May 06 13:33:44 106 PA
From Chronicles
Rifts - Kingsdale - Thursday, April 30, 2009, 1:21 PM
Late afternoon, and the music is floating on the air. A female singer, a heavy beat, and the thunder seems to just add to it. The storms light up the AIM as the lightening flashes and inside, the garage is warm and dry. Caliopa is settled on the cross bar of a trailer, a heavy welding mask covering her face, protecting it from the sparks that fly upwards, her attention on the welding. The garage, normally a hive of activity these days, with staff coming and going, is quieter, with just Caliopa here. Vargus shakes a little bit of water from his overcoat, tepping inside the garage... and wincing to the sonic assault he is then subjected to. He smirks a little and makes his way over to the wooden counter and slips up onto a stool. Steelwind hops off of his shoulder to the counter top and Vargus drops a few lugnuts there for the metalic bird to munch on. He keeps quiet -not that that is difficult with the music blaring- so as not to disturb Caliopa while she works. For a while she works without noticing the pair, focused fully on the task at hand. Finally, completed, she sits back, putting the welder down. She lifts a hand, raising the mask over her face, and stretches, arching her back as she raises her arms over her head. As she lowers them, she rubs her face, as she rises from her perch. Turning, she finally notices the two, and her mouth curves into a sunny smile that lights up the beautiful, if smudged, face. "Alright, you two? Come for a snack?"
Vargus returns the grin and shrugs his shoulders. "Ohhh... for some provisions, and just to stop by and say hi. I noticed the other day there there is very little continuity in my relationships of late. All my meetings with people are just for that moment, and don't really seem to stretch to another one. So.. thought we'd just stop by and say hello. I guess my number of friends are a little more limited then I thought." He nods toward the contruct. "What'cha building there?"
"Ain't seen you for a bit." She agrees softly, lifting a hand to scratch her nose, leaving a smudge of welding dust there. "Ain't nothin' special, just fixin' someone's trailer up. He broke it." Caliopa shakes her head, a grin brightening her expression for a moment. "You two been keepin' well?" The question is tossed to the bird's owner, as she moves to the scrap metal bin, bending to pull out the scraps she knows will suit the creature well.
Vargus nods his head. "Well enough, yes. Now that those freaky undead are gone, I've been pretty stable.." he pauses a moment and smirks. "Well, more or less anyway. Stuff over at Jelani's has been slow, so been looking for some pick-up work here and there. Heard of something floating around out there, but, waiting on the briefing.. no idea what it's supposed to come up."
Caliopa listens, her attention mixed between the slowly growing pile of metal pieces she gathers for the bird from her scrap bin and the reply Vargus gives her. "Ain't heard of anythin' but if somethin' comes up, I'll keep you in mind." She finally straightened, carrying over the pile. "That ought to keep him out of mischief for a piece." She observes, dumping them next to the pair with a sunny smile.
Vargus shifts his eyes over to Steelwind as the scrap is dumped onto the counter and it seems to have the result he expected. The bird flares its wings and hops onto one of the larger sections of rebar and flaps its wings, talon gripping the metal chunk tightly. Vargus chuckles and shakes his head. "Great..." He starts to scoup some of the smaller peices, and stuff he can get at easily into a bag that he removed from his hip. The bag seems to be able to hold more material then it has any right to, and all of the scrap except for what the bird has pinned disappears into the small canvas sack. He looks over to Caliopa. "Thanks.. he appreciates it." resecuring the bag, he settles back onto the stool. "I just hope Leonard comes back with someone fairly soon.. I don't think I'll be around over the next few days, client at Jelani's just might sign on for something."
"It ain't a problem. Ain't like I'm goin' to use it again, 'n' saves me payin' someone to take it off my hands." Caliopa reaches casually for a cloth, rubbing the smudges from her hands, resting her hip lightly against the side. "Is it Leonard doin' it? I intended to have a talk with him, got somethin' on my mind to share with him." A faint trace of a frown crosses her face and she tosses the rag to one side. "Ain't worth turnin' down work for a chance."
