The Boy Soldier, the Mech, and the Girl Genius (private-ish/ask to join)

[Weltall84 559]

The sound of lightly frosted grass crunched under a pair of boots in the early morning hours. The sun had yet to fully peek through the tree canopies, and with the overcast of winter, it might ever peak through at all today. However whether the sun came out or not to warm the area mattered little to the individual making his way towards a set of larger than normal wooden buildings settled away from most of Knothole given the work being done there.

Axel Gusion let out a hot breathe that steamed in the chilly morning air. He was an oddity in Knothole; he was Mobian but only half. He looked like a short-stacked, freckle-speckled, brown haired, green eyed, human. Yet one with dog ears, a black canine nose and almost pointy nose-muzzle; a short tail peeking out from the tail-hole in his trousers. His over-sized olive drab jacket was tugged tightly around him as he braved the cold. Eventually making his way to the Knothole Labs front doorway, he pushes open the door and steps in, grateful to be out of the chilly weather for the moment.

He stood instead of a sort of 'lobby' which lead to a few doors that lead to the different 'wings' of the labs by whose workshop they belonged too. Spying the door of his destination, he casually strides up to it, and pushing against it; found it unlocked and let himself in. The familiar sights of the workshop of one of Knothole's resident tinker'ers didn't fail to impress him with all the junk laying around. His gaze in particular went to a ten-foot tall robot-looking machine which was actually kneeling on, well it's 'knees'. The chest compartment revealing a very cozy 'cockpit' was open and it's iconic 'warrior face' and helmet with a sort of 'horn-like' V-crest. Walking over to the machine, he lightly touches the metal, as if giving it a reverent pat like one would a pet. Once he finished, he steps away from the machine and looks around the lab; all the while taking out protein ration bar. Peeling off the foil he takes a big bite, and chews before calling out.

"Brianna? You fall asleep in here again? I came by your hut and nobody answered the door..."

[Blazeymix 890]

"Oi!" called out a voice from behind the big machine before a short lynx girl wearing overalls, a white tshirt, goggles, thick work gloves, boots, and a frown stepped into view with a hand on her hip and a dirty rag in that hand. "Oi'm givin' 'er a noice polish! You do like 'er clean dontcha?" she sneered at him, sticking her tongue out. "And when do oi fall alseep in here except that ONE TOIME under the big foot which was totally safe and attached to a harness so it wudn't gonna smash me like you was screamin'" She breathed in, sometimes forgetting to suck in air after a long rant like that.

 

Sighing and walking toward him, of course after getting that smudge on the side of the foot that caught her eye, she finally gave him a playful smile and a smack on the arm. "Need somethin' or didya come in here to confess your luv for me today?"

[Weltall84 559]

Once the voice announced itself, the Dog-Mobian/Human hybrid turns to face the Lynx. Calmly he chewed his 'breakfast' munching the protein bar as he waited for her to finish her rant. Crumpling the foil of the bar up he tosses it above her head and manages to sink it into the waste basket in the corner. His gaze meets her's as he responds in his usual blunt and dry tone. "As usual the polish job is fantastic; as for undying love, wouldn't know if I felt it." He then shrugs but a ghost of a smile forms on his lips. "Plus I came to make sure you actually slept, or had some food. I know you and your all-nighters."

Again his gaze moves to the Exo-Frame. "Of course I'm sure Barbatos appreciates the TLC, maintaining him isn't easy, even Rotor's impressed you managed to build him." 

[Blazeymix 890]

Giving a face she folded her arms as if to say 'I aint buyin it'. "You can't love but you can show concern, eh?" she teased, deciding not to push the subject of infatuation further. "Anyway you can relax, dad, Oi was about to get somethin' ta eat after finishin' the polish. As for sleep, you know oi loike ta get my work done before worryin' about wastin' toime with dreamin'. Don' worry Oi'll get to it. Oi'm just too energized to sleep, got too much to work on!" Nevermind the five cups with coffee residue inside resting on her workbench. The lynx gal could usually go 3 days without sleep before crashing for 20 hours or so.

