redshiftlogs | The devil will find work for idle hands to do [open]

Entry tags:

The devil will find work for idle hands to do [open]

Who: Qubit, open
What: Running some tests.
When: mid-September
Where: R&D
Warnings: none
Format: prefer brackets, but will match!

[ The latest crisis may be over, but that doesn't mean Qubit's taking much time to rest. The issues he's having with his powers are too severe to put off dealing with. He's a scientist, after all. How can he solve any problems around here without eliminating such a glaring unknown?

That's all there is to it! It's just science, really! The fact that it makes him feel useless and insecure and humiliated has nothing to do with anything. Also shut up.

So he's been spending whatever downtime he can find over in R&D, testing his new limits. Unfortunately, those same limits are forcing him to spread the testing out over multiple days, lest he lose too much time to migraines and exhaustion. It's a delicate dance that's tripped him up several times already, though to his credit, he's only managed to knock himself out cold once, and that only for a few seconds. (If a nerd falls in the woods and no one's around to hear him, is it still embarrassing?)

He's commandeered some lab space of his own by this point, including a back room where he's set up a cot and may or may not be living full-time (he is). The front of shop is already sort of a disaster area, littered with dismantled parts and half-assembled machines - no small percentage of them mangled beyond recognition.

Qubit himself isn't hard to find, poking around the lab bench, where he's working on something small - not too dramatic, but no less important than the big stuff. He's already got a hypothesis that the new limit's tied, at least in part, to complexity... His tablet is propped up nearby, taking voice recordings.

This one starts with a heavy sigh. He's been at it for a while now, and the headache's starting to get real. Probably call it a day after this. ]

All right. Test 21: general-purpose microprocessor. Process one-decimal-five microns, clock twenty megahertz.

[ Alternatively, feel free to wildcard me! ]

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[ Qubit doesn't stop him inspecting the pile, but does curl his lip at the item Peter picks up. It's hard to tell either what it was or what he was trying to turn it into. Parts of it resemble stuff you'd find around Anchor, of course, and other parts resemble a circuitboard you might find on Earth, but the blending from one to the other is bizarre. There's an organic feel to it, almost alien - like it's been mutated this way, rather than built.

Personally, he hates it. The unreliability, the tradeoffs, the guesswork. For his whole adult life, his powers have been a constant. They don't solve all his problems, not by a long shot, but they've allowed him to create as fast as he can think, bypassing the delay between problem and solution. For a guy as impatient as himself, that's nothing short of a godsend.

"Is he doing okay"? Surely Peter already knows the answer to that. They both do, but Qubit's pride makes him reluctant to come out and say it. ]

Is that a rhetorical question?

[Peter spends maybe too long inspecting this thing, turning it over in his hands and squinting at every little detail and tracing it with his fingers. In the back of his mind he's just like "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT THIS IS WILD I LOVE IT WHAT EVEN IS THIS", but on the outside he's all business.]

It absolutely is. You obviously feel like shit, and you're not making the progress you think you should be making, which makes you feel even shittier but less in a physical way and more in a general overall sort of way.

[You had your chance to just tell him, Qubit, now he has to call you out.]

[ How infuriatingly astute of you. Qubit leans sideways on the table, resting his chin in one hand. ]

It's not about progress. All I'm trying to do is reestablish a baseline of my capabilities. [ And even that has been slow going! Boy, actual projects are going to be FUN. ] As long as I keep flying blind, I'm a danger to myself and others. That's not my opinion, that's a fact.

[ Though definitely a fact he has some strong feelings about, if the venom in his last word is any indication. ]

[YEP that sounds like Peter. He finally stops farting around with the thing he'd picked up and sets it back on the table.]

Right, right, I get that. You have to reacquaint yourself with yourself. I just-- I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't want you to feel like you need to deal with it by yourself. Y'know? Like, even if there isn't a lot that I can physically help with? If you just need someone to complain about this stuff to or bounce ideas off of, I'm around.

[ For a long, long moment, Qubit doesn't reply. Instead, he picks up the thing Peter was messing with, examining it while he thinks.

