*** BlackHat has joined 333.07.333.06 <BlackHat> ^J help <BlackHat> help <BlackHat> J <BlackHat> Official business with Black Hat only. Don't waste my time.
[Jiro had set about messaging Flug a few times today; it hasn't been a lot of messages, but a fair amount. The party's not until May, so it isn't urgent she gets ahold of him... but it doesn't feel right that someone like Flug wouldn't answer even later into the day.
She can't help the weird feeling in her hollow gut... so she hits up her next best bet for getting in touch with the doctor she's got: Black Hat himself.]
hey uh sorry for hitting you up out of the blue but is flug doing okay?
i tried messaging him earlier today but he hasn't gotten back to me, feels a little weird for a guy like him
[Black Hat's killed accidentally before. He's killed bed mates as well, and the two aren't even mutually exclusive. But this. This is the first time he's had a greater response to it beyond a shrug and a bit of annoyance at how fragile mortals can be.
For a little over a day he's managed to mostly ignore the empty shell of an arachne now propped up awkwardly in the dining area, a vacant reminder of his idiocy from the last week. No one can know of this, he's resolved - it must stay under wraps. Getting a message from Jiro is last thing he wanted to have happen.
He'd ignore it, but no doubt the girl would come poking around, and then he'd have to rearrange the wires that make up her guts as warning, and then when Flug returns (he will return) that'll be just another thorn in Black Hat's side because the spider is so bloody fond of her.]
He's fine. He's on vacation.
[It takes about two seconds after he hits send for Black Hat to pinch the gap between his eyes and curse himself for a fool for the umpteenth time. Vacation? Really?
[Of course. Ugh, he really should just let her come over and smash her head in before she sees anything. He's not pleased that the idea isn't as appealing as it should be, all things considered.]
Have you been everywhere on the peninsula? Spiders can find hide-holes aplenty.
it's kind of silly, you probably wouldn't care much but i need his help with a building project since he's got all that physics knowledge and stuff he'd figure it out WAY better than i ever could.
[So, sadly, something she can't ask Black Hat for help with either... as if he'd do it in the first place.]
i guess i could ask around, but flug knows how i'm built better than anyone else on the peninsula you know? i'd worry about them getting crap wrong i don't know anyone around here as precise as he is
dude i'm almost entirely metal, i'm like five times as heavy as a normal person i need him to help figure out the science side of it, help me build something that's got the support to hold my weight
unless you want me to wear a car on each foot or something
[Why is he entertaining this nonsense? To keep her sidetracked away from the topic of Flug being not able to answer messages. He has to keep that in mind.]
You could look for big wheels yourself. Trucks have large wheels. You could even put spikes on them.
[how do you advise a teenager looking for wheels for her feet]
i need them to be small enough that i can fit in buildings, black hat i'm not the big bruiser type remember? i'm small and stealthy i need something stealthy
plus you know i thought it might be fun to get something i can use for fun too, i can't get that kinda speed if they're truck wheels
i don't know how much of my metal i actually NEED yet and anyway, the reason's not important. i know flug would understand, but i know for sure you'd think it's pretty unnecessary
[Purposefully not mentioning her need for his help, of course. What did she do while he was gone? Who knows.]
i mean you can agree it's stuff we'd never see eye-to-eye on, right? it's kinda why i was really only asking where flug's at? since i know you won't care plus you'll just get mad or tease me if i tell you, so i'm not gonna
anyway where's flug for real? i really don't wanna come over there, i really don't.
yeah i know, but you also know i'm not stupid. i know you CAN care, but i know you don't LIKE to.
so i really doubt that you'd send him away to go take some bogus vacation that probably won't help, considering there's nowhere else to go in the world but this drag of a peninsula and even if you, of all people, gave him a break, it'd be somewhere here in bavan. i know you wouldn't want him to be where you can't keep him on hand. not only that, but i've seen him working firsthand. i seriously doubt he'd use a vacation as a *vacation* in the first place, and after everything that's happened, someone like him wouldn't wanna be away from any kind of support network he's got. which is you.
[If Jiro could hear Black Hat through the network, she'd hear him hissing and swearing like there's no tomorrow, words falling to pieces on his gnashing teeth. Damn this girl, damn her and her inquisitive ways. And damn Flug for making it so that he can't simply end her and be done with the matter until the fog returns.
Black Hat doesn't respond to that last message. Instead, he's slammed the laptop closed and storms over to where Flug's body is hunched over, drooling slightly. He yanks a paper bag over the arachne's head, none too gently, and then pushes the body entirely under the table.
