why choose a LESSER evil?

[heromedal]

WHO: Rex and anyone!
WHAT: Rex's idea of campaigning is 'everyone gets a rocket launcher', more or less.
WHEN: May in general
WHERE: The Quad
WARNINGS: SCIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCE

Once Rex got his hands on €5,000 budget for campaigning, he nearly ran off into the woods, ready to live off canned food for a decade without making eye contact with anyone.

Instead, he set up a miniature example of the sort of thing he'd do regularly as Student Council President with ludicrous anime style authority.

A
So he's not allowed to use supernatural powers- but encouraging people to do the best with their own is fine. With help from fellow tech-heads and... spell-heads(?) following his designs, paid for their time, Rex has created a series of devices intended to let students get a better idea of their limits. Unveiled after a short (and kinda boring) speech knowing what you can do will save your life that has a few anecdotes about asking people about their powers and getting shrugs, there are all sorts on offer to try out. For practical purposes, to show off or just because they're cool.

Of note-

Infinite Bench Press- through clever use of electromagnets that are powered by the energy used to oppose their attraction and magically guided, they've constructed a way for those with super strength to find out just how super without needing thousands of tonnes of metal. Hypothetically there's no limit to how much force it can produce- but it can break so there's that.

The Flying Shoemill- They're shoes that make a barrier beneath their feet, allowing the wearer to run in place but still build up speed. Unless you can outrun your own feet, you can go flat out in them. Don't fall over! You might get shot straight into the air!

Ultimate Bouncehouse- A cuboid frame with especially bouncy magical barriers between the slats. First, you jump in, then you jump out of the way of softballs that are slowly introduced. Do as much dodging as you can until you get smacked. Catching them is allowed.

The Invincible Wall- Perhaps the simplest of the lot, it's little more than a ridiculously reinforced pre-fab shed. The goal is simply to go in and break out any way you can. When it gets knocked down, there's another ready to get set up to replace it.

It's almost like this whole thing is a way for Rex to examine people's abilities and gather data or something!



B
If people play with the work out devices or not, Rex has set up booths for students to have consultations with some of those he has deemed smarty pants, to begin brainstorming ideas to test their powers and design bespoke equipment for them. Rex himself is, of course, participating in this, but others who know their business are available. The idea behind it is covering people's weaknesses or emphasising their strengths.

(( Feel free to one of the people Rex has paid to build and supervise this nonsense! PM me or hit me up on DoctorChimera#5514 on Discord if you got questions or ideas. People who already have toys from Rex have been invited and encouraged to show them off. ))

Comments

B

[yokeye]

It's taken Toki twenty minutes to finally get over to Rex after arriving at this campaign event. There were too many distracting science things to look at along the way. Once he's pulled himself away from the shiny things, he waves enthusiastically.

"Rex! This is great~! I wanted to talk about the watch data, but I figured you might want to use it as an example so I waited until today~!"

He approaches, with a couple new things he has obtained since their last encounter. Most obvious and notable is the yak in step beside him. He also has a helmet/hat hybrid. He's making an effort.

A

[soft_focus]

Boy. This sure is a lot of stuff. Reira's not entirely interested in actually doing anything. The bounce house admittedly looks fairly fun, but mostly she's just curious about it all being here.

And also about Rex introducing it.

Eventually she will probably find him.

"...Where did all the stuff come from."

Other than what was said already, of course, she knows That part.

[heromedal]

Rex doesn't say 'is that a yak' because it's a yak. He doesn't say 'that's a yak' because presumably, Toki knows.

...does he? Has he even noticed? Surely even Toki couldn't miss a yak.

"That was a good idea," he settles on, gesturing for Toki to sit, as Rex is naturally occupying a booth. His is a little bigger than the other's, because how else could he fit? "What's your yak's name?"

There. That's not pointing out the obvious nor insulting Toki's intelligence.

[heromedal]

He's not hard to find. Not only because there is literally one person on campus he doesn't tower over and that's a giant turtle dragon, but because there's that black cloud hanging over his head emotionally speaking. It's not as dark as usual, because there's so much exciting information to collect and people's problems are fun.

That's to say, solving them, not causing them.

And an ever so weak spike of very small happiness when he spots her and gives a wave.

He's had a haircut! Not quite such a mop, though for some bizarre reason he's left that dangly bit over his nose.

[yokeye]

Toki sets as directed, and the yak does nothing. Stands there beside Rex's booth, perhaps bored, perhaps wondering how it got stuck with its task.

"It's Yaku! He probably already had some unpronounceable Outlands name too, though! I just don't know what it is!"

Before Rex even has to ask, he launches into the explanation as to where Yaku came from.

