In search of knowledge

[littlekreen]

Carter had a lot of things to do as Tyrus was so busy. Forms to fill out and inventory to take care of. However, while it wasn't a true ERP system his inventory control lead to a server installation. Modernizing the non-medical supplies was easier than what touched medical regulations and reduced the amount of busywork he had to do. There still was the copious amount of papers for non-mundane things but it was probably better of not digitized. He was paid enough that he could subcontract some IT to put in a single rack, run some fiber, and set up secure terminals. The folks that manned the inventory scanned in like everywhere else. Though one of the lines ran to his official 'office' another to a locked workspace. Odds and ends of equipment being repaired for Broadmoore, far too old to replace easily, lay organized in various states of repair. Given time and a decent job his other personal task required far less of his time as it was less bodging together scavenged parts and buying good material. Those were on separate racks to keep the two things as separate as he could. Broadmoore needed a lot of attention it didn't have. Between basic machinist and microelectronics skills, Carter kept delays from half-broken things to a minimum.

It was the personnel problems and treating patients he could mostly just summarize for Tyrus. Emails to him with pages and pages to approve. Cruor helped with the more greasy issues like the old boiler but he'd gotten better about his bad habits. Still a crude loud sort he kept Cruor with him helping with things as not to cause problems with the patients. Today Carter was busy repairing a transformer that blew from a power panel. It was looking more like a resistor somewhere blew as he tested parts to the schematic. His hands moved from post to post across the board as he tested in the equipment room. Though he'd built a very particular device into his pork-pie hat.

In the opposite room, a mannequin sat in his chair miming with a pen at a piece of paper. That hat was a more projector than headwear as the mannequin, enhanced by a projector mounted to the ceiling, sported a glamor of Carter. It didn't take carter long to pay attention to its senses as the inanimate wooden simulacra connected to his senses. While as an imperfect golem it couldn't go anywhere that just meant he didn't have to spend so much personal energy enchanting the thing. Being able to be in two places at once when people interrupt you every 15 minutes was invaluable in stretching himself to cover Tyrus' growing limited time. This place seemed like it wanted to tear itself apart at the seams and by what Tyrus spoke of it and some of the unseen dwelling here he wouldn't be surprised if that was the truth.

~~~

Cruor was busy sating his stomach in the lunchroom. Carter leaned on his bond for energy for his duties but Cruor didn't mind. Meant he got to eat whatever he wanted and that suited him just fine. Though he had bottles of water, a turkey sandwich with mustard, salad, six fruit cups, and some energy bars in a bag for Carter. As this place catered to the unseen Cruor had his new duds stashed in a box in Carter's workshop. The human-sized pseudodragon bit into the bacon sandwich. He'd gotten more comfortable with the place and as long as they weren't expecting eyes ate as himself back to a wall in the cafeteria. Paranoia itching at his brain made him dislike putting his back to windows.

Cruor talked through his full mouth, "Mmmm that's the stuff."

He swallowed, "The hell does he want that dry rabbit food for. 'Swhy he's gotta eat the fuckin' energy bars."

It was good his constitution wasn't one for heart attacks given the second, third, and fourth courses were ribs, chicken wings, and a literal bowl of crispy bacon instead of chips. The latter of which would be eaten by the fistful. Getting to eat the comfort food for this particular division of 'labor' suited them both. At least now that carter got him out of the bottle and into the kitchen.

"Better times," The Pseudodragon said while picking a morsel of bacon from his hamburger on the table, "Makes me worry."

"Yeah, Yeah! All the blue. All the blue. Smashed by blue." Came the fervent response from a patient eating their pudding on the other side of the table.

Cruor pointed and nodded his snout before sharp teeth tear into his burger, "Damn right, whoeveryouare. ALL the blue. Bacon too!"

