voidtreckerexpress | [Open] Escapades With A Mad Genius

Entry tags:

[Open] Escapades With A Mad Genius

Who: Senku Ishigami and anyone who wants to spend time with him.
Where: Various
When: Imagination 1-6
What: Senku apparently has all kinds of things to do pre-mission.
Warnings: One prompt is medical in nature, it's not really graphic.

Kitchen

In the absence of a laboratory, Senku appeared to be using cooking to cope. No, he wasn't on the purple team, meaning he wasn't officially cooking, but it was keeping him busy, and no one really wanted him to have idle hands for too long.

From the time they left the platform, until the night before the mission, he could likely be found in there at least once a day working on one project or another.

The first day, he was busy using the new ingredient of honey to make a caramel on the stove, and he had bunches of cilantro and some limes on the counter in front of him, as well as a water carbonatation machine.

After that, he could be found with a few other projects. In one instance he had lemons, honey and coconut oil in front of him. In another, he appeared to be making some kind of marinade with soy sauce and a variety of spice packets and some kind of meat. In a third, he was slicing ginger root and daikon as thinly as he could.

On Imagination day 5, he'd found his way to a few mangoes which since he didn't wear his SCA on the train very often, he didn't get the reminder that peeling mangoes was a bad idea. He'd barely started the first one when he developed a rash on his hands and at least the skin that could be seen swelled up, including his eyes and lips, thanks to urushiol being present between the peel and the fruit. One might stop at that point and deal with the allergic reaction, but Senku proceeded to continue peeling fruit as though he wasn't immensely uncomfortable.

Spa

Senku will likely check out the spa late in the evening when he couldn't sleep one night. For modesty's sake, at least other people's modesty, he will select the requisite orange swimsuit and sink into the water for a little soak. Notably, when wet, his hair collapses into some semblance of ordinary.

He wasn't interested in a massage, but a soak and a steam wouldn't be out of place.

[OOC: Also available, choose your own adventure. Senku haunts most cars, he doesn't sleep a whole lot and he doesn't usually mind company. You can just add whatever you like - don't be afraid of the pre-planned threads, or you can contact me on Discord: Ammeschan#5385 or

Ammeschan]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Ah. That explains it. If it's a radio, then we'll only be able to listen in on a frequency, but we can't answer back." He lets Senku tinker around with it, but it's what Tidus says that makes Roland look around, peering out of the car with a tilt of his body towards the closed door.

"...That's definitely a must. But before that, how about an experiment? Take the radio in every car, check every dial it has, and see what we pick up? If at all?" He offers the solution, simple enough, to both of them with a finger under his chin in thought.

"Not a problem." Senku answered with a shake of his head. "The thing about radios, provided this one still works in a manner I'm familiar with, is that you can convert them. It's picking up a frequency, it wouldn't take much modification to send something back on that frequency."

He nodded though, at both of their suggestions. "That would be ideal. Trying it everywhere we can on the train, and not just once. Different times of the day, different days." Senku said, thinking about experiment parameters.

"And just as importantly, doing the same thing off the train. I'm not willing to mess with it until we've accomplished those things."

"Nooot that I'm not curious," far from it, "but do you two wanna do that together and see what happens? Whatever you pick up, I'm not gonna understand or catch anything better than both your ears."

He's just not technologically smart. Plus-

"We don't all three of us want to be crowding around with it. Right?" Ah- But he looks at Senku, with the mention of messing with things.

"I got something, Senku. I thought it'd be good for you and the rest of the train..."

Trailing off, Tidus scoots over to where a trunk is, pulls out from it a large toolbox. From bolts, wrenches, screwdrivers, and even a drill. Anything that a DIY expert can find uses for.

"I heard the train already had one, but-" he shrugs, huffing. "Beats me where it is. Can you keep it on you?"

Roland watches Tidus gift the toolbox to Senku, but his attention mostly remains on the radio in question, still in the latter's hands. Whatever reaction Senku has in store, Roland waits patiently, thinking about how they were going to go about this.

When it feels right to speak again, coming into whatever natural lull there is in the conversation, Roland glances at both of them with something to add.

"That's fine, but..." Subtly checking if anyone else was there to overhear them, but thankfully most come and go with but a nod of acknowledgment. Roland crosses his arms over his chest. "How can we be sure that whatever frequency we tap into is a friendly one? Or a neutral one, at the very least?" Another glance. Still good. "I'm all for sending something back by riding on the same frequency if you can do it Senku, but we know so little about the way the void works that we could be tricked into thinking we're getting in touch with the ministry." By outside forces, by the train itself. Who knows? This paranoia is a safety measure though; if that fear can be alleviated with something, then by all means.

