awashlogs | [OPEN]

Entry tags:

[OPEN]

WHO: Duo Maxwell, [OPEN]
WHERE: Church, home in Ruga
WHEN: July, between flower event and tree event
WHAT: Duo is trying to get electricity going in Chroma, and it is a very slow process. Bother him. Or help him. Either/or.
WARNINGS: NA

a. [church]

Son of a-...

[A soft hiss broke the usual heavy silence in the church. A small drop of blood dripped from the third cut on Duo's finger that day, to say nothing of the ones he'd gotten all the other days he'd been busy retrofitting old lanterns in the church. There were already a few hanging up against the walls of the church, wired up in less than appealing ways but ready to get some sort of power and light going in to them.

He was doing all of this by hand, and while he did have some old, rusted tools to work with dealing with the wires had resulted in a lot of tiny slices on his fingers. Annoying, a bit painful, but nothing he couldn't work past.

It was tiring to do this all alone, though. At least by now the effects of that annoying flower had run its course and he no longer felt that burning need to be around people so sitting alone in the church wasn't as emotionally crushing as it had been.

That said, he wouldn't mind more actual company, and maybe someone to even just help him twist wires or something.

He sighed and leaned back against the wall he was closest to while holding a stained, ratty towel against the small cut, staring up at the ceiling with a tired smile as he muttered his thoughts to the empty air.]

My own fault for being so antisocial, I guess...

b. [Ruga]

[Thunk.

Clank.]

You've got to be kidding me.

[khkhkh

The generator sitting in front of Duo made unhappy, protesting noises with each attempt to start it up. He had been out there for half the day already, unable to find whatever was causing the contraption to refuse to start up. He was sweaty, smudged in dirt and oil, and very annoyed. The generator should have gone together perfectly! Yet it was doing little more than spitting and sputtering out.

A sigh, dirty hand dragging through his messy bangs, and he picked up a tool and began taking it apart for the fifth time that day.]

c. [Wildcard]

[Want to thread something else? Go for it! Either tag in or contact me,

rubberfaceokumura or at Rin#0768 on Discord.]

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[The church doors creak open and closed as Somnus steps inside. He recognizes the other occupant of the hall, and that means one thing. His gaze wanders over to the old lanterns against the walls as he approaches Duo.]

Hail, Duo. How fares your project?

So-so.

[His voice is somewhat muffled in reply, having taken up another towel and rubbing his face with it.]

Settling in alright?

Edited 2019-07-21 04:19 (UTC)

The flowers have vanished and taken the curse with them.

[Consequently, he's had a much easier time of it talking, for which is all he can really ask.]

Yet you still seem troubled.

They did, thank fu-... Erm. Thankfully.

[Is it bad manners to swear in front of a former king?]

Yeah. It's a lot of small detail work, and these wires aren't doing my fingers any favors.

[Duo is free to curse and find out.

Closing the distance between them, Somnus' gaze falls on the wires in question.]

What must you do with them?

[Look, he may be a blasphemous child soldier who called himself the God of Death once upon a time, but Father Maxwell at least convinced him not to swear in church.

Even a strange other worldly church.]

Well, I have to strip the cover from the outside of them, then put them through the base of the lantern, and twist these ones until they connect together and the rest to the inside of the base. Problem is, some of the thicker ones like to snap back and have hit me a couple of times.

If i had pliers it would be easier but... take what we can get here, even crappy tools.

[Somnus may have no pliers on hand, but he does have that. Two of them, in fact. He kneels down to study the wires.]

Show me, and I shall follow.

[ It's a nice day for lounging on his balcony: the sun is shining and the flowers have gone back to being flowers and all is right with the world................

Apart from that, you know, clanging noise in the street, accompanied by frustrated grunting. What's going on? After a while (i.e. thirty seconds), his curiosity gets the better of him, and he vaults over the balcony, landing lightly on his feet (cultivator trick, do not try at home), and saunters over to the source of the disturbance.

Well! That looks interesting! He bends over, to get a closer look. ]

What are you working on?

[She's not exactly here to help, but hey, someone's here. She frowns, looking at him as she approaches.]

Do you plan on injuring yourself all day?

...Huh.

[ That sure does look like a--- generator of some sort? She actually looks impressed. Building a generator from scratch takes a bit, and she wonders where he got all the parts to it. ]

Looks frustrating. [ He looks frustrated, too. And that's not always the best way to be working on something that requires finesse to handle and troubleshoot. ] Need a hand?

[Duo looks up with a surprised blink, expression actually showing just how young his face really was when it wasn't lined with a frown and furrowed brows. Somnus had been really standoffish before, but he had also just arrived...

Still, Duo absolutely wasn't expecting the offer.

He held up the lantern a little higher, showing the process a little slower and with more careful explanation this time.]

I've got four more of these to finish and put the filament wire around the connected ones before I want to give the generator a try. They won't be super bright but some light is better than none in the dark.

