#hld driftguard

[aloetech]

comforble

[aloetech]

Competitive Streak

hello hyper light drifter community i have content (under the cut for length + ao3 version in reblogs if you wanna read it on there instead and also see my dumb notes)

When Guardian met Drifter, he'd assumed many things. Assumed he was solitary- partly true, as he preferred to travel alone but would party up given the right circumstances. He'd assumed a certain level of recklessness- quite true, given how he came home hurt more often than not, and he'd seen some of the risks he took with his fighting style (Frankly, it stressed them out a bit to know when he went away he was fighting like that, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Maybe ut wouldn't hurt to train him in their own, slightly more defensive style. That would depend on if the Drifter would actually listen though). They'd very accurately assumed he was a quiet type, which had become apparent very quickly.

One thing they hadn't counted on was this... Competitive streak.

-

They thought Drifter had gone North for the day- they intended to catch up with him and help how they could. However, a brief conversation with the North guard told them that Drifter hadn't passed by that way at any point all morning. They thought it curious, and briefly checked with the other gate guards, only to find one thing for certain. The Drifter had, in fact, not even left the town yet.

Something was amiss, and while the Guardian wasn't worried per se, they were intrigued. Drifter very rarely spent any time at all in the town, usually only to have gear upgraded or repaired, or when Guardian asked him to run a quick errand for them; to pick up a piece of gear they'd had in for repairs while they were busy with something else, or to quickly buy an ingredient they'd found they had run out of when they had already begun to cook for the two of them.

So, for him to go out into town on his own and unprompted for and non essential reason was quite rare. They couldn't help but wonder what he was up to.

They checked in a few of the stores around town, spending a little longer than intended catching up with various shopkeeps and those they ran into, until eventually they checked the Dashmaster's store- and they had barely opened their mouth in greeting before they heard a resounding thud through the wall to their right.

They cleared their throat. "Good morning."

The Dashmaster looked up from whatever leaflet she'd been flicking through, feet kicked up on the counter. "Morning, Guardian. You looking for your boy?"

"My-" They shook their head, opting not to comment. "I'm looking for Drifter, yes."

"You're in luck, he's through in the arena. He's been at it all morning!" She shrugged. "Surprised those boosters haven't worn out already."

There was another thud- they assumed that was the Drifter running into the wall, judging by the cuss that followed.

"Been at... What exactly?" They inquired.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't know since you never use boosters... Through there, we've got a circuit; you've seen it."

"I have. And Drifter is using it?"

"Yep. We have a scoreboard for the consecutive dashes. Drifter there had the highest for ages, but some traveller came through recently n'smashed his high score. He only noticed this morning when he came in to get his, since he left em with me to fix last night..." She chuckled a little. "And well, I told you already. Been trying to beat it since this morning."

And that explained why he'd never left, if he'd been trying to beat it since morning.

"How... How early this morning?"

"Eh... About 5?" She winced at the realisation. "Good luck making him take a break though. He seemed pretty dead set on getting his high score back."

Glancing at the clock, they confirmed that it was approaching noon now. That was... An awful long time to be trying for.

"Well, I'll try my luck." Guardian sighed, nodding in thanks as he stepped through to the track.

Drifter was indeed there- cloak thrown to the side, currently setting himself up for another try, poised to begin on the marked starting line on the floor, facing away. He took off- only to skid to a stop as soon as he turned the corner of the track and locked eyes with Guardian, barely avoiding a collision with the wall. Guardian leant against the brickwork next to where he'd thrown his cloak.

Wordlessly, Guardian pulled the water canteen from their belt and tossed it to the Drifter, who fumbled with it for a moment as he caught it. He then quickly opened it and took a long swig, gasping as he pulled away. He came to stand next to Guardian, still breathless, and passed the canteen back- they took a quick sip themselves before they clipped it back to their belt. Standing this close, they could make out the sheen of sweat on what little skin was exposed.

"So. Not going North today then, I take it?" They joked. The Drifter looked somewhat sheepish about that fact, looking away off to the side.

"... got sidetracked." He said eventually, between catching his breath.

"I can tell- Dashmaster tells me you've been doing this for almost 7 hours at this point." He seemed a little surprised- had he not realized it'd been that long? "How about a break?"

Stubbornly, he shook his head. They should have expected that, really.

"... Not yet. I'm close."

He scowled slightly at the leaderboard. Guardian followed his gaze to read the high score as a solid 133, with the next highest below- currently a round 105, and assumably Drifter's current best. 105 was already an impressive number, at least they thought so, but it was clear that Drifter wasn't satisfied with it. They unhooked their canteen again as Drifter gestured vaugely at it and passed it over for him to drink from, and gently tossed it on top of his discarded cloak instead of clipping it on again when it was passed back.

"Are you sure you won't stop?" Another stubborn head shake.

