logsinthenight | bee beez in the trap [ partially open ]

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bee beez in the trap [ partially open ]

characters: Sora, Bucky, Misty, Jason, and you!
location: All over Beacon with a focus on the amusement park exploration!
date/time: Backdated to Feb 27th for the exploration, stretching all the way up to the 19th just before the event.
content: March catch-all! (Even though the amusement park exploration is in February technically!) This is the official Sora gives your character a cupcake for his birthday post! Like the Valentine's chocolate, if you want to handwave your character receiving a cupcake, please do so! They're all chocolate, vanilla, or blueberry (the latter courtesy of Soldat.) That will be on the 9th, so if your character was outside when they got their cupcake from Sora, there's a very good chance they got colorbombed by the Birds of Paradise event on that day as well. Also in this post: a dinner, some stops at the gacha machine and the library, some cooking, some crafting, some note taking, some rain.
warnings: Discussion of the cybernetics and the stuff he had to do to get the cybernetics might get a little gross and scary but everything else should be pretty okay!

[ A: Amusement Park (02/27); closed to Bucky, Misty, and Jason ]

Explorations with Team Wolf Pack are for fun only! Imminent death all around notwithstanding, Sora wants this to be a good time! (And maybe a test run for that unsupervised launch into the unknown him and Jason are still planning. Hey, he'd still like to know how far he and Jason can go into the darkness, just the two of them!)

So, here's him, walking along, occasionally striking up a hiking game or asking questions of his fellow explorers. It's not going to be a long journey, but he'd like to keep their spirits up just in case whatever happens to meet them isn't friendly.

Good thing it is. And boy, isn't the amusement park a treat! It's basically all the games at the Night Market and nothing else except for that eerie old rollercoaster, huh? Very picturesque. Let's enjoy the ambiance while we can before heading back home.

[ B: Misty's Cabin; Closed to Bucky and Misty ]

They're almost done getting Soldat's stuff over to Misty's, so they're having one last "hey we should probably eat some of this food since we're going to be serving three instead of four to five from now on" meal. That's a little depressing, but they're a unit and know how to keep that kind of depressing nonsense out of a conversation by now!

So they talk about other things. Like what they're up to in Beacon these days. The B&B! Their patrols! Dancing lessions! The fistbump report! And, like, you know, more small introductory things that they have missed about each other two months into their weird little group dynamic. Like, how Misty's really into gators? And how Soldat's a little more casual with their language now. (Too casual. Misty chides them for using strong language around the child. Sora's like, man, Misty, I'm twenty now, you can swear around me.)

Anyway, Sora is also a cyborg, right? No arm, though. Sora brings up that his eyes are just for aesthetic at this point. (He may have traded the reticles away during the last Night Market, oops.)

"Yeah, so now it's just my heart and lungs that are metal? And my bones are reinforced. And like, everything else. There's a spike in my brain, too, but I don't think it does anything." Sora takes a bite of his pasta and thinks nothing of it. Sometimes, people just have spikes in their brains? It's 2020, do what you need to cope.

[ C: All over Beacon; Open ]

(i. just kind of everywhere)

[ March 9th is Sora's birthday! Or, well, it's close enough. He's having a quieter celebration with the wolf pack + Jason and Naminé later on, but he and Soldat made a ton of cupcakes and he's assuming everyone attending his birthday is only going to have one or two. So, this is an excited dude here with a big Tupperware tub of cupcakes. He'll be stained with bright colors from the bird spirits chucking colored powder in the air, and once he changes into his novelty bongo card shirt, he'll probably get increasingly giddy about it as the day goes on. Hey, it's fun! ]

Hi! Do you want a cupcake? Today's my birthday, I made too many. Here!

(ii. gacha machine)

[ It's the same prompt as i except your character can comment on Sora putting slices of cupcake into the gacha machine and, like, talking to it? Like it's an actual person? What's up with that? He's also going to put a little party hat on top of its little dome and some festive curled ribbon on its handle for his birthday.