Vargus thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. "I don't think so, no. There's another client who put it to Leo to get a team together. He's been having meetings in his apartment.." he chuckles a little, "..doesn't seem to professional, but, it is what it is, I suppose. Don't really know the guy all that well, but, somehow he managed to pull out the Johnson spot for the gig, so, gotta give him his props, hum?"
Caliopa nods slowly, giving Vargus a thoughtful look, turning away after a moment to reach for a can of drink from the cooler. "You want one?" She opens hers, taking a swig. "Vixen is datin' him. He can't be that bad." Faint praise from Caliopa, the person who sees the world in pink coloured glasses. "He doin' alright?" She asks, nodding her head towards the bird, moving across to offer him a stroke.
Vargus leans up to look, his eyebrows quirking up and he nods his head. "Yeah, sure... thanks." He pauses a moment, thinking again, and then shakes his head. "I don't think I know Vixen." And he turns to the bird and nods his head. "Yeah, he's doing fine. Keeps squaking that he wants me to mount guns on him and stuff.. but, I keep telling him that he doesn't know how to use them, and would just straffe everything in front of him."
Caliopa nods, leaning back against the side, her fingers brushing lightly over the bird, her instinct to figure out his inner workings showing. "She is real nice, does a radio broadcast." The comment is soft, and given with a smile. "Ain't likely he would work them rightly anyhow. I mean, reckon he'd shoot things, just gettin' over excited."
Vargus chuckles. "Nah, he's not that bad. If that were the case he'd spew those feather-dart things out all over the place. He's just as much a mechanical being as he is a living creature. We can walk down the street and if we don't want our head to bob, it won't. Much the same with him." He shakes his head a moment. "I don't listen to the radio much.. don't think I've heard Vixen before."
"Ought to listen to her. She has some real interestin' stuff to say." Caliopa twists, jumping to sit on her workbench, letting her legs dangle as she leans back against the wall, her can resting in her lap. "I guess it ain't likely he'd have less control than another." Still, the bird gets eyed in curiousity, "Anyone ever tried readin' him?"
Vargus shrugs his shoulders dramatically. "I'm not really much into politics. I tend to be more reactionary to things going on. He tilts his head to one side. "Reading him...? What do you mean?" Oblivious to the conversation around him, Steelwind continues to chomp on the iron bar that he has seized.
Caliopa hesitates, before she speaks slowly. "When I'm workin' on machines, it ain't all from the stuff I learnt. I got this thin', makes me able to put my mind into the machines, see what is goin' in inside them." She nods at the bird, giving it a thoughtful look. "Used it once on Kalvin, by mistake, 'n' got some readin's that were real interestin'."
Varguss' brow furrows and he leans back in his seat, folding his arms across his chest. "Hummmmmmmm.... well, Kalvin I think was able to converse with him. Might be something slimiar, eh? Since he was a machine-person type as well. It might work like a form of telepathy with him, rather then like a standard computer data link." He shrugs his shoulders again, "Could always try it..." He looks at the bird. "She's going to try some of her mojo and see if she can talk to you. Like like we talk, but, like Kalvin did... the metal man." he clairifies. Steelwind cocks his head up and angles it once at Vargus, then at Caliopa and he chitters softly. Vargus chuckles and nods his head. "He's okay if you want to try it."
Caliopa reaches out a hand, hesitating before she touches it, and then slowly withdraws it, shaking her head. Her smile has gone, and her cheeks pale a little. "It maybe ain't a good idea." She comments softly, sliding from the workbench. "Last time I used them on somethin' that thought, it weren't somethin' I wanted to find out." She tosses her can into the bin, shaking her head.
Zachary has arrived.
Vargus's eyebrows qurik up, "Really? Was it Kelvin...? Wouldn't really have thought anything bouncing around in his brain-case would be all that bad." Vargus is on a stool near the end of the wooden counter, Caliopa is sitting on the counter itself on the other side of a large metal eagle that is also standing on the counter, and seems to be chewing on a thin iron tube. "Well.." Vargus continues. "He's interested if you want to try it again. He likes you, and implied that he'd like to be able to talk to you directly without me getting in the way." He smirks a tthat. "...I think he /likes/ you."
