Tucked under a tree in the Nexus ...

[endless_azure]

As a small snowdrift of papers and datapads gradually accumulated around him, X was grudgingly coming to the conclusion that he may well have a few heads to gently knock together.

Well, maybe just one.

It's rather sad that I can get more of my logging done in another universe entirely, simply because he's not here.

Yet.Gate was getting jittery

Comments

[_megaman_x]

X had been busy and Zanzibar had been bored and wanting to play, so the little bronze had come to the Nexus in hopes of maybe finding some of the other firelizards to play with. The little bronze was wearing the small, lightweight shoulder and throat harness that X had designed for him out of the same lightweight material as reploid bodysuits.

The supple, form-fitting - but not constricting - harness let Zanzibar carry things and still keep his claws free. There was a round, quarter-sized, empty ring-slot on the underside of the harness and a small silver charm, set with a blue stone, hung from the collar piece.

So far, the two-foot-long bronze firelizard hadn't managed to find any other firelizards. But as he darted through a sparsely wooded lot, he spotted something else that caught his short attention span.

There was a person over there! With lots of papers and shiny beeping things! This must be investigated right away!

Zanzibar wheeled and flitted over toward X, circling a little bit well above head height before landing lightly on a branch above X's head. This person seemed distracted. Maybe he wouldn't notice if Zanzibar borrowed one of the beeping things and made it beep?

[endless_azure]

And the person certainly was distracted; while he glanced up briefly every once in a while -- mostly to check and see if random documents were trying to escape -- he didn't seem to take much notice of Zanzibar's approach.

Now the perching in the branch was noted; but only so much as for the little firelizard to earn himself a distracted smile before the person went back to work again ...

Papers in piles, beeping things in piles ~

[_megaman_x]

Zanzibar cocked his head as he watched X fuss with the papers for a bit longer. The brief glance upward hadn't been enough for the firelizard to recognize this X as another X-but-not-my-X. After a few more moments of watching, Zanzibar decided that now was a good time to try to borrow a beeping thing, especially since this person was busy shuffling papers and looking away from one stray beeping thing.

Zanzibar leaped off the branch and swooped down to pounce the beeping thing like it was prey. Prize gripped securely in his claws, he attempted to take off with it. Good thing datapads were designed to be lightweight, otherwise he'd have never made it off the ground with it.

Now he just had to get it safely to a perch so he could play with it till he gave it back. He was a good firelizard! Zanzibar only borrowed things.

[endless_azure]

He might not be paying much attention to anything but his work -- but X certainly noticed when a bronze flying critter pounced on his datapads!

With a startled squawk, X started to struggle to his feet, piles getting knocked over in the process as he reached towards the retreating Zanzibar.

"Hey, now --!"

[_megaman_x]

Oh snap! He's been spotted! Evasive action!

Zanzibar squeaked and struggled for altitude, heading away from X. But escaping with a datapad was a lot harder than making off with Axl's portable music player - the datapad was a lot bigger.

[endless_azure]

Despite himself, X couldn't help but be amused at Zanzibar's inadvertent comedic antics while trying to escape with his prize. Still, that was an important cluster of documents the little bronze was trying to make away with --

I don't want to grab at it; I could hurt it --

Kicking free of the rest of his snowpile of work, X darted forward and -- very very gently -- reached up and tried to get the datapad from out of Zanzibar's clutching little claws.

"Come on now, little fellow; you can't go making away with things like that .."

[_megaman_x]

Zanzibar squeaked in alarm as the person was suddenly right under him and he'd caught hold of the beeping thing too!

Abort! Abort!

And the little bronze firelizard quite suddenly wasn't there anymore, vanishing with a soft pop of imploding air. The datapad was left behind in X's hand.

Oh ho! But this was one sneaky little lizard! Or so he fancied himself. And almost instantly had re-appeared above the pile of datapads X had left unguarded. Maybe there was a smaller one he could grab...

[endless_azure]

X reeled briefly, startled by Zanzibar's sudden disappearance. Then he blinked a few times, rapidly, and wondered why there was something vaguely familiar-seeming about the little beastie ...

Of course, once he turned back towards his nook under the tree and saw Zanzibar trying for round two, the chase was on.

