TEXT; USER: JT

[hexrot]

If there are any other engineers or tech-savvy Drifters among us that aren't waterbound, Viktor and I won't dismiss the assistance with the generator. We're doing our best to get it running, or at least construct temporary vehicle augumentations to reinforce our defenses in the mean time. They'll be bare bones and have a short life span, but it's better than nothing. That being said, my current projects will be temporarily postponed until further notice. If I'm not working parts, I'm gathering wood, and I can only step outside at dusk.

[ or if he snows in the damn place but uhhhh no thank you! ]

Donnie and Danse, you'll hear back from me when your respective requests are finished. I haven't forgotten any of them.

In the meantime, if you come across any generator parts, bring them to us as soon as possible, please. Any remnants of metal, elements, chemicals or hands to help with the wood would be valued if you can find or offer— I'll trade my work for it, if you have the patience for a queue. I can do minor fixes where needed.

Any questions, you can ask them here or come to the forge. It's hard to miss.

[ it's the only lisa frank pick up for miles. the thing is hard to miss, especially when jayce is working the little cargo bed forge he's built over the last two months. characters are welcome to come visit directly while he's working at night; smoke signals and his hammer (hand sized, not the big one) pounds throughout the late hours, while he's asleep or within the convoy from sunrise to sunset. ]

— JT

Comments

[hexrot]

We won't turn it down if you're offering.

[purplexing]

Personally I'd be offended if you left me out.

You at your truck now?

[hexrot]

You're not exactly easy to leave out of something like this, Don.

Forge alcove, as always.

[purplexing]

Are we that shorthanded for engineers and the technically minded?

I'll stop by before having a look at that power plant. Be there shortly.

[hexrot]

Now you're just selling yourself short.

[ he'll be at the truck, though! burning wood for coal. ]

[purplexing]

GASP! I would never! That was an honest question though; I am curious.

[Turns out? He can totally text and fly!! -andddd only slightly overshoot his target, but he doesn't mind a bit of extra airtime as he swings around to make his descent.]

[hexrot]

There you are.

[ it's important for a brilliant mind to actually acknowledge the brilliance where it's valid! jayce was one to talk— his arrogance has led him places . . .

anyway. the right amount doesn't hurt. ]

We're running short on an engineer team, yeah. It's just you, me and Viktor.

[purplexing]

[Ah, true birds of a feather they are. Donnie's certainly had his share of experiences there, but it hasn't seemed to diminish his own ego all that much.]

Well, I guess we should be thankful we have any sort of team at all. I'm not sure what the criteria is for the people they snatch and bring here, after all.

Incoming.

[He alights on the ground not long after, wincing as his feet and legs have been sore again lately, and he doesn't like the implications. The turtle folds his wings and readjusts the bundle he has under an arm as he makes his way towards the forge.]

Helloooo?

[hexrot]

[ hey, so for these particular conditions? jayce is disliking the rain. it's damp everywhere, humid, and absolutely the worst circumstance to not only keep a fire burning in the confines of a forge, but actually making coal. jayce has been forced to save fuel, using other materials to burn such as lard, bones, anything— as long as it didn't eat through the remainder of his already dwindling supply. with a canopy stretched out over his truck made with fabrics and thin sheets of scrap, and a drying rack within the convoy's empty spaces where the heating is favorable to dry out waterlogged tree trunks, jayce is turning the logs over and sighing, quite heavily, as he checks the coal barrels. so far so good, but . . . this is stressing him out. so much that his acknowledgement of donnie's arrival are focused on his swiveling ears. slanted eyes are kind of glued to the fire and trying to keep it burning. ]

Hey, Whiz.

[purplexing]

[This isn't Donnie slightly tickled at being called 'Whiz.' Okay, he might be just a tiny bit giddy, but he composes himself as he steps towards the makeshift awning, making sure to try dislodging all the excess water from his wings before he gets closer to the forge area. He tucks his wings close against his shell, bundle held to his chest.]

How's it going?

[He's no stranger to dealing with damp conditions when he lives in a sewer back home, but that doesn't mean he's oblivious to the complications, and unlike the sewers, they're in an open environment.]

Brought something for you.

[hexrot]

[ jayce grunts at the question that's more than enough of an answer to sum up the feeling. eh. he's in a bit of a foul mood, all weather and generator puzzle-born, but he tries not to let that trickle over to the current company.

something for him— jayce only assume's what it is, dumbly, poking the fire he's been trying to keep to life as it burned away at the coal containment. it's an uphill battle keeping this thing burning, and as he adds a few strategically placed pieces of dry log and nubs of bone around the pile that already bones, he replies: ]

My kingdom for dry wood.

