[Network] @hotstud_xxx; video | Day 52, evening [open]

[rubikscomplex]

[The video feed will show the inside of a tool shed where a small, flying robot is moving around in the dim light cast by the tablet.]

Hey, Trinity! Wibblelips! Look what I found. It flies, it screams, it's alive. It also happens to be the reason I'm stuck in a shed for the night. Now, I got a screwdriver.

[The screwdriver is held up into view in a pink-gloved hand.]

And I got a hammer.

[The screwdriver is set down and the hammer is picked up to show.]

It's a hammer of justice. It's a hammer of warning. And it's going to be the hammer I take to that freaking thing unless you tell me how to get it to stop screaming in my face. Hiro, you needed some robot parts, right? Might be able to get you some.

Comments

@Mnemosyne; voice

[bookofnope]

[See, this is what happens when he ends up owing people favours...]

I can confirm this. That night at the shed will never be purged from my suffering mind.

[phaseshifter]

Oh my god. Was there pining? Wistful sighs?

[rubikscomplex]

[ Screw both of these assholes. They want to play it like that? Fine. ]

Damn. And I thought we were keeping all of this quiet on account of Enoch.

[dr_unconscious]

Aw, don't worry 'bout him. Enoch's a tough guy. Handles rejection a lot better 'n you do.
Angel, you know what I had t' do to get this guy off my case? Poor ol' Beckett had t' field 'em for me. It was rough, let me tell ya. Never get yerself caught up in a love triangle, you hear me? Ain't as pretty as it sounds.

[phaseshifter]

I don't - I don't intend on getting caught up in any, um. For shame, Doctor -- [still can't say it] -- H! When I told you not to lose hope, I didn't mean you should start stalking people.

I'm very sorry, Doctor Epps.

[rubikscomplex]

Hey, Epps is used to being stalked. At least I didn't go kidnapping him. Now, Brian. Jesus. I dunno what it is about Epps, maybe just that mangrit smell, but he's just got all the guys after him.

Think I saw Count Dracula up there checking out his neck a little too long for it just to be about drinking his blood.

[bookofnope]

Oh? Enlighten us, Doctor, what is it exactly that mangrit smells like that excites you so much? Honestly, what would I do with his neck, of all things?

[dr_unconscious]

He's jus' mad 'cause he didn't get a chance t' leave any marks a his own, if you get what I'm sayin'. Man's a biter if I ever saw one.

[Nnnnoooot touching that Brian thing with a thousand-foot pole. Nope. In enough hot water about that already.]

[phaseshifter]

Oh dear, this is even more complicated and tragic than I'd figured. I had no idea the romantic dynamics of the town were so fraught!

 

Cool.

[rubikscomplex]

Well, I mean, after the marks that Dio left... that's a hard act to follow, man. I would've tried really hard, though.

[phaseshifter]

Wait, I don't... I'm not sure who Dio is. I'm going to have to make some kind of chart, I can't keep up...

[dr_unconscious]

[scoff] You see what I gotta put up with? Lord, these boys ain't never give a poor ol' doctor a break.

...I wanna see this chart when yer done with it, Angel.

[rubikscomplex]

Don't we all?

[phaseshifter]

Here you go. I'm not sure I got everything? And some are unconfirmed.



I, um, had to put you in the middle for... obvious reasons.

[dr_unconscious]

[Clayton barks a laugh.]

I like it! It's good! Darn, better 'n anything I coulda come up with, that's fer sure.

[His voice drops to a dramatic stage whisper.]

It's almost right.

Voice @Enoch

[warriorscribe]

[He checks the network and what does he find?

He's slept well for the first time in weeks, things don't seem quite so sad and hopeless anymore, and the fact that he'd gotten on the network primarily to ask Clayton where he'd be tomorrow so they could reunite means seeing this is all the funnier, and he just can't help it, the first two or three times he tries to reply dissolve into fits of laughter, a scraping sound that might be him sliding down a wall in the background.

Eventually, he gets himself under control enough to manage to say, still through laughter:]

What in the world did I just stumble into...?

[bookofnope]

If only you had the chance. Alas, poor Doctor Hotstud, given the cold shoulder.

[dr_unconscious]

Ain't it sad? Maybe we oughta cut 'em a break next time--give 'em a lil' nibble. Might calm 'em down some. Hell, he might even let me use his pet name! You know he's got a pet name?

[rubikscomplex]

Epps.

[There's a note of more serious warning in his tone.]

[dr_unconscious]

Yeah, doctor?

[Challenge accepted, sir.]

[bookofnope]

[If he thinks getting serious is going to do anything but make Beckett gleeful at the scent of blood, so to speak, he's got another think coming.]

Is that so?

[phaseshifter]

What is it? I can't bring myself to call him, um. His. Username.

[phaseshifter]

Wait, you know about the applications of exploding shorts but not necks?

[rubikscomplex]

Exploding shorts? Man, I knew the guy was kinky...

[bookofnope]

They were important anthropological observations.