ss_noanga | If You're Not Working Hard Then You're Hardly Working

If You're Not Working Hard Then You're Hardly Working

Who: Donnie and you
When: Mid-this month
Where: Around the shippy
What: Idle hands something something

I. Mr. Fix-It - Industrial Kitchen Area (Just to make it official somewhere)
"OKAY! I think that should do it!"

Donnie stretches out from having been hunched over for hours now, waist-deep in some appliance or another. For most who have come upon him in the communal kitchen, it's not an unusual sight. The turtle teen's been in here on and off for the past couple of months, working his way through each of the more common machines, and never without giving the stinkeye to the replicators because he's never touching those nonsense things for a tune-up.

"Fridges are operational, stoves and ovens, operational. Microwave- yes, we have one, also operational! I'd throw in an easy-bake oven but there was nothing easy about trying to fish pie tins out of a skinny little slot!"

He might be a bit manic. When's the last time he had a snack? ...or a meal. Actually someone get him some water first before he faints.

II. Wool Over Your Eyes - Donnie's Room
The door is open, if only because he's been trying to sweep out the place. Anyone trying to step inside might find themselves getting blasted by wind from a high-powered fan set up with the intent of keeping any stray bits of wool and lint from coming back in.

Donnie himself has paused in his attempts to pick out things from the potted plants beside the immense wall of windows overlooking the former park-farm-turned jungle below.

He probably hasn't heard you come in between the fan going and his attention distinctly elsewhere as he looks out towards the mass of trees beyond.

III. SPACESHIP - Small Hangar
Given the last ship he'd been on had mainly catered to giant robots, Donnie can't help but be a little excited to study something more to his scale. These at least look less likely to fall apart, but that's no excuse to not know how it runs should the need to fix it arise, so if one doesn't find him pawing the thing on the outside for a hatch to open- unless he's already gotten it open and is oogling its innards- or if he's inside settled into the cockpit reveling in the feeling of taking command of a spaceship.

He wonders how far these things can travel. The shuttles they used on the R2 could go quite far, after all, and it's not like anyone knows where else to go to not return. There's no spacebridge to shortcut a trip either. Ah, the possibilities! Maybe they can use it for a joyride. It'd be a shame not to do so when you had access to a ship. He's sure Leo would get a kick out of it!

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"Yosh-!"

Sometimes, Genta does a thing that absolutely highlights that he's not really outgrown his middleschool years, and shouts like this are among them. Still, he's grinning like a loon at the kitchen, even while holding out a bottle of water.

"This is perfect..! The gardens will take a while to be completely ready, but now we can at least make sure if the machines give raw materials, they can be cooked properly..! I definitely have to make today's dinner special, just for this..."

Hmmmm...what to make though, what to make...

"....You know, I never actually saw an 'easy-bake' oven... ...I heard of them, but I never saw them..." Probably because Japan wasn't really big on the oven thing anyway, honestly.

Originally Day had come to see if Donnie was around to ask him about help identifying the edible plants in the jungle, but the open door and that commotion sure got him all the more curious. He entered with one wing pulled across his face to not get lint blasted into his eyes, laughing softly. “Do you have a plan for the hallway or are you just relocating the problem?”

Not really a serious complaint, of course. Day trusts the wool will vanish just as the glitter eventually did and the yarn before that. “Looking for anything specific, cousin?” he asks, stepping up to the window. To him the wilderness is just beautiful, even as he goes and tames it a little.

It takes a moment for Donnie to realize the water's for him as he stares almost blankly like he's wondering why Genta's holding it like th- oh.

Right. Hydrate or die-drate! Donnie takes the bottle with a mumbled thanks, sitting back against the cabinets beside him as he drains the thing in one go. "Oh that feels so much better," he sighs.

"They're not that big a deal. I mean, functional and cool for kids who otherwise wouldn't be allowed near ovens. I found one that got tossed because the wiring for the power cord was messed up. Fixed it and helped my baby brother try using it. Took us way too long to try to pull the thing out so it ended up a sad, charred lump by the time we did. So I had to make some adjustments for easier access."

"Huh?"

Donnie startles, glancing over then. "Oh. I'm not even dealing with the hallway, that's Future-Donnie's problem," he grumbles, making a face before pulling a thin wisp from his tongue. "I'm going to complain to upper management, this is unacceptable."

The turtle looks back out the window once Day's joined him. He's had no real desire to try taming any of it, the thought's not even entered his mind. It seems fine as is, rightfully claiming what it could, and honestly, he's impressed; yet another instance of showing how resilient plants can be.

"I know it's in there, somewhere. I felt it," he says, if somewhat cryptically. "Can't sense it as well here, obviously, but...there's a certain plant deep within that I'm familiar with, I'm sure."

