He turned his attention to an order aura that pinged into range nearby. Grinning he moved to intercept, his grin growing wider when he saw who it was.
He’d recognize that stick anywhere.
Waving to Wallop, Phrygia landed a short distance away, letting his cane rest on his shoulder. “Oh, hello,” he said with a grin. “Nice to see another wanderer in the night.”
---
“...Oh hey I think the Bennet’s are the next block over.”
Probably not the best opening line, but … but top hat… and cane. It was the most outlandish costume he could think of outside of his own. “s**t though at least your stick is kind of more practical length…” He frowned, looking the larger knight up and down and raising a hand to brush the stick off his shoulder. “But hey I mean bonus points I assume you’re not about to start trying to punch me. I don’t think I’ve managed to piss off anyone on this side that bad yet, and the other guys don’t seem to need much of an excuse.
Man he’d have to tell Lucas about this.’Sorry dude you are no longer the only muscular redhead I know and this one comes with a waistcoat.’.
He had to wonder from the grin though if the other man’s excitement was because he too had only rarely encountered other people in more than passing, with the exception of the huge throw down with the youma. Had he seen this guy… nah. No he was pretty sure he’d have stood out, even with the giant bird monster. New faces. Cool.
“So… Hi… I’m… Nether Wallop.” he offered, extending the hand he’d used to brush at the stick to shake. “You?”
---
“Phrygia,” Phrygia said, the grin growing wider as he shook the offered hand firmly. “So does that make you a walloper of nethers? Or is it what you do with yours? Would explain the big… stick.”
Okay, Phrygia had to admit that was hardly smooth. But, work with what you got.
“Haven’t really run into too many people out here, save for a cute little piece that ran around masked, which is a crying shame,” Phrygia added, before looking Wallop over with a somewhat predatory gaze. “Though, I’ll count my blessings for tonight’s eye candy all the same.”
“Do people often try to punch you Wallop? I mean, you name might be an open invitation, but all the same…”
---
“Ehhhh…” Wallop made a ‘so so’ gesture with his other hand, crook balanced in the bend of his arm. “Mostly the jackass with the hair to his ankles and the night with the ******** of monsters. And the blue haired chick who decided to lecture me on what I did and didn’t know and booped my nose… um. Blond hair, pink streaks? Catwoman moves? I think I know the masked girl you’re talkin’ about.”
OK so that was interesting, he hadn’t crossed many paths twice. “Also points because at least -part- of that was a Wallop joke I had not heard or made yet. Well… no I think the blue lady … you still get partial credit. I mean it’s low hanging fruit. Drum riff here. But you’re gonna have to wait for it to get a little hotter before I cave and do a strip show. THis thing is going to suck in August…” He admitted, tugging at the green wrap around his shoulders. It was ok when the nights cooled down but man… he was going to go stand in a fountain one of these nights.
“But that doesn’t look a lot cooler…” He added.
---
Phrygia nodded. “Yes, it gets a bit like a broiler in this thing but if a little sweat is the cost of looking sharp I’ll pay it.” He said, tipping his hat back a bit with the ball of his cane.
“I mean, I’m not shooting for low hanging fruit… Unless you’re into a bit of biting.” The grin that accompanied the statement probably belonged on some sort of canine.
“Though perhaps, you and I could get a drink sometime,” he added. “You know to cool down..”
At the mention of the girl he snapped his fingers. “Yes, exactly the one. Small world,” Phrygia said, before reaching into his jacket and pulling out his smokes and lighter. “Mind if I?”
---
“Depends on the circumstance.” He chuckled. OK this guy was fun at least. “And hey maybe sometime.” Damn, he was almost 21. He knew Lucas didn’t care quite as much but that was under more… controlled circumstances. And maybe he was assuming things by assuming it was more than a couple cold sodas in front of a vending machine. The smokes were going to drive him nuts in temptation though.
“Yeah go ahead. I’d join you but I’m trying to cut down I’ve got a friend who’s trying to drag me kicking and screaming into fitness. I mean he smokes too but he’s already strong enough to bench press me so he can probably afford a few more bad habits.”
---
Phrygia lit the cigarette and took a long drag. “Nothing wrong with a little bit of fitness, though I much prefer horizontal workouts.” He said with a small chuckle. “So what does this friend do for fitness?”
Phrygia knew he should fess up - but this was far too fun to not let ride. Besides, it might make Wallop actually grow an ego and that’d be a site to see.
