I'll Face Myself - Duster

[mindofathief]

Who: Duster and anyone helping with his shadow, open to people in the laboratory
Where: Laboratory
When: Month of December
What: Free T-shirts! Oh, and Duster is finally facing his Shadow. There are two starters in the comments.

It's late. Not dark enough for it to be considered night, for the Moogles working in the lab to wish for warm blankets and hot Kupo Cocoa, but dark enough that the hallways are lit by artificial light. The blues of the night have always comforted Duster. They remind him of midnight walks, of the dark but persistent ocean, of cool castle corridors. Even the falling now brings its own particular type of light.

But tonight is not the night for calm reflection. Duster has an important job, one that the fate of Crystallis depended on.

Following him is Tamekichi, wearing the sunglasses that never come off no matter the time of day. The Moogle is carrying a brown cardboard box over his head.

"I'm ready," he said to himself, facing the door leading to the Black Crystal laboratory room.

Comments

[21stcenturyguy]

Was that a challenge, chump? Aoi wriggled his way into that tiny shirt, which left a good sliver of midriff still on display. He batted his eyes at Tamekichi.

"Flirting is never over, squirt. Whadda ya think, is this gonna blow his mind or what?" [He puts a hand on his hip. So sexy. Although the look would probably work better with skinnier pants, instead of his baggy black cargo. Aoi thought he could rock the retro hipster band aesthetic if he tried.]

[mindofathief]

Tamekichi made a face. He expected them to be together for, what, a few weeks? Whenever they got tired of each other. Now they were reaching into sappy long-term stuff.

"You've got a lot to learn if that's what you consider hot."

[21stcenturyguy]

"Meh, whadda you know. You've got a pom-pom and dork sunglasses," Aoi grumbled. He stripped the shirt off and rooted through the box for the next size up. Still muscle-hugging tight, but it left only a tiny strip of waist on display. Perfect. You know, color didn't look half-bad on him.

"The thing's not startin' just yet, right? I'm gonna find some better pants to go with. Duster won't be able to help winning when he sees what a sexy sonuvabitch he's got fighting alongside him."

[mindofathief]

Oh, he did not insult the sunglasses, much less the pride of all Moogles.

"You know how much these glasses cost, punk? You think this is the junk you find in Aerilon stands?!" He flew up, completely ignoring that he knocked the box over a few inches in his anger. "This is genuine 1000 gil Kupocci sunglasses, the high quality, kupo!" He jabbed a paw into Aoi's shirt. "Look at you, you walkin' fashion disaster! That shirt with that scarf? What are you, blind?"

[21stcenturyguy]

Aoi snorted. This was probably going to eat up that time he was gonna take getting all dressed up for Duster, but he's not one to turn and walk away from a petty fight about dumb fashion choices. No way in hell.

"Oh, I'm blind, huh? How about the dumbass who wears sunglasses at night? Or are you just pretending so that the ladies will think you're blind and take you on a pity date? At least I roped a steady boyfriend with this scarf."

You could even say he...got Lucky.

[mindofathief]

Tamekichi tilted his head. He waited for a few seconds to let Aoi think he got the upper hand.

"Just one?"

Poor, poor ugly kid, he communicates with a slow shake of his head and a smile.

[21stcenturyguy]

"Heh." A derisive snort was the answer Tamekichi got for that. If the plushie-with-wings thought he had the upper hand, he was dumb as shit.

"One's all you need if you do it right, dumbass. I guess I can't expect a loser with fluff for brains to understand."

He was really sure Tamekichi had never had anyone whip out the 'l' word on him, and that was just sad.

[mindofathief]

"One's what you get when you're running off of pure dumb luck." It didn't matter what this kid thought, he obviously didn't have the skill. "Least I got a choice in who I wanna be with."

And thus, a heated debate on relationships ensure in the middle of the hallway populated by other Heroes and Moogles.

[21stcenturyguy]

"If dumb luck is getting me the best sex I've ever had, then I'll freakin' take it, man. Only choice you're makin' right now is 'right paw' or 'left'."

Santa doesn't care if the other Heroes hear it. He's got a weird mental divide of being wicked proud of himself and wanting to rub his hot boyfriend in everyone's face, and not wanting to show any vulnerability. This bragging to the moogle falls into the first column, so it's fine.