songerein | [Catch-All]

Entry tags:

[Catch-All]

Who: Old Man Nier and YOU
Which: Open Log + Interactive Dream
Where: Reverein fields, the town itself, Nier's home village
What: Catch-All for March 2022. Old Man tends fields and mends fences. Old Man picks up orange hate feathers. Old Man picks herbs for Jude and co clinic. Old Man dreams of his home town where no one there seems to know him at all.
Warnings: Probably nothing worth mentioning. Will update as necessary

01. 'Spring'ing into Action

[Just the thought of working in the fields makes him think of older, more simpler days. Although he supposes in retrospect, there was nothing simple about them. Yonah had once asked him to grow her watermelons and somehow, he'd managed to accomplish it. Never does he consider himself an accomplished man of gardens and growing, but when he thinks about the amount of time he spent trying to cultivate a Lunar Tear, then he supposes he might be underestimating himself.

It's provided him a great reason to busy himself. To busy his thoughts. To think less about what happens when he leaves. If he leaves. If the others leave. He wants none of this. Instead, he's focused on the situation at hand. Or at least, he pretends he is. Honestly, he's more caught up in his thoughts than he'd like to be.

Fences are where he's chosen to begin. A decent number of them were damaged and before any planting can begin, they'll need to be tended to. He's in the process of covering some breaks, knelt down, pensive and probably up until the next few moments, has likely been a little quiet. Whether it's approaching footsteps or those being led elsewhere, he's not shy about speaking up.]

Get me that hammer, would you? I left it back there somewhere.

[He jerks his right hand over his shoulder indicatively. Help an old man out?]

02. I'm Not Angry; You're Angry!

[There's no shortage of things to be done in Reverein and Nier is usually more than happy to keep himself occupied by taking on any number of requests from the locals, which seem to be growing in number as the days go by. Gathering feathers seems like a relatively monotonous and unexciting task, which means it ought to be something he can get done in short order.

He's wandering around the town and along its outskirts to gather them, looking high and low. By this point, he's already managed to collect a few, which he has tucked into his somewhat barbaric-looking garb. Nier's a man with a lot of heart, though more than once he's lost his cool in the face of the circumstance. Where he'd normally be a rather patient man, it seems said patience is in absent supply today.]

Hey. You just gonna stand there, or do you feel like moving?

[He's had days where he was nicer.]

03. Go Green or Go Home

[When Jude announced the opening of the clinic, Nier was very quick to jump onto the idea of being able to supply him regularly with useful herbs, plants, and other like things in the forest. It reminds him of the times he's done something of the same for Popola. The names might change, but the situation always seems to be the same. In that respect, it's kind of nice. Something familiar. Just the thought leaves him comforted.

Whatever reason you might have for being out there, it won't be hard to spot him. Nier doesn't blend in well with the surroundings. On the contrary, he kind of stands out. And if he finds you, there's a very good chance he'll be nosy and want to figure out what you're up to. Why not lend him a temporary travelling partner?

Don't mind him as he's huddled down close to the ground, trying to get up a plant without destroying it completely.]

04. Home is Where the Heart Is (Unless You're Nier) - Interactive Dream

[...What is this place? It's a seemingly quiet and laid-back village, many of the structures appearing rundown and touched by the elements of time. There are people by the fountain not far from a dilapidated house.

Up the hill, along a variety of wooden steps that are in slight disrepair, there's a library with no shortage of books and a room that doesn't seem to make much sense.

Gates exist in different cardinal directions that lead outside of the village, each guarded for the safety of the village inhabitants.

Down in the market plaza, there's no shortage of item shops, and a plethora of relatively friendly villagers, who are ever willing to ask for assistance with their daily errands. A tavern, where a pretty girl named Devola plays music and sings a song. And on the docks behind, a little boat willing to take you to places called Seafront and some other main settlements that exist outside of the village.

It's a nice place, if not a little bit sparse. But it's the place that he calls home. He can easily be found wandering through the town, into the library, but spends the most amount of his time at his house, perhaps with his face in a very particular diary. His daughter, Yonah, is also here, and she may seem a little perplexed about what you're doing in her house, but she'll be very polite.

It's no real big surprise to him personally, but it seems like no one in this town knows a Nier. Not even Yonah. Who could this mysterious man be?]

