[open] and if it gets too rough, just yell

[blitzcheer]

Who: Tidus & You!
Where: Sports gym, training gym, network, and a few other cars
When: Imagination 16 onwards, mostly 'nights'
What: open log thru the second IC-half of the month! barring any events. idk when to date these, let's go wild.
Warnings: Tidus being down/frustrated. crimes against pianos and blowing up the second floor of the games car's ICP console, oops

1; sports

Tidus, very much, likes to make his second home in the sports gym carriage. Trying out every ball game available, from testing his foot skills with a football, his dribbling with a basketball. Sometimes he just likes to take a racquet and start bouncing a tennis ball on it, seeing how high he can get it.

Bother him, critique his form, or even be there when he's at the ball cupboard, cocking his head to it with a wide grin and offering, "Wanna try a game with me?"

Feel free to catch him with any type of ball. Go on, come on. Ball is lyfe.

2; network(/action)

[ from: the training gym ]

Hey! Sooo uh, I've got a request for any magic users doing nothin'. I heard I can learn some spells if you shoot them at me, so- [ a small pause ] I wanna give it a go! I know water, lightning... my fire's okay I guess, and I know a few time- and healing spells. So anything that isn't them. Or, if you know esuna, that'd be great.

Anyway, I wanna see if it'll work, so come down if you're up for it! Or, we can do it later. Whatever, whenever you're free. I got nothing to do.

[ That's not a weird request to send out, is it. ]

3; late night

But for the good mood Tidus has been painting himself in, it's not been entirely true. He's been staying up the past couple of days, loitering around different cars, with different...events.

a;

First is the upper music car, where the playing of the piano may be heard. 'Playing', technically, but only just. Keys are pressed at random, individually and sporadic; before there's the hard ringing of multiple keys, ugly and deliberate, before quickly turning into a storm of key bashing without remorse for the chaotic sound produced, a manic ten to twenty torture session on the poor instrument before it comes to an end.

Well, for a pause -- and then one last fist on the keys are given, for effect. And Tidus sits on the small seat before it, a fist dragging off.

b;

The second night, the upper games car gets it. There's a light thumping that the downstairs may hear, then the sound of crashing, and even the sound of...squeaking and shrills? Until a far more noticeable sound of something electrical exploding, a the sound of glass smashing and else with it.

A climb up the stairs will reveal - on the side away from the VR gaming - an absolute mess. The oversized jenga pieces have been strewn about the car along with the Connect Four coins, water splattered about to drench the stuffed snake and floor carpet. And the source of the explosion? A pretty easy to find source, if one follows the smell of smoke and sight of it: it's where the upstairs ICP terminal sits, or did sit, in the wall, its screen and everything broken in now, with a large water mark spilling down the wall.

Tidus stands near it, holding 'back' a tiny blue creature in his arms squeaking maniacally, as if positively delighted at the results. ...or if you're not a person of good intentions (because this is a very ghibli creature, please), Tidus just looks like he's weirdly holding his arms around his stomach, if with a gap.

"Uhh-" Regardless, he looks around quick with the company, then throws out a (desperate) defensive: "What?"

W-what are you looking at??

c;

The third night is less disastrous, thankfully. Tidus sits cross-legged on the floor of the sports car, rolling around a ball with his the tips of his fingers, picking it up and lazily spinning it between both hands, or sometimes even just staring at it. Thinking, his face stormy and complicated. Not really paying attention to anything, nor in any apparent rush to do more than look dissatisfied.

He chucks the ball once after a while, a simple throw sending it over a nice distance. But it rolls, comes to a stop -- and Tidus doesn't look interested in following after it.

Comments

[blue_ice]

Seto has had...a lot to think about after the meeting. He's still not entirely sure what his final purpose will be, but he's promised he'll do better. And that means not hiding like a hermit and doing his chores. Including the unofficial ones, like maintaining their catalog of games.

Naturally, when he smells smoke coming from the gaming car, he assumes the worst. He yanks his turtleneck over his nose as he races up the stairs, mentally bracing himself for another disaster.

That's not what he finds. Instead, there's a mess, with Tidus and a...friend? in the middle of it. His eyes flick around the room for signs of sparking for fire, then to assess the damage, and then? Okay. No emergency. There's time to catch his breath, though he's still staring with a baffled expression.

"First question: are you all right?"

[blitzcheer]

"I'm--"

'Hiiig! Young heart, we will be even better with more targets!'

