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| Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast; 5/23 - Morning - (Nezh, Kitty & Quentin) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 17 2013, 06:54 PM (598 Views) | |
| Gentle | Apr 6 2014, 03:41 PM Post #46 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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Huh? On second thoughts though, as Nezhno slowly caught up with what Kitty had been saying about his flexibility, and the fact that he’d just managed to both form a fist and rub the back of his neck without feeling shots of stabbing pain welling up from everywhere. Yeah… he supposed he was feeling a little better, at that, and whatever doubts Kitty might have been harboring about the blue goo… …actually, there was something about the way she was smiling right now that made it kind of a little impossible to resist tweaking at the idea that it had been something that would make him into a zombie. Just a little. Would now be a bad time to tell her he’d like to eat her brain? Somehow, Kitty Pryde managed to make even wrinkling up her nose look pretty. Which might have had something to do with the grin she was also wearing, but those probably weren’t very zombie-appropriate thoughts (they weren’t actually appropriate thoughts at all, Nezhno knew, but maybe a zombie would have better luck forgetting them), so he did his best to set that aside and not grin too much back at her. ”No,” the brunette told him with a shake of her head and an impish look. "After you already tried the brain eating would be a lot worse time. Now you can't sneak up on me.” Nezhno sighed good-naturedly. “I knew there was a problem with my evil zombie plan,” he lamented, realizing at around the same that he really ought to do something with the hand he’d just left flopping a little lamely at his side, then deciding to lean against the bench to try to cover that, as Kitty turned away from the vise to face him with a rather skeptical eyebrow. “I fought Dracula once, you know," she pointed out, "I could totally take you as a zombie.” She was awfully sure about that, wasn’t she? Though there was something in the quietly confident way she carried that look that it probably wouldn’t have occurred to Nezhno to doubt her, even if he hadn’t already known at least some of what Kitty Pryde was capable of from news stories he’d pored over five years ago, so he only smiled back, and nodded in agreement. “I’m fairly sure you could take me even with my higher brain functions intact.” Actually, upon a moment’s reflection, tilting his head back to the other side, Nezhno smiled a little more, and admitted. “Totally certain, in fact. In which case, taking down poor lobotomized zombie me would be such an unfair fight I really think it could be considered as bullying.” It really was kind of hard to keep saying that with a straight face, but he did his best, then raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Really Dracula?” That definitely had to top even one of Molly’s more far-fetched stories. |
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| Kitty Pryde | Apr 7 2014, 11:50 PM Post #47 |
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Unphased
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Nezhno wasn't really forgetting the crack about the possible zombification by Nemesis goo, was he? Apparently not, since there were implied threats of possible brain eating, though it was hard to say that this was a bad time to tell her. An actual bad time would've been after he was already in brain eating attempt progress. This way, he couldn't sneak up on her if he did happen to become suddenly zombie-fied. Though Kitty admitted, that he definitely didn't look zombie-ish, dubious goo ingestion not withstanding. In fact, he looked good and like he was moving a little easier than he had been just a little while ago. Maybe there as something to this stuff Nemesis had been trying to pass off to all of them after all. Meanwhile, though, as she poked at the setup a little more Nezh was sighing and she was trying not to grin. Or maybe grin any more than she was already. “I knew there was a problem with my evil zombie plan,” he lamented, leaning with one arm against the bench. Yeah, he was definitely feeling better if he could stand that without wincing. She might actually have to thank Nemesis, and who thought that'd ever happen? Later for that, since right now there were zombies to be discussed, or zombie attacks, as she turned to look at him. And decided she could take Nezh if he zombied out on her. She'd fought Dracula that once, and then there was that whole mess with his daughter, Lilith. She had previous monster fighting experience on her side. Being that he was Nezh and he was too nice to really tell her she might be full of crap, the Wakandan boy smiled and nodded and just went ahead and agreed with her. “I’m fairly sure you could take me even with my higher brain functions intact.”[/] Hmmm...yeah, probably but mostly because of her training and the fact it was really hard to get a hit in on someone you couldn't touch. The idea didn't seem to bother him since he just tilted his head and smiled wider, "Totally certain, in fact. In which case, taking down poor lobotomized zombie me would be such an unfair fight I really think it could be considered as bullying.” Turning that over in her head, Kitty frowned thoughtfully and asked, "So I should just let you eat my brains so I won't be a bully?" There was a flaw in this logic, she was sure of it. She was trying not to grin, and she was pretty sure he was, too, but then his eyebrows lifted and he added, “Really Dracula?” Now she had to grin, she couldn't help it. Yeah, that was pretty much the general reaction when you said the words 'I fought Dracula once' to most people. "Really," the teenager confirmed with a nod and a shrug. "He had a thing for Ororo and tried to turn her into a vampire. Almost did, and for a few seconds there I thought I might end up being one, too." Or that she might just be dinner, but yeah, still not really a close call she liked thinking of too much. "He's a lot scarier than he looks in the old movies with the bad makeup and worse dialogue." Another thoughtful look made its way onto her face and she leaned over against the bench a little, too. "You know, I never thought about it that much before, but stuff like that seemed to happen to Storm a lot. Doctor Doom had a thing for her, too." Too bad he showed whatever passed for affection with him by turning her into a living statue. That definitely hadn't turned out well at all. |
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| Gentle | Apr 8 2014, 09:47 PM Post #48 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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Yeah, there really was no argument to be made that Kitty Pryde couldn’t take him easily, zombie or cognitively intact. Nezhno was perfectly content with that knowledge, but logic - or at least something vaguely like it, a kind of off-brand logic substitute that you became accustomed to when living with Molly - dictated that proceeding from that certainty as a first principle, then it really would be such an unfair fight against his poor imaginarily lobotomized zombie-self that the slender, petite brunette (who was at eye level now that he’d leaned against the bench) could definitely be considered as a bully. She frowned of course - but then no bully liked to be told that they were a bully (especially when they weren’t) - looking like she might be taking it, if not seriously, at least as something worth thinking about, but there was another of her smiles behind that, you could see it there if you’d got the hang of knowing where to look. “So I should just let you eat my brains so I won't be a bully?” Nezhno wrinkled his nose a little in answer. “Well, maybe just a little of them? Like a frontal lobe, perhaps,” he suggested, letting the grin that had been hovering around his own lips go free and shrugging in mild-mannered defiance of the obvious holes in his line of reasoning. Though - going back to what she’d said before, when explaining why she’d be able to take him down, there was something Nezhno really didn’t feel like he could let go any longer without asking. Really Dracula? The grin that broke out on Kitty’s face would have made the inevitable embarassment worth it even if she had been making it all up just to see what he’d believe, but in fact she nodded. ”Really,” she confimed. ”He had a thing for Ororo and tried to turn her into a vampire. Almost