"Oh yes!" Jimmy pipes up before Gorn can form an answer, his wide-eyed, cherubic face uncaring of the dire straights he faces. "There are a BUNCH of us! An' his mom is an ogre, the biggest woman you've ever seen! She used to make me potato cakes with applesauce and we had a place to live, but then some bad men came and made us all go away! Right now we're going to a spoooooooky haunted monastery that was taken over be evil sprites!
If you could be so kind as to point us the way to the good Volgik's house, we shall surely be on our way!"
Gorn maintains his silence, since that was indeed the next question he was about to ask.
Thomas walks back to the group and seems to have less of a limp, as if the pain in his mast'n'top sail has been greatly diminished.
Jimmy runs up to him. "Boy am I glad to see you! The others are just about ready to start pushing the rig!"
Thomas grins and claps the boy on the shoulder. Apologies, my fine lad! Raider can be so inconsiderate of other peoples' schedules! Now, have we policed the area?"
Jimmy shakes his head. "No, sir. Badger found some keys, but we've been messing with the car-thing. It will not go."
Thomas nods. "Well, let's see if we can't scare something up to illuminate the topic, shall we?"
Thomas and Jimmy spend the next few minutes searching while the others pile the extra gear into the truck and have whispered conversations.
Jimmy Notice w/ hat:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 Ace Jimmy Ace Notice w/ hat ace:1d4 ⇒ 3 = 8.
Jimmy motions Tom over. Hey, I was looking at one of the downed 'bots, and I think I can salvage the firestarter. Or, at least, enough to mount it to WarHammer."
The robot hovers over about as tentatively as a mechanical janitor with a buzzsaw-arm can. "Oh dear oh dear, sir. That sounds most disconcerting! "
Thomas waves his worries away. "Pah! Think on it not! I'm jsut going to have an untrained miner perform high-level surgery on your most delicate innards to give you military-grade pyrotechnics. What could go wrong!"
"Indeed, the legion of conclusions are incalculable, sir," the robot says just before shutting down for what he hopes isn't the last time.
"That's what I mean! Professor Jimmy, you may practice thy art!" Thomas attempts to assist as best he can. Thomas has neither Repair nor Science. :/
Jimmy first looks at the flamethrower, and tries to circuit-patch it on.
Jimmy Repair:1d4 ⇒ 4 Jimmy Repair ACE!:1d4 ⇒ 2
"Um, okaaaaaay, I -think- should work. Um, and there's this chip here. It's even got a...oh, whadayacall those things...a UBS slot. I think I can just press it in right...
Jimmy SCIENCE! +1:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Jimmy sighs visibly. "Whew. That...that...that should do it. Uh, I guess."
Warhammer powers back on. "Oh my, indubitably that does seem to enhance the tactical situation by a small factor, I say what! And for some reason I now know the difference between julianne and mince. Egad! Now I'm a robot janitor chef!"
Thomas grins. "Next upgrade you get to be either a pirate or a zombie. Not sure which."
Then Jimmy steers the rig all the way home. Warhammer pushes with all his might, Thomas walking along with them.
Jimmy nods at Badger's suggestion. "Alright, that sounds fine. But if you get tired, just let me know and you can have a turn at the wheel and I'll push for awhile. I might not be much, but it's the least I can do, heh.
Hey, Warhammer, how far do you think it is the hospital?"
Jimmy notices that someone has been apart from the group, so he goes over to her.
Harper:
Jimmy approaches, tentatively, as if he's not sure if you want company.
"Hi there." He smiles, also tentatively. He obviously doesn't know how to react around you.
"Um, I saw what you did to that bandit. That was great! With the, ah, with the punching, and all. You saved Tom's life, and I want you to know that means a lot to me. I mean, we...um...Tim an' me, we've had a bit of a turn of events, y'know? And...and I don't want no more people to die. Because, because that's bad."
It's obvious that he's trying to have a conversation, but he's been out of normal society for so long that just talking is almost like trying to describe color to a blind person.
Jimmy frowns. "That...that doesn't sound right. I mean, there aren't, like, blocks on the wheels, right. Do, um, do you know what a 'gearshift' is? Do, do you mind if I try it?"
Jimmy hops behind the wheel. He turns the keys and hears the lack of any reaction, but he tries to figure out any other problem.
Common SMRTZ-2:1d10 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8 Yeah, I got dis:1d10 ⇒ 4 = 12
"Okay, yeah. Dad once showed me one of these car-things. I mean, that was before.... Um, yeah, anyway, you just gotta move this like this...."
Jimmy spends a few minutes showing Badger and Kris and Timmy and possibly Harper the basic workings of car-things.
Since he's Man of the Hour, seems like a good time to get his level roll out of the way. jimmy level:1d6 ⇒ 6
As Thomas is helped away, walking mostly under his own power, Jimmy snickers at hearing the little girl say the word 'balls'. It was funny and out of place and helped lift his spirits. It was also a little bit erotic, but no need to focus on that. Now.