[demikara]

Carter she didn't find. But Cruor. She could find the familiar. It was relatively easy given she was looking for a pseudodragon. So she took a seat across from then and pushed over a plate of fresh bacon as a bribe. "I need to speak to Carter and can't find him. Can you point me in his direction?" There was a beat and she smiled. "I'm Molly by the way." And she needed access to Tyrus, which meant first she needed access to his assistant. Said assistant hadn't been where she had expected him, but there tended to be one place to find a hungry person, and she was willing to bet Carter burned enough magic to need plenty of calories.

Running into the familiar had been a plus, as far as she was concerned, and meant she didn't have to wait around for Carter to eventually show up. "I just need to speak to him about setting up an appointment with his boss." And that shouldn't take long. If she could ever even find him.

[littlekreen]

Cruor was already mostly done with the chicken wings and crunching away at the bones. He looked up at the lady quick to slip his long black tongue across the edge of his maw. He crunched a few times to swallow while cleaning his hands. While he wasn't a picky nor a clean eater carter wanted him used to a different class of lady so he made an effort.

"Well, well! Should I be worried about Mollys bearing gifts?" Cruor smiled with an arched brow, "Not that I'll say no, pretty miss. Carter stays holed up except for the workers. Unscheduled visitors bad for the focus."

His scales shifted and flowed as he moved and pulled the bowl across with a claw. A sniff of the bowl met with an approving nod. Cruor was an easy sell and well it was a pretty lady. Carter needed out of his hidey-hole anyhow at least to eat. A sniff at her decided they didn't let any randos in here and she didn't have that antiseptic and vomit smell most of the patients did.

Cruor pushed the chicken wing bowl aside and pointed at the bag with a toothy grin, "Tell you hwhat. You carry his lunch and I'll show you to Carter. I might be real handsy but I still can only fit one in each hand."

Cruor's tastes were a bit cruder than Carter's if not by the glamour than by all the pretty ladies. Carter wanted him to have some better sense but you never know, right? Always time to hoard some more fun and you wouldn't know if you don't try.

A pseudodragon could walk on two legs but didn't do it quite as gainly as a native biped. Cruor'd had a bunch of practice though so while standing bent a bit held each bowl in the palm of his hands.

[demikara]

"Sounds good to me." She picked up the bag, ready to follow the dragon. "How's he get away with being holed up, if he's supposed to be Tyrus' personal assistant?" That didn't make any sense to her, but she also didn't know a ton about the world of business. It looked dead boring to her though and as far as she could tell, Tyrus was more in the world of business than he was mental healthcare, despite this place being an asylum. And a prison all at once, though in different branches, of course. It was still unnerving coming here.

Better her that the warden though. Catherine absolutely hated coming here, for good reason. Molly wasn't going to ask her to do that when she could handle the task on her own. She followed the dragon as they headed out of the cafeteria and smiled, amused by the fact that he had a bowl of food in each hand.

[littlekreen]

Cruor led Molly through the halls with a bit of an ungainly wobble trying to keep the bowls steady. The girl clearly wasn't interested and it'd peeve Carter for him to press the interest. So he didn't. Work wasn't for fun but damn if he wouldn't try anyhow. The head full of red shifting scales grinned as the pseudodragon chuckled as they neared Carter's office.

"Somethin' big boss Tyrus never quite figured out, " Cruor impishly danced around the answer, "how to be in two places at once!"

Carter's office was the knickknack drawer of the floor as old buildings tended to have. Trapped somewhere as needs change over time mutated its composition as filing room with a desk, a small conference table, yet with a sturdy lock on the door. As Cruor pivoted about to pull the lever-handle with his tail the door opened inward with a creak. If one was aware of the plans the room might even seem to be far too small. Carter, however, had several lacquered panel doors over the cabinet rows and the desk of decent make. Carter soon learned Tyrus had no love for an Engineer's very brutalist style of space and after some woodworking made the utilitarian space passable with some paint, rugs, and simple barriers. As well as a large TV on one side and an LCD projector on the ceiling currently humming its fans. The desk direct in view of the door behind it a smartly dressed Carter with a paper full of errant dots and lines. Pen in his hand periodically putting it down and seeming to scribble small circles.

Cruor knew Carter wasn't actively looking at Cruor not expecting a guest and spoke up, "Oi, Carter! Badge named Molly here to see you about Tyrus."

