middaeg | [open] going it alone is tough, let me help out

Entry tags:

[open] going it alone is tough, let me help out

Who: Momo and you!
When: First half of Juril, up until the event.
Where: Various places (but mostly Aef, the Outer City and Northern Outpost)
What: Quests (A New Look, Cheerful Buns, Out of the City and Branching Out) and catch-all.
Warnings: None yet.

[a: muffled "i'm too sexy" playing in the bg (a new look)]

[Momo's picked up some modelling work here before, since as it turns out, a combination of industry experience and being in the habit of taking care of your appearance makes it considerably easier to get work like that even when starting over somewhere new. But this seems more of a potentially regular deal, and while his primary job at the moment is still radio, it can't be a bad idea to get his face out there more. Especially now that Yuki is here and he might need to use what little sway he's managed to build here in the last few months as it was always intended to be, for his partner.

As it stands, since they want modern fashion he turns up to the fittings in what he arrived in, a bright orange horror movie hoodie with a sleeveless turtleneck under it, slim black jeans and lace-up boots. He is also visibly extremely used to this kind of setting, chatting easily to the designers when it comes to consultations and helping people get details just right for the modelling part, regardless of what the garment might happen to be. He gets around quite a bit checking on everyone who's doing the modelling work and waiting to have pictures taken, just...walking up and starting to straighten things about their outfit gently without much regard for personal space.]

Have you done this type of work before? If you need any quick tips, Momo-chan is here for you! [He offers a cheeky little wink, but the offer is sincere enough.]

[b: are you bready to roll (cheerful buns)]

[While Momo is by no means opposed to complimenting whoever he's breadmaking with, the specific aspect of complimenting bread offers some promising opportunities, and he did a bit of food prep work way back in the day when he was desperately picking up every part-time job available to keep himself and Yuki afloat. So he's quite enthusiastic about this particular job, even if people working with him may become somewhat less enthusiastic when he settles on his particular method for getting the bread to rise.]

What round and shapely buns you have! It's real proof of your quality, you know! [It's rapid-fire puns time and he is not slowing down any time soon. Nor is he particularly apologetic when he grins at whoever has had the bad luck to end up working alongside him in particular.]

I hope I'm not making you want to leave...n. [Save yourself before it's too late.]

[c: a prickly reception (branching out)]

[Momo's still helping out with the Northern Outpost where he can, considering it was one of the first things that started getting established after he arrived here. The Yarglweed is certainly a problem, but being an Abjuration-class Witch has its advantages, and Momo has an idea of how he can deal with it a bit more easily.

About twice the trigger distance away from the nearest Yarglweed, to make sure he's safe while he's setting up the spell, Momo can be found with a series of small symbols drawn around each wrist, running his hands closely over himself. It leaves a faintly pink-tinted barrier where he's gone, almost flush to the skin so it doesn't impede getting close enough to the plants to remove them. Impact barriers are much easier for him to make than something that needs to block magic or Cwyld, so this feels like a fairly straightforward solution.

If anyone else comes by looking like they're helping out with the plants, he'll raise a hand to them.] Want me to cast this on you as well? I just need a second to check I haven't missed any spots on me.

[Considering he looks very much pink at the moment, he probably hasn't, but better safe than sorry.]

[d: out of the city (medical and entertainment)]

[As per usual, Momo can also be found in the Outer City every so often. While he's still restricted to standard healing for the moment rather than healing Cwyld, he's gotten more effective at it since he started, able to be left alone with patients that have more straightforward injuries or ones that can be patched more simply before being sent along to him for a proper heal. Though he's wearing a black medical mask and very concealing clothing when he's working on medicine, his hair is hard to mistake, as are the hot pink eyes that crinkle with a smile at the corners when he spots any other Mirrorbound around.]

You need a hand with something or did they send you to help out over here? [He knows there's a variety of Mirrorbound that come out to do this with a variety of experience levels, so he might as well make sure.

