herr_bookman | OOM: Working on the theater with Joly

Joly looks down and smiles automatically and awkwardly around the screwdriver between his teeth. "Amoft done! Juft tefting a few connections, then I can put the switch in!"

...It's clarity, or lose his screwdriver. As he's dropped three already. Clarity will have to wait.

Autor grins up at him, shaking his head. "That's amazing, Joly! Now all we need is to install the curtain and the stereo system and we'll be in business."

The boy heads over to the red curtain folded up on the stage to examine the rope pulley system. He crouches down to thread the rope through the eye hooks on the curtain. "I didn't know you had experience and the know-how to wire things."

"It'f--ah--" the connections check out; he drops the meter in his pocket and holds the screwdriver in hand. "It is amazing! It's such a direct principle when it's understood; but I suppose that's often true! And I was trying to learn the simplest way to do things like this, for a while when I first arrived-- hold on, I'm going to try this--"

The lights around the stage flicker on and off, buzzing slightly as they do. Joly frowns and reaches in to adjust the wires. "Some of your cities have electricity on now, don't they?"

"Oh, wow, it's really working," Autor says, and laughs quietly. "Good job, Joly! Some of them do, but not little towns like mine. It's still a technology akin to science fiction in my time, honestly, and I know little about it except that it's useful. I'm impressed with your skills, though!"

He stands and shakes out the curtain, which is much taller than he is. "I don't suppose you know anything about modern sound systems?"

Joly grins a little ruefully into the wires as he works. . "I could do the wiring-- I've seen some of the setups in the rooms, the modern systems are really made to be understood-- but I don't understand sound itself properly at all. Where the speakers and such would need to go to sound best, you know? Sound, I can give you-- distance transmission, even, if Milliways allows it-- but I'm no musician. I fear we'd lose some nuance. Trying the lights again!"

Click , click , and click--the lights switch on-off-on with a firm, quiet sound of the switch, and no buzzing, even when Joly lets them stay on. He nods, satisfied, and starts fixing things into place.

"I'm sure we can figure that out," Autor says cheerfully. "If you can wire it all, I can work on the acoustics. One moment."

He disappears out of the room for a bit, returning with a bucket of water and some safety glasses, as well as his favorite power tool: a drill with a masonry bit. "I figure we'll need to drill through some of the rock to install the curtain pulleys."

Joly eyes the bucket of water with some curiosity- and some concern. "You'll want the ladder, yes? A moment--" It's not that far to climb down, and the aluminum (aluminum! The wealth of Milliways still astounds him) ladder is light enough for even Joly to move with no trouble. "Where should I set it?"

"It's to cool down the drill bit," Autor explains, holding up the bucket. "When drilling through rock, the drill gets overheated and might break if it gets too hot. At least, that's what I've read anyway; I've never done it myself."

He crosses to the right wall. "Over here, if you don't mind," he says, adjusting the safety glasses perched awkwardly over his own. "We can install both pulleys and thread the rope through them. It should be easy enough."

"Ah-- yes. It's a good idea. Do you-- need me to hold up the bucket for you?"

That seems a risky proposition-- water, electricity, moving parts-- but then the drillbit breaking also sounds unwise. "Friction does make heat, I suppose; a very fast stone-drill must generate some heat, and the metal is thin."

Still. Water. Electricity. Joly's glad Lesgle didn't volunteer to join this part of the project.

"No, that's all right," Autor demurs, climbing up the ladder and resting the bucket on the top step. "I can just leave it here, on top. I should be able to balance it while I'm drilling."

He buzzes the drill just for fun and grins down at his friend. "Have no fear, Joly! We should be fine." And then he presses the drill bit against the rock to start drilling.

The thing is that the drill does make motion, and Autor does adjust his position slightly-- just slightly--to keep his balance. And the floor of the cave is the floor of the cave, and the least bit uneven, and fluid dynamics are dynamic--

Joly sees the bucket beginning to shift and steps forward to try to steady the ladder, or give a warning, or something. And then he sees the bucket finish shifting, as it tips over. He tries to dodge the water, slips, and only manages to get right under the now-empty bucket in time for it to land on his head with a hollow THOONK noise.

