September & October Catch-All

[spiritwalks]

Who: Vyng spiritwalks and YOU
What: Catch-All for September + October. See comments for prompts!
When: Various
Where: Various

Note: Style veers wildly between prose and brackets. Just choose whatever style feels good when responding, and I'll match it ♥

Content Warnings: Listed in subject lines when applicable

Comments

[thinkfirst]

You are. I don't think it's an easy thing. I'm certainly no good at it. Half the things I say come out... less charitable than I intended them.

[ But Vyng isn't like that, so far. Flynn wonders if it's a teachable skill. Certainly he'd be a better leader if he could help like this, especially someone he didn't even know. ]

[spiritwalks]

Trust me, pal, I stick my foot in my mouth plenty. It's all about your intention, and then putting yourself in somebody else's shoes for five seconds.

[Vyng can be shockingly insensitive if he's not trying to comfort someone. Back when he used to take dips into the Spirit World, it was easy to forget how to be a person: Eye contact. Remembering people have concerns and aspirations that span far beyond what's immediately in front of them. Some actual tact.]

You're probably better at it than you realize. It's something you develop with age and life experience.

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn can't help but snort at the image those words conjure. Hanks, gruff-voiced and heavy-handed in his intense care. ]

You sound like my grandfather. He always said I'd get better at things when I got to be his age. At the time, I thought I never would.

[spiritwalks]

Oh yeah? [A grin.] Bet we have the same hair color, too, ahahah.

[Maybe not as many wrinkles. Living out the wilds can make a Druid's skin weathered, true, but Vyng's got genetics and moisturizer on his side. Still, he's started to develop some crow's feet over the years.]

You're, what, 70-ish? [Nope, wrong species.] 20-ish?

[thinkfirst]

You do.

[ Flynn confirms this with quiet laughter of his own, the first in a few days, at this point. It only grows at Vyng's guess. ]

21, in fact—I cannot possibly look 70-ish!

[spiritwalks]

True. Your ears are too short.

[Since human earlobes grow longer with age. Obviously.]

You seem like an old soul, though. Most 21-year-olds I've met are still figuring their stuff out.

[thinkfirst]

[ In a small self-conscious gesture Flynn reaches up to touch the tip of his ear, mouthing the word short while he tries to place that, but that is—not the point here. After a moment he drops his fingers and offers Vyng a strained sort of smile. ]

Ah, well. I... was given a responsibility that I couldn't ignore. My own stuff doesn't really matter in the face of everything else I had to figure out.

[spiritwalks]

[Ah. One of those situations. Vyng gives a quiet "hmmm" at that.]

And how about now? Do you feel like your stuff doesn't matter?

[He's genuinely curious.]

[thinkfirst]

No.

[ A simple answer, given without hesitation. Flynn isn't terribly bothered by something he's sure is the truth. ]

This world is... broken, in ways very similar to my own. There are problems here, and people in need. My own inability to figure out what I want is nothing compared to those things. I just need to find out where I'm needed and where I can do the most good.

[spiritwalks]

Sounds like you know what to do next. You seem like the kind of guy who keeps trying, no matter how bad things get.

[An important quality. Especially in a place like this, where everything can go to hell at the drop of a hat.]

[thinkfirst]

[ If Vyng reads that from him, then Flynn can't be too far away from himself. At least he has that. At least he's still himself. ]

Of course. There's no other way to be. Thank you, truly. Would you like another drink? I, ah, distracted you from yours.