Manabu Yuuki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
siriusly) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2021-09-09 03:39 pm
siriusly) wrote in deercountry2021-09-09 03:39 pm
here it goes [september open/catchall]
Who: Manabu Yuuki + Soldier Blue + OTA
What: Gen + event open prompts for the month for both of my characters! Tag one, tag many, go apeshit. will match format
When: September
Where: Various
Permissions: Psychic power permissions/opt-out
Content Warnings: September event warnings + eye trauma + memory loss/manipulation + monsters & the gore they can make
there are drawn images of torture/monsters/blood embedded
1. house hunt
manabu yuuki @ housing in crenshaw
"...Hello?"
Manabu stops just shy of the next, creaky step in the large and (seemingly) empty building he's entered in. Things don't fall entirely silent until the little dog's tippy-taps click to a stop at the foot of the stairs, punctuated by an impatient snuffle.
Just find an empty space and make it your own, they said...jeez, really? That seems so...invasive. Because it is. But what is he supposed to do? Build a place himself? Fat chance. And no one seemed keen on trading menial work for rent, either - that uncomfortable separation of Sleepers and Wakers being the basis to dote upon him. He doesn't deserve that. Maybe others who suffered or struggled more do, but he sure doesn't.
The dog yips, its voice carrying through the open foyer and, perhaps, to spaces beyond, giving Manabu a little bristle. He glares over his shoulder and shushes.
"If you're gonna follow around, you're gonna be quiet, okay?!"
A moody little whine follows, and the dog sits. Manabu rolls his eye and looks back up, sighing and starting to climb up. Maybe nobody else really is here...
2. the dog
manabu yuuki @ the rainy streets of trench
[whether he knows it or not, this spunky little dog is a part of him. Manabu's a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to things of the heart, so the efforts they take to convey that to him are slow to take...yet still the little scrapper persists, because persisting is what Manabu himself does.
the dog is galloping through the rainy streets, sniffing around with a clear, anxious frustration, growling and yapping at passers-by that don't seem to be what they want.
eventually, they find a Sleeper. perhaps an old friend, perhaps a stranger who seems to have some shades of apparent compassion.
either way, the barking will persist, to the point of hopping and nipping at clothes for attention, trying to encourage the Sleeper and its omen to follow them.
come on! hurry up!]
3. event: bloodsport
manabu yuuki @ open lots within trench, near the canals
It can't be possible, but it feels as though Manabu's blood is both boiling and freezing at the same time. Sleeping doesn't help, moving doesn't help, sitting, standing, breathing...
What the hell is going on?
Cold fire flickers, sparking here and there with some residual electricity. It races off his body and snakes off into the saber he holds out as though it were drawn to it like a lightning rod. This should hurt...way more than it does. No more than an itch, an ache...
But the longer he stands still, the more it hurts. Manabu winces, doubling over for a minute before getting his stable footing back. He swallows down fresh panic, swiveling his head around so his good eye can survey, growing in desperation and doubt.
What does he do? What is he supposed to do?!
Get help, obviously. Somewhere. The thought is in his mind even as the confusion begins to overwhelm him; he yelps in alarm as another tongue of flame laps up across his shoulders and arms. Something catches his attention just over the bridge of his nose, and in fear and impulse, he swings that sparking saber with a yell.
4. event: river of regret
manabu yuuki @ a canoe on a strange river
D'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!
[down he goes, dropped by the menacing murder that swept him up in the first place. Manabu's a small guy, so at least he's not at risk to toppling the canoe he plops into, but it's graceless, and he may wind up landing on whomever was there before.]
A...aowh...what the hell...?!
5. event: growing pains
soldier blue @ misc. planting grounds in trench
The rain has eased back into a steady, but gentle drizzle. The streets are still slick, but the wind has died down, making walking easier to manage. And while Blue no longer walks alone, he must do so slowly, carefully, putting distance between himself and the many, many open minds that surround him.
There's some reprieve here, especially with most citizens inside to avoid catching sick from the rain. A faint, pale blue aura keeps Blue dry and safe from that sort of fear - one more reason he has to take his time. The lion ambles just as slowly, letting him keep a hand on him for balance, emanating a steady sense of safety and assurance that Blue would find in himself were he to search.
