Journal Entry + Bonus Action

[sciencesquid]

[Journal Network]

Sender: Otto Octavius
To: Everyone

To everyone walking around with one of these miserable little notebooks, disregard the request on the Dream Board pertaining to the riverside warehouse. You have no business there, and nothing found in the rubble is yours to keep. I will clean the place up and restore it myself.

To whoever took my welding setup, bring it back this instant.


[Action]

[For those curious, Otto can indeed be found either just outside the warehouse, or in the main hall. What with the smudges and stains of dirt all over his face and clothing, it's clear he hasn't taken the time to clean himself up after a whole month of lifeless dangling within the 'Smelly Bogs Prison Tree'. There's no point to it now. He's just going to get filthy all over again. Rubble is being shifted with the aid of his mechanical tentacle limbs, and it's all being accompanied with some impatient tisks and huffs as he realizes just how little of the warehouse can be salvaged.

There's still one or two boobytraps around, which he's only barely taking into account at the moment and are bound to lead to hijinks if he gets distracted.]

Comments

[sciencesquid]

Did I not just state that I intend to restore the warehouse myself?

[noblegarnet]

You'll have to forgive me for being skeptical given what you were using it for before almost exploded in all our faces.

[sciencesquid]

I don't forgive, nor do I care about your opinion. Do you know where it is, or don't you?

[noblegarnet]

[:/]

I can get you one just like it. Convincing me to give it to you is probably your easiest option, given how little other people around here like you right now.

[sciencesquid]

[ 8| ]

When I take something that doesn't 'belong' to me, I get sentenced to two weeks of imprisonment in a tree. When someone else takes something that I had to build from scratch with my own two hands, they're allowed to do as they please? Why? Just because people don't like me?

The justice system here is a joke.

[Granted, that incident that led to two weeks of prison tree also involved telling a brainwashed robot girl to do the taking for him, but c'mon, it's not like he brainwashed her. She was like that when he found her. He was just giving her a useful purpose.]

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran could get into the messes Octavius has made, but he's sure that wouldn't really get through to the guy right now. He doesn't know the details of the whole previous incident, either, only having heard vague things through the grapevine.]

I never said it was fair. I just want to know you're not going to be building anything else that might turn into a doomsday device.

[sciencesquid]

[Otto struggles not to just fling the journal at this point.]

I just said I'm not.

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran rolls his eyes where he's sitting. Saying he wants to rebuild his warehouse doesn't exclude him from building further things.]

You didn't, but I'll take that just now as good enough.

[It's progress. It's something, maybe.]

Are you at the warehouse right now?

[sciencesquid]

[Oh come on. He has no interest in building Doomsday devices because he's not a villain and he is, unfortunately, one of the idiots who has to live in this world. The reactor incident was just a fluke.]

I am. I don't expect to go anywhere else anytime soon.

[noblegarnet]

[He said might become! He's giving you the benefit of the doubt, you crusty old grouch!]

I'll be there in a few.

[Ferran actually has the decency to announce his presence once he does reach the warehouse, though given that he's already visible through one of the broken outer walls when he does so, that might not count for much. The place is a mess, isn't it.]

Geez... with people coming to take things, it would have been nice if they'd bothered to actually clean up while they were at it.

[sciencesquid]

[He'll be cynical and assume the worst all he wants, thankyouverymuch!

In that vein, he assumes this guy's stopping by to mock him. From the tone of the conversation, he already got the impression that this is one of the people involved in stopping the reactor, but... He never bothered to learn anyone's names, and so, he had no idea which of the pests it'd be. It's not the miserable nuisance who owns a pack of small dogs and can shoot electricity, thankfully.

The entry into the warehouse's basement is once again closed off with a metal plate now, though not to keep anything hidden. It's for safety reasons. That whole place strikes him as unstable now, and he may need to fill it all up just to make sure the floor won't collapse. That's a problem for later, though. For now, he's still moving rubble out of the way to clear the surface.]

That would be giving them entirely too much credit.

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran lets out a reluctant hum of agreement as he hops over the broken wall and steps inside, though he's careful to stay out of the way of the man's work. Obviously, there are no welding tools to be seen on him, so Octavius might take that as confirmation of his assumption.]

You can call a boundless optimism for the good nature of human beings one of my character flaws.

[But he's pretty sure the doctor doesn't have any interest in discussing the philosophy of morality. Unless he plans to complain about it. The opportunity to gripe is usually a pretty good incentive for these types.]

So. Where was your welding setup before?

[sciencesquid]

[That is a character flaw, in Otto's opinion. Just a weakness. It's much more efficient to default to relying on your own strengths than it is to wait for a helping hand that won't ever come.

Still, once he's moved a particularly large chunk of fallen ceiling towards the side of the building, he pauses his work to throw an impassive stare Ferran's way.]

