Un: TerribleTinkerer | Text

[badnewsandshitlist]

If money has no meaning here, then what do people do with themselves? Adventure for the sport of it? Build things only to watch them gather dust?

I prefer problems that bite back or explode in my hands, but it seems difficult to call that work in a place where every need is already seen to.

So. What passes for an occupation here—when merit and coin are both irrelevant?

Comments

[badnewsandshitlist]

Long enough that they feel like extensions of myself rather than curiosities. Retort is quick, Animus has bite, but Bad News is the one I favor.

She asks for patience, for calculation, for breath held at just the right moment. When the shot lands true, there is a silence that follows, a kind of stillness that feels almost sacred.

If I ever lost her, I think I would feel not only unarmed but incomplete.

[leastdramatic]

You made Bad News yourself?

[Jason is just guessing but from the way Percy talks about his weapons, it feels more than just a typical user who bought their weapons]

[badnewsandshitlist]

Bad News is mine entire, from conception to craft, and she remains the companion I trust above all others outside the circle of Vox Machina.

Retort and Animus were reclaimed from less worthy hands, but Bad News has always been mine. She has been broken and rebuilt, tested and proven, and through it all she has never failed me.

There is comfort in that constancy, and no small pride as well. To have built something that endures when so much else can be taken is, I think, an accomplishment worthy of the name De Rolo.

[leastdramatic]

[Huh. The new guy has an ego. Hopefully that translates well on the shooting range]

If she's as good as you say she is, you gotta give some notes after we're done with our little contest. I've only had to buy and then make some tweaks with my guns

[badnewsandshitlist]

If she performs as she ought to, you will see soon enough why I hold her in such regard. And yes, I would be glad to share notes afterward.

Buying a weapon is the first step, but when you begin shaping one entirely of your own design, that is when it truly becomes yours. There is a peculiar satisfaction in holding something that exists because you imagined it and then brought it into the world.

You clearly have the instinct for it. I suspect, with the right push, you could craft a piece that would put most shop-bought arms to shame.

[leastdramatic]

I've done some tinkering here and there but outright forging would be pretty new to me. It sounds pretty satisfying though

But I wanna see how you shoot first

[badnewsandshitlist]

Tinkering is how it begins. A sight adjusted here, a trigger tuned there, and soon enough you will be sketching designs of your own at midnight. Forging one from the ground up takes more work than most expect, but the satisfaction is unmatched.

And if you want to see me shoot first, then by all means. Bad News and I will be happy to demonstrate. Just promise you will not be too crestfallen when she outperforms whatever you brought along.

[leastdramatic]

Ha. Fair enough. Just don't think I'm some chump with a little pellet gun

[badnewsandshitlist]

Good. I would hate for this to be over too quickly.

Bring your best, and we will see whose shot carries farther. Targets have a way of stripping away pretensions and leaving the truth in plain view.

And if you happen to keep pace with me, I may even buy the first round after.

[leastdramatic]

Deal. When do you wanna do this?

[badnewsandshitlist]

Since arriving I have come to find an abundant amout of time on my hands. I am free to go whenever it is most convenient for you.

[leastdramatic]

See you soon then. I'll going over to the range now

So old but just needed one more to count.

[badnewsandshitlist]

Then I shall not keep you waiting. I will gather the essentials and join you shortly. Prepare yourself; I intend to hold you to that drink when I win.

[leastdramatic]

If I'm gonna lose, at least make this fun somehow