driftfleet | JULY PLANET MINGLE

A staff?

Why? Does it shoot fire?

... Because my magic will be stronger if I have a staff equipped?

[ riku starts out of his thought when axel poses the question, looking over his shoulder and frowning.

he has a point.

at the same time, they've already walked so far... to go back and pull up all the roots is a little discouraging. his shoulders slump for a second before he just sighs. no, that's no good. he should be responsible. ]

I'll dig them up. You go ahead.

[...Equipped? Who the heck outside of a video game says it like that?]

Oh, really? So it's a magical staff?

[Just wait until I start talking about my MP, Allen.]

Eh... Those are usually better, but honestly, any kind of staff helps.

I could make due with a wand or a mace if I was really hurting for something, but a staff's my best bet.

[Riku's been really quiet lately, even for him. Axel notices these things. It's the soul-crushing sigh that really bothers him, though. Riku's business is Riku's business, but he's obviously really upset right now, and as he extinguishes the flames from the latest plant, Axel shakes his head.]

Nah, I'm not just gonna leave ya behind. Kairi'd be pretty mad at me if you got lost and something happened, after all. She might bite me again.

[Leaving the smoking plant for the moment, Axel shades his eyes to look back the way they've come. The path is fairly clearly marked, at least, so they shouldn't get lost, but somehow the idea of just leaving Riku to double back on his own doesn't sit right with him. He pauses, then props his hands on his hips and gives Riku a knowing look.]

Look, I'm not gonna ask if you're okay, because you'll say you are, but you're clearly not. [He's a little upset about Sora and Kaneis' departures himself, to be honest, but he knows Riku's gotta be hurting for it. Sora's his best friend, and he remembers all too keenly the sting of your best friend leaving.] So... I'll just say, if you wanna talk about something, I got two good ears, okay?

Really...? [That's weird. But okay, sure. Why not]

[He makes a hmm noise as he looks around the forest floor around them. Then with a "aha!" he steps over to some undergrowth and pulls up what looks to be a rather large stick. Hell it probably has some leaves still on it. Then he'll offer it out to her.]

Will this work?

It's not important.

[ riku says it like he's convincing himself, eyes briefly shut for a few moments before he looks at axel. ]

... the mission is, though. I won't get lost, and Kairi won't bite you again. Just--keep going without me. It's not like I was doing anything anyway except just showing you around.

[ he tries to smile, he really does. ]

You're not colorblind, so you don't need me to show you which plants need charbroiling.

[She takes it from him, looking it over.]

... Well... I mean, I could, but that's going to be barely any better than doing it bare-handed.

[Joseph seems to contemplate the counter-offer for a moment. As if it really needs any thought. Whether or not Joseph ends up winning or losing, there's food and alcohol waiting at the end. Of course, it'd be a little better if he didn't have to provide it, but he'll try to look on the bright side even if he loses. He rubs his chin with one hand as the one holding onto the sand ball disappears behind his back.]

Mm... [He breaks out into a wide grin.] Alright. Deal!

[It's the only warning Caesar gets before Joseph hurls the sand ball straight at him.]

[For a moment, it doesn't seem like Joseph is connecting the dots on her implication as he somewhat gives her a blank stare. Really, he just can't believe Ino is suggesting what she's suggesting. It seems far more like something he'd suggest given when he knows of her personality so far.]

[Then he hops to his feet with a smirk, snickering.]

Oh, Ino, I would have never guessed such a devious mind was behind that sweet face of yours, but I do like the way you think.

[HE IS NOT HITTING ON YOU THO. PLEASE DO NOT HIT HIM.]

[ She puts a hand to her heart. ]

Devious? Me? I'm just offering to fix any accidents I might cause learning how to play.

[This time Caesar's ready for it. He knows an attack is coming soon, because he can sense the pace of a fight pretty well, even one that's mostly in fun - but when Joseph's hand disappears behind his back, he knows exactly where it's coming from, too.]

