thebastion | Day 271 | OPEN | The first step is usually the hardest

Entry tags:

Day 271 | OPEN | The first step is usually the hardest

Who: Rob, Anyone
Open: Open
When: Day 271
Where: Wherever
What: Unexpected fashion choices.
Format: Will match

[Pre-post solo stuff]

It had been a week already and, like every morning where he had woken up in his cottage over the past week, once he was ready to leave he stopped and stared at what was on his dresser for a bit before taking it to a mirror and staring at it again. Even being his own worst critic he could tell that he'd done a good job, all things considered. He liked how it looked with the mix of badass, primal, and vaguely creepy despite it not turning out exactly as he'd imagined.

But what about other people? He was very much aware that in his own world this would be considered weird despite his own opinions of it, and that was the problem. If he went outside with this he risked being stared at, people judging him, and people thinking he's weird. The horror.

Today though, as he looks at it in the mirror, a thought occurs to him. Namely, a thought about the waste if he doesn't take it outside. With that thought in mind, he slowly makes his way downstairs to his front door. And stands there. He puts his hand on the doorknob, pauses, pulls it back, pauses, puts his hand on the doorknob, pauses, and repeats the process a few more times. The phrase "They're all gonna laugh at you!" starts bouncing around inside his head and he closes his eyes, trying to force down the anxiety that's making its way up. If he'd thought ahead he could potentially have avoided this problem; if he hadn't acted like his usual self when he'd first arrived everyone might expect something like this from him, but instead he'd presented himself as he normally did and now feels the weight of everyone's expectations about what he's like pressing down on him. Acting against that expectation is hard, and he's not sure how long he remains frozen in front of the door, paralyzed by internal conflict.

Finally though, he clenches his teeth and starts breathing heavily. Will a colossal burst of willpower he opens the door and steps outside, closing it behind him before he act on the urge to abort and go back inside.

[Open]

As of today, Rob has started to accessorize a bit. And by that I mean: a rabbit skull with a shard faintly glowing from within each eye socket, two rabbit humeruses, two rabbit femurs, and two rabbit tibias are spaced out on a braided leather cord, which is being worn by Rob as a necklace. Yes, this is indeed a thing that is happening, and will continue to happen for the foreseeable future. Rob himself is just going about his business as usual, though he does look oddly tense while doing so.

One order of business for today though is to hunt down everyone who went on the mission to the Ura. With those people, he approaches them, unintentionally stealthily contrary to expectations based on appearances, and quietly speaks up despite his apprehension about actually being the one to initiate conversation.

"Hey, um, I was, uh, I was wondering how well the carts worked out, and, uh, and if there were any improvements you think I could make to them. Or for if I make another one. I-If you're not too busy, of course."

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I may not be the best person to ask if it's the latter.

[Colin grins.]

Not a day goes by that someone doesn't question my sanity.

The biggest thing I can recommend right now is finding what you want to do, and doing it. You're pretty good at carpentry, and we definitely need a carpenter around here. May not be prestigious, but it's a good job.

Of course, there's LOTS of things we need. So if it's not what you want to do with yourself, you've still got plenty of time to do something else. Worse comes to worse, I've been filling in gaps where we need them.

[Rob just blinks at the sanity comment, because he's not sure how to respond to it.]

There's definitely some more things I wanna make sure this place has, and I'll probably come up with a ton more as I go along. Most of them'll need at least a few shards to get set up, though in the long run they should eliminate the need for shards for certain things.

It'd be useful to have an actual carpenter around instead of just me though. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want woodworking to be the main thing I'm doing here. I mean, if people desperately need to to I guess I could, but there's certainly some other things I want to look into doing...

[He trails off as he's reminded of something he'd been thinking about earlier and shifts topics.]

...I'm wondering, though; what do you usually feel after you've finished making or fixing something?

[Worst part? It wasn't a joke. He KNOWS people think he's nuts. He's had the psych examinations to prove it.]

Where do you think actual carpenters come from?

[Colin grins at him.]

Everyone starts somewhere, and nobody's a pro when they start their job.

That said... Nothing says carpentry has to be your main job. I'm an engineer. It's what I enjoy doing. I'm also one of the most ass-kicking computer scientists in the galaxy. And that? Is a hobby. Figure out what you want to do, what you like to do... and excel at it.

[A brief diversion to the first part of that statement.]

Just don't forget to spend some shards on yourself. Reinvestment in the society is a wonderful thing, but it saps morale if you don't splurge on yourself every now and then.

And as for how I feel when I finish a job? I feel the satisfaction of a job well-done. I like knowing that I've fixed something, or made something function in the universe. It's a feeling of completeness, and the knowledge that the next job is ready for me to tackle.

