2014.02.25 - Another Sunday Night with Family

As is usual on any given evening, Jupe is holed up din his workshop in the rail tunnels beneath the High Line. Currently, he's sitting on a stool beside one of the workbenches, legs folded up under him crosswise, as he tinkers with appears to be a Frankensteinian confabulation of assorted parts, mostly vaguely robotic-looking bits and some other weird odds and ends. He holds a screwdriver in one hand, his tongue sticking out as he sets his jaw in concentration, and slowly turns a series of screws that have been set up in a complex runic pattern, making certain to give each stress point equal pressure....
Unlike most evenings Zack is not out on patrol, although he is wearing his uniform. Actually judging from the goo on his shoulder he was probably on patrol already. "Are you here?" Zack asks curiously as he steps into the workshop. The British boy wipes the goo from his shoulder and then on to a piece of cloth. His bright blue eyes watch Jupe curiously as he walks towards his cousin curious what he's working on right now.
"In here!" Jupe calls back, his own accent an odd mish-mash of several Earth cultures and of at least one region Faërie, itself. As he hears Zack, Jupe pauses, grinning and giving a little wobble of his head in greeting since his hands are occupied. "Hey, Z," he greets his cousin, quickly flicking his gaze back down to the gadget and making a couple of quick adjustments with the screwdriver.
"I've nearly gotten the main power unit on this thing set up. It's going to be able to pull energy directly from pre-existing magical energies! Once I hook up the AMP accumulator, that means it'll run off any ambient magical energies. Also, I'm giving it a USB slot so it can be charged like a cell phone, just in case." And he's being very careful, no doubt, so as to avoid one of his (in)famous detonations.
Quickly glancing up again, he asks, "What's up with you, tonight? You look a mess."
"Hello Jupe, and you would too if a demon exploded on you." Zack says wrinkling his nose a little bit,"That's good. Ambient magical energies, eh? Can you see it doing that or are you guessing that is how it will draw energy?" He asks curiously,"And you'll be converting mystical energies into electricity as well?" He seems rather concerned by this right now. Blue eyes watch the robotic being with interest.
"Well," Jupe explains, "it only really needs enough electricity to keep power to the circuits. Instead of actual mechanical motors, I'm using an alchematronic kinetic power source. So, the actual electricity's minimal. I mean, it just needs enough to charge the little laptop battery I put in there. The AMPs--uh, that's 'ambient magical particulates,' not amperages--have to bleed off energy waste when I convert them into physical kinetic energy to power the limbs, so I'm going to use a thermo-transmogrifying setup to convert the lost heat into electricity. That way, even if the battery dies, it can keep itself powered up."
A beat, and then he asks, still making small adjustments, "Demon, huh? What sort?"
"Interesting. I'm actually wondering if it is pulling the ambient energy, or tapping into a source." Zack says smiling a little bit at Jupe. "I am a little worried that you'll pull something into this dimension." He says sighing deeply. This actually causes him to wrinkle his nose a little bit,"Not /entirely/ sure. I used a generic bit of magic along a holy side." He says smiling a bit at Jupe. He does look a little closer to the energy.
Jupe starts to reach up a hand to wave, but then he remember to keep his work steady. Instead, he shakes his head and says emphatically, "Oh, no, no! It works strictly on THIS side. It takes the tiny bits of magic that bleed off whenever a spell gets used, or from nearby leylines, that kind of thing--energy that would get reabsorbed eventually anyway. It stores it up and uses that to power the kinetic conversion."
A close examination reveals that Jupe's theory is fairly sound. He's been a bit indiscriminate about what sort of magics he pulls in, but since they're coming in by such tiny measures and transfigured so soon after, the risk isn't too bad. Even if two really volatile bits had a reaction, probably the worst that would happen is the device would fizzle. Or possibly explode. But hey, it's not that big or drawing that much power. Couldn't be much worse than that time Jupe blew up his toaster.
