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

Sender: Herlock Sholmes

[thegamesafoot]

Mr Octavius, I observed a few scoundrels making off with some fantastically useful equipment. Headed towards the Wildlands, I do believe.

They were nasty-looking fellows. Best to cut your losses!

sender: Ferran

[noblegarnet]

[you're finally awake skyrim.mp4]

What are you going to use the welding for?

[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]

Dr. Octavius, actually.

I tend not to be intimidated by nasty-looking fellows, nor by people who tell fantastical tales. You must have an eye for technical equipment if you can describe my stolen setup as useful.

[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.

[thegamesafoot]

Living here, a man can't help but cultivate the enterprising eye of a scavenger. A humble tin can, a discarded bicycle tyre—it all becomes useful fodder.

Now, if indeed I recovered your equipment from the debris, why would I bother responding to this request?

[ Sholmes sits back in his chair and props his feet up on the box of the machine in question, scribbling away at his journal. ]

[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]

To shift the blame elsewhere and send me on a wild goose chase into the Wildlands, or otherwise convince me to 'cut my losses'. That, or sheer boredom. People who have no true goals in life thrive in the role of petty nuisance.

[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.

[thegamesafoot]

I hear you made quite the petty nuisance of yourself, Doctor! Enough to land yourself in the Prison Tree.

Rumour has it this isn't the first time!

:-)

[sciencesquid]

Petty is the word for that, alright. Double standards. No one who stole from me is being carted off to the Prison Tree, as far as I can tell. It's a pity. Some time in there may do wonders for your attitude problems.

[Hypocrisy? Where?]

[thegamesafoot]

Such strong convictions! You should run for a seat on the council. Perhaps reform Reverein's deeply flawed justice system?

[sciencesquid]

Truly, your sense of humor knows no boundaries, Mr. Sholmes.

Will you be returning my equipment voluntarily, or will I need to find out where you live?

[thegamesafoot]

Not much use for such things in a cell now, is there?

[ Sholmes lights the torch and ... immediately sets the corner of his journal on fire. Will the scorch mark and the subsequent tea dousing the page come across on Otto's end? Perhaps cause the previous ink to run?

Still, he's not going to admit to any wrongdoing; he knows better than to leave a paper trail. ]

I'm not difficult to find, Dr Octagon. Stop by for tea if you'd like!

[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]

[Hey! HEY! People can do that with their journals? This world really just keeps finding new ways to piss Otto off. Ruin the previous bits of the conversation all you want, Sholmes, you're just digging your own grave now.]

I just might take you up on that offer.

[It may take a few days, it may even take a month, but he will hunt Sholmes down and come a-knocking. Just not for tea.]

[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?

[thegamesafoot]

Brilliant! I do so look forward to it.

[ The page is still soggy, making the ink bloom outward into near-illegibility. ]

In the meantime, enjoy your stay in the Prison Tree!

[sciencesquid]

[Near-illegible or not, Otto can still read that last remark and he just smirks. Here's to hoping Sholmes, in turn, can also still read what comes next, because it's as close to a warning as he'll get.]

I finished that stay this morning, actually. Unfortunate, isn't it?

See you soon, Mr. Sholmes.