"You remember Mike, right? The goat? Well! It turns out, he was a daemon after all and so he had to go, so we, that's me and Puella and Doreen, went to see Professor Haddock to maybe get a drake instead, but he said it was unwise to give me an animal that breathes fire, and then he suggested a yak!"

[made_up_names]

Peter is, alas, pretty much nocturnal now, courtesy of his pact breaking just a little. Also he almost flunked out of school so uh. Rex might not have seen him since the Hollow stuff, and for good reason.

But he's zipping over the quad shortly before sunset, swinging on his webs - and then coming abruptly to a stop against one of the buildings. Staring down at the arrangements below. "Whoa," he says. "When did you build all this?"

[heromedal]

"I see." This is all par for the course, really, and Rex does an admirable job of keeping completely blank-faced throughout the entire thing. He's probably experienced weirder, if not often. "If you mean Doreen Green, I know her. She is a pleasant young woman."

Who is older than him. And also knows he's a terrifying weirdo, rather than just a weirdo.

"So is it actually a yak or an outlands creature in the form of a yak?"

[heromedal]

Well, people don't get more cathemeral than Rex. It says a lot about how much he cares about this whole campaign that he's dedicated an entire day to doing almost nothing but this little event when usually he'd be juggling more than a circus' worth of clowns.

"Bwah!" Rex usually is pretty sharp about picking up footsteps, so hearing Peter's voice from the wall has him jump. It's awkward on a lot of levels. He's just assumed Peter has been avoiding him because... well the whole Hollow thing.

"Uh. Hi." He gives a small wave, feels stupid halfway through and lets his arm drop. " I didn't build all of it myself. I designed it and commissioned others to build it."

[yokeye]

"Yes! That's her!"

At Rex's question, Toki tries to think back.

"Well... Professor Haddock called it a yak... and it came from his home in the Outlands... so... if it's a an Outlands creature in the form of a yak, it's still called the same thing somehow!? Or maybe like it was an Earth yak and then was brought to the Outlands centuries ago and they're the same basically! Or it happened the other way and all Earth yaks are originally from the Outlands and humans named them yaks too, which was the Outlands name to begin with!"

Toki shrugs, because he doesn't care where Yaku came from. He's a good yak. And today is about Rex; and things related to him.

"Is Adelaide here displaying her adorable combat suit~!?"

[heromedal]

"I think it's a yak."

But he does raise his fingers to his eye to scan it anyway, just in case. The demon goat thing could well have been picked up earlier if he'd done it at the time.

"I invited everyone who I've done work for to talk to people here, but I don't know if she's here."

It takes him a second to quite register that particular word-

"It's meant to be intimidating, not adorable."

[yokeye]

Toki had come here with the intention of helping Rex's campaign, even if his contribution would ultimately be an example of 'look, even idiots can use this tech!'. Now, however, he's gotten on one of his current favorite subjects and so he's content to talk about Adelaide and throw obvious hints Rex's way.

"Intimidating, yes! Maybe adorable isn't really the right word! Let's use yours~! Beautiful! A woman can be both beautiful and intimidating at the same time, can't she!? Adelaide's like that; an ethereal creature, statuesque and graceful! Yet! She would fight for you and kill for you!"

[heromedal]

Rex spends quite a while staring at Toki, his elbows on the booth counter and fingers steepled. This is pretty intense, even by Toki standards and he decides to spend a moment contemplating those words carefully.

"Toki, if you have an attraction to Adelaide that is not something I could possibly assist you with."

That's what he got from it, after all.

Obvious hints? Not obvious enough for Rex.

[yokeye]

Toki frowns a little. Was he this far off? Maybe Rex really did just want to make combat gear for Adelaide and he was just really into the research. Toki would of course think differently if he knew about the hotel visits, but he doesn't.

"No, I'm not..."

He's not attracted to Adelaide. Is he? She's on his list; now the only person on his list, of things that make him happy. He loves her, but it's not the same kind of attraction he had to Orihime or Maverick. It's different. It's... more? It has depth. Oh shit. Toki bolts up from his seat in shock at the realization and flails a little. He doesn't know what to do.

"Oh my god! I do like her!"

[heromedal]

Rex watches, seeing the gears turn in Toki's head. Rex jumps in his seat about the same time as Toki, his chair going back on two legs- he's saved by grabbing the counter and pulling himself back.

"Well. I cannot say I blame you," he says, as if he's been going through the same thing. Rex will quite freely admit that she's wonderful- it's just those feelings that seem to come so easily and automatically to Toki are so alien to Rex he can't quite put together 'wonderful, I want to spend time with them, I find them beautiful, I will protect them' with liking them.

