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Post by Sparky on Aug 3, 2021 17:22:55 GMT -8
  [Refs]
Hefty beats rumbled in Luke's ears as Dubstep blared in his work room. Thorough soundproofing meant he could be fairly loud without bothering the neighbors, letting him blast his music as loud as he wanted. It was a relatively easy day. Low work load, simple jobs to burn through to keep himself occupied. Luna was busy at work over in The ∇ri∆ngle, and Mike was hanging with Soren after recovering from his injuries. As far as Ty was concerned, fucker faded in and out of existence when required and was likely hanging out with Callahan right now. Not a whole lot of people to hang out with.
A low hiss escaped a dollop of solder as the iron dropped it down. The young techie flicked the tool off and sat back to inspect his handiwork. Nothing exceptional. Just a quick fix to get an old, shitty little trinket back to working order. With a sigh, the punk stretched out, dropped the tool in its holder, and packaged everything up to ship out. As he did so, something at his work desk caught his eye. The base seemingly growled in the background as he drifted to his work desk.
Multiple blueprints and sticky notes covered its surface. Reminders, ideas, plans, improvements. A shitty joke gun here, an idea for a remote control toy there. Fairly innocuous ideas meant to keep a bored techie occupied in his down time. However, that wasn't all that was there. A hum escaped Luke's lips as he shifted a page aside to look at what was beneath.
An improved pair of mechanical limbs.
"Huh. That's right, Louise is around." Luke was always bad at being the first to talk to people. Less because he didn't want to, more because he got wrapped up in whatever was right in front of him. If they weren't people like Mike, Ty, or Luna, constantly barging in to nag his ear off, he tended to forget people existed. Sure, the guy thought of people in passing, but it was more passing thoughts than 'oh hey, these are people I should totally talk to and interact with like a normal human being.'
The punk quietly pulled out his ResLink and swiped through his contacts, silver eyes scanning names. If Ty wasn't working, then that probably meant that Gorilla Groove was closed. Which meant that for the first time ever, Luke could get to work on some techno-shit with a fellow techie. With a pause, the young man settled on the pink-haired girl's name. How the fuck am I supposed to start a conversation here? It's not like I talk to her all the time like Ty does. A moment of anxiety washed over Luke... only for him to remember Wait she's a complete dork, why am I getting worked up over this?
And with that, the young man sent the address and pocketed the ResLink. Now to think about what to make... the young man meandered out of his work room, thinking idly about what snacks to put out. Hot cocoa would be nice. Silver gaze scanned towards the open door of his balcony. A cool breeze flowed through his room from the outside in. Yeah. Nice day. Could have some cocoa, set out a bowl of cookies to snack on. Yeah, you know what, that sounds like a bangarang plan. Good shit Luke. The tech-head gave himself a moment to feel proud of himself, and then set to work making his home feel hospitable to a newcomer.
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 3, 2021 17:39:33 GMT -8
Look at her not paying attention at all to the world. She's lucky you got another day off! Well more like she had requested it since there was a project she needed to finish by the end of the day. Luckily she managed to get it done in the morning- which makes her now feel silly for asking for the day off. But better safe than sorry right? Right? She'll feel guilty about this later. She was currently sitting back enjoying a lollipop and listening to some tunes to try and unwind her brain. Which is a hell of a task because it's always running on a motor of new inventions. She's cut short by her inventive daydreaming with a flash from her arm. Oh, a new message! She gasps excitedly seeing who it is and what exactly they were gonna do. FUCK YEAH A TECH FRIEND! Honestly, she was not expecting Luke to contact her. Well, maybe a little bit for that one time to work on her limbs. Is this the time? Oh fuck. She stands so fast from her chair that it falls over. Gonna take a sec to fix that- yep. She starts to eagerly pack up supplies before pausing. Right, gotta respond! Now to pack up her tools again! She'll also probably bring some spare arms in case they're working on those. Since- well she does still need her arms to work on her arms. Makes sense right? She'll just have to bring and use an outdated model. Might be a bit glitchy with how long it's been out of use. Should be fine with some calibrations though. Eh, she'll burn that bridge when she gets to it. She goes to march out the door before immediately running back inside. She nearly forgot all of her mock-ups and blueprints of previous models. Wait- does she have them digitally stored. She pulls up the files on the holoscreen in her arm and looks through them. Oh, hold on. If they're gonna be working on this- Her mind is racing too fast on all this stuff! Just grab the physical copies and go. ...Admittedly it takes her a few minutes to find some of the blueprints. It's not all of them but it's the more recent models so it has all the relevant info. NOW she can go! She rushes out the door, bag filled with tools, schematics, and a few spare limbs. With an eager click of her heels, she's hovering across the capital right over to Hurricane Keep. She double checks and triple checks the address to make sure she's actually at the right place. Even then she's staring at the door nervously, rocking back and forth on her feet. Finally, she takes a deep breath and raises her hand to gently knock on the door. Along with a text that says There are at least two doors and two outsides you can be referring to. Nice specification dumbass. |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 3, 2021 18:05:44 GMT -8
[Refs]
As soon as the ping came, the timer on the stove alerted Luke to the finished hot cocoa. "Well shit, figured I was gonna have to keep the heat on for a bit longer." The boy shrugged and called out loud enough to be heard from the other side. "Door's unlocked, kick your boots off at the door!" Luke pulled the pot from the heat and carefully poured out two mugs, allowing Louise to enter into his apartment.
