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

[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."]

Ohh, no that makes sense.

[Does it? He pops up another lantern and sets it aside. It's starting to feel like a giant ball pit over here. That would be fun..]

No offense taken, my man. Those were some crazy days. I only came in at the very end of that whole thing. I think maybe I was there before? People have said that a few times. I don't remember it, though.

If we were friends and I don't remember.. no hard feelings?

Eh?

[he hesitates, turning partway back in Bolin's direction.]

You...don't remember it? At all?

Nothin', nadda, full sweep!

[He slices his hand through the air for emphasis.]

You know how like.. sometimes people here appear and then disappear? And sometimes appear again but they're different? Like they've been reset? It just happened to a friend of mine... [Which he is definitely not mourning, no siree! Not cried about that at all.]

Anyway- I think that.. maybe happened to me?

Wait, what? That...can happen? [this is entirely news to him.] That...that's a thing that happens?

Yeah man, where have you been?

Nothing I read ever...I mean-- [he hesitates, second-guessing himself. he's not the most brilliant studier by any stretch, but he's sure he'd have remembered something about forgetting!

...right?

he grimaces.]

I...I don't...know if anyone ever told me that or not. And if they did... [he forgot!]

Huh..

[Light bulb.]

Well maybe they did and you got wiped and now you don't remember because you had to start over like me.

[BIG FROWN... that's not a great thought either!!]

I, I hope that's not the case... [he pauses, then turns back to unstacking chairs.] I don't think...there'd be any way to know.

I'm the only one from where I'm from, anyway. No one would be able to tell for sure, I guess? So. So...thinking about it's probably not...a great idea.

[Oh. Maybe.. maybe not so helpful. Sorry, man.]

Yeah, no.. well. You know people here. They would have told you if that had happened. So you're probably fine, don't worry about it. I didn't mean to go there.

[hastily:] It's fine! It-it's fine. [he plops a chair down and sighs.] And I guess...I don't know what I don't know, so I can't really...spend a lot of time...worrying about all that, right? There's better things to do besides.

Yeah, yeah that is totally true.

[He pops up another lantern. So many! Lantern mountain!]

I mean there are so many other things to be depressed about, right?

O-or good. Lots of good things. Cool magic, lots of friends to make, hey maybe a date or two? Is there a special someone?

[just the mention of date makes Manabu bristle, inadvertently...steaming? through the collar. a literal hot-under-the-collar sight gag. incredible.

it's followed by an equally involuntary shudder as the cold sets back in; Manabu does not appreciate his blood's penchant for making him cold forever...except for these uncomfortable flashes of heat.

cough-ahem while bustling for more chairs:] N-no! No, of course not! Why would there be?

[Wow that- that sure is a reaction, huh buddy.

You're full of shit, ain'tcha.]

Oh huuu huuuu~ me thinks the gentleman doth protest too much! Details, Manabu. A secret affair maybe? Lamplight lovers?? Do I know them?

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