He smiles. “It’s alright. Unless there’s whole sheep accumulating in the hallway it doesn’t have to be present or future Donnies problem.” It’s just a bit of dirt and mostly useful one at that.

“I’ve been out there, marking any edible plants I recognize with ribbons and such. Been meaning to ask if you’d help with that – but you sound like this is something special?” Perhaps Donnie is better connected to this forest than he is. Which wouldn’t be a surprise, given that Day carries a piece of a specific forest within him, not general foresty powers.

"Well they can have all this back," Donnie says, wrinkling his snout. He grabs a handheld vacuum and starts sucking at the air around him as he spies more floating bits.

He sets it down, unsure if it's really helped or not, but it makes him feel a bit better. "...I got this weird...plant warden whatever thing, after reading some old scroll when I was on a mission. What I'm sensing... It feels like a plant that's specifically native to that planet, and if it is, then it's a wonder it's managed to thrive inside a ship at all, especially given the particular moon phases that make it thrive. So of course I need to see."

"Mine's called Warden too, did I ever mention?" Different thing though, since he knew exactly where his came from. "A dangerous one? Or just special? I can help you look, I'm out there every day anyway." Day leans against the window, keeps looking out. "Don't have the same connection to it as I have with mine..."

"I think?" He vaguely recalls, anyway.

"It's..." Donnie frowns, trying to figure out how to explain. "Unique. But its magical properties makes for a potential of uses. I think it's somewhere deep, that's the only impression I got, the first time we were out down there."

He finds his gaze drifting towards the window again. "...I don't know if it's a connection exactly, it's probably more because I'm familiar with it, and it's potentially a plant directly related to the Arachae forest where this magic came from. Or this universe's version."

That makes him frown. "I don't know how much of the other universe is mirrored here. There's already another Clíodhna..." Which is already frightening enough, because if there's some variation of her, then who knows who else within that circle exists here...

He nods. "I know I shouldn't expect there to be the same connection as to one that's part of me - and I of it - but... I miss having that." To sit under a tree and know he could stay forever. To be welcome, more than ever in Republic.

"Haven't seen anything like home yet. I mean, there's apple trees and such, but who can say if they are from the same Earth? And the gas station isn't mobile, it's more a crossroad where thin spaces overlap." Perhaps if he finds a sufficiently big natural body of water he could look for kelpies, but he'd not survive that journey. "I can help you look, if you describe it?"

"Oh yeah, no, that'd be too convenient if there was something directly connected like that. But there are such things as alternate realities, so finding something similar is still a possibility."

Donnie sighs. "The other universe had an Earth, but really, all that survived of it were remnants of things that were saved, and a scattering of humans here and there. Unfortunately the Fae treated them either as a rare, protected species - which I guess technically the were, or property."

Home always seems farther and farther away, and Donnie's not entirely sure if it's better or worse to not be finding so many things from it.

"I'll do you one better," he says, pulling his phone out and going through his photo gallery. Of course he has a specific folder for plants and such.

"Here. It's called a void palm," he explains as he shows it- a tree with a trunk as dark as midnight, with fanlike leaves and small, purple fruit. The fruit is edible. I rescind what I said earlier because technically it isn't outright magical, but it possesses dormant properties. I can tap into something of it."

Right, phones can take pictures now. Someday he'll get used to that - or perhaps not, Day rather comfortable with the level of technology he is currently using. He doesn't need more.

"Hm. I've seen all of that at home, in parts, but never on the same plant. And nothing like it out there yet. But then I've been mostly looking for plants I do know to be edible, marking them with sashes to make it easier for everyone."

"The bark absorbs light. It's rather fascinating." Distantly, Donnie recalls making use of that property. He frowns, shaking his head.

"In any case, I suppose it's probably good to make sure people don't randomly eat things they shouldn't." He is so not the type to just wander into the woods and grab something that looks tasty, himself.

"It also shows patterns. Coves that were planted and all that. I found old stone-laid paths too, should see about uncovering some of them, so Leo can use them better. Just not sure if the grass and moss will like being moved..." Nevermind getting rid of anything.

Æn'kae arched an eyebrow when he came into the kitchen area. "Jolan'tru." He did want to ask either Donnie or Abric about finding/fixing a smaller refrigeration unit for the medbay. (Look a box of meds in the fridge with the food was a problem waiting to happen, labeled or not.) But right now... did not seem to be the time. Instead he gave a small smile. "That'd good to hear."

He didn't know what Donnie meant by microwave, but if it was operational, Æn'kae presumed he didn't just mean the radiation type, but rather one of the devices. He also didn't know how an easy-bake oven was different from a standard one, but he saw no point in asking about something they didn't have.

