revivalproject | [Open] The Daring, Dashing, And Dating

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[Open] The Daring, Dashing, And Dating

WHO: Gladiolus, Noctis, Any Starduck Crew (or visitors), Open
WHERE: Starduck, Ul'Dah, Limsa Lominsa, Gold Saucer, Costa del Sol Dungeon
WHAT: Shipboard Times, Questions, Gladitorial Work, Dungeon Crawl, and Dating
WHEN: During Event, from June 17th - August 10th
WARNINGS: Violence/Injuries Possible in the Dungeon Crawl
NOTES: Unless otherwise noted, assume Gladio is dressed Like This on the planet

1A - A New Star | Starduck | [Crewmates Only]

Turned out that flying a ship in atmo and in space were not quite the same. Gladio may have had some practice at the former, but fuck, the latter wasn't easy. He grit his teeth as he focused on the whole thing. After a thought he flips a switch and speaks, hoping the PA system really does work.

"This is your Captain. Feel free to come on up to get a fucking view of a glowing hole in space. And some planet with it I guess. Anyone got any Ifrit-Damned clue what's going on here? Come up to the cockpit and explain shit."

1B - Captain With The Ship | Starduck | [OTA, visitors from other ships welcome to fly over]

No one could be on the planet all of the time. Okay, maybe they could, and go and spend their money on nice restaurants or plush inns, but not Gladio. No, he had other things he should be doing, and honestly, he felt safer bunking down on the Starduck. So in the evenings it was always a touch to a crystal and being whisked back onto his ship. Once there Gladio groaned and started to shed his gear right there in the hold. Simple enough to tuck it all back into his chest and then dress in his normal gear.

"Nice place, like to visit. Fuck I wouldn't wanna stay."

He wasn't used to people being that much larger and stronger than him. The Hrothgar were getting to him.

"Time to chill.

2 - King of the Ring | Ul'Dah Coliseum | [OTA]

They had him at 'battle monsters for a purse of money'. Gladio was a monster hunting machine back home, and he was more than happy to prove it here. Granted he wouldn't be able to change his weapons on the fly in the battle, but he still didn't mind. He's doing great.

It's easy to run into him here. Gladio's often in the back prep areas, stretching and doing warm up exercises, eyes sparkling with excitement. Any might approach him then as he warmed up for a nice round of monster fighting. Of course there was always the chance that someone might want to set up a nice little spot of one on one competition, may the winner take the spoils. All it would take is someone approaching him to start a conversation for that.

But a guy couldn't be fighting all the time. And after fights even Gladio found himself up in the stands, stretched out and catching his breath as he watched the action. Maybe he might not linger as long, but hey, it was nice to see who all was a good fighter, right?

3 - Stocking Up For Later | Limsa Lominsa Markets | [OTA]

It felt it had been so damn long since Gladio had been in a bustling port down, since he could see the sun on the water and in the sky and on the beach and not see ruins along with it all. It was... Fuck, it was one of the most beautiful things ever. And so he didn't mind coming back here time and time again. First he kept stopping in to check up on Noctis (fishing, predictably). Then he moved on to gather quests for the day, intending to head out to do what he could to build up gold, earn rumors, and go seeking the secrets the Agrii needed.

He spent a lot of time moving between shops to pick up potions and other supplies, and of course he popped in and out of other ones to look over weapons and armor. But in the end the thing that gave him the most pause was any time he caught sight of someone he recognized from Temba.

"Hey! Over here!" he shouted, waving. Better to let them know he was around, and swap intel. Had to know what was going on, right? They were all in this together.

4 - Old Hand At Dungeons | Costa del Sol Dungeon | [One Thread Tony & Jon, OTA one on one otherwise]

Seek Rats, huh? Well, if Gladio knew anything, rats and all that sorta shit were in underground caves. Sure, they were other places too, but who was he to judge? Besides, they probably meant secrets, and from Gladio's experience, some of the deepest and most important secrets of his own world were in fucking caves. Sure there were daemons there too, but they'd found answers to stop the will of Bahamut in caves like this.

So, once he'd heard the cave was a thing, that it was new, well, it seemed like a place to go searching. Gladio's earlier meeting with Tony had brought him to the decision of working with others for this, and once he was pretty sure they were sufficiently geared up, he'd boarded a boat, and gone with Tony to find the entrance to the cave.

"Alright," he said, eyes casting about to make sure there was no one around before using Tony and Jon as cover to summon his sword to his hand. Better safe than sorry. "Time to go in. Your job is to stay back and be my eyes, and solve any puzzles. Keep a mental map of where we're going. And if you feel confident fighting, join in. Just make sure you get back if I order you to, okay?"

