Downtime 1: Training Routines

Zushe made his way into the training room, humming something under his breath. The humming stopped abruptly as he saw who else was in there.

"Oh, Corva. Hey. Wasn't expecting to see you here."

Corva glanced at the doorway, hands stretched out in front of them in a peculiar stretch that required muscles humans did not normally possess. They were dressed in simple, unbranded exercise clothes. They moved into a second stretch.

"Commander Zuche." They inclined their head very slightly.

Zushe gave Corva a brief nod. He was wearing exercise clothes as well, evidently intending on a workout, but his had seen quite a bit of use and the logos were faded almost into illegibility.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here," he said, watching them cautiously.

"I maintain a consistent but irregular training routine. I can be found here for an hour at least once each day-night simulation cycle." Corva switched stretches again, their muscles slightly bulging. If Zushe looked closely, he could make out the slight red strippling skin pattern that marked them as an algae form.

"Right." Zushe began a few stretches of his own. "Well, I'm here on a more regular schedule." He stayed silent for a few moments.

"Well done on your work in the mission, by the way. We needed to get to that artifact."

Corva stayed staring ahead "I completed the mission parameters as I understood them." There was clearly something they wanted to add to this, but they instead glanced at Zushe for a moment before ceasing their stretches and picking up a pair of weights left to the side of their workout area.

"Good. I'm glad you did. Just keep doing that and we'll be fine." He turned away from Corva and continued his stretches.

Corva continued with their exercises. As they paused during a set, they turned back to Zushe. "During the debriefing, Agent Okawa appeared to imply that I should have determined how the droids were controlled. Was this expected? I did not find anything unusual in the terminal logs."

He paused for a moment to shrug, not stopping to look at Corva. "Not my field, I have to say. I wouldn't have even known whether you could find that easily. And I wouldn't expect you to think of it."

"Understood. I will attempt to determine further possibilities of investigation in further missions." Corva seemed satisifed with this answer, and began to lift a weight with, for most people, very poor form.

"Okay, good." Zushe spared Corva a glance and paused in his stretching. "Hey, careful. You don't want to be lifting like that, you'll do yourself an injury."

He turned to face them. "Seriously, careful. Don't want to deal with you getting yourself hurt here in the damn station."

Corva looked at Zushe, then back at the weight. "This is the correct lifting method for my muscularity. I would not advise you repeat it, but for myself this is the correct exercise."

"...Okay, sure. Fine. Just..don't say I didn't warn you." With that, Zushe turned away and headed to one of the machines.

He began his exercises, apparently content to let Corva alone.

Voja had been roaming round the station for a while, and while a lot of it was very impressive (this was a UIG station), he had a routine to stick to. He wandered into the gym to be met by Corva doing... something. After pausing momentarily, he nodded towards the other Agents and went to stow Jonnochka in the corner. The huge man made his way to the pull up bar, setting it to the maximum possible height. "Um, Corva? I don't think that's how you're supposed to use that, do you want me to show you what all this stuff does?"

Corva gave Voja an unblinking look. "This is the correct lifting method for my muscularity. I am exercising my carpacip muscle." They lifted the weight again, in a manner that would cause serious problems for most people's wrists.

"Tried that one already," Zushe said with a shake of the head. "She didn't want to listen to me either." He was addressing Voja directly, not seeming to bother acknowledging Corva's presence unless they actually tried to attract his attention.

Corva finished their set and dropped the weights a little harder than required. "The correct third person pronoun to use in reference to myself is "they", not her. I do not currently possess a gender." They sounded somewhat annoyed and trying to hide it. As this was Corva, this was not successful.

Zushe turned with a raised eyebrow. "You don't? Okay, fine. That normal for Aldiek or did you choose that?""

Corva kept their eyes fixed on the gym's clock to measure their resting time. "I have no achieved the required rank to be granted one." they said simply. "I had only recently been granted my current status before I was captured by the UIG."

"What? You need a rank to have a gender? That sounds pretty stupid to me." Zushe glanced at Voja for support. "How do they manage that?" His tone gave nothing away except for a mild interest, though now he was keeping his eyes on Corva.

Voja looked a bit uncomfortable as he began his pull up routine. On the one hand everything he heard about Aldiek made them sound worse and worse, they even told people what gender they were allowed to be, if any. But on the other hand he didn't want to make Corva any more uncomfortable than they already were, and criticising their Corp wasn't going to help with that.

The look he gave back to Zushe was questioning, and he decided to try a bit more tact. If Corva had lived their whole life under Aldiek, maybe they didn't know any alternative?  "Up here people use which ever gender they feel most comfortable with, you don't need to earn it or anything. So I guess if you want one, then just let us know and we'll help you out?"

Corva remained tight lipped. "If that is the case, then I choose to continue to not possess a gender until such a point that I have achieved the requirements we have set for one. While I have chosen a preferred gender, I do not wish to possess it until that time. That is all."

They reached down and began a new set, pointedly not looking at the other two agents.

Zushe shrugged. "Sure, fine. So long as you keep it up on the missions, you can do whatever you want. Unless there's anything you need to tell us that would impact your mission effectiveness?"

He kept his tone fairly light, but the question was still a little pointed.

Corva paused in their routine for a moment, thinking. "Certain weapons will cause me more issues than standard surface agents" there was a moment where their speech tilted on the brink of slipping into abyssal, but they pulled it back. "However, I do not require compound H to reattach lost limbs, and my self-repair time is orders of magnitude faster than most agents. Regrowing a limb will take me a few hours at most." There was a slight undercurrent of pride in their voice.

Zushe nodded, somewhat warily. "Okay, that's all good. Increased combat capacity is a good sign. What weapons are more likely to cause you problems? EMP? You got extra-sensitive cybernetics or something?" There wasn't any accusation in his voice, but he was watching Corva closely.