♌ Leo gets techy with it - [OPEN]

[fundemetal]

who: Leo and Anyone
what: Programming the app mentioned here, but open to hanging out/chatting as well.
when: Every afternoon during curse week starting 5/21.
where: in the park underneath a shady tree
style: Starting with prose, but will change to match.
status: OPEN

Leo made his way into the park and picked out a large shady tree with a bench to sit under. If he was going to be spending all afternoon in one place it had to be somewhere comfortable and easy to be spotted in.

Buford was with him and he was using the sentient table to rest his SFC on so he could check for any messages while he waited for people to come get the app programmed in. He had no clue how many takers - if any - there would be, but he hoped that at least a few would be interested. He could really use the money to get some things from the Nostalgia Nook, especially some celestial bronze. He had a few projects lined up and couldn't get anywhere on them without some decent funding.

While he waited, he kept himself busy by fiddling around with some materials he'd gathered from the shopping district and from his magic tool belt. He built tiny machines and then took them apart again to make something new.

Comments

[fundemetal]

"Nah, I'd rather stick to straight up machines. But it's cool if that's your thing." Leo gives him a thumbs up. "Is that your thing?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

"That is my thing." Now it's time for Equius to word vomit at Leo. "I started by making killbots, which are strictly mechanical, but then branched out. My neighbor lost her arm and eye in an accident, and while I couldn't make eyes back then, I made her an arm. There was another troll in my group who was paralyzed from the waist down, and I made him functional legs. The attachment process was a bit of a daymare--Karkat fainted--but now he can walk and do almost everything he could before. Those first legs were pretty sad attempts, and he's gone through about three upgrades since being in Vatheon. His name is Tavros, you might meet him later."

"Then I perfected my skills further in Vatheon, and I made Sollux a pair of robotic eyes when he arrived here blind. My greatest achievement was RoboEquius, though. Would you like to meet him?"

[fundemetal]

"Sounds like things were rough where you came from if that many of your friends needed new body parts," Leo said. "I can see why it became your thing." Sure, the number wasn't high - only three of them - but three in a group that was probably smaller than a cabin or two's worth of kids at camp was a lot.

"RoboEquius? Sure man, I'm always down for meeting a machine." He grinned.

[stayb100ponyboy]

Equius actually forgot to mention Aradia's soulbot body, so yeah, out of twelve trolls, three of them had (canon) upgrades.

"One moment." He lifts one hand and touches his head, just behind his left ear. A look of concentration passes over his face before he drops his hand. "All right, I called him. He'll be here in a few minutes."

[fundemetal]

"Do you have a communicator tucked behind your ear or was that telepathy or something? Either way, very cool." Leo had ways to communicate with Buford, but none of them were as cool and stealth as that.

[stayb100ponyboy]

"What?" Equius looks genuinely confused by the question. "What are you talking about? All I did was call him."

[OOC: It's Vathcanon that Equius can't explain how he communicates with RoboEquius.]

[fundemetal]

"You just touched behind your ear and went silent. I don't know how that's calling, but okay." Leo looked around, waiting for any sign of a robot to appear. He kind of wanted to climb up on Equius's back and inspect his ear, but he managed to resist that urge.

[ooc: Works for me. Pretty much all of Leo's techy explanations are pure bullshit headcanon on my behalf since Rick just completely hand waves how 95% of it works in canon.]

[stayb100ponyboy]

Had Leo tried that, Equius would have frozen in shock and let him climb all over him. It's hard, being a STRONG troll that can't reliably control his STRENGTH. It's hard, and no one understands.

Because Equius can never explain how he communicates with his robot--he just does, trying to explain it is like trying to explain how to make your heart beat--he lapses into silence. Fortunately, RoboEquius wasn't far away, and comes walking around the corner a few minutes later.

"There he is." RoboEquius is a near-perfect replica of his creator, down to the broken horn and black tank top. The robot strolls over and regards Leo with glowing red eyes. "This is RoboEquius. RoboEquius, this is... I'm sorry, what's your name? I'm Equius Zahhak."

[fundemetal]

As the robot approached, Leo had a hard time believing his eyes. I was like seeing double. He rubbed his eyes and then pinched his arm, making sure he really was seeing this.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that was your name when RoboEquius showed up looking just like you." Leo laughed. "I'm Leo Valdez, nice to meet you, dude. That is one sweet robot." He held out his fist for a fist bump.

