What Some Take For Magic At First Glance [Opentastic]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard has avoided The Warehouse entirely for the last few days. Something about wandering around in it alone seems like a profoundly unsettling prospect. Even when he returns to it, he decides it's a better idea to work out in the front yard than actually lounge around the living room.

Today's project is a roller fridge. Having found three sets of identical rollerblades (for someone with six legs? Or just three right feet?), Howard's set to dismantling them and fixing them to a mini-refrigerator he found in an unclaimed house down the tracks. He eventually plans on recalibrating the fridge into a freezer and attaching a handle to drag it to and from Hydroponics, but actually putting wheels on it seems to be the most difficult task so far.

After several failed attempts to use a candle-lighter to weld some sort of axle on, Howard gets a drill and an extension cord out. The sound of the drill upsets the cat, whom he's zipped into an old backpack, bar her head. He doesn't want her to run off onto the tracks, after all, or leave her alone in the house, and despite all the random junk he's accumulated, he hasn't yet found a small leash or collar.

She growls at him and struggles to free herself, but he routinely calms her down with cat treats and a sock full of catnip when the noise scares her too much. To keep her attention, he slips one of the cat treats up his sleeve and out of sight. That's just sleight of hand.

The fridge, on the other hand, may require more creativity. He sits with the backpack full of cat on his lap, chewing on a hangnail, trying to figure out how exactly he's going to give it wheels that can swivel.

Comments

[governorkang]

"I know someone that can probably make one for me. I just need one more for my daughter, and a couple of mattresses if you can spare them." Kang smiled. "I'll owe you a favor for it."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Get Albert's stupid bed out of his stupid room and you can have the whole thing. We can call that even." There's very little love lost with his roommate. "As for the other mattresses...you wouldn't happen to know how to put swivel wheels on a refrigerator, would you?"

[governorkang]

"Done. I'm sure I can figure out the wheels, too; do you already have casters?" Kang glanced over at the refrigerator and rollerblades. So that was what was up with the staring. "...and something to weld with?"

What kind of engineer was he if he couldn't figure out how to weld something?

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I got a welding torch off Karis. What's a caster?"

For someone with zero education or guidance in the field, Howard's actually done am incredibly solid job refitting the fridge to work with a car battery already. He steps aside to show Kang his handiwork.

[governorkang]

Kang paused, trying to think of how to explain what a caster was. He'd only learned of them on the ship. "They're the type of mounted wheels used on desk chairs and the like, to make them mobile. I'm sure there's something in here we could take them from, if we need to."

He took a closer look at what was already done, and quirked an eyebrow ridge, impressed, "Not bad."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh, like on the bottom of grocery carts?" It occurs to Howard that Kang may not be familiar with grocery carts. Although if he's used to desk chairs...

"I think I have some rolling desk chairs somewhere in the basement. Figure I can finish this up and give it to the Chancellor. You, uh...know how to use a welding thingy? Because if not I'm totally fine learning to burn my face off."

[governorkang]

"Yes, like those," Kang nodded. "Metal would be best, of course. I don't know how well the wheels will work outside the City, considering Stacy's... composition."

He shook his head, "No, but I'm a fast learner. I was an engineer for about forty years." Not the type that most from Earth would think of, though.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Mostly it just needs to get around through the hub and hydroponics. I mean, no wheels are going to work great on bad terrain, especially since a full fridge is going to be heavy. Point is to at least make it possible to drag around, though."

Howard raises his eyebrows, more impressed by that than Kang's position on the ship. "Wow, awesome. I made a rubber band gun in algebra once. Between the two of us we can probably figure it out. Why aren't you in Engineering now?"

[governorkang]

"True," Kang shrugged, eyeing the fridge. "Were you planning on it opening from the top, or from the side?"

"I do help sometimes, when they need it. I'm better with purely mechanical items than I am the more advanced technology, though I'm not too bad with computers." The software was still a little confusing. He'd had a bit of a learning curve, by a few centuries.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Top. Makes it easier to scoop ice cream out that way."

Howard nods. "Same. All the electricity got blown a few months in where I'm from. Did they even have electricity back on your world?" He guesses probably not, but you never know.

