[ OPEN ] "would you calm down a little bit"

[blitzcheer]

Who: Tidus and You!
Where: All over! Armoury, standard coach, training gym, sports gym, and games car
When: Merriment 16 - 20
What: Supplies moving, setting up games and exercise equipment, watching that sports game Tidus is really into and also catching a case of home lifesickness!!
Warnings: Last prompt has connections to death/disappearing, but nothing to do with suicide or negative thoughts.

[ DAY 16 ; armoury car ]

"Heyyyy. Uh, so it looks like the train added the lockers I was hoping for. Since Light left, and Tobes's been gone for a while...," Tidus adds with a mutter, already not sounding that pleased, "--I'm puttin' everything from the supplies into them, 'kay? The healing, shields and weapons. There's a tablet with a list of what everything does and how to use 'em. It's voice-automated too.

So...yeah. That's it. See ya."

It's far from confident, the usual casual-sounding that's Tidus been heard over the ICP, but it's on par to whenever he talks about supplies. Lightning's leave already has his mood down, which is an evident sight to anyone who comes to the armoury, where he made the call (and then switched off, not interested in holding a conversation over the thing). There's nothing exciting going on: just suitcases on the ground with their lids open, the array of healing and weaponry waiting revealed inside that's to be stuffed away.

Maybe you come because of the announcement; maybe you're just passing by. You might hear a "shit!" hissed when one of the finger-sized bottles go rolling towards the other side of the carriage from where Tidus is. His movements are sluggish, and he wears an unguarded, doleful look, uncharacteristically quiet. Unless he notices anyone lingering, or just catches someone's eye -- then he'll pull on a smile, and give a simple "Hey."

Or, he's just taking a second to look at locker and its supplies once it's filled, his back to another locker, sitting on the floor. And you might hear him say-

"Hope you kick that god's ass, Light."

[ DAY 17 ; training gym - standard coach ]

( a: treadmills cw cw inigo don't look )

But he's being better by the next day, or seems to be. In the early morning he's in the training gym, pulling odd square containers out by a wall, with what appear to be bars curled around the sides. To anyone whose attention he gets, he offers cheerily: "Hey, how about a go on one of these?"

It takes some pressing in the right places, and then, the 'box' stars to unfold, turning rectangular while the bars raise - and it turns into what's essentially a treadmill.

"Ever seen one of these?"

Or, he could already be running on one, while the second sits there, a spare waiting to be used. Hop on! Tidus won't stop you.

( b: standard coach - blitzball )

There's a few close CR he might push to join him, but if you're friendly with Tidus and you happen to passing through, he might usher a hand, stop you from where you were going.

"Hey, hey! Wanna see me in a blitzball match?"

He's at a table, a device rolled out and a picture taking up the entire 'screen' and an energy drink open. There's footage similar to this to behold (note: without city destruction), with Tidus perhaps present an outfit like this, and his hair blond. Or, you might even get a chance to see him a year younger, in an outfit the same the rest of his team -- and with his hair a brown.

"Oh man!" He says through a laugh. "I can't believe it got video of me like this! This was when I was starting off!"

[ DAY 18 ; sports gym/games car ]

( attempt a: whomp whomp )

Tidus has got a plan. He's had a plan for a while, thanks to Roland, but now is the time to achieve it. It starts somewhere around morning to noon, after breakfast. There's notices slapped on the outside of the sports gym doors, written in fat felt.

'USING THE SPACE 2 MAKE A POOL'

'SWIMMING POOL INSIDE'
One on one side, one on the other. You might get to read them, before the troubles, or after. What are the troubles? That would happen to be when a sound like the equivalent of a bomb going off sounds from inside the gym, and before the doors can be opened from outside, they slam open from within - and water floods out into the hallway, possibly knocking anyone out there off their feet.

The good of the situation: the water is only knee-high deep on an adult. The bad of the situation: ...the car is flooded, welcoming any unsuspecting person who welcomes through the sports car (and thank goodness someone moved the transgate back out). Tidus can be found inside the car - that's impressive flooded from one end to another, in swimming shorts and coughing up water, while a blue pal is floating on the water the opposite end, wiggling and squeaking 'hiiigle!! piggle!!' desperately. ( But, they're only visible to those with a good heart/of good intentions. )

A plan may have not gone off right here.

( attempt a: dingdingdingding! )

"I've got a pool going in the gym for an hour or two! Come join me if you want!"

