trans_9 | Lost. Again. [Open, before rebellion.]

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Lost. Again. [Open, before rebellion.]

Billy is hard at work on the teleporters, trying to ensure that they're all in working order. They'll have to move through the ship quickly if they're going to carry out these plans. He's walked through most of the common areas of the ship today, testing both by himself and with a backpack of items of various sizes. One of the items is his datapad, kept to ensure he always has something to work on during the cooldown periods.

So far, everything seems to be in working order. He's run a check at each station: he trusts Ronnae completely, but there's always the concern that the system could be tampered with. If it's malfunctioning, he needs to catch it early.

Unfortunately, his streak of good luck ends with a snag. Upon warping into the Hub, he finds that he no longer casts a shadow. A look down confirms that he's no longer visible. Oh well---it could be worse.

He shrugs and resumes his work in silence, the only visible sign of his presence being the tools floating in the air just beside the pad.

[Teleporter fun post! Any of the malfunctions listed here are fair game to play with.]

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"All right. Key in the coordinates---there's a list, see?" He pointed with his screwdriver, directing her to pick the City's pad on the list. "And press to confirm. We'll be there in a second."

It's an interesting sensation---not precisely the same as the one Billy remembered from long ago, but close enough. Fortunately, this teleportation hadn't stacked any more side effects on him. He hoped the girl was as lucky. Everything had been running at maximum efficiency, he'd checked.

"Are you all right?"

Mashu had done exactly as she was told, appearing afterwards in the designated location except... Except that now Billy was staring right back at Billy, except floating, and looking at 'himself' curiously.

"Eh? IS this part of hide and seek? We get to use costumes?"

Mashu would hear the sound of Billy slapping his forehead. That hadn't gone as planned. He lowered his hand after a second, staring at the bizarre sight. How often did he stare at himself outside mirrors and photographs?

"No, it's not part of the game. It's a teleportation malfunction. You've been swapped into my body---what it looks like when it's visible, anyway. It should resolve itself in a few minutes, but I'll start running tests if it doesn't. Do you still want to play?"

"Oh? Really?! So this can happen when using those things?! That's neat!" Problem? She didn't see one. Not even a malfunction in her eyes!

She floated around in her new body, giggling at how silly this all seemed.

"Of course I still want to play, I'm no quitter!"

"It could be dangerous. Just because it's been temporary and safe in previous tests doesn't mean that can't change. Be careful with it, all right? I'll still keep trying to fix it."

Billy felt his horror growing as he watched. Did he really sound like...that when he laughed? Ronnae must have cringed more than once.

He was relieved that Mashu couldn't see his embarrassment. Instead, he pointed with the screwdriver once again. "All right, then go hide. I'll look for you once I've counted to one hundred. And I know you can't confirm it, but I've closed my eyes."

"Hee~ Okay! I'll hide!" And off she went, floating away with a broad smile.

Mashu flew around the City, not really knowing the limits of the game, but she figured, the City was their playground right now! As such, she floated away until she hid inside a big ice cream cone that made up the sign of an abandoned treats store.

Billy counted slowly---it was only fair, as it was her first time. When he reached 100, he yelled "Ready or not, here I come!"

That was the phrase, right? He hoped she was close enough to hear it, or he was going to have a very long day. Grinning, he set down his screwdriver and set off, now completely invisible. This could be fun.

He scanned the street level first: behind cans, inside cans, under desks, behind doors, and under windowsills. The secon d time, he went higher: peering up trees, on the second floors of buildings, and on various street fixtures. By the third sweep, he was feeling rather frustrated.

"Can you hear me?" he yelled, just to see if she'd let him know if he was anywhere in the correct vicinity. The ice cream shop was about a block away.

Was that part of the game? But wasn't that another game? Think Kimimaro had called that one Mario Lolo... or something like that! But they weren't in a pool so that didn't make sense...

Maybe this game had that too! Where you'd yell at each other!

With a silly little smile, Billy!Mashu called out, "I can!"

Billy smiled. Perfect---he hadn't actually expected that to work! It was still strange to hear his own voice coming from somewhere else, though.

He set off in the direction he'd thought he'd heard his voice. It was up high, wasn't it? Time to check the roofs. He climbed up to one and surveyed all the roofs...there was a chimney or two, one with a weird little dome on top, and a roof a few doors down with an ice cream cone.

He silently crept down the block and checked all three, eventually winding up at the ice cream cone. It would be hard to climb in from here, wouldn't it?

First he knocked, testing for a response. If there was none, he'd climb.

And of course, the oblivious girl figured, hey, she'd been caught!

So she peeked out of her hiding spot and looked around.

"Didn't think you'd find me so soon." she said, not looking the least bit worried even if she couldn't see him yet.

"I was just listening," Billy admitted, peeking inside the cone from the rim. He flickered back into visibility around then, their appearances identical for the moment. Phew. After a quick glance to ensure that nothing else had gone wrong, he smiled.

"It's your first time. You'll soon progress to tucking yourself in cabinets and behind doors. Hiding in plain sight's usually the best defense."

"I see! So the more you play the better you get? Maybe I should play more often then!" Mashu grinned as billy saw himself jumping out of the ice cream cone and floating gently till he was near the ground and yet not quite touching it.

Billy nodded. "It's the same as anything else, really. You'll improve if you practice."

He watched her float with some envy---though it did look weird to see his body with an apparent flight ability if he thought about it. "How does that feel?"

"Hm? How does what feel?" she asked curiously.

How did her being him feel? She didn't really feel any different other than having a different body. But she really hadn't given it any thought considering he said it wouldn't last long. Which was fine by her.

"Floating. It shouldn't happen, the physics of specific gravity displacement on that scale look impossible on paper. But there you are."

He sounded awed as he said it, almost excited.

"Hm? This?" she asked as she spun around in mid-air.

"Feels, normal I guess hee~ I've always been able to do it."

"Right," Billy nodded, staring up at his floating mirror image. "And I imagine the extra height's a great advantage. Do you stuff things up trees and keep them from other people?"

He was teasing, don't worry. Billy was all smiles.

"Trees? Hm, there's no trees in the Financial District." she said idly.

"But I do like flying around the buildings and such. Or the other locations."

"The financial district? That's where you live?" Billy looked puzzled. That was always such a small part of the city. "Don't you ever get to leave it?"

If Billy only knew how much different her Financial District was compared to normal financial districts.

Mashu nodded, "I kept asking Kimimaro to let me, but he kept ignoring those pleas like a stubborn, dumb, dummy head that he is." she huffed crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Was it a dreary place?" Billy couldn't imagine keeping himself straight while trapped in a financial district. Banks everywhere? No thanks. He needed museums, observatories, factories.

"Dreary? No, I don't think so." She paused for a moment.

"It was just, itself." Mashu stated plainly. "It was much different than the Earth that Kimimaro and the other Entres came from."

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Lost. Again. [Open, before rebellion.]

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