OPEN

[glorifiedtrash]

Who: Anyone!
When: backdated 3/14
Where: Hall of Glory courtyard
What: You thought you'd just come and go normally, but no there's an obstacle course and a...barbecue...? In the courtyard...? Obstacle course log that requires TEAMWORK or cheating to get through!
Rating: Naked, succulent meats, but otherwise nah

The courtyard of the Hall of Glory today looks a bit different. It also smells delicious. Are those cooked meats? Sizzled vegetables? There's BBQ going on and it's all free, costs covered! The only problem? It's at the center of this damn obstacle course. You could just leave and get your own food. ...But that still involves going through the course or one of the side exits of the compound, but where's the fun in that. Either way you should probably do as the sign helpfully pitched next to the entrance of the course says: DON'T GO ALONE TAKE A PARTNER

I. THE ROPE BRIDGE The entrance to the course is a ladder leading high up. When you get to the top... Congrats, a rope bridge awaits you. You can go it alone, but without someone to hold the ladder for you to keep it from flipping over you'll probably fall fifteen feet below. Onto a pile of cushions and...seagulls and cats? The cushions are covered in thrown out fish heads. Take this fall and you're going to have animals following you around all day. Probably best avoided.

II. THE SLIDE You're doing good! Now it's time to get back down to the ground, lucky you. Your option is the slide in front of you. Just... Well. You're going to have a bad time when you reach the bottom unless your partner keeps the flames extinguished with a little ice magic (these flames will instantly re-ignite themselves once all ice has melted away, you see. Kind of a bitch). Don't know ice magic? Well that's what the helpful sign with step-by-step instructions to casting a low level ice spell is for! Time for a magic lesson!

III. THE BBQ You reached it! Now you don't have to suffer Monday's deadly menu in the cafeteria. ...Oh. You were trying to get out? Keep pressing on, hero. Or not. Sit down. Have a bite! With a grill and a large selection of meats and vegetables to choose from along with water and juice there's plenty to go around. Maybe chitchat with the chef. Or maybe you've been conned into being the chef. There's no pay, but know you're doing your fellow heroes a great service!

IV. THE BOUNCE HOUSE You enter a tunnel. Things get dark. And then suddenly there's flashing lights everywhere and every step your partner takes makes the floor rise beneath you, sending you flying up. You've enter the most obnoxious bounce house Caissa has to offer. Better figure out a way to walk in tandem with your partner or the two of you are going to be tumbling all over. Which isn't what you want seeing as you're not alone in here. Every bounce sends up slimy tendrils that squirm in your hair, your clothes, down your back. Isn't this obstacle course supposed to be kid friendly!? Get a good look in the strobe lights and you'll realize it's just worms. You're safe. Still disgusting though.

V. THE WALL This is it. Then end. Finally. You can get out of this incredibly lame obstacle course. The final thing in your way? A wall of hay. Happily munching away cows included. At 15" high you can't get over this thing alone. Maybe if you stand on your partner's shoulders? Whatever it takes, now's the time to get creative because those cows sure aren't demolishing the wall any time soon at the rate they're chewing.

WILDCARD/INFO This is just an obstacle course for fun to get characters ICly thinking about teaming up with one another and how to work together on their own terms in a safe (if...weird...) environment. Feel free to make up your own obstacles, wreck parts of the course, solve the obstacles however you like, etc. Essentially rule of funny goes!

Comments

[topkong]

[ The grin he wears freezes on his face for a moment, before fading into a pout. ]

Oh. Well, yeah. I just figured, you know... you could help a monkey out.

[ A very capable one, but darn. The way Light said it makes it look like Wukong will have to climb. With a defeated shrug, he approaches the bales and glances upward. ]

... yeah, I can do this. Do you mind keeping me company while I take a go at this?

[ Staff in his tail, he cracks his knuckles. ]

[moreasleep]

[He turned the meats and vegetables on the grill. The vegetables looked done so he set it on a plate.]

Everyone should know this. [He did not mean cooking like a professional, just basic food safety.] You can't always rely on others for food.

