Deadlines [Open---see note]

[morphitudinous]

Miraculously, happily, Billy had finally set foot on Transmigration Nine once more. It wasn't the cleanest or happiest of reunions on-board the ship, but what mattered most to him was that he had survived. His task now was to return to the routine as much as possible and assist with the Melting Clock situation.

Unaware of how much the situation had deteriorated during his capture, he first set out for sanctuary from the wider world. Home, the house of the Sun and Moon twins, where he could retreat to safety and recover before returning to work. Ronnae would be there, wouldn't she? Some of the lingering guilt and pain would heal after speaking with her, right?

He'd make a beeline for the bathroom, of course. There was no doubt in his mind that the clothes he'd worn on the mission would have to be burned, and there was something he was required to apply to his back to aid the healing there. After that, his odor would be safe enough to expose the rest of the crew to.

---

By the time he 'recovered' and returned to work in the Engineering department, Billy was in a notably sour mood. His best friends and his girlfriend, he'd been informed and seen, were children. Children who didn't have much longer to live if a solution couldn't be found quickly.

His priorities were simple: the Clock and any work that had been left behind. With the Engineering team noticeably smaller than it had been before, and several members of it having taken an involuntary leave of absence at the same time he did, there was undoubtedly much to catch up on.

The race against the clock continued. Billy took his seat at his desk, ready to plow through paperwork and status updates more quickly than ever before.

((ooc: This takes place between the Oryan and Time Dragon missions. It's split into two sections so I don't spam the comm even more than I already have---the subthread at his home is open to people who would reasonably be there, like Ronnae, Nokosi, and maybe Kaya. The section in Engineering is open for anyone who wants to catch up with him//update on the situation//beg him for treats and toys. A separate post for Romeo and Juliet will go up tomorrow or Tuesday.))

Comments

Home sweet home

[morphitudinous]

Danger and misery fast approach, unknown to the returning occupant.

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Billy of course gets tackled quite sneakily by a small half breed girl!

"B B! You're back! Woohoo~!" her small cheer is completely void of the dire situation at hand, she seems genuinely excited that Billy's back, even if her mentality has changed a little from lovers, to puppy love.

"I'm soooooooo happy yew are back~ I misssssssed you soooooo much! So so so so so much!" her hug was tight and happy, nuzzling her small face against his chest.

[morphitudinous]

Of course, the last thing Billy is expecting to find in their hallway is a hyperactive young girl. The voice is shrill, if oddly familiar and cute, and she's strong for such a little one.

A little one with familiar deep red hair and emerald green skin. He knew this child.

"...Ronnie?"

That clock was going to die. As soon as he worked past his shock and despair, he would be on its trail.

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

"Yup yup~ It's me! Who else would it be? " She asked curiously as if it was the silliest question she had heard all day!

"Where were you? I was sooooo wowied B B~"

[morphitudinous]

"I was...in a really rough fight," Billy answered, trying to explain this in a way that made sense to a little girl. A girl. His Ronnie was very young, she probably didn't have much time left---but if he let that worry show, wouldn't it just scare her more?

That wouldn't do at all.

"I was thrown around in the dirt for a while," he continued, pointing at the violent, jagged markings on his face. Dirt caked the rest of him as well, with the humidity and other soils making him positively reek. "But we managed to escape. I just need to clean up, and..."

Right on cue, his stomach rumbled.

"...find something to eat. Are you ready to have lunch soon?" His voice still sounded dazed.

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Unbeknown to Billy, there are many thin trip-wires zig-zagging around the roomy house just waiting for someone to trip one. They'd spent a lot of time perfecting little Ronnae's trap-making skills, after all.

The first trip-wire to the bathroom? Two rubber water bottles that squirted gooey syrup from both directions. That was her idea.

A funny thing happened on the way to the bathroom...

[morphitudinous]

...predictably, of course, Billy hit the first trap right on schedule. He stumbled over the wire, instantly splattered in the sugary substance. All the more reason to dispose of these clothes, right?

