Beach Glass (open)

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

The beach near the ark was a ghost town of shambling buildings effected by the landing for a while before the apartments opened many a meta rested homeless in them. They were protected by the elements during their quarantine unable to move from this area fear of being a danger to the natives of this world. It was still a free space now that everything is cleared, condemned, and left to rot for the metas.

One such lady who took advantage of the abandonment housed herself in a garage mostly made of sheet metal and concrete it was more solid than most but not by much. Especially not now...

Upon entry there was plastic everywhere. Junk piles of plastic rope, stands, boxes, and buckets and many of them housed or held sizable crystals. Also through cracks in the pavement floor and through walls further questioning the integrity of the structure stood short towers of crystals. There was a hum in a room and a buzz in another. The smell of propane sweetened the air but thank goodness windows were open because the stove was on and roasted crystals on its open flame. In the back suspended on a car lift was the metallic bones of some massive project starting up.

“Don’t mind the mess I’m experimenting!” She boomed excitedly hearing someone enter. “I’ve been mutated! Imagine getting a Qi in this Qi void world at my age?! I’ve been working with these crystals my whole life I thought they’d be the death of me but now they’ve become me and that is straight up ironic.” Lucky shuffled about ankle deep in a space of crumpled blue prints and half completed scrap projects. She couldn’t have been more awake but there were plates of old food half eaten and coffee cups; empty, half full, or spilled and staining the area around them. That and her sunken in dark eyes with her greasy hair and sweat stained clothes she has obviously not slept or bathed in a few days. She had a mad look to her eyes but her smile was the genuine excitement of a kid on Christmas... or Frankenstein successfully giving life to his monster.

There was a loud bang and pop from the other room that startled Lucky and practically shook the place, then the humming stopped. “That was the microwave, they are dangerous! The crystals I mean... not the microwave... but the microwave was dangerous to...” She was positively giddy. “What can I do for you?”

[Atlas Steele]

As Atlas had found this store and gotten himself introduced to the views of the place, he couldn't help but be in absolute disbelief at the absolutely vast difference between the personalities of the people he has met up to now before then scratching the back of his own head.

"I completely getcha, I was shocked to my own core when I ended up with an ability or two myself! I seem to be able to summon small little fellers that can perform abilities... When they feel like it." He admitted before then realizing what the mess around here was before then sighing to himself.

"You see, I run a farm on the outer skirts, I've been supplying food for prices way beyond market value to every person in this city, But I need information regarding where I would need to go or what to avoid." Rolling up his sleeves, Atlas took a quick look around before nodding firmly to himself.

"If I cook you a meal, with some of the stuff I bought," Atlas suggested, lifting up a shopping bag that he had been carrying with himself before looking down to the excited fella. "And help you clean up some of the old plates, Could you tell me what you know about this area and possibly some information regarding this Qi situation that people keep telling me about?"

Atlas himself was dressed in a white t-shirt that had a few drawings made by kids on the back and front, hastily scribbled, and some even made in rather decent quality compared to what kids usually drew with.
His pants for today being cargo shorts, as they were comfy and easy to wear, along with a pair of sandals.
The current mood that he radiated was one of worry, as his eyes would speak the same tale of a thousand words of a fatherly worry for the people he met.

---

Hope that I will do well! Please teach me well, boss!

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

She was so wrapped up in her own work that when Atlas actually responded and told his own story she seemed to “wake up” her gaze became clearer and focused. She looked around at what mess he was mentioning and her hands went to her hair as her face grimaced. On her arms As she raised them were spikes of crystals the longest being about three inches and the rest varying in smaller sizes, sticking out from her skin. Her arms were usually covered but this was certainly not the case today.

She looked to the stove again and nearly leapt from her spot. “What in the hell am I doing! The crystals are incredibly explosive!” She bolted and grabbed them realizing they were quite hot and winced grabbing a rubber welding glove to save the stove from the atrocious doom that would likely befall it any second. She turned to Atlas again heated crystals in her grasp. “I’m incredibly embarrassed... but um... I’m almost thirty years old and I’m known to act like a bleeding toddler. I’m Lucille, you can call me Lucy... though most just call me Lucky... lucky to be alive that is. Stove is yours if you want to use it.”

She looked down against the chard crystals and went to put them in a bucket of water. They sizzled fiercely on contact but they would cool off this way. She caught sight of her desk and face palmed. “What was I even doing?” She started swooping down and grabbing blue prints by the armful and throwing them in a condensed pile before grabbing the dishes.