did, and for a few seconds there I thought I might end up being one, too.” That sounded unpleasant enough to dim the expression of amused interest Nezhno had been wearing a little, but she seemed to brush it off easily enough. “He’s a lot scarier than he looks in the old movies with the bad makeup and worse dialogue.” “He’d sort of have to be,” Nezhno agreed, wondering to himself whether this story was the thing that might finally explain why there had been a monthly tradition of old vampire films at the Design Group that had been still going when he’d gotten there, but forgetting about that question entirely the next second, when Kitty joined him in leaning her elbows on the bench, another thoughtful look on her face. “You know, I never thought about it that much before, but stuff like that seemed to happen to Storm a lot. Doctor Doom had a thing for her, too.” Dr Doom had a thing for Ororo Iqadi T’Challa? Nezhno blinked once, trying to assemble this information into a mental schema of the Panther King’s Kenyan Windrider, then thought another moment, then finally shot Kitty a sideways glance. “I see what you’re doing, you know,” he told her, though there was more than a little suppressed smile in the accusation, though he worked on keeping his expression serious as he continued, “are you suggesting there’s a set of conserved personality traits that lead men to be attracted to your friend who happens to be my Queen? Because I’m pretty sure getting involved in this conversation is only going to end up with the point of a panther guard spear right here,” and to illustrate that point, he tapped lightly at the point at the back of his neck where he could still sort of feel two tattoo lines meet in what was now feeling like an all-too-convenient set of cross-marks. Well… he was mostly not serious about that. Fairly not serious, anyway. At least 56% not serious, though now that he’d said it out loud, Nezhno couldn’t entirely keep himself from turning one very obvious glance back over his shoulder, just in case there were, for some reason, hidden women from the panther guard that had happened to cross a third the way around the world to lurk in this particular lab. There weren’t. Or at least, there didn’t seem to be, but though at least part of his brain still wasn’t entirely ready to rule it out, Nezhno relaxed again, grinning briefly to Kitty, before reaching carefully past her toward the vise, picking back up on the adjustments from where she’d left off. “You know, sometimes I start to wonder if there’s anything that’s actually fiction in this world,” he commented off-handedly, watching the dial needles flutter back and forth with the minute adjustments needed to get one of the parameters exact as it would need to be. “Dracula is real… were Frankenstein and his monster?” he asked, suspecting that Kitty Pryde might know, if anyone did. “Was Moby Dick?” That particular dial was set, so Nezhno eased his hand away carefully, then looked back with another slight smile. “Would you tell me if you’d met the - hmm…” What would be an appropriate Western mythical figure to ask about? “-the Easter Bunny, or are you sworn to secrecy?” |
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| Kitty Pryde | Apr 13 2014, 04:16 PM Post #49 |
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Unphased
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So, in order not to be a bully, she should let Zombie!Nezh eat her brains? Yeah, okay, there was something about that that didn't sound quite right somehow if she thought about it a little. Apparently to Nezh, too, since he wrinkled his own nose a little that time. “Well, maybe just a little of them? Like a frontal lobe, perhaps,” he suggested, finally giving in and going ahead and grinning and lifting his shoulders in a shrug as she let out a laugh. "Can we go for something I might not need to use as much?" Kitty asked hopefully, before they drifted off into the the topic of Kitty's Adventures With Real Life Movie Monsters. Like Dracula. Who was, believe it or not - and Nezhno seemed understandably maybe a little skeptical about that - a real person or thing or whatever you called an undead blood sucker who could turn into a bat and do all sorts of other crazy things. And who'd had a serious thing for turning Ororo into his new love interest. He'd come close and Kitty herself had thought for more than a few seconds there that she'd either be joining her or would be the first course for dinner. It was a near thing and, up close, Dracula was a lot scarier in the flesh than any of those old vampire movies would make you think. “He’d sort of have to be,” Nezhno agreed, having gotten maybe a little of that look most people got when she mentioned Dracula and they realized she wasn't either kidding or insane. Not that she went around mentioning that a lot, because yeah. Other than the people around here? Anybody else would probably be running to have her committed. It made her realize something else, talking about this, too. This sorta thing used to happen to Ororo a lot. There'd been the thing with Doctor Doom being a little obsessed with her, too. And Arkon, though he wasn't actually a bad guy. Nezh blinked and, yeah, that was a pretty normal reaction, too. Plus it was probably a lot harder for him to think of her as Storm of the X-Men instead of Queen of Wakanda. Then he was giving her one of those sidelong looks, like she might either be kidding or trying to trap him somehow, or both. “I see what you’re doing, you know,” he told her, which was good, since she didn't have a clue and was kinda hoping he'd tell her as she tried to look...really innocent or something, “are you suggesting there’s a set of conserved personality traits that lead men to be attracted to your friend who happens to be my Queen? Because I’m pretty sure getting involved in this conversation is only going to end up with the point of a panther guard spear right here,” and he pointed to the back of his neck, then looked over his shoulder like he wasn't sure one've the Panther Guard might not have snuck up on him while he was saying that. Nope, not grinning. Really. Not grinning. Okay, grinning at least a little, because she couldn't help it. "Who, me? Well, now that you mention it, maybe a little, yeah," she admitted with a shrug and a little bit of a wider grin. It probably wasn't entirely fair to pelt Nezhno with stories of Ororo being obsessed over by monarch-y alpha types. It was probably really odd to hear that sort of thing about your Queen. "I'd never let the Panther Guard spear you, though," Kitty promised with a definitely teasing look. "That'd put a real kink in the uniform work." Okay, that probably wasn't all that comforting but since there weren't any Panther Guard even on the helicarrier that she knew of, or at least that she'd seen yet, then he was probably pretty safe regardless. Nezh was grinning again, though, and reaching over to pick up where she'd left off adjusting the vise when she'd started to muse on Ororo's collection of super-powered stalkers. “You know, sometimes I start to wonder if there’s anything that’s actually fiction in this world,” he commented offhandedly, and that was a pretty good question, really. There'd been a lot of 'fictional' things she'd come face to face with since she was around thirteen or so. “Dracula is real… were Frankenstein and his monster?” he asked, suspecting that Kitty Pryde might know, if anyone did. “Was Moby Dick?” Thinking on that seriously for a second, Kitty shook her head. "I never met Frankenstein, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's really out there somewhere. Moby Dick, too." There'd definitely been weirder things than an animated corpse with bolts in it's neck and a giant, white boat eating whale that held a grudge. "Werewolves are real, though," the teenager added, watching him make the adjustments as he brow furrowed thoughtfully, "Demons are real. And aliens. Places like Asgard and Olympus are real. So who knows what else is out there?" It was an interesting idea, actually. How many 'fictional' things or people could they prove were real? “Would you tell me if you’d met the - hmm…” Nezh began, turning back from the dial he'd been working on with a smile and Kitty lifted her brow curious. Now what was he gonna come up with? “-the Easter Bunny, or are you sworn to secrecy?” Pursing her lips, mostly not to laugh, Kitty pretended to give it some serious thought, then shook her head sadly. "I'm under strict orders to keep the existence or non-existence of the Easter Bunny to a strictly need to know basis." Mean, well, she hoped nobody really needed to know, because she didn't have a clue. "The Tooth Fairy's kinda classified, too," she added, smile breaking through again, "but I can confirm the existence of Santa Claus. Or at least kinda second-hand confirm. Some've the Avengers have apparently met him a few times. If I ever do, I'm definitely gonna remind him he still owes me a My First Chemistry set from when I was six." |
