deercountry | feb catchall with some open prompts

Entry tags:

feb catchall with some open prompts

Who: mob and whoever!
What: february tdm prompts, other, just a general catchall
When: february and potentially onward
Where: around the trench

Content Warnings: none atm, to be added when relevant in threads.

gift giving, mostly for cr but open for all

[as a warmblood mob begins having the urge to give gifts. in truth this is seamless, easily picked up by his general wish to show appreciation for the people who have made this difficult situation better. it's one of the most valuable lessons he's learned, that he should be grateful for the people in his life, the ones who helped him grow and change. especially here, where it would have been easy to be alone.

so! gifts. anyone mob has cr with is fair game. if he'd know where they live he might leave them in their mailbox, at their door. it often won't come with any note but if it does it will be something simple, like 'i hope you like this' signed with his name.

he might seek the person out, bundled up in a sweater, jacket, scarf, gloves, muffled when he holds it out and says,] Here.

[anyone he met could get this treatment. people he hasn't met yet? also possible, if maybe they're sitting alone or just give off any air of being down. please feel free to bend the situation to anything needed.

the sort of things he might give away:
- any cool rock he just found, especially shiny ones
- any cool sea shell he found, again bonus points for shiny
- a little plant in a little pot, usually something simple that could be found around, herb or flower or fern
- a misshapen bonsai. he's still learning, okay
- scarves or mitten gloves, usually very ugly and bulky
- any of the chocolatier's chocolates. (note, none of the horny/romantics ones eaten around him, but feel free to take it and use it later if you want)
- wildcard of some odd thing he may have found in a shop or on the far shore. a brooch? a gear? etc, sky's the limit go nuts.]

chocolates, open to all

[the chocolatier doesn't seem to bother mob much. most things don't so this isn't surprising. the state of it's soul is a whole can of worms but anyone is free to see him talking to the creature at one point or the other, seemingly nonplussed as he allows it a few drops of his blood and is gifted chocolate in return.

he'll examine one before popping it into his mouth-

if it's caramel he'll blink, and the first person he sees he'll just... start following. this gives the mixed impression of being imprinted on by a baby duck but also one of those spooky, quiet kids you don't hear coming and is just there when you turn around.

does it look like there's snow in your way? he quickly lifts a hand to push it out of the way with a burst of telekinesis. shivering? have his scarf, his hat, his jacket. when addressed at all he'll just blink and say,] Is something wrong? Can I help?

[have fun.]

[if it's strawberry a muted grey will start oozing from him, not unlike paint in water. everything about it is subdued, smells around the area vanish to nothing when too close, sounds softening. he doesn't seem to register it, goes about his day.

maybe he'll be found stopping to look up at some batcats on the roof of a random house in crenshaw, a little flare of golden warmth coming from him before it's sucked up by the grey again.] They're really cute. [is what he'll placidly inform anyone who stops to look as well.

maybe there will be a beast howl coming from the outskirts of the city by the farther shores, in which that grey will briefly go spiky and dark before muting back to normal. someone nearby will get glanced at.] We should get away.

[feel free to put any situation you want here as well.]

[if it's peacan everything will seem normal until one of his legs just... gives out. he falls into the snow, blinking, and can now be found just lying off the side of one of the main crenshaw roads.

just looking up at the sky, not particularly alarmed but given snow is starting to accumulate over his body it doesn't look comfortable. in fact he's starting to look pale and shaky from the cold if it's been long enough. if someone checks in he'll look up to them and say,] The chocolates aren't very nice.

[chocolatier betrayed him.]

[wildcard; if you want to do one of the other tdm prompts or something else please let me know! pm here or

dichotomy

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, I think so. They can check if there's any noticeable corruption and give you some things to calm you down even if there's not. [Like the tea, but also batcats.] I'm going every month because I was told the first main symptom is feeling bad for no reason, but I wouldn't be able to notice that. [Haha he's depressed.