[OOC: Please feel free to wander around the village by yourself, with a friend, or visit Nier. Character thoughts and feelings may affect the surroundings and the things witnessed, or experienced in this place.
Please also forgive how small these images seemed to be. Evidently larger images from Gestalt are difficult to come by. I may update these at a later point.
There is no restricted access to the town and its inhabitants. Do note that given this is also Brother Nier's home village, he has the same influences that Old Man Nier has here.]

05. Wildcard

[If the above don't strike your fancy, please select this option for whatever something special we might be doing. You can plot with me via PMs, discord (available upon request), and by contacting me via ofthesky.]

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[ Sana prefers to stay busy and given how the people and fairies around do need assistance with several things, it's basically the least she can do. Never mind that she's never worked a field before, she'd played a mobile game where she'd raised cows and built MANY MANY WALLS to keep them safe and this is maybe 3% nostalgic because of that.

But this isn't so bad. She can gather seeds. She has gathered seeds and she's tentatively inching her way along, being as nonintrusive as possible, when the man working on one of the fences suddenly speaks.

Sana jumps, only barely managing to hold onto her handful of seeds in time and hastily slipping them into a pocket. Her? Is he talking to her??

This is never going to not be strange. ]

Um-- y-yes? One moment... please...

[ And she turns abruptly to go find the hammer, stumbling over a furrow and only catching herself right before she falls. She'll return soon enough, silently placing the hammer down beside him. ]

[The moment he'd heard that the farmers, the few that there were, needed help 76 had gone to work almost immediately. He already spent a lot of time out there, pitching in for work and tending animals; whatever it was he could do. Growing up on a farm made the work nearly second nature despite how long he'd spent as a soldier- and as a figurehead.

It was good work, and it made him a familiar face that they didn't mind having around. Knew he could get some good pointers from them whenever he needed something, too.

He'd been passing by, a dragon and a yetox attached to an old topless wagon following along. Wagon already had a good bit of debris and the like piled in to it-]

Yeah, sure.

[Hammer spotted, 76 picked it up and moved over to place it in to the other man's hand.

Face guard of his mask was in place, and the hood of his jacket drawn up- there was no hiding the slight glow to blue eyes in the bit of shadow the hood made.]

Need a hand other than that? Mending fences can be harder than with an extra set.

[ Papa Nier is not the only out and about in these woods--a certain zombie is also on the prowl; on a mission, if you will. Not from the job board in town. This mission is a personal one: a hunt...for food.

Your average person would probably forgo the forest in lieu of heading to a shop or store. They might even opt to cook their own food, which is certainly much more easy than stomping around in the woods stalking woodland critters. When you come from a post-apocalyptic world where the era of food convenience is a long-gone dream and you happen to have a diet which consists of "meat meat meat", though...

Well, you stomp around in the forest stalking woodland creatures.

He's got his eyes set on a particularly plump-looking hare now though; he's zeroed in on it, poised and ready to go. He shifts his weight to lean into a crouch--and that's when one of the twigs beneath his feet gives with a loud snap! the hare takes off like a shot. ]

Uh--!

[ His take-off is not so graceful as the hare's. He starts. Stumbles--then immediately trips over an exposed root and winds up crashing face-first into the underbrush in such spectacular display that it sends all the birds in the immediate area fleeing. Anything and everything within half a mile can hear the ruckus he just caused. ]

[Honestly, it's fault for not actually looking and just assuming that the next innocent passerby is in any position to actually lend him assistance. It's not as though he can't just... get his hammer himself either. All the same, he hears the retreating footsteps and assumes either he'll find a hammer near him soon enough, or they will have simply disappeared and he'll have to retrieve it himself anyway.

Beggars cannot be choosers, right? Nier assumes he's in no place to be particularly finicky.

His attention turns when Sana places the hammer down beside him. When he needs it, he finds it there and settling a hand upon it, draws his attention onto her.]

Thanks.

[A... kid? Looks like a kid. What's she doing out here? Shouldn't she be leaving the harder stuff to the adults? No. That's not fair. Yonah's done plenty of stuff that she shouldn't have had to.]

Feel like helping me some more? I'm gonna hammer these together, but it might help to have someone holding them.

[He hears the turn of wagon wheels, which isn't so surprising in the grand spectrum of things. Farms tend to need larger objects and it's just not feasible for people to be lugging that kind of equipment around. Although if he's honest, it's not like Nier's ever had much of a farming background. He's not about to consider the fields next to his house to be anything equitable because they're just... not.

When the hammer hits his hand, he turns his attention onto the owner of the voice that greets his ears. It's not a... a face he knows. It's not a complete face at all, but that's not really the point.]

