Duster's Relatively Relaxing Week

[mindofathief]

characters: Duster and You
location: The Invincible, the Armory, and the School
date/time: January 10th-18th
content: Duster practicing the language of the spirits, sparring with Link, and taking advantage of the yarn bomb
warnings: second prompt is closed

A. The Invincible, January 10th - 11th

[With Daylight's notes on communicating with the spirits (and the blizzard giving him a great reason to stay indoors), Duster has the obligation to practice with his new light blue ocarina. It's different from the double cello bass - no strings to glide calloused fingers over, no heavy board to feel vibrations through. Just a thin ceramic that needs holes precisely covered with his rough hands. The first attempts at playing music created plenty of screeching. Good thing no one is nearby to hear...or are they?

At least by the second day, he has a decent feel on the language, not that he can play without his notes. There's so many hole combinations.

And boredom leads to experimentation. Namely, he wants to see if he can recreate DCMC songs on the Ocarina, just to make sure he remembers his parts. Unfortunately, after getting two notes in, he pauses, starts from the top, makes the same mistake, starts from the top...

Say anything about Duster, but he's dedicated to practice.]

B. Armory, January 13th [CLOSED TO LINK]

[He's stretched his legs, now it's time to keep to his plans. He's going to send a text message instead of an audio message. It will take a few minutes, but he's learned.]

this is duster meet me at the armory in an hour

[That's doable. No spelling errors. He retreats to the basement, tests out the targets, and warms up in the middle of the wide space before the sparring session.]

C. School, January 18th

That's...nice of the spirits to do this. [Why is the yarn in the trees? Is this another cultural thing like the onions and bread? If it's a peace offering, Duster won't ignore it. On his way to the school for lunch, he takes a few of the pieces with patterns he's interested in - polka dots and zigzags and the like. He could use something warmer for the winter, anyway. Tazmily never got this cold.

About half an hour later, his arms are full of fabric and his stomach is empty. It's lunch time, and he smells something delicious inside the school.

And since you're here, he might as well ask:] Want to see what they have there to eat?

Comments

School

[callada]

[Likewise, Rosinante is concerned about spirits taking offense at things now. Even if they had said to some people that they understood it was a mistake, that doesn't mean he trusts them to all be of the same mind, or that any of that not-apology was true.

Besides... some of this knitted stuff is pretty great? When Duster makes his comment, Rosinante is eyeing up a big electric blue and yellow blanket. Not his usual colors, but the vivid patterns are a lot of fun, and he knocks the snow off of it, then sweeps it off the branch it's hanging on and throws it around his shoulders, then turns and looks down toward Duster with a nod.]

Yeah, all right. This is the school, right? I haven't been out here before, but Mary told me all about finding it.

[He shall lead the way inside!]

[mindofathief]

[Tazmily didn't have a school - kids were expected to farm or learned a trade from the adults of the village, but lessons on reading were taught wherever there was space. Duster thinks of this building as a community hall. With so many spirits (or Beacon residents from long ago), they needed some building to host general lessons in poor weather while providing food to the hungry people.

The building is empty, like all others. Lit only by the lantern, Duster steps over the debris and into the hallway.]

You know, it doesn't feel so scary once I got used to how dark it is everywhere else. At least chairs aren't attacking us.

[callada]

I wouldn't let your guard down.

[Chairs attacking them wouldn't surprise him these days. Or rather, hallucinations of such things, caused by wandering green-eyed beasts. At least the decaying pieces of the building that scatter the halls aren't looking like they'll jump at them any time soon, but the dust kicked up as they move creates ominous little clouds at the edges of the lantern light.

There is something absolutely creepy about an abandoned school. It wouldn't have occurred to him before, having spent little time in any building like it, but as he pauses by one of the empty classrooms and peeks in, it strikes him how all those empty desks and chairs used to have kids sitting there. This place was full of not just life but youth. The town's future, learning and passing notes and playing games after class. It's dark and empty and all he can think of is that monstrous invention disguised as a roller coaster.

He needs a cigarette.]

You ever go to a school like this when you were a kid?

[mindofathief]

[Duster shakes his head.]

We didn't have something like this in Tazmily. None of the buildings had this many rooms. [He peeks inside a room with a rotted carpet floor. Desks are falling apart, ones that might have held craftwork, he thinks.] I think the club where I played had his many rooms, but not all of them were open to the public.

[callada]

Mm. Small place, then, I take it.

[It's a very mundane sort of conversation to have in a building like this, but he tends not to engage those he barely knows with all the things cycling through his head right now. Doesn't make a very good impression. He's glad, actually - he knows if this were Kuai instead of Duster, they'd probably both be equally grim right now. He's had enough of grim in the past six months.]

We had a building like this at Marineford for soldiers' families but I never really spent any time there. Looks like there must have been a lot more kids here, though. More rooms. This town was larger than we took it for at first.

[So much of the forest on that tablet map was probably town, once upon a time. They keep pushing back the boundaries and finding more of it, now swallowed up. How long would it take for a forest to overgrow an entire town this size? Forty years? A hundred?]

