[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare3"]BUILDING THEIR STRENGTH

[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare5"]The creative juices, they have been rough lately. Etsuko leaned back in her salvaged office chair, staring at several monitors that had been mounted to her small corner of the support labs. Two of the screens were blacked out, their contents only visible to Etsuko due to the virtue of her quirk. The other two were what appeared to be free, open-source modeling programs. Below them sat a gray box with many long antennas poking off of it. Above each of the seven monitors was a small radar dish; Etsuko claimed it's what made them 'wireless' but in truth, each one had a tiny little USB stick that allowed her to connect to it directly.
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Perhaps... her own radio could help. The girl had loops of some of the songs she sang over the last few years playing on a smart shuffle list; it had been a few days since she sang along, and likely this would be another added to that list. Instead of keeping the radio playing in her head, she passed it along to the big black box. In response, it began playing JSTC radio; many of the songs that played sang of happiness and love, but often had darker undertones; predominantly with techno beats, but sometimes not. With it playing music, she tossed her legs up onto the desk, nodding to the beat and mouthing the words as the 3D modeling software began sculpting what appeared to be a robotic arm. To the trained eye, the program would be easily seen as ADUSK, or the Advanced Design and Utility Software Kit. ADUSK was a rather expensive CAD program made by a few nerds in a garage with little to no creativity for naming. Like, who designs a program and then names it what it is?
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Certainly not Etsuko. Etsuko had more of a creative bone in her body than that! That's even why she had been trying to design a workable prototype limb, she just couldn't get it to move right. The materials, even though they could move and rotate, didn't bend the right way and would often lock up; not to mention trying to get enough strength to lift heavy objects with those dainty motors.
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Popping in a small piece of candy, she flung her body forward and began tinkering away, trying her best to replicate the 3D model that was on screen. After a short time, a single joint was ready; there was no point assembling the full thing, if this part failed then she'd have to start from the beginning. Pulling on a few of the synthetic muscles, it seemed to move just fine until she released the muscle designed to pull the arm back to its normal state; it whipped around and tangled everything into a mass of twisted cables and scrap metal.
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"God DAMNIT!" She slammed the limb down onto the table, which caused it to promptly flop onto the ground. In anger, she threw herself back into her chair and started spinning in thought. "Why doesn't it work? I put in all the contingencies to stop the muscle from whiplashing back full force but... it never works! There has to be a way to bind them so that it releases back to its natural state when not..." she began rambling, and mumbling; the CAD software on her screen spinning in place as she had disconnected earlier.
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She certainly wasn't alone in the Support Labs, but who else was there? Would they be able to help solve some of Etsuko's problems, or maybe even cheer up the little gremlin?
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[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare6"]TAGS

[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare3"]BUILDING THEIR STRENGTH

[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare5"]
The day to day life of a support student was absolutely a blast for Etsuko. It was her second year, and the teacher had already given her full realm to just mess around at her desk; as long as she was making things, he would eventually grade her on it. Several other students were also studying and making their own creations but... the others tried to always get fresh parts.
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Etsuko? She was a monster at heart. The engine from a microwave, a blade from a food processor, a curved small cup the size of an espresso puck... not to mention all of the various Sr Coffees that she absolutely butchered to make the small handheld device. The physical part was always the hardest for Etsuko; physical applied physics was never her strong suit which was the main reason for how often she collaborates with the other students. This time however, she had a goal.
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After being here a full year her useless inventions had been spread haphazardly around. She kept who made them for the most part a secret from those outside of the support class, watching the reactions as people came across her machine that turns itself off, or the bread un-toaster. Each time people were shocked and had a good laugh, except for one... Hebiru. The school nurse. She tried to trick her one time with a smart pen that she left on her desk but got little to no reaction the first time. This time, she was sure she would get something out of her!
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And it had better be a smile.
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Finishing up the small espresso puck maker, she did a quick test. Adding water, and some of the generic coffee she told it to start using her quirk. Once the app was fully made, and accepted by the app store, she would try with that but... today? No, this called for her quirk.
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The device span to life, grinding the beans, pounding the puck, sifting it, and then cycling water through the chamber. It was a success! A tiny little espresso puck maker! It even only needed new water if you don't use it for awhile! With the tap of a button using her mind, the espresso machine dinged, and spoke. "All done!" A puck popped out the side, landing perfectly on a small napkin she laid out.
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"Perfect... just what I was trying to make!" She reached over, picked up the small puck, and gave it a good whiff. Right when the smell hit her nose, her entire spine tightened and released all at once, forcing her to make a weird wiggly dance as the shiver shot up her spine. "Ohhh that is strong! Success! The perfect puck of coffee!" She took a bite out of it, paused, and spat it out immediately.
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"Right, normal coffee... gotta use the fancy espresso stuff..." With a quick look around, she noticed nobody was watching. Crouching making what could only look like a sinister expression, she giggled maniacally. "Nurse Hebiru has only one choice but to love this invention! But how do I get there...?"
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With eyes scanning her desk, she contemplated which device she could use to discreetly hurt herself, without permanent damage of course. In fact, she wanted it to look like a complete accident! It was then her eyes landed on the small flat leafed cacti that sat next to her radio. A genius plan! Cacti are edible, she could just take a bite out of that and say she has an upset stomach!
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It was a foolproof plan, at least, until after she had enacted it. Cacti tasted weird. They were tangy, stringy, chewy, with a slight tinge of copper. Oh, wait, that was blood. Etsuko noticed the flavor of her own droplets of blood before feeling the pain of a long spine that had stabbed into the roof of her mouth.
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"O-h. O-wh-wh. Cheach! Ih neehd go Nhurse." She held up her hand and walked over to the teacher, letting some of the small bits of crimson dribble out of her lip to her cheek.
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And that was that; she was now in the nurses office, awaiting Hebiru's entrance with an odd amount of excitement visible in her body. She couldn't exactly close her mouth fully without stabbing herself more, so she waited, slackjawed, doing her best not to dribble saliva, or blood, on the floor; better yet, she made sure to keep her small, handheld contraption I nice and dry in her hands.
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When Hebiru would first enter to see her patient, Etsuko would lock eyes with her and bounce in her seat with an odd energetic joy; almost like a child that was waiting for Santa.

[attr="class","EtsukoTemplaterare6"]TAGS

[attr="class","likedotitle2"]CHARACTER APPLICATION