“I’m not supposed to have Qi and suddenly I do, I completely lost it.”

[Atlas Steele]

Noticing that she was busy grabbing plates, Atlas couldn't help but give a tender chuckle before then taking out a small medkit from his side as he would rest it on part of the stove before messing with the heat to check if it was still working properly.

"Do you need me to help with that arm of yours?" He asked, a soft tone in his voice as his genuine worry would become apparent once again before then placing his shopping bag to the side.

Starting up whatever resembled a sink that Atlas could find, he would pull out a vial of dishwasher soap before ripping open his own garbage bin bags that he found on sale somewhere in the city as he would point to them. "Whatever is rotten, throw in the bag, I will help you clean those dishes before I start cooking, alright?"

Before then humming to himself the name that was spoken to him moments ago, Repeating Lucy, Lucky and Lucille a few times before then getting to washing the plates that she would bring over. "Sounds like a beautiful name, your parents must've been happy with you if you got such a nice one."
His smile had gotten wider, he couldn't help but feel like he was back at home in a sense, to when his own father worked on his old car and got home completely coated in oils...

He would quietly mumble a 'thank you' to nobody in particular, hoping that it wouldn't be heard.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“I barely remember my parents, we lived in a rough and barren area of old world bandits or thieves came often you know.” She raised her arms and pointed to the crystals in them. “These guys are apart of my arms actually. They took over my bone and ate away at it. At this point if I got rid of them then I’d be useless. An accident from many years before now. If I hadn’t gotten Qi they would have tore my arms to bits if I allowed them to keep growing whilst being a normie.”

[Atlas Steele]

"Old world?" Atlas asked in confusion as he would put in an extra bit of gusto to give the plates some extra spit and shine, watching them sparkle and seem spotless for a bit before stacking them to the side.
Making sure to keep them on a flat surface before then thinking back to what she had been talking about moments ago.

"This old world, you mean on this earth? I've heard some conflicting stories from the children that I had to feed, but none of them wished to inform me..." Looking at his own hands for a moment before feeling like his large, strong hands were so small compared to the issues these children he met carried...

Taking out his own fried rice lunch box and pouring it into a cast iron pan to toast it once again at a low heat to let the mostly fatty bacon in it melt-up and coat the bottom of the pan, Atlas made sure to take out all of his stops as he would slice up some beef to throw in with the rice.
Washing a few lettuce leaves in the cold running water as he could. "Is this old world thing part of why you work so hard on these blueprints in this place?"

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“What? No, not at all many of us by this beach and at the apartments are from old world. We traveled from a full different dimension on the Ark. from what I know it was an accident we didn’t know what was happening. I was working maintenance in the building when it took off. It was hosting a big reward ceremony to honor some outstanding soldiers.” She gathered the dishes and scrapped them off in a trash can before setting them to the shelf beside the deep sink of the garage.

“The water doesn’t work here”, she pulled the stopper to plug up the sink and grabbed a big bucket over to a massive drum filled with water to dunk it and fill it before returning with it to the sink. “It’s rain water.”

“But yeah no, these blue prints are a storm of ideas I had while I was... um...inspired. I’ve studied Qi crystals on our previous world they were rare to find until another territory found a mine filled with them plenty enough to power and defend his whole territory. They are channels of power and strong energy sources. In a world without electricity power was a hot commodity. I would have been rich if I had developed a solution for normies like myself to effectively use this power. I wasn’t in it for the money however I just wanted to build and invent to live a better life.”

[Atlas Steele]

"Another dimension?" He asked, noticing that he was given some water in the form of rainwater as he increased the amount of soap he used for the sake of cleaning it up before realizing the issues that had happened with the environment...

"No water, No good power source, I can see why you would be seeking out these Qi crystals, a genius idea that could help so many people in this area..." Atlas would look at his own hands for a moment before looking down at the ground as he washed some more dishes.

"I myself just got into the city from the outside, was forcibly awoken by a few sprites and then was told to sell food to only the 'pure blood' without weird powers." As he would think back to his first introduction into this city. "You see, when everybody fled, the farms that were on the outskirts were without an owner and I snatched up a ton of them before men started going after my life because they wanted the land."

"But, hey, This does bring up a point, if you are such a smart little precious cupcake." He would say, before almost going quiet at the embarrassing nature of what he just said. "Ehem, Forget what I just called you, but do you think you could make some form of vehicle that could carry a large amount of produce?" He asked genuinely.

