[OPEN] We're young hearts, look at us go

[animated]

WHO: The residents of Nonah’s Ark (aka, Nonah 005) and YOU!
WHERE: Mostly around Nonah 005, but can be used for interaction with the Nonah’s Ark crew just about anywhere if you really wanted!
WHEN: The month of August.
WHAT: A general interaction log for the month of August, including the aftermath of the August Swear-in.
WARNINGS: Obligatory Iron Bull warning here. Also a warning for Kaneda’s dumb teenager hormones and Tetsuo's general crazy.

Starters will be appearing in the comments. If you want something specific from any one person (Charlie, Ken, Iron Bull, Kaneda, or Tetsuo), feel free to drop them a line and ask! Otherwise, feel free to add your own starters for the whole household or individual residents as you like.

Comments

for gogo

[amadaman]

[He came visiting for Minato, but as it happens, he wasn't planning on visiting at first. Naturally they end up missing each other, and Minato isn't due to be home for a few hours today. It's just Ken in the house, with Gogo who just happened to be home. They're in the kitchen currently, Ken nursing a glass of juice while he peers over at Gogo. They've... never really spoken before. They were together on the road trip so they've had conversation, but they stuck to their respective most comfortable people, and there was no real chance to talk after the falling out between Hiro and Callaghan. This is their first time being really in each other's vicinity without being in a group and it's... new.]

... What are you doing, by the way?

[maglevflash]

[Gogo liked Ken well enough. He'd seemed sweet on the trip when they did talk, and he was generally quiet and it didn't tend to bother her when he's in her space. She'd let him in and offered him something to drink before sitting back down at the table with her notebook.

She almost startles when he speaks though, head so absorbed in the science that she almost forgot he was there, even though it had only been a few minutes. She taps her pen thoughtfully on the page.]

There's something wrong with the balance of my bike. I think the rear magnet is off a few degrees, so I'm going over the math to see what I got wrong.

[amadaman]

Mmm. [Ken's response isn't that of someone who could offer her a suggestion, but it's not one of complete misunderstanding either. He can wrap his mind around what her problem is, at least, even if he can't understand the science behind it at all. He takes another sip of his drink, glances down at her papers, and looks back at her.]

Did... when did you know this was what you wanted to do?

[maglevflash]

[She puts her pen down and turns to face him properly; committing to the conversation.]

I don't really think I did until a couple years ago. I got really into racing when I was about eleven, [The swear in hackers had that right at least.] and I've been riding bikes since I was big enough to balance on one. My parents own an ethnic restaurant so I would deliver orders for them.

But the science? I don't think I knew it was something I wanted to pursue until I started building my first prototype at college. That's when it became real. Before that it was always just a hobby.

[amadaman]

[Eleven. Around his age then. He takes a moment to think about that, about what his friends had said and encouraged him to do -- find a hobby, it's not too late to learn, there's more to life than just fighting. And Gogo had said that she had stuck to it as just a hobby until college, when it really became her life.]

... That's really great, I think. You know, having something you like, then realizing how much bigger it can get. I think that's really cool. I don't have anything like that, yet.

[maglevflash]

You've got plenty of time. I just found something I had fun doing and stuck with it. Almost didn't get this far.

[She would never have gone to college if it weren't for Professor Callaghan to begin with. If he hadn't tracked her down and offered her a better path than the one she'd been going down?]

What do you like?

[amadaman]

Me?

[Ah, there's that question. Runner up for most awkward question to be asked, just after "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Ken Stares at Gogo for a short but eternal moment, trying to find the amswer. Gogo hadn't been there. She wasn't in this world yet when he...

He looks down again.]

That's what I'm trying to figure out. I like my friends. I like my teammates. But that doesn't necessarily lead to a future... [He rubs the glass in his hands with the tips of his fingers.]

The truth is, up until a couple months ago, I couldn't picture a future that extended more than a week from whatever point in time I was in.

[maglevflash]

[Isn't that an unsettling thought?]