“After all your talk of punching was getting a bit concerned this gig is more dangerous than I first thought.” He lied through his teeth. He’d already seen what the other side could do - and it chilled him.
---
“Boxing mostly, some weight lifting…” He was pretty sure Lucas just enjoyed watching him struggle with some of the torture machi…. Weight machines. “Wait till my rooster gets bigger I bet he’ll get into running.” He added, with a slight snort. Bodi had something of that effect but she was sort of limited by clipped wings and hop range. “The people are bad but the giant undead bird monster still took the cake.”
He had to admit. At least with people it was… well you didn’t watch people get pounded half to death my screaming. “That was crazy. I mean imagine a warehouse full of people throwing everything they have at this thing and it just… keeps…” Ugh. He’d been sore for ages…
“It’s scary s**t. Don’t get me wrong… and some of the little bastards have range on them and that sucks…. But try and catch up with someone and… “ He waved vaguely at the roof tops. “I mean it’s a damn freeway up there but I don’t see as many people having each others backs as you’d think… not unless you have a building sized monster bringing the house down I guess.
--
“So the night is dark and full of monsters, lovely,” Phrygia chuckled and flicked the dead butt of his cigarette onto the roof, before grinding it dead under his foot. Looking over at Wallop he grinned. “Well, I suppose it might be interesting to learn a bit of fighting beyond smacking things with a stick.”
He moved a step closer, letting his cane tap the rooftop. “What do you think? Mind showing me the ropes of how to deal with the ne'er do wells? I haven’t been in a proper tussle since high school.”
This was a boldface lie, and a shameless one at that. “Maybe I’ll learn a trick or two.”
---
Wallop shot him a look. It wasn’t the look of someone who had caught on to the fact he was being played, it was the look of someone who was trying to figure out how desperate a guy Phrygia’s size had to be to ask him how to stay safe out there.
“OK so my first tip is -get yourself to an actual training class and do this right if you can-...” He admitted, now fidgeting with his stick. Was this guy really that out of his depth? He was so frickin big, how did you get that buff and not… and kind of a scary amount of responsibility of he gave bad information and got someone hurt. “I mean I can try but most of my dog eared tricks are ‘flail wildly’ ‘make bad jokes’ and ‘sprint as necessary’. I mean hey if they’re chasing me they aren’t mugging Joe Shmoe trying to get home from work…”
It was not a dignified technique but he figured it was a legitimate one. “But I can throw a few punches with you if you really want…”
----
Phrygia nodded his head, and moved around the roof, looking for the clearest spot that he could find. “I’d be down for a bit of entertainment.” He said with a nod, taking off his hat and draping it on the ball of his cane, letting both lean against a wall as he moved back over, taking up probably the WORST possible stance someone could put up. Something that was obviously the stance someone who’d only seen fights in the movies would do.
“Alright, so, what’s first?” He asked from around his overly raised firsts. He was hoping that at the very least Wallop would correct him and show him the basics - he knew he’d taught him at least that much as Lucas.
---
“How….” He strangled the rest of the comment, because the guy, for whatever daft reason, was legitimately asking for his help, and oh God, how had the universe conspired to make someone built like Lucas who was a worse fighter than Kidder himself? Well, to be fair, Kidder had always had a -vague- notion but mostly of how to weasel out of getting hurt worse. This guy clearly didn’t even have that.
“OK… first…” He winced, trying to find something charitable to say. “First…” Ok maybe he’d just… “Ok you’re going to break your wrist if you punch like that… more like… and…” He floundered for the words, walking back over and just attempting to manually adjust Phrygia’s stance issues with nudges and tugs.
“...More like that. I mean you’ve got a arm the size of my head, but you want to damage the other guy not yourself.”
---
“Oh, okay,” Phrygia said, nodding and letting Wallop correct his form. Inside he was all but overflowing with pride. Still it wouldn’t do to end the charade now - so he kept a tight control on it. Still at the mention of doing damage to the other guy…
“Oh a punch can’t hurt that much. Go ahead and hit me.” He said with a chuckle. “I bet they overstate it in the movies and stuff.”
---
“Good lord you Sweet Summer Child.” Wallop sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. As someone who’d been punched plenty of times, he had a few opinions on the matter… but on the upside, it gave him some good ideas where it hurt too… but he guessed that could wait. This was probably the best chance he was going to have for ages to knock a chip off someone’s macho.
“OK well you’re partially right, movies and stuff are generally pretty wrong about punching…” He started making as though he were legitimately about the lecture on the subject… and then, praying to whatever gym gods had smiled upon Lucas… fired a punch at Phrygia’s solar Plexus, and hoping not to pop a knuckle on those damn vest buttons.
