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Post by Walltur on Jan 29, 2016 22:57:50 GMT
The testing facility is a large and sprawling labyrinth, with poor labeling and signs to help lead occupants around. At the moment, the Cafeteria seemed to be the only safe place to remain around compared to some of the horror stories that have crept through the rumor mill. Outside the cafeteria doors is a set of vending machines, providing any soft drink or tasty snack imaginable. Walltur sat defiantly with his back turned to it, ignoring his rumbling stomach.
Hearing the sounds of continued conversations through the door way, he sighed, taking out a small pad of paper and a large pencil. His eyes closed, he moved the pencil across the paper, leaving small but controlled marks to the page. Becoming lost in his process, he spoke to no one in particular.
"Foreboding."
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Post by Cameron "Booker" on Jan 30, 2016 0:12:46 GMT
"Aw man!," a fist thunked onto the vending machine, "Vester never restocks the pistachios."
Booker sighed, "Its like he wants me to go hungry," he muttered to himself.
"Oh hey there Wally," Booker blurted seeing his friend, "whatcha working on there?"
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Post by Walltur on Jan 30, 2016 1:25:19 GMT
Walltur's blinked rapidly, his train of thought derailed. He turned around to see Booker, looking a bit tense. The large man shrugged his shoulders, having taken a look at what he's accomplished so far.
"Dunno."
He turned his attention back to the cafeteria, the sounds coming from inside have quieted down. Sliding his legs around, he faced Booker, the interaction proving a well needed distraction from the food in front of Walltur. He pointed a thumb at the doors.
"Quit?"
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Post by Charlie Bertani on Jan 30, 2016 2:51:06 GMT
Charlie was relieved to see some friendly faces as he slunk up to the vending machine.
"H-hey, guys."
The facility was unnerving. He heard a lot of different voices in the main cafeteria, so he decided his rumbling stomach would have to be put to rest by whatever was in the vending machine. Too many people. He dug out some change from his pocket. Oh, great.
"Booker, y-you wouldn't happen to have any extra change on you, would you?" Charlie's free hand went to the back of his neck as a light shade of red appeared across his face.
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Post by Cameron "Booker" on Jan 30, 2016 3:29:10 GMT
Walltur and Booker may have spent the majority of their lives as friends but there were some things Wally did that still confused the hell out of him.
As Booker examed what Wally had been sketching his buddy spoke up. "Quit?" He replied, "nah I think they just tired themselves out."
"Plus Quinn's scoping out that new girl," he laughed, "you know how she gets about possible competition." Booker scratcher the back of his head lazily, "Any way I had to get out of there before Delores strangled me."
"Burn down ONE kitchen and then all of a sudden no one trusts you..." He mused, "people have faith in second chances ya know? It's a problem with society I'm sure. Kitchens burn themselves down all the time."
His rambling was interrupted by the final member of their team, Charlie.
"Hm?" He inquired as Charlie asked for change, "well yeah I always carry some on me in case of emergencies or good sales but..."
Booker squared himself up with the vending machine, "why use change when you can just," he moved to smack the glass with his elbow, "when you can just do THIS!"
The glass on the front of the machine splintered causing the lights inside to flicker. "Uhhhh..." mouthed Booker.
Just then as if by divine intervention a bag of chips and what appeared to be an olive based candy bar fell into the receptacle as their claws short circuited in a beautiful display of light blue sparks.
Booker reached in and took the hard won prize. "See," he beamed handing Charlie the food, "the easy way is for chumps."
Booker noticed the red glow of his friend's face. "Hey you alright Charlie?" he asked, "your face is all rosey again." He laughed, "you should probably get that checked out ya know." He regarded his friend, "really does accent those cheekbones of yours though."
Booker laughed, "the new lady lab rates will be all over ya once they get a good luck at you."
He turned to reflect on the dying vending machine. "See this is what I'm talking about Walltur," he chided, "they'll probably blame this on me too."
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Post by Charlie Bertani on Jan 30, 2016 3:48:53 GMT
Charlie sighed at Booker's latest attempt to show off. He pocketed the rest of his change and took the snacks.
"Th-thanks." Charlie could feel his face growing more red at Booker's comment, "Do you HAVE to p-point out every time my face turns red?"