Autor stops drilling immediately. "Joly!" he says, and skitters down the latter one-handed. "Oh, I'm sorry! Are you all right? I mean, of course you're not, you have a bucket on your head--here, let me get that."

Still holding the drill in his other hand, Autor gently tries to remove said bucket.

Joly is already starting to giggle, echoey and flat in the confines of the bucket. He feels Autor tug the edge of it and pulls backward himself. He slips in the water again and falls backward, landing with a small splash on his coattails. It knocks him into silence for a moment, and then the giggles come back, as solid hiccuping laughter this time.

"Oh, my gosh," Autor says, and starts to flail a bit as giggles overtake him as well, despite his best efforts. "Joly! Joly, are you okay? I'm--oh, this is terrible. Hee. And after I was so confident in my ability to balance the bucket, too!"

Embarrassment wars with amusement on Autor's face, and he's almost grateful there's a bucket on his friend's head.

Joly tugs at the bucket himself, still giggling. It slides up enough for him to speak without causing an echo. "It's--hah, oh no, my ears!-- it's all right! Ah--"

He manages to twist it the rest of the way off, and lets the bucket land next to him with another splash. "It's fine, the floor was uneven!-- Besides, you know, I'm sort of used to this now? It doesn't feel like a real project to me anymore unless there's some sort of accident."

"Well, we've had our accident," Autor says, sitting back on his haunches. "Let's hope it's the only one. Are you sure that you're all right? Goodness. That gave me quite a fright, and I'm sure it did for you, too."

Autor stands, resting the drill hand against his hip and offering his free hand to his friend. "I'll find a mop and clean this up. Then maybe I can get some drilling done, sans more accidents."

Joly takes Autor's hand and stands up, grinning. "You drill; I'll mop. Then we can move on faster, right? Er-- and I can grab a different coat, so I don't wander around dripping."

He could, theoretically, take off his coat and hang it off the door or something, and work in shirtsleeves. But there's no call to be indecent.

Edited 2015-05-13 01:37 (UTC)

"Fair enough, as long as you don't slip again," Autor teases lightly, mirroring that grin. He scoops up the bucket and heads to the sink to refill it. "Next thing we know, one of us will be taking a spill straight off the ladder, cursing the uneven floor as we fall."

Joly laughs, then looks thoughtful. "That's a good thought, though-- someone will probably have an accident some time. Well-- be careful while I'm away, all right?"

He's gone for a little while, and comes back with a dry coat and a mop-- and a pulling a small cart carrying a first-aid kit, another toolbox, several speakers, and a rather heavy-looking board covered in dials and levers and switches.

"I figured, we could at least start setting up the sound system? Apparently this is the sort of controller modern equipment uses."

By the time he returns, Autor has managed to drill two holes and attach the pulley to the wall, cooling the rock down as he goes. "Welcome back, Holy! No spills yet. Is that what they use?" he asks, clinging to the ladder with one hand. "Will you need any help with the wiring? At the very least I can pass you your screwdrivers."

"No hurry; I've got the mopping-up to do." He's already starting. "But I do need your help! You'll need to tell me where to put the speakers and control panel, and all the rest. I suppose, if you're a music student, you've made some study of that--of acoustics, I mean, performance spaces and all?"

Autor packs up the ladder to move it across the room, stopping at the opposite wall. He carts the bucket and the drill over as well.

"I have, but not with technology like this," the boy admits, nodding towards the speakers. "But I suspect acoustics are the same everywhere. We can test speakers in certain positions and find out what's the best configuration. Think of it, Joly! Our own stereo system. Isn't this exciting?"

Joly looks up with a grin from hwere he's plugging the speakers into the sound system. "It is! I can't wait to see what you do with it. We should probably have a practice run here first-- oh, what do you play? I don't think you've ever told me."

"Wait, I haven't? What an oversight. I play piano," Autor says, blinking. He scurries up the ladder again and aligns the drill bit with the wall. "I'm sure we can test the stereo system with the netbook Jay gave me. I've recorded some music there already."

...Wait, does this system have a recorder? Joly frowns at the cryptic abbreviations, but smiles at Autor's mention of his music. "Your own music? Oh, I'd love to hear it! Have you ever given a concert?"

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