baby, you're the king of the night.
J U L Y
6th ][ punched into another dimension. ][ post - Hope, Lightning.
6th ][ watching domestic abuse? ][ thread - Yuri, Flynn.
6th ][ beatings in the streets! ][ thread - the man with no name.
7th ][ ill sleepers. ][ thread - Sodia, Mithos.
7th ][ never leaving. ][ thread - Uni.
8th ][ accidental snooping. ][ thread - Zuko.
8th ][ different curses. ][ thread - Fakir.
8th ][ a guy walks into a bar... ][ thread - Charles.
10th ][ THE ZOMBIES ARE COMING. ][ thread - Fran.
10th ][ so. cosplay. ][ thread - Nepeta.
10th ][ talkin' 'bout gods. ][ post - Yuri, Nepeta, Haruhi, Teddy, Luke, Huey.
11th ][ things figured out. ][ thread - Aradia.
11th ][ gods and insects. ][ thread - Apollo.
12th ][ jump and fall. ][ thread - Guy.
14th ][ naked woman is naked. ][ thread - Hitagi.
16th ][ flip a coin. ][ thread - Kiriyama.
16th ][ cheaty-cheaty-bang-bang. ][ thread - Allen.
16th ][ restaurant bodyguards. ][ thread - Farah.
17th ][ marriage most foul. ][ thread - Dean.
17th ][ runaway bride. ][ thread - Tsuna.
17th ][ juggling bar glasses. ][ thread - Hanna.
18th ][ welcome to your new shoes. ][ thread - Agito, Akito.
18th ][ memory and the department of backstory. ][ post - Roxas, Laszlo, Agito, Huey, Kiriyama, Tsuna.
19th ][ in another universe. ][ thread - Hanna.
20th ][ that floating feeling. ][ thread - Agito.
20th ][ Nobody in the sky with diamonds. ][ thread - Roxas.
20th ][ put off a show. ][ thread - Rita.
21st ][ invisible monsters. ][ thread - Chrome.
21st ][ no talk like snow talk. ][ thread - Haruhi.
22nd ][ a winter wonderland. ][ thread - Akito.
22nd ][ snowfights! ][ thread - Teddy.
22nd ][ in with the snow. ][ thread - Man With No Name.
22nd ][ psychopathic new friend! ][ thread - Kiriyama.
23rd ][ snow weeks. ][ thread - Euphemia.
26th ][ broken comms. ][ thread - Katniss.
26th ][ bad dreams. ][ thread - Lenalee.
26th ][ no more coffee. ][ thread - Hanna.
31st ][ sleeping dragons. ][ thread - Mizuno.
A U G U S T
2nd ][ always go with dare. ][ thread - Tommy.
2nd ][ old man picks truth. ][ thread - Iroh.
4th ][ days without curses ][ post - Akito, Hitagi, Fran, Huey.
4th ][ aftermath. ][ thread - Araragi.
4th ][ status update. ][ thread - Tyr.
5th ][ best compliments. ][ thread - House.
6th ][ tiniest sharkling! ][ thread - Akito.
7th ][ SARCASM DETECTED. ][ thread - Fran.
7th ][ troll troll human troll. ][ thread - Dave.
7th ][ murderer. ][ thread - Luke.
8th ][ seeking specimens! ][ thread - Myrnin.
8th ][ dangerous bodyswaps. ][ thread - Hanna.
10th ][ why are Tuners always naked... ][ thread - Kururu.
11th ][ walking on your hands. ][ thread - Sora.
11th ][ spoilers: your secret identity. ][ thread - Suzaku.
12th ][ explaining the City! ][ thread - Jade.
14th ][ CLAIMING THIS TOWER. ][ thread - Akito, Lucy, Hitagi, Kururu, Mukuro, Kamiki.
16th ][ a contradictory guide. ][ thread - Sakura.
16th ][ terrible punchlines. ][ thread - Dawn.
16th ][ this one's even worse. ][ thread - Castiel.
16th ][ physicists have sex? ][ thread - Snake.
20th ][ music's bad influence. ][ thread - Curt Wild.
21st ][ breaking news. ][ thread - Luc.
21st ][ legitimate complaints. ][ thread - Donna.
21st ][ like high places. ][ thread - Mizuno.
21st ][ false truths. ][ thread - Roxas.
22nd ][ race you. ][ thread - Agito.
22nd ][ laundry tasks. ][ thread - Yuri.
26th ][ truth or dare loops. ][ thread - Snake.
27th ][ theoretical psychopaths. ][ thread - Mukuro.
27th ][ poor knight. ][ thread - Euphemia.
27th ][ brain damage. ][ thread - Tenth Doctor.
27th ][ curse variations. ][ thread - Jade.
28th ][ saddest lightweight. ][ thread - Hitagi.
29th ][ jinx jinx jinx. ][ thread - Tsuna.
29th ][ dealing with deities. ][ thread - Sora.
29th ][ employment for Exorcists. ][ thread - Lenalee.
