thebastion | (no subject)

Who: Colin Starfury, any meddling kids
Open: Open as the plains
When: Day 267, late morning and early afternoon.
Where: The Farmland
What: Doing another survey for more development
Format: Anything, can match
Warnings: Colin IS a warning

As far as plans went, this wasn't how Colin had wanted to spend this week. There were a lot of things that needed doing even before the plight of the Ura reared its head. But Colin was an engineer, and he knew well that the universe had plans of its own and it really didn't care one little bit of the plans of individual people.

The day before this had been spent doing research, and helping Rob build his new cart. That had taken a fair amount of time on its own, but it was work that needed to be done if they wanted to set up a supply line. Now that the transportation was done, it was time to set up the facilities that would give them the supplies down the line.

So here he was, setting out more stakes and flags, taking more measurements, and generally making it apparent that SOMETHING is going to be going up in this area soon. And if the layout of the flags and stakes are any indication, it's going to be something BIG.

Anyone care to bother the engineer at work?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Emissary had been keeping busy with research herself, though hers was of a more sociopolitical nature. At any rate, it was well time for a break, and the farms made a nice enough place to stretch her legs.

She noticed the flags first, and then the man working with them. She recognized him from the Core trip and the meeting the other day, but his name escaped her. Still, it was worth going over to say hello. If not in those words exactly.

"So what's all this?" she called to him, voice bright and genial, once she was within earshot.

Colin looks over at her, and he smiles warmly. "You recall the other day how I mentioned needing hydroponic farms?" he asks, gesturing out to the flags. "That's what I'm laying out here. I'm figuring out how I'm going to place them, and the best possible uses of the land I'm going to be developing on."

"Ah, that's right! I do remember you suggesting that, yes," she replied. "I was a little surprised to hear it was an option, to be honest."

"Most people here don't have the knowledge to make it work, it's true," Colin says, not even trying to hide his smugness. "Fortunately, I am not most people. The tech behind the farms is easy. Just gotta make sure it's set up right."

Oh yes, this man was definitely an engineer. Technical knowledge could be acquired, but she had long suspected the engineer attitude was genetic. Arguably, an example of convergent evolution. Aradia smiled, amused. "Anything I can do to help?" she asked. "I'm no engineer, but..."

"If you feel like carrying some flags around for a bit, it will save me several moments while we talk," he says, laughing quietly. "And if you've got a head for spacial relations and architecture, I certainly wouldn't mind someone checking my notes and calculations."

He smiles then, shaking his head. "But I am aware that those are fairly specialized skill-sets," he adds, not the least bit worried if she can't actually provide that help.

Aradia shook her head. "Unfortunately not one I have," she said. "I always wanted to get into architecture, but somehow I never got around to it. I'm more of an architecture appreciator, really." She held out a hand for the flags, though. "But I'm sure some of my skills will be transferable to flag-carrying."

"You ever decide you wanna change that, I've got several civilizations' libraries in my computer," he says, smirking. "Even if you can't read the language, there's bound to be some instructional vids. Assuming you can wrangle some time with one of my pads, of course."

He crouches and picks up a good number of stakes and flags from the ground, and he holds them out to her.

"Really? That's very good of you to offer," she said, accepting the materials. "I may take you up on that. It's pretty popular reading, is it?"

"Not as popular as you might think," Colin says, shaking his head. "I think several people just don't want to deal with me. No big surprise, I'm a know-it-all."

Aradia had to chuckle at that. "Well, you'll find I have plenty of experience with know-it-alls."

"Most people who hang around me long enough get it, sooner or later," he tells her, his tone amused and pleased. "But it's nice to not have to worry about driving someone away for once."

He sets himself to his task once more, but he's not terribly distracted by her presence. "You have a rough idea of what tech level your society is?" he asks her. "I don't want to start speaking Orion at you because I assumed too much."

The Emissary followed along, naturally.

"Well, sure," she said. "Uh... we had interstellar travel, the internet, portable computers, first contact - although that one's more of a cultural marker, I think. The vast majority of it was at least partly biological, but they'd developed quite a bit of inorganic stuff, too, especially in recent sweeps."