cradleproject | WEEK 9

monday morning - parlor

[ Who cares about secrets? Certainly not Handsome Jack, or at least not on the surface. He has something to work on, thank you very much. If you stop by the parlor on Monday morning, you're likely to find Jack there most of the day, working rather intently on something. In fact, you'll probably hear him first, since apparently, whatever it is, it's pretty frustrating. ]

Oh, you have got to— Right, of course, we have a printer than can print every goddamn alien dick you could ever hope for, but noooo actually helpful tools, that's waaay too much to ask.

[ He breaks off into muttering after this, but if you approach the table he's claimed as his own, you'll see that he's working on a shiny, chrome arm that should look rather familiar. Or at least, part of it. Most of Rhys's arm is gone now, and there's significant modifications done to the hand portion to make it a bit more mechanical instead of wiring directly into your body. Is this a little horrifying? Very possibly! But when Jack hears someone come in, he leans back to look at them, though he's definitely also speaking with a screwdriver in his mouth... It's hard to do this one-handed, which is the real source of his frustration. ]

Hey— Think you could do a guy a favor, pumpkin?

tuesday evening - cafeteria

[ So it's dinnertime, and for the most part, Jack keeps to himself lately. He's at least aware that he's not the most popular person here, but also, maybe he doesn't care? It's hard to tell, sometimes. He's pretty engrossed with Furry Passing on his datapad, but eventually, he looks up from making his town a stunning beacon of luxury (obviously). ]

Hey— Just curious, so humor me for a sec here.

[ He motions to the game ]

Whaddya make of this? I mean- Damn, the game itself is friggin stupid. But also weirdly addicting? I hate it. [ No, wait, don't get distracted. He waves his hand dismissively. ] But the dead people thing. That. That's prettyyyyyy fucked up, even for "murder each other for fun" standards.

wildcard

[ As usual, make up your own prompt and come talk to Jack! ]

[The parlor is usually too people-filled for Clover's liking but Jack's fine, she likes Jack because her standards are plummeting to new lows every day around here. Curiosity manages to take precedence over how tired and sad she is.

And she is never too tired to refuse to deal with this nickname shit.] Try again.

[ Just because he would have actually used her name, I'm pretending he didn't actually look up in this case, so! Jack leans back to see who he's asking for help, and his expression is immediately apologetic. ]

Ahhhh, shit. My bad, Clover. So, yeah, first of all, not pumpkin, get it. Kinda weird anyways. Second, uh.

[ He assumes it was the name thing, but just in case, he adds, even though there's definitely a big question mark in his voice: ] ...Please?

[FAIR!! and what a champ, correcting himself so quickly, and she even almost looks amused when he tries for a "please." It was definitely the name thing, but she'll take that, too.]

Bonus points for manners. What's up?

[ Oh, sweet, bonus points. He actually looks pretty genuinely pleased to get them. Jack laughs, then sits back as he beckons for her to come closer. ]

Great. Okay, so, got a little project goin' on here, as you can see. Rhysie may have kicked the bucket, but luckily the asshole alien inside of him was not a big fan of cybernetics. But. Modifying this shit one handed? Total bitch.

[ He nods to the mostly finished hand laying on the table. ]

Been working on this piece of junk for two weeks now, but I'm about ready to actually, y'know, fit it and stuff. Think you could help me out with that?

[She wastes no time inviting herself into a seat across from him, propping her face up in her hand and nodding at the hand with more interest than most things have gotten from her the past few weeks. There is the tiniest quirk of her eyebrow when he refers to that time he shot Rhys in the fucking head as "kicking the bucket" but that's...closer to amusement than anything, too, god. #teamjack]

Totally. Just tell me what to do.

[ #teamjack must be stopped

Not that Jack thinks so, of course. He's pretty clearly pleased that she's agreeing, and he reaches out to hold the arm in place while he positions the now nub of his arm inside. ]

Perfect. Basically, what you're going to be doing is just adjusting parts so that I get the fit right. Real easy, but nnnnnot something I can do while holding it there myself. Unless, y'know, I'm using my teeth or something, but-- [ He laughs, shaking his head ] Man, that is just stupid.

[ There's a screwdriver sitting on the table, which he nods towards for her to pick it up. ]

Soooo, just for curiosity's sake here, you do any engineering? Or, hell, I guess this is less engineering and more just, heh, handyman kinda stuff, but. Point remains.

