trans_9 | In which Stephen makes a lot of noise... [Bendytimed for my fail!]

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In which Stephen makes a lot of noise... [Bendytimed for my fail!]

He'd been spending a lot of time in the lab. Maybe too much, but the end results really would be worth it all. He still had to figure out a way to make a certain delivery to a certain pilot, but Stephen had decided that it was past time for him to work on something he wanted to work on.

So at one end of his garage-turned-workshop, there are two Tesla coils sparking merrily, while a helmeted, chain mail-clad Stephen is bent over a guitar with a soldering gun.

What he is doing quickly becomes obvious when he steps back towards the Tesla coils and actually starts to play the guitar.

(That's right, Stephen is putting on something like a concert. Other examples of what he ends up doing can be found here and here. Feel free to drop in on him!)

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There are a few things that continue to surprise Zouichi about this crew. One of them is, apparently, seeing a man in a chain mail suit play the theme to Mortal Kombat with a lightning guitar. He brakes his bike, removing his helmet to watch Stephen play.

Okay, that's just cool.

Holy crap. Holy crap!

Lash had never seen such an ingenious use of Tesla coils since that time she had build them around a giant raygun to make it seem extra awesome and dangerous.

"Neat. I guess." Her body language seemed to imply otherwise.

Stephen didn't really stop when he saw the bike pull up, but he walked a bit closer to the door. Despite the fact that the lightning was no longer jumping to his Faraday suit, the music kept playing.

He sent the unfamiliar fellow a wave.

"Hey!" Stephen's voice was slightly muffled from beneath the helmet, but Lash, at least, was vaguely familiar to him.

"I don't have another Faraday suit but you could always try this one once I'm out of it, if you want to give this a try?"

Yeah, the mad-scientist types always could tell one another...

Zouichi waved back, watching the performance. The sound carried surprisingly well.

...he kind of wanted a lightning guitar. Too bad he couldn't play.

Music to Lash's ears, both figuratively and physically.

"YES! I mean uh...yeah. Sure." She couldn't let another mad scientist thing she was that interested in their fancy stuff. "It could be cool. Or something." The only question was if Lash could fit in that suit and not look silly in it.

That's what surreptitious use of Matter magick is for. Stephen just won't admit to it! Once he's decided that, he powers down the coils (for now) and starts doffing the suit.

"Come on then." Beckoning Lash closer, and offering the gear over piece by piece. "Do you want to try the guitar too, or just play with the Tesla coils?"

Stephen isn't much into reading minds, but...

"Hey, you want to give this a try?" Well, if he wanted to try messing with the guitar, Zouichi could at least make some noise, too.

It might be entertaining?

WOULD HE

"Would that be all right? I don't actually know how to play."

Zouichi swung a leg over the bike, dismounting and approaching Stephen -- but not too far. Not yet, anyway. "Can I come closer? I don't want to interfere with your machine or anything."

"I'll power it down, that'll solve that." Something Stephen should have done just in case, considering that it was raw electrical current he was messing with, there.

"You'll have to wear the Faraday suit, too. I haven't built an extra one yet."

Oh, good. Because while Zouichi didn't mind being electrocuted for a mission, he'd rather it not be necessary to play a guitar.

"So you built these yourself?" He asks, motioning toward the Tesla coils. "Interesting hobby you have there. Or are you an engineer?"

He's pretty sure he can see other projects sticking out about the garage as well.

Didn't need to tell her twice when it came to playing with dangerous things. She was already putting on some of the gear, not questioning too much the fact it actually fit her pretty well.

"The guitar?" Lash had never played an instrument before. "I could try." Soon, the world would hear her musical genius. And it was going to sounded like a group of cats dying at the same time.

Yeah, that had been a mistake, but Stephen wasn't about to renege when Lash actually started to play. The Tesla coils at least made it look cool, right?

And heck, he could appreciate the enthusiasm. So he didn't say anything, but he'd at least give her a round of applause.

"Can't be both? Yes, I am affiliated with Engineering, but these things aren't really needed for anything, I guess. I built them for fun."

