Avan de Zinuar III (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
avanture_time) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
childrenofbahamutlogs2024-12-19 02:51 pm
avanture_time) wrote in childrenofbahamutlogs2024-12-19 02:51 pm
In the meadow we can build a snowman
WHO: Avan, OTA
WHAT: Winter shenanigans
WHERE: The pond, near his cottage, and near the market
WHEN: Various points in December
SUMMARY: Avan investigates the new pond, plays in the snow, and encounters his first mistletoe.
[A - Early in the month]
Avan pays attention to the local environment, and consequently, it doesn't take long for him to notice when a new pond suddenly appears. They don't typically do that, in his understanding! At least, not at this time of year. If it were spring, snow runoff could easily explain it, but snow's doing the opposite of melting right now!
It's piqued his scientific curiosity, needless to say. What would his grandfather think about it, he wonders? Would he be able to explain it or would he also be mystified? Well, there's no way of knowing, so all Avan can do is his own observational research.
Which he spends some serious quality time doing, jotting down his results in a little notebook. No signs of geological upset. No other bodies of water feeding into it. No plant or animal life present, at least that makes sense. Water is as cold as one would expect from the surrounding air temperature--it takes a while for him to write that particular observation down after sticking his bare hand in the water to test it.
This sort of thing continues for a while, until eventually Avan runs out of things he can check with his current resources and he still has no explanation for how this pond suddenly appeared.
"I guess I should ask Mr. Charlie about it," he admits with a heavy sigh.
---
[B - After the snow]
It snows in Carl, but not usually this much, and apparently Avan intends to take full advantage of it. Anybody who ventures to the northwest side of Town where Avan and Popp live will find Avan out in the snow, pushing it around. Early in the morning, he's just forming a large, oblong mound, but as the day progresses, he begins adding details, and it soon becomes apparent that he's making a snow dragon. The further he gets into the process, the more frequently he pauses, head tilted as if he's listening for something, and then he nods and continues his work.
Seems like he might be getting instructions from someone.
It's especially apparent while he's working on the dragon's face, where the pauses are much more frequent, and at one point Avan even snickers to himself and says, "I see, I see, Mr. Yarrow was very, very handsome, was he?"
The end result is a snow sculpture of a dragon curled up as if for a nap, just detailed enough for it to be clear that it's intended to be a very specific dragon. One with feathered wings and an impressive array of horns, it seems.
Incidentally, Avan remains very focused throughout the entire process and it would be, just, so easy to bean him with a snowball, I'm just saying.
---
[C - The later half of the month]
As more and more seasonal decorations go up, there comes a day when Avan can be found near the market, trying to gently untangle himself from some enchanted mistletoe that has seen fit to wrap itself around one of his large, curved horns.
"No, no, you won't find any nutrients in that!"
This is not how mistletoe usually operates, he's so confused.
WHAT: Winter shenanigans
WHERE: The pond, near his cottage, and near the market
WHEN: Various points in December
SUMMARY: Avan investigates the new pond, plays in the snow, and encounters his first mistletoe.
[A - Early in the month]
Avan pays attention to the local environment, and consequently, it doesn't take long for him to notice when a new pond suddenly appears. They don't typically do that, in his understanding! At least, not at this time of year. If it were spring, snow runoff could easily explain it, but snow's doing the opposite of melting right now!
It's piqued his scientific curiosity, needless to say. What would his grandfather think about it, he wonders? Would he be able to explain it or would he also be mystified? Well, there's no way of knowing, so all Avan can do is his own observational research.
Which he spends some serious quality time doing, jotting down his results in a little notebook. No signs of geological upset. No other bodies of water feeding into it. No plant or animal life present, at least that makes sense. Water is as cold as one would expect from the surrounding air temperature--it takes a while for him to write that particular observation down after sticking his bare hand in the water to test it.
This sort of thing continues for a while, until eventually Avan runs out of things he can check with his current resources and he still has no explanation for how this pond suddenly appeared.
"I guess I should ask Mr. Charlie about it," he admits with a heavy sigh.
---
[B - After the snow]
It snows in Carl, but not usually this much, and apparently Avan intends to take full advantage of it. Anybody who ventures to the northwest side of Town where Avan and Popp live will find Avan out in the snow, pushing it around. Early in the morning, he's just forming a large, oblong mound, but as the day progresses, he begins adding details, and it soon becomes apparent that he's making a snow dragon. The further he gets into the process, the more frequently he pauses, head tilted as if he's listening for something, and then he nods and continues his work.
Seems like he might be getting instructions from someone.
It's especially apparent while he's working on the dragon's face, where the pauses are much more frequent, and at one point Avan even snickers to himself and says, "I see, I see, Mr. Yarrow was very, very handsome, was he?"
