[ open ] a river will flow

[swordfucker]

Who: Guren Ichinose & YOU!!
Where: All around town
When: Anywhere from 8/15-8/31
What: Guren around town! Some open prompts and also this will be a catch all.
Warnings: None really? Prompt D may have more gore mentions depending on how it goes, tho.

A. Siren follow up

[On the day that everyone returns from the island, Guren gets to the docks looking like an even hotter mess than when he'd left. His injuries may be gone, but anyone might catch that he definitely faceplanted on the docks and stayed there for a minute before being convinced away to take a nap somewhere.

Immediately after that, he comes back to make sure everyone's had something to eat and been bandaged, if not healed. He looks a little less filthy, thanks to Dextera's purification, and his wounds are all completely healed! His uniform sure is torn up, though. It seems like he's nonstop even now, going between people, bringing plates of food or just sitting next to anyone who looks deep in thought.

If you don't catch him then, he stays at Dextera's house the night of, and the following day, he's back to wandering around the town or working on his laptop in his own house. Feel free to catch him if you want a follow up thread from the event!]

B. Training montage

[As always, Guren doesn't let up on his training. He can be found close to the forest for things like this, usually as early as 5 in the morning. Stretches, jogging, exercises, things like that. It seems like he's taken to altering some of the peasant clothes to be workout worthy. Sleeveless, loose pants, and so on. When he's not doing that, he has a number of fuda (paper spell tags) that he's shuffling through, taking some sort of inventory of what he has on him. His sword is currently leaning against the base of one of the trees, and though no one else can see her, Mahiru is watching on with a curious gaze.

Don't stare for too long, though, or you'll get roped in. Hiding or not, Guren can sense someone looking his way, and he sighs, stopping whatever he's doing to stare over in that general direction.]

What, you want to join me? Come here. [He'll put you to work!!]

C. Cooking...?

[What's a little more rare is seeing Guren walking around with a bag of what seems to be... vegetables and various foods hanging over his arm. He's stopped at one of the gardens, crouching over one of the food plants and holding it in his hand, brow furrowed like he's trying to figure something out.]

Hey. [Eventually, he bites back some of his pride and turns to whoever he sees next.] What kind of meals have you been making here? Anything good?

D. Anime rooftop prompt

[It's funny, but sometimes Guren seems to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the town, looking worse for the wear. He's definitely wiping blood from his mouth as he leaves from his hidden apothecary this time, but more than that, he's carrying himself a little differently. Shoulders heavier, eyes tired and dark. Testing drugs on yourself isn't a fun time, it turns out, even if your demon heals you.

After that, he heads back towards his house, but it's one of the buildings with a flatter rooftop that he ends up on, instead. He's watching the sunset, leaning back against the wall near the doorway to the roof, looking lost in thought. But he won't chew out anyone if they want to join him.]

(OOC: As always, if you want to plot anything, I'm zeloser and zlos#3826 on discord! Feel free to make up your own prompt if you want something different, or work something out with me if you want.)

Comments

( c )

[recommending]

[ Gaku only periodically comes by any of the gardens - taking anything feels weird when he has nothing to offer in return - and today he's simply passing by. He still stops when Guren calls out to him, however, raising a brow slightly. ]

Soba.

[ Which Gaku knows is a pretty complex meal given their resources, so he adds: ]

I was able to bring home some ingredients last month.

[swordfucker]

[Guren takes that in, but it seems like it doesn't quite satisfy him as he glances back to the plant.]

What about something that has ingredients that just anyone can find? [He doesn't want to ask if he can steal soba ones...]

[recommending]

[ Hmmm.... ]

Any other sort of soup should be fine. And some vegetables are good if you just grill them with seasoning. [ He takes a step closer, leaning in to inspect the exact vegetable. ] You can do a lot more if you have any spices.

Dextera

[swordfucker]

Wake up.

[It's not just 5am for poor Dex, it's 4:30am when Guren decides to sneak into his house. He's quiet, considerate of everyone else, but when he gets to Dextera's room, he only watches his sleeping face for a moment before leaning over him to speak like that.