Yes, there are various odds and ends and...just lots of what might be junk sticking out of barrels and other containers in the garage. There were a couple of the hand-held game devices he'd made in a stack on one of the counters, but the true focal point, besides the Tesla coils themselves, was a large, scarlet red container that sat on a cart in the corner. It was not a perfect box, edges beveled in a manner so that it would sit flush against something. There was a porthole in the center of the top, from which a faint blue glow could occasionally be seen.

"I build a lot of things for fun," Stephen mused.

By the time she was completely clothed (with some of her hair sticking out, no matter how hard she tried) Lash had already tried out some experimental testing of the guitar, idly strutting the strings, trying to figure out how the sound worked.

Yep, if this was any indication, it was going to be a very terrible thing.

"Ready when you are! Hit the switch!" You could practically smell her excitement.

Actually, those game devices looked sort of... familiar. "Do you know someone named Alex Furest?"

Oh, and the box, of course. "And what's in the box?"

"I do, but he's...I think he's been repodded, hasn't he?" Stephen has a rather confused expression on his face, now. "I can't program those. Alex did it. I just built the devices."

He actually looks sad about that, in a vague way.

"That's for Aruka's Evangelion unit. I'm still running some diagnostics, but it's pretty much ready for delivery."

Stephen will regret it later. In some small, less Scientific part of himself.

Without further ado, though, he flipped the switch. And just in case, went for the fire extinguisher. Most people he'd ever seen use a Tesla coil didn't have hair quite as magnificent as Lash's, after all.

"Ah, so you are the one who built them." He nodded. "Yes, he's been repodded. Actually, I still have one of the systems he lent me. I wish I could have given it back to him before... well."

Zouichi raises an eyebrow. "For Asuka? I've run into her before. So what is it, a power unit?"

"Yes, that was me. And I doubt he would have wanted them back. We made them for the crew's amusement, after all. I regret I never learned to program games like he did. I figure mine would be very boring." As what Stephen knows how to program is something more in line with a Turing test.

"Yes, precisely! A cold fusion generator. She wanted something better than a power cable that basically corralled her maneuverability." Among other things. But he was pleased that Zouichi had noticed!

"Really? You can put together a cold fusion generator, but you don't know how to program?" How bizarre. Maybe Stephen was self-taught.

"A... power cable? As in, something you plug in to an outlet?" That sounded like a terrible way to power a plane. Robot. Whatever the Evangelion was. "Say, are you busy with projects? There was something I've been thinking about having done to my bike, but I wasn't sure if I should take up Engineering's time with it."

Nehaalista had seen many interesting (mostly gnomish) displays of electricity and a body in her time. Perhaps not as interesting as when a shaman decided to electrocute everyone in a ten-yard radius of them (forgetting that poor Nehaalista wore platemail and thus got a good round of zapping too, stupid shaman), but still very interesting never the less.

She watched him play for a bit (though it was terribly loud and she didn't understand exactly what made it musical) and then clapped. [You're not electrified in there, are you?] she signed, and smiled.

No sir, no awkward city here, sir.

"It's a rather old-fashioned programming template. Before my time. If I could improve it, maybe, or update the game device itself...I'm working on it." Stephen said, with a shrug. Zouichi wasn't entirely off--his programming area didn't have much to do with game code. What was he, a Virtual Adept?

"I'm not certain where it plugs into, precisely, but yes. Something similar, if not exactly that. And I'm not terribly busy, no. I sort of do my own thing, until someone calls for something with my expertise over the comms, really. Probably a bad way to go about things, but..." Stephen tended to be a recluse at the best of times.

"What can I do for you?"

[No, but it's also not difficult to take off if you don't want to take the chance,] Stephen replied, already hauling off the helmet.

[Haven't seen you around in a while. Have you been busy with running the ship, Councilor?] Though he couldn't help smiling, because he was happy to see her, all awkwardness shoved rapidly aside.

[A bit, though I imagine it's good training for Exarch-hood when the time comes.] If it ever came, and Nehaalista was beginning to doubt the return of their homes. [I've mostly been listening to them a lot and offering advice here and there as needed.] She smiled a little more sheepishly.

[What was that, by the way? It's very loud.]

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In which Stephen makes a lot of noise... [Bendytimed for my fail!]

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