ic contact for futurology

[ricksybusiness]

username: 82736775

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NOTE: rick's username is "RICK" in decimal ASCII.
gif credit to beesandbombs.
code credit to yob.

Comments

( voice ) breaks in this post... slightly after the lightning storm

[defenceless]

[wow, is that a teenage girl screaming into her comm-jewel? it sure is.]

Hey! Hey, you!

[the message would have arrived moments after the telescope assigned to rin tohsaka noticed the following:

Wherever lightning is observed, the stars seem to glow momentarily brighter around it as the atmosphere is charged with electricity, until they are faintly visible to the naked eye. They fade out again about 20 seconds after the lightning is gone.
if it matters, she was very high up when taking the readings, nearly above the tallest peak in chantes—and her telescope never moved, even during the lightning storm.

the telescopes attached to her crystal bird familiar things would have picked up similar readings, just at a greater height.]

voice; i appreciate the gift

[ricksybusiness]

[What Rin perhaps doesn't realize is that Rick, after monitoring the weather and telling people when to go out en masse with their telescopes, decided to take the rest of the day off. Which means he has been at a steady level of inebriation, barely monitoring his mini-computer at all. He'll just check the data later.

He barely registers the storm, but screaming coming from the thing on his wrist is hard to ignore.

He burps into it.] Wh-what? What.

yw

[defenceless]

[she's too... something (pissed off? excited? a mix?) to even wince at the burp, right now.]

Something happened! We saw it! It was important.

[ricksybusiness]

Aw-awesome. Lay it on me.

[Not that Rin can tell, but Rick is lying on the floor.]

[defenceless]

[rick, no]

No— First things first! Are you trying to get us killed?! There was a huge lightning storm!

[ricksybusiness]

Oh. [He seems unconcerned.] My-- urrrrp -- my bad. Did anybody get fried?

[defenceless]

Well, I didn't... and Archer didn't, either...

[ricksybusiness]

Cool. Guess I'll hear about it later. [He is assuming at least somebody got fried. And you agreed to let this man involve you in scientific research, Rin...]

An-anyway, you wanna talk about lightning more, or did you have something for me?

what a beautiful icon

[defenceless]

[hey... danger is her middle name. she lives for danger. it's cool.]

I did have something for you. We saw stars, Rick.

the r&m comics are a treasure

[ricksybusiness]

[There is a pause, and some rustling sounds as Rick gropes for wherever his mini-computer is. He belches again before answering.]

Right... I see it here. Uh, it's -- it's not stars. They're not far away enough. Can y-y-y-- describe what you saw.

yes they must be

[defenceless]

It's not stars.

[said so disbelieving it's like rin thinks he's making shit up.]

Fine. First, the lightning storm started up. Then, whenever a bolt of lightning shot down through the air, the not-stars brightened up like they were glowing. I guess it was a side effect of the electricity's charge?

But we could see the not-stars, though they disappeared again less than a minute later.

[ricksybusiness]

[Wow, Rin! Wow. He is very audibly drunk right now, do you think he has the creativity to make things up?

Rick belches before answering, though at least he is polite enough to wait until she's done talking.]

Th-they... the lights went away after the storm?

[defenceless]

[who knows, really.]

That's what I said.

[ricksybusiness]

[Rick doesn't answer right away. He's either thinking, or he's passed out.]

[defenceless]

Wake up, you drunk, old idiot!

[ricksybusiness]

I'M AWAKE! [No, he wasn't.] W-w-w-what-- what, what... what were we talking about? The lightning st--urgh. Storm. Lightning storm.

[defenceless]

[did he really fall asleep...? he did. he totally did.

she's so offended she can't speak for a second or two (a state rick is probably used to putting people in), and then her words dart out with a sharp edge.]

Yes, yes, very good, the lightning storm. Anyway, what do the glowing lights that disappeared mean? Earlier you said something about them not being far away enough to be stars.

[ricksybusiness]

[LOOK..... don't judge him. Life is hard when you're a science grandpa.]

Y-yeah... right. [Belch.] Th-th-the... the sun. Do you kn-know what a sun is? It's a star. Every star you see in the sky is a sun. Th-the lights... the "stars" you picked up are closer to us th-than the sun should be. If we had stars that close, the whole pl-pl--uuurrrrrr-- planet would be on fire.

