Got the Time?- OTA

[time_schizo]

Martini was in the rec room, with a chair pulled up to the ping pong table. He wasn't playing. Instead, every single watch he owned (and quite a few that belonged to his teammates) was spread out across the surface, each taken apart and spread out, with only the bare framework left intact. And not just the watches on his general person. Martini had

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[sixinchnails]

Yuriko hadn't really seen this kind of focus from Martini, to be fair, for the most part, she avoided most people, including Martini.

She wasn't a girl who liked to socialise, it didn't matter who it was, she preferred her own company. He did interest her, however. And she did feel she had something to say to him.

"You are busy? Shall I return later?"

[time_schizo]

Martini was busy wiping off the glass cover with a soft rag. He paused long enough to look up at Yuriko, small dust motes floating in the air around him. The amount which had gotten into his watches was ridiculous. He mouth pulled into a small, if distracted, smile.

"Nope. Pull up a chair." He gestured to the empty space beside him at the table.

[sixinchnails]

She gave a small nod, taking the seat beside him and crossing her hands in her lap. It was interesting, seeing him focused on something, watches.

It wasn't clear what they had to do with anything, but then, the people here held such strange interests. "It has occurred to me that I did not offer my thanks, relating to the issue of my age."

That period of time had been so awkward for her. Her mind and body both intact at her own power. She felt wrong but right and it confused her terribly. She disliked confusion more than anything. "And so, I thank you, for rectifying the situation."

[time_schizo]

Martini held up a crescent shaped piece of metal between his two fingers, setting it delicately back into its casing in a rather expensive looking gold watch. His head didn't move, but it was clear he was pleased with Yuriko's thanks. "You're welcome. All back to normal then?"

He nudged the piece, which began moving back and forth slightly on a half-circle path. This was the mechanism that kept the wrist watch wound up. He supposed Deathstrike was very much like the watch, needing to be kept in perfect order. If a cog got loose, she ceased to function normally.

[un_move_able]

Fred had been meaning to return another book to Atticus when he came across Martini. When he saw the state the young man's watches were in, Fred instinctively froze. Was this bad? Had soomeone dismantled Martini's prized collection, and if so, was something even worse than the recently kid-friendly version of the camp about to happen?

"Uhh..." he managed to say. "What happened?" he gestured to the watches.

[time_schizo]

Martini was using the small canister of air to blow the dust off each piece. He had just finished work on an old pocketwatch that quite possibly didn't belong to him when Fred came near. If Martini recalled correctly, the last time he had spoken to the elephantine man, he had threatened Fred with physical harm. But nobody was perfect, and he had been under duress. Martini took his finger off the canister's trigger to answer.

"Annual watch cleaning. With the end of the year coming up, they reminded me they needed care. Poor things go through so much, putting up with me." Martini sometimes referred to the inanimate objects as if they were living, just one of his many oddities. He pointed to a watch which ha recently had its leather strap repaired. It was the one he had lost in Africa, and had in his search reduced the lagoon to a desert in search of.

[un_move_able]

Fred stared at the timepieces, still a little wary. But Martini's character seemed much more at ease now, compared to the last time Fred was in conflict with him. Ever since that day at the lagoon, Fred had given the guy a wide berth.

"You... you ain't in a bad mood or nothin' then?"

[time_schizo]

Martini shut the back of the pocketwatch firmly, holding it up to his ear for a moment, a satisfied expression on his face."Listen to that tick. Keeps perfect time." He held it by the chain out for Fred to hear.

He cocked his head at Fred's question, sparing a moment from his little world of springs and cogs. "No. Why? Should I be?"

[acold_burden]

Cassie had been wandering down the hall when she noticed someone was in the room. As she poked her head in, she saw it was looked a lot like a living room.

She didn't want to give whoever it was a scare so she said, "Hello?"

[time_schizo]

Martini had been using the canister of air, giving a few squirts to the back of a watch he was examining. It wasn't one of his, he had 'found' it in one of the rooms. It must've not had a very careful owner, for it was full of dust.

Jumping at the noise, his finger squeezed the trigger too hard, and the dust flew up in a thick cloud. Choking on the thick particles as he breathed in, he looked up. A newbie. He attempted to breathe normally as he wiped his hands on a rag and gave a wave, quoting a line from Star Wars. "Looking for someone? Found someone you have."

[acold_burden]

Cassie raised an eyebrow and walked further into the room. "I have," she snickered. "I hope you don't mind if I ask but...what are you doing?" She could slightly see the display of watches scattered across the table.

[time_schizo]

Oooo, a pretty blonde. Seems like Styker collected those and redheads. Not that he was complaining, oh no. Not in the slightest. As the dust cleared from his airways, he gave one last good cough, then answered. "Working on watches, clocks, and other various assortments of time. Your name, good lady?"

[movetheearth]

Ric had been tempted to sneak up on Martini but when he saw how focused he was on cleaning and checking the watches he decided that it probably wasn't such a great idea.

He had wondered that morning where on earth his watch had disappeared to but knowing what Martini could be like he just accepted that there was a chance it had been appropriated. That... or he had lost it somewhere that was the pigsty he called a room.

Dragging a chair over to the opposite side of the table Ric turned it so he could rest his arms on the back as he watched Martini in silence for a while.

"Everything alright?" Ric wasn't sure if this was a good or bad sign. I mean sure a focused and quiet Martini wasn't unusual for Ric to see, I mean the two of them often would spend time together in their own little 'bubble' but he'd never seen him so enthralled before with what he was doing.

[time_schizo]

Mark had been so focused, wrapped up in his own little world, that he almost jumped when Ric finally spoke. The jarring bump the table recieved sent several small pieces tumbling off, and he frantically began to pick them back up. He only became more upset when he realized they belonged to the first watch Ric had given him, the very special one. He recounted all the pieces twice to make sure none had been missed.

Done with that, Martini turned the canister of air in Ric's direction and calmly shot a squirt of the pressurized air into Ric's face, like an owner using a squirtbottle on a puppy. "Hush, you! I am in the zone." He gestuered vaguely around himself and the ping-pong table.

[movetheearth]

He hadn't meant to laugh when Mark had jumped and sent pieces of watch flying. So Ric had really tried to cover it the best he could behind his arm as he watched Mark, eyes glinting a little in joy, as he'd picked up various cogs and pieces.

"Oi!" The blast of air was a little uncalled for and Ric pushed his chair back from the table, tidying his hair as he did so pouting and mumbling a 'sorry.'

But he didn't go to leave, instead he moved around the table and sat himself down on the floor next to Mark's legs, leaning back against the arm of the well worn and slightly dilapidated sofa. He fidgeted till he was comfortable, one leg stretched out and then finally spoke up again. "Can I help?"

[time_schizo]

Attempting to stay annoyed at the disturbance, Mark watched as Ric shifted himself down to the floor by his legs. He gave a sigh which seemed to say, I am someone who is going through long and eternal suffering. "You can help by being quiet." Martini grumbled out, rolling up his sleeves barely a quarter-turn as his full attention went back to the wrist watch.

Still, he reached down and absentmindedly ruffled Ric's hair as he worked on slowly putting the watch back together. It had a different configuration than most, not having any numbers or hands, and it presented a greater challenge.