Keeping Busy

[quark_assassin]

WHO: Dustin and Whoever
WHERE: Various locations around Temba
WHAT: Monthly Grab-Bag o' Prompts
WHEN: Throughout July, post-Calibrations
WARNINGS: Dustin swearing and sweating up a storm, might be some other unpleasant stuff depending on the conversations, will CW as needed.

1. Returning the Favor | Soon after Calibrations, Library | OTA

Dustin's had one particular project completed for some time now. Good thing, as it turns out - the Calibrations process was one hell of a speedbump, and this one one less thing to panic about because of it.

The real trick, then, is finding Omega to hand off the finished product. Could he message her to coordinate? Yes. Does he want to? No, that feels like an extra step of social interaction that Dustin absolutely does not have the energy for right now. Instead, Dustin is stalking mothkittens. Omega has a veritable army of them, and Dustin has seen (and therefore recognizes on sight) a few that she has interacted with directly, so it's just a matter of finding the highest concentration of them and letting them take him to her.

This is easier said than done - something Dustin realizes about two minutes in, when his cover is immediately blown and the little animals come swarming, bouncing curiously around his feet and chirping at him for food and attention. Dustin doesn't dare guess at what they eat, so he settles for the latter. He plops down in the shade of the Library's roof, strips off his coat for the kittens to play in, and waits.

2. Distraction 1: Skywatching | Nights throughout July, Amphitheater | OTA

Arriving out of the caves means that the weather aboveground has been kind of a rude awakening. It's sweltering, miserable, giving Dustin's pale-ass skin sunburn so fast that he can't even shed all his layers to pretend to stay comfortable in the heat. Too Damn Hot. This is somehow leagues worse than this past winter. Lump on top of that the situation he just came from, wanting nothing to do with his fellow multiverse captives or long periods of sleep, and suddenly Dustin has become a predominantly nocturnal animal.

Thankfully, he's got plenty of activities lined up that can be accomplished at night. The completed telescope in the upper rafters of the Amphitheater is an obvious candidate for further observations and improvements. Dustin's first task, soon after being released, is to check on it and make sure that a month of neglect hasn't resulted in any tampering or wear from the odd storm or two, and consequently fixing any damages he finds; the second is many long, sporadic evenings of skywatching. Dustin brings a couple of blankets and towels to camp out on at dusk, plus one or two smaller inventions to tinker with, does a few rounds of honing the telescope in and spotting for anything interesting, sets a target and lets it output to his tablet while it tracks various objects across the horizon.

3. Distraction 2: Hoverbike | Late July, Southeast Temba | OTA

Some projects simply can't wait until nightfall to test. Partly this is because Dustin is working with the sort of manic energy that only comes from a period of prolonged isolation and intense paranoia, multiplied by the sudden flood of information from the return of his abilities - a high that he's been chasing all month, frankly. Partly it's because this specific project is something Dustin has been excited about since winter. But mostly, he needs to be able to see what he's doing so he can steer.

Dustin is neither stupid nor reckless enough to drive the prototype hoverbike himself (especially knowing what happened to the first attempt at this in Temba, thanks Cayde). Instead, he's hooked the controls up to an app on his communicator, allowing him to pilot the skeleton of a hoverbike like some kind of oversized RC car. He takes it on slow, controlled circuits around the factory areas of southeastern Temba during the cooler hours of dusk and dawn, trotting after the disembodied machine wherever it goes. Dustin himself as an odd look to him: He's eager and excited, like a puppy chasing a stick, but he also hasn't showered in two months, he's got bags under his eyes so dark that they look like bruises, and the heat has finally driven away most of his usual layers of clothes, leaving behind an alarmingly rail-thin teenager in a ragged, unwashed long-sleeved shirt and the rolled-up pants from his Eorzean disguise. The combination is a little unhinged - even more apparent when someone crosses his path and he (and the hoverbike) freezes in place, looking ready to bolt.