The entry room was clean and tidy, with a soft, white carpet and cream colored walls. Almost contradictory to Luke's rough, techno-punk aesthetic, his home was neat and easy on the eyes. A large, sectional sofa sat in the middle of the living room, facing a coffee table and wall-mounted flat screen. Meanwhile, at the other side of a bar-style counter complete with swiveling stools, Luke quietly worked in his equally tidy kitchen. In one far corner, a guitar rested against an amp. Past the guitar corner, windowed sliding doors led to a balcony overlooking Hurricane Keep proper.
"Got Cocoa and cookies over here. Dunno what kind you like so I got choc-chip, peanut butter, plain, and a pecan shortbread. If you don't want somethin sweet I also got a couple different bags of chips I could pull out." Talking as he worked, the young punk didn't even lift his silver gaze in Louise's direction as he set the cookie plate and a cup of cocoa on her side of the counter. The volume at which he spoke was completely determined by where she was in the room, and moved at a brisk pace despite the relatively calm tone. "Marshmallows, whipped cream, nutmeg?" He asked as he topped off his own mug with a cone of cream and a grating of nutmeg.
"I ain't no pro-cook, but it's polite to greet new guests with, you know, somethin to snack on and shit, so if you want anything else just ask." The punk techie continued, turning away from his new guest as he shifted to cleaning out the used dishes. Everything had a measure of efficiency to it, as though the young man had a mental checklist he was constantly going down while simultaneously checking off a separate set of notes.
Finally, with dishes done and snacks served, Luke turned to level his gaze on Louise. His eyes flicked about, mentally double checking the list before he finally offered a generous wave towards the main room. "Anyways, welcome to my humble abode, I guess? I dunno, I don't really have a lot of new people over so forgive me if I'm still tryna figure out how to introduce it all." As if to punctuate that point, rather than giving any sort of tour, the tech-head instead took a quiet sip of his cocoa.
Past what he'd already done, there wasn't much more to talk about. Well, there was, but the young techie wanted Louise to get a chance to settle in and figure things out first. Once things were comfortable and the snacks were consumed, then they could move onto business. Luke took another quiet sip of his cocoa, waiting to see if he needed to get any other snacks, or if the ones provided were good enough.
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 3, 2021 18:23:30 GMT -8
She slowly opens the door and peers inside. She's- ok she's never been invited to someone's home before ever so this is a really wild and new experience for her. She has to admit she's impressed with the decorating. Waaay neater than her worship. Though it was a mess back home it all made sense to her so she had no motivation to clean it really. As per instructed she did step inside and kick off her boots. Literally. They smacked the sidewall with a thud loud enough to make her cringe. She does a quick check to make sure she didn't like, fuck up the wall or anything. Thank god the wall is fine. Close call though. Now she gets to really take a good look inside. She makes sure to close the door behind her before exploring around. Well mostly just getting a look at the electric guitar and amp as well as the swivel chairs. ...She does spin the swivel chair a few times she can't resist. Her interest is immediately lost in the chairs the minute she hears the words 'cocoa' and 'cookies'. In a flash, she's right wherever the fuck Luke is to go and grab sweets. That will summon her so fast. She gasps excitedly and immediately grabs one of each before chowing down on a chocolate chip cookie. The perfect classic. She almost didn't respond to what he said at first until- she remembered like words were spoken. " Cookies and cocoa are just fine! Perfect even. If you want chips though I won't stop you this is your house..." She says before taking another bite of her cookie. " Oh! Right!" She yells out loud before setting down her cookies. " Yes! Marshmallows and whipped cream are great. Nutmeg uh...sure never had it with cocoa before!" She says as she is beginning to unpack all of her blueprints and tools out onto the nearest surface that could hold everything. She's trying to keep it as organized as possible but she is stopping every once in a while as a tool attempts to fall off or a blueprint tries to roll up. Not this time bitch! " Also you're all good with all the- what host stuff?" She's not really sure what it means in this context but whatever. " Sorry I'm like- just dumping everything out I'm just really excited. I've never been to someone's place before. Much less collaborated on anything! Ok- well that's a lie I did have the person who initially taught me..." A complicated time to remember ah geez. She blinks for a few moments before putting on that bright grin again. She takes a long sip of her cocoa as she finally looks over all her tools and makes sure she has everything. " Do we start now or...?" She looks back at the snacks at hand and goes to finish her chocolate chip cookie. |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 3, 2021 19:00:23 GMT -8
[Refs]
Sipping at his drink, Luke listened to Louise speak. He was a bit thankful that he picked the right snacks. It was funny, in a sense, the way she perked up and ran over like a puppy. It was enough to make him forget to scowl at her for almost kicking a hole in his wall. When someone says "kick off your shoes" they don't mean "fucking buck like a horse and send it through the wall." But nothing happened so all was forgiven. The young man even paused to give her a generous helping of marshmallows, whipped cream, and grated nutmeg for her drink.