But by some miracle, they finally get it right. This pool doesn't take up the full length of the gym but one half of one side, away from the walls and about half the size going up from the ceiling. Tidus might be seen inside the water, or just enjoying floating above it; his blue pal nowhere but to seen, but for those who sense energy, may be able to discern there being entities with the water, that is otherwise nothing more than fresh, natural water.

Grab some shorts from the spa car, come and gawk, complain about the room being used up or whatever you like. Tidus dives into the water and reaches out of the 'wall' of the water, to a large trunk homing pieces of coral, breaking it off and bringing it into the bizarre pool - where it shatters into pieces, and the water wobbles...in delight??

[ DAY 19 ; sports gym - standard coach ]

( a: dance dance dance!! or shoot shoot shoot!! )

Oh no, he's in the sports gym again.

But don't worry, there's no water. This time, there's a holographic figure being projected from a round disk on the floor. About as defined as a wii fit trainer, they stand idle as Tidus - dressed appropriately - flicks through a screen of settings.

"Wanna give it a go with me?" Tidus offers, always happy for company. The dance difficulties he goes for are simple to follow, and there's the option of finding him with Inigo for company, if you want to up the potential for dumery. Two guys just doing repetitive dance moves, and if Tidus happens to catch you staring (though, he really needs to keep his eyes on the coach!), he'll grin and challenge, "Think you can keep up!?", in all his usual daring nature.

( Warning: if Inigo notices a girl/woman looking at him them, the possibility of him shrieking is 90%. )

But when isn't Tidus like that? Always up to something, and willing to include another. There's a new addition in the games carriage that Tidus has been having goes on, aiming to raise his highscore. Look at this wonderful gameplay.

( attempt b: 3am thoughts )

But there's more than only his usual buzzing energy going on with Tidus. He can be found in the standard coach on some of the later nights; another energy drink opened, indulging in a fizziness a guy like him shouldn't be so late. The tablet device sits on a simple stand, while his head rests in his folded arms, watching the blitzball footage.

To some, he just looks focused on whatever he's watching - intensely so. But if he happens to notice anyone come in (a 50/50 chance), he pauses the video, or just brings the device down -- like a guy trying to hide his shame, head turned towards the window, his face a warm pink. He might look back with a not-trying-to-appear-awkward "Hey" if he recognises the person - but otherwise, just, you know. Acting like he didn't do that!

Nothing weird about him, bro.

[ DAY 20 ; sports gym (late) ]

( note: prompt has some allusions to death, may involve talk related to it; nothing negative/suicidal! )

It's late again, and Tidus has something he wants to find out.

Why? There's a few reasons in his head. A few thoughts have been in his head, leading him into the sports gym, out of the way. He could go somewhere more private like the quiet car, but Tidus likes the sports car, spends most of his time in it. He likes the space and silence, as empty as it is right now.

He has a device on him, and he's counting down the time; his SCA on the floor next to him, in easy reach.

Counting how long it takes for his skin and the rest of him to start to discolour, shimmering into greens and blues; until it becomes see-through, until it gets to a point that it scares him, and he can't countdown any more and needs to grab his SCA again, all he can grab at that point.

But as late a time as Tidus picks to do his experiment, maybe he ends up not the only one there, caught with his eyes on the tablet device, ears not picking up on the doors farther away from him when they open.

Unless the person is particularly loud - then he'll reach for his SCA, and scramble to get it on quickly, the colours across his body fading as a more solid form returns.

[ OTHER DETAILS ]

[ Want to do any of the above but on different days? Treadmills, dance exercise, and gaming are available on any of them! Inigo can also be a 3rd person for dancing. Feel free to message me for any questions/plotting!! ]

Comments

[jingyeets]

"We're not from the same world," he says, haltingly. "I... don't know the extent of what's different." He hasn't asked. He should, maybe, but between the ages, the familiarity in faces, the lack of adoption with Wen Sizhui, Lan Jingyi has things he also just doesn't want to know until the people involved want to tell him. Besides, what's he supposed to ask about? How is he supposed to know what to ask after, to see what's changed?

"So the guy you talked to could be telling the truth for him and any number of the rest. Or he could be using the same words. I'm just saying where I'm from, you could raise spirits, spirits can possess people, you can control those people by controlling those spirits—just that we don't have a way to make a body that's died start walking again."

A disturbing thought in various ways, as they walk the length of the carriage. His tail goes from its small back and forth curling into a lash that smacks into an object in the way, unintentionally; Jingyi makes a small noise of swallowed surprise, glancing back to see what it was, then looking away again. Nothing happened.

