[Closed] He isn't too old to sulk

[10billionpercent]

Who: Senku and Gen, and Senku and Tidus.
Where: The quiet carriage, the kitchen
When: Horseshoe 17
What: After what can only be described as a diastrous bit of social interaction, Senku is not only in a terrible mood but he's isolating himself. At least, that's the plan.
Warnings: Tentatively, nothing.

[For Gen]

The first thing Senku did when he walked away, was look for somewhere private, which led him to the quiet car cubicle. He shut himself inside, flopped on the bench and did, what could only be described as sulking. He hated that. He'd much rather throw himself into a project.

He didn't have some back-breaking physical labour on hand though, he was on the train and it was much better to ignore his feelings with something to do. Feelings didn't matter, he told himself. They didn't accomplish anything.

Eventually he pulled out a pen out of boredom and looked at the ceiling. He reached up on the wall of the cubicle and tested the waters with a pen he pulled out of the arms band. It wrote okay, but it wasn't very clear. He needed a distraction.

He could be spotted briefly walking over to the art supplies and heading back with a couple of black markers in hand towards the quiet carriage.

[For Tidus.]

When he was finished with his redecorating, or vandalism project likely due to someone's perception, he'd moved onto doing something else to distract him.

Senku was back into the art supplies, at least, he had one of the sketchbooks on a table and in his hands a ruler and a pencil from his open, orange pencil case.

He didn't just draw for fun, nothing cute here, but instead he was drawing up blueprints for a fictional space station. He was working on the basic form, and if he still needed a distraction later, he might continue on to make separate inside spaces.

Technical drawing was different in that he wasn't doing very much freehand, not since he had a ruler. He could but why make it inaccurate? He started with the biggest shape that looked like a nonagon, but he also drew a miniature version up in the corner of the page that had more faded lines within it, he was intending it to be a dodecahedron.

The only indication that Tidus might get that he was still in a mood is that when he glanced up to see who was in his space is that he didn't stop working, his eyes went back down to the page as he divided his space station into sections with two vertical lines.

Comments

[fun_thementalist]

Gen didn't exactly have a sixth sense about when Senku was in a bad mood. It'd be useful, of course - he'd be braced for a large project in the village or onboard the Perseus if he knew Senku needed to get something worked out of his system.

But he was his closest friend and there's just not that many places to look on a train if he wanted to hang out with him. Gen recognized a particular non-expression on Senku's face as he walked with his markers toward the quiet cars, and.

Whose beds did he need to short-sheet? Gen was technically a pacifist but he could and would make someone's life hell.

He followed Senku into the quiet car without a word, slipping inside if he wasn't stopped with a cheeky little smile.

[10billionpercent]

Senku did look particularly driven and considering there wasn't a reason for it, that was a pretty good tell that he was upset about something.

He'd made it back to that quiet car cubicle, the middle of the set on the second floor and looked up at the top of it, considering.

The fact he heard the door open and close before he could lock it, he didn't even have to look away from what he was doing. Who else would have the audacity to follow him into a private space?

Gen would have to wait a moment before he finally glanced back, project mapped in his head and climbed up to stand on the bench. "Lock that."

[fun_thementalist]

And, likewise. Gen didn't even ask why - he just turned to lock the door, just as Senku asked. Whatever was bothering him - he wanted to keep others out, but at least Gen was allowed in.

He approached his friend, and would swipe a marker from him given half a chance. Cornering Senku too quickly never ended well. He needed to be eased into it. Like approaching a distrustful cat. He tapped his lips with his stolen marker. "What are we doing today?"

[10billionpercent]

Naturally, the marker Gen swiped from him was the one in his hand with the cap already off that he was holding to use himself.

Senku sighed slightly but just uncapped the next one before sticking the last in his pocket.

"Drawing constellations." A beat. "I got bored."

[fun_thementalist]

Bored. Right. He'd wait until a little while before asking, Gen thought. His grin was a little sly, not giving away his suspicions on the truth of Senku's motivations.

"I know quite a few," Gen told him, eyes twinkling. "Capricorn, Scorpio, Libra, Leo, Taurus, Cancer ..."