Behind the desk, Carter sat up straight to put the pen down, though turned away from them for a moment. Then he blinked and the eyes locked on Cruor then to Molly. Carter clapped his hands together then rubbed his thumb and forefinger.

"Ah, hello! Did you need Tyrus specifically? He's out of the office at the moment but I couldn't go with him today. Is it anything I help you with, Miss Molly?", answered Carter with a raise of his eyebrow.

Assisting Tyrus had changed his demeanor a bit but he was still an engineer at heart. He liked to solve problems. Given how busy Tyrus was lately this was definitely a problem. If he could handle the mundane portions and summarize the issue at least Tyrus might be a bit less perturbed.

[demikara]

"Hi. I'm Sergeant Molly Bronson with MCU." She introduced herself. "And I was hoping for a consult concerning blood magic. He's the only person we could think of that might know something, given who his parents were." It was illegal to do so if he knew something, it would be 'theoretical' only. That was something they all knew all too well. Molly didn't want to think of all the sorts of magical rules that Tyrus probably broke and got away with by sheer dent of having the power to do what he wanted.

He was nice and all, and easy to work with, but she had known exactly how difficult it had been to corral him drunk, and so his image was more than a little varnished in her eyes. "I know he's busy, but I was hoping to grab him sometime soon."

The office was nice enough at least. She didn't think she would have gone for the decor, but there was only so much that could be done in a building of this age and well, usage.

[littlekreen]

"MCU asking after Blood magic? That's never good. Well, that would be within his sphere of knowledge if not his connections." Said carter from behind the desk.

Behind the desk carter absently reached up to a non-existent brim, "Though whether they're actually unstable or not a lot of the blood mages eventually get sent here. While I can't give you direct access to patient records without a warrant I could at least direct you to someone you could conceivably ask here as well. Depending on what it is."

Carter furrowed one eye as he looked at Molly, "I'll be there in a second, I just got off the elevator."

The door opened some seconds later as Carter walked in the room wearing a hat and some work overalls. They were greasy from the boiler work he was doing so removed gloves and work jacket to a small plastic tub. The workboots did the same though the bin was on the floor.

The carter at the desk stopped looking as he put two fingers to his head. The projector stopped humming above as the wooden mannequin wearing clothes slumped against the table. The pen clattering from its grip.

"If the cell contact I have doesn't answer I gave him a small figurine doll he might have on him in a pocket if this is urgent.", said the unperturbed engineer as he unbuttoned overalls.

Tyrus tended to blow out cell phones no matter how ruggedized against chaos carter made them. If not sucking the batteries dry for some damn reason now. As something less technological rather akin to a voodoo doll the small wooded figure didn't require him actually knowing where Tyrus was at all times. Carter figured Tyrus would prefer it that way anyhow as that meant he wasn't trying to become the man's keeper. As he quickly found out that'd get him no end of trouble. However, an engineer turned mage with a bit of thought could make solutions to those new classes of practical problems.

[demikara]

He'd be here in one second? But he was already... Molly turned as he entered the door, then looked to the wooden mannequin now sitting at the desk. "That is a handy bit of magic." She said, more impressed than she thought she could be. "It's not so urgent that I need to speak to him immediately. Just some time soon is good enough."

Was he taking off his clothes? Why was he taking off his clothes? And where had he found so much grease in what amounted to a hospital for the mad? This was impressive. She thought she got into some messes, but she had never ended up covered in grease at a hospital. "Is the figurine doll similar to the mannequin at the desk?" She was curious now. "How does it work? You've obviously been doing something else, so is it autonomous or do you control it from a distance?"

She had questions. She hoped he was ready for them.

[littlekreen]

Carter chuckled as he took off the work overalls, "I've been working on a magical implementation of analog methods for a long time. Since I started working for Tyrus I ended up needing to be in a thousand places at once and had the cash to make them. I honestly don't understand how he got anything done doing so many things at once. They're golems with no innate will. They use mine through a channel of communication."

