Forge & Darcy | Testing Phase
Jul. 27th, 2023 09:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsForge is finally ready for the testing phase. Darcy's just happy she might get to sleep in peace again soon.
Darcy was the happiest she’d looked in almost a month, almost bouncing on her toes as she watched Forge put was likely the finishing touches on her own, personal, not-quite-Faraday Cage. “I really, really appreciate this. Like, I know I made you baked goods and dropped some good junk food off, but just. I don’t know if I can express how much I’m looking forward to being able to just… feel safe here again.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I’m so sure it sounds stupid to the others. Nobody seems to take his threats seriously. But I’d rather be considered paranoid and dumb than wake up dead, y’know?”
"Relax. I got you." he said as he made some adjustments. "Longest part of this project was determining how tight the cage needs to be and what we should make it out of. And plus, got to play with a new toy and that's always welcome." he said. "Can't claim I like Quire much and if this lets me plant a thumb in his eye, I'm happy to oblige." he said. "And hey, optical networking when one of the bad guys is a strong magnet person? Not a bad thing to have in one's back pocket."
“Truuuuuuuue,” Darcy sang at him. “So, door shut, my room is tech dead to anything outside the walls? And psi-dead. And door open, they’re both active?”
"Not quite." he said. "Door closed, telepathy or anything that rides on it, like a certain someone's technopathy, is a no-go. Not tested against empaths or any of the other woo-woo brain powers." he said. "And because of how we had to tune this thing, normal electronics might be degraded but will likely work okay-ish. Got a solve for that, though, that doesn't involve opening the door to let possibly-homicidal telepaths in." he said, "Play with that new toy once we make sure the cage works the way the math tells me it will."
“You are currently my favorite. And I can ask Topaz to test empathy out later. That’d be so cool to test out fully, see where the various psi-manipulation powers fall on the brain spectrum.” She’d spent too much time with scientists, and their natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning how things ticked had rubbed off on her, alongside her own interests. “I’ve got a few devices to test - older ones first, so I don’t get upset if they get fried somehow.”
"Hey, you can experiment to your heart's content. I got paid in baked goods and snacks. April really liked them, by the by." he said with a small smile. "Annnnd … that should be the last adjustment. So let's test in-to-out, shall we? I brought Thing with me, since I know how much you love my Thing, and we'll see if you can make him dance when the door is closed."
“Phrasing, you incorrigible man,” Darcy teased back, shooing him out of the room and giving Thing a stroke along the back of the hand before sending it skittering after him. “Door open, door shut, door open again?”
"Yeah. Door open, things should be normal. Door closed, that's where the fun happens - or doesn't happen - and we'll assess how it feels for you. Thern open the door and let you do your thing once again." he said. "Sound like a plan?"
“Yep!” Darcy plopped down carefully on the floor, keeping in range of the door. “Feel free to grab one of the kitchen chairs and take a seat, I’m definitely not standing up for all of this. My leg’s still bruised up, for one.” She made happy cooing noises at Thing as she gently pushed into the code, soothing its alarm at the intrusion and flashing a series of code and pictures. Slowly at first, then more confidently as Darcy sank into the idea of being Thing, the fingers started to emulate a kickline, flicking up and out as Thing moved across the floor.
"You've turned my hand into a can-can girl. Well-done." he said, then he moved to the door to her boudoir. "And now we say good night, Gracie." he said as he gently closed the door, making sure it latched cleanly and the wires built into the door and the frame got a chance to mesh the way they should.He then turned to get a good look at Thing.
Darcy shuddered, clutching at her head as her connection with Thing was forcibly severed. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuck,” she moaned quietly, scooting back a few paces until her back hit her bed. The door opened a few seconds later, and she gave Forge a weak glare. “Note to self, never, ever force sever a connection like that if it can be avoided.”
"Better you find out now than at a more critical time, hey?" he commented as he took a wire out of the back of her computer, plugged it into a new piece of kit he took from his bag, then plugged a second wire from the new device to her computer. "And now we aim the photons…" he said, crouching down next to the device to eyeball a piece of kit he'd installed alongside the cage. "Just a couple more tests…" he said. "Could you turn the new lamp on, please?" he asked.
Thing, for his part, had been frozen into a can-can kick for a bit, then its onboard programming re-asserted itself and it returned to its default Thing pose.
