voidtreckerexpress | what's left to guide me [open]

Entry tags:

what's left to guide me [open]

Who: Seto Kaiba and anyone/everyone he can't successfully avoid (that's you!)
Where: Various (library/kitchen/sauna) + some closed prompts in comments, more on request!
When: Imagination 22
What: Having finally resigned from the council, Kaiba's left to figure out just who he's supposed to be now. One problem: it's a little hard to have a private crisis when train is Small.
Warnings: Possible mentions of violent history/suicide. Those will be warned for/asked about before it comes up, after clearing it with the player.

a. library car

Hearing answers from the train had been a temporary respite from Dealing With This, but when there's no trainwide distraction going on, you have to make your own respite. That's why he'll be avoiding his usual trademark car of Games, sticking to an alcove in the upstairs library.

He perched awkwardly at a desk with his laptop at his fingerprints, dressed simply in his black turtleneck and black leather pants. He'd left all the flashy accessories behind today. He's absorbed in lines of code on one half of the screen, some kind of bizarre game taking form on the other. It's just a swirling ooze of picture for now, almost like a black hole. An apt metaphor for his life at the moment.

Eventually, he drops his head in his hands over the keyboard. The black hole eats all the other characters on the screen. It's a good effect, but...definitely needs improving.

b. kitchen scrubbing
One thing he can do, at a minimum, is his chores. He throws himself into them with gusto, vigorously scrubbing soap stains at sinks and sweeping crumbs. He's careful to wait until just after the cooking team has cleared out from each meal, hopefully before anyone comes wandering in for a snack.

He's aggressive on the counters and dishes, mopping and scrubbing the floors with all the strength he has. He's on a single mission: to make it all shine. At least until the next mealtime.

c. late night sauna

Sauna enthusiasts have long preached that a sweat session in these rooms can cure most ills. Sleeplessness is one of them, though whether feeling lost counts is up for debate. Seto decides it's worth a shot when the hour becomes quite late---his tossing and turning will wake his boyfriend if he's not more careful.

Yes, leaving it all behind sounds like an excellent idea. He enters with a towel slung over his hips and drops bonelessly onto a bench, determined to sweat whatever this is out of his system for good.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"...I don't know those terms," is all he says. "But I know hardware. Are they some kind of peripheral?"

"Ah, apologies. I worked for a time for a company that made a game called Angelic Layer. Players, each called a Deus bought a physical doll called an angel, and they designed it and chose its stats. Then they brought them to specially prepared areas called Layers. On the layers, if the Deus wore the proper equipment, they could control the Angel with their mind. The primary game was competitive, though." Something he was sure this person wouldn't be interested in.

"Hm. so...like a digital mind transfer?"

Interesting, but potentially dangerous, as he knows too well. "Do you have any Angels with you?"

"No more like commands," he said, trying to figure out how to explain it, he wasn't the marketing person, never had been. "Basically the ideal was that it was like moving your hand. That level of connection, but only when in the headset with the Angel on the layer." They had been working on getting rid of those requirements though...

"No, but I could build some. I know enough of the programing to make them functional and the rudiments of layer programing, but the code would lack finesse. I would rather teach what I knew to another and focus on the hardware, but..." he shrugged. "It is hardly as if there has ever been any interest in the real world. In suspect that it is only in Storms where anyone would care for a structured game of any sort."

Sora and Link are not good representative examples of what children like, Clef!

"Our games selection could always use expanding," he offers tentatively. "If we can acquire the materials...why not?"

He considered then shrugged. "The materials are not the issue, if it does not take away from me making weapons and armor who those wish it, I could create a basic Layer and some Angels, I suppose. But I am not sure anyone would actually enjoy such a thing. We have a library now, even if it is small..." He shrugged a bit.

But if it did take off... would people trade him new books for Angels of their own...? Hmmmm.....

"Right. If it wouldn't burden you to make some, I don't see why you couldn't," he suggested. "See if there's a market, then corner it."

"I never was the financials person," he said with a shrug. "I just worked on the tech. Besides with Bending and Knowledge I can make most of what I need here, even if there was money. So it's not exactly like I could sell them even if I knew the first thing about it. Unless points are transferable, I guess," he said with a shrug. "But most people seem like they'll be spending theirs on supplies for the foreseeable."

Still now he was itching to get his hands on some new books.

"Well...points aren't transferable, but you could ask people to buy you things, as our spider seamstress does."

