if at first you don't succeed

[15minuteslate]

Who: Mamoru Nakamura and anyone who finds him
What: He's trying to practice with his air-walking powers somewhere no one can find him, so of course he's going to get found.
Where: Several secluded places around LCU, the outskirts of the Dead District, the warehouse-o'-parkour Riku mentioned. Basically, as soon as someone finds him in one place, he's going to move to another.
When: June 24 and 25, early afternoon and late at night.



Mamoru stood on top of a picnic table. He glared down at the ground, which seemed unreasonably far off for it just being a goddamn table. He takes a deep breath, steps out into empty air --

-- and hits the ground with a thud, kicking up a small cloud of dry dirt.

Oh well, at least he landed on his feet, he thought, climbing back up again.

No luck the second time, either. Mamoru scratched the back of his neck. What am I doing wrong?

He stood atop the picnic table like the most self-conscious king-of-the-mountain ever and huffed out a breath, hands on his hips.

Okay. Gotta focus. Gotta think back -- what did I do, when I fell out the window? How was it different from every other time I've fallen out of something?

I saw a snake monster, for one thing. But that's not gonna help me here. Uhh...

He shut his eyes.

I was in real danger of falling. It was a knee-jerk thing, a reflex.

God, I hope no one sees me doing this. I must look like a real idiot, jumping off of a freaking picnic table.

Okay, okay, so maybe if I jump off and don't try to catch myself...? he wondered. God, I hope that triggers it, or I'm going to feel REALLY dumb.

Mamoru opened his eyes. The ground seemed even further away, so he shut them again, tight.

Don't catch yourself. You're falling for real.

He stepped out.

Comments

[visionarykitten]

It was LCU that Gomez was currently investigating, after hours now that the worst of the festival thing was over with for the night. He was nosing into dropped bits of trash, looking for food, when the guy on the table caught his attention. A bit of fried fish still clinging to his whiskers and his tail held high, he padded over to investigate.

And stopped and stared when the boy hovered.

[15minuteslate]

Yes! Yes yes yes he was doing it, it was working --! A big, goofy grin spread across Mamoru's face as he stood there, arms outspread, reflexively ready to catch himself.

He could only maintain it a few seconds longer; Mamoru dropped to the ground, landing neatly on his feet, immensely pleased with himself. He stretched his arms out in front of him, cracking his knuckles, taking a moment to enjoy his success before giving it another go.

sorry about the late, I was waiting on an echo :)

[visionarykitten]

Gomez's tail lashed in surprise, and that same heartbeat-overwhelming feeling came back-- along with a flash of some other cat, also walking on the air.

Even the air will listen to the Speech, she was saying. You just have to use the right words to remind it of when it used to be solid. Like this. And in his memory, she stepped off the roof of a huge building, and into the air.

"Whoah," he said out loud, in said Speech, and understandable to anybody who happened to be listening. Like one black-haired young man who'd just been air-walking.

no prob!!

[15minuteslate]

Mamoru's head whipped around, looking around for the source of that. He didn't automatically assume it was the cat talking (who would?). No, Mamoru had jumped to a worse conclusion.

"Hello?" he asked, eyes narrowed. "Is anyone here?"

If anyone saw me...

[visionarykitten]

For a beat, Gomez was embarrassed. He didn't usually just talk to people, but... something about what he just "saw" seemed to make it appropriate.

And besides, he thought, someone walking on the air had to be a network someone, right?

Still, his voice was kind of sheepish when he spoke up again, a couple seconds later. "Uh, sorry. That's me." And he sat his rump down on the grass, ears skewed embarrassedly and eyes on Mamoru.

[15minuteslate]

He was able to pinpoint the direction the voice was coming from this time, and his eyes came to rest on Gomez just in time to see the cat's mouth move.

Which....really only surprised him a little.

Oh yeah, didn't Regina say there was another talking cat around here? What was his name again? Gunther? Garcia?

"Oh," Mamoru said with a blink. He crouched down, lowering his voice. "You're another talking cat? I think Regina mentioned you. You're from the numbers club, right? Or are there talking cats who aren't involved in this whole network business and humans just don't know about them?"

[visionarykitten]

"As far as I know-- just us, with the numbers. Me and Regina. I'm Gomez." He'd decided in the end that "gogo" was probably less dignified, in general, and Ravi still called him Gomez, anyway. Sometimes.

And, because the air-walking was still pretty forefront in his mind, he added, "That was really cool."

[15minuteslate]

"Really? You think so?" Mamoru thanked his lucky stars that Gomez had seen a successful attempt with a dignified landing, because if you looked stupid in front of a cat, even the normal ones judged you.

He grinned. "I think talking cats are pretty cool, too. Nice to meet you, Gomez. I'm Mamoru."

[visionarykitten]

Gomez was already thinking past greetings, though, his ears skewed in confusion as he tried to think past that... thing he just saw. Or remembered. Or something. "I think I saw another talking Person once who could do that, too. That air-walking thing. Or maybe used to know. Or...."

He'd confused himself. He was just a kid, by cat standards, really, and not one with a ton of experience.

"Is that what those extra things are like?"

[15minuteslate]

"...wait, there's someone else who can do this? Who? Where can I find them?" Mamoru asked, getting a little excited.

Maybe if I can find someone who can teach me, I won't have to fall so much...!

[visionarykitten]

"I-- auo ur-au hrahhu'ihh. I just saw it... or remembered it... or something." He flattened his over-large ears down, somewhere between annoyed and worried. This was new to him; the only other memory he'd gotten so far had been traumatic and in the middle of that crazy mess of the mine. "It was like it happened to me forever ago. Or to someone else and I saw it inside his head. It was another Person except rhiw’aow. I mean-- she was black. Almost all black."