2025-08-11: Acidic Basics
- Log: Acidic Basics
- Cast: Minato Arisato, Fuuka Yamagishi
- Where: Iwatodai Dorm - Rooftop
- OOC Date: 2025-08-11
- IC Date: Sunday, June 24 2012
- Summary: Minato draws Fuuka out of her shell through gardening, because he knows what it feels like to move to a new home and feel out of place. Fuuka displays a fearsome grasp of plant wellbeing. There is a successful joke.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Minato was, of course, inside all day playing video games. But when 'Maya' had to log out all a sudden because 'someth came up XoX', 'Tatsuya' ended up logging out just the same, and Minato is left with nothing to do as the sun sets.
Nothing left to do... but go up the stairs to the rooftop, where Shuji Ikutsuki left them some flower beds to plant vegetables. Today, he happens to find Fuuka in the common room, and asks her to come up and help! She might be shy, but surely she can't deny the needs of plants, right?
Presently, a row of Buff Potatoes are trying to grow. Minato and Junpei have been doing their level best (Junpei's sure they'll be rich), but, well, Minato knows the basics. "How do they look?" He asks, as he fills the watering can and walks to the beds.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka enjoys flowers, but she hasn't had a lot of opportunity to do much actual gardening. Not for any lack of interest - she's done a lot of research, looking into their needs and what kinds of things can help them, but ultimately she had to put those thoughts aside out of a lack of any space to do it.
She'd asked, of course - but it was hard trying to convince her parents.
The Iwatodai Dormitory does have dedicated flower beds, though. She spotted them before when Reiya invited her up to the roof to answer questions she had for him. That got her thinking about it again - and as it happens, as shy as she might be engaging her interests is a good way to draw her out.
She joins Minato on the roof, where she is presently crouching down next to the flowerbeds and staring at the Buff Potatoes with a critical eye. She doesn't answer his question right away, and one might wonder if she even heard him. But eventually...
"They look healthy... I think they like it up here - or maybe it's just you and Iori-san..." Fuuka replies, looking over to Minato. It isn't long before her attention turns back to thoughtfully. "...Do you think we should measure the pH balance of the soil?"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
The pH...
Minato, who has a standard Academics score, takes a moment to recall the basics of acids. (Most of the moment is devoted to thinking of that joke.) Wisely, he doesn't summon Ikutsuki to the rooftop by speaking it, and instead nods to her.
"You seem really into this," he comments, as blandly as anything he says. "Iori-san's never brought up soil pH before... how do we do that?"
Minato's knowledge roll, so devoted to thinking up that one joke, did NOT come up with a mechanism to actually measure it.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
It's a very good joke. If he said it, she might actually laugh! But the consequences might be too great for either of them to bear...
"Oh, um, yes..." Fuuka starts. She hesitates for a moment, but Minato continues and she perks right up. "I don't think most people would. But..."
She considers their options for a moment.
"It would be easiest if we had a pH meter or some test strips... but I don't know if we do." She starts, tapping her chin. She's been a little shy about looking into what tools they actually have. She doesn't feel like enough of a resident yet to start going through their things. "If not, there's a trick we can do with baking soda and vinegar..."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Test strips..?" Minato asks, a little more blank than his normal, which is impressive. You might be able to HEAR the echo in there.
"... I don't think we brought any test strips."
Minato didn't think ahead... what kind of leader is he!!
"Let's try the baking soda," he recovers in time to suggest, wondering as he does just how many other things he's failed to secure for the garden. "Do you know a lot of tricks like that?"
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
From the way he says it, Fuuka thinks... that's probably a no. He sounds blanker than normal... She shakes her head quickly.
"It's okay. We can get some later. Maybe we can convince the Chairman to get some meters for the flowerbeds..." She hurries to assure - though pauses and trails off. She might be briefly worrying if that might just be bothering someone who has better things to do with his time - it's not like it's important or necessary... ...But his suggestion helps her focus back on the now. She nods. "Okay. We'll need two bowls, some measuring cups, and distilled water... and the baking soda and vinegar, of course."
