Day 320 :: Log :: OPEN :: too many shards?

[blackblooded]

Who: Crona, Ragnarok, Crona's pet Squirt, and YOU!
Open: Open
When: 320
Where: The Bastion
What: Crona needs some advice
Format: Log
Warnings: TBA

Talking to people has gotten easier, after being here for such a long time (two hundred and sixty days, Crona's counted). It's still a little bit difficult, but maybe this is as easy as it's going to get. Because Crona has a little bit of a problem.

See, the meister is very good at Skyway trips, but very bad at knowing what to get with shards. The little dragons that have been here for longer than most people were one of Crona's wishes, and healing powers that the meister's never had a good chance to use were another. But that was it. And when you've only made two wishes but you go out on the Skyway every day, shards start to pile up.

So Crona (and of course Ragnarok, who's currently growing out of Crona's back) and Crona's pet squirt (who is bad at floating and mostly perches on Crona's shoulder) are wandering around the Bastion, and carefully approaching people who don't look busy.

"Um... Do you have any good ideas for things people should buy with shards?"

"This idiot can't think of anything!"

"... you can't think of anything either, Ragnarok."

Comments

[findsrisks]

Nanaki has to think about that one for a moment, because she doesn't often buy anything besides small, everyday objects. She isn't a fighter, so she doesn't get nearly as many shards as most people do.

"Hmm? It would depend on how man shards you had to spend, I guess. How many do you have?"

[blackblooded]

"Lots!" Ragnarok helpfully supplies, and Crona nods.

"We were counting them and we got to five thousand before Ragnarok got bored." And that wasn't even half of the pile.

[findsrisks]

She was honestly expecting a few hundred, not thousands. So don't mind her as she looks very surprised.

"Five thousand? You could get a whole house with that much!"

[blackblooded]

"We already have a house." Crona fidgets for a few moments, trying to decide what to say next, and how to say it. "I think that was probably half of them. So at least ten thousand. I... I go on the Skyway every day, so that's why."

[findsrisks]

"You go out on the Skyway every day, and you don't ever buy anything," Nanaki offers up, figuring that is the explanation, "With so many, you could get practically anything you could ever want. A mountain of candy, new clothes, stuff like that."

She suggested candy because Ragnarok seems to like that.

"But if you're not sure, it couldn't hurt to hang onto it until you think of something, right? Or maybe, if you wanted to, see if there is anyone here who really needs something but can't afford to get it?"

[dontyoujustwish]

Anya just about never looks busy, so hello, person whom Anya can only assume is some kind of demon she's never heard of.

"Well, if you want my opinion, which you do, then it should be something in the entertainment field. We have enough plants and animals running around already, and you should know, some of those have been particularly bad choices."

Bunnies: worst idea ever.

[blackblooded]

Crona looks mildly offended, shoulders going up defensively, expression turning into something like an annoyed glare (which would probably be more effective if it were actually directed at Anya, instead of off somewhere beside her).

"If you don't like the dragons, that doesn't matter. They're not going to hurt you."

Those little dragons are Crona's dragons, and the teen is very protective of them all.

[dontyoujustwish]

No, someone has to do a lot more than look mildly offended to bother Anya.

"What? No, no, I mean the bunnies."

Tiny dragons are harmless in comparison.

[blackblooded]

"Oh." Well, as long as Anya's not being rude about Crona's dragons, that's okay. Crona does like the bunnies as much as anyone can like an animal that has massive amounts of traumatic childhood memories associated with it, but Crona doesn't know who wished for them, so maybe the idea was a bad one.

And the conversation sort of... stagnates on Crona's end. Crona's really not sure what else to say to that.

[dontyoujustwish]

The fact that Crona doesn't question or argue her fear of bunnies makes the general lack of response actually rather pleasant for Anya. She can talk enough for the both (three?) of them anyway.

"So I'm thinking like an automated spa. Or built-in movie screens for the onsen. You should make sure there's a selection of monkey films."

[darkshooter]

"...Home."

Obviously the best wish.

[blackblooded]

"We can't go home, moron!" Ragnarok wouldn't want to go back even if he had the option. He's having way more fun here.

