Skating By [Closed]

[unrecovered]

Warnings: Violence and possibly swearing, because Casey and Wash.
Location: The vacant log
Characters: Wash and Casey
When: A few days after magic school
Summary: Construction would be a lot easier if the Nox would stop showing up at inopportune moments.

The halfpipe had been unfinished for a long time - longer than Wash liked to leave any project undone. Sure, construction took a while when all you had were two people who didn't know the first thing about building a skate park, but it was something he and Casey could do together, something that had lain forgotten recently, what with...well, everything. They'd finally gotten enough time to actually get out and work on it, and Wash had jumped at the chance - finally, some time to do something he wanted to do, something that wasn't working or training or trying to keep things together even when his life seemed determined to fall apart. Plus, it meant hanging out with Casey and doing something they both cared about and could both agree on, and those moments were rare enough to begin with.

He sat down on the ground and leaned against the scaffolding, wiping sweat from his brow. They'd been at it for half the morning already, and while it wasn't ever going to be a very tall halfpipe, they'd at least made good progress. "How're you holding up?"

Comments

[jonesiseverywhere]

This was more effort than Casey thought it was going to be. You just build a frame and hammered some wood down on them, right? No, apparently even that took forever. And yet Casey found he didn't mind enough to complain. He liked building big things, he liked the physical work, and he liked hanging out with Wash in a way didn't involve him playing overprotective dad.

Wash is by no means the first friend Casey had that he had very little in common with, sure, but it's not like, say, him and April, where she's just studious and thoughtful in a way that he's not. Wash comes from a completely different world, in more ways than one. But at least for all the shit he's been though, Wash is a skater and in Casey's experience the bond of skaters runs deep.

Casey dropped the hammer he was using and rolled the fatigue out of his shoulder as he went for his water bottle. "I'm cool. Give me a minute and I can keep goin'. It's turnin' out pretty rad, doncha think?"

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Pretty rad was not the phrase Wash would have used, but he couldn't disagree. "Yeah, it is. It'll probably take another few days of work, but it's getting there." He rapped his knuckles against the scaffolding, thinking. "Think we should sand it or leave it rough for now?" He wasn't exactly a construction expert, and this was Casey's project too.

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Don't think we gotta sand it until we nail the planks down." He figures sanding the scaffolding won't matter unless they actually have to climb on it. "But we might wanna...uh...hey, did you see that?"

There was something moving among the wooden planks, small and indistinct. He only got a small glimpse of it before it disappeared behind the structure, but he knows he saw it. And his immediate impulse is to investigate, stepping around to get a better view...

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Wash rolled his eyes. "I was talking about after that." The last thing he wanted was to take a fall and wind up with splinters in his ass. He already had enough embarrassing life moments to live down without purposefully adding more.

Casey speaks up again, and that does not sound good. "See what?" Wash rolls to his feet and follows Casey, hand going for the knife strapped to his thigh. Old habits die hard, and he doesn't have enough precise control of his magic yet to replace what he can do with that knife.

[jonesiseverywhere]

"Then you shoulda- said- that!" Casey's retort came out shakily as he hopped from rib to rib across the scaffold. He could have gone around it, but that was simply nowhere near as fast. Besides, he had to test to make sure it could hold the weight, right?

He hesitated a moment when he reached the end of the structure, about where he'd seen it.. A strange energy filled the air, like the pressure was all off. Kind of familiar, like...uh-oh.

"Wash, I think there's a-" The air tore itself open before he could finish, forming a black rift right at the top of the their half-pipe.

[unrecovered]

For a moment, Wash felt that pressure too, bearing down on his senses like an oncoming storm. There wasn't enough time to think - just enough to recognize that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach - before the rift tore through the air.

Oh, come on.

"Casey, get down!" He drew his hands forward, and he knew the resulting gust of wind wasn't good enough - it was too unfocused. It managed to buffet the first few Nox dripping from the rift, but it didn't cause any lasting damage.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Casey didn't get down, because that would mean being prone in front of the Nox. Instead he jumps to the side, balancing on the scaffolding. His face splits into a grin as he sparks his hand on fire. Man, he'd been waiting for this!

