ArchivedLogs:The Gift of Flight

The Gift of Flight
Dramatis Personae Kisha, Rasa, Sebastian
In Absentia	2014-03-24 '
Location <XS> Computer Lab
All modernism in contrast to the old-world elegance of most of the mansion, this room has been dragged into the twenty-first century wholeheartedly. Rows of top-of-the-line computers provide internet access to any students who lack their own in their rooms, and sleek tablets give the mansion's artists a place to practice their digital art when the art studio does not suffice. Whether knuckling down to pull an all-nighter on a research paper or simply killing time browsing, students can be found in here at all hours in front of the glows of the screens. It is lunchtime, and probably many students are therefore -- lunching. Certainly somewhere down the hall and far away the smells and clamour of lunch are noticeable, though all the way here through the quiet of the library and the whir of computer fans it's less intrusive. What is noticeable is the very soft growling coming from one tiny blue shark tucked away at a machine towards the back of the room. Sebastian is /glaring/ at the computer, which, despite his by-now-habitual hand motions, is /refusing/ to respond by giving him the appropriate holographic interface. And so he has to resort to interacting with it via keyboard and mouse like it's the /stone/ age or something. The soft disgruntled growling continues. He's dressed -- really unlike /either/ of the sharktwins tends to be, given that all /their/ clothing has been recently torched. Just a bland pair of jeans, no shoes, a somewhat ill-fitting green cable-knit sweater worn over a rumpled white t-shirt, all kind of shabby thrift-store finds. Beside him there is a text book open to -- some sort of gruesome picture of rotting flesh. He /might/ be taking the class on Disease this term. Kisha doesn't hold with this notion of lunchtime, at least not as a time in which lunch is consumed, but it does provide a handy break from classes in which to run errands. Such as delivering gifts to people who have recently had birthdays. It's taken her a little while to end up in the Computer Lab but arrive she does. Hefting a large cardboard box sealed with the finest duct tape money can buy. Her outfit is as unchanging as ever although it seems recently washed. Rasa wanders in sporting a rather large pair of wings from hir back. Ze has opted for a more summery halter top to accommodate these large wings, in pink and green, with a pair of swishy pants to match. Ze is also a little bit taller than normal and hir shoulders are broader, likely to also accommodate. Hir skin is pale and hir hair is dark, more reminiscent of the person ze borrowed these wings from. Ze pauses in the door way for a moment, watching Kisha's progress through the room, but when hir eyes light upon the recipient of Kisha's gift, ze grins, exposing slliiightly elongated canines. Ze strides in and moves to Sebastian's free side, pulling out a chair and turning it backwards so ze can straddle it and give hirself a bit of relaxation. "Sup." Sebastian's head tilts at the sound of people entering the computer lab, his nose twitching in quick reflexive identifying sniff /before/ he turns to look at them with his /eyes/. "You have a box." It might be the day for pointing out the obvious, because after greeting Kisha with this, his next greeting to Rasa is: "You have wings." In his defense, it's been a /very/ long week, and he's been sleeping in the lake with Shane instead of in his dorm. Quizzically, his head turns to the side. "Are those Dusk's? They look -- fuzzy." He leans in, sniffing first at the wings and then towards Kisha's box. Mmm. Cardboard. "My computer blew up," he laments to the others, with a very put out kind of frown. "This one has a mouse." "The box is for you," Kisha states helpfully. "You got me a gift and therefore I felt it would only be right to get you one back. Also it seemed like it would be interesting to make." She nods, then puts the box down by Sebastian. "I could never go back to controlling things with my hands. Once you plug your brain in it's hard to go back." Her eyes fix upon Rasa's wings and while she does not quite stare she... Okay she is pretty much staring. "Do they actually work? The wings I mean." Inside the box (if it's opened) is some kind of deflated balloon with a skeletal frame attached. And part of the frame looks oddly like the charging port for one of Basians flying robots. "Oh. Wow. A mouse. Did you want me to show you how to use it?" Rasa grins brighter and rests hir elbows on the computer table, folding them over each other. "Yeah. They're Dusk's. I met him in the clinic. Spent a couple days in his head. It was interesting." Ze gently brushes one of the wings up against Sebastian's arm before pulling it in toward hirself again. "They work. I'm just shit with them right now. It's apparently more coordination than expected. I think I can maybe take off now, but I'm still having trouble maintaining any sort of flight. I'm going to keep trying though. Oooh. What is