Day 267 [Open] Magical Jerky Cows and shuffling booties

[scary_music]

Who: Ibuki and you!
Open: Open
When: Day 267, noon-ish or so?
Where: In front of the new music venue: iBooty Shuffle
What: Ibuki wastes a whole bunch of shards on silly stuff...
Format: Action but will match
Warnings: Ibuki weirdness, and sudden heavy bad feels in the Colin thread.

UKYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

[It was just another day in the Bastion, helping make preparations for assisting the Ura that were in dire straits. But then, during lunch, Ibuki's cry of disbelief and amusement rang out loud and clear]

[Because she used the monument to create "magical jerky cows", and renovated one of the new buildings on the Bastion into a music venue.]

[... after her initial cry, Ibuki can be found in front of iBooty Shuffle, leaning against one of the chocolate jerky cows and...]

[... just... laughing. That's all she's doing. Laughing]

Comments

[scary_music]

Magical chocolate cows that makes chocolate milk and chocolate chip jerky! Isn't it amazing?!

And, and... for people who don't like chocolate, there's jerky cows that make regular milk, too!

[freedom_engineer]

Mmmm, I see.

[Colin sniffs the jerky and takes a nibble. Only a nibble, he isn't much for meat other than fish, sadly.]

... Interesting flavor. You've really thought this through, haven't you?

You're going to take care of these cows and milk them every morning, right?

[Whoops, time to tease Ibuki. Well, and see how much she ACTUALLY thought through, but he can do that and tease at the same time.]

[scary_music]

Noooope! Ibuki just wanted to top the donut trees and get chocolate chop jerky!! She didn't think this through at all!!

Whoops!! Embarrassing!

[She sounds way too cheerful for somebody claiming embarrassment... because she isn't embarrassed at all]

[freedom_engineer]

I hope you realize that now that you've brought them in, you're going to need to at least keep an eye on them?

[He smirks at her.]

We can't afford to have a drain on our resources like livestock that nobody uses to their full extent.

[He's not mad, but he is fairly intent on making sure Ibuki learns to take care of these animals...]

[scary_music]

[Ibuki salutes Colin, seemingly about to take responsibility, but-]

DASH!!

[She... runs away into her new music venue...]

[freedom_engineer]

...

[Colin looks at the cow, and continues to gently pet its head.]

She didn't think this through... this doesn't bode well. Hopefully some people here can take care of you guys.

[Yeah, he's disappointed here...]

[scary_music]

[... after about half a minute, she pokes her head out out. She'd half been expecting to be followed]

...

... Colin-sama-chan?

That was supposed to be the chase scene. Whoops!

[freedom_engineer]

[He looks over at her, his expression unamused.]

... You've got a lot to learn, Ibuki. I'm not going to spook the livestock, especially if you've got no interest in taking care of them.

I've got work to do, and no time to play. Especially if I need to see to it that your cows are taken care of on top of everything else I need to do.

[Disappointed Colin is disappointed.]

[scary_music]

Huh? Huh?

But...

... but they just eat grass, right?

[Somebody here knows ... literally nothing about taking care of farm animals]

Moo and eat grass and make jerky and milk...

... ...

Ibuki's not a farmer, she hasn't even played that game about moons and harvests.

[freedom_engineer]

Sure, if you don't care about them.

You only eat, drink, and play music when you get down to the basics. Should I run away from you?

[scary_music]

Um... Um...

... ... ... Ibuki cooks and sews, too?

[Point missed]

[freedom_engineer]

Cows don't do much, it's true. But if you don't take care of them, it's very easy for them to get sick and die.

If you don't feed them right, they won't make much milk. If you don't care for them, they won't make much milk, and they'll get less healthy. I can't imagine that will make their meat very good.

And, let's face it...

[Still petting the cow.]

It's alive. You brought life into the world. If you abandon it as a mere curiosity that you got bored with, that makes you a pretty awful person.

[scary_music]

...

[Those last words hit home way more than Colin could have possibly imagined]

[... she just... stands there, her expression falling completely.]

[A life brought into the world... and then abandoned...]

