open | station nonsense

[asymbiotic]

CHARACTERS: Chuuta Kokonose and OTA
LOCATION: around the station
DATE: after the Die is Cast mission
CONTENT: catch-all log, chuuta's being useful
WARNINGS: not yet will add as needed



i. Kitchen
[It's, of course, the kitchen where Chuuta can be found most of the time. There's a scratch down the left side of his face, from right by his ear to his jaw, and it's probably going to scar even though he's keeping it bandaged up, but he doesn't have any other injuries, there's nothing to keep him from cooking.

So he's cooking. It's probably a good thing after a mission, to come in to the kitchen and find food in the fridge ready to be reheated and eaten, or muffins neatly arranged on a tray to take, or something like fried chicken freshly made and hot. There's enough for everyone. More than enough, really. And if Chuuta's in the kitchen at odd times, in the middle of the night sometimes, or at five in the morning, well, that's just how things are.

He's a little more withdrawn than usual, giving a friendly smile and a hello when people walk in, or pointing out something he's just made to make sure people get a chance to try it, but he's not really striking up conversation, and he seems pretty quick to go back to working and listening to the music he has playing through the mp3 player and earbuds he brought from home.]

ii. Generally Around
[He can't keep cooking forever. Not because he can't, but because there is kind of a limit on supplies and even though he's making enough food for everyone, it would be pretty terrible if he burned through everything. So long before that happens, he leaves the kitchen. He's just sort of around, hanging out and working on a crochet project (it's a scarf, something lightweight and red and getting very long). He might be in the sunlight room, or the living area, the sunlight room, or the Ximusic room. He's just around, out of the way, absorbed in what he's doing, not striking up any conversation or causing any problems, just hanging out in the vicinity of other people]

iii. Wildcard?
[[you know how this goes hit me up @ hydok if you want anything in particular!]]

Comments

Generally Around

[singlelogbridge]

[Chuuta is quiet.

Not in the way of Itachi's quiet or Lan wangji's. He is somehow deceptively quiet. He engages when approached and his smiles are soft and kind, but as far as Wei Wuxian has seen, Chuuta is otherwise content to simply exist and not take up space. He has no idea why of course, but it's still enough to make Wei Wuxian want to break past that quiet just a little.

For as friendly as Chuuta is (when pressed,) he gets the feeling he could use a friend.

Which is why the moment Chuuta wanders into the Ximusic room, Wei Wuxian who had been fiddling with his flute immediately rises to greet him and beckon him over.]

Chuuta! Come here, come here, I could use a listening ear!

[asymbiotic]

[Chuuta slips the earbud of his mp3 player out of his ear, cutting off the soft sounds of whatever generic top-40s sort of music he was listening to on his way over. His hands are a bit full of scarf, but it's not like Wei Wuxian is asking him to hold anything, just listen.

He walks over, a little curious.]

Do you play music? Or are you learning something new?

kitchen

[evasives]

[ cassian does know how to cook, but he's so often subsided on rations and street food that he forgets it can be option, even here on ximilia where the kitchen is always accessible and open. ]

[ but when he walks in today, he's greeted with meals already prepped, with plenty to go around, and a small gesture that he's welcome to it. ]

What is it you have made? [ does he realize chuuta is trying to avoid conversation? yes. is cassian going to ask anyway? also yes. ]

[singlelogbridge]

I play! And I am attempting to compose though I have to admit, it's never been my strongest suit. [He laughs sheepishly and holds up his dizi.]

I'd like your honest opinion on a melody! Do you mind? [And then, before Chuuta can answer—] I didn't know you could...weave?

[It's not exactly weaving is it? Close enough?]

[asymbiotic]

It's crochet. [he says, holding up the crochet hook as if that explains anything.]

I crochet, and knit, and sew, and... [wait.] I wasn't going to show you this until it was finished, but I guess you get to see it now.

[asymbiotic]

[He takes the earbud of his mp3 player out, so he's not listening to music while someone's trying to talk to him.]

There's fried chicken, rice, miso soup, and quick pickled radish and carrots. The pickle might be a little spicy, I added some chili peppers to the liquid.

[Everyone's individual spice preferences are a mystery, but a little bit of heat in a pickle never hurt anyone, and it's nice with the rice and fried chicken.]

sim room wildcard;

[blackfire]

（ the sim room has a full gamut of the missions on which the crew has been thus far. it isn't unusual for him to revisit them — he was not present for braccia or gyeongje but has run through the mission several times. but today, he is in sedorum.

the world is bathed in a swath of red, a dim omnipresent glow that seems to sink into everything it touches. the streets are full of corruption and crime — and as he had found himself in taeum, there had been no chance for crossover here. still, he combs the streets for details that may have been useful. the separation of the afterlife, as it happened, was the doing of the highest one... and he is curious if there was anything they might have missed.

when another person enters the simulation room he's warned by a chime — he hadn't locked it, and hadn't cared to — and he recognizes the ID as one he's spoken with briefly before. the boy with an interest in cooking.

apropos of nothing, itachi sends him a quick text — he's a ways from the entrance as far as the simulation room is concerned, but that means little to a shinobi. Is there something you wished to do within the room? My use is not urgent. ）

[evasives]

I like spicy.

