trans_9 | Cranston For Hire [Open!]

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Cranston For Hire [Open!]

It was once again time for Billy to assess the progress being made in this seemingly endless war with tasks and deadlines. So far, reorganization of the Engineering department was about 25% complete. Not terrible for a day's work, but he could certainly do better. Several projects were stalled pending discussion from the involved parties. His social time and interactions with the Rangers had taken a hit due to all of this.

Though he was following his orders to take more resting time during the day and having fun with Ronnae on many of the nights, nothing stopped him from taking on more than enough work to fill the compressed schedule.

Today's work: Supervising the new structure and performing odd jobs around the ship. Repairs were going well in the hangar, Neuropathy needed to be left alone, infrastructure was busy in the City. He visited wherever he could and lent a hand to each, struggling to find time for what he wanted to do in secret: move his personal belongings to his girlfriend's house.

As Billy wandered back and forth throughout the day, a stuffed backpack always accompanied him. Throughout the day, the loaded-down teenager made trips between a number of places on the upper levels and a particular house in the City. Distracted as he was with the constant juggling of omnicom, comm ring, tools, and items, he eventually wore himself out.

Where he ended up shouldn't be a surprise: in the city park, fast asleep, sprawled across an assortment of odd items. Somehow, he'd note when he woke up, he doubted this was what had been meant by the recommendation for 'personal time'.

((ooc: The two location tags basically mean you can catch him anywhere: asleep with shiny stuff to steal or rushing back and forth between the different areas of the ship. Just make a note of where you found him.))

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Billy still didn't quite understand. He frowned, beginning to feel a cold sort of dread.

"Relationships aren't like that. We're not going to push everyone out of our lives except each other. That would make things incredibly dull, wouldn't it?"

Unless...

"...do you like Ronnie that way?"

"I never said you would." Did he really imply that, he wondered? "Only that sometimes people remove others. As they say," he lowered his voice gruffly, pulling onto a Dwarven accent, "You've gotta do what you've gotta do, laddie. Nothing wrong with that."

He paused and considered the question. "What way?" he finally answered, a bit of a puzzled look to him."

Billy thought on that. No, he couldn't let that happen. It wasn't right. Nokosi and Ronnae were important to each other, very much so, and who would he be to interfere with that? He hoped it wouldn't happen.

"I'm sure she won't. You're from her world. You understand her in a way that I can never match. If our worlds are restored, you'll be the one to stay with her," he finished sadly, staring down at his hands.

After a moment of sad silence, he looked up. "Romantically," was all he could say around his embarrassment.

"Considering I've spent nearly 166 years living in the wilds, 164 of them removed from society, I'd go so far to say that that isn't true in the slightest. We can lament on the things we've lost together, discuss the happenings of the different denizens, but given my terrible grasp on many societal things I'm perceived as mainly 'off' or 'awkward'. I do both well."

He had spoken those words without a change in his impassive expression, though that quickly turned to a grimace. "I've thought about that, but thankfully, I had the insight to remain quiet on the matter. Really, it's of no consequence, Billy. Adventures are soley about the journey and rarely about the destination. A relationship is no different."

He crossed his lanky arms over his chest and grinned at the human's embarrassment. "I used to. A long time ago. Really, we have nothing in common," he threw his hands up in a shrug, "So I'm not really sure what I was expecting. But even with my oftentimes unwavering persistence I can understand what 'no' means after it's said enough times."

Billy moved as close as he could without setting Fontaine off again, looking sympathetically at Nokosi.

"But she's still your close friend," Billy insisted. "When she told me about you, that was the first impression I got. That I needed to be careful not to cross you."

He sighed, rubbing at his arm. Lost love, something he could just about understand. "I'm sorry, Nokosi. I don't want to hurt you or Fontaine."

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What was he going on about?

Fontaine glared at the human but didn't move from his spot.

"Why do you let people pity you like that? It's really unbecoming."

"Don't know. It just happens. I don't fully understand it," he said off-handed.

"Okay...?" He was certain that people tended to make these things a bigger deal than he ever did. "Yes, she is my friend. I'd prefer you didn't tip-toe around my presence to make sure you don't offend me. I don't hold any say over what she does and doesn't do, anyways. It's very hard for me to take something on a personal level, despite how true it might ring."

The wolf rolled his eyes. It was arguably the best and worst thing about his master.

"I really don't see why you should be apologizing to me?" He questioned, "To hurt me?" he continued. "Well, okay, physically yes, you could, but that's beside the point."

Billy slapped his forehead. He wasn't making any sense at all, was he? Must have been something int he water.

