trans_9 | Inventions of the Exceptionally Nerdy [Open and bendytimeable!]

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Inventions of the Exceptionally Nerdy [Open and bendytimeable!]

After a quiet scare with a little laser in his pocket, Billy had come to an alarming conclusion: he needed a pocket protector. The little device, the one true sign of a nerd, would keep him from poking or shooting himself. But that wasn't all it could do! With Billy's mind at work, he came up with another idea: the pocket trap. With some clever signaling coding, he could trap the hand of anyone who tried to pick his pocket. It would definitely help keep his morpher safe!

He wound up stretched across a meat-couch of the Observation Deck, working on adding little strips of identifying material to what was undeniably a pocket protector. Maybe he wouldn't make it cool (nothing could do that), but he'd definitely make it useful.

As he worked, there was a certain undercurrent of excitement on his face. He smiled more often, sometimes looked far into the distance, and could be heard humming if the observer was close enough. Something good had happened to him, and maybe it wasn't entirely due to the pocket protector.

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Oh guess who was behind him.

Trouble named Lash. She'd been practicing her sneaking skills by walking behind him when suddenly...

"HELLO!"

As was usual for reclusive telepath, she found herself walking to the Obs deck, intent on simply gazing out into the Bleed and doing some much needed thinking.

Seeing Billy, she paused in her step and walked over to see what the teen was up to.

"My, doesn't someone look excessively cheerful today?"

The voice, while feminine, wasn't actually heard. No, she was 'speaking' to him directly in his mind.

Billy had been engrossed in his work once again. That finger-snag was coming along nicely, not too painful but definitely protective, when the noise startled him. He jumped. the piece flying out of his hands.

Oh. Of course, it was Lash. He pouted at her, leaning over to grab the pieces. "Good afternoon to you too."

Voices in his head. Who did he know that could send their voices into his head? Stacy and Kaya, and...well, the voice didn't quite sound like either of them. Billy jerked into a straight posture in his seat, looking wildly until he found the source.

"Is that a problem?"

A wry smile played on her lips as she watched Billy scramble to find the owner of that voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that!" the blond woman replied, sticking her hands in her pockets. "It's (actually) quite the ameliorating thing to see aboard this ship. Over near the entrance, by-the-by," she said, offering a small wave.

Direction! Billy spun around, folding his arms over the back of the couch to look at her. At least he knew who was in his head.

"There you are. So...not that I'm positive you would answer honestly, but how deeply can you see inside my mind?"

"Far enough that I can drastically alter who you are and you would never suspect it. Not that I would (or could, given our omniscient 'mother')." She smiled. "Honesty for you."

The woman took a few steps forward, her face turned in his direction, though it was difficult to tell where she was actually looking, due to the visor.

"Nothing to worry about, though; it's only surface thoughts. You'll have to pardon the (egregiously rude) sudden jump into your cognisphere; I'm limited in other forms of communication, I'm afraid."

She caught one of the pieces on her fingers, and played around with it while he picked up the rest before handing it to him, grinning at her plan that most certainly had succeeded.

"Gee you look unnaturally peppy today," she remarked. "Pouting aside of course, tee hee hee!"

Her first words were enough to worry Billy, calling up his mental defenses on reserve. She could feel that, he was sure, but he wouldn't try to silence her yet.

Once he was reminded that Stacy was protecting him, he relaxed and beckoned her forward. "I can handle that. I'm...a little on-edge about preserving my mind, due to some past encounters, but that's not your fault."

Billy allowed the memories of being trapped in his own mind and attacking people to surface for just a few seconds before setting them aside. "What brings you out here?"

Billy accepted the piece almost gratefully, slotting it right back where he'd intended it to be.

"Well, I'm having a good day for once, Lash. Surprisngly enough, it sometimes happens. And---wait a minute, I don't pout," Billy insisted.

Liar.

Oh she had him exactly where she wanted him, really. It was always fun to tease her teammates.

"Really? Then what did you call what you just did a few minutes ago?" she said, pretending to think about it. "So are you on some sort of breakthrough? Found a way to install more lasers?"

"A negative facial expression," Billy said, fully expecting this explanation to be laughed at. But he was planning to stick to it.

"There's a small laser-like system in this device. It's part of the main feature! When it detects unauthorized entry, it snags the person's hand until I can deal with them."

