Memeboxing

[trustycrowbar]

Got a scene you want to play out? Start it out here! Anything goes!

(Because of that, individual threads may not be G-rated. Proceed with caution.)

Comments

[hates_thunder]

[Things were going pretty uneventfully in the labs to-day. Minimal explosions, only a few people running by and screaming and trailing viscous ooze as they went. Really kinda peaceful.]

[Let's check the numbers on that latest simulation, shall we?]

[...]

[Physics doesn't bend that way. And how the hell does anyone stretch a 35-foot fibreoptic wire across a distance of 40 feet? And what is that... is that value... changing?]

[Well, then.]

1/2

[trustycrowbar]

... ...Oh dammit!

[He blusters, rounding to the control panel to halt the experiment and punch up a diagnostic. It's the equipment, it has to be! Condensation or heat expansion or something...]

2/2

[trustycrowbar]

[...and yet the diagnostic shows absolutely noting wrong with the thing. Gordon squints up at it, irritation turning to worried puzzlement.]

...So there's something wrong with the diagnostic, now...?

[hates_thunder]

[Let's hope not, because there's no data that could possibly account for the code characters rearranging themselves into a smiley face. Underneath it, like really stupid ASCII art, more of the code forms the words DON'T LOOK BEHIND YOU.]

[trustycrowbar]

[He takes the printout, studies it... frowns...]

[And then he looks behind him. Hell, wouldn't YOU?]

Double Bonds.

[trustycrowbar]

[Locked to strategic_guile]

Gordon had a bad tendency to lose track of time while he was running an experiment. The criss-crossed lasers and bubble chambers didn't chime the hour, and he never looked at the clock. Even the cot in the back stood unused.

The scientist set the reducing software in motion and tromped next door to the break room for the first time in hours. Coffee. He. Needed. Coffee.

[strategic_guile]

There was one thing that Blaine knew about work-a-holics. Whether they be businesspeople, contractors, or scientists, they always stretched their bodies to the limit and didn't take care of themselves. The blonde was already in the breakroom and had a large cup of coffee in hand. He had come to see how Freeman was doing on his project and saw the frantic page turning and pacing of the sleep deprived. Gordon wasn't going to sleep, so Blaine did the next best thing.

He was in the doorway and walking out when he nearly ran into said deprived scientist. He sighed and held out the cup, prepared how the man liked it. "Here."

[trustycrowbar]

There's a moment where he simply stares, disbelieving, then smiles dully and runs fingers through that messy scruff of hair, before he accepts the cup.

"Thanks. You must be psychic; I was just going out to get some... come on in."

He knew Blaine was less likely to cause a catastrophe in the lab then... well, even Gordon was, and it was better than hanging out in the hallway.

[strategic_guile]

Blaine knew well because he had a mother and older sister who fell into those same habits. They had better hair though, and he only barely resisted the need to reach up and try to fix the unruly sticks on top of Gordon's head. Barely. Mostly the scientist was spared because he needed to at least get into the lab before making any kind of moves.

"Experience is all," he replied, stepping into the domain of science with ease. He walked over to the safest side of the room to perch. "How's it going? You're looking... harried."

[trustycrowbar]

Gordon echoes his actions, perching on the side of a table. "Just getting shit done, is all... It's compiling now, so there's an hour towntime right there. If the data falls in line, I might have an effective double-bond gluon shield in the works. Might keep a few of those damn bombs from hitting their targets... A night's missed sleep will be worth it if it means I can save a few more lives."

[strategic_guile]

Double-bond gluon shield. Blaine lifted his own cup full of tea to his lips and nodded, not understand a single damn word. If Gordon thought about it he would know that, but the blonde didn't bring it up. He was far more interested in the mentioning of 'an hours worth of downtime'.

His prolonged sip done, his gaze landed firmly on the other man's face. "Do you have plans for that hour?"

[trustycrowbar]

"Not really." He replies quickly, staring out into the empty space of the lab. "Clean up a little, maybe. Stare off into space for about twenty minutes. Get more coffee." He was so focused in finishing his work that he hadn't thought about actually USING downtime when he finally got it.

[nottheproblem]

In a galaxy far, far away...

Ziio would never say she's tired of the forest. If anything, it is where she feels the most comfortable. It is where she feels she can be herself without much in the way of judgment. Not that she particularly cares what sort of judgment is being passed her way, of course. Only that it would be nice one day not to get odd looks. Yet she stands out and there's still very little she can do about it, because like her kin, Ziio often refuses to compromise to a great extent or to change herself.

She decides to make an effort, however. Something to be a little more... 'open minded.' Although she uses the pretense that turnabout is fair play. The curious physicist who found her in her sanctuary surely has one of his own. Regardless of how things had turned out (in his favour - in their favour), Ziio questions herself often on precisely what it is she's doing. Or of what Gordon expects of her.