Right now, though, his attention is outside of himself: The spark of a Sleeper - that familiar echo of their shared beginnings here - lights up in the gloom, and Blue is drawn to an open gardening space where someone seems to either be puzzling over what to do or...why.
Blue slows to a stop at a safe distance to observe - as much to avoid startling them as it is to perhaps avoid an unexpected attack - but it's hard to ignore someone faintly glowing in the rain for long.
6. strain
soldier blue @ rainy streets of lumenwood
Hh...nh...
[without much warning, Blue drops, just barely able to catch himself by his hands, sparing his head a nasty impact. but it's all he can do to keep up, his stamina waned.
he can't...keep moving. he heeded the advice - pointed to this district for healing - but he can't get there. between his natural frailty and the almost ceaseless torment of the moon-addled minds of the coldbloods, Blue's reaching a limit for his own faculties.
the lion, aware, circles him and snuffs, nudging at him and searching for a chance to try and heft his body up over him somehow. it's kind of hard to do without the proper limbs...and before they can, the lion's ears flick to the sound of someone approaching. it turns to step in front of Blue, letting out a warning rumble, daring whomever it is to approach with ill intent.]
7. event: river of regret
soldier blue @ a canoe on a strange river
In a blustering flurry of feathers, beaks, and talons, Blue's form appears - breathless and ruffled, but otherwise unharmed. He quivers, despite the heavy layers he wears, and stares at his shaking hands.
He's very quickly aware he's not alone, and even while the feathers flutter free of his hands, his red eyes flicker up to the other person in the boat - silent, but concerned and questioning.
What...is happening?
The thought leaves him unchecked.
8. frenzy
soldier blue @ a monster attack in trench
[a bright bullet of light precedes the sound of impact and a garbled, monstrous roar. moldy wood cracks and splinters under repeated swipes of tremendous force, and a mangled, starved beast grows more frenzied in its attempts to clear obstacles to get to the source of the glowing, fading light.
for the empathetically insightful, terror bleeds through the near area without recourse. terror and fury from two sources tied to a similar thread, for while Blue struggles to get some distance within the cellar for himself from harm's way, the lion is recovering from being shaken off and lunging onto the beast's.
it's not going great, though, because there's more than one of these mad creatures in the yard.]
What: Gen + event open prompts for the month for both of my characters! Tag one, tag many, go apeshit. will match format
When: September
Where: Various
Permissions: Psychic power permissions/opt-out
Content Warnings: September event warnings + eye trauma + memory loss/manipulation + monsters & the gore they can make
there are drawn images of torture/monsters/blood embedded
1. house hunt
manabu yuuki @ housing in crenshaw
"...Hello?"
Manabu stops just shy of the next, creaky step in the large and (seemingly) empty building he's entered in. Things don't fall entirely silent until the little dog's tippy-taps click to a stop at the foot of the stairs, punctuated by an impatient snuffle.
Just find an empty space and make it your own, they said...jeez, really? That seems so...invasive. Because it is. But what is he supposed to do? Build a place himself? Fat chance. And no one seemed keen on trading menial work for rent, either - that uncomfortable separation of Sleepers and Wakers being the basis to dote upon him. He doesn't deserve that. Maybe others who suffered or struggled more do, but he sure doesn't.
The dog yips, its voice carrying through the open foyer and, perhaps, to spaces beyond, giving Manabu a little bristle. He glares over his shoulder and shushes.
"If you're gonna follow around, you're gonna be quiet, okay?!"
A moody little whine follows, and the dog sits. Manabu rolls his eye and looks back up, sighing and starting to climb up. Maybe nobody else really is here...
2. the dog
manabu yuuki @ the rainy streets of trench
[whether he knows it or not, this spunky little dog is a part of him. Manabu's a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to things of the heart, so the efforts they take to convey that to him are slow to take...yet still the little scrapper persists, because persisting is what Manabu himself does.
the dog is galloping through the rainy streets, sniffing around with a clear, anxious frustration, growling and yapping at passers-by that don't seem to be what they want.
eventually, they find a Sleeper. perhaps an old friend, perhaps a stranger who seems to have some shades of apparent compassion.
either way, the barking will persist, to the point of hopping and nipping at clothes for attention, trying to encourage the Sleeper and its omen to follow them.
come on! hurry up!]