Girl liked sweets, so might as well just make a mountain of the stuff.
The young man polished off a couple of the shortbread cookies and downed the rest of his cocoa with a contented sigh. "Yeah, nah, I hear you. I haven't really worked on projects with anyone else either. Even when I was getting my first job, all my work was done solo. But, hey, why not combine our skills and see if we can make somethin' bangarang, ye?" Judging from everything spilling out of Louise's bag, ranging from spare tools to spare limbs, he could tell she was excited. It was a weird contrast, coming from how giddy the young woman was, then looking to the calm and level-headed punk.
It wasn't hard to catch her eyes wandering over to the rest of the cookie plate. Girl's terrible sweet tooth was so obvious that it was actually a bit funny. No laughter though, the young punk was a super serious man who made super serious inventions and it was super serious time. What do you mean he made a gun that shot foam cocks?
As Louise munched, the young man shrugged and dug around for a notepad. Gloved hands flipped through, combing around different notes and sketches. Most of it was personal, a few were notes about interesting tech the boy had to repair. It took a bit to finally find what he was searching for. A special section dedicated to new and modified prosthetic limbs, specially designed and inspired by Louise. Luke placed down the notepad and slipped it over to her side for her to look.
"After we met I started thinking about all that shit I was suggestin' about your prosthetics. There's a lot of potential there that we can work with so I wound up chunking out a few ideas. These are just the base sketches, I have some proper blueprints in my work room. But the gyst is trimming down a bunch of the faff to increase energy efficiency, while also giving you a mechanical fall back so that you're not left limp and helpless when they run out of battery life." The young man's finger traced down a few messy lines. "It wouldn't be hard to slot in some lights like you like to have, I got a few strips that are thin enough, but you're probably going to miss out on some luminosity. I also have a few concepts on how to implement tactile feedback, but that's probably a far out goal."
Luke let the information hang in the air, giving the girl time to process. No doubt she was going to have comments and ideas, so the young man began moving towards his work area down the nearby hallway. When he reached the door, the boy turned to look back at Louise, silver eyes sharp and stern.
"No food in the work room, so finish off whatever else you wanna munch down and then we can get started." Opening the door, music blared out, filling the quiet apartment with the sounds of electronic music. Right now, it was a band titled Mystery Skulls. Quite a nice little bop.
Contrasting the rest of the apartment, Luke's work room was organized chaos. Shelves and drawers labeled and stuffed full of electronics. One table had a massive pc set up, placed right beside a full industrial 3D printer. It was clear from the size of the room that it had once been intended to be the actual bedroom of the apartment, but Luke instead repurposed it to fit his own needs. A lathe settled on the far wall, next to a bench covered in blueprints and ideas, meanwhile, a few properly completed inventions were steadied on their own shelves.
There were... more than a few dick shaped pieces of foam and plastic. All loaded into or set near what was obviously meant to fire said foam and plastic. A few of them had pictures posted up near them of very angry or very surprised individuals all being slapped in the face with said projectile phalluses. But, other than the cocks, there were a good number of interesting bits of inventions. A glowing chess board, a massive model battleship with plastic bb ammunition, a submarine, so on. Guy had a wide range.
That range being "Interesting" all the way to "Pure Chaos."
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 3, 2021 19:28:16 GMT -8
Her grin grew wide as she was gifted the mountain of whipped cream and marshmallows and nutmeg. She starts to lick off some of the whipped cream because if she tries to drink it now she will just get it in her face and hair. Not good. Finally, though she was able to take a sip of her cocoa and chow down on a marshmallow or two. So satisfying. She really appreciates the free sweet snacks. She nods along excitedly to his suggestion. " Yeah yeah yeah! This will be exciting," she says clapping her hands together and giving another grin. As if this wasn't exciting enough already. She prefers to be happy over sad so she will just choose to be happy. Cause that is how this works! No time to let these fears of mistakes ruin stuff. Louise has to be fast-paced and high energy if she wants to keep up with her own mind. Besides, there is nothing that brings out more joy than getting to do her work and do what she loved. Even better to share it with a possible friend implying she did not somehow royally fuck this up. Ah, here we go again. She wasn't really paying attention to Luke flipping through his notes. She was more distracted by tasting and enjoying every cookie flavor. She jumped at the sudden thud of the notepad but looked over at it. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the prosthetic limb design. She leans forward and her excited eyes dart over the paper. She glances up to pay closer attention to what he's saying. " Yeah I did have energy improvement ideas myself, but geez yours looks way better. Oh-!