He's made new friends in the time since he lost his old ones. Friends, co-workers, housemates, acquaintances. But he's always kept them at a distance. For their own good, he tells himself. Oh, there are the usual reasons - his enemies could appear at any time, the life he leads is too dangerous, his personal issues are no one else's business.

Even now, there are plenty of reasons he shouldn't confide in Peter - not just about this, but in general. He's just a kid, it's preposterous for him to shoulder your emotional baggage. Anyway, this isn't the worst it's ever been for you, not by a long shot. You've been in worse situations and you've felt worse about them, and you'll be damned if some stupid childhood insecurity is what does you in now.

(Of course, all of these are nothing but excuses. And deep down, Qubit knows this.) ]

... Look. [ He sets down the object. His tone of voice is less tense, but... measured, like he's choosing his words with great care. ] I appreciate your concern. I do. But this isn't something I need help with. I know what's wrong, I just have to determine how wrong. That's all there is to it.

[ THIS PROBLEM HAS NO EMOTIONAL DIMENSION WHATSOEVER AND ANYONE WHO THINKS IT DOES IS A FOOL. QUBIT IS FINE, AND FURTHERMORE, A VERY EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY PERSON WHO TAKES ADEQUATE CARE OF HIMSELF. ]

[Even superheroes need help sometimes, Qubit. Which is a line Peter is definitely going to use later if this shit continues. For now though, he's not going to push too much. This is one of those nuts he's going to have to crack slowly over time, and if he has to play the long game with Qubit, then so be it.]

Okay, that's fair. My offer still stands, though. If you ever do need anything, or if you just wanna chat for a minute, I'm literally right next door. Hell, I could probably use the distraction, to be honest. Sometimes I get a little too fixated on my work, y'know?

[Which is a huge understatement, to be honest.]

[ ..... Yeah, all right, that's fine. The offer in and of itself doesn't demand anything of him, and he's fine with casual friend stuff. Frankly, he could use some distraction himself. ]

Fair enough. Speaking of... [ He stretches his arms and gets to his feet. ] Why don't you show me what you're working on?

[Just as planned.]

I was thinking of working on fixing that armor. Again. I haven't really had a chance to take another whack at it yet.

[Rather he's been finding things to do in order to avoid it. Not getting it right the first time has him feeling just a bit inadequate, at least in the "fixing shit just as good as Tony Stark" department.]

[ The armor. Yeah, Qubit very much wants to check that out! But play it cool, play it cool. ]

Do you want me to take a look? I know you want to fix it yourself, but I could always advise. Or just be the rubber duck in the room.

[I mean Peter can't blame him, it's really cool armor.]

I-- y'know, that's probably a good idea. I mean, you obviously know your stuff, and I'm just entirely self taught so I could be like, missing something? I usually don't have any trouble though, y'know? Maybe I'm just not using the right materials, or I've got some math off somewhere--

[He is absolutely going to run his mouth all the way back over to his lab.]

Edited 2019-09-17 00:44 (UTC)

[ Implying that Qubit could possibly keep his mouth shut here. ]

Waaait, wait, wait. You're self-taught? I thought Stark - didn't you say you were mentored?

[ Being self-taught is hardly a strike against him - I mean, Qubit is, too. Past a certain point, it's difficult to find anyone capable of teaching you more effectively than you can learn on your own. But Qubit wasn't messing with nanotech and power armor at - what, 16? how old is Peter, anyway? Regardless, this kid is alarmingly smart. ]

Edited 2019-09-17 00:57 (UTC)

Oh, no! The mentoring was for the Avengers gig! More of a "how to superhero" sort of thing. Everything else is me, I just kinda have a knack for tech, I guess.

[16 or 17, Peter's lost track between here and Hadriel. Either way, yes, this kid has a gigantic brain.

Once in Peter's fun little corner of R&D, he heads over to a containment unit in the corner that is currently housing his armor. He doesn't open it up just yet, he's going to take a moment to just look it over a bit first.]

I don't know if I could quite build something like this from scratch yet, though.

[ "A knack for te-" PETER YOU'RE A GENIUS, OKAY? HOLY SHIT.

