i have no song lyrics for a title

[darkov]

WHO: Marty n a few star wars and a robo lady
WHERE: assorted MF locales
WHEN: Jan
WHAT: little adventures....i'm throwing a raccoon at bodhi's face at some point
WARNINGS: some violence in spots which might result in some gross hand body horror

Comments

BODHI: bikes n' beasties

[darkov]

Martin is pretty good about staying in his lane, but sometimes life throws something at his feet, in a very real and actual sense: on his walk back from a nearby corner store, when a very noisy vehicle speeds by, hitting a speed bump, and loses one of the bikes that was improperly secured onto its rear. The bike skids and plops in front of him, giving him a good fright between the sounds and the sudden appearance.

After he's recovered from the shock, he looks about, wondering if anyone else saw that, or...or what to do about it. By the time Bodhi's come across the scene, he's crouched over the bike, puzzling out what to do, or if he ought to just leave it as-is.

[onlydoubts]

He hears the sound of the bike falling before getting to the scene. Having left Ace back at Base One for the time, which is as he's about to find out - fortunate, Bodhi jogs around the corner. Stops near Martin, still kneeling over the bike.

"Hey... you alright - did you fall off the bike?" He doesn't see any scrapes or anything, but that doesn't mean he hadn't.

[darkov]

Martin swivels his head at the call, startled but still hunched over the bike until he notices he's the one being called. He stands, turning, starting to get red in the face, and holds his hands out in a play for innocence.

"I-I didn't do this," he says quickly. "It fell off a car. It fell off and landed here, and..."

He blinks.

"Oh--you...from the party..." With the dog...

[onlydoubts]

Oh. The truck is already out of sight when Bodhi looks up. "Doesn't seem like they're coming back for it." At least not now

When Martin recognizes him he nods quickly and adds quickly. "Yes that's me - but I left Ace back home so there's no need to worry about him." He holds his own hands out and gestures behind him in the general direction of the Base and also to emphasize the current lack of the large slobbery doggo that's normally by his side.

But back to the bike...

"Seems a pity to just leave it lying there like that. Maybe ride it off the side a bit?"

[darkov]

Well, yes, the absence of the dog is a relief -- perhaps a bit more of a relief than recognizing Bodhi himself. But Martin? Be utterly at ease? Nonsense: he can easily make up for that by realizing he can't recall this man's name right away. Something ending in dee, but there's not a lot of time to struggle and recall.

"Right..." Moving it out of the way is for the best, probably. People walk on this sidewalk -- he was walking on this sidewalk. Obviously he should've thought to do that from the start instead of puzzling over the stylized lettering on the frame.

Martin crouches back down and picks up an end to get it back upright...upside-down.

"Er, wait."

Back down it goes. This way...right? He's seen people ride these things, so--so, yes. This way.

"These...stand on their own, right? I've seen that..."

And, in trusting that knowledge, once he has it right-side up, he lets go.

It unceremoniously falls right back over, spitting in the eye of Martin's good intentions.

[onlydoubts]

Oh. Ah.

Look, if he's honest, his knowledge of Earth bikes are more or less not having to do with his own experience riding one, but Bodhi has seen others biking. Maybe enough to know that it's not supposed to be on that side to work.

(So much more complicated than a speeder bike, these are.)

"Wait -- there -- ah." The bike falls back to the ground once Martin lets go and he chuckles. Right, that's not helping. Smothering it with a clearing of his throat, he moves to pick up the bike. "I think you're supposed to climb on once you have it upright -- then you just -- go."

[darkov]

Martin swallows against a hot beat of embarrassment, awkwardly scratching at the back of his neck as Bodhi sets it upright once more. His mouth tugs in a dubious way at the proposal, glancing between both man and bike.

"I think then...we'd both fall over. Me and the bicycle, I mean. I don't know anything about using them besides having seen...other people use them."

KANAN: stop sleeping under the craft tables bro

[darkov]

Time really flew today; maybe Marty's actually getting better at this hand-to-hand thing. It's so different from training back in Olvoski -- there's more emphasis on protecting himself first, rather than seeking a killing blow. And the whole...fighting humans part, yes.

In any case, it's an easy lesson compared to times prior, and Martin steps away, surprised to have heard the chime for the end of the day. He wipes at his forehead and straightens up out of stance, looking back to Kanan.

"Tha-thank you, sir," he says. "For your time again..."

[kanyounot]

The days go by quickly enough as long as he keeps busy - and Martin is one of the highlights, honestly. Kanan finds himself liking the kid more and more, the more time they spend together. He's earnest, and really wants to do good.

