unpocoloco: (Soft Laugh)
Héctor ([personal profile] unpocoloco) wrote in [community profile] daybreakacademy2019-02-13 09:59 am

Here in the dark, in these final hours, I will lay down my heart and I'll feel the power

WHO: Héctor, OTA Catch All
WHERE: Around the school
WHEN: Various times after the 9th and/or the Valentines dance
WHAT: Various opens in the late evening
WARNINGS: Standard spoilers

You can't turn around a bad day, week, month, year, decade... you can't turn any of that without trying first. And so, once the monster's beaten back, his lost arm is returned, and the dance wraps up, so begins his annual rejuvenation. It's his return to the grind, starting every January (late this year but, well, he's doing his best), when he goes back to the drawing board and renews his plans-- only this time, not just for his return home. He's got a few things in mind this year, and isn't that exciting in and of itself?

A - OTA

With his arm back in place and whole again (gone for that week of the 2nd to the 9th and leaving him looking more like a zombie to people than he'd ever let himself before), he can actually get back to repairing the other one who took some hits this past while.

Rather than steal from the shop class, this time Héctor has decided to break in. Which, considering how much they let him use this place for doing repairs around the school, it isn't really breaking in is it? He doesn't think so. And so, upon a work table, in the dead of night, he's lain out a broken guitar. He's got nails and tools, bits of wood and scrap metal, anything he thought he could need for trying to repair the old thing. The guitar's not going to sound good when he's done, but it'll be something.

Despite everything, he's not quite ready to give up on music yet. In fact, he takes to humming a little as he works, breaking into soft song only to quiet again into humming as he hammers and cuts and sands away at the guitar. Until he hears footsteps and abruptly stops, that is.

B - Aube

Not every night can be spent on fixing the guitar. He's still got occasional evening classes to TA for, things to mark, essays to read. On those nights, he settles in the Aube common room, quietly working this time.

Being nocturnal as he is means bad news for any kids sneaking out of the dorm late in the night. "Ah, ah!" He says to any looking a little too ready to go, eyes lifting from his work to them and brows lifting higher. "Did you text Bee for this little excursion?"

C - Aube

Of course, not every child getting up in the night is looking for rowdy adventure. He knows all too well by now that some of these kids have had more adventure than they ever asked or bargained for. Those quiet wanderers, or ones who settle in corners, they're no less apt to get his attention.

He gives them their moment of space and quiet. Just a moment. Then, trying not to scare or disturb them, he walks over, placing a hand to the back of any given chair and tilting his head down at them.

"Hey," He says, soft as he can. "You okay? Can't sleep?"

D - OTA

In the early mornings, for any early risers who seek him (and not one of the smarter or more experienced of adults in this place) he's of course there to tutor those who need it. He may not always know what he's doing with magic but he can work out a lesson and, more than that, he can work with kids.

He draws another example upon paper when he can't simply show it, and he presents it, explaining each piece and part. "Do you understand?" He asks.

Perhaps you're the one he's tutoring. Or, perhaps, you're catching him just as the last kid wanders off and he's gathering up the books and papers, time soon running out with the coming dawn. But he might have time for one more.

E - OTA

He doesn't know the first thing about this, any of this. He keeps telling himself he's not a fighter, but more and more he's coming to realize he might need to be. It's not just about him anymore.

That evening he finds himself in one of the training areas. The bow he takes up is tall and heavy, heavier than a guitar. He's got the dexterity for that and the experiencing of firing... his arm. But it's not the same and he hasn't entirely got the strength built in him for using this thing. He's not sure if he can build the strength or if what he's got is as good as it's going to get. But he can't see himself yet using anything else.

So, there he is in the range, practicing. His shots mostly miss but every now and again he gets somewhere and he's encouraged to go farther. He gives a little laugh of victory and surprise in these moments. Hopefully he's not interrupting anything.

Of course in all his focus, anyone interrupting him is almost certain to make him jump and yelp and send and arrow flying far off target.

F - OTA

At some point before the library's closing for the night, he's managed to surround himself so thoroughly in books that he's built something of a wall around himself. His hand is half tangled in his hair and his brow is knit with concentration, pencil tapping absentmindedly in his other hand as he reads. The books seem to be all about defensive and offensive runes and spells.

"Wait, what?" He straightens up, flipping pages back, and then to his current page, comparing them. "That doesn't make sense, how can you-- what?"

