[Kotetsu is very easy to voluntell to help out with various things, honestly, especially considering he is naturally predisposed to being A Helper. So on one afternoon, he's perched on the top of a ladder, hammering in some nails for repairs to a roof when one of them slips from his fingers, and in trying to reach for it ... unbalances the ladder .....
Look out below...!! It's raining yelling old men!]
[ While Kotetsu is atop a ladder, working on repairs, Claude is just beneath him peering through a shop window and tapping his chin, mulling over the price of more arrows. He's about to march on in and see if he can sweeten the deal a little when he hears a shout from above and instinctively stumbles backwards to see where it's coming from -- only to see a man plummet straight down towards him. ]
Whoa -- I've got you!
[ Despite how much more slender he tends to look underneath swaths of fabric and fancy linens, he's stronger than he looks; he shoots his arms out to catch the man, and nobody is more surprised than Claude when he actually succeeds. Not without a price, his biceps immediately loudly protesting at the sort of weight they don't believe the likes of him were meant to carry. ]
Oh god, [ he wheezes, knees buckling and forearms dropping as his impressive catch soon begins to sink to the ground like someone had kicked the legs out from underneath him. His voice is strangled with the effort. ] Dimitri made this look so easy. Please get off.
[On his way down, Kotetsu is left with very little time to ponder his options, none of which are great. He could activate his powers to lessen the potential injury, or activate his suit, or maybe both? Would hitting the ground in his suit hurt more? Man. This sucks.
...And then a guy catches him, which is nostalgic for all of five seconds before reality sinks in and the other struggles to hold him up. Ah.]
Sorry!!
[Scrambling out of someone's arms is a little bit more awkward than being set down, but he -- more or less manages without falling on his face instead.]
Hey, thanks for the catch! Didn't quite notice the ladder getting tilted, whoops...
[He rubs at his neck, faintly sheepish as he looks over the younger man who he all but bowled over.]
[ Claude takes a second to get his breath back, thoroughly winded (which is a little embarrassing, but in his defense, this dude isn't exactly what anyone would call small!). He stretches his arms above his head and tilts his neck this way and that, getting his bearings back.
Claude is dressed relatively plainly today - just a jacket over a loose linen shirt, some plain brown trousers and very sensible boots - but he certainly fits in here, especially with the large bow strapped across his back, one that Kotetsu very narrowly missed getting smacked in the face by when he was caught. ]
You oughtta be more careful up there. That's an easy way to break your neck, [ he says, glancing up at the roof. ] Don't people usually work in pairs?
[Well...at least he isn't injured, it looks like. Kotetsu would've felt a lot worse about that. He lets out an awkward chuckle when Claude points out he should've been working together with someone.]
...Probably. I hadn't really thought about that when someone asked for help.
[Honestly, he's been off-balance ever since he arrived here without his partner, and then that whole affair with the corruption had brought out some of his old bad habits in terms of taking things on by himself just to be useful.]
Well, there's your problem right there. You've got to think things through. But I don't mind helping out, provided I can make this into a mutually beneficial arrangement -- well, not that you're getting paid for it anyway, but I hardly think you'd want to go back on your word.
[ Claude claps his hands with a muffled thump, glove against glove. He tilts his head towards the shop before them. ]
The guy at the desk there is the one asking for your help, right?
No, no. I'm not gonna make you pay for a favour you're doing for someone else. Just give me a second.
[ Claude offers Kotetsu a quick wink, then ducks inside of the shop. If Kotetsu cares to follow - or to listen in - he'll hear a brief conversation between the two. ]
Hey, Clarence! I hear you've got that guy out there doing repairs all by his lonesome, which I know you know isn't safe. Tell you what -- throw in an extra thirty arrows on top of a pack of fourty-eight and I'll go out there and give him a hand.
Thirty? That's robbery! Ten.
Make it twenty, or I'll just let him break his neck out there.
[ Clarence's expression sours, but he seems unswayed by the prospect of Kotetsu falling on his ass. ]
Or you can give me forty extra arrows, and I'll help patch up the roof and I'll drop off half my kill during my next hunt, provided that you're the one to skin and gut it.
[ The shopkeep lights up, evidently convinced by the prospect of game that he doesn't have to go out and kill himself. ] That's a deal, Riegan.
[ Claude makes sure to shake on it before popping back out to where the repairs still need to be done, looking as though he's in a much merrier mood now that he's got something out of the whole thing. ]
There. You probably should have asked for something in return, you know... but now that it's worth my time, I'll give you a hand.
[ Would Claude have helped out regardless? Yeah. Probably. But arrows are expensive, and he'll take any win he can get. ]
[Kotetsu mostly idles around outside as Claude heads in to do his negotiating, though he does overhear the conversation.
Ask for things in return?? Instructions unclear, you mean he shouldn't just bend over backwards for every person in any kind of need to the point of personal and familial detriment? Haha wild.]
Ah...there's not much I need, really. I mean, I'd like to get home, obviously, but it's not like these guys have any control over that. [...Probably.] Besides, their whole town just got all messed up and now there's all this fuss about a possible war....I don't mind helping out to make things a little easier to deal with.
Which is exactly why I asked for payment. Even if we weren't born here, we live here too -- anything that affects them will affect us just as much. And I can't very well help protect the people here if I've run out of arrows in the middle of battle. Those get expensive, you know!
