Dustin Silver (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
quark_assassin) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
revivalproject2023-07-15 09:24 am
quark_assassin) wrote in revivalproject2023-07-15 09:24 am
Keeping Busy
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
2. Distraction 1: Skywatching | Nights throughout July, Amphitheater | OTA
3. Distraction 2: Hoverbike | Late July, Southeast Temba | OTA
4. Special Delivery | Early July, Dustin's Workshop | Closed to Link
WILDCARD
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!]
no subject
A genuine, enthusiastic grin splits his face. "--One moment," Dustin calls, holding up a hand for patience, before he ducks back into his shop. He comes back out a few moments later with his loaded crossbow.
This should be an incredibly, unnecessarily dangerous test to perform. But unlike the shield surfing aspect of it, Dustin has put the shield through its paces when it comes to its primary function of Blocking Shit; he knows exactly how the antigrav generators will deflect, what their force tolerances are, the natural resilience of the underlying metal, associated trajectories based on different impact angles, so on and so forth. He barely has to think about where to aim the crossbow to know the possible points of collision and calculate that the bolt will ricochet off the generators' field and land harmlessly in the street to his right.
no subject
So he hoists the shield high. Angles it to catch the bolt. And then holds firm as it hits.
With wide eyes, he watches in stunned amazement as the bolt ricochets off.
"I didn't parry!" He says. And yet, it still deflected! Which had him wondering, just how far could the shield deflect if Link did choose to parry...
no subject
no subject
"Parrying deflects back," Link explains. Not just off to the side, but at the actual attacker. "Maybe farther now...?"
He looks down at the shield, pondering this question. Unfortunately, it's not one he can test. Not until something else starts shooting at him.
no subject
"Well, we can try it, yeah?" he calls up, starting to load another bolt. Pauses. Unscrews the arrowhead from the end and mentally recalculates the weight and center of mass. He doesn't know what kind of extra forces will be involved with Link's extra parrying maneuvers, which means that he can't accurately predict where the arrow will go, and with live ammunition, that's a bit too dangerous for his tastes. "Tell me when you're ready."
no subject
Dustin might not be able to predict where the arrow will go - but this is a manoeuvre Link has performed countless times before. He knows what will happen.
"...It would hit you."
Which was what he wanted, with an enemy. Not so with Dustin.
no subject
"You can't choose another target or something?" he asks. "Or does it always return to sender?"
no subject
It's not exactly something he wants to test with Dustin.
no subject
"Eh--I can work with that," he shrugs. The practice bolt is unceremoniously stuffed into his back pocket so he can use both hands to manipulate the crossbow, with occasional diversions to prod at it with a screwdriver from his satchel. Increase the tension here, move this component over there...
"...Alright," Dustin says after a couple of minutes of silent tinkering. "I've set it to fire on its own after a ten second delay. I can put it in that window--"
He gestures across the street to a decimated shopfront, barely intact except for a section of front wall with an empty window frame.
"--and still be able to hit you from your current position. Better plan?"
no subject
Link nods. Yes, this is a better plan. He can test out how the shield responds to a parry, without actually risking any harm coming to Dustin.
no subject
There's a soft click, but nothing happens. As expected. Dustin sprints away across the street to the side door of his workshop so he can observe the aftermath from a safe distance. By the time he's crouched down behind the open door, the crossbow fires its bolt square at the center of where the shield was ten seconds ago.
no subject
He's done this before. He knows the movements, knows the timing right down to the split second. At the very instant the arrow strikes the shield, Link parries.
The shield pushes forward. As do the anti-grav generators - and the arrow is flung back, right towards the crossbow.
no subject
He isn't wrong.
The realization hits him in slow motion, in the second between watching the arrow's trajectory while he calculates its speed and the force behind it. This thing's going to absolutely obliterate his crossbow, isn't it?
Dustin's heart sinks. Well, he thinks, taking in a breath for a sigh. It was nice while it lasted.
The arrow slams into the crossbow it came from with nearly triple the momentum a fraction of a second later. Dustin flinches at the bone-rattling smash and clatter of impact, but manages to look back in time to see the main body of the crossbow tumbling backwards behind the wall while other assorted bits of it fly off in various other directions. It takes him a couple seconds still before he's brave enough to poke his head all the way out from behind the door, visibly wincing, though ultimately his curiosity and wonder at the result are overwhelming any kind of annoyance at having his property destroyed. He consented to this, it's fixable.
no subject
He practically bounds over towards Dustin, almost vibrating with energy. It's in contrast to his face, which - as usual - doesn't show that much in the way of expression.
"This is best shield," he declares.
no subject
A warm, bright smile splits Dustin's face, in defiance of his frustration at the trashed crossbow. "You're damn right it is," he says, eyes sparkling and chest swelling with pride. Fuck he needed this. "Let me know if it needs to be repaired or adjusted at all. You know where I live and stuff, so."
no subject
Yes, this shield is the best thing ever.
"Thank you," he says. And then - because Link is oh so keen to get back to shield surfing all over the place - he hops back on, and shield surfs off into the distance.
"Bye!" he yells back at Dustin, as he goes.