aterat | Open Logs

Entry tags:

Open Logs

Who; Nida, OTA
What; September Catch-All
Where; Abandoned Manors, At the Harbor, At the Window of your room, Outside of the Pub
When; Early thru Mid September
Warnings; CW: Final TL includes references to alcohol abuse, and could lead to other topics such as suicide, death of loved ones, memory loss, and abandonment issues

1. Exploration is Nine Tenths | Abandoned Manors, OTA

If there was one thing that Nida had learned, it was the importance of keeping busy. Anything else and you just ended up going mad. Already he'd flirted too much with madness in his life. No, Nida wasn't risking that at all, especially when there were things to see and do.

There was currency in knowledge, and Nida was nothing if not a mercenary intelligence agent. Sure, he tried every day to kill the detachment of SeeD Nomura, but the boredom didn't help. So he found himself, in the early afternoons or when he was otherwise not busy, hopping fences, climbing walls, and otherwise slipping in to the various abandoned manors to explore.

And, senses heightened as they were by the magical spirit in his head, he could sense someone sneaking up on him. He turns on his heel quickly, wrist flicking in that just right way to get a tanbō to slide from the sheathe on his forearm, and thus under his coat, and into his hand.

"Who's there?"

2. Seaside Dreaming | The Harbor, OTA

Early mornings were the best time for this. Early mornings when the air was cool and the humidity was entirely from the proximity to the water and not it just lingering in the air. Early mornings where the bay is awash with dawn light. Yes, it's beautiful, and all at once it does and doesn't remind him of home. The other worlds never offered him this, never threatened him with constant reminders of Balamb Garden.

In the mornings he slipped from his room and braved the false dawn to find his way down to the harbor. From there it was a simple matter to go to his favorite stretch of the area, hopping along what were clearly once the pilings of a dock. Once he was out as far as possible he sat down carefully, balancing on the water-worn piling with remarkable ease given it wasn't that big of a piece of wood. But he seemed comfortable. For now.

Of course, a stiff breeze or an unexpected noise might well send him tumbling into the water. Good thing no one was going to sneak up on him, right?

3. Come To Your Window | Your Dorm Window, OTA

One thing people who had met Nida in previous worlds could tell anyone was that the man was prone to climbing. In the last world that had taken him, it was not at all uncommon for him to enter and exit the dorms through windows, climbing up and down with the ease that spoke of long experience. This evening was no different. Left to his own devices Nida had opted to keep his climbing skills up to snuff, which meant he had selected one of the dorms at random and started up the side of it. His goal?

He had seen from lower down a dorm room window with the light on and the curtains slightly parted. It takes a bit of time, but soon Nida was up at the level of the window, peeking through the curtains. And, if what he found included a familiar face, he rapped at it lightly with his finger tips, his arms crossed on the sill and his feet braced against the exterior wall to keep him up.

Strangers, however, might just be shocked to see a face in their window. How rude of him. He'll just move along. Please don't scream. Or, you know, come to the window and tell him off. He's not picky. Except about the not screaming thing.

4. Moment of Weakness | Outside of Pub, OTA [CW: References to alcohol abuse]

Night time is the worst. Once Nida used to love it. Made sense, he had been trained to be a man of the darkness, and his love of the evening sky was pretty intense. But... Ah, there was a key word, right? But. But he had lost so much. But he remembered now too many nights spent caught up in the work. But he didn't remember as many nights doing things in the other worlds. But the darkness always brought memories. But. But. But.

Tonight he stood outside of the tavern, watching the door, bathed in welcoming light. There had been a time when he would have no problem going in, slipping in and just embracing the offerings of the place. The companionship. The food. The drink. It called to him, even now. A glass to drown his sorrows. A glass to numb the pain. But from there it would be another glass. And another. And another until he had no funds and he had fallen back into a pit he'd worked so hard to climb out of.

"Hyne," he whispered under his breath as he watched the door open and close, disgorging another group of residents who had just finished a meal and drinking. "We need another damn place to eat in this town. Several."

Because each meal was a new temptation, and he didn't know how long he could last.

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He's going to scream, Siren observed in Nida's mind mere moments before the noise actually came. She picked up on the intake of breath that was a sure warning of the noise. Nida, for what it was worth, was thankful for the warning. Gave him a chance to brace himself so he wouldn't fall.

Instead he smiled pleasantly through the whole thing and just watched Jacob's little stint as disaster man through the glass.

"Out for an evening stroll," Nida answered through the glass, even if it muffled his voice. Did his eyes maybe rove a bit over Jacob's body? Yes. It was a good body. "Did I disturb you?"