Over there, by the Western wall. [The indication with a jab of the finger is a very curt one.] Why?

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran's gaze follows the point. He's only so knowledgeable about things like welding, and he might not have been able to figure out what of the man's equipment was the setup he sought returned. The answer he gives is more vague, though.]

Remembering. It's part of my process.

[He folds his arms and focuses on the spot. He'd seen it there, both that first night he came to the warehouse in the first place, and when things went awry. And with the memory comes the sense of it, what it's made of, how complex it is, and if it's still in one piece. It feels like the answer to the latter, at least, is yes.]

Okay, right... [After a slow breath, he holds out a hand in front of himself, and for a few seconds, the occasional red spark blinks in and out in front of him—magic, obviously.]

[sciencesquid]

[That is an infuriatingly vague answer. Process? What process? Why is it even any of this guy's business? He should just leave so Otto can keep working without further interruption.

When the hand is raised and red sparks are born, Otto's features contort with disgust. What is it now? He doesn't like magic- he doesn't respect it. It's the lazy man's way out. It undermines all the hard work done by brilliant minds. It's cheating. So really, nothing that can come from this is good, in his opinion.]

What are you doing?

[noblegarnet]

[He lets out a mildly annoyed breath at the interruption to his concentration, but:]

Getting your welder.

[A red-orange light glows in his eyes, and those sparks begin to coalesce into the shape of a familiar machine in the open space. This thing is... more complicated than what he usually copies at once, but he's determined to finish now that he's given his word. His mouth sets into a line as he puts more energy into the process, and finally, the light disperses into crackles, leaving behind an exact copy of the welding equipment Otto himself built, down to every scrape and dent.

At that same moment, a spark of that magic cracks back towards Ferran, and he visibly flinches.]

Gah—

[Shaky from exertion and the recoil, he leans forward and supports himself with his hands on his knees, taking uneven breaths.]

[sciencesquid]

[Otto waits and watches, still full of skepticism and distrust. When the familiar shape takes form and the light disperses with a crack, those feelings culminate in disbelief. That... That can't be right. Was that teleportation? Was the welder taken straight from the thief's home? (If so, Otto would've loved to have seen the look on Sholmes's face.) Or is it just some shoddy imitation, set to explode?

He takes note that Ferran's not in the best state, perhaps even struggling to stay upright, but doesn't do anything about it. He never asked the man to do... whatever he just did.]

That wasn't dreamotion, was it?

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran doesn't expect any assistance; he knew what he was getting into when he offered.]

No.

[Even now, after he's managed some success with dreamotion, he has little interest in the potential there. As if it would ruin you any more than you've already ruined yourself, a familiar voice tells him, though he ignores it.

He does finally manage to straighten up after a few more breaths, though, attempting to put his hair back in place.]

I can duplicate most objects I see. [He looks the setup over, though he doesn't need any confirmation that his abilities are working as intended.] Whoever took your welder didn't take it apart, at least.

[sciencesquid]

[Otto just stares at the machine. Duplicate, indeed. It looks exactly the same- at least on the outside. But then, it's still just a copy. It's not quite his welding setup, is it? Figures.

There's a very strange implication to Ferran's words that he questions instead.]

You duplicated it as it is right now? In this very moment?

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran's not unused to the idea of explaining his powers, and answers easily. After he took so long to figure out what he could do and how, he's committed every detail to memory.]

Right. If it wasn't all together, I could have gotten you the pieces, but it's more convenient this way. Easier to take something apart than put it together, you know.

[...... hm.]

Why?

[sciencesquid]

[The query makes him feel as if he's being called out on his ignorance, even when that's clearly not the case. Ugh...]

I'd just assumed that if you're duplicating something you've seen, you would duplicate it from memory. As it was back then. [He scoffs quietly.] I should have known better than to try and make sense of magic.

[noblegarnet]

Hmm.

[Is that really the only reason he asked, curiosity? ... Ferran is a terrible judge of these things at times, and the only reason he's suspect at all is because Octavius has just made it that obvious that he's someone who isn't the most trustworthy.

He sets it aside for now, taking it at face value.]

Well, don't let it get to you. It took months of constant practice to start figuring out the rules of the two things I can do back home, and that was with it being shoved into my brain. [He glances to the man's mechanical limbs.] I'm sure it was a learning experience with those arms, right? Controlling a brand new part of yourself.

[sciencesquid]

It wasn't.

[The statement is immediate and blunt. He doesn't like assumptions being made, and he definitely doesn't appreciate someone trying to relate to him by comparing his technology to magic. Two of the limbs snap their jaws, sticking close to Otto's shoulders.]

I designed them myself. I know exactly what they can or cannot do.