And there was Stark, from the sound of it, making him a glorified sidekick. Of course those would be his priorities - he always was one for brute force, wasn't he? Sure, Peter's powers are impressive, but how could Stark fail to notice such a gifted mind right under his nose? - Not that surprising, actually, considering he can't see past the end of it.

~~Oh my god Qubit, grudge harder.~~ HE WILL, THANKS.

He looks over the armor as well, a hand on his chin, keeping any such thoughts to himself. The damage from their ill-advised robot fight is still present, and he still feels pretty bad about that, but he keeps that to himself, too. ]

Oh, I'm sure you'll get there. You're still young. So what are you having issues with?

[YES PETER KNOWS HE'S A GENIUS BUT HE ALSO DOESN'T LIKE TO BRAG OK

Oooh if Peter had any idea just how off Qubit was about Tony he'd be SO OFFENDED. Good thing he's keeping that to himself.]

Actually, my biggest issue isn't with the suit itself. See, it's compatible with nanotech, so I was trying to reprogram some of the station's nanomachines to be compatible with the suit, so that they could handle some of the more intricate repairs. That's where I'm having trouble. Like, I could take a screwdriver and physically repair anything on this station, but I don't have a ton of experience with programming yet.

[ FINE THEN QUBIT WILL JUST SIT HERE BEING PROUD OF HIM FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING ]

Mm. I see. And you don't want to get too bold with it, since the armor's irreplaceable.

[ Understandable. It's a difficult problem, and bugs in nanite programming can be pretty disastrous. That's how you get things like nightmare fog, or the Iron Wind, or grey goo. But as with any engineering problem, there are ways around it. ]

Do you have a way to simulate it?

Edited 2019-09-20 19:08 (UTC)

[WHAT A NICE MAN QUBIT SOMETIMES IS]

Yeah, exactly.

[The last thing Peter needs is nanites going bonkers in his suit while he's wearing it or something. Unfortunately he's never had a chance to work with anything like this before, so he's learning everything as he goes.]

I don't have a way to do that yet? But I can probably figure something out.

[ Qubit shrugs. ] You don't have to figure it out from scratch. I've got a software framework I could adapt for you without too much trouble. [ beat ] Provided we've got a machine that can run it, of course, but I assume we do.

If there's one thing this place has in abundance, it's ridiculously high tech machines. Whether or not there are any spares laying around that are still functional is another question entirely, but so far I've been able to repair everything that I've come across. So, this is totally doable, I think this is a great idea.

[Speaking of machines, Peter's going to move over to a table with a bunch of junk and a couple computers on it and just see what he's got to work with here.]

[ He grins. It's a good start, and he's reasonably sure that he can fix himself whatever may have stumped Peter. ]

Fantastic.

[ Time to play with computers! Now this is what Qubit lives for. He spends a moment messing with his tablet to find the appropriate program - his filesystem isn't the most diligently organized, but he knows where everything is (more or less). And while he's not big on things like "documentation" or "well-defined system requirements," there are a few things this software can't do without. Once he's dug up what he needs, he joins Peter at the desk to see what he's got. ]

Right, let's see. At the absolute minimum, we'll need a quantum CPU. Nondeterministic algorithm, you see - if we tried to run it on conventional hardware, it might finish inside of a few million years.

[Peter just. Slowly nods. Oooh suddenly he's not feeling quite as confident about this little venture.]

Yeaaah, uh. Can't say I've found any quantum computers laying around yet. That's not to say we don't have any here, but everything computer-wise that I've come across so far has been pretty basic. Do you-- do you think we could build one?

[ Aw, damn, I can't believe it took all of five seconds to find the gaping hole in this plan. Qubit's expression dims a bit, but he's undeterred. ]

Hmm. I'm sure we could, it's just a matter of... [ a lot of things. Hey Peter, your turn to be the rubber duck! ] Ordinarily, I could throw one together like that [ snaps his fingers ], but obviously that's off the table for now. So it really depends on what we can get the manufacturing equipment to produce. I've been looking at that in my spare time - it's not in great shape, but it's fixable - and maybe I can at least modify it, piecemeal, where needed...

