DWN-009

I'm afraid you've caught me at a bad time. I'm in the middle of an important assignment at the moment. {ARCHIE!METAL MAN RP.}

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"How odd... For once I find myself with nothing to work on."

[crashmaster-013]

Metal’s apology wouldn’t be acknowledged by the younger ‘bot, for he was entirely focused on finding out just where Quickman was. Once they found him, Crash screeched to a halt, staring down at his currently-offline brother.

"…"

His mouth hung open as he looked on in silence, finally moving after the short delay. He knelt down next to Quick, attempting to lift him up— despite how difficult that was to do with drills.

“Quick?!" Crash asked, looking at his closest brother in concern. By that point he realized that Quick was offline, and his processor frantically attempted to find a reason why Quick was offline in the first place.

"Metal, help me pick him up, damnit!" He snapped, turning to Metalman. Who the hell could have sent Quick offline—?!

"………"

Crashman paused.

With the help of Quick’s distrust of a certain ‘bot (and Crash following Quick in that belief, partially because he listened to Quick but also for his own personal reasons), Crash came to a conclusion. The wrong one, but he didn’t know that.

“If Shadowman did this, I’m going to kill him!!”

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Perhaps he ought to have actually picked up their brother before letting Crash make the attempt. Their entire 'feud' (if you could even call it that), had been caused by Metal making an unsavoury remark about his lack of hands, and it may give the orange 'bot the unfortunate thought that he was making fun of him behind his back-- No, he was simply in shock. How else would one usually react when faced with an offline broter after weeks of him being missing rather than avoiding people?

He's now wondering why this hadn't been brought to attention sooner, if Quick was allegedly under punishment, but he'll figure that out later. He's more concerned with trying to pinpoint a reason their brother was stone cold on the ground rather than running around taunting him or over-babying Crash like the annoying little brat he could be.

"Metal, help me pick him up, damnit!"

"Ah-- My apologies." He obliges, kneeling down to scoop up Quick and heft him over his shoulder. He's about to tell Crash not to worry, that he'll bring Quick to Flash right away and this would all be over soon... But Crash's next conclusion causes his eyes to narrow and glint dangerously, voice a low growl.

Quick and Crash might dislike Shadow Man, but Metal has grown very fond of him.

"Don't jump to conclusions, Crash. It wasn't Shadow," It could have been, as much as Metal hates to admit it. They don't know that for sure-- But Shadow's so sweet. He wanted to fit in and have a place more than anything, and had promised he had no ill intentions towards his adopted brothers. "Do you see any scratches or gouging on Quick's body? Shadow uses a blade weapon. If he wanted to do any damage, it'd be through that. Don't blame him just because the two of you have some stupid vendetta against him. Wait to see what Quick says or Flash can pick up before you go after him. Not that I'd let you."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Break || CLOSED; AU

[toserveanewmaster]

Blake follows Alto’s gaze to the front, half-afraid that his brother’s break is going to be interrupted by one of the girls exploding a coffee machine or something. Nothing seems to be worrying the redhead, though, so Blake lets himself relax as his shoulder’s patted.

"Not really," he admits slowly. "Usually if you win you end up with suspension or threats of juvie." He’s not going to admit whether that’s from personal experience or not, though. Some things he never intends to go into detail on. 

"Suppose I should just stick with my current plan then," he murmurs, more thinking out loud than talking to his brother any more. "Or get a girlfriend just to shut people up." He shook his head and all but faceplanted onto the surface of the table in front of him.

"That wouldn’t be fair to her though, whoever she’d be…”

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"See, I never actually won, so I wouldn't know that." Granted, the few times he'd tried fighting back had been in junior high, before his change. If someone were to come at him now, Alto honestly wondered whether the outcome would change.

The mention of juvie raises a few alarms, though Alto says nothing. He'd heard vaguely that Blake had been raised in foster homes and had a bit of a spotty history, but he didn't know much more than that and didn't plan on pressing it unless Blake told him himself. Some things were meant to remain in the past.

"You could get in much worse trouble if they find out you've been crawling around in the vents, though." Alto warns, though Blake's next train of thought throws him off entirely.

"...Don't do that. Don't ask a girl out if you don't actually like her, Blake. Seriously." His gaze moves once again to the counter, resting on one of the girls-- A short blonde sporting a braid, in particular. "You have no idea how badly it affects people... And using people like that is wrong."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Break || CLOSED; AU

[toserveanewmaster]

If Blake knew what Alto was thinking about regarding the vents, he would have explained it as a combination of size, flexibility… and practice. Practice that didn’t really have anything to do with bullying and rather with some of his older connections and… er. Hobbies. Fortunately he doesn’t know and instead is contemplating his brother’s words.

He shrugs slowly, then shakes his head. "Not really. And…" He pauses and sighs. "I can fight if I have to? I could take them out, I just didn’t want to…" He trails off with a wince. "don’t want to bring trouble to you all, though."

Because bringing trouble to them might mean losing them, and Blake’s just starting to really get attached to his brothers.

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"Well then, there you go. No, you shouldn't get a haircut."

It's as simple as that. Alto stretches, yawning quietly and sneaking a glance back up at the counter. It's quiet up there, at least. Sometimes he'd have to head back around now and restore order if things got busy, but thankfully today seems to be a slow day.

Returning his focus to Blake, Alto listens intently to his brother's plight. Reaching out across the counter, he pats Blake's shoulder sympathetically.

