caughtinanetwork | accidental video; open

Entry tags:

accidental video; open

[The sound of clattering begins at the start of the feed and after a bit of static and frantic chirping in the background there's a grunt and a thump when Axel suddenly hits the ground.

He's gotten a bit dizzy and disoriented thanks to how cold his body has gotten, so it's so surprise he's found himself more or less sitting and slumped up against a tree somewhere in the dome. Having dropped his SFC somewhere on the pavement, he can't get up and reach it right away, so it's up to three frantic chocobo chicks to alert anyone nearby.

All together now they flock to the communicator and peck and bat their little wings.

Halp.]

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[Curious, Popcorn the yellow chocobo chick hovers over to watch Leo work then settles on his shoulder. Oooooh.]

How come you gotta wait?

It's just how it works when I pull out things that aren't found in a machine workshop. It's gotta cool down or something.

[He wishes he had a better answer than that, but he's still testing its limits.]

Huh.

[It doesn't really make sense... but Axel won't question it. Different worlds, different customs and magic. Sighing, he leans back to rest his head against the tree.]

So you could literally take out anything you wanted, then?

Allllmost anything. I can't pull out magical items unless I put them there. So no celestial bronze, imperial gold, weapons made from those, nectar or ambrosia. And really complex or huge things are a no go, too. Can't pull out a chainsaw or anything like that.

[He's tried. But it did grant him a circular saw.]

Heh. I'd hate too see you wielding a chainsaw in the first place, buddy.

Why's that?

With those scrawny arms? I wonder if the chainsaw would be the one manipulating you instead.

[The hot cocoa is finally finished and Leo pours it into two mugs, handing one off to Axel before taking a sip of his own.]

Dude, don't knock the scrawny arms. They're a lot stronger than they look.

[Axel takes the mug from him and leans back against the tree again with a sigh. At least it feels warm without needing any contact... yet.]

We'll just have to see about that when we actually do spar.

Guess so. That's coming up in a few days. You been practicing?

[He takes another drink. It's been awhile since he's made some proper hot cocoa.]

[He scoffs.]

Please. Practice? Who needs that? I'm all set, man.

I've been training every day even before we made plans for this. You sure you're gonna be fine?

[Honestly, he's lying; Axel trains a lot while he's down here, even when there's no spar about to happen. Just because he doesn't have his usual job down here, doesn't mean he can let himself get rusty. But unlike Leo, he hasn't been training every day.]

Oh, yeah. I could kick your ass right here, right now if I really felt like it.

I'm not gonna fight you in the middle of this stupid curse. One of is gonna end up on the ground freezing our ass off like you were when I got here.

Unless we touch the whole time.

[Scoff. He takes a sip of his drink now... ooh. There's a kick to that.]

This ain't bad, kiddo.

That sounds more like dancing than fighting, dude.

And of course it isn't bad. I made it. [He smirks. There's also the factor that it's a good recipe that's hard to mess up if you're anything close to resembling a good cook.]

[Snort]

Don't get too cocky.

[He laughs but then suddenly pauses as he shivers again, the cold nipping at every bit of his body.]

It's not being cocky if it's true. I've been cooking for more than half my life. I've got lots of practice.

[He notices the shiver and moves to go sit next to Axel, shoulder to shoulder.]

Have you?

[That actually impresses him a bit.]

Heh. When'd you ever get the permission or time to do that sort of thing?

[... Shoulder nudge. Yes. More warmth.]

Yeah.

[He looks down at his mug of hot cocoa and takes a sip before going back to staring at it.]

It was a survival skill. And it's not like you have anyone to ask for permission when you're running away from foster homes and living on the street.

[... Oh. Did he just touch on a topic he shouldn't have? He considers not saying anything further about it, but-]

Do you wanna talk about it?

[That's probably a better thing to ask.]

[He sighs. It's not something he likes talking about but better to tell his fire bro than to have Dr Stein be the only one (aside from his friends back home) who knows about it.]

It's fine. I'll tell you. My mom died in a fire when I was 8. The authorites all believed I caused the fire because I was in the building with her and survived. I wasn't the one but I thought I was until recently. Long story short I got put into foster care and ran away six times before they sent me to this school for delinquents. That's where I met Piper and Jason and we found out we were demigods.

[Axel listens closely, looking down towards the ground as he does, but every so often he looks over to Leo just to see if he's doing ok. He understands what it's like to talk about backstories and things, especially ones that he's not particularly ok with.]

Mm.

[He takes another sip of cocoa.]

... So do you know who caused the fire?

[Leo nods.]

Yeah. It was Gaea. She told me she did it to break my spirit. I wish I could say it wasn't at least somewhat effective.

[He doesn't know who that is and something still tells him that he shouldn't ask, so he doesn't. Instead, Axel nudges Leo with his shoulder.]

If it did, I can't even tell.

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