003 - Tinkering - Action at 729 Anderson Lane

[worstvikingever]

[It's a nice day, and Hiccup's in the garage with the door open. He's working on a pretty strange looking device, which turns out to be the tail replacement harness for Toothless. It's got two fins instead of just the one he had to make back home, so it's turning out to be a mite trickier than he's used to.

But he's doing pretty well. He might actually be finished with the thing soon. Or, you know. Finished enough for preliminary testing.

Any and all walk-ups are welcome. Hiccup will be so excited to tell everyone what he's doing.]

Comments

[worstvikingever]

[He stares at it.]

It's a ball.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

Is it?

[[She turns it to the side and gives it a gentle shake, then turns her hand back upright with the ball in her palm. It turns inside out and folds in on itself, forming itself into a clockwork cockroach, which then skitters up Theta's arm and perches on her shoulder. It seems to be regarding him curiously.]]

[worstvikingever]

[Hiccup jumps and stares at the thing, leaning in to take a closer look.]

Whoa.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

I started working on Roachi when I was a child...I didn't get him finished in the condition he is now until I was seventeen or so. [[She reaches up to pet the little roach, who seems to appreciate it greatly. Then she picks it up and offers it to Hiccup again.]]

All mechanical.

[worstvikingever]

[He gently takes it and looks at it from various angles.]

That's... that's incredible!

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

That's the power of ergaleomancy~.

[[It squirms, not liking being looked over like this, but obedient to Theta.]]

[worstvikingever]

[Hiccup notices the squirming and hands it back quickly because... it kind of creeps him out a little.]

That's crazy.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

It's the marriage of magic and science, is what it is. It's the sort of technology my world is built upon.

[worstvikingever]

Yeah we definitely don't have any magic back home.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

You have dragons.

[worstvikingever]

Yeah, we do. [He says this like "well of COURSE we have dragons. That don't mean we have magic, though."]

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

I think I'd rather see a dragon, really. [[Yeah, so far she's managed to miss the black dragon roving around town. Observational skills, Theta, get them.]]

[worstvikingever]

Well he's here. I mean obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be working on this. I'll introduce you sometime.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

I'd like that. And...if I'm to calibrate the motor correctly, I'll need to meet him anyway...

[worstvikingever]

In that case I'll try to make it sooner rather than later.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

No need to rush; it will take me time to make this anyway.

[worstvikingever]

Okay, cool.

Thanks, by the way. For helping.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

It's an ergaleomancer's duty to society to serve the people.

With...England beyond my reach at the moment, I'm glad to simply be able to be useful.

[worstvikingever]

Well uh, good job with the duty thing, then. [He means it. He's really grateful for the help.]

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

[[Her smile goes awkward at that. She's been having major morality shifts lately as her baser instincts lead her to immoral and outright violent pursuits of 'fun', meanwhile her friends try to pull her morality upright and help her become a better person.

At first, she'd come in here to indulge her nastier side once again, to be openly cruel and petty towards him and make herself feel better by being nasty. Then she'd discovered that she really could help him, and it stirred a warm and long-forgotten feeling within her.

Now, she's fallen back on rhetoric, the oft-quoted in her world line about an ergaleomancer's duty to society. She can't think of herself as being genuinely interested in helping someone. Part of her fall from grace had been rooted in thinking too highly of herself, as being too good to need to bother with morality. Now, though she is still freakishly arrogant about her skills, she is trying to remind herself that, morally, at least, she is not inherently better than anyone else.]]

I...can't help it. It's how I was raised.

[worstvikingever]

Well. I guess in some cases that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

No...I suppose everyone is a product of their upbringing in the end...

[[She moves to lean against his worktable. Her leg's starting to hurt.]]

What is it like in your world? Your family..?

[worstvikingever]

[He shrugs and starts fiddling with a screwdriver.]

Well I live in this viking village. Everybody knows each other, and everybody knows me because my dad's the chief of the tribe. Also because right up until recently I was the biggest failure the village ever produced.

[He... doesn't really like talking about it, but it's not like it's a secret or anything.]

[ergaleomancer.livejournal.com]

Vikings?

[[She looks from the tail fins on the table to the drawings he'd made, then back to him. She repeats the sweep of her gaze again, and then she moves to try to backhand him.]]

[worstvikingever]

Yeah wh... [His question is interrupted by the fact that she's hit him. He quickly moves back and away.] OW WHOA hey what was that for?