techtal - Tumblr blog

[techtal]

vcross​:

Vee doesn’t joke for others’ amusement. In fact, she barely jokes for her own either– mostly she just opens her mouth and lets whatever thoughts are currently skimming over the surface of her mind pour out, tempered only by a wry tone. The lack of intention, however, does little to stop her from basking in Tal’s approval like a cat in a warm patch of sunlight. There were scores upon scores of reasons she adored their company, not least of which was their encouragement of her ridiculousness. 

“You had me at ‘heart attack,’” she quips, plucking a few ingredients from their piles to snack on. Vee’s not paying particular attention to the way Tal is organizing the ingredients; If they felt they could make a flavour pairing for strawberries anywhere near edible (edible to the others, that is– Vee would willingly eat and probably enjoy plain strawberries on cheese pizza) she believed in them 100%. The others swallowing their pride alongside bites of pizza long enough to actually admit her food based genius (well, her and Tal’s (okay, mostly Tal’s, but stealing credit seems as fair game as stealing anything else)) was doubtful. Oh well, she figures, the visual of it is pleasing enough. 

“You’re the gourmand here. You say jump, I’ll say how high. You say vinegar on pizza, I’ll trust it won’t end up tasting too vinegar-y,” she says, before pausing and giving him a skeptical look, her thoughts catching up to her words, “It won’t, will it?”

he pushes over a few extra piles, ingredients that are unnecessary, half a block of cheese, over to her for her to snack freely without stressing him out about portions. pizza sauce was nearly a salsa, if that wasn’t heresey to say, though salsa was better cold.

‘ don’t you trust me? ‘ he grins, the light dancing in their eyes so she can’t tell how truthful he’s being - but if even vee was hesitating, that could only be a good sign. heading to the stove, he grabs a small bowl and pours a pizza’s worth of sauce in, then cuts up some fresh coriander and adds extra seasonings.

how high, huh. though perhaps that was the point of this exercise, to iron out the creases that had been identified over the past month, let them learn to rely on each other. ‘ let’s just say, if you don’t eat it, i will finish it. ‘

[techtal]

mercury​:

Valentina wouldn’t lie, she found it rather amusing to have Tal’s figure crumpled beneath her own. Not to mention, the underlying sense of satisfaction that had arisen to see her opponent in a much worse shape than her. “Well they don’t usually take me that long. But sometimes if you struggle with the basics, they can.” She replied with a chuckle before rolling her eyes at his dramatics, a small grunt escaping her lips as he decided to wrap his arms around her legs. He would make a terrible Infiltration Specialist. Fortunately for the team, Tal was usually scheduled behind a screen and not in the field. “Come on — get up, we still have more drills to do.” She reprimanded as she nudged his body with her toe, wondering what type of incentives she would have to offer to get him up from the floor. Perhaps her favourite knife that was strapped to the bottom of her boot?

///

he groaned as she nudged him, toe unerringly find its way between their ribs to nudge at a pressure point, but he only whines, rolling over and dropping his weight further to trap her foot against the floor. ‘ let’s not do it by tasks, let’s do it by time. an hour is enough, surely. mercy, mercy! ‘ he’d get up soon, maybe, but the resting on the floor was slowly allowing him to recover. maybe a few minutes more and they’d be able to get up again.

[techtal]

Katherine Mansfield, from a diary entry featured in “The Diaries of Katherine Mansfield,”

[techtal]

griftcrs​:

location: roman’s kitchen. date: may 14th, 2021. status: open.

like men on the moon so many decades ago, safiye’s mere stance in roman’s kitchen acts as some small triumph to modern womanhood: upright and well-balanced in saint laurent heels, and entirely free from powdery spots of flour so far. a men’s shirt covers her upper half in lieu of an apron — oversized despite how it remains loose — but after surveying the next step of the meal she hooks a hand into the elbow of the person beside her.  

“will you do my sauce for me?” the tug towards her space of the counter, like her inquiry, is at once gentle and insistent. “i borrowed roman’s shirt,” a gesture is made to her attempt at stain prevention. “but it looks better unbuttoned.”