And if that's not enough, well, the covers are getting yanked off. Guren is in something sleeveless and loose, which looks like he altered it himself— and he has no mercy today!!]

[passio]

[ this is the scariest thing that’s ever happened to him. ]

—?!

[ there’s no time for grogginess when guren rips off the sheets like that, but dextera definitely is ever so slightly panicked. leliel is in the coop today, so there’s no attack chicken going to nip at guren’s heels.

it’s just dextera, alone with his jock boyfriend. ]

[swordfucker]

What's with that expression? It's just me.

[Here, in the dark, standing over him and ridding him of his blankets! Now, he reaches for his hand to tug him to sit up.]

Come on, we're going for a jog. Leave your jacket behind.

B.

[messianic]

[Minato didn't use to be an early riser--he likes to sleep whenever he can, and not having to wake up early for school felt a bit like a sweet, sweet gift. But. They've been stuck here for six months now, and the longer that went on, the less Minato wanted to stay in bed until nine or ten in the morning.

He does morning runs now with Lupin, but he's found himself waking up earlier and earlier, wandering restlessly or going through the motions of the training that Tonbokiri and Mutsu have offered him, trying to improve.

And so it is that when he spies Guren near the woods, he slows to a stop from his jog, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a sleeve as he does, in fact, watch unabashedly.

So when Guren calls him over, Minato goes, tilting his head.]

Ichinose-san... hey.

[A quiet beat of contemplation, brief as it is, and:]

Actually, I had a question for you. If... you don't mind.

[swordfucker]

[It's about time that he can take a break, anyway, so Guren slows his movements and stops, stretching a bit more before he falls back on the old trunk of a fallen tree.]

Sure. [A question, huh. That's not what he expected... and actually, he didn't expect to see Minato out here, at all. But it's good.]

What is it?

[messianic]

[That's good enough for him; he didn't really want to interrupt if Guren was too busy, but this seems fine. So he comes closer properly, and.... hesitates for a moment.

In truth, this is something that still bothers him a great deal, and it's not like it's fun to have to bring it up to people, but Guren's the sort of person who probably would have some good advice, right? Minato can't just sit here and twiddle his thumbs and wish for it to change, he has to change it himself.]

... You mentioned before that you've seen someone use a Persona before, and I'm sure you've seen it more than once by now.

[There are plenty of them around here, after all.]

And I'm sure you've noticed that their summoning didn't involve...well, this. [He'll make a faux-gun with his thumb and forefinger, pointing it to his temple.

He's the only one stuck summoning his that way. It's not like he enjoys it.]

I know it's possible to summon them in a different way now. But-- [... It's harder than it seems. He can't do it. He's been trying--no, that's all just excuses, and he's here for advice from someone he trusts won't sugarcoat it.]

No, just--I wanted to ask. How do you stop relying on a crutch that you've always used? [Because isn't that what his Evoker is? A trigger, a crutch, to make it easier, and now he's too reliant on it.]

B

[glaciers]

[It hasn't even been that many days since the siren incident. But he's itching to do something besides sitting at home and recovering. So while he was staring quietly at Guren for a few minutes, when he's going through his fuda.

So he'll come over, looking over the papers.]

What are those?

[swordfucker]

Fuda. They're spell tags, or talismans.

[They at least look very similar to the ofuda you'd see from Shinto shrines.]

I brought a bunch of them home from my world.

[glaciers]

[He'll just take a seat next to Guren. After all, he's been invited.]

I thought these were for shrines. [But different worlds and all that. These can probably do something more than exist.]

D animus

[osuni]

[Okuni was fortunate(??) enough to spot Guren trudging through town and wiping his mouth, which was enough to both intrigue and confuse her, but then her attention was distracted by the thing she was working on (a giant drawing in the dirt of another money goose, except the money goose is like spitting fire onto a town that suspiciously looks like Chroma... look, she just wants to get Mr. F's attention in some way!!!)