[ he's only heard of half the foods since arriving to ximilia, but he has to admit one of the neat things about being on board is all the new dishes. he's not used to having so much choice and variety. ]

[ he moves to the cabinet, pulling out a plate. it was already offered, he's not going to double check it's meant to be shared. ] Can I ask what made you decide to make so much food?

[singlelogbridge]

[Huh. Neat!

Then Chuuta's words catch up with him and he points at himself in confusion.]

You wanted to show me?

[asymbiotic]

It's for you, [he explains.] You helped me during the mission, so I wanted to thank you. And I needed something to do instead of just cooking all our supplies, so...

[singlelogbridge]

[His eyes grow wide and he stares at the material in Chuuta's hands uncomprehendingly, opening his mouth and letting it hang open for a moment like that.]

I...um. I barely did anything! [Did he even do anything? He remembers forcing Chuuta to shop with him and making him try things on and finding him a bow, but that was hardly something worth being thanked for, let alone with a gift!]

Chuuta! [he whines, cheeks taking on a faint flush.]

You can't do something so thoughtful when I haven't even done anything!

[asymbiotic]

No, sorry, I was just looking. [He says, but...]

Was this a mission?

["There's no harm in asking" is something people say. That's wrong, of course, there's a lot of potential harm in asking, and Chuuta usually doesn't, but...

But he's tired, and he just needs the silence in his head to stop for a little bit. A conversation should help.]

[asymbiotic]

I like to cook, and I know after a mission like that it's probably the last thing anyone wants to worry about. So I might as well do what I can to help out. Isn't that what everyone does here?

[asymbiotic]

[For a second, he's pleased. It's an old feeling, not buried long enough, and it comes to the surface again at the sight of Wei Wuxian's flustered expression. But there's too much tangled up with it, and it ends up stinging instead.

He smiles anyway, and any strain in it could probably be passed off as just general awkwardness.]

I like making things, and really, if I wasn't making something for you I'd be making something for someone else. I wasn't joking about needing something to do.

[evasives]

It is probably what everyone should be doing, but there is no telling how many of us follow your lead.

[ it's a little deliberately complimentary. ]

I for one am glad to have a break from cooking, so thank you.

[asymbiotic]

I can't promise it will be like what you're used to. I know there are a lot of people from a lot of different kinds of places, and I really just know Japanese food.

[But there will be food, and it will be good food, so that's probably enough.]

[blackfire]

（ Yes. itachi says simply, and then suddenly appears as if by magic at chuuta's side. he does not appear in any way exerted by doing so — the only indication of his having arrived by movement rather than by teleportation is the fact that his presence stirred up the air.

aloud, he says: ）

This was the fifth mission. We were split into two separate groups — one in Taeum, which was a paradisical afterlife considered to be home to the virtuous and pure, and this place — Sedorum, which was thought of as a sort of punishment for a life poorly lived. Unfortunately, it happened that placements in Taeum were largely bought, and not a result of virtue at all.

[evasives]

[ he puts a small smile on his face. ] I am not used to any of it. I do not know what Japanese food is.

[ local space man knows what chickens, rice, and pickled foods are, but different dirt planet countries?? a mystery. ]

Is it an Earth cuisine?

[asymbiotic]

[Chuuta jumps, actually jolting away from the sudden appearance of the stranger (near-stranger? he's no good with faces, he's probably seen the guy around, but he doesn't remember). Still, he listens, despite the way his heart is racing a little from the shock. He's a little too loud when he speaks, but he's not getting into irrelevant conversational topics like "how did you get here".]

That's terrible!

[blackfire]

（ he's a rude bitch, it's fine. he ignores the jolt, and the tone that paints a tapestry of the boy's own shock, instead saying: ）

Some found it so. To others, it was simply a way of life that they accepted. I was in Taeum, and did not see any part of Sedorum until the end. I thought it prudent to walk back through the mission and see if anything may have been missed.

[asymbiotic]

Oh, sorry, yeah, it is. I'm an Earthling, the country I'm from is Japan. Where are you from?

[asymbiotic]

Do you want help? [He asks, and doesn't really wait for an answer before he just keeps talking.] I wasn't on the mission, and I don't know anything about what happened, but I know a second set of eyes can be useful sometimes.

[blackfire]

（ 'help' is... perhaps a stretch, but he knows the boy had struggled prior with feeling useful, and has seen those neatly-ordered containers in the kitchen's refrigeration units. hard to mistake the japanese cuisine.

so after a moment, he spreads an arm out towards the red city. ）

Very well. Tell me your impressions.

[asymbiotic]

[There's a moment where Chuuta thinks he's about to be chased off. It wouldn't be the first time, he's more used to it than not.

But no, the man asks for his impressions, and Chuuta looks over the city. A moment to collect himself, to try and think and observe (the silence in his head is a yawning chasm he has to just keep ignoring).]

It's... crowded, like a place where someone could get lost, or be made to disappear. Were there more people here than in the other place?

[evasives]

A lot of people on board seem to be from there, so at least you are in good company.

[ that many from one planet seems very odd to him, but on the flipside, they all seem to be from different versions of that earth in the same breath. ]

My galaxy does not have an Earth. I was born in what is called the Outer Rim.