flatteries: (i'm just trying to stop the bleeding)
a man for flowers ✿ ( INIGO ) ([personal profile] flatteries) wrote in [community profile] voidtreckerexpress2020-12-11 11:10 pm

(open) my heart is about to jump out of my chest

Who: Inigo and you!
Where: The upper level of the music carriage
When: Imagination 19/20
What: Inigo thinks he's having a private dance practice moment. Thinks.
Warnings: Probably nothing, will edit if necessary.

---


(open to all)

If you happen to pass through the music carriage today - as people usually do when moving through the train - you may notice something. Either you can hear music coming from the upper floor, drawing your attention, or if you have a good heart, you may instead see an odd little creature sitting on the stairs, swaying from side to side along with the music.

If you decide to go upstairs, the creature certainly won't do anything to stop you, if you can see it. In fact, it seems to happily bounce right after you, following you up.

And upstairs the carriage is mostly empty - except for Inigo standing on the stage, dancing. The music is even more audible now. Inigo is dancing along to the beat, eyes closed, yet he doesn't seem to even come close to falling off the stage, as if he knows exactly where to place his feet. Which he probably does, considering his movements seem to be very fluid, practiced. It's a pretty captivating dance, honestly, and it's easy to just keep watching it without realising the time is passing until the song stops.

It's then that Inigo stops moving too, finally opening his eyes..

.. and therefore finally noticing that he's not alone. He lets out an absolute shriek, staring you straight in the eyes, before his foot slips and he finally ends up falling on the stage.

Temporary elegance gone. There is only a miserable little pile of Inigo on the stage now.

(closed to taiki)

Okay, okay. Maybe he just needs to get used to dancing in front of people. He danced in front of Tidus before, and that was only.. only mildly mortifying, so maybe that's what he should do. Make sure to dance in front of people he feels a bit more comfortable with.

Hence why Inigo gently dragged (read: made puppy eyes at until he gave in) Taiki along here. He said it was fine if Taiki would just sit there and paint or something, do whatever he feels like doing! It's just that Inigo has to get used to having an audience, okay! And Taiki is just about the most gentle person Inigo can think of for this sort of thing.

But thinking of that is one thing. The actual execution of this plan is another thing.

Which is why they're both here now, but rather than dancing, Inigo just sitting there on the stage, slumped over, groaning. His face is buried in his hands.

"Why is it so hard to get started when someone else is looking.." Is he whining to Taiki? To himself? Who knows.
blitzcheer: (eyyyyy summoner)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-27 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Stop it."

It comes, once Tidus takes a hold of both of Inigo's forearms. His gaze coming back up to meet his, his direction closer to a plea than a demand, but a chiding too. The hold he takes of Inigo steady, as well as his eyes. The first thing that's gotten him to be so steady since they became drawn into this conversation.

"You're my friend, Inigo. If I make you feel like you do nothing for me, and it's somethin' I'm saying, then- just punch me in the jaw and say it!"

Cue mimicking a light jab in the air between them. It may be a little dramatic, but look, maybe he's feeling like it's deserved for the offence, alright.

"I never want you to think that! I know I've been a pain lately, and I know it hasn't been the first time. But I appreciate you, Inigo. You put up with me, and you're there for me, and we're everything that friends should be! What am I gonna do if anything happened to you? Who'm I gonna spend everyday with then?"

He lets out a breath behind his mouth, shoulders sagging a little. His thumbs rubbing slow, massaging circles.

"I told Taiki too... that I don't want anyone else but my friends. You, the Inigo I know. You're the guys for me. I wouldn't have it any other way, you know?"
blitzcheer: (you take what you can)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-28 02:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Tidus frowns, his entire face, a paused moment as he tries to take in what Inigo's saying. And yet-

"But that's not true. That's not true at all." He lets his shoulders ease, taking his eyes away from the past he was looking into, raising them to look at Inigo instead. "You've cheered me up plenty. Yeah, I got mad, but I wasn't really mad at you, you know? It was just-" ugh, what even did they speak about back then...? "I'm just never good at feeling like we don't have a choice. Or- I was just complaining. You asked me why I wasn't training, and it was 'cause... I hated the idea, feeling like I was just doing what the train wanted me to. Because we are. For all the good we're doing - we're doing exactly what this train wants. We even know that for sure now."

For sure, for certain. Tidus lets Inigo's arms go, not sure where to put his hands after. So he lets them sit awkwardly at his sides.

"I'm not mad that we're helping people, but... I... I don't really have anything. 'Cept sports. And I guess I was feeling, you know..."

He trails, trying to figure how to phrase it.

"I wanted to be more than a fighter. I wanted to- be useful, here. Something that distracted me and made me feel good."
blitzcheer: (very gud thinker)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-29 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
This is a level of... little self-worth Tidus doesn't know how to deal with. At least, his thoughts can't decide between battling with that apparent information and the memory he had of that ruined pyjama party. There's less time for his brain to think anything about Inigo climbing off his lap, Not that it's a bad move, but it does sure feel and look different, to not have Inigo directly there in front of him.

