Tricks

[gabriel]

Gabriel sat up on the bunk assigned to him and walked the short (very short) distance to the door. He palmed it open and stuck his head out and looked down the hallway both ways. It was completely empty and the high ceilings meant to accommodate 7ft hork-bajir gave the hallways an echoing and haunted feel. The Bladeship was supposed to be a battleship in the yeerk fleet manned (or crewed) by hundreds, maybe thousands of people (aliens). Right now it contained Gabriel, Seiya, Jullian, Kovu and those two new kids that Gabe hadn't really gotten to know yet. So maybe he should go get to know them.

He walked out of his room and palmed the door closed, wondering what yeerk officer had lived in it before him, and walked down the hall in search of his fellow recruits. He was a little disappointed when he found Xander instead of the cute blond but somebody was better than nobody.

"Hey. What's up dude?"

[xander]

Xander stood in the hallway of the blade ship. At the moment he had no training and nothing to do. Back in London this would have been a recipe for disaster, in Ant-blinking-arctica it was just a recipe for boredom. He absentmindedly put his hand on the wall and looked up wondering if he could climb to the top. The hallways he usually braced himself in weren’t this tall and a challenge offered a distraction from his otherwise dull day. The thought of dropping down behind someone briefly amused him until he remembered they were the ones teaching him how to fight. Never a bright idea to piss of professor.

He pulled his hand back when a voice came behind him. Turning he looked up at the unfamiliar face. Xander crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Not much,” his accent weaker than usual, “Need something mate?”

[gabriel]

"Yeah, a toothbrush, but I can't find one and I didn't think to pack one. One more day and we are going to have a serious bad breath problem," he said, pulling a large, cheesy smile before dropping it. "Do you know where Seiya is?," he asked looking back down the way he'd come. "I was hoping he could help me out." He looked back at Xander. "I'm also board as shit so I had nothing better to do."

Gabriel walked around Xander and looked down the hallway past him but it was empty too. "So hey," he said turning back towards Xander. "Where's your friend? The one you arrived with from Paris" he tried saying the name of the city with a French accent but didn't completely pull it off. "Maybe we can all hunt down Seiya and demand toothpaste, and other basic human dignities, together."

[xander]

“Toothpaste?” Xander stared at the man, boy whatever he was, blankly, “Are you mental?” Must be if he wanted to hunt down Seiya.

He shook his head at his attempt to rally support, “My friends are back in England.” Xander involuntarily wrinkled his nose at his response. Friends wasn’t the right term, maybe people that tried to keep you from getting killed or captured. On a good day of course. He snorted before adding , “Girl is just some poor person dragged down to this Arctic wasteland like me. Good luck finding her, but don’t do that thing you just did if you do.” He gestured vaguely in his direction in regards failed accent.

“Sides,” he added half to himself, “what I got here’s better than were I’m from. Don’t want to push it.”

[gabriel]

"Push it?" Gabe asked looking at Xander. "This place barely has showers. It has a closet where water hits you for like 30 seconds. I know the yeerks are mean but this blade ship might as well be a prison. And we don't even have soap. No soap plus no toothpaste equals stinky humans and we are in a confined space. A large confined space but still a confined space. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be around in here if we don't get some toothpaste. I'm sure Seiya wouldn't consider it pushing..." Gabe said with an attempt at an innocent smile but it turned out looking more mischievous than anything.

"Come on, what are you? Scared of him? The worst that happens is we get sent home and it can't be that bad. I mean, it can't be worse than anywhere else right? Paris or London or whichever you're from."

[xander]

Xander just shook his head and leaned against the wall. Where the hell was this guy from that he thought this was roughing it? He couldn’t have had it much easier where his home port was, could just be a whiner.

“Two words mate,” he said holding up two fingers, “Garbage Mike. Bloke didn’t have proper hygiene before the yeerks. Safe to say the invasion wasn’t helpful. Try bunking in the same room with a fellow like him.” He pushed himself off the wall before continuing, “Not scared of him, scared of lots but not him. Don’t want to be shipped out either.”