Yeah, actually.

[Who is he to turn down free help when it's being extended? He'd love to claim he can do everything alone, but honestly, anytime he's gotten somewhere, it's been because others have assisted. And he's grateful.

He cracks a lopsided smile.]

If you're offering, make yourself at home.

[Whatever thoughts Old Man Nier has got going up inside of that melon of his are shattered immediately upon the echoing of what... sounds like the snap of tree branches. It takes him only mere breaths to rise to full stature. It takes him only a few more to reach for the great two-handed sword that remains strapped to his back, taking it into hold.

He strafes carefully, as quietly as a man of his size can possibly muster, and what should cross his path than an utterly panicked hare. He's not inclined to stop the circle of life and there's no doubting that bigger beasts than rabbits are going to make a meal out of them, but...

Well. Sometimes those beasts are tempted to make a meal out of a man, as well. Better safe than sorry, honestly. What he finds as he proceeds in the direction that the hare was running from was no grand beast at all, but rather a—

—Is that a boy?]

You okay, kid?

[Which, in retrospect, seems an awful silly question for him to ask, but no one could ever accuse Nier of being the sharpest tool in the proverbial shed.]

[ Some people have brains, some people have rippling muscles gifted unto them by the gods themselves. Some people are undead and uncoordinated at the best of times--and a bit deaf. It takes a few seconds for him to draw his arms in and push himself up onto his knees, only to see a pair of feet in front of him. Big feet. In boots!

His head snaps up and up, and up...to see the tallest, buffest person he has ever had the honour to lay his eyes upon. Like dang. Nier is built like a brick wall. He's never seen so many muscles on a person before.

If he knew it was rude to stare he might not be doing so much of it, but since he doesn't... ]

Ouuuuh...

[ is this man a pirate angel ]

[ It's fine, she doesn't really look like she's capable of being useful. And she startles a bit when he speaks to her, poised on her heels as though she's ready to bolt like a deer in the Nier equivalent of headlights.

But he... wants help. Her help?

Oh, she definitely can't mess this up. ]

Um... the boards? I-I can try... to hold them steady, I mean.

[His had tipped a bit, some bit of a nod in greeting as he pressed a hand over the end of the blue dragon's nose lightly, keeping her in place. Which had the dragon sitting, feathered wings tucked back, and showing she had a worn leather harness on, a few pouches there at her chest.

In turn the creature pulling the wagon stilled as well after turning to a spot to graze once it was unhooked from the wagon. No sense in leaving it to stand in one place, right?]

Yeah, old hand at farm work- including fence mending.

[Which was reason enough to stop by and help, even if the one it was being offered to was doing a good job. Made the work a little easier.

Was moving to the other side of the fence, bit of a hop over, and all the better to hold things in place.]

Reason I'm out here, and it never hurts to be on a farmer's good side.

[Or a farmer's wife- you could get some good gossip, along with good meals once lunch or dinnertime hit.]

~~[yarrr hee harr harr]~~

[He cocks an eyebrow, taking several moments just to assess a situation that he can only guess as to how it's come to be the present moment. The boy simply could have tripped. It'd be more than enough to send a hare in the opposite direction, given how very flighty they tend to be. Nier would much rather chase down sheep for mutton than hares.]

Is that you sayin' you're hurt, or what?

[He doesn't speak in 'ouuuuuh's or related sounds, nonsensical words, whatever one might want to classify them as.]

If you are, you're gonna have to tell me where. And if you're not hurt, let's pick you up and set you straight, eh?

Yeah. That's all you have to do.

[He makes it sound so easy, but truthfully it's probably not that simple. Mending fences is hard work, doesn't matter how little or large the body is doing the mending. Two pairs of hands are always better than one.

Nier beckons her over to join him and he demonstrates where he wants her to hold the fence in place.]

Just hold it together. I'm not going to hammer it super hard.

[He wonders, for just a moment, if the animals intend on helping too, though he supposes it might be a little insulting to just refer to them as animals. They aren't shades, so he's pretty open to whatever assistance is about to come his way.]

So this is probably just another day in the life, eh?

[Nier grins before he continues, nodding along. He doesn't know any of the farmers, but 76 has a good plan of action. Better to make friends than enemies and he supposes he's technically been doing that with all of the other locals. Why should a farmer be any different?]

Only experience I've got here was a pretty unimpressive field outside of my house back home. Used to grow some things. Nothing real exciting. Some vegetables. Wheat. Rice. Did some crossbreeding of flowers. That kind of thing.