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| Gentle | Apr 14 2014, 08:32 PM Post #50 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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Right there, just between C6 and C7, where the tattoos running across the back of his shoulders met at his neck. That was where the Panther Guard spear was going to end up if he got involved in this conversation about the Queen Kitty Pryde was trying to goad him into. Nezhno could tell. …actually, though he hadn’t been entirely serious about that, now that he’d poked at that point, it was a little too hard to keep from turning around, just to check there wasn’t anyone there behind him. There was no one, of course, and there wouldn’t be, because the Panther Guard should probably still all be in Wakanda, but it was very possibly the general principle of the thing, and right now, the general principle of the thing was suggesting rather strongly to Nezhno that the pretty, slender brunette who was smiling at him was secretly plotting his downfall. Especially when she smiled at him with that particular smile. “Who, me? Well, now that you mention it, maybe a little, yeah,” she admitted, which he was definitely going to pretend to chalk up to her being too far gone to even manage to pretend to be innocent for more than a single second. Not that Nezhno thought he could have minded at all, even if he’d really thought that she was serious. She really was that pretty when she smiled, even when it was an evil (or at least faux-evil) smile. “I’d never let the Panther Guard spear you, though,” she assured him, with a look that said there was going to be an explanation coming that was going to have some clarification about that, “That’d put a real kink in the uniform work.” Nezhno grinned crookedly back at her, giving his head a very slight shake (which he was still at least a little surprised to discover didn’t hurt at all). “And at least an imaginary one in me,” he commented, though of course that was a minor issue compared to making sure the uniform work kept going. Speaking of which, he should probably get that moving again now, shouldn’t he? Which wasn’t too difficult, at least - just a matter of leaning a little past Kitty to work on setting the first of the dials on the vise, and while he did that (still smiling), the Wakandan boy returned to musing aloud about what it meant if Dracula really existed. Was anything actualy fictional in this world (aside from governmental propaganda, of course, but in this company, that probably went without saying)? Not Dracula, if Kitty was saying that he was real, so what did that mean for Frankenstein and his monster? For Moby Dick? See, he could tell Kitty was thinking about it seriously now too, even without looking back from the vise, because the silence beside him just had that kind of quality. “I never met Frankenstein, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's really out there somewhere. Moby Dick, too.” Yes, when you put it like that… he’d have to remember to make a note to stay well away from the Arctic Circle, or the middle of the Southern Ocean, Nezhno decided, which didn’t seem like it would be all too difficult to manage, however much stranger his life seemed to have gotten in the last few days. “Werewolves are real, though," the teenager added, watching him make the adjustments as he brow furrowed thoughtfully, "Demons are real. And aliens. Places like Asgard and Olympus are real. So who knows what else is out there?” No doubt there was at least someone on this Helicarrier, Nezhno thought to himself, as he finished up the last of the adjustments on the dial. Or if not, there would always be Molly, to claim that she did know, but.. there, that was that dial - which meant he could ease his hand away carefully, and look back toward Kitty again, still smiling a little, and deciding he wasn’t quite ready to give up on this conversation topic yet. Would Kitty tell him if she’d met the… hmmm… the Easter Bunny? Or was she sworn to secrecy? Or maybe just trying not to laugh at him for being completely ridiculous, but thoughtful - even fake thoughtful - was a look of Kitty Pryde’s that it was hard not to smile over. “I’m under strict orders to keep the existence or non-existence of the Easter Bunny to a strictly need to know basis.” That was how it was, was it? “Compartmentalization is the worst,” Nezhno agreed mildly, because it was hard to pretend to bemoan something when you were still smiling. “The Tooth Fairy's kinda classified, too," she added, smile breaking through again, "but I can confirm the existence of Santa Claus. Or at least kinda second-hand confirm. Some've the Avengers have apparently met him a few times. If I ever do, I'm definitely gonna remind him he still owes me a My First Chemistry set from when I was six." Santa Claus… the Avengers met Santa Claus, and Kitty Pryde… well, just looking at her right now, you had to imagine that she needed to be teased, just a little, for walking into that. “Are you sure you didn’t just get on his bad list?” the Wakandan asked her, doing his best to keep his voice as serious as he could manage. That was how Western Christmases worked, wasn’t it? Though he’d never quite managed to wrap his head around all the different things people in Europe and America seemed to believe about the custom all at the same, he thought he had that one right, or at least close to it. “I think I could see that. You were taken off that year for corrupting otherwise innocent peers with science,” he continued innocently. “If Santa Claus is real, it’s really the only possible explanation.” |
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| Kitty Pryde | Apr 17 2014, 07:35 PM Post #51 |
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Unphased
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Oh, come on. She wouldn't let the Panther Guard poke him with spears. That'd put a real damper on the uniform work and poor Veil might be doomed to power related, naked embarrassment forever. “And at least an imaginary one in me,” he commented crooked grin and little shake of his head telling her he wasn't taking it any more seriously than she meant it. Mostly, at least. It was probably harder to not take the Panther Guard too seriously when you didn't know them. They were pretty fierce-looking and pretty fierce in general. Regardless, though, there'd be no spear poking of Nezh, whether it interrupted the uniform work or not. Which he was back to working on, or at least working on the adjustments, as Kitty paused to ponder the idea of all the 'mythical' people and things that kept turning out not to be all that mythical at all. She'd never met Frankenstein or his monster, but she wouldn't be surprised if one or both were out there somewhere. Ditto for Moby Dick. They'd definitely run into weirder stuff out in the ocean. whole islands full of weirder stuff. Werewolves were definitely real, though. Not just mutants that looked like them, but real werewolves. Demons were real. She'd met those face to face. The same for Aliens. All kinds of aliens. Asgard was real, she'd been there. And man, she'd forgot to add Loki to Ororo's list of admirers. Olympus was real, too. With all that, who knew what else was out there? Well, okay, maybe not the Easter Bunny. At least that she'd ever heard of, but that mean she had to admit that to Nezh. It could be that knowledge of the Easter Bunny was just on a need to know basis, or something, right? “Compartmentalization is the worst,” Nezhno agreed mildly which only made her smile more as she nodded her agreement. Then chucked in the classified Tooth Fairy for good measure. Maybe they should be working on the uniform, and not worrying about winged people who gave you money for your teeth, but they were sort of doing both. Santa, though, he was real. At least according to some've the Avengers, who'd apparently met him a time or two. If she ever got a chance at that, she was so reminding him that he still owed her a My First Chemistry Set that he'd completely failed to deliver when she was six. She'd really, really wanted that, too. Uh-oh. Now Nezh was looking at her. And