30th ][ microwave-breaker. ][ thread - Kururu.
S E P T E M B E R
1st ][ seize the fireworks. ][ thread - Neil Perry.
1st ][ leaf piling. ][ thread - Yuri.
3rd ][ wising up on deity trades. ][ thread - Akito.
4th ][ the real hunt. ][ thread - Mizuno.
9th ][ five-second rule. ][ post - Agito, Fran, Eames, Luc, Amu, Euphemia, Yuri.
10th ][ kill the Japanese. ][ thread - Euphemia.
11th ][ kitten impostor! ][ thread - Luc.
11th ][ catching frogs. ][ thread - Yeager.
14th ][ damn homework. ][ thread - Eames.
14th ][ moving A-Ts. ][ thread - Agito.
14th ][ introductions and welcomes. ][ thread - Rin.
19th ][ outside the barrier. ][ thread - Yuri.
20th ][ race-seeker. ][ post - Luke Valentine, Yuri, Dulcie, Eames, Akito, Tommy, Roxas.
25th ][ welcomes back. ][ thread - Yuri.
28th ][ alien winter fashions. ][ thread - Roxas.
28th ][ garage sales. ][ thread - Asch.
29th ][ boss battles. ][ thread - Fran.
O C T O B E R
1st ][ what the fuck ponies. ][ thread - Pinkie Pie.
1st ][ you're disillusioned. ][ thread - Akito, Spitfire.
5th ][ tranquilising. ][ thread - Agito.
8th ][ somebody else's movie. ][ thread - Yusuf.
8th ][ the sickest boy you'll ever find. ][ thread - Yuri.
8th ][ werewolf hybrids. ][ thread - Orihime.
8th ][ superstition. ][ thread - Estelle.
9th ][ what kind of vacation. ][ thread - Roxas.
9th ][ memory theatre, thanks. ][ thread - Kururu, Huey, Kazuo, Fran, Yuri, Luc, Akito.
11th ][ holes in the roof. ][ thread - Laszlo.
11th ][ milk misplaced. ][ thread - Wilson.
12th ][ Tumbles' anniversary. ][ thread - Euphemia.
[series]: Air Gear
[character]: Mikura Kazuma
[character history / background]: Once upon a time, a boy got his ass kicked a lot.
[character abilities]: Then he bought flying rollerblades.
[character personality]: There's a trick question they tell along the lines of: "How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?"
The "real" answer is, of course, that you can't. (Well, maybe if you chopped the giraffe up, you sicko, but that's somebody else's solution.) The "right" answer is simple: open the refrigerator, put the giraffe in, and close the door.
Kazu's one of those guys who knows both the real answer and the right one. The problem is--surrounded as he is by geniuses who stuff metaphorical giraffes into refrigerators all the time--he gets caught between answers. Too afraid to make the jump but too aware of how thin the rules are to stay down, his resulting confusion makes him hesitate at critical moments. Realism comes to resemble cowardice; becomes it, given the slightest prompt. That Kazu's his team's best speedster, heir to the Flame Road and Regalia, has gained him a little confidence, but it hasn't changed his intrinsic beliefs. He's always known himself to be least remarkable: the errand-runner, the ordinary guy--and just a little bit of a coward. Failure, expectation, responsibility, pressure--they shake him as much as they ever did. Even now, his self-judgment lingers, holding him fast in second place.
First impressions of Kazu do present nothing special: the formulaic teenage cliche, a punk with a heart of gold. Despite his resume of gang membership since middle school, he maintains an idealism that borders on naivety, defending justice, mercy and respect for the ladies (though he's not opposed to the occasional peek of dishabille--shut up, teenage boys have needs). It doesn't stop him from pranking, boasting and roughhousing with the best of them, however--and if he doesn't often initiate plans, that only makes him a better lieutenant. What trust he doesn't put in himself, he's more than willing to place in his friends--and even when Kazu should falter, his loyalty can be trusted to eventually pull through.
When it comes to team roles, Kazu plays the straight man, foil to the leader's jokes--and dispenser of beatings as warranted via the former. (Because what the hell, even a guy ranking Ordinary Errand Service #5 of Ikki's Empire deserves some dignity. Especially when it's him.) He's reactive as a result, quick to flail and lash back in turns. While part of his flustering can be attributed to the utter weirdness of the company he keeps... there's, frankly, a little too much to excuse. Kazu's only ever cool by accident--in moments when he doesn't consider impressions or dignity or naming his attacks, but simply acts to realign the world to the way it should be.
All his fumbling belies a sharp mind. With his firm grip on reality, Kazu's often first to spot downsides to his illustrious leader's plans, and he isn't afraid to call Ikki out on them. He has a disturbingly keen eye for detail, limited only by his occasional lack of vision. Anything that his sense of normalcy can't process--like the fact that a girl in his class is head-over-heels for him--simply slips under his radar. It's not a weakness that extends to A-Ts; in those competitions, Kazu's nothing if not effective.