She concentrated for a second, then shuffled to her feet and pressed the button. “Pull the lever, Darcy,” she murmured to herself, rubbing an affectionate hand over the shade while fondly thinking that new lamp was a bit stubborn. “Hopefully not the other lever,” she added with a grin at Forge. “New tech gets stubborn sometimes.”
"Be gentle, Lewis. It's her first time." he said with a crooked grin as he made an adjustment on the device on his side of things. "Excellent. Everything's greened up. Now for the fun part. Close the door again and concentrate on the device I put in your bedroom. Reach out through it and open up Frederick's of Hollywood's website on your computer."
“Oh honey, I always give the ladies what they want.” She gave his ear an irreverent pinch as she brushed past to shut the door. “And really? Not even La Perla? Up your lingerie game for your girl, my dude.” She did as instructed though, leaning against the door and focusing on the small box nestled among her computer setup. It was still elegant, a feature with every piece of the guy’s tech she’d been allowed to meet, but it felt… older, in a wild way. Not as refined. Still, she was able to coax it gently, mental fingers soothing along the strands of code and tapping at an imagined keyboard. It took several long seconds, but the Frederick’s page loaded to her screen, popping up on a cute set she’d bookmarked a few weeks ago.” Her eyes had flickered neon as she started, and they were a solid, shining blue-green vivid not found normally on humans as she finally spoke. “That work as a test?”
"Well, you always did strike me as a Freddie's girl." he said with the same crooked smile. "But yeah, you're using your power through the optical bridge I made so you can, yanno, do shit while in psi-lockdown." he said. "This stuff is COTS with some Forge special sauce all up in it so it'll probably improve if I get a couple of dull moments." he said as he reached down to grab Thing and put him back into the toolbag. "And that covers in-to-out. You want to test out-to-in, find a telepath you trust." he said. "Pretty sure I know how the test will go."
“Yeah, I’ll do that, just to make sure. Better safe than dead, always.” Darcy opened the door back up, following Forge through the living area to the main door of her suite. “What’s your favorite color, btw?”
"Dark green. Why?" he asked curiously. "Also, one last thing. I did not design this chamber to start off an arms race. So if you have Frost come in and test it, that's fine, but I do not want to see or hear about Frost Enterprises selling psi-proofed chambers or optical data transmission lamps. The COTS isn't nearly as good as I can make them and I wanted to give the schematics to Dad, see if Lone Eagle can find a market for them." he said calmly. 'But I'm serious, Darcy. Do not piss me off on this one."
“No reason, just wondering.” She gave him a serious look. “Any testing will strictly be for ‘can this hold’ purposes. I’m not in the business of screwing over the person in this building willing to trade snacks for making me feel safe enough to sleep in my own space again. If you want, I’ll even say that you, me, and April or Clint with your permission will be the only ones touching the tech. I’d include Doug generally, but I don’t want to put him in a position where he might have to choose between me or his loyalty for Emma.”
Forge nodded. "Also, one clarification. Since you're a lawyer, I thought you'd appreciate it. I don't want to see the psi-cage or the optical link go on the open market. Not Frost, not your boy Doug, not Xavier, not Kevin the Shapeshifter, _nobody_. If it does, regardless of how it got there, I'll know who to come and have a chat with." he said. "You need spot-fixing, April or Clint can probably handle it. But this is not for the open market." he said with some urgency. "I really hate having my trust betrayed like that. I'm gonna ask you nicely to not do that."
“I’m willing to sign a contract saying I won’t knowingly or willingly share your proprietary tech with anyone else, if it’ll help you sleep at night. I don’t actually want a psi-cage on the open market, it’d probably get used against us. The optical link is cool, but other people can copycat once Lone Eagle’s got it on the market. As all good tech goes. I don’t plan on sharing what I’ve learned watching you work with anyone. Like, Doug will learn that the lamp does something to control internet access in here, and he knows I asked you to build me something psi-safe. But he doesn’t know the details, and he’s not going to get them.”
"See, I know you're a lawyer, and it's good that you'd draft a contract like that. But then I'd need to hire a lawyer - a good one - to review it and then we sit there and file paperwork back and forth and honestly it's just a gigantic pain in the ass. So, like we established earlier…" he said and moving in to dip Darcy into his arms and plant a smooch on her. "We seal the deal with a kiss." he said and then laughed at her slightly poleaxed expression.
