voidtreckerexpress | [Closed] Time to talk

Entry tags:

[Closed] Time to talk

Who: Taiki and various people (Wen Qing, Sarai and Gyousou, Tidus and Inigo)
Where: Various carriages (see threads)
When: Fiddlesticks latter half, after Wester's ICP post
What: Taiki takes Wen Qing food in the med bay. Taiki speaks to Sarai about current events. Probably the next day Tidus decides to teach Taiki and Inigo to play badminton.
Warnings: Mentions of murder and torture though nothing will be graphic or detailed. Individual threads might have more warnings than that.

For Wen Qing (and anyone else in medbay)

He had spent a good few hours wandering the corridors, helping those he could and trying to do things to make anything better.

Of course he can't actually make anything actually better. It is beyond him. But he can try and help people through it. For a creature who so despises blood and violence he has seen far more than his fair share of it. He is not innocent in any sense of the word.

So he helps and listens until his heart feels like it has been cut into a hundred pieces and still he continues because sometimes there is very little that can be done except listen to a person's pain.

He had stayed out of the way of the medical bay, knowing that there at least he would be more a hinderance than a help. But as the hours ticked by he went to the kitchen and began preparing some simple food.

Nothing too difficult or time consuming to eat. Nothing too heavy. He made green tea to go with it and carefully carried it back to the medical carriage.

He looked through the door before knocking, not wanting to disturb her if she was in the middle of something delicate. But then gently knocked.

Standard: For Gyousou and Sarai

It had been a long day and finally Taiki had found his way to Gyousou's side where his king sat in the standard coach. They were sat at one of the table seats, the book Creatures of the Void open between them as they made notes in their notebooks.

They might just be myths and legends but it was more than the nothing of information they had about anything else.

Taiki was struggling to concentrate though often just staring blankly at the page, not reading at all.

The next day: Standard again!

Even with everything else going on Taiki hadn't forgotten about Inigo and his friend's own pain. He made an effort to seek him out and spend time with him.

Quite nervously he had asked if Ingio would mind if he painted him and was surprised when Inigo had agreed. Even more surprised when it seemed Ingio was good at modeling.

Then again he was a prince, it was perhaps not that surprising. He must have had to sit for paintings before.

They were sat either side of a table, Taiki's art case open in front of him, a piece of paper he had borrowed from the printer in front of him, the start of a portrait.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's probably for the best that the first hit is aimed for Taiki. It gives Inigo - who is literally holding a racquet for the first time in his entire life - some time to watch and see how this is supposed to go. You know, as opposed to him trying it out by himself first and looking like a total idiot.

It's easy enough to tell it's coming for Taiki, and though he does stand at attention in case it's too hard for the other to hit it back and Inigo will have to heroically dash over, he instead just stands there and watches as Taiki hits it back to Tidus.

Well, thankfully this game seems easy enough to understand now he's seen it in action. But it's not like Inigo can ever keep his mouth shut even when he's attentively watching, so of course he has to let out a loud whoop (again, way overcompensating..) when Taiki hits it.

"Go Taiki!"

Sorry, Tidus, you can have cheers when you're not the enemy.

Taiki's got some moves! In that, he's moving at all, and Tidus couldn't be happier to watch the other guy participating. It's not that he had any doubts that the guy wouldn't try, but he also didn't really know how well this would go to start off with- but then, Taiki's pretty much the one who showed him and all that kids how to play soccer, even if Tidus had the one to match the kids better in energy.

But it's alright that some friends are TRAITOROUS and SHOWING FAVOURITISM on the other side, though Tidus doesn't see it as so. What he's seeing and focusing on is where the shuttlecock comes back, its journey over to him a visible and easy to analyse destination. He kicks his legs into a shot sprint to meet it, swings back his racquet and sends it flying back to the other side, to whoever-- who will be the one it's heading towards this time!?

