meadowlarklogs | ( january catch-all )

[he's caught by surprise at her arrival, everything happening rather quickly as she offers an apology, offers her hand, and introduces herself. prompto's left squabbling for a moment before he reacts-]

Yeah, that's me. Prompto. Nice to meet yo--

[-and takes her hand, his eyes widening at the sudden blue glow on their chests and an unfiltered exchange of emotions; it's probably funny that they're on a similar spectrum, prompto anxious and somewhat nervous about the job to come.]

[immediately he pulls his hand away, because the glow is really telling.]

Wait, [hissed whisper] you're also from -- you know, the safehouse and stuff?

[ For the first time since she discovered these empathy links, she flinches away from it faintly. It's too honest. The anxiety of her job, the haste, it's only thinly covering the grief she feels. She doesn't want to share that with anyone, least of all a stranger. It's ... private.

Beyond that she's just startled. It catches her off guard, the blue light, the sudden flood. Her eyes flutter slightly wider, and then she shakes her hand out, as if dispelling some shock. ]

Yeah. Were you — [ She frowns, brow furrowed. ] I don't remember you. [ She shouldn't be fussing about this now. She's on a timer. Not paid by the hour, anymore, or by the project, but they're liable to dump another one on her at any time, and the hospital is an issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Still, she stops. Had she really not noticed? Had she really been that far removed, worrying about Finn and Poe, that she'd stopped waiting for anyone else? ]

It's okay.

[he manages easily, even though he's frowning a bit, trying to remember if he can place her face somewhere--but nothing really comes up that is familiar to him.]

I still haven't met a lot of people that are in the same boat. Guess we just missed each other, huh?

[trying to ease the tension of the situation, prompto smiles, then motions down the hall with a nod of his head.]

We can talk while we work?

Right. Yeah.

[ She pulls work gloves out of the bag over her shoulder as they get started down the hall, tugging them on. Better to avoid incidental contact. She tells herself it's because of the optics — if someone saw the glowing blue lights in their chests, it'd be a problem. But ... really, she just doesn't want that kind of emotional vulnerability to get in the way of her concerted efforts to work herself to the point that she can't think about her problems anymore. ]

The hospital's chief manager said they were having issues with the climate controls. It's probably just a few dead fuses. But if it's been malfunctioning for a while, the whole unit could be frozen over or burned out, so. [ She's not sure how much they warned him about. ]

[prompto leads the way as rey lays down what it is they're expected to be doing. wearing gloves might be the smarter way to go here on out, but prompto is in no rush to wear his own.]

[he's helped out the actual engineer enough to have an idea on what to do]

Basically, our best case scenario, we just gotta replace a couple of pieces and install 'em and our worst case scenario is having to clean the whole unit.

[it cannot be too difficult, but the hospital really should invest in having a bi-monthly clean up for their systems, he thinks.]

We're gonna have to check the condenser coils, then. Those are outside on the roof?

Yeah. [ Which will be hot, tireless work this time of year, but nothing worse than Rey's already done on Jakku. ] I've already warned them we might need to order parts and come back.

[ She supplies, smiling faintly to hear Prompto coming to the same conclusion. It's good, actually, to be talking parts. Just like with Fitz. ]

What did you do before you took this apprenticeship? [ What she really means is before he came here, but they're walking through the hospital, so she's trying to be discrete. ]

[alright! prompto's happy to hear that rey is willing to take command of the situation, because he honestly wouldn't know where to start about ordering parts and rescheduling.]

I mean, there's so much we can do if the parts are broken. [he rubs at the side of his nose, gaze falling on a heavy-looking blue door with the screen-sign for MAINTENANCE.]

[this has gotta be it, right?]

[he pauses and scans his pass, which unlocks the door, allowing them access to the maintenance stairs; upstairs to the roof or downstairs to the basement, the choice is theirs. he keeps the door open with his foot.]

--I was on a road trip with some friends, guess is what you'd call it. Fought a bit 'cause of this war we had going, hunted for cash. What about you?

The same, I guess.

[ She sounds faintly amused by it. After a pause, she shakes her head. ]

Except for the cash.

