portolan: (pirate 15)
Balthier ([personal profile] portolan) wrote in [community profile] metalogs2022-05-11 08:56 am

Closed | Tonight We're Gonna Party

Who: Balthier [personal profile] portolan, David [personal profile] helpdesk_hero, Bart [personal profile] kid_flash_found, Otto [personal profile] doctopoda, MCU Peter [personal profile] tinglesense, Strange [personal profile] rehandle, Loki [personal profile] ikols, Billy [personal profile] wordiness, Eddie [personal profile] slidesrightoff, Aleks [personal profile] morozova and any +1s I missed
What: A fancy dinner party at Balthier’s house
When: May 14
Where: Balthier’s House
Entry
Living Room
Kitchen
// generally beautifully restored historic late 1800s building in muted green and gold accents with antique furniture. pls compliment or insult him //
Content Warnings: none yet



[ The antique table has both leaves in it, extending from the dining room into the living room with twelve chairs around it. It's got a stately tablecloth and pale gold napkins. All the places are set with white china trimmed in gold, except one, which is green and gold and clearly for Loki, with a matching cup. There are name cards. There's a seating chart. The far wall of the dining room sports a buffet laden with stunning food in matching dishes, and the kitchen counter serves as a bar with a ridiculous amount of nice wine and alcohol.

The furniture in the living room has been rearranged to accommodate the table. The windows and doors are open to create a breeze and the back porch has additional seating. If people are looking for privacy, they can disappear to the basement, which is just a storage room, bathroom, and laundry unit, or upstairs where there is a loft study, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. One is locked. There are no bathrooms on the ground floor so excuses abound.

There’s also Romantic piano music playing on an honest-to-God gramophone. The whole house is restored original wood, antique furniture, old books, and nice art. Balthier is extremely pleased with his ship-like house and happy to finally show it off. He also asked Strange to enchant it to make it more or less metaproof for the evening.

TLDR:
-There will be a fine meal and plenty of alcohol
-Balthier will be giving Loki poison as condiments at some point (don’t @ him David and Billy) ((definitely @ him))
-There’s music if anyone wants to dance
-There are private places to slip into
-The house has been metaproofed to some extent by Stephen but Balthier will frown upon breaking his stuff
-Chaos pls

Feel free to thread jack! Mark things you don’t want threadjacked
]
doctopoda: (goggles)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-22 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, I suppose that's true."

It's fine; Otto seems perfectly happy just to move past the subject. Sometimes - often, in fact - it's simply easier to focus on other things - like, say, work. "Have you had a chance to look through the materials I sent you yet?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Sad Panda (Frown))

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-23 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
What a question. David brightens up to hear it. This? This he could talk about so long.

"Your work is amazing Otto! I've been reading through it and I think I can see some ways to integrate it with what we do. I'm not sure I'm quite qualified, even with the technopathy, to get it all together."
doctopoda: (smile (evil))

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-23 11:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Otto beams. He's certainly not immune to flattery! "Thank you! But I'm sure you underestimate yourself. You do good work, from what little I've seen of it." Which was really just Andy the Arm, but he is curious. Especially with the prospect of their creations merging - Otto wouldn't have shared his work at all if he minded, but it does leave him feeling a bit of a proprietary interest.

"And, of course, the technopathy." Otto's far more prepared for the subject this time; if the actuators have a reaction, nothing of it slips through. "I'd love to hear more about that sometime, if you don't mind."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-23 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not flattery if you're just being impressed by someone's work is it? Because David's a professional who is happy to talk about the work others do with excitement.

"I'd be happy to talk about it. It's a very strange power to have, and I've spent a lot of time trying to adapt to it. It's... Strange, integrating so deeply. Surfing the internet with my mind is quite a thing. But it means I program things a lot faster. But I'd be very happy to sit down and talk about some of the way that I've been working things back home."
doctopoda: (recovery)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-24 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
"By all means." Otto gestures - with an actuator this time, not his hand. "And I'd be happy to hear about your ideas for integrating the neural links, too. Maybe I can help."

He thinks he could, for sure! Really, despite how catastrophic everything with his accident was, he has learned quite a bit about the capacities of the neural links. An edge case, to be sure, but interesting knowledge to have.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne / Prodigy - From Marvel Comics (Awkward Questions (Uncertain))

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-24 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
David gestures to the couch, not saying Otto should sit there, just that he should wait there. Meanwhile, he goes to fetch the stool for Otto. Note to self, encourage Bathlier to get a fainting couch, if only because those didn't have backs and so Otto could be comfortable.

"I wish we could sit together and work on it together. I've got so many NDAs, so I guess I'll really just chat about your work and areas of interest for me. Which isn't even remotely in the paperwork. It's a fair way to do this."

He is grinning and he works on thinking about what he's interested in before he raises his hands before him and creates an energy projection, glowing golden light hovering above his hands to display a circuit diagram for a computer chip.

