Day 219 [Open]

[daughterofursa]

Who: Zuko and anyone
Open: Open!
When: Day 219, morning
Where: By the lake
What: Being Paar's secretary
Format: I'll match
Warnings: Honor

Zuko can be found by the lake shore, on the Dragonfield side, with a few piles of stone slabs nearby. Many here should clearly recognize the marks carved into the stone as Dovahzul, and some of Paarthurnax's students might pick out the names and skills of those in the Bastion. Zuko has a stack of paper in her lap and is transcribing them with a writing brush. For the ones she understands, she's also adding a line in her own language (traditional Chinese to any Earth folk), and for the ones she doesn't, she's leaving space until she can ask Paarthurnax. Every now and again she makes a note aside on a separate sheet, more for herself.

Some of the turtle ducks are milling around in the water nearby. One particularly curious one is hanging around by her inkstone and probably in need of being shooed away before it gets ink on itself.

Comments

[littlerat]

Ferris wheels are rides in a large circular shape - you know, like a wheel - with small boxed shaped rooms at the ends. It goes round in a circle, slowly - it's kind of a relaxing ride that lets you go high up than a roller-coaster, those are way faster.

Couples usually go on them I think, but friends or a single person can. [ He shrugs a little. ] I haven't actually been on one.

[daughterofursa]

Why not? You make it sound like they're common.

[littlerat]

Never been in the same area as one. I was [ well ] kinda isolated before I came here. No carnivals were going to be passing through anyway.

But I've always wanted to go to one once. See what they're like in person.

[daughterofursa]

I guess we're not likely to have one here. Not with a... ferris wheel anyway.

[littlerat]

No, probably not. [ He puts two of the balls still full beside him, Pikachu returning with arms encircled by doughnuts. He is the doughnut pokémon. ] I just thought they'd be interesting to share about. [ A tip of his head, he laughs slightly. ] If they were.

[daughterofursa]

Well, it sounds like it would've been nice.

[She looks over at Pikachu's return and smiles in amusement.] You get enough of those?

[littlerat]

[ The pokémon squeaks - yes, yes he did! - while carefully but speedily making his way over to Red to have the doughnuts taken off from his arms. Except two! Which, as Red chuckles, he takes over to Zuko and the turtle duck with her. Here here! ]

He's a big fan of that tree.

[ Red takes that time to let out behind him another pokémon, avoiding this time for aiming inside the water. The pokémon shakes her body and growls, the flower and leaves on her back rustling, and Red quickly chatters to her, waving for her to find a spot that she likes.

-- but she'll like that spot right beside him, please! Okay okay, let him move his back so she can plop her head there. There you go, girl. Please don't mind the smell like a garden just bloomed around them. ]

[daughterofursa]

[On being offered a donut, Zuko lets out a short sigh and puts her work aside as though it's against her better judgment. She never was one for taking breaks, but it's a little hard to write at the moment. Not that that's a bad thing. The more she knows about her fellow Bastionites, the better she'll be able to serve them, and Red's already given her one good idea.]

Yeah. This is the second time I've seen him raiding it.

[She takes both donuts, breaking off a smaller piece to feed the turtle duck from her hand. A little absently as she's staring over at the... flower turtle. Of course she doesn't mind the scent, but wow.]

How many pokemon do you have?

[littlerat]

[ Oops, distractions ahoy. Red follows her gaze to Venusaur, whose top of the nose he touches fondly. ]

Six with me. It's the recommended amount trainers are told to carry with them back home.

[daughterofursa]

[Breaking up some donut pieces to toss out to the turtle ducks in the water, who at least seem at ease enough to swim around the strange animals in the interest of food.]

What are you training them for anyway?

[littlerat]

[ Hey, there's an idea. Red will do some of that too with one. Though, the question does make him pause a bit before he throws some of the doughnut out. ]

Just training, really. [ not really explanatory, is it... ] Back in our world, trainers would have friendly matches with their pokémon - it's one of the things people did with pokémon anyway. I used to do that too - still would, I guess - but for us, we train because we like it.