"I know a lot of faces here, and that's reassuring... but they're not from my world. Not one."

[blitzcheer]

Ah. There's a moment where Tidus pauses in words and thoughts, until he tips his head in Jingyi's direction, a gaze that flits in his direction, however brief.

"Sorry," he says, and sincerely, with a certain weight to the word. "I get muddled up separating it in my head sometimes. There's people familiar with each other, and then you hear stuff unique to them, so you just-"

Here comes the hands closing together like a ball - a ball that's being mushed together. Stick terms that seem unique into their own holes, make connections.

"But-" But. They're crossing the garden carriage now, Jingyi's memorial stone in its place, the other few dotted stones of memorial, hanging nets with letters, all gathered in this one space.

"You know, everyone... when we had a Q&A with the train - where we got to ask questions--" because he realises, using informal language, probably not going to help Jingyi there, "--it told someone that none of us are from the same world. Even if we think we are, no one is. It's really...confusing? Like I guess, everyone's a little different, somehow. Another them."

Because sometimes, the difference between a person with the same face as one you know isn't them being a dragon on top of it. There wasn't any difference; none that either of them realised, except for the time since they last saw each other. It's one of those revelations Tidus tries not to think about, but always manages to slip in his thoughts.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi shrugs off the sorry, pairing it with a wave of his hand and a dismissive word.

"Not a big deal." It wasn't, for the most part. It was just walking into unseen barriers on mistakenly familiar ground, more jarring for Jingyi than people who were drawing logical associations.

The rest of what he says, neatly avoiding Jingyi's confusion over what a Que and Aye would be, leaves him feeling cold, annoyed, angry, and headached all at once. "What the hell is with this place being against logic?" He whines, but then he stops himself, and rubs his face here in this garden of lotuses, stones, benches, papercraft, and remembrance. "Let me... ugh. Okay. So we're all books pulled out of different libraries. The stories might be the same, or different because of, I don't know, a regional take, but only one page is pulled from each book. Each person we meet who knows us is knowing us from another novel entirely."

He holds up his hands, making a similar gesture to Tidus's with the ball earlier. Cramping all these individual papers together into a new binding, sewn into a haphazard whole.

"Worlds are too big for me to hold in my head. Books? I've been drowning in them since forever. Not to mention copying them..." Which is why this can make sense to him at all. Pages of the same precept exist in each written, bound form, but the way they're written, where they're stored, that changed. It didn't make it less of a headache, and Jingyi was now holding his head with one hand, scowling, but he did at least sort of get it.

"Tiiiduuuus." He whines his friend's name (congrats, you're a friend now), giving him a one squinted eye look. Is he going to try to break Jingyi's brain even more before they find whatever this treadmill was?

[blitzcheer]

Tidus stops as Jingyi does, turning in step to face him. And if the thought crossed his mind, he would regret dropping this particularly smushed up paper-ball on Jingyi's lap. Except why Jingyi starts thinking about books has Tidus's late-night brain puzzled first.

But, a guy confused and perplexed, a guy whining (his name)? This is a state Tidus knows very well. He waves out a hand, brows raising.

"Don't ask me!" He protests, a whine of a lilt to it; that thrown up hand now continuing to wave. "When I first got here, a woman nearly attacked me 'cause she met another me that was fighting her and her friends! And it turned out we were all kidnapped from our worlds there, and my girl and my old man were there too! But, that isn't even me and them?! But I met Yuna because I got dumped out of my city! And then I met a Yuna here too!"

There's a detail he's forgetting to explain, of why him getting dumped out of a city should be what hinders any kind of relationship between him and a Yuna, but Jingyi has him going - no help with the energy bout he gave him earlier, surely.

Because now he's even pacing. "So that means there's all these Yunas and me that went through the same ol' crap, 'cause - why?! But then there's two people who got snatched to this place with aluminium spaces or whatever, by these gods? But they know each other! So does that mean they got snatched over and over and over in different realities, or was the train wrong, or are we wrong?!"

He stops, facing Jingyi, and both hands and arms get thrown outwards.

"This is why I don't like thinking about anything!"

[jingyeets]

Jingyi deadass stares at Tidus, mouth dropping open, only to snap closed.

"Yes."