+++

the rhythmns of the room have settled, mellowed, people finding their spaces and purposes and places, a figurated play where the people have learnt it’s parts. once again, tal walks in as prometheus, knowledge and fire, hearth and instructions, defy the will of the gods and bring down flame and ambrosia. or perhaps that last part is only him, stepping back from one chopping board to being hooked to the next.

he goes with the tug, because what else is he supposed to do? refuse her? ‘ course. what kind of pizza or flavour are you going for? ‘phina made a decent base but i can flavour it up further. ‘ he tucks her arm closer, looks over the top, smiles in approval. ‘ i mean, you always look good, but this is somehow cooking chic as well. ‘

[techtal]

14/04/21  21:02 +++ roman’s apartment  {{ open }}

the first pizzas are in the oven, and tal is drying their hands on a towel tucked into the waistband of the apron they’d put on at some point, design on the front unknown, when there’s a flash and a clatter and the chips that were deep-frying are now aflame.

it’s instinct, at this point, so many meals gone the way of the crisp, for him to grab a spare backing tray with the towel, and slowly slide it across the top, pranks in chemistry showing him the hard way what happens when you use anything else to put out a grease fire. his other hand quickly turns off the hob, before he exhales, looking around to see if the fire had spread.

thankfully, not, and he gives it a few moments before drawing back the lid, and they sigh in relief to see the fire has gone out. still, for safety, they leave the pan on and move it to the back hob to cool down before dealing with it. ‘ tips, don’t set this apartment block on fire. it was very hard to find. ‘

[techtal]

laika​:

“Not even there!” she exclaims, matching Tal’s volume to the decibel, “Between the lack of cereal and all the broken locks on his doors, which were totally like that when I found them by the way, this place is barely livable!” It takes every bit of willpower she’s got (which, admittedly, is not much at all) to keep from turning around to check if Roman’s watching, maybe shooting him a cheesy, impish wink. Vee believed there was an argument to be made that picking the locks was, symbolically, exactly in the spirit of tonight; Was tonight not about trust? And what was a more powerful symbol of distrust if not a locked door? Perhaps Vee was doing everyone a favour by unlocking the doors, and thereby unlocking the teams defenses? Yes, she had only prepared that defense in case she got in trouble with Seraphina. Doing first, thinking later was her general modus operandi, if thinking was to be included in that formula at all. 

Vee grins, reaches for the bag of nachos, and grabs one to crunch on. “You know, if all that tech stuff hadn’t convinced me you’re a genius, nacho pizza would,” she enthuses brightly, joining them in their inspection of the toppings. “So what do we need for that? Nachos, meat, cheese, guac-” she begins to list off, until something catches her eye and Vee’s eyebrows shoot upward, folding four creases into her forehead, “And strawberries? Can we use those? I mean, that’s not a question, we have to use them somehow. I don’t even care if strawberry pizza isn’t edible, it’s so ridiculous and fantastic we can’t just not make it.” For good measure, she underlines her request by breaking out her best puppy-dog eyes. 

as she goes along with it, they cannot help but crack a grin, stamping down on every desire to waggle their eyebrows at the second, for so much of a prank was in its reaction, in the response, and she nearly breaks him at the ‘locked doors’ comment, but he curls into his shoulders instead, trying to muffle his snickering into his chest. the broken locks were more of a statement than anything else, for even trying to lock something around this lot was bound to only entice their curiosity, but he was already flickering through a couple of discreet locksmiths in the area in his head, for when roman would start complaining talking about needing replacements.

it takes a moment for the giggles to fade, occasionally spurring back up when he spots roman out the corner of his eye, but they nod, starts going through the toppings on the side and what vee brought, wonders if he should run up to his apartment and grab a couple blocks of frozen caramelised onion.

‘ probably not on the nacho pizza, but - ‘ he trails off, starts pulling and pushing other ingredients, starts opening cupboards to look for sauces. ‘ this one is a bit of a stretch, but balsamic vinegar and strawberry pizza. just to give everyone a heart attack and then to acknowledge that we are gods. ‘

[techtal]

mercury​:

It never failed to amuse Valentina whenever she trained Tal down in the gym. Be it that she had an extra outlet to release the extra adrenaline or stress she felt, or the fact that perhaps she enjoyed having a protege beneath her command, it was evident from one gaze upon Valentina’s features that she was rather entertained by her current circumstances. Folding her arms as she regarded the crumpled up figure that lay motionless upon the floor, she released a short burst of laughter at Tal’s quips as she wondered how exactly she had come to agree to train him. Although it had been rather intelligent for him to seek her help over Kenji’s.