She pauses for a second, and nods.
"Yes. I've always been interested in flowers and stuff, but I've never had an opportunity to do any gardening of my own... So, I spent my time looking up helpful tips, instead. When I like something, I try to learn everything I can about it."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Good idea," Minato encourages Fuuka, when she trails off. "Or we can go to Rafflesia. They'd sell them, right?"
(How much could a pH strip cost, Fuuka? Ten dollars?)
But Fuuka lists off ingredients just like that, and Minato wonders, idly, if she's a good cook. (Oh, Minato.) "I'll prepare for the mission," he promises, taking things perhaps five degrees too seriously. "Since you've already prepared. You're very comprehensive, Yamagishi-san," he praises her.
With that, he picks himself up to run off and get some things from the kitchen--!!
He reappears, soon afterwards, carrying a couple of bowls with a packet of baking soda and a bottle of vinegar and some cups safely resting inside them, and a bottle of distilled water he's just kind of carrying outside of the bowls because it's too bulky for that.
"Hup," he exclaims, as he crouches down to put it all down.
"And so, mixing this up..."
Hopefully it's not too much like cooking.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
"They probably would - or if not, they might at least know where we can get them. We can ask next time one of us visits..." Fuuka replies with a nod. That's a plan - something they can do themselves, and that's a little more emboldening than asking a Busy Adult.
"Alright. I'll keep an eye on them here, then." She says, as he volunteers to prepare. Minato's taking it so seriously... She nods, though, endeavoring to take it at least half as seriously as he is. The potatoes are counting on them, after all! She looks a little bit sheepish, though, at the praise. "Oh, thank you... I just... happened to already know, is all..."
And soon enough, he returns!
"Thanks you. Looks like that's everything... Okay. In each bowl we want to take half a cup of distilled water, and mix it with a cup of soil..." Fuuka starts, looking everything over. "If we pour half a cup of vinegar into one and it starts to bubble, that means it's alkaline. And if we pour half a cup of baking soda into the other and it bubbles, that means it's more acidic, instead... Ideally, we want a little acidity, but not too much..."
It is a little like cooking.
...Thankfully, Fuuka hasn't realised that, yet - it remains squarely in the category of Science Experiment in her mind.
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Sounds like a plan," Minato agrees. He likes having a Plan. It's comforting and familiar, like a pattern which successfully repeats.
Is it weird that he's taking things so seriously? Maybe he's just that kind of guy. A bit universally intense.
"Half a cup of distilled water," Minato confirms, as he pours it out. "A cup of soil... excuse me," he adds, to the potato sprouts, as he scoops around them. "Mix them together in two bowls..."
He takes the vinegar. A cut of his eyes snaps onto the screen, as if he's about to commit an all-out assault on the mixture. Instead: he pours. And --
"This bowl is a success," Minato declares. "I don't see bubbles." His expression doesn't shift, despite the victory. Next, the half-cup of baking soda --
"... I wonder why they call it baking soda when it's a powder," he asides, as he measures it out.
Pour, pour...
The soil-water bubbles ferociously!
"I guess this isn't as basic as it looks," Minato remarks, as he watches it roil.
(Thanks, Minato's Brain, for coming up with that cool one-liner over the course of this mission.)
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
"Great." Fuuka replies with a small smile. She can sympathise - she likes having a plan to situate herself around, too.
He's definitely a little intense... but to her, it feels normal. If it's weird for him to take it so seriously... isn't it weird for her to have studied it so thoroughly she can rattle it out off the top of her head?
She tries not to think about that.
Fuuka watches the process intently as Minato follows the directions, carefully scooping around the sprouts for the soil before mixing things together. The vinegar... doesn't react strongly. Which means the baking soda is up next. Fuuka pauses for a moment, considering his question thoughtfully.