Edited 2020-11-03 15:05 (UTC)

"We could take turns if nothing else and keep track if anyone picks anything up."

The toolbox though, was a surprise and his eyes widen in awe and wonder. He reached out to take it from him. He'd kill for tools like this, metaphorically speaking in his world. He missed when he had a tool kit like that. "I saw it briefly, but someone's clearly picked it up." He hadn't thought that would be an issue, he left his things out for people to use all the time.

If they weren't going to share though, he'd have to keep it out of the way and sign them out on request. That was unfortunate. "I can hang onto it, and if anyone needs anything they're more than welcome to borrow it."

"In theory it can be done, unless the insides of this are really strange." Senku said, keeping his voice very low, they might strain to hear him.

"I think you should assume any signal we're getting is potentially hostile. I can't even guarantee the ministry is not hostile." He pointed out. "Plan for the worst, and if it doesn't happen, then you've planned for nothing but that's better than being caught off-guard. Fact is, if we don't reach out to something, somewhere, we're stuck on this trip perpetually at someone else's whim."

Tidus makes a sound of approval to Senku's plan with the toolbox, no problems there - not minding if Senku was the only one who used it, but if there was someone else, then why not? So he's glad that the guy's willing to put in that effort.

But for the talk of the signals, Tidus listens to them both. Makes a hum again, agreeing with Senku.

"We're not completely defenceless if we get boarded. But we knew this was gonna be risky, even with the ministry. We need to take risks. And if we can think of way to answer 'em, then we'll plan."

He does wonder though... "Do you think the train will let just anyone board? I know it did the, uh...void patrol, the ministry or whatever that one time, but." He raises a hand in gesture.

"It doesn't seem keen on us having contact with the outside."

He doesn't disagree with that - it's the very reason he went with the first plan, to leave messages behind. But it hasn't been as successful as they hoped, and so the risk grows ever greater. Risk and reward, but obviously the rewards would always outweigh whatever dangers they were asking to be a part of. Exactly as Senku says, it's much better to have some form of autonomy especially when they all started out as kidnapped.

Still. His mind drifts to thoughts of collateral damage; children onboard the train, not all of them fighters. Of course he wants to think about them too, how they shouldn't be involved. No one else, unless they're willing or trustworthy enough. Regardless, it's all speculation at this point. Nothing to be done until they take the leap and roll with the outcome. He breaks his silence with a hum.

"I think they were only able to board because of the sudden crash of comms. Did we even find out who the two passengers were, on that report? With their names just as initials." Because no one on the roster at that time - when he checked at least - matched the letters. Roland exhales deeply.

"Anyway. There's no point in second guessing when the radio is here, by some miracle. It's time to just go for it and see what happens. Cross our fingers for the best outcome, and adjust from there." More people coming and going, busy every month with new parcels. But from afar, they were just three friends chatting. "So, who's taking first shift to see if we get anything around each car? Tidus, don't count yourself out either. You were onboard before both of us, after all. You might hear something we don't recognize."

Though it's also an option to have all three of them go through each car right now, while it's a busy train and it doesn't look suspicious going up and down, end to end. No matter what though, Roland will go with the consensus.

He didn't understand the people that didn't want to rock the boat, so to speak, because to him he didn't like being controlled by unseen forces. He'd had enough thank you, and he was willing to struggle and defy fate, it was part of human nature.

"I wasn't here for that, you'll have to fill me in." Senku hadn't been there very long at all, he was just a busybody, and not the type to take anything lying down.

"One step at time." He could agree with that. "No one is going to try and make contact without a plan in case that works. There's a lot you can do to defend the train. The outside appears to be impenetrable, which eliminates one factor if you're going to fortify somewhere. There's a lot of steps. I'm good with steps, but the first one is trying this out as much as we can."

Senku took a glance around, to see if there was a break in people and he flipped the switch on, turned the volume up so it was just loud enough for them to hear the static, and slowly fiddled with the other dial. Based on the subtle changes, he'd figured out the tuning. "We could leave it on, take a walk. Talk about something completely unrelated." He was good at being covert.

He held out the disk to Tidus. "Hide that in your hoodie. We'll just be careful about it, turn the dial a few times."

high-five not wanting to be controlled by unseen forces anymore in your life.

"Uh, I didn't know about the communications either," Tidus confesses on the subject of the visit that happened in the past. But he can explain, at least for Senku's benefit- "What I know is that some people came onboard to check on what was going on... and I think people were shut in their rooms? …Or, maybe not?"

