nexus_crossings | It’s a Wonderful Day for Parkour

It’s a Wonderful Day for Parkour

The twins had returned to the Nexus after a brief visit to their world. It was that time of year again - time for the American Ninja Warrior qualifiers.

For anyone passing through the plaza this beautiful afternoon, the grin on Minoru’s face said it all. He’d beaten the Seattle course, clocked in a great time and scored a spot in the Finals! But this was no time to rest on laurels. There was still a lot to do before he set his sights on Mount Midoriyama again.

“If I’m going to make it all the way to Total Victory this time, I need all the practice I can get!” He exclaimed while hopping on top a picnic table. The plaza and the surrounding areas were full of obstacles to train on. “Anybody want to race? Let’s do it!”

[open for anyone who wants to do a little freerunning or parkour. Either with Minoru or with each other, threadjacking here is fine by me.]

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She smiled cheerily, twirling her parasol overhead as she glanced up at it.

"Though I do have a bit of a handicap I suppose, keeping under this blasted thing. Why did it have to be such a clear day out..."
She let out a sigh, shrugging.

"It can't be helped, I guess I'll make due. Let's get things started then, shall we?"

With that, she sprinted off towards the alleyways with surprising speed considering she was in a slim black dress.

Minoru was still mid-shrug when he saw her dart off. That alone made him laugh, “Oh, no you don’t!”

He leapt off the picnic table he was standing on, and took off after her. She was fast! But fortunately, that parasol made her a little easier to spot when he vaulted himself up and over the wall that surrounded the heart of the plaza. Minoru bolted after her, trying to gain some ground as he sprinted toward the alley next to the cafe.

She giggled a bit, glancing back as he gave chase.

"Do try to keep up, dear. Or should I slow down?" she asked teasingly before leaping up, kicking off a nearby wall and onto a balcony before doubling back, slinging the straps of her bag up and over a laundry line, leaping off and riding it like a zipline back down the alleyway.

“I’ll catch up!!” He shouted, grabbing and spinning on a streetlight to change direction quickly into that alley.

Minoru was quick on his feet, using the walls as leverage to speed up his turns. Boy, was she fast!! He grabbed the balcony, pulling himself up just as she did. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have anything on him he could use for a zipline, and he wasn’t wearing any gloves either.

“Okay, next time, I need to bring supplies for that!” He noted between breaths. (Or better yet, ask Lucifer to set up a giant zipline going through the wilds. Man, that would be fun. But that was a thought for later. Much later.)

The best Minoru could do was jump off the balcony, tuck, roll and keep going. But not being able to zipline down would definitely keep her farther ahead.

“Okay, where’d you go…” he scanned the area for that parasol.

She gave him a whistle, perched atop the fountain in the middle of the plaza.
"Don't give out on me now, we're only just getting started. Maybe you just need a little motivation..."
She twirled her parasol between her fingers as she thought for a moment.
"I'm sure you're probably a bit thirsty, or at least you will be by the time we're through. How about we grab a drink after, loser pays?"

“Who’s giving out?!” Minoru laughed, sprinting back toward the plaza and running along the half-wall. He jumped, grabbing a tree branch and swinging forward to clear some distance. Those kind of dismounts would be all over the Finals course.

The offer or a free drink, or to avoid paying for one, wasn’t really that motivational. Minoru would do it, of course. He won a nice chunk of spending money after clearing the Mega Wall. The majority of that would be used to help Isamu pay down his student loans, though Isamu insisted Minoru set aside several grand for going back to PTA school.

She nimbly hopped off the fountain, gracefully landing on a nearby railing at the side of the main road, walking along it casually. The parasol tilted a bit too far to one side, the bright sunlight illuminating her hand for just a moment before she reflexively pulled it back, wincing a little.

"This damn sun..."

It broke her concentration just long enough to lose focus on Minoru.

She comes up on the bench beside him, light on her feet, and producing a thumping feeling like a bass drum at a rock concert. She, like all of her kind, rely on a form of echolocation to "see" the world.

The human language takes time to process but there's definitely a nod before she awkwardly stands up on just two legs. She's not really made for it like others of her kind but she's trying to mimic Minoru. This is a learning experience after all.

She's trying to take in everything. Young and not used to so much noise and chattering of human language has her distracted, tail swishing like a nervous cat though in this case one with a near foot long blade on the end of the tail.