He runs both of his hands through his hair at the sides, sighing some. Trying to think of where to begin, what to even say. Especially when it feels like some of the stuff he says goes through one ear and out the other.

"You know... I was hoping you would argue with me, or get angry with me. 'Least, I remember getting really into it?" uhh- "But that's not a problem with you," Tidus goes on to say, shedding off the uncertainty, trying to bring it back to a reassurance.

"You need to be easy on yourself! Trust in our friendship--in us more!" He turns to Inigo, shifting up a knee some even, to better face him. Knocking him gently with a fist on the arm. "You think things getting awkward once throws out all the rest? Didn't I tell you before? What's a few stupid moments for everything else you get? That's friendship!"
blitzcheer: (sorrrrrryyyy reORIGINAL)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-29 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's why I stopped!" It's earnest, like the two of them meeting somewhere in whatever this can be considered.

"I know you didn't want to fight, so that's why - I didn't know how to turn it around and be any better right then. And that wasn't on you to do, we just needed some time." He pauses, then admits with his head nodding. "I should've said sorry the next morning. But I... I got the wrong idea too. I thought you didn't want to talk about it or it'd be better... I know you were doing your best, you know? It meant a lot to me. It did."

He lifts his head to look at Inigo, though he isn't sure what to offer in the look. It was a mess, and here they were, trying finally to clear up the pieces. A mess that one of them has no idea how to assess the damage done, and another who's never been good at explaining things in his life.

"Friendship is... people are a mess," he decides. "We make each other feel bad when we don't mean to, and we get all sorts of crazy ideas what the other means. You never know what argument you're going to get into with one person, or- you never argue with another 'cause she's always got a cool head and knows the right thing to say so all you can do is grumble 'til you forget the whole thing!"

He's waving his hands some as he speaks, since of course he does.

"What I'm trying to say is... it's okay if you don't have the answers. That doesn't make you a bad friend. I shouldn't have tried to start an argument in the first place." Or not try to make an argument where there wasn't one.

"But- don't think you make things worse for me, or you're not the right kind of friend. Even if you're struggling, or you're not used to this- that's never true. Alright?" Tidus looks at Inigo more sure now. "That's the one thing I'm asking. You wouldn't agree if I said that to you, would you? It's just not true, Inigo."
blitzcheer: (chatter chatter)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-30 04:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well... we can say I was being a tiny pain. Right?"

He means it as a joke, frames it in no other way as Tidus meets Inigo's eye, gives him an expressing meaning to appeal, his smile small but important for selling the effect.

You're totally sold on this compromise, right Inigo??? Inigo?
blitzcheer: (ummmooo)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2020-12-31 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Tidus watches Inigo with that dumb face, smiling and hopeful and goading, all in one. Small 'hmms?' if he has to wait too long, just to give him any extra leverage to make sure those scales of Inigo's mood don't tip into insecurity.

And the smile that lifts itself onto Inigo's face is promising, brightening Tidus's with it. The guy waiting on any words, a laugh, a chide. Anything--

--but a kiss.

Or, a peck. Something like that. Still a kiss, right? Even if it takes Tidus a second to realise, blinking, registering the small touch. And Inigo's already moving back, cheerful and silly.

How is Tidus supposed to take it for anything other than the goof it is? The embarrassment he might've been about to feel dying easily down, a joking huff let out as Tidus leans back in his own seat.

"Weird way of being a pain!" His shoulders lift, something of a shrug. "If that's all it takes to get into your good books-"

But he doesn't finish it. Doesn't need to, right? Instead, Tidus gives Inigo a light punch to the arm.

"Cool. We're even! That means I can get you to read the books now, right? They weren't what I wanted, but there's a swimming magazine there that's alright. The blue one."

Inigo moved them, so Tidus nods over to where they've been placed now. See, see?
blitzcheer: (meerrrrily merrily meerrrily)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-01 11:02 am (UTC)(link)
"What, and a book on trains too?" The subtlety continues to fly over Tidus's head, a small huff let go of. "I just ordered whatever at random, or I'd be waiting forever to get them! Those're what the train gave me. They never have any life magazines..."

Look, maybe Tidus just wants to read about blitzball and upcoming events and the new hot tunes coming out. Is that so wrong? He'll grumble about them as he wants.

But also, lifting his hands up, held as if there's something in them as they hover by his face.

"Try smelling it. --Go on," he figures he'll have to add, 'cause who is going to take that suggestion over a magazine? But Tidus might be in a good place to nudge it in the direction of Inigo's nose. "It's perfume-y. Right? You smell it?"
blitzcheer: (full blast blush bro)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-01 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Bro?!!?

"Is your nose broken? I'm gonna notice a smell! It got on my fingers!"