[None of these things look like they make sense coming from someone who looks like him. Somehow, he gets the feeling he's in Good Company.]

Bit nostalgic- before this place, been years since the last time I stepped on a farm.

[Reason he kept coming back out here, felt like some piece of him lost and gone was just on some horizon- but he never reach out for it. No, he kept his head down and did the work that needed to be done. Help make sure there'd be enough food to go around.

More so for people who wanted to cook their own food, rather than trust the literal fae.]

I grew up helping work a farm- family owned, smaller side of things. Help my mother in her flower garden, learned a lot about herbs from her, too. Still, good essentials to have growing for you. Crossbreeding flowers isn't all that easy, so it's not too bad if you ask me.

[This was a man who went so far as to add orange zest to making pancakes from scratch. Good Company indeed.]

O-okay.

[ She looks like she's Absolutely Braced for him to hammer it super hard, from the grip she's got on the wood once she settles, but. At least it should be a steady one! No boards will go flying today!! ]

[ Oh--right, he should probably do something other than gawk here huh? Just give him a second or two here Nier, gotta fix that slack jaw of his and quickly stand, brushing himself off. ]

Auh--

[ Right, right. Those sounds don't help. Doing as he's been shown before, he brings a hand up and points to an ear, shaking his head to show that he can't hear. It's a very useful gesture he wishes he'd known about at any other point in his life before now. It would've been so handy :c ]

[Looking for feathers isn't all that exciting, but it's a quick and easy job, as far as Kainé's concerned, and all of the rewards for those really do add up— not to mention the good will they foster with the locals, something she's enjoying banking a whole lot of more than she's willing to admit. It's a nice change, having people be grateful for the things you do to help them, protect them.

She could get used to this. She's finally starting to get why Nier is always so quick to pick up odd jobs wherever he goes.

Speaking of whom, today it almost feels like they've traded places. She raises both eyebrows as she hears his voice come from behind her, turning to look at him over her shoulder with a feather in hand.]

Damn, who pissed in your breakfast this morning?

[Wasn't her, she swears.]

No one. You're just in my way. So... move.

[He's always sounded gruff. That's just how he is. Maybe it's what he's been through. Maybe it's just because of circumstance. Either way, even he can't help thinking that maybe he sounds... just a touch more irritated than he normally does. He's had his moments of one-track minded anger, though it's usually been directed at the shades.

Maybe there's an inner Nier wondering what the hell has gotten into him. Or maybe Kainé is rubbing off onto him. Finally. Hasn't she told him before that he's too nice? She should be happy that for once he's not all sunshine and rainbows.]

If you need some help doing that, I can make that happen.

[He leans down to her, setting a hand atop her shoulder. He seems very willing to just push her aside. Leave the feather gathering to him, little girl.]

[Nier can't help it—the way a small smile takes to his features as he listens to 76 with an undeniable curiosity. So for him it's something that's stretched all the way back from a family history. His own mother probably would have been thrilled if her sword-toting son had paid a little more attention to that instead of the guards that he wanted to emulate so badly. It's a nice little memory all the same. No matter how much he seems to think he has a grasp on the kinds of people in Reverein, he's always learning something new.

It's oddly heartwarming.

He moves over to make room for his newly-found friend. Yeah. He's willing to call him that, but then maybe that's just the way the guy is built.]

Bet my mother would've loved you. [His smile evolves into a grin.] Mine always wanted me in on stuff like that, but I think I was a little too into swords and guards. Soldiers and things like that. Probably wouldn't have gotten into the gardening thing if it weren't for my daughter and some of the locals. Kind of needed coin, which means taking on odd jobs. You can probably get where this is going.

[He shakes his head slowly with a small, huffed out chuckle.] Sometimes it's go kill a rampaging beast. Other times it's grow a watermelon.

[As he takes her in, the gruff in his expression fades away to something considerably softer. Instead, before he even puts a single thock of his hammer into the fencing, he leans down just a touch closer to her, before he attempts to encourage her to loosen her hold.

She'll hurt herself otherwise, he's certain.]

Hey. It's okay.

[He reassures her, as kindly as he can muster, and for just a moment, he's reminded of how many times he's used the same tone with Yonah. Maybe it just comes with the territory of being around what he thinks are kids. Sometimes it's better not to jump to that conclusion, however. Some kids don't want to be treated like kids, after all.]