He startles a little as Inigo calls out a cheer and can't help the tiny smile that flickers onto his face. It fades a moment later as he concentrates again, but it's good to hear enthusiasm from Inigo. It gives him hope that he might be feeling at all better. That Tidus' plan for distraction is working.

The shuttlecock is heading more towards Inigo's side this time so he stays still, and watches.

Despite being busy with his biased cheers, Inigo is still paying attention to what's going on here. And so when he notices the shuttlecock heading in his direction this time, he's watching it. He's ready. Both Tidus and Taiki could hit it, so that means he has to be able to do the same! So much pressure!

Thankfully it's not the hardest thing to do, even when you absolutely have no experience with it. And Inigo learns quickly by watching anyway, which means that he's able to swing his racquet and hit the shuttlecock back to Tidus..

.. although with a little less grace in not making it hard for Tidus. Not that Inigo is making it hard for the other on purpose, it's just that he's so relieved to be able to hit the thing back that he's just smacking it as hard as he can. Enjoy!

'In not making it less hard'. Fool. This fool. What an imbecile. Forgetting everything about Tidus's legwork and what makes him a star player in more than just blitzball. Because Tidus doesn't react in any other way than in fluid response, reading the direction and velocity forced into the shuttlecock, and having the sense to find exactly where he needs to be to meet it.

It's becoming a fighter that's allowed him to become so swift in his response to any little thing though, his style of fighting, that anything to do with his sports career (but it helps, since blitzball is 4 lyfe). So when he swings, he sends it right back the way it came, if intentionally--because he can tell that Inigo's the one who needs the practice, who needs that test. But he doesn't put his arm into it as hard as Inigo, though it doesn't lose that new speed as it comes back to him.

Still, it's a straightforward path back, curving only in its return to Inigo. And should Inigo get it, only needing to realise and prepare himself for its return, that's when he'll change its course for Taiki.

Look, maybe Tidus likes sports a lot.

"Well done." His encouragement is a lot quieter, a lot softer than Inigo's was to him. But he still makes sure to verbalise it.

"Good shot Tidus." When the shuttlecock returns towards Inigo, since he doesn't have to concentrate on moving or hitting right now he can cheer them both on.

Even in sports he believes in fairness.

Wow, Taiki, way to make him look like the bad guy here for not cheering for the competition!

Thankfully Inigo is much too distracted by the game to even think about that. After all, he needs to put a lot more focus into this with how new he is to badminton - or the idea of sports as a whole, honestly. It's not exactly a common past time activity in the hellscape future he comes from. So when the shuttlecock unexpectedly comes right back for him rather than going to Taiki first, he scrambles to return it. Sure, he does manage to hit it and not even last-minute, but it's with much less finesse or strategy than Tidus hits it. Inigo seems like he's mostly just trying to hit it to get it away from him.

But look, as long as he's not falling flat on his face and looking like an idiot doing this? He'll chalk it up as a personal victory.

Aw-! Tidus got a compliment, though it takes a second for him to react to it and then throw Taiki the quickest of thumbs up before he watches where the shuttlecock is going.

But with Inigo's flustering, the shuttlecock has definitely lost its nice arch as it returns to Tidus, more of a straight line now coming for him like a bullet. ...well, slower than a bullet. It doesn't keep up however, when Tidus readies his racquet with a swing that starts from the side and meets the shuttlecock to throw it up, saying even before it hits--

"To Taiki!"

--and indeed, has his racquet bent to now get it to change its course, the smallest burst of a chuckle sending off the shuttlecock to its intended target.

It's probably a good job his name gets called, because he is busy worrying about Inigo. He is doing alright, though he looked like he had struggled with that last shot.

But now the shuttlecock is coming towards him and he ran towards it, swinging out...

And missing it completely. He blushed red when it bounced off the floor.

"Sorry..."

He bent to pick it up, to serve it again.

See, this is exactly why Inigo was cheering Taiki on earlier! The other is so fragile, it's like he might bruise as easily as a peach at the smallest mistake - like the way Taiki blushes as he fails to hit the shuttlecock.