Charlie turns his attention to the vending machine. He traced the cracks with his finger idly. There wasn't anything he could do about that, but perhaps he could fix the claws that short circuited. He went to hold the snacks between his teeth as he struggled to move the vending machine further away from the wall. When he had a wide enough gap he pulled out a couple pieces of wire to unlock the backing. Once that was done he set to work on the inner mechanisms.
"I always have to clean up your messes," Charlie mumbled to himself as he worked.
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Post by Quinn Starling on Jan 30, 2016 3:54:42 GMT
Booker laughed, "the new lady lab rats will be all over ya once they get a good look at you." "Not if I have any say!" Quinn chimed in, grinning at her old friends and teammates. "Besides, there don't seem to be many other girls this time around, and I'd hope Charlie has picked up on some hints by now... If not, he's too blind for glasses to help any." Quinn pulled a stick of beef jerky out of her pocket, which she'd smuggled from the cafeteria snack bar, and handed it to Charlie. "Here ya go, Specs. Gonna need some protein before the big game." She smiled at him. Fuck. So fucking dreamy... Get it under control, Quinn. He's your teammate. It'd never work... She tried to hide her lust by checking out Walltur's drawing. "Drawing nudes, Wally?," she joked.
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Post by Charlie Bertani on Jan 30, 2016 4:52:58 GMT
Charlie startled at Quinn's sudden appearance, resulting in hitting his head against the vending machine. "Ow," he poked his head out from behind the vending machine, rubbing his head, "Oh, hey th-there Quinn." He smiled as she handed him a stick of beef jerky. "Thank-thank you for the f-food," he felt a blush rise to his face. His stammering was always worse around Quinn. Heaven forbid if any new girls came around. He could barely get a sentence out. He opened the beef jerky, contemplating Quinn's comment about hints. What was she implying? Who would go for a stammering, shy guy like him? He shook his head.
Charlie took a bite out of the beef jerky before starting back on the vending machine as Quinn directed her attention to Walltur, "J-just a l-little more..."
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Post by Quinn Starling on Jan 30, 2016 5:05:15 GMT
Quinn blushed a bit herself as her fingers brushed against Charlie's as she handed him the jerky. She had looked at Walltur's paper, then spun around as she heard Charlie hit his head. "Shit, man. You alright?" She smiled as he blushed. Maybe that's a good sign? I can never tell with him! Either way, he was always so adorable when he blushed.
She realized Booker and Walltur might have noticed her staring at Charlie, so she tried to harden her expression. Gotta hide it...don't want anyone all weirded out. What if that other girl talks to him? Oh gawd, I'd have to kill her. I've been hiding this for too long...I should say something. Today. It has to be today.
"Uhh so ...so, Specs," Why am I stammering now?! "You're...really good at that wirey stuff. I always just get pissed when it's broken and end up stealing from the snack bar, instead..." She bit her lip. "Think you could...show me how this all works, sometime?" She kept her eyes on Charlie, not wanting to encounter any awkward eye contact or puzzled looks from her other teammates, who she was sure were listening in.
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Post by Cameron "Booker" on Jan 30, 2016 5:06:44 GMT
"Well, well the gangs all here!" Booker chuckled. He let his mind wander while Quinn rambled on at Charlie.
"She always did tend to get even more talkative then normal around Charlie," he thought to himself, "which was saying something."
Quinn may be as talkative as Wally is quiet and Charlie as shy as Booker was brash but somehow they all balanced each other out.
Booker was snapped from his thoughts by the use of a nickname. "Specs?" Booker ventured, "are we doing nicknames now? I must have missed the memo."
Booker watched as Charlie set to work on the sparking vending machine. "Oh here let me help you with that," he offered grabbing one of the disabled claws. A spring shot out of somewhere as he pulled it out to hand it Charlie. "Oh." he mumbled watching it bounce out of sight, "well I'm sure that was just an extra piece..."
Booker outstretched his arm offering Charlie the now forcibly liberated piece. "What would I do without you?" he added patting him on the shoulder.
Turning to everyone Booker grinned, "So now that we're all here maybe we should do a little planning. I hear this next test is some sort of big deal!"
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Post by Charlie Bertani on Jan 30, 2016 5:27:39 GMT
Charlie turned back to Quinn as she started talking to him again. Since when was she interested in learning to fix things? Whatever. Quinn was an enigma. She seemed to find humor in flirting with him. She wasn't going to ruin her fun.