Putting a final tweak on those screws, Jupe lets out a slow breath. "Looks like it's stable. We'll find out for sure once I get the AMP accumulator wired in." He reaches over for a small unit with what looks like a tiny radar dish attached, then for his soldering gun, and then he slides his goggles down into place. "Safety glasses!" he notes, nodding toward the nearby shelf. "Don't want you to damage anything."
As he waits for Zack to be properly prepared, Jupe asks, "Didn't really get its number? Well, I guess holy foo tends to do the trick against most darkspawny things." He pauses, nodding to himself, "Gotta remember to build that holy-powered lightsaber one of these days."
"Well maybe you could change the holy to shadow to fire to water, and so forth." Zack says grinning a bit as he makes a gesture and a quick word and he has a pair of nifty safety goggles in his hands. Sliding them on to his face, Zack says,"That's good though. I can double check to see if you really are actually pulling the ambient energy personally. Since that's what I see best." He says chuckling a little bit as he looks over the robot more carefully. "Have you ever thought of trying your hand at making something like a barrier spell people can wear."
"Oh, yeah!" Jupe says, and he sets down his tools. He plugs in the soldering iron to let it get heated up, noting in (predictably big-brothery-older-cousin fashion), "Careful, that's gonna get hot!" And then he heads off for a moment into the back room. A moment later he returns with two items, which he offers carefully to Zack: they're both leather, one apparently a simple wrist cuff and the other a sleek utility belt. "The belt handles physical damage, and the cuff mitigates a lot of harmful effects otherwise." He slides back onto his stool, his feet resting on the crossbars this time, and picks up the iron and wires again, preparing to begin the attachment process.
"Interesting. I laid my spells into the fabric a bit differently. Not quite as specialized I don't think." Zack says as he looks over the cuff and utility belt,"I thought that was one of those neverending belts." He says laughing a bit,"So you do some of the same stuff as I do with magic. What other projects have you been working on?" He asks curiously, sliding his hands to his waist and standing there a bit like Peter Pan.
The Peter Pan stance gets a little chuckle from Jupe, who says, "Wow, okay. Let me attach these wires so the thing can warm up, and then I'll go get something to show you. You're totally inspiring me with that SUPER ADORABLE pose, O little cousin of mine." Then, winking to show he's just kidding around, he pulls his goggles back down into place with the hand NOT holding the dangerous hot thing and leans over the machine bits to wire the AMP accumulator to the main power source he was working on before.
"What? It's not like I can put hands in pockets." Zack says rolling his eyes a bit,"How was I inspiring you?" He asks curiously. No boy his age likes to be called adorable. "You're lucky that I'm not violent." He says smirking a little bit. His hand does go to the hilt of his rapier,"I have played with turning my blade into other elements a few times but it's temporary things. You know how I am about swords." He says grinning.
"Be good," Jupe says with the vague drawl of one focused on a task as he attaches the wires, "And I might even make you a magic sword one of these days." Then, offhandedly, he adds, "Besides, I have a strict rule against violence in the workshop. Things could explode." It's only after he's carefully connected and sealed each wire that he puts down the soldering gun, unplugs it, and then pushes his goggles back up onto his head, looking back to Zack. "Also, don't assume that just because I'm not violent that I can't defend myself."
Giving another little wink, he raises his hand, murmuring a little spell now that he's not busy, and a small object flies out of the back room, landing lightly in his hand. The nearby "dish" on the AMP accumulator shimmers slightly, collecting minute particles of entropic magic from the spell, and Jupe nods approvingly. A small, nearly invisible line of energy begins to shimmer between the screws on the power source, beginning to form the shape of the rune he was making earlier. And Jupe tosses the object, a ring, to Zack.
Catching the object, Zack grins,"If you weren't capable I wouldn't acknowledge we're related." He says laughing softly. His blue eyes look over the ring casually. "So entropic magic? Interesting choice. You may want to use the magic properly." He says grinning a little bit,"And it's a wonder that you have as many explosions as you do have considering the fact that you're being this careful, or is it because I'm here?"
He pauses for a moment before he says,"If you make a magic sword that would be awesome. Swords are just amazing things. Much better than guns." He says wrinkling his nose. He always did have a distaste for guns since he was little. "Want to see one of my little gadgets?" He asks curiously.