"Oh nonononno-!" comes Tidus's hurried interruption for the first interruption, the little blue creature wiggling in his arms in the struggle between them -- until the higgledy shows how useless it is in the first place, blinking from Tidus's arms to on top of his head.

'Never give up!' cries the little squeaky creature, with still somehow the voice of a stereotypical gentleman. Tidus uses his now free arms to wave hands towards the broken ICP device in gesture. "I'll--! ... it'll be fine!" he goes for, since 'I'll fix it'? Okay, yeah, whatever. "Let's just leave it there! It's cool!"

He reaches for the higgledy above, and unfortunately, it blinks down to the floor, spinning in place like a ballerina in dance.

[blue_ice]

As soon as he hears 'more targets' Seto holds up his briefcase for cover. Just in case. He lowers it slightly as it becomes obvious the creature is off in its own little world...

Hm. That's weird. Seto rubs an eye, wandering over to the broken ICP and opening his briefcase. He's stored some tools in there, so maybe he can fix this.

"Okay, second question: Who's your friend, and how did this happen?"

[blitzcheer]

Good luck with fixing it, Seto. Tidus will move out of the way for him when he sees him coming over, half worried what he might think, ... or just feeling guilty. There's a little smoke, but most of the front panelling and the glass for the screen has been dented, smashed in -- as if punched at by a large force. Might have something to do with the water dripping from it, despite the small trail of smoke coming from the poor wiring inside...

As for other disasters - Tidus starts with an answer, but ends up stopping himself when the creature blinks from the floor, and decides to perch itself on Seto's shoulder.

"Gibbs," he tries again, flatly. "And we were just--"

'--expressing our hearts!' Gibbs completes cheerily.

"No," Tidus huffs! "I didn't tell you to break anything!"

He folds his arms around himself uncomfortably, looking around, not really settling on Seto for long.

"Look, we got plenty others, right? Wouldn't it be safer to leave it?"

[blue_ice]

"...expressing your heart?"

Seto continues to blink his disbelief. He can't help but remember Wormmon and a similar incident that happened recently. He listens to Tidus...and sighs, pulling away when he takes in the extent of the damage. It's all right. Seto even laughs a little...at how ridiculous the situation is.

"Okay. We'll clean this up once we can gather some parts," he says with a shrug. "It'll be easier to fix when it dries out."

He then turns his head to address Gibbs directly, still wondering just...how having some fun had led to this. "If you had that much energy to get out, why didn't you ask Tidus to take you to the gym?"

Late Night--A

[azrthmtrnznthos]

It wasn't often Raven had trouble sleeping, once she'd relocated and kidnapped a quiet car anyways. Tonight however, was one of those nights. A cup of herbal tea in her hand, she's headed for the library--passing through, when she hears the sounds.

It wasn't music. It didn't sound like any attempt at music. Raven didn't need her Empathy, as she listened, to know whomever was at the keys was likely as restless as she was.

So she headed upstairs to investigate, blue cloak and cowl enveloping her entirely except for one purple-clad arm holding a mug of tea. Watching as the other pounded the keys. He was familiar, but Raven had only caught his name really at the meeting--Tidus.

"There's herbal tea in the kitchen."

3C

[longforgottenpromise]

Taiki often sleeps fine, all through the night. Other times are harder, restless and unable to settle. Tonight is one of those nights, after a while of tossing and turning he had gotten up to pad silently out of the room, pulling on the black coat that Lea had gifted to him.

He heads towards the kitchens, it's a long way to walk for a drink, especially when Tidus and the others had set up a station in luggage. But luggage still smelled of blood and it meant walking through dressing so to the kitchen it was.

The walk might tire him out.

He was walking past the gym when he heard the sound, a thud. The sound of a ball hitting the wall. So late at night...

He moved to the door, opening it to see who was inside. Tidus...

He approached quietly, calmly, seeing that stormy complicated face and taking caution. He sat crossed legged opposite him and reached out towards his hand silently.

3a because i can't think of anything better /lame

[shutupnail]

Piccolo didn't really sleep all that much. Typically he just used the (relatively) peaceful "night" time to meditate in a more restful state of mind. The late-nighters and non-sleepers were usually quiet anyway.

Except when they weren't.

The sound of the piano was audible even from the other carriage to Piccolo's ears. While everything else was so quiet it made the discordant notes that much more obnoxious to hear out of the blue.

Piccolo wandered into the music room to look around. He was surprised to find Tidus there. He was silent for a moment.

Then, "That you causing all that racket in here? I'm surprised. And horrified. You know how loud that is to a Namekian's ears? I'll give you a clue: it's loud."

