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(no subject)

Who: Jules and OPEN
What: Glass residue and glass making
When: May
Where: The beaches of Enso
Warnings: Typical Jules warnings that he purposefully pushes people's buttons if given a reason to do so. Please don't tag him if you're concerned he will bother you.

Those who commonly wander the beaches of Enso might have discovered an interesting new phenomenon. For the past few days one part of the beach has been littered with fragments of glass. It's not your typical clear, sharp edged glass, but more of a beach glass variety. Little nuggets that are rather opaque with blunt edges. There's even one section with a huge divot in the sand that's nearly covered in the strange glass. Most days there's no explanation for the presence of the glass, but if someone gets lucky they might discover exactly what's causing it.

Jules knows the general principles behind making glass. It's only super heated sand, after all. Apply enough heat and it should presumably form glass. His fire is certainly hot enough to do that. The last few days have proven it. He's been rather successful melting the sand down into what resembles glass, but the problem is the glass isn't in any useful form. Glass chunks aren't going to create windows or bottles or anything else. The most they could be used for is throwing at someone, though that's hardly useful given they'd have the safe effectiveness of throwing a pebble.

Maybe he can shape it with a knife while it's still hot? That would be easier than using his mental abilities, though he's willing to try that if he gets desperate. He builds a small mound of sand in front of him before opening his second lungs and spewing out a burst of white hot fire. He manages to draw it down to a small stream after a moment and crouches down to continue heating the sand in a more controlled fashion. Eventually, when it's molten, he pulls back to stare at the glowing bundle. Not willing to sacrifice one of his good knives, he pulls out the one he's fashioned from chipped rock. Very gently he starts poking at the molten glass ball, seeing if he can affect the shape. As focused as he is on his work, should someone approach nearby he'll know in an instant. Overly heightened hearing and a history of paranoia and attempts on his life make identifying nearby people rather easy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Garren is not at all subtle or hidden when he tromps across the beach, so it is even more very likely that Jules will notice him and the very faint jangle and squeak of his armor. Tachibana can be seen not too far behind, but far enough that it'll be a few minutes before he catches up, with how slowly he's moving.

Garren had spotted that burst of fire from down the beach and had run ahead to see what had caused it, deeply curious. Fire was the element he and his Slammer shared, after all!

Jules' eyes flick over, but only briefly. It's just long enough to determine who is coming and recognize the people aren't a threat. Then he's back to his focus on the semi-glass.

"Don't get yourself too close, some of this is still pretty hot."

And he isn't good enough to keep the flames to only one area. Stuff drips or unintended sections get hot enough to start shifting. Jules doesn't want Garren to accidentally step in molten glass.

Obligingly, Garren slows to a stop, then starts inching closer, as if testing how warm the air was as he tries to get a better look at things. The residual heat doesn't bother him much, but he is being very cautious as to where he steps.

Again his eyes flick backward for a second.

"If you can make it to me without running onto any glass, you can come up on my shoulder. Might be hot though."

He doesn't let his attention drift for long since there's the chance he could screw the temperature up and not be able to get it back. So far he's been able to alter the shape a little bit at least.

There's a very pleased "heeeee" sound from the small creature, and he nods, picking up speed in his efforts to tiptoe through the bits of Jules's experimenting until he's by the man's side. There's a moment of hesitation as he looks up, trying to figure the best way to start his climb. He doesn't want to interrupt, after all!

"You're fine. Go ahead."

He'll hardly even notice the little guy no matter how he decides to climb up. It's not like he really knows what he's doing anyway, or doing anything so complete that a slight twitch near his arm would make that much difference.

That's all the invitation the small pog needs before he very carefully grabs hold of Jules' shirt and starts hauling himself up, finding careful footholds as he goes, but mostly using the strength of his arms to pull his tiny body up as he climbs.

It's not long before he's carefully perched on Jules' shoulder, peering down at the work being done.

