middleofsomewhere | What their Eyes See: Optional Ongoing

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What their Eyes See: Optional Ongoing

By day eight the Voidtreckers have made a good deal of progress in all their tasks but there is still a lot to do to help the people of the city.

It is around mid morning when there is a message on their comms. For those that want to help it is easy to either find Anan herself or ask for netpoints and scanners to be brought to them by Chiff.

Illusions have gotten worse, uncertainty and fear are rising across all tiers and the situation is becoming more chaotic by the day. Indeed especially on the first and second tiers it seems that the voidtreckers themselves are being targeted, with creatures stalking them and attacks on their minds to make them believe that what they are seeing is real.

Same inside the Spectura system, the vines seem to almost be on the offensive against the voidtreckers though things are getting better outside the game system as more of the vicitms are freed and wake up.

Almost opposite to the situation on the lowest tier, which is getting more chaotic by the day. Anger is bubbling over, people are frightened and in a place like this the only real way to express that fear is through anger.

There has been a lot of progress but there is still a lot of work to do, especially as many of the voidtreckers have started to realise, this all seems a little too familiar.

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.. The idea.

All he has to do is give Tidus - as the metaphorical guard in this scenario - the idea.

Here Inigo pauses for a moment longer, but then starts talking with the absolute weirdest combination of uncertainty and gusto: "I-- I think places would be a lot safer if everyone had someone's hand to hold at all times!"

Look, it made sense in his head. He's supposed to give a guard an idea. What do guards love? Safety! It's a safety idea! Isn't he great at this.

Tidus sputters--he chokes.

Not a laugh, but from utter disbelief. Disbelief from the words that just came out of Inigo's mouth, that he heard what he heard, and--and okay, then he's laughing, a confused small thing as he stops his walking backwards to just stare at Inigo, brow quirked.

"Really?" Really, man?? Really?! "And you think that's gonna work." Oh man, oh man-- "You've gotta try this with Roland. We should call him right now."

This operation is turning out to be very serious.

Inigo's cheeks are steadily growing more and more red in the face of all of this. The disbelieving reaction on Tidus's end. The laughter. Inigo kind of wants to sink into the ground. Hey, where's that Risen to throw Inigo into a wall and knock him the hell out when he actually needs it--

It's especially that 'and you think that's gonna work' that gets to him. Look, bro, he's trying here?! Don't just shit on his efforts like this, he is Doing His Best!

(At least he's not crying. Yet.)

"N-No! Why should we?! You're just trying to make fun of me in front of him, aren't you?!"

"Noooooo?" ....y-yeeesss, maybe? Which Tidus realises he actually is doing, and maybe that's not so cool to do with a pal, but. "I figure he'd know what an ID actually is! And he'd tell you!"

Tidus says it, like it's a reasonable result for (embarrassing himself) sharing this roleplay with Roland, and look, sometimes you just want to share the comedy of a situation with another individual than considering the effects of it on the other person?

Okay, so maybe he's being a big meanie right now.

"See!" Inigo immediately says, not missing a beat after the last word Tidus says. See, he knew Tidus was just waiting for the right moment to be able to embarrass Inigo in front of the person he wants to be proud of him the most! Look at this traitor. This bestie traitor.

"I'm not going to ask him now," he says, with all the determination of a toddler having a toddler argument. "I don't care if I never know what an ID is. There is absolutely no way I could ask him without you butting in to tell him what happened just now."

.. there's a slight pause, and then Inigo huffs, obviously looking flustered as all hell, and adds-- "And for the record, it was a great idea!"

Don't come for his handholding buddy system!

"Awwww-!" awww, Inigo! Breaking his heart right here, if not everything about his pal's reaction here is so adorable. He's gonna turn into an aunt and yank his cheeks off. "Come onnn, Roland won't make fun of you! I won't even make a peep if you call! Just do the roleplay with him! See what he says!"

Is this really going to lead them into reliving the glory of this golden moment? Probably not, but maybe Tidus is trying to get his friend to pout and huff at him more. This is how he gets his rocks off, apparently.

"You can tell Roland all about your hand-holding company too," he close to lilts, arms coming to rest over Inigo's shoulders. Because sometimes your goofy fun smile needs to be close in your bro's personal space.

It's so easy to get Inigo to continue this too. It's like it takes no effort on Tidus's part, just easily speaking, draping his arms over Inigo's shoulders like that, and Inigo doesn't even have the time to appreciate the physical contact he always longs for, since he's way too busy being a huffy baby over all this.

"You're making fun of me!" Which means there's a risk of Roland doing it too, okay, he's not dumb! Even if Roland would probably be more gentle about it, considering he isn't out for Inigo's blood 24/7 the way this fiend here seems to be!!

