[Open] The Daring, Dashing, And Dating

[ziedrich_bearer]

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."

Comments

[beholding_archivist]

Letting Tony sip his potion, Jon steps into the tunnel after Gladio, peering past the taller man at the wall in front of them.

"These are carvings, not the marks of something digging a path." He notes with a soft frown and pushes past Gladio to inspect the marks closer, running his fingers over them to the very edges of where the wall in front of them meets the walls of the tunnel. There is the faintest gap he can feel, causing his frown to deepen.

"It's a door." Are the words he speaks while looking back. This discovery alone brings up several new questions, with Jon voicing the currently most important one first: "Who wants to be the one to open it?"

[in_extremis]

With a last, cautious look over his shoulder at the beetles still milling around, eyes narrowed with some suspicion that they weren't as brainless as they seemed and were just waiting for the trio to do something stupid like trap themselves in a dead-end tunnel, Tony went shuffling in as well after the sound of Jon's voice. The walls might have been too close, but they were nice to lean on as Jon worked through his problem, letting Tony close his eyes and try to vent some heat of his own while everything felt a little bit weird, either from being chewed on by mutant bugs or from the magic. That didn't stop him from rebooting at Jon's prompting, blindly handing off the potion bottle as he took his turn squeezing through and feeling the wall for any hint of its construction. Not that it mattered. If it was a door, it couldn't be that thick, and Tony reached down his thigh to pull at the handle that induced that whining whir of his engines again. With his hands braced on either side of the tunnel, he raised that leg to balance, then try to burst through the problem with a charged kick.

[ziedrich_bearer]

A door? Hardly seems like one. Where's the handle? He's about to say as much when Tony kicks the thing. And... nothing happens. At all. The thing seemed completely unbothered by Tony's attempt.

And damn it's hard for Gladio not to snicker at that. He manages to hold it back, remaining with only a smirk he couldn't fight down.

"If it's a door that was meant to be disguised, it would probably have some sort of special mechanism, right?"

He's not going to say that his conclusion comes from reading fantasy novels. They probably wouldn't take that seriously.

[beholding_archivist]

Of course there are more tricks in Tony's improvised armor. There are always more tricks and Jon remains intrigued to learn about them all. And what he learns right now is that he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of that kick that still sounds through the tunnel even if the door doesn't budge.

Jon mutters a small curse under his breath, his attention on the door again as Gladio speaks his suspicion. "Special mechanism, magical seal, could require a special key..." Jon mutters some suspicions of his own. "Nothing I can necessarily see, unless-" He looks back at the carvings, then turns back around without a word and walks back out of the tunnel, back to where Gladio and Tony have slaughtered dozens of bugs along with their queen.

[in_extremis]

The sound seems to be going through Tony's bones while the other two make their very academic assessment of the attempt, Tony's jaw on edge to keep his teeth from rattling and leg still aloft even as he swayed dangerously. Stupid magic door. He might have collapsed there, just for a second, until his bones stopped vibrating, except Jon was walking away and Tony had to blink hazily after him to try to process if they still cared about the door at all. Was this a test? He limped closer to the stubborn wall, briefly brushing a hand over the markings and dismissing them, moving to try to find how exactly this door was seated again to make a more targeted attempt at breaking the whole thing, all the while one eye squinted against the ringing in his ears. The second try would definitely go better.

[ziedrich_bearer]

The carvings, were one to look long enough, would have held the answer for it all, well, if it were bright enough to easily read it all at once. The strange characters were impossible for Gladio, being the one present without Communications, and completely strange since he had never entered the Blinking Tower or the Mines Control Room. But the words were still there, still read The key is in the palm of your hand.

And then Tony lets his hand brush over the thing, and there was a rumble. The wall started to pull back to the sound of stone grating on stone.

"Well that was unexpected," Gladio noted as it started moving. "Anyone got a light before we go in?"

Because he could already see through the crack that it was very dark in there.