nysalogs | the moon & antarctica (mostly open)

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah.. there aren't really for you, huh? [ Duo's not dumb to that, and also not the type to lie about it even if he might want to. Mika probably wasn't going to take a no for an answer, either, and so Duo sighs. It wouldn't be the first time they'd been bed warmers for one another anyways.

So Duo backs up and moves out of the way, leaving room for Mika to file in, a soft resignation in his voice as he ushers him inside. ]

Come on, then.

It's why this place feels frustrating.

[ He'll go wherever he's told, do what he's told. But even for him, there's a limit.

That Duo hadn't just shooed him off his doorstep is something, even if Mikazuki probably couldn't name what exactly it was. Either way, he's stepping into the den that carries a little more familiarity in its state than Mikazuki would care to acknowledge, shrugging off his jacket. ]

Can't say I disagree.. [ Duo murmurs as he shuts the door behind him, hands still tucked nearly awkwardly in to his jeans pockets, watching Mika to try and decide what they're doing here next. He knew he said it'd probably make it easier to sleep if someone was there, but whether that meant... ]

You gonna settle in to a seat or..? [ Listen, he doesn't want to legit have to ask Mika if he's opting for a cuddle, okay. But that's what he's thinking is going here. ]

[ Inside, the warmth of an additional layer is too stifling which is why he's quick to get rid of it, but Mikazuki just has that air about him — he settles wherever he is, with a lack of anywhere else to go in his life. ]

You can just tell me where you want me.

[ Easy as that. ]

[ Duo almost makes a face at that - like he's saying that he isn't the boss of Mika, or something to that effect when it comes to 'telling him where he wants him.' Instead he guesses he'll make a suggestion and see where Mika falls in the scales of things. That seems better, somehow, as he digs fingers in to the thick base of his braid. ]

I was thinkin' I was gonna take a cat nap.. if you wanna join.

[ When it's for someone else's benefit, he tends to lose some of his more independent qualities, wanting to know how to make himself useful instead. It's something ingrained more than overlooked, even if he doesn't much react to the way Duo regards his statement. Another one of his weird polarities — it's just how he chooses to be, an attitude fostered rather than a choice thrown way.

Either way, it seems like a better arrangement than just sitting and watching him nap, so he nods, setting his jacket aside. ]

Okay. You look like you could use it, anyway.

[ At least he didn't tell him he looked like shit? ]

Gee, thanks.. [ Duo laughs lightly anyways, glad that he didn't tell him he looked like shit straight out, but well.. it's intimated anyways. This is what he enjoys about Mika, though.

They can be blunt weapons with one another and neither of them is worse for wear for it.

Duo begins the process of peeling back his accumulated blanket fort, shucking uncomfortable jeans for more comfortable underwear before he settles in, offering Mika an opening. ]

Too warm if you're under, or?

[ Mikazuki's used to catnapping in strange, uncomfortable places, so a fortress of bedding is far from a problem. His pants and shirt stay, though he trades out the harsh pieces — belt and shoes — before padding over and climbing up. ]

I don't think it'll be too bad.

[ Despite the 'natural' fire in his body, as natural as the AV system is to him, at this point.

He makes quick work of being close in the small space. Luckily neither take up much room in the first place, but he's good to draw in towards the other pilot, skin and angles bumping here and there until they can smooth out to something more comfortable. ]

Is it the cold?

[ That's gotten to him. ]

Your call, man. [ Duo doesn't want him becoming a sweaty mess or anything for his sake under the covers. No sense in being uncomfortable for his sake, by any stretch of the word, even if it's a nice thought and all to crawl in and help Duo feel a bit more secure. It's not something he would typically even think to ask for, but since Mika hadn't hesitated...

He's his best bet for some good sleep, at the very least.

They eventually settle in to a comfortable proximity, Mika's warmth doing a lot for Duo's reedy frame and keeping warm.

His question brings a non-committal rumble and a moment's pause before he answers - ]

The cold... the snow... [ A sigh. ] Brings back shit from home and .. you know. That whole episode on the mountain.

If Mipha hadn't healed me up I'd probably still be healing some of that shit physically. Turns out it's all in my fuckin' head now, though.

[ For people like them, who had to get up and go at a moment's notice, whether it be towards war or some vague outline of a future on the horizon, it's rough. It's rough having barely enough time to react to the effects of the stress they put their brains and bodies through until something else appears in front of them. You either got up and kept fighting, or you lost. Simple as that.

Mikazuki knows on an instinctual level, even if he's poor at voicing it. All he can really ever do is be here. He realizes then that he never really came out and talked about what happened in that humid island tower; there was never any need to. ]

You can put off thinking about it. But no one ever really forgets.

[ Mikazuki hasn't. He still thinks about vengeance. ]

I know... [ Duo sighs the words out, knowing it all a little too well, actually. Maybe it's that sentiment that makes him share even more, though it's not something he's probably ever spoken about in terms other than making a shrugging comment about how he's been tortured before and would be fine. ]

I still remember every guy who ever tried to get information out of me, back in my world...

.. Snapped a guy's neck once because he tried to haul me up by my hair and I was already in a bad mood that morning, too.. Caught shit later because apparently that was 'showing off', but..

[ A shrug. ] What's the use in teachin' me how if I don't use it..

[ Most people might react with the appropriate amount of horror at an admittance like that, but Mikazuki actually snorts, amusement coloring his usually impassive tone. ]

When that's what you know how to do...

[ Why not use it? It's not like kids like them ever had any other advantage. ]

That's what I said.. [ Duo snorts right along with him, happy that at the very least there's no awkwardness there. He hadn't expected it but there's no telling how people might react to basically saying "hey I killed a guy with my hands", is there? ]

Knowing Professor G he was just annoyed that I did it over my hair..

the moon & antarctica (mostly open)

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