“But we’ve barely begun. That was just the warmup.” She teased, a glint of mischief appearing in her eyes as she stepped closer towards him. “That’s like asking, why do you enjoy sitting at a computer twenty-four hours a day.”

-

she stepped forwards and tal mock-whimpered, curling up away from her to go fetal. ‘ your warmups regularly last an hour or more? ’ he asked, plaintive even as his face was hidden by his arms. ‘ how long have we been down here? when was the last time i saw the sun?! ‘ wide-eyed, and as quickly as his body can move in this state, he spins, lashes out, rolls over to curl his arms around her shins instead, trap her in place, drops his weight and pretends to sleep.

[techtal]

laika​:

Vee’s standing at the edge of the flour covered counter, surveying the scene with uncharacteristic focus and gnawing on her bottom lip mechanically. The logistics of the situation don’t quite add up in her mind: she knows, thanks to plenty of long afternoons spent stretched out on the carpet, languishing in front of the tv during her adolescence, that pizza dough was to be tossed and toppings were to be added just before you put it in the oven, but precious little else. Really, she should have put two and two together and figured out the dinner mentioned on the invitation meant pizza and cooking, but her mind had been running amok with possibilities from the first instant she saw the crisp swirls of Seraphina’s handwriting, each idea more absurd and grandiose than the last, until she convinced herself tonight might be filled with sword fights out of the Three Musketeers or rooting out a mole in the crew à la some fusion of an Ian Flemming and an Agatha Christie. Had Occum’s razor cut that train of thought down much earlier, maybe she would have taken the time to figure out how to actually make pizza, but as it stands, she’s not even the faintest intuition of what to do or where to start or how she’s going to avoid lighting the place ablaze (she already had enough descriptors ending with “omania” prescribed to her without needing to add pyromania to the mix).

Thank god for Tal.

“You’re offering me a reason to go rooting through Roman’s stuff and an excuse not to deal with the dough all in one go?” she asks, leaning her head against theirs, “You’re getting a raw deal because I was already going to paw through all his cabinets anyways, but no take backs now! I’ll bring you everything edible he owns.”

And without another word, she’s spurred into action, deftly weaving between crew mates as she picks her way across the kitchen. The search doesn’t take very long at all before Vee’s back, carrying everything she could scrounge up, from the expected various spices to finds like coffee that really have no business anywhere near a pizza, and dumps her new found horde onto some clear counter space nearby. 

“Everything edible is not much, as it turns out. He doesn’t even have any cereal– Not that I could find, anyway. You know who doesn’t eat cereal? Cops,” she notes, flippant and jokey as always, “How goes the dough?”

her head leans against theirs and they cannot help but rest into it, their ear folding uncomfortably for the moment even as they smile, completely failing to supress it. no doubt roman can already tell that chaos will befall his kitchen, but at least tal is promising no fires.

his smile shifts from sharp to complative as vee slips away, grabs enough dough for two and claims a corner of the counter for himself. sure, perhaps they should have asked or discussed or whatever else this ‘teamwork’ excercise asks for, but hey, maybe it’ll all fall into place.

and it seems to, or at least nothing’s turning to absolute disgrace just yet, or perhaps they’re just too in the zone, dough portioned into two and the air punched out. {{ zoned out, or sense memory, their mother’s singing as she writes up security reports and he kneads bread in the corner, a dollar bag of flour making enough for three or four loaves, or making their own flatbreads, honey stuffed parathas and white radish kimchi. he’s become too used to cooking alone, must be the conclusion, because the background noise blends into something that reminds him he has to call her soon }}

the clattering of ingredients on the countertop slams him back into himself. ‘ mm? oh the dough, yep, all ready. ’ it really didn’t take that long to roll them out, try to spin them in the air like he saw in a video and then immediately give up. he drapes them over two sheets of baking paper then analyses the variety of ingredients.

‘ no cereal? not even in his bedroom? you mean there are people who don’t keep emergency boxes for those days where you want to eat seven bowls in row? ’ their voice slowly rises in incredulity to the point where roman cannot help but overhear, before dropping back down to something normal. ‘ also, there are nachos in this pile, so, nacho pizza? ‘

[techtal]

% (pls ignore if you already got it, tumblr is wack)

to cleric main [04:46]

is it true that shrimp see more colors?

also votes on a rag on doctor strange sesh?

