20th Fix

[technohippie]

After talking with Sanguinius, and realizing that his one-year Mayfield anniversary is around the corner, Quinn's had enough sitting on his ass doing nothing, watching his friends get hurt or droned for good.

But what can he do? His technological talents were no good here, a sort of reverse obsolescence. He wasn't physically strong - anything but. Stick-thin, 9 years as a smoker, and has barely ever exercised in his life. That, and he abhorred violence, and was a coward to top it off. What could he do?

It was time to change all that! He had to become a better person. Time to shape up, Quinn Hatch!


For the next few days Quinn will be up to the following things:

[1) Quitting smoking, going cold turkey. It's not the best way to do it, especially when you have a 2-packs-a-day habit. At home and at school, he'll be noticeably, uncharacteristically irritable. That ever-present cigarette not being in his mouth might be a clue to the observant.]

Okay, today in class, everyone's just gonna sit quietly and... read. Or somethin'. Whatever ya want, so long as it's quiet. Sound good?

[2) Jogging through the neighborhood. No, it's not a joke. Well okay, maybe it is, because it's pathetic. He's trying really hard, but he gets about two blocks before he's leaning against a lamp post, wheezing and sweating.]

This is... bullshit, man. People seriously... do this... every damn day? For miles?

[3) The garage doors of 339 Brady Lane are open as always, the space Quinn has converted into his hang out and shop. The giant TV is currently playing a movie. It's Cloverfield to anyone who knows it; to anyone else it's a shaky camera movie involving monsters and a lot of screaming, stupid people. Quinn only has it on for background noise, though. He's got parts strewn all over the table, as he's dismantled dozens of appliances and machinery. He's currently standing in front of his laptop, doing inventory on what he has. Feel free to stop in.]

[4)Speaking of laptops, in the mail Quinn gets his next regain - his first ever computer, given to him when he was only 8 years old, right after his technomancy powers came to be. Baffled as to why Mayfield would send him this, of all things, he gets a good laugh at it. You might come across him in the garage, playing around with it, smiling the whole while.]

Comments

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

Damn, you're a speedy guy. Alright, won't take but a minute or two.

[He'll take the laptop, turn it on, and then sits there with it open without touching it. He's got to talk to it first, become friends, before he can work at it this way. Plus, he can't resist talking to new machines. He loves doing it. He always wants to make sure it's in top working order, and that Lyn takes care of it. But it won't be too long before he's silently saying goodbye and handing it back over.]

There. Ya should be ready to go.

[kleptophile.livejournal.com]

[Lyn takes it back with a rapidity that suggests he's not used to - or comfortable with - handing his stuff over to other people; he tends to guard his things as jealously as a dragon protecting its hoard. It's no insult to Quinn so much as one of the many manifestations of his general paranoia. Quinn is probably the first person to touch it since Lyn stole it.

He can't resist opening it and looking it over before glancing at Quinn.] So...how do I connect, or whatever?

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

You're already on. So long as you boot it up, it'll connect to the network automatically. My servers should be available to ya too, for all the movies and music.

[kleptophile.livejournal.com]

Seriously? [Lyn looks obviously pleased - which is understandable, since he only has a few movies and a limited selection of music on his own laptop. To have access to Quinn's more extensive library isn't exactly the same thing as having access to the entire internet, but it's still a hell of an upgrade.] That's fucking badass. Thanks, man.

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

No a problem. Havin' stuff from home makes this place a lot easier to deal with. Plus, ya always need some kinda entertainment 'round here when things are quiet.

[kleptophile.livejournal.com]

God, tell me about it. I mean, I prefer the downtime to the regular fucking over the town likes to do, but this place is just dead. I already lived through the fifties once, and trust me, it's way worse the second time around. [He makes an aggravated noise.] And they make me go to school. Do you have any goddamn idea how fucking aggravating it is to have to sit there being told about the founding of America when you were there for it?

Also, I'm like 90% sure a demon invented algebra as a torture device.

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

Sounds like maybe I should have ya be a guest speaker in my class sometime. God knows kids in this town don't need calculus making this crappy place even worse. And if a demon invented algebra, then Satan himself made calculus.

[kleptophile.livejournal.com]

[Lyn outright laughs at this, for several reasons.] Oh, man, seriously, calculus is the work of some goddamn archfiend. But you know Satan's not an actual thing with demons, right? I mean, humans got some shit right about us, but believe me, if there was a real fucking Satan then no human would've ever lived to tell people about him. Or been anywhere near sane if they did.

[Actually, this subject prompts a few moments of consideration from Lyn.] Y'know, I don't actually know who the fuck is at the top rung of the ladder in Hell. I just know there's no way the same guy is in power all the time. I've never even gotten near an archfiend, but I've heard they fight with each other like cats in a goddamn sack. [He cracks a grin at this.] Which is lucky for everybody, 'cause if demons weren't so fucking busy with all their infighting and power jockeying they might actually bother giving a shit about world events.

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

Huh. I wonder if it's true where I'm from, too. Can't claim to know the first thing about it. There are mages out there who can summon 'n' control demons, though. I have a cousin who's one, actually, but he ain't exactly happy about having that as a focus. He's refusin' any training, actually, cuz he has no interest in bein' a mage. I was tryin' to convince him into it though. Bein' untrained isn't a good thing.

[kleptophile.livejournal.com]

Summoning demons? Controlling them? Shit, if that were my focus I'd be avoiding the fuck out of it, too. The less you have to do with demons the better. [Lyn folds his arms behind his head.] Besides, I can't even fucking imagine how pissy he'd make the demons he summons. He'd have virgin's blood spraying from his faucets every other Wednesday.

[techno-mancer.livejournal.com]

Man, I can imagine. He wasn't too happy about it. Ironic thing is, his brother 'n' sister are holy mages. Mom was, too. Talk about the black sheep. No one in my family's history has ever been a demonic mage before.

[He frowns a little thinking on this. Craig was a good guy, and your magical focus had a tendency to influence your personality. It's just one more thing for him to worry about, being trapped in Mayfield and being unable to help.]