Locked in the Tower ✪ Part Two: Garbage Day

[megazero_to_superhero]

Characters:	David "Little David" Puskás, and all youse guys!
Setting:	Any floors throughout the tower, Floor Fifty-five (the Incinerator), and later Floor Fifteen (the Workshop).
Format:	Matching tagger's choice, but starting with Prose.
Summary:	David finally gets around to putting his rifle back together. Before that, the tower's given him an all-too-familiar job to do.
Warnings:	Well, the workshop's not OSHA compliant ... come to think of it, neither is the incinerator.

Option A: Any stairways/floors and Floor 55 (Incinerator)


     What a way for things to come full circle.

     This morning, he'd received a notice that he'd been assigned a job within the Tower. Garbage Duty. The very sort of job he'd had in the years before he answered the call to justice.

     Yet, the recent events in the tower—not just the glamour failure, but the concerted acts of defiance and rebellion as well as the network discussions on whether or not everyone had accepted the life imposed on them—did have David initially doubting himself. Should he do this job? It'd just be mindlessly accepting what the Tower wants from him, wouldn't it? That bit of doubt didn't last very long, though—after all, who wants to live in their own filth? Even if it's made from the same film as everyone's bodies, simulated waste is hardly any more pleasant.

     So it's still a dirty job, and someone's got to do it ... and thankfully, having powered armor with a flight system makes the job much easier.

     So throughout today, wherever you might be in the tower (and especially on Floor Fifty-Five), you'll likely find David hovering about, hauling bags of garbage up and down the Tower to the incinerator with a grim yet chipper look. As if the work itself doesn't bother him all that much, but the circumstances—what's happening to the tower's residents—do.





Option B: Floor 15 (Workshop)


     Once his duty is done for the day, David heads down from the dormitories to Floor Fifteen, armed with a box filled with the parts from his completely disassembled Vanguard "Redding" assault rifle.

     He'd been meaning to get to this since his arrival, but the glamour failure and Ruana's "game" forced him to put it off. Not a good idea to leave yourself vulnerable when you have little means of fighting back. Now, though—between Xue'kol's own notes and the tower floor guide posted on the network, he can get the rifle put back together while there's a lull in the action. The few times he'd scoped out the workshop during his garbage duties, he'd seen that it appeared to have tools suitable for gunsmithing. Just what he'd need to make his rifle whole again.

     It's going to be a time-consuming project. He'll be there for the rest of the day—and likely a few hours into the night at least—installing and assembling the Redding rifle, piece by piece. Holding assemblies in place with vises, driving pin punches, torquing nuts. He's not used to trying to put the rifle back together from a state of complete disassembly, and it shows with the way he fumbles the job every now and then until he gets it right.

     As the gold-and-green rifle's coming together, though, it'll be clear that it's almost as long as David is tall ... which, granted, he's only 5'3", but that's still a damn big gun.

Comments

Sorry about the long delay! I posted a notice on the OOC comm about what's going on with me.

[megazero_to_superhero]

David grins. "The Darin' Little David, at yer service," he replies, grasping Kain's hand with both of his own and giving it a firm shake. "Real name's David Puskás, but 'Little David's' my superhero name, so most people know me by dat."

He glances back at the nearly-reassembled Redding Rifle. His expression flattens a little, turning from a friendly grin to a more lopsided, annoyed one. "Da admins decided to be real wise guys an' left me with dis disassembled copy of my rifle. So I've been tryin' to put it back together. Blasters ain't much good if dey can't blast, yanno?"

Not a problem!

[ajealouswind]

Kain's eyebrows lift, David's answer apparently surprising him in some fashion. "It's a pleasure to properly meet you, Little David. Ah... your... 'superhero name'?" He's learning that he's going to have to start asking questions if he doesn't want to be wandering around in a constant state of bewilderment, awkward as it may feel.

"Ah. How nice of them. They've done that to quite a few people. My Holy Lance arrived snapped into several pieces. A broken weapon does no one any good." Kain looked quite serious and certainly sympathetic.

[megazero_to_superhero]

With an inquisitive air, David's head tilts slightly at the mention of Kain's Holy Lance. Is this guy some sort of paladin? Spear-using heroes were a rare sight in Paragon ...

Kain's reaction to hearing about superheroes is what David replies to, however. "Never met a superhero type in da Tower before?" He knows he can't be the only one here, not after meeting Grumpy Red Coat. "Anybody who's got powers an' protects da public counts. You might be one, if dat's what you use your Holy Lance for."

David grins again. "'Course, havin' a public image is also a big part of bein' a superhero."

[ajealouswind]

Kain may or may not have laughed at the paladin comparison. If he had laughed, it might have been bitter laughter. David's attempt to explain superheroes was a better angle of conversation, in the long run. "No, I haven't. Well... I may have met the type, but not anyone that calls themselves such a thing." Protect the public? Have powers? Those were heroes, certainly, but...

"I'd hesitate to call myself a hero. I'm a soldier." A pause. "A Dragoon, if that means anything to you. What... what does a public image have to do with it? And why 'super'?" He's more honestly confused than anything else, but he wants to try and understand this... so. More questions.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Oh. So this guy says he's a soldier and a dragoon ... Yeah, David remembers his high school history enough for that to ring a bell. And the Brits seemed to have a lot of modern military units named dragoons, too. "So you're some horse cavalry guy, den? I think most dragoons ride tanks nowadays."