...and then the wind caused him to teeter off his feet, causing him to catch his foot in the wood. Now he's exactly where he shouldn't be: on all fours in front of a portal disgorging Nox, his fiery hand clamped on their wooden half-pipe. He has enough presence of mind to upper-cut the shadow imp trying to take the opportunity to eat him, but what he really needs is the opportunity to get to his feet.

[unrecovered]

Well that didn't go as planned.

Wash kept moving as combat training kicked in, scrambling to the top of the halfpipe and lunging at the Nox nearest Casey, hitting with his shoulder and knocking it off the scaffolding, pulling his knife from its sheath on his thigh and using forward momentum to sink it into another Nox's head. He couldn't afford to use his magic right now - it wasn't precise enough, and he refused to make Casey collateral damage. "Move!"

If Casey needed an opening, this was it.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Casey did, and he took it. He knew he had to get up and moving, to get to the portal and burn it to ash. So he's moving, up on his feet with only a little bit of scrambling. His ankle is smarting a bit and he's pretty sure he picked up a bruise from hitting the struts. On the other hand: who cares? Especially when those Nox are really starting to pour of the portal...

But that's a problem for people who can't fling magic fire and wind around! Even if it's kind of hard to get enough fire going for a projectile after exerting yourself building a half-pipe all morning...so flaming punches it is, then!

"Go for the portal. I'll keep these guys occupied!"

[unrecovered]

Wash picked his knife up off the ground, where it had landed when the Nox it was sunk into dissipated, and immediately threw it straight into the forehead of another Nox. He needed distance - he needed Casey out of harm's way so he could use his magic without fear of hurting him - and it didn't look like he was getting either of those anytime soon.

That was when Casey made his suggestion, and Wash's worry kicked into overdrive. Since when did Casey take himself off the front lines? Since when did he not throw himself headlong into whatever danger was coming their way? Something was wrong, and it wasn't worth leaving Casey alone to go after the portals if that ended in Casey being killed. Sure, death wasn't permanent here, but that didn't make it any less of a traumatic experience, and Casey didn't need that if Wash could prevent it. "Like hell," he called back. "We back each other up and take it down together." Even if being in the fray this close to Casey required a lot more control over his magic than he actually had. It looked like it was going to be him and the knife for now.

[jonesiseverywhere]

It's a good thing Casey is looking at the Nox instead of at Wash, or it might be apparent how honked off he is right now. OK, fine, he could have kept his balance a little better, but it's pretty obvious that Wash gone from the thing that works to the thing that doesn't work, even if combat knives ARE totally awesome. Casey figured that his smacking shadows around would distract Wash enough to get over whatever hang-up it is he's got now. Guess not.

"Then get some wind goin' an' cut a path for us!" He met a particularly big Nox creeping up to him with a burning sucker punch to what was probably it's jaw, ducking down and elbowing upwards to push it over. It stumbled backwards for a moment, but it wasn't more than a second before it was advancing on him again. "I can't knock these suckers out myself!"

[unrecovered]

That was the whole damn problem - that Wash couldn't use his wind in that wide a sweep without fear of hurting Casey. There would be plenty of time later for him to regret his decisions and get angry at himself for his lack of preparedness - it was practically a post-battle ritual at this point - but they needed to finish the fight first.

Somehow.

He retrieved his knife and made his way towards Casey, hurling the knife again and sinking it into the neck of the Nox attacking Casey. "Then get behind me!" It was their best bet at this point.

[jonesiseverywhere]

...Sorry, but Wash has to be joking. No way is Casey staying behind when he's the one with the power to knock out that portal!

"No way, dude! I'm goin' for it!"

And he does, bolting past Wash in a dead run. He's going to have to either work up a fire ball in a hurry or jam his flaming hands into the portal. One or the other, he's fine with both. He'll just have to...like, Matrix around the Nox crowding the portal. Easy enough, right?

Later that day...

[jonesiseverywhere]

If it wasn't for ice rinks, Casey would have gone totally insane by now.

In rented skates and no pads, he's past the point of pretending the puck is Wash's head, or a Nox. He's reduced the whole world to the simple repetition inherent in slap-shot drills. Front, side, from every distance and angle, the only sounds being of his skates and the impact of the puck echoing through the rink.

shhhht, shhhht, shhhht, POCK

Nothing makes Casey feel better than hockey....well, using a hockey stick to hit stuff, to be more accurate. He swings around the rink, catches the puck, and lines up another shot.

