Power Drain

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:38 pm

...Nothing on one, little click from two, three is binding...

...but we do need the belt pulley, that little retaining ring, these four screws, to mount this on the other end of the motor...

...it has a 3.5 horsepower brushed DC electric motor, a top speed of about 35 MPH, give or take, a welded aluminum frame, a body made of ABS plastic, and it in no way resembles a wedge of cheddar...

...The mixture's ready when it reaches the consistancy of bread dough; they transfer it by cart to a machine called the pre-extruder...

Will, his eyes flashing and his skin glinting in the early sun rise, sat at a table in the dorm's common room. He had four laptops plugged into...well, himself, playing mulitiple videos. His phone was charging, he had a couple lights plugged in -- anything he could find to try to drain Acala's excess energy.

He sat there, drumming his fingers at extraordinarily high speeds.

((Open))

by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 08, 2020 4:34 pm

"All. Night." a voice notes coldly from the doorway behind Will.

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 08, 2020 5:52 pm

Will slammed the laptops closed in sudden, embarrassed action, like someone who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Wh...who's there?"

by **Ghost** » Wed Apr 08, 2020 6:01 pm

"The Spirit of Reckoning..." Ghost says with a voice too detached to really commit to the bit. They do have an amorphous shadow lurking behind them in the doorway though.

by **Will Stanton** » Wed Apr 08, 2020 6:15 pm

"Look, I've had a day and a half, so if you'd just kind of go on and spook someone else..."

by **Ghost** » Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:15 pm

"Sure. Right after you explain to me why you spend all night watching videos instead of in your room like you're supposed to."

by **Will Stanton** » Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:25 pm

"My roommate, in its infinite wisdom, decided to power-charge me rather than let me sleep. I might file a complaint in the morning, when people are awake," Will huffed.

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:16 pm

"I don't care if you sleep or not as long as you're in your room at night."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 10, 2020 9:17 pm

"I've got to run off this energy somehow, so, y'know. Shove it."

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 4:54 am

"And where, pray tell, should I 'shove it'?" Ghost asks, gladly letting Will dig himself a deeper hole.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 4:55 am

"Wherever it is you traditionally shove things in your family," Will said. "I'm not a picky person."

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:41 pm

"Nor particularly smart, are you? I'd give you detention, but I feel like that's more appropriate for people. How do you punish an uppity appliance?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:44 pm

"Oh, you're one of the prefects then, are you? I don't recall seeing you at one of Quinn's getting-to-know-you meetings," Will said, standing up and turning around to actually face her for the first time.

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:47 pm

"I don't much care for the spotlight." ghost says, the shadows in the doorway behind them shifting and sliding. "People are less duplicitous if they think they're not being watched."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:50 pm

"Most people also don't particularly like being spied on by someone they don't know," Will said, subtly disconnecting some of the attached appliances, which only made his glowing eyes and sparkles glow all the brighter.

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:55 pm

"Hi, I'm Ghost. There, you feel better now?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:58 pm

"I do, yes. A pleasure to meet you, Ghost. Now, if you'd just kindly be on your way..."

Behind the couch, where Will believed Ghost could not see, Will's foot had flattened out and was stretching towards one of the windows in the room...

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:00 pm

"I'm afraid I can't. Unfortunately I do have a job to do here."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:02 pm

"Oh, right, you're in charge of the dorms.

Thankfully, I don't live in the dorms anymore, you can step off. If you don't like it; take it up with the headmaster."

Will's foot had reached the window, and tried to silently open it a crack.

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:26 pm

If Ghost is noticing Will's preparations to escape they're not doing anything about it.

"You really think you can weasel out of this via jurisdiction?"

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:31 pm

"I'm saying, you can't have your cake and eat it, too, that's all."

The window squeaked a little bit as it opened up, but now there was An Escape Route (tm)

by **Ghost** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:22 pm

"There's no cake, what are you talking about?" Ghost says, for the first time with some emotion in their voice, even if it's mostly exasperation.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:54 pm

"Really? You should check the kitchens. I thought I heard someone clanking around in there," he said, pointing back over Ghost's shoulder towards the dining hall.

And then he fell/shrunk/shifted down into ooze, and made the dash for the window.

by **Ghost** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:09 am

Ghost does not fall for Will's ruse. Instead, as he makes a break for the window the couch he was on topples backwards as a four-legged creature with overlarge front-legs rises from underneath it and leaps after the clay boy.

by **Will Stanton** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:42 am

"Holy..." Will said, flattening against the wall and sliding to one side, in the hopes the creature would smash into it -- being more scary than nimble, as it were.

by **Ghost** » Mon Apr 13, 2020 2:26 am

The creature slams into the wall with a thus before it's shape distorts and splashes out like a plume of smoke against the wall before condensing into tendrils or elongated fingers that scrabble for Will like an oversized spider on the wall, one leg or finger or whatever-it-is raking across him to try and peel him off.

"You have moves, I gotta admit." Ghost comments from the sidelines.

by **Will Stanton** » Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:12 am

The thing's tendrils were able to slip behind Will and start peeling him from the wall --he was only almost two-dimensional, after all.

Will responded by reaching for the windowsill and trying to pull himself out, stretching and contorting as needs be.

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:00 pm

Ghost casually strolls over to the window Will is clinging to as she plays tug-of-war with the shadow-creature and matter-of-factly slams the window close on Wills fingers.

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:07 pm

If people hadn't been woken up to this point by the drama downstairs, Will's yelp of surprise (yes, surprise, more than pain), probably would have done it, as now his fingers were fairly firmly trapped under the shut window, keeping him pinioned in one place as the weird creature continued to grab and peel him off the wall.

A fiendish trap -- a fiendish trap indeed, sir.

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:09 pm

"Are you just about done?" Ghost asks, arms crossed in front of their chest.

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:12 pm

"Oh, I'll never get done from your half-baked ideas."

He still had the jokes, if not much freedom of movement.

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:15 pm

"Do keep digging, please. Set a new record for total detention assigned at one time."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:18 pm

"Yeah, you're going to want to check with your boss. I'm fairly sure you can only give detention to students, and he revoked and reaffirmed the whole 'university property' angle. Can't have your cake and eat it too, "Ghost", or whatever your actual name is."

Will grinned a little smugly -- loophole!

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:21 pm

"You know what, you're right." Ghost says with obviously fake deference. "The detention-room could really use a new chair for the poor sap stuck watching over all the delinquents. Aka me."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:30 pm

"Then go out to Ikea and buy one. I hate to break this to you, Ghost, but I'm way overqualified to be providing comfort for your ass."

Bluster. False bluster, but bluster not withstanding.

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:33 pm

"That's nice and all but I don't really care. Unless you'd rather spend a week as dinnerware int he cafeteria. I could arrange that if you'd prefer."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:37 pm

"A week? For staying up late one night? C'mon," he said, laughing a little nervously. "I'm sure the headmaster wouldn't approve of me missing so many of my classes."

by **Ghost** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:40 pm

"For staying up all night. And they only need plates during meal hours." Ghost points out as the shadow-creature finally lets go of Will and slinks down from the wall.

"Detention, room 204 tomorrow after class. Be there if you know what's good for you."

by **Will Stanton** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:41 pm

"History has shown that I do not," Will muttered, falling from the wall, and walking his way back over to the window.

[Plot] Power Drain

[Plot] Power Drain

Who is online