HazMat Log 006 ♔ Impending doom and diabetes

[anelegantmyth]

Who: Hazardous Materials
Where: Breakneck Cay and Candy Mountain
When: 5/23 onwards
What: things and stuff
Warnings: sugarrrrrrr
Style: Any!
Status: Zoo entrance fee is 50 doubloons

Hazardous Materials' May log of doom part 2! Date your stuff, you all know the drill.

5/16-5/22: Sailing to Breakneck Cay
5/23-5/24: Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to go here?
5/25-5/31: Hunting down Candy Mountain
6/1-6/7: DIABETUS MOUNTAIN

Comments

[heartismyown]

[He gives him a little grin with a half shrug.]

I've had practice.

[He's impressed when he comes back at him hard and when he starts trying to kick him, Roxas shuffles his feet and twists around behind Gan Ning. He's having to pull out all his tricks.]

[youhearthebells]

[oho, evasion, is it? Ning whirls quickly to prevent himself from being attacked from behind, raising River Master almost vertically to protect his side as he repositions. And then he laughs a bit, under his breath. He's having a great time!]

[heartismyown]

[Not necessarily evasion, but he'd rather take an advantage if he can. Gan Ning is a hard opponent. Roxas is breathing a little harder. He's not surprised that he moved fast enough not to let him keep the advantage. It's what he would have done. He swings his blades one after the other, Oblivion coming from below, Oathkeeper from the side.]

[youhearthebells]

[Gan Ning braces his free hand behind the flat blade of River Master to hold off those strikes, though Oathkeeper comes dangerously close to his arm before he rolls out and shuffles to the side. He doesn't feel threatened enough to need to use his musou move, this combat is plenty fun without bringing special moves into it.

He swings his sword back and forth, parrying off both keyblades, while he looks for an opening. He is bigger and heavier, so if he can get in close, there might be a takedown. But those keyblades are clearly not going to just let him do it.]

[heartismyown]

[Being small, Roxas has faced many opponents who are bigger and sometimes stronger than him. The range he has with the keyblades helps him a great deal. Aya has also been instructing him on dual wielding so he didn't tangle himself nearly as much as he used to.

However, it becomes apparent soon enough that openings are there, because he does little to guard himself.]

[youhearthebells]

[Xingba is beyond impressed. He's going to enjoy having Roxas and Lea in this crew, if this is any indication. He finally gets a good read on the rhythm of their strikes and blocks and finds the opening he needs, twisting his upper body and lunging in to grab Roxas by the front of the shirt with his free hand. It gets him in close enough to raise River Master to block on his right side, but he's in danger of getting a keyblade upside the head from the left. Doesn't matter. He's in close, and can yank Roxas right up to him]

Gotta stay on your guard, kid!

[the choice is there - hit him, or yield?]

[heartismyown]

[The rhythm is fast paced enough that Roxas is also enjoying the spar, but when he makes his move, he finds himself yanked up by his shirt. He doesn't have the footing he needs to break free. His eyes are searching.

When Gan Ning speaks, Roxas smirks.]

I think you should take your own advice.

[Roxas does not yield unless he's forced to. What he does do is turn his wrist before bringing up the butt of Oathkeeper towards his head instead of a blade.]

[youhearthebells]

[Well, he did not expect that. Gan Ning flinches just enough that the end of the keyblade scores across his headband, saving him from getting really cracked in the head.

He lets go of Roxas and takes a step back, and then bursts out laughing]

Damn! I didn't even see that comin'! Good work, kiddo. Real good work.

[heartismyown]

[He's breathing hard now because that was a damn good work out, actually. He grins at him though, accepting the praise.]

Thanks! I'm pretty good you know.

[He hasn't put the keyblades away, but he doesn't look like he's going to attack or anything.]

[youhearthebells]

Damn right you are.

[he's had enough of a workout, for now, so he slips River Master into the scabbard behind him]

Gotta watch your flank, though. A little practice'll help, so if you wanna have at it, anytime, just let me know.

[heartismyown]

Yeah, okay! I like practicing. I used to go on missions every day so I don't really fight much around here compared to before so it's a little weird. [He vanishes his keyblades again.]

