[Open] Time For Sports! I'll Be On Skins

[ziedrich_bearer]

WHO: Gladio, OTA
WHERE: Sports Days
WHAT: Doing The Sports, Being Shirtless
WHEN: Sports Days
WARNINGS: None Gladio is allergic to shirts

I. The Great Tug Of War Battle Open
[OOC: See the first comment below for this thread for the team noted on the plotting. If not that team, see here.]

It's been a long day, and warm at that, and most people doing lots of exertion would probably be a bit worn out now. Perhaps they might even consider changing into slightly lighter clothes too. Most people aren't Gladio. Most people won't have been shirtless all day already. Gladio, smiling to himself, sits down just beyond the competition area of tug of war, smiling to himself, drying his brow with his discarded thank top. Appreciate the view if you want, he will clearly appreciate it.

"This is a lot more fun than I'd expected. Always thought it would be sort of a silly sport. It's just physics. But damn."

He grins widely and then flops back to lay there on the ground. "Once I get my breath, I'm going again. Wanna join?"

II. Have Flag, Will Capture? | Open

A man cannot prize on tug of war alone. Okay, so they can, but Gladio isn't trying to. A guy has to vary his life up. Okay, so he has a bit of friction burns on his hands and he needed a break from that. Gloves, he needed gloves, but there were such more important things to win, so he was taking a break.

Which had him outside of the area of the capture the flag.

"Any chance you're looking for a team?" he says to anyone who approaches. Truth is, he hasn't done capture the flag in a damn long time, and he could use the practice. It's all about tactics and he's down for that.

III. Sack Race Shenanigans | Open

Dawn of the second day. There's Gladio, once again shamelessly without his shirt, considering the games. This time he's standing near the booth for the sack race, holding his burlap tube.

"Are you even listening?" he's asking the projection, holding the tube up. "It's not a sack. This isn't a sack race. It's... It's a pencil skirt race! And this one doesn't even fit my hips. It keeps falling down!"

IV. Meditations On Pry Says | Open

And here, at last, the secret to why Gladio's been mostly shirtless (other than just having weird preferences). The man enters the Pry Says tent, reaches out, and his shirt appearing in his hand in a burst of blue crystals. It bulges with chits and the ringing sound implies their presence as well.

"Alright, time for some shopping," he says with a smile. Things for him, things for Noctis, and then things for their little home place. "What should I get?"

Comments

[quark_assassin]

Surprisingly, Dustin's in a similar boat to Link. He drops the rope, shaking out his real and artificial limbs with a few energized bounces, and flashes Link a wild, somewhat devious grin.

"Fuckin' nice!" he laughs. "That was quick, too--we could farm the shit out of this one! I dunno if the Agrii's programming knowledge is good enough to compensate for a repeated strategy outside their ruleset, but it's worth a try, eh?"

Dustin turns to Gladio, apparently oblivious to his disappointment.

"Gladio, you up for a few more rounds?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

"I am," he says with a sigh. This wasn't what he'd wanted. He'd wanted to prove they were strong enough. But he had intended to win that thing for Noctis.

"Let's go collect our earnings, see if it's even worth it."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link is already moving towards the projection that will give them their earnings, a spring in his step as he does so. As for whether or not it's worth it...

"Look!" he says, holding out the points he just received to show the others. As is turns out, they've gotten a lot for this one.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin only has time to pass Gladio a hint of a curious glance at his reticence. Why does he sound so resigned? They won, right? Does he know something he and Link don't about how this game works?

But then Link is back, holding a handful of chits - and not just the single-point ones. Dustin's attention snaps to him, his eyes widening.

"That's--" Counting what I can see, estimate the total based on proportion of each chit type visible and the rough volume, multiply by the number of times we can run this game before sunset, round up to assume strategy optimization-- "--more than enough. Holy shit."

No more time to waste - Dustin's getting those extra Replicator rations after all. He almost breaks into a sprint to get to the token distribution hologram, calling over his shoulder as he does. "Link, Gladio, get back in position, we've gotta milk this for everything it's worth!"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Dammit, it's an effective means to get a large amount of prize points, from what Link is holding. And damn, Dustin's interested too and the kid has been so helpful that he's not going to hold him back from winning what he needs. And Gladio needs those too...

"It's cheating," he says with a sigh, but they need these. With a frown he goes to get his own prizes.

"I have to get my own pay first."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link gives Gladio a blank look, at the mention of cheating. They used their strength to win. It's just that part of that strength was in Link's legs. As he kicked their shins.

If it works? It works.

So while Gladio gets his winnings, Link just moves towards the starting position again. He bounces lightly on his feet as he waits. Maybe they could find a way to win even faster?

[quark_assassin]

Dustin's thoughts are directed towards maximum efficiency at the moment. "They stack up for multiple rounds, yeah?" he calls after Gladio. "I'm just collecting mine after we've run this a few times."

Would it only take him a minute or so to walk over to the hologram, accept his handful of chits, then get back into position? Yes. But that's a whole minute that could be used to play another game and get even more chits! Dustin's eyes continue to flicker as he calculates the extra winnings, barely glancing at Link as he directs his attention towards him.