Anyway- Mob's tiny smile doesn't quite earn him a smile in return, but it's as close to one as Sunny's expressions usually go. He's happy.

After another few minutes of cold and pulling Mob over stones, they are back at the house.]

Okay. There are a few steps up to the door, sorry. [Time to go bump, bump, bump up them steps until Sunny can open the door and get them both into someplace warm.]

[time to zoom unsettlingly in on the sad and personal aspect of that.] Do you feel bad for no reason a lot?

[ah, their barely/not smiling smiles to each other. mob is happy to take the rest of the trip quietly, feeling a little guilty for putting sunny through all this trouble. not because he could have fucking fixed it himself in a second, no, because it didn't seem like being worth such a fuss about.

boy. give him time, one day he'll be better.]

It's okay. [he will give little 'oofs' for some of the bigger bumps, but once inside? oh, that does feel so much better. shibe moves in and sits to stare unhappily from his corner, refusing to deal with either of them.]

[Due to them wearing the same hat, Sunny isn't put off by it. It's a fair and upfront question.] Yeah. I guess there's a reason but it's one that's always there. So it's basically the same.

[Maybe someday he wouldn't feel like this so often. At least it wasn't literally all the time anymore.

He watches with vague concern when Mob oofs, but they survive it. Now that they were inside moving Mob was a little more difficult. No snow. But he manages to pull him over towards the fire place to get warmed up.]

I'm going to make you cocoa. [He is not thinking about how Mob will be able to drink this without the use of his arms.]

[ah, he can kind of guess given their talks so far. a nod, then,] If you want to talk about it I'll listen.

[venting, something sunny offered him. (that he didn't take, but maybe one day) he remembered something from all that, it turns out.

and now mob is lying on the ground, limbs splayed by the fireplace. much better. he stares up at the ceiling, thinking that the floor wasn't very comfortable, as it turns out. not really bad though. it was fine.]

Oh, thank you. [mob also not thinking of that yet. amazing. wait.] Do we have straws?

[That makes Sunny pause, glancing to the side as he realizes that maybe he should be getting Mob out of his jacket and such. They were going to get wet from the melting snow and that wouldn't help him any.

He kneels down, easily taking any hats, gloves, and scarves off. Getting shoes off with more difficulty. Then the coat-] Oh. I'm trying to get your cold clothes off so I can put a blanket on you. [Like, just in case Mob wondered why the hell Sunny was doing this.]

Then straws for cocoa. [The plan.

He hadn't responded to the offer to talk, but was considering it as he tries to wriggle Mob out of his coat.] Talking about it would be the right thing to do, I think. But, if I do, I'm going to get emotional again. [He's already cried in front of Mob two times already. How embarrassing.

On a more selfish note, he's afraid that if he tells Mob that he'll hate him. And that's hard to stomach.]

[because they are themselves mob doesn't bat an eye to this. two extremely normal teens.] Oh, that's a good idea.

[sunny's smart. shibe glowers at mob before pointedly puffing away into smoke.]

Is being emotional bad? [boy, what a thing for him to say. to be fair he knows exactly why it's bad for him to do, but it's not the same for sunny. sunny's emotions won't hurt anyone, like his sibling.

hm!]

[Success! The coat has been removed, hopefully without hurting Mob's arms in any way. Sunny did his best. Sorry if injured.

He places it off to the side, going to grab one of the blankets draped over the furniture to give Mob.

The question makes him pause, half-folded blanket pressed up against him.]

Not inherently. [Another pause.] But I feel bad offloading on you so much. Especially when you couldn't leave right now even if you wanted to.

[in shibe's humble opinion he deserves it if mob won't use his damn powers to make it easier, but that's another matter. everything is fine, he won't freeze to death, thank you sunny.

mob listens though, then says,] But I could tell you to stop if I wanted to.

[Sorry shibe, but at least Mob's not going to die so that should appease the pup a little. Sunny walks over with the blanket, draping it over Mob and making sure it covered up everything nicely except for his head.

Welcome to being cozy.

