melodiesoflife | Road trip! [closed]

Road trip! [closed]

Who: Manami and K'pandolu
What: Sparring, monster-killing, and monster not-killing. [Friendly monster quest]
When: End of June (whenever the trip to Stilzkin's Castle is done)
Where: Island of Aqures Tosf
Warning: None

June was full of people doing fun things! The blitzball was something else! And some people had gone exploring some castle, so Manami was left without many people he knew around again.

So when he saw Kupandoru-san walking around, he remembered that they were going to go sparring again!
And Tia had told him that Aqures Tosf had monsters at his level! (There was something about berries and molobo? But he forgets.)
So, road trip, right! Right!

A: Conversation. Because there's lots of time for that when you're on a boat. srs business.

B: HAMSTER ATTACK! ...Not.

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There has been a lot of boat travel in K'pandolu's life recently, and while it's less noticeable (…she assumes), she's- well- starting to get tired of it. So of course conversation with the other Hero on board is the obvious step! Besides, what's been going through that head of his?

She settles next to him, ears perked. "Are you enjoying the journey so far?"

He turns from staring blankly out at the water and gives her a thin, unusually tired smile.

"It's so flat. It's sooo flat and boring!" And the motion makes him feel vaguely unwell. Not enough to complain about, not enough to stop him from eating well enough at meals, but still...

"How much longer again?" However long it is, it's too long.

"The travelling's better when it's flat, at least." That would probably have made any motion sickness worse.

She's not the best at guessing travel times, but she squints at the horizon all the same, as though that'll make it come a little faster. "A few hours, perhaps," she hazards.

Yep, too long! Too long~ too long~
Too bad he didn't know anything about boats, or he could tell the captain how to use the good breezes.

"Travelling is always better when there's slopes- oh. You didn't mean it like that, did you? Heh. Yah, I suppose a mountain of wave would be a problem!"

That certainly could have come in handy. Alas!

She twitched one ear, as she realised her misunderstanding. "It would indeed," she agreed seriously. "I don't imagine it'd be easy to make your way up one, either."

Hee~ Her ear twitched. That never gets old. (And it was his misunderstanding, not yours, K'pandolu! Don't let this kid get you confused!)

"Mmm?" Manami thought about it for a moment. Then he moved his arms and hands as a useful visual aid. A huge wave... a small boat trying to go up the wave...

"I dunno! It could be exciting!" (In a we're-all-gonna-die kind of way?)

(Well… she'll try!)

She watched his hands, head tilted as she tried to make sense of the movements. Trying all the same, was it?

"Being so close to death?" she mused, leaning back for a moment. "I suppose it could be. But I've no wish to find out."

"But that's when you feel most alive-!" Manami smiles, but after just a moment his smile looks somehow just a bit graver.

"The feeling of being close to death... Close is enough. I'm not afraid of that, exactly, but I don't want to find out yet, either." And with that the smile falls from his face and he looks out over the waves.

Kupandoru-san is older than he is, and an actual warrior too. She will probably do something in that battle that's coming.
Manami ... won't.

Absently he takes his crystal out of his breast pocket. Long and thin, it reminds him of a feather. He runs a finger down the edge of it, thinking and trying to not think.

"Kupandoru-san..." Fukutomi-san, the shared dream, the discussion afterwards...
"Did you hear it? That the Heroes carry part of the Calamity with them? That they are summoned, sacrificed, and summoned again?" He doesn't want to think about it, but he can't stop being faced with it- he rambles on.

"The Heroes when they die, the planet keeps them- the ... ones who look like- who nearly are the people we know." He shakes his head. "I don't want to be trapped by this planet like that. I can't think of anything good about that. Even if the soul is in two places at once." Zelda-san had tried to explain it to him, but it still felt too 'off' to him. The finger running along the edge of the crystal pauses.

"Can we do anything that hasn't been done before? Can we sacrifice ourselves in a way that changes what happens from now on?" He grips the crystal, his posture tense as if he's about to smash it to the deck in an effort to break it. But it's only for the blink of an eye- he is back to being draped over the railing so languidly you might have thought it your imagination but for the way his eyes are tight as he looks at the crystal in his fist.

He then laughs, but it's a hollow sound given what he's trying to laugh off.

"Juuust kidding, just kidding, never mind, right?"

She snorted, but his next words left her concerned, and she watched him, arms folded, ears turned forward.

"I heard," she said, softly. What the Heroes were, why those of the previous cycle had remained… those thoughts fed her fears, brought back every time she looked at her own crystal. She didn't take it out much, these days. And someone like Manami… they didn't suit him. Not at all. The only salvation she saw was that perhaps, somehow, those doubles were not truly the people they knew… but that thought she kept to herself, unwilling to break whatever might be broken by speaking of it.