[ He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose. Remember that headache he has? That didn't stop being a thing or anything. The machines that create microchips are at least nearly as advanced as the chips they're making, though, so even that would be hard to cheese with his powers like this. ]

[Peter Parker, here to ruin your good times.

He is concerned about Qubit's whole headache situation, maybe right now isn't the best time to jump into a new project.].

Y'know, I think with both of us working on it, we'll be able to get those machines to turn out some really good equipment. Right now though, I think it's break time. Maybe grab some water, pop a couple Tylenol. Tylenols? Whatever the plural is.

[ Qubit shoots him a quizzical look, as if the suggestion is a total non sequitur. He was just starting to get on a roll, though? ]

I thought we were on break.

[ Hey Qubit, I think maybe you don't know what a break is. ]

Edited 2019-09-29 19:48 (UTC)

We've been talking shop this whole time, that counts as working. We'll get back to it once your headache is gone.

[And he doesn't sound like he's willing to budge on that one, PUNK.]

[ Whatever, MOM. Qubit throws his hands up in disbelief and attempts to spit out all his protests simultaneously. ]

It does not count as- I am fine, I can still- Since when do you set my hours?!

[Peter just crosses his arms and is not even a little bit swayed by Qubit's hissy fit.]

Since you bumbled into my life and I decided that I kind of think you're okay and thus don't like to see you in pain. Whoa, crazy, right?

[ On the plus side, Qubit's hissy fits tend to burn out quickly. He lets his arms drop to his sides, but at least doesn't keep yelling. ]

... Fine. If it'll get that bee out of your bonnet.

[ He rolls his eyes as he strides - not out of the lab, but toward the back room where the sink is. At the doorway, though, he turns back and jabs a finger in Peter's direction. ]

But I'd better not hear any more complaints that I'm babying you!

Hah, bee, bumble, I get it.

[Smartass mode ENGAGED. He gives Qubit a friendly wave in response to that finger pointing.]

Uh huh, sure thing, buddy. Enjoy that nap that you're totally gonna go take.

[ GOD THAT PUN WASN'T EVEN INTENTIONAL thanks he hates it.

Anyway yeah he goes to the back room. Which, if this was Qubit's lab, would have a cot set up for that hypothetical nap! But this is Peter's lab, so all he does is grab a cup of water and knock back a couple of ibuprofen from the bottle he now keeps in his coat pocket. He returns with the styrofoam cup still in his hand. ]

The other thing we'd have to figure out is the power draw-

[Then go back to your cot and take a NAP, QUBIT, IT'S LIKE ONE DOOR DOWN.]

And we will figure out the power draw, it's on the top my to do list, it'll get done. Go rest, the world's not gonna end if you stop to nap for a few hours.

[and then Peter became the biggest hypocrite ever.]

[ First of all how dare you, he's not even the biggest hypocrite in this room. ]

Peter, I do not need a nap! What are we, kindergarteners? I can work through a minor headache, for God's sake. [ HE DOESN'T WANNA, AND YOU CAN'T MAKE HIM. So yeah we are kindergarteners apparently. ] You can kick me out, but I will find something else to work on, I promise you that.

[ Qubit why did you say that like it's a threat. Are you trying to coerce him into keeping you entertained? Is that what this is? ]

[Oh Peter looks absolutely amused by this. Don't ask him why he's grinning.]

That sounds to me like a challenge. Don't think for a second that I won't web you right to your cot, buddy.

[God he didn't realize how much he needed a lab partner to annoy until perhaps this very minute.]

Not if I break your webshooters first.

[ He wouldn't. Probably. Maybe. He actually might. ]

Then I put you in a headlock until you pass out.

[I mean Peter could fix them but he would be very sad. Tony gave this pair to him how dare you sir!!!]

[ ... Okay, well, that one would actually work. Qubit sighs and rubs one of his temples, but this time it's just out of exasperation. ]

Why are you like this.

I dunno. Reasons. Enjoy your nap.

[Qubit will totally find out later BUT ANYWAY. Peter will absolutely be peeking in to check on you QUBIT.]

[ HE AIN'T THERE, SUCKER ]

[ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!]

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The devil will find work for idle hands to do [open]

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and now i make up a bunch of shit yolo

our true power is technobabble

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