[Open] A Glitter Pilot

[ziedrich_bearer]

WHO: Gladiolus Amicitia, Open
WHERE: The Glitter Food
WHAT: Exploration of the new ships
WHEN: December 4th to 11th
WARNINGS: N/A

I. A New Bridge | The Bridge

The space is a lot more expansive than what he'd known before, and Gladio smiles as he takes a stroll around the bridge. His fingers brush over display panels, run over seats, glide on slick metal.

"Nice," he says to himself as he sits down in one of the pilot chairs, stretching himself out like he owns the place. In a way he supposes he does, for now. Him and Keith, pilots together. Seems a good choice given how often they'd fought together while traveling, hunting, or just spent time together otherwise.

For now, though, he heard a noise indicating someone at the door to the bridge. Maybe they were with one of the datapoints that allowed access and the door would slide open to Gladio sitting there, grinning to himself. Or perhaps he gets the chance to go full on sci-fi TV show and press a key on the arm even as he says 'Enter'.

Listen, he wasn't a nerd in quite the way Noctis or Prompto were, but he was really enjoying this.

II. Something Like Camping | Forest Near The Beach

Does he have his own room here? Yes. Is Gladio likely to use it when he's going to stay with Noctis? No. Really, it just seems right when working with that knowledge to strip the bedding from the bed in the room he isn't going to use and head right into the forested area.

Not an hour later there he is, under a rope and cloth tent, stretched out on his back, book in hand, reading.

If he's going to be stuck here, he's going to catch up on what meager offering of books he can get. How strange he must look is of no concern to him, of course. This was just what he wanted to be doing.

III. There's No Drinks Here | 'The Deep End'

"What the hell?"

Gladio has been searching the place for fifteen minutes. This is clearly Cayde's bar, meant to be. But what is there? Nothing. Not even a red fruit drink dispenser.

"We're trapped on here for however long because the music makes it hard to leave, and there's not even any drinks?"

Comments

III

[in_extremis]

Despair. There had to be something that Gladio had missed, because nobody would build this expansive, carefully appointed space just to be a coffin. Had they not been suffering beautifully enough in the decaying city? Tony froze in the doorway as he approached and heard Gladio already ahead of him, confirming his pessimism as he made his way through the halls, and braced himself there to glance around the uncanny Deep End with an open dismay until he remembered that other people could see him. It hadn't felt like it for a moment, as he wandered the sterile and empty ship, and tried to return to the terminal only to find himself retracing his steps all the way back to the fountain. Starting to panic, he had gone looking for Jon, trying not to appear like that was what he was doing, which was a familiar enough mask that the search was rapidly diverted as the only thought that Tony could process clearly was drink.

"That can't be right," he replied, gathering himself with a sweep of his hand through his hair and careful perch of his sunglasses on his nose, so his focus looked more like academic cataloguing of their available resources than feverish. "Even the other ships had drinks, what're they making a bar for otherwise?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, they had, but they sure aren't here.

"You hoping there's a red-drink dispenser in the diner?"

Gladio honestly hadn't gone there yet, wanting to avoid the protein paste for a bit. He knows he'll eat it. HE knows he won't complain. But damn if he didn't want something better.

"You look like you could use something to distract you. Come on, let's go for a swim since this is disappointing us."

[in_extremis]

The diner made sense, and Tony didn't quite brighten but was readily looking back over his shoulder, muttering, "D'you think...?" He would have immediately gone to find out for himself, only hesitating with a frown and not sure if he should look peevish or innocently surprised at the accusation that he needed a distraction. He was perfectly fine, his brain was hijacked and he was trapped in a spaceship, it was normal to look antsy. "You're the one trying to scrounge up a martini," he eventually produced, drifting further into the room and letting his glasses slide down his nose to inspect the shimmer of light through the water and try to see to the surface. Gladio was right, there must have been a way to get in there. "If you need someone to take you for a swim, I'm not going to turn down the free show."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Scotch actually," Gladio admitted with a shrug. He wasn't a martini guy. Too much gin and not enough flavor in his opinion.

But his eyes do turn to the water with Tony's attention going there, and he shrugs. Looking at the water is nice, it reminds him of home. There weren't any monsters in the water after all. It had always been safe.

"I never deny free shows," Gladio laughs. Clearly he's the sort of guy that doesn't mind. He's even still got his swim trunks in the Arminger, so provided Tony won't judge a guy for changing here, he could do it soon.

"Good news though, I'm wrangling up some teachers. Got Richie on composition and all that stuff, and that Reeve guy for math. Still looking for other sciences."

That wasn't going as smooth.

[in_extremis]

Given that he had been led here by the ear without stopping to pack a bag, Tony wasn't under the impression that anyone was going to be doing any changing and instead was already heading back for the door to find their way up. He couldn't really linger anyway; he had a joke about scotch that caught in his throat, and covered his dry mouth in his retreat, expecting Gladio to follow.

"That's easy. Peter Parker, chemistry. Dr. Tae has got to know her biology," he suggested. The physics, the useful science, that one wasn't so obvious. Some of the strongest talents that Tony knew in this community were the very kids he thought deserved to be nurtured, not the other way around. Maybe it didn't really matter, though, because Tony admitted, "But--I don't know, you've probably wasted enough time on this, sweetheart. You have better things to be doing."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, most people didn't have a sub-contractual bond with a divine crystal that let you store more than you really should be able to, so it's not shocking that Tony didn't pack.