4. Special Delivery | Early July, Dustin's Workshop | Closed to Link

This is another one of those projects that really should have been completed last month, but thanks to the Unforeseen Circumstances that both he and Link had been dragged into, implementing the final touches needed to be pushed back. Finishing the shield is one of the first things Dustin does when he staggers back into his workshop, though. Link had been surprisingly kind to him when they were stuck together in Calibrations. The least Dustin could do to repay that kindness was to complete the project he'd already promised him.

It only takes a couple of days of shaping, reinforcing, and testing the major functions of the shield for Dustin to feel like it is ready for a practical demonstration. He'll need Link for that. He could try to ping him on the Network, but that sounds like a lot of effort (and Calibrations has made him especially paranoid about using Agrii-provided technology on top of that), so instead Dustin decides to just park himself somewhere that Link will come to him.

Things Dustin knows Link likes: Food, exploring new places, Being Tall. So Dustin spends the heat of the day bolting together a ladder and, at dusk, parks himself on the roof of his own workshop, the shield on one side of him and a towel cradling a pile of fresh fruit from the Diner on the other. He's brought another project - a small handheld device of some sort with a long antenna - up with him, of course, to fiddle with in case Link doesn't show.

WILDCARD

[Have an idea for something? Ping me on Plurk or Discord and we can talk about it, or just make a starter that sounds fun and I'll roll with it probably!]

Comments

I

[work_wife]

It's hot. It's too hot. Robin really doesn't know what to do with this. At least she had arrived here with the luck of her bicycle and that meant that at least she got around with some reduced difficulty. It also meant working up a sweat while she rode, but that was a whole other thing.

Of course there were always the places that were harder to get by with the bike, thanks to the broken up roads. Which the Library was almost sorta one of. But more because there were weird animals around. Ones that were clearly out in higher concetra-

Was that a person?

"Um, excuse me. Are you in danger of being eaten by those kitterflies or whatever they are?"

[quark_assassin]

It might seem that way. Two mothcats are perched partway on his shoulders to stabilize them while they hover next to his head, and both of them are very aggressively grooming his hair, to mixed results. Aside from looking vaguely annoyed, Dustin doesn't seem to mind - it's not like they can make his unwashed mop any worse. They might actually be helping untangle some of the knots.

"Yes," Dustin drones, deadpan. He's already watching Robin warily as she passes; someone struggling on a bike in this heat is hard to miss. "As you can see, I am in terrible danger."

[work_wife]

Ah, finally, someone who speaks her language. She slows, stops, gently nudges her kickstand into place so she can stop and look at him.

"Oh yeah. Life threatening right there. Getting, what, groomed to within an inch of your life? Hopefully they don't take that last inch."

[quark_assassin]

Dustin isn't terribly interested in having attention drawn to him in general, but he supposes it could be worse. Newcomer, nonthreatening, more interested in snark than actual prying. He'll play this game.

"I can outlast 'em," Dustin says blandly, even as one of the mothcats starts chewing on a particularly stubborn clump of his hair. "The hairballs alone will kill them ages before they can get to the scalp and do any real damage."

[work_wife]

Now she's grimacing.

"Flying hairballs, oh god," she says, because that sounds horrible. They could hit you from anywhere.

[quark_assassin]

"Don't see a lot of birds around here, yeah?" Dustin says. He's starting to lean his head to one side a bit - the one that's being more thoroughly groomed. It...feels kind of nice...damn, he needs a real shower. "They're filling in the 'bodily fluids raining from the sky' ecological niche. Someone's gotta do it."

[work_wife]

Yeah, that's a fair point. One she hadn't noticed before now. Okay, now that she is noticing it, it's eerie. Why did you have to tell her that?

"Seems like a shitty niche to fill," she says with a faint smirk.

1

[small_compromise]

Omega's squad is more cat than kitten in size at this point, but there's no end to the potential for new recruits for her so-called patrol training.