"I'm worried because my presence upsets Fontaine, and I'm sure that Ronnie wants to remain close to him. I'm also worried because you're saying I'll drive you and her apart. There have been countless instances on my world of people being 'stolen' once they fall in love, seeming to forget everything about who they were prior to meeting that person."

He paused, rubbing at his eyes. "We're still ourselves. Some adjustment is inevitable as we figure each other out, but please tell me if there's anything I can do to make it easier on either of you. I know she won't be happy if you're shut out."

And what mattered to him, of course, was keeping her happy. Billy sank back down, looking somewhat guiltily at the items he'd been in the process of moving to Ronnae's house.

Every word from Billy's mouth only managed to confuse him further. How do you steal a person in that way? Why did he want things to be easier on him when he wasn't even in their relationship? By the gods, were relationships really so complicated that you had to walk on egg-shells around everyone your lover knew? Maybe it was a good thing he kept getting that, 'I know you're a good friend, but...' line from everyone Fontaine advised him to 'go for it!'.

"Don't be worried, Fontaine is like that sometimes. Really, I'm sure all you'll need to do is spend some time with him and he'll get over himself." He shook his head slightly, his perplexed expression fading. "I'm going to go ahead and say...I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I didn't say I thought that you would do that. I said I was okay with it if it happened. People have falling outs all the time. And honestly, making decisions in a romantic relationship that does not include me, based on what I think or say is absurd. And very silly at that."

It was starting to seem to him that maybe Billy was just as emotional as Ronnae could be. Silly people, what was so hard to understand about the things he was saying? Maybe he was just better off not mentioning certain things.

Billy nodded mutely. "I did misunderstand, I'm sorry to have been so frustrating. Time and patience should be all that's needed here."

Sighing, he set about rearranging his items and packing up to go. He wanted to be settled in Ronnie's house before night fell here. When he came across the broken item, he shrugged and kept going. It wasn't important anyway.

"You can head back on your way now. I won't be out too much longer."

"I have time and patience to spare," he said simply. "I very rarely get frustrated. I've been told I'm far too 'laid-back'."

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it with Billy's last comment.

"Wow, rude," Fontaine said pointedly.

Nokosi though, didn't seem bothered in the slightest. After all it was a new and slightly courteous way of being told to go away. He could appreciate that, at least.

"I have a request though, if you don't mind."

Billy blinked---he would have been worried if he'd heard that. He wasn't trying to be rude or tell Nokosi to go away! He just didn't think he was worth Nokosi's time being taken up.

The human turned to Nokosi, earnest and curious. "Sure, what is it?"

"Next time we cross paths, I would surely like to talk about other things. We always seem to talk about Ronnae and your relationship and as much as she's my friend I find it a bit boring for me to approach someone in an attempt to have a conversation about them and then spend the entirity of the time talking about someone else," he said coolly.

"I still know next to nothing but hearsay about someone I'm attempting to befriend, and that's sad."

Billy frowned, looking down at his lap. He'd royally screwed up again, hadn't he?

"We can, whenever you want! I'm not opposed at all. Even right now would be fine---I wasn't trying to send you away, I just thought you were bored with me and so I offered you an out. But now I see that it's because I haven't let you get to know me," Billy stammered out. Just how bad could he be at socializing?

He sank back onto the ground with a quiet sigh. "I'll answer anything you want to know."

"No..." he said slowly, "Much of the opposite. Did I seem bored? I really don't have the mastery to express myself with my face in more than a few emotions. Animals can generally tell without seeing my expression."

He plopped himself on the ground and crossed his legs, draping his lanky arms across them. Fontaine curled up next to the elf but kept a wary eye on the human. "Speaking of which- you sure do do that well. Like right now; you went from sad to apologetic then to depressed. Why?"

"Most humans have expressive faces," Billy started, pulling his knees up to his chest. "The words are part of the message, but the way we move our bodies adds context. We're generally unequipped to use scent to determine much of anything."

As for why Billy specifically was feeling those things? It was a deeper fear, one he'd talk about if prompted.

"Oh, I already know that," he said simply. "I'm not so far removed from civilization that I don't understand how and why expressions at like that. I just didn't really need to express myself through those mean. Animals can tell through empathy," he smiled. "The way I carry myself, or the sound of my voice. Scent is generally for bodily changes. Like when I knew you both were in heat," he said offhandly.

Despite the horrifying comment, which he didn't seem to mind at all, he continued. "But you didn't answer my question. You just..." he stopped, pushing his lips up in thought. "Beat around the bush," the hunter finally said.

