[aw yeah hope i'm doing this right]

[n01curr]

Who: Equius Zahhak and Aradia Megido
What: Equius' "nobility" gets the best of him; he wants to go looking for a missing inhabitant of the Thor. Aradia decides to butt in. Naturally they're not going to find this guy, they'll just wind up doing something idiotic, but
When: Some time after this post. (So probably backdated a bit.)
Where: All over

Comments

[buildsm00chbots]

He had to make an entrance.

It was essential that Equius impress Aradia. Try to reason with him--point out that she had no feelings and thus couldn't really be impressed--and he would not listen. Aradia's opinion mattered more to him than anything else he could think of. Whether she was alive or dead (alive once; dead now), that was irrelevant. Whether she could feel or not... He considered that debatable, too. His past attempts to build her an artificial heart to go along with her artificial body aside (really, in hindsight, what was he thinking, it was stupid, trying to program her into admiring him), he thought she was capable of feeling all on her own. Maybe she was just having a hard time remembering that.

So impressions. How could he make an impression? What did he have on his side that he could use to make her swoon

[n01curr]

She turned to him at once, the spacey little apathetic half-smile still in place on her face, no remote signs of being surprised or impressed at the manner in which he barged into the room.

"Calm down."

Sorry, Equius.

[buildsm00chbots]

He deflated. He should have known better. Blue bloods did not conduct themselves in such an unrefined manner! What was he doing? Argh! This girl! He would make a fool of himself ten times over, and all for her!

And all in vain. She very clearly wasn't impressed with him. Any attempts to seize the reigns on this relationship were failing him, again and again.

On the other hand, thirteen-year-olds weren't exactly skilled at courtship.

He coughed, nervously, and held his hand out to Aradia.

"Here."

Clutched in his hand was a very crumpled piece of thin, white cardboard.

[n01curr]

She adjusted the lenses of her eerie red eyes to take in the image of his hand curled around the cardboard.

"Is this supposed to mean something?"

[buildsm00chbots]

"--Oh, sorry."

Methodically and meticulously, he began straightening out the white cardboard. It turned out to be a flattened milk carton, which he had accidentally crushed in his hands. On the side of the carton was the face of a boy, about eighteen years of age.

He showed it to Aradia properly this time, the image wrinkled nonetheless.

"This is the individual who went missing. A human, but we shall ignore that for the time being. His custodian and/or companion is highly concerned regarding his absence."

[n01curr]

Thin red streams of light emitted from Aradia's eyes as she scanned the image, recorded it, and committed it to her Random Access Memory.

"Okay."

She grabbed Equius by his hands and jerked him off the floor, suddenly rocketing into the air.

[buildsm00chbots]

"--OH GOD! Oh God, put me down!"

Equius began screaming like a sissy, the ruined milk carton lying forgotten on the hangar floor as he kicked his legs in protest. He was terrified. What if she dropped him? It was the sort of thing she might do if she suddenly decided she didn't care! And without a stable platform to stand on, he suddenly felt quite queasy. (...Airsick?)

[n01curr]

She ignored his pleas for help. Propelled by telekinesis, precariously holding him by his hands, she jetted out of the room, dragging him through the air along with her.

They floated through enormous hallways, Aradia never once bothering to slow her pace.

[buildsm00chbots]

"Wait! Where are we even going?!" he sputtered. "This is obscene! Allowing myself to be manhandled by a member of the lowest, basest of castes--you will put me down this instant, that is an order, but only if you want to listen to it--oh I think I'm going to be sick--"

[n01curr]

"We will investigate the Bridge," she replied, mid-flight.

And just like that, she had completely taken control of Equius' self-imposed mission of heroism. The bitch.

(As of yet, she did not realize that portion of the ship was inaccessible.)

[buildsm00chbots]

"Y-You are completely disregarding my wishes? You are...assuming a position of authority over me?"

Lo and behold, Equius began to sweat.

[n01curr]

Unfortunately, the sweat on his palms made his hands slick. And against a surface of sleek metal...yeah. It didn't provide for the best traction.

She gripped him harder, but to no avail. His organic hand slipped right out of her metal one.

Down he fell.

And in glancing over her shoulder back at him to determine where he had gone and what had happened (because she couldn't feel the sweat, obviously), she went crashing into the immediate wall.

Yeah.

[buildsm00chbots]

He knew it. He knew this would happen.

He hurtled into the floor with a loud "crack" and a dying little squeak.

"...Oh sweet agony, everything smarts."

But that crashing sound, much louder, worried him. He rolled over onto his side with an aching "thump."

"A-Aradia?"

[n01curr]

Well, the wall was totaled--but no worries! That, too, soon regenerated. With a chipper little "hop," she righted herself and turned around to face him, floating back over.

"I am okay."

Victory!

"Are you okay?"

She didn't care.

[buildsm00chbots]

He managed to sit upright. His hands were behind him, palms against the floor for support. His legs were bent and he looked completely disoriented. He shook his head dizzily. His cracked sunglasses had shattered, leaving only the frame temples in tact, the broken lenses etching scratches under his eyes.

He peered at her, squinting.

"...Quite."

Oh, dear, his aching head.

[n01curr]

She stopped floating when she was directly in front of him, planting both feet on the floor. Her joints squeaked as she crouched down in front of him and observed his state to ascertain whether or not he was lying. He was a strong troll; a fall like that wasn't going to hurt him too terribly. But his face was scratched and his sunglasses were gone.

"I didn't know your eyes looked like that."

It was not often that they were exposed for anyone to see. Small pupils, bright yellow irises in dark blue scleras, blue bruises in the hollows of his face. She recorded their appearance and stored it in her memory.