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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She moves and perhaps, in this instance, that's the wisest course of action. He knows he's practically built out of chiselled stone. It'd be all too easy to hurt her, which is a thought lingering in the back of his mind, easily drowned out by whatever growing annoyance is creeping up along him. And annoyance must be something of an understatement. He doesn't even know how to describe it.

He begins to move past her and at her question, Nier pauses sharply. Turning his attention onto her intently, he simply remains rooted, the feathers he's gathered in firm hold.]

You got a problem?

[Yes. Of course she does. Him. He's the problem.]

[Even on Nier's best days, stubbornness is something the two of them have in common. She'd learned a long time ago to pick her battles when it comes to him, though they usually have a different tone— she's the one who's sharp and prickly, who usually needs to be pushed into seeing reason.

He looks back at her, and she folds her arms in front of her chest, lips pursed as she looks him up and down. Aside from the scowl, he looks normal, and even that isn't so out of place, even if she wouldn't expect it in this situation.]

Yeah, I do. You're acting like—

[Her, honestly. Her with a stranger, more specifically, which is something they're both a long way from being able to consider one another.

She scoffs, shaking her head.]

You've got a real fuckin' chip on your shoulder, that's all. I thought that was my job. You're all friendship speeches and 'help the common man' and all that crap.

Acting like—C'mon, out with it, Kainé.

[And she does. She really does let him have it. He almost laughs. It's not really a laugh at all. And if it is, it's probably the most bitter sound that's ever left him. It's unnecessary. Over the top. Maybe a little melodramatic. Just as quickly as it arises, it's slain. He executes it ruthlessly, and it's followed up with a sharp scoff.]

Maybe I'm a little tired of having to carry dead weight all the time. [He counters as he keeps intent gaze on her.] It's not like those speeches mean a damn thing to you, right? You make that plenty clear all the time. You're always the one tellin' me to stop being so nice. And here you are, bitching again.

[She's used to his barking laughter, the harsh sound of it, but this is different, sharp-edged and bitter and not Nier at all.

Over the top? Yeah, definitely. Dramatics aren't usually his thing, but seems like he's trying his hand at them today. It strikes her as wrong, just like everything else about him. His tone, the way he's carrying himself— none of it is the Nier she knows.]

Dead weight?

[She's not an easy woman to offend, and he still hasn't quite managed to do so now, but she does shift to plant a hand against her hip. Real fuckin' nice, considering the shit she'd helped him through.]

I pull my weight around here just fine, thanks. Haven't asked you for a goddamn thing.

[Although he offers his help time and time again all the same. Alright, she can see how someone would get tired of her constant thorniness, but she thought—

He understood her, didn't he? Understood that she often doesn't mean what she says, that she just doesn't know how to say some things.]

You can do what you want, I don't give a shit. Just seems like a pretty dramatic change overnight.

[She does give a shit. A lot of them, in fact.]

I don't know what you're talking about.

[He lifts a hand and the gesture he makes can only be described as incredibly dismissive.]

I'm the same as I've always been. You just don't notice it because you're too locked inside your own head. It's an All-Kainé World to you. All Kainé All the Time. Usually involving something you hate. About yourself. About someone else. About anything else that's crawled up you for the day. Of course you wouldn't notice a change or assume that it's 'pretty dramatic.'

[He'll kick himself for all of this later. Or she'll just beat the piss out of him. Both of these seem to have similar end results.]

That's one hell of an accusation.

[It wouldn't mean much, coming from anyone else, because there aren't a whole lot of people whose opinion she values all that much— but she does care about his. If he were acting like himself, saying something like that in a way that made it sound genuine, she'd be worried, but she tries to remind herself that she should know fucking better.

Maybe that's what she's always shown on the surface, but she knows she pays attention to him. His moods, his thoughts— she hadn't pledged herself to be his sword for nothing. She cares a whole lot about his well-being, even when she keeps it to herself.

Even if this had been a gradual change, she'd have noticed.]

You just trying to goad me into beating the shit out of you? Hell, you know I'll do it, but you should fucking hear yourself. You think I don't pay attention to what's going on with you?

[It is, in fact, one of the few things she gives a damn about.]

You know damn well I don't give a shit what happens to me.

[She's only here, only even alive because of him. Because he'd made her care about something, think there was something worth sticking around for.]

[He shakes his head at her. What is he supposed to say to any of that? She's like a rabid animal, always bearing her teeth, always wanting to bite. Less wanting. More simply doing so. Kainé is a walking warning to the wise, and a fatal encounter for those who aren't.]

Is that what you want? I've got time to take you on. It's like you care so little about yourself that you make sure everyone else around you knows it. The more you act like you don't care tells me that you actually care a hell of a lot more than you're letting on.

