OPEN / it's nice for mice to get out of the house

[tinyfood]

Who: Entrapta; unfortunate passersby
When: mid-Iuneril, around the time of the festival
Where: but not actually at the festival
What: shopping for parts in various locations; impressive restraint re: crime
Warnings: nothing as of yet

Entrapta isn't particularly used to having to work at getting the materials she needs for her experiments. Back in Dryl, she was the Princess and was more or less provided with everything she needed, partially on principle and partially because keeping her well supplied with research material meant she'd occasionally provide useful inventions for the mining organisations who actually handled most of the business of running the kingdom. With the Horde, she'd had to scavenge for bits and pieces, but nobody seemed to really mind, and Catra was more than happy to specifically fetch her anything she asked for.

Here, however, it isn't so simple. She can't just hole herself up in her makeshift lab for as long as she likes, because if she does she will not only run out of things to use in her experiments, she will also probably starve to death? Honestly it's the worst. She has to divide her own food into miniature portions, even, what the heck is with that?

She's managed to get by for most of Iuneril by just cannibalising things she already worked on the previous month, but some things exploded yesterday* and the short of it is that she needs more raw materials. So! Here she is, out on the town, more or less ignoring the festivities. The astute observer will notice she has approximately six more eyes than previously; two above the ones she already had, one on each shoulder, and two on her chest. They're smaller and beadier than her two regular eyes, but they're definitely eyes. She's probably squinting them a little, because today is the first time they've been exposed to direct sunlight.

_______________________________________________________________________
*it's fine, Solas wasn't even home probably, do they even have neighbours


You might find Entrapta and her new eye balls in a few different places:

1. A junkyard in the Harbour District, because free stuff is the best stuff, and Entrapta has learned the hard way that she can't get away with just assuming all unattended stuff is free stuff. If you're the kind of person who also enjoys rummaging through junk thrown out by factories and boats, you might encounter her in the actual junkyard, but if you're a normal person who's just passing by, you still stand a very real chance of her just bumping into you because her arms are full of crap and she can't see where she's going, even with all those extra eyes.


2. Around and about the Shopping District – once she notices you're one of the other recent arrivals, she waves enthusiastically and says, "Hey! Hey, do you have, ahh... fffiiive hundred cune?"

It is entirely possible she has never spoken to you before, but that doesn't seem to deter her in the least.


3. And, a little closer to home, if you're passing through the Aristocratic District, at one point Entrapta is just coming out of shop that sells extremely expensive magitech items for the extremely well off. As she steps out of the door, she's eyeing something in their window display that looks like a sort of steampunk aibo (designed to appear clearly mechanical rather than as a faithful recreation of an animal so that everybody can see at a glance how much money you must have spent), and she lifts her watch to talk into it. It's clear after a moment that she isn't using it to call someone or address the network; presumably this is for her own personal records.

"Ethical dilemma number... seventy-six? Seventy-five? Mmm, no, seventy-five was about the wolf statue. Ethical dilemma number seventy-six! This device is obviously way beyond my budget, and I had to promise I wouldn't take any more stuff I'm not supposed to... but being able to examine it more closely would yield significant benefits for my current research. If I could replicate these mechanisms it's totally possible I could make that amount of money myself, so would it still be wrong if I paid them back afterwards? They probably wouldn't want me to take it right now, though, so does that make it wrong no matter what...?"

// OOC: as always if you'd prefer to use brackets feel free, I'll match response format!

Comments

1

[fifty]

((change reference))

America has been enjoying the festival, but he also has a weird new problem: he keeps being drawn to metal things. He hasn't figured out why, but he does know he doesn't have the money for this, but he also knows he really wants metal things--so, he hits up the junkyard, where there are plenty of pretty, shiny odds and ends that people have just thrown away like it was trash! Crazy.

He hefts a huge piece of scrap metal out of a pile, turns, and suddenly catches sight of way too many eyes. He yelps and leaps back, clinging protectively to his scrap metal.

[tinyfood]

Entrapta more or less mirrors that reaction, not so much startled by his appearance as by him jumping and yelling. She accidentally drops most of the things she was holding, because she's used to having more than just two hands to flail about when surprised? This whole Flesh Limbs Only thing is such a pain.

"AAH, what?? Did I, bump into you?"

[fifty]

"Oh, you're a person," America says, breathing out a sigh of relief as she turns out to be only sort of instead of entirely a giant spider. "It's okay, I just didn't expect to run into anyone here! Sorry about making you drop your stuff."

America shifts his own stuff to one hand--only possible due to his strength--and reaches to help her pick up the stuff she dropped.

[tinyfood]

"Oh! Yes! I am a person," she agrees cheerfully, taking the things he picks up back – but she's quickly distracted by his holding up all of the junk he's collected with only one hand. "Oh, wow, you must have superhuman strength!" She goggles at him with clear interest. "Did you always have that, or is it new–?"

[fifty]

"Uh, both?" America considers the things he's holding for a moment. "I had it before I got here, but I didn't have it right after I got here, but then it came back eventually."

3 (he just has the ears and the tail from the image so far)

[cyclopticsadist]

[Niles is used to casually listening to the conversations happening around him. He's good at eavesdropping and covertly observing people. He needs exactly none of those skills or experiences to overhear Entrapta's monologue. In fact it's pretty hard not to overhear it, as is shown by the way his newly sprouted ears are turned in the opposite direction and flattened just a little. Not in anger just...his hearing got better and she's basically shouting.

