thebastion | Day 298 (Open)

Entry tags:

Day 298 (Open)

Who: Colin Starfury, and anyone else who wants in.
Open: You bet'cha
When: Day 298, all day
Where: In various places around the Bastion
What: Keeping the moving parts moving
Format: Starting with prose, but good for whatever.
Warnings: Colin. Also, Colin's still fairly surly. Also, PUNS.

Ever since the time travel revelations a few weeks back, Colin has pretty much devoted himself entirely to his work. With Yukio's disappearance, that devotion has expanded into areas where Colin would normally not tread. When he's not been working on practical problems and projects, he's been studying. To say that he hasn't made much of an effort to seek out social interaction is something of an understatement.

Today is no exception. After the morning chores Colin immediately retreats to his workshop where he sets to work on repairing the mechanical Pyth that had been so badly damaged before. It's looking much better now, perhaps almost ready to be reactivated. He's going to need a large shard for that, though...

Shortly before lunch, Colin leaves the workshop and heads to the monument. The holographic information terminal is his destination, and he's going to spend a half an hour or so working on it. It hasn't seen as much use as he'd hoped it would, but he supposes that's not terribly surprising. Most people probably don't even know what it is, and he can't change that without making it intrusive, thus defeating the purpose of making it approachable in the first place.

When he's done with that, and after grabbing some lunch, Colin will return to his workshop to finish one of the jobs he's been eager to finish for quite some time. The flying craft that they'd brought back from the observatory just needs a few final touch-ups, and then it will be ready to go. He's tested this thing thoroughly, made improvements where he'd seen fit, and replaced any number of outdated technological concepts with things that will work better and more efficiently. It doesn't even look Caelondian any more. Which is probably for the best, given that it's going to be the fastest way to get to the Ura settlement from here on out, to say nothing of any other destination on the Skyway.

If anyone feels like bothering him at any point in the day, he's certainly not going to turn down the company.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's not like she likes Colin. No, that's not at all why she's here. She's just here to make sure he doesn't overwork himself to a point of death.

For Haruka's sake.

Yeah.

That was it.

Takane did wander in at some point of the day, though, hands crossed over her chest, scowl on her face ... she sees the bull and can't help but raise a brow to that.

"Are you taking up bull riding or something?"

Colin senses Takane's approach, and he grins slightly. He's always happy to have a go at her in their usual way of doing things.

"Not quite," he says, closing a panel. "This is a special project that I owe to Pyth. Those kids messed up this bull, so I had to get it fixed."

These two have such a complicated relationship. An interesting relationship. A hilarious one. Takane finds a place to sit and watches him.

"Isn't Pyth like. One of the Gods or something around here?"

"The Wakeful Bull," Colin confirms. "Caelondian patron god, quite the figure in the pantheon. This bull is one of his idols. Also, it was sabotaged. Also, I'm willing to bet a small sum of money that he kept it from blowing up long enough for me to safely deactivate it."

Colin's grin turns to a gentle smile as he works. "I may not give the gods blind respect, but neither am I going to not give them credit where they're due, and the respect I'd give to any sapient," he says. "In this case... that means fixing something that was broken."

"Pyth must have been looking out for you. Lucky you. Can't imagine there's many things out there looking out for you."

Takane herself wasn't one to think much to think of religion, and she wasn't about to start now. Even if there were little miracles here and there.

Like the fact that her and Haruka's lives were saved when they should have died upon arriving here.

"So how's the rebuilding and stuff going?"

"Fewer and fewer every day," Colin says, apparently not even bothered by her tsun. "But be nice, not everyone here's so easy-going."

Even then, he turns his attention more fully back to his work. His expression is a hint less friendly now, but there's a reason he's working rather than showing her that face.

"The rebuilding's going slower than I like," he says as he works on splicing some wires. "No big surprise, parts are hard to come by, and everyone would rather do their own thing."

"Where are you finding any parts for this thing anyway?" Takane says, watching him with a look of vague interest on her face. Not that she'd want him to see that she was interested at all.

"I go out to scavenge and scrounge regularly," Colin tells her as he works. "Primarily the docks and the scrapyard, but any civilized area will have useful technology that I can play around with, cannibalize, and otherwise twist and turn to my purposes."

He gives a tiny smile. "Plus, heading out every so often affords me an opportunity to find new things, and occasionally help people in trouble," he says. Like teenagers who've been poisoned.

Haha. Ha. Ha. Nice one, Colin. Takane can't help but pout, because she was one of those people in trouble that he helped.

She's grateful for it, really.

"Isn't it dangerous out there? It kinda seemed like it when I was out there last."

Which was right before she was taken to the Bastion, so she didn't get that much of a look at things. She just kinda saw Haruka and panicked. And then started being unable to breathe.

What a wonderful experience that was.