By the way here is a list of the current functions of this prosthetic model. I don't know if some of the bells and whistles I have in there are going to affect the design or energy efficiency. I also have like a- a- wish list kinda? I guess or a goal list- whatever something like that! Just a separate list of stuff like better tactile detection as you said. But, you know like- a regular prosthetic arm is just, a limb that just kinda hangs there. Basically, all this stuff hooks up to the nerves here," She gestures around her hips and shoulders. Honestly, it was a lot of studying anatomy and wire working. It's one of the reasons she struggles with inefficiency. It's like the nerves go dead for a sec. " Also I'm like- really in awe that you managed to design all this after we met and stuff that's suuuper neat!" She chirps. " A shame I can't have like- my cool light show I guess but in the name of efficiency. Maybe that can also be a stretch goal or something!" She says. She will get her cool and fun stuff that is totally unnecessary. She pouts upon hearing no food is allowed in the workshop. So she begins quickly wolfing down the rest of her cookies so she can both have them all and get to work faster. Then she knocks back the cocoa and marshmallows like a monster and practically skips into the workroom after him. Ah yeah, this looked more like her workshop. She took in the chaos with eager curiosity. She was rushing around the room- careful not to touch anything of course. Wait, are those dildos? Oh, no, the pictures explain everything. Not that she was gonna judge or anything. " This is so fucking cool!" She exclaims breathlessly. |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 3, 2021 19:57:37 GMT -8
[Refs]
As the beat kicked up a bit, Luke guided Louise over to the workbench with all the blueprints. "Now, don't go thinking there isn't gonna be a lightshow, it just won't be as bright. I kept in mind ways to work it all in." The young man brushed aside ideas for other projects and pulled up a massive sheet, outlining improved limbs for her. "I'm going to need to comb through your notes and also dig into your current model a bit, but this is the working idea. Keeping the same form factor you have going now, there's about several different ways to improve mobility and energy efficiency. From the rigidness of how you move at times, and your general budget, I'm taking a few guesses that you're not using the best materials you can possibly work with. Decent? Sure, but there's no doubt room to improve."
His finger pointed out and traced down the lines. "Look here, switching the wire types not only improves energy transfer but lowers the amount of mass you're packing. And I've already smoothed out some new joints that we can use to also help you with a bit more flexibility. You'll see a few blank spots here and there." He continued, motioning towards a handful of points and tapping them. "I left them that way so once I have the chance to dig into the wiring set up of your current model I can start putting together a few theories."
On that note, the young man flipped open the notes that Louise gave him. As scatterbrained as she was, no doubt these would be thorough enough to fill in some of those working blind spots. "For lighting set ups, as mentioned, swapping those out for a programmable LED strip allows for less weight, less mass, less energy usage, and gives you your fancy light. I'm curious as to what you already have in there, seeing as I heard they increase the drain." The guy had a few assumptions on what it could be, but nothing concrete. "Anyways, taking up all that newfound free space will be a mechanical back-up that I keep mentioning. Ty tells me how absent minded you can be, and even with a spare battery, I don't doubt you'll sometimes forget to charge them properly. So, keeping that back-up means that while you won't have full use of the electronic systems, you'll still be able to move, walk, and use your arms."
He paused and looked up from the table. "Plus, it's just smart to have built in redundancies."
"Updating the joints in your wrist, hand, and fingers can also improve some general dexterity so you can do a whole lot more with them." Combing through the notes and wish-list, Luke leaned up against the workbench. Hundreds of thoughts were already running through his mind and pulling the greater picture into focus. This was more than workable. Letting out a hum, the boy slunk over to his tools and pulled out everything he was going to need.
"If you wanna swap out those limbs to the back-ups you brought, we can start getting to work. First things first. Do you want a polymer base for the prosthetic shell, or do you want a metal base? Polymer housing can be strong enough for typical daily use with the added benefit of being light weight, but metal is obviously going to be the stronger of the bunch no matter what. Obvious downside is obvious." Once more he was talking as he worked, reading over the notes and pulling out his tools simply by the feel of them. The words just came spilling out as easy as breathing for Luke. The young punk techie already had a plan in mind and was eager to get Louise up to speed. For as tough as he looked, the guy was genuinely intelligent. "I'm trusting you already know how to use all of these tools, so once we get to work we can split the load, knock out the big shit, then pool them together. Questions, comments, or are you ready to get working?"