Garren might not know Jules that well, but if he did he would realize what a huge thing it is for Jules to allow him up on his shoulder like this. The Andarion is incredibly suspicious and rarely even lets someone stand at his back. To let a mostly knew entity touch him like this is nearly unheard of.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, so don't judge me too harshly."

For Garren, shoulder time just is further confirmation that this is a friend. Even grumpyface Hajime had let him ride on his shoulders a few times, after all!

He nods giving Jules a light reassuringly meant pat on his shoulder. It was fine! He often didn't know what he was doing, but that was what testing and experimenting was for! He'd learned that much from his Slammer spending so much time in the lab back in Liminal.

"Glad at least one of us thinks I have enough of an idea of what's going on to make this work."

Personally Jules isn't so sure he actually has that knowledge, but he's giving it a whirl anyway. This is one of many times when he's incredibly frustrated by the fact that the islands have no access to any kind of internet. At home his link could have given him all the information he needed in an incredibly short amount of time.

Garren made a small, pleased sound, waving his arms in silent applause to cheer him on.

"Doing some experimenting?" Tachibana asked, having finally caught up enough with his partner to be within speaking distance.

"Pretty much, though experimenting makes it sound like there's some level of understanding and scientific process involved in what I'm doing."

That's definitely not the case. Jules has really only the barest understanding of how making glass should work.

"The process is how you get the understanding," Tachibana pointed out with a hint of a smile. "The chemistry of it all mostly helps with the documentation after you've set the lab on fire."

"Well, since I don't have a damn lab and the whole point of this actually is setting things on fire, I'm not too worried about documentation."

Not like there's really anybody else here who could follow his documentation and repeat his experiment. He's the only fyreblood here.

A faint chuckle answered that. "Yeah," he almost sighed. "The one thing I miss the most here, I think."

...outside of the more personal things that he was not about to get into.

"What, the lab, the documentation, or things not being on fire?"

Really, if you want things not to be on fire you probably shouldn't hang around Jules.

~~Funny, some people would say that about Tachibana~~~

This time it was a snort that was far closer to laughter. "The lab," he answered with a hint of a smile. "Documentation was always secondary, and as for the fire..." he trailed off with a faint smile. "I've gotten much better at not burning things outside of a fight over the years," he joked.

"Eh, I don't burn anything by accident. It's all intentional."

Not that that's very reassuring, now that he thinks about it, but whatever. It's who he is.

"Too many unpredictable variables for some of my work," Tachibana half shrugged. "...And a lack of having ever studied cooking for non-lab disasters," he added with a faint chuckle.

"Cooking is one thing I can do. If you need help with that, give a shout."

While he wouldn't say he's a gourmet chef, most who've had the honor of eating his food would argue that. Jules spent most of his youth in the kitchens, so he knows how to cook.

"I likely will. I had someone teaching me before, but..." Tachibana trailed off before a faintly rueful smile tugged at his expression. "I don't seem to have much luck with people staying around, it seems."

"Given the history of my luck, I'll never end up leaving his place. You should be pretty safe with me teaching you."

If Tachibana's luck is even worse than his, then Jules will actually be appreciative for once.

Tachibana half chuckled. "A good way to test fate, really. Either we both wind up with companionship, or one of us gets to go home."

Not... that that would help. Unless someone how he wound up back in Liminal. Without even thinking, one hand strayed to his watch, tracing the edge of it under his jacket sleeve as his expression grew distant.

Garren made a small, worried sound, looking over at his Slammer.

Jules' eyes flickered over toward Tachibana, and all his work on the glass paused.

"Not try to pry or dig or anything, but that shift in emotion was pretty much impossible for me not to notice."

He didn't really want to ignore it either. That shit had hurt, and he didn't even own the emotion or know the cause of it. If Tachibana didn't want to share, he certainly wouldn't push, but just in case he would make the opportunity available.

There was a faint hesitation, Tachibana fidgeting slightly before he let out a slow, deep breath.

"Sayoko's gone," he explained, voice soft before a small, mirthless chuckle escaped. "I kept saying if I had a second chance, I wouldn't hesitate so damned much, and yet, both times..." he trailed off unhappily.