Facehugger isn't a word she knows and her head cocks while her mouth tries to make this new word. Though humans on her Earth modified them to speak, it was all internal, mouth parts and lips aren't there to necessarily speak proper English.

"Practice." The word comes with a thumping bass feeling as she scopes out who or what is speaking to her. She doesn't have eyes in the sense of a human with proper vision.

“O..okay then!”

Color Minoru surprised. And also very relieved that he would be running, but not for his life.

“We’ll do a lap around the plaza. Everything is fair game. Climb, jump. However you move.” He pointed out a path for them to follow. There were lots of obstacles - walls, trees, chairs, etc. - for them to avoid or utilize as they saw fit. He also tried to act out some of what he said when he spoke, even putting his hands on the table, to show that being on all fours was okay too. “Is that okay?”

He waited politely for some form of acknowledgement.

He sprinted past the fountain. Sure, it would have been faster to run alongside that railing on the ground, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. And he couldn’t think of an American Ninja Warrior course that didn’t have at least a couple balance obstacles.

So, he hopped up onto the railing where it met the stairs and began shuffling after her.

He had extremely good balance thanks to years and years of this kind of practice, so he could move a little quicker than Tielle might be expecting.

It took her a moment, but as soon as she noticed him gaining on her she leapt off the railing, grabbing and pulling herself up on to a balcony before hopping up onto the rooftops.

"You're not bad, I'll give you that much. Granted, I do have a bit of an advantage."

She gave him a smirk, leaning against a nearby chimney as she took another sip from her stainless steel flask.

Minoru smiled at both the compliment and the continued challenge.

Unlike with the makeshift zipline, he didn’t hesitate to jump for the balcony. He grabbed the rails and climbed up, over, and onto the rooftop where Tielle was waiting.

“You’re great at this! I’m having a blast trying to keep up!” He grinned.

Rayan nodded. "Got it. And really you'll make it to the main event, with training help like the show out today, I can't see how you won't." She grinned brightly. "And if I brought all my family, not just my brothers and foster dad.... there'd probably be about fifty of us. And pretty sure the loudest would be my boyfriend's adopted mom figure. Though, she's loud enough to shatter glass if needed and going to sporting events with her is fun."

Rayan finished up her stretches as she talked. "So I don't think you'll have a problem finding my crew even if we're not sitting with Ziggy and the others." Though she had a feeling Mira and Jason both would want to sit with that bunch only to talk music with them.

"Sounds good."

"Practice? Hunting? Or being around people?" She wasn't worried about the hunting, the field should hold right? As long as they didn't go into the Wilds.

"Yes, I'm Fredrik Halvorsson. Bassist for The Harlots. You're Minoru, aren't you? The roadie helping with the light rig on the tour? I've heard about you travelling with the Spiders and Ziggy. Also, you organised the Skittles party didn't you? That was epic."

The young Swede was impressed at Minoru's show of skill and clapped himself, beaming because this was fun! When Fredrik wasn't smashed out of his face or performing he did enjoy a bit of athleticism like parkour and running.

"Uh---sure. I mean I don't know this Nexus place at all but if I start the race and choose the obstacles you follow behind me?"

Fredrik now looking around at which obstacles to choose. Maybe the fountain and then the wall next to it, followed by some signs, chairs and possibly some wall runs up to the roof levels.

Minoru nodded. He was so happy the rainbow party was well-loved by everyone. It really did take on a life of its own.

“I’m also one of Ziggy’s boyfriends.” He added, as it explained why he popped in and out of the tour and traveled along with them only some of the time.

“Sure, if you want.” He smiled. “There are a lot of obstacles around here, and really, I’m just looking for some extra practice. I’m competing on a show in my world called American Ninja Warrior. You never know exactly what obstacles they’re going to throw at you in the Finals. So, if you lead, I have to follow without much time to think!”

There was method to the traceur’s madness, so to speak.

Minoru already secured his spot in the Finals, but how far he could go was definitely up in the air.

Last year, a surprisingly high number of ninjas made it to Stage 3 and he finished 14th. This year, the obstacles might be a lot harder because of that. Who knows what will be standing between him and the famous Mount Midoriyama tower.