Okay, maybe he isn't the best person to explain it, frowning as he finds himself getting confused. "I know Curufin was one of the people. He went to an office... but I think he was teleported there, he said. Doesn't remember seeing anything else."

As far as he can recall, but now he's doubting his own memory. Maybe he'll just leave it to Roland to get into, speak up once the topic shifts back to the radio--and him being offered it. Tidus takes it, if somewhat hesitant at first, but not unwilling as he does as Senku says, tucking it away.

"Alright-- sure. I can talk about anything!" Speaking of- "I got a shield and some smoke grenades for the upcoming mission. Either of you up for being a test shot for me later? With the shield? It should bounce any magic right off if I got the right one."

Roland remains silent as they start their trek around the train, the dials being fiddled with as the radio itself hides covertly with Tidus. It's also not unusual for Roland to be seen with his notebook out, so he summons it from his Arms Band and starts pretending to multitask as they walk and talk. Trailing just a few steps behind them both, the narrow hallway of the train making it a bit difficult to stay side-by-side. But he's listening intently, not so much to the chat, but to the sound of the radio. If at all.

"...Sure. Where'd you get the idea to buy smoke grenades, though?"

Was that a Zanarkand thing? Did he use them in Spira?

His ears strain to catch more than static, but still nothing. They were just crossing through Dressing now. It was going to be a long walk, but all the better to experiment with.

"I could even help with that if you wanted. Funny story, I've been target practice before." Senku smirked just a bit. He was talking more on a normal volume, but he was pausing in bits to listen.

"I was proving to one of my best fighters that my paper shield would withstand his spear. I'd coated it in plastic." Senku explained. "To reinforce it. Worked like a charm, but the force really got me the first couple of times."

That training had actually come in handy later.

Tidus is listening out for the radio, but with it placed where it is, he's hoping the other two can hear it just as well. Don't mind them if you're in here with them, Spider! Just a bunch of guys hanging out, as guys do.

"Rikku, one of Yuna's guardians would make them. She's an Al Bhed - they're a people who tinker with scrap and whatever else, and she made all kinds of weapons we could use like that. Smoke grenades, bombs, sleeping powders and hourglasses..."

And Roland knew about smoke grenades? Which is great, but Tidus holds on saying any more, listening on Senku's story.

"Wow, how weak was his spear? Was it pretty basic?" Not that it takes away from the fact that- "You come up with all sorts on the go. I wouldn't have thought to do that."

Or have known how to do it.

He'll wave to Spider Seamstress too, making sure to watch where he walks and steps. Eventually they pass the Dressing Car, and its the long row of Sleeper cabins before they hit the next set of functional cars. Quieter here, with less activity as people rush back and forth from the bustle of platform.

Roland adds to the conversation as soon as it's appropriate, content in the silence and by lending extra care to the radio that still had no activity so far. If he looks like he's focused, it's probably just a Roland thing. He's actually really, truly listening.

"Senku's pretty much a wunderkind." Roland smiles a little, remembering all the things they talked about the first time meeting and collaborating. He's gotta hand talent to him, always appreciative of people who knew and loved what they were doing no matter what it was. "How'd you make plastic, though? That's something we could stand to learn. Never know when that information might just come in handy."

Senku chuckled at Tidus' incredulousness. "There's nothing wrong with Kinro's spear." He grinned. "Paper with the combination of inflexible plastic yields carbon fiber reinforced polymers. Lightweight but incredibly strong, they used that kind of thing in race cars and rocket ships."

He brightened at Roland's question. It was less about being called a wunderkind, which he couldn't refute, although he could certainly try, and more about answering how he made plastic.

"Glad you asked! We made what was humanity's first plastic, phenol resin. First, you steam wood to get tree oil, boil it and add it to piping hot copper and it gives you formalin." Senku offered a grin. "That's a chemical they use to preserve bodies. You might know it as formaldehyde, but that is specifically the gas compound, when it's distilled into water, it's formalin."

"Anyway! Then you take the cinders from burning coal, add a little sodium hydroxide and the formalin and you get phenol resin!"

oh okay tidus absolutely knows anything senku just said and will accept it as fact. Don't mind the face of total ignorance he's wearing, good thing he's taking a kind of lead.

…A face he's going to absolutely keep wearing as Senku talks, and they move in the space between the dressing car and the first sleeper.

"...So, when you do that, uh... can you still use the wood for anything? Would plastic be good for anything here?"

You know, for train...projects. Not that getting wood on the train hasn't already sounded like a good thing, but this makes Tidus wonder what else they might be doing for anything other than just crafting with the wood in its natural state.

The long walk doesn't do much for the radio. As far as Roland can tell, it remains staticky with the occasional lapses in silence. When they take their time like this, listening in for any sign the radio was working with leisurely steps, it quickly dawns on Roland how expansive the train has become.

