[open] Salvage and squeeing on the shore

[birdlady]

Who: EVERYBODY IT'S A LAKE PARTY
What: Clean-up! Chao rescue service! Other stuff! Open log!
Where: The lake
When: March 9-15
Warnings: Let's hope the lake Gyarados isn't pissed off about the spaceship that landed in its house...

Just as she said, Melia was at the shore of the lake in the early afternoon, already directing her bodyguards around the scattered, remaining pieces of the Egg Carrier littering the ground. What she really wanted to do, though, was find those Chao. It was a bit selfish of her, she thought, to be more concerned about finding the cute critters than cleaning up the lake, but she did have a good reason. She had to make sure they were all right in the aftermath.

And she wanted to pet one. Or all of them.

((This is a catch-all 'do stuff at the lake' log! Go nuts!))

Comments

[testgasm]

"Oh?" How did he miss this robot. Wheatley must not have been paying attention, or been very busy in the library, or something. That had to be it.

"What's your designation?"

[inspirethewires]

Well, Hajime certainly hadn't been paying much attention to Wheatley, either, so it evened out. Again, the question made him flinch. This is what he was, now. Just a new robot without a directive.

"Hajime Tanaka."

[testgasm]

Wheatley knew that name, of course, and instantly jumped to the first conclusion that popped into his head, suddenly growing visibly angry.

"You were a robot this whole time!?"

He accompanied the furious accusation with a dramatic point. "I knew it!!"

[inspirethewires]

All right, okay, that finally gets him to stop and give Wheatley a look. He doesn't really have lips anymore to frown with, but he can still radiate that sardonic disapproval.

"...That certainly makes one of us."

[testgasm]

Wheatley was not listening. Wheatley had already figured it all out.

"I can't believe you! Running around with all your--with all your anti-robot sentiments, and you were one of us all along! I can't...awful. What kind of robot hates being a robot?"

Hajime, apparently.

[inspirethewires]

He's staring very intently at that human body, now. Suddenly, this seemed a great deal more unfair than before. Why did someone who didn't even want a human body get to have one? What was he doing in it?

"This body is a recent development."

[testgasm]

Wheatley folded his arms, regarding Hajime with no small amount of skepticism, looking him up and down.

"So, what, have you just been in a perpetual state of gijinka.exe? Did you think you could fool us?"

[inspirethewires]

The more Wheatley spoke, the more aggravation built, ready to burst--until Wheatley, for once, said the right thing.

"Wait--wait, what was that? Gijinka--is that something I can get? Download, whatever--where is it? How do I do it?! You've got to tell me!"

[testgasm]

"Woah, hold on now."

Wheatley still didn't quite understand what was going on here, but he did know one thing--Hajime had never been nice to him, and, in fact, had been very adamant when it came to telling him that robots didn't have feelings. He folded his arms, looking Hajime up and down.

"I think you owe me an apology."

[inspirethewires]

"I--"

He faltered. He'd meant to say it, really he had, but Wheatley had a way of derailing things, and--ah. No, he couldn't make excuses. Hajime had given him more than enough reasons to come out confrontational, misunderstandings or no. Abrasiveness hardly compared to some of the careless, cruel things he'd said.

"You... you're right. I'm sorry. I've been... the, the things I said were..."

Were there words strong enough to properly convey what an asshole he'd been? He was struggling to come up with something appropriate.

"...well, wrong, to say the least of it. I can't ask for your forgiveness, but..." He trailed off a moment. "No, no buts. I really am sorry. You're well within your rights to hate me."

[testgasm]

Oh. Oh, the sweet, sweet satisfaction. Would that Wheatley could stand here and continue to make Hajime squirm for the indefinite forever. Indeed, he very clearly wanted to drag this out for as long as possible, but all things considered, that was a pretty good apology.

"What's with the act, anyway?"

You secret robot. Why would a robot pretend to not be a robot? None of this made any sense to him at all.

[inspirethewires]

"It's not an act." Please, please let it get through to him this time. "I've always been human, before. This..." He gestured to his whole self, "this mess, I only just got turned into it, thanks to Eggman's work."

[testgasm]

"Okay, fine, let's just--say you were human before, or something," he replied with the tone of someone who was A) highly incredulous and B) talking to someone not quite right in the head.

"Gijinka.exe...not that you--not that you need it--is available in the library. Hypothetically speaking."

[inspirethewires]

Why is a robot turning into a human so much easier to believe than a human turning into a robot. What about your experiences tells you this is unlikely, Wheatley.

Though, Hajime was too excited by the information finally shared to voice his incredulousness--his eyes literally lit up at the thought he could get his proper body back.

"The library. Great! I'll go--I'll be right back--thank you! Thank you, Wheatley!"

[testgasm]

"Right, uh."

It is satisfying, of course, to have Hajime in such a position. A good person would tell him where, exactly, in the mountains of information held by Smash Academy's library one could potentially find gijinka.exe.

"Good luck."

Wheatley is not a good person.