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[braidmage]

private messages You've reached Reynir Árnason, please leave a message. voice | video | text

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[braidmage]

Yeah, I've got a few old ones and a few variations I came up with.
How do you want me to get them to you?
I don't know if it's going to work if you copy the design, pretty sure I have to be the one to draw them.

[ And he has no interest going into that infested store thanks. ]

[superposition]

[ He starts to type "doesn't matter, I'll come to you," but... without his teleportals, that could mean a lot of stairs. He really needs to fix the lifts. ]

That's fine. Just bring them by R&D when they're ready, it's downstairs from the agricultural zone. How long do they take to prepare?

[braidmage]

I already worked out the designs, so only as long as it takes to draw them. Maybe 5 minutes?

[ He's really glad Qubit includes instructions which way to go because he's definitely never been to R&D before. ]

[superposition]

All right, I'll be here. Second lab on the left.

➡️ action

[braidmage]

[ About ten minutes later, Reynir believes he's found the right door. He did end up knocking on a few wrong ones, but that's just how life goes sometimes. He's got a small sheaf of papers in his hand, and knocks before testing the door and finding it open. He pokes his head in, looking for the guy he'd seen in the video on the network. ]

Hello? It is Reynir here, I've brought the runes...

[superposition]

[ It might take a second to find him in here. Qubit's labs are always a little chaotic, because somehow he's always got more important things to do than tidy up (until he literally can't use his workspace, anyway). It's so much quicker to just shove the scraps into a cardboard box to go through later, and then later sort of never happens? And that's when he can make his equipment from scratch, tailoring it to fit whatever space he has available. Here, that's more or less off the table.

What he has in here, he's had to scavenge from other parts of the station and cram in wherever he can make it fit. There's equipment wheeled into corners, instruments stacked two or three high on metal shelving, cable management nightmares everywhere you look. The workbench itself is just as cluttered, with half-finished projects and discarded wires and a few little plastic bins full of miscellaneous parts.

On the plus side, it's pretty well-lit in here. So it's less of a spooky sci-fi lab, more of a really messy sci-fi lab.

Qubit's at the workbench when Reynir enters, doing some last-minute tweaks on the laser gun he may or may not have absolutely stolen from a security bot. He pokes his head out from behind an equipment rack and smiles to acknowledge him. ]

Yes, hello! Come in, I'll be just a second.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir makes his way through the lab, just kind of gaping at all the clutter. It's not only messy, but it's full of so much bizarre shit that Reynir has never seen before, not even in those few ruins in the Old World he had explored during the expedition. What the hell is THAT thing?! And THAT?!

But he keeps going, with his little sheaf of papers clutched to his chest, until he sees a movement and turns to see Qubit sticking his head out. ]

Oh, good, you are here.

[ Reynir picks his way past the wires and boxes and stuff over to the workbench, watching with his mouth open as Qubit fiddles with the... ]

Is that some kind of gun?

[superposition]

It is. [ This isn't anything particularly sensitive, so he steps aside to let Reynir have a better look at it. ] Took it off one of those rogue security bots we were having trouble with earlier. Right now I'm trying to tighten up the beam a skosh, give it a little more stopping power.

[ If that makes sense. ]

[braidmage]

[ Reynir stares with exactly the level of mingled interest and confusion that you would expect. He's seen guns before, obviously. He's not that sheltered. But this looks a lot different than the ones, for instance, he'd seen Lalli and Sigrun using in the past. ]

So are you, like.... going all alone?

[ The thought of guns has made him think of that expedition, and the way Sigrun and Emil and even Mikkel would work together if they needed to explore some dangerous place. He might have spent most of those intervals tucked away safely in the vehicle, but he knows that most of the time, Lalli was the only one who would go out alone, and Lalli is Lalli.

Tech can only hold his interest for so long, after all, and he might not know this man well, but not having a team or even just a partner with him seems... maybe kind of like a bad idea. ]

[superposition]

Alone? Oh, no, of course not. Carlisle's coming with again. I think I mentioned him last time, didn't I?

[ Qubit can handle himself in a fight, but why fight if he doesn't have to? Carlisle's abilities are exceptionally well-suited to this sort of crowd control. Er - provided he can get said abilities under control. But that's a work in progress, he'll get better at it. ]

[braidmage]

Oh! I've met him!

[ Reynir seems greatly relieved that Qubit isn't going on his own; he didn't want him by himself but he really really really didn't want to volunteer to go with him. He is providing protection runes and honestly he would probably have just gotten in the way. ]

I like him.

[ They had talked about mage stuff and Carlisle had been mysterious and very much more interested in asking questions than answering them, but he'd treated Reynir and his abilities with respect, and that goes a long way with him. ]

[superposition]

So do I. He's a good man.

