nightlogs | welcome to the party, pal

Entry tags:

welcome to the party, pal

Who: Branch, Miguel, Tim, Boba, Dan, and Stacia
What: The supply and prisoner exchange
Where: The emptied out workroom floor
When: After all of Branch's chaos.
Warnings/Notes: Some blood, eventual cw mentions of cannibalism probably when Branch is hashing it out with Dan and Stacia, I'll put warnings in the subject.

[It's going to plan. And the heightened chaos is making it exactly as distracting and chaotic a situation as he was hoping for. The floor is cleared and there are people leading Elves and yetis to areas they've cleared, but traps can still be heard going off, sometimes randomly. Occasionally there's the angry argleblorgleblorg of a yeti getting chili powder exploding out of an air cannon to their face.]

[In some areas where traps were already set off and cleared, somehow (read: thanks to his 14-year-old secret accomplice) they've been reset, only to go off again.]

[It leaves things nice and unsettled and distracting.]

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[Boba starts examining the parts from a distance. He's trying to be subtle, but probably isn't succeeding.

Some of parts look completely foreign to him. Some look more familiar. He spent a lot of time taking apart and rebuilding all of the systems in Slave I. Plus all the times he helped his dad repair his gear, or slice into comlinks and datapads, or build weapons and gear from leftover parts.

Boba knows a lot about how to build things. Especially ships. Back on Kamino he filled a lot of hours with every technical manual he could get his hands on. And every book he could get his hands on. And every hologame he could get his hands on.

He had a lot of hours to fill on Kamino.]

What's the computer going to do?

I'm going to be studying this dimension.

[ he does notice the kid's interest in what he was working on. It's not unwelcome. It's better to have him curious about computer parts rather than fearful and trying to stab people with screwdrivers. ]

With some luck, I'll be able to gain some insight into this end of the Multiverse and find a way to stop the threat here before it spreads.

[ eyebrow quirk. ]

Would you like to take a closer look?

[Boba's mind starts going over the possibilities. With easy access to tech he may not be as trapped and defenseless as he thought. He could start collecting stuff, building stuff. Maybe even his own blaster...

Yeah. Yeah, this sounds like a good plan. If Miguel is going to keep a close eye on him, he might as well be productive with it.

Boba picks up the screwdriver, walks up and sits on the floor near Miguel. He's out of immediate arm's reach with a straight shot to the door of the bedroom. But he's close enough to be able to see what the other man is doing.]

...Yeah.

[His answer is a little late considering that he already sat down.

He holds out the screwdriver as a peace offering.]

[ Miguel pockets the tool! This is a good development to him. He is not interested in having to sit in front of Boba's door and stare at him forever.

Ideally, he can be given more freedom over time. ]

This is more of a frame. Not very exciting, yet.

[ With the tool he was using, he points out the little screwholes in the aluminium rack. ]

Computer parts will be mounted on here, eventually. It should enough to run scans and simulations, once it's all connected.

[Boba just sits and watches, not saying anything as Miguel works.

It may not be exciting but even the simplest-looking tools are unfamiliar to him. He needs to start learning. He needs every advantage he can get.

After a while the question that's been sitting like a rock in his stomach finally gets voiced. He's quiet, as if hoping Miguel won't even hear him.]

What are you going to do with me now?

[Because punishment is coming. But the waiting and not knowing is sometimes the worst part.]

[ There's a certain gloomy recognition that the boy was expecting to be punished despite giving him some space. ]

Nothing.

If you avoid a repeat incident like before, then you can go about as normal. I don't think anyone will hold it against you for being scared and disoriented. I don't plan on it.

[ Miguel can't see him as a perfectly innocent kid. He is clearly capable of being violent, but only when backed into a corner. So, some railguards would be needed, but he still believed they could talk it through. ]

If building things interests you, I could use a hand.

[Boba doesn't believe him. Even if Miguel doesn't think he needs to face consequences, someone else might feel differently. But he will believe that nothing's going to happen right now. Probably.

He scoots a little closer to the frame Miguel's building.]

I'm good at building and fixing stuff.

[It's a quiet offer. He's trying to suppress the nervousness in his voice, but isn't entirely succeeding.]

I'm the one who takes-- [No, Aurra crashed it. He doesn't have a ship anymore. He doesn't have his dad's ship anymore. He clenches his fists.]

Took care of my ship.

[It was one of the only times he knew he would be left alone back on Slave I. Aurra, Bossk, and Castas were always breathing down his neck. Doing repairs and upkeep became an escape of sorts. A moment to breathe and forget about all the osik* going on around him.]

(*Shit)

That takes an impressive amount of technical proficiency, kid.

[ Given the amount of teenage tech geniuses he bumps into in his jaunts into the multiverse, he believes it. He'll just have to see it with his own eyes. ]

Working with Yeti carpentry won't be as sophisticated as that, but it needs focus just the same. Want to give it a try?

