[Network Video]

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Imagine the beach. Okay, don't imagine the beach because the video, it's definitely of the beach. Of the waves hitting the shore, of feet buried in the sand, of strong legs too, but the angle doesn't continue far up them, mostly because the video is looking over them, at the ocean.]

Gonna be frank here. All that shit with the 'Calibrations' junk? Total fucking horrible bullshit. Too quiet. Too weighty. Too fucking enclosed and tense. We need something else. We need to be something more than what they inflicted on us.

Least, that's what I think.

[The view panned from the sea off to the right, where someone had built a large stack of felled wood. Sorta fresh, so maybe it wouldn't burn the best, but it was there. This was clearly bonfire territory.]

I'm thinking it wouldn't be bad to fucking chill a little, you know? Like, not entirely. Don't trust whatever did that to not fuck with us again. But beaches can be relaxing, and with enough of us, maybe we can enjoy ourselves a little but still keep a watch. So, maybe we do it. Maybe we come here and make our own memories we don't gotta sit through and watch.

Memories we can be a part of.

Back home, at the start of summer, we've got this thing to do. It's meant to be a celebration of identity and self. Okay, I'll be honest, it's called 'Pride', and technically it's for, you know, celebrating gender and sexual identities and all that. Never really went to one back home, but feels like the concept is right. Celebration of identity. The ones we build for ourselves now, not all the fucking baggage they dredged up.

So, uh... who might be in?

[Gladio turns the camera's view around so that it's on him fully. Of course he isn't wearing a shirt. It's fucking Gladio. If you know the man and haven't seen him shirtless yet, do you really know the man?]

So anyone down for making some good memories about ourselves? Doesn't have to be today. Might take some time for the wood to be good to burn. Doesn't have to not be today either. I'd say I'm flexible, but come on, muscles like these are for strength, not for bending. But I can work with what people want. What they need.

And I think we might need this.


[OOC: Feel free to have people come find him in action. Or start your own logs of partying at the beach because of this]

Comments

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Dude, Gladio's also gorgeous and trying. And headache inducing. That's just what beautiful men like them are like. It's part of the package deal.]

I'll see about hauling the lumber I cut there. Still, just showing up sounds nice. Never actually had a beach party before.

[beholding_archivist]

[ Surely Gladio can pester someone enough to be successful eventually. ]

I feel positive that I can convince Tony to come along. After being locked up inside again for so long...

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Oh hell yeah he can. He's also really good at beating people up for their own training and inflicting headaches that way.]

Good. I wanna talk to him about how fucking great the shield is.

[beholding_archivist]

[ ...maybe Jon has been lucky that Tony was more bent on making odd comments about his butt. ]

Shield?

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Yeah, he really was that lucky, wasn’t he?]

Yeah. Big thing. Gorgeous work. Truly impressive. Holds up to a blow pretty well.

[beholding_archivist]

What was he apologizing for?

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Wait, what? Gladio frowned as he got that response.]

Um, what do you mean? Apologizing?

[beholding_archivist]

That's one of his main reasons to make gifts for someone.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Well, I asked him to make this for me. And he seemed intrigued by the challenge of it.

[beholding_archivist]

He does love a challenge, I'm aware...

[ Maybe Jon should act a little more challenging just to keep Tony from getting bored. ]

[ziedrich_bearer]

Good to be aware of it. But he did damn good work.

[beholding_archivist]

He is remarkably skilled with his hands.

[ And Jon loves those hands. They're good hands. ]

And he always wants to help others. And fix everything he finds broken.

[ziedrich_bearer]

[Oh Gladio's absolutely going to laugh at that comment as if it's meant in a sexual manner. Yeah, dude's assuming.]

Not healthy to live like that, fixing everything. Don't let him burn himself out.

[beholding_archivist]

[ Which... Is totally fair. Those nimble hands have plenty of uses. ]

That- Is what I'm trying. It's not always easy, I'll admit.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Not shocked. He seems that sort. And if you're watching, Jon's boyfriend, you do seem that sort. And it's okay. You're good people.

[beholding_archivist]

If he's watching, I will be hearing about this conversation later.

[ And maybe he's looking forward to that. ]

[ziedrich_bearer]

Don't let him chew your ear off because of me.

[beholding_archivist]

I believe I can handle him well enough. But thank you for your concern.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Just wanna make sure he's good to you. People deserve relationships being good to them.

[beholding_archivist]

You... are not wrong.

He makes me happy.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Ain't nothing more important than that.

[beholding_archivist]

One could argue that it's important for that feeling to be mutual.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Perhaps. And sometimes what matters in a person's heart is making someone else happy because they don't feel worthy of happiness on their own. I've seen it happen.

[beholding_archivist]

That sounds like a clear case for therapy, if you ask me.

[ And yes, Jon is aware that Tony might do well with a little counseling as well. ]

[ziedrich_bearer]

[He's laughing on his side here Jon. Laughing really hard.]

Yeah, but we ain't got any of those here.