middleofsomewhere | Onward: Blue

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Onward: Blue

On the second night the ground begins to shake. The islanders seem well versed in earthquake safety and there is no mass panic- from them anyways. They will help any voidtreckers who don't know what to do in such a situation. The shaking is over quickly and is not strong enough to do any major damage though there are some after shocks throughout the day.

More worryingly are the thick clouds that roll out, covering the sky. Despite the memories these might invoke in the void warriors they are normal clouds.

Or perhaps not that normal, dawn breaks into darkness, the sun barely penetrating. Shadows are deep and the temperature cooler. It is not too dark to see, more like an endless twilight.

The monsters do not retreat into the sea as dawn comes. Instead they continue their attack into the day, unrelenting.

The seas themselves are rough, large waves crashing down onto the beach. The current is strong, as if the very sea itself is fighting them.

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You can say a lot of things about Inigo. Like how awkward he can get in social situations. Or how he's kind of an idiot. And a blabbermouth.

But when it comes to serious situations, all of that fades instantly. The moment he hears someone call out his name with these monsters around, Inigo snaps to attention right away. He grabs his sword, running over towards the source of the sound before his brain has even fully processed who's calling out for him. It doesn't matter, after all, what matters is that someone needs help, and that means he's going to be there.

It's only once he starts running that he notices it's Tidus who called (thankfully previous awkward feelings mean very, very little in the face of battle), and that's also when he spots the unfortunate villager's predicament.

"We got to get them down first!" Unfortunately the quickest solution - just killing the monster - isn't really viable here, since it'd make that person get crushed after a fall to the ground..

So teamwork really is the easiest solution here.

"I'll try and pull its attention, maybe it'll lower the tentacle! Try and help them get loose if it does!"

Whatever the villager had on them before isn't visible on them now, and it's a surprise their dinner hasn't been lost to them either--yet. Tidus calls out a sound of acknowledgement (close to "aye!"--good enough) to Inigo, and on his way to get into position, a crab scuttles itself onto his path, a turn in direction to actually face Tidus coming too late when he goes for the option of jumping onto its head and bouncing back onto the sand.

No time for crabs, it's time for squid!

There's a few present options in distracting said squid, with its other elongated tentacles out and busy swinging around in search for more people to upset. But as Tidus gets close to the side where the villager is being dangled, it seems to tire of this particular fun, deciding to withdraw its occupied limb nearer to the ocean. Tidus--with a flurry of "Nonono you don't!"--stops to draw in his hand, a burst of white light flying up around him. He waves the arm back out in seconds, and sends shooting off a small trio of balls of water to knock at the limb.

For a monster of the sea it's useless, more of a nuisance than anything damaging, but for the effort the tentacle comes swinging back out, it and the villager it holds being jabbed in the direction that the projectiles came in--and therefore at Tidus.

He sees the limb and thrusts himself back as quickly as he can, but it still catches his arm, staggers him back and onto the sand where he'll need a second to get back up. At the same time, that limb isn't going to be idle.

It's a good thing that despite coming from a medieval world, it's at least a medieval fantasy world Inigo comes from. It makes it a whole lot less distracting and surprising to suddenly see that magic being fired off - it happened all the time on the battlefield back home, after all. It leaves Inigo with enough focus to just concentrate on this squid, even as Tidus is being forced back. The other seems relatively alright, so it's time to focus on this squid monster instead.

Pulling back his sword, he swings it at an unoccupied tentacle, intending to draw the squid's focus back on him.

"Hey! Eyes over here, slimy creep!"

It seems to work. More of the squid's tentacles start lashing out in Inigo's direction, which means there's a whole less sword-swinging and a whole lot more dodging. Thankfully he's very much nimble enough to keep avoiding them, although it's not like he can keep it up forever. Hopefully just long enough for Tidus to be able to get the villager out of the tentacle that isn't joining in on this whole mission of trying to grab Inigo.