He did have a few thoughts on movie punches. Most of them were that they were bullshit. Especially heros shaking off blows like they were nothing… and wasn’t going to get started on punching people in the face. Besides that though he wanted to catch the guy off guard, figuring it would make more of an impression. No time to brace for impact might make a difference with Wallops own inferior muscle mass.
---
Phrygia had to give Wallop credit, the punch came so quickly and unexpectedly that he didn’t have time to prepare for the impact, which led him to curling forward with a low breathless grunt.
<********,” He hissed in a low, breathless gasp as he tried to recover, cradling his chest with a groan.
He had half a mind to return tit for tat but right then his focus was getting air into his lungs.
---
Wallop’s expression, and something of the noise he made (while shaking out his knuckles, which had definitely popped on that goddamn button), was the visual and auditory equivalent of a string of question marks and exclamation points, because that had definitely been -KIDDER- not ‘WALLOP’, and he had no idea who would have that name other than Lucas and Mercy, and Lucas wasn’t powered, and Mercy wasn’t, he was pretty sure, going around dropping his other name like pocket change.
The crook was in his hand almost before he was consciously aware he wanted it, and he swung in a low arc to try and hook the end around Phrygia’s ankles or knees and flip him onto his back, planning to ‘menace’ him with the straight end, because he wanted answers, and he wanted them… approximately yesterday.
---
Phrygia went from hunched over and trying to draw air, to on his back and trying to draw air. “********!” He grunted, reaching up to rub the growing goose egg as he looked up at Wallop with a his. “Hey, what’s with the sudden roughhousing, eh?”
He slowly tried to sit up, rubbing at his head, ignoring the menacing stick. “It's like I cooked your bird or something.”
His head hurt and now he was getting grouchy.
---
The end of the stick wavered, and then lowered from it’s threatening position as Wallops eyes widened, and then immediately swung back in threat of a firm whack upside the head, though Wallop did not follow through this time. “Holy s**t you ********! I’m gonna kick your a**!”
Ok well maybe he already -had- but he could gloat about that later. “What the ******** happened to you? Oh Christ is this my fault?” Oh god that b***h had had her hands on Lucas’s starseed, same as had happened to him. Or maybe he was more literally contagious. Was this stuff contagious?
And another wild gesture as he banished the crook again. “You deserve an a** kicking you d**k! You think this is funny? I didn’t know you from ADAM and you’re like hur hur hey skinny dude come give me some pointers and then you’re using my NAME and WHAT THE HELL WAS I SUPPOSED TO THINK?”
---
“Ki...Wallop, calm down,” Phrygia said, already pulling two cigarettes from his jacket and offering Wallop one, mindful of the stick that was being waved in his general direction. “You’re right, I was being a jerk, but we both know that that’s our default settings.”
“And no, this isn’t your fault. If this s**t’s catching I probably got it from my boss.” He said placing his own cigarette between his lips. “Lord knows I’ve gotten way more exposure there.”
He lit up, taking a long drag. “But, yeah, thank god it’s just me and you - could you imagine Mary dealing with this s**t? Or god forbid, Mercy?”
---
Wallop squinted at him, jaw set, and then reached for the cigarette, hoping the annoyed snatch covered the wince when Phrygia… Lucas had mentioned Mercy.
“There’s girls out here younger than her, you know?” He pointed out, sitting down slowly, cross legged on the roof, because goddamn, there was a LOT to take in. “I saw them, at least two of ‘em… They were senshi, but damn man they should have been safe home in bed, not out here throwing magic around at a maniac with an -actual scythe- and his pet bone monsters.” He shuddered a little, remembering the screaming and the chaos and the suffering. Trying to apply -veterinary skills- to people for ******** sake.
“You got a light to go with this thing or are you just torturing me with withheld nicotine?” He asked.
He felt a little bad for not telling Lucas -immediately- about Mercy, but s**t, she’d kick his a** into a new dimension. Besides maybe he should be telling -her- to watch out for Lucas. She’d been out here longer than either of them, as far as he could tell.
“Your boss too? Seriously? I mean on all levels. -Your Boss-.” He raised an eyebrow and added. “Did you like get a raise or something for services rendered?”
---
Phrygia wasted no time in lighting the Cigarette for Wallop, joining him in sitting on the roof for the moment as he tried to collect his thoughts. The fact that there were kids younger than his niece running around in the mix made him cringe. “Damn right, kids should be at home.”