Caliopa's cheeks darken and she ducks her head, avoiding Vargus' gaze. The eagle's transferred comments bring a smile back to her lips and she hesitates before shaking her head. "I ain't goin' to try today. I reckon it'd be real lovely to talk to him direct 'n' all but I ain't got the time to pick up after this." She reaches for her welding mask, shaking her head still.
Amongst the sounds of the landing strip, the sound of light thrusters comes clearer just outside of the garage and moments after, one can see a Flying Titan come down, touching down with just the faintest wobble from the occupant. The wings fold down slightly, reducing it's profile to enter the broad rolling door. It tromps forward, moving inward and to the side slightly, to take up just enough room on the work floor as needed before it comes to a pause, the pilot reaching up to fuss with the helmet. Though it seems to have just a bit of trouble with it.
Vargus grins at Caliopa's discomfort, obviouslly amused. "Well.. he doesn't have a whole lot to say most of the time. Stuff he sees from the air, or picks up on radar that I might find interesting... asking when to eat, that kind of thing." Steelwind looks up toward the door, his head tilting a little to the side and Vargus looks in that direction as well, looking the Titan over. He nods his head. "Nice suit..."
Caliopa glances at the Titan, giving it a nod of acknowledgement and a flicker of a smile as the pilot struggles with the helmet. "My mechanic. He is real good." Caliopa nods slowly, a flicker of a frown on her face. "I need to go, pick up some pieces." She grabs up her coat, hesitating, "Reckon whatever he got to tell me I'd be interested in." A faint flush, from the compliment from the bird and Caliopa is gone, vanishing off towards the parts shop.
Zachary finally wrests the helmet off and breathes out lowly, his face flush with a soft pleasure as he blinks twice and looks towards the two. The helmet is laid down carefully, with a very careful squat before he shifts the stance and posture of the suit and touches the release that lets part of the man sized suit fold back so he can slip free, leaving it to stand for the moment. Just catching her departure once he's freed himself of the suit. "Farewell, Cali," he offers her. He then looks to Vargus and nods his head once to the man before turning to touch a hanging control, which lowers several heavy chains and clamps that he starts to use to secure the powered armor.
Caliopa has disconnected.
Vargus swivels on the stool to face Zachary. "Is that really worth it...? All that heavy crap needed just to get you in and out of that thing?" He watches the process for a moment. "..or, maybe on the larger suits is it easier to build-in an access kinda thingy?"
Zachary looks from his work to Vargus, blinking twice before he responds. "Oh, this is to keep it stable as I service it," he explains, looking back to the armor. It can lock joints and stand on its own, but without a stooped posture the wings and engines will overbalance it and cause it to fall. Once I have it secured, I can straighten it for proper servicing without it falling." He moves around behind the armor, securing more clamps. "I couldn't return it to the owner scratched, after all. That would hardly be professional."
Vargus chuckles, nodding his head in agreement to the latter statement. He slips off of the stool, leaving the bird to munch its lunch and walks over a few feet from where Zachary works, close to see but staying out of the way. "So.. does it need a person inside to give it its rigid structure? Needs the wearers sense of balance to keep it upright?"
"It does need to be activated to keep balance. It has stabilizers and software to help the pilot counter the obvious shifted center of gravity. But for what I'm to do, I need it powered down," Zach responds. "It would be like working on live wires in a building without shutting off the power. Indeed, with the power of a nuclear power source it would not lack in power were I to touch the wrong thing without it being safe." Finally he steps back around and touches something on the exterior forearm. The armor reacts by slowly straightening up, Zach touching the hanging control box to tighten the slack on the chains until it is standing erect, held in place by multiple clamps. "It would be the same for a SAMAS or any other of these flying armors. The engines are a great deal of off center weight." He turns to Vargus then.
