deercountry | late bloomer jokes [feb catchall

Entry tags:

late bloomer jokes [feb catchall - open & closed prompts]

Who: Manabu & others
What: Misc hijinks
When: February
Where: Misc locations

Content Warnings: Will be marked in tls/comments as needed

February is weird. Manabu feels...weird. He's always an impatient kind of person, needing to always be moving somewhere or doing something, but this is a different kind of impatience. More and more, he's noticing the way couples interact, double-taking at public displays of affection which he'd typically fluster and look the other way at. He pines for a lot of things here in Trench: his family, his coworkers, his job... but he's not used to pining for things like...y'know, hand-holding.

So goes Manabu Yuuki's 24-year old awakening to romantic pining; it's going to be coloring a lot of the month for him! And that's weird and confusing for him, so you bet this'll be coloring the way he interacts with folks he runs into! Lots of word spaghetti, lots of hair frizzing with static, and some apple-red cheeks...at least he has the cold weather to blame for that.

...Even if he's a coldblood.

Shut up. It's nothing!!!

open prompts

o1. Willful Machine: Errands and Odd Jobs
[regardless of these roiling, blood-based feelings throwing him off his game, Manabu still throws himself into work of all sorts. he does errands and handiwork around the Roost for Diluc, but also picks up the occasional odd job for locals - Sleepers and natives alike. he's a jack of many trades and definitely master of none, but what he lacks in expertise he makes up with patience and determination.

perhaps you see him replacing tiles on a store's roof, or maybe he's hauling a wagon full of winter supplies, or part of a small squad lifting some heavy furniture by pulley up to a second floor, or simply carrying someone's groceries! either way, prime encounter opportunity.

also, Magnet is always there: that little mutt's noisy, but friendly, and always apt to bounding away from Manabu to sniff out a friend or potential friend...or at least some pets.]

o2.The Gate: Gunswordplay
[maybe it's too much to bank on, but smacking around the unsnake last month's given Manabu a boost of combat confidence (never mind the concussions)! that said, he definitely needs to get better at this gravity saber business; swords are really archaic, but seem to be quite a common thing here! and look, he wouldn't admit it, but he wants to be cool with the swords, too.

here Manabu can be found a couple hours before sundown after busy workdays, stretching and then trying to master balanced, repeated strikes on dummies with slashes or sparks of flame...boring stuff, but he knows it builds results. still, if anyone's itching to spar, he'll jump at that.]

o3. Gaze: Research
[if things are too slow as far as work goes, Manabu will veer off and go to the Archives - a place he actually hasn't made a point to visit much before! he's not a big studying kind of guy, but he knows the plans he has in mind require a lot more research and thought than just running on hunches and rumors.

also? he wants maps. an atlas feels like a reach, but if he can cobble together some maps...

so that's what he's up to: cringing and veering away from ickier aisles of oddities, picking at the spines of assorted books in increasingly lessening hope.

what's it take to find a map of the world around this place...!?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Uoh, hey...

[Manabu doesn't get far into the Raccoon Room on off-hours before spying a familiar face - just not one he was anticipating. he's not super familiar with Bolin personally - most of his knowhow comes from Mako (sorry about him sniping your romantic prospects by the way, dude), and their exchanges are brief hellos...like he anticipates this one being!

but not today.]

Wu not around right now? Or is he in the back? He mentioned wanting some decorating help. Moving stuff, I think?

Oh! Hey, Manabu. No he's uh... somewhere. I've kind of stopped asking when he and Mako disappear, you know?

[Not saying they're off doin' the nasty but it's a possibility Bolin tries not to think about like.. at all.

It's a funny situation to be in. They know each other, they have been in the same room several times, but never really directly interacted. Time to fix that. A stranger is just a friend waiting to be made, after all.]

It was probably to help with all that stuff.

[Gesturing to the enormous heap of boxes. Glasses and table stuff and decorations.]