Gotcha. [She looks the hand over like she's trying to figure out how it fits together and what she's supposed to be doing, idly twirling the screwdriver in her hand.]

Nah. I've never been smart enough for that kinda nerd stuff. [well isn't that reassuring......... It's said very matter-of-factly, nothing especially self-depreciating in how she talks about her intelligence, and nothing especially insulting in calling the arm "nerd stuff." That she looks genuinely interested in it probably helps. Still, she probably realizes that that's not really a thing you say before picking at a guy's new fake hand, so she adds:] Obviously I can work a screwdriver, though. And I'm good at following directions.

[ He actually doesn't seem to be that bothered by her dismissive comment, but that's also largely because she can't actually hurt him doing this... The worst that could happen is she makes it too tight, and really, he thinks he'll live through that. ]

Then that's all you need. Just, y'know, checking so I'm using-- Well, okay, kinda easy for me to just slip into jargon. Not quite this, but this kinda thing, it's what I started out doing.

[ However Christy doesn't know how prosthetic hands work in detail, so. We'll just say he gives an instruction and motions for where she should tighten a screw. ]

Won't be hard, at least? Took care of all the hard stuff before I asked someone to help with the fitting.

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[Normally, the idea of doing Jack a favor would send Judar laughing hysterically out of the room - but goddammit, he's actually really interested in how the prosthetic works. It might not be magic, but it's close enough that it pings all of his nerd senses. So he'll float on over, peering at the arm curiously.]

Depends on what you're asking me to do.

[ Jack grins as if he's accomplished something great here, because, hey, getting Judar to drift over curiously? He'll call that a win in his book. His very petty book.

The arm itself is sitting rather neatly open, exposing all of the muscle and tendon-like cords that are meant to emulate just that. For being done with minimal supplies, it's probably impressive, or so Jack would personally like to think. It's rough around the edges, sure, but it'll work. ]

Nothing that hard, princess. Just-- Okay, will totally admit it. So far? Definitely a bitch to make yourself a hand single-handedly. Pun definitely intended. Been working on it myself, doing all the basics, yadda yadda yadda, but actually doing the final adjustments...

[ He picks up a screwdriver and twirls it between his fingers. ]

That part? Kinda hard. So. Help me out? Because, hey, if you do, mmmmmay have taken your advice under consideration, just sayin'.

[Honestly, that's a pretty good win, yeah. Judar actually does look pretty impressed when he gets a closer look at the interior - magic's one thing, but building this all by hand? Yeah, he can admit when something's pretty damn cool.]

You did all this on your own? [He actually lets out a low whistle.] I really gotta hand it to you, that's kind of awesome. Is the similarity to the muscles of an actual arm meant to be functional or aesthetic?

[And at Jack's last sentence, his face actually lights up like an excited child. Why is he so excited about this, god.] No kidding? You show me how that works, I'm totally down to le -- to help out.

[he almost said 'lend a hand' but no that's too many hand puns in one tag]

Yep, sure did. Would have been waaaaay easier with some other tools, but, y'know, those tools could totally kill someone, so kinda not surprised I didn't have them. Still. Would have killed for a friggin laser cutter. Had to go back to the stone ages to get some of the parts smooth, but, hey, I'm a rockstar when it comes to this kinda stuff.

[ also very humble ]

But, yeah, look is purely practical here, since I wasn't really shooting for aesthetics so much as "get this done." Nature's got a pretty tried and tested system going here, so I'm not gonna try and make up my own version. Rhys's version, that's high tech stuff, also surgical, so that wasn't gonna work for me. You got something myoelectric, that's pretty impossible for me to just slap on myself and get to work. Also, I mean, it would look friggin' stupid? I would have like one great, perfect arm, then one tiny T-Rex arm since princess really liked the tw-- No, I'm not finishing that thought.

Point is, this one? Purely mechanical. Can't do fine-tuned motions with the fingers, since that's too complex, but the tension of the wire and bands work like the tendons. Different motions get you different hand movements. So you bend the wrist, and its gonna force the hand closed. It's technical, since you're having to get all the tensions right, but not as bas as if I was working from scratch. All the parts to do that were inside, so it was just, y'know, matter of rearranging.

[ There's a smoothness to his explanation that might be surprising, because for all of Jack's personality, apparently he's actually a pretty smart guy... Though that's contrast even more against part two of his explanation here, which is much more brief, and it's also delivered with a proud grin. ]

Great, pumpkin. You help me get this bad boy set up, I'll show off the cool shit I added.

