Bonfire

[sentryslinger]

Who: RED Pyro (notintehkitchen) & BLU Engineer (sentryslinger)
When & Where: Nighttime at the Coaltown Barracks
Why: For a bonfire!
Status: Ongoing


[Getting assigned to a new base was nothing unusual for Engineer: he'd been moved from one place to another his entire career, never spending too long in one location. It was a hard job being a builder, but one he enjoyed enough to stay when many others in his position would have quit long ago.

However, getting assigned to a base full of REDs was a new experience. With the war between RED and BLU ending in a truce where the teams combined forces to fight wave after wave of Gray Mann's robot legions, it was inevitable that he'd eventually end up on a team with a RED or two. What he hadn't expected was to be the only BLU there, the rest of his comrades his former enemies.

Engineer was the sort to get along though, and a man who took first impressions seriously. He'd done well on the battlefield the past few days, trying to acclimate to his new coworkers. The Heavy was as friendly as any he'd met on BLU, the Medic just as skittish, the Scout just as boisterous. Demoman wasn't far from his BLU counterpart either, despite the claim of how few one-eyed, cyclopean Scotsmen there were in the world.

The problem arose when work was done and it was time to head home for the night. The REDs mostly kept to themselves- to them, he was still a newcomer, just barely above the robots they fought in terms of trust. It was going to take time for them to treat him like one of the team. He knew that much from all the bases he'd been transferred to during his career.

That was why he decided to start small, and with someone he was definitely going to be working with on a close basis: the Pyro. Judging by the fact that the rest of the REDs had eerily resembled BLUs he'd worked with in the past, he felt it was a safe bet that the Pyro wasn't too distant from ones he'd seen, either.

And that was the reason he'd invited her to a bonfire a short distance from the barracks. He figured he couldn't go wrong with that.]

Comments

[notintehkitchen]

I could say, but I don't know if I should. I want to trust Eng--

[Stopping mid-sentence and taking the hot dog from him she nodded a bit in thanks. She was hungry enough just to start digging in right away. As she chewed, she thought about how convenient a lot of Western food was.]

Does lots of American food always cook very fast? If I made food properly from back home most of it would take a long, especially a proper bento for an outing.

[Although it might be fun to make a bento for someone she really liked.]

[sentryslinger]

Some does, depending on what you're cookin'.

[He grabs one of the other dogs, grabbing a bun and sliding it into it.]

Hot dogs cook quickly, but you have to take your time if you want that perfect steak or a home-cooked turkey.

[notintehkitchen]

[Oh, right. People ate these with bread on it. Well just meat is fine, isn't it? It tastes good as it is to her. She's just too used to having bacon all by it's lonesome too.

There's a bit of a twitch as he brings up steak and turkey. It sounds like eating those types of foods is a common meal in this country. As a little girl she remembers seeing it on lots of western type programming and movies of people eating such meals with their beautiful and perfect family.]

So much meat. I'd be happy if I could just eat all the meat I could and nothing else. Back home, I didn't get to eat so extravagant.

[sentryslinger]

What all did you have there?

[notintehkitchen]

My family ate a lot of natto and rice mainly. Sometimes noodles, fish and vegetables...that's really about it. Never had to touch natto since I left home, I'm pretty happy about that. Then again, it's impossible to find something like fermented soybean paste in the cold sections here.

[sentryslinger]

Can't say I've heard of most of that.

[He's not sure he can pinpoint her ethnicity either, but he might wager a guess.]

It's Japan, right? I thought I heard you greet me I with it when ya walked up.

[notintehkitchen]

That's correct. I'm from Japan.

[She has to deal with Scout calling her Chinese all the time and if she corrects him he says he doesn't understand the difference.]

Sorry about that, I try hard not to speak in a language nobody understands. That's very rude. I suppose I'm programmed to just speak my native tongue and forget to switch it off.

[Pyro does have a bit of an accent but it's rather light for someone who grew up overseas. Hearing English so often from her own hobbies certainly helped her along the way.]

[sentryslinger]

Don't you worry your pretty little head over it, Pyro. I didn't mind at all. A greeting is a greeting, and I've been around enough of y'all foreign folks in the past several years to pick up a little dash of everything.

[He smiles as he finishes off his hot dog, skewering a few more.]

[notintehkitchen]

[Focusing on the word that she shouldn't of made a big deal about, her throat tightens as she questions what he just said by repeating it.]

Pretty!?

[That is not a word to describe her or any Pyro that she knows of.]

[sentryslinger]

Pretty?