Later when her attention span returns to her, she remembers Guren and decides to follow after him!!! Just the kind of company he's looking for, surely.

Pops open the doorway mid-sunset to peer around at him, disrupting the peace.]

How come you're not at your house? Did you get kicked out or something?

[swordfucker]

[Off course she's here. Guren doesn't flinch or startle, but he does toss her a side glance like it's unfortunate that she arrived. Despite that, he doesn't say anything too critical, sliding his eyes back away from her and to the sunset itself.]

I'm just taking in the view. [Real men can enjoy sunsets, what.] What do you want?

[osuni]

[real men like staring straight at the sun, huh]

It's not like I show up only because I need something from you! [she shows up for purely chaotic reasons, too?? But Okuni enters the rooftop properly, so she's clearly not intending on going anywhere.]

You're just watching? You're not even going to have a drink? [sunsets are prime sake time]

b.

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo tends to get up early, because in a town without electricity it's only logical to get up when the sun rises to get the most out of the sunlight hours. After eating a light and boring breakfast, he heads out for his usual morning walk to get some fresh air and some exercise.

He stops briefly to watch Guren when he spots him near the woods and just as he's about to turn around and continue his walk Guren looks over in his direction. Oops, looks like he's been spotted. ]

Not interested.

[swordfucker]

Afraid a little exercise is going to be too much?

[He has to tease Ryo... this skinny nerd who relies on guns. Wouldn't it be good to get some muscle? Hmm??]

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo just. gives Guren the flattest look. Maybe he doesn't want muscle!! ]

I get plenty of exercise.

A!

[scooptimistic]

[ Maya is the lovely combination of being starving and being deep in thought, so she doesn't seem to react to being brought a plate at first as her eyes stay fixed in the direction of the island.

But then, suddenly, she jerks to awareness. ]

Food??

[ Use your Big Girl words, Maya. ]

[swordfucker]

Food.

[He pushes the plate at her more insistently, his other hand on his hip.]

Just make sure you eat it slow, so you don't get sick.

[scooptimistic]

I promise I'm still an adult who's aware that eating too fast on an empty stomach is a terrible idea.

[ she says this dutifully, even as she reaches for the plate. ]

But thanks!

c; hello i hope you don't mind a cat.

[nyahilistic]

[Ichimatsu is not a very useful person. It's a lot of why he's especially antisocial here-- most everyone he's met has all these great accomplishments, is adding to them, and is generally helpful and productive. He... has no real skillset, unless you count being very good at charming stray cats, and doesn't quite know how to approach changing that.]

[He is, however, pretty good at making cat-shaped rice balls. The man has a theme, okay? Let him live. He's been experimenting with various things you might find in a rice ball, recently, though he's yet to decide if they're any good or bother asking anyone else.]

[So Guren's sudden curiosity comes reasonably well-timed. He pauses, looks at his plate of mostly-rice, and looks back.]

...rice balls. Dunno that I'd call them "good", but I guess they don't suck.

I never mind a cat!!!

[swordfucker]

That's a good point.

[They have rice, and he forgot that Dave can grow stuff so quickly, it should be easy to take and replace. But, hm... he's not confident in his own rice crafting, either. Maybe he'd be better than Okuni, though.]

Are you using anything for filling?

B

[brightlyshines]

[After being sick and recovering in bed for so long, Estelle had leapt at the chance to be outside, moving and active again. There's only so much being cooped up indoors under careful house arrest by your ex-assassin boyfriend and housemates that a girl can take, and because of that, she's out fairly early in the morning once she's given the all clear, stretching widely and breathing deep with a wide grin.]

Aaaah... the air feels great out here!

[The sweet taste of freedom.

She's making her way to the edge of the forest, eager to put some of her restless energy to use when she spots Guren already there, and she quirks a brow before offering him a cheerful wave.]

Good morning, Guren!

[swordfucker]

Hey, Estelle.

[Very cheery. A morning person? He guesses he's not surprised. He doesn't slow his stretching and exercises down, just keeping it up while he's talking to her.]

You look like you're in a good mood. Feeling better?