TEST DRIVE #5 - Low Gravity Gymnasium and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprises' off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...



Option 02. Aboard the Enterprise, The Low-Gravity Gymnasium: The gym is a large room with several alcove-like sections housing the aerobics and martial arts areas, a parrises squares area, an anbo-jyutsu court, and a separate fencing room. While there is normally a zero-gravity area as well, today all of the gym is in zero-gravity conditions.

Zero-gravity can be, well, kind of weird, because it's not like a gradual loss of the pressure holding you to the floor--you may have taken the turbolifts, just expecting to take a leisurely run, or maybe work out with a treadmill to get in some cardio, but the minute you step into the gym you're floating, as is anything you might have been holding or bringing with you.

Do you freak out, start flailing and trying to swim through the air back to where you can escape? Do you make the best of it and tough it out to get your exercise in, or do you start having fun with the sudden game of weightlessness? Pick your personal scenario and have fun with all the other weightless people.

Comments

wanijima akito • air gear • previous game history

[akito]

Electricity. There is electricity.

So, as much as Akito despises being plucked unexpectedly from a universe he was accustomed to and somewhat comfortable in, he can't help but moon over the fact that there is hot, running water. There is plumbing and music and toilet paper and he's pretty sure he could get a milkshake if he wanted one. He could get waffles if he wanted to. He could have actual food.

He's so overwhelmed by such easy access to basic necessities and luxuries that he has no idea what to do, or what to order. Honestly, he's perfectly content to just sit and bask in the presence of such wonderful, beautiful conveniences. After living in a post-apocalyptic world for a few years you learn to appreciate the little things.

The small fairy tucked in his hood seems equally as enamored by everything she's looking at.

[woefulcountenance]

"YOU!" The shout rings out as Don Quixote stabs one finger accusingly in the direction of the knave before him.

"Foul sorcerer! It must be you who worked the dark magic that has brought me to this land of spirits. You will return me at once to my Lady's side!"

[akito]

Akito may be used to people arriving from other worlds upset and confused, but that doesn't mean he's any good at dealing with them. Plume puffs herself up indignantly by his ear, twittering.

"If I had the magic to send people to different worlds, I would have used it by now to go home." And by 'home' he means 'wherever Jack went', or at least back to Adstringéndum where there's a higher probability of getting sent to to the world he wants.

ohai

[frostedoverland]

Another small fairy finds the one tucked into the hood of the dark haired boy, having flown right out of a blue hood, the owner of said hoodie not close behind.

"Baby Tooth! Baby Tooth, where are you going? We need to find a way out of here!"

This place was weird and empty but had people in it, mostly adults, who couldn't see him. He didn't know how he got here and it scared him and he couldn't feel Earth. Now was not the time to be chasing a fairy!

hello there /touches face

[akito]

Akito is caught off guard by the appearance of another fairy - one he doesn't recognize, at that. He's confused until he hears the voice that follows her and his body decides it wants implode and explode at the same time. His stomach flip flops uncomfortably while his heart flutters uncomfortably in his throat.

"...Jack?"

uvu

[frostedoverland]

He saw the second little fairy and can't help but feel like something is even more wrong than it is because why was there a fairy without Tooth? Made all the worse without the Wind around to keep him company as well.

He looked over at the young teen and blinked, not recognizing the boy at all and definitely not one of the few kids that could see him.

"...you can see me?

[akito]

While he had expected not to be remembered it still hurts, and he's sure it must show on his face no matter how much he tries to prevent it. He knows memories are a sensitive topic for Jack.

"I..." This isn't how he imagined things would be when he saw Jack again. "Um, yeah."

[frostedoverland]

He could see the hurt on his face and Jack couldn't stop his own guilty look. But he knew he never met the kid before, so how could he know Jack? He was only just believed in a few days ago. Baby Tooth chattered a little in his ear, patting his shoulder and telling him about the other fairy a bit. "Not now, Baby Tooth."

This wasn't how he imagined meeting someone new before.

"I'm sorry."

[akito]

The last thing Akito wants it for Jack to feel guilty. "Ah- No, it's okay! It's not your fault." It isn't the first time he's been forgotten, but somehow he's sure Jack's memories won't return like they did before.

"I'm Wanijima Akito."

[frostedoverland]

Jack's finger picked at the ridge on his staff, still rather uncomfortable by all of this. He still needed work on socializing since he's not exactly used to people talking back, just other spirits. But he nodded.

"Hi, Akito."

[akito]

Jack looks so uncomfortable and out of place that Akito's heart aches for him. Plume croons from her spot by his ear, encouraging him enough that he ignores his worries and rushes forward to give Jack what he hopes is a comforting hug.

[frostedoverland]

Jack automatically froze in preparation for the kid to go through him, despite the knowledge that said teen could see him. It was just an involuntary reaction on his part. But once he felt the warm arms, he relaxed almost immediately and sighed softly. He awkwardly returned the hug.

"Thanks."

[akito]

Not about to leave Jack's embrace, Akito mumbles something incomprehensible against his chest and gives him another squeeze. Plume decides to use this moment to use Jack's shoulder as a perch so she can meet the sister she's heard so much about.