she thought she might see some wheels turning there in that look. “Are you sure you didn’t just get on his bad list?” the Wakandan asked her, doing his best to keep his voice as serious as he could manage and she barely managed not to laugh as she tried to look something close to indignant. Even if she was pretty sure it might've come out as indignantly trying not to laugh. Oh man, she'd so just walked right into that one. “I think I could see that. You were taken off that year for corrupting otherwise innocent peers with science,” he continued innocently. “If Santa Claus is real, it’s really the only possible explanation.” Kitty tried really hard to manage indignant again, and still couldn't keep the smile under control long enough to actually manage that. Nezhno was turning out to be a lot better at that sort of thing than she was. "Do I look like a naughty list person to you?" she asked, mostly rhetorically even if she suspected she might get an answer anyway and that was okay, too. "I walked right into that one, huh?" she asked aloud this time, grin taking over completely, as she looked back at the vise briefly to see what else needed to be done there. "There are lots worse things to corrupt other kids with than science, though, right?" the brunette asked, giving everything a once over and adjusting a thing or two just out of personal preference. "I still think Santa should've let me have an exemption or something. You know, for previous good behavior." Or probably her mom and dad didn't want her blowing up her room, but that was a whole other thing. |
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| Gentle | Apr 20 2014, 10:40 AM Post #52 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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So then. Santa Claus was real, according to the Avengers (Nezhno didn’t suppose there could be any reason to doubt their word), and should she ever happen to come across him herself, Kitty Pryde already had matters tabled for discussion with the semi-mythical Western deity of good cheer and generosity. The case of a missing ‘my first chemistry’ set, in fact, which at least according to her, had been missing for - slight pause for a little piece of quick mental arithmetic on the American girl’s subjective and objective age - fourteen years. On the other hand, given everything he did know, second-hand, about Western Christmas traditions, there was another possibility that Nezhno really thought had to be considered, or at least mentioned, as innocently as he could manage. There was always the ‘bad list’, that Father Christmas was supposed to keep, no? Kitty really had sort of walked into that one a little. Though at least it did look like (and Nezhno was watching her face quiet carefully) like she took the suggestion very good-naturedly, however much she might be trying to make a mock-offended look out of her smile. That made it harder again to keep his own expression straight-faced, but he’d had a lifetime of practice at looking serious, so Nezhno thought he’d mostly managed that as he kept going, expanding on his theory, inventing an imaginary crime (corrupting peers with science maybe showed a lack of imagination on his part, but it was simple at least), and assuring her that it was the only possible explanation to explain the known facts. And she smiled. Not immediately, but it won through the fake offended look before she’d managed to settle that again. It suited her face so much better than that other look, too, not to mention being impossible not to return with a smile - though a slighter one - of his own, and… “Do I look like a naughty list person to you?” He really shouldn’t have let himself think about her smile so much. Now that question had snuck up on him, and for a second the only thought in Nezhno’s head about Kitty Pryde, and what she looked like had absolutely no business being there. “Um..” he said, suddenly back in an awkward, floundering state of tongue-tied semi-discomfort, without any words to say. “You…” he tried anyway, wishing that he’d thought to have something with the vise, or some other gadget in his hands, that he could have turned his attention to right now without it being as obvious as it would be if he looked away. “I walked right into that one, huh?” She was grinning broadly, which made it easier to try to forget about the awkward that was clogging up his brain. That was good. He needed to… well, he needed to say something, but still, there was a mixture of relief and something else that there didn’t seem to be any point in analyzing that Nezhno felt when Kitty Pryde turned away to inspect the vise again. “Well…,” he managed to say, which was at least technically ‘something’, at least by the loosest definitions, but maybe it would sound like he was still teasing? “There are lots worse things to corrupt other kids with than science, though, right?” Kitty asked as she tweaked here and there at the set-up. Nezhno watched the movements of her hands, deciding it was more interesting to guess at what was driving each deft motion than risk disrupting her by asking. “I still think Santa should've let me have an exemption or something. You know, for previous good behavior.” “Is that how it works?” the Wakandan replied, just a little dryly, as he dropped back down to rest his forearms on the bench and join her peering at the vise. “You’re going to argue grades with Santa.” They did say Americans would attempt to argue their way out of anything, ‘they’ being the imaginary mythical they that stereotypes came from (though perhaps they also existed in some form?), and though Nezhno didn’t exactly believe it of most Americans he’d met, and Kitty Pryde in particular, he couldn’t quite resist making the suggestion with a slight grin and lifted eyebrows. But if Kitty was satisfied now with her final adjustments of the vise, they should probably get on with testing it out, shouldn’t they? Shifting his weight slightly - it really was kind of amazing how little ache there was now, even supporting a good part of his weight on one arm at the bench - Nezhno reached toward the run switch, then paused, looking to the brunette beside him with a querying look. “Alright…” he said, wondering if he shouldn’t have offered to let her hit the button, but deciding it would be even more awkward to stop now to suggest it, “…here goes trial one, I guess.” And with that, he pressed the button down to switch over to the field they’d set up. |
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| Kitty Pryde | Apr 21 2014, 05:45 PM Post #53 |
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Unphased
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Yep, she'd walked right into that. Face first even, so she couldn't even muster any decent faux-offended without it turning into a smile. Kitty gave it a shot anyway as she posed the million dollar question: did she look like somebody that should be on the naughty list to him? Okay, maybe she did, since that seemed to make him stall out. “Um..” he said, and she shouldn't have grinned, then. She really shouldn't, but how could she not grin at Nezh groping around and trying to probably say she definitely, without a doubt belonged on the naughty list in a way that wouldn't sound like he was quite saying that so much. He was awesome that way. “You…” Nezhno tried again and she was actively trying not to grin more now. That was... Well, yeah, okay that was just adorable, really. She'd almost forgotten how much fun it was to render people speechless, everybody around here had built up an immunity over the years and, let's face it, she couldn't even start to compete with Remy for speechless making. So she moved on to the next question, which was one she'd already answered for herself, so he could probably feel better about just agreeing with that one. She'd definitely walked right into it, the question mark was just a formality. “Well…,” he managed to say possibly by way of teasing agreement, possibly because he was still speechless. It was hard to tell for sure as she turned back to make minor, probably negligible, definitely unnecessary adjustments to a couple of the knobs. Just because she liked them tweaked slightly that way. Either way, the point was, or should be, that there were a lot worse things than science to corrupt the other kids with. Or she thought there were, so Santa could've at least given her an exemption or something for previous good behavior. Just that once. She'd really wanted that chemistry set. “Is that how it works?” the Wakandan replied, just a little dryly, as he dropped