 

"The big goiy is foine, dontcha worry about that. He's good ta go for some practice runs, Oi'm sure ya need to get used to the configurations oi put in from those blueprints we found in Robotropolis. Fancy stuff, tha'. This is definitely my best work yet," she grinned, facing the machine with pride.

 

 

[Weltall84 559]

If he was supposed to react to being called 'Dad' he didn't rise to it. The emotionally stunted male merely took in the Lynx's words and obvious excuses as he could see all the coffee on her desk. Yet he didn't chastise her on it; he was often accused of pushing himself past the brink as much as the Lynx. One of the things that made them friends was the drive to push themselves. "Good, last thing we need is one of our best minds crashing when we need her."

As the conversation went back to Barbatos he eyes the machines; his nerves still tingling from the last test drive last week. Part of him felt this machine was unreal; it was just a robotic suit but Brianna's work with those old plans made it sing. Once it was fine tuned, well it would certainly be a great help. "It's unreal, even Robotnik's notes on the plans suggested it was impossible to make, yet here it is. One 'Lord of Hell' or whatever sort of demon you said the name came from..." His words tampered off into soft muttering. Unlike the Lynx his ability to read was poor and so he couldn't even hope to look up the meaning of the Frame's name and references that belonged to it.

Yet that didn't bother him; it wasn't important. Just that Brianna DID make the impossible real. "With this, I can really help out more..." Turning to face her, a rare look of emotion, of appreciation crosses his features. "I can't thank you enough Brianna, you could give Robotnik a run for the hills... Maybe if we get lucky, we could end him with this."

[Blazeymix 890]

Holding her arm and looking away shyly, she blushed a bit under her cheek fur at the compliments and shook her head to snap her out of it. "It's nothin' really. Ol' fatnik would make a great chess opponent tho," she chuckles, trying to make a joke out of the worst person on the planet. "We'll kick his arse with this thing eh? Actually that remoinds me..." she trailed off after circling the mech and scanning it with her eyes. "Ya oi need ya to take me to Robotropolis again to scavange for some more scrap metal. Not oll of the armor plating is installed, plus oi want to see if oi can foind some more paint so oi can make this thing look badarse too."

Smacking the flank of the cockpit she stopped in front of her friend and beamed. "The polish can only make metal look shiny, it aint gonna make it look any less like scrap, eh?"

[Weltall84 559]

Axel did his best to not dwell on Brianna's Chess analogy since he didn't know the game, and trying to think too much on stuff he didn't know made his head hurt and also just bored him. He knew what he could do and what he was good at; that's all he needed to know. Smart people like Brianna or the Princess could sort that stuff out; and he'd follow orders. His eyes go over the unfinished mech as Brianna brought up the need for more parts, and spying the lack of armor plating in a few areas; he couldn't but agree. "Well Robotropolis is one stop shopping for parts and scrap; just say when and I'll get some gear and hoof out there with you."

Just like that, while plenty in the Freedom Fighters would gladly go on raids for needed supplies; few casually thought of the task so nonchalantly. (Maybe a certain blue Hedgehog, but he was on a whole 'nother level)

Reaching into his jacket, Axel produces another ration bar and peels open the wrapping. However before he took a bite, he heard a loud 'rumbling' that made his canine ears raise up and cause him to cock his head towards the source. His black wet nose began to twitch and sniffle; as his ears picked up a few more but more low-key 'tummy grumbles' from the Lynx. Eyeing his food, he then offers the calorie bar to her. "Here, take it, it sounds like you need it more than me." It was his favorite kind too, but from the sound of it, his friend needed to eat more than he did.

[Blazeymix 890]

Firmly the girl gripped the close end of the bar and snapped it in half while still in his hand. "This'll do, thanks," she grinned, chomping a bite out of her half. "Let's get ready to go then, Oi'll meetcha out there, ya?"
 With that Brianna sent him on his way, she herself grabbed a gew gizmos and gadgets and her pack then went to her office to change into her scavenging clothes.