011 ♐ it's easy living in the house of your dreams ♐ ᴏᴘᴇɴ

[geometry]

Characters: Equius Zahhak (AU) and YOU
Setting: Floor 70, the machine.
Format: Starting in action, but I'll do whatever.
Summary: Equius gets his geek on in the worst conceivable way.
Warnings: Possible crushing, burning, or acid corrosion. YAY SCIENCE!


[...Wow.]

[There was no telling how big this floor was. The walls and ceiling were nowhere in sight, because they were completely covered by a massive breathing machine. There was a faint tinge of rust in the air here, and the outer reaches were further obscured by smoke of various colours. Metal parts clunked and ground against one another, making extremely unattractive noises as they did so. A truly staggering amount of the mechanisms here were burned or dented (or maybe they were supposed to be that way, since they were unfamiliar), but they all seemed to be working together towards... something that wasn't immediately clear. There had to be a million different platforms all around the place, but most of them were conveyor belts, carrying scraps of some kind of metal into a huge boiling vat of liquid that sizzled when something dropped in.]

[It was beautiful.]

[Not much to see here, Tower; just a troll, standing next to the staircase, gawking in amazement at the monstrosity in front of him. Judging from the oil streaks that have long since dried on this particular pair of pants, he could feel perfectly at home here... if he got an opportunity to look around. Right now, it's all unfamiliar. And way too big. All Equius can do for quite a long time is stand there and gawk. What could this thing be for?]

[He seems to want to find out, as shortly afterward he's examining the closer and less dangerous metallic innards. And then the slightly further metallic innards. And eventually he's crawling and jumping all over the place, still in view of the staircase, but observing mechanisms that could crush a hand and balancing on things that really ought not to be balanced on, all in the interest of getting just a little closer to that peculiar piece of machinery. It's just so interesting. He seems to be doing pretty well now; one of Equius' few talents is coordination and nimble movement. But who knows how long that'll last if someone startles him...]

Comments

[geometry]

[Sob.]

Uh.

[He looks down. If he said no, then he'd look like an idiot. If he said yes, he'd look like he was trying to insult Karkat. He's still kind of completely terrified of you, dude, sorry to say, which may explain why he completely fails to answer your question and instead responds with a customary:]

Sorry.

[caliginous]

[He might take a little joy out of the fear, but he won't say so.]

No hard feelings.

[While Equius' head is down, he taps on one of his horn's to get his attention as he walks past to scope out the huge machine, indicating that the other troll should follow him.]

What were you doin' with this monstrosity?

[geometry]

[It's okay, he expects that.]

[Equius shrinks away from Karkat as soon as he taps the horn, but follows along nonetheless. Eventually, his attention is captivated by the room once again, and continues to look up at it as he talks (because looking at what may well be a foreign doomsday machine is better than looking at Karkat Vantas, right?)]

Just... looking around. I was trying to figure out what it, uh, what it does. A-and if we should be concerned. ...More so than we should be concerned about any other floor of the Tower, anyway...

[caliginous]

And?

[He turned to look down at Equius, raising an eyebrow. Not like he couldn't detect that he was nervous, but he could be a useful little shit if he wanted to be and so there was no use in forsaking his friendship

"Friendship".]

Should we be concerned?

[At least he said "we".]

[geometry]

[Friendship is a strong word, Karkat.]

I just got here. And... I recognize almost none of this. [He looks around.] So, uh... yes, do be concerned. Just. Just in case.

[caliginous]

[He knows.]

You gonna pick it apart?

[He lifts one of those shiny red shoes and kicks one of the metal walls of the beast.]

[geometry]

[Pick it a--]

[ ... ]

...Maybe... I don't know...

[caliginous]

[Karkat takes a big sniff of the air, with all of the various liquid scents mixing. His face scrunches as a result.]

Dunno if I'd recommend it.

[geometry]

...What, because of the smell?

[But it's just a. Normal. Chemical smell. What's the problem...]

[caliginous]

Because of what the smell means.

[Corrosive material brah.]

[geometry]

[...Oh.]

Well, obviously I won't be doing it without protection, Karkat.

[caliginous]

[The cerulean sporfles cruelly, flashing his fangs at Equius in an unfortunately predatory fashion. He can't really help it.]

How far do you really think that's gonna get you around this joint?

[geometry]

[Equius' expression is now somewhere in the neighbourhood of horrified and deeply, deeply (unsure).]

Farther than I would without?

[Doesn't really see what you're asking here.]

[caliginous]

Thanks for the status update, captain obvious.

[He pulls a face.]

My point was that you're probably gonna get fucked either way.

[geometry]

[Urk.]

...Well, I assumed that was... a given.