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Chip was always on the lookout for more projects as he prowled around Castle Negaverse looking for cool stuff to take apart--really, there were multiple things he was doing as he wandered around. That it often looked like he was just lazing about, or sniffing for prey was purely coincidence. Definitely.

He'd caught wind of a curious need among many of the humans that milled about the place, and decided to take it upon himself to provide a better source for them. So it was he claimed a random room nearish to where food could be acquired. It didn't seem to important of a room--just some boxes, some crystals, a few chairs. No, nothing of great import. It all got shifted away, and Chip began summoning great gears and pipes. Grinders. Pumps.

It didn't take too long before a racket of churning gears and machinery could be heard through the door...He didn't care, though. It would be ready soon.

Until then, he had his tiny cat-shaped goggles on, and his hat at a determined tilt, a wrench in mouth and nuts, bolts, cogs, sprockets, springs and other things scattered all about.

This was going to be a great machine, Chip was certain.

It took Chip a few minutes to realize he was being watched. It was while he was shifting a rather large cog into place, and he didn't want to drop it, so he continued to ignore his watcher for a while longer until it slotted in to the right spot with a satisfying metallic klang.

He scooted back and inspected it, then nodded. Only then did he turn to face the person at the door. He lightly walked over, then sat down on the ground and looked up. "Hi!" he declared happily, goggles still on his face. "What're you doing here?"

“Me?” Chip replied, as if the answer were patently obvious. He tilted his head slightly to adjust his hat, and provided an explanation anyway. “Why, I’m working on making the perfect Coffee Fabricator!” He declared proudly.

“Still working out the bugs, ‘course,” he admitted more sedately. “Really just got started.” He bumped a nearby pipe, which made a rather resonant gong, causing something on the other side of the room to rattle off and clank off the floor.

“Say! You like coffee, right? Why don’t you give me a paw! ...Hand!” He nodded. “I could use an assistant!”

"Perfect!" Chip declared, and nodded once. "All you gotta do is pick up stuff I tell you to, and put it where I ask!"

He hopped up onto a pipe...a rather big pipe, considering he'd identified "coffee" as the purpose of what he was doing, and looked around. The pipe rolled a bit, and he walked with it to stay on top. "Okay! So first order of business, minion," whether or not he knew exactly how that word is perceived was unclear, "Is to set up the feeder pipes! I'll need you to pick them up one by one, and put them in line, so I can bolt 'em on!"

The rolling pipe bumped gently into the captain, assuming he didn't move out of the way. "Starting with this one!" he said, and hoped off.

The cat manipulated his tools with surprising deftness...especially for a tiny kitten. At the question of a diagram, he paused. "Diagram...?" he echoed, and seemed somewhat mystified at the idea.

"I've got it all in my head!" he declared, and tapped a paw to his head. "But...hmm, maybe putting it down for others to look at would be helpful..." He circled around as he considered this possibility. "Yeah! I like this plan! But...later. Definitely later! For now, we've got a grinder to set up!"

He tilted his head toward a rather large, but still obviously grindy, piece of equipment. "Things taste better when you can see it prepared, you know."

"All the coffee." Chip declared forcefully. It wasn't immediately clear which question he was answering... "If I can get this right, then all the coffee-drinking officers and senshi will be much happier, cuz then there'd be endless, excellent coffee! And happy humans make for better assistants!"

Or, you know, soldiers. But Chip didn't say that, nor worry much about it.

"See, the grinders will be lowered down into the Bean Confinement Chamber," the little cat explained, walking over to a glass tube and putting his paws up on it. "And you'll be able to watch every little grain get broken apart inside, then get sucked into the Bubblator." That was probably not the right word, but Chip liked it. He nodded toward a thing that looked rather like a standard boiler, although this one seemed to be ever so slightly radiating the energy of negaspace.

Most of what Chip wanted Lopezite to do was move heavy things around, hold them in place while he secured them, and marvel at his ingenuity. So things seemed to work out pretty alright for him.

Effectively, Chip was just making a rather oversized coffee maker that took whole beans, ground them up, and then used a vacuum siphon to dribble coffee out. But there were more twists and turns, and moving parts, than one would expect, even for something so oversized.

“Oh yeah!” Chip replied, and hopped up on top of a fairly sturdy piece. “I’m Chip!” He announced, posing dramatically. His hat slipped to the side a second later, and he had to wobble his head to get it back upright. “Glad to meet you, Lopezite. You make a good assistant~” He bobbed around a little before answering the question. “A few, here and there, usually I just need somebody to help me test stuff. This is the first time I needed help with the building part.”

Chip's tail flicked in a happy sort of way as he regarded the captain.

"My hat?" he replied, looking a bit confused a moment. "Uhm...you know, that's a good question." He put his head down on his paws as he considered. "I wear it since it's there. I...don't really remember why, but I feel like it was important for something in the past, so I keep it hoping I'll remember one day."

He popped back up, then, and declared, "Besides, it looks cool, right~? And I can store things on and in it, too."


"I'll have coffee brewing in the next couple days, definitely, but I'll be tweaking it for a while before it's ready!"