"But anyway, yeah, da 'super' thing comes from 'superpowers.' I dunno how it is where you're from, but most people, dey ain't invincible, strong enough to pick up a house, fly, or got psychic or magic powers. Dat's all superpower stuff," David explains. "An' havin' a public image is important, 'cause, well—people look up to heroes, yanno? We're like a beacon of hope for da little guy. Dat's how it was fer me when I was jus' a kid growin' up. Watchin' da greats like Statesman an' Hero One save da world on da nightly news."

[ajealouswind]

"Yes, and no. Baron's Dragoons once rode dragons. When there were dragons left to ride." There's a subtle shift in his expression for a moment, a narrowing of the eyes and thinning of the lips. "We're more likely to be found on airships, these days. Tanks? Those are more the domain of the dwarves." It encouraged him immensely, though, that David recognized the word. Perhaps their worlds would have similarities, like his and Mihli's.

"That's... hm. Most people live ordinary enough lives. But those who can cast spells or who can fight well and who conduct themselves properly are heroes, mostly... maybe it's far more uncommon in your world than in mine. You'd be a 'superhero' yourself, then?" He said it with a smile. Brave folk with good intent were always in short supply, and always welcome company.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Huh. Tank-riding dwarves and cavalrymen on airships and dragons. Well, David can't say Primal Earth has much of that, but he doesn't interject. Rather, he listens to what Kain has to say, nodding once or twice while readjusting the cigar in his mouth. Only when Kain asks whether David is a superhero himself does David respond.

"You betcha," David says with a chipper sort of pride. "Technology-origin, specifically." To demonstrate the point, David's flight system activates, blue jets of plasma flaring from the back and boot-mounted thrusters as he hovers about a foot or so off of the ground.

Although, given his short stature, it's more likely he and Kain are seeing eye-to-eye now.

[ajealouswind]

Eye-to-eye indeed, and Kain's eyes have gotten quite wide. He hadn't been expecting that. "Very nice. I know a few engineers that would enjoy having a chat with you." Well. Knew. They're all dead and gone, after all. No need to mention it aloud.

"How much of your equipment is working? And once it is, do you plan on patrolling the tower?"

[megazero_to_superhero]

David allows himself a small grin at Kain's amazement. "Well, I ain't no gee-whiz genius at makin' dis stuff. I just did a lotta tinkerin' in my spare time. But, uh, as far as my equipment—" He glances over himself for a moment, as if performing a quick inventory on his person. "Just about everyting in my powered armor suit is workin' fine. But I can;t do much fightin' without my gun. An' even after i get it put back together, it's gonna need ammo."

He gives Kain a more lopsided grin again. "Da admins didn't let me have any."

[ajealouswind]

Kain returns David's lopsided grin. "They would do that, wouldn't they? I think you might have to look in to learning to use another weapon. Do you think you'd be up for that?"

There's an offer of training just around the corner, here... but before he outright says it, Kain wishes to gauge if David would even be fit for it. He's a little short, but sturdy enough... surely capable of swinging a sword, if needed.

[megazero_to_superhero]

Learning how to use a melee weapon wasn't usually something David would contemplate. After all, his role as a Blaster is to stay out of harm's way, even if all too often he wound up having to brawl and tase opponents as much as he shot at them ... but the Tower changed everything. He wasn't much good to anyone without some means of fighting, right?

... but, where would he get a melee weapon ... Oh, wait! That's right! He picked up a sword off of those Orcs when the glamour failed! Correspondingly, David's face lights up in realization.

"Yeah, I picked up a spare a while after we met dat day," David replies. "You any good wit da one-handed swords?"

[ajealouswind]

"They're not my favored weapon, but I'm capable enough. I could give you some lessons, if you'd like. Maybe we can find you a shield, for good measure."

That's the sort of thing Kain had hoped to hear. Heroic enthusiasm. Perhaps he should have expected it, from how David had been conducting himself thus far.

"There's a gym a fair way up, and I've seen some using it for sparring in the daytime. Does that sound acceptable?"

[megazero_to_superhero]

"Sure ting," David responds. "All's about I know about swords is 'swing as hard as you can an' hope you hit somethin'.' Normally I'd leave da scrappin' to da experts, heh."

David glances back over at his rifle. "Yanno, I really shoulda modded a bayonet on dat thing ..."

[ajealouswind]

"You've got quite a lot to learn, then. Which I'm sure that I can teach you."

He follows David's gaze back to the rifle on the workbench, eyebrows lifting. "...bayonet?" When mages flinging fireballs are common, there's not as much call for the development of guns, really...

[megazero_to_superhero]

"Yeah, yanno, a bayonet," David says. If Kain already knew what tanks were, shouldn't he know what a bayonet is? ...

He tries to clarify himself anyway, illustrating the concept with hand gestures as he talks. "Dey're like knives dat you can fix to da business end of a rifle, for when ya gotta get up and close and personal." In an unlearned fashion, David mimics the motion of a soldier stabbing a target with a bayonetted rifle. Almost as if the rifle were a spear. "Military guys got dis whole—well, I guess I can't call it a martial art, but it's dis way of fightin' hand-to-hand with a rifle."

David idly scratches at where his collar meets his neck. Or at least, appears to with the glamour and all. "I shoulda asked somebody from Longbow or Vanguard to show me how it's done."