The admonishment was softened slightly by the lack of bite to his tone, and the quiet way he spoke. Like he was trying to preserve the peaceful quiet of the night. Or tease more than berate someone that seemed to be having a bad time. It wasn't like Tidus to slump like that. Piccolo didn't like it.

[blitzcheer]

It is a restless figure at the piano. A wound up ball of tension and frustration, searching for a release - and it came some with those wilder notes, the crescendo to his music. At least, he liked just bashing away at the thing.

But it's not soothing - it's not relaxing. And he's completely oblivious to the other's presence until she speaks up. Her voice getting Tidus to turn his head quickly, and the remark getting him to look down shyly, a hand to the back as his neck as he umm.

He tips his head in a sheepish shrug sort of motion, turning back to the piano.

"I always wanted to try that," he says, like admitting a silly truth. Not exactly a real one, except - he sure did become invested the moment he thought about it.

[blitzcheer]

His head lifts once Taiki is close to him in his approaching, seeing who the legs belong to when the other man stops in front of him to sit. Expression lifting with the raise of his eyes, but his mouth thins in a pursed line; Tidus sees the hand going for his, but does nothing about it.

Eyes lowering, his gaze goes to the space of the dirty floor between them, small as it is. Smaller the moment of quiet before he admits, more readily than he can accept the comfort of Taiki's hand:

"...I can't stop thinking about what they said, about the voidcrafts. If it gets damaged..."

His fingers press into his knees where they rest over.

"Roland told me, back on the platform stop. We were leaving letters for the ministry to find." Or someone. Anyone.

[blitzcheer]

"Hey," Tidus tries to cut in before Gibbs can speak, but as if a flustered warning is enough to stop the tiny nature spirit's tiny mouth!

'Because, young heart, we wished to see the chaos of letting go! Harmless carnage to anyone but this train!'

He speaks so fiercely, popping away from Seto's shoulder, to one of the ladders already fallen by a wall. With only the warning of a hiiig!, Gibbs reappears in the gap of its lean as a watery ball flinging itself at the oversized toy ladder. It knocks away over jenga blocks and plush snakes, noisily landing over some place else.

And Tidus's face...looks more embarrassed than anything, if a tad like a guy caught out.

"I warned him not to break anything," he says slowly, a guy caught out in the middle of trouble he still doesn't entirely want to explain (and hopefully Seto won't figure out! Ignore the water creature!!). "We'll clear this up, alright? We just...wanted to make some mess."

Alright, he'll admit that much, stubbornly. Feeling like a kid, but - so what. What does he care what anyone thinks really?

[blue_ice]

Letting go...getting one's aggression out...

The pieces start to slot into place. Seto closes his eyes for a moment and takes a breath, carefully thinking through how to respond next. It's likely he's at fault here, at least partially. So this is awkward.

He just nods and moves to start stacking the jenga blocks, to give himself something to do with his hands.

"...after a tumultuous board meeting, I usually took a long motorcycle ride to get away from it all," he admits. "Now that that's not an option...well, I guess this is the next best thing to a punching bag."

hiding that piccolo loves the games car, i'm onto you

[blitzcheer]

Should have something given Piccolo away before he speaks? But slumped at the piano, the abuse on the keys giving him something in voicing his frustrations but not actually taking them away -- Tidus is distracted, lost in himself. Sitting with a weight pressing down on his shoulders, a desire in his throat to spit out words, nonsense curses. But what was the point?

--and then Piccolo is there, speaking, and Tidus forgets about all that momentarily as he turns in his surprise. No bite to the chide, but still -- embarrassment rises on Tidus's face as he seems to look around.

"I--" he starts. Fails. Tries again: "You can hear between the cars? I thought all that void space would block it." Obviously not, but he has the sense to be sheepish about it; pulling his hands into his lap, one leg crossed and tucked under the other.

"Sorry."

[blitzcheer]

Ugh. He didn't want to clean up so soon, and it's a hard pill on his tongue to watch Seto start. Wanting to tell him to stop, or to join in -- but where's the sense in the first? And though he looks at a giant wooden coin, he doesn't move to grab it.

"You ever tried yelling?" At least he is listening, even if he's just staring at that singular coin. "Real loud, at the top of your lungs?"

[blue_ice]

That earns a laugh from Seto. "All the time. I tried to keep it out of the office whenever possible, but I could shatter glass."

He stops and leans on his sloppily-stacked pile, turning back to Tidus. "Next on the list: soundproof car for late-night screaming. Sound good?"

