Open | November Catch All

[pidgewidgeon]

WHO: Pidge and You!
WHERE: Various locations
WHEN: All of November
WHAT: Catch-All for November
WARNINGS: Probably language at some point




Heropa 005

Pidge was lounging in the living room spread out over one of the couches with a screwdriver in one hand, some wires on the back of the couch next to her, and Rover on her chest. One of his panels is open, exposing his circuitry, some of which look strangely wooden, and she's tinkering while talking to him.

"Okay, lets see if we can upgrade your camera. A bit more detail would be appreciative, especially in low light. Flash green if the upgrades work and red if they don't. Got it?" Green flashes in the crevasses along his body. "Awesome."

Across the room, the Green Lion is doing her impression of a house cat. She's lying in a sunny patch, on her back, with all four feet in the air, and as far as anyone can tell she's fast asleep.


Patrol; Various cities

Pidge has stepped up the number of patrols she does each week, ensuring she's visited each imPort city once a week. She's walking through the city's streets in full paladin armor with her bayard clipped to her belt. Rover is floating above, providing a bit of an aerial view. The green lion is trailing a bit behind, ducking into and out of alleyways as her attention is caught.

So far she hasn't seen anything that requires her attention, but she's not letting her guard down.


Aegis Base

It had taken no time for Pidge to find a suitable lab to set up shop in and there's now a hastily drawn 'Now Open; Commissions Welcome' sign on the door, the lettering is uneven and coffee stained, but it gets the point across. Stuck to the bottom is another note that just says 'Fire and explosions can be ignored' with strangely appropriate singeing along the edges.

Crashes and bangs can be heard from behind the closed door as well as quite a bit of cursing.


Wildcard

[ OOC: Hit me up on plurk queensassycat or drop in here with your own starter ]

Comments

AEGIS

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin is staring at the sign on the lab door like he's a father trying to make sense of his teenaged daughter's taste in music. It's just this mixture of veiled disapproval mixed with attempted empathy and understanding.]

[Still, as Co-Commander of Aegis, he has a folder tucked under his arm of complaints issued by the staff that need addressing. So he's gonna knock on the door politely first.]

Pidge? It's Darin. You got a few minutes to chat?

[pidgewidgeon]

[ There's a muffled crash, a quiet 'fuck', some shuffling, and finally the door opens. Considering the scorched sign, Pidge is in amazing shape. There's one lock of hair that the perceptive will notice is slightly burned, but she's clean, she doesn't look like she's been awake for days straight, and honestly she should get points for that.

There's a smile on her face when she greets Darin ]

Hey, what's up?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Hey Pidge...

[His tone already sounds suspicious.]

You working on something interesting in there?

[pidgewidgeon]

[ Pidge notes Darin's tone and straightens, recognizing something's up ]

Still just setting up. [ She opens the door wider ] Come on in, and tell me while you have that tone.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Darin wanders in, looking around at Pidge's setup.]

I was just coming by to see how you were adjusting. Also...I wanted to chat with you about a weird report I received.

Apparently the janitor on the graveyard shift was...

[He pulls a clipboard out from under his arm.]

'Cleaning the lab around 4 AM the other night when he was accosted by...'

I'm gonna quote here.

"A gremlin with huge, round, glinting eyes."

...You wouldn't happen to know anything about a 'lab gremlin' would you, Pidge?

[He says, knowing full well he's talking to the gremlin.]

[pidgewidgeon]

[ As soon as Darin says 'janitor' Pidge's body language shifts to guilty shuffling. She knows exactly what happened.

She thinks about lying for all of 5 seconds before blurting out: ]

I.... he.... It was an accident!

I hadn't realized it was so late and I was under the desks bundling cables together and getting everything cleaned up when I heard the shuffling. I peaked my head up to see who it was and I guess my glasses caught the light weird? and the guy just freaked out and ran away before I could say anything.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[Okay, Darin can picture this exact thing happening, and as he does, he laughs.]

Okay, but what were you doing in the lab that late? You know it's important to rest normally, right?

[This coming from Darin of all people. Mr. Unlimited Stamina who used to work four days straight without sleep.]

[pidgewidgeon]

[ Pidge just stares at Darin, her expression clearly stating "Are you kidding me?"

She knows about the four day work binges Darin went on and he's the last person to be lecturing her about appropriate work hours. ]

I'd slept earlier in the day

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Okay but sunlight is also important, Pidge. You know, fresh air?

[LOOK HE'S TRYING TO BE A GOOD INFLUENCE.]

[pidgewidgeon]

I'm allergic.

[ Her voice and face are completely deadpan ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Oh come on! You can't be allergic to sunlight it's the sun!

[pidgewidgeon]

It's called Solar Urticaria and it's actually really serious; but I meant the 'fresh air'.

Pollen's a bitch.

[ How long can she keep this going? Probably a while knowing Darin. She's going to get into so much trouble ]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Wait, so people can actually be allergic to the sun?

What do they do then? Just...never go outside??

[Looks like she's successfully distracted him for the moment.]

Wildcard: Civilian Lab

[spaceforged]

[He hasn’t ever visited Pidge’s lab here. He knows he should have but life has been happening. Yet after matters have been settled on his moving locations and getting a job shift, here he is, knocking on the door and other hand at his side.

He’s traded his space clothes for a grey t-shirt, a tan flight jacket, blue jeans, and a pair of dark boots. He looks comfortable. Life back on Earth with time to relax has done him a lot of good. Black sits at his side scanning around them. He had never thought having the Lion this small would be such a comfort.

But it is.]