Carter straightened out his work shirt and put on a more formal jacket from a coatrack. Tyrus was ridiculously fashionable and Carter really wasn't. It was what the boss wanted though so Carter read a few magazines, got measurements from a tailor, and ordered something presentable online. The shirts were the kind that resisted wrinkles and if you were careful you could keep a work shirt relatively clean underneath with the right PPE.

He raised his hat revealing it festooned with electrodes and a few things that read auras, "Magic really isn't that strict about bandwidth as long as I keep the resonance channel here stable with its clone. They're a lot of fiddly work but I can stash them wherever Tyrus has properties all over town. I have to service the doll after so many hours of use as entropy dominates but I gave Tyrus a small one to keep in his pocket that's built a bit better."

Hand on offer it was partly calloused by hard work though with a wide smile, "The name's Carter, by the way, assistant and full-time pocket pixie. I should be able to send you to the pocket one but the big remote simulacra have to have a bit of me in it or they're really unstable."

Cruor laughed at that busy eating his bacon in a corner table, "Pocket pixie, Ha! Don't want someone steppin' in the big ones, neither. Don't think big boss remembers he can use the doll to call. You finish the boiler refit?"

Carter switched gears for a moment to answer Cruor's question with a thumbs up, "Yeah, the temperature control is to code now. Might be old refurbished parts but now we don't have to do three months of exception meetings with the county. I just have to reassemble the housing. Call the inspector when you get a chance."

Cruor's tail tapped at the floor as the pseudodragon looked at the ceiling and nearly swore before censoring himself with Molly here, "Thank f- uh, fudge, just the pre-meeting meeting was borin' me to tears."

[demikara]

Molly shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you Carter. Like I said, there's no rush on the meeting other than sometime in the next few days if possible. I know he's busy after all." She'd be lucky to get a hold of him this week, as far as she was concerned. "How'd you convince him to let you do boiler repairs and not just call in a professional?" They did exist after all. Or at least,s he assumed they existed. She didn't know enough about boilers to know for sure. Repairmen existed for everything in her experience though. Either way, she wondered if Tyrus knew that his assistant had patched the boiler and not an actual handyman.

Somehow, she suspected he didn't know that at all. He didn't seem the type to allow it, though she didn't encounter him in this world enough to know what he was like here. Just what he was like when he was with MCU and helping them out there. People could be terribly different in different places after all.

The fae didn't think she'd ever heard of someone refer to themselves as a pocket pixie though. He obviously hadn't met an actual pixie, vicious little beasts. Molly wasn't fond of them at all, and was rather hoping he meant more like a mundane view of a pixie than an actual pixie. Less teeth involved that way.

[littlekreen]

A nod at her Carter would give Tyrus a note about the issue. It definitely would take a while but if he thought it was a real problem Tyrus would say something. Carter did his best to prioritize and gather information but some things were a bit out of his bailiwick. Even if the engineer in him wanted desperately to know how everything worked Blood magic was definitely one of those things not taken lightly.

Carter chuckles thumbing at the degrees on a wall, "I was a mechanical and electrical engineer before I became a mage then Tyrus' assistant. I'm the guy they called when they couldn't figure out why something doesn't work. Though this boiler doesn't use much electronics or I'd have to scrounge up a service manual. I've kept worse machines alive."

In the corner Cruor muttters, "Prob'ly blow fittins when big boss touched the thermostat if it did."

Though the claw pointed at Carter as the risen brow came with much the same thought as Molly, "And Y'all know, Carter.. the pixies are anti-tinkerbell. Gonna learn one day when they bite yer fingers off. I gotta get you a book on unseen things that ain't got sockets."

Carter put his hands up flat in surrender though he hadn't had time for non-essentials until he started making free time for Tyrus, "Aright, Aright, so I only know the ones from Disney and bare unseen fauna. Anyhow, Molly, the repair takes a bunch of meetings off both our to-do lists and I can do the work at cost. Carving emmpty holes in his schedule is what he hired me for and you're in luck because I just made some."