[He rolls a shoulder. He's ready to make good on that little threat she's thrown in his direction. She wants a fight? He'll give her one. He's done it before. He can do it again.]

I think you listen only as much as you have to in order to get from one place to the next. But I think you're a self-obsessed brat.

[For once, she doesn't particularly want a fight— she's been seeking them out a hell of a lot less since they've been here, except when there's a job that needs doing or she has a bad mood to blow off, but more than that, she doesn't necessarily want to fight him, even if she's willing to do so to knock some sense into him.

She scowls, shaking her head as she folds her arms in front of her. She can see him loosening himself up, getting ready to throw a punch if he needs to. Is this what it feels like for him, the situation she's put him in countless times since their first heated meeting?

Considering they met fighting, she'd never really given it a whole lot of thought.]

Don't think I've ever heard you talk that way about anyone.

[If anyone deserves it, she figures it probably is her. Her skin is too thick for it to sting the way it might if she were someone else, but it feels wrong coming from his lips, sounds unlike him even though his voice is the most familiar thing to her.]

All this because you want some kind of an apology? Better ways to get one, old man.

[Her brow furrows, and her gaze travels downwards to spot the bright feathers he's already collected and tucked beneath one of his leather straps. She hasn't actually picked any up for herself just yet, but she marches forward and reaches out to pluck one from his small collection.]

Let me see that.

Yeah? Well, I thought it best to speak your language, since it seems that's the only you actually listen to.

[It's still venom seeping out of him. This venom he has no idea from where it really comes. It's kind of like being split in two. One part of him is saying all of the things that don't seem like him at all. The other part is watching all of this happen, unable to stop any of this from happening. That same part would love to take the first one and shake him back and forth, wondering just what the hell he's trying to do.

Nier, in his right state of mind, can't think of a time, a circumstance, a moment in which he'd ever think it acceptable to say cruel and unkind things to her. About her. It's so unfathomable to him. The Nier in this very real moment... Doesn't seem like himself at all.

When she plucks a feather from underneath the strap he's kept it beneath, he can only look as unamused as the moment he's told her to move aside.]

If you're thinking you're about to take credit for my effort, that's not happening.

[Is he seriously worried about that?]

Wouldn't even be worth the goddamn effort. I don't take credit for shit I don't deserve.

[Hell, how often does she take credit she has earned? Not very. She doesn't have a lot of qualities that she would consider to be good, but that one might actually qualify, if she didn't take it too damn far all the time.

She snorts as she turns the feather between her index finger and thumb, and the moment she touches it, she feels— different. Not terribly so, not at first; she's already an irritable person by default, so it's hard to say if these feathers would even have any effect on her, but she can feel something coming off of it in waves— anger, hostility.]

... how long you been carrying these around?

Just setting my expectations down. Not that you normally follow them.

[He watches her closely, as if he waits for something. Something he has no idea of how to properly identify. He sees... nothing. She is just Kainé. The same Kainé he has known time before. Just Kainé.

No. Not just Kainé.

Before he can get any further, her question stops him.]

Since I started took this job and started it. Was making great time until you got in my way. I thought you wanted to help. Not do... whatever it is you're doing now. Which seems to be wasting my time and talking my ear off.

[She dismisses most of what he says, but a part of her can't help but worry if this really is what it's like for others, for everyone who puts up with her— or the very few she allows close enough to be in a position to do so.

Something to examine later. For now, she's more interested in what's crawled up Nier's ass, or more specifically, into his hand. Scowling, she holds up the feather as she puts it on display.]

These things aren't just feathers. The message on the board said something about too many of them messing with your attitude, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

[Her standards are a bit skewed in this department, admittedly.]

These are why you're acting the way you are.

[It had said something about how people with strong feelings of "love" should be well-suited to collecting them, hadn't it? That fits Nier perfectly, although... maybe it's harder for him to feel it here, with Yonah so far away.]

... Nier. Why do you pick up jobs like this back home? Think about it— we both know you've got a damn good reason for everything you do.

[And they all start with "Y."]

[He lifts a hand and rubs at his temple, evidently easily tired out over the subject. Yes, yes. He's read it. He's pretty sure he's read it. He doesn't really remember. To be fair, it's very likely he's read bits and pieces and not the full thing. He'd believe that. Assuming Nier reads everything might be a bit of an overestimation.

He watches her display the water she's plucked from him and he looses an exasperated sigh.]

And yet it seems like you're the same as you ever are.