"I may test the stove by making something hot to drink. Do uh, do you want me to heat enough water for you to make something?" It would likely just be tea, the replicators still were only making that ice cream that he just, didn't trust, and he couldn't coax coffee out of them in any form.

"Why not just get a lawnmower?" Donnie asks, because moving grass seems silly to him. Not that he has ever mowed a lawn in his life.

Oh, he'll gladly work on refrigeration for the medbay and feel bad about not having prioritized it when he'd been asking if one even existed in the first place.

Donnie starts putting his tools away, pausing to roll his neck between his shoulders.

"I left my coffee back in the room but I can cheat and do instant if you have the water," he says. And by instant he means transmutation.

"Huh, I never know where to look for the coffee, but if you're willing to share, I'd take you up on it." He poured some water from one of the jugs they kept on hand and into a kettle to heat. The stove didn't make the suspicious whine it had sometimes in that past when turning. Which, y'know, always nice.

"Do I even want to know how long all of this took you?" It was a sympathetic question rather than any sort of criticism, given how much time he'd put to his dedicated tasks.

"Sure, no probbles. Just take care of the water." Donnie will have to make note to bring over one of the canisters of coffee grounds he'd bought from the last mall, later, as much as he's a bit loathe to dip into his own precious supply, but depriving others of coffee doesn't seem right. It just hadn't occurred to him until then that someone else might be wanting some.

He blinks as he puts the last of his tools away, closing up the box.

"...no idea. But probably not." He hasn't really kept track of how long, and when he's really focused on fixing something or working on a project, all sense of time just goes out the window. "-not that I have been doing it all in one sitting at least."

He grinned. "Thanks, it's not the same as raktagino, but sometimes it's nice to have something hot other than tea."

Æn'kae chuckled at that last bit and took a seat on the counter as he waited for the water to heat. "I think you'd have been dragged out forcibly if you'd tried."

After all, if Day hadn't essentially scheduled breaks he likely would have spent a lot more time finding ways to keep busy, even before he'd had the new equipment and medications to study.

"Raka-what now?"

Donnie laughs though. "This ship seems to exist with the intent to irk me with all it's badly maintained and broken technology. If I'm lucky then the appliance will have a normal design and it's an easy fix. But otherwise, it's got odd things that have no place inside such machinery, and I spend most of the time rooting them out just to find what's supposed to be functional."

In short, if he tried to tackle everything all at once, or one after the other, he'd surely go crazy. Or crazier, because his sanity's always been questionable.

"It's something like coffee from a planet back home. It's just uh, it's quite a bit stronger."

"Ah elements, nothing here makes sense. I'm trying, but even without getting inside them, there's archaic technology right next to things that might even be advanced where I'm from." And this from someone who'd been working on a ship that was a couple centuries old with scattered recent upgrades.

"Yeah? Like, how strong? In flavor or caffeine?" Color him curious.

Donnie nods as he gets to his feet, setting his toolbox on the counter before leaning against the counter himself.

"Oh yeah, the inconsistency is the only consistency. It's very annoying. I think I'm better off building things from scratch, but salvaging parts is generally the better idea, which just circles us back to going through what's here already and sorting what does and doesn't belong so really, it just made better sense to stick with what was already here, headache or not. I'm sure there will be other instances where I will circumvent all that before I decide to blow something up instead."

"Both. Outside of Klling'hannsu, most people tend to drink it with some sort of steamed milk." Himself included.

He chewed his lip as he considered. "Have you and Abric worked together yet? I know he's been trying to repair parts of the ship." A pause as he rubbed at the back of his neck, something he often did when asking a favor. "And uh, if you happen to find a smaller refrigeration unit that seems repairable anywhere, I could use one."

"Wow. I need to try this stuff," Donnie says, fascinated. He probably doesn't need stronger coffee.

"Oh yeah, we've talked. And we are both equally frustrated about the logic-defying state of this ship. But we are still trying to make it functional physically rather than mystically."

He tilts his head. "How small? Does it need a freezer unit? Ideal number of shelves?"

"When the replicators are actually behaving I'll have to remember to get some for you. No telling when that will be though."

Æn'kae nodded. "Elements be with you both as you do." There was a faint tinge of humor to his voice as he said that, mostly because well, it seemed like a contrast between his method of wishing them luck and their goal.

"Uhh. Big enough to fit the boxes of medicine I stashed in the unit in here for now. And ie, some need to be kept frozen until close to the time they need to be used. Ideally maybe half the size of the one in here? Smaller would be fine if that's all you can find. But that size gives us space to work with for later."

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If You're Not Working Hard Then You're Hardly Working

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Wool

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Mr. Fix-It

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