She started when he tensed, arms unfolding to prevent disaster if need be- and then he laughed, and she stopped. It wasn't a happy sound, and she watched his face, tail curling. He could try to laugh it off, but- something like this- if he held onto it, until it sank deep into his heart…

"No," she said, shaking her head, and stepped towards him. Close enough to reach out and poke his cheeks a few times. "Manami, listen. Sacrificing ourselves- that's what happened before. That's not where the answer lies. As long as we're alive… we can do something."

"Ku-pando-ru-san?" Manami spoke in-between pokes in surprise. But she had his attention.

"Do something..." he repeated. 'Something' was fine, but no one really knew what they were doing, did they. The blank look in his eyes as he absently rubbed where he'd been poked probably communicated as much.

One ear flicked back almost guiltily- 'something' wasn't much to go on, after all. Still, she reached out to poke him between the eyes.

"We'll find whatever we can," she said, hands going to her hips. "You'll look for anything interesting, too, right? There may be other ancient artefacts in different kinds of the world- and if those hold some sort of clue, we should find it. Right?" That is something to do, at least!

His eyes crossed as he watched that finger, and he didn't resist the poke to his forehead.

"Mmm? I suppose you're right. That terminal that we saw in the dream- maybe there could be more things like that. Heh, not that I'd really know what to do with a clue if it came to me, but I'll at least keep my eyes open for one."

It'd be better than fighting against people, anyway.

K'pandolu nodded, hands back on her hips. "Exactly. Something's surely survived from then to now!" Whatever it is, it might take some work to get it operational again- but that would be a question of time. "If you don't know what to do with anything like that, I'm sure one of the others will work it out."

He grinned at her, a little closer to his usual self. "Ahh. You're so certain, Kupandoru-san." It must be nice to be so confident- to have a plan.

(But then, it was hard for Manami to keep plans in mind~)

She flicked one ear, a little embarrassed, but still pleased. At least that seemed to have helped a little. "I do what I can," she said, simply, smiling.

"Good luck with that, then~"

One conversation could not solve the troubles in his mind, and Manami still didn't really know what he could do to get back where he belonged. But at least he could be a little bolstered by K'pandolu's confidence, and the idea that things would be different this cycle.

K'pandolu huffed at him a little, ears flicking, standing up straight. "I'm counting on you to do you part, too!" she advised, bringing one hand up to point at him.

Heh, well here is something he's used to. She sounds like Toudou-san. And of course at the mental image of his senpai with cat ears flicking gets a true smile out of him.

"Yep, yep. Sure thing~"

Manami held up his spear loosely in one hand, his left arm dangling weakly. Fighting against someone was so different from fighting something!

With a laugh through heavy breaths at that thought he jumped into the air again, murmuring "Mirage Dive." Kupandoru was getting used to his jumps, but having three of him come at her- that was sure to confuse her! And the best part was that if he focused well, the two copies could do damage too.

Definitely a challenge, and she watched him for whatever hints she could glean, heart pounding. Recognising the signs of a Jump, she got ready to move, evading the first swiftly enough- but she hadn't quite anticipated more. The first follow-up catches her completely offguard, but she managed to twist mostly out of the way of the second. She grimaced, one hand going to cover the injury, and cast. "Holy Light!"

"Waa-!"

Man, no matter how many times he saw it, magic always threw him for a loop. He staggered backwards, blinking his eyes against the purple after-image of the light, gasping as he felt his strength drained even more.

"Vanish!" It was a bad idea to almost blindly pick a spot to vanish to, but it would at least get him out of dodge for a moment while he recovered. He went the maximum 100 feet away, and held his spear in front of him, defensive against the next attack.

K'pandolu made to catch sight of him again quickly, though she didn't immediately move to press the attack, choosing to cast a quiet Cure instead before moving towards him, sword up. She had no objections, but she was slowly beginning to tire- which didn't mean she wouldn't give it all she still had.

"Ahh, that's not fair, Kupandoru-san! You can cast Cure and keep going! I'm stuck like this-"

Mid-sentence, he used Vanish again, to appear behind and slightly left of her. "Lancet-" A last-ditch effort to gain some health of his own back.

K'pandolu made a face at that. "Not permanently-" she called, because she was better at it now, but she hadn't at first realised how much of a toll spellcasting was in its own way. And the longer it went on, the worse it got.

Though she turned as quickly as she could to spot him, the Lancet caught her off guard and she stumbled, before taking a better grip on her sword and pushing forwards. One more strike-!