3. event: bloodsport
manabu yuuki @ open lots within trench, near the canals
It can't be possible, but it feels as though Manabu's blood is both boiling and freezing at the same time. Sleeping doesn't help, moving doesn't help, sitting, standing, breathing...
What the hell is going on?
Cold fire flickers, sparking here and there with some residual electricity. It races off his body and snakes off into the saber he holds out as though it were drawn to it like a lightning rod. This should hurt...way more than it does. No more than an itch, an ache...
But the longer he stands still, the more it hurts. Manabu winces, doubling over for a minute before getting his stable footing back. He swallows down fresh panic, swiveling his head around so his good eye can survey, growing in desperation and doubt.
What does he do? What is he supposed to do?!
Get help, obviously. Somewhere. The thought is in his mind even as the confusion begins to overwhelm him; he yelps in alarm as another tongue of flame laps up across his shoulders and arms. Something catches his attention just over the bridge of his nose, and in fear and impulse, he swings that sparking saber with a yell.
4. event: river of regret
manabu yuuki @ a canoe on a strange river
D'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!
[down he goes, dropped by the menacing murder that swept him up in the first place. Manabu's a small guy, so at least he's not at risk to toppling the canoe he plops into, but it's graceless, and he may wind up landing on whomever was there before.]
A...aowh...what the hell...?!
5. event: growing pains
soldier blue @ misc. planting grounds in trench
The rain has eased back into a steady, but gentle drizzle. The streets are still slick, but the wind has died down, making walking easier to manage. And while Blue no longer walks alone, he must do so slowly, carefully, putting distance between himself and the many, many open minds that surround him.
There's some reprieve here, especially with most citizens inside to avoid catching sick from the rain. A faint, pale blue aura keeps Blue dry and safe from that sort of fear - one more reason he has to take his time. The lion ambles just as slowly, letting him keep a hand on him for balance, emanating a steady sense of safety and assurance that Blue would find in himself were he to search.
Right now, though, his attention is outside of himself: The spark of a Sleeper - that familiar echo of their shared beginnings here - lights up in the gloom, and Blue is drawn to an open gardening space where someone seems to either be puzzling over what to do or...why.
Blue slows to a stop at a safe distance to observe - as much to avoid startling them as it is to perhaps avoid an unexpected attack - but it's hard to ignore someone faintly glowing in the rain for long.
6. strain
soldier blue @ rainy streets of lumenwood
Hh...nh...
[without much warning, Blue drops, just barely able to catch himself by his hands, sparing his head a nasty impact. but it's all he can do to keep up, his stamina waned.
he can't...keep moving. he heeded the advice - pointed to this district for healing - but he can't get there. between his natural frailty and the almost ceaseless torment of the moon-addled minds of the coldbloods, Blue's reaching a limit for his own faculties.
the lion, aware, circles him and snuffs, nudging at him and searching for a chance to try and heft his body up over him somehow. it's kind of hard to do without the proper limbs...and before they can, the lion's ears flick to the sound of someone approaching. it turns to step in front of Blue, letting out a warning rumble, daring whomever it is to approach with ill intent.]
7. event: river of regret
soldier blue @ a canoe on a strange river
In a blustering flurry of feathers, beaks, and talons, Blue's form appears - breathless and ruffled, but otherwise unharmed. He quivers, despite the heavy layers he wears, and stares at his shaking hands.
He's very quickly aware he's not alone, and even while the feathers flutter free of his hands, his red eyes flicker up to the other person in the boat - silent, but concerned and questioning.
What...is happening?
The thought leaves him unchecked.
8. frenzy
soldier blue @ a monster attack in trench
[a bright bullet of light precedes the sound of impact and a garbled, monstrous roar. moldy wood cracks and splinters under repeated swipes of tremendous force, and a mangled, starved beast grows more frenzied in its attempts to clear obstacles to get to the source of the glowing, fading light.
for the empathetically insightful, terror bleeds through the near area without recourse. terror and fury from two sources tied to a similar thread, for while Blue struggles to get some distance within the cellar for himself from harm's way, the lion is recovering from being shaken off and lunging onto the beast's.
it's not going great, though, because there's more than one of these mad creatures in the yard.]
no subject
"I don't have powers," he blurts. He believes it still. "A-and I'm not doing any of that blood stuff! It's weird, I--I really don't like how excited folks are about it, either! You know?"