Jacob dragged his palm down his face before pushing himself up to his feet. He fumbled a bit with the window before pulling it open for Nida to speak more clearly. "You stroll up the side of buildings?" He glanced outside, currently forgetting his state of undress.

"No. I was just... pacing."

He stepped back so that Nida could come in if he wanted. "You know there are things called doors right?"

"Climb, but yeah, more or less," Nida grins. With the window open Nida hauls himself up on the sill and sits in the window frame, one foot braced against one side, his back against the other, and a leg dangling down toward the street.

He looks comfortable. He is comfortable. This is him in his element, and without having to be sneaky.

"You pace a lot?" he asks right back, then considers the room. Nah. He'll stay here unless he's specifically invited.

"I'm aware of them. Never was a fan of them."

Jacob glanced between his bedroom and the main sitting area before looking down at his boxer-state. "Um. Yeah. I do." He looked a little uncertain as he walked over to the couch where he had tossed his jeans the afternoon before, sliding them on while trying not to draw attention to the fact that he was putting a little bit more material between him and Nida.

"I guess I'll have to leave the window open then or unlocked? I don't know the window protocols." The door was unlocked but that was just because Jacob assumed that anyone who wanted to get in, could get in, and he didn't want to have to replace his door after the fact.

Oh come now, no need to have too much shame in your own space. He'd been enjoying it. But the unspoken statement rings, and Jacob will only find attention on his eyes from now on.

"Hardly. You don't have to accommodate my trained quirks. I'm not exactly a regular man, not even in my own world."

He didn't mind being shirtless but being pants-less was a different feeling and it was one that Jacob wasn't comfortable with nor was he ready to figure out what that feeling meant.

"I'm used to-" He lifted his fingers to make air-quotes. "Not regular."

"It's fine. If this means I'll have company, then it's cool. I used to have my sisters or family swing by my apartment but I can't really have that here." It also helped that Nida was currently distracting him from his nightmares.

Pantless is a very wonderful feeling that should be embraced. Regularly. Or so Nida felt. Or perhaps he was just really tired of being just short of closeted by grief.

"Oh? How many mercenaries have you met?" Nida asks with a grin. "I'd love to be the first."

As it was he finally swings his legs in and stands in Jacob's room. Which does entail a good bit of uncoiling. Maybe he isn't that tall, but he's lithe as fuck when he wants to be.

"You can still have friends by. In places like this, I've found, you make your own family. And they always drop by. And are annoying."

"Mercenaries? You're probably the first. It depends on your definition. I know a mess of people who-" He paused as if suddenly unsure how to explain it. "Well, they protect people and that usually involves fighting people but they don't get paid. It's sorta a hush-hush thing."

He was pretty sure that the majority of the world didn't know that the Hidden or the war was going on.

Jacob smiled. "You don't annoy me but I'll keep that in mind. That's kinda what I did back home. Well, mostly I was the one being annoyed. Versus... the other way around."

"I tended to get paid," Nida shrugged as he shifted to lean against the wall. No reason he needs to take up Jacob's space.

"I was never the annoying one. Too separated from the normal circles to manage it."

"Is that why you wanted to join the city guard?" It was like being a mercenary. Maybe less exciting.

Jacob moved over to his couch and took a seat. He dragged a hand down his face and looked like he was slowly starting to relax again. He'd been shaken but Nida's interruption had helped him relax, even if it wasn't on purpose.

He smirked. "Do you want to be the annoying one? I could give you some pointers."

No. And yes. The look on Nida's face speaks to the complexity of the answer asked for.

"The last place I was, I worked as a mechanic, and made sure that my brother's forge had materials to work with. The place before that I ran a dojo and helped with the guard. Here I... have less marketable skills. The guard works for now."

But the forge, he still might consider it.

"Hell no. That's not my job in party distributions. I'm happy being the quiet one."

Jacob smiled in a way that he hoped eased Nida's worry. He wasn't going to push his new found friend to give him information but he was curious about what world Nida was from.

"That sounds pretty cool. I worked as a mechanic too. I miss it and it hasn't even been that long. I really like fixing things." It made him feel useful.

"I don't think you're all that quiet. We talk a lot but I guess I don't really know a lot about you yet. Hopefully I can change that."

See, if he pressed, Nida might even allow answers. Might even invite the questions along the way. But not tonight, or at least not when he was sitting on a window sill.

"I loved it. Had a motorcycle my boss let me work on when it was slow. I loved my baby so much."

Oh come on, you haven't met Zell, there's the talkative one. But the other comment softens Nida's expression just a touch more.

"I don't know, you might have to offer me a cup of coffee or tea if you intend to interrogate me."