“Oh, wow!” He chuckled, both surprised and impressed at how many people Rayan might bring to cheer him on. “I’d better tell Isamu to order more fans.”

Membership in the Fan Man Fan Club came complete with your very own purple uchiwa fan to wave. Isamu saw to that last year by handing them out to everybody he could find. He was planning on doing it again this year.

But that could wait. He had a different challenge at the moment.

“You ready?” He perched on the edge of the bench, and waited for Rayan to get ready too. “Let’s go!”

Minoru took off, sprinting across the street.

"One of Ziggy's boyfriends? I didn't know he had more than one but that's nice to share the love around. Mikkel has Sigurd as his boyfriend and me as the cuddle, kissy one."

Fredrik was happy to say this now that they had bonded through friendship over the weeks they had known one another. The tour was fun so far! Now, for getting down to some decent parkour. The Swede nodded and was unfamiliar with the Nexus so might struggle on certain obstacles but he'd try his best.

"American Ninja Warrior? That sounds cool! Are you a ninja too now? Ok---let's go!"

The bassist jumped up and then began sprinting towards the first obstacle; a garbage bin which he frog-legged over then grabbed a railing and began scaling a brick wall which was quite tall. Fredrik used his feet to grip the wall as his arms pulled himself forwards, hands flat and gripping too.

Minoru could count at least four people in the Ziggy Stardust Love Dodecahedron, but there was always room for more.

“Not like the kind that wear all black and kill people.” He clarified. (Depending on the world someone came from, those words had some pretty dark implications. He really had to remember that.) “It’s just the name of the TV show.”

He was still laughing as Fredrik took off toward the trash bin. But, challenge accepted, he had to follow.

Minoru bound over the bin just as easily, racing toward the wall. He was a skilled climber, and wasted no time finding good handholds and footholds. He was right on Fredrik’s tail.

Fredrik turned back to see Minoru firmly on his tail and knew he'd have to get his speed up somehow without falling or tripping on any obstacles. It would be tough but the Swede was determined, now running along a narrow wooden fence, hopping over the sharp raised edges as he leapt up onto a window frame, shimmying along, gripping the edge and trying not to fall.

"You're good!---nearly catching me up already---woah!--"

The Swede nearly lost his balance as he jumped down and over a long bench and then ducked underneath some low lying branches of a tree.

The challenge of the day was for Minoru to follow, so follow, he did. And quickly.

Walking (and running) on narrow ledges was something he was very good at, so he had no trouble keeping up with Fredrik there. And he’d been practicing his grip on ledges to keep in shape for the ultimate cliffhanger obstacle. It was an American Ninja Warrior staple.

“Hey, you’re pretty good too!” He shouted back, dropping down from the ledge too. “You’re making it fun!”

He kept following - over, and under, and wherever the Swede might go next!

"Thanks! I'm still learning the ropes but I---"

Fredrik nearly lost his footing as he grabbed onto a nearby post to stop himself from falling about six feet onto the ground. Woah---not good. The Swede managed to hook his feet up onto a fence and grab the top to stand up straight before jumping forwards onto an overhang.

"---it's ok! I got it."

The Swede then ducked under another tree branch and climbed onto a bench, running across and then hopping up onto a nearby tree branch that was gnarled and thick enough to take a person's weight.

Minoru was coming up close behind, and almost had to skid to a stop when Fredrik lost his balance. Thankfully, though, the young man avoided the fall!

(Minoru had to reach for the same pole, as he was following the leader, but forgive him if he doesn’t copy the surprised expression too.)

“Close one, there!” He called back from the top of the fence.

When the overhang was clear, he made his own leap. By the time Fredrik landed on the massive tree branch, Minoru had caught up again.

"Yeah, I know!"

Fredrik knew he had to focus more if he were not to fall and ruin everything. That and possibly break a bone or two along the way. No, he couldn't afford that because he had to remain fit for playing on stage with his band. Now, the bassist was giggling to himself as he jumped up, grabbing an overhanging rope attached to another house, swinging himself along like a monkey, albeit with a slightly wonky gait.

"We can do this!"

Woah. Don't look down, Fredrik. The Swede felt his balance sway as he quickly glanced down at the ground below. Nope. Not going to do that.

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It’s a Wonderful Day for Parkour

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No one sees them coming. XD

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