It's inevitable that some of the little ones start using Dustin as a jungle-gym while others opt to take a nap in his offered coat, as clearly that's what it's for. An extra bit of warmth has settled just behind the teenager in the form of Omega's laziest patrol member, Tumble, who's quickly outgrown being able to fit in her bag comfortably but will still try at any given opportunity.

Eventually footsteps are heard, human footsteps, somehow still perky even in this heat. Some of the mothkittens perk up at the sound, one or two drifting off of Dustin like he's just a cliff they'd taken to climbing.

Omega laughs as she's greeted by them. She already sports a mothcat pauldron, which looks a bit ridiculous for how big the cat is in comparison to her shoulder, but being notoriously lightweight, it doesn't upset her balance any. While she has her usual pants and boots from home, she'd managed to find a short-sleeved tunic (well, a shirt, actually) during her recent Sh'Ka scavengings.

"Did you all make a new friend? -oh! Dustin!"

[quark_assassin]

Much like the mothcats, Dustin perks up as soon as they do at the sound of footsteps, and looks visibly relieved when he discovers that it's the person he's been looking for.

Ah, finally. He shuffles, like he's going to stand up and meet Omega halfway, but doesn't follow through; there's a mothcat dozing in his lap that doesn't seem keen on moving. Dustin lets it be.

"Omega," he greets back, significantly more subdued. "A minute?"

[small_compromise]

The girl giggles a little. Seems like even Dustin isn't immune to cute mothcats. She nods, stepping over, not one bit unbalanced once Dart hops off her shoulder. Sitting herself down beside the other teenager, she holds her hands out to greet the mothkittens that inevitably bound towards her.

"Were you waiting for me?"

[quark_assassin]

Now now, Omega, no need to be overzealous; he just doesn't see a point in disturbing an animal if he doesn't have to. Case in point as he nods and twists to grab his satchel - only to frown as he notices Tumble has picked his bag to sleep in. Or on, rather.

"Yeah," Dustin absently mutters. He starts to slowly scoot his satchel away, lifting it to gently upend the mothcat on top. "Figured you would show eventually to come collect your animals."

[small_compromise]

"They're not mine," Omega points out, but she still smiles, holding her hands out to gather Tumble. He's still the laziest mothcat she's ever seen. "They like making new friends though. They're very curious."

As though Dustin couldn't already tell. And then as though to underline that point, Trapper springs up onto one of his shoulders, although thankfully a negligible weight despite being full-cat sized.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin shrugs, which seems to invite Trapper to find a perch on his raised shoulder. He barely even flinches - this is hardly the first time the mothcats have used his body as a convenient perch since he sat down in the shade of the Library, and it certainly won't be the last.

"Noticed." Dustin's voice is thick with dry sarcasm, but he doesn't seem annoyed. Too focused on the satchel. "Well, they recognize you and you've given them names, so--"

He lifts out a dense-looking metal contraption that looks very similar to a button press, albeit one with a larger and more menacing clamp at the other end of its actuating arm, and carefully puts it on the ground between him and Omega.

"--ID tag press. You can load in stencils--" Dustin twists again, grabbing a metal case (his satchel is pretty deflated now) that he sets down and opens to reveal a series of tiny, weighted iron stamps, one per each letter. "--To make whatever name you want, up to seven letters. Automatically crimps the tag to the right shape, so you can use whatever scrap metal you have on hand."

3.

[crystalmaster]

Radley has been building his motorcycle, so the sight of another vehicle definitely excites him. He has to watch it for a while. When he finally comes close enough to notice Dustin, he is appalled by the kid's state (especially the lack of shower), but he's still too excited by the hoverbike to dwell on it much.

"That is really cool! You are gonna be traveling in style."

[quark_assassin]

Oh - just Radley. Dustin's tensed shoulders relax while his white-knuckled grip on his communicator loosens in stages. The man's excitement at the hoverbike surprises him significantly less; he'd mentioned that he was from a world where motorcycles were more a piece of sporting equipment rather than a means of transportation, after all, and that he's pretty familiar with their construction. He probably has a keen eye for these things.