Sunny considers for a moment, before sitting down near Mob, curling his knees up against his chest.]

That's true. [A pause.] Honestly I'm just afraid to talk about it.

[this is much better. have the tiniest of smiles.] Thanks Sunny.

[but time for Serious, which is how he listens.]

Why are you afraid? [first hurdle to overcome. talking about things is kind of a lot, so fair.]

You're welcome. [Literally any time, bud. Will not let you freeze to death out there.

He glances down at his knees.]

Because... I don't want you to hate me.

[ah, well that's a reason.] You did something bad?

[why else would mob hate him. after a beat he says,] I don't think I'll hate you. Even if you were really terrible before, or made really bad mistakes. People can change.

I want to change too.

[He did something bad. Very bad.]

But you're already a really good person. [Sunny doesn't think you have to change, Mob.

For a long moment he's silent, hugging his knees tighter as he considers. Mob said he wouldn't hate him but who knew if that would end up being true in the end. It would be pretty justified if he did.

Still, bottling up everything had never helped him.]

I started playing the violin when I was 11, so I could practice with my sister. She played the piano a lot and I missed spending time with her.

At first it was nice, since I got to see her a lot more. But... I kept getting frustrated. I didn't feel like I was getting better. And I kept missing out on playing with my friends. Mari started getting annoyed with me, especially when we started preparing for a duet. It had almost been a year since I started practicing, but I didn't feel like I was good enough.

[mob goes quiet at that. a really good person. he hopes so.] I've made mistakes too.

[his mistakes are catastrophic though.

but sunny speaks and he listens, warmth seeping back into him. this feels like it's going to end in her death and his stomach already twists. (ritsu on the pavement. 56%)]

Violin's really hard I heard. [all he has to say about that, ready to hear more.]

Everyone has. [But he doubted Mob's were as bad as his. At least he hadn't literally killed his sibling.

He takes a few moments before he continues, having to focus on breathing in and out to keep himself calm.]

It is, but Mari never seemed to have any problems with piano. Or maybe I just never saw her mistakes because she worked so hard. [Breathe in and out.]

The day before the recital we were practicing and I kept messing up and Mari wasn't understanding why I couldn't do it. I kept trying to tell her but she wasn't listening.

[There are tears beading in his eyes now as he hugs his legs even tighter.]

I wanted to get away. I went up the stairs but she wouldn't leave me alone. She kept yelling at me and all I could do was blame the violin, so I threw it down the stairs. It broke.

[A long pause.] All of my friends and Mari had saved up for it at Christmas time for me. And I smashed it.

She pressured you. [said after a beat to simply think it all over. yeah, it's pretty easy to picture it. when they were younger he and ritsu could get into fights sometimes. always stupid ones, they were so little, what did they have to fight about?

of course they don't really fight anymore, not until the alley, if that counted. ritsu never tried to pressure him. he never yelled. that part is hard to picture. was what happened with mari and sunny normal? was that how siblings acted?

he refocuses, especially on the way sunny curls in on himself. he looked smaller. was this the big mistake? he wishes it was, though he has a sinking feeling it isn't.] Things got worse, didn't they?

[She had pressured him. Even Mari's ghost had admitted she pushed him too hard. (If, indeed, that was actually her ghost and not a grief-induced hallucination. He wanted to imagine he was her, if only so he could pretend she forgave him.)

Sunny doesn't want to say that it's true, though. It felt bad to speak ill about her like that. Like he was blaming her.]

They did. [They got way worse. It was now at the point that Sunny had to try very hard not to shut down. He had to say it. He had to see someone react to it.]

She got even more mad. Couldn't understand why I did it. [He shakes his head.] I just... wanted to get away. I tried to get by her but she wouldn't let me. [Even though he's trying to control his breathing, it's getting heavier.]

She blocked me. So I pushed her.

[He stops, staring forward.]

She fell down the stairs. And died. [He presses his hands against his head, head curling up against his knees.]

I killed her. [His voice is so small.]

