thebastion | Day 123 [OPEN]

Day 123 [OPEN]

Who: Everyone
Open: Open
When: Day 123
Where: All over the Bastion
What: Obligatory "We just got more people/survived a hellish experience" mingle log!
Format: Your choice!
Warnings: Shouldn't be any?

[So the past few days in the Bastion have been very hectic and a little more than emotionally stressful for everyone. About two days have come and gone since the last very large batch of arrivals have come in to the Bastion, and thankfully since then it's been relatively quiet. It's a good time to compress, meet some new people and maybe have some good food at the distillery courtesy of Rin.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hey Rin, you've got a cautious engineer knocking on the doorframe of the kitchen. He's got a handful of shards, and he's smiling faintly.]

Hey, knock knock.

Come in~

[Rin's call is far more cheerful than she's been sounding lately. Maybe she won't be so angry today?]

[He can hope, right? He'll step in.]

Thanks.

So... uh... I need to apologize. Again. ... Only, and I don't mean this meanly... I don't know what I said last time. I set you off, and I don't know why.

[Oh. It's him.

Amazingly Rin doesn't scowl upon his entering, but any of her cheerfulness does fade rather quickly. She was in the middle of cutting some vegetables, so her motions didn't stop until she was actually finished with the batch on the wooden cutting board. She pushed them off with the knife in to the cooking pot she had set next to it before finally turning, cleaning the knife off on her apron.]

... thank you. And... I'm sorry, too. I was upset and took it out on you.

[She turned her eyes down to the knife, rubbing at a single spot for several seconds longer than was needed.]

I think I took what you said wrong.

Can I ask what you thought I said?

I've been replaying the conversation several times, and, well... I'm not the most observant in social situations. Which does not help me in new situations, I realize.

[He'll keep his distance for the moment. No need to crowd her. Especially not with his track record.]

[Rin was never good at admitting when she was wrong. She was terribly stubborn like that, and with a sister like Yuki who was always right even stupid mistakes like that were hard to backpedal on.

But bless her, she's trying.]

... when you said 'I've taken worse' I thought you meant--

[Really trying.]

It sounded like you were tryin' to say you've had it harder than me.

Oh... OH!

Oh heavens, no wonder!

[That gets a loud laugh out of Colin]

No, no, I was trying to tell you that your... Wait, no, I'm saying this wrong.

[He gets a look of momentary frustration and huffs, lifting his hand to tap his chin briefly]

I mean... Lemme try this. I spend more time on the hypernet dealing with tough guys, trolls, and self-important blowhards than I spend working every day. I've got a thick skin. You can insult me all you want, and it'll roll off me like water off of a swan.

Does that make sense? I just meant that I can take it.

... oh.

[Well that makes a hell of a lot more sense now. But it also means Rin was way more off than she previously thought, and her cheeks flush red as she fumbles for something appropriate to say.]

Y-yeah well only an idiot would invite people to insult him!

[Nailed it.]

[That was unexpected. And amusing. Colin almost has to bite his lip to keep from laughing, and even then, he chortles quietly, covering his mouth.]

Careful, Rin-Rin. You start tossing me softballs like that, and I'm gonna have to start pranking you.

[He lowers his hand from his face and he offers her a grin.]

Barring stupid mistakes on my part, you think we'll be able to put this behind us? Because I might have something a little more important than that to discuss with you.

[He lifts his hand and starts rolling a pair of shards over his knuckles. Or rather, he tries, and fails, sending the shards clattering noisily to the ground. This causes him to gape at his hand, then curse in an alien language as he bends over to recover the shards]

Tch! Assface!

[You're on the ball tonight, Rin. Really.

She lets out her own huff, cheeks puffing out in irritation. You really bring out the tsun in her, Colin. She sees the shards fall though and rolls her eyes, going to help him pick them up.]

... yeah. I guess we can put it behind us.

Ugh... this can't come soon enough.

I need someone good with a kitchen, you see.

[He takes the shards back and sighs, moving to sit with his back to a cupboard]

I've got enough shards, I think... to take care of my problem. I'm going to introduce a fruit tree to this place. It should give me the caffeine I need.

But... I need to roast the seeds of the fruit before I can powder them. To say nothing of hopefully being able to blend a smoothie from it... But the smoothie is optional. The seeds are NOT...

[Rin stayed where she was after the shards were picked up, arms draped over her knees with no real care that she was in a long skirt. Not very lady like, this one.]

... you can get caffeine from fruit?

[Also... not that smart.]

Some, yes. Not a lot, about the same as in a chocolate bar. The caffeine is in the seeds.