"If we have some way of transport from the farms to the city with more ease, I could sell my products to more children and elderly that need food instead of the strong and young ones. Even those without money."

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

The words he called her did startle her she stared at him with a wide eyed look and frozen in place like a dear in head lights. It was for a good long minute of a stare no doubt. It was the figurative cogs in her head turning completely thrown off by being baby talked to. She wasn’t offended but it was not something she had ever experience in any day she could remember and it certainly wasn’t natural.

But she caught up with his request and jolted herself from her thoughts. “Oh! Well... this world is filled with the rides like they do in our world so to invent one would be quite redundant. If you had an old one ready for repair or maintenance then yes. Actually this is what this shop is used for so I have all the equipment needed... that is if I don’t... destroy it first.”

She was looking around as her dazed habits have most certainly caused some further damage. She’ll probably have to make this her next project for safety reasons.

[Atlas Steele]

"Well, How much?" Atlas would ask with a bouldering laugh upon seeing her reaction, slapping his own knee a few times before almost slipping and hitting his head on the sink. Almost.
Taking a moment to wipe the cold sweat away, he would put the plates neatly to the side before then looking her up and down.

"Six months of food and a supply of five water barrels every week?" He would ask if it was enough, as the one thing that he had enough of was his food and water supply as he groaned in annoyance.

"Although, I would pay you the food and supply for every vehicle you manage to repair or make, with any material costs required repaid too if I can afford it." He would answer before then thinking to himself and patting his own body to find any paper he had on himself to make this official.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“That would depend on the extent of repair and the vehicle you choose. No matter what I’ll need parts of which I can order but you’ll have to bring me a vehicle first. It could cost hundreds of this worlds currency or thousands even.” She scratched her head. “If I had a forge like I did in old world I could make a lot more but no matter what we’ll either need to get the equipment free somehow or pay up.”

[Atlas Steele]

Realizing the monetary cost, Atlas would sigh a breath of actual relief as he would move to the kitchen starting to work on his recipe before chuckling tenderly to himself.

"I haven't had somebody ask me for actual money in bloody weeks!, Months even!" He would state before scratching the back of his head, realizing he wasn't wearing one of the little hairnets as he would fumble in his bag before taking it out before snapping it on his head.

"So, I've got some funds to spend on this, but what parts would you suggest that we would need for this area, what kind of fuel supply is a good idea? especially with the lack of basic oils in rotation at the moment." He commented.
Thinking back to how he had that painful lesson the first time when running his own crop cycles, having had to swap to a different system that he threw his buddy, Trent on.

"Thank god Trent knew what he was doing, otherwise my freezers wouldn't work at all, but hey, for his power armour idea, he needs to work his behind off to build as much experience as he can.
He just doesn't know anything about vehicles." Atlas commented, Laughing to himself.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“Been reading up on the solar energy and rechargeable cars that use electricity we can probably use those ideas and adapt a wholly new sustainable vehicle without using fuel. Apparently few people on this plain are worried about fossil fuels and endangering the environment as it is. You might make waves having a few of those to help your farms anyway.” Lucky surmised. “I might know someone who can help program the software on something like that, it’s not my strong suit but I can put it together no problem.”

[Atlas Steele]

"Oh, you know somebody who can program? That would be lovely to hear, maybe even throw both your own number and theirs? Business preferably, I once have gotten into trouble for owning numbers from people way below my age." As Atlas awkwardly laughed, scratching the back of his head while trying to not look too annoyed.

"But if we plan to make something along the lines of an electric vehicle, we could even go further with this, make it a public sold project at the end of this and help you get some extra income into this place...
If you do not mind of course, because from what I notice, you could use an extra hand with keeping the area clean, right?" Atlas proposed, thinking on a longer-term than just fixing his vehicles as this was being brought up before then writing down that she would need a large sum of funds to get this going and above all, the food too.

"Also, If you do not mind me asking, do you require me to supply the food per week, to prevent spoiling or do you wish to get it all at once?" He made as a final comment regarding their deal that was slowly reaching its conclusion.

[Lucille "Lucky" O'Donnovan]

“The programmer is a recluse and... frankly she doesn’t like us but she was nice enough to pay for a meal and I can probably owe her a favor.” Lucky gave his other thought more think and came up with a solution. “Where is your place? Maybe Once a week I’m not much of a cook but I’ll eat anything I reach for first so it will get eaten.”