thebastion | Day 124 - Action || I'm going to the hardware store

Entry tags:

Day 124 - Action || I'm going to the hardware store

Who: Colin and Rin
Open: Closed
When: Day 124
Where: The Scrapyard
What: Colin gathers more salvage and tries keep mending fences
Format Action
Warnings: Two derps with malfunctioning social filters? What kind of warning could that possibly need?

[The other day had come and gone, and Colin had needed more rest than he thought. As a result, he'd failed to make the salvage run that he'd so desperately wanted.

He'd also missed the psychic meltdown near the monument, which was a plus.

Still, he'd promised Rin that he's let her know the next time he was going out. He didn't imagine that she'd accept his invitation to join him, so when she did, it was a pleasant surprise. So after a short delay for her to get her things, they'd set off.

The trip itself was uneventful. Squirts were leaving them alone, and there were no peckers around. Paarth must have been thinning their numbers, or at least dissuading them from flying high during prime hunting time. The scrap yard was probably going to have some nesting critters of some sort, but that was why he brought Rin. Now all they needed was a simple plan.]

All right. I'm going to need to dismantle the consoles on those transports. They're the best source of salvage by far. After that, I'm going to need lots of wiring and screws, bolts, and anything else we can use as fasteners.

What about you? You want anything out here?

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Is it something you wanna do for the rest of your life?

I've been a grease monkey since I could walk, I could never see myself doing anything else.

[Now that they're actually in close proximity, it's time to start scanning... the fun part's going to be picking out the good parts from the bad.]

[To that she had to shrug, because her entire life had started out complicated and only gotten more so in the past year, Bastion and the Calamity excluded of course.]

Actually I was trainin' to be an exorcist before all this happened.

[She hopped up on a raised ledge that lined the side of the Skyway nearing the scrap yard, holding her arms out as she balanced along it.]

The test for our next rank was comin' up. Then...

[Well she already said that part.]

I think your term for exorcist is a little different from what I'm used to. What does it entail?

[He's just going to keep walking along on the solid ground until something makes him hop up higher.]

Eh? It's... a person who deals with demons, ghosts and bad spirits. What the hell else could it mean?

Huh, maybe it is the same. I've just never heard of "Ranks" among exorcists. Just members of the clergy who expel otherworldly presences.

[Colin is also about as religious as a rock. He doesn't particularly think anyone's worth worshiping.]

[Rin was raised Catholic, stopped being a serious devotee about three years ago, and then had her entire world turned up side down by demons so...

It's not even really an issue of religion anymore. It's pretty much her life at this point.

Or. Was.]

Maybe there's just more goin' on than you knew about? Where I'm from, normal people can't even see demons until they get a mashou from one. Growin' up I knew that Dad helped people with problems and he'd talk about demons sometimes, but I always thought it was bull, y'know?

Take a wild guess what happened there.

[First two guesses don't count, and your clue is her tail.]

Students start out as Pages, then move up to Exwire, and then after that you take the test for certification in your chosen Meister.

[She hopped off the wall now that they were in the junk yard, landing with a quiet 'hup!' next to him.]

I was gonna be a Knight and a Tamer. Yuki was a Doctor, Dragoon and a Tamer. The other Meister is Aria.

Oh, the old apprentice, journeyman, master system. That makes sense.

[Colin nods to himself.]

Oh, I know about plenty of things along those lines. Not everything, certainly. When it comes to the supernatural, there's very little I haven't heard about. ... Probably a lot I don't actually KNOW, but I'm not terribly worried about it. They tend to avoid our family. Mom's a psychopomp, and dad nuked hell.

And no, I'm not exaggerating that last one. He tells that story a lot. Mom was locked in battle with a demon prince's army, and dad spent decades tracking her down. When he finally found her, he was beyond pissed. Dropped a half dozen fusion bombs on the hellscape to take the pressure off of mom.

[He's not trying to one-up you there, Rin. There's plenty of adoration in that retelling. If there's one person he DOES actually hero-worship, it's dear old dad.]

[That's not something she thinks she could top even if she tried. Not even the Kyoto incident with the Impure King sounded nearly as insane as that.

The look on her face shows that.]

... I think I know some exorcists that would really like your dad. A lot.

[Well. Knew. Damn semantics.]

[When you're in a better mood, Rin, Colin is going to discuss multiverse theory with you. He really doesn't like seeing people upset over things that may or may not have happened. We just won't get into that now, though. That's a recipe for disaster.]

Oh, I wouldn't doubt that. Probably like him for the wrong reasons. They'd probably hate him for other reasons though.

We've got a small population of demons in the empire, spread throughout it. Many of them work for the government. Turns out that a societal upbringing leaning towards deception helps a lot in the spy trade, as well as internal affairs.

[He'll talk about home for as long as you want to let him, really. Fortunately, there's a junk yard right in front of them that's a little more important.]

I keep trying to pull out my pad to show you the map I've created. Oh well... The wrecks are a little further in, a bit of climbing and navigating required. Lots of little cubby holes and pitfalls for stuff to have taken up residence in over the past two days. Especially if there were any rations in those transports, which wouldn't surprise me.

[You say that like she'd understand it. It's a wonder she knows what she does.]

Ain't that the way for everyone?

[She gets hated for all the wrong reasons, and liked for ones she doesn't really understand. She thinks that everyone has problems like that, really, even if it's never exactly like her own weird situation.]