And the seeds aren't quick to give it up unless they've been roasted.

[Colin's used to people not being smart. You're in a popular group that way.]

But the fruit is tasty. And I'll be harvesting a lot of it once the plants are producing.

Ohhh...

[She did know about chocolate containing caffeine, so there was that.

Her tail twitched curiously over the hem of her skirt, blinking a few times as she thought about it.]

Weeeell... we finally have an electric oven, which is gonna make it roast a lot more evenly. How much are you gonna need?

[Colin thinks for a couple of seconds, finally consulting his computer for the information.]

I'll probably need eight seeds per day. Three or four seeds per fruit, lots of fruit on each tree, easily harvested.

If other people want caffeine, I'm sure I'll be sharing it. That's fine, hopefully we'll have plenty. Most people won't need more than three seeds' worth of powder total.

I'll be happy to do the powdering, myself. I can also show you how to brew an interesting tea from the plant, once we've got a crop...

['Tea' actually made her perk up quite a bit, so much so that her tail even came up and started wagging excitedly.]

You could make tea from it?

[Now you have her attention, Colin.]

You can make tea from the leaves of the plant. It's light caffeine, a little bitter. But if you add a pinch of the seed powder, you've got a highly caffeinated tea, popular across the galaxy.

[Okay, he gives her a grin now]

It's close to a miracle plant. The Psilons have been cultivating it for almost two thousand years, perfecting it. Almost every part of the plant has some use.

I... don't know the EXACT procedure for preparing the leaves, but I imagine it's the same for most teas. Dry the leaves, steep them, and drink.

I haven't had tea in so long...

[Rin's eyes practically lit up at that. She would have even settled for Shiemi's questionable herbal tea by that point, but if Colin could work with her to make something far more passable, she was completely on board.

Of course it didn't escape her that moments ago she'd been calling him an idiot and 'assface', so she tucked the smile away and looked away, letting out another huff through her nose.]

You're still a pain in the ass!

[Buuuut...]

But... if you're gonna make somethin' like that and share it with everyone else then I guess you can use the kitchen.

Heh... Like I said, this topic of discussion was worth the risk of being bludgeoned with a spatula.

[Leaning his head back against the cupboard, he gives her a quick wink, then closes his eyes and seems to relax.]

And I'll take that pain in the ass comment as praise. I'm not doing my job if people are relaxing around me.

So... I hear I have you to thank for the Onsen. Thanks for that. It's been keeping me sane for the past few days.

Also, you given any thought to a gym for this place? Ippo and I were discussing it yesterday. With the new arrivals, we could probably use a place for the injured to rehab, to say nothing of a place for the rest of us to keep in shape.

I'm gonna be saving up for a workshop next, but I'll probably devote at least a third, maybe half of what I find for a while to that project.

I'd hit you with way worse than a spatula.

[Careful, Colin.]

Yeah, well... I got sick of washin' in the river. I'm sure there's other shit we could use here but a good hot bath makes dealin' with this place a helluva lot easier.

[The gym question got a raised eyebrow. She had been thinking about starting her training again, but it had been something she was waffling on about terribly. After all, candles could only do so much, and she still wasn't sure about sword training with Night.

But that aside, she didn't really have a use for a gym herself, but it still might have been nice to put the option out there for others.]

I don't see why we couldn't...

So you're saying the tea isn't worth a momentary peace treaty?

[His voice is just this side of sing-song innocence]

[You are such a jerk, Colin.

But that sure is a hand extending to him.]

Truce.

[Colin reaches right back to grasp her hand without a moment's hesitation]

Thank you, Rin. And seriously, I am sorry. I have trouble with my words a lot of the time, unless I'm dealing with machines.

[But boy, that ground sure is comfortable. Or he's just totally tired. He's just gonna lean his head back against the cabinet now.]

Yeah, well...

[After hands released, she picked at a bit of fuzz on her skirt, rolling it around in her fingers as she admitted quietly:]

I still ain't all that used to dealin' with people at all. Tryin' to get better at it.

[The dust was flicked away, and she rose to her feet finally.]

... you ain't gonna fall asleep in my kitchen are ya?

Hey, at least with me, the risk of offense is practically non-existant.

[Colin gives Rin a tired smirk]

Maybe. I want you to imagine drinking the same thing, loaded with caffeine... twice a day. Every day. For almost 300 years.

And then getting cut off from it entirely.

[But that is enough of a reminder for him to start standing up.]

I haven't been this whipped at any time I can ever recall. This past week has been a brand new level of hell, and a reminder that my survival kit is not completely loaded with what I need.

Day 123 [OPEN]

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