall unceremoniously to the floor.

He wouldn’t waste his time, not with him, not with his body broken and torn, not now. Vegeta turned without a word, sparing Bulma a lingering glance before finally exiting the laboratory. Leaving the others alone.

[redpyrocat]

Everion stood there and stared…what just happened? She didn’t get it. Why did Krillin get so mad? Why is the stranger with the crazy hair so quiet? Do they hate each other? If so, why? Everion looked at Bulma, confusion written on her face. Turning back to look at the man that was on the ground, Everion gingerly approached him. Everion was worried what he might do. She wasn’t sure if it was safe to go near him, but she knew he was in no condition to be even thinking of fighting. She swallowed her concern and scooped him into her arms.

She carried him back to the bed thing and laid him down. She scowled down at him, and wagged a finger at him, “You’re in no shape to even think of starting anything. STAY!”

She resisted the urge to hit him in the head. For someone who seems to take training Gohan seriously, he didn’t seem to think that his own health was important. Mentally Everion rolled her eyes, she wasn’t the greatest fighter around, but ones health was always important…

She looked around at the people in the room, she was done being left in the dark. She wanted answers. She crossed her arms, and her tail thumped the ground as her frustration built.

“I don’t understand what is going on, and I want that to be fixed….why is everyone angry at each other? Aren’t we on the same side? Shouldn’t we be helping each other to improve our chances to win? I want to know EVERYTHING. If I’m going to be any help, I cannot be left out of the loop.”