milliways_bar | (no subject)

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It's a quiet day in Central City. No dead bodies have dropped to call Barry into his day job, and a quick zip around the city yields only a mugger and one jaywalker who would've been pancaked by a garbage truck if 'The Streak' hadn't been there to rush him to the safety of the sidewalk.

(Seriously, he needs a better superhero name.)

With things so chill at home Barry is glad when he finds Milliways in his apartment. He was looking for something to eat, but the fridge and cupboards in his place are bare.

Obviously it's time for him to join Costco or something, but in the meantime...

"Hey, Bar," he greets the counter, sliding onto a stool wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt. "Can I get a-- "

A platter appears with deli meats and cheeses all cut down to fit on the accompanying Ritz crackers. It's the type of tray usually made to feed small armies of party guests.

"--snack."

Barry grins and while he starts assembling cracker sandwiches, Bar produces a chocolate milkshake; which earns a wary glance from Barry, but he soon discovers this one isn't a protein ruse.

[ooc: Here all day, and this will be open through the weekend.]

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"Being passionate about science makes you a nerd?" Baze says, wrapping his mouth around the unfamiliar term. He folds his arms. "But you make it sound like it's a bad thing. I don't understand. Science is good, and so is following your passions, so why is being a nerd something someone has to put up with?"

Edited 2017-05-16 05:11 (UTC)

"That does sound... like a bizarre reaction to someone's passion." Chirrut agrees, sounding completely confused. "Everyone should be a nerd, by that standard."

Barry's expression turns a bit helpless, because if he knew those answers maybe he wouldn't have spent so much of his life classified as a weirdo.

"A lot of people don't-- get nerds," he says with a shrug. "It's okay and cool to be passionate about sports, or celebrities, or like parties, but science and other academics, or whatever isn't mainstream, is different. People don't know as much about physics as they do Kim Kardashian, so they don't know what your about and that kind of makes them less inclined to wanna hang out."

"But science is awesome," Baze says, his brow creased and his lips thin. "Without scientific achievements, life wouldn't be as"--easy? no, life is rarely easy, for anyone--"comfortable for most people. We could explore the stars due to science. We have bacta tanks and food and all manner of things. I don't understand why being passionate about that is a bad thing. I guess that makes me a nerd, too."

"Wear it as a badge of pride, if they insist on labeling you with it." Chirrut shrugs, the movement too big for his frame. "If they wish to be known as ignorant and foolish, there's very little that can be done to stop them."

"I sure wish I knew you guys in high school," he jokes, nodding to their assertions that science is awesome and he should be proud.

"I honestly haven't let the label bother me in awhile," he says. "And I have friends now, which is great, and they don't let it bother them, either."

Cisco is rather proud of his nerd-hood and Caitlin couldn't care less.

"Plus, none of those guys who used to give me hassles get to hang out in a Bar at the end of the universe, so I've definitely one-upped them." And then some, given the current status of his life.

"High school?" Baze says, cocking his head to the side and invoking that giant, lost puppy again. Barry sure comes from a strange place!

"And good. You shouldn't let it bother you, and you should have friends that understand where you're coming from," Baze says, folding his arms and offering a firm nod. "And you're right, you're in a far better place than they are."

"You get to visit heaven while alive. That's more than most get." Chirrut agrees, happily munching on yet another piece of cheese. "Do you have a favorite part of it? We are still exploring, and it seems there's something we haven't yet found or heard of every day.'

"Where I come from most kids go through different levels of schooling. It starts off with elementary, then middle school and finally high school," he says in explanation. "From there I went to college to further my education, but there are other ways to go; get a job, join the military, different choices since by that point you're an adult."

Technically, at least.

He returns Baze's nod, not necessarily needing the boost of confidence right now, but happy to take it. "My friends are awesome."

And it's great to have them.

He turns his attention to Chirrut and considers the question.

"I haven't actually done much wandering around yet, but I hear there's a library and I'd like to check that out. The forest it pretty cool, there's a nice path through it to run on."

"Huh, so this schooling of yours--it's not optional for most, right? Fascinating," Baze says, plucking up another turkey circle and stuffing it into his mouth. He chews thoughtfully for a moment, and swallows. "We haven't seen the forest yet, but the library is amazing. So many books! So much paper! Paper is really rare in our galaxy. We have holovids instead."

"There was a forest, on that moon the Rebels took us to..." Chirrut frowns, "It was very humid, not at all pleasant. I assume the forest here is not like that?" He can't imagine running through Yavin IV's forest, it was unpleasant enough walking past it.