[... There was a reason she had no siblings. Her parents wanted little to do with their firstborn, so why would they want to introduce a second child into their house? Even if she'd lived in the same house as her parents, she ... more or less had been abandoned. Sure, she'd been given all the instruments she'd ever wanted that turned her into perhaps the best musician the world had ever seen, but what she had really needed was human contact. People who actually cared]

[What she really needed, most of all, was to not be alone]

[She just falls to her knees... doing nothing but staring at the cow as tears started trickling down her cheeks]

[freedom_engineer]

[Perhaps Colin didn't know the full impact of his words, but he knows how to choose words that will hit their mark square in the bullseye.]

... I think I hit a nerve. Sorry, cow. I'll be back in a little while.

[He gives the cow a pat on the snout, then he moves to crouch next to Ibuki and pull her into a hug.]

Come 'ere, you...

[scary_music]

[Ibuki flinches slightly, but otherwise doesn't really resist as she gets pulled into a hug.]

You...

...

... T-this was...

... I... really am that terrible...!?

Just... j-just like...

D... don't leave... I ... I'm sorry...!

[And then she just chokes off into full on crying, grabbing tightly onto Colin]

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin lifts his hand and presses his finger to her nose, giving her a little boop.]

I think you weren't thinking, and you got ahead of yourself.

You're young, it happens.

I'm not going anywhere. I'd just like to see you a little more responsible, that's all.

[Yep, STILL hugging her. He's a jerk, but he cares.]

Besides, it's not as though it's too late. You've just got caught up in excitement. There's still plenty of time to do what's right here.

And honestly, the cows are nice and friendly. It wasn't a bad purchase.

[scary_music]

[She already did admit to not thinking it through already, she just didn't take it seriously until Colin brought up the whole 'abandoned' issue]

... Nnnn...

... T... Terrible... this was supposed to be funny, but...

... now Ibuki turned into a crybaby... her reputation is ruined...

[... even though she's saying something silly like that, her voice is clearly shaky, her breathing erratic. The wrong sort of push will obviously cause her to break down into tears again]

[freedom_engineer]

[Yep, Colin was just thinking much more long term.]

A true joke must always be three things. I... will tell you those three things later.

[He's just going to rub her back comfortingly. Yep, his mouth almost got him in trouble again. No need to kick her while she's down.]

You already hang around me, Ibuki. My reputation equates to "NO!" I think your reputation was stained by my presence.

[He gives her a grin.]

I'll help you out here, don't you worry. I wouldn't chew you out and then leave you to pick up the pieces.

[scary_music]

[Ibuki manages a weak laugh his comment about his reputation.]

A... alright, alright...

Don't leave Ibuki, then... okay? Okay?

Promise Ibuki. Promise!

...

[She pulls back from the hug so that she can extend her pinky towards the engineer]

Pinky swear!

[freedom_engineer]

I can't make that promise.

[Colin smiles sadly.]

The odds of my survival here are lower than most peoples'. That said, I can promise that I'm not about to roll over and die, or purposely leave you hanging.

[There's a pinky.]

1/2

[scary_music]

...

...

[Ibuki's pinky droops a little bit at that, her expression falling.]

Y... yeah... at... at least... promise you'll...

...

2/2

[scary_music]

[... and here comes the tears again]

COLIN-SAMA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!

YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY IT LIKE THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!

[freedom_engineer]

Sorry, Ibuki...

[Yep, still a sad smile.]

I can lie about a lot, easily, but I'm not gonna make a promise that important and make it a lie. You deserve friends who treat you right.

[Colin retrieves a handkerchief from one of his pockets and starts to dab at her cheeks. While hugging her. With pretty darn good aim. Yeah, he's done this before. A LOT.]

I can promise I'm not gonna go out of my way to hurt you or desert you. But I'm not gonna set you up to be hurt if the universe decides it's had enough of my shit.

[Or any of the people in the Bastion. Which... is honestly what Colin's projections have him most worried about, but he won't go admitting THAT to a tearful girl.]

[scary_music]

Nnn...

[She sniffles a bit]

S-still, still, you could've worded that better! Or, or just say that... that you're going to do your best, or... or something. The thing about your s... survival odds... that's... that's bad form, Colin-sama-chan! Bad form! Shameful!

[freedom_engineer]

...

[Colin smirks at her, that cocky veneer of his shining through.]

I said I have lower odds than most people. I didn't say I was gonna die.

You haven't known me long enough.

[He gives her a wink.]

I've been beating bad odds for centuries. For fun.