He knows Jiro, he knows she'll show up, and as he pulls a slightly-stained tarp out and spreads it as a makeshift tablecloth he berates himself yet again for not paying enough attention to the trap systems he's had Flug working on. Either he'd break the damn thing, or cause it to overachieve its goal of obliterating unwanted guests. He doesn't even know how far along the things are.
[Oh, he is absolutely correct about that assumption, too. She waits a couple of minutes at least - just to give him time to reply if he plans on it - but once she concedes that she's not getting a reply, she's off. Laptop tossed to the side, her coat grabbed and pulled on, and out the door she goes.
Of course, at least he gets plenty of time to prepare; her tent's a half-hour walk to Bavan proper, then at least fifteen minutes from there to get to Black Hat's place. But soon enough, the familiar soft knock of rubber against wood graces his entryway. Because she wasn't raised in a barn, okay, she's not gonna just WALK IN.]
[It takes Jiro long enough to come that Black Hat starts to think that maybe, just maybe, she's decided to abandon this line of questioning. But it's not to be, as nearly an hour after he tucks Flug beneath the table there is a familiar knock at the door. Black Hat snarls to himself and digs his claws into the tabletop, drawing furrows along the wood. He stalls for a bit, thinking that perhaps pretending to not be present will send the girl away, and conceding to himself that, no, that wouldn't work.
Ultimately, he teleports himself to the entryway, wrenching the door open with a jerk.]
What.
[And then he visually confirms to himself it is, in fact, Jiro.]
[Well, his visual confirmation will, indeed, confirm that this is, in fact, Jiro. Unfortunately. As it always is in its neutral state, her expression's blank and steely and for once gives little leeway to guess just what she's thinking when she says -]
You know what. I wouldn't be here if you didn't.
[That's that. She's just going to wait patiently until she's let in, otherwise - not moving from the spot whatsoever.]
[Black Hat folds his arms and scowls at Jiro. It would be easy, very easy to just remove this right now. True, he's more fond of her than most, but that's a very low bar with Black Hat, and he wouldn't feel any guilt tearing off her visor. It really is Flug's response that stays his hand.]
As I informed you, he is on vacation.
[He then slams the door close. In a few moments, he'll open it up again to see if she's still standing there.]
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evilopportunityemployer) wrote2019-04-25 07:38 pm
4/12;
The party's not until May, so it isn't urgent she gets ahold of him... but it doesn't feel right that someone like Flug wouldn't answer even later into the day.
She can't help the weird feeling in her hollow gut... so she hits up her next best bet for getting in touch with the doctor she's got: Black Hat himself.]
hey uh sorry for hitting you up out of the blue
but is flug doing okay?
i tried messaging him earlier today but he hasn't gotten back to me, feels a little weird for a guy like him
<BlackHat>
For a little over a day he's managed to mostly ignore the empty shell of an arachne now propped up awkwardly in the dining area, a vacant reminder of his idiocy from the last week. No one can know of this, he's resolved - it must stay under wraps. Getting a message from Jiro is last thing he wanted to have happen.
He'd ignore it, but no doubt the girl would come poking around, and then he'd have to rearrange the wires that make up her guts as warning, and then when Flug returns (he will return) that'll be just another thorn in Black Hat's side because the spider is so bloody fond of her.]
He's fine. He's on vacation.
[It takes about two seconds after he hits send for Black Hat to pinch the gap between his eyes and curse himself for a fool for the umpteenth time. Vacation? Really?
Maybe that'll be enough, if he's lucky.]
<jack>
Vacation?]
uh
no offense black hat but where would he even GO
we can't leave the peninsula?
is something wrong? did something happen?
<BlackHat>
Have you been everywhere on the peninsula? Spiders can find hide-holes aplenty.
He's fine. Why are you trying to reach him?
<jack>
but i need his help with a building project since he's got all that physics knowledge and stuff
he'd figure it out WAY better than i ever could.
[So, sadly, something she can't ask Black Hat for help with either... as if he'd do it in the first place.]
i guess i could ask around, but flug knows how i'm built better than anyone else on the peninsula you know?
i'd worry about them getting crap wrong
i don't know anyone around here as precise as he is
<BlackHat>
[Well, she's not prying into Flug's status for the moment. Perhaps his deflection worked?]
What kind of project? Do you want to improve yourself? A few more weapons in your chassis?
<jack> 1/2
can he do that? like he can give me upgrades?
seriously?