"Sure," he says, as he does every day when Martin inevitably thanks him. "You did really good with that counterattack."

[darkov]

"Thank you..."

More and more, he's gotten less prone to countering the praise in feeble ways: it's much more to do with accepting Kanan's assessments than it is getting a better handle on accepting positivity, but then...he is getting better at that, too. In increments.

While fetching his duffel bag from the far end of the room, glimpsing his name etched out in permanent marker on the side, a thought strikes him, re-remembering something he glimpsed on the kitchen table a few days ago. He'd meant to ask then, but it slipped his mind.

"Sir?" he prompts, gathering his things into his arms and straightening up. "Did...did you get moved out like everyone else did?"

[kanyounot]

Kanan isn't expecting the question, and it gives him pause. He heard vaguely about some kind of reshuffling of the government housing, but hadn't paid it any real attention, since it didn't really apply to him.

"Oh, I don't know? I haven't lived in the government housing since I've been back," he says with a shrug.

[darkov]

"Oh."

So...he's like Brandon, then. Or Cassandra, before she agreed to stay with him and Rex. That's it, right?

"So you live in a place the, uh...government doesn't mind? Is it close-by?"

[kanyounot]

"I sleep in the office here, or at NeoJedha," he says offhandedly. "It's easier that way."

REX: take ur child to work on accident day

[darkov]

It is, in fact, not a work day for Rex, but for one reason or another, being downtown is required of him. License tab renewals, some other life-in-the-city work, take your pick. In any case, Martin was already awake and had asked to come along. Little errands like this aren't bad now and then, right?

This is further into the city than Martin's used to, so his head is on a constant, curious swivel and his eyes are saucer wide to try and take it all in. It's a bit scary, but not overwhelmingly so -- not with Rex nearby.

"Is this the part of the city you and Andy have to work?" he asks, hastening to catch up after having lingered at the crossing while waiting for it to change.

[ct_7567]

"We go where we're sent. But we're here a great deal, yes. It's one of the busier parts of the city - more officers are needed here."

People like to say that it's the more dangerous part of town, and though that may be technically correct, Rex chalks it up to the fact that there are simply more people here. They should be fine, though; they're in broad daylight, they're staying away from the more suspect areas of town, and if anyone tries to lay a finger on Martin, Rex will disembowel them with great alacrity.

"Our main station isn't too far away, in fact."

He doesn't offer to show Martin around. He doesn't want any of those assholes he works with to know his kid's face, if he's being completely honest.

[darkov]

For Martin's part, he's pretty happy keeping his distance: since the haunted house incident, he'd rather not have to go inside a police station ever again. But seeing it from afar is fine, just as a point of reference.

Where we're sent, he says. Hmm.

"So--" Martin's caught up, matching pace, breath coming out in little puffs of fog. "It's like guard duty? They tell you to wait in a spot and stop trouble if it happens?"

[ct_7567]

"Close," Rex says, deciding that Martin doesn't need to know all the ins and outs of policework and just how much time they spend at the station doing piles of paperwork, or the insulting times they're sent to stand and guard some blasted parade or another - or the blasted parking ticket duty. "Sometimes we're sent to wait in a spot or to go on general patrol. More often, we're called when there's a disturbance, and we get sent to deal with it."

This is when it would occur to a typical guardian to reassure their child that they're very careful and that no harm will come to him, but it certainly doesn't occur to Rex. What reason does Martin have to doubt that? He and Andy are very, very good at what they do. That speaks for itself. "Once that's done, we have to fill in the paperwork. You've seen it at home. The bulk of what we do is to keep the peace."

[darkov]

The proof of their skill is in the simple fact Martin sees them come home regularly and mostly unscathed. Well, Rex more than Andy, but by the time they arrive, most of her wounds are either already closed or washed up; her unkempt appearance is normal and fine enough to him.

Keeping the peace, then... Martin doesn't make a habit of watching or reading news, so if any of it does sink it, it comes to him through people, or simply being in proximity. It's been quiet enough in the city for a time for all he knows: no parades of monsters, no fresh riots at the fences of the Endeavor Center, no unnatural acts of foreign gods...Rex and Andy are doing quite a good job, then.

And that makes sense to Martin. Why wouldn't they? They're the smartest and strongest people he knows -- they may as well be the best as what they do. He's decided that's so, and will stay quietly proud of them for it.