[He retaliates as soon as the sand ball leaves Joseph's hand, kicking up a spray of Ripple-charged sand. It locks together in front of him, a low shield, at the same time as it sprays forward to sting at Joseph's legs. If it manages to connect, it'll hurt badly enough to knock him down, but won't leave a permanent mark - he didn't put enough Ripple in for anything but a painful rash.]

[Unfortunately for Caesar, the sand ball is more compact than he expected, and the barrier he's built up is lower than he counted on. By the time he realizes the ball's ricocheted off the top of the wall and is flying directly towards his face, it's too late to dodge. He manages to spit a merda! before it hits him in the cheek and he's forced to stumble backwards, mouth half-full of sand.]

[...Please stop with that effusive joviality, Hawke. Cassandra doesn't know what to do with it and could potentially be allergic to it. She only barely manages not to raise a brow at it if only because she thinks if she ignores it, it will go away.]

And it's certainly beyond your ability to not involve yourself.

[He may be a professional smasher, but if he's anything like the Hawke of her world, getting sucked into the issues of other one way or another is simply characteristic.]

[Aang apparently isn't the only one who had that idea, as Nightingale has a pretty good wall of wind going around herself to keep her dry. Unfortunately, this has the side-effect of scattering the rain that was going to hit her everywhere else, probably making Aang's job just a little harder than it should be.]

"Watch out"... It's not that bad.

[Joseph was hoping to catch him off-guard, but wasn't counting on it. Still, it was hard to tell just how exactly Caesar would retaliate. He certainly had options between bubbles, sand, or simply getting out of dodge, and there was no way Joseph could account or prepare for all of them. The most he can do is expect that Caesar wouldn't simply move into defensive, but try to take an offensive approach.]

[After he hurls the ball, he doesn't chance moving forward. Instead, he leans back. It's only once Caesar's kicked the sand that he tries to move back, but the combination of gravity and Ripple outpace him by far and once more Joseph is knocked flat on his ass.]

[The sand on his legs feels like a small swarm of bees went to town on his legs. Naturally this results in a rapid-fire chant of owowowowow under his breath as he frantically (and being rather uncoordinated about it) tries to both get back up and get the sand off. At least until he notices that Caesar managed to get a ton of sand in his mouth from Joseph's brilliant strategy and then he's bordering on howling with laughter as if he's completely forgotten what he was doing in the first place.]

[There's sand on his tongue, between his teeth - it's disgusting, but, in fairness, not as atrociously awful as the last thing Joseph put in his mouth. He hadn't been able to get the taste of pigeon out for days. Spitting sideways ungracefully, Caesar manages to get rid of most of the sand, but a few grains still crunch between his teeth. He pulls a face at Joseph and kicks some more sand at him, halfhearted and Ripple-free; it barely brushes his toes.]

Oh, hush, you. Idiota.

[But he can't quite separate the fondness from the irritation in his tone, nor can he stop his eyes from smiling.]

[Two quick steps across the sand, and he's standing above Joseph, adjusting his gloves the way he does before an attack. But the attack never comes. He just reaches his hand down to Joseph, quirking one eyebrow in question.]

[ It's possible Hawke literally bites his tongue in an effort not to tease about how as far as he's ever been able to work out Anders doesn't have any standards for human behavior as long as it's not 'violently opposed to mages,' but that's ...no. Instead he goes careening in the other direction, smile spreading out to curl up at the corners in a long red ribbon. ]

Isabele will go to bed with you for the Hanged Man's ten-copper special. I'm not sure what that says about my poetry.

[ It is, apparently, fine to joke about how Isabela has no standards, because a] she likes it that way, and b] she's slept with Hawke repeatedly, so he can include himself in that uh, barrel scraping. That glorious statement delivered he looks shifty for a second, there's really no other word for it. Whatever it is apparently resolved in seconds (it was probably resolved the second Anders laughed, but allow Hawke the pretense of not being immediately smitten by virtually everything he does, please, even if no one actually believes that), since he squeezes Anders' hands just as reassurance before gently divesting himself. ]

You know, I was going to save this for somewhere less...wet, and dark, and - [ he sniffs, ridiculously ] mouldy, but--I suppose now's as good a time as any.

