aterat | [OPEN] Not-So Handyman

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[OPEN] Not-So Handyman

Who; Zack Fair and Everyone
What; It was suggested Zack should try offering to help at various jobs to find what he'd like to do for work. He's doing that. Please stop him.
Where; A variety of locations, see individual starters
When; Throughout Early October
Warnings; CW: Some blood in Prompt I, instance of (and implied previous instances of) unwelcomed touching of Zack in prompt IV.

I. If I Had A Hammer | Garry's Carpentry | CW: Minor injury/blood

This shouldn't be hard. It's something Zack's told himself twice now. This shouldn't be hard. He's a capable guy. Can take down dragons on his own if he has the right tools. Has built not one, not two, but THREE separate flower carts to spec. Really, Zack's an amazing guy. Which is why he is so confused with what is going on right now.

Which is him, standing by a work table of Garry's Carpentry, near enough to be under the watchful eye of THE Garry, trying to prove he could be worth learning some stuff. Of course he was supposed to do that by watching quietly. Which he'd done for two days, watching the apprentices and craftsmen work as he swept up and tied piles of stock and stuff like that. So finally Garry had let him sit down with doing some measurements and cuts for other projects. Which, you know, that had gone fine. Measure three times, cut once, yeah, he got it. But then he'd accidentally tripped over a stool and...

"I guess I should cut this again," Zack said with a frown. "And pay for the replacement wood. And, I guess, get myself free?"

Which was definitely the first thing he needed to do. Really, Zack wasn't entirely sure how he'd managed to put his fist through the big piece of wood just by tripping over it, but it hadn't gone through cleanly. The back of his hand was definitely scraped up just a bit and bleeding a bit sluggishly. The Mako in his blood had already gone a long way toward shutting the scrapes quickly. But they'd get bigger if he didn't find a better way to get free of this board wrapped around his hand.

II. Burning The Candle At Both Ends | A Local Chandler's Shop

Candles. They were lovely things really, and they reminded Zack a little of winter time back in Gongaga, when the sun set earlier in the day. When he was a kid his mother used to insist that the early twilight hours of winter days be lit only by the fireplace and candles. She would say it was appropriate, and it was how winter should pass. He'd always thought she was silly of course, because Gongaga had plenty of Mako power, and the little town had been growing since ShinRa had come to revolutionize their lives and make them better.

That, Zack figured, was probably why he had jumped at the chance of trying this all out when he'd seen the 'help wanted' sign in the window of a chandler's shop. All their candles had been handmade by old Mrs. Gregson, who also kept bees of course. They had been lovely things, creamy white and lightly scented and it made the whole how smell nice, even if it was hard to do his homework by candlelight in the winter. And come on, if old Mrs Gregson could do it, it coudln't be that hard, right?

Wrong. Zack winced, blowing on the fingertips of one hand even as he worked at keeping his stirring up with the pot of wax the proprietress was having him tend to the melting of.

"Stupid mean pot," he grumbled as he kept stirring. Only to hear the door chime to indicate it was opening. He leaned back to get a glimpse of who might have come in. Except...

"Uh, the boss just stepped out because she needed to grab some essential stuffs? That make scents. Uh, can I help?"

III. Hot Cross Buns | A Local Bakery

Baking! Baking was a task anyone could do, right? It was about as old as civilization itself or something. Anyone could do the simple task of slapping together flour and water and eggs and bam, bread once you apply heat. Staple of life, right there. No potential disasters to be had.

And yet there Zack was, moping, the dark spikes of his hair dusted with flour, a missed spot of sticky dough stuck to his cheek, and a truly chagrined look on his face as he was sweeping up the floors.

"How was I supposed to know that you can't just make the oven twice as hot for half the time? That's, like, math or something. Right?"

Apparently not.

IV. Service With A Smile | Market District Tavern | CW: Small instance of unwanted touching by drunk people

When all else fails, customer service. Anyone with patience and enough positivity could totally make customer service industry, and food service, work for them, right? Especially cheerful young men with plenty of good looks and charm coming off of him in waves. Or so the logic would go.

As it was, Zack Fair moved around the Tavern here on his second night of trial work looking like a hunted animal. Sure, he still went between tables, took orders, delivered food and drinks, but he looked... jumpy.

Which might be why he, after finishing taking notes for one table, was actually out of sorts enough to accidentally back into someone else. Good thing his balance and reflexes were so good, because Zack barely had a chance to trip into the person before he was hopping back a step to get out of their way.

