[Mingle] Suck it, Atroma

[padadin]

Who: Anyone involved in the new network plot.
Broadcast: If you want, but try to keep this off the Atroma network as much as possible.
Action: Whenever you want. Planet? Ships? Iskaulit? Space is the limit.
When: During their stay on the Baruut System (9/25 to 10/27)

[The Baruut System has given them a chance they never thought possible: modifications of their own for their ships. Guns and shields, everyone thinks of those, but there also are donut machines and slot car tracks. It feels like everything is possible!

So... is it?

The need for a safer way to share information and talk to the other crews (including the Interceptors) has been in Shiro's mind for a while now. Atroma took care of the communication options in his armor when he arrived, and the tablet he bought on a planet can't be used for this either. Only the apps work.

Could this finally be their chance? Time for gather people and find out.

TIME FOR TEAMWORK!

So where do you come in, fellow fleeter~?

1. The talk! Maybe you're being informed of the idea, or maybe you're informing someone else. Or you wanna discuss the options? The possible dangers? What we need to do this? (The Power of Teamwork, that's what!)

2. Asking for donations! Looking for parts in the planet! Arguing prices with the locals! Not everyone is a nerdy builder, but you can help in other ways.

3. Building! Bring your parts, pass the screwdriver to an engineer, help keep track of the screws. Is that a five or an S on the blueprints? Someone please feed these nerds, they've been in their labs for a while.

4. Installing and testing! Time to go for it! Bring your tablet, your phone, your personal computer, your Tetris machine- ok no. Send a message, check this works. Hope your selfie game is on point! Are you hacker and/or communications officer? Then help test the security! Send a cat meme to someone using someone's else number. A classic.

5. Wildcard! Those were just summaries of what goes through the month. Bring your own adventure!]

Comments

2

[krammbunctious]

[Kramm wasn't very techy or nerdy, he didn't really have a full understanding of what exactly was going on, but scavenge he could do.

Whether or not he found anything useful, that's to whoever gets the honor of going through a bag of novelty phones he'd stumbled on.]

Can I, uh, have dibs on the one that looks like a hamburger?

[padadin]

[Scavenging is definitely the most useful thing the not-nerdy types can do, so that's what Shiro is going for too. And the bag Kramm has found? Well--]

These look really useful, great find. [He arches an eyebrow at the hamburger one. Welp, that sure is a thing, but who is he to judge?] Sure, pick the one you like the most. Make sure it can do everything you want it to do, or at least it can be modified to do it. Some of these look pretty old.

[Can some of these even text? Mmh.]

[krammbunctious]

I mean, they're just supposed to be for communication yeah? [It's fun having video and everything but at the end of the day even just voice is miles away from anything he'd be able to do in his own world.]

[Plus he just really likes the burger. It speaks to him on a culinary level.]

[padadin]

Yes, but it helps a lot if you're able to share files and pictures too. [Shrug!] But at the end of the day, it's your choice. Whatever is most comfortable for you.

[krammbunctious]

[Kramm stands there staring at the hamburgerphone in his hand. Shiro had a point. It was a very good point. But Kramm kept thinking about talking to someone on a burger. It was a really persuasive mental image in the whole argument.]

I will ... hold onto it for now, and give it some thought.

[He tries that as evenly and seriously as he can.

But you know what also works - diversion! He tips the bag open further to look in at the rest.]

-- but the rest of these will be alright, yeah?

[necromanswers]

( 1 - let's talk business. )

[Lup is 1000% in favour of this. Secret meetings have been her jam for years, ever since the old IPRE crew figured out that they were being stalked by scouts of the Hunger. With the Atroma, it isn't as simple as getting Taako to Blink and scare them off, so they need to get a bit more creative with it. Thankfully, that's where magic comes into play. Hopefully the Atroma can't get into their heads willynilly, or this is a waste of time, but here goes.]

What's up, everybody, wizard here. Just gonna address the elephant in the room- anybody have plans on how exactly to organize a secret you-know-what when our lovely captors are always creepin' on us? Because I've got a couple of ideas, but they have limits, and I need some help with it.

[She holds up a hand, counting off.]

First, Message. I send a thought to your noggin, you send one back. I can do this all day, but it starts and ends with me, which makes for a long and slow conversation. Not ideal.

Second, Telepathic Bond. All our brains link up and we can share thoughts freely. Limitation is it only works between eight people at once, for one hour, three times a day. Also I need eggs. Like, literally, I need eggs to cast it.

Third, and my personal fave, I can make an interdimensional house for us to pile into and hash this shit out. Lots of space, plenty of privacy, free food. Lasts a full day, too. Downside? I don't have the components for it. Anyone happen to find any ivory on the planet, or know where to get some?

[She's hoping that getting all hands on deck will help her, especially with the materials.]


( 4 - artificing: it's literally an art! )

[The planning, tweaking, funding, and material-gathering has more or less been settled, which means it's down to the really tricky part- putting all of the components together and making it work. Lup's been spending most of her prep time researching the equipment they have to work with, studying her old articifing notes, trying to get herself back in the mindset of something she hasn't done for over a decade- enchant an artefact with long-term magic, and communicative abilities at that. Not exactly her main speciality.

Currently she's leaning over the Stone of Far Speech she'd gotten from Taako (now modified to carry a screen, similar to the communicators in the fleet), sitting next to a small tablet she'd claimed for herself, a cat head with the screen in its jaws. She flips a few pages in her spellbook, scrutinizing her scribbled handwriting, looking from the devices to her book, then back again. She checks the jerry-rigged cable linking the two together, then gestures to summon her spectral Mage Hand to lift her spell book and hold it over the whole set up, so she can read and deliberate at the same time.]