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 3, 2021 20:21:00 GMT -8
She nods along as he speaks and begins pulling out the necessary requests. Lucky she had a blueprint of her most recent model with her. Well- not lucky she did intentionally bring it after all. She makes sure to have that one pulled up on her limb too. A good reference to have right on the arm itself. " Haha yeah I guess you could say I've definitely been upgrading on a budget..." She says with a sigh. It always took a lot of time to get even the decent material she had. Here she had access to better stuff- though now a part of her wondered if she was gonna have to pay for them. She's sure she has enough money. She hopes. She hates thinking about this stuff. Her eyes follow his finger down the notes and lines. " Some more flexibility would be nice." Dang she's really glad she's getting the help right now. It's really hard to sometimes check the flaws in a model until another pair of trained eyes are on it. She's totally 100% ready to tear up her arm now to shreds and make it anew. Completely unnecessary and hyperbolic here. " The lights were constructed from small pieces of Light elemental crystals. It gives a really cool effect!" But also required a bit to power with magic and all not exactly being her forte. But she does try and she's not half bad! Just needs a little help with some other stuff now and again. She should probably pull up the prints for that as well, so she does. She has an expression of mock offense upon hearing Ty has called her absent-minded. It's true though so she's not actually mad. " I'm actually really good about charging my limbs! Mostly because the consequences suck otherwise," she replies. " But yeah a backup is a good idea. I just always had trouble thinking of something other than a spare battery." Thanks tunnel vision. Louise was idly bouncing and swaying to the beat of the music of the workshop as she watches Luke pour-over and absorb the notes together. Her brows furrow together at the question and she tilts her head. " Hmm... dunno. I suppose whichever is gonna be better for durability," she says. " So probably the metal then!" It's not like she's unfamiliar with the weight. She goes to grab her tools and spare arms. " Ready as soon as I swap out my limbs," She replies with a grin, waving around her now detached arm. That is sorta freaky to see. There is also the ring of burn scars peeking out from the area of attachment on her shoulder. She then screws in the older model and flexes it a little. Ugh, not fun but is what it is. She works on swapping out the other one and then placing her latest models upon available space on the work table. She also takes the liberty of deconstructing one of the arms bit by bit to show off all the inner workings and functions. |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 3, 2021 21:05:49 GMT -8
[Refs]
Luke nodded along, jotting down notes and filling in blank spaces on the blueprints. A lot of the mana-based crystals could certainly give really cool effects, but if you didn't have enough mana to pump into them, it sapped away energy like crazy. Bit of a negative feedback loop given the crystals put out a lot of energy themselves. Already the swap to LED's was going to give Louise a massive boost in energy efficiency.
At her response to the material components, Luke gave a small nod and pulled out an already premade shell. If Louise were to look in the box, she'd see a set of polymer based ones. The joints were going to need to be properly oiled and maintained from the friction of metal on metal, but the techie had a few working theories on how to alleviate that issue. The boy watched as Louise swapped out her limbs, flicking a gaze down to his cloth-bound forearm upon seeing the burnt skin. He was polite enough not to make any comments or questions. But, now that all the prep work was over, it was time to turn his attention to the real meat of today's project. Cracking his gloves knuckles, the young man didn't even try to hide the sheer delight flooding his silvery eyes.
It wasn't every day he got to work with such immaculate and impressive technology.
Practically diving onto the limbs, he began dismantling them like a machine, pausing only to fill out gaps on the blueprint. The nerve connections were fairly simple, but even those had ways to be improved. And, just like the girl said, her budget had been tight when building this, so a lot of Luke's assumptions going in were proven correct. As he worked, the boy made sure to snap his fingers and draw Louise's attention to the project, unafraid to point out flaws and how to improve them. Far as Luke was concerned, she was an equal right now, and he was treating her as such.
That being said, the young man did his best to try to give Louise some experience through watching him work. It was hard to tell where her skill level was at, so he put an assumption in that she was only slightly behind where he was at present and worked from there. Luke intended to smooth out more than just the rough spots in her design. Was never a bad thing to help another person improve.
After the limbs had been fully disassembled and mapped out, Luke set to work marking improvement areas and filling them out on the blueprints. Then, with his hands on his hips, the young man stepped back. "Alright, bangarang. That's all I needed to know, so now it's time to really get to work." The techie turned towards his temporary partner and nodded, extending a fist towards her to offer a bump. "Everything here is free use, so let's mark down parts for both of us to work on and start knocking this all out. Once the big shit's done, we'll wire up one of them and connect it up so you can test them out. See if anything needs to be changed or adjusted before we close up the other three. Best to get the errors out on one instead of having to get them out of all four. Sound good?"
A screwdriver twirled between the young man's fingers as he spoke. Hopefully he hadn't hit her with too much information too quickly. Louise seemed to be ok vibing with the background music, though. So, maybe he was worrying too much. It was hard to adjust to the fact that he was dealing with someone who knew just as much as he did, rather than someone constantly leaning over his shoulder pointing at every wire, switch, bit, and bob asking "Wha's that?"