[He repeats it after her; the idiom rolled so smoothly from his tongue that it takes him a second to even figure out that that's what she's stuck on.]

Oh, that. It's just a turn of the phrase. You'll have to pardon me when I slip into that- it'd be a bit like you and Japanese. That sort of colloquialism is real common where I'm from.

[notintehkitchen]

It's normal just to call someone pretty casually?

[Even if they were a comrade? Okay.. maybe he does it to the guys too. Wait, no. Pretty couldn't be used on men or was she missing something entirely here?

Puffing out her cheeks, she placed a hand on her forehead and rubbed a bit. Her brain was all over the place. In that short amount of time, she let something slip out with a sigh.]

If anything, I think it'd be nice to be called cute but someone like me is used to fouler terms.

[What was cuter then a Pyro?]

[sentryslinger]

[His smile flattens, his own brow furrowing.]

I'm sure you are. You wouldn't be the first firebug I've met to be called somethin' they shouldn't be.

[notintehkitchen]

It's okay, Engie. I'm used to those names. I don't expect anything less from my enemies. I know I'm considered the scariest of all the classes.

[With the mask off and her personality being a lot clearer it was pretty laughable how harmless she could be off the battlefield.

She knows she shouldn't, but she can't help but scoot closer and reach out to try to pat him on the head much like others had done to her in the past to comfort her.]

[sentryslinger]

That doesn't make right what they say. You--

[He interrupts himself as he scoots away reflexively as she reaches for him, his hand going to where his holster would be if he had on his tool belt. He turns a little red, embarrassed.]

Sorry, Py. Old habits die hard. Ain't used to working with REDs yet.

[notintehkitchen]

[That would of NOT of been good. Thank whatever entity made him stop in time to realize she wasn't his enemy.]

N-no problem. It's only natural since I'm a RED.

[Had she killed him before? She didn't want to think on it too hard.]

I'm... going to earn your trust so you don't do that sort of thing, no matter how long it takes.

[sentryslinger]

[Engie rubs the back of his neck.]

It ain't you, Pyro. Bein' the only BLU on a team full of REDs after spending years bein' at each other's throats has made me jumpier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockin' chairs.

[notintehkitchen]

Oh, Engie. If it's the others, I'll protect you from them. I don't think they'd want to hurt you though--you're really nice and smart--and well, useful to them.

[But in order to make sure Engie is that well-protected...]

I'll always be by your side.

[sentryslinger]

[He gives her a smiles before rotating that second set of hot dogs he put over the fire.]

I'd appreciate that, Pyro. Especially since we're gonna be working on the battlefield together a lot. I think this whole 'both teams workin' together' thing is just going to take some getting used to.

[notintehkitchen]

Human flesh is fun to watch melt away and all but I'm happy as long as I can have other stuff to burn.

[Speaking of which, she had really forgotten almost all about the fire in front of her. As a Pyro it was laughable that something or someone else in this matter could hold her interest more than her precious flames. When it finally processed to her what she had been doing, she laughed outloud. What was this behavior of hers? Was she just not truly all the way gone as she believed or was it because deep down she was a woman no matter how much she tried to forget?]

How strange!

[sentryslinger]

[She's lost him with that jump in her train of thought .]

What's strange? That you can keep yourself entertained when you aren't lightin' fellas like me ablaze?

[He says that so jovially for someone who has probably been burned to a crisp by an enemy Pyro dozens of times in the past few years.]

[notintehkitchen]

Sort-of! I was just thinking how when I'm with you I forget about the most important thing in the world to me. It's pretty strange!

[Scratching her head, she decided this was not what she would admit to any other comrade. Having a one-track mind was the best way to uphold her reputation in a sense.]

Maybe I'm not such a bad girl...

[sentryslinger]

I wouldn't say you are, but I hardly know ya.

[He offers her a second dog and a bun.]

But we'll see if I change my mind on that after tonight, now won't we?

[notintehkitchen]

Thank you very much!

[Taking it, she began to munch and think about how she could change his opinion on her so fast.]

How do I go about doing that? Is there something I need to do?

[sentryslinger]

Just got to get to know one another. Most of what I've seen of ya is on the battlefield, and even then, you're in that suit.

[His smile has returned.]

So tell me: what do ya think about these robots they've got us fightin'now?

[notintehkitchen]

They aren't very cute, not at all. The one that is supposed to be me is very inaccurate.

[That was not the answer he was looking for, was it?]

It's hard to talk to a Pyro if you aren't around them enough. Hardly anyone understands anything I say besides 'Spy!' in my mask.