back down to rest his forearms on the bench and join her peering at the vise. “You’re going to argue grades with Santa.” oh, they were going there huh? Vise adjustments finished, she turned toward him a little again, head tilting consideringly. "Hmmm..." she pondered, managed something closer to a serious expression, despite being positive this time he was teasing. The grin was a dead giveaway. Her faux serious expression only lasted for a few seconds before the grin was back, "For that chemistry set? You bet your fuzzy beard and red nosed reindeer I would." Some things were just worth arguing over and she'd really wanted that. "I'm pretty sure it was my mom and dad, though, that nixed the chemistry set," the brunette confessed, "so I probably shouldn't take it out on Santa." And they should probably get back to working on the uniform. Nezh looked like he was already about to do that as he leaned one arm on the bench and reached for the switch. That goo stuff really must've been pretty useful. She was pretty sure he wouldn't have been able to do that without wincing when she first came in here. Nemesis might've actually managed something helpful for once and that was definitely good. Nezh had had to go through more than enough as it was. “Alright…” he said, poised for activate and Kitty realized she was practically holding her breath, “…here goes trial one, I guess.” He pressed the switch and she was definitely holding her breath, then, watching the piece of uniform intently. Had it... "Hey, did that just work?" she asked, turning to Nezh, brows coming together slightly, so he could tell her it was wishful thinking. Since it probably was. "Or am I just imagining that it might've worked?" Turning back to the vise, Kitty peered at it intently and resisted the urge to poke at it, since that would be neither good nor probably very scientific. Well, maybe a little scientific. Man, if that had worked they were possibly the luckiest people ever. |
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| Gentle | Apr 22 2014, 11:46 PM Post #54 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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Nezhno was almost certainly ready to claim that he didn’t know what to think. He wouldn’t have thought it of any alumna of the Wakandan Design Group - not even the one and only American he knew of that had been part of it - but it seemed that Kitty Pryde were ready and willing to argue grades with no less a person (personage?) than Santa Claus. Or that was what he was going to claim right now, though somewhere along the line the ability to keep a straight face while teasing seemed to have deserted him for the moment, because he couldn’t quite keep from grinning, despite having the vise and its piece of uniform to look at. “Hmmm…” she murmured, sounding temporarily like she might actually be thinking about it. At least up until she spoke again. ”For that chemistry set? You bet your fuzzy beard and red nosed reindeer I would.” Fuzzy beard? He didn’t… oh… reindeer were also a Santa thing, weren’t they, Nezhno thought to himself, getting halfway into a quizzical look before managing to resolve that. So that was probably… right. Okay. ”I’m pretty sure it was my mom and dad, though, that nixed the chemistry set," the brunette confessed, "so I probably shouldn't take it out on Santa.” “Not if he still turns up for adult superheroes, I imagine” Nezhno agreed, since that didn’t seem like a strategy that would be calculated to make the man-being-deity-thing disposed to offer help (or whatever it was he’d met the Avengers for) if she did happen to come across him. Though that seemed to put an end to all the things that could currently be said about the 1994 Santa v. Pryde decision, and the vise was still there in front of them, all set to go, by the looks of it, since Kitty had finished the final adjustments she’d been making to it. Alright then. No reason to delay making trial one, was there? Holding your breath when testing an idea had been frowned upon as being both superstitious and lack in faith among the Design Group when he’d been there, but all the same, that was what Nezhno found himself doing as he pressed the button to pulse the field they’d set up across the piece of uniform. Which flickered. Or had it flickered? Had he blinked, and thought? “Hey, did that just work?” Kitty asked, just a second or so ahead of Nezhno, already looking his way by the time he’d finished automatically turning to ask her the same, or at least a similar question. “Or am I just imagining that it might've worked?” Nezhno hesitated, opening his mouth with drawn-down brows, then glancing back to the vise very briefly before he was confident of having any kind of answer at all, even an uncertain one. “It… might have worked.” He wasn’t ready to rule out the possibility that it had, but it had been awfully quick, not to mention being very nearly the first time in the history of science that something might have worked first time without being an unintentional accident that turned into a breakthrough. Quick though… that part, he was pretty sure they could change. “Hang on,” the Wakandan added, reaching past Kitty and her intent inspection of the setup to change the gain on one of the settings, “let me increase the pulse duration so we can see-” This time, when he pressed the button, the material actually did wink out into some sort of fuzzy, greyish blur that hung like TV static in the center of the vise for nearly a full second, till the pulse stepped back down to its original state. “-it did work,” Nezhno said a moment later, once he’d found his tongue again, feeling a little like he’d just been the mark on some sort of sleight of hand magic trick that he hadn’t yet found the key to understanding. Frowning slightly in thought, he looked to Kitty, then back down to the notes he’d made from Reed Richards’ explanations. “Is it only me that feels like we just cheated somehow?” Not that he’d ever really had a desire to figure out other people’s work from first principles, but… well, it did seem like they had to be missing something important, if things really were working. Though come to think of it, he thought he wouldn’t actually have all that much trouble believing it had something to do with Kitty Pryde. |
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| Kitty Pryde | Apr 26 2014, 07:58 PM Post #55 |
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Unphased
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Thinking it over, the chemistry set was probably another thing she could put down to her parents. It probably wasn't fair to take it out on Santa, real or imagined. Also, it probably wasn't fair to confuse Nezh with beard and reindeer references when Christmas and the Western Santa Clause weren't exactly common things around Wakanda. Apparently, he got it after a few seconds, though. He'd probably been here long enough, and around the Dance enough, to be at least a little contaminated by the US' favorite commercial holiday. “Not if he still turns up for adult superheroes, I imagine” Nezhno agreed, which was a very good point. Annoying Santa, never a good idea. Or elves. Tim Allen's movies taught them that if nothing else. So, probably should go back to focusing on the experiment instead of mythical holiday figures who might not actually be mythical and who might or might not have forgotten the present she really wanted when she was six, Kitty decided as Nezh turned his focus back to that. Or at least they needed to multi-task while they tried to figure it out. Even if Santa was real, she was pretty sure Veil wouldn't want to wait until Christmas to get a suit that wouldn't leave her naked every time she used her powers. God, so glad hers hadn't ever worked like that. It was all set up, all the dials where they hopefully should be and Nezhno had his finger on the button. Holding her breath was probably stupid, and definitely wouldn't have any appreciable effect on the experiment itself. Still couldn't help it. Was he holding his breath, too? Kitty couldn't tell and didn't have a lot of time to ponder it. Instead, she glued her eyes back onto that little square of cloth as Nezhno hit the switch and- Oh! Oh shit! Had that worked? Had that actually just worked? Maybe she was imagining things, but Kitty would've sworn that just worked. For like half a second she would've sworn there was flickering and maybe a little...fuzzing, for lack of a better word. Almost too fast to really see, but she was almost sure she'd seen it anyway. Or it could be wishful thinking, because