Alternately, he can often be found entertaining the Outer City locals instead, currently doing some fast (and decidedly modern, potentially recognisable as a more mixed Contemporary style to people familiar with it) dancing along to a band offering a high-energy and raucous backing track. A bunch of the children who've seen him out here before are clapping him along, and a few of the adults look rather curious about the dance style, murmuring to each other when he does something that looks more like a handstand than a dance move.

But Mirrorbound won't be left off their feet too long, and he'll end his solo dance by spinning out to offer a hand to anyone who's been wallflowering too long.] I need a partner for the next one. Want to give it a shot?

[e: wildcard]

[[If you'd like to plot anything else, hit me up at

reviseleviathan or by PM/Discord! Momo would also up for doing the fighting variant of Out of the City, or if you want to plot for another quest entirely that could also be an option. In terms of non-quest things, he's studying Evocation and Enchantment primarily this month so he'd be open to study partners for that.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( admittedly, the idea of having to actually work for money did not appeal to aziraphale whatsoever. everything was always so much simpler when he could fill his wallet as he wished and freely purchased things as he liked whenever he liked. unfortunately, it wasn't possible anymore and he couldn't live life as some sketchy vagabond! no, no, he had to work to earn his keep like a real human!

it could even be fun, probably!

thankfully, the bakery had been hiring. not only had he recently started to teach himself how to bake prior to his arrival here, but he genuinely enjoyed the process of it. his coworker seemed to share his enthusiasm, which was truly a delight. )

Oh, no! Not at all, but you're far too early to think you might get a rise out of me. You'll have to do butter!

[Oh good, Momo clearly got paired with a person of culture in the puns department. He pokes his tongue out a little cheekily between pointed canines, but in the end he's all for the aim of the game here, which is not only puns but compliments.]

Hey, it's the yeast I could do for such a sharp-witted coworker! Hopefully if we stay on a roll with these compliments then it'll make the bread happy too. [He rolls the bread over to knead it from another angle, moving as if he's probably done this before but is shaking off the rust because it's been a few years.] And if not, maybe we can cheer it up with a bunch of flours.

[Not the kind of flowers Momo prefers, but he had to make a flour/flower pun at some point.]

( a part of him feels like he shouldn't be having fun like this, but momo pulls a sharp bark of a laugh out of him. is it too soon to tell a stranger that he's already fond of him? oh, it's clearly too soon. )

Dough you think it helps? With the quality of the bread?

( in comparison, aziraphale is much slower at the task. he take his time rolling out and kneading the bread as if that extra care might help improve the taste and the texture of it. always something to said about the love and effort put into something, isn't there? )

Crust me, it should think itself lucky to have such dedicated and kneady hands as your tending to it.

[Momo seems all the more cheered that he managed to pull a laugh out, grin widening to the point it's obvious he's barely stopping himself from laughing as well. It's the kind of conversation even his juniors would probably try to escape from back home, but sometimes you just have to fulfill your role as industry senior-slash-parent by making dad jokes.]

Oh sure, I think we'll end up with something that really goes against the grain! [He dusts a bit of flour off his red-painted nails and back onto his palms before getting back into the kneading, firm but gentle so he doesn't knock all the air out of the dough.]

I'm definitely not the kind of guy who likes to loaf around, but your breadmaking skills sure aren't stale either! So we've got a lot of lucky bread today. [It's surprisingly hard to make a compliment sound sincere when it's also a pun, but Momo manages it.]

( a part of him genuinely wonders if this young man works here full-time or if he's one of the many part-timers that the shop had hired. he truly wouldn't mind working here on a regular occasion if it meant having such upbeat co-workers as this.

idly, his eyes catch on the red nail polish. how nice! )

Oh, don't they say it's a bad thing to go against the grain? That things might start going a little a-rye?

( said behind a quiet laugh. )

Oh, stop. You're far too kind. I wasn't bready-y for this sort of flattery.

I'd prefer that to them getting crusty, though! People should be happy adding a little spice to their loaf.

[Double pun for spice loaf and life/loaf, because sometimes you just have to take your chance for a multilayered pun where you can get it. Momo's definitely enjoying himself more than he used to when he was doing these kinds of jobs, but though he wants to know more about this punderful coworker, he's not going to break the bread pun chain to do it.]