"It's not for me," Dustin shrugs. The manic excitement from just moments ago has disappeared almost entirely, forcibly dampened now that Dustin knows he has witnesses. "It's also not finished yet. Just, ah. Taking it out for a test."

[crystalmaster]

"Yeah? Well, whoever you're making it for is lucky," Radley says. He himself prefers using motorcycles for transport, but he supplies the sporting industry, so yes, he is familiar with both types.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin grunts his acknowledgement and turns most of his attention back to the bike. His fingers press onto the screen of his communicator and it judders, lifting a little further off the ground from idle, before slowly trundling forward.

"Wouldn't say that just yet," he says, quirking an eyebrow. "First one blew up, apparently."

[crystalmaster]

"What the ... ?! How?!" Radley said in disbelief.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin can't help flashing his teeth in a wild grin.

"That's the question, isn't it?" A question that he's also very worried about finding the answer to, but he's desperate, and tired, and he's willing to risk possible explosions to learn something new right now so he can stay distracted. "Worst case, even if I can't solve that particular problem, I'll have made remote-controlled ordnances."

4

[newmemorywhodis]

Funnily enough, Dustin's rather unorthodox attempt at contacting Link works. It takes a while. But it works.

A few hours into the evening, with a soft "Hup!", Link pulls himself up onto the roof of the workshop. And then blinks, only one leg and arm up on the roof, as Link wasn't actually expecting to see Dustin here.

And then he spots the pile of fruit, and he brightens. "Berries!" he says - and immediately makes his way over.

[quark_assassin]

Dustin is only momentarily surprised when Link suddenly appears at the edge of a roof. Ah, there he is, he reassures himself, forcing some of the tension out of his shoulders. How the hell did I not hear him climb up there?

Not important; the Link Trap has worked, and he can finally focus on why he parked himself up here in the first place before it gets too dark to run his tests. "Help yourself I guess," Dustin mumbles as Link trots over to the pile of fruit. "When you're done stuffing your face, I've got your new shield for you."

Dustin gestures pointedly to the slightly curved sheet of metal on the opposite side of him. It's plain, brushed and heat-treated to a brassy gold, and shaped like a typical flat-topped heater shield. There are two odd protrusions welded to the front that seem like they would make it terrible to surf on.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link does, indeed, help himself by immediately shoving a handful of berries into his mouth. "Fnk oo," he says, mouth still full.

At the mention of a new shield however, Link pauses. Perks up, and moves over to crouch in front of the shield, peering at it with clear interest.

He reaches out to tough one of those odd protrusions - and then looks at Dustin with a clear question in his eyes. What are these for?

[quark_assassin]

Dustin waves away Link's thanks, but watches with much more keen interest when he investigates the new shield. It doesn't do anything when he pokes them.

"Antigrav generators," Dustin explains. They do bear a semblance to the parts he's been replicating with Link's rations, although significantly slimmed down - not so much of a protuberance that they're in danger of snapping off, but still pretty noticeable. "Sensors on the reverse to activate them."

He invites Link to turn the shield over with a nod. The opposite side has a brace to hold it with, of course, but it also has a few flat, discolored plates embedded into the metal. One is behind where his arm would rest while using it as a proper shield; the other two are at the far ends, where Dustin has calculated Link's feet would rest if he tried to balance on top of it.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link patiently listens to the explanation. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what antigrav generators are...so it doesn't actually mean much.

He dutifully turns the shield over. Looks at the brace. Looks at the plates. Still doesn't understand what any of it is meant to do.

He looks back at Dustin. "...What does it do?"

[quark_assassin]

Dustin gives Link a hard look.

"Exactly what you wanted it to do," he says, voice dry. He could try to explain it in more detail, sure, but Dustin already knows how that's going to work - it's better if Link sees the results instead. "Blocking shit and shield-surfing. Give it a test."