As Toki's replacement older sister-brother, Rex really wishes there was someone he could say 'this one is for mom' to him about. Before this exact moment, he would have directed him to Adelaide. She's very motherly.

[made_up_names]

That would be a fair assumption; Peter probably avoided him some because of Hollow stuff too. But mostly the reasoning was more mundane okay.

He drops down neatly, coming over to get a closer look. "That's mostly the same," he says, still intrigued. "Is this the electromagnetic thing you were talking about?"

[yokeye]

His replacement mom has been Yuya, though he would not be the person to discuss this with. Toki just broke up with Kano, and his only other friends left are Maverick and Adelaide herself. Neither are good choices, so Rex is it.

"I know, right!? She's great! Why didn't I realize this before!? Should I ask her out!?"

Normally, he would do so without hesitation. But Adelaide is special. This is so weird.

[heromedal]

Rex spends a moment just looking before he lets out a troubled sigh. It's mostly because he considers Toki to be a child in every respect and Adelaide to be an adult- something he's pretty sure she'd agree with. Maybe not herself an adult. Late teenagers can be weird that way. Of course, it could also be taken to mean he's struggling because of his own feelings.

"Toki... there is not much I wouldn't do for you," he thinks he's exaggerating when he says that, but he's not as much as he thinks. "But as I said before- this is not a matter you can ask for my help with. I just cannot do it."

[yokeye]

Toki is of the opinion that while Rex is older and seems more worldly in most situations, he has sadly never been in love.

"No, it's fine! I was just thinking out loud!"

Which he does kind of constantly, but he's trying to stop. He'll debate on whether or not to tell Adelaide at a later time. He had a purpose here, but he barely remembers what it is.

"Anyway! What new things have you been working on!?"

[heromedal]

"That's it right. I haven't actually been able to produce enough force to reach its limits yet, but in the lab, we got it to 300 tonnes." He waves at it in general.

Also because he's a giant nerd he's going to add-

"Metric."

Rex is stewing on maybe saying something about how glad he is to be talking to Peter again, but isn't sure if drawing attention to it will just make things worse. People are hard. Science is easy.

B

[heartofasamurai]

There is definitely some awe and admiration for putting so much work into his campaign. Seiji had spent more time out of their dormitory than before in the past month or so, and thus had not spent as much time in his roommate's company as he would have preferred, but this event certainly shows a level of dedication, in his opinion.

"A grand showing, one might say," Seiji mentions casually as he stands by the booth, looking over the different areas for people to experiment and participate.

A

[evangelclairvoyance]

The setup has certainly caught Christo's eye, even if he has no plans whatsoever to make use of the devices.

He pushes his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he comes to stand next to Rex, watching the students using the equipment from a distance. "Interesting... You made all of these?"

[heromedal]

Rex had just finished showing somehow how to use a particular item and directing them towards one of his consultant types, when Christo comes up. He's not going straight to his own booth- a little time to rub elbows seems a good idea.

"Not personally- I merely designed them. Credit is due to all of those I commissioned to assist me." He says it as if he thinks of designing it as no big deal, because he doesn't. He really thinks anyone could do it if they tried, probably easier than he did it.

[heromedal]

It might be about the same, thanks to Rex's own tendency to roam about rather than stop by the dorms. All the same, his roommate is just so unfailingly polite he can't help but like him.

"I thought a touch of spectacle would help the message," he replies just as plainly, not shy about his rhetoric tactics. "People do like to play with the products, so catching their interest that way seemed a good idea."

[evangelclairvoyance]

"I would argue that the design is the most important part of the work. A plan and a purpose are integral to helping something reach it's ultimate potential." He gestures to the equipment with a smile.

"This is an excellent way to help your fellow students grow more comfortable with and refine their skills. I daresay a few of them look like they'd even be quite fun."

[heromedal]

Toki isn't entirely wrong there, though it depends on your definition of worldly. Otherworldly, maybe. He gives Toki a slightly sharp look, not aggressive- just biting his tongue about warning him not to get hurt.

"Ah, well, that's exactly what this is about. It's for people to test what they're capable of and let us-" He places fingers across his chest and then gestures to the others he's hired. "-Craft something for their specific needs. After all, when you take into account the wide variety of idiosyncrasies of the student body, it's simply not suitable to use generic equipment."

Rex turns a pad of paper around to show Toki some fresh sketches. They're dumbed down for public consumption, though the concepts are sound. Just... made easier to understand. Like a riot shield that can hover on command for a student with an interest in archery, a hammer that gets heavier when it's going down and lighter when it's coming up, there's like six designs for whips with various ideas attached to them.

"People want whips for some reason."