To think, months ago he'd be shaking like a leaf just considering walking downtown like this. Now, though, he barely shudders at the noise of cars, or the sudden pop-pop echoing from an alley. Or the scream that follows it?

Wait--

"Rex? What was--?"

[ct_7567]

Oh. Oh, no. Rex had just wanted to run a few errands, show Martin a few new sights and sounds, maybe pick up a little food tonight and get back home. Interfering in a mugging - or possible homicide - hadn't been a part of the plan. For a moment, he just freezes, holding himself unnaturally still as his mind races, trying to figure out what the hell to do from here.

He's never been in a position where he felt as though he had to do anything but charge towards danger before. But now he's got his kid beside him, staring at him expectantly, willing to follow his lead, and Rex has a choice: either he can endanger his kid and save whoever it is that's screaming, or he can take the coward's way out, grab Martin and go. The latter is more tempting than it ought to be. But he can't do it. It's just not in him.

He grabs Martin by the shoulder and yanks him until he's behind him, already pulling his blaster from out of its holster. "Stay behind me," he says, voice sharp, more domineering than it ever is with Martin. "There's something going on there. If I tell you to run, you run. What I tell you to do, you do. Do you understand?"

DANGER: gonna pet some pets

[darkov]

On one the very few routes he has memorized and trusts, Martin's on his way out to fetch fish food. In lifting his eyes up, notices a very stark, familiar shape at the coming crossing -- one he's always somehow mildly surprised to see. She certainly stands out, no matter where she is...

"Hello, Danger," he says when he draws near. "Where are you going today?"

[mortalweapon]

Sometimes she likes to go for a walk. Not because she has to, exactly — after all, this is the robot that routinely transforms into a jet — but it makes for good people watching, and that is almost certainly one of her favorite things to do. Sometimes she still records an incident or two, saving it away — for Marcus maybe, to amuse him if the Porter should ever see fit to bring him back.

She registers Martin from quite a ways off, but it usually unnerves people less if she waits for them to come say hello to her.

"Hello, Martin," she responds mildly, "I had no particular destination in mind. I was merely entertaining myself while I multitask." A light pause. Then, she asks back: "Where are you going today?"

[darkov]

While she multitasks...? Martin blinks.

Oh. Right. She does a lot of things in her head; she's about as opposite in thought process as anyone could be to him, and it's easy for him to forget that besides being right there, she's also...a whole lot of other places, too.

"Oh, um," he glances down the street. "I'm going to the pet store. I have to get more food for the fish." Rex the fish. Despite all odds, that little thing still survives.

He glances back at her.

"You can come, if you want?" It's definitely less likely to result in a building collapse; he's been there many times before without trouble.

[mortalweapon]

The pet store. Interesting. She's never had the occasion to go to a pet store before. Of course, she understands the general concept of one — that isn't rocket science — but she's never stepped foot inside one. Should be very educational.

Promptly: "Yes. I will accompany you. Please proceed." Her GPS picks up a few pet shops in the area, but this is Martin's errand, so she doesn't intervene. "How did you acquire your pet fish? What is its name?"

[darkov]

Proceed he does -- obeying traffic laws, of course; Danger will not need to conduct extreme acts of property damage for his sake today. He hopes. While Danger internally Mapquests every pet-themed shop and boutique in a 30-mile radius, Martin-waze is keenly attuned to the route of precisely one shop and all the little visible notes to its direction along the way. A particularly dented mailbox, a store full of vintage hipster goods, a portion of sidewalk with a chunk missing that someone painted neon dots on to make it look like a perpetually screaming emoji face... Should any of these landmarks vanish or alter dramatically enough, Martin would very much be like that ant in the beginning of A Bug's Life who, when his path is blocked by a leaf, screams I'M LOOOOOOST and remains there screaming until aid comes.

Anyway. The fish.

"Archie gave him to me," he replies. And, in lieu of finishing his answer right away, he checks his pockets for the money Rex gave him for the umpteenth time. But once he has, his voice drops to a sheepish, lower volume.

"Um, it's...it's called Rex. I...I didn't really think of any good names on the spot, so..."

[mortalweapon]

Danger would be happy to punch any oncoming traffic out of the way, if necessary, but since Martin is a good law-abiding citizen these days, that doesn't seem to be necessary. But she's just as content to just follow along, calculating her pace perfectly so that she walks just behind him and slightly to the side. They probably make an odd-looking pair — but they always do, and she never seems to mind that.

"Rex," she echoes him a bit curiously. "Is that not also the name of your surrogate father figure?"