Vargus chuckles, and nods his head as he folds his arms over his chest for comfort. "Ahhh, I gotcha." He watches a bit longer. ".. my experience with this level of technology is pretty limited." he pauses, thinking for a moment. "..well. At least, when the stuff still works. Find a fair amount of impressive stuff burried in ruins, but it's rare that it's still in working order." He looks from the armor back to Zachary as the other turns to face, "But they're still okay on the ground, eh? All that mass doesn't interfere too much when you're walking or running around? When it's all on, I mean..."
Zachary nods his head as Vargus speaks, flipping open a thin seamed panel on one side of the abdomen, crouching just slightly to consider it. "There is some difficulty. It is a lot of weight. But training helps alleviate what the stabilizers don't. It took me some time to grow used to it." He looks towards Vargus. "You find things in ruins?" Leaving the readouts that are revealed under the plate unexamined for the moment.
Vargus nods his head in agreement, his attention still on whatever you happen to be working on at the time. "Started out as an archeologist and discovered my talent along the way. Took that as a base to go train as an Artifact Hunter... a shifter with a bit more of a tomb raider kinda feel. Haven't been poking around in anything old in a while, though, working for Jelani's I might get an opertunity if the right kind of client comes in."
"I see," Zach replies. "Sounds interesting, if a bit dangerous," he muses quietly. He looks back tot eh powered armor, examining the readouts before he completely deactivates it, lit displays dimming out entirely. he nods his head slightly and looks to Vargus again. "I suppose that must be a lucrative thing. I hear people pay much for things from the time before here." Said as he crosses over to the workbench, collecting a few tools.
Vargus chuckles and nods. "Yeah, it has the *potential*.." and he stresses the word. "..to set you up for life. But, the percentage chance of actually finding anything of that magnitude, or even a few smaller somethings, is pretty astromical. First, you have to find it... then, it has to still work.. then, you have to figure out what the thing does, and then find a buyer for it. I've managed to find a few magazines from Back Then, and sold them for a few hundred creds to someone in one of the larger cities out east. I also try my hand at dimensional scrounging, since my training shared quite a bit with the Shifter, I have some of their abilities."
"Oh.. I've never been to another place like that," Zach says as he walks back to the armor. He pauses before it, looking towards Vargus with a careful, thoughtful expression. "You aren't one of the sort who.. summon demons or such things, are you?" He looks Vargus over for a moment, as if he might discover the answer from sight alone.
Vargus shakes his head. "No, not me.. I have enough trouble taking care of just my familiar over there." and he gestures back toward the big bird. "I've never really been one to go around enslaving people to my will, and the summoning is just one giant battle of wills. I don't really know how those guys do it." he sighs a little. "They give the rest of us a really bad rep.. since those are the only ones anyone ever thinks of. But... the real zing of this gig is knowing you can jump through a rift and come home in one peice whenever you want to. Most places I've been to have been pretty close to here, overall. Just small differences.. but, you just have that sense that you're not *here*, 'ya know?"
Zachary looks towards the metal bird intently for a moment, studying it. Some interest, but for now it is light, his eyes moving back to Vargus. The jest doesn't seem to go over perfectly with him, Zach's brow furrowing a little in response to it. Ultimately he shakes his head and says, "No, I don't know. This is the first place I've been besides Lazlo, but there is no way I could mistake this place for my home." Not that such a declaration has a negative lean. Simply fact spoken before he reaches into the armor, starting to fiddle with something within.
"Well, I didn't mean /here/ here." Vargus replies, "Just that.. everplace on this planet, since it's the same planet, just has a similar feel. When you're Elsewhere," and he says the word with a bit of significance that can be heard, "it just *feels* like you're somewhere else." He stops and shrugs his shoulders a bit. "Not sure if everyone gets that, or maybe if it's just something that comes out of the dimension sense I learned. If we ever end up somewhere else, I'll just have to ask you, I suppose."