"The first three levels aren't. There are laws in place to make sure kids get an education. After a certain age you can dropout of high school, but it's a pretty dumb thing to do." Barry is a kid who never even entertained the thought, and not just because Joe would have killed him if he did.

He grins as Baze describes the library. "That's awesome. There's a switch happening in my world now from paper books to digital, but we've still got plenty of paper."

Barry will take his books anyway he can get them, although these days paper copies are a little easier for him to blur through, e-reader pages don't flip nearly as fast.

"It's temperate," he replies to Chirrut. "Damp, but not exceptionally humid or muggy. It's cool, which makes a big difference if the forest you were in was hot."

"I'm impressed," Baze says, constructing another ham-and-swiss-and-Ritz-cracker sandwich. "Back on Jedha, kids were either educated at one of the temples, or sent off-planet to one of the Core worlds if their parents had enough money--which few people did. Possibly some water barons. There was no formal schooling system."

Baze melts into a smile at Barry's grin. "Yes, the library was quite a shock when we first saw it. Paper is the purview of the very rich, so it was like walking into a treasure trove. I love the way books feel in my hands. They're so solid. And they smell amazing, too."

Baze Malbus hasn't yet encountered papercuts.

"I had to listen to hours of rhapsodizing about paper." Chirrut notes, dryly. "Thankfully Bar supplied a translator so I can read in peace if need be."

"Some people send their kids off for school, either out of state or sometimes out of country. Joe offered to send me abroad when I was in college, but I stuck by close to home."

He lifts a piece of cheddar for himself, eating it alone this time.

"Books are great. I used to spend hours at the library when I was a kid. I can't imagine not having easy access to them." Papercuts and all.

"A translator?" he asks Chirrut. "Like a reader?"

"I can understand that," Baze says, scarfing down his sandwich. He chews thoughtfully and swallows. "We didn't exactly leave home by choice."

And that's all he'll say about that.

"We had easy access to holovids, and some scrolls with raised inks so Chirrut could read them, but no books."

He lets Chirrut field the translator question.

"It is... like a scanner, I suppose? It translates the text into a scrolling series of raised letters so I can read whatever it is without waiting for Baze to stop hugging the books." Chirrut explains, gently teasing.

He nods understanding to Baze, but again leaves the subject alone.

"I've got a lot in Central City, it would be hard for me to ever leave it." He doesn't really consider himself as 'stuck', but the truth is he is.

"A tactile system," Barry says with a nod. "We have one called Braille. That's cool that Bar could get you something like that. Heck, I think it's cool just the fact that everyone can all communicate at all here. Countless worlds and places represented and we can still all understand each other? It's pretty wild."

"I hope you never have to," Baze says, appreciating the knowing nod. Barry sure is wise for a young man!

"I didn't consider that for a long time after we'd arrived," Baze says, with a quick grin. "For some reason, I thought everyone was speaking Basic."

"It is how most of our galaxy works - I have heard Basic isn't so commonly spoken in Hutt space, but on most inhabited worlds Basic is the language of trade." Chirrut explains, stealing another piece of cheese.

"See, that's interesting, too," he says, voice expressing his intrigue. "To have that many worlds with one common language. It makes sense, for trade like you said, but coming from Earth, just our one planet has a multitude of languages, spoken and written. Even world leaders sometimes have to operate through translators because there isn't just one core, universal language."

He shrugs a little, taking up a pepperoni. "I guess English is close, but that's probably more American arrogance and assumption than truth," he admits. "I've never traveled to another country so I really wouldn't know."

"Jedha didn't have very many languages," Baze says, and counts them off on his fingers. "There's Basic, of course, and Jedhan, and the thieves cant which was found practically everywhere. The pilgrims which came to the temple spoke all manner of languages, however. I made it a point of pride when I was a kid to learn as many idiomatic curses from them as I could. Like the Jedhan curse, 'You can go pound sand.' That's a good one."

"And there's also..." Chirrut launches into a long rolling Jedhan phrase that has him grinning like a loon. It's one of his old favorites, that offers acerbic commentary about the parentage, morals, cleanliness, and sexual proclivities of the insulted all in one phrase. He loves it, it's so economic.

"That one... isn't for polite company."

Edited 2017-06-03 05:05 (UTC)

Barry laughs, amused by both of them.

"Yeah, I'm terrible at swearing so I don't think I have any good ones to give you guys."

"Oh, there are a lot of swear words that we know," Baze says, made giddy by Barry's laughter. "Kriff, farkled, crink, skogging... Honestly, I could go on all day. The Hutts--a large, alien species with prehensile tails and no legs--have the best insults."