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

[Manabu yelps with a little surprise - a noise which makes his omen jump. Magnet had been chilling on the mat at his feet, but now the dog is up, sniffing around and off to sniff Michael's shoes.

meanwhile, looking like he just got caught shoplifting:] Huh?! What? Mi-Michael? Hi. Uh--what? [he has no idea what to do with his hands, so they go into his pockets...and then back out because that's stupid and also he needs to pull the hair tie out of the pathetic ponytail he'd put it in.]

[Michael watches all of this with slightly narrowed eyes. He knows they don't exactly hang out a ton, but he really doesn't understand why Manabu is still so jumpy with him. It's been like a year total.]

I asked what you're doing. You were in here muttering...?

Oh! Um-- [he tosses the tie onto the sink countertop.] Just, uh...trying to figure stuff out. Is all. Sorry. Was I too noisy? I, I can go...

You live here, man. It's fine.

[geeeeeeez]

What're you figuring out?

Um. Uh, [he gives his reflection a dubious glance.] hai-hair stuff. Just. Trying to figure that out, is all.

[Ooooh, hair stuff! Michael's not exactly a hair maven or anything - his own is the only hair he bothers with, and it's short - but he's intrigued!]

What kind of hair stuff?

[his shoulders draw up in a shrug and stay there for a beat longer, still uncomfortable.]

Auh, well, I-- My hair's getting really long, so I needed to trim it anyway, but... I, I dunno. Just...trying to...make it nice, I guess.

You could probably find someone to do it in town, if you wanted?

[Michael's hair doesn't really grow; he has no expertise in this area.]

...

[Manabu blinks at this revelation - a notion he very definitely did not think of before.]

That...that's actually a good idea...

I've been known to have them sometimes.

[He grins.]

No recommendations, though. My hair doesn't really grow.

[he stares at Michael with a soft frown. he's...he's really a weirdo, but he means well.]

Aa...the advice is good either way. Thanks, Michael.

[he hesitates, then looks back at the mirror with a frownier frown.]

I don't really...think about this stuff much. So it's weird.

No? Probably good to have short hair, then, you won't need to style it much.

[He's not exactly a hair maven, but Michael does think about appearances!]

You could try using some product, though?

[he makes a face at himself hearing that.]

Sprays and jellies and stuff? That's an awful lot of work... [and isn't that...? wait, no, it's not exclusively girl-stuff, is it: Wu definitely fluffs his hair up somehow.

still, Manabu makes a dubious noise.]

...Maybe it's a bad idea. Half of my face is kind of messed-up, so seeing it is... [engh. he grimaces, turning away and shaking his head.]

Sorry, this is dumb and weird, and I don't know why I'm thinking about it.

Well, I can't really recommend wearing your hair over half your face. Or if you do, wear a lot more black?

[He doesn't think the face is that bad anyway, but whatever.]

It's not, really. It helps when you feel good about how you look.

[Manabu shoots Michael a bewildered look. lots of black? why? was that a reference?

he blinks, his expression softening out of the strained quality he's been wearing.]

...Does it bother you, then? If...you're not sure if...other people don't like how you look?

Well...sure, I guess.

[It's a bit of an awkward admission, certainly more subdued than Michael generally is. He's thinking about the squid thing, of course. Manabu doesn't know about that, though, so.]

But ah. It's more important that you like how you look, right? You gotta feel confident.

[blink.]

I mean...I don't really...look at myself all that much, though...

...what, like, at all? You're all in here with the mirror all the time.

[gesturing:] Yeah, to check that I'm not...not covered in dirt or blood! That, that makes sense, right? But I don't spend forever in here worrying about what he--what...what other people may think about...my face! You know?

[Michael's a demon who's spent a long while fine-tuning himself to notice the slightest slip-ups and vulnerabilities in humans. He notices the word we're pretending Manabu did not say. But, you know, things change, he can pretend now too.]

Sure, I guess. But are you cool with how your face looks?

I mean! I, I don't really care? It's-- [he huffs, rubbing at the face in question.] It'd be nice to be able to see out of this eye, but nobody's...run away in terror so I, I guess that's okay?

...wait, you think that's scary?

[no he is not currently registering the hypocrisy here]

I mean! Unnerving, I guess? Not normal, definitely. Some people would find it weird, right? [Manabu is just grasping at straws now; appearances and things are definitely not a thing he's really ever given much thought other than, say, 'that uniform looks cool,' or...'that uniform hat looks cool.']

[Michael shrugs.]

I mean, everyone's turning into weird monsters left and right. I think you might be worrying a little too much about it.

[WAR FLASHBACKS TO WU ASKING ABOUT BEING HIT ON BY MONSTERS AND MONSTERFUCKERS.]

...Y...yeah... May-maybe you're right? Sorry.

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