"Sorry!" he said, voice full of regret. Which didn't help him because he managed to hop back into another patron, and yeah, there was a mug of some alcohol or other falling over. Zack winced and turned to look at the customer he'd upset. "I'll replace that, no charge," he insisted quickly, turning to pick that cup up too.

Which meant bending over. And some drunk lady nearby reaching out and patting his ass. Zack yelped, jumped up straight took the mug that he had knocked over, and rushed back to the bar.

"Don't people understand the idea of personal space?" he almost whimpered as he got to the bar and put the mug down. "That's the fifth time TONIGHT!"

V. Birds Of A Feather | The Ranches

It wasn't that Zack meant to come here and help out, at all. This place wasn't even remotely on his short list of places to look for work. But Zack had needed to get out of town for a day, to get back to nature. And he'd just happened to go in the right direction. And so here he was now, just outside of the ranch, down on one knee by a large bird with one of the ranch's harnesses around its neck. A bird that seemed very off balance.

"Kweh!" the chocobo said as Zack knelt at its side, carefully running his hand over one long leg.

"I know, sweetie," Zack said, his voice soothing as he gently checked for any damages. "It's not nice to be off balance. But it looked like you took a nasty tumble when you were running away. just give me another moment."

"Wark Kw-kweh!"

"Tell me about it," Zack cooed right back as the bird leaned in to start preening Zack's hair. He finished with the leg and gentle reached up to pat the bird's side. "You're alright, beautiful."

The bird made a light warbling noise, clearly pleased, before raising its head from Zack's hair to instead turn its attention toward the noise of someone approaching. And yeah, Zack straightened a moment later, sensing the tension from the bird.

"Hey there," he called to the newcomer. "Promise I'm not stealing her. Saw the poor beauty being chased by some sorta wolf-like thing. Guess she got out and no one came to collect her yet. Or she bucked a rider. Had to make sure she was okay. Um... Don't suppose you know who at the stable I can take her to to make sure she gets back to her friends."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh shit, comfort from the guy he'd accidentally spilled things on. This wasn't good. Zack felt so damn bad about that. But hey, at least he's brought a replacement drink for the customer. He tries to put a smile on too. You're supposed to smile, even when you're tired.

"Needless to say my old job didn't have people who would actually, you know, do that. Talk about it, think about it, joke about it, yeah. But do it? Not so much. Well, except there were rumors about Scarlet. And, uh, I'll pass on the eyes thing. Not really down for actually being a monster."

Even if there had been times in Nibelheim when he'd feared it would actually happen.

He raised a brow at the forced smile as a drink was offered… Waver was not a fool. He knew smiles that were off in a variety of ways, be they forced in an uncomfortable situation, or applied with magecraft like in the case of his student that one time… It wasn’t magecraft, so the guy was just trying to look happy for the sake of the job. Commendable, but not necessary in his company.

Taking the drink and setting it on his table, he finally sat in his seat with a glance in the direction of the offender of the server’s discomfort. “Well, you won’t have to worry about her for at least the rest of the night.” He commented off hand. She’d probably be out till closing time. Taking a small drink, he considered the slightly winding tangent about the young man’s last job and someone named Scarlet. “What was your old job, that not something you could find work doing here?” Okay, it was blunt and nosy, but… Waver was like that. If he wanted to know something that he couldn’t discern for himself, he’d ask...

“Huh? I wasn’t actually serious about the eyes, it’s just something you say.” He responded with an expression that was both concerned that he’d been taken seriously on that front and feeling the vague prickling at the back of his mind about what kind of person he might be dealing with here.

Yeah, definitely blunt and nosy. But Zack's the sort to roll with it.

"Soldier," he said, shrugging. Clearly that's not something that is being hired for here. But he lets the eyes thing go.

Because Zack's actually seen things like that, and it's clear that people here may not have.

“Hm… I see.” He listened to the short answer and focused on his drink. “Definitely different from this, then. Seems like you would have the experience for a few things in this city, though.” Made him wonder why he wasn’t trying his hand with the city guard or with the Arena. Both seemed at least like his skills gained from his prior employment would be an asset, though the mage supposed perhaps the man simply wanted to try something new. Waver couldn’t blame him for that. He was ill-suited for being a mage, but he still kept trying without having given up.