He hums quietly before speaking. "Formaldehyde is more familiar to me. I know it naturally occurs in certain foods, but back home, we had to keep an eye out for it as a toxin in canned goods. Naturally, they had to be taken off-shelf." Ah, the beauty of bureaucracy and working the paperwork. But that was just an aside; he'll jump off of Tidus's own idea, running similar to something he's been stewing about for a couple of days now.

"Speaking of...We could use a similar strategy to create makeshift weapons that don't cost an arm and a leg." 80 points? For shame. "If we order things in piecemeal and assemble them the way Senku reinforced his shield with plastic, we could find a way to make sure everyone on the train has at least some form of protection." And surely the train wouldn't register raw materials as weapons or ammo. Roland had to order carbon fibre cables and hooks, and it went through. Tidus did the same some time ago: with emergency flares and kits, though the army knife was a stretch he should have expected.

The tone is open, leaving either of them to comment on it. A general idea, brainstorming as they now walk past the last couple of sleepers.

He feels like there's something changing in the way the static crackles through the radio, but maybe that's just him...?

"The process will still singe the wood, but I mean, if you're looking for ash or charcoal, you could use it, burning it for heat or for cooking or something. It wouldn't really be suitable to build with once you extract the oils, because the property of the wood changes, even if it wasn't getting singed." Senku mused a little bit. Dry distillation was a bit of a challenge, but nowhere near impossible in any world. He'd have enough time to execute something like that in a stop of any time, especially if he was going to make the supplies he needed, and he was tempted to make a few things as it was.

He hummed a moment, giving it some thought about Roland's question. He opened his mouth to answer it and then stopped instead to listen. Something did change, didn't it?

No...maybe not. Hm.

Senku crossed his arms. "It would be a hell of a lot easier if I had a forge. If I had a forge, I could make you just about whatever you could want, at least in terms of blades. The thing with firearms is that there's more moving parts. It's not impossible, of course, it would just take more time to make everything, and not to mention ammunition requires more supplies. I have calcium carbonate, and wood, but that's not all I need to make gunpowder." He was also a lot less comfortable with moving into firearms unless it was necessary, especially if people weren't going to use them responsibly.

"But even without the forge." Senku mused slid his hand down into one of the pockets of his cargo pants and produced his knife. He'd upgraded it at some point that it was now a wood handle, leather binding and stone, but there it was. "I didn't order this, I made it. Knives. Spears. Bows and arrows. I don't need anything for those. Depends though, on how fancy you want it to be." He glanced side to side a moment. "I'm planning on making a crossbow at our next stop. I have what I need, mostly. Except privacy."

...Tidus has nothing to add to the discussion of formalhyde (um, it's bad? That's what he got out of it), but charcoal?

"Charcoal isn't bad," he speaks up. "A few of the kids wanna draw -- it'd still be good for that, wouldn't it?"

That's about as far as his knowledge goes with the stuff, but hey: if they could get salvageable charcoal good for some artsy work, that'd make a few people he knows happy. Even Rapunzel, she was into that. And Taiki!

But for what he might want to add about the gun and weapon talk -- there's even one thought that pops in his mind, however brief -- Tidus waves a hand, stopping without warning, except for when he hurries, "Wait wait, quiet." Head tilting and listening, and thankfully, the sleeper cars weren't as noisy as being everywhere else, but--

"Did we pick up a signal?" There's a little static, the sound of-- something in the distant. Some kind of rising tune... What was that?

Tidus starts walking backwards, attempting to make it louder. Like an unending drawl...

The conversation on charcoal brings Roland to think about something else, too. "Hm. What about chalk? That'd be good for the kids too. They can draw on surfaces without it staining permanently. Even on walls. Heh." Not that Roland knew how to make chalk from scratch, but Senku would pick up on that easily.

He isn't able to comment much on the rest, though the suggestions come quite easily. What would you need to get a forge going?, and Is this something we can work together on to offer a better option for those who need even rudimentary weapons? -

he halts in his step, instantly alert when Tidus makes the mention. Purses his lips closed, leans his head and his chest to the direction where Tidus seems to linger by the hallways. Careful not to bump into Senku, but also...

"No, no I hear it. It's...What is that?" They sound familiar. Eerie. He's heard this before, somewhere...But Roland can't quite make out the faint tones. Too soft, too strange.

Edited 2020-11-08 14:15 (UTC)

Senku had been about to answer both questions when there was the sound and he stopped walking. What was that?

He glanced around briefly and then hummed. A mental note that they needed to check this specific spot again. It wasn't distinct at all, and unless they wanted to be caught out...