So, who do I have to thank for keeping me crumb-pany so well? It's hard not to flatter someone with such a sharp...wheat.

[Descends to the next level of groanworthiness so he can ask for introductions while still bread punning.]

( admittedly, aziraphale is starting to have to put a little more thought into his puns lest he end up accidentally overusing the same ones to much. that would hardly be sporting of him, wouldn't it?

he smiles over at his coworker. )

A.Z. Fell at your service. Pleased to bake your acquaintance, my dough boy.

( if he says it smoothly enough, he likes to think that it would sound just as close to "dear boy" as he needed it to. )

And whom do I have the a-maizing honour of working with today?

( gesturing towards him politely with one of his flour covered hands. )

[Momo is mostly just trying not to repeat things too closely together because that breaks the flow, and also seems like less of a challenge. Even if his partner is the wordsmith, Momo's been getting more into that side of things recently too.

At the very least, the dough pun comes through enough to get a grin out of Momo, and the maize one is admittedly one he probably wouldn't have thought of himself, so he pauses momentarily to clap his hands once...which sends a cloud of flour out.]

I'm Momo. Normally I'd be making peachy puns, but it'd be a pita to let an opportunity like this roll on by...or just be a flash in the pan.

[The pronunciation of "pan" he uses is the Japanese one, the word for bread that just happens to be spelt the same as English "pan". Because clearly bread puns transcend language.]

[ The good news is this! Sougo does not mind puns, even if he's not one to tell them much himself. Sougo also doesn't mind baking and cooking, even if his uncle has also done most of that for him his entire life. Largely he's actually pretty useless here, but he is great at holding things as he's asked, and doing what he's told in order to advance the bread.

Also good at smiling and/or laughing at any number of Momo's bad puns. The last one does seem to throw him off for a minute though, his face going blank for a few seconds even after the interrupted pause, before it seems to click what Momo was going for, and he's back to smiling.

Albeit, it's sort of a forced smile this time. ]

Ah, no! I don't mind this at all.

[While Momo prefers to keep the mood light, it's very difficult to miss the force in that last smile. So even if it's not about the puns personally, Momo eases up for the moment, kneading the bread in the manner of someone who's done this before but it's been long enough that he's trying to pin his technique down again.]

Well, if I spend too many at once I'll run out of puns, but maybe it's not doing as much for the mood as I hoped. [He grins in a somewhat more apologetic manner than he was when actually making the puns, because it was not at all apologetic at that point.] Something up? You're usually a brighter one, but you don't need to paint a smile on around me.

[Says Momo as if he's not the type to do exactly that himself, but after that weird encounter last month, he is very curious as to what might be the issue.]

[ A very weird encounter, thought sadly not even the weirdest that Sougo ended up having in his time underground. He does remember Momo's concern for his well being during that time though, and wonders if he should even broach this topic. After all, it's not like Momo himself can do much to keep Sougo from going up in flames again.

It's something he's at least taking a little more seriously now, and considering his options.

For the time being he decides to attempt to pass it off, focusing on the dough in front of him, doing a pretty good job of sounding carefree enough. It's like he can't help himself on this front, even though his pretending to be okay doesn't really benefit anyone. ]

Hm? Does it seem like I'm doing that right now?

[ He's not necessarily miserable, and he does recover from things quickly.

... But dying is a hard thing to really bounce back from. ]

[The fact that Momo does this sort of thing himself helps here, because he can smell a deflection tactic from a mile away at this point. While he doesn't want to go too hard because that tends to make people clam up in his experience, he's also not intending to let Sougo worm out of it the same way he did last time.]

Kinda. I work with other performers for a living, remember? It's pretty easy to tell when someone's sincerely happy compared to when they're putting it on for an audience, if you're used to spotting it. That, and you seem kinda distracted.

[The hesitation got him on that one, but Momo's half-truth about why he's suspicious is just that. It's not only himself he sees this kind of behaviour in on the regular, and actual actors and performers tend to also be unfortunately good at hiding it from most people.]