He looked away and tensed his jaw. It would be easy enough to let it slid but it kept running through his mind.

“Not from either of those. States actually, Long Beach to be exact.”

[gabriel]

"Oh seriously yo?" Gabe asked at hearing the Long Beach comment and ignoring the other comments that implied that he was spoiled. He wasn't, he just appreciated good hygiene and tended to pay a lot of attention to his appearance. Especially if he was going to be training with pretty young women. He didn't know why but he had thought it would be all guys here. Like a military or something, except one that didn't allow girls in. Like old school.

"Me too man," he said twitching his t-shirt a bit which had a crazy ornate design with the letters LA on it. Gabe looked Xander up and down, trying to judge if he was really from Long Beach. He didn't look like he had long beach style but then again most of the people in LA didn't have any sense of style at all. "How long did you live there? You know, before the yeerks and all of that. How old are you anyway?" Gabe asked, realizing that he didn't know. "And if you're from Long Beach why the accent? And why'd you come in from London or Paris or whatever?"

[xander]

“Yeah seriously,” he took a step back a little overwhelmed by the sudden enthusiasm, “why would I lie?”

Then the man was scanning over him and Xander found himself perfectly still. The boy was weird, that was for sure.

“Cool your jets man,” Xander held his hand between them palm flat, “and it’s not like it’s any of you business.”

Despite his last comment he started answering the questions, “I’m nineteen, was born there and lived there till the attack. Family was on holiday and got stuck in England. Weren’t exactly checking for Visas either. Went to France to help my teacher find his mate.”

“As for the accent,” he huffed, “Learned it to keep from being odd man out. Few of my ‘friends’ were more than willing to have the Yankee be bait. Ain’t a permanent fixture, can drop it like a bad penny.”

“See?” Xander said in voice that sounded like it’s owner had never been out of California, “Nothing to it”.

[gabriel]

"Sweet," Gabe said smiling. "I always wished I had an accent. You would be a hit with the girls back home because of it. Just don't let them know its fake or nothin. They hate that. The closest I can come is this little husk thing I have going," he said referring to his natural voice. "It's a hold over from my filipino parents. I can't speak the language but I got the accent because they were always speaking the language around me when I was a kid and everything."

Gabe was honestly glad to hear that there was someone from back home here, at least kind of from back home. He hated to say it but he was a little home sick. He'd always been surrounded by people. First his parents and family and the other people in his neighborhood and then later he'd lived in Union, surrounded by free humans all the time. He knew things were bad out there. If there was anyone in Union that knew it should have been him since he went up into the city everyday looking for supplies. But it was hard to really feel the war when you always had a safe place to return too. No matter what happened he knew his parents would be waiting for him. If this didn't work out he could always just go back there. But he wasn't going to just run home because he missed them.

"So what do you remember of Long Beach?" he asked, changing the subject a little. "Like what did you do as a kid and all? Did you know any of the local crews?" he asked, speaking about the dance crews and not the gangs.

[xander]

“Because you French one is so fantastic,” he said dryly before a small smile broke.

Xander tilted his head as the man spoke. “I’d stick to the one you got for the ladies, lot sexier than a Korean,” saying the last word like his father would. He laughed before looking down remembering he hadn’t seen his parents since they told him to stay on the streets. Thankfully the next question broke that train of thought.

“Not a lot to be truthful,” Xander scratched the back of his head, “mostly day to day stuff like the graffiti and my mom arguing down prices with street venders. Oh and that it was sure as hell warmer than bloody London.” The swear felt out of place with his American accent but he ignored it.

“Crews?” He asked in confusion, “What do you mean?”

[gabriel]

"The b-boy crews," Gabriel answered immediately. "I mean, not to be un-PC or anything, but if you're Korean you had to know some b-boys right? The Korean's are legendary with that style. It seemed like a Korean was taking the Red Bull challenge every year," he said referring to the famous b-boy tournament. "And most of the Koreans I knew back in my neighborhood were sick b-boys. Then again most of the people I knew were b-boys. They were the ones I hung out with."