G -[Closed to Orihime]

"Orihime?"

The call comes with a knock. Finally, at long last, he can repay this girl. He's ready at her door, smiling in his newly repaired clothing and holding a bag of tools and materials (nabbed from the shop class as usual).

As the door opens he laughs and say, "Repair service! Is now a good time?"

H - St. Valentine's eve - [Closed to close CR and/or those who ask first]

He's only been here so long, only saved up so much and a lot of it goes towards his hopeful plans. But for this, he can spare a small expense.

The shopkeeper had eyed him curiously, as exhausted and nervous as he'd appeared to be that morning of the thirteenth, pushing the limits of his magic into the day. He knows, in some sense, that he shouldn't. He really, really shouldn't.

But it's the first time in ten years he could do anything and... well, she deserves something. After ten years she deserves so much and a simple carnation or rose just isn't cutting it. Even this doesn't quite but... he can't push more, because even with this, the best gift he could give is his distance.

The note simply reads "for Imelda Rivera" in fancy calligraphic script. He presses the tiny card to his lips then places it back into the bouquet. It's a bright one, colorful, with full, giant blooms. There's soft pinks and bright ones, oranges and reds and blues, greenery, and vivid purples-- her favorite. It'll remind her of home, he's sure.

Off he goes into the night, bringing his delivery to the Lumiere dorms. He just needs to leave it at her door and go. So far so good. He won't get to see her reaction like this, but that's fine. She doesn't need to be happy with him, he just needs her to be happy. That's what he tells himself as he slowly and quietly works his way back, turns the corner-- and freezes, a deer in headlights as the second worst thing that could happen here, does.

I - Other, Make your own

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-16 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ Héctor will have to interpret not only the hand motions, but the sheer amount of nothingness on Minato's face as he watches him repeat the motions and glance at the bow string.

After a moment, Minato repeats those hand motions again, exactly the same as before, as if if he does them enough times, Héctor will magically understand what he means.

...He could speak to clarify, but. Nah. ]

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-16 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
[ Uh-

Minato steps forward to receive the bow, but they're hesitant steps that he takes, until he stands in front of Héctor annnnnndd

nudges the bow back towards Héctor's hands, speaking in English. ]


Sorry... Don't know French.

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-16 08:12 am (UTC)(link)
Solo hablo un poco, pero... uh... [ ...He frowns, then shakes his head. ] Ugh. No, never mind. High school Spanish's not coming back to me.

[ He had just started learning at school, mandatory language classes of which he had the option of Spanish or French. He, an absolute fool, believed that Spanish would serve him better in the United States where he'd grown up in and thought he'd live out the rest of his life in, until suddenly, as of a month and a half ago, he finds himself here. ]

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-16 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
Minato.

[ Which he's already bracing himself for his sister's name be brought up in response to the mention of his own, and some snide remark about how creative his parents were in the naming process. It's like they went "We'll name the baby Minato if it's a boy, or Minako if it's a girl" and then were blindsided by twins instead of just one child. Surprise...!

But if Héctor is in any way familiar with Minako, he'll find that her brother is a lot of her opposites, slow movements and a soft voice- very few words, maybe a hint that his English "isn't too bad" either, but not his first language.

None of that matters; the hand motions, hand motions... He repeats them, tracing the circles before his face. ]
Repeat. [ Fingers out, in, and out again. ] Hundred. [ A thumbs up, but maybe this one is self-explanatory. ] Good.

Something like... "if you keep practicing, that's how you get better."

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-16 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ "Oh."

Were his charades that incomprehensible? Minato stares down at his hands for a moment, and then looks back at Héctor. ]


...Can I have a try with the bow?

[personal profile] compendiem 2019-02-17 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Minato gives him a weird look at that "These training centers are for you guys, not me," but it passes in a blink and the next moment he's got the bow in his hands, fiddling first with that bow string that Héctor had thought would be the next step in optimizing his archery skills. It is a good next step, seeing as Minato's pulling back on the string, letting go and readjusting the tension, but it's to his own arm strength and not Héctor's, so good luck to him finding the words to describe how to do this.

He takes Héctor's spot before the target and draws his arrow, stepping into the stance rather than a full stop and going through the mental checklist of feet, hips, elbow and shoulder before firing. It flies straight, hitting the target board but not centered at all- it's good enough for Minato, though, who looks pleasantly surprised before, again, that neutral expression falls back over his face and he hands the bow back. ]