"You think they adapt to preexisting physical obstructions?" he muses. "We could put rocks under their spawn points or something, make them trip as soon as the timer starts."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yes, he supposed if it works it works. And it's just frustrating.

"Come up with what you want to," Gladio says as he moves to the rope and prepares to take his place. "Let us know when you've got an idea."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods, and - apparently taking Dustin's suggestion as a request - immediately runs off to start collecting rocks.

Fortunately, there's a few reasonably large once around the tug of war area. He methodically starts picking them up, holding them high over his head, and then bringing them back to where the projections had been located.

It is, ironically enough, perhaps just as much of a show of strength as the actual tug of war.

[quark_assassin]

That is such a dangerous way to carry a rock. Only a flicker of worry crosses Dustin's face, but ultimately he trusts Link to understand his limits and do things in the safest Link-adjacent way possible.

"Half a meter forward," he calls, just before Link drops one of the rocks. His attention then returns to Gladio standing in front of him. "This should be quick - unless the forces are adjusted between consecutive rounds. Did you notice any significant changes during your previous attempts, Gladio?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Only how much my father would disparage me for dishonorable behavior," he mumbles under his breath. Sure he understood that you did what you had to do to protect your royal, but this was... not that. At all.

[newmemorywhodis]

Dutifully, Link moves the rock before running back to where Gladio and Dustin were.

He's in time to catch Gladio's mutterings under his breath. But...it's not really something he knows how to respond to. So he just...doesn't. He stays silent, and looks to Dustin.

[quark_assassin]

That's such a non sequitur from what Dustin had been expecting to hear that it forces him to actually pay attention to what Gladio is saying. He twists around fully, blinking in confusion.

"You...?" A fraction of a second later the pieces click, and Dustin openly scoffs. "--You have a problem with cheating."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Of course he has a problem with cheating. But this world is just... something they have to be flexible in. And Gladio's just going to have to work with it.

"It's complicated. But we need the resources."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link says nothing, just looking from one to the other with a slightly blank expression. Cheating?

They were just solving the puzzle. Using what tools and resources they had available to outwit their opponents. Why should that be cheating?

[quark_assassin]

Dustin's definitely operating more on Link's unspoken opinion of the situation here, but he does pay careful attention to Gladio's reaction. They don't really need Gladio to operate at 100% to complete this challenge now - not when they've implemented 'alternative puzzle-solving strategies' that take the load off of all of them. That doesn't mean he's keen on making Gladio resent him, either.

But it also doesn't take much to assuage Dustin's concerns. "We do," he says, apparently satisfied, and turns to nod at Link. His mood has become significantly more subdued. "Let's get it over with, then."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Yeah," Gladio agrees with a deep breath. "Let's. But once time, at the end, can we do it for real?"

After they have the coins. He just wants to see if they can.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs. "The boring way?"

He could do that. He supposes. It just doesn't seem particularly interesting, now that Link knows there's new and inventive ways to win instead.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin's shoulders droop with a sigh. "Yeah," he says. "The boring way. I can agree to that."

Now that he's done a live test of his suit's capabilities, he's reasonably confident that it can handle the strain of a legitimate tug-of-war with these stupidly beefy projections. He'll have to conserve a bit of his own energy to make sure it doesn't tire him out too much, though; at least they'll be cheating through all the rest of their matches before it.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Boring? Really? He looks exasperated.

"Honor," Gladio says with a sigh. "I just... I need that."

So he'll do their gaming the system, but he wants to prove they have the skill too

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums softly. Honor is...a concept he thinks he was more familiar with, once. Before the Calamity, before he lost his memory. All he has left now is complicated, fragmented feelings. Honour, Link thinks, was something that came with heavy expectations. Something he doesn't think he'll be keen to embrace anytime soon.

But Gladio wants it. And even if Link doesn't want to seek honour for himself, he's happy to help Gladio find it. "Okay," he says.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin rolls his eyes. It's not that he doesn't believe in the idea himself, it's just that his own definition includes different stipulations than Gladio's, apparently. Dustin follows his own sense of Honor (with a capital 'H') for things that he deems important - refusing to lie, keeping his word, generally doing his best not to squander the trust people put in him. Exploiting a system for personal gain does not fall within that umbrella.

But that same, personalized version of Honor keeps Dustin from dismissing Gladio's request outright. He asked for a fair round, Dustin said he would provide it, so--

"Sure, whatever," Dustin huffs, impatiently grabbing the rope in his robotic hands. "I can keep an eye on the clock so that we have time for it."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Alright then. Let's go with your method. And if you two can find a way to make it more efficient, please do," GLadio says.

He does still want to spoil his boyfriend after all.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. Grabs the rope, and then waits for the game to begin once more.

Though he does start thinking...what's a way they could do this even faster...?

[quark_assassin]

The game begins, and naturally, operation 'trip the opponents before they even have a chance to start pulling' is an incredible success. Waiting for Link and Gladio to collect their winnings has become the longest part of this process. Dustin's actually starting to get a little bored by the whole thing - that, and the suit's idle energy requirements are draining him, so he's getting awfully hungry and tired as the sports events start winding down around them.

That just makes Dustin all the more eager to get the 'real' game over with when it comes time for it. "Alright," he calls from the rope as Link and Gladio return. "Last one? I wanna make it to the prize counter before all this shit closes down."