driftfleet | (no subject)

Hah, the same. Drinks are always the best wager.

_{[ He opened the door and led Adalwolfe into the obstacle course,
motioning to it. ]}

Two times around, first to the finish line?

Is that all?

[Of course he's a bit taken aback by the scale of the thing. He'd been picturing some ropes to climb, maybe a long trench of water meant to be vaulted, wire to be crawled under, the usual sorts of things. Instead, he's faced with a wicked assortment of moving parts that he's fairly certain could easily injure someone, including a row of huge metal wheels that roll back and forth across a track, a lineup of tennis-ball shooting mini cannons at the far end, and all kinds of strangely shaped blocks and walls meant to, he assumes, be used to propel one's self beyond these dangers.

It's a lot more involved that he'd imagined and he adores it.]

It's perfect!

_{[ It's kind of cute, that look of awe and delight on the other man's face, and Kirk just lets the other soak it up with his arms crossed, as if he had built the thing himself. But he was at least introducing him to it, which was something, so he would take it. It was kind of overwhelming if you weren't used to this sort of thing, but let's be honest - Kirk has done all of these things at least once in actual, real-life situations. So it was good for him.

He laughed at the other's exuberance, though and went to a set of side mats. ]}

All right then. Stretch up and do what prep you feel you need to, and then the race is on ~

Who needs to stretch?

[Adalwolfe tosses Kirk a wink and takes off like a shot, bounding headfirst into the course. As he clears the first obstacle, it's readily apparent that Kirk is not the only one who faces things like this in actual, real-life situations. If anything this is easier than facing Tal-Vashoth or Carta thugs. At least here he doesn't need to be wary of flanking or tactical placement or anything of the sort, just aware of his own body and how far he needs to twist to avoid this wheel or how low he needs to slide to be out of range of the tennis ball guns. It's exhilarating, and he whoops with delight as he pounces over a hurdle not so much with gymnast's grace as the unbridled physicality of a small child.]

Hey!

_{[ He let out a breath, darting off after the other. He can see from the go that Adalwolfe has, if not seen this particular set up before, at least been through things like it. He finds himself impressed as he races to catch up, and does a far good job of it, aided by knowing what to expect on the course. He can feel the oxygen burning in his muscles as he jumps, leaps, and tumbles, drawing up even with Adalwolfe and letting out his own whoop in response. ]}

Come on, you didn't think this was gonna be that easy!

_{[ He grinned and pulled away with a somersault dodge. ]}

[It's a friendly game for friendly stakes which is why Adalwolfe hadn't waited for Kirk to line up before taking off. Turns out it doesn't matter that he cheated just a little, though, as Kirk pulls ahead of him with a cheeky grin and vanishes with a slide under some sort of swinging pendulum. Adalwolfe almost runs smack into it, his attention divided between the course and his opponent as it is, but instead manages to kick himself up and over it instead, tumbling into a graceless scramble to catch up for the next hurdle and laughing from his gut about it the entire way.

That pendulum though, it gives him an idea.

There's a line of them around the corner, just three but close enough together and at such different speeds that the safe way would be to move through them one at a time and wait carefully between each for a chance to go. Which of course is totally not what Hawke does. Instead, he takes a leap and snags onto the pole suspending the swinging thing from the ceiling and proceeds to monkey-jump from that one to the next two with glee.

What, there aren't rules about staying on the ground, are there?]

_{[ No, no there weren't, and he's a little jealous he didn't see such a work around before - even if he thought it was the easier way out. Not one to give up so easily, he threw himself down and arm crawled beneath the pendulums. It was quite a bit slower than Hawke's method, but he got out from beneath them and took to his feet to make up the lost ground.

