voidtreckernet

Hey, my train trekkers, my main men, my wonderful women, my koo-koo kids, and everyone and everything else in-between! This is Della Duck, reporting to you live from her cabin with a chance to feel super good about yourself! First, a bit of background info. In my world, there's an organization called - drumroll, please - theeeee...

[ She holds up a slightly tattered and worn-out book with several post-it notes on almost every page. ]

Junior Woodchucks! The BEST group ever for kids to learn all the skills under the sun and prepare them for all of life's challenges and beyond! When you accomplished something major, you earned a badge! And, no big surprise, I earned a lot of them when I was that age. And I feel like you all have accomplished SO MUCH! Whether here on the train, back home, or in other worlds we've been to, you've all got a lot to be proud of!

With that in mind, I decided to make you guys the Junior Woodchuck Badges you all deserved! I'll be going all around the train and handing them out! Even if you're a total stranger, I want to hear the things you're proud of! Because there are things we should all feel great about ourselves!

For example!

[ She fishes out some of the badges she's already made, and shows them one by one. ]

The first time you made a campfire! Or, making a new dish that's actually edible! Or putting out someone else's campfire that went wildly out of control! Master of treating injuries, making twenty friends, craftsman extraordinaire... And if what you're proud of doesn't exist in the guidebook, then phooey, I'll make it up myself! BECAUSE YOU ALL NEED TO LOVE YOURSELVES A LOT MORE!

... A-hem. See you around, guys!

[ if you'd like, feel free to go right to Action to meet her all over the train! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hm?

I'm giving badges, I'm not making any for myself!

Yeah but don't you need to brag too? Isn't that what you told me?

[ He smirks a little bit, only fair Della! ]

This IS my way of bragging. I made them, and they all look really cool.

[ nice try, senku. ]

Yes, but if you don't put a badge somewhere, no one will know. How about a sewing badge for you.

[ Come on he's trying! ]

[ All riiiiight. ]

Why, Senku, is that the sound of you offering to make me a gift?

"Sure, I can probably figure out embroidery." He considered that. "With a bit of trial and error. I'm not ususally that fancy."

I don't care how it looks! It's the effort that counts!

Of course not, I'm going to make it look decent, give me some credit. I learned how to make clothes, I can figure this out!

... You learned how to make clothes?

I have a friend, Yuzuriha, that's into fashion and clothing and crafts. She always has been. Frankly, I think she joined us because Taiju had a big stupid crush on her that he would spend the next five years torturing me with.

[ He snorts his mild amusement. ]

And sometimes have to be told I wasn't interested. It's nothing against her. Yuzu's great enough, just not my type. Anyway, to me, especially when I was younger, my peers were mostly alien to me. Although she was willing to listen to me talk about science, which granted is a pretty good way to become my friend, especially then, she's not that interested in it.

So to understand her, I asked her about what she was doing. I learned how to sew and stitch and construct clothing. I drew the line at making dolls. Once I learned it though, it wasn't really something that held my interest, I figured I'd never need to use those skills apart from small repairs. [ A bland stare ] That's not how things worked out since I now have to make my own clothes, but that's alright. It's a useful skill. I make things for Gen too sometimes, and others when it comes up. I can show you the winter coat I made for myself on the train.

[ senku's stories are always wild and she always loves them. ]

What a great way to reach through to understand someone better! And it helped you both out, so that's even better! And I'd love to see the coat sometime!

[ she's so proud of you!!! ]

[ He's a strange boy with a strange life, what can he say? ]

Yeah, sure, just remind me when we're face to face sometime. I don't know if I understood her better, but we're still friends all this time later. Which is good, she has a lot of skills I don't have.

I'm surprised to hear you say that. Sometimes it feels like it you can do anything.

[ He chuckles his amusement. ] A cool illusion.

[ Seriously though, he smiles. ]

Nah, there's a lot of people who have knowledge I don't. Old man Kaseki is a master craftsman. I can do what he does, sure, but not with expertise and with a lot more waste and trial and error. Ryusui, our Captain, navigates way better than I do. I can read the weather like he can, but I don't know that much about flying air balloons or navigating the ship. I could probably keep it steady. I cook alright, but Francois, they're a masterclass. They improved some of my skills, but they'll outrank me every time.

Everyone in the Kingdom of Science has a job to do.

[ Her smile just gets bigger. He might have difficulty recognizing affection and care in others, but she can hear it in his voice. ]

Like a functioning machine, every cog is important.

[ That was the true secret really. He wasn't really cognizant of how other people thought, he may not really be cognizant of his own feelings, but that didn't mean he didn't have them. He's very very fond of his village. They're his family. ]

That's right, and everyone has something to offer so, that's just how the kingdom works. I can't actually do anything anyway, there's not enough hours in the day. [ He chuckles. ]

Like cooking. I do that here a lot, but at home I don't usually have much time anymore. It gets delegated to other people, like Francois.

Oh come on, I find that hard to believe - that you can't do anything. Surely you must do something in that great kingdom of yours!

I do, but not mundane stuff like that. I'm usually working on the various science projects we have going, planning, that kind of thing.

[ So he delegates a lot of basic stuff. ]

Also finding Gen lots of work. [ Isn't Gen a lucky boy? ]

Not to his complaint, I imagine?

[ he seems like the type to enjoy a challenge ]

[ His snicker turns into a decent laugh. ]

Incessantly. He never stops complaining.

[ His expression is amused, but sharp now, a grin. ]

But he's reliable when it counts without complaining.

[ And hearing him laugh makes her laugh as well. ]

I guess between the two of us, you would know him better!

Oh please feel free to get to know him better. I might not, except I live with him which is... [ He waves his hand. ] You learn a lot about a person.

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