towerofanimus | The Doctor is [Busy]

Entry tags:

The Doctor is [Busy]

Characters: Dr. Richtofen and you!
Setting: Over the course of the week - floor 15 (the workshop), floor 27 (the lab), various monster-heavy floors
Format: Action to start, but will match
Summary: After being released from Jason's cells almost a week ago, Richtofen is on the move. He's hustling from floor to floor even more than usual, attempting to construct a weapon for himself since ~~the douchebag~~ their kind administrator refused to give him one.
Warnings: Normal warnings for Richtofen - swearing, insanity, possible gore, possible sensitive subject matter of the WWII-era variety.

Workshop

[Anyone who wanders by the workshop will see a curious sight: Richtofen, who normally sticks to floors like the infirmary and the morgue, is working dilligently. He not only seems to know what he's doing, but he looks like he's good at it. He handles the machinery as if he's been acquainted with it for years, welding and sanding and polishing both wood and metal with impressive dexterity.

In fact, at first glance, with his hat off, a lab coat over his Wehrmacht uniform, and his face covered by a surgical mask and goggles, this calm, focused man hardly looks like Richtofen at all. The only indication that he's everybody's favorite doctor is that he occasionally mumbles incoherent little things to himself in that distinct, German-accented voice of his, but over the buzzing and whirring of the machinery, even that is often difficult to make out.

Early in the week, it doesn't look like he's making anything of substance. However, look closely and you'll notice a book lying open next to him that he keeps consulting, full of designs for what seems to be a large gun surrounded by messy scribbles and technical jargon. Later in the week, the body of this gun seems to take shape.]

Laboratory

[Once he's fashioned himself his weapon (and it's impressively-made, though not quite as perfect as it would have been if he'd had all the equipment he used back home), Richtofen sets off to make ammo and get himself a power source. It's at this point when he starts to spend his time in the laboratory, a floor he's more accustomed to.

Someone who encounters Richtofen while he's in the lab will see him hunched over futuristic-looking machinery, deeply engrossed in what he's doing, but more on-edge than he was in the workshop. He's working with what looks to be some sort of rock, black with lines of red that almost look like veins running through their surface. It's the red part he's interested in, because that's the stuff he's careful to extract and place in his gun.]

Around the Tower

[Finally, after a lot of hard work, labor, and intesive efforts being a paranoid asshole, Richtofen's finished. He waits up one night, eager for the monsters to show their ugly faces (or lack thereof). Not just any monster will do, though - no, he's looking for a group of monsters.

Once he finds enough of them, he decides to give his new weapon a test. He steadies his aim, pointing at just one monster, and a crazed grin spreads over his face as he places his finger on the trigger.]

Oh, ja, you all want to play, is that it? [He waits until the monsters lurch forward, hoping, hoping he did everything right, because test runs be damned - this is his test run.] Then come on and let's play, pretty ones!

[And then he pulls the trigger, and the result lights up the place bright as day for a split second. This gun doesn't shoot a bullet; it shoots pure electricity, which hits the first monster, and bolts of lightning arch off of its body to connect with several others in the vicinity. The air is filled with the sounds of crackling, inhuman shrieks, and Richtofen's crazed laughter, the latter of which keeps going even after the monsters fall dead to the floor.]

Yes! Hahaha! Yes, die for me! Take your medicine, yes, good!

[Richtofen will fire off a few more shots that night. Be careful; if you're too close to any of the monsters affected by his weapon, you'll get hit, too, and it won't be a light shock by any means. The trails of bodies Richtofen leaves behind, up to ten at a time, can attest to that.]

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....

[She raises her eyebrows a little. That was an odd greeting.]

My name is Shion... And you are?

[Her scrutiny makes him uncomfortable, and Richtofen shifts a little where he stands. Still, he tries to appear cheery.]

You may call me Dr. Richtofen. [He glares off to the side and mutters, more to himself than to Shion.] Or "doctor," or "Rick," or "Ricky," or whatever you like, since apparently using my real name is beyond the capabilities of some people in this tower...

[He stops himself from going off on a tangent and forces a smile again.]

Shion, hmm..? I feel like I've heard that name before. Have we met?

Alright, Dr. Richtofen.

[She's perfectly capable of using people's names correctly. And since he seems to be a relatively cheerful person, she's going to chalk his prior strange behavior up to simply being startled. So she smiles.]

Hm... No, I don't think so. But, there is someone else here with the same name. He doesn't have a family name though. Mine is Uzuki.

Edited (awesome typing) 2012-12-14 03:14 (UTC)

[Richtofen taps his chin with a finger.]

Hm, in that case, maybe it was that boy who... [He trails off and waves his hand in front of his face.] Nevermind.

[He whistles idly, turning back to his equipment.]

So... I'll just. [He looks down at his work, attempting to sound casual.] Continue here. [With you breathing down my neck, a harsh little voice in the back of his mind whispers, but he keeps that thought inside.]

I do hope I'm not in your way.

Oh no, not at all.

[She walks right past him, giving just the smallest curious glance at what he's working on. ...And that looks weird. But, she tells herself that she's bothered him enough, even if she is curious.

She continues on to a machine that rests against a wall further down. She pulls the front panel off of it, taking care to be quiet, and reaches inside to grope for a cord, which she eventually finds and plugs into her own personal handheld device.

She only casts one more glance in his direction, before getting to work~]

[Richtofen hunches over just a little bit more when Shion walks by. There's a nagging paranoia in his head that never quite subsides, and even though he knows it's impossible for her to understand what he's working on with just one glance, he still feels protective over his work.