"LIkely it is something that must be felt," Zach offers. "Though I have no plans to travel to other such places. I have what I need here, no real reason to risk such a dangerous thing." His voice only softly muffled as he works on the armor intently, drawing back once he's finished speaking with a slender chip held gently between his fingers. He lifts it, inspecting the lattice of circuits intently.
Vargus nods his head a little, still watching, although clearly not understanding what it is you're doing. "I've always had a huge curiosity. I suppose it lent itself well to what I ended up doing." He steps back and looks the armor over, "So.. what does it feel like inside there? I've worn body armor before, but I imagine that feels quite a bit different, huh? More.." he waves his hand around. "..stuff, inside?"
Zachary glances towards Vargus and considers the question. "Well, they're all different, really. At first they felt claustrophobic. But you learn to relax and think less of what you're surrounded by. Getting used to how to move without trying to jerk and force it to move." He turns back to lean forward and put the chip back into place within. "There are sensors that act in tandem with your movement. Once you're used to it, it's as easy as moving yourself. Easier for most, the mechanics take some of the strain off of you." He emerges again and adds, "Well, that's mostly with the smaller ones. Robot vehicles of large size are a different matter altogether."
Vargus turns around and looks behind him, and spots a convinient tool case which he wheels over and sits on. "Oh, okay.. I've dealt with that somewhat when I had my strange armor made. Had to sit leaning against a tree while the wood liquified and poured over you. Had to sit still and not run, which apparently is a problem for outsiders having the armor made. But, then you get used to wearing the stuff and it's just like a second skin." He rolls to the side to look at the armor in profile. "But... that's never been alive. You're sealing yourself up in something that someone made by fitting together a bunch of other parts, and you have to hope they don't open up on you." he shudders a little then leans back up. "There aren't any levers or anything in there, like how you drive a hovertruck... does it like.." and he holds his hands out in front of him, his fingers stabbing downward and wiggling. "..read your brain or something?"
"Oh, no.. nothing like that." Zach doesn't seem to register much recognition with Vargus speaking of his armor, so he lets it pass and turns back to his work. "There is a visual HUD. A mix of touch controls in the fingers and eye tracking software within the helmet control most functions like the life support, the wings, weapons, engine.. all of that. That takes getting used to as well. I've known how to pilot these for decades, but only recently have I had some actual combat training. It was difficult to learn that sort of multitasking." He pauses, drawing back out to glance towards Vargus. "But there is no concern for it coming apart, unless the armor is under heavy fire. Machines like this are built to precise specifications. A unit that defective would never make it past the checks required for each system to be considered green."
Vargus nods his head slowly, not looking too convinced. "Uh-huh... I'm sure. I've never flown without the aid of magic. Magic I can understand, because there's nothing there to understand. It just does what you want it to do. But that." he motions to the armor, "okay, it was designed to do that.. but.." he shakes his head again. He pulls out the thick pistol at his hip and sets it in his palm, staring at it. "This was designed as well.. and it works. It does what it's supposed to, and doesn't do anything it's not supposed to." And to the armor, and back to the pistol, and he reholsters the weapon. "Don't know why I can't wrap my brain around that."?
Zachary furrows his brow as he considers Vargus a few moments, then shakes his head. "There is no difference," he says as he resumes his work. "The principles of thrust and lift are simple enough. The shape of the wings and other such aspects. I've flown in and repaired or maintained dozens of these kind of armors. I've even moved and worked on a Glitterboy." A soft awe in his voice when he mentions the venerable, distinctive war machine. "They are a safe means of travel and combat. As much so as any other conveyance or weapon of war."
Vargus smiles a little at hearing the effect just mentioning the Chromium Guardsman has. "Are they really all that impressive? Those Glitter people armors? I've only seem them in pictures, and heard seasoned mercs quaking in their boots at even the mentiont that they're going to face one in combat. Is it just a yarn spun around them? Or is it all just from factual encounters?"