[ Sougo's never been much of an actor, but he was a child that played mostly alone with a very active imagination. Maybe that helped with the lying, or maybe it was a cliched tragic past, and not wanting to be a burden on the man who took him him. Regardless, he's always been a bit like this.

He was starting to get a bit better after finally making friends, but being pulled into another world with no way out might have set him back a little.

He nods slowly, smiling sadly as he fusses mindlessly with the dough. ]

I'm doing better than I was last time you saw me though.

[ When underground. He looks up at Momo, the sad smile still on his face, but it doesn't seem like he's lying. He's not hallucinating anymore, or struggling to control his emotions at least. ]

That's not a very high bar, though, is it? [Momo points that out gently enough, but he still points it out. He's trying not to blame himself for not being able to do more in that situation, and it's easier than normal when Sougo had seemed to have come to that point through what is ostensibly a very stupid thing to do here, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still feel bad.

Given that estimation about what the problem had been that day, he considers how to phrase his follow-up question. It could be a very unpleasant topic, but he has to at least try to get to the bottom of this.] Did it get worse after that? Or did something happen?

[The initial ask isn't too direct, but he figures they both know what he's implying. What happens to Witches who stay Bondless for too long isn't a secret.]

[ Sougo taps his finger against the countertop, trying to decide how honest he wants to be about this. It seems pointless to lie to Momo, considering Momo has always been too perceptive to really believe any lie or half-truth Sougo tells, but he could still attempt to skirt the issue if he really wanted.

But that seems kind of pointless too, right? He's not looking to worry Momo here, but he doubts that obscuring the truth is going to ease any worries.

So he looks up at Momo, offering a tight-lipped smile before it drops off his face. ]

Mm. I died.

[ And while he's being honest, he's also attempting to breeze by a pretty big admission now. ]

It's pretty impressive what magic is able to do here though. I wouldn't have been so lucky if something like that had happened to me where I'm from.

[ He won't be so lucky when he does go home finally, and has to face down a more permanent death. And his experience here is making that already difficult prospect all the much worse. ]

[Obfuscating the truth would've just made Momo wonder if the worst had happened anyway, honestly, since he's known to be a bit of a worrywart. Hearing that it actually did is at least solid information, but it's not any less of a hit to hear, and he lets out a sharp breath, stopping his process with the bread for the moment. He's definitely not going to be rolling any good vibes into it like this.]

Is something like that going to happen where you're from? Dying once is bad enough. [Momo doesn't know much about Sougo's world besides it being a similar time period to his own, so he could entirely believe there's something like that hanging over Sougo back home as well.] And keeping it to yourself is just going to make it more painful. I know you probably don't want to put that kind of weight on anyone else, but I'd much rather have you talk to me than let it fester. Have you looked for a Bond since then?

[It's a gentle question, because Momo can understand why he wouldn't want to seek one in the immediate aftermath and risk putting that emotional baggage on someone. He feels terrible for not being able to do more in the moment, but dwelling on that isn't going to help either of them, so he's angling for what he can do now.]

Mm, eventually.

[ Sooner rather than later, but there's nothing Momo can say that will talk him out of the choice he's made. In no way does Sougo want to die, and even before having experienced it he wasn't looking forward to it, but the situation is such that other options are worse. He could survive, but so many people would die in his stead, including people he cares deeply about. No, as much as he doesn't want to die, if it's the only option he has in order to save those close to him, then he's willing to accept it. ]

But that's the case for most people.

[ As for the second question, he sighs, and shakes his head slightly. ]

To be honest, recovering from being brought back to life has been pretty hard.

[ He smiles sadly at that. ]

So the only people I'm comfortable with that I've seen after... what happened have been Witches.

[ Which, they can both safely assume really doesn't help him with his specific problems. ]

It might be weird for someone I don't know well to be propositioned by me, but I will have to start asking soon. I don't really want to go through that again.

cheerful buns;

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belatedly b

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(=^･ω･^=)

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