I can think about getting something for myself once I've bought everything I want to for this place.

[Rob chews on his lower lip for a second.]

I... When I finished the first cart, I felt... I guess it was a feeling of accomplishment? Not like the accomplishment from winning a game of Magic or reaching Exalted with a faction, an accomplishment that actually means something. It's almost the same as when I saw the tree I bought for the first time, or... or every time I killed a Squirt. The Squirts are kind of different, though. They're more about the feeling afterwards when I realized I just did something that allowed me to continue to exist. But either way... that kind of accomplishment's... something I haven't felt in a long time. Years, maybe. It... It felt good.

[His voice cracks slightly as he says those last two words.]

[Colin smiles, and he steps closer to Rob to put a hand on his shoulder.]

That's something you don't learn in school and that nobody'll teach you.

It's a primal thing. When you CREATE something? Something functional and right? It makes you feel good. It triggers something in the brain that flows with the natural pulse of the universe.

Now you're sounding like a mystic and not an engineer.

[It's not said disparagingly though, since that would be calling the kettle black.]

I guess... for now, looking at things that give me that sense of accomplishment is probably a good route to take until I find something more specific.

There's not much difference between the two, really. Each knows how part of the universe works.

I just have the benefit of having been raised on the plane of law, so I REALLY know how the universe works.

Look, just find what you enjoy doing that also benefits other people. Enjoy your work, and it will make it that much easier on you. That's one of the secrets of life.

"Plane of law"? That sounds like a nightmarish place to get stuck.

That's probably a good goal. [One easier said than done though.] Speaking of things that benefit other people though, I wanted to ask you about some of the feedback I got from them being used in the field? There's a couple of problems I'm not sure how to solve.

Mechanical law, not "Justice" law. Numbers, equations, functions of the inner workings of the universe. More math than you could shake an Einstein at. Einstein, right? I'm not mixing my scientists, I don't think...

Anyway, mechanical problems, shoot. I'm always happy to help.

Hawking might work too. Or Newton if you wanna go super old-school.

The one that came up several times is how they had a hard time moving through the swamp they had to go through. For general speed, I'm going to see if Stewart can show me how to make metal rims for the wheels, but that's not gonna help all that much once they leave firm ground. Someone suggested raising the bodies of the carts off of the ground more, which might help, but that'd basically require a whole new cart with the way these ones are built. You have any intermediate ideas?

The important thing is I was in the right species and reference frame.

[Colin smiles, then he considers.]

Surface pressure is your big issue. No matter how big your wheels are, only a certain portion of them will be on the ground at a time. All your weight will be pushing down on that small surface, and you'll sink like a stone.

Unfortunately, the only real advice I can give here is don't go into a swamp in the first place. You can't really make a cart amphibious, and we don't really have the resources to make a hovercraft that could also carry that much of a load. If you widen the tires and make some rubber treads with thick teeth, it will help, but only so much.

[Rob nods along as Colin talks.]

Widening the tires is something I'd forgotten about, but yeah, that's about what I was thinking. Unfortunately it sounds like the swamp was just a function of the Skyway and there was no other option; the other path was too narrow to get the carts through. Do we have any rubber around? I don't think I've seen any, unless there was a section of the scrapyard with them we didn't see.

[For the record, on their trip to the scrapyard Rob prioritized steel, insulated wire, and motors and solenoids for what he gathered aside from shards, and can be assumed to follow that strategy on future trips unless something else comes up.]

We can ask them about routes later. If there's any way to avoid the swamp, even if it adds time to a journey, it should be taken. Like I said, we can try to make things more mechanically sound, but sometimes, it just isn't feasible. To really make it work, you'd need to make brand new tires to be swapped out before going into the swamp, and then swapped back after they get out.

[Colin shakes his head.]

We don't have much rubber here, it hasn't been priority salvage. We can probably find some, I'm sure.

I can't see it being a priority either. For now metal rims are probably the best that can be done. I'll have to start thinking about what a new cart design would be like, other than higher off of the ground. Not sure if bigger is necessarily better in this case, considering how the Skyway can be.

Speaking of the swamp, any ideas for giant-monster-repellent that won't be a problem for people or ostrich horses? I hear there was a bit of a close call on the way.

Bigger isn't better, here. Wider wheels have their own issues, which is why there's not going to be a catch-all solution here.

As for animal repellant... You're better off asking Raile than me. I have general animal knowledge, but Raile's the expert in this world's native critters.

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Day 271 | OPEN | The first step is usually the hardest

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