Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist:

Carlos grinned. “Well, for starters it’ll run a lot faster,”
he said. “The terminals out here are achingly slow just from the wear and tear
on their hardware. Going in and making sure everything’s connected will do
wonders on it. And with better hardware, you’ll be able to save more onto it
without gumming up the processing. And, if you had additional hardware, you
could use it to manage multiple machines at once.”

“Wait, what?” His expression was somewhere between amazed and confused as he stared at Carlos, trying to process that. “What does that mean? Managing multiple at once? Like…. that terminal could run others? Or….. how would that work, exactly?”

Carlos thought. “Well, say you had a network. And you had
devices attached to that network. Um… completely hypothetical, but what if
Charlie was attached? You could theoretically use the improved terminal to manage
his work and his protocols. I’m not saying hook him up, because I don’t think
he’d appreciate that, but you could.” Another idea suddenly hit Carlos. “You could
also wire it up to turrets, lights, and alarms. For security’s sake.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

“You’ll be right here to remind me, if I forget,” Carlos
said with a smile. “But it’s up to you – I don’t mean to push. It was just a
suggestion.”

“Good point. Guess there ain’t any reason not to let ya drive, heh.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll hand over the wheel at some point, we’ll see, I s’pose. I don’t mind it so much when I got good company, anyway, long as I have someone to chat with, I’m just fine. ‘Specially when that someone’s as handsome as you are.”

Carlos got a little flushed at that. He smiles sheepishly,
dropping his gaze. “C’mon… I’m not really ‘handsome’. I’m thirty and I’m already
greying, see?” He laughed nervously, smiling at Hancock.

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos turned to Hancock again and he smiled, nodding
eagerly as he took the rag. “This will work great,” he said. “This is fantastic
– that terminal is going to be working almost as good as it did coming off the
assembly line!” Carlos was excited. Time to do something useful!

“Wait, seriously? You can actually do that?” His brows raised, a surprised look on his face as he considered that. He’d never used a brand new terminal before, only the ones that had been affected by two hundred years of nuclear fallout that ran slow as hell, but that was how they were supposed to run…. right? “What uh…. what exactly is that gonna be like? Will it be able to do more?”

Carlos grinned. “Well, for starters it’ll run a lot faster,”
he said. “The terminals out here are achingly slow just from the wear and tear
on their hardware. Going in and making sure everything’s connected will do
wonders on it. And with better hardware, you’ll be able to save more onto it
without gumming up the processing. And, if you had additional hardware, you
could use it to manage multiple machines at once.”

Send me ≋ to share a bath with my muse        

“God, I need a bath,” Carlos murmured aloud. He’d just
caught a whiff of himself and yeah – he wasn’t comfortable with what he was smelling.
He sighed deeply and mentally put it on his to-do list for the day.

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos looked over at Hancock and got excited. “Ooh!” he exclaimed, with a touch of feminine-sounding excitement in his voice, and he walked over to take the bottle. “Is it really…?” He opened it and
gave it a sniff. “Oh my god, yes!
Yes, thank you so much, Hancock! This’ll do great! Now I just need a clean
cloth and we’ll be set to start!”

A light laugh escaped the ghoul at Carlos’ reaction, a wide grin on his face. He went into a drawer then for a cloth, pulling out a rag that was about as clean as anything could be in that environment and handing it to the other man. “Will this work?”

Carlos turned to Hancock again and he smiled, nodding
eagerly as he took the rag. “This will work great,” he said. “This is fantastic
– that terminal is going to be working almost as good as it did coming off the
assembly line!” Carlos was excited. Time to do something useful!

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos rolled his eyes slightly and looked at Hancock with a
smile. “It won’t be tough to figure out,” he said. “And I’m completely awake,
so it isn’t like I’ll ‘forget’ where I am because of fatigue or something. Also,
I live in Oregon. There are backroads everywhere that aren’t even paved. I
think I can handle it.” He sighed. “Though, if you’re worried about your car, I
guess you can try me out on an easy road first.” Carlos wasn’t really offended –
he knew that plenty of Americans were bad drivers, so there was definitely a
stigma.