[ And they get along remarkably well. Despite being at far opposite ends of the tech/magic spectrum, they've got a lot in common, personality-wise. Carlisle's prickly, but he means well. Quick to anger, but logical and principled - which means if Qubit does have to defuse him, he can just use the same strategies that work on himself. ]

Have you two tried comparing glyphs? [ He gestures to the paper in Reynir's hands, presuming that those are the runes he asked for. ] I've got no head for magic, admittedly, but I wondered whether they might be similar.

text; @onni; after leaving to go get lalli

[scowlish]

It's Onni.
Genji brought me to Lalli and we talked.
I'm bringing him home.

@mage | text

[braidmage]

[ Oh this could be very good or very bad and Reynir has no idea which... ]

How did it go?
How is he feeling?
He can steal my bed again if he wants. You can tell him that.

[scowlish]

It was difficult, but I found out why he left. I think we understood each other after we talked though.

He's still feeling bad, but his fever is down. That woman was at least good at that part. I think it'll be okay for him to stay in the room with me.

But if he and you are both alright with it, I might leave him with you for a few moments so I can go to the medbay and get some medicines.

[braidmage]

[ Reynir is still not exactly sure if that really counts as a positive or negative outcome. Text really just isn't that conducive to being able to tell how much they'd really reconciled. And there have been false starts on that front, before.

He can only hope for the best, and help in the ways that Onni needs and asks for (and maybe a few he doesn't think to ask for, too). ]

Of course, anything.
I'll look after him, I promise.

[ He can at least make sure that Lalli doesn't try to make another daring escape. Not that he deserves to be kept prisoner, but clearly he hadn't been doing his best thinking when he'd run off while sick in the first place. ]

How are YOU feeling?

[scowlish]

[Text is always hard for Onni to express himself in, but he's slowly getting used to it.]

I know you will. Hopefully he'll behave for you.

I'm alright. It was a good talk.

[braidmage]

Don't worry about me. If he doesn't behave I'll just sit on him.
(Kidding).
(But seriously I know Lalli, I've lived alongside him for months, I'll manage)

So you sorted out what was going through his head running off like that?
Was it just a teenage thing?

[scowlish]

It might be effective though.
Thank you.

Yes, I did. I don't think it was a teenager thing. He thought I would be relieved to not have to take care of him.

[braidmage]

Maybe on a good day, but I won't do it while he's sick and maybe too weak to actually throw me off.

Happy to help.

But that's ridiculous.
Doesn't he get that you've built your whole life around taking care of him and Tuuri?

[scowlish]

He thought that was just for Tuuri, I think.

[braidmage]

Oh no.
He knows better now, though, doesn't he?

[ Reynir knows that Lalli is wrong of course. Just knows it. But then, he had seen how frantic with worry and anger Onni was, when Reynir said they had lost Lalli, that he might be in danger. He's seen the way Onni looks at Lalli when Lalli isn't paying attention, full of love and fear and protectiveness. He's seen the little sacrifices Onni makes, all the small bits of thoughtfulness that Lalli was never even aware of to make his life in this strange place a bit more familiar and livable.

But there is more he can say, he thinks. It won't be easy, but he should. For Onni's sake. ]

I don't think that is really your fault.
It happened in my family, too.
I only found out when we came back from the expedition but Bjarni explained that when we were kids he kind of thought that my mom preferred me. Because she was always fussing over me.
Once he grew up he figured out it was just because I wasn't immune, and because sometimes I kinda make dumb choices without thinking about it and end up getting into trouble.
But back when he was little I guess he thought it was because he was from Dagrenning and I wasn't.

All those years I had no idea he felt like that.
And I don't think our mom was really to blame because I'm sure she had no clue, either.
Sometimes these ideas just... happen, and no one's to blame.

[scowlish]

I think so. I hope he doesn't forget what I said once the fever is gone.

[The next text takes a few minutes to arrive while Onni mulls over Reynir's experience with his brother. Even though there is no Dagrenning program in Finland it's a similar situation, substituting Tuuri for Reynir himself. Lalli had just seemed so self-sufficient, and especially at first, Lalli had even seemed a bit confused that Onni was caring for him. All of Tuuri's needs and demands were familiar; Lalli's were only a vague sketch in his mind.]

He's hard to understand sometimes and neither of us is good at talking things out. It's a lot like your situation. I didn't know he thought I loved him less than Tuuri.

[braidmage]

I hope he doesn't, either.
Though it might be a good idea to remind him every so often.
Humans are silly and we need reminders of things we already know. Like that our families love us, and are proud of us.

[ Perhaps that goes without saying but... perhaps it doesn't, honestly. Reynir thinks perhaps it's something Onni might need reminded of, if he had been taught it to start with. ]

Well how could you have known if he never told you?
But now he has and that's a good step towards making it better.

The thing about being good at talking things out is that it takes practice.
I'm not sure anybody is born good at it.
Sometimes it just sucks but you have to try anyway.