[ What a romantic prelude. Anders does not yet have the basis of knowledge to understand Hawke's gift-giving tends to have some very, kindly put, unique properties. He is about to learn, since Hawke really just needed the scant few inches back so he could tear open the velcro on one of his long shorts pockets, the size that can hold anything from a wallet to several live ducklings, and presents Anders with a tightly wrapped cylinder of strong, white paper, about as thick as the two of his wrists put together. In the course of their flight caveward the paper itself has gotten a little damp, but the contents are all right. Hawke sounds relieved when he speaks rather than nervous, although his hand does go to scratch the back of his neck. So a very little nervous, maybe. ]

Not that I'm saying I want there to be a next time or anything, I don't enjoy huge bloody swathes of death no matter what I do for a living. But I thought--well, at least you'd be prepared if there was.

[ ...this is the explanation for the fact that the package, once unwrapped, turns out to contain a dozen or so candles, from thin white tapers to a single fat red one qualifying as like, the centerpiece, if there is such a thing. Hawke isn't sure he's disappointed or frankly glad he could only find one of those; they remind him of the Chantry in Kirkwall. Which is, of course, the point--not that particular Chantry, Maker forbid, just ...Andrastean mourning and all those other facets of the religion Hawke doesn't care about. But Anders does, so: candles. Unironically unromantic. ]

No, it ain't. [ Jeff Goldblum tho. ] That's — [ he frowns ] I think that's a film. Do you have those? Moving pictures?

[Joseph draws his legs up a little closer to his body as Caesar kicks sand at him, even with as halfhearted and harmless as it is. He can't quite do as he's told and completely stop laughing, but he does manage to tone it down some. Not enough to speak, mind you, but it's probably carrying along the beach a lot less. That toning down, however, comes more from the necessity to breathe than because Caesar told him to knock it off though. His smile's still definitely wide enough that it might actually split his face in half. It doesn't even waver for that brief moment when he thinks he's really in for it as Caesar adjusts his gloves. He figures that whatever Caesar's about to do is going to still be worth it, but then nothing happens. He just offers a hand to Joseph.]

[Well, it seems that Caesar isn't all that sore about losing. (And he did lose if you ask Joseph, okay. And the very least, he didn't win over Joseph.) Surely if he wanted to keep this going or wanted revenge, he would have done something and probably look way more annoyed that he does right now. The last time Joseph managed to cram something in Caesar's mouth, Caesar wouldn't even look at him, after all. So, Joseph doesn't think twice about putting his hand in Caesar's to start hoisting himself back up to his feet.]

[Darn, it's still going! Maybe she should have just kept with pulling Shirley along. But it's got a simpler mind than a human. It seems to be after Shirley for a different reason than hunger... maybe Vima can make it afraid of her?

Yeah. Okay. She puts her focus and the Force into inducing as much sheer terror into the creature as she can in hopes of making it flee back into deeper waters.]

But we should be careful... storms can always get worse! [Aang frowns as he looks towards her, noticing the odd things she's doing with the wind.]

H-hey, are you airbending too?!

"Airbending"? Is that some kind of euphemism?

[She gives him a weird look, eyebrow raised.]

If you mean the wind, it's magic.

[He squints, luckily not sure what 'euphemism' usually means.]

No, it's an ability!

S-so it's magic, huh? That's pretty neat! [But not the same as airbending. It's a little sad not to find any more airbenders out there in the universe, but he still appreciates the display... even with the storm raging around them.] But you should still be careful.

What, is that what you call wind magic or something?

[She shrugs, tightening the wall of wind around herself.]

I'm being careful, but it's not like there's anything else I can do here.

JULY PLANET MINGLE

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