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TIMING:Â current PARTIES:Â Zack & Mateo (for Group 2) SUMMARY:Â Zack goes to Mateo for help building a battery. CONTENT WARNINGS:Â None!
If Zack were being honest, he only understood about a third of the email that Henri had sent Rosemary. A lot of it went way, way over his head, but from what he could gather… It would work. All that they had found indicated it would be possible to build a kind of battery that could siphon magic off some source and fuel Wicked’s Rest. There was just one problem with that – and unfortunately it was a rather large problem.
There was no magical source.
That was part of the whole issue, wasn’t it? Wicked’s Rest didn’t have a magical source. Whatever demon thing (Zack’s chest still lipped a little at the mention of demons) had bitten the dust and that’s why they were out in the cold, with the blackouts and the surges. That’s why they were all doing this.
Until, of course, Baz got in touch about the….space worm? Zack had never heard about whatever kind of…bug? it was. Apparently they weren’t even usually supernatural? Whatever it was, exactly, it would be their magical source. And with that question answered, he felt a lot more confident in their battery plan. They just had to build the thing, but luckily that had a solution that was a lot less complicated than a magical tardigrade from space.
In one of his visits to Mateo’s house, Zack had seen the man’s workshop area. Interested in his artistic side, he had asked about all that he built there. He hadn’t said anything about making batteries exactly, obviously, but there was enough overlap in what he did build. Electrical, and metal, and experience with materials that weren’t quite traditional. If anyone he knew could do it, it would be Mateo.
He brought all the research that he and Rosemary had gathered, all the further references and plans from Henri, and laid out the idea. His hands sketched the air between them, making up the words and technical knowledge he didn’t have himself. And then he explained the tardigrade, with a bit of a laugh, like he knew it was ridiculous but, well. They were in Wicked’s Rest, after all. All of this was a little ridiculous. But it was all also their home, and it needed them.
Zack just hoped that Mateo would be able to take all that they had gathered and make it into something that worked.
—
Mateo was surprised to be thought of for a magical issue, but when Zack explained what he needed, it all fell into place. Now, he loved puzzles. He loved when they seemed impossible and he even loved when it frustrated him to the point of nearly giving up. Because nothing tasted sweeter than victory and knowing any doubt Mateo felt in the process was unnecessary.Â
With the problem presented to him, his fingers itched to get moving so badly that he nearly glossed over the fact that the magical problem was brought to him by Zack. Mateo was grabbing a notepad to write down the materials he'd need when he realized that. That was a dilemma. Either he put the important problem aside to ask a lot more questions, or he went ham into the issue and didn't get any answers until he was done.Â
Unfortunately, Mateo decided to be mature and responsible, and decided on the latter. What they needed to make was going to be bigger than a typical generator. The source was neither kinetic or electric, but magical. Luckily, the principles were the same.Â
Mateo could construct the apparatus for the continued conduction of energy. The only problem was that he didn't have a firm grasp on the size or shape of a space thing. God, he felt like he was in some weird movie, but at least he had one of the cooler tasks. So, with a whole lot of enthusiasm, Mateo flipped on his stereo and led Zack into his workspace with his notepad (because he needed the help, it was a good excuse to keep looking at his muscles).
He began to sketch out the battery they would construct on his schematic sheets. They needed several control boards to maintain the energy and a control signal to connect them all so no one board is overused. Converters would be crucial, too. Mateo was in heaven, really. “Hope you're ready for a long night.” He said giddily, while showing Zack his first draft like a child hoping to land their art on the fridge. You know what? If the battery worked, he'd just do that himself.Â











