revivalproject | Our Home Out In Space

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ffxv: gladiolus amicitia (au)

Our Home Out In Space

WHO: Gladiolus Amicitia, Open
WHERE: The Glitter Food
WHAT: Just lingering on the ship on security and orbit duty
WHEN: February
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Watchman In The Night

They say it's lonely out in space. Not that Gladio thinks he can confirm it one way or the other. The Agrii at least seem to be a little too not lonely for their own sakes at the moment, and the space station they had been to was like that too. But now, well, he supposes he gets the vibe. Mostly the feeling had come from video games Noctis used to play in the old days. Now... Now it's something he can understand.

Here he sits, alone on the bridge of the Glitter Food, switching his attention between his communication pad and the large display screens before him looking into the star filled void, and gets it. With a sigh he sets the pad aside, no security flare ups needing intervention lately, and shakes his head.

"Would you hate how still it is here, Noct, or revel in it?"

His question goes unanswered, of course, save by the chiming announcing someone requesting entrance to the bridge. Which, of course, he confirms with an unthinking push of a button.

II. Camping King

There's nothing that quite compares to camping in Gladio's opinion. It's peaceful. It's restful. It reminds him of his father and his best friends and of Noctis of course. Maybe that's why he had abandoned the room assigned to him on the ship. Instead Gladio had hauled out his camping gear and moved to the big central area. It was simple to set the thing up on the edge of the sandy shore, a tent and a fire ring and a seat. His weapon lays beside the seat, a thing of habit. No fire was in the ring, but for now this was enough. He could rest here, staring up at the starry sky through the massive overhead dome.

In a way, he can almost fool himself into thinking it's home.

Of course, it's not. And in the minute of annoyance over remembering that he does something foolish. He grabs the hilt of his sword and with a twist and fling he throws the thing far from him. There's of course no satisfying thunk to it hitting anything. It explodes into crystals once it reaches a certain distance from him and he can feel it settling back into that waiting space in the bond to... To emptiness.

"Fuck this place. Fuck it so much."

III. Keeping Fit

If there is one thing he knows how to do, that he does without hesitation, it's keeping fit. Without the youths to manage for the school, without the drive to protect them being so strong, he does what he always does. Which is why anyone on the Glitter Food, visiting and crew member alike, might see him in the mornings. He runs the length of the ship, which is no small thing. He finds a tree with an ideally placed limb to do chin ups and other strength training. He moves supplies around in the cargo hold for some degree of muscle training. And, for hours every day, he goes through practice routines with his sword and with his shield.

None of it is done with single minded focus of course. That isn't his style. So when someone approaches he comes to a stop to nod, or tilts his head in a quiet invitation to join him.

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Leo's not assigned to the Glitter Food, but Donnie is, and since neither of them were keen to go back to the planet, here he is, a guest onboard the ship. He's felt a bit better, knowing Stu Macher is assigned to the Peanut Party, but he also shouldn't let his guard down...

He's a little surprised when he sees Gladio out training - or maybe he shouldn't be, since it seems like it's all the guy is interested in. Leo stops to watch with interest for a few minutes, examining Gladio's technique, until Gladio stops and tilts his head.

Well... why not? He did say he would, after all.

Leo walks over and pulls out his katana, spinning them in his hands. Get ready!

Good. He was glad to see the kid ready to respond so fast. The showy spin might speak to overconfidence, something he could make use of. What he was already certain of was the difficulty the kid's speed was going to cause him.

"Show me what you've got," he says as he readies the greatsword for battle.

"Okay. Just remember you asked for it."

And that's all the warning he's going to give before he starts his first assault, which is... throwing his shorter sword across the field. Oddly, he doesn't seem to be aiming to hit Gladio, though...

In fact, Gladio would most definitely have seen something like this before, as Leo disappears in a flash of blue light.

Not that Leo is expecting anyone to be expecting it. He doesn't know anyone else who fights like this.

Oh, he's seen something like this before so very many times. It's trained reactions alone that get him stepping back and to the side, intending to give the thrown blade a wide berth, knowing the potential that comes with that flash of light.

"Careful kid," he'll say whenever Leo reappears. "I might be the only one here used to fighting that trick."