[ She hasn't even touched credits in her whole life that she can remember. Not until she came here and got an actual account in her implant. It's been an adjustment. She starts up the stairs towards the roof. ]

[up they go, then, climbing up the stairs, prompto deciding to put the bag over his shoulder. there's a bit more privacy here, the usual staff not quite so particular about the maintenance stairs or the roof.]

Where I come from is called Eos.

[he offers simply enough] How long have you been here for?

Edited 2019-01-19 03:47 (UTC)

About three months.

[ Not promising, she knows. She frowns a little as she says it. Then, she moves on smoothly. ]

I come from Jakku. Never heard of Eos. [ so much for similarities in their war. ] Guess there's war everywhere, though.

[he whistles at the number, and the foreign sounding name.]

Guess we really are from different worlds. The one denominator I've found so far is 'war' for all of us. [he grins, looking up at her before they land themselves on the roof. the door opens upon scanning their neural implants, and out they go, into the evening atmosphere. it's still a myriad of oranges and dark reds intermingling with the city's own neon charm, but by the gods is it pretty freaking warm.]

[prompto's immediately turning his cap around and losing the top of his jumper, it hanging from his middle.]

Geez, when I was told I'd be working at the hospital I was hoping I'd be out of the heat.

[he's a big whiner-- but he sets the bag with the tools down soon as they reach the unit.]

Right. Pull off the cover, take a look?

Edited 2019-01-20 03:06 (UTC)

[ She sort of crinkles her nose, her amusement faint and fleeting, at his bemoaning the heat. It's hot, yes, but she hadn't started to notice yet. The water rationing here is much better than the water she'd had to pay for on Jakku, barely enough to get by and keep scavenging for more sustenance. She'd barely thought about it.

And they had real water showers here, anyway. ]

It's not very warm in Eos, then? [ She's ahead of him, prying off the cover already to get a look inside. The good news: it's still running (ish) to try and cool the place down. The bad news, something has clearly burned out. Evidence: scorch marks around one of the components. ]

It depends on where you're standing.

[he squats down and watches on as rey opens up the unit.]

Different biomes all around. Definitely used to milder weather.

[waiting a moment, he presses a finger onto the filter and slides it off lengthwise. mucky black matter sticks to his finger, leaving an obvious trail on the surface.]

Looks like on top of the compressor burning out, the unit's filthy as nothing else. No wonder it's been straining itself to work hard even with the heat.

[he cleans up his finger on his trousers.] Maybe the circuit board's gone all melty on us too...

[ She grabs the filter to pull it out, grimacing. Yeah. There's ... monster guts on that. She huffs out an impatient noise. ]

They should have had their maintenance people up here.

[ The heat seems to have melted some of it on. To their credit, it's probably particles drawn up from the various patients being treated rather than a single obvious event, but that doesn't change the fact that it's here now. ]

I've got a new filter I can put in, but it won't do any good if the unit's close to burnt out. We'll need to order a new compressor. [ She unscrews a secondary panel, taking her time with it to confirm that — yep, wires have melted onto the circuitboard. It's not regulating anything at present. ] And circuitboard. Unless you think you can rig this.

Guess we could always note that they need to have this checked out every fifteen days for general maintenance.

[he takes the filter from her as she goes to unscrew another panel, setting it on the side. he's leaning closer to have a look at the circuit board.]

[placing the bag down with the tools, he reaches over and carefully disconnects the cables connecting to the circuit board. now that he can have a better look at it, he looks a little -- hopeless for it.]

I could try. It looks pretty bad, but nothing to lose, right?

[going through the bag, he looks for the tools he'll need to try and clean up the mess and restructure the circuits.]

Let's try it out, so at least it's just a matter of replacing the defective bits when they come in.

[ A derisive snort slips out of Rey at his suggestion — every fifteen days. — before she can stop it. She looks up then, however, and notices that he's not joking. Her expression falters slightly. ]

They won't do it.

[ Obviously.

She has already accepted the foregone conclusion that he'll be trying the wires. She gets clear, leaving him room. ]

Just comes to show that no matter how much you'd hope for things to be better in the future, it still all sucks.

