[Round 4, Day 2] The First Test

[earlofpudding]

Characters: Lloyd Asplund and Sherlock Holmes
Format: Prose
This log is: closed all you kids get off my lawn B|
Location: The Lab
Summary: You know that thing Lloyd's been working on all this time? Yeah. That thing. That's the one. We'll be testing that out today.

The rest day had passed by quietly without any further sightings of the scientist. He had gone straight back to the workroom he had taken over and, well, chances are that he hasn't gone elsewhere since then. The 'lab' has recovered since that poorly timed blackout that had sparked a minor explosion or two during the past round. It has gained some actual semblance to the real deal, too. It's no longer so messy, the computers are all set up and connected properly now, and all the exposed wiring had been dealt with.

Little things. It's the little touches that make it feel like home.

To Lloyd, anyway. Enough like home that, even though it is now after breakfast on the second day and he is expecting company, he's managed to nod off. He's in his chair, draped over the desk, finally catching up on some long awaited shut-eye.

Comments

[bitofafiction]

Far be it from Sherlock to interrupt someone else's nap. He hasn't slept more than two straight hours in the last day or so himself.

He settles himself in a spare chair to wait.

[earlofpudding]

It takes another twenty minutes before that vague sense of someone watching him gets through to Lloyd. He sits up with a jolt, sitting right up and squinting at the blurry room around him.

Blurry.

Why is it blurry?

Nope, he still doesn't recall his need for glasses. They're sitting elsewhere on the desk.

"...what time is it?"

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock picks Lloyd's glasses up and hands them to him.

"Quarter to ten."

[earlofpudding]

The glasses get a puzzled look, but he'll put them on anyway. Oh! Oh. Right. Glasses.

"Hmm. I hadn't meant to nod off like that..." Lloyd wastes no time in getting to his feet and sauntering over to the table he has left the device at. He cobbled together something with cables and all to power the EMP device up properly and it's from there that he picks it up.

It looks rather like a detonation charge. All it lacks is any lettering to name it as such and is somewhat smaller. Easier to hold, easier to conceal. It isn't the kind of weapon Lloyd prefers to build, but subtlety does have its uses from time to time.

"So! Shall we get this show on the road~?"

[bitofafiction]

He smiles faintly, following.

"By all means."

[earlofpudding]

"Excellent! If you will draw the weapon, we can get on with the first test run."

Lloyd's a bit excited and doesn't make any attempt to disguise that in his voice. He still has no idea what his is!

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock nods, pulls on his glove, and reaches for Lloyd's chest in an entirely businesslike fashion.

[earlofpudding]

That part of the game is tremendously awkward, if you think about it, but Lloyd doesn't notice things like that. He does find the uncomfortable sensation of having an entire weapon yanked out of his chest a little disconcerting, though. Should holograms even do that?

Out comes a an ornately carved white quarterstaff, which is the last thing he would have ever expected. The scientist is giving it a uncertain look.

"It's... a stick."

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock spins it around his hand, observing how it moves.

"Not bad," he concludes. "I could fight with this, certainly."

[earlofpudding]

"But it's so mundane..."

And low tech. He was hoping for something about more in the area of mass destruction, not a chunk of wood. Tch. Maybe he'll get some catharsis from shutting the holographic staff down.

"Alright. Hold it out."

Lloyd holds the emitter up by the weapon.

"On the count of five. Five... four... three..."

[bitofafiction]

He holds the staff as directed, watching closely.

[earlofpudding]

"...two and one!"

Lloyd pressed the trigger on the side of the emitter. There was a brief sense of static in the air. The weapon's reacton? Immediate. The staff's image flickered in Sherlock's hand. There one second, gone the next, then back, then distorted, until finally...

The hologram shatters with a noise like glass cracking.

The pieces fade rather than drop.

[bitofafiction]

"Fascinating," he remarks, glancing at Lloyd to see how this outcome has affected him.

[earlofpudding]

The affects on the scientist himself... well, there don't seem to be any. Lloyd doesn't collapse into a coma like other broken Weapons have done before. He doesn't even seem harmed.

"Strange. I had expected it to be a bit more violent than that."

[bitofafiction]

The first thing that occurs to him is: "Can I draw it again, I wonder?"

[earlofpudding]

"Draw it again?" There's a thought. "Try and we'll see!"

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock nods and reaches for Lloyd's chest.

[earlofpudding]

This time around?

Nothing. No weapon appears. It's just Sherlock holding his hand out in the air and nothing else.

"Interesting. What could have..." The answer hits Lloyd before he even finishes asking the question. "Ah! I see! You let me destroy the weapon!"

[bitofafiction]

"...I see," he says. "And now you do not have one? Well. I hope the effect is not permanent."

[earlofpudding]

"No, no. It isn't that." Lloyd raises a hand, showing Sherlock the back of it. "See? The game's vow mark is gone. It's been cancelled out because you broke it, or so the system believes."

He turns to put the emitter back into the makeshift charging cradle.

[bitofafiction]

He smiles slightly.

"It accords with their ideology, I suppose."

Should have seen it, of course, but—he thinks it over and confirms it in his mind—the back of Lloyd's hand has not been in his line of sight since the weapon broke.

"Though I can't say I agree. Shall I promise it again?"

[earlofpudding]

"I wonder who would bear this punishment if we used it against a different Player and Weapon," he muses aloud and turns back to face Sherlock. "Of course! I might need that staff for other tests."

And he sure can't get to it on his own. What a pesky game rule.

[bitofafiction]

"In that case," he says, with a modicum of irony, "I promise to protect you."

[earlofpudding]

"Sure, sure," Lloyd agrees to it and checks the back of his hand for the mark that should appear again. Only, it doesn't. "Or... not. Strange. Is there a penalty for breaking the weapon after all?

[bitofafiction]

"Perhaps I have to promise to do a better job of it this time," he suggests.

[earlofpudding]

"I'm not sure the system will acknowledge that either, if it won't do so with the usual vow. I'll go back through the rules and see if there's anything more in there about breaking those..."

That said, he'll walk back across the room to his desk to look for the Exaclan manual.

"But if we have no Weapon, that concludes testing for the day. What a shame!"

[bitofafiction]

"There's no mention of a case such as this," Sherlock volunteers. "At least not to my recollection. Fascinating. Well done. I am intrigued by the potential applications."

[earlofpudding]

"You memorized this thing?"

Well then, that saves Lloyd the time of going back through the rules. Excellent. He leaves the book where it was and flops down in the chair at the desk.

"Aha~, so it really is a way to break it. An exploitable bug, so to speak." The mention of 'potential applications' gets a raised eyebrow. The knowing smile is a given, since the damn thing rarely leaves the man's face. "Would you like to take it for a test spin during a battle, Mr. Holmes?"

[bitofafiction]

"Love to," he says, grinning. "I'm booked for this afternoon, but I'll look you up for my second battle of the round if I can schedule one."

> laugh maniacally >:3

[earlofpudding]

Lloyd nods.

"Sounds like a plan~! It'll be charged up again by then, though... hm... I really need to work on getting it to not use up all of the charge on one weapon. So inefficient..."

Now that the next test is settled on, one during a battle, he lets his attention wander off to making the emitter even better. The second version won't likely be ready for Sherlock's second fight, but hey, it'll keep him busy until then.