[ He doesn't always ask for payment -- but he does if they have something substantial enough to offer him. Claude likes to think of himself as a generally helpful person, as a rule, but he has a hard time anchoring himself in the moment; he's always thinking ahead to what the best use of his time is. ]
Anyway, I think it's time for you to take a little break from heights. You hold the ladder, and I'll help with the roof. Oh, but before that...
[ He grins at Kotetsu, giving him a half-bow with a cheeky little flourish. ] Claude von Riegan, at your service. Nice to meet you.
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timeasmymeasure
action for pre-party time
Date: 2024-02-23 10:30 am (UTC)Look out below...!! It's raining yelling old men!]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 10:42 am (UTC)Whoa -- I've got you!
[ Despite how much more slender he tends to look underneath swaths of fabric and fancy linens, he's stronger than he looks; he shoots his arms out to catch the man, and nobody is more surprised than Claude when he actually succeeds. Not without a price, his biceps immediately loudly protesting at the sort of weight they don't believe the likes of him were meant to carry. ]
Oh god, [ he wheezes, knees buckling and forearms dropping as his impressive catch soon begins to sink to the ground like someone had kicked the legs out from underneath him. His voice is strangled with the effort. ] Dimitri made this look so easy. Please get off.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 10:56 am (UTC)...And then a guy catches him, which is nostalgic for all of five seconds before reality sinks in and the other struggles to hold him up. Ah.]
Sorry!!
[Scrambling out of someone's arms is a little bit more awkward than being set down, but he -- more or less manages without falling on his face instead.]
Hey, thanks for the catch! Didn't quite notice the ladder getting tilted, whoops...
[He rubs at his neck, faintly sheepish as he looks over the younger man who he all but bowled over.]
You okay?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 11:06 am (UTC)[ Claude takes a second to get his breath back, thoroughly winded (which is a little embarrassing, but in his defense, this dude isn't exactly what anyone would call small!). He stretches his arms above his head and tilts his neck this way and that, getting his bearings back.
Claude is dressed relatively plainly today - just a jacket over a loose linen shirt, some plain brown trousers and very sensible boots - but he certainly fits in here, especially with the large bow strapped across his back, one that Kotetsu very narrowly missed getting smacked in the face by when he was caught. ]
You oughtta be more careful up there. That's an easy way to break your neck, [ he says, glancing up at the roof. ] Don't people usually work in pairs?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-23 11:14 am (UTC)...Probably. I hadn't really thought about that when someone asked for help.
[Honestly, he's been off-balance ever since he arrived here without his partner, and then that whole affair with the corruption had brought out some of his old bad habits in terms of taking things on by himself just to be useful.]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-27 02:42 am (UTC)[ Claude claps his hands with a muffled thump, glove against glove. He tilts his head towards the shop before them. ]
The guy at the desk there is the one asking for your help, right?
no subject
Date: 2024-02-28 02:06 am (UTC)[Usually from Barnaby, who is tragically absent. He scratches at his cheek a little sheepishly, before tilting his head at that latter part.]
Mutually beneficial? You mean like, buying you lunch or something? ...But yeah, that's the guy.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 06:41 am (UTC)[ Claude offers Kotetsu a quick wink, then ducks inside of the shop. If Kotetsu cares to follow - or to listen in - he'll hear a brief conversation between the two. ]
Hey, Clarence! I hear you've got that guy out there doing repairs all by his lonesome, which I know you know isn't safe. Tell you what -- throw in an extra thirty arrows on top of a pack of fourty-eight and I'll go out there and give him a hand.
Thirty? That's robbery! Ten.
Make it twenty, or I'll just let him break his neck out there.
[ Clarence's expression sours, but he seems unswayed by the prospect of Kotetsu falling on his ass. ]
Or you can give me forty extra arrows, and I'll help patch up the roof and I'll drop off half my kill during my next hunt, provided that you're the one to skin and gut it.
[ The shopkeep lights up, evidently convinced by the prospect of game that he doesn't have to go out and kill himself. ] That's a deal, Riegan.
[ Claude makes sure to shake on it before popping back out to where the repairs still need to be done, looking as though he's in a much merrier mood now that he's got something out of the whole thing. ]
There. You probably should have asked for something in return, you know... but now that it's worth my time, I'll give you a hand.
[ Would Claude have helped out regardless? Yeah. Probably. But arrows are expensive, and he'll take any win he can get. ]
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 12:10 pm (UTC)Ask for things in return?? Instructions unclear, you mean he shouldn't just bend over backwards for every person in any kind of need to the point of personal and familial detriment? Haha wild.]
Ah...there's not much I need, really. I mean, I'd like to get home, obviously, but it's not like these guys have any control over that. [...Probably.] Besides, their whole town just got all messed up and now there's all this fuss about a possible war....I don't mind helping out to make things a little easier to deal with.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-29 10:14 pm (UTC)[ He doesn't always ask for payment -- but he does if they have something substantial enough to offer him. Claude likes to think of himself as a generally helpful person, as a rule, but he has a hard time anchoring himself in the moment; he's always thinking ahead to what the best use of his time is. ]
Anyway, I think it's time for you to take a little break from heights. You hold the ladder, and I'll help with the roof. Oh, but before that...
[ He grins at Kotetsu, giving him a half-bow with a cheeky little flourish. ] Claude von Riegan, at your service. Nice to meet you.