To all of it. To not liking thinking about any of it, to it meaning they're all from realms displacing realms, to that happening multiple times over, to him having no idea what Tidus is saying with some of his word choice. Aluminium spaces? What kind of space was that? A subset of Void space? How many gods were involved, and now they had gods here, he knew that much.

"Just yes. Though you're saying things and speaking names I don't know. For the rest, for coming not from home realms but other realms, sure. Yeah. Sometimes the book a page was stolen from was already outside the library it belonged to! Ugh, I'm hating the metaphor the more I'm using it."

The whine is back in his voice, though he's not pacing, but instead watching Tidus pace and emphatically gesture as he does.

"If we're all like that, then what happens if we start sending pages back to other books? ... Ugh, people to other places, or to the ones where you already are, or to the ones where you never were? The train's already managing the last, if Void travel is key to any of it, can't the rest be possible at some point?"

[blitzcheer]

Tidus could say a few things about people saying things the other doesn't get, names and meanings, but surely he'll get to whine at Jingyi about that another time. For now, he does stop his pacing, to the point where the other starts to really give his metaphor a workout. And speaking of confusing other people-

"What?" He stares at Jingyi with a squint, trying to follow where or what he wants to do with pages, but letting out an exasperated sigh as his brain uselessly tries to follow. "I don't know! Why's there so many books about us in the first place? Maybe there's a book where you send the guy to the wrong book, and then there's one where he went somewhere else entirely! I don't know how any of this works!"

His exasperation is far from pointed to Jingyi, but at the true problem in this: the void! Existence! The multiples of multiples that apparently exists!

Tidus folds his arms, petulance written all over his face.

"I hate the void, I don't like there's hundreds or thousands of us going through all the same miserable stories, and everything's too complicated."

Tidus's assessment and report on life. Signed with his name on it.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi tosses his hands up, palms exposed to the air.

"Everything's too complicated, I agree! Though I don't want to think everyone's got the same miserable story... or that the only things we can share are the miserable ones. That's way too depressing!"

His hands come to cross over his chest in turn, with him sighing aggressively.

"It's not like the realms we come from are fair, but it's almost more shocking being pulled this far out of them to realise we're not as singular and alone as we once thought were were. Or special if any of us felt like that, but pfft."

Who was egotistical enough to truly believe that?

"Since we're here, whatever. Make this better than if we sat around crying over how much it sucks, right? Gotta do something to make all this nonsense tolerable. Like... uh. What did you call the running platform thing again?"

[blitzcheer]

"Running platform?" Tidus repeats, brow furrowed, tone puzzled with a brain that goes to train platform, before, "--oh, treadmill! Right." He looks the way they're meant to be going, estimating the carriages they still need to go through to get to the gym (a whole two!) before turning and declaring, "Let's use the gate in games and get over there quicker!"

All this complaining makes him less willing to walk. Ugh! Complaining tires him out, but not enough to stop him from getting back to it.

"That's what I want everyone to do here! Everyone's lives are so miserable back home- most of them, anyway. You just want people to take the chance to learn something new, have that birthday party they never got, relax! You know how many people don't have ball games back home? Inigo! He didn't! That's more than zero, and that's enough to make me wanna tell everyone to have more fun here!"

No matter every complaint he has about this dirty, dirty train.

"And I know there's good stuff with the bad - you know, that life isn't just misery. But when there's big problems that everyone suffered, and you know they had to go through it over multiple worlds - it sucks! Just have a world where the bad thing happened, and a world where it didn't!"

See! Easier!

[jingyeets]

"Oh, I like the portals." Jingyi grins, pulled out of everything else in favour of them breaking course to head for the transgates. It was exactly the kind of complicated, qi-devouring talisman he'd love to use himself, though the cost of it on the body made it impractical as anything other than a last means of escape.

It's sweet, however, hearing Tidus champion what he believes as far as people getting to have some positivity that wasn't available back home. Be it in games or whatever else, but it's a mentality Jingyi can appreciate, considering he's already leaning toward inclinations of acting the same way. He's hardly tender in any obvious sense, but Jingyi cares, and blunt as he is, it's not for the intent of making everyone suffer. Only a select few.

"So you're kind of everyone's good time dream guy, huh?" A half-grin, since it's a knowing kind of joke. "It's a good thing to focus on. Since that's on us, and that's where what, the whole points system or asking the train for this or that can pay off. Not giving us big things—did you end up getting anything large? But in the smaller ones all relying on is."

