thebastion | Day 215

Entry tags:

Day 215

Who: Paarthurnax and you
Open: Open
When: Day 215, morning and afternoon
Where: Across the river from Dragonfield
What: Dragon lessons are best held in groups, don't you know? Plus, a survey.
Format: Any
Notes: The two separate situations, for sake of ease, will be in two different top threads. Consider the dovahzul group a sort of mingle! Get to know your fellow students better.

In the time between morning and noon, Paarthurnax settles down by the river of Dragonfield where the usual stone tablet depicting all the letters of dovahzul is. It's a recognizable landmark, after all... Although he won't turn away new faces.

During the afternoon, anyone venturing nearby will be called to by the old dragon. Investigate?

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[Just a nod, and Paarthurnax settles down. Go ahead, kids, grampa will just lay here and rest his old bones while you talk about your newfangled yahoos and huddy doos and whatever the heck.]

[He shoots a glance over to Paarthurnax, studying the dragon for a long moment. There’s been no hostility thusfar, but the Meta is a soldier through and through and there’s trepidation with putting himself in any sort of defenseless position. Colin is an entirely different worry as well, because while the promises of ammunition and perhaps a means of communication is incredibly tempting, they also bring about suspicion.

It takes a minute or two before he acts, an irritated hiss escaping from behind his clenched teeth in order to cover his hesitation. Fingers push the back of his helmet a bit higher up his skull; removing it would be easier, but it’s been years since he’s willingly taken it off in the presence of any company. Instead, he runs the pads of his fingers down the spinal seal of his under armor, disengaging a few of the clasps and revealing the empty implantation port at the base of his neck.

Though there are no AI chips currently installed, despite his best efforts, it’s still connected to his armor, mainlining power to the small holo-projectors and speakers installed near the shoulder; there’s also been no tampering to the wiring fused to his spinal cord or the nodes connected inside his skull.

Though his glare is hidden by his visor, his impatient grunt is still audible.]

I'll study quick, then.

[The irritation does NOT escape Colin, and he does not have any illusions that Meta wants him to waste time on pleasantries. No, he's fairly certain that the Meta just wants him to finish what he needs to do and shut up so he can don the armor and get out of there.]

Paar, if it looks like I'm screwing with this guy's gear improperly in the next minute or two? Turn me into a greasy smear on the wall. He doesn't want me to mess around with it any more than necessary. I trust you can make that judgment call.

[He knows what his wife would want, and he's fairly certain that the Meta thinks along similar lines. He also knows that Paar can't make any kind of judgment beyond if it looks like he's hurting the guy, but it's an important offer to make just the same.]

[No, he's just going to move behind the Meta to study the implant port curiously, and scan the armor to get as much information as he needs to do the job.]

I know you don't want my hands anywhere near you. I'm not your tech, you don't know what I can do, and this is closer than you want anyone. But... if nothing else, I can assure you that I will do nothing beside providing you with the kind of service you need.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious, but your gear is yours, and I won't do anything besides what you want me to do.

Let us hope it does not quite come to such extremes.

[But Paar will keep an eye out on things just the same, although he's fairly confident that Colin won't need any intervention for something like this.]

[There’s still tension wound in his stance, his fingers tightening their grip along the edge of his helmet. It takes a tremendous amount of willpower, but he forces his hand away from the seal, making sure the clasps don’t automatically relock. It’s a very vulnerable feeling, he spends most of his time both waking and asleep in armor, and to willingly allow anyone access to any part of it provokes a feeling of incredible intrusion. Still, he takes a knee, letting his head drop forward to expose the port more freely.

The consequences do not outweigh the benefits, even as much as he’d like to think they do. The Calamity took his partner, his medic, and any hope of finding the proper artificial intelligence programs to help mitigate any damage done to his supplies, and though it is with reluctance, he lowers his hand, tapping at the various cobbled-on units littered across the torso piece.

Power unit (still sparking every time it’s activated), shields, temporal distortion, cloaking, strength- each one is messily rigged to the implantation port alongside the projectors and speakers. The craftsmanship is functional at best, the pieces all made for other suits but haphazardly mashed into his own, but it makes it difficult to differentiate between what wiring goes where.]

Ah, battlefield mods... A constant source of engineering pride and shame.

[If only he actually knew the stories behind their acquisition, he might be a little less charitable. But still...]

Just give me another minute or so, and I'll have this mapped. Then, coming up with a program for language will be easy. The speakers, the neural link, all of it seems functional and useable.

You could stand to have some maintenance done on this suit to have it a little less hodge-podge, but... Yeah, I can work with this.

[He's also cheating a bit, probing with long range communication with the suit. Once he's got the languages, both the native spoken languages and the programming languages, the rest will be a breeze to work with.]

[It's amazing technology for the tech level, really. But from the looks of it, it was designed to turn the tide of a war. Not all the surprising, really.]

Just a little more...

Okay, I've got what I need. I can DEFINITELY give you a thoughtspeech program with this. I've got a few shell programs already that should work with just some minor tweaking. Give me... eighteen hours to program and work out the bugs. Then I can have you speaking. We'll probably need to iron out the kinks once it's loaded, but that's easy compared to what comes first.

You can seal up again if you like, I'm done with the innards.