Chuckling, X darted towards the little lizard, much as one might startle a pigeon on the sidewalk.

"Trying to get me in trouble, are you?"

"Zero'll hang me if I'm late with these, you know ~"

[_megaman_x]

Zanzibar hadn't yet picked out a beeping thing to make off with, and then the person rushed at him. The little bronze hissed and flared his wings threateningly, rearing up onto his hind legs to make himself seem larger. His eyes rapidly whirling a yellowish orange. But if his posturing failed to make the person stop, Zanzibar would be taking off and fast.

[endless_azure]

X's response to Zanzibar's threat-posture was to slow to a halt and croon reassuringly, making certain that his hands were visible and he himself settled into a relaxed pose.

"Shh. It's alright; I just need those."

The quickly-whirling eye-colour sparked something in his head, and X blinked again.

... Fire-lizard? Like in Zero's old novels ...?

... I don't believe it ~

"You're quite impressive, little fella -- but I still need my files."

[_megaman_x]

Success! The person stopped! He was the bravest and best firelizard evar - having stopped a charging stranger in his tracks! He wasn't even fooled by the crooning and extended hands - there were no tasty treats in those hands.

Still watching X with a wary gaze, Zanzibar dropped back down to all fours. He still hadn't recognized this person as another other-X. The tone of voice was off and the hair was definitely throwing his recognition off.

Still watching X, Zanzibar pawed at the stack of datapads, trying to see if any of them were small enough that he could make off with them more easily. Finding a smallish one, the little bronze grabbed the edge with one foreclaw and then tried to scramble backwards on three legs, dragging it with him. Hopefully he could get out of person-pounce range.

[endless_azure]

Well, that was a rather undignified little yelp -- but X was reluctant to dash at Zanzibar again, given the reaction he got the last time.

... That, and the little bronze's antics were starting to get to be bloody amusing --

I don't think that one has completely crucial documents.

I hope.

He started forward again, but considerably slower, and kept his gaze on Zanzibar. This time his intent was more to round up the rest of his records before even more of them were singled out for attention.

[_megaman_x]

Scoot, scoot, scramble. It took a bit of hopping and scooting and dragging backwards to get out of X's immediate pounce-range. Then Zanzibar snatched the datapad in both front claws and leaped into the air, his wings beating furiously to get height. And then, pop, the little bronze was gone again.

Victoly!

Only, Zanzibar re-appeared above a tree across the way and swooped down to land on a branch he deemed high enough to be safe from pursuit. He carefully settled his prize on the branch so it wouldn't fall and proceeded to nose and poke at it till it beeped.

[endless_azure]

Watching Zanzibar wink out of sight and then reappear in another tree to savour his Flawless Victory [tm] and wring beeping noises out of the hapless datapad, X heaved a wryly amused sigh and turned his attention back to the scattered documents at his feet.

First, get these sorted; and then I'll worry about whether or not I plan to try again out here.

I hope he gets tired of that pad before he erases something by accident. Geh.

First, the other datapads were quickly sorted and then subspaced. The paperwork, on the other hand, needed to be put into their respective categories first; and so X started sorting out his little piles again.

[_megaman_x]

While X sorted, Zanzibar continued to make sweet music with the beeping of the datapad. In between beeps, he'd chirp and try to mimic the beeping.

However, after a while, he accidently pressed the power button, which turned the datapad off. Oh noez! No more beeps! What will he do now?

Zanzibar chirped in distress and tried poking at it some more. Usually if he took a 'dead' beeping thing to someone they'd fix it and make it beep again. Maybe this person would make it beep again?

Zanzibar eyed X shuffling through the papers for a moment then picked up the datapad and took off again. Another quiet pop of displaced air and the little bronze was backwinging above the ground a few yards away from X. He dropped down to land on the ground and tossed the datapad forward a few feet toward X and chirruped rather demandingly.

[endless_azure]

Looking up from his work at the sound of the chirrup and the soft thunk of the pad, X was mildly surprised at it's return -- and misinterpreted said return, as well.

"Did you finish playing, then?"

He scooted closer to pick the pad up; then moved yet again closer, and reached out to carefully skritch around Zanzibar's headknobs.

"Thank you very much for bringing back the pad, you clever little fellow~"