[He used the thermometer to check the meat Dust had grilled.]

It's ready.

[accordance]

[ Well, he is a god of industry. No use profiting off other people when you could achieve your own happiness by yourself. ]

I could, but you are quite large. It may hamper both our speed.

[ Given that he's not very fast himself, it's going to be a serious problem. ]

Of course. I will go with you.

[ He waits until Wukong has started to climb before taking off, wingbeats surprisingly silent despite their size. ]

[accordance]

The tension of the rope. It requires precision.

[ Luckily, he doesn't take too long. After about ten seconds, he will start making his way across, one rung at a time. While he's moving, he's registering all the minute compositions of it, determining the center of gravity after each movement.

The good thing is that he doesn't fall. The bad thing is... well. He's half the speed of Gilbert's. He's sped himself up a little at the other's insistence, but it's still not all that fast.

Maybe he needs a bit more prodding? ]

[mithrarin]

Somehow it never came up before.

['Somehow' being quite the story.]

I'm not sure why they didn't just get you to do this.

[topkong]

[ With a quiet snort of indignation, he starts to climb. Strong hands clench hay, pulling chunks of it out as he starts to ascend the less-than-dangerous height. At least, it's not as bad as long as LL spots him.

Only a third of the way up, Wukong checks to make sure he's being followed and he is--- those wings don't sound like anything at all. ]

Huh. So are you an angel or something?

[ He's able to speak normally, even as he expends his energy. Might as well enjoy a conversation through the monotony of climbing Mount Bale. ]

[moreasleep]

Because I have better things to do than cook for fucking free!

[Yet here he was. Aw, look, it was as if he actually had feelings.]

Get that food off before it burns. Start the next batch already.

[mithrarin]

[The fact that Rory is actually helping despite his yelling, snark, and attitude is the only thing keeping Dust from snapping back. Instead, he quickly shifts the meat off the grill to a serving plate, then tosses down several more chicken breasts and a couple of steaks. Can't fault his efficiency at least.]

[accordance]

[ Wukong's movements are energetic and strong - as befitting a person of his stature, of course. Lord Light watches in quiet curiosity - he is not human, and yet there are certain traits that show as a blend of both ape and man.

The question, though : ]

I am not. However, I am not human.

[ It doesn't really answer Wukong's question, but he really doesn't want to say it blankly. ]

[interchained]

Ughh...

[The groan Gilbert makes when he starts moving again is quite loud, it even manages to make a few cats and seagulls look up at the bridge. They're too far to do anything, but Gilbert can't help the unpleasant shiver that rolls down his back.]

Are you messing with me? You can examine whatever obstacle you want later, just hurry up!

[topkong]

[ The best of both worlds: sentience gained through an unusual, magical birth and an upbringing alongside humans. Wukong is as close to human as a monkey can be, except being a monkey is about 100% cooler. ]

Huh. Could have fooled me, with the wings and all. [ Pausing for a moment, he wipes sweat off of his forehead and turns to look at Light with a smirk. ]

Then, I can assume you're not a devil as well? [ Wukong's pretty happy with himself, this man could either be his angel or devil and would hate to find out if he was a liar too...

But then, the hay shakes. Two cows must be fighting over one very specific piece of hay, because Wukong loses his focus and suddenly he's not clinging to the bales anymore and...!!! ]

[endoftherepublic]

That will come eventually. [Hux waves a hand idly, as if bushing off Zelo's question. However, whether he's talking about working within them as a unit or knowing their names, it's not clear.]

As of yet, I have had little time to be able to observe those here in training modules. The only chance I have had was during the massacre at the expo, and that was hardly an ideal time considering I had only arrived in Blanc on that day. Not that the primitive nature of this world doesn't allow for any sort of realistic simulations to be run. Not that our current excuse for leadership would run us through them, but...well. Hopefully that will change in the near future.

[endoftherepublic]

Because that is not my purpose here today. [he waves an indicating hand at the obstacle course] At this stage, I can learn far more by observation.