Rather, he rubbed his nose with the side of his finger and then caught a whiff of something odd, which led him finally to the sniffing of books. None of which needs to be explained in the slightest to this dweeb!!! Just be glad Tidus isn't shoving his hand in your face now, bro.

Instead, he's grabbing for the diving magazine. Yoink!

"You see what you think. I didn't care 'bout it - it's just about breathing techniques and how to be all relaxing." Ugh. Boriiiing. "This one's cool. It's about a whole people and what their world's like! They wear shells that look like some of the one's I've seen. Even squiggly ones!"

Also, the book has a lot of cool spreads with big nice pictures. Just what a guy like Tidus likes!
blitzcheer: (it's sunny suny sunny)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-01 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
"Here-- see?"

Tidus doesn't nudge Inigo as he comes to rest on him. Instead he's tipping his head to give room, but also focusing on how he holds the book to make the pages visible. The klakti are a humanoid species, if barely; the scandalous features to be found on a human not noticeably present, but it's hard to spy with some of the pictures taken. On the first page, the shells adorn each individual like simple clothing; some like cowrie, others clams, all of different shapes and sizes. Most of the scenery is of beaches and the ocean, caverns drenched in a green-blue hue all around, with light littered by some unknown source.

Tidus flips slowly through the magazine. Some people wear the sea shells as a dress that reaches to their webbed feet, but with obvious splits if one looks carefully. Swimming is their life.

"Different, huh? I wouldn't wear it," hah, "but it's pretty cool, learning about them like this. And they can go deeper than pretty much any human! They have some sports game too, underwater, and all kinds of kid games too." Where was that page? Tidus flips through trying to find it, but fails, landing on a page showing what some of the deeper seas look like.

"There was one with a net and catching balls with them, and another something to do with fish...? Anyway," a small laugh and grin, "nothing I heard about as a kid."
blitzcheer: (ummmooo)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-02 11:17 am (UTC)(link)
"How d'you know my feet aren't like that?"

You checking out my feet?

Tidus lets the question hold, eyes shifted onto Inigo and wondering if he'll look down. And if he does, but even if he doesn't, Tidus shifts his toes to be visible and give them a wiggle, letting out a "Naahhh". Heheh.

With that little fun aside, Tidus goes on. "It's nothing like Spira. I mean, nowhere looks like it, 'cept some of the pics from the beaches looking out on the sea." Which given the magazine was more about the people, there weren't too many large shots of. "But it's the closest in a while. I guess it's all the ocean... it's weird being away from it this long."

Even all his travelling through Spira never took them far from the sea for long, the highest points of Mt. Gagazet bringing them down to where waves lapped against the ruined remains of Zanarkand.

"Gyueran, that first mission we had together. That was like Spira."
blitzcheer: (sry gtg)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-02 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Guess Tidus is just going to have to be tortured by the company of Inigo. Speaking of.

"Hmm... but I like it. What we did have." He's looking up, in that way one does when recalling a memory. And he recalls that time back then on that wide beach. The fighting, day and night.

"Well, maybe I'd change getting knocked over by a squid," he remarks wryly, "but apart from that and all the fighting - you were one of the first people I knew. And we did hang out!" Tidus looks at Inigo from the corner of his eye, mouth widening into a grin. "I told you to treat yourself to some chocolate! And wasn't that where you complained about chocobos?"

Or did that come later?
blitzcheer: (so i said to becky)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-03 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Sure did!" There isn't a slip of doubt, Tidus's mind recalling as he watched the waves lapping at the shore... "We spent all that time fighting day and night, I was worrying about Yuna... I was feeling pretty good after that first mission. Sitting around, chilling out - I liked it. You came over and talked to me."

It wasn't some amazing ordeal, but it was simple, nice enough for Tidus to recall it fondly. Had any of the other missions had the same relaxing moment? Terra was more exhausting, Irivar was its own wreck, and Nion was numbing. Was that because of the missions? Or all because of Tidus becoming more worn by being a captive?

He flips the magazine over to a new page, but not before playing with the edge in signal that Inigo's ready for it.

"I liked that mission. It was tough, but... I had good company. Half the people though... most of the people I worked with are gone."

His voice dips, but not his face. It's sobering, but it's a fact - that people will come and go - that Tidus has always been able to accept. As hard as it can hit people; as hard as it's hit him too.

"Hope they're doing okay."

That's all he can ask for.
blitzcheer: (whatcha gonna do about iiitt)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-04 10:53 am (UTC)(link)
"Can't get rid of me that easy."

Tidus nudges into Inigo, the two too close for it to be anymore than a muffled pressed of his elbow. But he can tip his head back with a comfortable smile, seeing Inigo out of the corner of his vision, hope the tone does well enough to assure the other guy. He can figure it might not be fun for a guy like Inigo to talk about people gone... not that it'd be exactly fun for Tidus either, but.

But he'll keep what he wants to ask down his throat. Take the steps to move away from anything too difficult.

"Wanna bet what the next mission'll be? We haven't had a space station yet - not since I've been here! That's four missions!"

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