"Well, admittedly the Glitterboy has it's own weaknesses like everything does, but.. they are quite impressive. Aesthetically and mechanically. The tensile strength of the armor itself is prominent. It can take more punishment than most powered suits of its size and the boomgun itself is a marvel of compacting power into a portable form. The fact that it must plant itself to fire and remain upright is evidence enough, if the actual devastation it causes was not. I certainly wouldn't wish to end up in the sights of one." The elf chatters away about the aspects of the armor without restraint, even as he continues to muck about with the interior of the armor suit.
Vargus blinks. "Wow.. it has to anchor before it can fire? My knowledge of physics is pretty basic, but.. damn, that's a little scarry. Does it have any other guns? Or is it just that big-ass shoulder cannon?" he seems about to say something and stops, his brow furrowing and changing tac, "..how big are they? Like twenty or twenty-five feet?"
"Only ten feet tall. That's the amazing part of it," Zach notes, pulling back from the Titan to turn and face Vargus. "It's small, yet it can take great punishment and deal it out. One of the goals of any engineer is to take a great thing and make it portable." His hands lifted and extended, then drawn towards him in a cupping motion for that. "Whomever designed the Glitterboy achieved that goal magnificently." He nods his head, looking to the TItan as he continues to speak. "They only have the boomgun, but a pilot could carry any hand weapon thats' modified for the fingers. each of the armor's fingers is about three times the width of a human finger."
Vargus seems as if he has been struck, "huh... wow. I've seen a few old propaganda films that I came across in South America about the 'Chromium Guardsman', it was their name for the Glitter Boy. I never knew they were that small.. I guess there wasn't anything in there to give them any scale. I figured what they could do to enemy tanks was just part of the propeganda, but... I don't think I would have beleieved it was all true." He snaps out of his little revere and looks up at Zachary. "Does Kingsdale have any in their militia, do you know?"
"I believe so, but they have their own mechanics for such things. But I did some work for Lazlo's militia before I came here," Zach replies. "I had a lot of exposure to their powered armor and had a chance to work on a Glitterboy." He pauses a soft pink touching his cheeks as he admits, "It took me longer than usual, it was hard not to get distracted by the systems.. I did wish I had time enough to study them in depth but that was not to be sadly."
Vargus grins at the obvious enthusiasm displayed on Zachary's face. "I'm just glad that we do have a few of those here. Knowing that they're standing guard really does make me feel a bit better at knowing how scarry those things are out there." He shifts a bit in his makeshift seat. "Don't they have special armor? Is that made someplace special? Or can the kingdoms that field them make it themselves?"
"Oh.. I'm not sure about the manufacture," Zachary replies. "I'm sure the process of making the armor is closely guarded by those who do have it. I hear that Quebec has a great number of them as part of their armed forces. And that they even build them. They likely have the process.. but I just can't imagine how it's created. The armor is denser than others and the sheen it has actually reflects laser fire, reducing it's effect on the armor. Otherwise it wouldn't be very practical to make it that visible."
Vargus leans forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. "Damn.. they sure had impressive technology before the Cataclysm. It's too bad that temporal magic can't breach that barrier to take you back there.. pick up a few peices every now and then, and come back here. I'd heard some bits about Quebec, that they are very self-contained and well-protected, but if they can /make/ a Glitter Boy...?" He shakes his head, "Damn.. yeah, I wouldn't want to go mess with them." His eyebrows quirk up. "Oh.. where's the reactor on this thing?" he motions back to the Titan. "It looks really small, overall..."
Zachary looks to the Titan and moves around back. "It's part of the flight engine." he says, giving it a pat. "Powers the engine and the rest of the armor. The primary power need is the engine as the rest is more like heavily reinforced armor. It would be a bit too heavy without help from the small, motorized joints. They help the pilot run faster and longer. Aids jumps too. It is small, but it's meant to be that way."
"Ahhhh, I see..." Vargus responds, having rotated his toolchest-stool around the back to see where Zachary is pointing. "Oh, I wondered why you didn't just detach the flight pack from the rest of the armor.. you would have killed your powersource. Can the thing more around without power? Are you locked into it if for some reason you had a catastrophic failure? Could you move and get out of the stuff?"
