Arboretum

[electro_kinetic]

Weird as the arboretum is to Noriko--and make no mistake, a room of spotless nature in the middle of a starship is weird--it also makes a calm place for her to relax, assuming such a thing is actually possible for her. It isn't always, given the nature of her mutation.

But today she's in there for an actual purpose, no just to escape the stale air and bright lights and busy-ness of every other place she's allowed to be on this boat. She was doing yoga, but now she's been in the headstand for a while, eyes shut against the reminder that this isn't real as she runs through one of the songs on her now-mostly-nonfunctioning cell phone.

Comments

[miniclaws]

Laura comes to arboretum to ease the feeling of being trapped on the metal ship. She has also slept in there three times. When she picks up Noriko's scent she follows it to the other girl. Quiet as a cat, she settles down beside her in a headstand of her own.

"That is a very repetitive song."

[electro_kinetic]

"Refrains generally are," she says, letting out a sigh as Laura comes up next to her.

"Didn't know you did yoga too. I never saw you do it."

[miniclaws]

"I was taught it in the Facility." Laura has not forgotten a single lesson she was taught there. "I do not practice it often." She does not find it calming, it is simple another series of exercises for her to complete.

"Do you get bored during yoga?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Usually, it just gives me time to think," she says, shaking her head and falling over into a backbend, sitting down in the grass.

"Do you get bored?"

[miniclaws]

Laura drops down and settles cross-legged beside her. "No. I focus on the task at hand until it is complete." She does not allow herself to have much free time. She does not live her life like Noriko does, Noriko burns through life at a high speed. "There is always something to do."

However she does feel the ship is confining. "The ship does offer limited opportunities."

[therightpartner]

Peggy had kept her distance, not wanting to intrude, but it was impossible to completely ignore her curiosity. Noriko kept twisting herself into strange position. As if she were doing some sort of martial arts, but the motions didn't seem defensive.

Eventually, Peggy does wander over when she's certain that Noriko won't fall over if she's interrupted. "What exactly are you doing?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Yoga," she answers, tilting her head and looking up, curling her legs over her back so she doesn't fall.

"It's like calisthenics. Exercise. This stuff works on strength and flexibility."

[therightpartner]

"At first I thought it was some form of defense." Watching Noriko, she wondered if she could manage a headstand as well. She had the strength but the balance might be an issue. "How did you learn to do all that?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Well, technically you could use the skills to improve self defense, but it'd take some imagination," she says, deciding that if the conversation is to go on she'd rather be right-side up.

And not have a song to tune out in her ears. She flips back over somewhat gracefully, and ends up sitting in lotus position, looking up at Peggy. "I learned it from a friend, though he's far more flexible than I am. Kurt was a circus acrobat for years, so half the positions come naturally to him."

[therightpartner]

Her lips twitch in a wry smile as Peggy considers how creative she's been on some missions. "If the - positions? - you were in weren't effective, the improvement in balance would be an asset."

When Noriko moves into the strange sitting position, Peggy sits down next to her. "Is yoga part of the circus routine?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy tends to come here for a walk. He always enjoys exercise, and the air here feels a little less confining than the rest of the ship.

He's on the verge of passing through here without a second thought, but a familiar shock of hair catches his attention. Noriko seems to be using a mobile phone---they exist in his era, but none so compact as the ones that would arrive a few years later.

Maybe it's rude to interrupt, but for once he can't help himself. "I didn't know newer phones functioned as Walkmans as well. The history books don't cover everything, it seems."

[electro_kinetic]

"...Walkmans?" she says, brows raised. "Wow."

It's not that the technology is that old, really, but in electronic generational terms, it's nearly Methuselah. "It's not just phones. But really since the computing power to store contacts and connect to the cellular grid doesn't take that much space, people have started conflating the uses of different devices. And you carry your phone with you basically everywhere. Or we do," she amends.

[morphitudinous]

Billy squinted at it for a few moments---yes, that did make sense. "And here I thought the first time I loaded a short video clip on my laptop was something," he laughed. "The Enterprise is lightyears ahead technology-wise, of course, but it's interesting to see the steps in between."

He wasn't here just to stare at a phone, though. He soon smiled at her. "It's been a while, Noriko. How've you been?"

[electro_kinetic]

"Getting sick of being on this boat," she says, honestly, and flops over to her back. "I miss seeing real sunlight. And this isn't real, because we're nowhere near our sun."