A

[worthallthis]

[The Soldier can't stay inside 24/7. It just isn't possible. They get antsy and anxious and certain something is going to attack, and checking the doors and windows for the hundredth time makes Crowley and Aziraphale worry, so they make (a least) one patrol a day, despite the blizzard. That includes several stops at various buildings to see who's inside, to shake off some of the snow, and warm up a little.

They stamp off snow just inside the Invincible door, brushing it off their hair (they have no hat, and are quick to pull the scarf away), and only then come inside.

And wince at the continually repeated couple notes of melody.]

What are you doing.

[mindofathief]

Duster plays one last low note, finally sounding like a proper ethereal instrument. At the Soldier's appearance, he drops his hands to his lap and stares blankly.

"I'm practicing." He pulls his hand around to slip his tablet out of his pocket that contains Daylight's notes. "This is how we're going to communicate with the spirits....eventually."

[worthallthis]

They're going to just. Be glad he wasn't doing that at the house. "Two notes over and over again isn't practicing," they point out. They're pretty sure of that, anyway. Practicing with an instrument isn't the same as with a weapon.

Setting the coat aside on one of the empty chairs, they drift his way, now that he's not actually paying. "Are you having trouble with it?"

[mindofathief]

"There's some repetition in the major motifs," he objects. He was allowed to practice however he wanted to; he's the artist here. "And you can't memorize a piece of music without playing it over and over again."

Though Bucky was correct in one regard. "I'm having trouble getting used to the ocarina. The finger placement's different from the bass."

[worthallthis]

Repetition in motif isn't the same two notes over and over. The Soldier is not an expert in music, but they do love it a lot, and that's just annoying. "I can't play it very well, either," the Soldier admits, holding up their metal hand and wiggling the fingers in demonstration. They don't have the kind of give on the tips to cover holes properly. "I just sing or use Morse code if the spirits understand it. I do know the fingerings, though."

B

[sublimebeast]

[Link receives the text and lifts a hand to write a response...then reconsiders. Last time he'd tried to type on this thing he'd misspelled his own name.

Instead, he just heads towards the armory.]

[mindofathief]

[That's fair. Duster would be confused if he got a message from someone calling themselves "Lonk".

He's moving some of the targets to the side of the room, since there's no point in having more than three at a time, when his sparring mate arrives. Duster turns to the doorway where footsteps alerted him to someone's presence.]

Hey. [A small smile.]

[sublimebeast]

[Link waves a hand in greeting and walks up to Duster.]

I've never been here before.

...It's not an equipped armory, is it?

[mindofathief]

It's got knives and swords and such. [So anything Link would be familiar with.] I don't use those, though.

[sublimebeast]

[He gestures with a thumb towards the back of the room.]

Are we allowed to just take those things?

I wouldn't mind having an extra weapon or two...

C

[meridio]

[He's also here, and he didn't expect to find someone with two armfuls of fabric. None of the decor has grabbed at him, though the same can be said for most of Beacon as a place. His gaze lingers on the contents of Duster's arms, narrowing for just that moment, before he turns back to the school.]

Will it be safe for consumption?

[mindofathief]

[A shrug.]

I'll have to check if it looks safe, but whatever that smell is, it doesn't smell rotten.

[Just avoid any weird mushrooms and they'll probably be fine.]

If it were dangerous, we'd have heard about it on the network.

[meridio]

[Silence as confirmation is rather concerning. Nevertheless, Somnus starts walking over to the doors, only to stop after two steps. He can't stop glancing at Duster's haul.]

You intend to carry those with you the whole way.

[mindofathief]

[He adjusts his grip and avoids looking at Somnus.]

...I can put them down when I'm eating...

[meridio]

Very well. I'll handle the doors, then.

[Not that the front door needs opening. That's weird. But in they go. Somnus gives the hallway a wandering once-over.]

This is a school . . .

C

[savingthrows]

[ It's been a while since her emotional outburst and nigh breakdown. Eleven feels... if not better, then at least more settled.

She's also wearing a swath of fabric like a cape. And, perhaps slightly unsettling: a strange mask that covers the lower half of her face like a bird beak. When she looks over and makes eye contact with Duster, she pushes the mask up, eyes going wider.

Food isn't always good here in Beacon - but the school has been kind in that regard. ]

Yes. Last time... the spirit gave me waffles. It's my favourite.

[ Does she mean waffles are her favourite food or the spirit is her favourite spirit? Who knows, but a likely guess is... both. ]

[mindofathief]

[That's pretty cute. That cape could serve her well in defending herself against attacks and in keeping her warm in case she gets lost in the woods. Duster rolls the blankets of yarn to the best of his ability and grips him under his left arm.]

They might have it again. Let's go.

[savingthrows]

[ Eleven appreciates the optimism and the enthusiasm. There's a hesitant smile - a little tired, maybe, but genuine.

Feels good - she's been in emotional turmoil for a while now. It's a relief to try and get out of that non-literal dark, and find a sense of normalcy again here. She begins walking towards the building. ]

Do you like waffles?

[mindofathief]

I like them.

[He opens the cracked door and steps inside, lifting the lantern to find any debris on the floor, and beckons her inside.]

It's been a while since I was in a kitchen with all the supplies, though.

[savingthrows]

You should...ask Mr. Fell. He wants... wanted to make them. Waffles. From... scratching?

[ Words aren't always easy for her, and neither are normal turns of phrases. She tries, though. ]