His eyes wince, imploring. Does she? He hopes so, because it'll be nice to know he's not crazy to think that casual bloodletting or all this blood-chatter is all well and dandy.
"But if, if you see other people getting in trouble because of it, doesn't that make it more obvious it's messed up? Right?"
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She breathed in and out. "The idea of this blood thing is ... not entirely foreign to me, or to my world. So maybe it doesn't strike me as strangely as it would others, but your world, it has nothing like this does it? Yes. Something strange, potentially dangerous is going on, Manabu. You're right to be concerned. But you don't need to fear. You aren't alone."
And if anything, she was clearly indicating as she sat down, one hand reaching up to rest on her omen's scruff, that she wasn't afraid. Not of him. Not in general. fear never helped in her estimation, not in this.
no subject
When she asks your world, it has nothing like this does it? he shakes his head a little, going from grimace to frown. His brow furrows further at you don't need to fear, because while he trusts her insight and word? He...he can't. Rather, in his mind, he knows he should trust her, but something's keeping his body from wholly accepting it. And the more aware of that, the more vexed he becomes, which leads the little dog that's pacing around the both of them to whine and yip sporadically.
Vira-Lorr sits and her hand moves, directing his attention to the creature at her side, and he does a startled double-take. It's a very alien-looking creature - definitely no dog breed he's ever seen!
"R-right," he utters, shuddering and refocusing on her. "Right, ye-yeah, I--I know, I. It's the calm down part I'm having a hard time with here."
no subject
"What I want you to attempt to do with me is a breathing exercise. It's not going to solve this completely, but it's going to still your mind a little. Hook your legs the way that I am right now and try to sit upright." As she did, she positioned herself in a half-lotus position. Yoga wasn't exactly common to her world, but there were similar, if basic, postures they used at times. "Rest your hands on your knees, palms up. And then breathe out. Slowly. Then in as much as you can. Then out. Focus on breathing. Not on anything else. Just breathing."
Her companion quietly watched, unconcerned, as if this were a normal situation. Its lack of concern was part of why she wasn't worried. It sensed no immediate, impending doom. There might be some cold or heat, but hopefully nothing she couldn't handle.
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Meanwhile, Manabu makes something of an effort despite his reluctances and doubts to do as she suggests - she's made a fair case for knowing what she's talking about, and even if she didn't, he trusts her opinion. And so, after a bit of fidgeting, Manabu manages to get himself sitting at least somewhat similar, though he can't get his knees to rest quite as easily as hers while also sitting so upright.
Okay. Hands on knees. Palms up. Manabu closes his eyes and draws in a deep breath, letting it out with an involuntary shiver. Calm? In this economy? The blood doth protest.
no subject
"Begin to empty your mind. Focus on the breathing. Breath is life, and with the life that flows into you comes steadiness of mind. Do not worry if it is complete. Just breathe with me." In truth? She expected this was not succeeding for him, not completely. Meditation was something she was used to doing. that didn't mean it was something he was used to doing. But if he focused on breathing, he was thinking about each breath instead of thinking about not burning things.
"Focus each breath on getting more into your lungs. Hold it longer each time."
no subject
He shudders again, taken by the chill just under the skin as he holds that last breath as long as he can.
"S-something's...really messed up inside me," he realizes.
no subject
"Have you yet been to the blo..." A pause. A frown. "Have you been the doctors. There are physicians here, ones more familiar with the conditions we're in. They may be able to help." She pointedly did not call them blood ministers. It wasn't like he needed all of that in his face right now.
no subject
He huffs, feeling himself getting worked up again. Inhale, exhale.
"S-sorry, I...no. I haven't. Is the answer..."
no subject
"Trust me. I understand any feeling of nerves with them. They're a little... unsettling, but they may be able to help."
no subject
"Did...did they help you already?" he asks, still frowning with concern.
no subject
"I wasn't injured badly enough to need them, so no. I've met and seen a couple around. They're always looking for donations apparently." She made a small face. "I admit that they creep me out a little, but they are what passes for medical care, and everyone assures me that they work. Eddie did vouch for them to an extent, and he's not exactly... easy to convince."
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"Maybe it's...actually a good sign I'm still so weirded out...something like that...probably not the best to be on board with right out the gate, right?"