[frostedoverland]

Baby Tooth peeked out and smiled widely, the two of them instantly beginning to chatter. Jack looked up and smiled a little at that. "How did you get one of Tooth's fairies with you anyway? They're usually pretty reclusive."

[akito]

"I was trapped in a different universe for a few years." He pulls away just enough to be able to explain things, planning to stick to Jack until he's pushed away. "A different multidimensional hub, of sorts. I lived with Tooth for a year, and a few of her fairies stuck with me so she would always have a way to know if I was in danger."

Akito doesn't think it would be a good time to mention his relationship with... him. The last thing he wants is Jack to feel obligated, or try to push him away. Just being friends again will be good enough for Akito, even if he'll always hope for more.

[frostedoverland]

"Tooth was with you?" Jack asked. For about a year? Well, that didn't make any sense. Not that he didn't believe Akito. The proof was talking with Baby Tooth. Still, a year? How had that happened and Tooth not mention it?

"So you got out by somehow ending up here?" He asked, a bit of a crooked smile on his lips to try and ease the tension.

[akito]

"So was Pitch, for a while. And..." Pulling away, Akito looks down and grabs Jack's free hand with his own. "Let's go sit down. I don't want anyone else going through you before I can make them all believe."

[frostedoverland]

The touch alone made Jack tense up a bit. He was fully expecting that hand to go through his but then it didn't. He nodded, instead, not trusting his voice. Pitch had been there too? And why was Akito so concerned about people not believing in him? From what he could see, most of them were adults, so what did it matter?

[akito]

Akito takes charge and pulls Jack along, trying not to focus on the old memories he has of him and instead focus on helping Jack. Being a good friend, even if Jack doesn't remember him (and probably never will).

Anyone who makes the mistake of getting to close to cutting through. Jack gets a firm growl (watch where you're going!), with Akito not caring what people think of him, because he saw a memory once, of when Jack first discovered he was invisible and intangible. And it won't happen again as long as Akito can help it.

"I made everyone agree to staying neutral with each other, so Pitch and Tooth and everyone had a good truce. And me and Pitch became sort of... friends, I guess you could say, until he found someone he liked better." He's rambling, but rambling at least distracts him from how one of his greatest wishes just came true, even if it's not exactly how he planned. "Then he stopped really talking to me, and it was like we were never sort-of-friends before. Which makes him a huge hypocrite! Because he said I would forget."

Plume huffs her irritated agreement. Akito spots a good place to sit and pulls Jack over to it, asking as he goes: "Do you believe in multiple universes?"

[frostedoverland]

Jake made a soft noise at being pulled and tried to make sure he didn't go through anyone. It was such an unpleasant feeling and Akito was pretty good at making sure no one did go through him, but it didn't stop everyone. "Akito, it's okay, you don't need to-"

But he already was and he just sighed, sharing a shrugging look with Baby Tooth. He listened to Akito as he told about the truce, rather impressed that such a thing was possible. Jack isn't one to sit, however, not completely still anyway, so he remained standing. "I dunno, I guess so."

[akito]

"You can crouch on the chair," Akito points out, gesturing to it. It means less chance of being walked through by mistake. Also it will make it more comfortable to talk to him.

"Okay! So, um..." And here is where Akito begins to feel awkward; nervous. He won't tell Jack about his previous relationship, not wanting him to feel any obligation or discomfort, but he can't just leave Jack be. He has to explain something.

"I have something important to tell you, okay? And I don't want you to feel bad."

[frostedoverland]

Jack didn't like crouch on random objects, though, and he figured he was far enough on the edge to not need to worry about people. Jack shrugged at Akito.

"I'm not sure what you could say that would make me feel bad," He replied. He already felt bad enough that he didn't know Akito when he felt like he should have. He already guessed Akito considered him a friend. But there wasn't anything he could do about that. To Jack, this was their first meeting.

[akito]

Akito doesn't press it since it isn't that important. "Um, it wasn't just Pitch and Tooth who were there. But you probably guessed that by now, ne?" He laughs and fidgets with the hem of his shirt. "We were... You were my best friend. It was a post-apocalyptic world, and we helped each other out a lot. But we found a lot of cool places to have fun, too." The longer he talks, the more it's clear how fondly he remembers those moments. "Like there was an abandoned amusement park and we raced on the roller coaster tracks. Stuff like that."

[frostedoverland]

Jack couldn't help but smile. "I was?"

Well, it certainly sounded like they had a lot of fun despite the environment. He laughed about the roller coaster. That definitely sounded like something he would do. Although he hoped Akito was careful.

"Sounds like you had a good time despite the place."

[akito]

"You were! I never had a friend who loved me for me, and didn't see someone else when they looked at me." Even back home his friends would always assume he was Agito until he corrected them. He couldn't begrudge Agito having a life, but Akito would have liked to have been able to do more than watch from behind the glass, so to speak.

Plume peeps at him and he scoops her back up to place her on his shoulder, where she settles in comfortably. He considers Jack's words and, yes, despite the death and violence and fear there was much more love and good memories to make up for it. "I think Adstringéndum was one of the best things to happen to me. Almost all of it was because of you, and my big sister. So... I'd like to be friends, if that's okay with you."