[techtal]

14/04/2021 +++ training space {{ @ofvalentina​ }}

tal has a quick question for the universe. just a quick one, bit of a byte, barely a space or a breath. how, exactly, did they end up here.

or rather, no even a breath, because he’s all out of them, laid out on his back, arms spread and lungs heaving, staring up at the lights on the ceiling. his lungs are burning, and his arms feel like weak jelly, the muscles utterly useless. it’s nothing like the ache after typing too long, hands turned into claws. right now, he couldn’t fold them up if he wanted to, too weak for any kind of grip.

‘ please don’t tell me this is the average level of exhaustion you’re expecting. why do you all do this? ‘

[techtal]

% &&& ✉

“%” for a CURIOUS text.

to 212-555-0138 [ Are you cooking, right now? ][ It smells wonderful and I think it’s coming from your apartment. ][ Would you share if I said I’d bring abottle of good wine? ][ Or is that a really old person thing to say? ]

“&” for a LOVING text.

to 212-555-0138[ You did very well. ][ Consider me impressed. ]//on another occasion...to 212-555-0138  [01:15][ You should be asleep, young man. ][ But thank you for letting me know. We will reconvene in the morning. ][ Or later in the day, rather. ]

“✉” for a text that WASN’T SENT.

to 212-555-0138[ If I asked you to find someone for me, would you? ]

[techtal]

14/04/2021 20:21 +++ no2 apartment {{ @vcross​ }}

roman’s apartment is warm and pizza dough that evidently has been left to rise waits on a counter and tal cannot help the grin that curls across his face, unusually content, before his eyes land on vee and it sharpens. already, subconsciously, he’s rolled up the sleeves of his woollen jumper, curling his hands into each other as he pops up by her side, places his chin on her shoulder, both now staring at the display infront of them.

‘ want to pair up? i’m thinking you find us a bunch of ingredients that aren’t on that table and i’ll get the dough started? ‘

it’s going to be tough, navigating around 10 other people, but they’ve already blocked everyone else out, portioning out the sizes in their head, what seasonings to add to the pasata, depending on the ingredients. experimental pizzas were a thing of their college years, but straight up nutella on pizza dough is always a success. he hasn’t made bread since joining the crew, in all fairness, but certainly nothing can go disastorously wrong, right?

[techtal]

ø - late night text

to the Fates ✂️ [01:12]

did it ah, are you up? didn’t realise the time i’m not trying to bother or wake you up .... sending five texts in a row defeats that purpose

to the Fates ✂️ [01:25]

which is to say that i’ve got the files ready for you tomorrow morning :D

[techtal]

f u c k e d   u p

[techtal]

☎

to st beekeeper [14:57]

gimm 1 !!!!!!!!! [voice message 02:21] m 🙏

[techtal]

#

to my sugar 💖 [ 03 : 17 ]

green boi is 100% sus vote w/ me u gotta ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ also how would you fight an alien??? 100% hypothetical ⍰

[techtal]

CHARACTER INSPIRED ASK MEME 

The Mastermind — What is your biggest regret? What would you have done differently?

Number Two — Are you a more cautious person or a live in the moment person? Which one do you think it’s better to be in life?

The Apprentice — What is something you’ve always wanted to do but never thought you were capable of? Is it worth the try?

The Doctor — Are you good at taking care of people? Or would you leave someone behind in pain?

The Forger — What is your favorite story? It could be a bedtime story, historical story, old wise tale, etc. Do you believe it?

Getaway Driver — Do you runaway from your problems or face them head on? Are you scared to put yourself in the thick of it all?

The Grifter —  Are you a genuine or fake person? Do you put up a front, or do you let people in?

Infiltration Specialist — Do you insert yourself into a conversation or gathering? Are you an invite yourself to something you weren’t invited to type of person?

The Hacker — Are you good with technology or do you tend to just key smash until something works?

The Hitter — Are you a punch first ask questions later kind of person? Or do you think you should talk down situations rather than bulldoze your way though them?

The Thief — Have you ever stolen something? Did you regret it? Or do you get a high off the thrill? Maybe wanted to do it again.

Weapons Specialist — Are you a creative person? Can you create something out of nothing?