"If you can stand under the weight of the armor, engine and wings I suppose you could," Zach replies, considering the Titan. "But the armor weighs over a hundred and fifty pounds.. at least. Not too heavy, but you could hardly move so easily. There are some manual releases, but it would take a bit of time." He looks to Vargus and adds, "You can remove the power source and the engine. Though it's usually only done for maintenance purposes. Takes time to remove and replace. With the power source, there are a few precautions that must be taken."
Vargus chuckles. "I can imagine.. with all that radiation stuff in there." he holds his hands out and wiggles his fingers again. "A hundred and fifty pounds doesn't really seem like much at all, for that kind of thing." He stands up and leans close to a section away from where Zachary is currently working, his thumbs hooked into his belt. "I think I've changed my opinion of these crazy contraptions.. it's a solid peice of equipment. Not sure if I could bring myself to try and pilot one.. hurtling myself through the air in a thin layer of metal." He shakes his head, "What did your first flight feel like? Freaked out?"
Zachary nods his head. "The power source could do great harm of breached. But they're well protected. Even so, care should always be taken with a power source." He then frowns and shakes his head slightly. "Oh.. I've never actually fought in one," he corrects. "I learned to pilot them a decade ago in Lazlo. Being able to move them into the garage before they're worked on is a useful skill. And coming here, I traded some time to a man who gave me some basic lessons in combat piloting. But I don't own one of my own.. and I'm not truly interested in fighting. It was more done for the experience alone."
Vargus nods his head, a little disappointed by the lack of anectode. "Oh.. well, I can see that. In the world we live in they don't exactly have recreational version of these things out there, huh? They're always equiped with pulse lasers and stuffed full of missiles. So you're a mechanic, not an suit operator?"
"A Techno-Wizard, actually," Zachary replies. "But I do have deep knowledge in the mechanical and electrical systems. Both mundane and advanced." The advanced ending with his patting the armor beside him. "The only thing I have yet to work on is a true robot. But I don't imagine it would be too harder than these systems. They're complex in their own right."
At the comment of robot, the eagle on the counter chitters something, sounding somewhat derrisive. It seems to have finished its meal of iron rod and takes wing from the bar to land on Vargus' right shoulder. He chuckles and shakes his head, hiking a thumb up to the bird but addressing Zachary, "He said robots aren't as advanced as all that... but, he's got an ego a lot bigger then himself. It's good to hear another techno-wiz taking up residence here. Renos was the only other one I've run into.. and I've heard of quite a few people looking for a TW around."
Zachary gives the bird an odd look, something extended towards Vargus at his note of the bird's thoughts. "I see.." Murmured lowly in response. He then shakes his head a little and notes, "There are quite a few Techno-Wizards about, but most tend to be quite busy. I can't say, for the moment, that I'm greatly focused on that aspect of my skillset. Not so much as most at least."
Vargus nods his head, and tilts his head a little toward the bird. "HAve you ever encountered a bio-mechanical lifeform? I'm curious if a techno-wizard device could be used by him.. his species, whatever it is, can incorperate cybernetic modules as part of its own body. He has a little bit of pee-pee-eee, himself, since he's a familiar, but, I'd wondered if he could use that impulse to trigger a TW device."
Zachary frowns faintly, looking at the mechanical bird for a moment. He shakes his head after a moment and replies, "I could not say, I've never heard of such s thing." He pauses and glances towards the timepiece on the wall. His brow furrows and he looks back to Vargus. "I'm sorry, but I have a limited time to get this done. It has been a pleasant talk, but I really must focus." He offers a slight smile, already turning to walk towards the workbench again.
Vargus nods his head, then his eyebrows quirk up "Oh, oh sure..." He grins a bit sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry about that.. but, thanks for indulging my curiosity."
Zachary nods his head once. "No problem, really. I hope you enjoy your day." he offers, glancing back over his shoulder before he starts placing tools on a clean, white cloth, allowing Vargus to go on his way.