(Not that Inigo isn't exactly the same in that department, but he likes to think he's not as much of a baby as he really is, okay.)

"Taiki, don't apologize! You're doing just fine! Don't worry!"

He dramatically points his racquet in Tidus' direction.

"Tidus, you prepare yourself! Taiki will now unleash the beast..!" What beast? Who knows.

'not as much of a baby as he really is' tell that to their spooning nap session, buddy. which taiki never needs to know the details of.

"It's fine!" joins Inigo's reassurance, just before the dramatics can begin. His grin starts to widen before he pulls it back, making a scoffing sound.

"Huh, a beast? You better mean like a dolphin! Somethin' elegant, and smart!"

Because neither of them may know what a dolphin is so instead of taking time to explain them in detail, let's pick two features and go with that. Tidus has his racquet ready, eyes on Taiki and something of a light shuffling in place as he waits. Come on, kirin-dolphin!

He's calmed by both of their reassurance but more than that he is calmed by their dramatics. It's... fun. Their teasing is reassurance in itself, they don't act afraid of him, they don't treat him like he is their only hope.

To them he is neither, he is just a person. It's a strange feeling and a luxury probably doesn't deserve.

But that doesn't stop the smile as he serves the shuttlecock back over to where Tidus is.

It's a good thing that the shuttlecock is currently headed from Taiki towards Tidus, since Inigo is completely distracted. He should probably know better than to let himself get distracted in the middle of a game, but it's already too late. Inigo looks like he has to think really hard at Tidus' mention of dolphins.

What are those? Maybe he also knows Taiki is a kirin and that's just what Tidus' world calls pegasi? Elegant and smart does kind of suit those, after all..

Yeah, he's all the way off in thinking land, staring blankly ahead of him. Have fun, you two.

Tidus is not guided by self-knowledge, but by the knowledge of the blitzball legends, the big stars in his home sports who expect only the best and yadda yadda that's not actually a belief in blitzball at all because everyone wants to beat the other up to be the best.

But let's pretend that when Tidus takes the serve, that a someone--or many someones--have noticed Inigo's lack of attention and decided to punish him by guiding Tidus's swing to send the shuttlecock hard and fast in his direction, the light slow spell put on it before now having eased off. There's also no warning than the smack the sound of the shuttlecock and the racquet connecting, and perhaps if Taiki has time to speak up.

eat shuttlecock, inigo.

He sees the direction of the shuttlecock and realises it is going towards Inigo, he turns again... To see Inigo not looking ready to respond at all.

"Inigo?" Is he alright? That shuttlecock is coming in fast...

Inigo is so not ready to respond.

Which means he 100% is going to eat shuttlecock.

With how quickly it's coming towards him and how far lost in thought he is, there's no way Inigo could try to stop that thing in time. But it's even worse - he just seems totally unaware that it's heading his way in general. Which means that it hits him square in the face.

There's no response. Not even a shriek or anything. No, one moment Inigo is just hit in the face hard by the shuttlecock.. and the next moment he's just falling straight over onto the ground.

Man down, man down! Alert, man down!

What the---

What the--

There's a sputter and a choke, a "They ain't that hard!" at Inigo crumbling to the floor, but Tidus groans in resignation and goes over to the fallen friend with a grump in this step, absolutely knowing this has to be some Inigo dramatics. It has to be. Tidus can't believe this, was this actually planned, who plans to get knocked in the face with a shuttlecock for laughs.

inigo you better be dead

"Inigo!" Taiki doesn't often shout, and he doesn't shout now. But his voice is louder, shocked, worried. He rushed over to where Inigo had fallen, trying not to glare at Tidus too much.

After all it wasn't Tidus' fault. Taiki wasn't sure why Inigo had been hit. But Tidus had just been playing the game... "Ingio are you alright?"

At first it does seem like Inigo might be dead. Or-- well, less dramatic, but knocked out cold also seems like a real possibility. He's just lying there on the ground, his eyes closed. At least he doesn't seem to have any visible injuries, considering Tidus is right that a shuttlecock isn't that hard.. It just left a red spot on his forehead that'll probably fade sooner or later.