It definitely distracts the squid's attention, the tentacle it holds the villager in too far from Inigo to bother attempting to use their captured human as a sledgehammer to bonk the hero with, and its interest in Tidus completely gone. Multitasking isn't an easy job, even with multiple arms to theoretically do it with, and there's little to no visibility from the waters the main body of the squid hides in.

Tidus doesn't delay. He can hear the motions of the limbs, knows that Inigo is a part of it, but he can't spare the time to look as he's getting up, locating where the villager and that particular limb is. Paused for the time being, but who knows how long. So he readies his blade, angled and with a few steps taken back--so he can jump higher than a normal human ~~dumb stupid fantasy characters~~, slashing into the meat of the tentacle from one side to the other, and now the end of the tentacle has no choice to let go, detached from the rest of the arm.

But it also means the villager is falling, and so is Tidus; grabbing them last second for an awkward roll that loses Tidus his sword in the sand. All arms of the oversized sea monster go up, writhing together in the pain.

Which is either a good or bad thing, distracting the creature temporarily to give the trio a second to breathe. But also, two of those three may soon be the targets for some payback soon.

Tidus stop falling so much.......

Inigo may not be able to see what's going on with Tidus. Dodging the other arms takes up a lot of his attention, after all - especially because if that squid drags him into the water, he's just done for. But even though he can't see what's happening behind him, he can at least hear it. And Inigo has been on enough battlefields to instantly recognize that sound of something cutting into meat.

And before he can even do or think anything else, the arms are suddenly moving up and out of the way for a moment. The boy tries to keep at least half an eye on the squid as he turns, considering he'd look like a total idiot if the tentacles suddenly came down on top of him the moment he'd let down his guard, but he's also trying to spot Tidus and the villager.

Thankfully they seem okay, but lying in the sand isn't exactly the best possible position in a situation with a still very much alive sea monster present.

"Tidus!" He calls out before dashing across the sand towards the other. Once he's at Tidus' side, he quickly glances over both him and the villager to make sure that fall didn't just make things worse for them. "Are you okay?!"

Listen, they may have had some awkward moments, but he still greatly dislikes the idea of seeing him hurt.

Can't have more awkward moments if Tidus is dead and that would be a shame.

They've rolled apart, Tidus and the villager, the latter on their elbows and knees by the time Inigo comes over. There's the sounds of some dry heaving, but the villager says on a shaken breath that they're okay, just get them out of here...!

Tidus is slower to pick himself up, but manages to get into a sitting position. Wincing at an ache he's sure to feel more in the morning, he chokes out "Alive!" before he sees the arms of the squid above them writhing.

But then there's arrows, hard to see--but the impact can be heard, as more of the tentacles splash back into the water at the new pains. Tidus grits his teeth, fingers collecting pockets of sand as they clenched when he struggles to stand. But he's up, risking a grab for his sword nearby.

"Let's grab them and move back!"

Nothing good will come from sticking so close to the shoreline!

He glances between the monster and then Tidus and the villager once more, but then nods. Standing here and fighting isn't going to do much when the villager is still in the danger zone. And while Tidus mostly seems fine despite his fall, it wouldn't be a good idea for him to jump straight back into the line either.

"I got this. Here."

He holds his sword out to Tidus, pressing the hilt into the other's free hand. Usually Inigo would just put it back into its sheath, but these mission clothes sure don't make carrying weapons around in anything but your hands easier.

And he needs his hands free for the moment, since once his sword is secure in the other's hands, Inigo moves to instead pick up the villager, scooping them up into a princess carry. Thank Naga it isn't some super huge villager, because anything up to Inigo's own size he can hold for a while, but larger than that would've been a disaster. And this is quicker than making an already hurt villager run on their own to get the hell out of dodge.

"Let's go!"

Bro did you just princess pick up that villager--

Tidus takes the blade without question, and whatever question that may come from the sight of Inigo plucking up the villager into his apparently well-to-do arms, is, well, not really a question, and neither the time nor place for it.

