catch-all — take a sad song and make it better ;

[respiting]

Who: rocket and you
When: post-august event
Where: solvunn settlements, the horizon
What: a day in the life (and also building his horizon)
Warnings: none so far but will warn if they come up!


my schemes are just like all my dreams — solvunn ;

[ It's just another day in the commune, and in his newly mended and much better fitting robes (with pockets!), Rocket makes the rounds. Not that he makes a point of it at all, or says anything, or even thinks about it but he's taken to helping the locals whenever he sees an opportunity: mostly simple stuff like mending fences and roofs, fixing up tools, and then there's the odd wrangling of a goat.

Because, yeah. After his confrontation with some weird too-many-armed creature in defense of the goats, he's been keeping an eye on them a little. Every now and again. Just because.

Throughout the day(s) he can be found:

i) Mending said fences, just knee-deep in manual labour and looking surprisingly content while doing it. It's not just busy work (even thought it kinda is) but there's a surprising kind of productive feeling to the act. Maybe even something like ... fulfillment. But like hell is he ever gonna admit such a thing. Gross.

ii) Later, he might be found at one of the nearby little drinking holes, taking a local up on their offer for a free meal for helping them with a task (this time it was fixing a roof). If he recognizes you, he'll nod his head, which is essentially your cue to join him if you want. ]

Eh. Anything you want, it's on me. They owe me like twenty more of these things just today.

[ iii) And finally, at the end of the day Rocket will be making his way back to the treehouse near the Black Eye Lakes. He pauses as the sun sets to lift his head towards the bright orange skies and watch them for just a little bit.

To no one in particular (though clearly within earshot of you): ]

Well, I guess it's not all bad here.

here am i floating 'round my tin can — the horizon ;

[ Rocket's experience with the Horizon is still a little new and will take a little practice, but following his last visit there with Vash, in which there had been a lot of empty barren land and not much else, he decides that it's finally time to get to work on his own space.

He doesn't take up a whole lot of that space because being ruler of a planet or a kingdom or even grounded land has never been Rocket's ambition. Instead, it's a metal platform that he's currently working on, which stands beneath a system of control panels and steering systems that have already been installed, lights glowing through the motherboard. It looks like it's the kind of thing that will take a hell of a lot of work, and it'll be slow in its progress, but it's precise and it's exactly the way that Rocket wants it.

It's the starts of a spaceship. ]

Yeah. [ He makes a sweeping gesture with his free claw, while the other readjusts his goggles. There's a small shiny little symbol to signify the Chariot emblazoned on the side.

He points to the box of tools to the side, perfectly sized to him and looking already worn and well-loved. ] Yeah, that thing. Can you pass it over?

and oh, it's never quite as it seems — wildcard ;

[ feel free to leave your own starter below in any such fashion you wish if the above don't quite work for you! i'm down to party with anything and reach out to me via plurk/PM/discord to hash out any details! ]

Comments

[respiting]

[ 🤝

This is a fundamental aspect of understanding how Rocket works, and as such ... it's good to be understood in that way. ]

I'll take it. [ He's getting used to the fact that as far as space travel goes, he's in the minority. It's fine, it's nice to be a specialist in something. ] I'd give you the grand tour but this is kind of it.

Any questions?

[techmaturgy]

It's enough.

[As with all spacefaring technology, Viktor thinks he can study it for hours. Even the console is so far beyond anything he's seen before that he's already bubbling over with questions. His gaze is sharp and attentive, the upward quirk of his mouth betraying just how interesting he finds all of this.]

Where I'm from, we managed near-instantaneous travel over land via magical acceleration. Airships. That sort of thing. I can barely conceive of--what kind of fuel do you use?

[respiting]

In the real world? [ As in ... not the Horizon where he's just imagining limitless, non-destructible power sources. ] We got fuel cells. Most of 'em are pretty good, and they'll keep working so long as they don't get damaged. They're like — uh ... batteries.

