The hills are alive with the sound of EXPLOSIONS

[goldfuse]

Who: Ryzey Goldfuse and those brave enough to meet her
What: A goblin tinkerer arrives. Three guesses what happens next.
Where: The machine shop
When: Wednesday, February 15
Warnings: E for EXPLOSIONS

Okay. Okay, her latest invention probably had a few kinks to work out. Building an interdimensional portal was turning out to be a bit more art than science, but what kind of experiments didn't have a few minor setbacks here and there? Like, you know... getting stuck on the other side of a portal she opened in space and time. On the plus side, it worked! On the negative side, the portal closed before she could get back to her workshop. Great. Just great. 

A short, curvy goblin girl with wild strawberry blonde hair stood in the middle of the machine shop in the mansion. Nobody else was up at this hour of the night, which was perfect for her to get to work without interruptions. She unshouldered a bazooka on a strap, lowered a pair of goggles into place, and set to work, rummaging through the materials she could find, trying to pick out anything that could be used in her new invention. She needed to build a way to get back to Azeroth! There was money to be made! Unfortunately, despite her desire for privacy, she wasn't exactly quiet or gentle about what she was doing, tossing parts around and making quite a lot of noise, both of machinery and of cursing. 

Comments

[trustycrowbar]

Her error lies in the assumption that scientists and engineers sleep. That's why god made coffee after all, and eventually Gordon finds himself wandering the halls of the basement in time to hear...

What sounds like a very loud, foul-mouthed and destructive MOUSE, in the machine shop.

"Hmnh?"

The fact that she was yelling in fully articulate speech proves she wasn't a monster, so. That was good. He didn't need to get the rocket launcher again. Furthermore judging from her profanity, whoever it was had to be an engineer. That one was harder to explain, but... somehow you can just TELL. So enter a drowsy scientist, dressed in faded sweats and a SMASH ACADEMICS t-shirt, armed with a cup of coffee.

"Who is that? Hello?"

[goldfuse]

A green head topped with strawberry blonde hair popped out of a pile of debris when she heard someone arrive. Just her luck there'd be engineers around. Any SANE person would be asleep by now, so who else COULD they be? "That depends. Who are YOU?" she asked. When she caught sight of him, she smirked. He was kinda cute... despite the frumpy outfit. "Besides handsome."

[trustycrowbar]

"One of the people who work in this lab..." He points out, blinking. Had he been a scientist of any ancient time where spontaneous generation was still a viable theory, he would swear that this lab was starting to spontaneously bud curvaceous pointy-eared girls now, and this little specimen here would have been his proof. Thankfully he knows better, and eyeing the pile of debris and her purposeful and manic demeanor, he can hazard a guess as to how how she actually got here.

"And I'm going to take a guess that you just got here on this island, and are trying to build something to get home."

[goldfuse]

"Smart AND handsome," Ryzey chuckled, climbing out of the debris pile and dusting herself off in the process. "I like that in a man. Yeah, I built myself a dimensional portal. It fizzled out on me while I was exploring here, and now I'm stuck until I can build a portal to get back. So tell me, what's your story? Or did my beauty just draw you naturally to me?"

[trustycrowbar]

Gordon's eyebrows climb. There's something oddly impressive about that: probably less than twenty-four hours in this strange new world, and she's already flirting with the inhabitants. Also it makes him just a little cognizant of his scruffy nightwear. He hadn't exactly expected visitors... Oh well.

"My story? Basically the same as yours. That's the problem with portals." Gordon comments, leaning against a table and setting his coffee mug aside. "Can't seem to build one that doesn't either shake itself apart, leave you stranded, or lay out the path for an invading army of beings from another world."

[goldfuse]

Ryzey had reached a point in her life where it made more sense to just roll with the punches. She was a social woman. As he was quickly learning, frumpy evening wear aside.

"Yeah, but what can you do?" she asked with a shrug. "Nobody ever said the scientific method wasn't messy!" She seemed to be taking things in stride, thankfully.