[ he flips the tool he was using so the handle was facing Lucky. A return peace offering for him! The cabinet itself still needed a few shelves to be locked in place. ]

[Boba cautiously takes the tool and examines it closely.]

This isn't-- I don't know how to use this.

[His ears burn in embarrassment. Why can't he just have a hydrospanner like a civilized sentient?]

[ Kid's maintenance of the ship must have involved more electronic components... ]

It's simple enough. The tip of the screwdriver matches the screws you put into the holes.

[ he pinches one of the silvery screws between his fingers, demonstrating for him. Miguel is able to twist in the first few threads with his fingertips. ]

Turn right to tighten, left to loosen.

[Boba makes a face.]

I know what a screw is. I just didn't recognize the bit.

[Screws aren't multi-universal, apparently. Just because he doesn't have the same tools where he comes from doesn't mean he can't put together a shelf. Now that he knows what the screwdriver is supposed to do, the rest is easy.]

[ the defensiveness over his knowledge of screws was endearing. Almost like the kid didn't stab him and was just some regular kid. ]

Well, now you do. Wood and aluminium is going to be a bit softer than spaceship parts, so just be patient with it.

[ He sits back on his haunches, giving Lucky some room to maneuver in there. ]

[That almost is doing a lot of work.]

What are your computers going to do?

[Boba works pretty quickly. When he has a little trouble keeping things in place by himself he grumbles and swears under his breath, but doesn't ask for help.]

[ Miguel debates helping, but figures he should remain hands off unless the kid starts to really struggle. Something tells him Lucky wouldn't like him stepping in unless he really needed it. ]

The technology here puts a limit on how much research I can do, but it will eventually be for running models and simulations.

A lot of it you can do on paper, if you can believe it, but with dimensional travel you'll be in trouble without a computer to guide along some of the math.

[That sounds like astrogation calculations. You can do it by hand, but it's a lot faster and safer with a droid or computer. Boba's dad used to have him practice doing the math himself.

Wait, isn't lightspeed is a form of dimensional travel?]

I know how to do that.

[He says as he finally gets the parts to stay where they're supposed to, allowing him to put the screws in.]

[ That gets a half-incredulous, half-impressed look from Miguel. It’s not impossible. He lived in a building of spiderfolk that didn’t skew that much older than the kid, and they were all pretty clever themselves. And maintaining a spaceship would require knowledge on navigation. ]

All by hand? You’ll have to show me how they do it on your world.

[ it wouldn’t hurt to believe him. ]

How’d a smart kid like you get locked up?

[Boba scowls. The question smells like a trap.

If he's honest he'll lose any trust he's being given, but lying could get him in trouble too. All it would take is one conversation with Rex for someone to learn about what he did.]

I was an accomplice.

[It's technically true, not that Miguel is able to check his sentence.]

[ dryly: ]

What's with the look? You already showed me your aptitude with a knife.

[ Miguel doesn't seem too busted up about it, at least.

Ultimately, whatever Lucky did in his home universe will have to be excused somewhat, as long as he wasn't looking to hurt anyone now. And so far, the kid's actions had all been defensive, even the surprise stabbing. ]

Maybe I don't want to talk about it.

[He doesn't.]

Why did you get involved with me and Branch?

[Miguel's not the only one who can ask questions!]

Because the troll boobytrapped the main floor and was making a mess of it.

[ the answer comes easy. Miguel doesn’t have anything to hide. ]

And I’m not really a fan of standing around while a kid runs off into the wild where he’ll get himself killed.

Call it a sense of duty, if you want.

I would've been fine.

[He's done it before!]

But why you? Someone else could have dealt with it.

Yeah. Right. Until you’re not fine, and then who has to come get you?

[ he’s repeating this for posterity - they’re in this together now, for better or for worse. ]

And I dealt with it because I was there first and decided a long time ago that I didn’t like sitting on my hands.

Lucky you.

[There's more scowling because he thinks Miguel's response is wrong and stupid.]

Right. Lucky me...

[Boba zones out for a moment while thinking about his "luck".

His dad didn't believe in luck, so Boba doesn't either, but he can't say that things have been going good since Jango died.]

Could be worse.

[ he says it pointedly. ]

You could be wandering around in the cold, completely lost, instead of having a warm place to scowl at.

[ sure the kid was capable, but there’s no tech solution out of being dumped somewhere in the arctic. ]

[There's some intense eye-rolling happening. "It could be worse" is not something Boba wants to hear.

He could be stuck in the snow. He could be stranded in the Dune Sea, or dropped in the middle of the ocean on Kamino.

He could still be in prison.

That doesn't change the fact that he doesn't want to be stuck here with these people. (Miguel is turning out to be okay so far, and Branch is nice. He hopes they don't hurt him.)]

I could be back in my ship.

[Which isn't true because the jetii destroyed it (he has spent months and months not thinking about it), but he stands by his point.]

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ninjavampire - 2023-11-03 07:39 (UTC) - Expand

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