5760/The Smell Of A New Computer

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The Smell Of A New Computer
Date of Scene: 28 March 2021
Location: Computer Hall
Synopsis: Maxwell and Kitty replace the computers in the lab with new ones. Scott and Scruffles lend a hand. A baseball game is planned.
Cast of Characters: Kitty Pryde, Maxwell Wave, Scott Summers




Kitty Pryde has posed:
As she does a couple of times a year, Kitty Pryde has designed new computers for the school. Not the X-men, they get new ones too, but these are for the use of the students. Incorporating various upgrades and the latest technology, she's been spending some spare time fabricating and building them then, with help from Maxwell, Doug, Forge and others.

And today's the big day when they roll the new ones out, replacing the old with them. Kitty brings up a cart full of small towers. While everything could be run off one server, and indeed there are terminals available like that, these are all stand alone computers. Because some of the things students may try might end up ruining the computer. So these are meant to take a pounding, whether in the programming sense, or from students who are still learning to control their powers.

"Thanks for helping build these, Max," Kitty tells him. "With me spending more time in the city, no way they'd have been ready this fast without your help."

Maxwell Wave has posed:
Maxwell turns out not to be the perfect aid for pursuits involving electronics directly, but he was rather handy with fabrication and carpentry. It turned out the oak desks needed a few slight modifications to get the cables to run in an aesthetically pleasing way, and the inside of each machine, itself, is a beautifully organized concert of cables.

Laying underneath one of the desks, Max sets aside a hole saw after making a final cut. A few other modifications are semi-fresh, the smell of stain just tickling the nose. The young man pushes up his goggles, eyes glowing a blue hue as he pushes himself out from under the desk and nods to Kitty. "No problem, always glad to help out the school... and you when I get the chance. Everything is ready. Cables should run like a dream, and everything hits the immaculate academic aesthetic of the school." Max runs a tight ship on all his builds.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott is on his way from his office, where he was finishing up grading assignments for the week, to the kitchen when he heard the sound of voices coming from the computer lab. Casually dressed, t-shirt, jeans, house shoes, he peeks his head in to see if any of the younger students were up later than they should be. Even on weekend, the younger kids had a curfew for when they had to be in their rooms, if not in bed specifically.

At his side, as is customary, is his partner in crime fighting: Scruffles. Who has a toy clutched in his teeth as he pads happily along beside the bigger counterpart. "Kitty." Stepping inside fully, "Good to see you." Tilting his head just enough to nod to Maxwell beneath one of the tables.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde picks up a midsized case, carrying it over and placing it beneath the desk beside Max. "Thanks, the extra-strong surge protectors should help too if someone like Noriko gets a bit overzealous," she says of the design. She situates the computer and then begins plugging cables in.

The Jewish girl looks up as Scott comes in. "Hey Scott. You've met Max by now haven't you?" she asks. He's been around the school for awhile off and on, already a college grad himself, someone that had helped the X-men stop mutants who were disappearing bigots with the intent to kill them.

Kitty stands back up and grins, going over to Scott as she sees the kitten. "How are you and Scruffles getting along? Is he sticking to his litter box and everything?" she asks. She crouches down to offer the kitten a scritch long his back, and then to give little tugs on the toy for him to deal with.

Maxwell Wave has posed:
A brief application of Max's powers allows him to cut the force of gravity on his person and rise up to his feet, sneaker hills acting as a grounded pivot point on the ground. The effect is kind of one might expect in a cheesy b-movie vampire flick. Max snaps a salute to Scott then turns toward Kitty.

"I ran a mission with him once too. Middle of the jungle, some kind of hidden sentinel factory. First time I saw what a team could really do." He whistles, "And scary as hell, I still see robotic spiders when I close my eyes." Truth is, Max hadn't volunteered for any missions since then, a little too big of a dose of reality. He thought he was tough being a vigilante in Bushwick. It hadn't prepared him fully for the kind of threats the X-men could face.

He turns and assists with plugging in the cables, catching them as Kitty runs them through carefully cut holes in the desk. "This place has abnormal wear and tear for sure. Takes some really dedicated folks to keep these walls standing up. I can only imagine what these poor computers see beyond the usual reckless kid spilling soda pop on them."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott glances down at Scruffles, who darts off to chase something, literally anything honestly. "We are getting along fine. He has learned to use the litterbox, yeah." Nodding after the cat as he reaches down to scoop up the discarded toy and put it in his pocket for later. "A little excitable."

As are most cats.

