thebastion | Pre-Day 61: pre-game threading

[What gave it away? Her tail is totally swaying back and forth like a happy animal's while she goes digging about in the various cupboards and cold boxes.

Pans and utensils start clinking as she gets to work, and soon enough there are eggs sizzling on a beat up cast iron skillet, the smell wafting through the air.]

[ Mostly the tail.

Just. Vaguely amused looking over here. And while Rin goes about cooking, Duke is going to work off at least the gauntlets of the armor. ]

[At least she can find joy in something, considering their situation?

About fifteen minutes later, Rin brings over two plates with a pile of eggs and some thick slices of toast on each.]

It's not much but hopefully it'll get your stamina and whatnot back up.

It's not running away.

[ Amused.

So this is the knight tucking in. Duke will wait until the food is left to crumbs and smears before talking again. ]

Mhm!

[Rin follows suit, but only after setting her plate on her lap, putting her hands together and saying a quiet 'itadakimasu!'.

After she finishes, she takes Duke's plate and heads for the small sink.]

So, I didn't get your name out there. I'm Rin. Rin Okumura.

Duke Pantarei, or just Duke.

[ Duke can wash too, so don't mind if the knight follows and helps that. ]

[Help is always welcome! Dishes are the most annoying part of cooking, but Rin likes to keep a tidy kitchen, as does the other chef in the Bastion.]

Nice t'meetcha, Duke. Everyone here just calls me Rin, but there's one guy who might use my family name sometimes. Ignore him, he's a big gorilla who likes to think he's a tough guy.

[Picking on Bon shouldn't be so much fun~

But that said, she figures explanations are finally in order.]

So we call this the Bastion 'cause it's pretty much that - the last safe bastion in this whole damn place. No one's really completely sure what all went wrong, but somethin' happened that made the worlds kinda... shatter. It's makin' a huge mess of things everywhere and people are sorta tricklin' in one by one.

I've been here almost a month, some people have been here longer, some shorter. But we all gotta work together no matter what happens cause we're tryin' to rebuild this place so it can handle all these people lookin' for shelter and a new place to call home.

... If shatter is different than eaten, I have no idea what happened to mine. If it isn't, then we shouldn't have let a bunch of kids...

[ Okay, so one or two of them had been above twenty. But they were all younger than Duke, so there. ]

All the empty space is for building, then...

[ The knight trails off, looking for something to help dry the plates. ]

... Shit, I hope we don't get any nobility, they always make relief efforts hard.

[ Maybe a bit clearly focusing on everything but that "Our worlds are getting smashed" after the first bit. ]

See... I don't know what happened to my world...

[Rin stops moving, a wet plate in her hand, gaze going out the small window the looked out over the vast expanse that was the empty sky surrounding the Bastion.]

One minute I'm in bed, fine, the next I'm awake, my sister is gone, my room is gone and what looks like the damn steps to my school are next to me crumbled like Godzilla went and had some fun while I wasn't lookin'.

[She doesn't say it, but there's something in her eyes that says the part about her sister being gone is the most worrisome about all of it. Forget the school, that was her family...

It might be a little more clear why she was out there alone, in dangerous territory while everyone else was sleeping.]

But uhm... y-yeah we dont' know who's gonna show up. There's some adults here, some people my age... dunno about any nobility, though.

We were having a problem with an ancient horror that wanted to eat our world because of our magic. There were two groups with ideas how to fix it. Guess they argued too long, or something.

[ Ouch, siblings. Yeah, Duke knows that. Saying much wouldn't be... nice, of the knight, so just... going to steal that plate now. Clean? Pretty much. ]

It sucks, not knowing where they are, huh.

Some of them have been sayin'... that whatever happened wasn't just like... in our worlds alone? I-I'unno it's all kinda over my head...

[Rin doesn't answer the question verbally, but there's a slight nod.]

.... That's a bit beyond me too, but... If there are other worlds, [ And a thin smile at Rin. Duke is pretty sure there is different worlds, right now- ]

then something that smashes one could probably find another to smash. Especially if its getting food or whatever, or...

[ Just grumpily tossing the drying towel somewhere with a bit more energy than it needed. ]

Still doesn't explain why it happened, or what's causin' it. Or... why some survived and others didn't...

[If Duke hadn't been preoccupied with the Squirts and yelling at things, she might have seen the statues that may have been dressed in similar clothing to people from her world and/or general location.]

... why some-

[ Sorry, Duke just caught onto that last bit. The knight falls silent for a bit, then kicks the wall. This would be swearing under her breath, before she turns and sits again. ]

... That would definitely explain why this place isn't overrun.

... it's better not to look at the statues.

[Rin speaks quietly, almost too quiet to be heard, gaze somewhere far away. She was a strong girl, a half-demon who had been through a lot in just fifteen short years, but seeing the statues with familiar faces, dressed in True Cross uniforms and exorcist garb had shaken her to her very core.

It was questionable if she would ever recover fully from it.]

[ Rin gets a blank stare for a moment, before Duke kicks the wall and swears once more.

Now the knight wants to. But from the girl's expression, it wouldn't be that good of an idea.

After a moment, Duke steps over and nudges Rin's shoulder. ]

So what's there to do?

[ Distract the kid, get her mind off it. It tends to work, usually for a short time. ]

[That snaps her out of it, and she shakes her head to clear it, bits of messy black hair falling out of her ponytail.]

Oh uhm... well every so often we get word of Cores that are around on the skyways, and Cores help us rebuild so we'll usually take a team or two out to go find them. Other than that... explorin', lookin' for supplies... working on building things here or just chores for upkeep.

And that's all out where the creatures are, except for those upkeep chores, huh. Can't say I've ever had to build anything bigger than a tent.

Well the Cores are really nifty like that! They actually make a lotta the buildings and other things we need. Any building we do is repair, or makin' things we haven't gotten a Core for yet. No one's really had to make like a whole huge buildin' yet.

... So what is there to do while waiting to find out if there's a core?

... chores. Mostly.

[Sounds about as fun as it is.]

.... Its been years since I've had more than "keep your desk neat" as a chore.

[ Yeah. Lots of fun.

Duke is going to go stir crazy- ]

... yeah. My worst chores back home were keepin' my room clean and cookin' for my family.

But uh... y'know it's not like... pointless? I mean we gotta do it to keep this place runnin'.

Oh, it makes sense. Its just not something that, ah... was ever expected I'd need to do.

[ Duke picks up that towel that got to be an irritation outlet, shaking it out once. ]

I'll help with what I can, of course, just...

[ The knight might be terrible carpenter, you never know. ]

Yeah, I know. Me either. But... find somethin' you're good at and see if you can't do that? I mean the only thing I'm any good at is cookin', so...

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