milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

cyborg,
jason todd

(no subject)

Cy is off hiding in the quieter sections of the Bar. Studying. Junior year means a quantum leap in course difficulty. Almost literally, since he's taken Basics of Quantum Physics. And also a "writing for engineers" class that is even harder. So he's hoping to use Bar-time as a study aid.

If he can only avoid distractions.

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Jay is knee deep in study too, his tabletop covered in notes and texts and schematics.

He spots Cy across the room and prints something off. Folded into a paper aeroplane, he tosses it across to land on Cy's table. Inside are designs for compressed, high yield batteries that might be useful to Cy. And a little sketch of a gauntlet tazer.

Great. Now he's distracted.

"Oh wow." He spends a minute or two looking over the diagrams before acknowledging who send them his way.

"Jay. Hi. These are great."

"Hey. Hope they come in handy." Jay smiles back, scrunching up his page and tossing it. "Know anything about urban camouflage techniques?"

"Not a lot. That's a Robin sort of thing.

"But you'd be surprised how well a hoodie can make you nearly invisible. It's almost as good as a holoprojector." He remembers those first months hiding who he was and what he'd become. And how easy it was to hide.

Jay mutters something dark about Robins under his breath and goes back to his sketchpad. "I challenged a friend here to a little game of roof-tag. Problem is, he's a vampire - fast, agile and with phenomenal senses. If I'm going to give him a good run, I need to be geared up. He's not really tech suave so I need to play on that advantage." Jay clearly takes this game very seriously.

"Then a holoprojector or two should help. But what you really need is misdirection." Which Cy is sure Jay's thought of. "And you'll need to mask your scent."

"I'm thinking sealed suit with air filters. A holoprojector or a hoodie might be a good idea to hide the fact so I can move through a crowd without causing a stir." He muses, flicking through his notes. "I'm thinking markers with my blood for misdirection."

"And the vampire is happy to let you use all that tech?" Doesn't seem sporting for some reason.

"It's a training experience for both of us, playing to our strengths against different skill sets. It's kinda the point." Jay shrugs and grins. "Besides, he's inhumanly fast. Without the tech advantage, it'll be over pretty fast and that won't be any fun."

"And he's one of the vamps here who won't drink your blood when you aren't looking?" An idea Cy is still getting used to.

Jay chuckles. "He's very polite about making sure you're very, very aware when he's drinking your blood." He manages to make it sound just a bit dirty. "And only through mutual consent."

"I guess that's good.

"I really don't know many vampires. And I don't think I'd be of much use to them, anyway. No real blood."

"Oh it is!" Jay grins playfully. "Blood or no blood."

"Any chance to learn. And lets face it, this place is nothing but chances to learn."

"Yeah, it can be enlightening. The one vampire I met was completely unlike what I expected." And hard to forget.

"What happened?" Jay asks, leaning back to sip his coffee.

"We danced. There was a party a few months ago, to mark the anniversary of the big blowout that almost ended the place. And she came up to me and chatted and we danced.

"She was, er, sweet. Totally crazy, but sweet. If she hadn't told me, I would not have guessed she was a vampire." Well, maybe the pale skin was a clue.

"Not Pam then. She's a fox but a stone cold killer." He shrugs. "I was at that party. Didn't end well for me."

"Do I want to know?" Probably not.

"Her name was Amara. She was actually really cute. In a creepy sort of way."

"Blonde, looks like bondage Barbie. Stay far, far away." He warns softly.

"Can't say I know her but I'll keep an eye out." He nods to Cy's books. "What are you working on?"

"Take your pick. Quantum physics, or technical writing. The first is just mind boggling. The second is actually hard." Rare for Cy to find any topic that he struggles at so much.

"Understanding the universe or explaining it to everyone else. Hmm, hard choice." Jay shrugs, picking up one of Cy's textbooks. "If you get a handle on Quantum physics, let me know. I've got a few problems I need a hand with."

"I honestly don't think anyone understands it. If Einstein couldn't handle it..." He knows, of course, that Einstein isn't the end all and be all of physics. "What sort of problems?"

"Got a quantum compression storage device I need to crack the tech on. I can get things in and out, that's not the issue. I want to understand to tech so I can use it myself." He fishes a chunky bracelet out of his jacket pocket and passes it to Cy. "I want to use the tech to carry more gear."

Cy knows one person who could help. But one reference to Robin seems to be enough.

"Hm. I see the appeal. If I could use quantum storage, I might be able to lower my mass."

"If I crack it, I'll toss you the specs. Personally, I'd like to be able to carry more than just my bike pannier bags will hold. Safe houses aren't always as safe as you'd think and not always easy to get to in a rush."

"Everything is about miniaturization now, isn't it?" Everything, it seems, but cybernetic body parts.

"Yeah but you can't miniaturise a tool kit," Jay sympathises. "or shrink a bedroll down to fit in a pocket-size and expect it to still be useful. You need the real thing to do the real job."

"At least you can sleep anywhere without a problem. If I don't hook into diagnostics at least once a week while I sleep, I run the risk of software drift." The code running his systems is some of the most complex ever written. Or so Cy's dad claims.

"Can't build a mobile back-up?" Jay drums his fingers curiously, already looking for ways to make that easier on Cy.

"Tried. But the times I've had to rough it, I actually did better short term without than with the backup." Though that might change with the new batteries.

"Would you like me to take a run at it?" He offers openly. "I'm not all that when it comes to programming but I know people who are."

"Sure. But I would want to pay you in some fashion. Tech work requires something in return." Even if it's just footing Jay's tab for a month.

Jay waves him away. "Give me the data and let me take a crack at it. If I don't come up with anything, don't sweat it. If I do find something useful, then just throw whatever you think is fair off my tab whenever you can afford it." Money doesn't bother Jay but a challenge is always interesting.

"Deal. I'll put everything together at home and bring it. What's the best way to save it?"

Jay shuffles through his kit and pulls out a portable harddrive. He takes a sec to clear it of anything interesting that Cy shouldn't see and hands it over. "This should just about fit what you need. If you need to encrypt it, just use the standard Titan codes." Yes, Jay knows them.

Which perplexes Cy, and makes him wonder about Jay's relations with the other Cyborg out there. But he won't ask.

"Got it."

[ooc: fade?]

{ooc: fade. Thanks, that was fun. At some point they're going to have to have an honest conservation.}

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