[ Thing is, he needs to test the armor. Hoarding it away in his room doesn't get him anything if he needs to break it out suddenly and it turns out he doesn't know how to move in it. Then it's dead weight, less than useless, and whatever advantage he's managed to hide away will be null and void. He hasn't gone after Carolina yet - not yet - but one day he will. One day he'll need to.
So he goes out to the Down, in the dark, and he runs his tests. He finds a place that skirts the divide between derelict, shady, and unobtrusive, and he makes that work. He wears the rig over and sticks to the shadows, like he's running with the Insurrection again, like he's running with Carter Boone and all the others, and it -
It fits like a glove, is the thing. Crais knows his trade. There are differences from his old rig, things that Crais either improvised from Ephemera's sketches or added on his own, but it works. There's no delay with the interface, the HUD flashing up readings like clockwork.
It's like being back home. Almost, but not quite a comfort. And when he moves, he moves with all the power and speed of a full rig behind him. The silhouette is a little different, the shoulders and the helmet carved along slightly different lines, but it does what Ephemera needs it to. In a fight, it'll keep him alive. Only question now is when he'll break it out.
And how he'll paint it. Right now, the surface is just gunmetal gray. Scuffed up where he put the armor through its paces, but other than that - a ghost. Unremarkable.
He'll have to paint it. Make it look how it ought to. Make up some stencils, break out the spray paint. And fuss with the flamethrower a bit. The ignition trigger's just fine when he hits it manually, but he's having some trouble getting it to synch up to the HUD. Might be a tech issue he'll have to bug Crais about. Might be a hardware one he can fix himself.
Ephemera leans back, slowing his breathing down. He's been here for hours. Sun's going to come up soon and he'll need to bail before anyone sees him.
Which is, of course, when he catches movement out of the corner of his eye.
He doesn't hesitate. He just lifts his arm up and engages the flamethrower. Gets it ready. ]
Action
So he goes out to the Down, in the dark, and he runs his tests. He finds a place that skirts the divide between derelict, shady, and unobtrusive, and he makes that work. He wears the rig over and sticks to the shadows, like he's running with the Insurrection again, like he's running with Carter Boone and all the others, and it -
It fits like a glove, is the thing. Crais knows his trade. There are differences from his old rig, things that Crais either improvised from Ephemera's sketches or added on his own, but it works. There's no delay with the interface, the HUD flashing up readings like clockwork.
It's like being back home. Almost, but not quite a comfort. And when he moves, he moves with all the power and speed of a full rig behind him. The silhouette is a little different, the shoulders and the helmet carved along slightly different lines, but it does what Ephemera needs it to. In a fight, it'll keep him alive. Only question now is when he'll break it out.
And how he'll paint it. Right now, the surface is just gunmetal gray. Scuffed up where he put the armor through its paces, but other than that - a ghost. Unremarkable.
He'll have to paint it. Make it look how it ought to. Make up some stencils, break out the spray paint. And fuss with the flamethrower a bit. The ignition trigger's just fine when he hits it manually, but he's having some trouble getting it to synch up to the HUD. Might be a tech issue he'll have to bug Crais about. Might be a hardware one he can fix himself.
Ephemera leans back, slowing his breathing down. He's been here for hours. Sun's going to come up soon and he'll need to bail before anyone sees him.
Which is, of course, when he catches movement out of the corner of his eye.
He doesn't hesitate. He just lifts his arm up and engages the flamethrower. Gets it ready. ]
I know you're fucking there.