Cool, yes, but it couldn't quite account for all of his excitement.

"You and everyone else, not that I can blame you."

When he mentioned her presence here, she glanced around the large area for an extended moment, then turned her head back to face him. "A much-needed change of scenery! Being one who was often (always) surrounded by the limitless, wondrous, dark (lonely) expanse of space, peering out into the Bleed sometimes feels comforting, as strange as it may sound."

The woman's words drew Billy's attention to the Bleed as well. He watched the red light pass for a few moments, wondering, marveling. "It's...almost home for you?"

And it was all too obvious that someone was going to pick up on that: Kaya, the one person who could feel it when Billy was feeling particularly elated. Of course, if he was feeling her emotions, he wouldn't need to see the limp in her step or the glow to know that she was feeling particularly upbeat herself.

"Billy!" She greeted him, giving him a hug. "How are you? I could feel you from the mess hall! What are you up to?"

"Kaya." Her emotions tended to bounce across and inflate his. Billy stood and carefully returned the hug, looking just a little embarrassed when he pulled back.

"I was working on a small invention, but you probably want to talk about whats' on our minds, huh?"

Kaya giggled. "Well yes, that's be nice but you will show me that invention later, won't you? I love seeing what new things you've come up with."

She joined him on the couch. "So tell me: what's on your mind?"

There was no point in delaying things. Billy took a breath and smiled, hoping he wasn't about to be smacked.

"I was in the chapel with Ronnae a few days ago. We drifted to the subject of weddings somehow, and...I ended up proposing to her. She accepted."

Smacked? Why on earth would he be thinking that she would be smacking him? Rather, he was now knocked off the sofa when Kaya charged into hi hugging him tightly.

"OH MY GOSH BILLY THAT'S WONDERFUL NEWS!" She said all in one breath, almost close to tears. "I knew the two of you had something special, I just knew it! Well have you gotten her an engagement necklace yet? Wait, that's just in my tribe. Does your culture do that? Oh, I'm so excited for you two!"

Yes, Kaya was now jumping up and down and taking Billy with her.

Billy's head spun with the force of Kaya's excitement. He bounced and bounced on his toes, doing his best to keep up with the girl who seemed close to crushing his ribs.

"I was thinking about a ring, actually. That's my culture's custom. But I think she might like a necklace better," he thought. "Maybe one for the engagement and one for the wedding?"

Kaya finally got the message and eased up on him a little, although she was definitely grinning from ear to ear. She knew it might happen eventually, and she had already been happy with the way that Nanoha and Fate's wedding had turned out. That she would actually intimately KNOW the second couple getting married had never occurred to her, and now she could hardly contain herself.

"A necklace is more personal than a ring, and if you want to go by my tribe's ways, you should it yourself, so its personal to you both! Though isn't one good enough?"

"Yeah," Billy sighed. That was going to be the hard part. "I don't really have the delicate fingers for that work, though, so if you see me with bandaged fingers I've probably stabbed myself on a wire."

He'd do it, though. "You'll know when she shows you. I hope she likes it."

Kaya laughed. "Oh Billy, are you kidding? I;d be more than happy to help you with that! Granted, you'll do most of the work yourself of course, since you're giving it to her. But we did stuff like this in my tribe all the time. Some people might call it primitive, but I think its a sense of pride, to give your beloved something you made with your own hands, you know?"

She grinned. "I don't disbelieve that. If its from you, I know it'll mean a lot to her."

Edited 2011-11-23 21:38 (UTC)

Zouichi regarded the pocket protector with some curiosity. It looked like some sort of sheath, but it was far too small to reliably hold ammunition, and too flimsy to hold anything very heavy.

"What are you working on?" Billy seemed unusually happy today, too. Curious.

"I'll just need some encouragement, but thanks," Billy smiled gratefully at her, thinking the whole thing over. "I think I have the perfect gem. I just need to frame it in some way and build the chain."

He'd get working on that as soon as possible! As for the wedding?

"We don't know exactly when it will happen yet. Ronnie wants to wait for the right moment, after a major victory, to aid in the celebrations. You can wear whatever you'd like to. We're wearing our battle uniforms, in her family's tradition."

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Inventions of the Exceptionally Nerdy [Open and bendytimeable!]

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