(no subject)

[popandlock]

[ sooooo, there is a familiar kid over here, that one twiggy teenager who tends to drop into the room unceremoniously from ceilings or crawl in from air ducts in the floor. and he is just. sprawled on a raggedy old couch with a copy of One Piece draped over his face. the crinkled pages flutter a little every time he breathes (accompanied by the occasional snore).

his right elbow is wrapped in what looks like a ThermaCare heating stretch pad, and a few of his fingertips are covered in Band-Aids. tennis elbow, callouses; somebody's been working hard, basically! no surprise there, folks know he's a dart-thrower. and a dancer. and... maybe not other stuff, but, y'know. s'all good. ⚆‿⚆?

falling asleep and winding up here was probably unintentional, though. err. ]

Comments

[popandlock]

[ he waves his hands around dismissively, still grinning. ]

I'm sure I got plenty already at home. [ oops a tiny yawn, but ] What's up! How've you been?

[catchabreak]

Pretty good, I guess? Busy, but I can't complain, it's just schoolwork and like, part-time job stuff.

How about you? What happened to your elbow?

[popandlock]

Cool, what's your job like? [ he blinks down at his elbow, almost like he'd forgotten the wrap was still on his arm. ] Oh. Worked out too hard a few days ago, strained a ligament, happens sometimes. The heat feels pretty nice. [ a tired grin. ] Can't complain here, either.

[catchabreak]

Is that-- I'm not really sure what a strained ligament is, but hope it heals quickly.

Um, I work for one of my teachers so I mostly just do whatever he needs me to do. [ to put it very mildly. ] It's not very consistent, but if it was I'd probably get bored of it pretty fast.

[popandlock]

Pulling a muscle, pretty much. A muscle that's between your bones, holds them together. This one's not a big deal, though.

[ tilting his head. ]

Huh. Do you get paid, or is it like extra credit or something?

[catchabreak]

It's more like an extra credit kinda thing. Which is good, because I'm not exactly a model student or anything. I just do stuff when it needs doing and in turn, he factors it into-- well, not straight into my grade, but he factors it into consideration when he's doing grades.

[popandlock]

[ a mischievous little smirk. ]

Grave-curving on the sly, huh.

[catchabreak]

Well, when you put it that way it sounds super sketchy. But I swear it's legit!

[popandlock]

Hey, what am I, a hall monitor? [ he pfffs ] Just giving you a hard time~ [ and then a glance down at the One Piece issue in Yuuki's hands. ] Also, dude, you should read that one too, sometime. I promise it's not what put me to sleep.

[catchabreak]

I'm just saying! True there's favoritism going around, but I earned all my grades, even the bad ones.

[ Right, he's still holding that-- ] Oh, here. Is it about pirates or something?

[popandlock]

I've never really liked school, myself. Not that I don't like learning, but. [ a shrug. the other kids... were no fun. ] Started doing way better once I got a tutor.

Really funky cool pirates who do battle with warlords and secret agents and mafiosos and they, like, save the world! [ Taemin takes back the manga if only to flip through pages and show Yuuki pictures. ] It's set in a world that's basically all ocean, everyone sails everywhere, and you have to get past really freaky sea creatures. It's fun to read.

[catchabreak]

I don't really like school either-- I mean, I guess I like it okay, but you only... like, I like learning, but I'd rather be able to just learn about whatever I want. And no deadlines or anything boring.

That sounds awesome. Sailing and ships and stuff seem really fun, you know?

[popandlock]

[ Taemin laughs into his hand. ] Same, same.

And I know, right? I want to learn how to sail! And maybe swash and buckle... [ he pauses for a second, seeming to concentrate on something, then leans over and upside down to feel around under the couch. sitting up again, he has produced his duffel bag, quite victoriously! it takes a few more seconds of rummaging around, but eventually he pulls out a worn-in paperback. ] Volume One, you want it?

[catchabreak]

Definitely. [ is he standing why is he still standing okay plopping down next to Taemin now. ] I wanna learn how to sail too, have you ever been? And what even is swashing?

[popandlock]

[ into Yuuki's lap it goes! ]

I haven't. And... something having to do with sword fights on top of sailing masts... or crow's nests... [ totally clueless tbh ] may..be...

[catchabreak]

Whatever, it sounds cool and it's probably worth a try. If it's actually sword fighting at really tall heights, even better. [ He laughs. ] I used to have 'sword fights'-- more like stick fights-- with my friends when I was a kid. Totally not like the real thing, but it was fun.

[popandlock]

Yeah? [ Taemin is just going to avoid any actual anecdotes of his own about Fun with Weapons and tuck himself attentively into the blanket. ] Did you guys have pirate names and stuff?

[catchabreak]

Nah, I think it was more about having an acceptable reason to hit each other. [ sheepish laugh. ] Or just looking cool like we were totally mature enough to know how to sword fight and stuff. I don't even know what kind of pirate name I'd pick.

[popandlock]

Ahaa, well y'know, sometimes violence is the answer~ [ FACETIOUS. PROBABLY. UH. ] I dunno either. Even if I've thought about it more than is probably healthy. Everything I come up with is just soooo not cool enough.

[catchabreak]

Well... sometimes people are huge jerks and you just need to fight them? [ This is one of the many things that gets him into trouble sigh. ]

What have you come up with?

...ONE MONTH LATER...nbd.......... DDDD; <3

[popandlock]

You speak the truth! [ taemin enthusiastically grinds one fist into the palm of his other hand; VERY INTIMIDATING. ] Ummmmm stuff like... Captain Dagger Face. My friends wasted no time informing me that sounded like a parody of a slasher film villain. [ ...embarrassed little :c face ]

O HAI BB <3 no worries!

[catchabreak]

I try, I try. [ HINT he actually doesn't a lot of the time but um. ] I guess when you point it out, yeah, it sort of does. Maybe if you-- like, Captain Dagger sounds okay, it's when you add 'Face' that it gets a little... funny. If you stick with weapons there's also Captain Saber-- sabers are cool, right?-- Captain Rifle, Captain... Glock? Captain Dynamite? [ Wow, maybe he should just not be allowed to name things... ]

haaiii, hope all your things went well! :D

[popandlock]

[ ...his eyes light up. comically. maybe a little creepily. ]

Captain Glock.

Aww thank you! I pulled through, though midterm week is making a bid for my sanity now...

[catchabreak]

Captain Glock. [ is it 'let's compare weapons cred' day? really? ] It's short and sweet, plus Glocks are pretty intense. And it's, you know. A lot of power in a small package.