The dodge is a surprise, and Leo can't help but land from his teleport wide-eyed and a little off kilter. He regains his footing quickly, though.

"Wait, seriously!?" He shakes himself out, squaring back up. "Well, okay then. It's not like it's my only move."

He's got plenty of tricks!

Gladio offers the briefest smile.

"You never met Noctis. A real shame. He could have stood to have some matches against someone with the same power he had, but no one would let the Glaives spar with him. As for me, I've been training someone with that power for years, and training against those with it since I was twelve. So yeah, you're going to want to pull out all of your moves."

And as he says that he darts forward as fast as his large body can (not nearly as fast as the turtle), dropping his sword as he goes. The massive thing explodes in a shower of blue crystals, and his hand seems to pull a massive shield from thin air in another burst of crystals. A shield he thrusts right at the youth.

Noctis? Was that the king guy?

Before Leo can ask, though, Gladio is on the move, and he has to focus up. He just barely dances back in time to dodge the shield, bringing his swords up in front of him in a defensive stance. A place he hates to be...

Gladio moves slow, and he has that big sword and shield. It reminds Leo of sparring against Raph, if less punchy. That usually means, using the bigger guy's weight against him.

For now, Leo keeps moving back until he's out of immediate striking range, and lowers his swords again.

"I haven't even started showing you my moves."

He wouldn't be wrong on what the usual approach should be. Especially with the hefty weapons the Shield used. But with the brief lesson in 'never assume you'll catch an enemy off guard with teleportation' delivered, and the silent warning that Gladio could switch weapons on the fly (it was only polite to show off), he winked and stood back, shield still up.

But this time it was with a clear defensive stance.

"Alright then. Resume showing. Wow me."

Leo flips one sword in his hands again, and then he starts running, circling Gladio to move towards his back. Leo’s speed is an asset - he’s the fastest of his brothers in a flat run, even if Mikey is more agile. Here, in the open green space of the ship, he can move freely, so he doesn’t need Mikey’s ability to monkey off anything.

But he knows speed won’t be enough. If Gladio can switch weapons whenever he wants, Leo will have to be on his toes.

He starts thinking of their environment. His dad never taught them a particular fighting style - instead he taught them how to use the circumstances to their advantage. Lou Jitsu was a movie star, after all, and while his fighting strength was very real, it was also unconventional.

He doesn’t move far from Gladio before he stops to go on the offensive again, but he is trying to change the trajectory of the fight: towards the artificial beach.

“Come on, slowpoke, try and get me!”

"Changing terrain," Gladio notes, smiling and nodding in approval. Yeah, he gets that quite a bit.

Granted, provided they don't go into the water Gladio's got a lot of experience fighting more balanced opponents in the sand. So for now he advances cautiously, shield still before him just in case the turtle got any smart ideas.

Honestly, he was hoping for them. Better not to let himself get too rusty either.

He does have one smart idea before they fully move their fight to the beach.

As Gladio advances, Leo gives another flourish with his swords. He keeps doing this because he can, but this time isn’t just for show.

A small portal has opened just where one of Gladio’s feet is about to step, if he doesn’t notice in time. Leo’s goal is to throw him off balance, if he steps through.

Of course GLadio doesn't notice in time. Portals like that were not something he'd encountered before, and his eyes had been on the turtle the whole time. Watching him. Which meant he didn't see what was below him because he'd been so certain that his footing wouldn't change from what he had seen.

So yes, his heavily booted foot goes in and you better bet it causes him to stagger forward.

"What-?"

Whoa. That worked!

Leo is a little surprised that it worked, but it means Noctis didn't quite have as many cool portal powers as Leo does himself. And that means he still definitely has some tricks he can deploy.

Of course, there is an issue here - Leo has to maintain the portal Gladio's foot slipped into until he fully pulls free of it. It's not his goal to dismember Gladio, after all. And having to maintain that portal for the moment means he can't teleport more quickly to Gladio's side after his stumble.

So he'll have to move on foot, rushing to press the advantage before Gladio recovers.

