Here kitty kitty

[walkingballpit]

I.

[ Robbie is storming out of his quarters, which look decidedly disheveled. Borderline “a weather wizard got really pissed in here”, although not yet at the “did a bomb go off?” level. He figuratively grabs anyone he sees, with a half-hearted attempt at literally. There’s an air of repressed freneticism. ]

Hey.

[ He sounds like Ross Gellar. No one hears that greeting and expects to hear good news afterwards. Robbie straightens up a bit and tries to brighten up to match. ]

Sooo... I have this cat, right? You’ve seen him. Orange. Stripey. Cat-sized. He goes by the name of Niels, because I was even more annoying at 15 than I am now.

[ He pulls the thin blanket haphazardly up on his bunk, because that makes it better. ]

Only right now - I don’t have this cat. I can not find that darn cat. We have to find him before he scratches the wrong person.

II.

[ An hour into the search, Robbie is setting up a cross between a Rube Goldberg machine and a Wil E. Coyote trap for the roadrunner. From the looks of it, the sequence of things that can be bumped, rolled, or manipulated will all eventually lead to a box being lifted, rather than dropped. It will never trap anything, but the goal is actually to seduce Niels with milk and some scraps that Robbie stole from the mess to stay in one place long enough to be found and brought back to safety. ]

Break time’s over, Niels.

[ Robbie carefully adds one more thing, a single boot, and backs away. ]

III. [ Your choice - or let me know you want something different. It doesn’t have to be related to the cat hunt. ]

Comments

[scavengineer]

...I'm not sure this is going to work. Even if Niels stumbles into setting it off.

[Gadget's been sitting on a pipe nearby for a while now, watching Robbie's construction with an interested eye.]

No offense, but as is? I think it's only got about a 50% chance of working as intended.

[walkingballpit]

That’s 100% more of a chance than I’ve got of finding him right now.

[ Robbie sits cross-legged on the floor and looks up at Gadget with a mildly exasperated look. ]

This is why I’m not the Plan person. I just know that he can’t be loose in the Rig for too long, or the chances of him getting stuck somewhere goes through the roof. So do the chances of him going through the roof - he’s blown up kitty carriers. Niels doesn’t like being confined.

[ He huffs and drums his fingers on his knee, looking over the contraption. ]

If you have a better idea that doesn’t involve using yourself as bait, I’m all ears.

[scavengineer]

Golly, I wasn't planning on being bait. It wouldn't work anyways. Niels and I came to an understanding a little while back. He won't try to eat me.

[Gadget rappels down the bit of twine she used to get on to the pipe in the first place.]

Anyways, it's not the idea that's the problem, it's the implementation. For instance, that boot needs to be a couple of centimeters forward if you want it to have any chance of setting off the dominoes.

[She takes the opportunity to shove the boot into place herself.]

There we go. That'll do for a start.