that?" "You know he'd probably teach you," Sebastian tells Rasa with a sudden bright -- ish, it's still carefully closed-lipped -- smile. "He taught Professor al-Jazari. I think it took her a while she spent months just -- gliding so I wouldn't be discouraged. I mean she had her wings for years." He presses his arm back against the wing reflexively, gills rippling along the sides of his neck. His eyes open wider at the mention of a /gift/, gills rippling faster still. "Woah. Wait. For /me/?" He sounds surprised at this. "Really? I mean, really? I mean /thanks/. I mean really?" His smile brightens even more, and he turns his chair towards the box with a small happy wriggle. He leans down, claws slicing through the duct tape to open up the box and peer inside, curious at first and then reaching down to slowly-cautiously start working the box's contents out of it. His head tilts to one side, eyes fixed on the -- balloon? -- and now he seems to be a little lost-oblivious to the other two people beside him as he focuses, intrigued, on what this thing might /be/. Kisha shrugs. "There is a USB stick with the control software on it inside. It should all be in English but if I missed any Russian let me know," she explains helpfully. "There might be compatability issues with your latest drones, but I imagine that will only add to the amusement." She begins holding her hands out near Rasa's new wings and frowning. "They work? I wouldn't have guessed. Have you had a dramatic reduction in body mass? Or are the muscles extremely powerful?" "Well. I gained some body mass by eating for a couple days. Kind of think the clinic sent me home so I'd stop eating their food." Rasa looks a little embarrassed as ze explains, turning slowly in hir chair side to side. "But yeah. Um. I might be borrowing someone else's muscles. Dusk does it all with super strength and I can't really do that. Don't get powers from shifting." Ze turns to watch Sebastian an little more, eyes narrowing on the contraption before shrugging one wing. "I'll have to hit him up on Friday at least, if he doesn't come out here at all. I'd ask to go flying with him and Isr-- Professor al-Jazari, but that'd be like a third wheel kind of thing." Sebastian is still a little distracted, pushing aside his chair so that he can set the blimp down on the floor and examine it more thoroughly; he finds the USB stick but for now just sets it with the rest of his schoolwork as he pokes his way around the machine. He's been wearing a faintly puzzled look on his face the entire time he examines it, but eventually as he lifts the deflated balloon away from the frame and looks from charging port to solar panels he looks up with a sudden unabashed toothy-bright grin. "Oh man oh /gosh/ oh man. Can I really send this out after my bugs in the /air/?" He -- may have missed the interrim part of the conversation in his absorbed exploration of BLIMP; there might be a little bit of delighted /squee/ in his voice. Kisha shrugs modestly. "In theory yes," she agrees. "If my calculations are correct then if you tether the blimp to something and have sunny weather you could operate a bug for weeks. If the blimp has to power itself as well then it drastically reduces operational time but you could still get a few days if not a full week out of it. Some of the technology used is quite likely under research in various colleges so there could be teething problems. But I am highly confident the batteries are small enough they won't overheat and explode." She nods in her most re-assuring manner. "Borrowing muscles? That sounds rather painful for all concerned. That does strike me as strange. The inability to duplicate powers. Presumably you are unable to produce the unusual cells needed for enhanced functions?" "I..." Rasa blinks and frowns at the keyboard in front of hir. "I don't know. I can only make what I have the energy for, I guess." Ze wraps hir wings a little tighter around hirself and hangs hir head a little. "Like when I copy Peter's skin, it isn't chitin under the microscope. It's closer to fingernail." Ze falls silent during the discussion of flying bugs and recharging. Sebastian wriggles happily again where he sits, settling the balloon back down as his smile suddenly self-consciously snaps back into a closed-lipped one. The squee in his voice does not go away, though. "Ohmygosh. That's -- That's incredible I have my own mobile /power/ station now." He bounces in place, scooping the blimp-drone closer to actually /hug/ it closer to himself. "I've -- maybe had some exploding problems in the past no explosions are --" His skin pales juuust a litle bit. "No exploding is good." He looks back to Rasa, curious. "Does it hurt? Dusk says his wings hurt. It looks like a lot of extra weight to slog around." "Explosions hurting is something I am unfortunately acquainted with and I most definately agree it is to be avoided," Kisha agrees solemnly. "In theory the skin which makes up the wings would be subject to a painful amount of pressure. Hopefully there is only very limited nerve tissue there. It