(no subject)

[princevegeta]

In his time in Darrow, Vegeta has fallen incredibly behind on his training. Before arriving, on Earth, there'd been a time of peace. Vegeta knew Kakkarot had also had fallen behind, that his wife had forced him into manual labor, so Vegeta's progress had likewise slowed. He'd spent time with Bulma, with Trunks, gone on... vacation.

It was in realizing that Kakkarot was as discontent with life as he was that had pushed him back into training. And in Darrow, Vegeta finds that he feels much the same. The problem, however, is finding a place to push his strength. So far, he's found every resident of Darrow to be been weak, powerless. And training alone in the countryside has its limits.

At the suggestion of someone he's met in Darrow, today, Vegeta finds himself at what locals refer to as a... gym. He frowns, but decides to try one of the offered machines-- a system of ropes and pulleys attached to a series of weighted discs.

"Hey buddy, that's a lot of weight, better be careful!" A man cautions, and Vegeta ignores him, pulling at the machine. It the large weights lift, it tilts, then breaks into several pieces, sending one of the large weighted discs flying into a mirror.

Gods, he misses his gravity machine.

Comments

[nextchance]

Although Jyn has been in Darrow for over two years now — a staggering figure to her, considering that before this place, the longest she'd lived in one place since she was a child was spending six months in an Imperial prison — there are some things that she refuses to let change. Things may be different here, but old habits die hard. After most of a lifetime at war, in some way or another, and with the way she was raised, she could never have let herself go completely. The skills that helped her survive, she needs to keep sharp. There's never any telling what might happen here anyway, and she would much rather be ready for a fight than completely unprepared.

So after the kids that she and Lincoln spend their time training leave for the day, she hangs back at the gym for a while to do some work on her own. If she hears the ghost of Saw's voice in the back of her head while she does, at least she's gotten used to dutifully ignoring that in the years since he left her, focusing intently enough to drown it out.

Then the sound of shattering glass breaks her concentration with it, and she stops what she's doing and looks up, somehow unsurprised by who she sees there. She doesn't know him, not really, but she remembers having been insulted by him before, so there's something both satisfying and exasperating about him being responsible for this now.

"Seriously?" she asks somewhat rhetorically, brow shooting up. Technically she works here, but she doesn't think this falls under her job description. Still, if no one else takes care of it soon, she'll do what she can. They don't need broken glass lying around. "You know, some people think breaking a mirror is bad luck." She isn't one of them, but that seems beside the point.

[princevegeta]

If Vegeta recognizes the woman from their previous encounter, he doesn't show it, instead frowning in her direction. If breaking a mirror is bad luck, then it will only add to his unfortunate luck since being sent to this ridiculous city.

"Your equipment is either useless or defective," Vegeta complains, though he believes the former is likely a more apt description. He's never seen much worth in the way humans spend their time lifting these weighted discs hoping to grow stronger. It was an exercise in futility.

[nextchance]

"It's definitely both of those now," Jyn says, rolling her eyes. She doesn't even want to know how much this is going to cost to take care of, and a part of her can't help but hope that the manager or someone tries to insist that he do it. If he's going to go around breaking equipment and mirrors, he should be the one covering the damages. At least it won't be her responsibility regardless.

"But seeing as you're the only person who's ever had a problem with it, I think the problem might actually be you."

[princevegeta]

"Then show me to your stronger equipment, woman," Vegeta demands, because there clearly must be something he's overlooked. Or they are simply hiding the equipment from the weaker humans and have mistaken him for one of them. Vegeta is offended at even the thought of it.

[nextchance]

"First of all, don't call me woman," Jyn says, her voice flat and brow raising as if in warning. Given how he just destroyed that machine, even she wouldn't particularly want to go up against him in a fight, but she's never been the sort to cower or hold her tongue. "Second, this is all the equipment there is. It wasn't designed for people who could break it."

[princevegeta]

Vegeta scoffs, annoyed. "Then this building is useless," he decides. It must truly be futile, finding somewhere in Darrow to train that is even remotely as useful as the gravity room Bulma had built. And he's yet to meet anyone in the city he believes to be even remotely capable of such feats.

[nextchance]

"It's really not," Jyn says, visibly unimpressed. "Plenty of people get plenty of use out of it." Besides, she and Lincoln need somewhere for their program. Talking about training children seems too personal, though, nothing that's worth mentioning now. Even with as long as she's been in Darrow, she's still accustomed to not giving too much of herself away. "But I'm sure you think that makes you so much better than them."

[princevegeta]

"That's not the reason." Vegeta replies, without hesitation. The inhabitants of Darow are undoubtedly weak, but he had already made up his mind about most of them before being certain of that fact.

"And I don't suppose you know of any similar establishments with better made equipment?"

[nextchance]

"Nope," Jyn says, one shoulder lifting in a shrug. "Not that I've seen. I don't know what you think you're going to find that's any different." She doesn't know how he broke that machine so easily, either, except that if she had to guess, it might be that he's something other than human. To her, that's just normal, really — Darrow is what's strange in its homogeneity — but even she can manage a little tact sometimes. "They need to make machines people can actually use, not just one person."

[princevegeta]

A city full of weaklings. Vegeta should have guessed that any facility meant for training would purely be built to their specifications. For at least the second time that day, Vegeta thought of Bulma and her brilliance, because this would be a problem easily solved if she had also been trapped in this prison.

"This city is hopeless," he decides.

[nextchance]

"Because you can't find somewhere to work out that's tailored to you specifically?" Jyn asks, though it's not really a question that expects an answer. The city is far from hopeless, in her opinion. She's seen places better than this, but she's seen ones far worse, too, and some of those differences count for a lot. Workout equipment does not.

"What's the deal, anyway? How did it just break like that?"

[princevegeta]

"It was too weak," Vegeta answers simply. Truthfully, he should have known. He's been training in several times Earth's gravity for years now, and any equipment being provided for mere humans would likely not be up to the task.

Still, he's frustrated and disappointed.

[nextchance]

"I mean, what made the equipment too weak for you to use?" Jyn asks. She really doesn't want to flip the question and ask him why the hell he's so strong, but she is curious to find out exactly what just happened and how. If she can do so without enforcing the idea that he's somehow better than everyone here, that will be for the best. "Got to be some reason it breaks, just like that."

[princevegeta]

Vegeta isn't sure she understands her question. He frowns, because the answer should be simple.

"Your equipment was clearly not built with a Saiyan in mind," Vegeta answers, not bothering to hide his annoyance in that moment, "The weights are too light. The equipment is too weak. I'm too strong for it to be much use."

Perhaps it's time for Vegeta to attempt to replicate Bulma's technology and build a gravity room for himself. It can't possibly be that difficult.

[nextchance]

Only Jyn's own annoyance prevents her from making her satisfaction at his response apparent. It still doesn't tell her much, but it has what she'd wanted to know in the first place, which seems like enough. Though she has no idea what the hell a Saiyan actually is, it at least gives her an explanation of sorts for how the equipment just broke so easily, with a strength that seemed beyond human.

"That's what I mean," she says a bit emphatically. "We don't have Saiyans where I'm from. I haven't met any others here, either."