Captain On A Chill-Cation

[ziedrich_bearer]

WHO: Gladiolus, Open
WHERE: Space Dock
WHAT: Checking in, Spa Day
WHEN: During Event
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Captain On Deck

It was almost funny to think that there was some expectation that being a pilot on the ships meant Gladio should have some authority over his crew. There were more than a few of them who would never see him as such, which was fair. That wasn't how things worked back on Agra-10, and it sure wasn't how it was going to work for anyone but station administration now that they were here.

That didn't mean Gladio didn't have responsibilities here. Chances were they only mattered to him, but Gladio still wanted to live up to them. So he found himself strolling through the station, eyes always on the swivel, hoping to catch sight of any of his crew mates. And once he does, he moves immediately to get to them.

"Everything going alright over here?"

And he must be a bit of a sight as he does it too. There he is, in his full Glaive uniform, standing at parade rest, looking over someone he feels responsible for with the sort of commanding presence of a military leader. Which he was. But whatever, just humor him perhaps?

II. Nothing Like Relaxing

There's plenty of time throughout the month to do the work of acquiring parts, consulting with engineers for any modifications, and going through the (frankly recurring) process of collecting his crew from their various misdeeds. Taking time for himself hasn't been something Gladio's done often. But there is something he catches sight on in one of his strolls through the space dock that really gets Gladio off of his cycle.

The sign takes some translating, but when he's got it, he looks intrigued.

"A massage, huh?"

And then he's approaching the counter where a creature that looks much like a living granite statue, who frowns.

"I'm sorry, this is for couples. Without a companion you cannot enter."

Well, now that was frustrating.

Comments

I

[tempredmental]

"If I'd known this was going to be formal, I would have worn my Voltron armor." Keith laughed a little. "What's with the uniform?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Gladio looks down at this uniform and then shrugs.

"Because I'm used to handling formal situations in formal outfits. Gets a bit more respect offered if it seems like you've got a tight ship running, and that looks more accurate when the people nominally in charge are dressed sharply."

And there was no denying he was dressed sharply.

[tempredmental]

Keith nodded slightly, huffing a small affirmative noise through his nose.

"I don't deny it makes sense," he said. "People seem to respond to that sort of thing, regardless of where they're from." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder what they think of the ship having two pilots. Co-captains, maybe?"

He'd noticed that pilots seemed to carry some sort of command style weight at this station. He didn't remember that from last time, but Drift Fleet actually had assigned captains on their ships. They didn't have that with these.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Captain and Commander?" Gladio says. "Or Captain and XO? It happened on vessels back home. Though I admit, I'm not a vessel guy. Just military. So it would be Captain and Lieutenant."

Which Gladio doesn't care about one way or another. Whatever they think is their problem. What Gladio knows is he has someone reliable beside him, teaching him the ropes now that flying isn't some short jaunt.

"We'll still look out for our crew when people bring their messes to us, though, right?"

[tempredmental]

"Oh, yeah." Keith chuckled. Honestly, even as Black Paladin, Shiro was still Captain back home. He didn't mind. He preferred not being in charge if he didn't have to be. "Honestly, that's really the only thing that concerns me. How many times did you have to bail out Link and his sword so far? I'm on four. Honestly, he should just switch to Security and then they won't bother him. Maybe I'll suggest it if he insists again on carrying that sword on the station."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Three times," Gladio says. "And the most recent time I think I convinced him to change to security. He wasn't happy about it."

And Gladio was sad to ask it of him when it clearly upset the knight. But that was just how life went sometimes.

"Hopefully it means we get called less."

[tempredmental]

"I hope so, too..." Keith nodded. "And it's not like it's permanent. He can always switch back once we're done here. It's just to make things easier since he doesn't want to leave it back on the ship." Keith liked Link. And he understood being stubborn about something that was important, after all. He'd been the same way about his blade. Thankfully, it seemed that being a pilot here meant he was able to at least have his bayard on him without an issue. He was more attached to the Marmora blade, but it seemed the Agrii weren't too thrilled at the idea of giving it to him, so he'd make do with the bayard for now.

Captain's Table | Closed to Hargrove

[ziedrich_bearer]

The way back will come but once, be steadfast. But the trip back to the portal point is a day out, and so once the course was set and Keith took over the shift of managing their ship, Gladio decided to take some time to pop over and consult with the other ship's pilots. Better to make sure the kids over there have everything handled. Not that Gladio really has that much more experience than them, but the experience is still there and he wants to make sure that they are handling things after the brief vacation.

Which was why he was here now, pressing the button to call onto the bridge of the Peanut Party and hoping that the one of the pilots he knows better is there. He even stopped by the ship's replicator to whip up an offering of food (steak, because who doesn't like a good steak).

"Yo, whoever's on there managing this thing, if it's Billy open up, I brought food. If not, where's your pilot?"

[playingtough]

And Billy's in there. Of course he's in there. Between the beach, the cockpit, and his room, it's not hard to find him. He's relaxed in his chair, stretched out and watching the stars beyond his window. Sometimes it's unnerving being out in space like this, but Billy Hargrove always puts on his brave face.

Hearing the call button, the younger man doesn't move to open the door. It's only when Gladio speaks does he hit the button to allow entry. "It's me, Gladio, no need to— Did you bring food with you?"

Billy does look interested because he's had steak maybe once.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Of course. Like I'd show up in another pilot's turf without a peace offering," he says as he steps through the door. And he's got two covered plates to keep them warm.

"Figured we could set up somewhere to have a sit down, consult on the route back for the meet up for the portal, make sure you've got rest and food. Brought steaks and carrots and mashed potatoes. If I tried bringing this to Noct he'd give me such a sad look because carrots."