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 4, 2021 7:32:03 GMT -8
She makes sure to help along Luke with any of the notes and deconstruction. It's funny watching her work because as she is taking apart one of her own arms, her eyes quickly light up with new ideas that she stops everything to write down. She has to otherwise that thought is never entering her head again. Most of them are already notes on improvements, noted damages as minuscule as they were she made sure to write down every wear and tear. It's important to know how well this stuff can take a beating and how long-lasting the quality actually was. Louise nodded along to Luke's lecturing, staying uncharacteristically quiet. But there was this burning gaze of focus and determination in her bright blue eyes that shows her mind was talking enough as it is. She would occasionally glance up to check Luke's progress and have to pause in awe at the efficiency and speed at which he worked. God damn. Always fun watching a genius do their work! She's already putting in some mock-up plans with the materials that are available in this workshop. Though she might wanna do some testing on a smaller scale first to decide what might work out the best. Every time Luke snapped his fingers Louise glanced up with a somewhat alarmed expression at the sudden noise. Though the initial shock wears away with his mini-lessons in her work. She also pulls up her notepad to write down what he's saying on occasion. Or rather bits and pieces of phrases along with silly doodles that only seem to make sense to her. Whatever works I guess. She's not bad at what she does. Great at it even. She's in The Zone and she doesn't seem to be coming out of it any time soon. The mechanical hands are a bit slow but they move with a delicacy and accuracy a human limb could never recreate. On occasion the movements are stiff but with a flex of wired fingers, they recalibrate themselves just fine. Louise makes sure each part of the limb is organized and she even sticks a few labels next to all the parts. Not for Luke but for her because some of these parts look pretty similar and it's easy to mix them up. Nothing worse than testing out a limb only to find it's just not quite working. She grins at the fist bump and returns it eagerly, though she makes sure to go slow and gentle. ...She is still fully capable of accidentally crushing some bones after all. It's why the nerve sensory was important. Knowing how much pressure is being put on something is good for preventing crushed bones. " Wait-! I can use everything in here?!" She asks bouncing up and down on her feet which whirr in joy along with her. It's like he gave a child permission to try every piece of candy in the store. " Sounds great! This is gonna be the best limb yet! I'm just gonna grab..." She's already rushing off to gather all the necessary parts. ...Even grabbing some extras as possible swap-outs and experiments. There is some material that looks a little unfamiliar to her, mostly because the quality of it is something she's just not used to. Lucky that she can just look stuff up on her other arm. Hehe. " I don't remember if I asked," She says as she's placing down the proper materials on the work table. " How long have you been doing this stuff for?" |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 4, 2021 19:40:40 GMT -8
[Refs]
Black locks fell in front of his eyes as he worked, but the young man didn't seem to be bothered by it. The steely gaze never wavered off the project for even a moment. Even if he didn't have the same access to mechanical finesse as Louise did, there was still a smooth, practiced dexterity in his own work. Fingers glided over the table, snatching up tools or placing down smaller pieces to be screwed in. Not even the gloves, fingerless or no, seemed to interrupt his flow. The flow came to him as naturally as breathing.
The only pauses came when the punk needed to shift over to look at the blueprints or notes. It was almost astounding to think that Luke was just a regular human without any sort of magical affinity. Not a robot, not a technomancer, just some dude. Some random human with skills born of hard work and stubborn determination. Contrasting Louise, he only sparingly referred to the notes, and didn't seem to add anything new unless something proved to be less efficient or ineffective. Calling it laser focused barely did it justice, rather, it seemed like he'd entered his own universe. Only the project in front of him mattered.
At least until Louise chimed with a question.
Silver eyes flicked in her direction, then right back to the work in progress limb. "Hmm..." The young man quietly brushed his hair back out of his face as he pondered. Dates and time were slightly more fuzzy in his mind. So much happened that events tended to blurr together. Mesh in messy ways. With a sigh, the boy leaned back, face shifting as he worked his jaw. "...probably been doing this since I was... eight? Maybe nine? Hard to really remember. One day I swiped a big book and decided to read it instead of sell it, and then I've been fucking with tech ever since."
Luke shrugged and leaned back in to the current job.
Truthfully, the punk techie did have a general idea of the age, but it started delving into areas of Luke's life that he wasn't comfortable sharing just yet. Maybe when everyone was together, and maybe when he was a bit more comfortable with where he was. For now, he gave just enough information to sate the current curiosity, while keeping everything else vague enough to hold onto his secrets.
The young man pushed the chair far enough over to grab his soldering tools, then scooted right back. "Dunno, by the time Luna, Ty, and I met, I was pretty much already a pro at what I do. 'Cept with Luna barging in and pushing up against me trying to constantly pester me to death, I had to get really good at not losing focus." There was a pause as the young man stared off idly into nowhere. After a few seconds, he returned to soldering in a few wires. "Won't lie though, I am glad she kept pushing. Probably would'a stayed an angry shut in my entire life if she didn't. And I will reluctantly admit it was kinda, kinda, nice always having her around to talk to. Kinda."
It was weird to think about. Back then, when all Luke wanted was to be left alone, Luna kicked open the door and forced the light in. Now that the guy was an adult, trying to turn back into an angry shut in, she once again comes kicking the door in. Either he really couldn't catch a break, or she was really good at sniffing out when he needed her around. Both of those theories could probably work in this situation. The one eternal truth, however, was that the faunus was absolutely fucking relentless. To a terrifying degree at times.
"How's your end of the project coming along?" Luke asked, casually shifting the subject away towards... more comfortable waters.