Even that wouldn't be as much a skill if it weren't backed up by solid experience and a staggering drive. It's a given that hard work can't beat raw talent. With the right foundation, though, it sure can give a goddamn run for its money--and that's what Kazu bets on. He drills himself harder than anyone else on Kogarasumaru, pushing himself 'til breakdown. Since childhood, this energy has been directed towards keeping up with his best friend. Reason for it is, as far as Kazu's concerned, self-evident: air's for breathing, storm are for chasing, and Minami Itsuki's the best fucking leader for following. It's such an encompassing belief that he's all but forgotten years when he wasn't Ikki's second in every respect. Only under the preceding Flame King Spitfire's mentorship--and some shounen headpunching--does Kazu realise that backing his leader doesn't necessitate living in his shadow. Despite their common goals, mindlessly dogging Ikki's steps isn't a road--and Kazu's competitive enough, after all, to want to win in his own right.
That Kazu has risen to rival his best friend, however, doesn't change his role. That's what friendship means: loyalty transcends the need to be the (singular) best. If there's a limit to Kazu's particular brand of faith, it has yet to be reached. He's there when needed, glad to enact vengeance on behalf of the fallen--or to die for the sake of the team's victory. Just give the order.
Air Trek hasn't gotten him past his flaws so much as given them direction. As much as the burden of it messes with him, he's always been loath to disappoint expectation. So Ikki dragged a spark out of him, Spitfire fed it to flame, and the sheer sky gives him fuel to burn. Having identified the road he's to run, Kazu is learning to pursue it--and fuck giraffes.
(Not literally, though.)
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: After chapter 278, when Aeon finds him kidnapped by penguins.
[journal post]: What the--hey! HEY. You better hear this, there's a name for bastards who pull a guy out of a fight just when he's about to kick some seriously deserving ass and--and this is definitely the right situation for it! Let me through! We've got you guys cornered, and if you think a detour's gonna stop Kogarasumaru from wiping the floor with your hooooly shit, this isn't the ship. Is it.
[ SILENCE. ]
Uh! Hey... there. Anybody... catch the number of that interdimensional... pen... guin...?
[ ... ]
I knew those feathery bastards were planning something.
[third person / log sample]: It's almost funny how, even with a time-manipulator around, there's not a microsecond to spare. Not to look back, not to regroup--not even to tell Aeon Clock off again for wearing his Flame Regalia (or, come to think of it, for stealing them in the first place, what the hell). Take care of anything in the way, Ikki had said, and they're running ahead at his order. Hell, give it a second, maybe a minute or two--he'll probably be thundering in their wake, booing them for taking their sweet time finding the right path through the ship. Because Kogarasumaru's is the worst leader of all the ages, and there's no way he's not going to win.
Just a little longer.
He's looking at Aeon again, can't seem to stop watching the Flame Regalia scythe around corners, calculated curves and a hint of spark. Aeon's not moving faster than the rest of the team--instead, he keeps pace just before Buccha and Onigiri, both of them steady heavyweights; he's even letting Agito getting the jump ahead in spurts. His turns are cut precise, though, living clockwork motion, and maybe Kazu needs to stop thinking about how Aeon's running, because Aeon isn't even trying--there's no way this train of thought is taking him anywhere.
He's been training hard to catch up--carving new tricks out of the air, filing down weaknesses, working to sweat and bone--and he knows at a glance that the progress is barely anything by comparison. All of it. Hours shivering through his fingers, every turn too blunt, dark before he knows it every damn time. Talking to Spitfire's AI late into the night, hurriedly scribbling homework between diagrams, balanced on his chair until he forgets where he's sitting and crashes. All proof that he's fast, sure, but still tangled in time, that the ache in his thighs, sides, head for thinking about it so much--it's never gonna be enough. He feels almost a little creepy sometimes, feeding constant streams of data to the artifice of a dead King like that. Running over numbers and simulations in his head until he loses track of how they connect back to the sharp and gorgeous curve of flight. Kind of obsessed and kind of strangled, like he's burning out on his own exhaust, forgetting the sky for the smoke.
What he's talking to--it hasn't ever really been Spitfire. He knows that. But he wasn't able to forget it enough to unstick the words from his mouth back when they first uncovered the loss, couldn't remember it enough to push down the shame of hope. Hope that Spitfire's AI had a contingency for the Regalia's theft, had some kind of--weird digital comfort for a flesh-and-fire boy. And it is fucked-up levels of pathetic to still want to apologise to it for having lost the Regalia--even once. For not breaking the limit to the learning curve. So maybe it's a good thing that there's no King without the acknowledgment of fellow riders. Maybe that makes it a little easier to have Aeon hold the proof of the road Kazu's supposed to have inherited. Maybe it isn't time yet.
It's not like he needs to be King to fly high.
Oxygen sinks in his lungs. He straightens, echoing Aeon's style by reflex, and keeps chasing the path. They have a cause, and somebody to find. Like hell is he going to be the one slowing them down.