Well, don't force yourself to figure it out. A future can just as easily be living day to day and enjoying it. Watch movies, eat good food, and spend time with your friends.

[amadaman]

Ah-- yeah! That's what I'm trying here, actually. Minato-san and Jaime-san, especially, have been really helpful about that.

But they want me to find something else, too. Something more... long-term to look forward to, or at least set as a goal. So I was thinking about it, how people find stuff like that. I'm really only good at fighting.

[maglevflash]

Well, you just try new things. A lot of new things. And the ones you like you try again. If you keep doing something enough it because a hobby. Build up your hobbies enough and they become something worth waking up in the morning for.

[amadaman]

... New things, huh?

I guess you're right. I always told myself I was too busy, but I was wasting a lot of time back home, too. "Training" or whatnot.

[maglevflash]

Training's not a bad thing. God knows I've put way too many hours into that lately myself.

[She pauses, thoughtfully.]

How about we start today? I'll help you. Do you cook?

[amadaman]

It's best to be prepared, here, though.

And um, sort of? I can cook a little bit for myself, like toast and eggs, but I can't do anything fancy. Back in Iwatodai I survived on cafeteria food and bento boxes for the most part.

[maglevflash]

Sounds like a college diet.

I don't cook much either but there's a few dishes I could make in my sleep.

[She goes to the fridge to see what she has to work with.]

Anything you can't, or won't eat?

[amadaman]

Huh? Oh, um.

... I don't eat peppers. [Gross!]

Is it really like a college diet? I hear it's common among students who live in the dormitories that don't have cafeterias, especially the older ones.

[maglevflash]

No peppers. Easy enough. Does that extend to other spicy foods or just the peppers themselves?

[She starts pulling food out of the fridge.]

Pastas, pizza, things like that. Anything fast and cheap to make. A lot of students don't have a solid budget, or much free time to sit and eat, so they adjust accordingly.

[amadaman]

Pasta sounds cheaper, but pizza doesn't. It was easy to get whole meals from convenience stores. Rice, fish, sometimes I got their oden too, if I wanted something warm...

[He misses it. He misses Japanese food, and he scrunches up his nose at the idea of the junk he's seen in this country's stores. Eugh. He's glad his housemates and Shinjiro help him cook sometimes.]

I just don't like peppers. But I don't think about eating a whole lot.

[maglevflash]

Pizza's not very cheap all at once, but when it's feeding multiple people twenty dollars is usually better than forty. [She shifts to the cabinets.] San Fransokyo is a great place for a lot of what you're familiar with, but the college diet thing is mostly an American staple, as far as I know.

[She pauses, looking down at the counter. She misses home, too. She's only made something like this one other time since she got here, for the speedsters. She misses her parents.]

[amadaman]

Pre-cooked food in America's a load fo junk food. Even Kaneda-san won't eat that stuff much. [Kaneda is also horribly zenophobic.]

Aragaki-san sometimes cooked when we were at the dorm. But I hadn't had homecooked food since my mom died...

[maglevflash]

Can't deny that.

[She pauses in her preparation, turning to face him. Hearing that your friends lost family is never a comfortable topic, and she falls silent for a moment.]

Maybe learning how to cook will honor that memory? [She doesn't know what his relationship with his mom had been like, but maybe he'd appreciate the connection.]

[amadaman]

Ah, I'm sorry.

[He shakes his head.]

It was a long time ago. [Three years, numerically, is not that long for most things, but for this it truly feels like an eternity.] I'm not upset about it or anything anymore, but... hm. Maybe you're right. It'll be practical for me, too. I just get Kaneda-san's takeout sometimes.

[maglevflash]

[She snorts a laugh.] Kaneda is definitely not the type of person I'd expect healthy diet from. [It's not said unkindly, she's not exactly a paragon herself.]

At least you can leave today knowing how to cook something you won't find in any restaurant around here, right?

[amadaman]

Yeah. I've never found it around home, either. What was it called again?

[maglevflash]

Bibimbop. It's one of dad's favourite things to make. You can substitute a lot to change it up if you need to. It's pretty versatile.