Like, really, he is just chatting at this thing about the finer details of his birthday like it's gonna talk back to him. What's his deal? ]

(iii. library)

[ After delivering the Librarian's cake, Sora can either be caught sweeping up (it's a Monday, and Mondays are for cleaning the library) or seen later at one of the tables, still somewhat colorstained but with arms mostly wiped off so he doesn't have to clean the table. He's got a couple of notebooks with him and he's writing in them - letters, notes, recipes, schedules - and switching between notebooks so he doesn't get too bored with any one task. He also has a couple of weird reports stacked in front of him that he refers to every once in a while, wiggling his pen around in some thought.

However, if he sees another person in the library, he's going to grin and turn away from his work. And yes, he's going to stage whisper at them. ]

Hey! Here! It's my birthday! Have a cupcake!

[ D: The Landmark's restaurant kitchen; Open ]

The spirits are tittering as Sora slides his second pie into the trash, sighing. Okay, so he wants to think he's getting better at this whole pie thing, but clearly the first pie was a fluke. Or maybe he's just gotta make sure he actually pays attention to the pie while it's in the oven? (Good thing no fires can catch in Beacon. That would have been kind of messy.)

There's a passable blueberry pie cooling on the counter nearby, but man, he really did want to have two pies done today so he knows he's got the hang of it before the end of the month. After all, Maes' birthday is important too!

If anyone enters the kitchen and even so much as looks at the pie, Sora will smile at them, looking a little frazzled. "Hey. Want some pie?"

[ E: Patrol (North Beacon); Open ]

[ Sora's doing that weird thing where he collects rocks and stashes them near the torch posts again, except it's only the one near the lake, and he's not doing any further renovations to the torch he already put there. Instead, he's making sort of this weird oblong mound of rocks next to the torch that just keeps getting higher and higher and higher as the days go on. Eventually, it'll start evening out at knee height! What is this thing?

Sora keeps working on it during his patrols, and can also be seen wandering Downtown, checking the storefronts, but the majority of his time will be spent dutifully on patrol, picking up rocks and adding to his weird long pile. Hey, 2020, do what you need to cope, etc.

It also might be raining! ~*Ambiance*~. ]

[ F: Wildcard ]

[ If we set up something for March and want to put it somewhere I'll put it here! Will match format, pm me, etc. ]

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[ Yeah, that's going to get him sort of a flat look, but that reassurance is almost... better? Worse? Bworse.

He bites the inside of his cheek. He'd needed that, is the thing. Or, like, he's not sure if he could have handled one last thing on top of Javert and Link coming in looking like hot garbage and Soldat and Alisaie not being around. Plus, it's Fjord. He hasn't really forgotten that line going slack, dude. ]

I don't think that my peace of mind is worth you getting sick from getting an infection or something. [ There. That's the truth. If Fjord did get sick from all this, it would have been Sora's fault anyway. For not being the kind of person who doesn't crack under pressure. ] Tell me. And if you can't tell me, tell someone else. Take care of yourself. You have to.

[He rests his head on the couch, and closes his eyes for a moment.]

Yeah, well. I'm not so sure my wellbeing is worth you completely going out of your gourd and not being able t'help anyone.

[But it's not an argument: frankly, despite his grim tone, it almost sounds like a joke. And when he opens his eyes to look at Sora, his expression is a bit softer under all the pain.]

I'll try and keep a better eye on myself for you.

[ Good that those eyes are closed, because Sora really is going to wince at that. He knows he's not a trained healer, that he's just sort of a stand-in until Misty is around, or Alisaie is back on her feet, so he knows that it's not his responsibility to be totally calm in these kinds of situations. Doesn't mean he can't stop wanting to be. He's just too soft. He hurts when other people are hurt. It's frustrating.

Sora will be back to normal when Fjord opens them peepers, and he'll... laugh softly at that, actually. ]

For me, huh. Does that mean we're friends now? 'Cause that's the only way to make that count. [ He is going to scam you into friendship if it is the last thing he does, ya big lug. ]

I'm sure as shit not doing it for myself. [Gaze upon him, Sora, and despair.]

[But he looks at Sora again, giving him an almost appraising look, and a long silence.

That eventually ends in a small huff, because anything louder will hurt himself, and he closes his eyes again.] You are relentless on that, huh.[He gives a sigh, but he's smiling.] Yeah. I think we're friends now.

[ Yesss. Sora will give a light fistpump! Not as energetic as he would if, uh, a lot of his friends hadn't just died or gotten horribly injured on him, but friendship: acquired.