He snorts at the easier, at some clearcut dichotomy. "You know, you can just use the people I know as a test group. Or keep it between me, Lan Sizhui, and Wen Sizhui. Three whole different worlds right there, we're bound to have differences. Good and bad. Then you'd have a reference!"

You'd think the guy involved in this supposed trifecta would press more, but that's the thing: where do you even start, when it's the world you live in? How do you know what to ask to find out what's different, beyond the obvious in his features, and the retained clan name for Wen Sizhui?

Time to get through a transgate and closer to where treadmills roam.

[blitzcheer]

Everyone's good time dream guy. Jingyi gets thrown a look at that, squinted and unimpressed, but his mouth doesn't manage to flatten, doesn't smile, but might as well be with its natural resting state inclined towards one. And when it turns that way anyway, twisting in the corners.

"I got an arcade machine," he reveals. Actually, this is a subject worth bringing out the counting fingers, and so Tidus does. "Madoka, she's a pink-haired girl in Blue, she got some pottery wheels. You brought up a training course, and someone brought up a game where you use tiny bombs, but the problem is space there?" No, not the tiny bombs. "But I can get more gym stuff, I'm still planning on that."

That's not too many fingers being stretched out, but he points them in Jingyi's direction as he goes on, them reaching the doors between cars, the garden's one sliding open.

"The dancing pole came up between me and Inigo, but he says he doesn't want one unless we get a dancing car? So." So. What Inigo wants when it comes to dancing is priority to Tidus, and even if he could grab one now, he knows it wouldn't be worth it. He picks his fights with Inigo's insecurities.

"But he says he's going to get a dancing machine. Did you play one of those with him too? In the arcade? Oh yeah, and there was a ballista too..."

Which he has yet to explain if that's in the suggested or bought list, but regardless, as they go through to the other side and enter the games carriage, there it is: the beautiful transgate, hovering in place, a soft blue centre, but otherwise in as close to sleep-mode as they get.

A moment for Jingyi's ideas of comparing worlds can be given space to be responded to, if with a defeating sigh.

"What's the point of comparing? I mean, you guys might like to know, or someone who's really into that." Read: knowing things. (Double read: smart, nerdy types.) "But whatever differences there are... I know how me and Yuna met; why, and what happens. Which means--" and this takes a pause, where he rolls his lips, but, "--if me or my old man exists, then that's the same bad news for that world. It's a long story."

He tacks on the last part, a firm, I don't want to talk about it tonight. It's a story that he's explained before, but he'd rather leave it to a time when he isn't setting the transgate to open up to the training gym, the light blue centre now glowing brighter with activity, ready to accept them.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi shakes his head, more for the mention of the arcade than anything else. Inigo's insecurities are something he's learning, and while he might not get them, he doesn't have to. He knows his own best friends, has been at Sizhui's side for... well, here, the time's all wrong, but back home? Sixteen years.

"No arcades, most of what I did and remember from that place," from Jinnjar, "Had to deal with delivering people food. Or dancing," he says, shaking his head. "Not the ones I think a machine relies on. Sword dancing, fan dancing. Martial arts dancing."

Which is why he had no trouble with it, relying on footwork and swordwork he knew even before he knew what lie he was living. When Sizhui was his little brother, and Dennis was only annoying because big brothers who love their little brothers want them to not experience the heartbreaks of the world when it can be avoided.

He clicks his tongue, but doesn't press. It's a long story is a phrase that contextually tells you if it's sit down, we're talking or shut up, stop asking. Shut up is fine tonight, particularly since he's not insensitive to what Tidus was talking about earlier, concerns on life, death, tangibility, transience, on wanting a future one feels incapable of depending on. Of the grief that comes with all that, acknowledged or otherwise.

"You know how that went for you, huh? Which is how we all are, I think. There may be other truths out there that change our three world views, but you can't know that until you know that. Guessing at it's a headache."

It's the one anyone can rely on when it comes down the line.

Then there's the glow of the portal, and Jingyi, utterly unreasonably, hops right through without a care. If he'd been voicing his thoughts, weeeeee would have been accurate.

[blitzcheer]

Know what also saves you a headache, Jingyi? Not thinking about complicated questions that change nothing!

Which is to say, Tidus will join in on the weeeee experience, as the transgate splits into pieces to accept their size, letting them walk through. Blue-cube shapes cling to them as they find themselves within the hall of the training gym, the colouring and cube-shapes soon leaving them.

The transgate behind them goes back into a slumbering mode, while Tidus heads for the gym doors.