that definitely wasn't unheard of for her. Which just left Nezh to cast the deciding vote here, but he looked like he was about to ask her the same thing, being turned her way with kinda the same look on his face the brunette was pretty sure she had on hers. Then he hesitated, frowned, opened his mouth, looked back over at the vise like it might tell them (which it didn't, unfortunately, but maybe that'd be their next project). “It… might have worked.” Okay, so neither of them knew for sure. Turning her head and narrowing her eyes at it consideringly again of course did nothing to clear this up, but Kitty did it anyway. Yep, definitely making 'invent a more informative and decisive vise' her next project. They could probably make it sound like Mickey Mouse or something, that'd be fun. “Hang on,” the Wakandan added, reaching past Kitty and her intent inspection of the setup to change the gain on one of the settings, “let me increase the pulse duration so we can see-” So they could see that it absolutely worked when he hit the button this time! "Yes!" Kitty exclaimed, bouncing a little, which was probably very unscientific, but she didn't care. It worked! First time! It had to be some sort of record or something. “-it did work,” Nezhno said at about the same time she was doing the celebratory mini-bounce of science achievement as he looked down at his notes. “Is it only me that feels like we just cheated somehow?” Head shaking vigorously, she turned to him with a grin. Considered tackle hugging him, but then remembered that would probably hurt him a lot, even with the Nemesis goo healing. So yeah, holding off on that. "Not in a million years. We definitely cheated. Somehow." Not quite sure how. Maybe by building on things a lot of really genius people had done already, but that was a pretty common sort of cheating. "Don't care, though," the brunette proclaimed, "because it worked and that means we're awesome." Obviously. Grinning wider, she held up one hand, palm up. "So...high five," Kitty added, figuring that they could do a very gentle high five and that would be better than possibly sending him writing to the floor in pain after a too enthusiastic hug. It definitely needed at least a high five for first try success. |
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| Gentle | Apr 29 2014, 10:19 PM Post #56 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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There it was. The longer pulse ran, the material fuzzed into obvious discorporation, and… “Yes!” Kitty Pryde exclaimed next to him, sounding both emphatic and triumphant about that. When Nezhno turned his head her way, she was… …no, she wasn’t. He was imagining that. He had to be imagining that. It was the kind of thing he probably shouldn’t imagine, in fact, but although Nezhno did his best to find his tongue for long enough to observe that it had, in fact, worked, and to look back at his notes, rather than the sight of Kitty Pryde bouncing up and down in every indication of excitement beside him, his peripheral vision kept betraying him and pointing out, quite insistently, that this probably wasn’t his imagination at all. He should probably just try to think this through, right? It had worked. And he did have all his notes from Reed Richards himself right here, which perhaps had quite a lot to do with the fact that against all empirical probability about scientific experiments, it had actually worked first time. All the same though, as he made himself forget as much as he could about the bouncing, and turned back to look at Kitty properly, Nezhno couldn’t quite find a way to shake the feeling that they’d just cheated somehow. That wasn’t only him, was it? The slender brunette shook her head very firmly, but she was smiling when she looked up at him, informing him with great certainty, “Not in a million years.” Which left Nezhno stuck in two simultaneous modes of action. The first being to grin back at her, while the second added a certain degree of lateral-eye movement uncertainty as he did his best to figure out whether that meant that they hadn’t cheated, or that it wasn’t only him. “We definitely cheated. Somehow,” she added though, clearing that confusion up and not sounding the least bit worried by that idea. At all. So that left Nezhno with only a single mode of operation, which was to keep smiling, no matter that there might be a touch of bemusement lingering about the expression. “Don’t care, though," the brunette proclaimed, "because it worked and that means we're awesome.” Well, when she put it like that… …wait, why did she have her hand raised now? Were they supposed to celebrate with some sort of Vulcan hand salute? Feeling at least half a step behind the flow of action, Nezhno lifted one of his own hands up to follow her lead, watching her with a careful, somewhat quizzical expression as she turned her palm toward his. “So…high five,” she explained, though with the kind of consideration he was almost learning he should maybe expect from Kitty, she didn’t make any moves to carry that out with the kind of force most of the Dance would have used. Oh. Oh! “High five,” Nezhno agreed, moving his hand a little more and very carefully pressing his hand slowly in to meet hers, starting with their pinky fingers and rolling on till they were palm to palm. It was, perhaps, a very odd kind of high five, but it did have the very important benefit (from his perspective, at least), of not really hurting in the slightest. After a couple of seconds, which might have been too long even for a considerately slowed down high five, though there was nothing he could do about that now, Nezhno carefully peeled his hand back, allowing (or maybe forcing, he couldn’t quite have said just now) his eyes to duck away from his new lab partner, back to linger looking downward to the bench where they were kind of usually more comfortable anyway. “At least I have the fact I spread butter all over a piece of uniform to still feel kind of stupid for,” he pointed out a moment later with half a self-deprecating grin, before looking back from the vise and its reconstituted fabric back to his notes, and then to Kitty, and then through those all over again. “So, I wonder…” he began, only to drift off thoughtfully, clicking his tongue quietly against the inside of his cheek out of the habit. That field had worked remarkably well on the very first time. “I…” Nezhno started, and stopped again, remembering where and who he was with enough to stop and refocus properly on Kitty. “I wonder if we can even forget about figuring out how to train these for disintegration,” he explained, gesturing without looking toward the piece of material in the vise, then reaching for the pen he’d left nearby earlier, uncapping it, and proceeding to sketch out a rough three dimensional person shape directly onto the white bench. “If we could create the right conduction net inside the uniform, we could generate the field internally, under control of a biosensor switch, and let that be the trigger right from the very start.” Placing a little dot around the level of the neck of the imaginary uniform sketch, Nezhno proceeded to skim a series of lines radiating out from it through something approximating conic sections of the body. “You see what I mean?” he asked Kitty, glancing up briefly, before returning to hover the ben just above the sketch like a pointer. “Model it like sinoatrial node and the conduction pathways in the heart, to be a self-perpetuating field generator. As long as we can get the calculations right to generate the field appropriately in a spider-web configuration…” |
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| Kitty Pryde | May 2 2014, 09:40 PM Post #57 |
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Unphased
