"Ha... ha haha, bring it," she chuckled wearily. Hope took a few steps forward, allowing her legs to stretch and shaking out the tightness in her muscles. Her face still hurt, her hand throbbed at her, but she could ignore it at this point. She felt energized. Even if he called her a scrub, The Room, [i]The[/i] motherfucking Room... had recognized her natural talent and tenacity. Oh was he gonna learn exactly what that meant. She'd show him the limits of what she was capable of! Hope put one foot in front of the other, prepared to take off with a charge, ready to catch him before he moved, and she took off in a sprint.

At least, a couple steps of a sprint. The room churned and heaved underneath her as soon as she started moving and she had to put in a lot of effort not to drive herself headfirst into the floor. This kind of vertigo was worse than the rest, and she felt herself become nauseous and lightheaded. Focusing on the pain helped, and Hope remembered that he could read her thoughts. The pain would save her this time. She embraced the feelings of discomfort, her dizziness, her aching stomach, throbbing hand, burning face, sore muscles, she took all of it in and kept it on the surface of her mind. Anyone any less determined would've collapsed under the sheer weight of their own instinct to succumb and take the easy way out, to lie on the floor and give up. But not Hope. Overtop the sickening mental layer of pain and discomfort was another pool of thoughts.

[i]Not this time, not today. I can't quit, I've come too far, everything is riding on this. I've given up too much time, too much money, I've wanted this too much to lose. I can't back down, I [b]won't[/b] give in! I'm [b]not[/b] gonna fail here![/i]

It repeated across her mind like a mantra, and her actions began to reflect instinct. No more plans, no convoluted thoughts, just going through the natural motions. A dog doesn't bite because it weighs its options, it bites because its body tells it that's what it should do. Hope's body told her to protect herself, to remain alert, to resist and attack. Through the twisting and heaving facade, through the inability to move her own body like she wanted to, Hope pushed forward. Her senses revolted and her body had a mind of its own, refusing to move the way that she wanted it too but she still had her spirit. That might not mean anything to anyone else, but it meant that Hope could still fight. As long as she could focus and hold out against the mental onslaught, she wouldn't go down so easily.

The rookie hero closed her eyes and shut out the world around. It was a spinning, topsy-turvy mess anyway. Reflexively she attempted to cross her arms across her body as she always did when attempting levitation, but her body still wouldn't agree with her and let her move. Whatever. Her body wasn't in control anymore, her mind wasn't either. Hope was in control with her spirit, and she'd take back that control. Steadily she began to rise until her shoes kissed the floor for one final time. A little over a foot off the ground she hung, and her arms [i]did[/i] cross across her chest eventually. She just had to move them with her thoughts instead of with her muscles. Her vision became clearer, but her eyes were still closed. She took in the pain and discomfort, sucked it all up and ignored it like it wasn't there. Like a fly in the room.

...so is this what 'zen' is like...?

[color=fff79a][Hope uses 10 POWER to Levitate herself off the ground. Hope is also attempting to make her thoughts much simpler to increase her focus and make her mind more difficult to read, whether this works or not is debatable.][/color]