Despite his own reservations, Richtofen can't help but glance over at her every now and again. He prefers to think of it less as hypocrisy, and more as some friendly scientific curiosity. How can he resist looking at the work of a fellow scientist when she's right there, after all?]

[She actually didn't mind that, really. And she was starting to take his glances as an invitation to start talking again. Not to mention the fact that working with outdated technology was starting to get frustrating.]

How is your project coming along?

[As a matter of fact, his glances meant nothing of the sort, and he's about to snap at her for talking to him, but- No. He bites his tongue. A conversation will make it far easier for him to get information about what she's working on, and Richtofen likes knowing all about what goes on in the Tower.]

Ah, it is coming along nicely! [He looks and sounds a lot more friendly than he feels.] And yours..?

[But he seems so nice! Surely he wants to be good friends!]

I wish I could say the same. This equipment is much older than what I'm used to, so I'm not sure I can reconfigure it to work with KOS-MOS.

[Yes. Friends. Totally.

Richtofen straightens up to get a better look at her equipment, though it doesn't look like anything from his world.]

KOS-MOS? What's that?

Oh, you may have seen her around the tower. She has long blue hair, and red eyes. She's an android, well, an anti-Gnosis weapon, really.

I might have glanced at her, but... [But he's seen so many people in the tower with strange hair and eyes (sometimes even skin) that he doesn't even really make note of it any more.] I've never met her, I'm sure. Nor have I ever heard of, what was it you said, Gnosis..?

Yes, Gnosis. It's not surprising though. It seems that only people I know personally here know about them. I guess they don't exist in other realities. But... Well, they aren't too different from some of the monsters I've seen here in this tower.

There are many different types, with varying powers. So, it seems that KOS-MOS has been pretty effective against fighting the monsters here.

[Richtofen brings a finger to his chin, listening intently. He's always eager to hear about the monsters and races from other worlds, no matter how irritating some of the people from those worlds are.]

I see. How fascinating... And you're trying to do what for the KOS-MOS, exactly..?

KOS-MOS's body is a very complex piece of machinery. Back home, she had a maintenance bed, where she went to recharge, be repaired, or get general maintenance. Here, all I have is this connection gear.

[She motions to the handheld device.]

If something happens to KOS-MOS, what I can do is limited, unless I have better equipment. I was hoping I could build something for her, but so far there isn't a lot of technology here that would be usable.

You must be used to some advanced machinery!

[Richtofen raises his eyebrows in amusement. The technology he worked with back at home was advanced for his time, and even he's found familiar pieces of equipment here.]

You're sure there's nothing here that could help you? Nothing at all?

Yes. I've met some people who seem to have the same calendar we do, so I'm not sure if it means anything to you, but it was the year 4768 when I was taken. I think quite a few people here are from much earlier periods.

[She frowns and gives the machine in front of her a thoughtful stare.]

Well, I have been able to rewrite the programming on some of the machines in here. But the real problem would be finding something with enough power output to keep up with KOS-MOS.

Oh, goodness, yes! I am from- well, I traveled through time a bit, but before all that, I believe it was 1945. Somewhere around that time.

[He looks over her machine as well, but makes no move to walk away from his own.]

If it's power you're worried about, I'm sure you can find- [He moves his rocks a little bit closer to himself, swallowing a lump in his throat.] ...something.

Yes, you're right. I'm sure there has to be something here somewhere. And there's still a lot of the tower I haven't seen yet.

...So what was it you're working on?

Eh?

[Richtofen seems taken aback for a minute, but then he composes himself enough to throw together a quick half-truth.]

Oh, I have found a chemical I worked with a lot back on my homeworld, so I'm running some tests on it. Finding out how potent it is, if it works as well... [He waves a hand around idly.] ...that sort of thing.

[It isn't like the fact that he was working on the Wunderwaffe would be particularly ground-shattering in a Tower where weapons were a necessity, but he'd prefer it if people didn't know the specifics of his work. More power for him that way. And if the woman was working on a project that needed a large amount of power, he wasn't about to tell her just how incredible element 115 was when it came to providing power for things.]

[RUDE]

[Not that she'd know anything about it, even if he did tell her what exactly he was doing.]

Interesting... Works as well for what?

Edited 2012-12-14 06:08 (UTC)

[HE DUN CURR FIGHT HIM]

Oh, it is a very versatile element.

[He'll just try to dance around the subject, while still gushing about it as much as he's able.]

Back home, my entire team of researchers- [Technically Dr. Maxis' team of researchers, but that's another detail he'll be omitting.] -were working with it, and we still hadn't figured out everything about it when they all...

[He catches himself about to giggle, and brings a hand up to his mouth to stop it. He forces a solemn look onto his face instead.]

...died.

[k]

Oh...

[Well, she knows how that feels... To someone who isn't a sociopath anyway.]

So you've learned how to handle the substance now?

I believe it still has many secrets to unlock, but yes, for the most part, I'm aware of what it can do. It can be quite dangerous, though... For that reason, I've gathered together all of it that I can find in here. I wouldn't want someone less experienced to misuse it.

[There. Perfectly understandable explanation as to why he's hoarding all of the Tower's 115.]

Yes, that's true.

[That IS a perfectly reasonable explanation!]

Maybe if you discover anything else about it, you'll tell me sometime. It sounds really interesting.

(no subject)

doctor_dismemberment - 2012-12-20 21:42 (UTC) - Expand

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