[morphitudinous]

Billy rolls the other way and joins her in taking in the artificial warmth, his eyes closed in thought. "Did you get to visit Risa, at least? It was...an enlightening experience, but I miss it already."

[magnetic_magpie]

It's the music that draws him towards the girl - he wasn't expecting to hear it. Really he'd just found out about the arboretum, and found himself deeply needing the smell of green and growing things. Even if it mean tamping on his powers hard so his body's natural production of ozone didn't harm them. Which mean he wouldn't really use them much in here, other than the ones which didn't 'turn off'.

But he recognizes the pose, and worried he might be interrupting someone's meditation, he cleared his throat softly to alert her to someone else's presence, and keeps a polite distance away.

[electro_kinetic]

She looks over, pausing the music and falling over to her back to look for the incomer.

She blinks when she sees him, raising a brow. "...Can I help you?" she asks.

[magnetic_magpie]

He actually moves, going to slow her fall before he realizes she's fine. "Actually I was trying to avoid startling you. I imagined you wouldn't hear my presence otherwise." There's a small laugh - at best, he'd startled her a little, he thought.

[electro_kinetic]

"Hear, no," she says. "But I'm an electrokinetic, and you have a noticeable feel. As it were."

[magnetic_magpie]

"Ah. As do you, which would explain it. I'll leave you in peace, if you wish." Though he was honesty curious about her now.

I'M HERE!!!!!!!!!!

[spideys]

Peter likes to wander the arboretum every now and then, and he has a little more frequently ever since landing on this dumb ship (THANK YOU Q) ... it's no Central Park, but it's the closest he can get to something resembling nature and that's ... good enough for him.

For now.

He's sure he'll go crazy, maybe tear up the grass like a maniac at some point, but yeah. For now it's okay.

He's wandering now when he comes across Noriko standing on her head, eyes closed.

He ... considers moving on, but decides to watch her for a sec, see if she might sense his presence before he has to go over and bother her.

YAY!!!

[electro_kinetic]

Noriko is slowly going through the motions of yoga stretches, breathing deeply as she finally kicks over and comes back upright, opening her eyes.

She sees him, and grins, waving. "Hey, Peter," Nori calls, assuming the lotus position with her phone in her lap; oddly he has the urge to check her trivia game, even though she knows it won't work. Interdimensional data is, apparently, not on her plan.

"Going stir-crazy in here too?" she asks. "Man, what I wouldn't give to see Central Park for real right now. No fake sunlight."

[spideys]

Oh, good. No awkward interruptions necessary.

His smile looks relieved as he heads over to join her, not so much bounding up like a puppy but ... a couple levels away from it, yeah.

"Hey."

He runs a hand through his disheveled mop of hair and nods in agreement.

"I agree. I totally agree. I - uh. I showed someone New York in the holodeck but ..." He lets out a breath, shoulders sagging ever-so-slightly as he shakes his head. "None of it's the same. At all. This is probably the closest we're gonna get until we head to the next planet, whatever that'll be."

His mouth quirks to one side and he spots her phone.

"Guess we don't get cell signal here, huh?"

[electro_kinetic]

She huffs out a laugh, nodding her head. "Yeah. It's just...I know it looks the same, but...it doesn't feel the same. It's all too perfect. Like you're missing the obnoxious joggers and the dog peeing on your shoes," Noriko laughs. "I miss real sun, though. Our sun, and sunbathing on the roof in a bikini."

When he looks down at her cell phone, she picks it up, clicking off the music to show him the blinking lack of bars. "Nah. I've been trying Trivia Crack for like, three weeks and nothing. I'd even be okay with losing right now."

[spideys]

"Oh, man. Don't I miss the swarm of joggers and the urinating dogs," Peter says, joining in the humour. "Not to mention the pigeons who won't let you take a bite of your street hotdog without staring you down, ready to attack if you so much as drop a crumb."

He pulls out his own phone, which he keeps in his pocket for no reason other than it's always kind of been there. It's a small piece of familiarity in this foreign ship, the old tech looking clunky and clumsy in comparison to the stuff they've got here.

But he likes it. Even if it doesn't work anymore.

"I - uh. I wish Q had given us a second to, you know, grab some things from home. I was already on like, one bar, before I got here." He shakes his head. "Thing's definitely dead now."