~~Got permission to post!~~

[There’s a grunt of agreement, because he’s well aware that his handiwork isn’t terribly good in any sense of the word. There’s no surprise to that, though; everything was obtained through less-than ideal means, and most of it shouldn’t even really work with his current loadout. It’s functional, yes, but without any AI interface installed, its effectiveness is terribly limited.]

[At the mention, he stands again, a bit of the previous tension bleeding out of his movements. Re-sealing his underarmor brings a sense of relief, and fitting his helmet back properly chases away any lingering concern; just being properly outfitted again after those few seconds is nearly cathartic.]

[A quick, cursory glance at his HUD indicates that nothing’s been tampered with, and so he instead glances back at Paarthurnax again, making a vague gesture of thanks. It’s been an interesting afternoon, and he’s grateful for the opportunity to finally replenish some of his supplies, not to mention the unexpected bonus of perhaps solving his communication problems. A similar nod is given to Colin, even if he’s still not certain how to feel about someone poking around in his effects.

It’s a waiting game now, though, and he acknowledges that there are other things to be done. With another gesture and a low rumble in his chest, he’ll make his way back and let the other two have their discussions.]

Stay well.

[He waits until Meta has fully left before shifting his gaze back to Colin.]

What is it you wish to speak with me about, then?

[Colin nods, and gives the Meta a parting wave.]

Take care, and come back tomorrow afternoon. I should be ready for you then.

[He too watches the Meta depart. It's only after he's gone that he finally turns his attention to Paarthurnax, and he smiles faintly.]

A couple things. My morale's taken something of a hit. Can't really avoid it, I know I'm off-putting to people. But still.

At the radio tower, after I reached for a flashbang, Nathan threatened to have me thrown out of the Bastion if I did it again. Imagine that, would you? Throwing someone out for not wanting to be exposed to a lethal disease, and being ready to use a non-lethal means to prevent it from happening.

It was meant to happen eventually. Even you only have so much energy to spare, my friend.

[The tale of the radio tower is listened to carefully, and Paarthurnax makes a low rumble in his throat.]

He is still young... Not used to the position of a leader or seeing things from other perspectives. The discovery was also stressful, I imagine. Such emotions can make fools out of even those who should know better.

What do you wish to do?

Nothing except what I've been doing. Try to keep this place up and running with some ounce of sanity and intellect.

SOMETHING will eventually get my personal life expectancy projections back up to a reasonable percentage.

[Colin shakes his head. Random statement? Maybe, maybe not, if Paar wants to ask, it's there. If not, Colin doesn't seem in any hurry to explain.]

Nathan's way too young, and he's not gotten enough lumps yet. But I'm not gonna go against him. He's got the right to think what he wants.

I am, however, going to undertake my next major project. Which is why I need to go back to the observatory. We need a fallback position. If this place had been contaminated... Too many people would have given up, had no place to go.

The observatory has shelter, water, functional buildings and tools... It's not got a monument, but for a backup, it's got everything we could ask for. I need to start preparing it for that possibility of retreating to it. We've too much of our operation centralized, and one of these days, it is going to bite us on the ass.

And hey, if I ever do get kicked out, I'll have someplace I can head to in order to keep right on living.

[There's that familiar Colin smirk.]

If you could avoid being evicted, I would find it most advantageous instead of the alternative to having to fly so far to have conversations with you again.

[It's said with an amused tone even as Paarthuranx knows that it could happen if he's already been threatened with it. But it's not something that will come soon, at least that's what he likes to hope. Colin's skills are too important for them- that, no one can deny.]

I will gladly assist with this endeavor. Who else do you wish to bring for this task?

[He can only help so much, considering... Well, the usual size problem.]

No promises. My own survival and well-being are going to trump basic manners every time.

[He offers Paar a warm smile with his own traces of amusement, but yes, there's still an underlying note of seriousness there. Yeah, he's still a little bitter...]

The first trip, I don't want anyone else there but you and me. That will make it a much faster trip. Assuming, of course, that you don't mind me riding on your back. Sorry, should never assume that's okay...

I don't want to have to oversee anyone and have that distract from my work. I need to survey the site, find a good ops center, and bring back enough information to make a good, working plan on how to proceed with repairs and renovation.

And if necessary, I'll want you to scare off any peckers that may have taken up residence. ... Squirts and Gasfella are fine, though. I think that's solidly in their territory. If we succeed in building it up, they're going to be welcome there. I'm not about to take someone else's home from them and kick them out.

You are a good friend- I have no objections to carrying your weight.

When shall we head out?

I'm going to need some tools, and I'll need to make a couple of devices specifically for this trip before we go. That is probably going to take a couple of days... Three or four days sound all right to you?

And hey, you're a damn good friend yourself. I know that many dragons are particular about being ridden.

That is more than enough time. I will be prepared.

It is good to have company to speak with on such flights. I will always welcome it, so long as my wings do. [He gives a stretch of them, the tattered membrane always a sight.]

[Colin gives Paar a smile, and he nods to his wings.]

Your wings ever get damaged again, let me know. I don't think I can do anything for them as they are, but I can definitely repair any further damage that may come.

It would be most appreciated. It is a sad thing to not be able to fly, so to be able to repair anything in the future is fortunate news.

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Day 215

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