[trustycrowbar]

"'What can you do?' Deal with the invasion and make damn sure that mention of it makes it into the lab report." He answers drolly.

"...Anyway, most of the people here came in through a portal that opened at the last minute during a cataclysm in our old world. You can probably guess, by the fact that I and everyone else are still HERE, that building a portal out hasn't been so easy. See, this is more like a pocket dimension than any brane-linked realm or borderworld, which makes it damn hard to find another world with any amount of tensor calculations. Also resources are scarce, and we're just now getting out of our first winter. I've been more preoccupied with keeping the place powered and heated, than building a portal array."

[goldfuse]

"Man after my own heart!" the goblin laughed.

She shook her head as she listened to his tale, shrugging. "I've found dimension hopping is a bit more of an art than a science," she explained. "But hey, another head on the case can only help, right? I know just what I need to do to get back, but I can't find any of the components I need."

[trustycrowbar]

"Well! We can build the components. That's just a matter of time and scavenging the other islands. In the meantime, welcome to the labs and the Mansion."

This time he leaves his perch at the table and leans down slightly to shake her hand.

"By the way... The name's Gordon. Gordon Freeman. And I may not have been drawn here by your good looks, but it's definitely worth mention."

[goldfuse]

"I like the way you think," she said. "I'm gonna ned some more info about this place and these islands of yours. Gotta figure out what resources we have on hand..."

She offered up her hand and grinned up at him. "Ryzey Goldfuse, goblin engineer. And YOU are earning yourself some serious brownie points there... What brings you here after hours then, if not my good looks?"

[trustycrowbar]

Goblin? As in, challenge-rating-one-half, goblin? Huh. He's holding on very loosely to his nerdy prejudices anymore, so it doesn't even surprise him that Ryzey doesn't fit the stereotype. She's far too sassy and personable, among other things... Anyway:

"I just came down to check the generator." He indicates the person-sized tank with all the gadgetry clustered around it like metallic undergrowth. "The coffee was an afterthought."

[goldfuse]

"Oh yeah? This your handiwork?" she asked, immediately finding her attention captured by the device he indicated, shifting around it, tapping her chin as she examined it and studied it, eager to figure out how it worked from that sight alone. She'd love to just take it apart, but if it was really a generator, that might upset some people here, and she wasn't about to go making enemies of potential customers.

"If you managed to get this thing going with the materials you found here, I'm impressed," she nodded.

[trustycrowbar]

"It's actually meant to tap the excess magical power in a living being. So far I've chucked an invincibility star in the chamber, and it handled the current load just fine." He volunteered.

"Unfortunately, what came OUT looked like shrivelled charcoal and was strangely cold to the touch, so ah... it still needs some work, before anything living goes in there."

[goldfuse]

"Well, science moves in fits and starts," Ryzey suggested with a shrug. "But hey, soon enough! Still, nice work, genius," she added, smirking at him. "I'd love to get my hands on it some itme," she said, then raised an eyebrow at him. "Among other things~"

[trustycrowbar]

Yeah, THIS was what he was thinking about, right here. He's not so used to being hit on, believe it or not. Most of his relationships and hookups just sort of... happened. Now that all the shop talk is out of the way, Ryzey's revisiting of the "laws of attraction" makes him scrub at his hair awkwardly.

"Well... who knows, I may just let you. A little collaboration never hurt anyone."

Gordon, is that REALLY the best you can do?

"...Provided we don't shake apart the lab equipment in the process, that is."

Okay, that's a little better.

"Speaking of which, if you want to rest up, there are plenty of extra rooms on the floor above us. It's late so most everyone is asleep, but I know of at least one that isn't claimed."

[goldfuse]

She raised an eyebrow at his attempted return to flirting with her. He was wonderfully awkward, it was a little endearing if she was being honest. She smirked broadly. "Why Mr. Freeman, that almost sounds like an invitation," she teased him, resting a hand on her hip. She had no idea how far this was going, but hey, she wasn't going to turn off her flirting nature. She liked being playful, and getting a rise out of people was fun as hell one way or the other.