Likewise, he nods to Maxwell, "Yeah, we've met. Haven't seen you in the briefings recently. Not since that same mission you mention." He'd noticed, but Scott always notices. "Anything I can do to help?" Pointing at the computers, a careful subject change to keep the technophage from being TOO uncomfortable.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty motions towards the cart after Scott's question, replying, "If you want to move the cases below each desk, we can handle the wiring." She then grins and pats the midsized tower that she is cabling up as she looks towards Max.

"Yes, truly I over-engineer these things about a thousand percent. I mean if a student burns one out, it isn't a HUGE deal to us. Especially as we build our own rather than buying," Kitty replies. "But," she says, while plugging another cable in and passing it up to Max, "I kind of -want- the students to be hard on these. Because that lets me test out new designs and learn things that are benefit to the equipment the X-men use. Where the consequences can be a lot worse than just not being able to watch the Gangam Style video for the tenth time today."

Maxwell Wave has posed:
Max rubs the back of his neck for a moment, glowing eyes shifting from blue to green in hue. He lowers his goggles to quench the illumination. Max had done well enough, but he hadn't been critical to the mission. "Being on a mission with Clarice, Lorna, and Julio made me realized how far I had to go in mastering my own powers." He offers a light smile, "I half suspect that dose of humility was part of the reason for bringing me along."

He pauses then speaks again, "If you are short on people, I can step in again. Got a few more experiences under my belt. A few more dozen sessions in the danger room too."

Max turns to Kitty and barks a laugh, "Okay, so this is really your secret testing lab, and these are your electronic guinea pigs. Got it. I bet you'll get a few patents out of ruggedization techniques." He rubs his chin and inspects a case, "Now I understand your insistence in the case design... Piotr could probably punt one of these across the yard and it'd still turn on."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott nods to Kitty and grabs the cart to move it along beside each work station so the pair can work, "I'll let you know." To Maxwell. There hasn't been much in the way of missions requiring the X-Men recently, which is a good thing as far as Scott is concerned.

"Did you know that they found one of the original Gameboy units after a house fire. The case was charred and melted, but it still turned on? That's engineering." Wiggling a finger, "We just have to make all of our equipment out of old Gameboys."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty plugs in the power cable finally and turns the computer on, letting it boot while she moves over to the next one to start cabling it up. "Yes, the younger group did a mission to Ibiza recently. Mutant children who were being kidnapped and auctioned off," she says. "There might be some follow up from it. We saved the kids who were there, but it's possible some of the bidders might have bought others in the past we could get a line on," Kitty tells them.

She sighs. "Got to go to Ibiza and not a single party, or day on the beach. Life is so unfair," she says, making light of it. "Oh, before I forget, Max, we're planning a school trip over to Betsy's nightclub some evening. She's going to have a special youths night for it."

Kitty grins over to Scott then. "I think Scott just asked for his next comms unit to be an old Gameboy. Didn't he? I'm pretty sure that's what he just said." She plugs in something and then asks Scott. "How's Jean doing?" Non-sequitur.

Maxwell Wave has posed:
Max offers a stoic nod to Scott in reply to the "I'll let you know." He kneels down and assists Kitty some more with the running of cables, crouch walking to the next desk. "Am I being invited as a chaperone? These kids don't respect me one inch, so don't expect me to be any kind of helpful authority. Honestly, I don't know how you keep them in line."

Tilting his head, he glances toward Scott and hums, "Game boy comm unit... Now I'm wondering what we could do with a power glove."

Scott Summers has posed:
"It is kind of ironic that analog communications are actually more secure now than digital." Scott points out with a shrug, "They don't even teach cursive in school anymore. Adopting archaic technology is, in a strange way, rather revolutionary and brilliant." Leave it to him to take a joke and make it tactical.

"Jean is fine." Simple, no denying the little grin though. Small, barely there, figment of the imagination. Certainly. "I'll let her know that we're going to adopt the new gameboy devices in the near future."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The corner of Kitty's lips twitch upwards in a slight smile. Did she know something there, or was she fishing? It's hard to say, but she at least seems to have heard or seen something that makes her happy.

She gives Max a shrug and says, "Well, chaperone to some degree, but also thought you just might enjoy a night out. I mean yes it's going to be a lot of teens there, but... I'm still a teen. So don't say too much!" she says, pointing a finger in warning at Maxwell, while grinning at him teasingly.

She finishes up the second computer and powers it up. "I think we need to go really old school though. Like the old Mattel football game. You guys seen that before?"

Maxwell Wave has posed:
"Handwriting is a lost art form, but I would note mine is absolutely gorgeous. It's an asset when you still do a lot of physical paper work." Maxwell adds proudly.