[governorkang]

Kang nodded. That made sense.

"We didn't even have printing presses," he snorted, smiling. "Picture something more medieval, but with magic and multiple races, humans included."

Basically, like a fantasy novel. He was reminded of Councilor Kanner, and how he'd known of draconians.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm picturing Lord of the Rings. You got elves and dwarves and stuff?"

He walks around to the backyard and grabs a broken-down rolling desk. Probably better to destroy one desk than multiple chairs. He comes back and turns it over, revealing swivel wheels. "Are these casters?"

[governorkang]

"No rings of power, or orcs, but yes, there are elves and dwarves. Used to share a valley with the latter." Kang'd never been all that fond of elves, though. The feeling was mutual.

He grinned, "They are. I think we're set, once those are removed."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah? What're they like? They always seemed super snotty from the movies and books, at least, the ones we have in my world." Although Tolkien never mentioned draconians, as far as Howard knows, but it's his closest comparison.

Howard pulls a screwdriver from his pocket and after a small struggle with the desk, removes one of the casters. "Let's try it with one before we ruin the whole desk. Three wheels is still workable. Two or none isn't. You wanna set it on fire, big guy?"

[governorkang]

"What, the elves or the dwarves? Haven't had too many personal experiences with elves that didn't involve them shooting arrows at my men and I," Kang said dryly. "Everything I've heard, they tend to think they're better than everyone else. Dwarves do too, to a degree, but they at least know how to have some fun. Don't ever try to outdrink one."

He paused, digging through memories, "We need protective gear of some kind, I know that. Gloves, goggles, a leather apron."

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, to try and figure it out on his own.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Wow, so exactly like our books."

"Hold on one minute." Howard runs into the Warehouse, checks Albert's ledger, and returns with protective gloves, large Hollywood-style sunglasses and what looks like a doctor's labcoat. "I can't find goggles big enough for your head, man."

[governorkang]

Kang shook his head, "Not exactly, but some things seem to be constant."

He eyed the labcoat and the sunglasses, and flared his wings slightly. "I doubt the coat will fit me." He paused, an idea coming to him, and glanced around, then checked a pouch hanging on his belt. It was pure luck he'd brought the one component with him.

"Do you have anything made of granite lying around? And a fire extinguisher, for just in case."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"There's probably some world where dwarves are ten feet tall. Just to be contrary."

Howard slips the coat on. "Dude, no. That's for me. And I have so many fire extinguishers." It's one of the first things he takes from every unclaimed building. Hopefully there's never a fire. That would be highly unfortunate.

"I don't know what all the different rocks are, but there's a part of the backyard that I made a firebreak in as practice."

[governorkang]

Kang laughed, and settled his wings, "It's entirely possible. Show me where; I need some granite so I can give myself some protection."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard leads Kang around back, where he has indeed built a firebreak next to an outcropping of rocks. It doesn't appear that he's used the area for anything yet, though. "Is the granite for like, some kind of magic thing you do? And are those granite?"

[governorkang]

"Some kind," Kang said, amused. He knelt down to take a closer look, and picked up a smallish rock. "This piece is. Should be enough."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Right on. Work your voodoo," Howard says, putting a pair of the sunglasses on and wrapping his arms protectively around the cat. "Try not to blow up my house. That would kind of ruin the benefits of the experiment."

[governorkang]

Kang took out a little bag of what looked like glittery dust, and moved a wing forward, positioning it in a way that he could sprinkle some of the dust on it and have none fall to the ground. Then, he chanted a few words in another language; the dust and the granite rock disappeared.

"That should do it. Keep a fire extinguisher ready." Now he just needed to play with the torch.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard grabs a fire extinguisher, hunkering a bit behind one of the rocks. He very nearly asks himself if a roller fridge is worth it.

The answer is, obviously.

"Go for it."

[governorkang]

Moving anything even possibly flammable out of the way, even his clothes (the spell only affected his person, not anything on it), Kang messed with the settings. It only took about thirty seconds of flames for him to realize he needed something for his eyes, and he reached a hand out towards Howard, "Hand me the other pair of glasses so I can see what the hell I'm doing."