ZippyWharrgarbl

IC: Tony Sprocket - Sort Of Hiding

"I, uh, I didn't see much of anything. I heard screams, yelling, and then I saw some laser fire and booked it back to my room. I heard some of the others coming back, but I don't know how many people made it... I heard people get dragged off... I ran into ol' Lockey on the way back, he seemed really serious... do you think they're okay?!"

IC: Tony Sprocket - Cleverly Hiding

"Heroes?! Oh, thank goodness!!!" The blanket was rearranged to expose a small robot's head, staring up at them with hope. "I'm Tony. Tony Sprocket. Is everyone okay? Did you get rid of the bad guys already?"

Yeah, a lot of people have disappeared. I'm happy to keep making posts (I've been busy recently but I do try to check back here semi-regularly), but I believe a lot of people are simply busy. I guess. It seems like activity's been pretty slow in a lot of RPGs lately.

I was going to write something but I apparently lost all sense of time and did not realise that the deadline was creeping up until yesterday. I really want to make a story as well as an art entry, though, so I'll have to try and crank something out before the deadline. Man, G2 was weirdly spooky with the skeletons and spiders and such, too; it'd be a shame to waste an opportunity to write about it.

IC: Kororia - Library

"Can you show me your favourite books?" She looked to her other new friend. "We can find your favourite books, too!"

IC: Rorohiko - Keeping It Down

"Sure. I'm going anyway, so um. Yeah. See you."

He edged a little closer to the door.

OOC: I thought I posted but apparently innmy infinite wisdom I made a whole post and forgot to send it

IC: Rorohiko - Internally Screaming

"Um, we're still flying. In the ship. Xaril's ship. So, uh, you can go back to sleep. We haven't been flying long."

~

IC: Armani - Concerned

Armani patiently waited for the two to finish their discussion. She hoped she hadn't insulted the Matoran, even if she wasn't sure how she did it.

Hi I'm also a Maker of Comics and I lose track of everything I do on a regular basis

Here's some comics (or comic-like creations) as an apology

Teridax Canonically Shoved Dume Into An Orb And I Doubt Dume Would Have Agreed To This Notion

Weaponised Smaller Travel Companions

Mata Nui's Intense Emotional Dilemma, with Alternate Dialogue

A Couple Weird Shirts I Found Online

AU Where Jaller Ruins His Own Death

Malum Asks Himself A Philosophical Question

Tall Kiina Shenanigans

IC: Kororia - You Can't Escape Without A Hug

Tear would find her retreat marred by a small, squishy, soft Rahkshi hugging her legs. "Thank you so much for showing us how to get here!!! There's so many books!!! You're the best!!!"

IC: ???

When Flames opened the container, he would be greeted with a shaking figure, hidden under a pile of sheets. From under the sheets, a voice squeaked, "N-No one's here! Better keep looking! Somewhere else!"

IC: Rorohiko - Waking Up Fifteen With Overwhelming Guilt Aura

Rorohiko nearly jumped out of his armour when Fifteen interrupted his hasty retreat by waking up. He yelped, only barely avoided falling back, and then said, "Oh hey, uh, Fifteen! I was just leaving. To do code stuff. With code. What are you doing up? We're not, uh, home. Yet."

IC: Rorohiko - A Tiny Ball Of Anxiety

"Um, thanks. I mean, you're welcome. I hope you... do... okay...?"

That was a horrible way to say goodbye. Rorohiko attempted double finger guns to improve it, but stopped awkwardly halfway and set his arms back down.

"Um, bye."

He quickly walked towards the door, trying to cram what he'd done out of his mind with thoughts of his work.

IC: Rorohiko - Not Used To So Much Responsibility

"I-I'm guessing you'll be out that door by then." Rorohiko left his seat. He took a few steps towards Barlow, hesitated, looking this way and that as if he was confused about his whereabouts. He made eye contact with Barlow a few times, only to look away again. He felt very sick.

"I don't want a war or anything," he said, softly. He took another step towards Barlow. "I just want to say that now. Wars just waste lives. I just... want things to be better for everyone. And I can't be the one to let someone die, you know?"