It's also a bit light because, uh, that first sentence may not have been heavy to Fjord, but to Sora? Hm. Bad! He puts his fist away, shakes his head, and... Oh look at that. Recharged. Another green shower of magic plantlife washes over them both. ]

That's good enough for me. Better than good. [ Fjord's got a good smile. Sora's going to have to remember this. Try and make it happen again. ] We can work on you doing it for yourself later. For right now, I want you around. All right?

[He grabs a deep lungful of air and holds it when Sora casts the heal spell, just in case setting it while he's lying down makes something go funny and he wants the extra lung capacity, and releases it slowly. His ribs are still aching, but they feel marginally better. His torso looks much less raw, but it's still scarring instead of straight-up healing. So now he's got a weird rash-patterned yellow streak across his pale green torso.]

Can't say I'll be around for too long. Once we're done here we're gonna head back t'the courthouse and see if there's anything useful.

[ Sora scowls and slaps Fjord gently on the knee. Bro, he was like, being emotional and shit! ]

You're staying. If you crawl out on your own, that's none of my business, but let's get you to crawling level first. [ Mutter, mutter. ] What'd you guys need in the courthouse so bad, anyway?

[The slap on the knee gets a reflex twitch, but he laughs gently at it. Hey, it hurts less, he barely grimaces!]

Well we killed the fuckers that used to live there, so we're gonna see if we can't learn anything about the people. Maybe find some paperwork on them or somethin'.

[ Then maybe he shoulda slapped him harder!!!! ]

Huh? Paperwork? [ Sorry for the protracted yet completely silent reply, but Sora is just going to sort of stare at Fjord in disbelief. All of this? For paperwork? ]

[Sora please.]

Yeah - I mean. We've finally got access t'this place now, might as well see what kind of stuff we can pull out of it. And looking through all their files could tell us stuff about the people that used to live there, you know?

Well, yeah, but I mean. [ And Sora's gonna wring that dirty towel before realizing he's doing it, then, uh, he's going to realize he's doing it and clean the murky water up. ]

Is that all that was there? Was that really worth it?

[Fjord just gives Sora a tired look, before he closes his eyes again.]

Sometimes adventurin' isn't all it's cracked up to be. Shit happens.

[ And here he is, back at twenty. (Back at eighteen? Back at fifteen? Ten? Two?) He's tired, sure, but he's young too. Worst of both worlds tonight, apparently.

He looks down at this rag and knows that if he isn't careful he'll just shred it with his stupid useless strength. So he drops it, wets a fresh towel, and gets back to work. ]

Does it. You, uh. Got a scale? For adventuring badness. [ What's the bar? ]

[He keeps his eyes shut, but winces at the fresh touch of the cloth. He's quiet for a few long moments, weighing up his thoughts.]

Listenin' to your friend get slaughtered while you're tied up in the back of a slaver's caravan is pretty high up there.

Yeah, bro. That's pretty rough.

[ And that would be a pretty flippant answer, except Sora's hands stopped when Fjord said that, and he stared hard into the middle distance, and then he dropped his eyes and opened his mouth and then closed it, and yo, Fjord? Fjord? This dude is the softest guy you've ever met in your life. Even the thought of Fjord ever being in a situation where he had to be that helpless has opened exactly one (1) waterwork, apparently.

Anyway, yeah, all of that, then the bro that's real rough schtick. Sora's a piece of work sometimes. ]

High bar, yeah.

[ And then he'll swallow, scrub his eyes, and get back to work because he's a grown twenty year old now and he's got like, responsibilities now! ]

Sorry.

[He opens his eyes at the flippant comment, but it takes him no time at all to notice the state Sora's in, and whatever anger he has - genuine or otherwise, he's not sure - dies immediately at the sight of Sora in tears.

And he feels a little bit bad, now. Maybe he went a little bit hard there.

He reaches out and puts a hand on Sora's, pausing the rag as the young man gets started again.]

That was a few months ago for me now. I'm fine. [which is a lie, on multiple levels, but it's one Sora needs to hear] Like I said. Shit happens.

[He sighs, and pushes himself up on the one elbow not currently connecting him to Sora.] But-- ngh. But you just gotta push through it. Take the shit that hits you and try and... make something better from it.