Let's see... Sending would be easiest, and I could give it multiple charges... dual Scrying spells would be better if we wanted a video function, but we don't have components for that... can Sending convert into text when working in conjunction with the network? [She scratches at her hair, mumbling irritably.] Goooooods, this is harder than I thought!

[Ugh, ugh. Whatever! All she can do is try!]

Hey, someone pass me that coil of copper wire?

1

[padadin]

[She needs eggs to cast it. You know what, that doesn't even make him blink. At home hey had to retrieve crystals from a monsters belly after all, by now he's sure grass is a rare material in the universe.]

The first two are too limited. [And he doesn't like the idea of someone in his head.] An interdimensional house sounds incredibly useful. What materials do you need? Only the ivory? I can help with the search.

[necromanswers]

[She shrugs her shoulders. Limited, yeah, but until she gets the materials they're all she can offer. But since she'd definitely prefer the magical mansion too-]

The other requirements are a silver spoon and some marble. I got the spoon easily enough, and I've scouted out a place to grab some marble in a construction zone. Broken countertops, stuff like that. Ivory's tricky. Not really the kind of thing that people throw away that much.

[padadin]

[Shiro crosses his arms and thinks about it for a second. What is ivory used for again? Mmmh.]

Do you need a big amount of it? I suppose we could search for broken decorations, or some kind of music store. Ivory is used a lot for instruments, if I remember correctly.

[necromanswers]

Not a lot, no. just like...

[She holds up her hands to demonstrate the size: about a large cell phone, maybe.]

It doesn't have to all be in one piece, either- if we can get a bunch of little bits that would add up to the same amount, they can be transmuted together.

[Wait, hang on.]

Have you seen a music store around? Because I'm real interested in that.

4

[rheecon]

[ Coming from the kind of place he has, with essentially all the tech defunct, and not having been here all that long, Glenn's probably at something of a disadvantage among the engineers. And that's not even getting anywhere close to magic. Still, he's more than eager to help with any part of it he can.

Even if it means just handing over the coil of wire to the wizard. Which is cool, just for the record. ]

Yeah, no problem.

[ Curiously - ]

Do you want to talk through anything? Not that I understand much of that, but if you think it'd help to bounce your thoughts off someone else...

[ A small shrug - he's willing to listen, at least. ]

[necromanswers]

[Lup accepts the wire, taking a moment to unspool a couple of inches and snapping it with cutters before setting the piece down in between the communicators. She mulls it over in silence for a long moment before replying.]

Uhhh, yeah, sure. I'm basically using this as proof of concept before I waste any big spells on the real deal, I'm just trying to decide what actual concept I want to work with. It's not my usual MO, but I think it'd be wisest to start small and work my way up.

[She's used to having actual magic users to bounce her theories off of - and it would be ideal to have Taako here, but he hadn't wanted to get involved - so having at least a listening ear is helpful, even if he can't provide much else.]

[rheecon]

Right... so testing out your options before you go all in. That makes sense - I mean, magic or not, making sure there's a working model before taking it full scale.

[ He gives a little lopsided smile, perfectly aware he's not the most helpful here but trying with what he can. ]

So can I ask how the spells work? As long as that's not a super annoying question, anyway.

[necromanswers]

Not super annoying, nah. Part of theorizing is talking this shit out, so it doesn't blow up in your face.

[They've done a lot of that already, but trying to marry magic with technology is something she doesn't have much experience with, at least not on this scale. She knows some things about fixing a magic spaceship, and a hefty part of being a wizard is connecting ethereal power with a science of arrays, materials, and solid math, but this is so... intricate. It's tricky.]

Sending is a simple message spell, verbal, directly to a person's head. They're usually short, but if I can set the enchantment up to have multiple uses, that shouldn't be an issue. Range is no problem either, so that'll be good for a network that spans the entire fleet. My biggest issue is getting this- [She points to one communicator, then to the next-] To send the message to this, instead of to a person. Scrying is a method of observing someone- both verbally and visually, so it can function as a the communicator's video option if we can get it working properly as a two-way street. I'm not hurting for options, here. There's multiple spells for communicating with people, just...

[She gestures at the mess on the table in front of her.]

It's complicated when you want it to work like this, is all.

4: sent to the ENTIRE network

[candothat]

[Hi everyone who is currently connected to the new network. You have mail!]



Hello. If you can see this image please respond.
You are encouraged to include kind words about this cat in your response. I will relay all compliments to her.

that's just too cute

[padadin]

That's a very nice black cat. Does she have a name?

yes, he knows his cat is adorable, thank you

[candothat]

Sasha.
I have told her that she is now a part of Fleet history and she appears unimpressed.

[padadin]

Maybe she wants a reward for hard work in making history. One of my crew mates has been building a cat tree, if that's something you want to look into.

[candothat]

I would. Who is this crew mate?
Or maybe a better question: what is this crew?

[rheecon]

Please tell her she's very cute and also that I said hi.

[candothat]

I told her both of these things.
She blinked, I think in a pleased way.

[rheecon]

I'm going to choose to feel good about that.

So, I think it's working. At least in this vital capacity.

[oratorical]

This is one of the better ways to confirm this is working. Is she yours?

[candothat]

I think so as well. It is important to me that we have the ability to share cat pictures without the interference of the Atroma.
She lives in my quarters. I have been told that cats never belong to people.

[oratorical]

It's sure to be a good morale boost when things get particularly stressful here.

So you belong to her, in that case?