"What's so wrong with the idea, huh? You just can't see how great it is because you don't like holding hands."

You ought to be taking advice from a hand holding expert, Tidus!

Remember, that these are a pair sent to figure out the mystery of six murders and to fight back against monsters from killing even more. One pouting and huffing about his underappreciated business proposition, the other guy just draped over his shoulders like they have all the time in the world.

"Then why don't you share it with Roland? In roleplay." Over an SCA call. Absolutely nothing else important for anyone to be doing right now than this. "For me?"

For him, Inigo??? Can you say no to this big grin?

Inigo turns his head to look at Tidus.

And he seems so, so, so very ready to say no. He can say no to that big grin! It's not like his insides are all soft and squishy when it comes to Tidus, and his heart gets all weak when the other looks at him with a smile, and..

Oh, dangit.

He's so weak.

Inigo is already holding up his arm with the SCA on it.

"If he laughs at me, I'm never going to talk to you again."

"Knew you couldn't say no."

He's pushing it, but can he help but be pleased at this show of winning despite whatever good sense Inigo does own? Tidus doesn't even keep the smug gremlin out of his voice, pulling away from Inigo to give him room to operate that SCA. Standing. Watching.

Waiting.

"Give him your best performance."

shine shine sparkle sparkle

Ugh. This is going to go horrible, he can already tell. And although Inigo has all opportunity to backtrack his way out of this decision, for some godforsaken reason he decides not to.

Instead he calls Roland, hoping really hard that the other isn't caught up in the middle of a fight or a talk with one of the locals. SORRY, DAD, IT WAS TIDUS'S FAULT..

"Roland? I.. um. I'm practicing.. a way to talk to the people of the city. I was wondering if you have a moment to listen.." He's blushing so hard over here, making sure to look everywhere but directly at Tidus. He feels dumb just saying this out loud.

The chief consul answers a bit faster the second time Inigo calls him during the mission. There's a sense of urgency still present, but he isn't so rushed, caught at the right time taking in some of his personal supply of shakes while there isn't so much happening on tier two. There's not much to explore at this point, anyway.

And when he picks up the line, hears what Inigo's got planned, Roland is more than pleased. He doesn't hide it with the subtle lilt of his voice as he speaks.

"Wow pup," he expresses openly. It's easy to imagine him smiling through the SCA. "Of course. I'd be happy to. See, I knew you had that inner thespian in you. You did so well during our little excursion, after all." He clears his throat and leans back against his seat.

"Alright. Let's hear it."

"Pretend you're a security guard."

Pssst psst, don't mind Tidus leaning in just to whisper that to the SCA. The one thing he'll speak up to say!! Okay, back to being as good as gold (as if he wasn't helping right there!)

.. Inigo isn't too sure if Roland already sounding so excited and so proud of him makes this worse or better. He's glad to hear the other's faith in him, of course he is, but at the same time Inigo can't help but worry that he's all going to ruin it in an instant here.

Especially with mister way-too-happy over here piping in.

It feels like he's mentally preparing himself to battle an entire horde of Risen right now. Except even a little scarier than that. He's so focused that he isn't even stupidly asking either Tidus or Roland what a thespian is supposed to be.

"Alright, so.. Tidus told me that apparently these guards tend to ask for.. um.. an ID."

He pauses a little, as if to confirm if that's even true, or if Tidus was even CRUELLY lying to him about that.

"So I thought that if I had to give them an IDDDDeea, I could tell them that I think the world would be a lot safer if everyone had someone's hand to hold at all times."

It's said so much less enthusiastic than the time he told Tidus it.

In fact, Inigo kind of sounds like he's on the verge of crying.

Thread carefully, cowboy.

...

What in the world is he talking about?

This wasn't exactly what Roland was expecting to hear, but he's doing his best to comprehend it. Tidus's voice registers despite the hushed volume, though it does little to make things clearer.

"Ah, well that's not a bad suggestion at all, pup. You're right too. They do always ask for that."

Roland pauses, already mind working backwards before he says more. They're trying to practice how to talk to people in Kamakan, so he called...pretending to be a security guard...and if he were asked to give ID, which is true-

- why the hand holding? Or all those pronounced D's? That made no sense. Unless...

It's the eureka that has Roland chuckling to himself, too quiet to make out from the other line. This is a teachable moment, so in typical fashion, he goes slowly at first to see if his intuition has this right on the money.

"Inigo," Roland goes, steady and silvery. "The word ID, who mentioned that to you?"

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What their Eyes See: Optional Ongoing

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