He shook, staring at Barlow's jacket, and then reached in. After a bit of fumbling, his fingers grasped the dagger. This was it. He could still turn back. He could drop it on the floor, take it away, do a thousand things that weren't handing it to Barlow.

But if he didn't, he'd essentially be killing someone.

"I guess I am a coward. I don't want people to be hurt. I want to save lives, improve them. And yeah, letting you go might help along a war, but I just... can't live with that guilt. Hah, I couldn't even help you unless I knew I wasn't going to get in trouble. I guess I am only looking out for myself."

He hesitated. Then, carefully, he placed the dagger in Barlow's hand.

"So I'm not helping you right now. I'm going to find a room where people can't convince me to let out prisoners, and I'm going to sit in there and try and untangle an implant's code and hope sometime soon I can rework it to help people made with faulty organs or weak bodies. And I'm not going to know whether or not you got out."

His grip on the dagger and Barlow's hand tightened, but dropped after a few minutes. He immediately clutched his arm, unsure of what to do or say.

IC: Rorohiko - That Doesn't Sound Good

"But they won't, right?" he pressed, trying to make the decision a little less morally grey. "Because everyone's asleep. So you're not going to go out of your way to hurt anyone, and you're just going to... leave... and there's no reason for anyone to be out and about to stop you, right?"

He was almost pleading, clutching his arm for comfort. He still wanted to just leave it be, ignore the guy, but it was too late for that now.

IC: Rorohiko - Actually A Rebel At Heart

He glanced back again at the guards. His heartlight was flashing like he'd run a marathon, he felt like he was going to cry. But still, he felt almost certain. He couldn't be responsible for someone dying. That was worse than being responsible for him escaping. It wasn't like he'd killed anyone, right? He'd stolen stuff, and he did it to try and start a war, but it wasn't like he could do it again. And maybe it wasn't for a war. Maybe New Atero just wants to make Fe stop using slaves and allow people who need it to benefit from their research.

Rorohiko knew Fe had some amazing technology, things that could make everyone's lives that much better and easier. He knew that even some of his own work was locked up in there, schematics and notes that could save lives. If he were stronger in spirit, he'd have shared it with the world long ago. But he wasn't, and he kept telling himself one day he might be. Maybe today, he could be just a bit stronger. Maybe he could help people with something other than gadgets.

"You won't hurt anyone?" he breathed, shaking despite himself. "I just... I just want things to be better for anyone, I don't want people hurt, or killed..."

EDIT: There are two guards in the room and I mistakenly believed there was only one.

IC: Rorohiko - Moral Dilemmas and Gross Sobbing

"I..." his gaze finally drifted away from the scars, to the jacket. He whispered back. "I... I guess if I didn't, you could just... shake it out anyway, right? It'd take longer, but it's a long flight over..."

He glanced to the guard sleeping in the room to confirm she was, in fact, asleep. Then, he said, very quietly, "You're still in the air, over a lot of wasteland. Are you sure there isn't another way?"

IC: Rorohiko - Intense Moral Dilemmas

His eyes went wide at the scar. He wasn't able to look away. He wanted to, his arm tingled and he felt an overpowering urge to just go back to his work. But his usual coping method couldn't work; this wasn't the sound of slaves working on the distance, or the knowledge that some nameless criminal was going to be executed for some unknown crime. This was a person, sitting before him, scarred and on his way to death.

"I'm..." he choked back a sob. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea. I'm a coward, I know. I'm not made for fighting, I'm afraid of what'll happen if I do. I can do so much good for this world, I know it. Do you know how many lives could be saved if I could figure out how the Agori implants are made? Or use Great Being technology to make people's ships safer, or maybe even make something so Fe wouldn't need to use slave labour anymore? Then it wouldn't matter how much of a coward I am. Because I would have helped people, all the same."

He couldn't look away. It made him sick, he felt like a monster looking at it, but he couldn't turn his eyes away.

"I want to help you," he said softly. "What you did was wrong. Stealing and selling someone else's work to fuel a war is wrong. But I want to help you. I just can't. Not like this. There has to be another way."

