the moon & antarctica (mostly open)

[braidedwonder]

Who: Duo Maxwell (braidedwonder) & You!
What: Adventures on Nadril, Duo dealing with unpleasant feels
When: August 1st & onward!
Where: Duo’s bunks, scrapping sites, bars – all around Nadril
Warning(s): Probably language eventually, talk of past traumas and PTSD from his Shaman capture



i. i just got a message that said "yeah hell is freezin' over"

[ Honestly? Duo hates the cold. Hates it with the kind of passion that any kid who’s spent a couple too many nights sleeping rough on a cold colony at night would, even after bundling up in all the cold weather gear that they’ve been provided. After a few incidents of braid freezing, Duo’s finally learned to coil that long rope of hair around his neck, thick enough to be a scarf of its own kind, hands almost constantly tucked in to his pockets.

Any trips out in the world for supplies or food are generally rushed jobs – darting from one warm place to another in every sense of the word. Meeting Duo in the street is now a much shorter conversation, a few words tossed back in forth as he’s on the run, that kind of thing, unless a passerby is lucky enough to catch him inside one of those warm locations he so prefers.

a. During the day, when he’s not scrapping or generally braving the cold to sell his parts wears, Duo spends his meal times in a café that seems to specialize in filling soups and broths that Duo has become a huge follower of. He’s happier to talk with a warm bowl of soup in front of his face should you be lucky enough to catch him out an about at all.

b. By night, Duo reverts to his nocturnal ways and can be found, mostly, at bars. It’s useful to get yourself just drunk enough that your fingers already feel fuzzy and detached before they do it themselves in the cold, isn’t it? He doesn’t participate in the dare games, much preferring to just spend time in his own little corner with himself and his drink, uncharacteristically unsociable. Maybe try your luck? ]

ii. i got a phone call from the lord sayin' "hey boy get a sweater. right now"

[ Scrapping, at least, is something that Duo Maxwell knows like the back of his own hand. Whether it’s on another planet, another town, another universe – the idea is the same. Get the parts that are least common and in the best shape, sell them for profit. The deeper in to the guts of a ship or a piece of equipment one needed to do for that part? The more likely that it’ll bring in a pretty damn good profit to line his pockets with silver with. And, really, without Deathscythe to work on down there on Nadril, there’s not much else to occupy Duo’s devilish little hands with than that.

Thankfully it’s a job he’s good at and doesn’t mind doing even in the frigid cold of Nadril, depending on where he’s going for his latest bounty this time.

‘Have parts? Will travel’ is the motto for the month when he deigns the day worthy to come out of his little capsule hotel like accommodations.

Duo splits his time between the marketplaces and his actual scrounging places, elbow deep in a panel before he turns, a bit sheepish and offering a his free hand: ]

Think you could give me a tug? I’ve wedged myself a little…

iii. does anybody know a way that a body could get away? (closed to close CR)

[ Most of Duo’s time is spent, noticeably : not being social.

The braided teen tends to spend a lot of his time tucked away in his accommodations on Nadril, generally buried under blankets with a pistol under his pillow. It’s an annoying complication of being a soldier that was post war and also post kidnapping on a frigid mountain who, in this weather and familiar snowy landscape, sometimes wakes in a cold sweat anticipating a burning wake up call any second. Thankfully those have never come, but it’s had a considerable effect on Duo’s mental state. Of course, some days are better than others, and he’s out in the streets, smiling in that way that’s more genuine than a happy mask, but others he can’t even bear the thought of leaving the room and facing the cold.

Ration bar wrappers are scattered on surfaces throughout his room, as well as parts that he’s kept when the market buyers won’t give him the prices he wants, and, generally?

The place is a pig sty. Not that it’s unusual for Duo – he’s lived in a constant state of clutter since the very beginning – but this mess seems to lean itself more toward the fact that he just.. doesn’t care. Can’t bring himself to care, more like.

He’s always available via communicators, but even those communiques seem cut off and stunted, like he’s gone back in to some kind of hiding for some reason or is dealing alone with things that may be a little too heavy for such petite shoulders. Visiting him in person? Equally as testy an experience, at first, as any knocks on the door are met with a suspicious eye, a pistol, as always, tucked in to his belt even when he’s lounging around.. under his pillow when he’s sleeping. ]

Yeah? Who is it?

iv. so we're drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' drinkin' coca-coca-cola

Wild card option! If there’s an option I haven’t provided but you want to thread it? Toss it my way!

Comments

[fisherwife]

[While Mipha supposes most of what Duo says is true, she also has to point out, gently--] If we're living here now, it will make it our problem sooner or later. We can't ignore their problems forever and act like they don't affect us. This is,more or less, our homes now.

Still, you're not wrong. It shouldn't have to fall to depending on us to solve it all. We're still strangers to their cultures and the years of history between them that's led to all of this. A new, fresh perspective from outsiders can only go so far...

[Mipha laughs a little, though there isn't much mirth behind it.] But I'm... growing tired of such expectations anyhow... It's terribly selfish of me, but I think,for once, I'd like to relax a little bit.

[braidedwonder]

We'll see how long this place is our home. The Natha might move us along if this stupid dragon thing keeps carrying on and lingering over us like that. Plus, the people are gonna ask what the hell is going on with the other big dragon thing now eventually, and the Natha didn't even want 'em to know that they were here...

[ He commandeers the bottle of booze for a moment to take a long swig, placing it back between them after he's done. He knows that what he's saying is probably chafing against Mipha a little bit, even more than what she might say, but her sentiment about getting tired of it is mirrored with a low hum and a grave nod, fingers tapping on the surface of the little 'dining table' in the area. ]

Listen, sometimes you gotta just look out for you. Ain't anybody else that's gonna do it. [ Well, there are, but this is Duo and he expects nothing. ]

And, anyway, bringin' us here to ask like these people's therapist or something wasn't smart in the first place. I'm not a diplomat. I just have a Gundam and know how to use it.

[fisherwife]

Maybe they thought the Gundam would be a good deterrent to unwanted behavior for the natives here.

[Which sounds terrible if you think about it, but she's smiling a little to show she's mostly just joking.

Duo and Mipha are from entirely different worlds, both literally and figuratively. Their views are different, sometimes parallel to each other but, like parallel lines, never actually touching. But it's not as though Mipha minds--that sort of thing is what fosters further understanding of things for both of them. It's a refreshing new view. At least, that's how Mipha looks at it.]

That's not entirely true, though. There's nothing wrong with leaning on others. I look out for you, or try to, when you're not hiding under a hundred blankets trying not to turn into a popsicle. [She keeps her tone light though, still mostly joking around, but also...Really tho. She cares for him and she looks out for him as best as she can.]

[braidedwonder]

They didn't even blink an eye about it, actually. [ Which is weird now that he thinks about it, but.. well. The Natha have done a lot more weird shit as of late.. cue the other massive dragon standing over Wyver at the moment and all. ]

I'll look out for you and the refugees like us.

Anyone else, though? The local and all that? [ Duo shrugs, taking a swig of the bottle passing between them again. ]

They're not my problem or my responsibility.