[playingtough]

Billy's watching the plates for a long moment. Sure, he eats, but it's not the same thing as what he's had back home. Or what Tommy can make for him, really. He twists his seat around and props his feet up on a blank section of the dash.

He wishes he had a cigarette.

Billy looks a little tired, with his nights spent actually in his quarters, tossing this way and that in his bed. "Well I'm fine. I won't turn down food though. Need it for staying in shape. Pull up a chair," and he waves a little to the empty cockpit chair next to him, the one reserved for Max.

"What you wanna talk about for the route home? Figured I'd just follow your ship."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Cool," Gladio says, coming to sit next to Billy before passing over the plate. "Went medium-rare, just because I didn't know what you'd like. And yes. We want to make sure you're ready if something goes wrong and we get separated."

Because Gladio cared about the safety of the brats on this ship too.

"You get through with minimal fuss from your crewmates? Keith and I had to keep fetching Link out of trouble."

[playingtough]

Billy takes the plate and holds it for a moment, which allows him to just... soak in the warmth of it. "Anything well-done is a sin on meat, so this is fine." He starts into it, balancing the plate in his lap as he does.

"As much as the Hawkins crew can get along without a fuss. My sister is my copilot, so we argue. A lot. But that's pretty normal for us. Other than that, not really problems on this shit. Maybe because they know their main pilot doesn't take anyone's shit."

Easy enough to say that when there's no one where to dispute that.

2

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis had silently been tracking Gladio. For some reason it was fun for him to see Gladio in motion. Gladio was Captain of the Guard in Noct's own world and it was still fun to be able to see the man work.

Walking up beside the tall Shield, the king nodded. "I'm his companion. So what do we need to do from here?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Well damn, talk about the most handsome man in the world just waltzing up to join him. He's shocked, of course, but he just takes it in stride. Just pulls his fiance closer.

"Perfect timing," he whispers in Noctis's ear before kissing his temple.

"This way," the attendant says. "I shall show you to your room where you shall divest yourselves of outer accessories."

[fatedsacrifice]

To be snugged against Gladio's side is a thrilling feeling but Noctis isn't about to turn into a blushing mess even if that's what his insides feel like having him do. That kiss didn't help but the king mentally pretended that he was holding court here.

Even if he sure as hell wasn't.

"Outer accessories." Noctis smirked up at Gladio after the attendant had turned away. "Sounds like a good time to me."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Gladio chuckled and shakes his head before moving them forward by that arm around Noctis. Soon they're in the room and the attendant is leaving.

"Probably been a while since the last time you got a proper massage, right?"

No doubt Noctis got them when he was a kid, back when his back was a lot worse. He lets Noctis go and immediately starts to strip out of his uniform.

[fatedsacrifice]

"Don't remind me." Noctis replied softly. His last massage was at Galdin Quay all those years ago and he still hadn't forgotten it.

However, he let his dark eyes roam over the Shield stripping. "That's one hell of a show you're putting on there."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yeah, there's that. But the people hadn't known to avoid the bad part of Noctis's back.

"Maybe this is a bad idea," he says, even though he is already working down to his boxers. "And you know it's not that different of a show than you normally get."

I

[cactusy]

Shaw isn't deferential - it's never her style - but nevertheless, she hasn't chafed against the conclusions about crew hierarchy that the Agrii have drawn, and she doesn't chafe against Gladio here. The chain of command is familiar to her, and while she's always been in positions that earn her some level of respect (... Marine boot camp aside), she's never been anywhere close to the top of the food chain. The presence of commanding officers is normal for her.

"Sure," she says in response to the question, though she blows out a frustrated breath as she does so. "Just not sure what we're supposed to be doing here besides vacationing. I wanted to stay on the Agrii ship and keep investigating there."

[ziedrich_bearer]

It's only a vacation if you can't come up with something to do with it. And Gladio most definitely had.

"Investigations are valuable, yes. But in the end they weren't wrong to send us here. This isn't a vacation to those of us who know how to make use of a place like this. There are a lot of parts we need, and I intend to see some work toward upgrading our ship in useful ways. Not to mention getting supplies for planetside. This is vacation only in the fact that I can hit up restaurants for food and maybe buy some new clothes."

No, he intends to work through most of it. Perhaps that's just got a lot to do with how he was raised. A guy always meant for leadership in a military service saw something like this for the potential it clearly had.

[cactusy]

"That's a different kind of mission," Shaw points out, crossing her arms over her chest. "Still an important one, but we're supposed to help them in all ways, right?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Yes, it is a different kind of mission. Ifrit knows R&R was also another type of mission, one Shaw might need more than she thinks.

"They need us to learn apparently. So yes, we need to come up with other ways to help them. And ourselves. We're stuck with them until the brains solve the problem, so those of us who aren't the geniuses need to keep them alive when they're too foolish to take care of themselves."

And that was an important mission. The truest mission of any defender. To protect the lives of those around them that can't take care of themselves.

[cactusy]

"And you don't think that looking into the explosion that blew a hole in their hull is going to help keep them alive...?" Shaw asks, raising an eyebrow. She may be comfortable with being lower on the chain of command, but she's still prone to backtalk.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"I think that it's important, but I also believe we aren't there right now and so we have to solve the problem immediately before us. There is a degree to which we can test our wills against ours. But from that 'pleasant' instance where music compelled us to come to the new ships in the first place, I'm not sure how effective arguing the point will be."

They've got initial patches on things. The system is functioning for the moment. Now they can get what they need for larger repairs. And while some of them are doing repairs, investigations can still happen.

"No use worrying about a front of battle we can't even join."