[ joke. he's joking. there is no dry wood anywhere. if he doesn't laugh about it he's going to punch a tree, or cry. ]

[purplexing]

If it's not one thing, it's another...

[Donnie glances past the awning at the dark skies.]

Well, at least we can cut some stuff down and let it season.

[He steps closer, holding out the bundle, glad the material he'd found off one of the boats had been waxed.

No wood here, sadly, but...there is some sort of- well, it's a brace. The adjustable straps to go around a limb are padded as Donnie had taken into consideration Jayce's...deterioration. The whole thing's rigged for the odd backwards joint, featuring a pair of slim gas lift cylinders to help for stability. Someone had raided any bit of furniture that he could, back at the hospital.]

Best I could come up with without too many specialized parts but...

[hexrot]

[ now that he's actually double taking because, what a bundle? what the hell is this? jayce wasn't expecting to be met with the sheer size of this thing, for some reason he was— well, expecting anything but. is it another hammer or, no, that doesn't really . . . make sense, he has his own, both for tools and weaponry (and nothing could beat the mercury hammer in combat practicality).

when jayce peels the bundle's flap away to expose the glint of a new brace, his lips part in startle, his brows furrow in and his eye shoot back up to donnie. it's god damn padded. a support system to lift the weight off, to impose stability without strain. jayce has to look at it better, a glint in his eyes as he traces over the sleek casing, the buckles— ]

You made this, [ brilliant, ingenious brace that he himself has neglected, making for himself, ] for me?

[ he's not one to go rhetorical, but he's actively blown out of his mind. he can't find any silly, jarring greenhorn errors. he can't point out things he'd change. it's literally . . . amazing work, in sight. they'll need to test it. they'll need to—

oh. doe eyes.]

You made this, [ processing, ] for me.

[purplexing]

[Donnie waits, anxious as he watches Jayce study the device. He's really not sure what to make of the shifting expression, and while he'd been confident he'd covered all the complications and problem areas that would needed to be addressed for the Brace Assisting Mobility Buffering Impact (no he's not sorry for the acronym but he's still a teenager and first impressions be first impressions), he can't help but feel a little uncertain the longer nothing is said.

Finally Jayce speaks, and Donnie lets out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.]

Yeah. I...thought it'd help. Because you can't possibly be happy moving around like that otherwise. Too much pressure on one side isn't good, I was going to make a supplemental support for your other leg too but I haven't gotten the pieces together yet. But I was hoping this would help at least, for now.

[hexrot]

[ supplemental support? even with the scarcity, he still made this. well, donnie is going to learn what it's like to suffocate. kindly. jayce needs to put the brace down, propped against the side of his truck and its tire, before his big arms encircle the turtle teen's neck and engulfs him in an embrace that could knock the wind right out of him. ]

It's genius.

[purplexing]

[Getting assaulted by a hug isn't something Donnie had figured in his list of potential responses. As it is he looks uncertain of what to expect from Jayce's approach, and by the time those arms come around it's too late to do anything else.

Donnie tenses, brain still racing to catch up after tripping over the hurdles of human contact. It's weird being hugged by a stranger, more so with Donnie's pickiness for personal space, but it's also weirdly comforting. Nostalgic. It reminds him of Raph's firm, protective embraces. He hasn't realized how much he'd missed those.

He's not sure if the blurriness of his vision is from homesickness or lack of oxygen. (He'd claim the latter.)

He's also not sure if he's supposed to be returning the hug, he's very awkward about social situations so in the end he manages lifting a hand in a hesitant pat. In Donnie-ese it speaks volumes, anyway.]

[hexrot]

[ jayce hasn't caused too many awkward hugging situations; he could either read the room and do it swiftly or get lost in his own emotions and forget it anything was getting weird. lucky for donnie, this embraced is well timed. it doesn't linger for too long to be uncomfortable, and jayce doesn't slink away awkwardly when it isn't returned in the same way. it doesn't need to be.

he's shared plenty of hugs with viktor to speak a similar language. with an echoing pat in turn jayce slips into a comfy retreat, arms going from the turtle's shell to his shoulders to grip firm and give a few extra pats. it's something jayce had been so used to and . . . stopped doing, for some reason. perhaps because of his reservation, perhaps because his brain had forgotten how it had been like to be soft, most of the time. ]

We're due for a field trial.