He let them listen before he tapped his head. He got it, this spot was good.

"To answer your question." He continued, taking a step to continue their walk. "Chalk is just calcium carbonate that's been pressed, so I mean, I technically have what I need now. If you want colours, you'd need some paint for that."

"And as for the charcoal, that's definitely doable, if we can get some wax or resin and press charcoal. I don't have any on hand at the moment, but I always start a fire so getting charcoal isn't much of a challenge. If you need paper, that's doable too, if we can get some plants, and time. Needs time to dry out, that's the trick to that." Since he'd made the paper shield, obviously he'd made the paper.

Edited 2020-11-08 20:31 (UTC)

--Keep walking? They should keep walking? Tidus stands for a second longer, part of him wanting to maybe shuffle around to see if he couldn't pick up something better, but -- he'll go along with Senku, resuming to walk on with him, and Roland, his ears more keenly listening out for noise at his back. The walking radio he is.

"Uh... we have chalk," brings up, belatedly as it is. "I got a bunch from Irivar since it sold pretty cheap." And the soap. "Webmind buys paper on the regular too. So we're not desperate for it- but what should we be focusing on first anyway? Weapons?"

Or Tidus might be confusing himself, frowning as he admits, "Thinking about all the stuff you can make with this or that-- I don't know where to start with any of it."

Roland does the same, just in case. A witness too, but with three of them, ears strained to even the slightest change in that frequency, there was very little room for error. They resume their walk and soon find themselves crossing Roland's own sleeper - number two - which means they're finally getting close to traversing the rest of the long train. Some of which have two floors, he notes, so that's something to explore too.

"Just good to have an index of how to make, in the event of an emergency. Nobody will ever regret being prepared." He smiles, the pretend jotting of his notes turning real as his own thoughts are scribbled into reality. From what they're talking about not to look suspicious to the actual happenings surrounding their new toy. "But weapons and defensive items, like that smoke bomb you just got Tidus - those are good to start with since eighty points is really too extravagant for something that should be provided in the first place." Since no mission they've ever been was safe. This does irk him to an extent, but not enough to break face.

"A forge, huh? What do you need to make that a reality?"

If the train won't stop charging them for these things, then Roland is not at all against the idea of breaking the system.

He let out a bit of a thinking hum at the question. The lack of weapons was concerning, but he could fix some of that, albeit with primitive weapons. "Like I said, I can whip up bows, arrows, knives and spears pretty easily. Mankind has had those things since prehistoric times." He observed wryly.

"If I made a manual of everything I knew how to make, I'd be sitting there for years doing it." Senku huffed lightly. "It's pretty safe to assume I know how to make most things. Can I get what I need? That's a different question."

"The biggest challenge with a forge is ventilation. All that smoke has to go somewhere and setting one up in here without at least some kind of ventilation is a fast way to asphyxiating the entire train."

Tidus eyes the name on the cabins at random. A spare glance that isn't observed too closely, to see what names he recognises, doesn't. The plaques always changing, two weeks after two weeks.

"What if you just stuck with the simple? If people wanna share how to make things, it needs to have ingredients we can get easy, or do on the train With what's in the gardens or what's easy to buy in bulk?" Actually, now that he thinks about it. "Like all that salve that Glor made for supplies. I wouldn't mind helping making it. Plus, we should write down the name of the grain he buys for the bread too, that's useful. But that's all I can really think about."

He shrugs. "Just, you know... if anyone's serious about sharing what to make. But that sounds like something that'd be good as a group project? I bet other people know how to craft. We don't need to leave everything on Senku's shoulders to do."

He wasn't one of those crafty people, but hey -- he was there to be free labour for any projects.

There isn't enough room for three people to fit through the next car - Library, where Roland frequents on the daily - so he steps aside and allows Tidus to take the further lead in a single file, his finger on the button to open the doorway.

He'll follow after Senku, but he's not sure if it's because he's moving about that he hears it. Some sort of static again, not quite what they picked up the first time, though it's something. Better than nothing, better than silence. He furrows his brow though he only offers a deep hum from his chest, letting the other two confirm if he's hearing things or not.

Then again, Roland's always found the gaps between cars a little eerie, for one reason or another.

As soon as he's free to speak again, whatever moment passing as they cross from the Library to the Music Car, he does so with a steady tone, evenly suggestive. "We need to start writing this all down as resources so anyone can learn from everyone else at their own time. Shelves are looking pretty empty anyway. We can assist in writing it down too, if the passengers aren't literate for any particular reason the universal translators can't pick up."

[Open] Escapades With A Mad Genius

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)