[ Most of the doughnut gone, he looks up as he continues breaking it up. ]

What about you? You look like you train yourself.

[daughterofursa]

Hm.

[So these pokemon will fight each other for fun? Like humans sparring? They really are pretty weird.]

This can be a dangerous place. I can't afford to let my skills suffer. Besides, I've been training most of my life.

[littlerat]

[ He nods to that. ]

Was it dangerous back home? Other than the war. [ ... ] Unless that's why it was dangerous.

[daughterofursa]

Well...

[She wonders which was more dangerous, living in the same palace as her father, or fighting in the war? She won't even mention it.]

At first it was because it was important to my father. But I did need it to help end the war.

[littlerat]

[ War is nothing Red can really imagine, nor a subject he would want to dig in on. Nor about her family life. There is something though he thinks about, tilting his head and looking over to Pikachu with some silence.

He looks back to Zuko. ] By the way, I heard you met with a guy. I suggested he should ask you about learning to ride, but he said he insulted you by saying he couldn't contribute to the Bastion and with the way he looked at you. Sound familiar?

[daughterofursa]

[By the way she scowls, it definitely sounds familiar.]

You mean the man with the nose ring?

[For some reason they never got around to introductions.]

[littlerat]

Uh... maybe? He's got long hair and a small clump of chin beard? I met him in the onsen, so..

[ No nose ring. ]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko hadn't thought to mention that because there are a lot of men with long hair and beards back home, but... now that she thinks about it, not many here.]

That sounds like him.

You thought he should learn to ride the ostrich horses?

[littlerat]

Yeah. He's new with using a sword and going outside the Bastion, so I thought it would be useful. [ He half-heartedly shrugs his shoulders. ] And he wants to do everything by himself too.

[ A small pause. ] But it sounded like he thought he'd be wasting peoples' time if anyone taught him. I said that if he brought a saddle to you and showed he wanted to actually learn, that you'd probably give him a chance. I don't know if he'll go through with it, but I'm more worried about a guy like him going out there untrained and being stubborn about it. Training off someone, I mean.

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko huffs in annoyance.]

I have two students already. Another one isn't exactly a waste of my time, especially if it keeps him from getting himself killed.

That's another thing I was thinking about. We have more people than we should going out on the Skyway alone or without any training. We'll keep losing people this way.

[littlerat]

That's where a voice message could be good, I guess. You can't put up letters on a notice board asking for people to travel with you with the language differences, and some people just don't think about asking around for their questions.

But if there's people willing to teach or lend a hand with whatever, people need that information out there. That's a reason for all of this [ motioning towards the slabs and papers near Zuko. ] Word of mouth doesn't always work.

[ He rests his arm back onto his leg. ] I've been trying to figure out what the Bastion could do more with. I know we can make the Monument... create things for us, [ had to think there ] but I don't know how far that goes and what we need to be asking for.

[daughterofursa]

I think it needs to be more than that.

[She isn't sure what exactly, but she knows even she's guilty of going out alone if she hasn't seen anyone around to invite along. That's not healthy for them.]

...I'm not sure what we could use either. It's hard to get used to thinking that we can just create things like that.

[littlerat]

[ He nod, understanding. ] It's the type of person too.

[ And the type of attitude they had, whether arrogant or on the opposite spectrum. He himself might be in the same group, but Red wouldn't say he's alone - not when he has six pokémon with him. ]

If that Colin guy is our expert on technology then he'd be the better person to ask. You tell him what we want to do and maybe he'll come up with something easy for most people to use.

[ Hopefully. ]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko shakes her head.]

Like you said, you have to know what to ask for first.

Is there anything you feel like we're missing here, besides training and a better way to share information?

[littlerat]

[ Hmm, what else? He looks off in thought, tapping a finger against his leg. ]

Knowing what's available, a way to share information... if we can put down what people need from out on the Skyway or get with the Monument, that would be helpful too, [ he moves his head from side to side, frowning some ] but that probably comes under sharing information.

[ ... ]


... I think we should try to find a core.