+3 Resistance to Fire

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Okay, yeah, that's definitely not supposed to happen," was probably one of the few sentences you never wanted to hear in a computer lab, let alone actually be the one saying it. But it still came out of Tim's mouth while he stared at the computer in front of him. More specifically, he stared at the curls of smoke coming from the top of the computer.

"Yeah, that's a fire," he said, before scooting back several more feet, still not moving from the computer chair he'd been sitting in throughout the whole affair. A rather elaborate looking headset, made entirely of cobbled together parts, lay sitting on a chair next to the sparking, smoking computer. A cord clearly connected it to the tower, seeming to hint all too obviously at what was the problem with the situation.

Tim jumped to his feet and began running back toward the desk, knowing where the monitor for the computer room should be sitting. "Hey, hey, where's the fire extinguisher?" he yelled, diving down beneath the computer as he did so. Tim was already frantically moving stuff around, even as the acrid smell of burning plastic started to fill the room and the computer sparked more.

Tim stuck his head over the top of the desk, staring. "Maybe I should have unplugged it first..." he wondered aloud, pausing only long enough to adjust his glasses once more before diving behind the desk.

Barry Grep

[Barry Grep]

Barry was heading to the computer lab to do some more coding. He wanted to edit the portion of his game he had completed so had, and probably skype with some of his friends to see how they were coming along on it too. His Nerd Sauadron knew no limits when it came to making their masterpiece game, so distance was going to stand in their way. So, with this plan in mind, Barry was completely surprised to find smoke curling up out of a computer when he opened the door. He blinked, twice, before spotting some guy under the desk doing something. It only took a few more second before Barry reacted.

"Oh SHIET!" He yelped, plopping his stuff down hurriedly on the desk near him as he ran and grabbed the fire extinguisher. He had to act fast before the fire alarm went off and all hell broke loose. Eventually he ran back over, big metal canister in tow. Barry spotted a cord that seemed to be connected to the smoke and ripped it out unceremoniously before unhooking the hose part of the extinguisher. "Fire in the hole!" He warned before letting loose with the darn thing. Barry coated the burning portion of the computer, trying his best not to hit the headphones because they looked custom. Eventually, he stopped the extinguisher and stood there staring at the now covered computer.

"Dude!" He said, glancing at the guy who had been under the desk. "What happened?!"

[Tim Tawfeek]

Crap, the guy had shown up with the extinguisher and now had the thing pointed directly at the custom rig. Most nerds would recognize the heavily modded headset for what it was: equipment to present a more 3-d interface to the user. Thing might look cobbled together, but that didn't make it look any more lowtech. And with the foam shooting toward it, Tim was already diving himself, pulling at the cord, feeling something yank, and almost rolling out of the way of the extinguisher.

Which left him sort of rolled up and panting, feeling sore (he must have hit the table as he'd gone around it) and looking up at the guy. "Uh, a fire?" Tim offered. He shifted the headset in his hands, checking it out. Some parts had definitely gotten loose, and Tim could already hear Karsen yelling at him.

"Set the new set up," he replied, hoisting it slightly for the other guy to look at. "Friend developed it: more immersive tech for playing some games and stuff. Figured that I'd try it on a standard model first..." Tim trailed off, looking at the smoke and clearly seeing that his attempt had not worked, to say the least.

[Barry Grep]

At seeing the guy was ok, Barry relaxed a little. And wow the guy could dive! "Well duuuuh!" Barry said with a roll of his eyes as he plopped the extinguisher down and observed the tech the other guy had dove so majestically to save. Now up close, Barry recognized it for what it was and gawked. "Whooaaaaa dude! Niiiiice!" He said, looking it over. It was really custom. As in made from scratch custom. But it was still pretty awesome.

When he guy explained what he had tested out, Barry smacked his palm to his face with a loud slapping noise. "You don't do dat! No wonder there was a fire!" Barry scolded, waggling a finger at the guy. "This little bitty baby," he said, patting the comp before realizing his hand got covered in he phone. "Ech! Ew!" He said before wiping it on the desk. "Ech. Anyways: this little thing won't be able to handle that bad boy. That thing yours by the way?"

[Tim Tawfeek]

Yeah, duh, Tim had to chuckle at that, nodding. He definitely agreed, what with the fire and smoke and all that stuff. He probably would've agreed nonetheless. He had to grin wide at the mention of the custom setup. "This is what you get when you know the right people," he said, nodding toward the custom setup that Karsen had perfected. The thing had even taken going up in flames fairly well. There was still some damage, but it didn't look like anything that Tim couldn't fix, and he didn't have special powers.

The smack jerked Tim's attention away. The guy actually jumped and started looking around, convinced that he'd missed something important. Barry's talking soon made Tim realize what was going on, and he nearly did a facepalm of his very own. "That worked out well for you," he drawled as the Barry got foam on him. He helped get the device free, nestling it on a nearby desk. Tim started looking around for something to wipe it off with.

"Sort of," he said, looking over at Barry again. "It's one of a set that my friend and I have been developing. Full immersion headset for gaming purposes. Well," Tim reached up to adjust his glasses, "it would probably work for just about anything, but we set it up with gaming in mind. Now we know that we're gonna have to stick with just our sleek machines," Tim let out another laugh before walking around the desk. He was fairly certain they had microfiber clothes back here somewhere.

[Barry Grep]

"Right people indeed dude!" Barry agreed with a grin, leaning back when he finished his observation. "Looks cool! And it looks like it took some of the damage! Maybe it's got a +3 Resistance to fire?" Barry opted, his true and glorious nerd shining through like the almighty beacon of endless video game references it was.

Barry shook his hand as Tim commented on how well the whole patting the little computer went. "Hey, I didn't know it was gonna foam me up like a carwash! Or some sort of slime monster. Ech." Barry said, wiping the last of it off. But then Barry's attention was back on Tim as he admitted the gear was only 'sort of' his. He nodded as Tim talked. "I know the lingo dude. Got one of me own custom things back in me room. It's a right of passage for the members of our Nerd Squadron clan." He said seriously with a nod and folded his arms over his chest. "Oh, and if you're looking for cloth, I think it's in the closet over there." Barry added, pointing

[Tim Tawfeek]

"It wouldn't surprise me if Karsen set it up with some resistance," Tim admitted, turning the device around in his hands a few more times. "Things have this weird tendency to erupt in flames around us," which was mostly Tim's fault, he had to admit. Well, he was great at coming up with ideas and adventures: nothing said that he needed to be the one who thought through all the details. He generally left that to his friends, usually Karsen, sometimes Erin.

Yep, foam everywhere. At least Barry seemed cool, both about that and just sort of in general. "Awesome: you should hook your group up with our clan. We've been getting stuff together for some online play, mostly MMOs, but we're probably gonna hit some of the major first persons too," Tim then raised a hand in thanks as Barry directed him toward the cloths, heading off that way, rummaging around in the closet.

"I haven't been putting as much time in this as I should," he said over his shoulder, "what with my girlfriend and projects and the videos and crap..."