He was the experienced on in this after all.

Of course Tony and Jon weren't the only ones he went in with either. Gladio was always happy to go through places extra times, because honestly it was easier to do a thing multiple times. And hey, he was making good money from hunting these monster parts. So he didn't mind clearing the beach while he waited for additional partners to go dungeoning with. In fact, he thought he had caught sight of someone right now. Gladio stood a little taller, leaning his giant sword against his shoulder, and he nodded.

"Yo. You looking to head in? Could use another set of hands."

5 - Charm Goes Arm In Arm | Gold Saucer | [Closed to Noctis]

It had taken a week and a half before Gladio had finished the plan. He'd told Noctis he had an idea, that he'd let the guy know when it was ready. Seeing as they shared a ship, he could keep Noctis appraised at night if Noctis came back to the ship to sleep. Six knew that Gladio sure slept on the ship, liking how safe and secure it felt. And the night before Gladio had asked Noctis to make sure to reserve the day for him.

All the time had been investing in building up the Gil for this. With a heavy pouch filled with the money he'd need for the planned evening, he had awoken, dressed in an outfit he'd gotten expressly for the day, and then he had awoken Noctis. Once he had his King up and moving he guided Noctis to the crystal, and then through it, dropping them in the entrance of the Gold Saucer.

"Alright," he said, smiling as he held his hand to Noctis, "today is for us. I've got a lot of ideas, and some set plans. But you're welcome to overrule stuff."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Strangely, of the three of us, I'm starting to think I'm the only one that should be in here solo if it came to it," Gladio teased. But he's grinning at Tony for his snark in response.

"Gotta tell me about a quokka smile. Sounds like it might be adorable."

Because Gladio was certain the only thing he didn't smile was adorably.

"Come on, let's keep going," he says as one last slash takes down the final beetle. "I'm not feeling like harvesting from these things."

In the symphony of cracking and splattering of bug guts, Tony stared back at Jon's pout, impatient hand on his hip and eyebrows raised to ask if that was the best defence Jon had. Right, so they all agreed no one was calling anyone else reckless in here.

"You're going to set him off again," Tony said, wagging a finger to deter Gladio from going into any further detail about his solo mission before they got into an argument over it and Jon fell in love in the impossible bug cavern. Lingering here only made that a looming threat, so Tony was more than happy to go stomping ahead again before Gladio had finished his suggestion. It was belatedly, after he had decided on their direction and when it didn't seem like he was at risk of stepping on another carcass, that he shuddered and threw a look of disbelief over his shoulder at 'harvesting'.

Opting to ignore Gladio's teasing, Jon follows after Tony with a stubborn set of his jaw and no word of his own. If the guy wants to go by himself, Jon won't stop him - Or apparently waste any more of his time. He isn't that defenseless if he has to be, thank you very much.

"Alright." He addresses Tony. "So if we assume the layout of these caves is the same, where might we- Well. Find... Whatever it is we are looking for?" This little detail still remains a bit of a mystery.

Dude's not even teasing.

"Wait, you're not going to tell me about quokkas?" he asks, confused as he moves with the two. Come on, dude, tell him about the cute things! He wants to be able to tell his sister about them later, when he one day goes home.

"And I don't know what we're looking for. If this is like those caves, Tony, maybe you know where something important would be then."

It was entirely possible that Jon was admirably focused on the more important task at hand, but Tony was left staring at him again, then swinging back around to Gladio who carried on as normal, and raising his hands with the weighty question left between them. To Jon, he said, "We're not going to ask him about the 'harvesting'. We're just going to let that go. Okay," and then more generally, down the tunnel that he lead them, "We haven't had a great chance to get to know each other on this mission, bit of a time crunch, so I think it's a great time to share something important about ourselves. I'll go first: none of my organs would be very valuable. I hardly want them, honestly, it's a miracle some of them haven't fallen out."

While he hadn't answered either of them, he had been strutting purposely deeper into the cave, his illustrative hands waving their eerie glow in the dark, until he drew them to the mouth of an echoing cavern. A distant drip danced around the walls, revealing the expanse of it, and where the sound deadened as it was swallowed by branching paths. "Depends on what we think we're hoping to find," he finally addressed. "That way," he gestured, "would take us to the hot springs. I'm not against it, personally, taking a load of, relaxing, you know..." He cleared his throat, glowing palms going dark briefly as he clenched his hands, already sensing Jon was not in the mood for this kind of proposition. "This way, the crystals start showing up, it's about fifty feet in before they're getting noticeably concentrated," he finished more seriously. "If I had to guess, that's where anything weird is going to be localized."