"Hold on, I need to change," he says as he hauls his shirt off. And once that's off he's clearly focused on shimmying out of his pants. Which shows just how much of his body is covered by his tattoo.

Wait, there's a chemistry suitable person here? Yeah, Gladio's into that.

"It isn't a waste of time to do this. You're right. And come on, a guy should have a good job to be a suitable marriage prospect to his fiance, right?"

[in_extremis]

"Oh, uh-huh," Tony was willing to encourage, despite not really understanding what Gladio meant and coming to a stop once more in the doorway where he braced his shoulder to look back. And let his glasses slide down his nose again, getting the impression that Gladio intended to walk through the ship in the nude and not about to be the one to discourage someone's radiance. God, if someone didn't touch him soon he might actually die, he could physically feel the blood leaving his brain. "Pretty sure you could never lift a finger again and your fiance would thank you for the privilege," he corrected, eyebrow raised and shameless assessment only sliding away when he frowned and had to find the words to explain himself. "I think maybe you had the right idea the first time. None of these kids are going to be glad they leaned how to spell the next time some dog demon is chasing them," he said, focus now squarely on an empty wall.

Camping

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis let Gladio do all the set up. As the designated outdoor guy of the four back home, the man was the most qualified. The king always felt like he got in the way anyway so he just stayed out of the way.

Peeking in on him, Noct smiled.

"You look comfy."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Gladio twists his head just enough to get a glimpse of Noctis. Of his boyfriend. His fiance. His beloved.

"You ever know me not to be comfy in the wild? If memory serves it was mostly you wanting hotels."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis had to laugh as he fought not to inspect every inch of his other half's body. "Ya well, the ground was cold and hard to lay on. Whenever I'd finally get to sleep, it was time to get up."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"We had sleeping bags. It was plenty warm and soft," he says with a chuckle. Don't be silly, man. It was fine. "Nature could be a beautiful thing."

[fatedsacrifice]

The king shook his head with a smile. "Nature is fine now. Besides sleeping outside will be a lot warmer since you're here with me."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"I was always there with you," he points out with a smile as he sets the book aside. "Come here, let me warm you up."

Bridge

[tempredmental]

Well, the door opened perfectly fine for Keith, so... access wasn't an issue. He looked around for a moment.

"This is a lot bigger than the other ships."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, it was. Worlds bigger. Bigger than anything Gladio could ever imagine. Of course he'd never been on the Agrii ships so he has no scale reference.

"A lot. I'm glad we'll be able to work together on flying this. And more crew space if something goes wrong."

It will be nice.

[tempredmental]

Keith had seen a few large ships in his time. The Atlas, the Castle of Lions, the Marsiva, the Iskaulit... These two were in that category, definitely. He gave Gladio a quick smirk and then nodded.

"Yeah. It's always good to have a back up."

They could split the work if needed, too, which would be a good thing. Yes, Keith could be a bit of a back-seat pilot, but he didn't mind sharing.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Better for a smooth flight," he agrees, smiling. It's like a copilot in a car, but more intense. But, the good news is this...

"You're experienced with ships, right? I'm happy to be your backup if you've got experience. Keep my eyes on things, relay orders, watch for things we need to send people to repair."

And to spell Keith when the kid is tired. Seems reasonable to him.

[tempredmental]

Keith nodded.

"Yeah..." he said. "Started in a high school program back home, but I'm also pretty familiar with the Drift Fleet ships we had, and I haven't used another data point since the pilot one in the hangar." He walked over, looking at the console. It was weird how he knew how to use it despite never having seen it before, but... he was kind of getting used to that feeling now after spending so much time both here and in Drift Fleet. It was a little different than it had been with Voltron, when the Lions kind of... 'told' him what to do.

"But, hey, if you ever want to take over for the practice, too, I'm cool with that. It doesn't have to be me all the time." Honestly, he'd gotten better at sharing the load than he used to be.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"I'd be happy to," Gladio says with a nod. "Barely even got to handle driving myself in a car back home. Professional bodyguard and all of that, most important that I be close to my protectee."

To his prince. So usually someone else did the driving.

"That and long legs. Always causes a problem. But Shiva's tits these seats are comfortable."

II

[newmemorywhodis]

Link does not say hello.

Instead upon discovering Gladio's makeshift tent, he simply comes forth and then crouches down so he can try and sneak a look at his book. What's he reading?

[ziedrich_bearer]

Gladio notices the motion and gives the other knight a brief lift of his chin in greeting.

"A translation of a romance novel from a world called Eorzea."

[newmemorywhodis]

“Eorzea?” Link says, as he leans forward, trying to read the page Gladio is on. Has Link read a romance before? Does he like them? He can’t remember.

Maybe he should ask to borrow it, and find out.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Yes, another world we were taken to. It was like home and yet not."

The book, though, it's written out in Gladio's native tongue since he translated it. So without comms it might not be readable to Link. Not at the moment at least.

[newmemorywhodis]

“…I can’t read it,” he says, disappointed. Link is still stubbornly hanging on to the Agriculture datapoint.

But perhaps he could still learn more, even without being able to read it.

“What happens?” He asks, as he sits down, arms hurt hugging his knees, next to Gladio.

[ziedrich_bearer]

There's nothing wrong with the choice he made.

"I could see if I could read it out into a recorder for you. Just let you listen to it sometime."

Might work for them.

"It's a story about pirates and romance."