xp_logs | Forge and Kevin, Friday morning (Reply)

Kevin finds Forge to gripe about his glitter situation, and gets an offer that actually cheers him up from his perpetual funk.

Kevin was on a mission because even a few days of it was getting to him. Sure, he could have a sense of humor. Sure, he could plot Clarice's untimely demise. What he could not do was deal with having little, sparkly, rainbow flecks all over everything he owned, hiding so it wouldn't be found out until too late. He'd washed and vacuumed everything he could find in his room yet he still had the shiny metallic bits clinging to him in the most random spots. The entire walk from his room to find Forge was spent picking little bits of shiny off his white tee shirt and the black long sleeved shirt he wore under it. It was fairly useless given that his gloves were black and caused everything to just then stick to his gloves.

Knocking on the door to Forge Central, Kevin wore an expression of frustration akin to a fed up anime character.

Forge looked up from behind his computer screen and arched an eyebrow. "Well, it seems as if you're still feeling the effects of Clarice's fabulously unique attempts at levity," he said by way of greeting. "I feel your pain. Do you know how annoying glitter is when it tends to stick to metal? It gets into everything." He held up his artificial arm for emphasis, frowning at the memory. "So what brings you down this way? Waiting on the Professor, or something I can help you with?"

Kevin made a face, imagining how hard it would be to get glitter out of all the crevices in that arm. Ouch. "Nah, lookin' fer you." He wandered through the door, glaring at the glitter on his fingertips. "What're the odds of findin' a way ta keep ou' a teleporter? Or, do we happen ta keep a sandblaster on hand? Rainbow glitter bars on tha door are gettin' ta me. It's only worse with tha metal door Ah have." He shook his head, cringing a little. Kevin still hadn't opened that pinata.

"Keeping a teleporter out of an area takes technology way beyond anything we have here," Forge explained. "I could figure out how to do it, but the cost alone would be insanely prohibitive. The best way to do it is just to make it undesirable for said teleporter to enter the restricted area. I recommend country music." Forge rummaged in a drawer before procuring what looked like a hand-sized teapot without a spout and a large red button. "Here you go. Portable degausser. It'll charge the glitter with a short-term magnetic field and pick it up easily. Just don't use it around electronic equipment, credit cards, or ... well, me. Instant charley horse there."

The recommendation of country music made Kevin laugh, something he'd been much more prone to in the past few days than he normally was. "In tha' case you'd thin' Jay's continued existence as mah roommate would be 'nuff ta keep her out, but no. She's a determined an' spiteful little blip." Taking the teapot thing, Kevin turned it over in his hands to examine it. "Bu' it'll be fine 'round normal metal, righ'?" He assumed so given that his door was metal and that was the target here but it was nice to be clear on these things. "Do mini soldering irons count as 'lectrionic equipment? Can' go an' destroy 'em after Ah lost one for a bit already."

Forge thought, then shook his head. "A regular soldering iron? No, you should be fine. You wouldn't happen to be another closet electronics hobbyist, would you?" He thought back to running into Mark at the electronics expo and reminded himself to forward over some of his experimental microsonics designs to the Snow Valley receptionist.

"'Lectrionics? Nah, not me. All tha' circuitry an' the programin' an' stuff jus' makes mah head spin thinkin' 'bout it when Ah don't even know nothing about it. Ah use it fer sculpture. Metal stuff. Yvette wants ta help me, actually. Ah'm thinkin' of a plan with her doin' etching on tha metal 'cause Ah've never had tha means ta do any texture stuff. All hand done, y'know?" Kevin wondered who actually took up electronics as a hobby. That didn't seem like hobby material. Maybe playing with metal wasn't either.

"Really?" Forge drew the word out slowly. He paused for a moment, then reached into a pocket and withdrawing a bulky key ring. He peeled off a simple key and tossed it over to Kevin. "If you head down to the garage," he explained, "there's that big metal door over to the side by the toolboxes. That's the machine shop, they've got arc and TIG welders, a standing lathe, grinders, plus a metric buttload of spare material that I've just had laying around. Feel free to help yourself."

The key being tossed at him nearly caused him to drop the degausser, but Kevin managed to just barely keep hold of it and catch the key when it bounced off his chest. His quirked eyebrow was curious but as Forge explained it crept higher and higher. "Ya serious?" His eyes flicked quickly between Forge and the key a half dozen times before his utterly astounded expression rested back on the inventor. "Uh, ya realize Ah only even vaguely know wha' 'bout half them things ya listed are, righ'? An' even tha ones Ah know, Ah still don't know how ta use." A machine shop, however, would be amazing. Not just amazing, it was like a wet fucking dream come true. Kevin imagined it sort of felt like getting laid for the first time, not that he'd ever have that experience unless he found a girl made out of polyester.

Forge just shrugged. "Then I'll show you. Believe me, I know how it is when you need to find a way to express yourself. Since I've been here, the Professor's pretty much written me a blank check for my work, my research, and I couldn't have made half the advances I've made if it weren't for the resources here. Consider this me paying it forward."

Kevin's eyes were once again firmly fixed on the key in his gloved hand. "You'd really show me?" People didn't really do things for Kevin. They didn't do nice things and they didn't go out of the way for him, just to avoid him. Now he had a pet crab and a key to a machine shop. Was this like karmic retribution for sleeping on the floor of his cell? Finally looking back at Forge, the teenager's face looked no less shocked. "Thanks. Seriously. Ah'd appreciate it, an' Ah appreciate tha key. A place ta work would be...wow, can' even begin ta 'magine."

"I make it a point to stretch the imagination sixteen ways before breakfast," Forge deadpanned, then broke into a grin. "In fact, if you want to head on down, these reports aren't really pressing. C'mon, I'll give you the tour."

If he hadn't been so thoroughly entrenched in his awe he would have given Forge a sarcastic smirk for the imagination comment. As it was, he was lacking the motor skills to speak much. "Really? Sure!" The transformation was immediate, his eyes lit up and Kevin damn nearly started to glow. Intangible to tangible in the time it would take to walk down there. Wow.