"Well, first," Jupe says, drumming his fingers along the tabletop, "it's not REALLY entropic magic, it's just that I use a kind of entropic component to most of my spells to make sure I don't accidentally harness too much power and hurt myself. It vents around me as inert magiparticles, which is a lot better than backlash."
Jupe folds his arms over his chest and continues, "And as for being careful, I DO get tired of being occasionally blown up--so I'm more careful than I used to be. Besides, this is a long-term project, and I REALLY don't want to have to start all over. And, yeah, you're here--and I don't think Aunt Maria would appreciate it if I sent you home covered in magical debris and burn marks."
Then, unfolding his arms and resting his palms on his knees, "Personally, I'll use anything. But swords are definitely cool. So, whatcha got? I always like to see neat new toys."
Making a small portal, Zack reaches through it and pulls what looks like the sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who from it. "This. I use it for scanning things mostly. I can press the button and it scans. Have to keep repeating the spell every day but it does look cool when I do it." He says pressing the button at the robot and the tip begins glowing blue and making the sonic screw driver sound,"So what do you think?" He asks grinning broadly.
"Mother would probably assume I got into some sort of trouble that exploded on me. It's not like I haven't come home with that sort before." Zack says sounding highly amused,"Swords have a flare to them. Love old swashbuckler movies."
Laughing a bit, Jupe says, "Nice. I have a smart phone that works like a magical tricorder, too." He nods approvingly at the device, adding, "It's definitely cooler than a gun. I should show you my shocksaber and wand sometime. Oh! And make sure you try on the ring." He grins, shaking his head slightly, "And your mom is not exactly on my list of people I want to annoy, so, I will always make sure that her precious baby boy is well-protected when I'm around." This, of course, is another inevitable, not-too-serious-but-just-serious-enough-because-you-don't-piss-off-Auntie cousin jibe.
"I try my best not to piss her off too!" Zack says nodding his head a bit,"She's scary when pissed and I think she can do more than both of us put together." He really is scared of his parents when it comes to seeing them angry,"Cool. Air magic in it..." He says as he slides the ring on to his finger,"And I try and keep myself well defended. Not like I'm a helpless little kitten or anything. I've got skills."
"No kidding," Jupe notes. "I generally do my best not to anger ANY powerful being that's older than me." After all, angered Sidhe lords are more than enough to put a sense of healthy respect into a person. As Zack puts on the ring, he'll find that it fits perfectly--enchanted to fit itself comfortably to the wearer. Then Jupe adds with a grin, "Well, now--think happy thoughts, and the rest of my comment on your whole Peter Pan routine will make sense."
Lifting off the ground, Zack cannot help but grin, "Okay. This would be excellent. I'd be able to still fly when I was using my air golem." He says sounding satisfied,"I try not to piss off anyone more powerful than me, older or younger. I especially do not like pissing off beings older because they're usually quite... inventive in their punishments." He says shivering a little bit. His mother has punished him in terrifying manners... she made him watch children shows like Spongebob.
Making a pained face, Jupe reaches up to rub his temples lightly. "Oh god, I was there once for that. I can still hear that horrible theme song pounding in my brain. Your mother is a master of psychological torture." He shakes it off, noting quietly, "Of course, the Sidhe were a little, um... harsher, but, yeah." He hops off the stool, crossing over to an old-fashioned looking refrigerator and taking out a bottle of root beer, which he twists open to take a swig. Then, shutting the fridge, he smiles some and says, "You can keep that ring if you want. I always have a few of 'em around in case I have a buyer."
"Thanks." Zack says removing the ring and glancing to his watch,"Oh bloody... I better get going." He says as he creates a portal under his feet,"I'll catch you later. I'll give mother your love." He says before he falls through the portal, his body twisting and distorting as it falls through the event horizon of his portal.
"Bye," Jupe says, giving a little wave as his cousin departs. Then, once the portal's sealed, he chuckles a bit, takes another swig of his root beer, and then goes to return to work on his project.
Category:Log