[text/video] un: @skull

[ryuji]

[A few days after gravity is restored to the station, Ryuji returns to the mess hall from Haru's garden to find a small robot flipped upside down, panicking through a series of morse beeps and boops, which- okay, that's kind of cool, and quickly figures out that the paneling and suction entrances of the little guy means it's probably meant for filtration and cleaning.

Looks pretty study, looks... waterproof, maybe? He lends a hand to get him right side up and it starts slowly moving forward. Ryuji takes out his communicator and immediately films this as it happens, because, why not?

He posts two videos on the network- the roomba moving down the hall and one, a few hours later in the fitness center as it crawls from the edge, and dives right in.]

Oh shit! Are you supposed to do that?

Whoa, whoa- I don't know how to fix you if you--- WHOA, COOL.




Hey, sup?

Just lettin you guys know the pool looks crystal clear now. All thanks to this little dude.

I figure I should give 'em a name but uh

Everything that comes to mind is kinda lame

Anyway, I think it's good? Anyone wanna give it the first try?

[Complete with file0033.png - a picture of crystal clear water.]

Comments

[mapsio]

I think as long as we give it regular charging breaks and regular cleanings then we aren't breaking any robot labor laws. :)

So maybe we should find out what this thing can assist with?

Good find, Ryuji-kun!

[ryuji]

Oh shit.

That's a really good question. How do we clean it!?

We oughtta find an engineer who can take a look at it, either way

[mapsio]

I wouldn't say that is a bad idea.
Ryuji-kun, did you not check to see if there were compartments where waste may be stored?

[ryuji]

I... no?!

It kinda had a mind of its own, just movin' straight away the second I put it back on its feet.

[mapsio]

Now would be a good time to look!

[ryuji]

Uh...

Okay. If that's what you think's best. I trust ya.

[Cue Ryuji getting down to his undies, looking around to make sure no one's in fitness center beside himself, throwing his jumpsuit down next to the pool and just...



Diving right in.

Ryuji panics for a moment because he's not sure if the smartwatch is waterproof, so as he resurfaces, he checks to make sure it's still functional. Sweet. Diving lower, he takes a pic of Simba in action, and tries to pull up on him to get him out of there. As if the pool roomba knows what he's trying to do, it disengages and activates its flotation feature, rising up and buoyantly continuing its work on the top layer of the pool.

Meanwhile, an amused Ryuji swims back up to the surface, and snaps a pic of this too. He's way too damn excited about the features this thing has. Sends over both pics to Haru.]

Yo ithas afeature that alows it togo up to the surfcae

[Goddamnit, the screen's wet.]

[mapsio]

[She eagerly awaits the return of her friend, via the smartwatch.

She didn't expect him to dive in though? Not like she knows just yet? But when she receives the photos she makes sure to inspect them well. Color her impressed!]

Amazing!

...wait, why are you typing so strangely? Are you that excited?

[ryuji]

Hokdon

[Goddamnit.

He walks over to his jumpsuit, carefully removing water from the screen so that he can resume texting Haru like he wasn't a 12 year old learning what emojis are for the first time. ^_^]

Sorry bout that

The water on the screen was messin things up

When you get a chance, you should come check this out

I dunno what to do to figure out if we can repurpose Simba to get more stuff done, but I can ask around?

[mapsio]

I would definitely like to see it in person and watch what it is capable of. Then we would better know what to ask someone if we wanted to modify it to perform other tasks for us.

Simba-chan will be a revolutionary robot, but in a good way. Because we will take good care of it.

[She is too happy about this.]

The watches are waterproof? I didn't know that...

[ryuji]

Come on over

Brief warning though

I'm in my undies

It's not a nice scene

I uhhh

Apologize in advance

[ryuji]

Actually if you do come can you bring a towel

[mapsio]

I'm on my way, at least TRY to make yourself a little decent before I get there?

[She is on her way.

With a towel.

Dreading the fact she is going to see Ryuji in his underwear.]

[ryuji]

I'll uh

I'll do my best?

[Which leads him into a short minute or two of trying to figure out the best way to cover his junk up a little bit better so that Haru doesn't have to be scarred for life and Ryuji doesn't have to be embarrassed until the end of time.

Cool. He'll just use a chair to cover himself up, like in those movies where the guy is supposed to be naked and when he stands behind an object, it covers up the fact that he's supposed to be butt naked.

When she arrives, he's standing there, smiling sheepishly.]

Yo. So... Heeey. How are you doing.

[mapsio]

[Please for the love of EVERYTHING, cover your junk Ryuji. Haru does not want nor need to see that in her lifetime.

Well, the chair approach is really a good one. But Haru is still...halfway scarred for life when she inevitably walks into the fitness center. God. The chair just makes it look like he's completely naked.

This is the worst.]

Wonderful, just lovely!

[Tossing him the towel, very quickly AND TURNING THE HELL AROUND.]

[ryuji]

[Nor does he ever intend to show off said luxury goods, this prime cut of filet, this... okay, this is getting gross. Ryuji thought he was doing her a solid by hiding behind the chair, not realizing that it creates a silhouette of disaster.

