Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...

[scavengineer]

Who: Gadget and You
What: Building the Ranger Plane
Where: Around the Rig
When: Throughout the three days after Sheetcake.
Warnings/Notes: None

A: Day 1 and 2
Some, though probably not most, might see the downtime as a chance to slack off. Gadget, on the other hand, has been putting all the spare time she has to good use. She's always been industrious, especially when there's a problem that needs solving. Her size and the disadvantage it put her at is definitely one of them. The good news is she knows exactly how to close some of the gap.

Those looking for her or just walking around the Rig in general after in the couple of days following the sheetcake party might spot her collecting things. There's an empty bleach bottle here, a red latex glove, pieces of fabric, large gauge wire, strips of fake leather, suction cups, and other bits and bobs taken from the garbage and destroyed furniture that had attacked earlier.

She's a little more circumspect about the batteries, electrical wires, and alligator clips she's also taken, though. They would be a little hard to explain to the execs, given what she's planning on doing with them.

Other than that, though, she'd welcome some help and is definitely willing to explain most of her actions.

B: Day 3

It turns out what Gadget has been doing this entire time is building a plane. Or at least a cross between that and a blimp. The wings flap and the inflated glove provides even more lift. It may look a little unwieldy, but it flies despite that.

Pretty well, too, considering just how quickly it's moving through the halls. Ducking might be a good idea. Odds are she won't crash, she's no Launchpad McQuack, but it's always a good idea to take a few extra precautions.

Comments

[ahtohollaback]

A small flying machine hurtles through the air toward her as Elsa turns a corner. Her eyes go very wide, and she ducks, covering her head, just in time for it to zoom by.

Once she hears it go past, she straightens and looks after it, clearly trying to find out -- what was that?

[scavengineer]

The plane clears Elsa with enough height to have passed over her head even if she hadn't ducked. Still, it's something of a close call. The plane turns around, reversing course at a slower pace until it comes to a hover near Elsa.

"Golly, sorry about that." Gadget says from the cockpit. "I didn't scare you, did I?"

[ahtohollaback]

Oh, she looks very curiously at the mouse in the flying machine. Despite the flyby, Elsa is charmed right down to the bottom of her Disney-branded heart.

"Ha ha, no. A little startled, maybe," she admits, smoothing a couple of flyaways back into place, then straightening her back and folding her hands in front of her. "I don't believe we've met?"

[scavengineer]

"No, I don't think we have. I'm Gadget. Well, Gadget Hackwrench, but everyone just calls me Gadget. It's nice to meet you."

She knows the proper gesture is to shake hands and feels a little awkward not doing it. However, Elsa is big and Gadget is in a plane and both those things together make it a rather difficult task.

"Sorry again about startling you. I was testing my plane out. Need to make sure everything's in working order just in case we have to deal with anything like the living furniture again."

[ahtohollaback]

She gives a tiny wave with her fingers in lieu of a handshake, and a little wince at the mention of the furniture.

"I ran into some of it, too," she admits with a rueful smile. "A pack of wild chairs."

She peers at the plane with interest, noting the wings and the glove.

"Did you make that?"

B

[gempathizing]

"Whoa-!" Even for Steven, it's not every day he's minding his business and nearly gets hit in the face by something. This is a special circumstance.

He has a little bit of a startled Moment about it, but by the time he's got his shield up, there's already enough of a lack of this mysterious missile turning around to try again that he figures he probably doesn't need to bother. All he needs is to laugh at himself for being so jumpy.

Plus with the extra bit of distance, it looks really cool?

The library can wait. He's got a catch-up jog to go on now. And then maybe a nap for as long as he has left in his free time, because one second of emotional roller coaster is enough for any young man living here.

"Hey, nice ride!"

Re: B

[scavengineer]

Gadget slows the plane to a hover. No sense in making Steven have to keep up just to keep up a conversation with her.

"Golly, thanks. I built it myself."

[gempathizing]

She's already the most considerate mouse pilot he's ever met. The fact that he's never met one before has no bearing on this qualification.

"So you're like a mechanic? I've got a few friends back home who are into that. They... mostly make robots."

[scavengineer]

"I don't really deal in robotics much. I've dismantled and occasionally fixed some a time or two, but I've always been more of a vehicular transport kind of gal."

Even when they weren't vehicles, a lot of her inventions tended to be about getting someone from point A to point B pretty quickly.

"I probably get it from Dad, honestly. He was a pilot, one of the best there ever was."

[gempathizing]

There's something so heartwarming about the prospect of a world filled with sentient mice who build stuff and pilot ships and have family bonds. Some things are constants across every universe.

When he's of a mood, it's a real boost. Because it sounds sweet, and he loves sweet.

Even if the past tense doesn't escape him.

"So it runs in the family. That's great! You've got something that always connects you."

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday has been watching the parade of bits and bobs with abject fascination for some time, now. The first thing she'd spotted had been a long, flexible bit of plastic tubing, bobbing along on the other side of a beam as if it was being carried. It had vanished quickly enough that she'd stood there blinking in confusion, and then a few moments later the head of a screw was peeking over the pipe. Next came a pack of deflated balloons. Saturday could contain herself no longer, and got on her toes to scope things out.

"Oh, hey. Gadget, right?"

[scavengineer]

The balloons had been something of a lucky find. She didn't need them right now, the glove she'd liberated from a janitorial closet was working out fine, but it was always good to have replacement parts on hand.

