Backdated to the weekend Beach Party and Birthday Log! \o/

[fierybluebird]

[Marco runs around setting everything up. There's platters of food laid out -- more than enough and some extra as a habit from dealing with Ace and 1600 pirates, a boombox with tons of music, beach volleyball set up, a campfire, and according to Selphie and Marco, fireworks for later. GO NUTS. There will be some threads set up, but you can make your own or do anything! Just remember if the thread gets wild, mark it as NSFW.]

Comments

[fierybluebird]

[HACKEYSACK AW YES.]

Over here kiddo!

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias glances over and smiles, bouncing the ball up once more before kicking it over towards Marco. There's clearly not much power behind it, but it should reach him no problem.]

[fierybluebird]

[Bounces it on his knee a couple of times before gently kicking it back with his foot and a laugh.]

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias manages to catch it with his foot, bouncing it up again to bounce it up and down on his head a little.

And back down to the leg... and back to Marco!]

[fierybluebird]

Having fun kiddo? [Grins and bounces it backwards on his ankle, the leg turned outside, before hopping and giving another kick of the ball back.]

[corruptedsouls]

Yeah! [Tobias almost misses the ball this time, but manages to recover, bouncing it on his knee again.] I haven't gotten to do this before!

[And back it goes again.]

[fierybluebird]

[Lightly bounces the ball back! A little easier this time.]

No? Well, it's about time, eh? [Grins.] So what do you think of your first beach party? Want another already?

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias catches it a bit easier this time, still bouncing it around. Even if he's nearly flubbed it a couple times, it hasn't yet touched the ground.]

Uh-huh! I'm having a lot of fun!

[And back again, this time from a Tobias head bounce!]

[fierybluebird]

Good. We'll have to make sure to do this again sometime, eh?

[And Marco would try to headbutt it back, but he's abused that pineapple enough today, so he taps it carefully with an elbow before kicking it back with his foot.]

[corruptedsouls]

Yeah! We should all make a sand castle together, too! Big and tall! Maybe a ship with it!

[If you can get sand to work in the ocean to make a little harbor, anyway. Tobias catches it as it goes over to him this time -- his arms and legs are hurting now, especially since he doesn't have much health to spread around things.]

Are you okay, Dad?

[fierybluebird]

Here. [Takes the ball of of his hands and sets it somewhere safe in the sand before picking Toby up onto his shoulders.]

It's been a long day, eh? [A soft laugh and he shakes his head, carrying Toby up near the sand dunes.] Nah, it's been a long month.

I always expect everything to go slower. As slow as they did in those caves, eh? Or as fast as that. It's easy to let time go when you're alone, but when you're trying to keep a hundred things in mind at once, they pile up, right?

[Sets Toby down to sit next to him and gently ruffles his head.] You're happy though, right?

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias wraps his arms around Marco as best he can in that position, smiling again though he doesn't quite laugh this time. A long month... Yeah, he can sort of understand what his Dad's talking about. Time is a weird thing when you don't have things to help you with it. And even the Pokemon he knew then didn't really see time as much. Just day and night, and he lost count long ago.]

Yeah, they do.

[He blinks a little, laughing at the ruffle before giving Marco a quizzical look.]

Of course I am! I'm here with you and Mom and Espio. And I got to meet some other family, too!

[fierybluebird]

Aye. I'm glad kiddo. [More ruffles.] I think that's all I want, eh? To fight for you and the others to be happy.

What do you think?

[corruptedsouls]

About fighting to make other people happy? [It's an interesting thought. Tobias only really thought about fighting to protect, but he's honestly not very good at that, for various reasons. His eyes drift to his hands, opening and closing them a bit.]

...Isn't there some other way than fighting?

[fierybluebird]

Not all fighting is hand to hand combat, eh?

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias tilts his head a little. He thinks he has an idea of what you mean, but some expanding on it would be nice.]

[fierybluebird]

[Awwww cuteness! And he pets merrily.]

Ah, hang on. I need to think how to explain it.

[He thinks and pets more.]

It's throwing your all into something important. Fighting doesn't always have to mean someone gets hurt, it can also mean someone gets saved. You can say, "I'm going to fight this test!" And when you do, it means you won't give up until one of you is done.

Or when you were training you could say you fought your curse or your hand, so that you could get control.

Things you fight don't always have to be people or monsters. You can fight hunger, and you do that by feeding people. Or you can fight poverty by coming up with ideas how to help things grow. Got it?

[corruptedsouls]

[Pets! <3]

Yeah!

[Tobias brightens up considerably, smiling happily at that. You did a good job of putting it into words, Marco!]

Then... I want to help fight too! So everyone can be happy no matter what. Because... I'm happy now, even though it was hard. But I had you and Mom and Espio to help me.

[fierybluebird]

[More ruffles!]

Aye. And they need to be happy too. They forget sometimes and get stubborn. Well, your Mom's pretty good about finding ways to be happy, but it's still hard on her sometimes, yoi.

[corruptedsouls]

[Tobias seems to think for a moment.]

Is it easy to do that? To forget that... you want to be happy too, or you should be?

[fierybluebird]

No, but I think they lose their way. Sometimes, it's like a very dark forest and it's hard for most people to navigate it well. That's why I cheat and fly above it.

[corruptedsouls]

I can see in forests sometimes. Even at night.

[It really came with living in a dank cave for years, only going out to scavenge in forests or what have you unless you were stealing from a city. Tobias rubs his eyes a little, looking up to Marco like he's about to tell some secret.]

The lights kind of hurt my eyes sometimes. But I still try to practice seeing at night. I don't want to stop being able to do that.

[fierybluebird]

[Tilts his head. Well red eyes are usually nocturnal.]

We had some kids here who couldn't go out during the day, yoi. [Because they were trolls and sun burns them.] Don't practice too much, okay. Otherwise we'll have to get you a pirate eyepatch so you can switch back and forth.

[corruptedsouls]

Switch back and forth for what?

I'm just making sure I don't forget. I won't practice too hard. Promise!

[fierybluebird]

What? Oh! That's how eyepatches work. When you take it off, your eyes don't need to adjust to the darkness.