Jon has no intention of giving any quokka lectures today, bu he considers Tony's answer and looks down the path that is said to lead to the hot springs, mentally layering the layout of this cave with the one back on Agra 10. He doesn't remember this branching arm from when he was in the cave. Did he simply not see it or has he been too focused on finding the spot Cal has spoken of he couldn't say. But he will have to take a look when they are all back.

But for now their direction seems clear and Jon turns towards where there may or may not be further crystals. "Then this is the way we want to investigate." Maybe the crystals on Agra 10 were inspired from similar ones over here. And if they weren't... Well. That's another little detail to take notice. More importantly: No crystals would mean that they can get deeper into these caves, potentially learning more about the ones back on Agra 10.

"You two are acting a bit weird," Gladio sighed as he moved with them. Seriously, he didn't get it. Here he is, a nice, social sorta guy that just helped protect them from giant bugs.

Oh well, can't please all of the people all of the time. Especially since in a way he feels like he's interrupting the weirdest date ever?

"Alright then, so why are these crystals a problem? You mentioned them earlier."

Something was weird, but not in a way that Tony wanted to investigate too closely lest he find out it was just him, so he readily insisted, "This is very normal," with a flapping of his hands to dispel any further accusations. He already had to work to convince them he wasn't losing his mind. He was sane now.

He went sliding down the rocky slant pouring them deeper into the underground, sending a scattering of pebbles skipping along the cave floor in a percussive chatter in the dark, and effectively clearing the path of the more unstable elements under his heavy boots. He still lingered where the floor evened out again, one hand raised to offer balance for the other two to follow as he explained, "They've got a unique makeup. My best guess is that they're vibrating at an astronomical frequency, because most of the stuff back on the planet is run on the things. They're made into these batteries that--I don't know, you'll have to ask Reeve how to stabilize them. In the cave, they're concentrated, and not stabilized, and..." Tony twirled his bracing hand, then looked to Jon, who had more personal experience with that that seemed to do to a person.

"I literally answered that just before we ran into those beetles." Jon scowls, his full disapproval directed towards Gladio. Who apparently hasn't been listening. So he repeats himself. Decidedly slow while accepting the assistance offered by Tony's hand to not trip. "They make your powers go crazy. One: They get boosted. Two: No control. You're summoning literal weapons out of nowhere and cast spells. Meaning: You will turn into a humanoid fireworks factory someone dropped a lit cigarette in."

Jon falls into a pointed silence after those words. Having reached the more level part of the cave allows him to simply glare at Gladio to make sure the information sinks in this time. "If you have no one to drag your immobile body out of there, I advice you maintain a healthy distance from the crystals."

"You didn't answer it very well," Gladio said as he moved after Tony. "You said it messes with powers. Which, given I don't have any and it doesn't seem like you two do either, I'm not sure what the problem is. Unless you think it's going to make Tony's little weird arm thing go strange. And the weapon summoning isn't my power. It's a borrowed thing. I've only got the two anyway. And I don't cast magic."

Magic was Noctis's thing. And since Noctis wasn't creating and giving him Elemental Flasks, it wasn't like Gladio was going to pop off with spells. Truly, to him, it sounded like the only thing he'd need to be concerned about it accidentally calling his shield around too. Which he could just throw over his back with a strap. Not a problem.

But what Tony said was more interesting. For now, he lets Tony stabilize him, because really, big hills mixed with massive swords can be a mess. Sure his balance is usually good, but the extra hand isn't something he'd turn away.

"Or I could go into the cave to see the crystals, after leaving my weapons with Noctis. They're ultimately only things I can get because of his power anyway. WIthout them, I shouldn't be in danger, right? At the end of the day, I'm just a very well trained guy with big weapons."

There was barely enough to Jon to disturb the hill any further, only Gladio's weight after him sending another tumble of pebbles down around Tony's feet to bounce off of his boots with an arrhythmic chime as Tony braced the big guy, then gave his chest a welcoming pat. Meanwhile, he raised an eyebrow at Jon being surly, and had to bite his lip to not outright grin at his glaring, swallowing a laugh so Gladio didn't think they were teaming up to bully him.

"Hard to say," he argued when he knew his voice would be even, marching on ahead impatiently as soon as everyone was balanced. "We don't really know what these things are doing, and what mechanism is being triggered by it. Maybe what its doing is looking for the exact right genetic makeup to, I don't know, harmonize with, and you're their perfect guy. Maybe you just explode. Splat."