This place hardly seemed the fit, if he had dealt with inappropriate attention several times even before that woman. Having road alongside soldiers himself, for however brief that had been, it was hard to imagine any of them doing this kind of work. “If I may, in a situation like this… You’d be well served to learn to keep your eyes moving around you while you work. This is a tavern, yes, but you could also see it as a dangerous territory. One of a different nature than your used to, I’m sure… But one where dodging an ‘attack’ is necessary, nonetheless.” He hoped that was at least a term that made more sense.

“Anticipate the less pleasant attention from customers and learn to use what reflexes you already have to keep yourself out of arm’s reach.” Without bumping into someone else and spilling their drink on them, of course. It was a practiced skill, but Waver could dodge people pretty damn well by this point if he was paying attention, as long as they didn’t possess an ability that could freeze him where he stood.

Yeah, he doesn't have a weapon for the Arena, and he's SO beyond bored with guard duty and he doesn't trust authority sooooo. It doesn't work for him.

"That's not bad advice. Not that I'm happy to have to learn it."

“Glad I could offer something useful.” He responded before setting his drink down again. He was known, at least, for providing advisement and suggestions for varied situations. Even if he wasn’t always particularly good at approaching it at times. “Can’t imagine anyone would be happy to have to.” He shrugged, a light frown on his face.

"I gotta admit," Zack said with a sigh and a shrug, "that if I saw it happening to someone else, I'd probably cause a fight."

But that wasn't quite what he felt he would do for himself, though. He figured most people here he could accidentally hurt with even one incautious punch.

“Can’t say I blame you. Letting someone off for such behavior is hardly appropriate.” Somehow, Waver wasn’t surprised to hear that. He knew plenty of people who would have done the same… Honestly, most of his students probably would have as well, but fist fights were not something the young Lord was particularly skilled with. Some would point out it was because he didn’t have enough meat on his bones and didn’t get any proper exercise, but his argument would always be that he was a mage, not a warrior. “Even I am not fond of standing by… But I myself prefer more subtle ways of handling them, less risk of injury and property damage.” As long as the person being dealt with wasn’t magically inclined. Especially at a higher level than himself… but tonight’s culprit seemed like an average (albeit gross) human.

Yeah, but... Zack sighs, running a hand through his hair for a moment to try and channel some of the stress out.

"Used to hear about stuff like this a lot back home. Never saw it. I mean, secretaries would talk about how they wanted to get their hands on the Three, but I'm not used to it myself."

Waver glances at the man again, honestly he finds it curious that Zack hadn’t experienced even people talking about it before where he was concerned. He wasn’t his type (few were), but he was what some around the tower would call attractive. Seeing the way Zack was clearly trying to dispel some of the stress, he could tell the guy was rattled. With a small breath and a casual nudge of the chair on the other side of the table, he gestured. “Have a seat for a minute.” He commented, figuring it would stop anyone else from trying to sit with him and if the guy’s boss said anything, he’d make a stupid excuse up… Or hypnotize the man into thinking it was his idea, whatever worked.

“Most people do like to talk, or keep their odd ranked lists to fantasize about…” Waver had been informed on more than one occasion that he was ranked somewhere near the top of the clock tower’s inane list of desirable professors. “But once alcohol is involved, talk can rather easily shift to people being more direct and… hands on.” Some didn’t need the alcohol, truth be told, but that wasn’t the point at the moment.

Yeah, Zack wants to sit, and he looks over to his boss. Oh, what does it matter? He doesn't think this job is going to suit him. SO he does sit down briefly.

"It's disrespectful," Zack points out, annoyed. "And dishonorable. It's not something any sane person should do."

Good. Sitting was a step in the right direction, and Waver would happily send the man’s boss on his way with a few quick words if need be. Idiot should have some muscle working to see guests who exhibited certain behaviors to the damn door.

“You are correct on all three points.” He responded, taking a sip of his drink now that he didn’t have to watch the guy try to dodge other patrons while he was standing around. “Unfortunately, the world is full of dishonorable arse holes to deal with. Telling them they are doesn’t tend to work out.” Not that he didn’t do that either, it’s just the tended to be more amused when he got pissed off. “So either dodging or a calculated retaliation tends to be the answer.” But he’s pretty sure that Zack might be best suited for the mysterious third door of ‘find another job that doesn’t involve drunk people.’

“I don’t know if you’ve got the option, but you might want to see who else is hiring. The proprietor of this tavern doesn’t seem inclined to do much about their clientele.”

Oh yeah, that third door was going to be the best one for Zack.