[blitzcheer]

"Pool car," he says without thought. Gibbs, meanwhile, is hopping between those pieces chucked and kicked on their sides, like navigating an uneasy terrain. Knocking a few over in his way, giggling piggglee!s and hiiigs! on his merrily way.

Tidus spares a look Seto's way, but then finds his higgledy to follow with his eyes. "Quiet car's good for yelling. Already done it a few times." He pauses, then decides to ask- "Feelin' any better?"

[blue_ice]

"All right, fair enough. I've already been drawn into splash fights in the spa baths when people think I've become too serious. There's clearly an appetite for water-based fun."

'Too serious' is basically his default mode. But he shakes his head and thinks on that for a moment.

"I owe you an apology for that. Everyone else as well, but I'll make the rounds and say it again at the public council meeting. I knew you all well enough that I shouldn't have reacted with distrust or fear. We have the same goal, and my insecurity can't stand in the way of finding the best solution."

He's quiet for a moment, and then... "I don't have final answers until then, but from what I've gathered, you won't have to worry about us gumming up the works anymore. You did the right thing, but that doesn't make it less stressful to do---I wish I could tell you it gets easier with time, but I think I just suppressed more."

[blitzcheer]

Where to start? Tidus puts his weight onto one foot, rocking a little as he takes in what Seto says.

"Don't worry about all that," he goes for, a slow shake of his head, idly moving on his feet with steps going nowhere. "I'm just asking about you, how you're feeling - I don't want an apology. You took it hard, and I get why - it turned into a mess quick. But if you feel bad, then you feel bad, you know? I'm not gonna judge you. Be frustrated. Get mad. Punch a punching bag."

He lets himself face Seto, wanting to be more direct.

"But no one's gonna as hard on you than you're being on yourself." He shrugs one shoulder, a tip of his head with it. "'Least I don't think so."

3B

[10billionpercent]

It was the noise that caught his attention and made him climb up the stairs, slow as he did. He happened to have a cup of coffee in hand and he took one look at the mess and Tidus and the Higgledy.

This was really something else, wasn't it?

"Huh. Nothing. You were noisy." He commented, sipping his coffee.

[blitzcheer]

He stands there, not knowing what to do or say for a second (and Gibbers happily just stays where he is, squeaking maniacally - not that Senku can hear).

...

"... well," he starts slow, eyes elsewhere on the room, "I'll clean up later." A beat. "Didn't think there was anyone around..."

But that's the problem about the trains: there always was. Figures. It's not usually like he stays up this 'late' to know.

[10billionpercent]

He didn't really care if Tidus wanted to tear things apart, he wasn't really the boss of him or anything. He just sipped his drink again.

"Sure." He shrugged. Someone would probably clean it up if Tidus didn't.

"I don't sleep that much."

[blitzcheer]

He hums, a sound like an 'oh' in acknowledgement.

"You weren't...coming up here for anything else then?" Nothing he needs (or should?) clear up now, is there? This was a little awkward...

Not that Gibber cares either, taking this wonderful time to blink out from Tidus's arms and to find himself on the floor, tiny arms up in the air in a confident pose.

[10billionpercent]

"Not particularly." Senku responded. "I'm just working on a project." He didn't play that much.

"If you want me to go..." He waved his hand. "I can leave."

[blue_ice]

Seto pulls away from the small pile of blocks he's stacked , his expression shifting again. He's so used to approaching these situations one way, but pieces of the equation have changed so much.

"It's...an adjustment for me. This isn't how anything happened at home."

How to explain that...? "Back then, emotion was kept out of leadership disputes because were merely business associates. There were no personal relationships involved. You'd think it be easier knowing the people better, but that just makes it all more complicated."

He rakes a hand through his hair, letting out a deep sigh of frustration. "The stakes are higher now. We have more to lose...and I don't know. Maybe a good punching bag would help us all. Or..."

He looks at his half-built pile, then at Tidus. "Do you want to go again? On a bigger scale?"

[blitzcheer]

Tidus gestures out his hands. "Hey, you wanna kick over some blocks over the place? I'll help - you take a turn. Give it a go." He nods to what Seto's already put together. "Just put up a leg, get a good angle...!"

Which Tidus is doing...! Except he pauses, looks at the pile already.

"...let's get it bigger than that."

Now that's a cleaning up job Tidus can get behind, even grabbing on of the blocks and the coin he'd been gawking at earlier. Here, he'll come on over, put them on top.

"A punching bag's no fun if it doesn't break apart. Sometimes - you wanna let go!"