[accordance]

[ That's something he generally subscribes to. ]

What is it that you wish to learn, then?

[accordance]

[ My, my. What an impatient one.

... that would be what he will say if he had been that sort of deity, but he isn't. Instead, Gilbert gets three seconds of silence before he speaks. ]

I am not. You do not wish me to fall, do you? I am doing my best to ensure that.

[ Okay, he's going to speed up. His hands do not shake, but the rope bridge does (a little). ]

[accordance]

[ He'll not comment on that, since he's not human either. ]

It does give that impression, yes. [ Leaving out the detail that he kind of created angels too, since he can't do that now. ] You can assume that too. I am neither -

[ - he would have added more at this point, if not for the fact that the bales oscillate much more violently than Wukong can handle. Lord Light cuts his sentence short, dropping a feet of height so he can catch the monkey by his armpits.

Unfortunately for the both of them, his wings don't have gravity-nullification properties anymore, so the added weight causes him to lose another two feet before he can stabilize himself. His wings are indeed making sounds now, deep beats that almost resonate in one's ears. ]

Is it alright with you if I place you back upon the wall once it has settled?

[ He's... not the strongest, admittedly. They're hovering, but that's it. ]

[topkong]

[ Wukong wasn't sure what he was expecting, whether he'd be caught or not as well as how painful it would be if he hit the ground from this height. Maybe using his weapon to keep himself from going SPLAT! would have been effective, but there were other dangers inherent to doing that.

Being caught, of course, removes those potential Bad Ends out of his thoughts. He's surprised how quickly Light reacted, given how suddenly his grip was lost? But now, he can hear the hard thumps of wings straining to keep two beings afloat, not to mention the small drop they took. It didn't take a genius to understand a still semi-precarious situation. ]

Yeah, no problem. No rush.

[ There isn't a rush, and the last thing he wanted to do was potentially cause both of them to plummet. Either way, before the cows get tired battling for hay domination... ]

Well, whatever or whoever you are? Glad you're here.

[interchained]

Of course I don't...listen, I really want to get out of here fast.

[He may be impatient and continue to mumble even after he picks up the pace (it's something about the cats down there, though...probably), but it doesn't change the fact he's holding the ropes tight and keeps his eyes shut. If only he could muffle those meowing sounds...]

[accordance]

[ Lord Light doesn't have a body like most living beings, so there is no heavy breathing nor strain in his voice to signify the effort that he now has to expend. The only sign would be his wings being more laboured than before. He can barely keep his height, much less fly upwards. ]

Thank you. [ And then, to answer his statement: ] I am who I am. And - what I have done is only logical. You need not thank me.

[ His attention is focused on the hay bales. Once they settle back to their previous conformation, he would fly closer and try to place Wukong back onto them as gently as he can. ]

[accordance]

I see.

[ As he comes closer, Lord Light does catch Gilbert's muttering about the cats. It takes a three-step deduction to reason that the other man certainly doesn't like them, so he speeds up his pace more as to avoid discomfort to the other.

It still takes him a bit of time, but he does reach the other side in one piece. ]

[endoftherepublic]

The strengths and weaknesses of the Heroes as a group. Where we need to improve most. Who is more skilled in certain areas than others. [He glances back at said obstacle course] We do not yet function well as a cohesive fighting unit.

[accordance]

[ That has him tilting his head. ]

And what of you? What will be your aptitude regarding this setup?

[endoftherepublic]

I know my own strengths and weaknesses already. I hardly need to try and judge myself. [dryly, again.]

[accordance]

[ Okay, that's reasonable as well. ]

Will you be able to traverse it, then? By watching where others falter?

[endoftherepublic]

[Hux considers this, and the obstacle course before him]

From what I have observed so far, the course is specifically set up in order to cause those facing it to need to work with a partner, if they chose to try and find their way through in the traditional, linear sense. However, I believe--and this theory will either be supported or discarded based on what I continue to observe--that with some alternate choices, one might be able to traverse it on their own.

[he shrugs, casually] This remains to be seen, however.