He folded his arms over his (sticky) chest, glancing down at the likely guilty party for an explanation.

This time it's only -half- his fault.

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Billy was rewarded with two broken ends of a wire and two rubber water bottles that oozed with syrup. It seemed that the pressure on the wire was rigged to topple over a number of books on the bottles to propel the delicious substance forward.

Don't worry, there was only one more trap towards the bathroom. Oh, and the one in the bathroom.

The sudden noise did cause the elf lounging in the tree beside one of the bedroom windows to poke his head into the room. It seemed like Ronnae had finally fallen victim to one of her traps. He would go see how she was fairing.

[morphitudinous]

Unfortunately, the person stumbling in the hallway was just a little too big to be Ronnae. He stopped to study the trap, shook his head at it, and proceeded toward his destination just a little more carefully this time.

"No one here would know anything about that, would they?" he asked as he tried to wipe the syrup from his glasses, not expecting an answer. He looked ridiculous, turning his head every which way and tiptoeing across the hall.

Re: Home sweet home

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Kaya was more than a little concerned. Yes, little Ronnae had been a handful, but her true concern was making sure that Billy was Ok. She had been feeling a dull apprehension that he might be hurt, so once she felt that familiar presence she rushed toward it, looking notable frazzled.

"Billy?"

[morphitudinous]

"Kaya," Billy breathed a sigh of relief by that point. Ronnie was finally settled in a nearby room (though probably not for long), leaving him to meet his longtime friend. Who was still her proper age, a rarity among people he knew these days.

"I would say I hope you've had a better time than I have, but it doesn't look likely. What's up?"

He reaches over to give her a quick hug, looking worried.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

She hugged back. "Me? I was more worried about YOU, Billy! I'd heard that you guys got kidnapped down there, and I was scared I wouldn't ind you in one piece! NO, I'm doing as ok as I can. I tried to keep tabs on young Ronnae, but she's a pretty squirrelly kid, and since there are a lot of other kids in the med bay, you can imagine how busy its been."

Kaya sighed. "Are you all right? What happened on that mission?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy sighed in relief, holding her for a moment longer. She was very lucky that he had managed to take a bath with Squeaky and Leggy first. When he was ready to talk, he led her over to a couch in the living room.

"You almost didn't find me in one piece," Billy admitted. "Mother Reda, the spiritual leader on that planet, supposedly called us because she wanted us to help her sick islanders." Kaya would notice that he tended to spit out Reda's name.

"Well...we researched, and discovered that the symptoms of the illness were caused by nothing more than poison. Poison fed to the villagers by Reda herself, as punishment for turning their gaze away from their goddess Avani. Avani forbade the villagers from learning about technology or other ideas from outside the island, because worldliness would turn them from the true path."

It was obvious that Billy had very little respect for this idea. "I still don't know why she called us. She might have been expecting us to make another diagnosis and calm the villagers, but I suspect all she wanted was a ransom and to make examples of us. Anyone who lacked faith in Avani was to burn for their sins. So...we were drugged, tied up, left to contemplate our deaths in a small cave for three days, and then brought to the sacrifice chamber to be executed and incinerated. If Scarlet hadn't palmed a knife from a guard and showed us how to cut ourselves free behind our backs, we'd be a pile of ashes on that island."

He paused, remembering just how vividly he'd thought of his friends in those past few days. "We then had to fight our way out unarmed against 20 fully armed guards, all bigger and stronger than us. I can still hardly believe we escaped with everyone alive."

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

True to her word, Hoshi came by Engineering by bike and walked in, having already taken her helmet off and rested it on the HardBoiler. She glanced around for Billy, smiling somewhat when she found him.

"Hey, Billy. You look good," she said, dragging a chair over to his desk and she sat herself right down. One glance around and she noticed that there was a lot of work here.

Mountains of it, to be precise. Oh, this would be fun.

[morphitudinous]

"That might be an exaggeration," Billy answered honestly, looking up at her with an attempt at a smile. She seemed to be handling her power well, at least. "I certainly don't feel good."