"Go get some sleep, Lewis." he told her gently. "I trust you like you're trusting me."
Darcy was the happiest she’d looked in almost a month, almost bouncing on her toes as she watched Forge put was likely the finishing touches on her own, personal, not-quite-Faraday Cage. “I really, really appreciate this. Like, I know I made you baked goods and dropped some good junk food off, but just. I don’t know if I can express how much I’m looking forward to being able to just… feel safe here again.” She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I’m so sure it sounds stupid to the others. Nobody seems to take his threats seriously. But I’d rather be considered paranoid and dumb than wake up dead, y’know?”
"Relax. I got you." he said as he made some adjustments. "Longest part of this project was determining how tight the cage needs to be and what we should make it out of. And plus, got to play with a new toy and that's always welcome." he said. "Can't claim I like Quire much and if this lets me plant a thumb in his eye, I'm happy to oblige." he said. "And hey, optical networking when one of the bad guys is a strong magnet person? Not a bad thing to have in one's back pocket."
“Truuuuuuuue,” Darcy sang at him. “So, door shut, my room is tech dead to anything outside the walls? And psi-dead. And door open, they’re both active?”
"Not quite." he said. "Door closed, telepathy or anything that rides on it, like a certain someone's technopathy, is a no-go. Not tested against empaths or any of the other woo-woo brain powers." he said. "And because of how we had to tune this thing, normal electronics might be degraded but will likely work okay-ish. Got a solve for that, though, that doesn't involve opening the door to let possibly-homicidal telepaths in." he said, "Play with that new toy once we make sure the cage works the way the math tells me it will."
“You are currently my favorite. And I can ask Topaz to test empathy out later. That’d be so cool to test out fully, see where the various psi-manipulation powers fall on the brain spectrum.” She’d spent too much time with scientists, and their natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning how things ticked had rubbed off on her, alongside her own interests. “I’ve got a few devices to test - older ones first, so I don’t get upset if they get fried somehow.”
"Hey, you can experiment to your heart's content. I got paid in baked goods and snacks. April really liked them, by the by." he said with a small smile. "Annnnd … that should be the last adjustment. So let's test in-to-out, shall we? I brought Thing with me, since I know how much you love my Thing, and we'll see if you can make him dance when the door is closed."
“Phrasing, you incorrigible man,” Darcy teased back, shooing him out of the room and giving Thing a stroke along the back of the hand before sending it skittering after him. “Door open, door shut, door open again?”
"Yeah. Door open, things should be normal. Door closed, that's where the fun happens - or doesn't happen - and we'll assess how it feels for you. Thern open the door and let you do your thing once again." he said. "Sound like a plan?"
“Yep!” Darcy plopped down carefully on the floor, keeping in range of the door. “Feel free to grab one of the kitchen chairs and take a seat, I’m definitely not standing up for all of this. My leg’s still bruised up, for one.” She made happy cooing noises at Thing as she gently pushed into the code, soothing its alarm at the intrusion and flashing a series of code and pictures. Slowly at first, then more confidently as Darcy sank into the idea of being Thing, the fingers started to emulate a kickline, flicking up and out as Thing moved across the floor.
"You've turned my hand into a can-can girl. Well-done." he said, then he moved to the door to her boudoir. "And now we say good night, Gracie." he said as he gently closed the door, making sure it latched cleanly and the wires built into the door and the frame got a chance to mesh the way they should.He then turned to get a good look at Thing.
Darcy shuddered, clutching at her head as her connection with Thing was forcibly severed. “Fuuuuuuuuuuuck,” she moaned quietly, scooting back a few paces until her back hit her bed. The door opened a few seconds later, and she gave Forge a weak glare. “Note to self, never, ever force sever a connection like that if it can be avoided.”
"Better you find out now than at a more critical time, hey?" he commented as he took a wire out of the back of her computer, plugged it into a new piece of kit he took from his bag, then plugged a second wire from the new device to her computer. "And now we aim the photons…" he said, crouching down next to the device to eyeball a piece of kit he'd installed alongside the cage. "Just a couple more tests…" he said. "Could you turn the new lamp on, please?" he asked.
Thing, for his part, had been frozen into a can-can kick for a bit, then its onboard programming re-asserted itself and it returned to its default Thing pose.