Jon decides to not involve himself with the argument any further and instead have a look around a little further ahead, where the cave seems to be open up into a more spacious cavern. A cavern quite likely to hold more monsters - or whatever it is they are looking for.

Well, if Jon is going to ignore him, then Gladio is... Well, he could just ignore the guy, but that isn't his nature. He's going to try and bridge that gap. IT's probably doomed, but he's going to try. After all, dude was a cool guy. An interesting one.

"I'm guessing you're not going to suggest me testing these things then? I guess it's possible. Still, I think I want to look at them, maybe distantly, with someone without powers to help. Could be the things are like the Elemency Deposits back in my world. And if they are, they can be used to channel things. I mean, you said they were a power source?"

How weird.

"Or maybe they're fragments of a meteor. That's a major power source of my world. Hey, Jon, that library you live at. Any chance it's got books about the history of Agra-10? I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, and I don't know what all we've got about the history of the place."

Jon being uncharacteristically nonverbal had Tony sliding a sidelong glance his way as well while Gladio seemed to be doing his best to ignore it. Maybe he didn't want to do anything to dissuade Gladio of the notion that he didn't have any powers to worry about under the crystals' influence, so Tony reluctantly slowed, trying to pick his words more carefully instead of pushing ahead to ask about this codependent thing Gladio seemed to have with Noctis.

"A power source..." Tony repeated to confirm, to keep them on that track. "Yeah, like--Quartz, or vibranium, except magic-magnetic instead of electro-. You use vibranium?" A meteoric ore like that for a power source seemed about as misguided as fossil fuels.

The cavern they enter is indeed as massive as it is dark and while no further beetles or similar ready to launch themselves at the small group can be seen, Jon is almost certain he can hear movements in the dark. The skittering of legs. The flutter of wings. Something is in there.

But there is also a sudden drop. A sharp edge a few meters into the cavern where the path seems to end abruptly only to grant even more room to the already large cavern. Roughly hundred meters below, however, lights can be spotted. Torches. Possibly magical in nature. They line a narrow path over the continuing abyss below. A path that leads into a stone structure, seemingly hewn into this conveniently large stalagmite that seems to rise out of nothing right in the center of this cavern.

Needless to say, it looks incredibly fake. Like taken straight out of a video game. Fortunately, Jon has never played any such games. Which doesn't keep him from frowning at the dimly lit sight before turning towards Tony first to remind him: "Vibranium isn't a substance that exists on every version of Earth, Tony. Including my own." He then shifts his attention to Gladio. "No. But you are welcome to read the Encyclopedia Catra donated. It's a tad outdated, but it teaches you everything you need to know about Earth. I will now look for a way down there that does not involve climbing." Or simply jumping. Which... Kind of is still an option.

"Never heard of Vibranium," Gladio says, agreeing with Jon on that point. "But the Meteor of the Six is said to be a shard from the Astrals during the age of the gods. Titan caught it, to keep it from striking Eos fully and destroying everything. But that was still a lot of force, and shards broke from it. They look like glowing blue crystals, and the shards output an insane amount of latent heat energy."

And of course that was then processed and refined and used for power. While not truly a renewable resource, it had been keeping Lestallum going for a DAMN long time, and had helped sustain the people who survived the ten year period of the Long Night.

"Could be that's Vibranium, if it sounds familiar to you."

Of course he keeps his words softer now. Was he hearing something else? His senses weren't apparently as sharp as Jon's, but he's picking something up, and that worries him.

"I'll be around to borrow it when we get back. Earth sounds pretty interesting."

Dude isn't even joking. And yes, Gladio was absolutely the sort of person to sit around for hours on end, reading an Encyclopedia. That's for later, and for now he's moved to the edge with on. He frowns, because that's damn far down.

"I didn't bring any rope. Shit, that's what you're supposed to do, right? In those tabletop adventure games? A long stick and a really long rope. Clearly we're failing as that sort of adventuring party. Maybe there's a ramp though. Fuck I hope there's a ramp. Or ominous stairs. Even ominous stairs down to some evil group of cultists or something right out of a video game would be better than climbing."

What parts of the periodic table just didn't matter in other universes was annoying enough for Tony to throw his hands out like Jon had made an outrageous accusation in his little reminder, eyes wide to ask what other meteoric ore he was supposed to be thinking of as a useful power source. Magic heat crystals from God sounded a lot more outrageous.

Gladio's voice dropping was enough to interrupt the cycle of Tony's stubborn posturing at least. He leaned over the edge of the cliff as well, turning his head to listen for what had them both suddenly cautious, though had to be the least adept at listening between them. Mostly because he was quickly talking again, "What are you talking about, tabletop adventure games--isn't this your job, didn't you say you do this? Did you mean in a game?"