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 5, 2021 7:24:55 GMT -8
She ended up quickly tying her hair up into two separate buns on her head just to keep it out of her face. That and also bits of her hair could end up where it's not supposed to. The struggle of long hair she will find it literally everywhere like a dog shedding. Also, she doubts Luke would appreciate having to pick up strands of pink hair from fine wires and tools. She kept working as she waited for a reply. Though part of her wasn't really expecting much of one at all. Ty did tell her Luke was pretty cagey. They all were but she can't blame them. Rough childhoods make you less eager to talk about it, she gets it. Lucky her brain deleted a good chunk of those memories. Though now she doesn't really have memories to explain why she is the way that she is so- that's great. She only darts her gaze back towards him when he begins speaking before going back to work. For some reason when she's in her Zone, multi-tasking becomes easier. It's weird don't ask why she suddenly gains brain cells working. She's putting together a piece with gentle care and nods along. Eight is pretty young, she herself can't remember when she started doing this stuff. Just always had some tools or ideas in her head she supposes. But she's not gonna say that cause he didn't ask and that's obnoxious. " That's cool. Do you remember the name of the book at all?" She might try and check it out. Mostly because she really likes reading anything on tech and seeing if she could learn from it. ...Most of the time it ended up being a no though. She finishes up one of the pieces she was working on and sets it aside. She figured he was likely holding some details back in the story, but she wouldn't go pushing for them. If he wanted her to know she would know, simple as that. However, at the mention of Luna pushing up against him, Louise bites back from laughter. Then she puffs up her cheeks and her face goes a little pink. She's trying SO HARD, to not make a joke about it right now. SO HARD. She has a feeling Luke's reaction will be somewhat similar to Luna's reaction and she doesn't want a free back cracking right now, thanks. " It's nice to have people around you that care and push you out of your comfort zone. I guess..." She still doesn't really know what that's like. Well, Ty is helping her a little but still. " There's nothing wrong with enjoying a certain someone's company," she says before dissolving into a fit of giggles. She stops laughing though at his question and gets back to her... somewhat, serious expression. " Progress is coming along fine. Finished up one of the pieces we need. Got to working on some testing wiring, just want to see how this stuff fits together before committing to it. You?" |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 5, 2021 16:15:03 GMT -8
[Refs]
Finishing up a solder, the young man thought on the first book he ever read through. Inspired by a love of killer robot shows and a need to find a way to properly survive. Well, without pinching everything he came across. Actually, come to think of it, he still had it around. I think it's actually... riiight... the young man pushed away from the work table, lost in thought. A small, pleased hum escaped as he pulled a hefty, worn encyclopedia off one of the many cluttered book shelves. It was nice to know that his organized chaos was organized enough.
"There we go, fuckin' bangarang. Huh, shit, title's worn a bit." He turned back to Louise just as she properly collected herself. The girl should count herself lucky that the music drowned out her giggles. This is the man with the power to make her limbs suddenly fire out cock-confetti whenever he wished. "But, yeah, it's a technical manual. Pretty hefty fucker. It had more than enough information to get me started. It's a bit too important to me to lend out, but if you're ever over more often I can let you take the time to read through it." The boy gently gave Louise a small bop on her noggin with the book, then returned it to the safety of the shelf.
"Anyways, I'm probably a good, I dunno, forty-percent of the way through. Maybe a bit more. This isn't the first time I've had to fuck with prosthetics, so I'm pretty much taking all the best shit I've done and mixing it all into a Greatest Hits. You're lucky I'm not charging you for this, cus if it were anyone other than a friend I'd straight wring you dry for the quality of work I'm puttin' in here." Luke flopped back into his seat as he spoke. The desk chair spun and rolled perfectly back into place, easily allowing him to return to work. Cracking his neck, the young man sighed as he continued. "The lighting set up is easy enough, I've done about several hundred of these sorts of things by now, both professionally and casually. Material is done with both a cast and a lathe for different parts making them both super refined and super strong, with an alloy composition. While it's not completely polymer, having them added in for supports and smaller bits also reduces weight while still maintaining structural integrity."
"All in all, these puppies should be a pretty fuckin' smooth ride." Luke finished, lifting the leg he was working on to properly inspect it. Nothing out of place or off center. All the connections looked good. No stray or stripped wires. Not bad all in all. "There should be enough going in here to give you some tactile feedback, and I might have an idea on how to work the nerve connections down to the hands and give you some sort of sensation of feeling. We'll test it out once this one is finished. If it doesn't work? We strip it. If it does? Bangarang, we make it standard and work on expanding that system later."
The young punk gently set down the limb and dug right back in. It was a pleasant surprise to see a project that typically would take half a day get chewed through so quickly. Having two expert hands on deck meant the work load wasn't just halved, but the efficiency of work was shooting through the roof. Anything that needed a more refined and precise touch got tossed over to Louise, and more complex things that required an experienced hand got tossed back to Luke.
It was nice working alongside someone of similar skill and trade.