She concentrated for a second, then shuffled to her feet and pressed the button. “Pull the lever, Darcy,” she murmured to herself, rubbing an affectionate hand over the shade while fondly thinking that new lamp was a bit stubborn. “Hopefully not the other lever,” she added with a grin at Forge. “New tech gets stubborn sometimes.”
"Be gentle, Lewis. It's her first time." he said with a crooked grin as he made an adjustment on the device on his side of things. "Excellent. Everything's greened up. Now for the fun part. Close the door again and concentrate on the device I put in your bedroom. Reach out through it and open up Frederick's of Hollywood's website on your computer."
“Oh honey, I always give the ladies what they want.” She gave his ear an irreverent pinch as she brushed past to shut the door. “And really? Not even La Perla? Up your lingerie game for your girl, my dude.” She did as instructed though, leaning against the door and focusing on the small box nestled among her computer setup. It was still elegant, a feature with every piece of the guy’s tech she’d been allowed to meet, but it felt… older, in a wild way. Not as refined. Still, she was able to coax it gently, mental fingers soothing along the strands of code and tapping at an imagined keyboard. It took several long seconds, but the Frederick’s page loaded to her screen, popping up on a cute set she’d bookmarked a few weeks ago.” Her eyes had flickered neon as she started, and they were a solid, shining blue-green vivid not found normally on humans as she finally spoke. “That work as a test?”
"Well, you always did strike me as a Freddie's girl." he said with the same crooked smile. "But yeah, you're using your power through the optical bridge I made so you can, yanno, do shit while in psi-lockdown." he said. "This stuff is COTS with some Forge special sauce all up in it so it'll probably improve if I get a couple of dull moments." he said as he reached down to grab Thing and put him back into the toolbag. "And that covers in-to-out. You want to test out-to-in, find a telepath you trust." he said. "Pretty sure I know how the test will go."
“Yeah, I’ll do that, just to make sure. Better safe than dead, always.” Darcy opened the door back up, following Forge through the living area to the main door of her suite. “What’s your favorite color, btw?”
"Dark green. Why?" he asked curiously. "Also, one last thing. I did not design this chamber to start off an arms race. So if you have Frost come in and test it, that's fine, but I do not want to see or hear about Frost Enterprises selling psi-proofed chambers or optical data transmission lamps. The COTS isn't nearly as good as I can make them and I wanted to give the schematics to Dad, see if Lone Eagle can find a market for them." he said calmly. 'But I'm serious, Darcy. Do not piss me off on this one."
“No reason, just wondering.” She gave him a serious look. “Any testing will strictly be for ‘can this hold’ purposes. I’m not in the business of screwing over the person in this building willing to trade snacks for making me feel safe enough to sleep in my own space again. If you want, I’ll even say that you, me, and April or Clint with your permission will be the only ones touching the tech. I’d include Doug generally, but I don’t want to put him in a position where he might have to choose between me or his loyalty for Emma.”
Forge nodded. "Also, one clarification. Since you're a lawyer, I thought you'd appreciate it. I don't want to see the psi-cage or the optical link go on the open market. Not Frost, not your boy Doug, not Xavier, not Kevin the Shapeshifter, _nobody_. If it does, regardless of how it got there, I'll know who to come and have a chat with." he said. "You need spot-fixing, April or Clint can probably handle it. But this is not for the open market." he said with some urgency. "I really hate having my trust betrayed like that. I'm gonna ask you nicely to not do that."
“I’m willing to sign a contract saying I won’t knowingly or willingly share your proprietary tech with anyone else, if it’ll help you sleep at night. I don’t actually want a psi-cage on the open market, it’d probably get used against us. The optical link is cool, but other people can copycat once Lone Eagle’s got it on the market. As all good tech goes. I don’t plan on sharing what I’ve learned watching you work with anyone. Like, Doug will learn that the lamp does something to control internet access in here, and he knows I asked you to build me something psi-safe. But he doesn’t know the details, and he’s not going to get them.”
"See, I know you're a lawyer, and it's good that you'd draft a contract like that. But then I'd need to hire a lawyer - a good one - to review it and then we sit there and file paperwork back and forth and honestly it's just a gigantic pain in the ass. So, like we established earlier…" he said and moving in to dip Darcy into his arms and plant a smooch on her. "We seal the deal with a kiss." he said and then laughed at her slightly poleaxed expression.
"Go get some sleep, Lewis." he told her gently. "I trust you like you're trusting me."