Jacob looked back at his kitchen before waving at Nida to follow him. "I have tea. Come on in." He wouldn't call it an interrogation but he liked Nida and he was curious about the man who had already come to his aid once.

"So a motorcycle? What model? I had a car I was fixing up but I didn't get her running before arriving here."

Wait, he's being invited in? Nida smiles and his body just about flows through the window with cat-like grace, until he's standing and moving toward the kitchen.

"Kawasaki Ninja. Don't know the year. Bought it in the last place so I hadn't heard of the brand before. The paint job was amazing, all stars and galaxies..."

His hand came up without thinking to touch the chain at his neck with the paired rings.

"I named it Wiccan. I don't even remember why. Matching helmets too, with short range transmitters and receivers in them. Was a great way to talk to people without the AI overlord hearing. Plus the way you could get someone to press up against you was nice."

Jacob began to move through his kitchen, setting the fire and placing a kettle filled with water over the flickering heat. He didn't have a lot of food in the ice box but he had tea and few bars of chocolate that he was attempting to turn into hot chocolate... eventually. So far his hot chocolate was really chunky.

"That's a sexy bike. I've worked on a few of them. They're pretty good with cooling for a motorcycle but suck in the rain." He reached into a cabinet and pulled out a jar filled with a thick amber liquid. "Honey?"

He paused awkwardly. "For your tea."

Really, Jacob needed to talk to Ignis about the whole hot chocolate thing. The man was a wonder. But he grins at the estimation of his bike.

"Didn't rain there, except for one night. There was no weather. And yes, a bit of sweetness is always welcomed in my life."

Jacob has yet to meet Ignis but as soon as he does, there will always be hot chocolate at his house. He had a weakness for hot chocolate and it was one thing from home he was sure he could make while he was trapped in this strange world.

"Really? Not sure I'd like that. I like riding my motorcycle but there is something comforting about the rain." He was also born in Maine, where it rained a lot.

"Cool." Jacob quickly finished up the tea before spooning a healthy amount of honey into the mug and pushing it across the small kitchen table towards Nida. "Tea's done. So do we start the interrogation now?" He smiled a little at his own horrible joke.

"There are a hundred thousand things comforting about the rain," Nida corrects. He loved it, and missed it keenly. But at least here there seemed to be weather.

But he takes the mug and leans against a counter because sitting is for the weak.

"Who is interrogating who? I warn you, I have training to let me resist most methods."

Edited 2020-09-29 16:53 (UTC)

Jacob smiled and shook his head. "Yeah? I love the rain." It was amazing and probably his favorite kind of weather, not that he went around telling people how he liked to listen to the rain.

"What if we just go back and forth? You ask me something and I'll ask you something. Sorta like a go-to-know-you thing?"

Seems as fair a way as any to handle this. So Nida smiles and offers a softball for the first question, after he has a brief sip of the tea.

God he misses coffee.

"Favorite type of rain."

Because people who loved the rain knew there were types.

"Thunderstorms." Jacob took a seat and sipped at his tea. "I love the few seconds right before the rain starts. You can feel it and hear the thunder in the distance." When the rain falls its like the whole world was shouting against whatever pain the rain washed away.

"What about you?" He paused and then quickly added. "That isn't my question. I wanted to know something that you liked about this place." It was easy to complain but harder to find that silver lining. Jacob really sucked at finding the good in bad situations but he was trying his best.

Oh boy, there are some serious questions to be answered here. He considers for a moment before answering.

"Heavy downpours without thunder. I like to listen to it beating against whatever shelter I have," Nida offers with a smile. He really wanted to just sit in the middle of such a rain right now.

"As for here? There are plants. The last place didn't have any living things but us. No bugs. No animals save what pet-stores sold. I missed it all. Trees and gulls and rats included."

His turn for a question.

"Favorite food you miss from home."

All the while as he speaks, he plays with the rings on the chain, as if they were an anxiety shelter for him.

Jacob inclines his head in an involuntary nod. He couldn't help but agree that heavy downpours were relaxing though it's been awhile since he's been able to just sit and listen to the rain.

"I don't think I could live in a place without plants." He was one of those kids that grew up playing outside.

"Instant mac & cheese. It tastes a bit like cheesy plastic but it's good. What about you?" He paused long enough for Nida to answer and to think of another question.

"How many worlds or places like this have you been too?"

No one should live in a place without plants, but Nida doesn't comment on that. This is a give and take, and he doesn't want to give too much.

"I've never had it. I miss curried pies. Of course I don't know how to cook so I couldn't make one even if I wanted to."

He's a bit more tired by the question asked of him next, though. Was too many an answer? His hand clenched tightly around the rings. Two worlds, no memories of value.

"This is my third instance of this specific kidnapping."

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