savetheearth | if at first you don't succeed

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if at first you don't succeed

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.

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[It's pretty much one of the dumbest things he's seen in a while. (Though at this point, nothing out-stupids Arthur's song.) A guy just . . . jumping off things. Repeatedly. For no apparent reason.

[... Wait. Could it be that guy from the network who was making all the really annoying ice puns at him?

[Toushirou can be remarkably unobtrusive without even trying. He's small and quiet, so he doesn't generally garner the most notice. He's standing a little ways behind the guy when he makes another presumably failed jump.]

Trying to walk on air, or is there some stupider reason you have for doing this?

Nggghk!

[Mamoru didn't hear a thing, and when Toushirou speaks, he just about jumps out of his skin. This is rather difficult, since when Toshirou spoke, Mamoru had just jumped off the low brick wall at the back of the alley he'd been using as a platform.

The moment of panic is enough: for a moment, he does indeed catch himself in midair. Mamoru stares at Toushiro, eyes wide, for a long moment --

-- and then hits the ground. Not on his feet, no, that would be too dignified. Mamoru falls on his ass.]

Holy shit, where did you come from?!

[Eyebrows went up for a second. Yep, definitely the network guy; the standing in the air confirmed it.

[And even if he'd looked mildly impressed a second ago, that look shifted into distinctly unimpressed when the guy fell on his ass.]

I was just walking. It's not like I teleported. [That movement skill still made him feel sick as hell when he tried it.]

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.

After all that talk of alien invaders, magic notepads and mysterious networks Vanessa was glad to get back to doing what she knew. Late afternoon was one of the best times to get some money, around the time when the work day ended and the downtown streets were flooded by business types too tired and frustrated by their day or preoccupied with their cell phones to pay any mind to the tiny girl bumping into them with a meek apology before hurrying away. Only a few of them had even noticed that their wallet was missing before she had made it out of earshot altogether.

Now she was back in the less busy areas near the Dead District, hurriedly pulling the cash from her prizes and discarding the wallets themselves into a garbage bin. It wasn't a bad take, enough to keep her fed for the next few days while the money from her legitimate job as Vivian went to paying off her debt with whatever she could spare going into her fund to get her out of town. Especially after all that business with the network. Whatever that was all about, it wasn't her problem, and was just another reason to run as soon as she could.

The last wallet went into the trash and she pocketed her ill-gotten money, turning to go about her way when she caught sight of somebody else. Apparently, the spot she'd chosen wasn't as secluded as she'd hoped and she frowned when she realized who it was.

Starbucks Guy. Just what she needed. What the hell was he doing out here anyway?

All the way out here? What's a kid like you doing so close to the Dead District?

[There's a lot of questions on Mamoru's mind right now. He'll get to the big one -- did you see that -- soon, after the panic recedes. Maybe I can convince him he was imagining things...]

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.

There were a few garbage bins in this back alley and Mamoru was standing on top of one, facing away from Vin. He took a deep breath, then made a running jump off of it.

He very clearly runs in midair, making it about thirty feet before his power gave out and he dropped to the ground with an undignified thump.

"Ow!" he yelped as he hit the asphalt, scraping up his hands and forearms in the process. "Shit..." He took a moment before getting up again, pulling himself into a one-knee kneel and examining the shallow but ugly scratches on his forearms.

Yup, oblivious.

Where I go isn't any of your business. [He's pretty much just glad to have free rein again, after Granny watching him so closely since the mine. That, and he wants to see if there's anything going on in this area these days. He likes to be on top of things.]

[Mamoru's eyes narrow. What's with this kid?]

Jeez, fine! You don't talk to strangers, I get it.

[Maybe if he didn't bring up the fact that he stood in the air for a second, the kid will think he imagined it?]

[Yep, eyes narrowing here, too. "Don't talk to strangers"? What is he? Five? But he's not going to keep arguing about that because it's dumb and not what he wants to talk about anyway.]

Gotten any better at that yet?

What the hell.

She did not need this, at all. For a moment, her brain scrambled to come up with an explanation for what she'd just seen before simple realization set in: he was one of them, he was one of those people from that network.

