>I am cringe but I am free...>74, 57, 76 vs. DC 80 — FailureOf course you want Gil to pack a module. You don't know why he bothered asking. And though you'd very much like to see that flamethrower in action, some overriding mixture of curiosity and spite (he <span class="mu-i">talked</span> to <span class="mu-i">Annie?</span> and didn't tell you?) leads you to the half-assembled wings on the workbench.
"What do you <span class="mu-i">mean,</span> you don't want to talk about them?" You run your fingertips along the glossy surface of the outer-shell-thing. (The wingcase?) "Why are they sitting right here, then? You should've hid them if you—"
"I-I-I wasn't expecting you to come <span class="mu-i">now!</span> I would've—"
You dislike this answer. "Well, that's— that's <span class="mu-i">stupid.</span> Why did you make these in the first place if you hate them so much?"
Gil can't get any redder, but his chest is making a noise like a pneumatic drill. [spoilerhttps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp0k6VDXUOQ[/spoiler:lit] You shoot him a look. He squeezes his eyes together. "Because I-I-I-I'm goddamn stupid? I-I don't know what you want me to—"
"But you're not," you say bemusedly. "So... what's supposed to be the matter?"
He can't seem to look you in the eye. "I-I-If you can't figure it out for yourself, then I don't..."
"Um, I can't." You tug at the corner of one of the actual wings, thin as a sheet of paper. "They look pretty cool to me. Is it that they aren't finished? Because you're the first person I came to ask, you have loads of—"
"They're not finished because I-I quit."
"Oh. Well, that's dumb. Was it too hard?"
Gil is rocking back and forth on his heels. His thumbs are hooked into his pockets. "It's not—"
"Because you can ask Richard for help if it's too hard. I know he's, um..." You struggle for an adjective. "...Richard, but I think he likes doing, um, that kind of stuff. So he shouldn't be too mean about it. Oh. Except he's hungover right not, but if you can catch him—"
"It's not too hard! It's not— I-I-I-I wasn't even <span class="mu-i">really</span> building anything, I-I-I was going through the goddamn motions, and it still— it still— I quit. Okay? So please... do you want me to figure out how to install the flamethrower? I can install the—"
"No way," you say. "I can light stuff on fire myself. I want to know what's so bad about these."
"I-I-It's not that complicated! I-I-I don't understand why you don't..." Gil waves his hands at the wings. "They're— they're fucking useless!"
"Do they not work?" You squint at the mechanism in the center joint as if it'd reveal anything to you.
(1/5?)