Admittedly, Louise was probably the first person to be welcomed into Luke's home this quickly. The common friend made her more trustworthy. The common ground made it easier for the young man to accustom himself to her presence. She was definitely getting far more patience than any other person would get. Which was probably a good thing in Louise's case. The young punk certainly did have a track record of making people cry fairly easily. It was for the best that the pink-haired techy wasn't being added to that lengthy list. |
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Post by fluffymcsnuggles on Aug 5, 2021 17:13:50 GMT -8
  [Refs]
[H/div] Her eyes widen as the book is actually tossed her way. Wait, seriously? Did he manage to keep this all this time? Dang, that was impressive and also she's a little envious. She almost goes to start reading it, but you know working on a project and all that. So she'll do a quick look over and set it aside. " That's awesome you still got this. Thanks. I'll be sure to read it at some point then." It's like she's asking for distractions to fly her way at this point sheesh. Also, she's trying to not get too giddy at the mention of hanging out next time. Well, more of an implication, but, something to look forward to. She makes a silly face as he bops her head with the manual. Back to work, it is then! She takes her time rolling her shoulders and shaking out her legs and she listens to his personal progress update. Her eyes light up and she has the biggest smile on her face when he calls her a friend. Learning he also wasn't going to charge was great too because she really could not afford his rates or materials. But she certainly would try and find a way to pay him back somehow, some other way. " I'm just really happy to hear we're friends. I still wanna pay ya back though somehow!" Frankly she has no clue how to begin on that endeavor but whatever. " Happy to help with anything else if you need it. I'm a suuuper great helper." Just ask Ty! She's not sure if he'll give a glowing review but hey she hasn't been fired yet and there have been like- almost no incidents. The cracking of his neck signals her to get back to her own handiwork. She nods along and notes his words down where she can. She claps her hands excitedly upon inspecting the leg and hearing his plan. Finally, some god damn feeling that wasn't just some numbers. Those numbers were better than nothing but it doesn't beat the real feeling. " Might as well do a quick little test run when we can. Make sure everything hooks up and feels good." Or to see if she can feel or move at all. Now to get back to work on this project. She was estimating it was going to take them away longer, but having a pair of expert helping hands is making this stuff zoom by. Their work style moves together like a smooth machine. Makes her want to definitely work with him again or at least some other techies too. She doubts it's all this great though all the time. Loise is well aware that she's lucky enough to know the right people and be in their good graces. Otherwise, she doubts a person like Luke would generally tolerate a personality like hers. Can't blame him. She's hard to stomach herself sometimes. Oh hey look self-loathing is back. Anyways! It was better to focus on her work which is exactly what she was doing now, quietly humming along to the songs. |
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Post by Sparky on Aug 5, 2021 18:12:34 GMT -8
[Refs]
Time flew by in a flash. Each piece and part coming into place easily. Luke's blueprints and notes were extremely thorough, and thankfully easy to read. Quick, thorough descriptions, written in a concise manner. All fully upfront with what needed to be done and how. In the off chance that Louise needed help, the boy was readily available to make sure the questions were answered. But, they both knew what they were doing.
It was the thought that counted though.
Friends were a difficult struggle for Luke, but in a different manner than Louise. While she wanted as many friends as possible, the young punk was a more prickly sort. More introverted. Mistrusting. It was visible in his body, the way he walked. Spoke. Moved. The way he studied the world around him. The young man was always on guard. Breaking through that barrier was no easy task. If it weren't for the stubborn determination of Luna or Ty, he might have just stayed alone. With the guard already lowered, Louise had a much easier time getting through. Any signs of annoyance were closer to playful than they were actual irritation. Likely a first for the pink technomancer.
As time went on, the boy became more at ease with Louise's presence. Though it wasn't enough for him to spill the beans on everything she was curious about, but when they did talk, it felt a little more jovial. Calmer, with a slightly pleasant air that hadn't been there previously. When the two first met, he'd been a bit colder as to properly gauge who she was. Everything past then was all business. Now it felt a bit closer to how Luke acted around Ty. Giving small jokes and jabs occasionally. While not fully the same as two individuals who'd known one another nearly their entire lives, it was clear she was welcome within his circle.
After some time had passed, Luke pushed back from the work table and inspected his current work. Wires tested, joints solid. A few pieces had to be 3d printed out and fitted in, but it was far from a slap job. Everything custom machined, custom printed, custom molded, custom coded. "Well, this may not be my magnum opus, but it's certainly close to one of the nicest pieces of work I've ever done." The boy scratched at the back of his neck, working down his jaw line. "Probably give it a solid top ten. Top five at most if we're lucky with the tests."
Speaking of. The young man spun his chair to face Louise, looking over her work. "Once you're done with your set, let's button her up and plug her in. Give her a test and see if it ticks all the boxes. You know, comfort, form, functionality, and aesthetics." After each word, the young man popped a finger up in time. "I would add on durability but experience tells me this will be strong enough to handle anything that's not a magical attack." Even then, enchantments could be placed by professionals to strengthen defenses against that sort of thing. Luke didn't mentioned that aspect, however, as it was assuming Louise was going to be going around fighting everything that moved. Heh, who was she? Luke? "The first thing I properly finished and hooked up was the arm. Got the legs wired, but I wanna see if the tactile feedback system I set up works before I move onto them. Keep in mind, right now it's just localized on the hands and feet. But, really if it works, that's the last thing to wire. If it doesn't, all we gotta do is button them up and put them through their tests." Luke shrugged and motioned towards the shell of the prosthetic limb. "I'll let you put the last parts in and seal it. You can use the punching bag to test it out. Just. Don't hit it too hard?" Luke jerked his thumb towards one of the unexplored corners. In hindsight, the object was very obvious to notice, but with all the shiny tech a well-worn punching bag easily got lost in the mix. Luke needed it to work out his frustrations. Also mostly just because he was a fighty shit that needed to punch things a lot. |
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