outer_divide | 1st Theft [Video, Monday morning]

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1st Theft [Video, Monday morning]

[Most everyone is familiar with the tiefling who pops up on the screen, by now, for her first ever announcement over the network. So, probably, is the wicked little grin on her face. What may be less familiar is the funny, microwave-sized machine she's leaning on.]

So I managed to leave myself a little something from the past, a really awesome and expensive something. Aaaaand I just found it.

[Finally. After hunting everywhere for signs long since overgrown and even buried as the land changed over hundreds of years. Yeesh.]

Who wants to help me figure out how to make it work? Doctor, tech person, doctor-slash-tech-person... I'm open to ideas, here.

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[Oh, look, another weird mutant. Tony's not half as blase as he pretends to be, but by now, he isn't shocked either.

The backdrop to his video link is the ship, and a mess of warped metal pulled from one of the more heavily damaged generators.]

Alien toaster, or shrink ray? Just, you know, out of academic curiousity.

[Hey, this is, indeed, one she hasn't met yet. Neeshka props her chin on her hands, elbows on top of the device.]

Shrink ray, ooo, that'd be cool. Buuuuuut nope, and nope. It's supposed to mess with genes and give people super powers, like reading minds and floating things around, and neat traits, like gold skin or an extra finger. Or, y'know, a tail, though I guess that's harder?

[Said tail waves into the screen view behind her.]

I got mine all naturally, though, so I wouldn't know for sure.

That doesn't sound like it could go horribly wrong at all.

Do you have any idea how it's even supposed to work? Radiation, chemical alteration, Frankenstein's idea of gene therapy?

Hey, the people back when I got it used it all the time. I had a whole gang of people who were like me, except they did it to themselves on purpose. It's a really booming business, back then.

This--

[She raps the box gently with her knuckles.]

--is just the prototype for making it portable. And borrowable.

I'm guessing that's a no.

So it's an unstable prototype that's been sitting abandoned for a few hundred years? That sounds like a recipe for blowing people up.

[Tony, you are going to hate the irony of that statement soon enough.]

Whiiiich is why I'm asking for somebody to look at it. Duh. I'm not saying I'm going to go around using it on people right this very minute.

[Isn't he a killjoy? Sheesh.]

If everyone in the city sprouts six eyes and tentacles, it's on you.

[This is probably a joke. Probably.]

[She dips her head in a nod that's probably pretty mocking, itself.]

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for being so worried about little old me and my designs to mutant-i-fy the population. I've never been considered a criminal mastermind before.

Criminal mastermind? Nah. Mutating an entire city's worth of people is full Saturday morning cartoon villain territory. Don't forget to practice your evil cackle.

[Her amusement turns to confusion and minor suspicion. She's not sure if he's insulting her or joking, or both.]

What's a cartoon?

[When in doubt, go with both.]

Your world must be incredibly depressing.

Yeah, it can be sometimes, I guess.

[She shrugs cheerfully enough.]

We do have magic, though, so that's something!

...Yeah, remind me never to visit that one.

[Because ugh, magic.]

Heh, not too keen on magic, huh?

[She's not dumb. She can read between those lines. And it amuses her to find something this guy doesn't like.]

Doctor-slash-tech person reasonable description.

Whoah.

[Neeshka leans into the screen, as if wanting a better look at him. Some kind of mutated lizardling...? Or, more likely, just some alien person from another world and all.]

Well, uh, yeah. That'd be perfect. You wanna play with my toy here?

[She makes it sound just a little bit dirty, then though she pats the genemod device to make sure he knows what she's really talking about.]

You have to promise to play nice with it, and give it back when you're done.

[Innuendo is not worth the effort with Mordin. It simply doesn't exist in salarian culture.]

Opportunity to examine local tech exhilarating. Purely academic interest.

[Damn. She couldn't make him twitch. Oh, well.]

Sounds good to me, mister I-don't-use-pronouns.

[But she'll be watching you, buddy. This thing comes back to her when she's sure it works and she knows how.]

Where should I bring it, then?

Can be found at hospital. There more often than official quarters.

[Which was probably why no one had bothered to kick him out of the Flop in this timeline]

Great! I'll bring it by in a few, then.

[And though she's normally a chatty thing, she disconnects pretty quick to do just that, showing up at the hospital in Poseidon about an hour later with the machine tucked awkwardly under her arm. Getting it all the way here had been a pain, and then finding someone to direct her to Mordin's office yet another one.

The first thing she says as she bumps the door open is:]

I think I hate stairs.

Can be quite inconvenient for cargo transport.

[He glances at the object]

Device in question?

Yup, right here.

[She heaves it up into both arms, then walks it over to the nearest available surface to deposit it on.]

Apparently it modifies genes or something. Makes mutations, like these--

[She flicks a horn with two fingers.]

-- or like, reading minds and stuff. I don't know if it still works. I got it from Antigua way back in the golden age of Verdana, or whenever we were.

Gene modification. Appropriate. Geneticist by training.

[He's already examining it. There certainly wasn't anything like this in this period. Not that they've found anyway.]

Oh, well, that's helpful then. What's a geneticist do, exactly?

[She tucks her hands behind her back and leans over, watching him and his examination.]

Study genetic code. Effect on characteristic of life. Can make alterations. Carefully. [Sniff] Delicate business.

Not delicate enough, since these guys were doing it all the time, way back when.

[Neeshka shrugs.]

So you think you can figure this out, then? Get it working?

Should be able to. One of the best.

[No, he's not familiar with modesty]

Many signs of considerable technological regression.

[He's in good company. Neeshka isn't familiar with it, either.]

Techno... what? You mean the tech-stuff got worse, since they made that, or what?

[She's guessing what exactly he's referring to, since he's lacking in pronouns there. The words are only familiar since her arrival on Verdana, too, which doesn't help.]

Correct. Evidence of more advanced technology. Usually considerable state of disrepair.

[Something happened. Probably war. It was usually war.]

Ah, well. It was pretty fancy, back where we were for those couple months. This was hardly the only neat toy I found!

[The rest just had been on her person when she was yanked into Nowhere, so she hasn't needed to track them down and get them fixed.]

This shouldn't be too broken. I hope, anyway. It's kind of been buried for a while.

Have technical specialists and disposal. Will be able to get functioning.

[Kaidan, you have been voluntold]

Great! Thanks!

[She beams at him.]

About how long d'you think it'll take? Should I come back tomorrow?

[Oh, she's so optimistic! It'll wind up taking the better part of a month, whether or not Mordin can guess as such....]

Clever. Not quite that clever. Will need several weeks for testing even if initial theories correct. Most frustrating part.

Oh.

[She droops visibly. Neeshka has always been one to wear her heart on her sleeve. Or her face and ears, in this case in particular.]

Well. I guess I'll have to wait a while, then, huh?

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1st Theft [Video, Monday morning]

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