"This is my fourth place this week," Zack groaned. He hated this. A lot. it was turning out that he really didn't have a lot of skills that didn't include monster hunting.

“Your fourth?” He raised an eyebrow at that, quiet tone carrying the bare hint of a surprise. Yeah, it was kind of hard to not be a little surprised by the idea that he’d been through that many places of employment in a week. Not that he hadn’t been let go from a few ill-fitting part-time jobs during his attempts to save up funds to travel before he settled down into teaching.

Crossing a leg and leaning back in his seat, he gave the man another look. The mage was weirdly invested now, he guessed. If Zack were one of his students, he’d offer advice anyway, but he wasn’t… So it’s a little different. “Where have you tried already?”

Geez, this guy really is asking. But Zack's social enough of a beast to admit it. He sighs and starts counting off on his fingers.

"There was the carpenter. I got injured. A few times. And I'm too strong for the woodworking. Kept breaking stuff because I wasn't prepared for the strength of the lighter woods. Then there was the chandler's, where I spilled the wax more than a few times, and then there were the wax burns. So that didn't work. I accidentally burned a whole batch of bread at the bakery, so I was told not to come back and try more, they couldn't afford it. So now here."

And yeah, things were going swimmingly.

Waver winced internally at that. Talk about going from one bad job experience to another. If it wasn’t clear that the man had just been trying whatever job he could find, regardless of if he was suited for it or not, the professor would almost say it was cursed levels of bad luck. “Sounds like the week from hell.” He responded with a raised brow before shaking his head a little.

Hard to not wonder what was even left for an option. “Hm… Not sure if you’re thinking of looking elsewhere, but I know Grave Concoctions is usually looking for gatherers. At least they were last time I stopped in.” Although, that wasn’t exactly something that was without its risks either, if you considered gathering ingredients like plants. “Otherwise, I can’t say I know where else might be hiring. Still a bit new to the city, myself.” Waver picked up his drink again with a light frown. He’d suggest looking for work cleaning up the academy since it couldn’t get much more damaged than it was, but no one was being paid as yet, given there were still a lot of things to figure out.

"Compared to things I've been through before, it's just an unpleasant walk in the park," Zack dismissed. He'd been through way too many things to label this with hell. Discomfort, yes. Hell? Not even remotely close.

"I don't know local plants, so I'm not sure I could do that," Zack noted, and that's horribly sensible for him, isn't he?

“Hm… Probably for the best that you don’t, then.” And it was a sensible decision, considering how poorly that could go for him. “That said, I’m not sure where else to suggest being new to the area myself.” He offered a small shrug. There wasn’t much more he could probably do for the guy beyond what he’d already done with that particular patron for the evening. “I do wish you luck in the continued search.”

Probably, yeah.

"Thanks," Zack says with a smirk. "Luck hasn't always been my greatest aspect, but I'm going to try and get through it."

It's all he can do. This is a life he's gotta live.

Waver could at least relate to that much. A small nod in return to the statement. “Sometimes stubborn perseverance is the only way to move forward, at the end of the day.” Better than giving up, even if the struggle forward was difficult at times.

"Well, Angeal would say that I'm absolutely am someone prone to stubborn perseverance," Zack noted. It was rather impressive he was told.

“Then, despite the challenges, it sounds like you’ll figure something out eventually.” He hummed, shrugging his shoulders. He didn’t know this Angeal person, but telling anyone something like that probably carried some truth to it. It wasn’t something you randomly told someone without reason, at least.

Does it? Man, Zack hopes he will. Having something to do, some guiding purpose, mattered to him. Mattered to him a lot.

"I'm going to keep trying with trial and error. Mostly error."

Waver shrugged slightly. “Eventually, the odds are that you’ll stumble on something you can do after enough errors. Took me a while and some pretty abysmal jobs to figure out I was any good at teaching.” One part-time job to another before leaving Fuyuki to travel, then he happened to take on tutoring in Greece and realized he wasn’t that bad at it and he didn’t hate it. So, you know. Stumbling around from one bad job or situation to another was a pain in the ass, but it might pay off eventually. Though he supposed the odds were a bit narrowed here with the way the city was at the moment.

"Odds have not always been in my favor," Zack sighed. But he intended to be determined for all of this. He had to find a way to support himself, so he wouldn't be a burden on his friends.

"Thank you," Zack said, his voice soft. "For helping."

[OPEN] Not-So Handyman

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