Crona, on the other hand, would like to go back. But that's impossible.

"I don't think I have enough for home."

[darkshooter]

"How many?"

Sudden look of determination. Because home is important...and she'd wondered, off and on, what the cost in shards would be to make such a thing happen, herself. Perhaps you know.

[blackblooded]

"I don't know. I don't know if we could do it. We've been trying for a long time, you know. Almost a year." Piles of shards probably won't ever be good enough no matter how many little broken glittering pieces there are.

"I want to go home too, but I don't think we'll ever figure out how."

[/2?]

[darkshooter]

[2/2]

[darkshooter]

She puts one hand on Crona's shoulder.

"Hope."

Because that's important too. Even if Ikuri has little herself...she still wants to see it survive in someone else.

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

"Uh..."

Rob's kind of thrown for a loop by the unexpected combination before him: a kid with a talking... something growing out of their back, a squirt that appears to be tame, and a sudden request for information that could very well lead to him sort of getting a gift if he answers it. It takes him a moment to rerail his train of thought and answer.

"Things that'd be useful for everyone to have around. Like, I've been working on getting sources for alchemy ingredients from Paarthurnax's world and other raw materials so people can make stuff without needing shards for everything."

[blackblooded]

Crona's been around, has probably seen Rob before, but the meister hasn't really talked to many people. It's difficult, not knowing how to talk to people.

"I-I was thinking of, um, of getting something for Paarthurnax." Because the dragon is someone extremely important to Crona. "Do you think he'd thing that was a good idea? The alchemy ingredients?"

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Rob can definitely relate, though even he's not usually as bad as Crona can be.

"I don't see why not? He brought the first ones in, after all."

[blackblooded]

"I'll have to ask him what we need. I..." Crona doesn't like the idea. Crona doesn't know if that's okay. It's too much like magic, too much like everything that Crona knows is very very wrong. "If he thinks it's a good idea, I'll get it."

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

It's fairly obvious by his expression that Rob's confused by Crona's response.

"He hasn't complained about the different plants I've brought in?"

[freedom_engineer]

"Many people here could stand to get some luxury items," Colin says, having been walking by when Crona spoke up.

"More comfortable furniture, exotic foods that we don't have access to, games and music," he offers up. "We're all living here, but we're lacking the kinds of creature comforts that many people are used to."

He pauses, and he seems to think for a moment. "Games, like a ball field or a playground or something like that I mean," he says. "Not everyone enjoys the gym or the pool. Too many different choices mean we can't exactly make everyone happy."

[blackblooded]

A long time ago, two hundred days or more, the first day Colin arrived, they had a conversation. Just from one conversation, Colin had figured out more about Crona than anyone else (or at least, more than anyone else had said). But maybe Colin didn't understand enough, maybe Colin didn't realize that for Crona, 'luxury' meant a door that locked from the inside, a room just for Crona, enough food, being able to open a closet of clothing and dress in whatever looked nice that day.

This is already more creature comforts than Crona has ever been used to.

"I was learning how to play basketball, but I don't remember the rules enough to make a place to play it." That's Crona's contribution to the idea of games. "If I had ideas, I would have made some things already."

[freedom_engineer]

The sad part is... Colin had figured that out. If he wanted to, he could give Crona an itemized list of the things that could be considered luxuries to Crona's mind. But he also knew that by calling attention to it, putting the focus on Crona, he'd be calling attention to that knowledge. Putting Crona on the defensive.

Hardly a fitting way to handle a conversation, really.

"I can give you all the information you need to make a basketball court," he offers, giving Crona a smile. "Sadly, I'm much in the same boat as you otherwise. I know what people, in theory, need. I don't know what they WANT, which is a dangerous gulf when making gifts."

He pauses, and gives Crona and Ragnarok a curious look. "You haven't gotten much useful out of anyone else either, have you?" he asks gently.

[blackblooded]

"There was a man who said I should make alchemy things. But I have to ask Paarthurnax first. And there was a lady who said I should go look at naked people. Which is gross." So, no. No useful information.