He folds his fingers together and grins. "If your tech is as tempting as you make it sound, you'll get bites. The power to capture the imagination is key."

He sighed. "There are a few things that I cannot create myself that I would like, but I'm not sure that I have the patience to deal with the business side. Unless you wanted to work together and you would handle the people?" So he could go back to his books between Angels.

Kaiba laughs, though it's not a happy sound. "Handling people isn't exactly what I'd call a strength. But I can balance a checkbook just fine."

He digs in his bag for his notebook and flips it open once more. "Do you have any examples of the tech on-hand?"

He shook his head. "It's been over a year since I made the ones for Link and Zelda, I think. And Zelda has no memories or belongings from that world and Link is not here." Pain there. He pushed it aside. His son would show up at some point, or he'd find him.

"But it should not take long to build a basic Angel, it is the Layer that will take more time. And the device to..." he trailed off and looked at the laptop. "If you happen to have a spare of those that would speed things up dramatically as I would have to develop each part individually from my memories of how portable computers work."

"We can work on that," Kaiba offered. "I don't have a spare, but I do have a full interior holo-view..."

Wait.

"What do you mean 'develop' the parts?"

"Bending isn't just wanting a thing and having it. To create something with Bending, something complicated, at any rate, I need to understand the parts and craft those. I spent a fair amount of time sampling various foods I was unaccustomed to and learning how they were made traditionally before I could begin to replicate them with Bending. So to make a computer I cannot just will a computer into being as I could with, say, an apple. I have to build it from the circuit boards on up. As my memories of the storms where I had worked with computers are fuzzier than others, having one to start from would have been easier. I sadly lack my notes, which further complicates things."

"Bending..."

It sure sounded like willing things into existence to him. Kaiba thought about that for a second.

"I could give you a fully modeled view of each part, and a tutorial on how they work. If that fails, I'll save up for a spare. It's good to have multiple regardless."

"That would work. I'd rather spend points on what we need for missions, supplies that I cannot replicate easily, and books." Especially books.

"Makes sense," he agrees. "I'll grab the laptop and project that for you next. But you can replicate anything you thoroughly break down?"

"If I understand it well enough, usually yes. There are somethings that I cannot replicate, however. Escudo for one. For another, I can create gems but they are never as efficient or easily worked as natural gems are." he touched a hand to the large gem over his forehead.

"...huh. So all I have to do is show you the inner workings of a computer in precise detail and you can just...summon it? Could you do that with other electronics?"

Is he going to be in debt to this person for a while? Probably.

"So long as I can understand it," he clarified. "It isn't just seeing it, it is knowing. In this case seeing should be enough because I have seen the inner workings of the Angel machines before so this would be more of a reminder than a new lesson."

He considered. "So long as I understand the theory, actually, blueprints or schematics would work just as well, in theory. Also summoning is not an accurate term. I would be creating it, not calling it from elswhere."

Edited 2020-12-18 04:36 (UTC)

"I can explain well enough," he agrees, still reeling from the possibilities of that power.

"Are you up for a laptop walkthrough now?"

He considered his books and notes for a moment then sighed softly. "Very well." It would at least be an interesting challenge. and there had to be some good to come out of the self loathing of that Storm.

He waved a glove and the books and notes all vanished into the gem he wore there. He then removed the glove and sucked that into the gem on his forehead.

Feel free to have fun with the headaches of the ramifications of storing an infinite storage device inside an infinite storage device...

Well. That...sure was an ability. He watched with wide eyes, then set up his laptop for a projection. He slid a finger across the touchpad to project an image of a laptop, then another for the parts to digitally disassemble.

"We'll start with the basics. But...before we start, is using this ability taxing on you?"

"Bending? Only if I over extend. The void is not altogether unlike chaos as I understand it, and chaos gathers wherever people do if not otherwise checked. And Bending is basically harnessing chaos energy. And we all got quite the power boost after that last combat against the Deva of Order."

He started studying the sketches. He used Bending to create a blank notebook and called his hand carved wooden pen out of his gem and started making notes as he studied the projected images.

Kaiba watched with some interest, but the most important thing was explaining the functioning. He directed the parts and wires in and out, zoomed in on each chip, and pulled together the working parts of the machine...he went slowly, to let it sink in. But that meant it took a while.

"...think you have that?"

(no subject)

guru_clef - 2020-12-23 10:27 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only