IC inbox (pumpkin hollow)

[lovethyneighb_or]

Mulcahy here! Leave a message.

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[lovethyneighb_or]

What's 'anime?'

[pineapplesalmon]

[A choking laugh. Rex is still silent in horror as César explains.]

Japanese animation. Cartoons. Manga is Japanese comics. Some of it is for kids, but there's shows for teenagers and adults, too. They tend to have more serious plot lines, and use the freedom of animation to tell stories that'd have impossibly expensive special effects if they were live action.

That being said, there's a whole genre of live action shows with practical effects called Tokusatsu, or Toku for short. But they can only do so much. Usually several fake city blocks get destroyed. And then there's a sub-genre called sentai that involves a team of masked color-coded superheroes that fight monsters or aliens or some other sort of threats with martial arts, giant robots called mechas, and team attacks.

[rexthebuilder]

[ Rex's tone turns suspicious... there's no reason to mention any of this, UNLESS. ] ... César, whyyyyyy do I know all of those terms? Why do I know exactly what you're talking about?

[lovethyneighb_or]

Rex, [ quite slowly and gravely, ] I would only expect that César pass down the lessons and wisdom of life down to you, as is his duty as your older brother.

[pineapplesalmon]

Precisely! And speaking of... [And then, César whispers something too quiet to hear in Rex's ear.]

[rexthebuilder]

Mecha OC?! Dude, this is not the time to be telling me my builds' backstory! [César laughs.] I'm just glad ten-year-old me was cool instead of lame like you! Your soda pop can lab doesn't even have a name!

[lovethyneighb_or]

[ Here to unhelpfully incite further brotherly teasing, ] Well, Rex, perhaps you would like to name it?

[ Come on, give them something good. ]

[rexthebuilder]

[ Oh ho. Oh ho ho ho. Rex's mood immediately becomes jubilant. ] You're right! He's taken so long to name it that I get to name it now.

[ A laugh from César, who apparently isn't going to stop him, and Rex sticks out his tongue audibly before continuing. ] Those are the rules! Okay, so. It's gotta be a name that's mostly lame but vaguely cool.

[lovethyneighb_or]

I’m afraid I can’t suggest much; I’ve only named pets and animals, and most Catholic terms might be a bit too cool for what you’re looking for. Well, how do you name a… ‘soda can lab?’ Not like a dog, I assume.

[rexthebuilder]

Yeah, dogs are way cuter. And it's a vehicle that can fly in space so. I dunno, USS Famous Science Person? This is going to take some thought.

[He sounds very happy to have this task, though.]

[pineapplesalmon]

You can think?

[The pillow beating resumes immediately, followed by César's laughter.]

[lovethyneighb_or]

[ That gets some more laughter from Mulcahy's side. ]

Perhaps you can take some inspiration from the things--or people--around you, [ he hums. ] But remember, you can always change it later if you come up with something better.

[rexthebuilder]

[Rex pauses in his pillow beatings to consider this.] You are a cool priest. César doesn't have it here. So there's plenty of time to come up with something obnoxiously awesome!

[lovethyneighb_or]

Such as the USS Super Awesome Soda Can, of course. [ He still has no idea what this lab even is or looks like, he's just guessing. ] Or the USS Canned... what do you do in your lab, César?

1/2

[rexthebuilder]

A little bit of everything!

[pineapplesalmon]

[At the exact same time, snickering at the names as Rex laughs at them.]

A little bit of everything—heyyyyyyyyy. [Another laugh from Rex.] Less experiments and more engineering, often on a microscopic level. But I have equipment for 3d printing, welding, programming of machinery, some circuitry stuff. And also it can go 99% to the speed of light.

[lovethyneighb_or]

[ 3D printing and 99% the speed of light, Jiminy Cricket. ]

The USS Can of Peanuts, then. Because you're both nuts!

[ And the snake-in-a-can-of-nuts prank is as old as he is! ... Wait, hang on. ]

... Do they still make snake nut cans in your future?

[rexthebuilder]

[A moment as Rex processes this, then.]

USS SNAKE NUTS!

[HOWLS. HOWLING. DEAD.]

[pineapplesalmon]

NO! [Also laughing.]

[lovethyneighb_or]

The Korean War would've ended three years earlier if you two had been there.

[ It only lasted three years. (He's had it spoiled for him already ages ago.) ]

[rexthebuilder]

[Rex needs a moment to breathe before he can respond to that, and he responds enthusastically.]

Dude, you have no idea. I can make technology like aircraft just not work anymore, but César would be the one you'd need. He could make an unconscious bomb or something. People can't fight if they're all unconscious, right? César totally walked into Providence looking for something, and I let him 'kidnap' me. Like high security military base and he just walked through the front door 'cause he had something that could open it. Was totes nuts.

[pineapplesalmon]

[César is much more aware of the Korean War and what happened, and the laughter in his voice when he speaks up dies away quickly.]

I would've done that, yes. I designed something that renders people safely unconscious for a few hours, which could be used on a grander scale. Enough time to land aircraft and take the most important portions of enemy territory with only a very minimal loss of life. Providence hired me in part because no one got more than a headache. But I'd hesitate to put such technology into military hands. It'd be overused immediately.

[lovethyneighb_or]

[ ... Right. He'd been mostly referring to the fact that they would've fit far too well in with the 4077th and the collision of Hawkeye, César, Rex, and Trapper would have been utterly catastrophic to the brass, but... right. ]

Oh, without a doubt. But that's... that's all very good to hear. I'm glad you had that. Us medics could have certainly made use of that more than once, too.

[ Anesthesia's such a tricky thing to balance, and they came dangerously close to running out more than once... they probably did, though Mulcahy can't recall. ]

[pineapplesalmon]

[Off-screen nudging of his brother, trying to change the topic to something happier because this isn't the time for a history lesson.]

Rex, tell him about some of our modern medicine advancements. Basically anything that uses computers or chips.

2/3 whoops

[rexthebuilder]

[And the comparison is literally lost on the both of them because they're both the same type of idiot.]

Dude, we've got like robot limbs and can regrow organs and stuff! And artificial wombs. And uhhhhhhhh... vaccines and antidotes that we reverse engineer and make in hours. And also a whole body scanner that can show everything that's going on in your body. Also I've worn a little band watch thing that's supposed to record your stress levels. We've got so much stuff! My phone can even tell me things about my oxygen levels. And those really tiny babies that are born too early make it most of the time now.

[Rex does pay attention to those sorts of things.]