So there's a tip of the head, a "Go!" to join with Inigo's, and Tidus will run, half an eye on Inigo and on their way forward. The squid isn't as a big of a problem as it was just minutes ago, sliced limbs doing little for a creature's will to continue fighting, but there's the rest of the beach ahead of them.

Tidus takes a lead to clear the way. The weight of two blades in his hands is confusing, but only momentarily before he knows to swing with his dominant hand, knocking back the crabs that think to get in their way with pincers out. The farther from the shoreline they get, the brighter the light of the nearby bonfires that the monsters shrink away from, never drawing near.

The best place to drop off their villager, as any. But wherever Inigo goes, Tidus will be keeping track, watching his front and back.

It's fine, Tidus, Inigo can introduce you to his biceps later.

He appreciates the teamwork here though. It wouldn't have been easy to make his way across the entire beach without the ability to do absolutely anything with his arms to try and get rid of anything in their way. And he does trust Tidus enough to leave the task of clearing a path for them up to him - so Inigo can just focus on making sure he keeps going, even with the weight in his arms.

Granted, Inigo is not the most buff guy around (despite having more muscle than he seems he could), so by the time he drops off the sore villager near a group of other villagers at the bonfire, he lets out a sigh.

(It's exhaustion, really, but he'd never admit to that.)

Instead he turns towards Tidus, holding out his hand to silently ask for his sword back.

"Thanks for covering me there. Let's get back out there now." Rest? Hah! What's that! There is no such word in Inigo's dictionary.

Tidus isn't ashamed to be breathing heavily, the bigger source of annoyance coming from the pain at his side stifling how deeply he does. It's not wet--Tidus checks that when he can safely drop his sword, his hand coming back dry. It was either an awkward landing on the ground, from the ground, or from the villager.

Regardless, he catches the extended hand and gives the sword on automatic, though exhales at the start of an objection made as he picks back up his own blade.

"Give yourself a minute. Me too! We just ran across the beach--and you with luggage!"

"There's people out there who need saving."

Despite Inigo smiling a little, the stubbornness in those words is very clear. He can't just sit here and rest like a normal person when he has to be out there playing the hero! That's how this whole gig works!

But despite how hard he is on himself, his standards for other people don't get anywhere near that level. It's hard to miss the way Tidus touches his side like that, after all, and Inigo glances between the beach and the other guy for a moment.

".. Are you hurt? You can stay back here if that's the case. I'll be fine by myself."

"It's nothing. I'm not letting you go out on your own," Tidus dismisses, his own stubbornness firm, refusing to back down. He won't ditch Inigo, not if he's going to go searching for a fight.

"If you're going back out there, so am I. Just be careful, alright?" Says the guy probably with a stitch. "I don't want you pulling a muscle in the middle of a swing!"

It's those words that make the smile slip for an instant. Not that he looks sad or anything though - no, if anything, Inigo mostly just looks surprised as he listens to Tidus. It's not like he thought Tidus was a bad guy and that's why his insistence comes as a surprise. No, it's just.. nice. 'I'm not letting you go out on your own.' That's exactly the kind of thing his friends would've told him back home.

Especially when it's followed up by that last part, turning it almost into a joke, a challenge.

"Am I really the one who has to be warned here? You just make sure you can keep up with me!" It's an obvious joke though. Inigo gets it. If he had fallen like that, he would've been more than just a little sore too. Hence why the jeer is followed up a smile with a softer edge to it. ".. Thanks for having my back though."

Tidus knows he's the one at odds here, but it's too late to back down. He'll just have to take care, hope that it's nothing more than a hard knock that won't get in the way of his own swings.

Plus, he can't let Inigo show him up now, can he?

"You're not the only hero around here, you know! Well?" He gives Inigo a quick clap on the shoulder as he starts to turn, letting out a noisy breath. "Let's keep protecting the area."

And then he's walking with a slightly hurried pace, sand crunching underfoot as he scans the immediate area for activity by the small scatterings of fires that litter the beach with dead crab and else.

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Onward: Blue

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