At the door to his quarters she's paused. Standing there for a few minutes has seemed like a few hours to her. Like she's hunting game. Perhaps in some skewed reality Gordon's her prey, but she doesn't think of him like that. How does she, then? As she finally lifts her right hand, she knocks on his door, and finds herself wondering over that very notion for the umpteenth time in the last fortnight.

[trustycrowbar]

There had been small noises coming from the other side of the door. Small... squeaky, beeping noises. They suddenly cease when she knocks, and after some rustling sounds the door opens.

"Ziio...?" He utters the shortened version of her name as lot more easily than her given one. Curiosity gives way to a smile, and he ducks back to beckon her in. "Err, come on in."

[nottheproblem]

Eyebrows furrow. Just what was he doing in there anyway? She's not given an initial chance to figure that out, but it'll inevitably come up at some point. He greets her in the way he has formed the habit to, skipping the inescapable mangling of her name.

"Hello."

Her smile is characteristically subtle and she nods as she takes a moment to hesitate before she shows herself in. And she's well-mannered surprisingly. Doesn't touch a damn thing, just... looks curiously. There's a lot to wonder about when Gordon's not busy experimenting on plant life or being a good instructor to his students.

[trustycrowbar]

She doesn't have to look far. In fact the noises come from a video screen in the corner, and a box and controller connected thereto. The screen itself looks... complicated. And filled with weaponry.

"I was just catching up on a few things."

Sure you were, Gordon.

"What brings you up here?"

[nottheproblem]

And that noise - that little discover right there - grabs her attention almost immediately. She's careful as she makes her way over to it and leans in to get a better look. Catching up on a few things, he says.

"You were permitted to see my living arrangements," Ziio began. "I am to do the same."

She looks over to him and gives a short nod, as if he doesn't really get a say. She's going to do what she wants. "What is this." In reference to the screen, box, and controller set up. "You were doing something with it - I assumed, when I came. You are busy?"

[trustycrowbar]

"I... see."

His apartment, for the record, is rather sparse save for a handful of islands of activity of clutter. A desk littered with papers, a bottle-stewn living room table in front of a large couch, a pile of coats weighing down a rack near the door. The rest is mostly empty. A bachelor pad for a particularly distracted bachelor.

"That? Aheh... That's just a game."

[nottheproblem]

In looking around, Ziio realises she doesn't too much about him. She knows he's very smart and clever, unique, important to her son, and evidently prone to some childlike behaviour too. She still would say he's odd, but she's coming to appreciate that more.

"Does it bother you?" she finally asks.

Ziio straightens her posture, leaving her arms at her sides. "That I would come without telling you beforehand?"

Rods and Portals

[trustycrowbar]

Another night, another round of portals.

Trying to find a way to his homeworld had been his secret intention ever since he arrived at Smash Academy. It wasn't that he didn't LIKE the place, of course. But he had a mountain of business back there, that it was becoming increasingly apparent that he may never get to finish.

The evening's calculations had yielded several long strings of numbers, and just like any other night, they may lead to his world, or to one nearby. Well, "nearby" in the n-dimensional sense, anyway. It was complicated. Even his best efforts left him dealing with whatever happened to be on the other side and curious enough to step through.

Tonight's contact so far? Two cheep-cheeps, a massive pair of shimapan panties (like, tent-sized), a cloud of ozone gas, and a cubic meter of chocolate cake. No luck, otherwise, and he was starting to get frustrated.

[magicdancer]

You know, doctor, there's more to life than math.

Shantae had become pretty adept at making coffee. Having good machines made it easier, and of course she had Sky show her how. It was Sky's idea, of course, so that Shantae would stop bugging her for coffee. She had walked by Gordon's office earlier, and saw him working himself into a tizzy. She didn't enjoy seeing a friend in that kind of state, so she took it upon herself to at least try to help him out.

She entered the room carrying two steaming mugs, and approached, holding out one to him. "I don't know how you take your coffee, so I hope black's okay," she said. "You look like you need it."

[trustycrowbar]

Gordon dropped the striped sheet of fabric he'd been trying to fold while touching as little as possible.

"Shantae..." His fidgets with his hair and his mouth twitches into a smile. "Thanks. Now that you mention it, coffee sounds great right now. C'mon in... how long have you been here?" She usually isn't in the science wing all that often.

[magicdancer]

"Not long," she replied, chuckling a bit as she hopped up to sit on the edge of his desk, handing him his mug and holding her own in both hands. "I saw you driving yourself up the wall and figured you could use a break. What are you doing anyway?"

[trustycrowbar]

"Same as usual." He replies with veiled frustration. He looks at the exactly-square block of cake on the counter.

"Want come cake? Fresh out of the pastry dimension. At least, I think it was the pastry dimension... That's the only thing that came out of it."

[magicdancer]

Shantae glanced at the cake brick by her side, and reached out to cautiously poke at it. Huh... It actually felt like cake. "Pastry dimension?" she asked. "So same as usual for you is opening holes into other dimensions?"

She picked up the plate and lifted it up, sniffing cautiously at it. She picked a piece off, and popped it into her mouth. "...Huh, chocolate. Not bad at all."