The whole spectacle wasn't anything like the caves on Temba anymore, so what Tony knew to help navigate abruptly stopped being of any use. At least no one was exploding from crystals. "Someone made this," he continued, recognizing the whole production's artificiality even without the video game reference point. "So there must be a way to get to it." He knelt there at the drop, to hold the ledge and lean himself further out to try to see where the bridge was connecting through the darkness. After some irritated squinting, he leaned back far enough to thump a hand against his own arm, filling the space with a ring of metal like a hammer on iron. It split apart the plates enough for him to extract a tube, which ignited in his hand in a burst as he cracked it in his glove, then let it drop over the cliff wordlessly.

It went hurtling away, the sudden flare of the fire whipped into silence with the same immediacy that it had burst into life. Tony leaned over again to watch the flame drop like a feather onto the bridge below.

Jon is silently looking over the edge along with the other two, blinking once at the mention of tabletop games, long sticks and ropes and he, too, casts a bewildered look at Gladio. Then he frowns. "Reality doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. Even here." He looks back to Tony firing his ball of fire down. "We can't simply jump down and roll some dice to see if we survive. In fact-" And he grimaces. "-I know I will survive if I jump, but without a way back up, jumping is pointless." And he wouldn't enjoy suffering through his body fixing itself. At all.

He turns away from the edge and walks over to the closest wall, searching the shadows for an entrance they may have missed so far.

"I've been trained to fight since I was a little kid, so I don't mean just in a game. But there was never any caverns like this back home. Even the ones people lived in didn't scream 'caverns and creatures' like this place does."

OF course D&D is called something else where he's from. And yeah, it doesn't work that way where he's from too. Which makes this even more frustrating.

"Please don't jump down there, Jon," Gladio said, concern in his voice. "Even if you would survive, you'd be down there with no support. What if you were ambushed?"

But he sees what Jon is up to and dismisses his blade so he can start searching another part of the shadows, hands on the walls, pushing in hopes that there is some secret door they might have missed.

There wasn't any caverns like this on Earth, either, as far as Tony knew, making him squint where he was still kneeling as the other two moved away, trying to peer through the darkness up and around them now, and considering dice rolls. It was kind of like something he remembered from playing at knights and wizards. With only the whisper of their hands passing over the walls behind him, Tony could finally hear the movement, like fluttering somewhere in the shadows, that ambush Gladio was worried about.

Maybe they could fly.

He gave their painstakingly slow search another fraction of a second before he was clanging his armored hands together again, then trying a punch down onto the rock hard enough to feel the vibration in his bones as it rang. It was harder to hear now through the dying sound, but the movement in the dark seemed to be swelling.

Jon wouldn't say he's entirely without any support, but the support he has even when he's basically by himself isn't necessarily one that's too inclined to spare him any suffering.

His fingers brush across something that doesn't feel the same way the rest of the rocky wall does and Jon pauses to inspect the shape further when Tony decides to punch the floor and effectively produce a notable amount of noise. "Tony, wha-" Jon turns around with half of a hiss when more sounds can be heard. Sounds that are coming closer. Jon casts a grimace of disbelief at Tony and reaches for his weapon. "Why?!"

Yeah, maybe things could fly, which made Gladio wince when Tony hit the rocks. Astrals, dude was looking to get them beat the fuck up. In fact, the sound of them approaching has Gladio summoning his blade again.

"I'm charging my medical bills to you, Stark," he sighed. "You two keep looking. I'll try and hold off anything approaching. And this is a please keep looking, because I don't want to fight and fall, so I want out of here as much as I hope you do."

They had survived the last onslaught easily enough, so while the other two panicked, Tony rolled up onto his feet and took his time primly patting the dust off like he didn't notice their frustration, then widened his eyes and opened his hands innocently. "They'll tell us where they come from," he explained. If they had a faster idea, they had missed their shot.

That was about when the strange stone Jon had found burst forward.

Jon is ready to argue against Tony's logic when he is suddenly hit hard in the side by whatever it is that launches itself from the otherwise solid wall. It knocks the breath out of him and reduces any potential verbal reply to a strangled yelp as he is knocked down. He is left struggling to regain his breath while the other two have a very different struggle approaching them.

"Going to dump him in a pond," Gladio said as he moves to stand just short of over Jon, sword up in front of him as a protection.

"I'll cover you while you get up, Jon. You wanna try and get your back to the wall."

Poor thing.

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lol - thanks for the surprise attack 8D

TONY!