[youhearthebells]

[jealous. It must be handy to store your weapons in hammerspace.]

Yeah, I know what ya mean. Back home I'm a general, and there's always some war or another goin' on, so there's a lot of fightin'. Bein' here is almost like vacation.

Gotta stay sharp, though, right? Don't wanna let your skills rust.

[heartismyown]

Yeah, this is kind of like a vacation, but it's a really really long one. Even longer than summer vacation. Axel told me once that kids get a whole month of school! Isn't that crazy? I thought then that a week should be good enough for a break, because a month is a really really long time.

[youhearthebells]

Heh! I wouldn't know, we don't really got... 'school,' where I come from. Takin' breaks is good for everybody, though. Even old soldiers.

[he gestures for Roxas to follow him over to where he plans to sit, perching himself on a railing]

So how ya doin', kid? Everything all right?

[heartismyown]

I don't really know much about it, we used to watch the kids from the clock tower.

[He follows after him easily enough and nods after hesitating.]

It's...it's okay I guess.

[youhearthebells]

Can't blame a captain for wondering. I wanna be sure everybody in my crew is okay.

Look, I dunno what happened over there, and I kinda don't care. Lea hasn't told me too much that I couldn't guess for myself. He's an all-right guy, and so're you, so you guys are welcome here. Don't worry about it, okay?

[heartismyown]

I can't tell you, cause I don't really understand it all. Lea does that thing where he doesn't tell me everything...or he did and I forgot. I can't remember everything. Or lots of things really.

[He's quiet a moment.]

Sorry if I made you mad. Ace yelled at me.

[youhearthebells]

Nah, you didn't. I don't mind Portgas sayin' what he did, because it sounds a lot like things I'm familiar with. But I ain't mad. Loyalty's gotta be earned, after all. [a grin, then] I did tell him he'd have to fight me to take any of my crew away from me, though.

This whole crew is a mish-mash of misfits, anyway. I didn't put it together, we all just sorta found each other one way or another and decided to look after each other.

[heartismyown]

I don't...well, I...it's just hard for me. It was hard for me when I came here too, but I just got used to everything and I got everyone's name, but then Lea had that fight and now I have to start over again.

[It's tiring and frustrating, really.]

I sort of get what Ace said, a little bit, but I didn't think I was going to have to leave everything behind again.

[youhearthebells]

Yeah, well. You're young, you probably haven't had to deal with it that much. Me? I've switched sides so often I lost count. Served a lot of lords who didn't get far in life. It happens. Where I come from, you could be havin' a drink with somebody one day and the next? Starin' at 'em across a battlefield, and one of you has to die.

You and Lea are real tight, though, yeah? Best friends or somethin'.

[heartismyown]

[He looks away.]

Yes I have. That's why I know what it's like. Lea and I are best friends, but Axel and I fought at home. I don't mean an argument, like you and I just did but for real. He was supposed to kill me, or drag me back to be killed. I'm not sure which actually.

That was something else though. Before then and since then we've been really close. We're best friends as long as we can be.

[youhearthebells]

[that makes his eyes widen a little in surprise. And then, eventually, his grin comes back]

Sounds a lot like a guy I know. Bein' here on this ocean is the longest I've been apart from him, ever since I joined up with the Wu army. So, maybe I get you guys more than you'd think.

Havin' someone like that to rely on...that's pretty important. Keeps you sane when the rest of the world around you is goin' crazy.

[heartismyown]

That's what happened. Everything got really crazy. Really really crazy. We really should never have come to blows like that, but we did.

[He seems to think about it.]

We were part of Organization XIII when Lea was still Axel and I wanted out. I walked away. People...Nobodies don't do that.

[youhearthebells]

[he might not know what that all means, but he can attempt to understand]

He didn't go with ya that time, huh?

[heartismyown]

No, I was leaving because of him. I know that much. The rest of the argument we had, neither one of us can remember it. I know it was important. Then I'm missing some time there...

[He should probably back up.]

I don't remember things very well. It's been like that since I appeared, only I think it got better and then it got worse after some people manipulated my memories.