Billy felt like he'd been struck across the face twice. Once with the 'in heat' comment, like he and Ronnie were...no, he wouldn't dignify that with further thought. The only outward sign of his thoughts was a bright red flush to his face.

Second, of course, at the insistence that he hadn't answered the question. "Then you want to know why I'm upset. I'm bothered because I've spent most of my life trying to figure out how to communicate with others. I'm sure you've noticed, but I have a tendency to talk around you without really understanding. That led to be being ostracized and bullied as a child."

Those unwelcome memories pushed at him again. "Here I am, unintentionally pushing you away. Just like I've done all these years."

His eyebrows raised slightly with the change of color to Billy's face. Obviously he had said something embarrassing again. Oh my.

"Well. I think with a bit of talking, people can understand others on some level. I don't think it's something you should be upset about, but I suppose that's just me. It doesn't bother me when people act as such; I merely understand it as everyone being different."

He leaned closer and peered at Billy curiously before speaking again, "Bullied. People do that often, even as adults for whatever reason. What does ostracized mean? It sounds like a type of meat."

Billy agreed. "It's helping, I definitely agree. It doesn't feel like we're speaking entirely different languages anymore---though we technically are, it's just being translated."

He breathed deeply, pushing himself into explanation mode again. "Being ostracized usually doesn't involve meat. It means that you're excluded socially, that no one really wants to talk to you. You become almost unmentionable, avoided because other people don't want their reputations hurt by association."

"Oh!" He straightened up and smiled with recognition. "I guess I do understand where you're coming from! I was ostracized when I was younger, too. Well, my family kind of was, but it was because of me. Once they removed me it wasn't really a problem anymore," he explained, cheerily. At least he'd found some common ground, despite the heavy words that seemingly didn't bother him at all.

"I suppose I was luckier than you, though. You had to sit there and take it, no? It's okay; I want to talk to you, now. As easy as I can just say 'don't feel bad about it', it's sometimes very hard not to, though."

His mind lingered on his previous words. He'd been told that the suits translated others' speech, which is why it was so difficult for people to understand those like Nehaalista. He was almost tempted to test it...but then again, he was sure that it would probably be a bad idea to strip down in the middle of the park to talk to his friend's boyfriend. If anything, he figured the man would probably recoil in embarrassment and horror.

Oh well, another day, perhaps.

So they had something else in common. Billy finally started to relax, the death grip on his knees loosening to a light hold.

"Thanks, Nokosi. That really means a lot," he said earnestly, starting to feel a little better. "Was there anything else you wanted to know?"

"You're welcome!" he exclaimed, patting Billy on the knee. "I already know you're a 'super amazing engineer who can even make cars fly'," He paused, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Whatever a car is." In truth, he'd seen one before. Beast Boy hadn't really explained what the vehicle was, so he was under the assumption that it was called a 'ride'.

Now that Fontaine had calmed down a bit, he stuck his hand in the wolf's fur and begin scratching down his back. He watched him slowly close his eyes, a light rumbling coming from his throat.

"Oh, yes. Is there anything else you're good at? And something that you're bad at but you enjoy doing regardless?" He hoped Billy had no where to go because this was probably going to devolve into a round of '20 questions: Elf who won't shut the hell up, edition'.

Billy smiled just a little, imagining Ronnie explaining that breathlessly. He spared a quick glance for the content Fontaine, knowing that the peace could be broken at any second with a reckless decision. Best to be cooperative.

"I'm a hopeless cook, an average dancer, and still a fighter in training. I was the worst of my friends in combat when I started, but I've been focusing on getting stronger. I'm at the point where I can defend myself and lead my team in combat if I have to, but there's a lot of room for improvement. I'll never be as strong as Ronnie, even with the Power."

"I wish cooking was even useful, here. I miss hunting," he whined, with Fontaine huffing in agreement. "Though I suppose the herbs growing would probably make a tasty meal. Without meat," he added, frowning.

"Oh well! ...You have a team? What team? Honestly I don't think you should be too worried; I won't ever be as physically strong as her, either. It's to be expected with her being an Orc and all. But that's fine, she can do a really good job protecting you."

Billy made a note of that. "I'd be interested in trying it. Oh, are you a vegetarian? Not that we really have a choice to eat meat anymore, but I'm interested."

Moving back to the questions about him, Billy nodded. "The Power Rangers. We activate suits of armor for combat and operate large mecha known as Zords. I'm the only one of us from my team, but there's someone from in my world's future and another team I selected. We're doing well so far."

At the image of Ronnie keeping him safe, he ducked his head. "I just don't want to be a burden to her out there."

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