Gabe had spent most of his time hanging around dancers when he was younger. In fact he'd probably spent a little too much time out on street corners with b-boys. His mother had always been scolding him and telling him to concentrate more on his school work. He didn't know why. Dancing had come in handy much more than anything he'd learned in school after the yeerks had attacked. He'd won food from other refugees in dance battles, even some useful clothes. But mostly it was just a fun way to pass the time and it gave him something to work on and improve that he could do easily in the confined spaces of the underground city. All he needed was a bit of open floor and he could be occupied for hours.

"So do you dance at all? Know any good tricks?"

[xander]

“Honestly I’m insulted,” he began flatly. “Most people assume I know karate because I’m Asian. B-boy, that’s a first.” Even though he knew well about b-boys but he had no clue what the red bull challenge was. He never was involved in the dance scene anywhere. Now with the man’s obvious joy in the subject, he wished he’s studied more.

Even with that knowledge and his love of hip hop, Xander still thought of ballerinas when he asked about dance. He shook his head to clear the image and failed. Looked like he’d be seeing sugar plums for the next hour.

“Don’t dance, but I know a few tricks. Not sure if they’re what you talking about though.”

He held out his hand finally feeling relaxed, “Xander Tae by the way.”

[gabriel]

"Gabriel Legend but I'm known as just Legend or sometimes Angel," Gabe said taking his hand. "Both because of the name and because I can fly, or at least that's what it looks like when I'm dancing," he continued, not humble in the least. He waited for Xander to shake his hand and when it was on the downward swing he turned it into a wave that he let pass through his shoulders and down his other arm. It came back and ended in a firm shake of Xander's hand along with a huge smile on Gabe's face. He never got tired of showing off. "Nice to meet ya."

He let go of Xander's hand and stood back a bit. "So what tricks do you know exactly? Can you do this?" he asked before going into a simple handstand...simple right up until he balanced on one hand. He didn't hold the pose for long, just dropped back down, landing easily on his feet and bouncing back up.

[xander]

“Modest I see,” his British accent leaking back in a bit, “Nice to meet you Legend.”

Then Gabe was doing something weird with his arms and Xander just stood there in confusion. He managed to regain himself as their hands met and returned the firm handshake. Maybe a bit firmer than needed, but if Legend was going to show off so was he a little. Xander had more strength in his hands then most men from doing wall hangs and vaults. In his experience a weak grip equaled nasty results.

“Wanker,” he said in a light tone.

The handstand was nothing spectacular in his eyes. Even when he shifted to one hand it did little to impress him. Conner had taught him how to do one of those for a reverse vault, and that involved running and jumping as well.

Rolling his eyes Xander dropped down into a handstand the second Gabriel was standing. From there he took his right hand and slowly lifted it so eventually it set against his lower back. He held the stand for a moment before bending his arm carefully, lowering him closer to the ground. Then he quickly straightened his arm and shifted his weight to flip upright. Landing on his feet, knees and ankles bent, he straightened and placed his hands on his hips.

“Yeah, guess you could say I can do that.”

[gabriel]

"Alright, alright," Gabe said smiling, a little bit of a challenge in his voice. He was never happier than when he was competing with someone, especially if it was in tricks. "Didn't mean to insult you with an easy one. Most people can't do that but I can see you're not most people. I wish we had some music but I can work without it," Gabe said shrugging before walking away maybe two feet before doing a back flip almost cold. He completely stuck the landing, not off balance at all as his feet hit the ground. The move looked like it had taken no effort at all and he was smiling as he turned back to look at Xander.

"Now hold on," he said before Xander could copy him," you have to beat it, not copy it this time. Anyone can copy something," he said, making light work of Xander's hand stand. "But if you want to battle you have to come harder than me."