"Y-yea, sh-sure. I c-can show you n-now if you-"
Charlie was cut off as Booker broke even more of what he was trying to fix. He sighed and took the piece Booker took. That was just the way he was. There was going to be no use in yelling. He knew that all too well. "Th-thanks, Booker." I was almost finished, too. He turned to Quinn, "Ju-just give me a se-second." He would need his full concentration to fix this part.
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Post by Quinn Starling on Jan 30, 2016 5:36:43 GMT
Quinn punched Booker in the arm, a little too hard. "Way to go, Capt'n! Now he's gotta redo that part. Why don't you think up some strategy you wanna discuss, or go check out whatever Walltur's up to with his drawing. I wanna see how this thing works..." She quickly followed the runaway piece and handed it to Charlie. "Here ya go, Specs."
She leaned in, quite close to Charlie. "Could you show me, now? I'll watch. It's...more interesting than I thought." She wasn't sure if it was really all that interesting, but she did enjoy watching his brow furrow as he tried to fix what Booker screwed up, and how his hands moved between the pieces of wires. "Are...uh those the same glasses you've been wearing? They seem different, maybe. Or maybe they're just different up close...anyway, they look...nice. Oh, right, sorry. The...thing." She directed her attention back towards the vending machine.
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Post by Walltur on Jan 30, 2016 6:52:32 GMT
OOC: Sorry, social Friday evening.
With the group he worked with, Walltur found it easier to just let them have it for a while, quietly listening while they hashed it out. Now that the full team was assembled, he decided to acknowledge and voiced his happiness seeing them all together.
"Team."
He had returned his attention back to his drawing, the random dashes beginning to take form. As the others observed his work, he became a little more hesitant in his efforts. Watching Quinn and Charlie dance around each other socially, he snickered, decided that the same thing wouldn't happen to him and his muse.
When he was finished, he held it out for the group to see. It was a drawing of a little girl, holding a bat and skipping through a battlefield toward the horizon. The land was more desolate in the background, the trees replaced with crosses, which eventually became rough mounds, indistinguishable from one another. There were people reaching out to her in the foreground, some pleading for help, others begging her not to leave. Soon enough, they would all be behind her. Walltur looked up at his companions, his face grim and serious.
"Harbinger."
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Post by Cameron "Booker" on Jan 30, 2016 19:14:45 GMT
"I didn't break it," Booker added quickly, "I just...created a more...flexible fixing opportunity."
"What's that Wally?" he inquired turning his attention to his pal, "Oh, that's a..."
Booker tried to find the right words, "intense piece of art you got there."
"You really should do something with these sketches of yours," he mused as he examined the drawing, "They would probably fetch a decent price with the tourists over in the bazaar."
Booker's face lit up, "And then we could afford real uniforms instead of the shirts that Delores's oven ruined!" "She really should get that thing checked out," he continued, "probably more so since it mysteriously burst into flames that same night."
"Clearly shotty workmanship if it can't even handle a few t shirts," he concluded.
Booker looked around at his friends, "Well we still have a few days til the test and its not usual we have so much down time like this. Maybe we could do something fun for once. Go into the city proper? I hear the fish is excelent this time of year."
"I mean we're not getting any food from this hunk of junk anytime soon," he added kicking the corner of the vending machine causing a hatch to swing open dumping a ton of singles onto the hallway floor.
"Guess its on me," Booker grinned as he scooped up the cash from the floor, "We'll just call it Charlie's repair fee."
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Post by Walltur on Jan 30, 2016 19:57:28 GMT
Watching Booker's response, Walter noted the hesitance in his friend's appraisal. It wasn't too surprising, the content didn't match up with the current events around them. At Booker's suggestion of selling his art, he smiled, the experience of making and sharing the art was the important part. No sense in hoarding it.
"Maybe."
Watching Quinn observe Charlie's repair work, he relaxed his shoulders. Their chemistry was obvious to everyone but themselves, and has offered much amusement for the team's bonding experience. I ship it.
A nudge in the right direction couldn't hurt. He pounded the ground to get their attention, then moved a finger slowly, pointing between Quinn and Charlie.
"Cute."
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