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"...Thanks, Vira-Lorr," he utters, gaze flicking down again. "For...for sitting here. Helping me."
no subject
"You sounded like you needed someone to listen. A few of us are pretty aggressively trying to make lives, and you? You were still fairly new when the dream ended weren't you?"
no subject
"I remember...Peter calling it home. And saying other people saw it that way, too. And I didn't get it. Because everything I saw since then was...horrible. Non-stop. I, I can't call him or anyone wrong for what they put up with, but I still..."
It was wrong. He's still confident in that. There was nothing 'home' about that place that he could find outside of the cruel facades of a town that rapidly began to crumble no sooner than he'd tried to settle.
Manabu exhales, shivering.
"It felt...way different than things here do now. Just. Just way different..."
no subject
"A year, and you congratulate yourself on surviving so long and feel shock over having been there that long. The second anniversary, you wonder where the time has gone, and realize that you've been working a job, maintaining a home and making friends. Somewhere between that first year and second, you stopped trying to endure it, and started trying to find a way to be happy there because you didn't see a way to leave." She shrugged. "Or at least that was how it was for many of us. It is different here, but even if it becomes home for some, it isn't necessarily a pleasant home."
no subject
But he had sat next to Vira-Lorr once as she spoke of being trapped in years upon years of torment, contentedly offering those nightmares up to a dream eater.
Stubbornly refusing her truth, Peter's, and all the rest is just arrogance - a privilege he had in not being trapped nowhere near as long, no matter how hellish it was on him in the short-term.
"How much more...are you expected to put up with?" he wonders, his voice lowering, his gaze downcast. "With what people chose for that...that little girl..." He hesitates, swallowing. "Shouldn't that have been enough?"
Or will there be retribution for killing a child - even when one didn't choose it?
no subject
"As it stands, I don't know that I consider what we're experiencing that 'bad' so much as very surreal. It's awkward. Uncomfortable. perhaps for some the mere existence we have is a little or a lot horrifying, but there is a roof over our heads. Food is available. The natives are pleasant. We are not bound to this town as we were the nightmare. It's just a new place... where monsters dwell outside its gates." She sighed and turned her head. "I'll admit. My own home isn't necessarily better in that regard. You have no idea how many orcs I've fought in my life. I honestly lost track."
"But what came out of the ashes of a nightmare was never going to be all sunshines and rainbows. Regardless of the door, I think... it would have been difficult to live where we ended up, but we'd be able to live, to grow, to start again. To help them start again." A little laugh. "Or at least that's what I'm telling myself."
no subject
At the mention of orcs, his head tilts with a puzzled blink, not unlike a dog hearing a peculiar sound. No, he doesn't have any idea, that's for sure.
"Start again," he echoes softly, looking down in thought. "Without...any of those messed-up powers this time, you think?"
Before she can answer he sits up straight, re-remembering why he's sitting there, and scowls.
"Well, no, there's still those, aren't there? And we were all seafood! What the heck is up with that?"
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She laughed softly and smiled over at him. "If I didn't know better, I'd suggest it's one of two things. One is one of those curses we all know and love, just to toy with our minds. The other is that ... our spirits inhabit a body and mold it to become as we know it to be. So... think of it this way. You are you. You're not about to start squirting ink everywhere." Though the implication was still that he was definitely, probably, certainly still a squid.
no subject
His eyes wince at talk of body molds. What, like...cookie cutter shapes? He shivers.
"I don't know if I'm gonna get used to this," he admits with a huff. "But...but I haven't suddenly exploded in a minute, so. So there's some progress..."
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"You probably won't, not fully. And that's not entirely a bad thing. Feeling too normal would probably never be too natural for you. I think some of us have lost a little sight of what normal really is."
no subject
"I guess that's true..." It'd be just splitting hairs trying to find a baseline for normal, right? And Manabu's not the sort of guy to have a mind for that. He just needs enough of a solid foundation to stand on; the rest can come at him head-on, so long as he understands the stakes.
It's that understanding Deerington always yanked out of reach. Maybe here will be different?
"Thanks, Vira-Lorr." He lifts his head back up, managing a small, grateful, almost apologetic smile. He's always troubling her with his troubles, isn't he? "I, I do feel a lot better now. Though..." A little laugh peppers his breath. "Though I, ah...I think my legs are falling asleep like this..."
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