4. [Action]

[rewritethis]

[Out in the Quad on this particular morning, there's a small scaffold poking out of an open patch of grass. The grass was there yesterday. The scaffolding wasn't. Neither are likely to be the first thing a passerby would notice, though - that would probably be the rocket. You know, the one that just shot fifty feet straight up into the air.

It's not long before the little canister sputters out, drops, bounces off the metal frame below and rolls to a halt on the ground, some distance away from the guy who launched it. He looks less than impressed by its performance, although for a minute or two it's hard to tell in between all the violent coughing. Maybe a filter mask would work better than his jacket sleeve...

Anyway, all he can do for now is wait for the canister to cool down, and waiting isn't his favourite way to pass the time. He'd probably welcome a distraction. If the noise or the rocket itself happened to interrupt anybody's day, he's... slightly sorry... but what he doesn't know about can't weigh on his conscience, right?]

Comments

[marearcana]

[That certainly caught a certain unicorn's attention.]

Is everything all right?

[rewritethis]

[He looks around pretty quickly, but his surprise doesn't last for long.] Oh, it's you. Yeah, I'm just... testing something out. Don't worry about it.

[marearcana]

Do you want any help with it?

[rewritethis]

No offense, but you don't look like much of an engineer. [He exhales rather sharply, ruffling his own hair.] Doesn't matter, anyway. I figured this one would just be a proof of concept, and it didn't even manage that.

[marearcana]

You'd be surprised.

[She grins for a little bit.]

So, what was it supposed to do?

[fotlenke]

[Behind the little display sits Sigyn, cross-legged on her coat, smiling all the while.]

Bravo!

[rewritethis]

[He glares.] What's so funny? If you want a show, there's a whole tourist trap out there waiting. [Who is this, anyway?]

[fotlenke]

There's a show?

[She just continues smiling, leaning back on her arms.]

[rewritethis]

Could be. Maybe you should go find it.

[fotlenke]

I don't know.

[She shrugs her shoulders, cocking her head to the side, grinning mischievously.]

You're an alchemist, is that right?

[hawkette]

Well well it's canon boy. You taking up a hobby in rocketry?

[rewritethis]

Seeing how well this thing took off? Yeah, I doubt it. [He prods at it with a foot.] Just trying out some stuff I found in a book. It's all pretty new to me.

[hawkette]

I know absolutely nothing about rockets, but it went up, so you must have done something right, right?

[rewritethis]

Right. And if I threw it it'd go up, but it's still not getting into space any time soon.

[hawkette]

...I don't think rockets like that actually go into space.

[timetours]

Nice little science project, there.

[Sauntering on over.]

Although... didn't exactly go very far, did it?

[rewritethis]

Thanks for pointing that out. I almost didn't notice. [He grins a bit, though.] You know anything about these things?

[timetours]

Well... yes, actually. Just a little tiny bit, enough to find it all rather backwards.

[Do not ask him, Ed. He will only proceed to infodump.]

But, first! Are you actually going anywhere with this, or do you just like making things go whoosh? Not that there's anything wrong with making things go whoosh, obviously, but if there's a point to it, well...

[rewritethis]

[A relevant infodump would be pretty great round about now, but he probably wouldn't get one from this guy...]

Just a dumb idea I had about getting into outer space, that's all. It looked better on paper.

[timetours]

Really?

[Looks at that canister, pointedly.]

No offense, but unless you have shrinking powers - which, well, you might, going by the general variety of weirdness this place attracts - I don't think you're going to fit in anything small and light enough to be propelled by that thing. Even if it could reach space.

But...

I can get us special access to the innards of something that can.

How did I post that in the wrong place? =|

[espio]

[Hey. Ed. Ed, you know how you're short? WELL YOU'RE IN LUCK and get to stand over someone, because this guy's under four foot tall. And he's glaring at your rocket for the noise.]

Can't you find somewhere less central to shoot bits of whatever in the air?

...a sorceress did it?

[rewritethis]

[Glaring or no glaring, he's privately revelling in the novelty! Which doesn't make it easy to think much of the complaint.] Probably, yeah. Why?

OBVIOUSLY

[espio]

Aside from the noise?

Because whatever comes up is gonna come down, and the last thing I want to end up doing is having to heal whoever gets hit by the debris. This is a common spot for general recreation - take it somewhere else!

What the hell are you shooting rockets off for, anyway?

[rewritethis]

It was one rocket! And it's just a personal project! Shouldn't that count as recreation?

[espio]

It's pretty much a weapon. So, except for the training centre, it's forbidden within the Garden.

[Yes, it's a stretch, but hey.]