[pidgewidgeon]

[ Pidge had been in the kitchen when the knock came at the door, you should be proud Shiro, so it takes her seconds to reach the door. She goes to take a bite of the cold pizza she’d grabbed as she opens the door and just stops and blinks when she sees who’s on the other side, the pizza hanging from her mouth. ]

Hold please [ Is mumbled before she slams the door in his face. ]

[spaceforged]

Of course. [He smiles as the door is slammed shut. Same old Pidge. Some part of him wants to ask her so many questions but he shuts them up. He knows who he will ask to give the full history before he approaches Pidge and Allura for their pieces.

He waits, patiently and checks through his messages to make sure he didn’t miss anything he needs to respond to right away.]

[pidgewidgeon]

[ Pidge opens the door again about a minute later, pizza no longer hanging out of her mouth. She'd used the time to clean up the house, but it wasn't all that thorough. ]

Sorry, that was rude. [ She opens the door wider and waves Shiro and Black in ]
Come on it. What's up?

[spaceforged]

It's fine, Pidge. [He laughs and steps inside with Black padding in behind him. The lion settles down the moment they're inside and subtly Shiro does the same.]

I wanted to see where you've been working that I'm allowed to and, well, [He spreads his hands.] I have a small problem I was hoping you might be able to solve.

I can't talk in animal or bird shape. Drawing out letters takes too long in what could be a crisis situation. I was wondering if there's any way you could either create some kind of translator for animal sounds or, a collar maybe that would transmit my thoughts while I'm shapeshifting. Black won't talk to anyone but Keith and me.

We're not always going to be on the same missions and even that is too slow in a crisis.

[pidgewidgeon]

[ Pidge pats Black on the head as he passes and shuts the door after. She settles on the couch facing Shiro and wraps her arms around her legs, putting her chin on her knees. ]

You can poke around here as much as you want, nothing should be like For My Eyes Only or whatever. But the rooms down that hall, [ she points to the left ] were Lance's and the previous Keith's. I don't lay claim to anything you find there. [ Not that she thinks there's anything too embarrassing. Except maybe some left over weed.

When Shiro continues she listens intently, nodding every once in a while. As he tells her what he wants excitement comes over her face. ]

I am so interested in figuring that out! [ She leans over and grabs a notepad, jotting things down as she thinks aloud ]

It'll probably need a way to read your brain waves to figure out what you're trying to say as opposed to translating animal noises, so we'll need a baseline for human you with like certain words maybe? And then we can scan animal you's brain while thinking those same words and see if they're the same?

[spaceforged]

[He nods once. That’s easier than he thought it would be. It’s a visible relief to hear how simple it sounds on paper.] Okay, I can think of several words we could record to test this out.

Tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it. [He relaxes. The problem can be solved. Pidge has a plan and it won’t be anything that might bother him. He pulls off his coat and drapes it over his robotic arm.] I haven’t yet been able to shift successfully into Black Panther but I think I can do it for this.

I’ve been researching it. [Black chuffs and lays down, keeping an eye on things but clearly unbothered or worried.]

*Spongebob Narrator Voice* 4 Weeks Later

[pidgewidgeon]

[ She continues to take notes as Shiro talks, nodding along to show she's still listening even as her mind plans ahead.

The notes quickly move from what Shiro wants to the beginnings of the programming she thinks will work. The technology here should be sufficient for most of what she has planned, especially if she can scavenge through Aegis's inventory, but she's prepared to supplement with tech made from her own powers. ]

How many animal forms do you have? I feel like I've only seen one.

[spaceforged]

I have three. Hawk, wolf, and black panther technically leopard. [Shiro says as he thinks back to the file he was handed when he arrived in this reality.]

I figured out how a little while ago. I’ve been using it off and on to get used to it and learn how to fly. Keith saw my first attempt.

[Keith had also been witness to him getting his talons stuck in his pants. He keeps that to himself.] I can show you each one. I can shift through them without needing to turn back.

[pidgewidgeon]

Yeah, having a size reference for each shape would make it easier to make different attachments. If you don't mind shifting through your forms I can take measurements of each.

[ This was going to be so cool ]

[spaceforged]

I’ll need to use your bathroom for the first. I can switch forms without shifting back after that. [He says, as he decides hawk should be first. It’s the smallest and will be the hardest to cover the distance from the bathroom to the living room.]

[pidgewidgeon]

Yeah, sure. It's through that hall, third door on the left. [ She points ]

Umm, just ignore the face creams and everything. [ A hint of red starts showing on her face and the tips of her ears ] They're Lance's.

[spaceforged]

[He blinks. It takes a moment for it to sink in.] Nice of you to keep them safe for whenever he comes back. I won't be long.

[Then he walks away, slipping into the bathroom and shutting the door. It takes five minutes before the bathroom door rattles and a yellow taloned foot sticks out of the gap. It grips the edge of the door pushes. The door moves a small fraction.

The leg retreats and a metal prosthetic leg almost identical to the real one, latches onto the door and shoves it the rest of the way open. Shiro lets go of the door and settles his wings, clacking his beak as he strides away, heading back down the hall.

He's the size of a regular hawk and birds of prey were not meant for walking.]

[pidgewidgeon]

[ She'd been expecting him to fly out, so when the hawk awkwardly walks out of the hall she raises a brow. ]

Okay, I was expecting you to fly out. Why aren't you flying?

[ She moved towards the hawk to offer her arm, summoning her armor as she did so she didn't have to worry about his claws harming her.

When he climbed up she couldn't help the grin that crossed her face. ]

You're adorable.

[spaceforged]

[He opens his beak to explain when he isn't flying then shuts it. Shiro leaps up and flaps his wings, keeping airborne until Pidge's arm is safely covered. He alights on her arm with a soft noise in the back of his throat.

Shiro shifts his grip on her arm, the metal foot more towards her elbow. He's a little heavier than a normal hawk. He makes another noise and attempts to tap letters out on her arm.]

Thanks. What next?