Separation Anxiety? [OPEN]

[morphitudinous]

Blink. Blink. Blinkity-blink.

Why are there three blue lights blinking from a small corner of Obs Deck? The blond kid in the simple blue polo and khaki pants might have an answer for you.

He's surrounded by small blue boxes and various inventions on the table and chairs around him, and if not for the fact that he's fiddling away on yet another invention and acting as if nothing's wrong, he would look just like an ex who'd been thrown out of his former significant other's house.

In between tasks, he lowers the tools and gazes around the deck, almost as if he's looking for something (or someoone) else. Hey, maybe he and his big mess ended up out here for a reason.

Comments

[domeanthings.livejournal.com]

Tex's hologram blips in to eyeball the mess of boxes and inventions warily. Crossing her arms, she looks from the pile to Billy, tilting her head a little to the side. "You do know what you're doing, right?"

Forgive her, Billy. After Blood Gulch, she has reason to watch tinkerers carefully.

[morphitudinous]

She'll be forgiven. Accidents have happened before. Terrifying food-exploding accidents of messy proportions. After acknowledging the hologram with a bow of his head, he slips into the formal, obedient speech pattern he uses when addressing superiors.

"I do. This is a simple movement detection device that will blink and emit a sharp sound when a person steps within the programmed radius. It contains no chemicals or other ingredients that would create a destructive reaction. Those items are always constructed in the laboratory with appropriate protections in place."

[domeanthings.livejournal.com]

"...So it's an alarm. Where's it going?" Not that she's worried about setting it off, but knowing where the alarm would be coming from would be nice. "And why do we need one?"

[morphitudinous]

"If the rest of the department and the Command Staff approve, I'll eventually set it up in Special Weapons. Most crew members have been coming to us with requests, and we grant them whenever we can, but we've had minor problems with people helping themselves to our equipment and supplies before. Security has been patrolling the corridor in front of the lab more frequently, but I'm going to propose stronger measures to the. This is just a miniature prototype, and one small part of the plan."

Billy looked up at the armored hologram then. "What do you think?"

[domeanthings.livejournal.com]

Tex eyeballed the alarm again, then nodded. "If it keeps the morons on the crew from getting to something shiny and dangerous and doing something with it? Sounds like a good idea to me."

She paused. "You have a backup plan for people screwing with the alarms, right?"

[morphitudinous]

"Affirmative. The security patrols will continue, and there will be functional backups of all the security measures in inconspicuous locations. There are prototypes of other equipment that I couldn't bring out in time." The volume of his voice dropped in the middle of that sentence, as if he then realized that it was probably a bad idea to detail security measures where anyone could listen.

Unsure what to say next, he studied her curiously. "May I have your name?"

[domeanthings.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a plan. Not foolproof, but there's always an idiot that screws crap up in a way you didn't think of. Trust me."

The question got Billy studied in return. "Tex. You?"

[morphitudinous]

That got a small chuckle out of him. "Always prepare for the worst case scenario that you can think of, and then think longer? I've learned from having my devices tampered with at home." Oh, yes he has. Spending a day in one of his female friends' bodies was the most awkward experiences of his life, yet to be topped. If only he hadn't made that reaction so easy to trigger, but a determined enemy will do anything.

"Billy. Pleased to meet you, Tex." He bowed politely at her.

[domeanthings.livejournal.com]

"I was thinking of somebody doing something unbelievably stupid. But I think I might've gotten a little too used to the stupid. Kind of changes how you look at things. But I guess it counts as tampering."

The bow got a nod in response.