[grabbing the appropriate tools, he sits and sets the circuitboard down in front of him. he flips his cap around, the bill of it a show on his eyes. he'll work in tandem to whatever rey's doing, letting the tools heat up and then going forward and re-melting the mess all over board that's keeping the circuits from running proper.]

[he can still multitask and keep a conversation going.]

Were you always a mechanic back in Jakku? [stops, and looks up, a bit of a squint] Am I saying that right? Jack-you?

Jah-koo.

[ Rey clarifies without missing a beat. Her accent makes the 'a' heavy, but it's better than the heavy 'u' he'd given it. ]

I was — I did salvage. Disassembled more than repaired, but I learned a lot. [ This is a delicate way of putting it. She's been working on her resumé skills and interview skills, flopping between jobs. ] And you?

Jakku.

[he tries again, this time silently--and repeats it a couple of times under his breath, working the board.]

--huh, uh. Not really, no. Not for a livin' or anything, but I did take a lot of things apart to fix them once in a while. Guess I learned from that too. [he stops and looks back at her, grinning a bit.] Yay for being self-taught?

We're even, at least.

[ No elitism. Rey hasn't had to experience much of that, but so far, she's seen a little more in Giles Bell than in the shitty repair shop she'd been fired from. Shitty repair shops don't have ego. Big companies do. Everyone wants to impress the boss there. ]

I mostly learned from doing, or from old holos I found. Some ships still had working maintenance manuals, you know?

Maintenance manuals, seriously? Most people I know just throw them out pretending they'll never be in a pinch.

[he doesn't think he ever saved any maintenance manuals for, well, anything. which sounds like such a stupid thing for everyone to be doing?? to be fair, they had the internet at their fingertips.]

Sounds like ships were different brand and make. [back to the board, cleaning and melting, cleaning and melting--] By ships do you mean the flying types or the water types?

Spacecraft.

[ She has the good sense to pause there, recognizing a fair few of the displaced have been surprised by that news. ]

This is the first city I've been in, but where I'm from, there are cities that span whole planets. Space travel is common.

[yes, he is unfamiliar with the concept of space and space travel in and of itself, but rey isn't the first one to express coming from a world where that is the common ground for people.]

[it's like he almost expects it at this point.]

[he smiles even though he doesn't raise his head.]

A buncha people are related to space here, it's kinda nuts to me. Guess it'd be the same if I said we got magic and that I've met actual gods in mine, right? [a pfff sound comes from him, as he grabs a rag with some cleaning fluid and raises the board to clean it up from any leftover melted nuisance.] Do you find it super overwhelming? I've always been a city boy. The city I grew up in wasn't as big or as bright as this one, but it was crowded and busy enough to feel a bit like home at times.

I can't imagine what it's like never being in one before.

Space travel sounds like the most badass thing, though.

[ Rey does a double take about actual gods, but it's besides the point, so she doesn't stop him to sputter about it. Some part of her remains skeptical, even after what she's seen. It's probably no more real than R'iia, the great sandstorm of Jakku. ]

I do miss it. [ She didn't get the opportunity to leave the planet many times before she'd come here. She knows she will again, but it's hard to look up at the stars and know what they look like streaking past the viewport at hyperspeed and then ... barely be able to see them here. ] There's nothing like hyperspace.

As for the city, I'm not very good with names. [ That's what she settles on as her assessment of the city. ] And everything's loud, and it took me a while to get used to the train system and crossing the street. I think I've mostly got the hang of those parts now. [ She's just perpetually overstimulated. It's fine. This is fine and normal. ]

[a quick internet search:] A faster-than-light method of traveling? That sounds impossible...

[considering 'speed of light' was something discussed in class as a physics concept, not much else in concrete terms. he keeps on with the circuit board, humming as rey goes on talking and explaining how new everything is to her.]

Y'know, those things are totally normal to me. Never stopped to think it'd be strange and unusual to others.

[being in new amsterdam is blowing his mind in terms of expanded horizons.]

Is there something else that you have a hard time understanding even now?

( january catch-all )

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sorry i lost this notif!

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