The end result is a snow sculpture of a dragon curled up as if for a nap, just detailed enough for it to be clear that it's intended to be a very specific dragon. One with feathered wings and an impressive array of horns, it seems.
Incidentally, Avan remains very focused throughout the entire process and it would be, just, so easy to bean him with a snowball, I'm just saying.
---
[C - The later half of the month]
As more and more seasonal decorations go up, there comes a day when Avan can be found near the market, trying to gently untangle himself from some enchanted mistletoe that has seen fit to wrap itself around one of his large, curved horns.
"No, no, you won't find any nutrients in that!"
This is not how mistletoe usually operates, he's so confused.
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He grumbles, upset that he has to do it himself instead of being fussed over (being fussed over would also be slightly upsetting. Popp is a sensitive young man even when he's not thinking about his beloved teacher's funeral). He can and will do it, wincing now and then because cleaning out a cut always stings more than getting it in the first place.
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Avan stays nearby, ready to help if and when needed, but in the meantime, he occupies himself with evaluating the damage to the coat and shirt. The coat's in bad enough shape that he'll have to replace the front panels entirely in order to salvage it. The shirt, he should be able to sew the rips shut. It won't look great, but maybe he can hide it by embroidering something nice over the repairs.
After he washes the blood off of it, obviously.
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Oh, that was... close, huh.
"Good grief, a little closer and I'd be asking you to make me an eyepatch!"
Or a gravestone, that gouge out of his neck looks nasty. That's a little too much to be joking around about, though, he's not completely tasteless.
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"That tough but classy looking guy with the bird wings? So that's who you think looks good, huh?"
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You want to talk about this now?
Unfair, he can't escape.no subject
He snickers. Catching Avan off guard mentally is much less likely to get him stabbed, and just as satisfying.
"I wouldn't have ever thought about you being like that," this hand gesture is consistent across worlds, "before showing up here, but a lot of guys here are like that too, and it doesn't stop them from being heroes either."
He is trying to be supportive, but also, he does know that this has to be extremely embarrassing for Avan, who talks about his own personal insecurities and fears exactly as much as he did when he was twice Popp's age and his teacher. So like, no downside. This is the meaning of friendship.
[1/2]
...and the fact that Popp doesn't already know that is proof enough that things didn't work out between them, and that's just the best-case scenario. It could mean something worse, as much as Avan doesn't want to think about that. And Popp's not stupid. He'd realize that just as Avan has. And then he'll feel like a total heel for bringing it up when he was just trying to lighten the mood and be supportive and auauauuuugh.
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More nervous laughter follows. He's pretty sure he'd still be in love with Flora if she was a boy, so, like, it's fine, probably?
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"Heheheh. Whaaat, knowing more about you just means I can be a better friend, right?"
He's not sure if Avan's other, older friends know?? Matoriv never said anything, but maybe he just respects Avan's privacy?? Sure, he certainly does not respect Popp's, but it is a different dynamic. He does not know about Roka and cannot ask about Roka, especially now that there is a chance that Avan could have been in love with him?! Sometimes you travel with a group of people and a love triangle breaks out and someone has to either nobly step out of the way or get rejected at some point! One of Popp's deepest fears is being the guy who gets rejected.
"And I really do think of you as a friend, Avan. Master Avan is Master Avan, but we're on more equal footing, you know?"
Sure, they've never fought a dark general together or anything, but that's not actually a prerequisite for being friends, it is just something that keeps god damn happening.
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"I'm really glad I got to meet you like this, Popp."
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"Guess what, we're doing hugs now. Don't stab me this time, okay?"
Avan gets the warning because he's got a back full of sharp and no glasses (despite the stitchwork inspection? He must be nearsighted) They're doing hugs now! It's fine there's already blood on everything.
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"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else, though. It's embarrassing to talk about!"
There are so many things Avan doesn't get embarrassed about, let him have this?
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"Fine, fine, if I give you away, you can tell everyone I have a crush on Rosie."
Because that's not obvious or anything every time he's in visual range of her cleavage.
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"I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing it!" Said in a tone that makes it perfectly clear that he would not expect Popp's feelings to be reciprocated there. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Avan.
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"Hey! I'll have you know that she likes having me around for my personality!"
Because. He knows what Rosie likes physically and it is the section of the Venn Diagram of men where there is about zero (0) overlap with Popp.
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"And she's really nice! She'd even feel bad about shooting me down! I can't do that to her!"
Conveniently this selfless act also spares Popp's ego.
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"Okay, okay, don't tell her then!"
Truly, this is the mighty hero who will slay the Dark Lord...!
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"I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, you know. You don't need to worry about a thing."
Popp is keeping hold of some pretty significant information vis-à-vis the hero, the act of slaying, and the dark lord, in some sort of order!
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"I'm not worried. I trust you, Popp."
Those are two unrelated statements, but Popp doesn't need to worry about that.