[Nier shakes his head, though her question catches him and he pauses for several long moments. He knows that everything he's done back home was always for his daughter. Well, Kainé and Emil were a big part of it as well. So why does he do these things here? In this world? Is he just... filling time? No. Not fully. He also wants to give her, his younger counterpart, and others he knows a good life. If he can.]

She isn't here. This isn't the same and this has nothing to do with her, Kainé. So either give me the one you took, or keep it for yourself and let me continue what I'm doing.

Hadn't touched any before this one. Maybe it takes awhile— or maybe the difference won't be noticeable because I'm always "bitching" anyway.

[She raises an eyebrow at him as she offers her explanation, bordering on a scowl that never quite forms, held back by concern instead.

He's right about one thing. Yonah isn't here, but she still thinks she's onto something. It's not the person that matters, but the sentiment, isn't it? With Yonah, the two were so entwined they couldn't possibly be separated, but...]

Damn it, I don't care about the feather— and it's not just about her, either. You do the shit you do because you're a good fucking person, because you want to provide for the people you care about. She was the most important thing back home, but not the only one.

[She was his reason for everything, but there were others he cared about, even before he'd met Weiss, met her and Emil. That, too, must sting now, but he was clearly a man with a fondness for his village, love for his community.]

Right. Probably wouldn't notice.

[On account that she's always bitching. As she's just pointed out and agreed with him.

He hears what she has to say. Plainly. A good person? Debatable. He's tried his best. Sometimes that's not enough. Often, it doesn't feel like enough. Maybe he's never felt like he was enough. Like he's done enough. Like he ever will do enough. It's conflicting, honestly.

Nier pauses and after several long moments, he scoffs outright.]

What's your point. If you've got one, make it. Otherwise, you're just wasting my time.

[She lets out a low, frustrated noise in response. She's really going to have to spell it out, isn't she? Of course she is, he's not a mind-reader and she can't expect him to be, but it's—

It's the kind of mushy shit she just doesn't say. It's the kind of thing he would say to her if she were at a particularly low point.

She sighs heavily, brows drawing inward as she levels her gaze on him again.]

You do that shit because you love the people around you. Your family, your friends, your goddamn neighbors. Try to get that feeling back. Really think about it— because whatever these things are doing to you, I don't like it, and I don't think you do, either. You know this isn't you. And we both know what's really in your heart.

[His stupid, stupid heart.]

I don't think you've ever met anyone you wouldn't show kindness to, because that's the kind of person you are. You're better than me. Better than anyone else I've ever known.

[It isn't him. They both know it. It's so amazingly out of character for him to be anything but understanding and helpful. He can't remember exactly when he went from himself into...

Well. Whatever he is now. But what is he supposed to do about that? He can't just stop a job in the middle of things. That's not like him at all either. Nier is a man of his word. At least, he tries to be. No one's perfect, after all, but if he's committed himself to something, he's damn well going to do it.

He finds himself looking down to the feathers that remain tucked beneath a strap of leather and he's idly fingering the frayed edge where the ridges aren't lining up entirely proper.]

Yeah. You might be right about that. About most of that. Probably shouldn't assume I have infinite patience, though. No one does.

[Nier shakes his head.] This is still a job, Kainé. So if it's this stuff I'm carrying or what, it's gotta be done first. And we'll see how much of an asshole I am when I'm done. Unless you've got some other idea.

[It's not that he doesn't agree with her. He just has no idea what she wants him to do about it. He knows if she keeps pressing him, he's very likely just to keep pressing right back.]

I'd never be dumb enough to assume that.

[She snorts, only the barest hint of a laugh that fades in the face of the current situation. As for the rest, she can hardly argue with him.

It's a job. It needs to get done.]

So you finish it— and you let me help.

[She'd come out here for the same reason, anyway.]

I don't care about the credit. It's all yours. But let me carry some of them. It'll... it'll make things easier on you.

[Or so she's hoping.]

I get this feeling even if I refuse, you're not gonna accept it.

[He breathes out a scoff. She's determined. She always has been and that's something he's always appreciated about her. Even in this moment where he's not exactly himself and more like some alternate version of the man he could have grown to be.

At her request, which he figures is really less request and probably more demand on her part, he draws up his hands. He doesn't have time to go around and around with her, fun as that ordinarily might be.

So he offers her the ones he's had tucked in his leathers. If she's brave enough to take them.]

Whatever. Do what you want, Kainé. We don't have time for this cute little fight we're having.

You always were a fast learner.

[It's a good thing one of them knows how to pick their battles— she sure as hell doesn't.

She is, in fact, as determined as ever, and she doesn't flinch or hesitate as she reaches out to take the feathers from him, her lips set into a hard line even as she lets her fingers brush against the back of his hand in the process, ghosting against his knuckles. Honestly, she's not sure if she'd meant to do it or not, but it makes something tighten in her stomach all the same— a feeling she quickly shoves aside in favor of taking those feathers and tucking them into the belt of the shorts she's wearing.