The monsters and scythe thing sounded like ground he wanted no part of, so he avoided it, instead facing the question of his boss head on.
“It’s not like that - I mean… I kinda just happened. She’s not looking for a boyfriend and I’m not good boyfriend material. It just works.” He gave a small shrug. “I mean, once you get past the social awkwardness and the way she takes all statements literally she’s at least s decent person - and cute.”
And he was a raging dumpster fire using her for the sake of her not saying no…
---
“So’s Drax but I wouldn’t bang him.” Wallop noted, somewhat uncharitably. Was he a little j… nah that was dumb. He’d never been before, and he and Lucas had a similar sort of back scratching arrangement. “Whatever floats your boat, dude.” He sighed, drawing in a puff of smoke and letting it out in a long, draconic curl.
“I -am- trying to cut back.” He added, defensively, though that hadn’t even come up. “I mean I’m not wrong you can afford a few more bad habits than I can…. But man I think the worst part of it all is that some of those damn kids were tougher than me. If they hadn’t helped hold the line we wouldn’t have been able to get people out and… I didn’t tell you about like… any of that but holy s**t that was a scary a** night.
“Some guy turned out to be a trainee nurse or paramedic or something. I just had vet class s**t. I mean damn man I seriously considered changing majors because I mean… who else is gonna look at some of the stuff they can do and go ‘goddamn that is an claw mark not a knife or a farm tool, better make sure it’s clean… ’ but… I don’t know if I could do it. That would be like never ever leaving this stuff at the door, not for a minute.”
---
“What the ******** did we get into, man?” Phrygia chuckled, shaking his head. The fact Kidder was turning green would have been amusing if it wasn’t also terrifying. Kidder knew better than anyone just how bad he was for others to be around - he should be running away - not marching stubbornly forward.
Oh well, not his issue.
If Kidder wanted emotional investment he knew better than to find it in him. Moreover, it wasn’t like the sex got in the way of their friendship. It just meant they boned when the mood struck.
“Well - do you still want to help animals or are people more important now?”
---
“Well my gut reaction is still ‘people are dumb assholes’ but I hate feeling useless.” He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and examining the glowing tip of the cigarette. “I dunno, I just… I guess it’s human nature to say “I want the fact I have a magical identity to… mean… something. But I don’t know what it means because I’m sure as hell not good at being on the front lines, I run away a lot, and I stink at parkour. I mean at least part of the bruises I show up with are self inflicted because I suck at parkour. Which by the way also really hurts. I mean at least the time I slapped Rockmans a**… you remember… when he kept harassing the girls?... I mean dude at least those weren’t self inflicted. I just want to know I can do something… but Boudica and making sure people know what they’re getting into is important too. I mean we just got a damn mostly bald Cockatiel in at the clinic, poor thing. They just ditched him on the step in an way too small cage. But I can’t -DO- anything. I mean this was literally the most a** kicking I’ve done and it was on -you-. I don’t know WHAT to do, and I’m only trying because I mean… I mean I just figured better me than some poor idiot who didn’t pop up with magic powers.”
----
“Then you keep doing what you are doing and you learn,” Phrygia said after a long drag. “I can teach you how to fight, that’s the easy part. The hard part is the why bit it sounds like that base is covered.”
He stood slowly, moving to get his cane and hat and moved back over to Wallop, poking him in the side with the cane.
“You did good today - caught me off guard. You should try and do that with everybody.”
---
“Ha, ow…” He swatted at the cane, and moved to pick himself up, cigarette in his lips. “Yeah but…” he muttered around it. “I’m half surprised I didn’t break my stupid stick. I mean it would be badass if that worked again but you only let me get a punch on you because I was ‘helping’ you. But I mean… pretending to start a speech did work better than I thought.” He admitted, grinning and shaking out his hand again for emphasis. “Punching buttons -sucks- by the way. You’ve got that going for you.”
---
“Yeah, well - I owe you a beer for being a jackass, so let’s go to my place.” They could troll a bar but these forms did not come with ID and it was hard to sneak in without boobs.
Not to mention he kind of owed Kidder a bit more than JUST a beer…
---
“I will take you up on a beer.” Kidder admitted, stretching. “You got ice or do I need to pick up a bag so you can make an ice pack? I mean… sorry about your head dude.” He felt sort of simultaneously badass and guilty. “I’m with you, let’s turn in our magical time sheets for the night.”
--
Torvil
