You're From The Isle If Anybody Asks

[missrecalled_mods]

First Awareness

Those used to this by now probably knew what it meant when they felt their magic return for a moment. For the rest, suddenly their powers were back. Just for a few minutes, but a lot could be done in a few minutes. If the person even noticed their powers were back, that is.

Of course those on the shore might have seen the hazy indistinct shape through the barrier coming closer, might have seen the moment the hole in the barrier opened. Might have seen King Ben leading people down a gangplank through the barrier with crates of supplies....

Unions, Re And Otherwise

Once the supplies were unloaded, the barrier was sealed up again. King Ben seemed to be in charge during the unloading, Once the barrier was closed again, by the green magic streaming from the Queen's finger, it was Mal who seemed to be in charge.

"Alright, listen up. We have 2 hours and the clock is ticking. I'm not FG but we're keeping to a deadline anyway. If you want to come to Auradon or know someone you want us to bring back, you have 2 hours to convince us. You and everyone else, sharing the same 2 hours. Along with anyone who has a supply request for our next visit, or updates. Those of you bringing supplies to the school, time to get cracking. Two hours passes faster than midnight at the ball."

Those Who Left

(Please TL Here for boat and Auradon Shenanigans. TY)

Those What Remain

Once those going back to Auradon had left and the barrier was back in place, it was for those who remained on the Isle to sort the supplies and figure out how to get done everything that needed to be done with the people that remained.

Comments

[dualityinjest]

"Yeah, but I know what I can take. And what I can't."

He reached back into the bin to pull out another bigger thing, setting it down on the floor nearby to be better picked through -- or at least, to get it out of the way so the rest could be. No elaboration on his knowledge of his own limits was forthcoming without further prompting, though Ian could probably hazard a guess, given the number of little dings and scuffs on his vaguely-a-little-glowy plastic shell casing.

Look too closely, and it might even seem like more of them were on the undersides of his forearms, the outsides of his biceps, and the backs of his hands, than on the other sides of those parts. Plenty on his head, though not really any to speak of on his rays... bits of missing gloss on the backside of his torso....

[ubuntu_programmer]

"We all think that at some point. And usually the way we find out we are wrong is painful. Better to learn that lesson from someone else's pain than your own."

[dualityinjest]

"I'm not built entirely like a human," he said, voice softer, being serious. "I don't get a sore back from lifting stuff wrong, 'cause I don't have vertebrae. I just fall over if it puts me off balance. I don't get tired and have to take a break, I just use up battery power moving too much, and then I gotta go take a nap with my charger again. I know how to fall down and stay safe, and all of that. I was programmed to know those things."

He set another broken thing on the floor next to the TV, something that had once been a stereo... or might've been, if there were more of it. No wonder it had been discarded. "I haven't needed any physical maintenance since I first came online. The only thing actually wrong with me like that when I came here was, I needed oil for my joints. And our friend Foulques had some, so now I don't squeak all the time!"

Considering all the evidence on his shell, he was probably discounting all the cosmetic damage he'd suffered....

[ubuntu_programmer]

"You don't have to be human to take damage," Ian said, flatly. They pointed to the TV. "Pretty sure that was never human. Still looks broken to me."

[dualityinjest]

"Yeah, that's why it got thrown away." He pulled out another thing... who knew what it once was, but now it was just a large chunk of plastic shell with some wires attached. "I'm not going to hurt myself. There's plenty of things I can do that you can't, you know."

He turned back to Ian more, reached up... his rays retracted where his hand took hold of the side of his odd flat head... and then he lifted it up a little, only to give it a good spin.

And spin, it did, and quickly. Interestingly, his rays were ducking in and out fast enough, and with just the right timing as they spun with the rest of his head, that they continued to avoid coming within about three inches of his hand, while sticking out fully everywhere else. He only let that go on for about two seconds or so, just long enough to prove his point, before he grabbed the side of his head again, stopping it. "It's like it's meant to do that!" He giggled a little, then crouched back down to see into the bin again better as he fished out another larger piece of something or other, moving now as though that demonstration had never happened. Clearly, it was meant to be able to do that....

[ubuntu_programmer]

"I didn't say there wasn't. There are plenty of things I can do that you can't as well. Not a contest. But unless you're magically invulnerable my point stands. I don't have the parts to fix anything majorly structural should something break than I have to heal broken bones should I shatter my leg. In an absence of places to buy materials and medicines we all have to be a little more careful and a little less reckless." Odd how that last bit seemed only partially aimed at Sun....