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In the world of science, Kitty was pretty sure any time you actually got something to work first try it meant you'd cheated by definition. So, fine. they'd totally cheated there. Somehow. Still didn't care, just riding out the high of it actually working. Because it had and that meant they were also, by definition, awesome! Probably she wasn't making tons of sense here, but Nezh was a least nice enough not to point that out. Also nice enough to grin right back as she managed to resist the urge to tackle hug him in triumph. At least she had enough good sense left to remember that, goo or no good, that still would probably hurt like crap. So, hand up and maybe they could try a high five. Or, you know, she could just confuse Nezh some more. Which it looked like she had. Or maybe it was just because she hadn't actually gone ahead and high-fived him, since she didn't want to smack him too hard or anything. “High five,” Nezhno agreed, getting it after a second so that she didn't feel like a totally lame person for sitting there with her hand up awkwardly and not a clue what to do with it. Then he pressed his palm against hers carefully, starting with the pinky fingers and sort or working his way over until all the fingers and palm met. It reminded her of one've those things they did in Shakespeare's plays or something, making her smile wider. Okay, that was definitely a cool way to work with the high five so it didn't end up with Nezh's palm in horrible stinging pain or something. Slo Mo high five. She'd have to remember that, the brunette decided as they held it there for a second or two and she looked over at her friend. Who was looking down at the bench now and moving his hand back. Man, he reminded her of Peter in some ways when he did stuff like that. He was definitely a little shy and awkward, like Peter had been years ago. Actually, like Peter still probably was, unless he'd changed a lot in the last couple of years. “At least I have the fact I spread butter all over a piece of uniform to still feel kind of stupid for,” he pointed out a moment later with half a self-deprecating grin as she let out a laugh and pointed out, "You are way too worried about the buttered uniform. That's not even close to the weirdest thing I've ever seen anybody do in a lab." Hang out with Nemesis for half an hour, you'd see at least ten things way above that on the weirdness scale. Nezh was looking back at the vice thoughtfully, though, and Kitty turned her own attention back that way. Okay, they had that. Next. “So, I wonder…” he began, only to drift off thoughtfully, clicking his tongue quietly against the inside of his cheek as she turned a questioning look his way. “I…” Nezhno started, and stopped again and looked over at her. “I wonder if we can even forget about figuring out how to train these for disintegration,” he explained, gesturing without looking toward the piece of material in the vise, then reaching for the pen he’d left nearby earlier, uncapping it, and proceeding to sketch out a rough three dimensional person shape directly onto the white bench. She leaned over toward him a little, the better to peer closer at what he was sketching out. “If we could create the right conduction net inside the uniform, we could generate the field internally, under control of a biosensor switch, and let that be the trigger right from the very start.” Oh? Oh! Oh, she liked that idea, the brunette decided, turning her head to get a better look at the sketch. Which was now probably a permanent fixture of the bench, but that was okay. Nezh made a dot around the neck area, which would be for the switch in question, then added a series of lines, radiating outward. “You see what I mean?” he asked Kitty, glancing up briefly, before returning to hover the pen just above the sketch like a pointer. “Model it like sinoatrial node and the conduction pathways in the heart, to be a self-perpetuating field generator. As long as we can get the calculations right to generate the field appropriately in a spider-web configuration…” "Then we could simplify things a lot," or relatively simplify it. It would still be work, and some trial and error to get it all right and generating in the way they wanted, "Make it work like a biometric relay. I think I love this idea," she told him with a grin as she looked up. It was totally brilliant. "If we get it right, it should work like it was practically part of Veil. We have to give this a shot," she added, studying the sketch and trying to run some mental calculations in her head. It was quick and dirty, but...yeah. That could absolutely work. It could work really well. Nope, still couldn't hug him, but this was going to be awesome. They'd have to do another improvised high five when they got this thing working. Maybe two of them, even. |
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| Gentle | May 6 2014, 09:14 PM Post #58 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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So… that was what it felt like to high five Kitty Pryde. Or whatever it was, exactly, that they’d just done, which might have been an order of magnitude too long to really qualify. It hadn’t hurt though, and Nezhno was more than willing to put that down in a winning column for the week, however the blue good he’d drunk seemed to have worked. On the other hand (maybe the one that hadn’t been pressing palms?), once it was over, it did leave the Wakandan with a certain uncomfortableness in trying to figure out where to put his eyes. He settled for the bench, and for making another comment about the butter on the uniform. In a world that suddenly seemed to defy the laws of science by experiments that worked on the very first try, at least he had the knowledge that he’d actually tried to make a piece of expensive cloth into a breakfast item to comfort him with a proper feeling of stupidity. Kitty laughed at that, which put a stop to the peripatetic wandering his eyes had been engaged in, darting from the notes to the vise and stopping on her. ”You are way too worried about the buttered uniform. That's not even close to the weirdest thing I've ever seen anybody do in a lab.” Was he allowed to turn and stare at her now? Nezhno wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t quite keep from doing it anyway, eyebrows raising, though with a hint of a smile that formed the more he thought about the brunette’s words. Of course, she’d shared a lab with Nemesis for a few years (or maybe at least been allowed in one on sufferance, that seemed like it might be more accurate based on a very short experience of the American man). “It is still the weirdest thing I’ve done in a lab, though,” he pointed out, then had to frown slightly on second consideration, and grin a little more than before. “Well, except for drinking zombie goo, I suppose. Alright, you win.” Hopefully she’d be willing to grade him on a curve. In any case, though, for the moment, there was the improbable, but very welcome turn of events with the working decomposition field, and there were the notes he’d taken from Professor Richards, and when he thought about those back together, Nezhno thought he might have got the first glimmerings of a new idea. Or a new version of an old idea, at least. He wondered… …aloud, and with a little bit of stopping and starting before he managed to hit his stride properly, but once he got a sharpie pen uncapped, it all began to flow quite well. Including ink, sketched all over the bench, directly onto the surface, but even though he probably should have thought about that, Nezhno didn’t. He was on a roll, and the idea of dispensing with the need to train the unstable molecules, skipping directly to an embedded electrical field within the plane of the uniform itself had kind of taken over most of the parts of his brain that usually took care of keeping track of things like avoiding property vandalism. Kitty Pryde had leaned over, scrutinizing the sketch carefully as he finished it then looked up to her face. She saw what he meant, right? It seemed mostly clear, at least to him, if you thought about it from the perspective of a specialized conducting system analogous to the nodes in a heart, and so as long as it wasn’t completely insane, and provided they could get the calculations right… “Then we could simplify things a lot,” she finished for him, with the kind of easy certainty that almost made Nezhno sigh in relief. Alright, so not totally insane then? “Make it work like a biometric relay. I think I love this idea," she told him with a grin as she looked up. She really loved it. Kitty Pryde. If there was a way to keep from smiling then, Nezhno didn’t know it, and he really didn’t want to know it. “If we get it right, it should work like it was practically part of Veil. We have to give this a shot.” Then she bent over the sketch again, studying it with a thoughtful look. It took a moment for Nezhno to catch himself watching that, hoping that there wasn’t as much of a guilty look on his face as he thought there might be as he bent down again to join her inspection. “Yeah. Yeah we do,” he said, sticking his tongue between his teeth while trying to compile a mental list of things they’d need to figure out to make this idea come off. A mechanism to keep the field generated only within the boundary made by the two dimensional surface of the uniform, for starters. And a model for the appropriate way to build the conduction net to keep the field from overlapping and cancelling with the wrong harmonics - that they could use the computers for, as long as they could instantiate the right general parameters to feed the model. And… …right, the tip of the pen was hovering over the bench again, and he probably shouldn’t just keep writing over that, should he? “Though I guess we should probably take it to the white board to block out the equations, huh?” Nezhno suggested a little guiltily, nodding over to the conveniently placed wall-surface that had actually been provided in this space for people who could only think with their hands moving. |