She exhales, centering herself as she looks up at him with a cool and steady gaze, one with a great deal of weight behind it.]

You're the one always telling me I don't have to do things alone. Seems like the solution here, too. Share the load. We'll get it done.

[Because seeing him like this... it's more than just worrying. It's wrong.]

[He scowls, finding it a particularly agitating moment. It's an argument with her that won't simply go away unless he lets her have her way. Despite how imposing he might be in how he looms over her, he makes no move to otherwise stop her when she plucks the feathers from him. On the contrary, there's a touch of fingers against his own that births just the smallest flame of hesitance in him. It's as if it's simply a reminder.

Who she is. Who he is. Who they are together and who they are when they're apart. Not that he's feeling inclined to shower her with the kind words he tends to drown her in. Not at present. If what she says is true, however, then it seems the regular Nier, the one they all know and love, will return in short time.]

Doesn't sound like you're giving me much of an option otherwise. As much as I want to tangle with a wild beast, work first. Play afterwards.

[Although he has to wonder if the feathers will change her at all. Maybe they won't. Maybe she'll simply be more of the same. Kainé doesn't let herself get touched by anything she doesn't want to be touched by in some way.]

Well, at least that part of you hasn't changed.

[Still irritatingly responsible.]

Think I'll take 'wild beast' as a compliment. Has a nice ring to it.

[Maybe he can spread it around, see what it'll do for her rep. For now, she continues forward with the feathers tucked away securely, unflinching. If they're going to change her— and she's prepared for them to try— she's guessing it will be a slow and steady build. If they get this done quickly enough, maybe they can finish the job before either of them is too far gone. That would definitely be nice, if something were to turn out in their favor for once.

The feathers themselves stick out like a sore thumb, bright as they are, and she slows her pace only slightly when she spots a couple on the path ahead, bending down on one knee to scoop them up easily.]

In the meantime, try to— I dunno. Think some happy thoughts. Something like that. That bullshit is supposed to work real well here.

You're taking it as a good thing. Somehow I'm unsurprised.

[No, really. What was he expecting? He starts to shake his head and thinks better of it. If he's confident about knowing anything, it's Kainé. Even when he's feeling unlike himself, it doesn't change what he knows of her. Her likes. Dislikes. The things that move her. The things that provoke her ire.

He watches her tuck the feathers away, considering that maybe they won't change her at all. Kainé is already full of so much animosity, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps unexpected for anyone who doesn't know her. Following after, he breathes a sigh of something that must be closely related to disdain.]

Happy thoughts.

[As if he doesn't know what that means. He does, of course.]

I take it you mean to combat the uh. [He motions to the feathers.] Those things. If you were gonna think happy thoughts, Kainé, what would they be? [Or could it be that nothing makes her happy? He'd buy that.]

[It's an easier question to answer than she might have thought, once. If she were talking to anyone else, she might be hesitant, might try to blow it off— but she knows better with Nier.

Even when he's acting like this, he still knows her well enough to know better. He can tell when she's being avoidant without batting an eye.]

Stories around the campfire with Emil.

[Roasting marshmallows, when they'd been able to get ahold of them, which wasn't often— but a favorite of their 'young' friend.]

If you didn't have such a stick up your ass, this would probably count, too.

[Walking with him, heading out on a job, just talking— his company has always made her happy, even when she says otherwise.]

[He knows that every once in a while, he's been there when those stories have come up. But he also knows there are many times in which she and Emil have not come to the Village, easily turned away by people who were judgemental and discriminating in their fears and nomadic uncertainties. Kainé and Emil have likely had many nights around the fire exchanging stories. Dreams. Passions. Discussions about who they each wanted to be. Where they wanted to be. How things might be different if they were given different lots in life.

It's not necessarily his own memory. Maybe a little in part. Either way, it still presents him with just a touch of warmth at the thought alone. Maybe because it involves two people he has cared for deeply. No amount of hatred in his veins can ever stop that from going away.

Kainé ruins whatever reverie he's created in those moments and he outright scowls.]

Listen to you. You'd know all about sticks in the ass, wouldn't you. You've got one there all the damned time, Kainé. Even when you're smiling, you just follow it up with more bitching. I don't think you're ever happy unless you have something to whine about.

[But you know what? That's valid. It's not like there weren't a lot of great things for either them back home. They had to hold onto what was great and cling, they did.]

[Catch-All]

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we could possibly have this one fade out in the next tag or two as they go about their feathering?

This sounds good!

wrapped! 🎀