POCK

He's still mad at Wash, but the burning in his gut has cooled off to a simmer. Maybe he can pull the daring rescue trick like he did when Raphael tried this, except Wash is less prone to go looking for danger to rescue him from. So he needs another way to prove he doesn't need Wash to protect him, to convince Wash that he doesn't need to cage his rage. Going to find a Nox portal might work, except he can't bring back a trophy because the Nox dissolve.

POCK Maybe he can film the fight...

[unrecovered]

If it weren't for ice rinks, Wash wouldn't know where to start looking. As it is, the ice rink is where he starts, and he's not surprised to find Casey there, working off some rage. Considering Wash would run rifle drills until two in the morning if something was bothering him in Freelancer, he can't really blame Casey.

He heads to the bleachers and takes a seat, waiting for Casey to either notice him or burn himself out, whichever comes first.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Casey grabs the puck again, lining up his shot, when some movement caught his eye. He watches Wash sit down, and...turns back to take his shot. Wash wants to watch, fine, he can watch. Totally not about the fact that Casey has no idea how to start the conversation. At all.

[unrecovered]

And watch he does. Wash settles in a little, trying to get comfortable on the metal benches, and waits for Casey to finish blowing off steam. He learned a long time ago that you can't rush these things.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Yeah, let the cold benches numb his butt for a while. Casey's busy right now.

...Two more slap shots, and his gaze briefly drifts over to where Wash is sitting. Three more, and he visibly glances to the side. Yep, Wash is still there. Doesn't he have anything better to do?

The scrutiny is messing with Casey's flow, and he slows the puck, driving it over to the Wash's side of the rink.

"Anythin' left of the halfpipe?"

[unrecovered]

Wash has had missions on Sidewinder. After that, nothing will ever feel cold again.

It takes a bit, but his patience finally pays off as Casey skates over. "A little charred scaffolding, but nothing I'd trust. Aside from that, it's ashes. We'll have to start over." Sitting and watching it burn - long enough to make sure the embers were out, or at least in no danger of spreading - had been one of the more depressing experiences of his recent life.

[jonesiseverywhere]

Casey doesn't say anything, but the way he groans and sighs and his shoulders slump should tell the whole story. Leaning on the side of the rink, he juggles the puck on the ice for a moment, before scooping it up to bounce it in the air with the stick.

...He doesn't really want to talk to Wash right now. He wanted to do this on his own terms. But he also knows that Wash is going to press the issue until he cracks.

"You're a jerk, you know that?"

...But he doesn't have to crack right away.

[unrecovered]

That's pretty much exactly how Wash feels, so Casey is in good company there. He leans back a little and waits. It's Casey's move right now.

And Casey chooses to go there. Okay, then.

"And you're too stubborn for your own good." He says it mildly - it's a calm statement of fact, not an argument. He really doesn't feel like fighting anymore today. "Do you want to state the obvious a little more, or do you want to talk?"

[jonesiseverywhere]

...What, seriously? Did Wash just call Casey stubborn? Yeah, that earns him an exasperated eyeroll.

"Yeah, see, exactly! A total jerk!" He drops the puck, pushes off the wall, and skates in a circle to see Wash at a better angle...But not before he turns to the side and slaps the puck, hard. It banks off the side of the goal and into the net with a satisfying clang.

"Look, if you got something to say then go for it. I can listen and skate at the same time."

[unrecovered]

Boy was that ever the wrong thing to say. Well, great. Wash just shrugs and stays where he is, speaking a little louder to be heard. "Nah, I can wait."

If they're going to have this conversation, it's not going to be shouted halfway across a hockey rink, that's for sure.

[jonesiseverywhere]

And Casey's not going to continue his practice being stared at. He grits his teeth and glares sideways at Wash. If Wash isn't going to drop the issue -and it's pretty clear he won't- trying to wait him out just won't be worth it.

"Awright fine! Gimmie a minute to get changed and I'll meet'cha out front." And he skates off to the other side of the rink to the locker room before Wash can answer.

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Casey doesn't really give Wash a chance to respond - not that that will stop him. "Okay, then," he says under his breath, standing up and heading for the door. The question now is, will Casey actually meet with him while he's outside, or will he try to give Wash the slip?