In fact he's pretty far from angry. He's delighted by her logic, charmed by the fact that she's even taking the ethics into consideration, and intrigued by her hunger for information.]

I have an idea you might be interested in, but first I have to ask; what happened with the wolf statue?

[tinyfood]

Wha-? Oh, the wolf statue? I broke it, it belonged to my roommate... [ Entrapta shrugs. She clearly wasn't expecting to be approached, but she takes it in her stride. She leans forward (or, well, up) a little, clearly curious: ] What's your idea?

[cyclopticsadist]

[His tail swishes from side to side in long irregular flicks. He's not looking at Entrapta anymore, instead focusing on the building in front of them. He's casing the place, looking for less obvious ways in and out than the front door.]

Well, this one's not being used right? It's just sitting around to be looked at. If you provided them with something that looked the same in exchange then there's no harm done.

[tinyfood]

Oh, hey, you're right! [She clearly likes this angle; she actually looks a little relieved. Ethical conundrums are the worst!] It'd definitely be easier to produce a non-functioning replica, that's for sure...

[cyclopticsadist]

[Niles is long past needing to find ways to morally justify his many deviant acts, but seeing the trait in someone else, especially on a problem as trivial as theft, is cute.]

And then it's just borrowing really. [He shrugs with a smile and gives her a sideways glance.] How long do you think that might take?

2, CW for brief mention of dental pain/trauma

[alienwear]

Peridot has actually pulled herself off to the side and away from the crowds around the shopping district, exclusively so that she can skulk in the mouth of one of the surrounding alleys, because she is going through some intensely uncomfortable transformation pains at the moment.

Now, she's been known to be rather tone deaf herself, but the position she's in makes Entrapta's inquiry just sort of laughable, because she's in the middle of leaning against a wall and whimpering while she massages her jaw line to absolutely no avail. The gem stares incredulously at the princess before answering.

"Seriously Entrapta? No, I don't!" she snaps testily, going back to focusing on her tooth pain.

[tinyfood]

"Oh, whoah!" Entrapta peers at her with fascination gleaming in a whole bunch of her eyes. Whatever she needed the 500C for is WAY less interesting than this. "Say, are you growing new teeth?"

[alienwear]

"Ooourrgghhh... All evidence appears to point to yes," Peridot says testily, pressing her hands to her cheeks and hunkering down in a miserable ball.

[tinyfood]

Entrapta eagerly drops into a crouch next to her. "Can I see?!"

[alienwear]

Peridot looks flummoxed.

"Why would you want to witness my horrible mutation--?" she starts to ask loudly, but freezes mid-word with her mouth open in agony. Entrapta then gets a pretty good look at things regardless of Peridot's wishes, as her teeth elongate and reshape themselves into cruel looking fangs.

1.

[lonewanderer]

Lex has always felt at home rummaging through scrap and trash. This scrap is all much fresher than anything she would have encountered back home, but that makes it more valuable, not less. Dogmeat is happy to trot along at her side, not bothered by the longer teeth and claws that his human is now sporting. Other people being in the junkyard isn't unexpected, but also isn't common. Extra eyes aren't exactly uncommon around here either, even if they send a chill up Lex's spine.

It doesn't stop her from calling out, as she tugs on a large sheet of metal partially trapped under something else.

"Mind giving me a hand?"

[tinyfood]

"Huh? Oh – Sure, I guess!" Entrapta makes her way over, setting down her own haul so she can haul the heavier object up enough to make it easier to pull that metal sheet out. She's very short, but she's also fairly sturdy, it seems. "Hup–!"

[lonewanderer]

"Thanks-"

There's not much more time to speak, though; Lex isn't going to have Entrapta just stand there and hold the other scrap. Once her metal sheet is free, it's easy enough to pull it out and get it away; Dogmeat, ever the helper, even grabs a bit of it in his teeth and tugs.

"Okay, you can set that thing down; it's free."

[tinyfood]

She drops it with a clang and peers at the piece of scrap Lex has got hold of. "What're you gonna use this for?"

[lonewanderer]

"Honestly? Not sure yet." She shrugs, then crouches to start examining the sheet more closely. There are a few dings from where it was stuck under other items, but otherwise it looks to be in relatively good condition. "But you never know when things like this will be useful."

She's a bit of a hoarder.

2

[silentsavant]

Her enthusiasm breaks against the stark contrast of Soren's deadpan apathy. He stares at her like she's grown a third eye (ha! try six!!), but not because she has an abnormal number of them on her person. ...Okay, it might be partially because of that. But how dare she ask him about his money with the probable intent to beg him for it. His tone is wrought with mild irritation as he props a hand on his hip.

"None I am willing to part with for nothing."

[tinyfood]

"Oh! Hmm," says Entrapta, apparently undeterred by his clear irritation. She pats her pockets. "What would you part with it for?"

[silentsavant]

There's nothing he can think of that he particularly wants; he's not materialistic in the slightest and wanting for nothing that money can buy. But if she's willing to do business with him, Soren could stand to bargain. Who knows where this might lead?

"That depends on what you have to offer."

[tinyfood]

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Mmmostly stuff I've built, which I don't have on me but I could write you an IOU..."

[silentsavant]

"Oh? What sorts of things do you build?"