[ He motions to the chair across from him for Judar to take a seat. ]

[Yeah, Judar understood about 5% of that, but that 5% is still fascinating enough that he doesn't just glaze out and ignore the rest of what Jack's saying.]

Can't say I followed most of that, but I think I get the bigger picture. Better to keep it simple and functional than over-complicate it with shit that won't work, I'm guessing? [He tilts his head.] Electric? So this thing communicates with the brain using electrical impulses?

[And he'll go ahead and plop down, leaning forward.] Awesome. Just tell me what you need me to do.

[ He'll take it, at least... Jack actually loves explaining stuff like this, since, for one, it is genuinely one of his passions. But of course, more than that, he's a narcissist that just likes when he feels smart. ]

Yeah, Rhys's did, buuuut mine won't. Kinda involves surgery, hooking nerves to wires, et cetera, et cetera... Not even sure if that would be possible to do yourself. And no offense in this particular case, but don't exactly trust any of y'all to do that kind of surgery on me.

[ He barely trusts a competent surgeon for it, though.

Since Judar has agreed, Jack shifts the hand on the table and slips the nub of his arm inside the cavity of the prosthetic. ]

But. This? Simple. Basically just doing the fittings, so you're gonna tightens the sections I tell you to tighten. Grab the screwdriver aaaand the pliers. Those'll be a good place to start.

Yeah, kind of sucks all the doctors and people with medical knowledge are dead now, huh? [why does he sound so casual about this, god...]

Got it, got it. [And he'll do just that, peering into the arm. Are you sure you trust him with this, Jack. Are you sure.]

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[A person's popularity tends to go down based on how many people they've killed in public. Shocking, isn't it? It's almost like killing people is bad. But, whatever. Jason is pausing for a split second here, almost like he's debating whether to keep walking or not — before he just rolls with it.]

Is it fucked up? I thought it was a pretty nice touch. [Is... Is he bluffing? Maybe.] I mean, don't get me wrong. Could've lived the rest of my life without seeing Harold looking like that. But if they're going to make our lives hell, they might as well go all the way.

[Yeah. No. It was pretty fucked up. It's true.]

[ See, but like, that's factually untrue??? He only got more popular the more people he murdered. Granted, that's in the part of the universe that contains Pandora, but. Still. Totally counts. (It does not.) ]

Totally fucked up, bucko. Like, not disagreeing that there's plenty of that to go around, but seeing dead people is pretty weird. Also weird because of how they look in the game, but, eh.

[ He shrugs, then starts to check his mailbox. ]

Hey, what about you, though? You get a letter from any of our stiffs?

I'm sure it's a feature, not a bug. Haven't you always wanted to collect all your favorite dead pals?

Nope! That's super weird and a little serial killer-ish.

[ Jack says this quickly and almost... proudly? Like, where that may be coming from isn't at all clear here, but considering Jack, it's usually better not to ask. He taps at the screen lightly, then shakes his head. ]

I think Alice is a huge bitch, personally. Granted, may be because I don't have anyone else to blame here, but. Y'know.

Are you supposed to think anything different? Who's been here for the last two months and is like "what a pleasant companion, I'm so happy with my entire experience and how sometimes my body just stops working, 4-stars"?

I dunno, kiddo! Some of our compadres, they seem to get along with Al really well.

[ He shrugs, but he's not taking it seriously based on the way he laughs. It's more an idle, teasing observation more than anything else. ]

You can never trust an AI that smart. Seriously, you'd think more people would have seen sci-fi movies, buuuut I guess we do have a lot of people that might as well be from Bunkers and Badasses.

What's Bunkers and Badasses, and why's it mean people would think sociopathic robots with control over literally everything you need to survive was a good idea?

Board game. Well, roleplaying game, technically, since you make a character, pretend to go on a fantasy adventure, that kinda thing.

[ He waves his hand dismissively. ]

Less the AI part and more half the people here don't even friggin' know what a computer is, kiddo.

Oh, okay, nerd stuff, with the crazy dice. I get what you're saying. Honestly, with all the sci-fi reject space stuff up here, it would've been nice if anyone knew anything about tech, but I guess we're not so lucky...

WEEK 9

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monday

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monday

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tuesday

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tuesday

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