<jack> 2/2
no
i need special wheels made since i can't wear skates and whatever
i'm too heavy for most of them and they don't fit me anyway
i figure he'd be able to make something perfect for me, you know?
but like i said, it's a little goofy.
<BlackHat>
[Jiro. Jiro, he's actually disappointed.]
That's almost a waste of Flug's abilities. Just wheels? Nothing else?
[You're approaching a mad scientist for wheels?]
<jack>
i'm almost entirely metal, i'm like five times as heavy as a normal person
i need him to help figure out the science side of it, help me build something that's got the support to hold my weight
unless you want me to wear a car on each foot or something
<BlackHat>
You could look for big wheels yourself. Trucks have large wheels. You could even put spikes on them.
[how do you advise a teenager looking for wheels for her feet]
<jack>
i'm not the big bruiser type remember? i'm small and stealthy
i need something stealthy
plus you know i thought it might be fun to get something i can use for fun too, i can't get that kinda speed if they're truck wheels
[... She DOES like the spikes idea, though.]
<BlackHat>
Why do you even want wheels? To run down humans with greater ease? It has been a few weeks since I last delivered you a meal.
<jack>
and anyway, the reason's not important. i know flug would understand, but i know for sure you'd think it's pretty unnecessary
[Purposefully not mentioning her need for his help, of course. What did she do while he was gone?
Who knows.]
<BlackHat>
<jack>
you can agree it's stuff we'd never see eye-to-eye on, right?
it's kinda why i was really only asking where flug's at? since i know you won't care
plus you'll just get mad or tease me if i tell you, so i'm not gonna
anyway
where's flug for real? i really don't wanna come over there, i really don't.
<BlackHat>
[Damn it, back to this.]
I said before: he's on vacation.
I thought [It's actually a struggle to type this. Black Hat is gritting his teeth as he does so.] he could use a bit of relaxation. So I sent him off.
<jack>
so i'm not buying it, sorry.
i'll say it again, PLEASE don't make me come over there. i think i'm due for a lesson anyway, but when you're ornery like this it's not worth it.
<BlackHat>
You know what he is to me. And yet you still think I'd run him ragged?
[Black Hat can't help but marvel at himself for failing to throw up right here and now as he types this. He certainly feels a bit ill.]
He's earned a respite.
<jack>
so i really doubt that you'd send him away to go take some bogus vacation that probably won't help, considering there's nowhere else to go in the world but this drag of a peninsula
and even if you, of all people, gave him a break, it'd be somewhere here in bavan. i know you wouldn't want him to be where you can't keep him on hand.
not only that, but i've seen him working firsthand. i seriously doubt he'd use a vacation as a *vacation* in the first place, and after everything that's happened, someone like him wouldn't wanna be away from any kind of support network he's got.
which is you.
so where is he?
> action??
Black Hat doesn't respond to that last message. Instead, he's slammed the laptop closed and storms over to where Flug's body is hunched over, drooling slightly. He yanks a paper bag over the arachne's head, none too gently, and then pushes the body entirely under the table.
He knows Jiro, he knows she'll show up, and as he pulls a slightly-stained tarp out and spreads it as a makeshift tablecloth he berates himself yet again for not paying enough attention to the trap systems he's had Flug working on. Either he'd break the damn thing, or cause it to overachieve its goal of obliterating unwanted guests. He doesn't even know how far along the things are.
His mood is very, very foul.]
action!!
Laptop tossed to the side, her coat grabbed and pulled on, and out the door she goes.
Of course, at least he gets plenty of time to prepare; her tent's a half-hour walk to Bavan proper, then at least fifteen minutes from there to get to Black Hat's place.
But soon enough, the familiar soft knock of rubber against wood graces his entryway. Because she wasn't raised in a barn, okay, she's not gonna just WALK IN.]
action....
Ultimately, he teleports himself to the entryway, wrenching the door open with a jerk.]
What.
[And then he visually confirms to himself it is, in fact, Jiro.]
no subject
As it always is in its neutral state, her expression's blank and steely and for once gives little leeway to guess just what she's thinking when she says -]
You know what. I wouldn't be here if you didn't.
[That's that. She's just going to wait patiently until she's let in, otherwise - not moving from the spot whatsoever.]
no subject
[Black Hat folds his arms and scowls at Jiro. It would be easy, very easy to just remove this right now. True, he's more fond of her than most, but that's a very low bar with Black Hat, and he wouldn't feel any guilt tearing off her visor. It really is Flug's response that stays his hand.]
As I informed you, he is on vacation.
[He then slams the door close. In a few moments, he'll open it up again to see if she's still standing there.]
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