[text/video] i'm too hungry to come up with a witty subject line right now

[swissarmyjesus]

[He's been holding off on making a post here for a while now. He's mainly lurked since he first connected in January and saw people plotting Blood Key murders, but after Wise Snake he has too many questions and not enough people to talk to about this stuff.]

I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say you guys weren't the ones who unleashed that giant snake thing on the city. It doesn't look like it based on what you're all saying on the news, anyway. (Nice costumes, by the way.) I guess I should just feel lucky my house is still standing, even though there are rescue teams camping out here and shutting down half the roads.

Just two questions: Anyone got any idea what caused all this in the first place? There's no way some giant snake monster went all Godzilla on everything out of nowhere.

Second, I know we're all getting these 'echoes' that are dropping giant robots on people left and right, but this is different. This isn't something I own, this is something I can do.

[to better illustrate his point, he switches to video. He makes sure his face is out of frame first (he doesn't trust you THAT much, guys) and backs up several steps, so that only his arm is in view against the wall behind him. Then, with a whining noise, metal erupts out of his arm to form one of these. After flexing the fingers for a few seconds, the machine folds back into his perfectly fleshy, human arm. He walks back over to the screen and shuts off the video.]

Is this all still normal 'echo' stuff or should I be getting checked out at the magical superpower hospital?

Comments

[neonnerd]

[That gets a chuckle out of him.]

I wasn't the first either, I'm sorry to say. A friend of mine had robotic arms before I did.

At the moment, turn it into a buzzsaw. But I suspect I haven't echoed back full functionality yet.

[swissarmyjesus]

A buzzsaw?

I just remembered I can turn my arm into a buzzsaw! Or, I know that I'm supposed to be able to. I don't actually know how to do it yet.

[neonnerd]

[He perks up a little.]

Really? I wonder if - would you like to see? Sometimes that can trigger it.

[A pause.]

Er. Unless you'd rather not, of course.

[swissarmyjesus]

Sure, why not. It can't hurt.

[neonnerd]

[This attempt to cause an echo in someone else is purely for science, of course.

In any case, he switches back over to video, and transforms his arm once more. Then he takes it a step further, robotic hand twisting to turn into a buzzsaw.]

[swissarmyjesus]

Okay well that did something. I definitely felt a weird pulse thing in my chest--that's what gives you the echoes, right?

I still can't actually do the buzzsaw thing but I remember blueprints--like how you'd build one from scratch. It's supposed to come out of a giant sword.

[neonnerd]

[He changes back, not bothering to switch off video. As long as he stays just out of the picture, it's virtually the same as audio.]

That's definitely the sign of an echo, yes - you say there's blueprints? Fascinating. Do you have any other blueprints for what you should be able to do?

[swissarmyjesus]

Yeah--those fists I showed off earlier? I've got the blueprints in my head for that too. I never really thought about it, but that's how I make the arms come out in the first place. I have to think about how they're built.

[neonnerd]

Interesting. So it's not just - a part of you, something that you're transforming into? It's something you have to build?

[swissarmyjesus]

Maybe. It's hard to explain. It feels like it's just a part of me, but I have to build it from scratch.

I think the reason I can't do the buzzsaw yet is because I don't remember how the sword part it comes out of is built yet. I can't skip to step 2 without step 1 first.

[neonnerd]

Hmmm. Would you be opposed to sharing the blueprints?

[He pauses slightly at the second part, brows furrowing a little.]

A sword and a buzzsaw? That certainly sounds quite... dramatic.

[swissarmyjesus]

I can try, but I'd have to draw it from scratch. It didn't exactly come on paper.

[neonnerd]

Ah. No, I suppose it wouldn't. Still, if you're willing, I'd be interested in seeing them.

[swissarmyjesus]

Let me give it a shot with the saw. I think that's less complicated.

[he sends that message out, and then only returns an hour later...]

Okay that took longer than I thought I would. Turns out even the simpler stuff is pretty intense. But I got it done.

[He attaches an image, schematics that look a little crude because they were drawn without a ruler, but otherwise pretty thorough and sensible. They show a sword, the top third of which can split into three blades that rotate around a giant screw.]