[X] Meet up, have Leet try and make a machine that can make grist. In exchange, you use some of the grist you get from it to dupe his tech for him.
We met at midnight.
This time they were uncostumed aside from simple domino masks. No need to dress up when not on camera, I guess. Unfortunate, because I'd really rather look at anything other than Leet's obnoxious
TITS OR GTFO shirt. We duck into an alley.
"Greetings." I said, my voice serene, nodding my head toward them. "Shall we discuss?"
"Stop talking like a weirdo." Leet responded, point-blank.
I let out a little huff. "It's part of the persona..." I mumble, immediately a little off balance. "And who the fuck are you guys to complain about people talking weirdly? Uber talks like he's doing an announcer voice at literally all times."
"The difference is, I'm cool enough to pull it off!" Said Uber, not pulling it off at all. "Yeah, it's epic!" Leet added.
"Let's just... get to the point." I said, giving up. "I have the power to duplicate technology. This power is limited by the resources I have on hand. I need you to make something that generates these resources, and if it works well enough, I'll be able to dupe a few pieces of tinkertech for you. "
"Okay, what resources exactly?" Leet asked, squinting in suspicion.
"My power calls it grist. Colorful geometric shapes that burst out of animals when I kill them. Unfortunately, others don't seem to be able to perceive them."
"So let me get this straight," Uber intoned, slowly. "You want Leet to make a machine that spews out animals... and then immediately kills them."
"Fucking sick..." Whispered Leet, an expression of awe on his face, that quickly turns dour. "But, probably not gonna happen. I can build anything once, but kinda already went through most of my biotinker ideas on other stuff over the years."
"Well, it doesn't have to be exactly like that." I responded. "Also acceptable would be something that just generates the grist directly? Or hell, maybe just something that makes them easier to hunt?"
"What, like a better gun?" He asked.
"That'd be good too, but I was thinking something more like a lure. If I can just get the animals to come to me, I could save a lot of time. Oh, and actually-"
What about fishing, including illegal fishing? Fish can be larger than a pigeon, and a successful throw of explosives, even small ones, into the water or an electric shock will give us up to several dozen fish. Especially if you lure them in advance with food in one place.
"-Maybe some sort of, I don't know, explosive or electrical charge I can throw into water to kill a bunch of fish? I don't know if they give grist- not everything does, bugs don't for example- but it could work to a limited capacity. The issue is, even if they do, I need to hunt a variety of things, because they drop different grist, and I need different kinds to dupe more advanced objects. Big animals give a greater variety though, it seems."
Leet looks thoughtful at that. "Huh. I guess I haven't made a lure of any kind before. And explosives or electric stuff probably won't work, but maybe I can think of something..."
Uber interrupts. "Hang on, you're essentially saying... you need to grind mobs for rare drops?"
I'm not totally sure I know what 'mobs' are, but... "I guess so? Yes."
Uber and Leet look at each other. "Every gamer group needs a token gamer girl, right?" Leet asks Uber.
He responds, "At the very least she'd be useful. Say, Gatherer, how would you feel about maybe working with us on a longer-term basis than just this project?"
I cringe behind my scarf and mask. We've barely spoken, but a slight similarity to something video game related has them asking for a team-up? Really?
"Hah. Let's see if you can manage the task at hand before we start even considering anything more," I say, dodging the question as best as I can.
Still. Part of me can't help but feel a draw. It's not like there's
no decent reasons to consider...
[] Uber and Leet are criminals. Ones the PRT aren't taking seriously, but are in need of justice just as much as anyone else. You saw that video of them beating up those prostitutes, as some kind of fucked-up GTA roleplay- and they've hurt a lot of other people besides. Maybe if you got in close, you could take them down from the inside- and take advantage of their abilities and resources in the meantime.
[] Uber and Leet are people. Gross, weird, fucked up people. But people. The PRT hasn't cracked down on them for a reason, right? Maybe if you joined up, you could guide them away from the more hardcore stuff? Or even, dare you say it- perform a redemption arc? Hah, probably not, no. But either way, it would at least ensure access to tinkertech to play with in your combinations.
Meat or candy?
[] Both of these options feel fucking gross and dangerous, and you don't want to work with them at all beyond this project.
-[] But, you don't hate them or anything. You wouldn't pick a fight if you saw them around after this, unless they started it.
-[] But, if you do get the opportunity to screw them over, you'll take it.
And how does this project turn out exactly? Pick one:
[] Forest Lure. A small box that slowly builds up synthesized pheromones that attract random forest creatures. 25% chance of breaking every time you use it, but you might be about to get a lot of grist out of it before then, if you're lucky. Making this will render Leet almost totally incapable of creating other lures.
[] Water lure. Same principle as the forest lure, but for the water. For the record, large fish do indeed give grist, though you're unlikely to get any other than build from them. Stranger sorts like sharks or octopi might be a different story, but will be rarer. Will be generally less effective than the forest lure for getting special grist, but better for build grist, and
way better than hunting birds. Same odds of breaking. Making this will render Leet almost totally incapable of creating other lures.
[] Gristwidget 69420. If you decide to give Leet almost every scrap of info you have on your power, including details on how the machinery and alchemy function, and actually giving him some captcha cards and letting him borrow your light-gun modus, he can figure out enough to make this thing. This machine takes captchalogue cards, shreds them, and then gives you a small fraction of the grist you would have needed to make whatever was in the card in the first place. Doesn't work with cards that are punched, the item actually has to be in the thing. It also requires literal money in order to function, roughly equivalent to what the shredded item is worth monetarily. It's far more sturdy than most of Leet's tech, though it may still break some day. He'll want more than just duped tech for this- you'll have to combine some stuff for him as well. Making this will render Leet incapable of creating a lot of shit, and make it hard for him to ever do anything else with captcha or alchemy technology.
[] Write-in. Generally assume that the more normal whatever he makes is, the more his shard hates it, and will make it prone to breaking. And the better it is, the more he'll ask for in exchange. It also has to be something that he hasn't obviously done before, and I don't just mean you have to come up with a creative idea for each component of it, it's not like we know every random thing he's gone through or whatever so just let me handle that. I mean that it has to be
conceptually different from most of the sort of things you'd expect him to have made- no normal-ass guns to help you hunt, for example, because he's probably already gone though most of his ideas regarding that, and all that's left is esoteric shit he wants to keep for himself. Though, there is some leeway due to this being his first time working with Sburban tech. But of course, the more you lean on that, the more you must reveal to him about your power for him to make use of it.
AN: Wow, look at that, another short update after a long hiatus. My excuse this time is that I'm really uncomfortable writing dialogue, and feel like it never flows the way I want it to, but at least it's finally written. Also, sorry if anything is really screwed up here, I wrote this over the course of hours and on very little sleep. Let me know if I messed up the continuity somewhere or whatever. 