[ Well... he did go hard, but to be fair, Fjord caught him on a bad day. But really, they're both kind of having a bad day, so that's kind of a moot point! Sora feels a little embarrassed for being this emotional, man, he's been trying so hard to keep things together.

Sora will actually jump a little in surprise at the disruption, but he won't tug his hand away! He looks up at Fjord with his weird keyhole eyes, absorbing what he says.

Try and make something better from it. Sora's gut reaction to all of this is that the only "better" that can be gotten is that his friends are okay. No matter what the cost is. Even if he has to fight the entire universe for it. Bang his hands against the shell of reality until it cracks or he does. He couldn't be okay, he thinks, if something like that happened to him.

But it already has. More than once. And isn't he still here, breathing?

Well. Being helpless like this hasn't been great for his self-esteem, but humility? Yeah. Spades. ]

I just hope you weren't alone. [ Sora looks at their hands and gently twists his out of it just so Fjord doesn't have to be the one to let go, fidgeting with his rag in embarrassment. He just crumbles like this sometimes, it happens. ] I don't care if it was yesterday or months or years ago. That's the kind of thing that hurts forever. Even if it's a little bit.

[Fjord lets him pull away, and pulls his arm back so he can lean on that one too, distribute his weight more evenly as Sora fiddles with the cloth.]

I wasn't. I had two of my friends in there with me to keep us all sane [fjord no that's not what he meant] and the rest on the outside murdering the ever-loving fuck out of those slavers for us. We were the lucky ones - we all got out in one piece.

[He lets his head loll back so he can stare at the ceiling.] You're a good kid, Sora.

[ Fjord no, indeed. Sora pauses, thinking about it, then shakes his head. ]

Thanks. I try.

[ He looks down. They're dead, so it doesn't matter much, but Sora does hope, in a mild pique of fury, that those slavers never get a second chance at all. ]

It's hard being that helpless. One minute thinking things are okay, and then the next... [ Everyone's gone. ] I'm glad the rest of you got out. You were taking care of each other.

[ ... Okay, that's enough. Sora prods at Fjord and motions him to lay back down. He appreciates the eye contact and the effort to get on his level, but all of the emotional connection in the world isn't going to save Fjord from hepatitis, as much as Sora would like it to. (Seriously going to need Alisaie to teach him that spell.) If Fjord has time to lean, he has time to let Sora clean.]

You're not alone here, either. People take care of each other. [ Or at least Sora likes to think so. ]

[One minute you're on watch with your two friends, the next you've been paralyzed by a Hold Person spell and dragged away into a caravan, and no one hears a thing because the entire area is under a Silence spell.

He lies back down with some reluctance, but you can't stop him from lifting one arm so he can use his forearm as a pillow to keep his head angled to look at Sora more easily.]

Well, let's just say I'm not used to having people actively take care of me, 'fore I met my friends.

[ At least Sora's always had the illusion of autonomy for a little bit in his own hostage situations. If he couldn't at least pretend he was doing something? Yeah, he'd have snapped.

Fine, head pillow is allowed. Sora aims sort of a look at him before checking on his magic reserves. Just a few more seconds. ]

No? Not even when you were little? [ He says that, then immediately winces. That's kind of personal territory. Not the kind of thing Sora likes to get into right away. ] Or is it just like... bad friend territory?

[He turns his gaze to the ceiling again.]

I was the only half-orc kid around, far as I was aware. [He pauses, steels himself:] For sure the only one at that orphanage. Children can be pretty cruel, I got picked on a lot. I was a real lumpy, ugly kid, all misproportioned. Half-orcs don't grow quite the same as humans, and it fuckin' showed.

[ Sora stares at Fjord conflicted, his hand still. Deeply, truly conflicted. This goes into territory that he's not sure if he's particularly ready to go into. Fortunately, he doesn't have to; he feels that strange little sense and immediately casts Cure again, wordless, letting the magic wash over them both. (It's always on the caster and anyone nearby - just a weird little quirk of the spell he hasn't been able to isolate.)

It's enough to break him out of his little rut. C'mon. No more thinking. ]

Kids can be cruel. And scared of anything different. Doesn't get much better as life goes on, sometimes. [ He shakes his head. ] I... think you got lucky, in the end, but it shouldn't have been like that. I'm sorry. [ That wasn't Fjord's fault by a long shot. ]

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bee beez in the trap [ partially open ]

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