would however be quite enjoyable to fly I think, makes me sad I never got chance to try the microlight I built during the zombie uprising." "Oh. Well. They're heavy," Rasa admits, lips twitching again. "I don't know. I mean, Maybe. I think some of Dusk's problem is that he can't put them away. If mine get too heavy, they kind of stop, because I want them to. Which makes it harder to fly, because I have to remember to make them strong enough again." Ze shrugs, adding, "That's the problem with a mutation based on memory, conscious or otherwise. If I figure it out, I'll let you know, okay?" Ze starts to get up, turning hir chair back around and pushing it in. "But all this has made me hungry, so I'm going to go snag something before they stop serving lunch. Anyone want anything?" "I think it's actually the opposite," Sebastian says thoughtfully. "Dusk's wings -- well bat wings in general but his too -- are /crazy/ sensitive, they have all these little receptors -- I guess it's sort of like what's in fingertips only they're different because they have tiny sensor-hairs in them for helping detect windflow or something." He shakes his head a little uncertainly. "But they're pretty intensely sensitive so I think they must get kind of, um. Annoying. Maybe after a while you get used to them -- woah," he looks at Rasa suddenly, "they're really new for you, are they annoying?" He tilts his head at Kisha, reluctantly pulling himself away from his blimp to sit back in his chair. "Did something happen to it? Why can't you try it now? -- Oh gosh /lunch/. I should -- maybe -- find Shane. And lunch." Kisha blinks. "Nothing exploded while making it, but I have in the past been blown up and on fire." She brushes her hair back to reveal the notch missing from her ear. "So I can understand the discomfort it causes. Although thankfully I was spared the concern for other people. But yes it's into the lunch hour now. I suppose I should ensure the new bane of my existence is not meddling with things beyond her comprehension. Or worse still, trying to write something." "Oh?" Rasa continues to look a little confused and increasingly sheepish. "Sorry. I've been kind of high... on painkillers lately. Maybe? Been kind of feeling all sorts of things lately and can't quite process it all." Ze gives a little smile and stretches hir wings before settling them around hir once more. "Bane of your existence? Oh. New roommate? How's that going?" Sebastian winces, gills fluttering against the side of his neck as he looks at the notch. "That's -- no fun at all no. Definitely building things explosion-free is -- way better. Oh man. Too many explosions we could start a club. -- Are they at least giving you the good drugs, Rasa?" He turns back to his computer briefly logging off his machine and gathering his things. He almost reverently packs the blimp back into its box so that he can close the box, balancing his book and notebook on the top flap. Before he picks it up, though, he darts forward to give Kisha a quick-tight squeeze of sudden!hug. "Thankyouthankyou." He scoops the box up into his arms afterwards. "-- Wait bane who's a bane?" "They made me share with /Ghost/. I have little time for outdated media let alone hack writers," Kisha grumbles, annoyed enough she doesn't spot the hug coming and ends up freezing. Like a deer in car headlights. "It's the least I could do. You got me a robot with a holographic controller after all. I did consider making something for your brother, perhaps an electric violin, but I've never attempted something which requires skilled woodworking before. So it may take some time to finish." "Ahhh. Yeah. It's some good stuff." Rasa nods and crosses hir arms over hir chest. "I am also against buildings blowing up. Not a fan. Burning hurts." Ze starts to head toward the door, waiting on the others, pausing for the hug. D'awww. "Oh. Ghost. Well. Her writing isn't that bad. I mean, structure wise. Didn't you get your computer from work, B? Wouldn't they replace it? They probably have insurance for it and everything." "Oh. Ghost's nice. Just -- you know. Reporter. I think they're required to poke at things. -- I don't know much about violin making instruments can be kind of finicky. Personal?" Sebastian blushes slightly when Kisha freezes up at the hug, gills fluttering rapidly and his head ducking sheepishly. "Yeah. They'll get me a new computer. I just have to, um, actually get /back/ to work, I've kinda -- took the past couple days off with -- everything. So. Um. OK, right, /lunch/. We were all going to, um, do things. I gotta find Shane he's -- needs to eat." He flashes the others a quick smile, and, hugging his arms tightly around his box, darts off out of the room. "I do not believe we will get along," Kisha admits, turning to head off. "I'll see how the violin turns out. In the event it is a failed project I'll simply use the wood as fuel. Anyway it was a pleasure speaking with you both. I hope the recovery goes well Rasa." "Thanks Kisha. See you around." Rasa refrains from hugging and wanders hir way down to lunch.