Either way, he's working on his blush at the moment when he goes to hold his hand out for the towel, and instead it smacks him in the face and drapes downward onto his outstretched arm.

Quickly, and efficiently, he covers up his lower bod.]

Ok. I'm as decent as I'm ever gonna be.

[Wait...]

[mapsio]

[She can't be too mad, Ryuji is a beautiful and well put together disaster anyways. Just like the rest of them.

Thank the heavens he's at least covered up.]

Dare I even turn around?

[Haru, turns around...and sighs.]

Clothes, Ryuji-kun. Where are your clothes?

[ryuji]

[Thank the heavens that this heavenly body is only viewable in the right conditions. Mostly, by himself. In the shower. With the door locked, and preferably not even looking down at himself while he scrubs the sins of the world away.]

I'm goo--- oh.

[Raising an eyebrow, he points to the set of chairs that dot along the side of the pool. His jumpsuit, the one where he used lightning magic to tear off a considerable chunk of the arm to make a makeshift bandage for Minato's bloody nose (that he may, or may not have caused), is laying there waiting for it's loving, caring owner.]

Dude. I'm not about to get my wet undies into a perfectly dry jumpsuit and then have to slosh around all day like an idiot. It's like. The grossest goddamn thing.

[DON'T EVEN GET HIM STARTED TALKING ABOUT THE WEDGIES OR HOW HIS BALLS WILL ITCH ALL DAY.

Nobody needs that in their lives.]

[mapsio]

[God, she does not even need the mental image of his uncomfortable body in a dry jumpsuit with wet underwear. She gets it, without even needing to get it. Spare her.

So she nods, sighing.]

Very well, spare me the details. Where is Simba-chan?

[Perfect distraction from this nearly nude disaster.]

[ryuji]

[He makes sure that this toga party is complete with a tight wrap of the sheeting around his lower half. Good? Okay. He can totally show off the start of a 4 pack looking desperate (as Ryuji does) trying to make those 2 extra curls of muscle turn into something more impressive. He's got a runner's physique. Muscles never seem to want to come easily to him, no matter how hard he tries.]

Simba-chan is...

[Walks over to the edge of the pool and points downward. As he looks, a few bubbles launch upward to the surface.

Ryuji looks absolutely smitten.]

He's... He's burping, Haru. What do I do... [Ryuji...]

[mapsio]

[It's okay Ryuji, one day you will bulk up. At least... he could keep telling himself that.

She whirls around, looking into the edge of the pool where Ryuji is pointing.]

Oh, dear.

[Robots can't burp though?]

We should just wait and see what happens?

[ryuji]

[He hopes Simba is okay. There are some serious ghost ass kickings to be had if anything were to ever happen to his favorite son. #1 dad, Ryuji Sakamoto.]

Maybe he got full or something?

[And then, as if on cue, it stops roving about the bottom of the trenches, deactivates its forward momentum and releases its arms outward, creating a sail that helps it drift upward.

And like a spider, it just sort of... spreads out on the top of the water and chills there, inactive. Ryuji clasps his mouth.]

Is he done?

[mapsio]

Maybe so?

[Peering at Simba, trying to figure out exactly what might be going on.

She puts her hand in the water, maybe trying to make Simba whir back to life and come a little closer to the edge.]

I think we might have to empty out whatever it cleaned up.

[ryuji]

[It's definitely a mystery to him. For the most part, thanks to their escapades in the metaverse, he knows how to bandage a wound, can deal with the dizzying effects of magical ailments- but when it comes to robots? Nay, brobots? (Sonbots?) - this is as questionable as blowing into a super famicom cartridge, hoping that the game'll start when you plug it in and press the power on button.]

Uh...

[He leans down next to Haru, also trying to use the water to propel him forward, and then thinks better of it, drops the towel and lowers himself into the pool to go retrieve him. Carefully he pushes Simba forward toward her.]

How can you tell if there's a jam?

[Quick, someone take this gorgeous baby boy to the ER.

The struggles of a first time parent.]

[mapsio]

[Haru will pull Simba out of the water and start inspecting the robot all the way around. Looking for compartments where waste can be stored.

She thinks this is less of a "it's being jammed" and more of a "the robot is full and needs to be emptied". So she's going to look while Ryuji is getting himself back out of the pool.]

Mmm, I'm not sure yet. I don't want to press too many buttons for fear of breaking him or activating some sort of self destruct sequence.

If that is a thing.

[ryuji]

[As if on cue, he gets both hands planted on the edge of the pool and presses, lifting his body straight up from the water and landing his ass on the concrete surrounding it. Leaning back a bit, he grabs the towel and drapes it over his back like a cape, trying to dry himself off a bit as his feet anxiously bang against the interior lining of the pool.]

Why would a pool cleaning robot have a self destruct sequence?

[Well, to be fair here, the station's had some pretty sketchy and nefarious things on it. It's not out of the question, but it does turn his eyes onto the robot.]

He ate up all that gunk... there had to have been a literal shit ton of it, so like... where'd it all go? You think it's got some sorta energ---

Oh. Dude. It probably turns the waste into energy to keep itself goin'. Maybe a clog is stopping him from doing that.