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| Kitty Pryde | May 8 2014, 07:39 PM Post #59 |
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Unphased
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Man, he was still worried about that piece of uniform he'd covered in butter? Seriously? Because on a scale of one to Nemesis, she'd seen way weirder stuff done in a lab. Like not even in the same stratosphere weirder. Nezh didn't have anything to worry about at all. He was nowhere even close to taking a metal here. Okay, now he was kinda staring at her. And lifting his eyebrows. And kinda smiling which made her grin a little. Yeah, obviously he hadn't spent enough time with Doctor Nemesis yet. He'd see. “It is still the weirdest thing I’ve[/i] done in a lab, though,” he pointed out,[/i] and uh-huh. Was he sure about that? Apparently not, since then he was considering and grinning a little more himself. “Well, except for drinking zombie goo, I suppose. Alright, you win.” "Yep, I do," she agreed just a little bit smugly. It was okay, though. He was new, there was a craziness learning curve around here. Then they were back to science, leaving the weirdness behind for the moment as Nezh had an idea and started drawing on the bench. Yeah, okay, she liked the sound of this, and the look of it. Actually, she kinda loved it. Still work, but if they could set up a biometric relay, then it would be ultimately easier - or at least she thought it would - and it would function like it was practically part of Veil, making the whole thing more seamless. They had to give this a try. Had to. Kitty took a few seconds studying the sketch, doing rough equations in her head. Yeah. Yeah, they could do this, she thought. “Yeah. Yeah we do,” Nezhno agreed, tongue between his teeth in the universal facial expression for really serious thought. She left him to that for a few more seconds as she scanned the diagram again, making mental adjustments, going over the probable steps in her head. “Though I guess we should probably take it to the white board to block out the equations, huh?” What? Oh! ...whoops. Giving the bench a dubious, slightly guilty look, Kitty turned from it to the mostly blank white board. Which was, you know, there for actually writing on. As opposed to the bench. Oh well. Wouldn't be the first time, she was pretty sure. "Yeah, probably. Though it makes a really good bench decoration, I think," she told him with a grin. Then, standing up, she rummaged around until she found another marker, the pointed decisively to the designated drawing area. "To the white board. For math." And, yeah, she was laughing again, but hey. Math was fun, so was science, and so was working with Nezh. ******* Much excited and enthusiastic doing of math happens that no one shall be forced to read ******* Well, it'd taken a little while, but it was totally worth it, Kitty decided, stepping back from the white board that was filled with diagrams and calculations and equations. "That looks good, don't you think?" she asked Nezh, turning his way, "There's still that one overlapping bit, but I think we can fix that with a couple of small adjustments." Otherwise, the conduction net seemed like it should be pretty solid. Of course, the only way to know for sure would be real world trial. She wasn't thinking there'd be major issues, though, but you never knew until you got into the testing phase. Still... "Pretty awesome teamwork, huh?" she added, grinning over at Nezh. "That was fun." Probably more fun than she'd had with science since she left the Design Group. Sure, most people would probably think love of complicated equations and design diagrams meant they'd lost their minds. But math? Yeah, totally fun. |
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| Gentle | May 11 2014, 12:50 AM Post #60 |
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Who doesn't like Black Russians?
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They did have to give this a shot. Kitty Pryde was right about that, and there was very little question in Nezhno’s mind about that. As little question as there ever was about anything, anyway, though there were - once he got himself back to thinking about the problem itself - a whole set of other thoughts he was having now, regarding all the things they’d need to do to try to make the idea come off. Though probably, the tattooed Wakandan boy remembered (quite belatedly, in truth) a moment later, if they were going to block out the equations they’d need to figure out, he probably shouldn’t keep drawing all over the bench. Particularly not when there was a perfectly decent - and currently oddly empty - whiteboard that stretched down one wall of the laboratory that seemed to have been added for just that exact purpose. Saying that had Kitty looking at the bench carefully, and then between it and the whiteboard, but although she looked a little dubious, it was probably a good thing she didn’t appear to be particularly embarrassed with inadvertent vandalism of lab surfaces. “Yeah, probably. Though it makes a really good bench decoration, I think," she told him with a grin that Nezhno returned, as she straightened up again. “Plus, we can put it on my portfolio of general lab weirdness,” he added, and though yes, he was well aware that it might not be exactly all that weird, it was a portfolio, and thus it was allowed to be a work in progress. Or a work stalled in neutral. But Kitty’s hasty searching had turned up another pen, and she was pointing toward the wall with no uncertain terms. “To the white board. For math.” Nezhno nodded, stepping aside and half-gesturing for her to lead the way. For math, non-nakedness and Kitty Pryde. It might not be a particularly catchy or appealing slogan, but it was his, at least. ***** You cannot define the excruciatingly boring math. But you’d know it when you saw it. ***** Nezhno drew a careful line under the final numbers from the last iterations of parameters they’d tried, as Kitty stepped back, surveying their handiwork. Or rather the mess they’d made out of the defenceless whiteboard, but that was probably the same thing in this case “That looks good, don't you think?" she asked Nezh, turning his way, "There's still that one overlapping bit, but I think we can fix that with a couple of small adjustments.” Making a slight face at the board, because he didn’t really like leaving anything with the kinks not perfectly ironed out, Nezhno nodded all the same, glancing over the board of equations one more time. “Yeah, I think the CAD will be able to figure that out,” he agreed. Really, if he were being scrupulously honest, he might have admitted that they probably had gone further with the hand and board work without resorting to the computer programs that would have managed a lot of this. Only it had been a lot of fun, so somehow, it was actually pretty hard to admit that. Especially when- “Pretty awesome teamwork, huh?" [Kitty] added, grinning over [toward him]. “That was fun.” Excessive math had done a lot, Nezhno realized then. But what it hadn’t done was give him any kind of innoculation against what happened to his brain when Kitty Pryde smiled at him. “It was,” he agreed whole-heartedly, stepping back from the white-board himself and telling himself, very soothingly, to put the pen down and step away before he got any more urges to try to tweak. But Kitty was right, and it had seemed to go really pretty smoothly, as well being more fun than… …more fun than… …well, more fun than anything else Nezhno could remember doing, which he suspected meant that he might have been living the wrong sort of life. But he shouldn’t let that stop him, after all. “Slo-Mo High Five?” he suggested, or maybe guessed, holding his palm up vertically, for just that. |
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7:19 PM Jul 10