Jimmy walks over to where Kris and Badger are arguing. "It's okay, guys. Tom just wanted to do one more once over. I think he either wanted to check the bandit's Nature's pocket for more drugs, or maybe a clue about Estelle. Either way, I'm sure it won't take long.
Besides, we gotta see what we're gonna do about this truck, yeah? I mean, Badger, we might be able to push it, but how would that go?
And Kris, if you don't wanna push it, how about you try to start it up? Or, have we checked this place enough? Maybe we just need to look harder?
Or, Badger, you and I could start pushing it. We can just let Thomas catch up, yeah?"
Harper dives at the rubble from whence the metallic voice came, levering out boulders and throwing up dirt like a honey badger on heroine. 'I can not let another perish this day. Not while I can help it. Even though he's artificial, he still is worthy of a chance at life.'
Strength:1d4 ⇒ 4 Wild Strength:1d6 ⇒ 1
Well we're just gonna Strength ACE then:1d4 ⇒ 4
NO MERE RUBBLE CAN STAND AGAINST ME!!!:1d4 ⇒ 3 = 11
Jimmy sees the young girl attacking the rubble like a Valkyrie possessed. After taking a moment to admire her lithe figure, (what?) he drops what he's doing and assists her as best he can.
Jimmy sets his jaw and looks at the others. "I'll try to make a firewall! I'll buy you time to dig the robot out. If...if we can get him out, then....then he can carry Tom. Um, how's that sound?"
Jimmy starts grabbing anything he can; rocks, rubble, garbage, dirt, and starts throwing it into the path of the fire, trying to protect the fuel pumps.
Jimmy got up and left Thomas' room to get some water and relieve himself. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for being saved. Far from it! But he just couldn't stand the man's talking for too long. Still, he thought ahead a lot. Probably too much. But, maybe if -his- clan had thought ahead more....
And his way to the water tap he passed one of the girls...what did Tom call her? Pianist? Flute-player? Glockenspiel-enthusiast? No, Harper. Jimmy had once seen a harp. Well, a picture of one. It was in some ancient catalog from a place called 'Sears'. It must've ruled the world it had so much stuff in it!
After he got his drink he wasn't too keen on heading back so he thought he'd be friendly.
"He there," he said, trying on a smile. He shook her hand. "What'cha up to? It seems like you've got four suits of armor and you're trying to...stitch 'em together? That's cool. It'd take about that much to cover that huge guy. Is...is that what you're doin'? I...I don't mean to pry."
Jimmy shakes his head. He...he shouldn't be asking questions. He didn't know these people. What if she wanted him to just leave? Still, there was something about her eyes....
"Um, do...would you like me to help?" Jimmy sat down next to her, started looking over her work. "It seems like you're using a cross-stitch double-A pattern for the torso, but to finish up you'll need to....um, hand me that loose shoestring over there. Wait, one sec."
Jimmy fetches a spare knife from the pile o' weapons that seems to be taking shape in the office area, then comes back. "Okay, if we can just widen this and... what? Don't look at me like that. We had to make a lot of our own clothes, back on th' lot. My dad taught me all about leather working last year, after my seventeenth birthday, when he made mom a new--" He stops talking. Looks away. Shuts his eyes. A moment passes. He takes a deep breath.
"Nuthin' Nothing. Um, but yeah, if we can just cut this seem here we should be able to..."
Time passes. Despite his offer of help, Jimmy seems to be taking the lead. Using the opportunity to do something for someone else to help relieve his pain.
Once he brings down the robot to help rip open a leather jacket they need to cannibalize the patching for.
"But Sir! Why on earth are you committing physical damage to a useable object? There could be children that need this! I shall have to inform master Tom of this right away--" "Shhhhh. Um, it's okay. Tom, uh, he told us to do this. To, uh, Maximize combat effectiveness of the expendable asset." "Ah! Well, that does sound like him. Carry on then, young chap! Carry on..."
As the robot leaves, Jimmy spares a glance for Harper, a grin on his face that can only be called 'mischievous'.
"What? I'm sure he -would- have said that! Had...had I asked him."
A few more mintues' time and the thing is done...or at least as done as it can be.
"This has been great, Harper. The best time I've had since...um, yeah, I just," almost by it's own volition, his hand reaches up, brushes a stray piece of hair from her ear, lingers a moment. "I should...uh...I should go. Yeah, um, Tom will be worried about me, an an an, um, goodnight Harper."
As he turns the corner, he pops back, his head sticking around the corner. "Um, hey, is Harper your first name or last name?"
Y'know how sometimes a character just wakes up in your head, sits itself down in your chair and just...writes itself? ;-D Also, sorry, I figured his d4-2 had a better shot than an untrained d4-, um, well, 4. ^_^