The thrill of successfully getting Lancet off on her is short-lived as he finds her sword hitting all the air out of him and he is shoved backwards. (Thank goodness for good armor.)

One very inelegant noise and awkward stumble later, he's rolled face-down in the dirt.

Breathing is really hard when you are face-down in the dirt.

Coughing and trying to catch your breath and laughing at the same time doesn't all quite work either.

He settles for trying to get his breath back in between coughs, his eyes closed against the dust he kicked up. Better say it now before she kicks him while he's down (not that she would, but still-).

"Done-- done- --! Cute!"

Maybe not the set of words Kupandoru was expecting, but Manami has just opened his eyes to see a cute little hamster sitting in the long grass across from him.

She had her sword at the ready, just in case (and because a true enemy wouldn't be even that forgiving), but at his words, she relaxed.

…until the third, at least, and then she looked to see what he was looking at.

The creature looked cute and fluffy, at least, but so did deepvoid mice. And chinchillas. "Careful," she called, shifting into a battle-ready stance once more.

As soon as that word left her mouth Manami (with perfect comedic timing) looked up from petting the hamster and blinked at her questioningly.

"Careful of what?"

He'd already gotten up and started petting it in that brief moment. (Truly, Manami is mysterious...)

Oh… he'd already done it. Her ears went flat, and she shook her head, sword at her side again. But if it hadn't taken a bite out of him by now…

She sheathed her weapon, moving to stand beside him and get a closer look at the creature. "Even fluffy creatures can be dangerous," she advised.

Heh~ her ears were flat. She wasn't happy. Manami's hand stilled as he thought- too bad humans didn't have ears! It'd be so much easier to tell what they were thinking! Although, someone like Arakita would always have flat ears~ But it'd be fun to see Fukutomi-san with them~!

Manami paused that amusing line of thought as a small voice reached his ears.

"Please pet me~?"

"Eh? ...Kupandoru-san, you are a cat-person, after all- of course I could pet you too!"

K'pandolu started at that, ears twitching, tail beginning to fluff up. That was- the height of informality, and while she might have expected that from him…

"Miqo'te," she corrected, even if it was probably futile. "You- Manami, don't say such things without being asked!" Except- had there been a voice? Her ears twitched, listening.

Edited (that seems like it should sound a little less angry) 2015-07-22 15:25 (UTC)

Ohh~ she's mad! But- "But you asked just now, didn't you?"

"No, that was me~"

So says the little voice again. "Down here! Down here! You stopped petting me~! Please pet me~?"

Blinking, Manami looked down at the hamster.

"Whoa~! Kupandoru-san! I think the hamster talked!"

Ah, now she's caught it. She crouched down beside Manami, ears twitched forward, eyes on the hamster.

"I think so, too," she agreed, with a quick glance at him. "Is that all you want, then?"

"Yes! Yes~! Please pet me~"

"Hehe! Okay, okay." And Manami resumed petting the hamster.

"It's really soft and fluffy~" Picking it up in one hand, Manami brought it to his face and rubbed his cheek against the fur. (He's enjoying this way too much.)

"You want a turn, Kupandoru-san?"

She watched him, one hand supporting her chin- still regarding it with suspicion, if anyone had asked.

She startled slightly when he asked that instead, hand dropping. "Ah-" Her tail dropped, and she considered. It hadn't done anything at all- seemed entirely content in Manami's hands, to be honest. "Very well," she said, reaching out to touch it a little more quickly than her tone suggested.

Of course, Manami is absolutely amused with a cat-person petting a hamster. You never cease to be pretty amazing, Kupandoru-san~

The hamster happily accepts their pets for a good long while, but eventually stretches out and yawns.

"I'm so happy! It's been so~ long since anyone has given me pets." He looks at Manami, and if hamsters had expressions it would probably be wry. "She's right, you know? My cousins are just a little bit bigger than me, but a whoooole~~ lot stronger! You better watch out if they don't ask for pets~!

"But for today, I give you my deepest thanks for such wonderful pets~"

And when Manami puts the hamster down on the ground it scurries away into the long grass.

(Somehow, Manami feels a touch braver...)

So what if he were to see her petting a cat, then…?

K'pandolu watched the hamster disappear before straightening up, brushing herself off. Something felt a little different- more solid, maybe?- but she didn't see what it could be. "Its thanks, is it?" she murmured. She stretched out a hand, flexing her fingers. "I suppose that's better than nothing." More than she'd have anticipated, anyhow. "Are you ready to go back?"

It would be surreal~...

"M'kay! Let's go," Manami agreed, picking up his spear from where it had dropped and following her back.

[[ooc: Thanks again for the threads~! <3]]

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Road trip! [closed]

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