It wasn't often Drifter wanted to do something so badly- he didn't often seem so dead set on anything that wasn't essential. To force him to stop while aware of that didn't feel fair. But at the same time, they didn't want him to completely wear himself out, like he was so prone to doing... They quietly thought about it while Drifter stretched a few paces away, limbering up for another attempt. They watched him at that for a few minutes, admittedly distracted by him (and also impressed by his flexibility. Not that he wasn't already well aware of it, but it was still impressive all the same).

"... Alright then. I wont stop you, but I'll be watching." Drifter perked up slightly. "If you're pushing yourself too hard, I'm going to step in. But so long as you mind your limits, I won't interfere."

Drifter turned away as the Guardian clapped him on the shoulder with a "best of luck.", earning a short, half suppressed chuckle from him as he lined himself up again, crouching and ready to take off on another attempt while Guardian took up a spot leaning against the wall.

While watching him dash for so long in a row was impressive, it was at the same time sometimes a little painful to watch- namely when he mistimed his turns and ended up crashing into the wall. But then, it was somewhat admirable how he picked himself up time after time, dusting himself off and getting ready for another try, determined. Occasionally he glanced back as he readied himself, seemingly checking that Guardian was still watching, only focusing once again on the track once he was given an affirmative nod or thumbs up.

They grew so accustomed to just watching Drifter and the pinkish afterimages following him circling around the track and the counter ticking up, that it took them a moment to realise when it hit 134- in fact, it seemed Drifter took a moment to realise it as well. The counter had just hit 142 when he must have stolen a glance, skidding to a stop too suddenly and losing his balance, sprawling for a few metres along the floor.

The scoreboard flashed, changing to the new number, and Drifter looked over to the Guardian, pulling down his mask to grin at them in pride, sharp teeth flashing ear to ear as he watched them approach, canteen in one hand. They offered the other to him and he allowed it, grasping it firmly and letting Guardian pull him to his feet. He staggered for a second on tired legs before he steadied.

"Impressive!" The Guardian clapped as Drifter took a deep drink from the canteen- a drip ran down his chin as he passed it back, and he wiped it with the back of a gloved hand. "I doubt that will be beaten for some time."

Drifter leant on his knees, catching his breath. "Better... Not be." He huffed out a chuckle.

"For the sake of you actually getting out of town when you set out to, I hope not as well." They laughed slightly. "I think now would be a good time to call it a day. You should shower off before you get a cold- you've been sweating a lot."

Drifter nodded, gesturing for them to give him a moment as he tugged up his mask once more, taking somewhat shaky steps to pick up his cloak and sling it around his shoulders. He leant against the wall a little.

"Kind of..." Drifter said hesitantly, as though searching for the right word. "... wobbly."

"You look it. All that dashing finally catching up to you?"

He nodded, beckoning Guardian over with an arm raised, wordlessly asking for a support. They soon came over to let him put that arm around their shoulders while they hooked an arm around his waist. They walked in tandem, with Guardian there to steady his tired steps as they exited the track into the shop part of the building.

"Finally beat it, didja? Good on you." The Dashmaster chuckled as they entered. Drifter gave her a thumbs up with his free hand. "You've sure as hell worn your boosters out a bit... If you give 'em here, I'll tune them up for you and have them ready by morning- free of charge, since you beat the score and all."

Drifter blinked for a second then nodded in thanks, slipping out of Guardian's hold to briefly sit down nearby and remove the boosters from his feet. Guardian lingered by the counter, and the Dashmaster leaned over, snickering slightly.

"Y'know, it's funny." She said, in a conspiratorial whisper. "He tries all morning, but then you show up, and he gets it within the hour."

Guardian raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying he meant to impress me?"

Drifter approached the counter at that point, boosters in hand. He tilted his head in curiosity, but soon seemed to realise that Dashmaster wasn't going to repeat what she said as she moved swiftly on.

"Take it how you will- just saying what I see over here." She chuckled, taking the boosters from Drifter and setting them to the side, turning her attention to him. "I'll have them ready like I said- swing by in the morning. You two take care."

"You as well." Guardian replied.

Drifter nodded again, murmuring a thank you, leaning into Guardian's side in a signal that he wanted the support back- an arm was soon around them again and the pair turned to leave.

Drifter took a step in the direction of the North gate, blinking in surprise when he was gently but bodily directed away from it by Guardian. He made a small, questioning noise in the back of his throat, looking up at them.

"I already said- let's call it a day there. You're tired." Guardian said.

Thankfully it was harder for Drifter to be stubborn when they had the fact that he was currently leaning on them for support to back up their case to just go home, and he relented, similarly not objecting to being all but bundled into the shower once they were home. Which left Guardian content to leave him to his own devices after that, while they began figuring out what they should eat later, and musing on this new, unexpectedly competitive side to Drifter that they'd met today.

It was usually quite hard to get Drifter to take some time off to rest, and despite the fact he'd exhausted himself in the morning the fact remained that they were now going to spend almost half the day at home with them...

Despite the lack of progress in their shared mission, Guardian would take today as a win.