OOC: I won't lie, I saw that one coming a mile away. Barlow, you rebel. How big are the restraints, by the way? I'm guessing they're pretty strong if they're keeping Barlow there.

IC: Rorohiko - Xaril's Friend Ship

Rorohiko gulped. "You're working for New Atero to take down Fe? As in, our home, Fe? Jeez, Fe does some bad stuff, but I don't want it destroyed or anything."

He looked at Barlow's restraints. "Besides... I told you. Where I am now, I can help people. All sorts of people. All I know about you is you stole someone else's work to sell to New Atero. If I let you out, I'm going to lose the chance to help people who desperately need it. I'm working on things that can change life as we know it. I can't afford to be cast out as a traitor. Besides, where would you go? Xaril's on board, along with everyone else. We're flying. You'd get out, get re-captured, and then we'd both be in trouble. I get that a death penalty sucks, but there must be another way to help you. A legal way."

IC: Rorohiko - Xaril's Friend Ship

Rorohiko looked away. "Hey, I care. I do. But I'm no fighter, and I'm not important enough to make those kinds of calls. Right now, I'm working on some really important stuff, because that's something I can do to help the world. It might not be saving the slaves, but that's not something I can do. And... and to be honest, I have no idea what stealing stuff has to do with saving slaves. It doesn't help anyone but yourself. So, yeah. I can't do anything about Fe's use of slaves. But I can try and help people in general, and I can wait until someone does do something about it."

He scratched at his arm panel absently. "Look. I get where you're coming from. But, really, what can I do?"

IC: Rorohiko - Welp

"... Yeah. I guess. But there's not really much I can do. I just design stuff and do research, you know? Not everyone can be a master thief or whatever. And that wouldn't even stop the problem, or impact it, really."

IC: Rorohiko - Xaril's Friend Ship, Awkward Central

"... Yeah. Yeah, that part's bad. But I don't think taking things would fix that." He rubbed his mask, looking very uncomfortable. "The slave thing bothers me a lot, honestly. I think it bothers a lot of people. But there's not much I can do about it from where I am, except not use it."

OOC: Unless stated otherwise, like inside a Faraday cage or something, the Heroes will likely have an Internet connection.

IC: Johnny 5 Door

That was the correct passcode, as it turned out. The door slid open to reveal a messy room, with movie posters stuck to the walls. Many of them featured robots in some way. There was a storage unit, where a strange, very soft rattling was emanating from, and a desk with the drawers thrown open and a lot of their contents thrown on the floor. Some were tossed aside, as if the pile had been searched through in a rush. Most of the contents were little figurines.

IC: Rorohiko - Making This More Awkward

"Hey, you never know, right?" He glanced at his device. He really was tempted to leave it at that and go back to his work, since that usually proved to be a pretty solid solution to most awkward social situations, but this was a guy who was probably going to die. Rorohiko hesitantly lifted his gaze again.

"I'm sorry, I just... I don't know how I can help, and I'd like to, but I'm not really... I don't know any of this stuff. I just know machines and that sort of thing. If you need, I don't know, someone to talk with the council about a lighter sentence, I can lend some money for you to pay someone." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Why did you steal that stuff, anyway?"

IC: Rorohiko - REALLY Awkward

He looked back to Barlow. He knew, of course, that stealing from Fe was a very serious offence. But he didn't like the thought of the Steltian sitting before him returning to Fe, only to die. He didn't know what he could do about that. "Um, look, maybe they'll be lenient? Maybe if you tell them who you gave the stolen schematics to- or if you still have them on you, you could return them?"

OOC: Oh noooooo, Ailun ;a;

IC: Armani - Ruining Ailun's Sick Burns

She followed Ailun, noting his tone. "I apologise, pilot, if I have said anything to upset you. It was purely unintentional if that is the case. I will not insist upon joining you, but I do hope that Captain Branar rewards your actions appropriately."

~

IC: Rorohiko - Awkward

He looked up, at Barlow, and then at Xaril, and then back at Barlow. He shifted uncomfortably. "Um... really? Wow. That's... That's harsh. Does it, uh, have to be... that? The death penalty, I mean? Can't they do something less, you know... deadly?"