[Duo is only partially sorry for the noise.

Mainly because the generator shouldn't be making it.

Vaulting over the balcony was only mildly impressive, but then when you're friends with a literal circus act who was known for jumping forty feet down without breaking his bones most acrobatic acts don't seem like much in comparison.

Still, he was surprised at the sudden company, letting out a sigh and flopping on his back as if that would somehow solve all his problems.]

A power generator...

[Goodie!]

All day e'ryday.

[Smart ass.

He smirks a bit and pulls the towel back, finding the small cut has already stopped bleeding.]

I don't have any pliers. Trust me, I'd rather forego tearing my fingers to hell if I could.

[So frustrated.

He grumbles and grabs a stained ratty towel from his side and presses his sweaty face in to it, letting out a short, muffled scream of annoyance followed by an equally muffled "yes".

Please stop him from actually ripping his hair out.]

[If nothing else, Somnus is precise. While it's still a struggle to follow along as an amateur, his hands are in good shape and allow his fingers to manipulate the wires unhindered. When given a set of instructions, he perform wells.

The longer he works in silence, the more his brow furrows. Indeed, the town can benefit from having a source of light at night, no matter how dim it may be. That's why the generator is important.]

[ Sweeping her hair over her shoulder, she takes her place opposite of him, crouching down by the generator. ] Let me see.

[ She extends her hand over the contraptions fingers motioning back towards her twice to gesture for the tool. And if and when he passes it over to her, she’ll begin to her to work. ]

It’s Mythra, by the way. What are you building this for?

What about gloves? You don't have anything to cover your hands and fingers?

[Link had followed the strange noises all the way from Ruga, although they were much easier to hear for people who chillaxed on rooftops as much as Link does. Eventually, it comes almost deafeningly close, and knowing he must be close, he climbs a nearby building to try to see where it was coming from - and also hopefully staying out of harm's way.

It's reassuring, then, to see Duo and the strange object when he looks downward - there's no danger, at least as far as he can tell. So he lays on his stomach and watches him for a while.

When it fails again, Link finally calls out to him.] Sorry to bother you, but what is that thing?

[It's actually kind of nice, working together in relative silence. Unlike when he desired company when the flower was affecting him, this was much closer to how he was used to going about tasks.

And thankfully unlike Heero's more unnerving silence this was comfortable.

He finished the one he had been working on when his finger was cut, carefully wrapping a super thin, silvery wire around the connected ones before standing up to hang it against the wall like the others. There was a moment where he paused to put his hands on his hips and give an affirming nod to his own work. Finally something was getting done. Something he was actually proud of.]

Duo.

[He sighs and drops his hands in his lap along with the towel.]

Sorry. [About the scream, that is.] I can't figure out for the life of me what I missed when I put it together.

[He swore he'd gotten all the parts with his own ink and that of a few others, but maybe his skills were rusty and there was something he forgot after all.]

A generator, for power. I retrofitted some old lanterns to hook up to it and put them in the church to start with, but I got maybe a minute of working power out of it before it sputtered out and quit. That was yesterday.

[So he's been at this a while now.]

I can't believe I haven't been able to fix it yet! I've been repairing mobile suits for years but apparently a generator given to me by magic ink is gonna be my downfall!

I tried that.

[He motions his head towards the small bin of tools, odds and ends sitting next to him. There was a pair of old, worn but still functional leather gloves in there, but they weren't exactly work gloves. More like ones someone would use for riding in cold weather.]

Too slick. I kept losing my grip. I'm not giving up because of a couple of nicks, though.

[The problem with watching someone who already had a mild streak of paranoia from a distance like that is that it tends to result in getting the utter crap scared out of them.

Which is exactly what happens when Link calls out, causing Duo to yelp and flail, head whipping around to find the source of the voice--

Oh.

... that's a little weird.]

... a power generator. Why are you over there?

[ There's a lot of what he's mentioned that piques her interest. A generator- made from the ink, that he got it working. Mobile suits, too.

But more importantly, for now-- she places her hand upon the generator, and a moment or two passes.

Structural analysis complete. ]

Looks like you got a problem with the... mechanical energy created by the engine, which drives the rotor to make...

[ Her brow furrows, and when it seems that whatever thoughts in her mind have come and gone, she opens her eyes at last. ]

In other words, your alternator. [ She twirls the pliers in hand. ] Let's take a look.

[ She begins tinkering away. ]

The alternator? Geez. Well, that makes sense! I guess I missed that...

[He was, admittedly, more exhausted than he had been letting on. He was determined, through lack of sleep, racing thoughts and however many cuts and bruises to his hands it took to finish what he started.

Never mind that such exhaustion was absolutely taxing on one's mental capabilities, so he was only hindering himself rather than helping himself.

Which is why it took a moment to register that she had done little more than put her hand on the device and diagnosed it.]

-- hey, wait a second! How'd you do that?!

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