"That's me. And you're Saturday, right? Anything I can help you with?"

[wheyoftheadept]

"Feels like I should be asking you that." Wow, human body language looks weird on a mouse. "Just saw the gear moving and was wondering if the Stuff was back. Do you want a hand? I'm worthless with tech but I can lift and carry."

She cocks her head.

"Whatcha makin', anyway?"

[scavengineer]

"Aerial transportation, mostly," she says cheerfully. "It should help me keep up with the rest of you, speed-wise at least."

She could move pretty quickly on foot when she needed to, but she couldn't keep up that pace forever, and definitely not for the distances humans were capable of crossing.

"I could definitely use the help, though. I'm trying to furnish the tree Bunny grew in the garden, too. There's a bunch of the parts I gathered in that closet there," she says, gesturing to a nearby door, "but getting it all home is going to take a while by myself. The pocket dimension can only hold about six items at a time."

And she's been using most of that space to hide the parts for the Ranger Plane's new taser.

[wheyoftheadept]

"I can schlep, sure." Saturday opens the closet and blinks at the array of junk and spare parts. " - whoa. Shame Iggyfyr isn't here, you could just build a saddle and ride him. He's my best friend's pet," she explains, as she start gathering things up. "Little flying lizard that breathes fire, like a dragon but smaller and dumber. Very food-motivated, though."

The last thing is the rubber hose, and there isn't quite enough room for it, so she tucks it under her chin and hopes it'll hold.

"Where to?"

[scavengineer]

"Do you mind if I hop on your shoulder for a bit? Just until we get there." Assuming Saturday ends up being okay with it, Gadget hops down from the pipe.

"You're going to want take the elevator down to the Garden deck. After that, the oak tree's pretty hard to miss. That's where Bunny and I are living."

And she was extremely thankful to Bunny for that. The tree hollows he'd provided weren't really home, but they were definitely more comfortable for her than the relatively large space of the quarters.

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday is okay with this, and positions herself up on her toes to make it an easy hop. As they set off to the elevator, she makes an effort to make the ride as smooth as possible, stabilizing her shoulders in a way that feels a little unnatural, a little weird - but no more so than a mouse-sized mouse person who's a mechanical engineer.

So much about this would be kind of cool and fun, if they weren't captives. Slaves, really.

"Huh, an' Bunny just grew it all at once? Big mojo."

[scavengineer]

"He is the Easter Bunny." Gadget didn't really know much about magic, beyond being aware it existed, but the Easter Bunny being a powerful magical entity seemed logical.

Eventually, they reached the tree. Apart from a smaller pile of stuff on the ground, there's other evidence Gadget's been busy. There's a zipline to the ground tied to the tree, and a few pulley systems hanging around to get things up into it. Nearer the trunk is a inflated glove strapped to a cut open bleach-bottle.

"This is it. I know it's polite to give a tour in these situations, but I think that would be a bit difficult, given our respective sizes and all."

[wheyoftheadept]

"Been working hard, I see." Saturday looks around. It looks - kinda cozy, actually. She finds herself wishing she could fit into it and see what things were like. "Right, where do I let you off, and where do I put this stuff?"

[scavengineer]

"I get bored easy, and when that happens I tend to default to building stuff. It's fun, and there's not a lot else I can do right now. Especially since Chip, Dale, Monty, and Zipper aren't here. Not that I'd wish this on anybody."

She misses them a lot, of course, but though she's not happy to be apart from the, she's also happy they're not here.

"You can put me down over by the pile. And just put everything else on top of it."

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday looks around, and realizes that unless she lays down flat, she's only gonna be able to get her shoulders level with the treehouse door. After a moment's frowning thought, she lines herself up with the door anyway - careful not to unbalance her passenger - and frees a hand by dropping the junk in it into the pile. Then she offers that hand to Gadget, perfectly flat and stable.

"Elevator or stairs, ma'm?"

day 3...

[garmr]

Guts hears something flapping before he sees it, catching his attention. Most people's heads aren't sitting around at his height, so he very much takes notice of this contraption flying at his face. His first instinct isn't to duck, though, it's to attempt to catch it in his hand mid-flight.

Seriously, though, what is this? It has wings?? Is it a creature?

Re: day 3...

[scavengineer]

The plane veers out of the way of the grasping hand.

"Excuse me," Gadget admonishes from her seat after bringing the plane to a stop near Guts, "could you not try to grab my plane? I just built it, and I'd like to keep it intact."

It would get damaged eventually, of course, but Gadget hopes she can put that off as long as possible.

[garmr]

...Bug? Some kind of large bug?

No, it's a mouse. Sitting in a tiny seat. In this thing. What.

Okay. He'll try to grab it again, but more gently, like one would hold a bird. A really strange, fucked up bird. He wants to get a closer look.

"Is that what this floating thing is?"

[scavengineer]

Gadget pulls the Ranger Plane away again. The kind of people usually trying to grab her generally don't have the best intentions, and it's not like Guts explained what he was trying to do.

"Yes, it's a plane. And it's rude to take other people's things without asking. Although, I guess it's not technically taking since I'm still in it, but that's even more rude."

[garmr]

Confusion.

Mice are usually extra protein rather than people. Guts is going to need a moment to take in the fact that he's being lectured by one.

What is happening?

"Did you make this flying... 'plane'?"

He's never seen a plane in his entire life.