All these chairs and tables need arranging, too.

[Which, you know, he was doing.. he was just. Also.. not doing it very quickly. It's boring to work alone!]

[Manabu's shoulders lift and fall with a light sigh - the kind of upbeat resignation to a big task. good - he likes having a lot to do.

after a bit of a shudder, he claps his hands together and, as he's taking his satchel off, Magnet - his noisy little omen - hops inside before the door can fully close, bouncing a few steps before making a bee-line for Bolin's shoes. these need sniffing, stat.

while taking his coat off:] Magnet, chill out! Jeez... [to Bolin:] Sorry. I can tie him up outside if he's annoying.

Tie him up?

[What kind of monster man are you? He looks so shocked, already crouching down to love all over this adorable little angel. Tied up?? Tied up??? Never, look at you, hello Manget baby shh shh he didn't mean it--]

Do you smell Pabu? You just smell Pabu, don't you.

[Not u, monster man.]

Pabu!

[A chitter rings out from the top of the box pile and Pabu appears. Something like a ferret and a red panda smooshed together, he cocks his head at Magnet, trying to decide if he'll be eaten or not. Chances say probably not, and he comes down from his castle to cautiously say hello.]

Magnet, Pabu, Pabu, Magnet. Manabu, Pabu.

[not like torture gosh! like a dog!! jeez... Manabu can't believe he feels bad about treating his dog like a dog. he rubs at his face and sighs while Magnet gets to meet Pabu. his ears prick up, nose a-sniffing and tail wagging slowly, but it's hard to keep dog-energy this lowkey for long, because after a few sniffs, he bows forward in play-mode and yips.]

Huh, is that your omen, or is that animal from here...?

[No one asked you Monsterbu.

But. Bolin will let you off. For now. He’s gaging how their omens will interact before deciding that they’ll be fine and turns his attention away. Pabu fluffs up at the yip before bounding sideways at Magnet. The play begins and off they go.]

He’s my omen but he was my pet back home before that. I’ve had Pabu since I was a little kid. He’s the best.

Aa, really? So you knew him all along? [Manabu watches the critters start to play tag around the tables and chairs already set up around the area.] Weird...Magnet doesn't look familiar to me at all...my childhood dog was yellow.

Well Mako didn't have Zuko at home, that's for sure. And Wu didn't get Fritter until we were in the dream before here.

Which.. is wild to say out loud, but also not as wild as some of the other things that have happened to us all, lately. You know that shedding stuff? I was a girl for almost a month. And my friend's brother recently turned into a monster. So there's that.

Why'd you call him Magnet?

[that's a wild pivot from wild topics to...dog. it gives Manabu a little brain-based whiplash, leaving him to double-blink and stare at him a beat. Bolin was a girl, too? jeez, how many people were suddenly girls?!]

Uh-- [dog. dog, not girl.] 'Cause that's what he is. [blink.] I mean, he wouldn't leave me alone even though I didn't have any food or wasn't trying to keep him...like he was magnetically drawn to me.

[...

his arms lift and flop with his hapless shrug.]

Mako and Diluc got dragons and Wu's got a familiar pet - how was I supposed to know that my omen was a dog?

[Welcome to Talking With Bolin: a Masterclass In Wild Pivots.]

Huh... that's true. I dunno, Maybe you're just a dog kind of guy at heart.

[muttered as he walks over to a stack of chairs:] I don't know what that means...

[anyway, while picking one up:] Is there a floorplan already? Where are these going?

[Maybe it means you're a dog man, who knows. That isn't a bad thing, dogs are great. They're cute and loyal and come when they're called to move boxes for their friends because they need tasks to keep them from being sad.]

Uuuuh, probably.

[There is. It it on the bar with a stack of plans very clearly expressing what is supposed to happen in here.]

Just anywhere but the dance floor I think. And we have to make and hang like four hundred lanterns. Should we do that before the chairs get in the way? Ugh- Manabu- I love weddings so much. I love this wedding so much already and we're just doing the grunt work.