Like I said, we're gonna take this easy.

[Nier sharpens his gaze on his immediate companion for some moments, as if he's still trying to piece things together, with next to no information. What he's met with, however, suddenly explains a great deal more.]

...Crap. You're deaf. Uh—

[How the hell does he deal with this? He's never even met someone like that before. At least, not that he can recall. It's a kind of complication he's not even considered being prepared for. For several moments, he's straightening himself up and trying to formulate his next plan of action.]

Well. But it seems like you can understand me anyway.

[He points to his mouth. Maybe this kid's got lip reading down to an art.]

[It was funny how things from his childhood came back to the forefront in a place like this, something far more quiet compared to living on the run with a bounty on him. Hunting down the truth, kicking a hornets' nest to purposefully attract attention of those he was fighting.

This all? Felt refreshing, revitalizing almost in a way that he had to try and ignore it. Concentrate on how it burned away excess energy that would have him getting restless from being in one place too long.

There was a laugh, the sound surprisingly warm, settling in to better help the task go smoothly-]

It was a nice way to spend time with her- she encouraged my interests. Took me to places to see art, even bought me books filled with the history of war and old battle tactics. [His father helped along with that too, of course. More so putting in to him the drive to work hard. Well rounded.] Probably reason why it didn't surprise her when I went off to join the military soon as I could.

[That and the potential end of human life due to murderous robots, but still.]

Yeah, can see where it's going. Still good skills to have, especially when you have to make something for pay. [76 tipped his head a bit, indicating like the task they were both up to then.] Hell of a range, all the same.

I've gone from taking out thugs to- well, I'm good at farm work. [More amused than anything.]

[ IF ONLY. He does have people-watching down to an art though--he can stare at them for hours! Just not make sense of whatever they're trying to say because he most definitely can't read lips.

So papaNier speaks and he just sort of blinks. not sure what he's supposed to be doing with that. Usually people try gesturing at him, or taking out their journals... Actually, he'll just do that! He summons up his book and concentrates, producing an imprint on the page of Nier's....abs.........and pointing at it

look it's his most notable feature okay don't judge ]

[ It takes all of her willpower not to shrink back or flinch or start inanely apologizing for causing him even more work by getting it immediately wrong, though dang the temptation is strong? Dang!!

He doesn't sound angry when he speaks to her, but Sana still peers at him uncertainly, even as her grip loosens on the wood. ]

... You won't be angry if I mess it up?

[ It comes out a lot more plaintively than expected. ]

[Definitely good company, Nier decides. 76 doesn't look like the sort to do any of that stuff—gardening, admiring art, anything of the related. But the rest... War, old battle tactics, joining the military...]

You look like a military man. [That being said.] But I've been wrong before and it's unlikely that you're just that one thing. [As he's seen fit to display already. 76 is the perfect example that an individual is a mass of sides. Many would look at him and see only his interest in his daughter. Or perhaps bloodlust, which perhaps he's had more than once. There's more to him, too. It's just that not everyone sees that. And Nier, by this point, has become so disenchanted with what most think of him that it seems he hardly cares much.]

Would you rather be taking out thugs? It sounds to me like you're enjoying all of this just fine. [He motions with a hand, wearing a subtle smile. A little lop-sided, but warm. Genuine.] Can't be fighting forever.

[Oh, duh.
He can write. It's a grave misfortune that Nier is blessed with little more than chicken scratch. That any one can read what he writes is like a blessing in disguise.

Being met with a faithful reproduction of his appearance is... not exactly on his list of expectations either. He takes a moment to look down at himself. Maybe he's never seen someone like him before? When he really thinks about it, the biggest things he's ever seen than him have been shades. Beasts. Not people. Maybe he's intimidating to behold. He could believe it.

It's not like people get that he's kind of a big teddy bear.]

Got it.

[Journals. Guess he might as well follow in suit. He airs a begrudging sigh, knowing very well journals aren't his favourite things. Well, he doesn't hate them either. They're just bittersweet things. And he scribbles the most messy scribbling that... well.

That should come out of a guy like him. Maybe that's fitting of him, though.]

I'm a mercenary. A sellsword. Just doing some odd-and-end favours for people.

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[Catch-All]

1!

01 gotta get two old men springing in to work (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

Going Green

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I AM SO READY FOR ALL OF THIS. OLD MEN POTENTIAL BESTIES.

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S A M E. LET THE OLD MEN HAVE OLD MEN FRIENDS

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02!

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