[ He can only hope that this guy at least understands what a battery is or the comparison isn't going to help explain anything. ]

I'm guessing magic would be pretty handy though. You got some of that? The magic?

[techmaturgy]

We have batteries.

[He says that with a wry smile. Viktor is well aware that he’s far behind many of the other Summoned, technologically speaking, but he’s a quick learner and easily contextualizes advancements in what he knows, gaining an understanding of things like computers and artificial intelligence without much trouble.

And it sort of helped that Tony was around for a while, to explain things to him. To Rocket’s question, he nods.]

Some, yes, though I wasn’t born with the ability. Much of my work involved the harnessing of arcane forces using technological implements.

[respiting]

Oh, good, 'cause I didn't want to have to explain what a battery was.

[ He would've done it anyway, but he likes to make things difficult just because.

But oh, man. If Rocket ever finds out that Tony was here before ... well, it'd be a lot. They spent a lot of time together during those five years, and losing both Nat and Tony at the end of it all, for real ... not that Rocket's ever gonna admit as much aloud, but it hit him pretty hard.

Anyway. ]

And what're arcane forces? [ Because that still sounds magicky to him, but he's curious. The last bit ... he can follow a little, sure. But arcane forces? ] Magic's a whole new thing to me. Where I'm from, and what I know, it's all logic and science and how things fit together. Tech.

I just got used to the idea of gods and superpowers, and half of it still sounds like hokum to me.

[techmaturgy]

It is magic, yes.

[The ambient magic that occurs naturally in the environment--he and Jayce had just figured out a way to draw it out, channel it, and direct it towards productive ends. From there, the possibilities are nearly endless.

But he does understand how it might seem overly-complicated. It was for him, once, before he learned that magic and science don't necessarily have to be opposing forces.]

It's helpful to think of it as an energy source. Less, eh. Mystical.

[respiting]

An energy source —

[ Rocket repeats, turning the words around in his head where they compare to his understanding of magic. ]

Huh. Yeah, I guess that's a good way to think about it. It's the mystical stuff that stumps me. Like the creating something outta absolutely nothing.

[ Even when he's building ships and bombs and other gadgets and weaponry, he isn't making them out of nothing. They use parts and fuel and a very specific pattern in putting them together, piece by small piece.

But what Viktor says does make him wonder about something: ]

They think we're some kind of magic, don't they? The people of this world. Does that mean they also think we're some kinda energy source too?

[ Given the whole kidnapping thing he'd heard about ... ]

[techmaturgy]

That's fair. [It had been hard for Viktor to swallow, at first. Something not beholden to the laws of physics. Kyle, too, has warned him that you can't continue to get something from nothing.] It does take some suspension of disbelief.

[Maybe he just hasn't been at it long enough to discover adverse effects. For now, the benefits seem evident, both at home and here, with the "new magic" that effectively replaces more advanced technology.]

We have a unique connection to the Singularity. It's what allows us to visit this place.

[The Horizon. Viktor seems contemplative, for a moment.]

Maybe not an energy source--but a way to access power that they cannot.

big apologies for how crusty this tag is!!! feel free to drop if it's too old

[respiting]

[ Honestly, his questions only beget more questions, but that's the nature of crash-landing on some brand new planet with its own rules and regulations and no (known) access point out back to their homeworlds, right?

He's been told time and again to ... get used to this place, to make a life here, and that sucks but it's sorta what he's doing. At least for now.

But he's a curious sort by nature, and Viktor seems like the kind of dude who knows a thing or two, so. ]

And we can't really help it, can we? Like, you can't exactly take that ability to access this Singularity thing and use it for yourself, can you?

[techmaturgy]

Not...yet.

[Maybe that's saying a bit too much. Obviously Rocket is an engineer, and if he's anything like Viktor, he'll like having a problem to solve. Even the inkling of it might set him down a path, but if there's one thing Viktor has learned since arriving here, it's that everything is temporary. If they want to leave, or preserve what they've found in this place, they need to make this leap, sooner or later.]

Wielding the power of the Singularity itself is ambitious. But I don't believe it's impossible.