[WOW he has SO LITTLE in common with dogs who also revel in having jobs and enjoy getting praised for a good job and being a good good boy what--]

Ehhh, really? [he sets the chair down and looks over, incredulous.] Why?

[Gosh no, you are just. So far from that. What a wild accusation with absolutely no foundation in fact.]

Why not? This is my brother's wedding. He never thought he'd get to have this, you know? Back home was so.. so different.

[Can he say the word 'so' any more? Let's find out.]

I'm so proud of them. I get to have two brothers now and they are so happy, that's amazing, is it?

[admittedly, the brotherly link wasn't the first thing in his head, because it's only Manabu here in his head! but thinking of it as if Mako were actually his brother?]

...I...yeah...I guess that's true...

[imagine having living brothers. wow.]

[Ohh below the belt. You're feisty.]

Right?? And, plus! Super important, and I know I'm bias, but I kinda feel like they're these.. pillars of the community? This is going to be such a big public thing, I think it's going to mean a lot to all us Sleepers. We're all one big family if you think about it.

[He pops a paper lantern onto it's wire frame, smiling as it turns into a globe in his hands. These feel so much like home.]

I will be so lucky if I get just half the happiness they've found.

[Manabu huffs out a breath and tries to put a laugh in it, but it's a failed kind of thing; at least he can go and grab another chair.]

Ye-yeah, haa... I mean, anyone would, I think...

[one big family? do people...actually believe that? does Bolin actually believe that?

half that happiness is...

dang. why's this getting under his skin so easily? it's weird. he feels so weird!]

[U ok man? Bo looks over with his brows up.]

You don't sound so sure.

Eh-?

[he halts, glancing over, double-blinking at that expression. his good eye twitches, face going hot as he shakes his head, hastening back to work.]

I mean! I can't--it's your bias, you said! Yours!

Woah- okay.. Alright.

[He holds a hand up in defense]

You clearly have some trauma you need to unpack. But that's okay, we all have stuff. I have tons of stuff.

..do you.. wanna talk about it?

I don't-- [THUNK. he cringes at how loudly that chair drops out of his hands. oops.]

...Have trauma, I was just saying! I-it's fine. Forget it. It--uoh...hey. [he has discovered. the floorplan!] Nice. This'll help.

You were just saying what.. [But it's small and mostly to himself as he scratches his chin. Still, he comes over to see the plans and it's a light bulb moment. Ahhh, right.. right yeah this makes sense.]

Divide and conquer?

Mn. [divide and conquer sounds good.] I'll start on that far side, then switch over when I get to the middle so there's room to put up those lanterns, okay?

Roger that, let's roll out!

[Which is a lot of enthusiasm to go like thirty feet away but sometimes the soldier just comes out. What can you do. Put on some music and work!

And Bolin is all about helping out this month. Even if he didn't have the warmblood status effect up his ass he would be here doing all this anyway.

Buuuuut.... alllllso.. like. He's a chatty guy and he doesn't know Manabu very well so he can only mind his beeswax for so long before he starts talking again.]

Hey Manabu, I've always wondered. How do you actually know my brother? I see you around all the time.

Hmh?

[he catches the question in the midst of pulling a table out further from the side of the room he's in charge of for now, glancing over his shoulder. distantly, there's some chittering and a couple barks - omens doing omen things.]

Aa, the, the dream. [he finishes moving the table and rolls his shoulder, speaking up to be heard as he moves to grab the next one.] He stepped up to help me investigate the campus when it was still there, and since Wu wanted help transporting goods around for the safe houses when things got worse...I just...wound up being around more often, I guess.

Just not--often-often. [he shrugs, shooting an apologetic glance Bolin's way.] I was kind of...tangled up in stuff, back then. That's why you and I, we didn't really...y'know. [do more than say "hey."]

closed to bolin

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