But just as a moment or two passes and it seems like something really is wrong with Inigo, he opens his eyes, blinking blearily.

"Tidus.. What's a dolphin?"

As if nothing happened just now.. Maybe the shuttlecock hit his brain in just the right spot for him to just completely have forgotten about what happened.

Or maybe Inigo is just an idiot.

Tidus is giving it more time before any concern than the tiny tiny thread of it that exists in him finds itself troubling him. He knows that shuttlecock wasn't hard, knows it wouldn't have caused the other guy to perish even at being hit with it in the middle of the game.

And then--and then in the same second that Tidus might be reconsidering his position in this room to be more aligned with Taiki's.

He speaks.

And Tidus is wholly unimpressed.

"I'll throw you overboard one day and you can find out," he flatly replies.

His worry grows as Inigo doesn't move, he smells no blood but that doesn't mean he isn't hurt... But he opens his eyes and his question.

"Inigo... That's what you were wondering about?"

He does glare at Tidus at that threat. It lacks heat though, he is more concerned about Inigo. "Do you feel dizzy? Do you need to sit down?"

"Yes, I was just.."

His voice trails off, and for a moment he's quiet, slowly blinking again as if his brain needs a moment to process all of this. Then the look in his eyes regains a bit more life, and - almost instinctively, since he doesn't ever want to worry anyone - he starts smiling again.

"Oh, no-- I'm fine, really! Don't worry about me." He rubs the red spot on his forehead. "I must just have.." Wait, what did Tidus just say? His head snaps in the other guy's direction. "Hold on a second, you can't throw me overboard! I can't swim!"

Why is he getting in trouble...!

It silences any more quips Tidus could throw Inigo's way (like 'I know'), and quietly sighs behind his mouth, still not all that impressed by this situation. Inigo may be acting like he's suffering a concussion, but oh no, he's seen Inigo's dramatics. He refuses. Refuses!

"I'm not going to throw you overboard," he promises, more for Taiki's benefit than the potential victim's. But then with more purpose, since it is the more pressing point: "You're getting me in trouble, getting spooked like that! Taiki's gonna ground me into doing all your chores at this rate."

But Tidus is walking over, has been since he started his not-serious chiding, and he holds out a hand over Inigo's not-corpse.

"Bet you don't even do your chores in the first place!"

Said like catching him out.

He's still worrying. It looks like Inigo has hit his head, shuttlecocks aren't exactly dangerous but it still might have hurt him. He doesn't believe Inigo's smile, even less so since speaking to Gerome. Ingio's smiles hid a lot of pain.

He was about to chide Tidus when Tidus spoke instead and got closer to help Inigo up. He smiled slightly in relief. They were friends. This was just the way they showed that.

He smiled, letting out a small laugh looking between them. It was almost similar to how he had seen others acting before. But those people had known each other for many hundreds of years and Tidus and Inigo can't have known each other more than a few months.

"I am sure you both work hard at your chores."

Inigo grabs Tidus' hand the moment it's offered to him. Despite the insult! Or rather, he does it before he can even hear it, since there's not even a beat between Tidus offering the hand and Inigo grabbing it. It just happens that quickly since it's all instinctive.

Once he is standing upright on both feet again though, the words finally seem to register with him.

"Why is it my fault for getting spooked! It's your fault for threatening me!"

Yet Inigo's dramatically worked up tone makes it hard to believe he really thinks Tidus threatened him. Surely the guy wouldn't really throw him overboard knowing he can't swim, right? .. Right?

It's the sound of Taiki laughing that completely quiets him for a moment. It's hard to be dramatic in the face of that much cuteness.. So instead he just nudges Tidus with an elbow.

"Taiki is right. We both work hard." Don't say anything else in front of Taiki now! Don't you dare ruin their cutie friend's mood, bro!

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there are so many different emotions in this tag how do i pick 1 icon