He was teasing, though wondered if Senku would pick up on the underlying similarity.

[10billionpercent]

He picked it up, of course he did. "Know of them, or do you actually know what they look like, hack Mentalist?" Senku snorted slightly, but it was mild amusement.

He knew he was being baited, but it was just as easy to fall into it. "And if you only know twelve constellations, you clearly haven't been listening to me."

He began in a random seeming spot with Andromeda.

[fun_thementalist]

"You wound me, my dear, of course I listen to you!" Gen grinned at him, at least he got a kind of smile out of his friend, despite whatever was bothering him.

He hummed as he looked at the ceiling above them, and went to climb up on a chair. "Where do you want me to draw Cassiopeia?"

Gen would've been able to make a better guess if Senku was more than two dots into his constellation.

[10billionpercent]

"Come closer to me, I'm going in this direction for Perseus." Senku gestured with the back of his marker, before getting back to it.

He leaned over a little bit after taking stock and tapped. "Start here. Just keep in mind Andromeda leads into Pegasus."

[fun_thementalist]

"Feeling a little nostalgic?" Gen gently teased, with their ship's namesake mentioned.

He went exactly where Senku had indicated. Gen's skills weren't anything like Yuzuriha's, but he could draw a little, and constellations were pretty easy if you could remember them.

And he and Senku used to only spend their nights looking at them, more or less. By the village. On the ship. And now on missions, hopefully they'd be able to do that every time.

[blitzcheer]

That was what one would call a disaster.

And that Senku would be out of it in some way, confused or otherwise - Tidus couldn't blame him. Neither (or none) of them saw that discussion going in that direction, and after it was done, he wanted to at least check up on Senku. See how he was doing, maybe even explain what he thinks happened. But really, he didn't want to leave Senku completely alone, or not chat with him at some point. Though everyone getting to take ten wasn't that bad of an idea.

Plus, it takes Tidus a while to find Senku. Where to find a guy you aren't sure of his preferred hang-outs, but luckily, Tidus does after a while. The flicker of a look his way and then discarded, and oh boy.

"Hey, Senku..." he starts, sounding a little exhausted. "Mind if I join you?"

[10billionpercent]

He had definitely been confused. He'd also been upset and frustrated, and Gen had told him that being frustrated was completely acceptable.

That was good, because he was beginning to think he was so lost that he was completely backwards there.

It wasn't necessarily that he didn't want Tidus' company, but he actually wasn't looking for any company.

"No." He answered, turning his ruler so it was horizontal and he continued dividing his space station. He was often working while speaking to people. Rude, definitely, but he would stop if he was asked to.

[blitzcheer]

If it's rude, Tidus certainly doesn't take it that way. All he does is take a seat, watching Senku for a moment- sorta understanding what he's doing, but not what it's about. A small distraction before he speaks. He figures that Senku knows he's going to talk, so even if he's still working away...

"I just wanted to say sorry 'bout what happened back there. I didn't think that question would turn out like that, you know?" His eyes are half on the paper, but he looks over at Senku. "You really didn't do or say anything wrong."

[10billionpercent]

He did expect Tidus to talk. He might not seem as engaged as he sometimes was, but he was listening.

He flicked his glance at Tidus again and back to his drawing.

"I should've expected it." Senku responded. "He finds it upsetting to think about."

He hadn't. He didn't think it could possibly happen like that.

"I shouldn't have said anything." Senku corrected. "Because I should've realized it would set him off or whatever." In this, he was kind of meeting Gen in the middle.

"I'm incredibly confused, and frustrated."

[blitzcheer]

"How should've you known? I've known him longer, and I didn't think he'd get like that. Or I wouldn't have been asking it in the first place." Or at least, not in front of Inigo.

"Did anything else happen between you two or something? You just told him you're not a huggy guy, right?"

Just so he wasn't missing any particular pictures here.

[10billionpercent]

Senku set down his ruler and his pencil then, leaning back, crossing his arms.

"Not that I'm aware of. The first time I caught him upset that he claims isn't my fault, is on the mission. I've also told him I don't like sappy crap either." Senku responded. "That's what I did and he seemed to be upset about that too. I told him he's not the worst but he said that still wasn't right."