He hums at Kitty. "As someone who rehabilated not that long ago from being a teenager, I believe I can speak with authority on the subject. Besides, you are probably at least twice as mature as I am, counselor." He grins, "And it sounds great, I haven't gone out a proper night out in awhile."

Another hum and Max shakes his head, "I think I know what you are talking about, but I don't think I've seen that one. I think I found a golf game like it once in a thrift store."

Scott Summers has posed:
"I've seen them, yeah. There were a few at the foster home." Before Scott came to Xavier's. A subject which he rarely talks about and doesn't seem inclined to expand upon now either. Except that he is no longer smiling.

Whatever bit of trivia there is about Jean and himself seems ill suited to cast light upon the shadow of that dark past. Sinister things. Very Sinister things.

The cart is set down between them. "If you need another responsible adult, I'll volunteer. It is unlikely anyone will attempt to do anything fun if I'm there. So that's a bonus."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
"I will keep that in mind," Kitty tells Maxwell, "the next time I'm putting a birthday present or something together for someone, and could use a nice hand on the card. I mean, rather than printing it out of a computer," she says, unable to not grin slightly about the last part.

Kitty reaches over to give Scott a hard nudge. "Now now, none of that talk. You're plenty fun. You just don't want people to know it for whatever reason," she says. "And speaking of... now that the snow is melted and we should start getting some good weather soon, I think we should get a baseball game together. Been awhile since we've had one," she comments.

Kitty passes more cables up to Max. Everything is color coded, matching colors on the peripherals making it easy to know what to plug into what. "Do you play, Max? Baseball that is." She plugs in a USB for a keyboard and passes it up to Max. "Hey Scott, are you ok if I have Lockheed hang out with Scruffles sometime? Good to get him used to other animals. Scruffles I mean."

Maxwell Wave has posed:
Max looks between Kitty and Scott, head tilting to the side curiously before he plugs in a few more cables. "The infamous Scott Summers is secretly fun, huh? That explains the conspiratorial smile. Well, I promise not to tell any of the students."

He offers a big grin, "Oh yea, I play. I'm one hell of a pitcher. Been pitching since little league. In fact, I was pitching when I first realized I had powers. Little guy like me shouldn't have been able to wear out a  catcher's mitt like I could."

Waggling his eyebrows, "Powers or no powers. You want me on your team." A brief glimpse is given toward Scruffles. "I need to join the pet club."

Scott Summers has posed:
"Sure, it would be good for him to have some friends his own size." Scott says of Scruffles. "He's been spending far too much time in the library. I secretly hope it's because he's learning to read." That's a joke, Scott tells jokes now. Actually he always has, they're just generally dry. Just like this one was.

"I'm a good first baseman. I'll play." He usually does anyways. Team leader leading a team to School Yard victories six years and counting!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Hearing that both men are up for a game makes Kitty grin. "Excellent," she says. "I'll try to pick a day with some good weather and let people know in advance. We have a few new students like Kassandra who it might be their first time playing," she says.

One computer after another gets wired up and turned on. Finally Kitty straightens, dusting off her hands and going back to the first one. It's booted and ready for her to login, which she does. "Looks good," she says. Of course they've all been tested already. Not likely that moving any of them would have broken them, given the durability she designs into them.

Kitty moves to the next, logging in to each to check, just to be sure. "If he could read, that would sure help out. We could put signs on things like, 'Stay away. Grumpy,' on Logan," Kitty kids.

Maxwell Wave has posed:
Max dusts off his hands in the ceremonious gesture of a job well done. He nods at the comment regarding new students and then steps over to the wall, leaning against it near the door. "Well, after meeting Lockheed, I can believe about any level of intelligence from a little critter."

Stretching his arms over his head, Max yawns. "Alright, job well done, I'm going to go find some stale coffee and then play around in the lab for 'big kids'. Might come back around to bug you later, Kitty, so you can give me the skinny on the newer students, so I know what I'm getting into on the school trip. See you then."

He side glances toward Scott, "And yea, let me know if you need me.  The school has given me a lot recently, always ready to give back." He then slides out the door.

Scott Summers has posed:
"I will." Scott says to Max, glancing over to Kitty with a nod, "Good work with these, as usual." Motioning to the computers, he takes a step back and glances around for Scruffles who gets a little too close to his ankle and is scooped up to be placed on his shoulder. The little furball issues a moaw in protest, but settles in all the same as the pair make their way towards the kitchen to grab a late dinner and then to his room for guilty pleasure television.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.