"Weights would be good for a gym like this, don't you think?" Continuing on to the safer subject of buying things! "For muscle training. You can get benches you can lean and sit on for using them with. Plus, we'd need a safe place to put them when the train stops."

Since weights might not be a good thing to have throwing around the whole shop.

[jingyeets]

"Yeah, better to not have boulders rolling around unattended."

He, uh, agrees about the weights thing. Only any weights they trained with were not conveniently metal in the same ways, and Gusu Lan did wonders with disciples carrying stones or doing handstands or planks to work on certain muscle training exercises.

He says this just off the cuff enough, however, for it to be hard to tell if he's serious or not.

(He's serious.)

"Has the train ever had an accident since it started doing this?" The abducting of people. But he doesn't clarify, so accident could be anything at all.

[blitzcheer]

"You mean, inside the train? 'Cause I heard there was a crash... or a scrape? And there were dreams?"

Maybe? He swears he's not making that up though, entering into the gym, making his way to the one wall that has no cupboards, nor apparatus pieces bolted into it. "You've gotta ask Inigo about that though, not me. That was before I showed up here. It let in something or other that made everyone share dreams?" Apparently? It's not the truth of the incident that has that questioning note, but the deeper details. "Inigo told me about it a long time ago."

Enough of a while ago, anyway. But he trusts that it happened if the guy said it did.

On the slim side of wall, there's two flat box-shaped pieces, the size of around a motorhome wheel. Odd, but inconspicuous, and Tidus kneels to press at four switches, two on either side of it, small lights glowing on top of the frame.

It'll do a thing in a second in my next tag, so I don't get carried away and make this one longer than it needs to be.

[jingyeets]

"Huh. I'll try asking him," he says, and the try is because at the hour of the evening they're at, Jingyi isn't sure he'll remember something that specific come morning. Crashing, scraping, dream.. sharing? Sounds weird, but not as impactful as the rest of his attempt at late night exercise has gone.

Not that he regrets it, but his head's already overfull.

So he squints at the flat, box-shaped pieces, wondering if a cabinet's about to swing open, just like appliances do in other parts of the train. Or how his bed folds into a seat, which is a useful love letter to how the train wants none of them to be comfortable, at all. Ever. Rude.

"How'd you figure out all this was here?" Jingyi shuffles to the side of the lights that start up, further squinting at the switches. At home, they'd be activating something mechanical in nature, but not technological, doing something like this.

[blitzcheer]

"Figure out what's whats here?" Does that even make sense? But he's not sure what Jingyi's asking in the first place, and he interrupts any answer that can be given with a "hold on, move more back," and he presses the last pair that sounds a beep.

From the surface, that's a flat top, two cylinders on the sides with the buttons, something flatter beneath. But as the machine unravels, the top splits in two, the bars stretching out as they move to one end, and the pad beneath folds out, extending to double and a half of its boxed in length. Tinier pieces roll out at the sides, pieces slotting in place, forming, while futuristic in design, a treadmill that any treadmill-savvy individual would recognise.

"Aha!" He gestures a waving hand towards it all, already standing upright through the device fixing itself in order. "Wanna jump on? Just give the pad a press and start walking, the walking pad'll activate."

That is, start moving with him. And Tidus can go over and start turning on the second one!

[jingyeets]

He moves back when prompted, not bothering to repeat himself since the whole of what's what is presently unfolding into a bizarre assortment of shapes, all of it like a kind of lane where there's a central section that looks like... he doesn't know what it looks like. It's clearly separate from the other parts, and that's about where his mind fails to find words to fill in the blanks.

Tidus sure is excited by it, meaning it's probably the treadmill thing and not some other mysterious in progress technology, and Jingyi doesn't help himself from giving Tidus a momentarily hopelessly confused look. Jump on this?

"Oh...kay?" He does hop on, leaping up with a little up, his tail twitching low and curious behind him. He didn't get what pad was what, so instead of reaching for anything with his hands, he... taps his foot. On the walking pad.

What makes it go, okay.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus starts to move around to the side of the treadmill, to get to the unfolded one. It doesn't put him out of sight of Jingyi and what he is and isn't doing, and Tidus figures he can kneel down to open up the 'case', as it were, while Jingyi got to business.

But no. That's getting too ahead of himself, too ahead of everyone, so he stands back up, presses the screen that would be in front of Jingyi now. Which, in fairness to him, doesn't look like much but the colour blue. And continues to even as Tidus presses it, but with shapes and words in a foreign language appearing across it as it boots up, before settling on a statistic screen. There's options, a timer, a line for keeping track of the speed of the treadmill.