It probably wasn't, he was incredibly awkward and blunt sometimes. "I gave him some tea and he asked me about my boundaries and I told him I don't like to be touched or hugged and he seemed upset about that too." He pressed his lips together.

"So...I should've figured it out, but you asked and I-" He glanced away briefly. He'd given Tidus his thoughts, and fundamentally, that wasn't bad because he wouldn't like it if Tidus grabbed him either.

[blitzcheer]

Tidus listens, a frown on his face. Wondering what upset meant in this context--finding it hard to imagine Inigo would get anywhere like the kind of upset he just got now. But as Senku looks off, Tidus slips in easily.

"Hey, it's not your fault for answering. Inigo got upset, and - look, what happened, Inigo overreacted," he states. "I know he's been going through some things, and maybe I shouldn't have brought it up in a first place..."

He pauses himself, taking a breath. There's a place he wants to get to with all this talking, but he's letting himself get muddled in the process.

"I just don't want you blaming yourself for not getting it, or understanding. You said you have a hard time getting people... and that wasn't a normal situation. Inigo overreacted, and it wasn't just about the hugging thing."

Again, because he wants to reiterate it: "It wasn't your fault."

[10billionpercent]

"I do." Senku confirmed. "People are unpredictable. They dance around things, they don't say what they mean, and it's kind of annoying."

He wasn't the best at small talk, as Tidus may have already noticed. He was a rigid, analytical thinker. People didn't fit into that, they were fluid and each one was different.

"I'm not sure if that's true." Senku had maybe been too steadfast? He wasn't sure. "But I can't take back what I said, so we'll have to be at an impasse. I'm not going to be comfortable if I allow him to hug me, so it's not going to end well either way."

sneaking in here with my special prompt

[flatteries]

Inigo feels awful as he drags his feet over to where Tidus let him know Senku would be. Not since he doesn't want to - of course he wants to talk, apologize, explain.. whichever. Tidus mentioning something about helping Senku out too, but today may be a little too soon for that, with how raw all of Inigo's emotions still feel. But he knows he has to at the very least talk with the other. He had already wanted to the moment he saw Senku walk away, misunderstanding, but Tidus had told him to cool down first.

So he had. Or. Well. Not really. Inigo still doesn't feel very much less anxious than back there as he's heading towards where Senku is. Even with Tidus having explained the situation to him, he still worries he'll do something wrong - because Inigo always does. It feels like an inevitable fact of life, especially lately.

.. but he has to try. Inigo knows. So he sucks in a breath, trying to toughen up.

"Senku..?" He says once he's found the other, though keeping a respectable distance. His own voice feels foreign to his ears. Like he's having an out of body experience. "Do you.. have a minute? Is it okay if I talk?"

[10billionpercent]

After speaking with Tidus, he had made more progress with his fictional space station, having added several 'floors', and he'd begun adding accents, the whole bottom area was for the engine room and the machinery. The floor above it was all three spaces devoted to storage.

He'd been contemplating the temperature control and whether or not he wanted to put gardening so close to the mechanical components or not.

He glanced up when Inigo came in and blinked at him.

"Sure." He set his tools down again, to give Inigo his attention.

[flatteries]

He hesitates. Not because doesn't want to apologize, but because he's so worried that whatever words he will say will be the wrong ones.

So for a moment Inigo is still quiet, gaze nervously darting over to Senku's little space station, but then looking back at the other before Inigo actually speaks up.

"I really wanted to apologize. Nothing I said back there was about you. I just.." He swallows. 'I'm having a really hard time and am kind of struggling with just living,' he wants to say, but Inigo sucks at sharing that sort of thing, so he carefully tucks away that part of the explanation. "I thought Tidus was making fun of me with the whole talk about hugging, since I felt like he thought I'm strange for being so touchy with people. That's why I got upset. I didn't mean to say anything about you with that-- since I meant what I told you before. I don't mind you having boundaries. And I really think you're normal. Nothing about you is broken, we're just.. you know. We're all people with different personalities, right..? That's normal."