"Kinda," Colin says, smiling faintly as he works. "Moreso if people are stupid. Which I'm not. I don't go out alone, I don't pick fights, and I've made some friends with the natives. I think I'm probably one of the safer ones out there. You curious about what it's like out there?"

"Not really. I remember it looking really trippy. And also like a whole lot of nothing. It's kind of weird and I'd rather just stay in a place that even remotely looks like civilization."

Takane couldn't really deny herself being curious, but she knew she wouldn't last a minute out there. Not her, not the narcoleptic. So, it was better to just try and convince herself and others that she'd rather play it safe.

"Next time I head out to the observatory, I'll take you along if you want," he comments, seeming to understand some of that inherent curiosity. "I fly out there rather than walk, so it's safe. And the squirts and gasfellas over there actually seem to like me. It's probably the second safest place around here for us, other than the Bastion itself."

He give Pyth's frame a quick rap with his knuckle, checking the sound against some unstated baseline. "I know that cabin fever sucks eight shades of ass," he adds.

Takane is quiet for a while.

".... Will it really be safe?"

She doesn't think she could handle things if something went wrong.

"What's at the Observatory anyway?"

"It's the fallback point I've been working on, in case anything ever happened to the Bastion," Colin tells her. "I can't say it's one hundred percent safe, but I've taken care to make sure that if we ever have to all get there, we'll all be okay."

His smile widens just a little. "I wouldn't offer to take you if I thought it would be dangerous," he says. "Even the squirts and Gasfella there are pretty nice. So long as nobody picks a fight with them, I mean. Heck, they've been moving into some of the facilities, and I've been helping them out. Likewise, they've been helping me by watching the crops and gathering occasionally helpful stuff."

He just won't mention that the Gasefella especially are probably just using him, but the squirts definitely seem to like him well enough.

Honestly, she would probably be afraid of the squirts and gasfellas more than anything. Takane shifts a little in her seat, uncomfortable. But, she was definitely curious, and even if she had a weird relationship with Colin, she did trust him.

"I guess ... maybe I'll go with you next time."

"I'll save you a spot on the boat, then," Colin tells her, looking at finally and giving her a smile. "The view is really wonderful on the trip over."

She might be afraid of the squirts now, but he could probably get them to be friendly enough with some appropriate offerings of food.

"Is it really ..." Takane said, kind of trailing off as she thought about it. Sure, it could look nice. But she couldn't get the idea out of her head that maybe she wasn't cut out for being out there.

But Colin said it was safe, so she was okay. Right?

Colin did do some pretty crazy stuff.

"Line of sight is incredibly far, and while the landscape may be broken, it's still alive," Colin says. "Rather lovely, if you've got a peaceful view."

At least she KNOWS he does crazy stuff.

"Right, a lovely little wasteland of whatever ..."

Takane's still unsure, but she wasn't going to see anything for herself if she kept shying away from it, right?

And for once, someone was here and telling her that she could go out and see something she was curious about. She wasn't being held back because of her illness. That was something to respect.

"Don't knock it till you've seen it," Colin tells her, sounding somewhat amused. "I can guarantee that it's a landscape like nothing you've ever seen before."

He pauses for a moment, then he gives her another glance.

"Now that I think about it, would you like to meet a squirt face to face, so you're not taken by surprise?" he offers. "Rin had one follow her home, it's very nice and friendly."

"... Sure, I guess."

She'd heard of squirts before (it was almost impossible to live here for very long and not hear of them in some capacity), but she'd definitely never actually seen one up close. She really didn't know what to expect from those things.

"Come on, let's go find her," Colin says, closing up the bull and giving it a smile. "Don't worry, Pyth. I'm almost done. We'll have this back in your orchard in no time flat. Just gotta take care of something real quick."

He grabs a rag and cleans off his hands, and he gestures to the door. "I imagine it's probably hanging around near the kitchen or the apartments," he tells her.

She's in the kitchen, Colin. When is she not in the kitchen?

Oh, right. When she's actually at home.

Aaanyway she wasn't exactly expecting visitors today, least of all Colin. This is going to be interesting...

WELL TO BE FAIR TAKANE WASN'T PLANNING ON GOING TO SEE THE SQUIRT RIGHT AWAY.

But here she is, dragged in by Colin Starfury himself. Kinda. She's hanging back a little bit behind Colin because what is being socially awkward.

For as much as Colin's been avoiding people, he's pretty good at knowing where people are. So... here they are. One smug as frick engineer, and one socially awkward teenager.

"Hey, Rin," Colin says, sticking his head into the kitchen. "Have you seen the squirt around here recently?"

Totally smooth, huh?

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NOBODY TOLD ME RIN WAS GONNA TAG D8

XD I NEEDED TO GET A SQUIRT FOR TAKANE