"I'm not sure... I'll have to look it up." Fuuka replies. The question's in her head now. She'll be rolling it around until she can find a good answer.
But for now - the baking soda mixture bubbles!
"Great. I think this means they should be fine." Fuuka observes... and lets out a small, approving laugh, a hand covering her mouth, as Minato drops a Cool One-Liner. "I suppose it isn't!"
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"I would have thought baking soda would be, like... cooking chocolate, but for soda." So, grosser cans of soda?
HOW WOULD THAT EVEN WORK, MINATO. WHAT RECIPE CALLS FOR HALF A CAN OF SODA.
But Fuuka successfully Laughs at his Joke, and Minato's stoicism shifts one point two-six degrees towards pleased. He successfully won the joke. He's gonna put the trophy up on his wall. "Now we know to keep an eye on this too," he nods. "We'll explore even greater depths of plant wellbeing."
Don't tell Minato about the Mozart thing. He'd buy it and a boombox.
"... seems like you're getting more comfortable," he adds, hands to his knees as he looks to Fuuka. He failed to notice her being too nervous to check their supplies beforehand. Though, at least he checks -- "Is that right?"
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
"It's fascinating, isn't it? I thought so too, at first." Fuuka agrees. It makes sense to her. She takes another opportunity to give the sprouts a good look over before looking back toward Minato.
"Mm-hm. I'll keep looking up important tips for looking after them, too. They'll grow up healthy yet." She replies with a nod. They'll make sure the Buff Potatoes live up to their name.
She's a little surprised when the subject of the conversation turns toward her, though. She's a little taken aback at first, and has to take a moment to think it over, but eventually, nods tentatively.
"...I think so. I still feel a little like I'm intruding, like I'm stepping on people's toes, but..." She considers her words for a second longer. "...I like it here. I like the people here."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
Sometimes something is named something but is actually an entirely different thing... this world is built on madness.
"We're counting on you, Yamagishi-san," Minato nods, when she says she'll do more research. Is he including himself with the potatoes...?
Worse -- he's asking about Fuuka!!
"Moving to a new place is hard." Is that what the problem is? "Every time you go to live with someone else, you have to ask where the lightswitches are... asking can be awkward, too. And it isn't always clear if you're intruding on a life other people were settled in." This isn't a specific example. Don't think about Minato's life, bounced from relative to relative to relative.
"So, I like you being here," Minato explains, clearly. "You have good ideas... I don't think we would have thought about how acidic the soil was without you. I'd like your help with them again."
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
"I'll do my best." Fuuka replies, nodding back. It's nice to know that others are counting on her, and that they mean it. Even if it's just Minato and the potatoes right now...
Moving to a new place is hard... Fuuka considers him for a moment. The way he says it... it carries meaning to it. Has he felt that way before...? Her expression is thoughtful for a moment - but then he continues. He likes her being here. She has good ideas.
"...Thank you. I'm glad you think so." Fuuka replies, offering him a smile - and then, a nod. "Of course. I'd be glad to help again, anytime."
<Pose Tracker> Minato Arisato has posed.
"Great," Minato affirms, as he puts the various equipments he's stolen back together for easy portability. He pushes a hand to the concrete, then, and lifts himself up. He offers Fuuka a hand up, too, that's only fair! She's been sitting longer!
"I better get this cleaned up," he says, as he leans down to pick up the bowls. "Thanks for your valuable research." Somehow, he gets the feeling she might protest if he said 'hard work', given how the last time he ran into her she was so focused on Natsuki's pain she didn't much look at hers, so he makes sure to adjust his language before she even can.
<Pose Tracker> Fuuka Yamagishi has posed.
Fuuka accepts the hand up gratefully, using it to pull herself back up to her feet. She takes a moment to steady herself, and brush stray soil off of her skirt.
"Would you like some help?" She offers, as he volunteers to clean up after their test - and then he thanks her, for her research. ...Indeed, she very well might have - but his specific wording leaves no room for protest. She nods. "You're welcome. I'm glad it was useful."