She had to go, now, she decided. Nobody knew who she was and she wanted to keep it that way, no way was she going to run the risk of the Starbucks Guy (who she thought was way too dedicated to protecting a few damned baked goods) recognizing her.

She turned to go quickly, but distracted by seeing somebody fly and in a rush, she ended up bumping one of the trash cans, knocking it into a few others with a loud clatter.

Damnit!

...

[Play it cool, play it cool...]

At what?

[Huff. This is going nowhere unless he actually identifies himself, is it?

[He touches his palm to the wall of the building he's beside and concentrates for a moment. Ice rapidly forms in a rough circle a couple of feet wide on said wall.] That make it easier on you to answer?

Mamoru's head whipped around when he heard the crash. His jaw dropped -- he hadn't recognized her yet, but the fact that she probably just saw him fly was definitely cause for concern.

"Hey -- wait!" he called, leaping to his feet, scrapes forgotten. Her collision with the trash cans looked nasty, though, and without thinking, Mamoru shouts, "You okay?" It was reflexive, since any other questions would have taken more thought. He started to move towards her at a fast walk.

[Mamoru stares in surprise.

Oh. It's the ice guy who hates puns! Relief floods him: this really was unconscionably lucky.]

...oh, it's you! From the numbers club!

Man. Talk about lucky. The one person who spots me in this shady-ass part of town is already in on it.

[Suspicion flashes across Mamoru's face.]

...unless this isn't an accident

you didn't follow me, did you

[Eyeroll.] Of course I didn't follow you. Why the hell would I do that?

Damnit.

Vanessa cursed quietly when he called out after her, and again when she realized he was coming toward her. He hadn't recognized her yet, by the looks of things, if he remembered her face at all. Maybe she could still get out of this without being spotted.

"I'm fine," she called back, turning away and keeping her head down already beginning to move away, "I just tripped."

Come on, just turn around and go somewhere else....

[...man, he's got a mouth on him

how old is this kid? He looks like he's in middle school -- well, that explains it. Middle schoolers are dicks.]

I'm just saying, it's one heck of a coincidence. I mean, of all the places in this city you could be walking, and all the places I could be practicing...

Wait.

"....hey, you're--" Mamoru began, looking at her with narrowed eyes. "You're that goddamn pickpocket!"

Oh, this just got better and better.

"H-how much of that did you see?!" he demanded, stopping short about twenty feet away from her.

[Nonsense. There's a middle-schooler on the network who's a really sweet kid. It's just . . . not Toushirou.

[Another huff. This kid seems to do that a lot.] Things happen here sometimes. Related to the whole numbers crap, I mean. Was just checking to see if anything here's been flying under the radar while we all got distracted with the mine disaster.

[So basically he's trying to scout out enemy activity. You're not an enemy. You're just a jerk.]

The feeling was entirely mutual.

Her first instinct when he recognized who she was was to make a break for it, but she hesitated. She had just seen him fly and that might be just one of the abilities he'd gotten.

She stopped when he did, narrowing her own eyes right back, and glancing toward one of the overturned trash cans holding the wallets she had just emptied. Normally pretty bad news, except....

"About as much as you did."

And you went by yourself? How old are you?

[Jesus christ, who lets this middle schooler run around abandoned parts of the city by himself? It's actually a little horrifying.]

Oh, he saw what she was doing here. She saw him fly. He saw her with the stolen wallets. Mutual dirt, an unspoken agreement that neither one of them would talk.

And that would be completely fair...

...if it weren't for the fact that if she talked, no one would believe her!

He decided to call her bluff. "Who're you gonna tell?" Mamoru asked, folding his arms. "Who's gonna believe you? Hell, I can't believe you believe what you saw."

[Yeah, like Granny knows he's here. There are things you don't tell people who aren't on the network. Especially when they can dictate whether or not you can leave the house.]

Tch. This is exactly why I stuck to text for so long on the network. I'm eleven. Going to get the freakout over with, now?

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if at first you don't succeed

Outside the Dead District | June 24

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