“I’m not worried about the car, but this is the easy road.” He chuckled softly, turning on his blinker as he took the next exit and got off onto another somewhat wide road–– at least by his country’s standards. “I wasn’t tryin’ to offend ya or anything, but I’ve seen it plenty’a times where folks from countries that drive on the other side’a the road end up on the wrong side after takin’ a turn or something. Seems easy, but it ain’t hard to forget, y’know?”

“You’ll be right here to remind me, if I forget,” Carlos
said with a smile. “But it’s up to you – I don’t mean to push. It was just a
suggestion.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

“I’m sure it’ll fly by for you too,” Carlos said with a
smile. “That is, if we talk the whole way. Heh! Hey, I’m willing to drive a bit too, if you
get too tired.”

“Really? You sure ya wanna try driving?” A surprised look crossed Hancock’s face at that, he’d warned Carlos about the roads where they were going, but apparently he wasn’t concerned with it–– not yet, anyway. Maybe he’d let him try, at the very least, he might get a good laugh out of it. “Don’t you folks drive on the other side’a the road in America? Hell, ya drive on the other side of the car, heh. Sure you’re up for that? It can be a little freaky.”

Carlos rolled his eyes slightly and looked at Hancock with a
smile. “It won’t be tough to figure out,” he said. “And I’m completely awake,
so it isn’t like I’ll ‘forget’ where I am because of fatigue or something. Also,
I live in Oregon. There are backroads everywhere that aren’t even paved. I
think I can handle it.” He sighed. “Though, if you’re worried about your car, I
guess you can try me out on an easy road first.” Carlos wasn’t really offended –
he knew that plenty of Americans were bad drivers, so there was definitely a
stigma.

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos shrugged slightly. “I could, but… rubbing alcohol
gets rid of tiny, finer bits of dirt and grime that a dry cloth can’t get.” He
frowned. “I guess we could use purified water, but then we’d have to dab everything
dry before plugging it in.” He thought a bit. “Or… I could use acetone? Like,
paint thinner? I’d have to be careful with it, but yeah…”

“Hmm…. I dunno about paint thinner–– wait, i think I got somethin’ here.” Crawling back out from under the sink with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in his hand, Hancock closed the cabinet and turned back to Carlos with a hopeful look. “Can’t really read the label too well and there ain’t much in there, but will this work?”

Carlos looked over at Hancock and got excited. “Ooh!” he exclaimed, with a touch of feminine-sounding excitement in his voice, and he walked over to take the bottle. “Is it really…?” He opened it and
gave it a sniff. “Oh my god, yes!
Yes, thank you so much, Hancock! This’ll do great! Now I just need a clean
cloth and we’ll be set to start!”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos shrugged and nodded. “Yeah – to get anywhere
interesting we have to travel at least that. At least here things are
relatively close together, huh? I’m looking forward to it.” He smiled again.

“Yeah, heh. Seems far for us when we’re drivin’ several hours to get someplace ‘cause everything’s so close together normally, but I guess it really ain’t much when ya look at it compared to what you gotta deal with. Guess this drive’ll probably fly by for you then, huh?”

“I’m sure it’ll fly by for you too,” Carlos said with a
smile. “That is, if we talk the whole way. Heh! Hey, I’m willing to drive a bit too, if you
get too tired.”

Food for the Soul (closed w/ selfmedicatingmayor)

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos nodded at him. “Yeah, sure,” he said with a smile. He
quickly rinsed off his hands and wiped them dry with a towel. “Okay… I think I’m
ready. You… don’t happen to have any clean rubbing alcohol, do you?”

“I dunno, probably not, but is there any other kinda alcohol that’ll work?” As he spoke, Hancock dug around in the cabinet under his sink, looking for rubbing alcohol. “What do ya need it for? I thought it was just dusty in there or somethin’, can’t that just be wiped off with a cloth or something?”

Carlos shrugged slightly. “I could, but… rubbing alcohol
gets rid of tiny, finer bits of dirt and grime that a dry cloth can’t get.” He
frowned. “I guess we could use purified water, but then we’d have to dab everything
dry before plugging it in.” He thought a bit. “Or… I could use acetone? Like,
paint thinner? I’d have to be careful with it, but yeah…”