[stayb100ponyboy]

"A pleasure to meet you. And thank you." Equius holds out his own fist, but stops it a few inches from Leo's, letting it hang in the air and waiting for the human to bump them together. RoboEquius looks on imperially. "You can touch him, if you like. Just be careful; anything you do to him, I feel."

[fundemetal]

Leo met his fist, but was a little confused about why he'd held back. "Dude, I hope you didn't hold back because I'm so shrimpy. I'm stronger than I look."

"That's kind of creepy." He looked back and forth between Equius and Robo Equius. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe the guy about it, so he stepped forward and grabbed the robot's forearm gently and lifted it up to eye level. If it was true that he could feel everything, he wasn't sure he was comfortable touching anywhere else.

Not that he really needed to anyway. Just touching the machine allowed him to tell so much about it. It was kind of like when he had touched the helicopter and was able to fly it. But since he'd pulled the arm up so close to his face, he might as well examine the skin.

perfect icon is perfect

[stayb100ponyboy]

"It had nothing to do with you. I'm STRONGER than I look." And he can't control it well either, which is why he held back. It's not polite to break someone's hand the first time you meet them.

"It was a deliberate feature I built in." RoboEquius was intended as a hate romance bot, but Equius sees no real need to explain that. His arm tingles a little when Leo touches the robot, but that's all. When he can't see the bot being touched, the sensation is lessened.

RoboEquius watches Leo passively, allowing the human to manipulate his arm. He can tell he's being appreciated, so he's being more cooperative than usual.

[fundemetal]

"Deliberate? I'm not sure I want to know why," Leo said as he slowly released the arm. "Wicked work on this though, dude. I can't believe how realistic he is."

[stayb100ponyboy]

"Thank you. He's my finest piece of work." RoboEquius looks at Leo for a moment, then puts his hand up and spreads his fingers so Leo can see the interlocking pieces of metal between them. Alpha Equius smirks a little. "He's showing off for you."

[fundemetal]

"You should be proud. He's amazing." Leo said while checking out the space between RoboEquius's fingers. "You can't even tell he's a machine from a distance. Even up close it's hard to tell."

[stayb100ponyboy]

RoboEquius positively gloats at that little bit of praise, which Alpha Equius chooses to ignore. Lousy uppity robot. "If you like, we could compare notes sometime. I'm interested in the materials and energy sources you mentioned."

[fundemetal]

"That would be awesome, bro. You can stop by any time or whatever. I live with my friends at Coral Corral Eight." Leo gave him a thumbs up.

[stayb100ponyboy]

"All right. Likewise, you can come visit my workshop. I'm at fifteen, Phanga neighborhood." A hint of a smile dances across Equius' face at the thumbs up, although he doesn't return it. "Fair warning, though... I live with my matesprit, ancestor, and several animals. If you don't like chocobos or hoofbeasts, it would probably be better for me to come visit you."

[fundemetal]

"Sorry, I'm not up to speed on all your lingo there, man. If you can give me the speedy run down on matesprit, chocobos and hoofbeasts, that would be great. I get the last two are animals, but that doesn't help narrow things down." Leo had heard some of those terms thrown around before, but that wasn't the same as actually knowing what they meant.

[stayb100ponyboy]

Good thing Equius likes to explain things.

"Matesprit is one of the troll romance quadrants, the one most like your human relationships. Chocobos are large birds that can be ridden; I have two. And the human word for hoofbeast is horse."

[fundemetal]

"Yeah, I don't have a problem with any of those. So I'd love to come check out your workshop," Leo said. "I'm still working on getting mine set up, so there's not a whole lot to see in there. But what is there is definitely worth seeing."

[stayb100ponyboy]

Leo stays that now, but he hasn't met the feathery asshole known as Darkleer the chocobo.

"If you need any help getting set up, let me know. I can tell you where to shop in the Nostalgia Quarter."

[fundemetal]

"I thought it was called the Nostalgia Nook?" Leo looked confused. "Is that like an expansion to the Nook?"

[stayb100ponyboy]

Wince. "No, it's the same place. That... other word, it means something different to trolls, so we call it the Nostalgia Quarter."

[fundemetal]

"Guessing by your expression, it's a touchy subject?"