voice, @Doc Knock

[paintjobs]

A quick question — does anyone among us have any background in synthesizing? I know the finer points of the science are probably a little beyond your evolutionary pay grade, and I’d usually know better than to run this by a bunch of humans and humans lookalikes, but, well… desperate times, as they say.

I’ve heard from the Qorral Mayor that their species hasn’t had much success with synthesizing argecite, but synthetic materials just so happens to be one of my specialties.

[ And sure, he’s had disastrous results before, but they were still results! He probably won’t accidentally make any vampire zombies here, it’s fine. ]

If any of you think you’d be of any use to efforts to engineer an artificial compound to replace argecite — synth-ar, you could say — feel free to speak up. The only hitch being that this backwater planet doesn’t have much in the way of laboratory equipment. The local blacksmith has been told to expect us stopping by with equipment requests, but I have to wonder if even that is enough. This is a ground-up operation if I’ve ever seen one.

Comments

audio; [un: ironman]

[hyperverbose]

[ perdition's rest has not been kind to tony stark, and he's spent a lot more time holed up with the local moonshine than he'd care to admit, particularly since pepper vanished. those who know him might have noticed his extended silence and started to be concerned about him, but there's one announcement over the network that certainly catches his interest.

so much so that he listens into all the results, backreading through the dossiers casually as he does so, the wheels turning as he grasps onto something that he feels like he can have some sense of control over: science.

he opens up a response channel and sounds almost more like he's musing aloud to himself than actually responding, his voice almost annoyingly casual. ]

What kind of process were you planning, exactly? Flame fusion? Czochralski? We're not exactly in a position to stimulate flux growth, let alone hydrothermal. Pretty sure we could cook up a homemade Vernuil furnace and supercharge it to fit the bill. [ you can all but hear his shrug ] Might not be crystalline, but we're basically doing the Chopped synthetic challenge, so we'll have to work with what we have.

[paintjobs]

[ whoa now, talk about your unexpectedly promising reply. he listens to this ramble with growing interest, and there's a short pause, then: ]

Hang on. Who are you? One of the humans? [ why do you actually sound like you know your stuff?? ]

[hyperverbose]

Top of the human pile, really. [ and so modest ]

Tony Stark.

[paintjobs]

Mm. [ no problem with a little bragging, so long as it's valid. it sounds like it might be here. ] Knock Out.

I'm only passingly familiar with the Czochralski process; you wouldn't believe how outdated it is. I'd got electrode arc processors in mind, it's a cleaner fusion and easy to to rig together if you're running low on proper equipment. Which I'd say we are, considering we'll be building anything of consequence from scratch.

[hyperverbose]

Lucky for you then, you'd be hard pressed to find another human who knows as much about arc reactor fusion than I do.

Sounds like kismet to me.

[paintjobs]

I can't wait to see your talk in action, then. [ he's gonna be real disappointed if this guy isn't as good as he sounds! ] We'll be starting tomorrow, pending materials donated from the bandits, and a location found by Urahara. The latter may take some time — I had a few exacting specifications.

[hyperverbose]

Built-in bar. Good man.

[paintjobs]

[ a snort. ]

If only. No, I'm going to need the room and doors to be at least 20 feet tall, and I understand not many Qorral buildings are built with those proportions in mind.

[hyperverbose]

What exactly are you planning to cart in there?

[paintjobs]

Myself, obviously. I'm a Cybertronian, and also not a fan of stooping.

[hyperverbose]

... Cybertronian. Right. Not sure we have those... on Earth.

[paintjobs]

I doubt if you'd know about it, if you did. We blend in well.

[hyperverbose]

Invisibility?

[paintjobs]

Not quite. [ It goes against his instincts to volunteer information about their best infiltration techniques... but even he can admit it's pointless being cagey about it here. ] Alternative modes. It's handy on planets that have developed machinery.

[hyperverbose]

Alternative--

Shapeshifting?

[paintjobs]

Transformation. Shapeshifting only happens in human urban fantasy movies. [ which he has seen, thank you. drive in theaters are great. ]

[hyperverbose]

The objective difference here being...?

[paintjobs]

Different implications. But the main difference being, transformation is what we call it. [ because it sounds better, god!!!! have some sense for aesthetic ]

[hyperverbose]

"We" being your Cyberbullying brethren.

[paintjobs]

Cybertr — [ a pause. a sigh. ] Yes.

[hyperverbose]

Well. This, I can't wait to see.

[paintjobs]

I'm told I am quite a sight, switching modes.

[hyperverbose]

Something we have in common then.

[paintjobs]

With all due respect, I'll believe that when I see it.

[hyperverbose]

Stay tuned.