(Winter Open) Unfit and Ill-Fitting

[i_didnt_mean_to]

Who: Mary Dahl and ANYONE
What: General Open Prompts
When: the month of December
Where: all around town
Warning(s): None at the moment


(The Only One Doing This Group Assignment)
Mary has been assigned to the radio project by Agent Jean. While she knows how to construct crystal radio receivers, since those were a popular activity for kids when she really was a kid, her knowledge on radio transmitters is limited.

She approached Comrade Cecil on Jean's recommendation, but he doesn't know about building radios. She may still recruit him as the face of the project, since he's more likely to be taken seriously by the people she needs to talk to.

As it is, Mary can be found in the library going over the science-related books -- still trying to find out if any information known in this world can fill in the gaps in her own knowledge. She scribbles away in her notebook, often flipping back to earlier sections to consult the information there.

(Overqualified but Surviving)
Mary's current job is working as an assistant in a shop that sells things like perfume and cosmetics. It doesn't pay particularly well, but it covers the rent for her room and cost of her groceries so far.

{OOC: Retail drudgery chosen to explain why she wasn't seen between test drive memes.}

She has other skills. She's just had very bad experiences in trying to branch out from the light comedy that she was known for as "Baby Doll". Dr. West is trying to get Mary to change her mind, and pursue a more fulfilling career as some form of entertainer. But maybe more voices in support of the idea are needed...

Wildcard
Other than the Oak and Iron or the Greymare Library, Mary can be found at Tawny Beach on the days that she isn't working her shop assistant job. Maybe you might catch her doing a dramatic recitation to herself. Or maybe she's quietly exploring the town. Come say hi?

Comments

[tisnotthehouse]

"Indeed?" Tarantulas's entire demeanor brightens. "Then we are studying the same thing, or nearly so. I've been working on a design for a short-range communicator that can be built with local materials -- it's been a bit slow-going I'm afraid, I'm used to having more advanced tools at hand -- but I think I've nearly cracked it! Tell me, what do you think of this?"

He shuffles the books in his arms, eventually pulling out a notebook and opening it to a specific page before holding it out for Mary to see. On it is a carefully drawn-out Poulsen circuit, with notes theorizing on how a magnetic field could be used to generation radio waves. And they are actually theories: Tarantulas has never actually built something like this before. He never had to; radios are something most people are just born with on his homeworld. He had to develop it himself from base principles, that's why it's been taking so long. (He's been working on this for less than a month.)

[i_didnt_mean_to]

"I think... that might be what I was looking for."

Mary hurries to grab her own notebook, and close to the start of it, she opens it onto several drawings of the receiver, with notes on the different semiconductors for crystal-to-crystal setups. She sets it out for Tarantulas to see, turning the pages a few times so he can see the various drawings and notes she's done.

"This... I've mostly been working from memory. I hope it makes sense. Maybe you can tell if it would work."

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas puts down his books entirely, so he can more easily lean over Mary's notebook and study her diagrams, muttering bits and pieces of her notes out loud to himself. "Yes," he finally says, "yes, it all fits. Oh, but it's so simple once the basic principles have been laid out!" he bursts out in mingled glee and exasperation. "I can build this easily -- once I have the materials, it will only take me a few days." It'd be insulting, compared to the things he's used to building, if only it weren't so vital to this town.

[i_didnt_mean_to]

"I asked Cecil Palmer to assist, mostly as a liaison to the mining operation. He'll have an easier time being taken seriously, after all. Once he gets back to me with a list of the materials we have available, construction sounds like it won't be an issue for you."

This is good. This is what she was hoping for. Even with research help from Dahlia Leeds, Mary kept hitting dead ends in getting the radio project off the ground.

Why, then, does Mary feel so unhappy?

Shouldn't she be glad that someone swooped in with just the right knowledge to bring everything together? And she very nearly chased him off -- might have, if she didn't keep her temper. No, Mary hasn't been the right fit for any of this, and it's only luck that got her here.

Fuck your feelings, Mary Dahl. When have they ever done you good in the past?

"This is good. Communications are so important..."

[tisnotthehouse]

"The pizza man? My, he's very well-connected," Tarantulas says absently, as he begins copying some of Mary's diagrams into his notebook. But after a moment her changing mood registers, and he looks up at her uncertainly.

"You've been most extremely helpful," he informs her tentatively. "I'm not used to working at this level of technology. It was irritatingly thorny problem, until you showed me the other side of it."

[i_didnt_mean_to]

"He works for the newspaper. And I believe he's interviewed quite a few different people," Mary answers.

She smiles faintly at his compliment, though the expression doesn't quite reach her eyes, and replies, "I'm glad I got the information to the right person in the end."

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas only looks at her for a moment, head tilted slightly to one side. He is not good with people. This was an incontrovertible fact even before his time in exile. He often struggles to understand people on the individual level, and for most of his life he didn't much care.

But Springer cared. Springer would want him to care. It's what a good person would do.

"You know," he finally says briskly, "If you have any other ideas that might improve things for the town, I'd very much like to hear about them. I lived alone for a very long time, and as you can see I'm not human. I'm sure I'd benefit from an additional source of perspective."

[i_didnt_mean_to]

"I don't know if I will," Mary says honestly. "Agent Jean is the one who got their hopes up when I mentioned crystal radios. But I can keep an ear out for things people are missing from home?"

It's a nice effort, even more because it's not his first instinct, but it doesn't quite pierce Mary's melancholy. Still, she'll let him go through her notebooks and point him toward the proper books for any information she missed. Her days of desperately striving for the spotlight are behind her.

"If you need help with building anything, let me know. I have some practice, from back when hobby kits were popular."

You know, back in the 1960s and 70s... (well, Tarantulas probably wouldn't know)

[tisnotthehouse]

"Another set of hands would be most welcome!" Tarantulas immediately brightens at the suggesting, seizing it with gusto. "I expect that one people know there are radios -- or at least once our fellow offworlders know, who knows how long it'll take to catch on among the locals -- but I expect everyone will want one. I'll take any help I can get keeping up with demand."

He taps his chin in thought. "Have you ever thought about learning how to weld?" he asks.

[i_didnt_mean_to]

{I think this thread qualifies for AC now? For the tags dated in January.}

"I'd be glad to help," she replies. At his question, though, she laughs.

"Can you imagine me in an industrial setting? I would have been too scared to pay attention to any lessons. But why do you ask?"

[tisnotthehouse]

[Looks like it! We can fade to black here if you want; thanks so much for bearing with me, and I hope we can thread again soon!]

"Just curious," Tarantulas replies, making a mental note to show Mary his welding pen later. His hands aren't that much bigger than hers, and if he can get her assembling the transmitters as well as the receivers the work will go so much faster. "I look forward to working together."