Everything Jingyi will surely understand.

"Okay, now go. As fast or as slow as you want. It'll keep up! Let me put up this other one."

Everything is always a little blue when it comes to Spiran technology, though the handle bars of the machine are a complimenting red. Tidus does the same as he did on the last box, and out it folds, Tidus needing to take a step back before it can knock at his feet.

[jingyeets]

Confronted with a whole slew of symbols that mean little to him, Jingyi simply stares down at them. Tidus clearly knows what they do, but this is like Jingyi being introduced to the ICP a month and a half ago by Inigo, where sure, that was something displaying things, but it takes prodding and asking questions and being frustrated by the whole experience to make any progress with it.

"Tidus," he says, watching the guy set up the second one of these floating walkways. "I don't know what any of this stuff means. What's go? What's stop? What's faster? What's slower? None of these symbols," he says, jutting a finger at the screen, "Mean anything to me."

He's two seconds away from crossing his arms and starting to complain, why is technology hard, how is this easy and convenient, his plan to run around the room and flip off the walls was so incredibly valid thank you, but he's reining it in for now. He does want to know how this stupid thing that Tidus knows how to use works. He does.

Once he's shown what it does!

He taps at the screen, frowning, and manages to activate... the timer. Which starts counting. Nothing else on the machine moves. Further screen tapping provides... a calorie counter, and a cheery ding! To indicate it's ready to count calories.

The treadmill is still not moving.

"What does any of this mean?!"

[blitzcheer]

"Huh?" Tidus turns from the machine he's setting up, furrow-browed as he stares at the problem Jingyi is having. ... which becomes obvious, but he's waving his hands in an easing gesture, "Okay, okay, hold on!" given to try and smooth things before Jingyi can storm off.

"I told you, you just had to walk!" When it's in idle mode, but since he's here now and paying attention, he points a finger next to the word 'Pace', next to 'Slow' and 'Fast'.

"Okay, so I'm going to press this, and it's going to start in 'Walk' mode - that means it'll be a human-walking pace, since Zanarkand was more humans than other races." For explanation. He gives a 'ready?', then turns it on, so it can start; and the platform under Jingyi's feet starts moving in a singular direction, 'leading' Jingyi off if he doesn't start to walk.

It's not the same as a treadmill with a rolling band, but something about the material itself - metal? Something else? Who knows - that is all moving at once, a thin hard-light holographic layer controlling the movement. Fancy pants future tech.

[jingyeets]

"Sure."

Jingyi doesn't walk immediately, moved by the platform, but then he does with his lips pursed. Walking forward without gaining much ground, because if he truly takes ground eating steps, he's back up at the top of the platform.

Pacing to the slow stroll has him just stopping, letting the platform move him to the near end, then taking two steps to be back up at the top. He's getting a feel for it, the space it takes, how long his strides would need to be.

"Were there no shorter legged peoples?" Pacing he pairs to length of leg, hence the question, and the third time of doing his odd looking ride he takes a longer step and taps on the 'Fast' button, which doesn't register each tap but does start to. The speed goes up, up, not consistently, but overall, and he's jogging, until he's running, until he's seeing how fast this thing goes because Lan Jingyi does not know the meaning of restraint when there's no call for it. What's in danger? Only himself!

He's at least showing he's an easy speed runner, loping along like it's no problem but also like he's not sure this necessarily is better or worse than running around on his own. His breathing is even, he's found some kind of cadence, and the novelty is... more or less holding his attention for the time being.

[blitzcheer]

"There were all kinds of people. You bought what you needed - easier to do when you're going in a shop or seeing what you're buying, than guessing."

From vague memories, and maybe having one of his own on the boathouse, but then letting it gather dust in some corner because he preferred going out more than running on the spot. Unless he got to do it in the gym environment; and maybe he was a pickier person back in Zanarkand, what of it.

Tidus might've said something with the increasing speed, but that'd be rude, wouldn't it? To say what the guy can handle. He waits, just to see that there's nothing to worry about or a button to press; until he's sure enough, and says, "If you think you need a quick save, grab onto the bars. I think it stops if your feet dragged."

He thinks. Maybe. Who knows. But he jumps onto the spare one now, stopping himself from wanting to match the speed, but starting from a quick walking pace, and fiddling with the settings to let it increase within periods...!!

He can't stay going slow for too long, now!