Edited 2023-02-05 00:13 (UTC)

[a lot of things make sense in a terrible way. his father, things he said. mob's chest feels tight, emotions really were so dangerous. psychic or not, they came out and lashed, hurt people, made mistakes like this for someone so normal like sunny. normal and unlucky. normal and having a normal fight that went wrong.

(60% 70% 80%)

he can't move his arms still but finally his power pours through, blue-green-purple lighting it up as he manipulates his arm up, his hand out, his fingers to brush against sunny's knee, reaching for his hand. to try and take it, the faintest furrow in his brow, his eyes stinging.]

I don't hate you. [he says quietly.] Sometimes... sometimes things happen we can't control.

[(90%) a tear beads at the corner of his eyes.] Sometimes bad things happen we can't stop, that we don't mean to happen. Sometimes things are unfair.

I'm sorry.

[Tears were now flowing freely, unable to be stopped by Sunny's hands that were now trying to cover his eyes. They spilt out despite himself.

He'd done something terrible. So terrible. And that wasn't even the end of things. But he couldn't say it. He could barely breathe. That wasn't only his sin to bear, anyway. That was Basil's too.

The light feeling of fingers brushing against his leg makes him look up, eyes red. For a moment he can only stare, before realizing that Mob's hand was reaching out for his own. He hesitates for a second, before taking it. Squeezing it a little tightly.

He didn't hate him.]

She didn't deserve that. I didn't want it to happen I- [Though it had been an accident, some horrible part of himself always wondered if he'd done it on purpose. That he was truly a monster.] I hurt everyone so much.

Accidents are- [why was it hard to speak for a second? he pushes some things deeper down, his powers curling his hand around sunny's. his powers warm around sunny's hand and wrist like it's doing the holding.] - they happen, they're not about deserving or um, intent.

[the power squeezes a little, flares of purple-blue curling.]

[Mob's power hold his hand is comforting. It eases the pain in his chest a little, even though it still hurt. It hurt terribly. This was only the second time he'd admitted this to anyone.]

I-I know. If someone else were telling me this I'd think the same thing. But- [But it's so much harder when it's yourself. Judging yourself comes more naturally than judging others.

He takes a deep, shuddering breath.] I start to wonder if maybe I actually did it on purpose. If I- if I actually hated her. [Neither of these things are true. He loved Mari very much and never would have done it on purpose.]

It's hard when it's about you. [mob agrees with easier understanding than he's used to. usually he really needs to think about the other person's viewpoint, but here... yeah, it all makes sense. horrible sense.

being kind to yourself is harder than it should be, especially in the face of guilt over something that can never really be fixed and returned to what it was.]

You didn't. [said so simply.] Hate her I mean. Sorry, I guess I shouldn't say how you feel but I don't think you'd worry about that if you really felt that way deep down.

You wouldn't use what she taught you to help me either, I don't think, if you hated her.

Yeah. [Sunny's voice is small when he says that. It was so much harder when it was about you. Being cruel to other people felt wrong, but being cruel to yourself?

That almost felt natural.]

No- No, I don't mind you saying how I feel. [He thinks Mob is right, anyway, if he digs past the self hatred to the truth of the matter.] That's- [He hesitates.]

I wouldn't miss her so much if I really hated her, would I? So... you're right.

[he'd nod, if he could. instead his powers squeeze sunny's hand.

god, it's hard to imagine what he would have done if ritsu- if ritsu wasn't okay. how sunny manages at all shows how strong he is. mob doesn't think he could be that strong. if he had-

he blinks. his eyes sting just a little.]

Sunny... I think you're really strong. I don't- I don't know if most people could be as strong as you are.

I really wasn't strong. For a long time I didn't want to think about it at all. I didn't leave my house. I abandoned my friends when they were hurting, too.

[All and all, Sunny was kind of awful. Or at least he thought so. He was trying to think that less, though. Mari would have... would have wanted him to forgive himself, wouldn't she?]

feb catchall with some open prompts

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cw death, falls from height

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