No, Noctis's portal powers was mostly for storage and teleporting around. Gladio had never run into anything that could do this. And he was careful with his footing normally, because he was an outdoorsman. So this was definitely impressive. And a wise use of powers. Kid's creative. And it means Gladio's going to have to be extra careful and aware in this whole thing.

For now he focuses on stepping back out of the portal while still keeping the shield up. But clearly his balance is already questionable. He'll definitely not be in a good place to not get knocked further back.

Leo takes his chance, colliding with the shield with both his swords raised. They hit hard - Leo has some solid muscle to him, even as young as he is. Especially when his ninpo is alive and coursing in his veins - though he hasn't quite started glowing. Yet.

He's doing everything he can to knock Gladio off his feet while his balance is compromised. Still, he's smaller, and ultimately more of a scrapper and less of a tank. His usual job in combat is to help Raph and Donnie get where they need to go so they can hit hard, not do the hitting himself. But if he's the only one here, he has to pull double duty. And it's not like he's never landed a strike before.

It's a good choice, throwing down more force to try and get Gladio off balance. But the blows come just as he's setting a foot back. And if there was one thing he knew, it was how to accept the weight of a blow on his shield. He twists aside while pushing forward, intending to shift the turtle to the side so he could step away and get his footing back.

It works sometimes too, when people aren't too fast. Who knew how it would go here.

Trying to brush him off, huh?

Lucky for Leo, he is fast.

Leo goes to the side, but swivels on his feet fast, bringing his swords around in a sweeping arc. He aims for Gladio's unprotected side, hoping to hit before he can get the shield back in alignment.

(If he does make contact, it will be with the flat of his blade. He isn't trying to hurt the guy.)

Damn, the kid is really fast. Ignis with knives fast. So Gladio does the thing that makes the most sense to him. He won't get the shield around fast enough. But he can summon his sword to his free hand to put it between them. It takes the blow just enough for Gladio to get his balance back.

"Smart," he approves before dropping the shield to instead get both hands on the blade to push Leo back.

His assault ends, and Leo is pushed back. He quickly backs out of retaliation range, resuming his previous course toward the beach.

He can’t help but grin at the compliment.

“I’m just getting warmed up, Big Guy!” he taunts. “But you’re looking like you could use a nap.”

"Not even remotely," he laughs. And then he's spinning around on the spot. The heavy blade in his hand moves with him, and when he's picked up enough speed, he lets go.

It sends the blade flinging toward the kid. He's already certain he won't get a hit on the turtle.

"Whoa!"

Leo has to admit, even with Gladio's obvious muscles, he wasn't expecting the man to be able to hurl a sword that big. He could never throw his odachi around the way he does his katana, after all.

Leo does dodge it, but it puts him on the back foot. And just because Gladio's thrown his main weapon doesn't mean he doesn't have other options. Leo's seen what he can do now.

And while the kid is off balance, Gladio shifts his shield forward and charges right at the kid, clearly intending to bowl him over. But hey, it's possible to see him smirking behind the shield.

Yeah, he's having fun too.

Oh boy, here he comes!

Leo doesn't have much time to react, getting his foot back under him just as Gladio is coming close. So he does the only thing he can think of in that moment.

He drops to the ground and pops all his limbs and his head into his shell. He's not sure if Gladio will trip over him or just stop and whack him with the shield. He thinks he can take either of those.

His katana is still sticking out of the shell, through one of the arm holes. Like a roomba with knives taped to it.

See, even this Gladio's sort of dealt with. Not fully, but there were creatures back home that did something similar. Mostly crab like, in Leo's defense. But it took little to swap shield for sword, which just appears in his hand. He twists the blade so the flat of it will be his too, and he lines it up, preparing to punt Leo toward the water like a golf ball.

He probably can't get enough weight into it of course, but damn if he's not going to try.

"Hope you can swim, kid."

Wait, how'd he already get his sword back OH NO-

Gladio does put enough weight into the swing to at least send Leo flying across the beach, landing in the shallows of the water with a spray of sand and water. He comes up spitting and dirty, looking annoyed at his sudden dunk in the salt water.

"Of course I can swim!" he protests even as he shakes the water off. "I'm a turtle!"

III

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