Even though Inigo definitely still feels like the weird one here, but he's trying to shove that feeling down as much as possible, so it won't get in the way of what he's trying to say here.

"So I'm really sorry that, even just for a moment, I made you feel like something about you was wrong."

[10billionpercent]

Ugh. He sounds like Tsukasa. Senku couldn't help but think, because that was the last person who tried such a dramatic apology on him and while he'd essentially told Tsukasa to be quiet and skip over that, he didn't think Inigo would take that the same way.

He didn't hold lingering resentments or grudges against the other man, and he'd done a lot more to him than he and Inigo disagreeing. He wasn't really even upset anymore, as was normal for him.

"Alright." Senku answered, although was that really going to be satisfactory for Inigo? Based on observation, he didn't think so.

"I'm perfectly aware I'm a strange person." He refuted. "It's not a surprise to me, and it's always been that way. I don't particularly care. It makes it hard for me sometimes, because I don't think like other people do but..." He trailed off with a shrug. "I didn't mean to get frustrated, and much less act on it. It didn't accomplish anything which is why I do my best to avoid that." He was still human in the end, so sometimes that was part of the deal.

[flatteries]

".. well.. As long as you don't think it's a bad thing.."

Then Senku can think he's a strange person all he wants. And sure, Inigo may think Senku is a little odd in.. quite a few ways, but aren't they all in their own ways? He has a friend back home with split personalities, so really, he's used to it. But it seems that Inigo would just be a lot more bothered by the idea of someone thinking he's strange than Senku is.

His hands awkwardly fidget with the bottom of his hoodie, trying to do something to keep themselves occupied with all the anxiety running through Inigo's veins.

"Um, Tidus also told me that I'll be helping you out.. A-And that's fine, but.. is it alright if that isn't today? I'm still a little.. um."

He contemplates lying like usually, but what if he does that and just screws up more? So he doesn't.

".. you know. Emotional. But I'll help you with whatever you want once I feel better.."

[10billionpercent]

He shrugged. "It's not a good or bad thing, it's just how things are." Senku responded.

A lot of people thought he was odd, and for the most part, he was fine with that.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything today anyway, I'm working on this." Senku said, tapping his probably unusual project, but then again he'd always had odd hobbies.

"I need to do some baking later on, if you don't want to help you don't have to, but he said you'd rather that than me trying to give you something. Which I mean, that's fine." He shrugged, he wasn't great on dealing with people. He seemed to believe that his value to others was his ability to give them things they needed or wanted.

[flatteries]

Senku really has a thing for giving things to people, doesn't he. Even Inigo is starting to realise that now, with how the other had tried to give him tea after the mission, and then now apparently already had the idea to give Inigo something again?

Though Tidus was pretty on the mark, Inigo thinks - he just would have felt guilty if Senku tried to give him something after an incident that Inigo feels was his own dumb fault. He's a little less sure about Tidus volunteering him like that, but maybe his friend just thought he could use the distraction..

"No, I.. um, I can bake a little bit. Unless you were looking for some expert baker. I'm still trying to get it right."

[10billionpercent]

Senku was not strong, or fast, he couldn't fight, and survival on his own was nothing if not a full-time job and then some. The simple fact was, he needed to prove his worth, so people didn't get it in their heads to take him out. He would be an easy target, if someone truly wanted to hurt him, because there was nothing he could do to defend himself.

It was one of the ways he and Gen were not dissimilar, although Senku brandished his scientific inventions and food to ply goodwill out of people, and that goodwill did get him places. It got results.

It was maybe not the best way to deal with actually making friends, but it was how he started nearly every friendship he had. He proved to them that he had value. He demonstrated that there was a point to dealing with his abrasive nature, his blunt and misunderstood words, and his crazy ideas.

An unseen scar just as deep as the ones on his forehead, a remnant of his world, for a guy who was just trying to survive as best he could.

"Nah you don't have to be an expert. I wouldn't say I am one, although Francois really did put me through my paces." He admitted with a little huff of amusement. "I know enough for us to figure it out anyway. I'll probably have to modify the recipe a little bit, but it'll be fine."