Half-demons aren't uncommon. That's what Izumo told me. Lotta them work for the Order, and they ain't against hirin' full demons that actually wanna work for 'em.

[Like Night or Mephisto. Though Rin still has her doubts about the one who calls herself Johanne Faust.

But right, the scrap yard. That's what they were here for.

Rin squints in to the hazy light curiously, eyes traveling over the mounds of metal scrap. This was the first she'd seen it, and it honestly baffled her how every other Skyway location could be so damned desolate and yet this place was practically overflowing with things.]

What were the transports? I heard some people talkin' about 'em but...

[As usual she's lost]

Edited 2013-11-06 22:35 (UTC)

Hmmm, yeah, you're probably right. Lots of people got weird little quirks that endear them to others, or turn them off.

As for the half demons, I've heard of lots of half demons, but many don't tend to live long. They've gotta be strong and smart, 'cause both parent races tend to distrust the other.

[Colin starts ahead through the yard, navigating between piles with ease. He's not going to get too far ahead of Rin, though. These places are dangerous even WITHOUT the risk of something taking up residence.]

From what I gather, and I could be mistaken, the transports came from another world, some sort of research facility on that planet, I think? Several groups had departed on those transports and were heading back to their homes when they got brought here.

It makes me think that the event that started here is probably a cascading trans-dimensional event, we'll probably see more and more arrivals as time continues to pass. On the plus side, those things don't stay hidden long. My dad's big on TD problems, and with me missing, he's probably got half the fleet's research labs trying to pin down what's happened.

On the minus side, I've only ever seen a handful of people outside the empire who specialize in that kind of science.

Good to know I break the mold or whatever...

[She's like to not think about what it would have been like to not live all that long. But then again the only reason anyone back home wanted her dead even as a baby was because of Satan. Most other half breeds get a pass way easier than that.]

Trans... demens... what... ?

[Colin you're using big words again. Rin can't follow your rambling when she's stuck on something you said three sentences ago.]

Hey, don't sell yourself short. Most half-demons that aren't killed as children turn into major ass-kickers.

And... Dimensional. Other dimensions.

[Colin thinks for a moment]

You know how a story sometimes pulls in an evil twin or something? From another dimension?

Yeah. There's lots of those. Dimensions, not evil twins.

[That earned a scowl for a second.]

Most half demons aren't killed as children back home.

[Her being the attempted (and failed) exception to that.

The explanation actually does work, though, because it reminds her of what Shiro had told her right before he died.]

... Assiah and Gehenna.

Sounds like your home may be a pretty decent place, then.

[Have a smile, Rin.]

Okay, you've got the basics of it!

Now. Take that and multiply it by, say... infinity.

Tch...

[Not really, what with all the potential plots brewing under the surface of the Order. Not to mention the state of the rest of the world that had nothing to do with demons.]

So... I mean, tell me I'm wrong if I am but... you're thinkin' this is somethin' that's goin' out to a lot of different... dimensions... ?

[Her voice went quiet at that, gaze going to the yellow haze beyond the Skyway.]

If Assiah is gone then... then Gehenna is, too, isn't it?

[Why did she feel sad about that...?]

It's hit a lot already. It's probably going to hit a lot more. We got a lot of people at once last time. It could be expanding.

[He stops walking for a moment, looking back at her.]

You gonna be okay?

[She hadn't even noticed that her footsteps had stopped moving forward, and that a hand had come to her chest. Her heart had settled with the same ache she had felt at the start of all of it, but for completely different reasons.]

... they weren't all bad. Kuro, Izumo's familiars, Bon's familiar...

I-I guess I never thought about how many were really lost.

Content yourself with the fact that they may not be gone.

That's the thing about multiversal theory. Even in events like these, the damage is nearly impossible to predict.

[He won't rush her, not right now. He wishes she could detach herself somewhat, but he won't rush her.]

[She really does care too much for her own good.

She fidgets a little, fingers slipping over to touch the rough strap of the red case on her back.]

... I found my sister's statue.

Go on.

[Colin keeps looking at her. He imagines she may have a little more to say.]

If you have more to say, I mean.

Night and I were on the Skyway together and we found this place... it looked like an old family home. There was a statue there of a girl. Night said her name was Monaka.

[She swallowed hard, feeling a tightness in her throat.]

When Night touched her she... she fell in to ashes. Yuki was the same way, later...

[Much later, since Rin didn't actually touch her until Bon convinced her that she should take Yuki away from the Skyway before something else happened. She was in an urn now, in her room, and she has done the same for Monaka for Night.]

They-- ... the statues. They're not just statues. They're-- I can smell it. They're dead. Burned.

Do you want me to give you something you can hope for? A slim chance of things?

[He's trying... This is a reaction he just doesn't get on a personal level.]

I don't know.

[That was her honest, non-hesitant answer on the matter.]

I wanna keep hope, y'know? I gotta keep movin' forward; that's how I've always been and it's all I really know how to do. But I really don't know if some one just... tellin' me somethin' is gonna do it. Especially if I'm too dumb to understand it.

There's a difference between being too dumb to understand something, and not being educated enough to understand it. Even I don't know everything about what I'm saying here. If I did, I'd already be home, writing my report on this whole incident.

Heck, dad doesn't want me knowing that stuff on the level where I could manipulate things. Can't say I blame him, really. It's fragile stuff. Lots of room to abuse things.

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