"There are a lot of things I'm good at, that I've learned to do, but I am only passable at making chips on my own. And I'm having problems with burn out on the ones I'm using. I think I'm going to have to up the size, but I don't want to add too much bulk because of the other wiring and parts that one might want in a small tool."
doctopoda: (goggles)

GOD technobabble is hard

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-27 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Otto smiles gratefully, reaching out to take the stool with an actuator and setting it down to sit on.

"Makes complete sense," he agrees, grinning. He's not unfamiliar with working under NDAs, but he's also not unfamiliar with stretching the edges of them to chat with his friends. The reactor was his project, he'd always thought; he'd discuss it with whoever he liked.

He leans forward to inspect the glowing diagram, one actuator hanging above his right shoulder to look as well. "Yes, you'd be pushing the limits of copper interconnects, at this size. Once you start layering in this many transistors, they just don't handle that level of heat well. It's the easiest and most affordable option, but it is risky."

At least these wouldn't be quite so integrated with the patient as Otto's own implants. Still, he’s particularly sensitive to the use of microchips in medical settings, these days. "I've done some work using carbon nanotubes instead," he continues. "They do wonders, but they're hard to work with, and that was just me - not exactly mass production."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

for us both

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-27 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Exactly. It's risky with the heat output, and the most important part about putting a chip into someone, beyond making it as unhackable as possible, is to make it safe."

The carbon nanotubes has David perking up. That's not something he has a lot of access to really.

"What I'd give to have someone who could get a chip like that for me. Or, you know, quantum entanglement but that seems expensive for this project."
doctopoda: (glow)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-28 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, no. It'd cost the end users an arm and a leg!"

Oh my god. Otto grins. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you there. I'm using mine - " Which is a very mild way of describing the situation. " - and I don't exactly have Oscorp funding anymore."

The materials he'd need would be sort of prohibitively expensive for personal use, especially when he'd only be doing it out of personal interest. Not like he's actually employed here. That does bring up another point, though. "Can I ask what sort of budget you're working with?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-28 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
Oh no, that's quite the joke. David has to bite his lip to keep from snickering. That would not be appropriate.

"I'll have to see if I can find a metal to help me with it I expect. I want to make sure that I can do this for people. Helping them is really important."
doctopoda: (survey)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-28 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, yes, of course." Otto leans in to peer closer at the projection. The chip is interesting, but the projection ability itself is also very interesting to see. He wonders how responsive it can be - questions for another time perhaps. "They've got several alloys here that I wasn't familiar with before, excellent conductors. You know, it's strange - it was only 2006 when I left my world. Now I'm the one always coming across some new advancement."

He was ahead of his time, when he was back in his own time and place; it'd be false humility to pretend otherwise. That's left him on even ground with this world's advances in some areas, and still reading the latest publications in others. But he sounds fairly good-natured about it. At least in terms of scientific knowledge, a rising tide really does raise all ships. He's confident in his ability to build even further on these new foundations.

...just, you know. Maybe not a reactor this time.

Speaking of which! Otto leans back, resting his weight on the two lower actuators in place of a chair back. "I've been meaning to ask you, actually - is your company hiring?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-28 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm from the 2020s, and even I'm off balance here, especially in Excelsior. It's so damn frustrating. And amazing. It's all so much and I love how much I can learn."

And it was exciting to him, kept him sane when the world was harder to deal with. Though the question given to him makes David smile.

"Oh we definitely are. I've been hoping you'd maybe ask at some point."
doctopoda: (smirk)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-29 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
"I know what you mean," Otto agrees with a bit of a rueful smile. He enjoys learning! The breakthroughs are incredible! He also sort of thought he was done with school at his age!

"Ah, were you? That's good to hear!" In all honesty, he might have done so right away if not for David also being from the bowlcut-Otto universe; that gave him a little bit of pause. But it doesn't seem to matter, not like it would have if that version of Peter were there. "I'm very interested in this work, I'd love to be able to see it through."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-30 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Now David was grinning. Yes, this was definitely the right thing to do.

"Give me your contact information. I want to get recruiting to send you an information packet. Because you should really do this.
doctopoda: (recovery)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-31 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course! May I see your phone?"

See, he's getting with the times! He's not writing his contact info on a piece of paper for people anymore! He'll just program his number and email in there. "How are they to work for?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-31 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
His phone? Oh no, David looks so awkward.

"Uh, I don't always keep it on me. When I'm in the house I have wifi and I can use that to communicate what I want to it. If you're willing to tell it to me, I can put it into my phone from here."
doctopoda: (still making bad jokes)

[personal profile] doctopoda 2022-05-31 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, of course." He'll do so!

That done, Otto glances over his shoulder. "Balthier won't mind us talking about work at the party, will he?" he asks, with a bit of a smile. Rosie always got on him for that sort of thing - it's a party, get out of your lab for a minute.
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-05-31 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, he'll definitely be disappointed in us. Maybe we should break and mingle with other guests?"

But David? He's so happy to talk as a nerd with another nerd, that it's a comfort.