S-so they're not st... stars.

[defenceless]

[sure, sure, whatever. normally, rin might doubt rick. but she can think scientifically as well as she's a magic prodigy, and if what the genius who built the telescopes out of scrap metal says is true:]

... It must be from something between this world and its sun, cutting it off like a barrier. The connection points for a spell? Cracks or imperfect perforations in a barrier field? It could be either, or something similar.

[ricksybusiness]

That's my g... guess. Holes in the barrier. [He burps again. He is extremely drunk right now, it's a wonder he's able to science this much.]

Which is a start. If it's weak to beg-begin with, there should be a way to... to break it apart. With the right comp-components.

[defenceless]

Correct. Even if it's magical, that would be true.

[it's like severing the connecting points for a bounded field. it will prevent the entire spell from holding together.]

You're off the hook, now, old man. Go sleep off your hangover. If I see anything else I don't know if the telescopes will pick up, I'll send you a texted message over my jewel.

[ricksybusiness]

Haaaaa, shows what you know if you think I'm gonna g... get hungover. You can't get a hangover if you never stop drinking, brooooh.

[defenceless]

I'm not a "bro".

[she's too young to know the finer points of hangovers.

she's also done here. with that, rin mumbles a quick,]

Goodbye. Or good night. Whatever.

[and she'll close her side of the transmission from there.]

text, @TARANTO

[heavyhitter]

how the FUCK did you get your name to do that in the bullshit directory thing


also i need a favor

[ricksybusiness]

It's called I'm a genius.

I don't do favors. I do jobs.

[heavyhitter]

ok then i have two jobs for you
what kinda currency are you taking

[ricksybusiness]

Depends what you got. Cash, gold, precious metals, unique shit from your home planet, anything that can get me fucked up, etc. I don't do IOUs anymore, so payment upfront.

[heavyhitter]

yeah alright doable
what's the cost on fixing a guy's fucked up synth arm? and i wanna learn how to change my name in their stupid magic system too

[ricksybusiness]

[Fixing a fucked up synth arm? This sounds... familiar... somehow. But Rick has been pretty stoned for the past week or so, so he's not going to spend too much time thinking about it.] I'll have to look at the tech first, but probably around the equivalent of 80 smidgens for labor. If you need parts, that'll be extra. Obviously. Since you're a first-time customer, I'll change your name for free.

[heavyhitter]

what the fuck's a smidgen
also i don't want it changed i want to know how to do it, still feeling generous?

[ricksybusiness]

1) About 3/8ths of a blimfarx.
1a) Seriously though, what currency do you use?

2) Not for sale. If I teach you to do it, that's a loss in profits for me.

[heavyhitter]

your money sounds fucking stupid. i use whatever people are paying in, except for that because it's fucking stupid. i got nalanni coins or whatever and urchin spines, take your pick

and 2 come on don't be a dick, just raise the price

[ricksybusiness]

It's called intergalactic currency, sorry you're from some backwater shit-hole that doesn't use it. Anyway, urchin spines, nice; gimme 50 and it's a deal.

2) Fuck you, no. What's keeping you from doing it for every other schmuck on the team instead of having them come to me?

[heavyhitter]

give your currency better fucking names
alright 50 for the arm stuff, and 2 fucking FINE whatever just make it "ana ramir". [ she'll find someone with less good business sense to teach her >:( ]

also i'm pretty sure the arm stuff involves melted synth skin how are you with that

[ricksybusiness]

Deal.

[That's a really pertinent question, Ramir, except Rick just looked up what your name says now --]

Holy fucking shit ELISABETTA??? ahahaha

[heavyhitter]

shut up just fucking change it

[ricksybusiness]

Hilarious. Anyway, done, Ms. Ramir.

Anyway, I could grow real skin with no extra charge. Primo tiny pores.

[heavyhitter]

thanks
and i'll bring him by soon, you can check out his whole weird fucked up arm situation
where btw?

[ricksybusiness]

I won't be able to grow skin until we're back at Oska. All my lab shit is there. But I could take a look at the mechanics while we're stuck here. Behind the Pu'ulai market.