[dualityinjest]

"Yeeeaaaah... funny, how this seems like you're trying to tell me not to do something... when I know for a fact it's fine for me to do it... because it wouldn't be fine for you to do it." He pulled up a mass of wires, and carefully turned it over, tilting his head a bit this way, and then turning it a few degrees back the other way... and then started pulling at a part, working on detangling it relatively quickly.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Im telling you to be careful. And according to Ben if you want to be friends with someone stubborn you have to get used to them worrying about you. At least that's what he keeps telling me when Jenn's self defense lessons leave me flat out on the ground. Jenn has... a very unique way of worrying."

[dualityinjest]

"So you think I wasn't being careful?" Pick, pick.... Not looking over at Ian obviously, head down, crouched there at the bin while he worked on the wires.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"I think you weren't being efficient, so probably." Ian shrugged.

[dualityinjest]

"....You're funny." There, found a wire's end! Now to spend... how many years getting the rest of the bundle apart? Ehh, well, best to get started on that. "So... what's a capacitor?" There, what a smooth subject change! No one will ever notice!

Gag tag

[ubuntu_programmer]

"A capacitor is an electrical component or a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on opposite surfaces which are separated by an insulating layer and the capability to store these charges at a given potential refers to capacitance." Did Ian sound like they were quoting a dictionary definition? Probably, because they were. Cause their mun had to google it and it is 8 in the holy cow how is it 8 in the morning?!

[ubuntu_programmer]

"A capacitor is an electrical component or a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on opposite surfaces which are separated by an insulating layer and the capability to store these charges at a given potential refers to capacitance." Did Ian sound like they were quoting a dictionary definition? Probably, because they were.

[dualityinjest]

"Oh. So...." He hesitated, tilting his head a bit... and if Ian watched, those rays around his head pulled in a bit, then slid back out slowly, in a pattern not unlike a loading circle. "...So I'm looking for metal-and-doll-fluff sandwiches...?"

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Wait... what?" they asked, laughing.

[dualityinjest]

"You said," the thin bot started, working again on untangling the cords in his big hands, "it has two surfaces for electricity, and there's insulation between them. And metal's what electricity likes to--" He paused there, and looked back up to Ian, absently lowering the wires a little due to sudden inattention. His spikes pushed out all the way; though he didn't stand up any taller, he at least did pull his head back up a little straighter over his shoulders.

"No. No, you said it stores a charge... so it's a battery sandwich?"

[ubuntu_programmer]

Ian rubbed their temples feeling a headache coming on. "Please do not eat batteries."

[dualityinjest]

"I didn't say I--" he stopped suddenly, watching Ian, rays sinking back into his head as he turned it to look back down to the wires in his hands. He was silent and still for a second or so, and then gently set the wires back down onto what was still in the bin.

"Sorry. I should go look for that soldering thing you asked for." Whatever it was that caused it, his mood had just died. "It might be in one of the other rooms."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Sorry? Why exactly are you sorry?"

[dualityinjest]

"Getting distracted? Being dumb? You asked for tools and I-- I'll go find them. Sorry." Rays sinking most of the way back into his head as he talked, he turned and started heading for the door.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Whoa, hold up. I never called you dumb. And we're not doing anything super urgent, so there is nothing wrong with getting distracted. You can stay here if you're not ready to get back to it yet."

[dualityinjest]

"You didn't. But I-- if I'm not helping-- I should go look again. You need the screwdrivers and soldering thingy, right?" But he'd paused, turning back again toward Ian.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Well sure... but I also need to finish setting up, and settling in. I'm here until they all come back from Auradon again. So we've got time."

[dualityinjest]

"I--" He was rethinking it, anyway, rays once again moving in and out in a subtle loading-circle sort of pattern, until he shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I should get back to looking. I haven't seen anything that looks anything like a... a battery sandwich or that solder gun pen thing you were mentioning yet. Not really." He made a sound that was suspiciously sigh-like. "I'm sorry. I don't really know anything about any of this. If... if you'd asked for help making puppets, maybe? Or-- or maybe little noisemakers you can shake, that stuff, I can find parts for, easy! But...." He sank a little further, looking down again, seemingly at the broken appliances he'd pulled out and set on the floor, his rays mostly hidden. "But I don't-- I mean...."

[ubuntu_programmer]

Ian shrugged a bit, turning to face Sun while leaning back. "We all have different skill sets, just because I don't need puppets now doesn't mean there might not be a time when puppets are the only things that will save our lives. Weirder things have happened."