They were coming up to a section that required a lot of upper arm strength - swinging across bars and ropes. He had been on the course enough to know his stride and speed necessary to get the proper momentum to take him through. He huffed and surged forward, leaping off the edge (there was a foam pit beneath), grasping the first bar and beginning to swing, glancing around to see where Hawke was briefly. ]}

[Hawke is hot on Kirk's heels, though he leaps for the bars almost a half-minute behind the captain. Once he's got hold though, instead of going hand over hand as you'd expect on long row of parallel bars over uncertain depths (what is that spongy looking stuff?), he uses his momentum to swing far forward, than even farther back, whirling up on top of those bars just as he did the pendulums.

Hey, it worked once, why not again?

After a pause to make sure his balance is intact, Adalwolfe tries again to gain an advantage over Kirk from above. Though this time he has to balance past Kirk where he'll be in easy reach...]

_{[ Kirk doesn't worry to much about Hawke's antics. He kept on at his own pace, throwing himself past the last rung and down, rolling before surging back to his feet and heading for the next challenge - which was a set of balance beams - lower, higher, lower again, and higher once more. He looked over to Hawke, grinning widely and veered just a bit to bump shoulders with him. ]}

Come on, don't give up on me yet!

Who said anything about giving up?

[Hawke grins back, an almost manic glee in his expression as he bumps Kirk's shoulder back, more in a show of defense and to keep himself being thrown than to throw Kirk off in turn. It leaves them in precarious position. Neck in neck but awkwardly balancing on the beams.

A moment later Hawke pulls away, finding his balance enough to take a long stride and shift his shoulder out from under Kirk's weight. He takes a flying leap off of the beam's end to try and get ahead again.]

_{[ He grunted when he felt Hawke work beneath him, but he gamely hurries onward, not one to be outdone. If Hawke thought that playing dirty was going to throw Kirk - well, he didn't know near enough about Kirk then. As it was, he threw himself forward after Hawke to keep pace with him as they rounded the curve. He looked to him, panting and sweat dribbling down his temple. ]}

Second lap. No more handicaps!

You'll regret announcing that!

[He still gives himself the handicap of not using a spell for speed, but that doesn't mean he can't use any magic at all. They're both using their maker-given talents after all, and it's all in fun.

Rounding the corner to start again, Hawke throws his hand out in front of himself, calling on his magic to form a long band of ice in front of him. He runs two more steps then hits the ice and slides with his arms out beside him, skating in his boots and letting the growing path of his magic speed him in, over, and through the obstacles.]

See you at the finish!

[He tosses a mock salute as he slides around the corner like an Olympic skater.]

_{[ Magic is cheating, Hawke, especially against someone without. Magic is always cheating.

Kirk made a gasping sound when he saw the band of ice, having clearly not expected that or even thought it possible because who the hell can through out ice? He knew Kitty and some others had mutation gifts, or had them through special absorption of radiation waves like Kara - so he was not necessarily surprised so much as put out that Hawke had not said anything about that particular gift. ]}

That's cheating!

_{[ Because Kirk was one to talk about cheating, but okay. He veers and decides to follow in the other's footsteps, sliding across the ice, though with far less grace than the magic user. ]}

You said no handicaps!

[Hawke turns, slowing down to whine back at Kirk and entirely forgetting about the rapidfire canons spitting those green fuzzy balls and how he should be getting through this part as fast as possible. He gets pegged directly in the side and because of the ice, it sends him tumbling down to the literally freezing cold floor with a loud oof.

See? There's drawbacks.]

I didn't know your version of a handicap was not using ice!

_{[ He blinks when the other gets pegged and he cannot help but burst out laughing, hopping off and running to a side panel that had an emergency shut off - one of several stationed around the course for just these purposes. He hurried back over to Hawke, looking triumphant as he held out his hand to him. ]}

That's what you get for cheating.

Point taken.

[He groans as Kirk helps him up, getting his balance before his hand glows again, a soft green this time as he heals the blossoming bruise.]

Let's just call this a win for you.

_{[ He grinned. ]}

Let's call this suspended instead. I'll buy the drinks this time, and you pick them up the next when you get your first paycheck.

You've got yourself a deal, my friend.

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wrap!