[ jayce finds a place to sit, more likely his chopping stump, to unbuckle his current brace and shed it for the new one. ]

[purplexing]

[Donnie's smile isn't so much forced as it is shy, as usually he doesn't get hugs in thanks for things he makes for people. Not that he'd make it a habit to expect. But for a moment, it had felt...nice.

He straightens as Jayce declares now is the time to try it out, and drifts closer to offer any assistance. But he'd purposely made things as simple as possible, because really, who wanted a complicated brace to have to put on and take off?]

Hopefully any number differences can be solved with the strap adjustments. I was going off estimates. If not, just let me know what's not working and I'll make adjustments.

[hexrot]

[ it offers relief when pressure, thankfully, is lifted, and the pain embedded deep in his bones sighs. temporary, though. if he were to walk without one, it'd be worse. the bone would jostle around visibly where the skin breaks open and hangs exposed. something dawns on jayce as the click of metal and leather comes undone in his hands— ]

That's what you were doing with those photos? [ now, jayce just feels damn stupid. donnie wasn't taking pictures of his forge. he was taking pictures of his legs. shaking his head with a smile still pulling the flash of his teeth out from behind his blue-tinted lips, he tightens the top strap, then the lower strap, then the middle, adjusting all three until he had a firm fit. so far . . . jayce's brows raise when he finds that, ] For rough estimates, [ he turns his heel and hoof, slotting the metal into place, ] they're remarkably precise. Not bad at all.

[purplexing]

[Donnie coughs, grinning sheepishly as he glances away.]

Not entirely..! [He'd taken pictures of the forge too! But there's no rules against multitasking! And sneaking photos for reference is at least not as questionable as somehow sneaking subcutaneous trackers on his family. Yes, he's done that

He tilts his head, glancing back over as Jayce straps the B.A.M.B.I. on and can't help but look pleased at the fit.]

Oh good! The real test will be walking with it. Let me know if anything's too stiff or if it needs more adjustment for the support. That's a lot harder to estimate.

[hexrot]

[ right, says jayce's raise of brows. he'll pretend to believe it with fondness.

well, time to test it out. jayce starts taking a few slow paces forward, straight line. comfy thus far, far lest strain— even the amount of limping has liften. although still present, it's not nearly as glaring. and while he tests the weight and the efficiency of the buffer, ]

Does it have a name?

[purplexing]

[That's his story and he's sticking to it!

Donnie steps back to give Jayce some room for the test run, eyeing the brace's performance critically as he takes into account the weight put upon it with each step.]

Huh? Oh, yes. It's fairly straight forward, the "Brace Assisting Mobility Buffering Impact" - BAMBI for short.

[He's not entirely sure Jayce would get the reference but he's preeetty sure the guy isn't from Earth.]

perhaps we can start wrapping up for future endevors!

[hexrot]

"Bambi", [ jayce has no idea what that's supposed to mean other than a smooth flowing acronym, so he repeats it a few times under his breath while he gets back to pacing. so far so good. ] it's got a good ring to it. Bambi—

[ very good, donnie. jayce is beyond tickled. he stops short of moving again to clop is hoof lightly into a resting position; even when he's resting, the mechanisms pull up to left the weight. son of a bitch. smart kid. he's lucky to have him in his orbit and be gifted something so meaningful. jayce know when he does it unprompted, it's quite special. ]

The only thing I'd do is tighten the straps, but that's just a personal inclincation. [ jayce comes over to close their distance, enough for his hand to clasp comfortably over donnie's shoulder. ] Incredible work.

Sounds good!

[purplexing]

[It is pretty easy to say, but as funny as it is to hear Jayce saying it, Donnie doesn't laugh. That's because he can see the man is actually appreciative of his work, and Donnie himself is pleased to see it hold up and perform as he'd designed it to.

He looks like he'd vibrate out of his shell from happiness, and at least this time he doesn't flinch away from the touch, beaming up at Jayce.]

That's an easy fix, I can probably do it right now. [Somehow he manages not to dive right into doing so, but having a hand to hold you in place so you can just bask in things for a moment does the trick too.]

I'm glad you like it. Anyway, we're all supposed to look out for each other and stuff, right?

:) fin, then!

[hexrot]

You're not wrong.

[ jayce will walk over to his chopping stump to put his leg up for donnie to fix the brace; he's going to take one of these nights to figuratively pick it apart to know how it works, himself— and he'll gladly want to share notes. ]