He peeked at Hoshi around the papers, wondering just how he'd gotten into this. "Is Phillip all right?"

[radiantcourage.livejournal.com]

"Well, hopefully these will help," Hoshi began, dragging out a small bag of cookies to set them on top of the papers. "They're all yours."

She wondered how she'd be able to help with the workload here and to save him some stress. "Yeah, he is. I managed to catch up with him after we all came back."

[morphitudinous]

Billy's eyes followed the sweet morsels as soon as they appeared, an eager expression briefly flickering on his face. Food...treats...it had been so long/

"I now realize that I missed food, even the slop," he commented, taking a small nibble. "But this is far more satisfying." Hoshi was wonderful, in short. Billy would definitely hug her if they weren't in these chairs.

"Good. So long as you're both safe, that's one less person to be actively worried about." She would probably notice that he bit his lip as he signed the work requests, unable to completely get rid of the worry. "Keep him safe."

[thewunderkind]

Someone was on the prowl, sneaking into engineering. A tiny girl, with one heck of a poofy afro trailing around her. She hadn't noticed Billy yet, and was trying to, unsuccessfully, pull out some pieces of metal out of one of boxes of stuff lying around.

"Urrgh! This is so heavy!" Her voice was a few octaves higher than before. In frustration, the afrogirl gave the box a kick. "Stupid box! Let me get this metal pipe! I need it!"

[morphitudinous]

Billy's head shot up, his body instantly in alert mode. Those noises were almost never good, especially from a faintly familiar voice.

He stepped out from behind his desk, finding a smaller Lash. How much time had he lost while he'd been captured? Was she still going to hurt him? Things were bad, very bad. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he snatched up a piece of metal as a shield and approached her.

"Just what do you need the pipe for?" If he's crouching behind the shield, it's only because he remembers Ron's story.

[thewunderkind]

"Billy!" She says nearly jumping up and down. "Hiii!" Lash appeared to be excited at seeing him, and there seemed to be no violence and kicking in the man parts in his future...for now. At his words, she turned again and kicked the box one final time.

"I'm building a small car," she explained, her tiny voice contradicting rather strangely with all the large words she uttered. "I need it to help propel my vehicle without melting like the other materials I've been trying during the entire day. You wanna to pry it out for me?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy blinked once, then twice. She remembered him...and she seemed fond of him? Was this a trap? He cautiously lowered the shield, moving to the offending pipe.

"Sure," Billy answered, using some leg leverage and some careful pulling to yank it out. Soon enough, he had it out and presented to Lash...who reminded him of his younger self. He'd used big words at that age as well, and he'd been inventing. "Are you feeling better?"

Was there a better way to say it?

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

Speaking of children, one was wondering into Engineering right now - Marco, looking around age seven, had managed to sneak in and was now curiously poking at one of the funny gadgets lying around.

Oooh, it had buttons! Marco had to press them. Over and over and over again, just for good measure.

[morphitudinous]

Billy had the opportunity to get up from his desk every so often. He made the rounds in Engineering, checking that their short staff was really all right with the increased workload.

On one of those walks, he discovered a young boy he didn't quite recognize playing with something very familiar. It was meant to deploy shielding bubbles, but one of the connections had to be faulty.

"Hey, what brings you here? Can I do anything for you?" Start slowly. Don't go in accusing and taking things right away, it would be a bad idea to cause a scene.

[lives2annoy.livejournal.com]

"These buttons aren't doing anything," Marco said, completely shameless. Possibly he didn't know that poking around with random gadgets that didn't belong to you wasn't a good idea, or possibly he'd just learned that you could get away with more if you just pretended you weren't doing anything wrong. "Is is broken?"

[morphitudinous]

"Yes," Billy confirmed, squatting to examine the old box. "I never found the right wire cap for that one. But it's not a very interesting one."

That might or might not be a lie. In any case, it's not interesting if it doesn't actually work, so he hopes to find something that captures Marco's attention.

"What did you think it would do?" In other words, what was he interested in?