deercountry | late bloomer jokes [feb catchall

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

[Is that how it goes? You're a dick so you get bites? Seems fair.

Bolin tries not to laugh and covers his mouth for a moment.]

I see why you were going to tie him up now. Does he always do that?

Stoppit!

[after a few leg shakes, Manabu hops back a pace and drops into a chair, pulling his knees up and swatting the dog's nose away. Magnet growls, pacing around the chair like a shark.]

He was! Fine earlier...for a while, even! He hasn't been this bad since, since like the start of all of this...

[It is an interesting development, gotta say.

Magnet seems like he doesn’t know when to quit. Neither does Bolin.]

Is.. hm.

Do you think it’s because you didn’t want to talk about stuff before? Sometimes Pabu stops me if I’m about to mess up. I almost hung up on Sasuke the other day because I felt stupid but Pabs stopped me and we talked it out and now he’s going to tutor me in science. Sasuke. Not Pabu.

[Magnet stops pacing to look over at Bolin, ears perked up and nose twitching a bit. Manabu...does not appreciate the obvious conclusion here, grimacing as he puts his chin on his knees.]

M-maybe? I don't know. I, I already apologized! Do I need to...apologize better?

Uh.. no? I don’t think so.

I don’t need an apology, but you cut yourself off pretty hard there. I think he wants you to talk about your stuff, man.

[Manabu grimaces.]

Even if that's true, that's not really...something to put on you, you know? Especially with everything going on. It's not nice or practical.

[voicing that rationale emboldens him to put his feet back on the ground; Magnet bares teeth, but doesn't look ready to lunge for another round of chomping.

getting up:] I think it's more important to get all this set up; it'll be one less thing Wu will have to worry about while he's busy with prep.

Mmmm.... sure.

[He doesn't really see why they couldn't talk about it and work, but ok. It literally does not occur to him that a guy he doesn't know might not want to open up to his friend's brother about his deepest, most painful emotions.]

But just you know, this is my job. I'm a Night Walker. You're supposed to be able to talk about this stuff with Night Walkers. No judgment, just an easy ear.

Edited 2022-02-27 17:23 (UTC)

[he starts toward the table he needs to move, letting out a dubious sound before looking back over his shoulder.]

If it's a job, then...you'd be expecting payment in exchange, right? That's how jobs work.

I don't work for payment, I make all the gems I need. I just like to help out. Free service to the public.

[he squints. how is that still a job then...?

after getting the table moved to its spot.]

That--that's good of you...but I'd feel weird about it as-is.

[Look, Bo has a very loose definition of jorb. He's never kept one for very long. He drops one of many, many lanterns on the floor and picks up another. There are so many. A Lantern Machine!]

No, no that's cool. Door's always open, though.

You don't have to talk to me but I think you should talk to someone when you're ready. You're a good dude, Manabu.

[withered:] Uhhh, th-thanks...Thanks, Bolin... [he doesn't seem terribly convinced, but also not ready to get up in arms and incite more ankle-biting.

instead he'll look over and see there are no further tables to grab, then look back and...]

...Do you think...that's too many lanterns?

[Like, yes it's a weird offer. He doesn't think so, but objectively yeah it's probably a little weird.

Bolin looks down at his mountain of lanterns and shrugs.]

I'm supposed to fill the whole ceiling. Are you finished over there?

[Maybe he chose the really big job..]

We can start hanging them. Or I can if you need to get on. I won't keep you and this is going to take a while.

[certainly:] I can still help! [he's a good dog, he signed up for work and by god, he's gonna work!

but, ah...

uh...]

...How...well... [he looks upward.] Aside from the catwalk over the stage...we're gonna need a ladder or two, huh...

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

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