[open]

[iustitia]

» WHO? Terezi + OPEN
» WHEN? 5/28
» WHERE? mess hall, hallways
» WHAT? fixing the food replicators, chalk drawings on the walls
» WARNINGS? none

[MESS HALL]

[When Dave messaged Terezi about the SORD..... being stuck in a toilet, Terezi had been overcome with the looming feeling of dread that she was next. What stupid creation that she'd alchemized in her youth would come back to haunt her? The FOLLY OF H3R OWN HORR1FY1NGLY S1NC3R3 HUBR1S had a lot of unbelievably moronic skeletons in its closet.

So, when all she found was a package of chalk in her ablutionblock cabinet and a user manual for the food replicators under her nug cushion, she counted herself lucky. Things could have been so much worse. Thank you, shitty screaming space ghosts. Thank you for taking pity on her.

Manual: OPEN
Tools: ACQUIRED
Now she's in the mess hall, getting ready to throw down with one of these dodgy pieces of shit. She is here to fix replicators and chew bubblegum, and she doesn't have any bubblegum because the replicators are too fucked to make her any!!!

Too bad these instructions doesn't make any fucking sense.

She's pried the front panel open and set it aside, exposing its guts of wires and parts. Every tool Terezi could find, wheedle, or borrow is neatly laid out before her on a towel. She doesn't know what half of these are for or if they're even going to be useful, but better safe than sorry.

She takes a deep whiff of the innards of the machine, fixing the colors in her mind, and consults the manual. Unfortunately, it's like an automotive repair book: technically, it tells you everything you need to know about fixing your car. Unfortunately, you need to already know how to fix your car to get the most out of it. Double unfortunately, Terezi has never been elbow-deep in robo guts in her entire life.

This is going to be an Ordeal.

She takes another sniff at the replicators and in the most wondering, amazed voice, she says:]

I have... no idea what the fuck is happening in here.

[HALLWAYS]

[It's been such a long time since Terezi has had some good Alternian chalk. Sure, the fact that they're dyed with wiggler blood is pretty fucked up, but it lends a certain... je ne sais quois to the quality. The smoothness of the lines. The lack of dust. The vibrancy of the taste! You can't get much better than this. She needs to stretch her creative wings and fly, you know?

There's all sorts of chalk drawings on the walls: a map of the much beloved Can Town, the soft pastels of her home forest, an incredibly shitty and elaborate dragon, and the courtroom of the troll justice system that is clearly the centerpiece of her work.

With the reluctance of a dog being told not to eat the cupcake that's just fallen on the ground, Terezi pulls the bright cherry red chalk from her maw and gets back to work on His Honorable Tyranny. No court is complete without a horrifying monster to act as judge over the proceedings and threaten to eat all the criminals, as well as the lawyers.]

Comments

Mess hall

[tumang]

[ Amos is just up for a bit of terrible-bland-tasteless breakfast, probably a protein bar at best, when he spots Terezi and her fabricator. Reminds him of the other day, Kara playing around with them, Amos helping out because fuck it, what else would he be doing? Might as well try and make the food more palatable, as well as keep him busy.

But now Kara is nowhere to be found anymore, the food still tastes the same, and so when Amos hears Terezi's voice, he walks closer, leaning in to peer at the insides of the machine, until he spots the book by her side. ]

Is that a manual?

[ Well now, that changes everything. ]

[iustitia]

[Terezi turns her head and looks up. And up and up and etc etc etc. He's tall, and she has to crane her neck at a very strange angle to get a good sniff at him, but once she does, her face lights up in a smile of recognition. Hey, she remembers this guy!]

Yeah! When I woke up yesterday, it was right under my pillow.

[She hefts the manual up for him to look at.]

I want to fix up these crummy machines. Maybe they're not broken? But they probably could do with some kind of tune-up, you know? I'm tired of it being a coin flip if I'm going to get something edible to eat! I thought that the book would make more sense if I could check out the replicators for myself, but as soon as I got the casing open, it got real clear real quick that it's not going to be easy.

[tumang]

They're not broken. At least, they're mostly not broken. [ Amos agrees immediately, taking the book from her and taking a look before sitting by the bunch of tools she's got lined up, the replicator spilling its guts on the table. He's never been much for user manuals, always preferring to turn things inside out to see for himself how they work, or listen to Naomi's instructions, but his tinkering with Kara didn't really change much, so.

Maybe this will. ]

Pretty sure it's mainly about fixing the amount of flavoring that gets injected in every meal. So, finding the right tubes going to the right valves. Maybe switching a few. Possibly a few of them have been eaten away, which is why it's not always delivering the right amount.

[ He turns to the weird little troll, remembering their first meeting. He noticed her sniffing things a lot. ]

You're good with your nose, right? Can you pinpoint if there's something that smells like it's less used than something else?

[iustitia]

Oh!

[Terezi tilts her head, "looking" at machine guts with this information in mind. Now that she knows what to pay attention to, she can get a little clearer picture of what's going on in there. So, it's the tubes that she should be paying attention to? That... makes sense, actually.]

Well, I'm not exactly a barkbeast. I'm sharp, but not that sharp! But I can give it a shot. Don't expect too much from me, though.

[Before the trolls were wiped out, some legislacerators went out into the field with their dog-like guardians, and they could sniff out contraband and illicit goods. That's a level of sensitivity Terezi can only dream of -- she can pick up things most other people can't, but she's no bloodhound.

There is a hint of something, though, now that he's given her some direction. It's not something she would have thought to focus on before. The colors of a few of the tubes are just a little fuller. They don't seem worn down from use, and there's a heaviness to them, a stronger scent, like the flavoring has been sitting there for a while.]

Hm... [Hesitantly, she points to the first three tubes on the lefthand side.] I think... maybe these?

[tumang]

[ Amos smirks, but doesn't answer. It's not like he'd get annoyed if she couldn't sort it, they'd just look at another solution. But he's also not one for bullshit reassurances or comfort.

And, for some reason, he doesn't think she'd want them, either.

She moves closer to the machine, doing her thing, while Amos keeps thumbing at the book, skimming the information. There's a lot here he doesn't think they can do much with, but it does seem to talk about adding more than just protein powder to the fabricators to produce more varied meals. Does that mean -

He'll have to talk to Prax. And Haru.

But before that, Terezi is pointing at a few tubes, and Amos leans in, taking one between two fingers, squeezing along the length. ]

Looks like a blockage. Maybe water went in. Do you have a small wrench?