[jingyeets]

Sure, it makes sense, people coming in all shapes and sizes, mostly because he's used to second shapes and colours and the like which wouldn't be true if his world were human only all the time. Being on train gives him a greater context; by now he's almost, almost used to how often people wear their hair short. Almost.

He hears the suggestion on quick saves, grabbing bars or dragging feet or something like it, and he makes a gesture with his hand to show he heard. Yeah, sure, if he needs to what, not fall?

It's a sort of streamlined balance, how he holds his tail up behind him, the exaggeration of each running step as a motion traveling through his body. He can admit fairly soon it works for the sheer purpose of getting him sweating; this is racing across Gusu at a flat run, he can imagine it, but it's so lacking in anything of interest. No rocks or tree roots or fallen limbs or trunks to evade or leap over, no ups or downs, and the blankness his brain wants from this doesn't quite slot in.

Still, he keeps running, until something in it frustrates him enough he does leap up and brace both feet and hands on the side bars, frowning. He's breathing heavier, obviously having felt it enough to prove this was some kind of workout, but then he sighs.

"You said music made this more bearable? How?"

The platform itself is slowing down quickly, and his tail stays just clear enough of it to not come into contact.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus only starts to recognise how late it is once he gets going himself. After a while at it, anyway, that flow of energy coursing through him thanks to Jingyi not ineffective to his stamina, and he hadn't been tired before the offering, nor exactly in the mood to run a marathon.

His body is still somewhat perplexed at the start, as a hurried pace switches over to a jog, a jog into a sprint. No tail for him to running about, and he's not thinking about anything other than, maybe vainly, keeping up a good speed too, looking good for it. ... partially because, Tidus realises how long it's been since he's been able to run like this. Using the device for a few days now on and off, but since when has he had someone to match to? Really stretch his legs?

He doesn't have a need for music or wandering thoughts with that, but he hears the slam of hands on the sidebars, and his head turns to investigate, witnessing the monkeying going on. Tidus doesn't slow immediately, but it's the question, about music that does it; gaze flitting to his SCA, but there's no way he can run and do anything about that, so he presses the actual pause setting on the machine and gets it to help him come to a slow naturally.

Chest heaving, hands on the railing himself, Tidus takes a second (or five) before he's able to readily speak, switching over his hand to the same rail that faces him towards Jingyi.

"Okay-" okay "--there's no way I can get you music you'll like tonight. But you can put music on this." He taps the SCA, then digs into his pockets of his half-leg shorts, pulls out one of the small earbuds and holds it out for Jingyi to see.

"You can get all kinds of music, right? It's all about what you like. But there's some that really gets you pumped and going as you listen to it! And if you get the really long mashups - it really puts you into a groove. Your mind isn't thinking this or that or just being bored."

He gestures out to the wall they're both facing.

"It's not like we're watching anything. And it's hard to talk if you're really going at it."

[jingyeets]

He keeps on monkeying until the platform's slow enough that stepping down means he's stepping forward without expending much effort. He notes he's more tired than he should be, but he can peg why; no natural sunlight or moonlight aside, he does eventually hit the tipping point of Lan bedtimes, where everything starts turning into the slowest felling of lumber to the forest floor.

(His bed. His terrible, narrow, too short bunk. The one most of them are on.)

"Why aren't the ICPs moveable..." Which wouldn't help, all he knows is the one in the spa carriage plays massage training videos, which is better than a blank wall. The whole surface finally comes to a stop, and he peers over at the odd piece meant for wearing in ears. Faint, faint memories rising up out of that illusion world mass, having seen others wearing something similar. Listening, right, from the SCA to that little thing?

Technology is practically magic. Just heavier on the constructable part, like what Wei-shizhang does.

"Can we do that tomorrow?" Tomorrow, any day not tonight, he feels both better and more tired after this, running a hand over the back of his neck and tossing his hair fully back over his shoulders. "Whatever you'd recommend, I'm probably going to find all of it weird so just throw me right in. Or else my ear will pick it apart," he says, thinking how a lifetime of being trained on qin meant string instruments (and accompanying wind instruments, which you'd think he'd have learned, but no, stringed it was). "And I'll take forever deciding on anything."

A warning, but more for himself, stepping off the platform and staring at it speculatively.

"Then we can try this again. It's... not the worst. At least you can go fast." Not substituting in what he misses, but he knows the train won't, can't, lacks whatever to just send any of them who have a home home.

"How do you make it fold up again?"