"Trust me when I say fighting doesn't fix the problem, Blake. Never fixed it for me, anyways." Something in green eyes softens with affection at the desire not to cause trouble. What a good kid... "N' changing yourself because of stuff going on at school honestly isn't worth it, either. Again, see Exhibit A."

Alto gestures to himself, then presses on. "Listen... Y' can tell us about what's going on, y'know. You're not a burden or any trouble just for having problems, and much less if they're too much for you to deal with on your own."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Break || CLOSED; AU

[toserveanewmaster]

"Nobody ever checks the vents," Blake murmurs sheepishly. "You’d think that would be just in the movies or something but no… it’s not." Which means he has a safe place to wait out the minutes between classes and a better place to hide during the lunch hour. 

He thinks over Alto’s question, momentarily oblivious to the changing expressions on his brother’s face - mostly because he’s lost inside of his own thoughts as he considers how to answer him.

"…It would stop people mistaking me for a girl,” he says at last, aware that it’s not exactly either a yes or a no, and that it will give away more of his situation than he’s particularly willing to outright talk about. "Not that it would fix anything now, but…” If and when he gets sent somewhere else - to a new school or to a new family, it might help prevent further problems.

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

He's not sure he wants to know how exactly Blake found this out, or how big those vents are if his brother could fit in them. Sure, Blake is kind of tiny for his age, but there was no way he could've fit in those things.... Or should've, at least.

The redhead lets out a noncommittal noise as acknowledgement of his brother's words, now wondering how exactly he would bring this up to Soprano later. After all, the way he dealt with bullies as a kid was to retreat into himself and just let them have their fun until they got bored. Then in high school he'd... Well... Made himself nigh unapproachable. Alto's not sure he ought to recommend either of those actions to the poor kid.

"...You didn't answer my question, though," Alto says in response, "As nice as it was to indirectly get more information about the situation from you, the question still stands: Do you want a haircut?"

Perhaps Alto will grow his own hair out as a sign of solidarity. He'll think on that later.

[crashmaster-013]

Crash nearly stumbled over himself as Metal got ahead of him, having not expected to be the one pulled along instead. Once outside, Crash looked around.

It would appear that Crash picked up the signal as well, for his eyes grew wider and he actually let go of Metal’s arm altogether. “Nah, I can feel it too!”

With that, the younger DWN ran off from Metal, heading to where he felt the signal. “QUICK?!”

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Whoops. The elder of the two turns to steady his younger brother, murmuring an apology. By that time, however, Crash has picked up on Quick's signal and gone careening off again-- This time sending Metal stumbling himself out of shock. After regaining his footing, the elder DWN trots along after Crash. He's in no hurry-- Crash wouldn't rest until he tracked their missing brother down.

Eventually, Crash and Metal would stumble across a certain speedster face down in the dirt; He'd been there so long he's cold to the touch, and it seemed he'd been collecting dust...

"...Oh, dear."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Break || CLOSED; AU

[toserveanewmaster]

Darn. 

Blake hadn’t thought that his weak attempt at a distraction would work, but he’d hoped it would nonetheless. He doesn’t really want to talk about it, not when he’s still unsure of just how welcome he is among his adoptive brothers; not when he’s still unsure of whether they’l reject him or not. But discomfort or not, he’s been well and truly caught, and he’s going to have to say something if the way Alto’s looking at him means anything.

"…"

How’s he supposed to say it? That during his day there he was asked out by an attractive guy - and while he hadn’t said yes, he hadn’t exactly turned him down either, and when it clicked that he was a.) not a girl b.) apparently receptive to another male’s advances (he wasn’t! he… doesn’t think he’s interested in dating… anyone right now, actually… life is too different to want to date…), any possibility he had of being accepted into a decent social circle was shot.

… and then hit over the head with a shovel and buried in an unmarked grave.

"That school doesn’t clean their ventilation system very well," he says instead, well aware that it’s not what Alto’s looking for as an answer. Too bad that cryptic sentence is all he’s sure he can get out on the subject. 

Well, and one more thing.

"…Do you think I should get a haircut?"

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

That silence is a bit unnerving; Had things really gotten so bad at school? The elder of the two steels himself, mentally preparing for whatever it was that Blake had to throw at him. Alto has to wonder... Was this how Soprano felt when one of their family members approached him with a problem? Nervous? 

He's prepared to commit an entire sob story to memory -- to talk to Soprano about later, in fact, so that their older brother could perhaps provide some insight on how to fix things -- when Blake finally speaks once more. The first sentence throws Alto for a loop.

"...The ventilation systems? Blake, how do you know the vents aren't--"

He's cut off by his little brother's next words, and finally the first set begins to click into place: 

"…Do you think I should get a haircut?"

...Was Blake being bullied, or something...? That would certainly explain the, uh... mention about the vents. Alto's stern expression softens; He can't possibly keep that face now that he knows what might be up.

"...Well, that depends," Alto murmurs, managing a tiny smile that dies soon after. It felt too forced. "Do you want a haircut?"

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Break || CLOSED; AU

[toserveanewmaster]

"Nothing important," Blake says, trying to wave it off. "Or… at least, nothing anyone else needs to worry about." He’s aware that if it were truly unimportant it wouldn’t be bothering him this much, but he doesn’t want Alto being bothered by it when his brother’s already working way too hard as it is.

Right. Time to change the subject, then. He takes another bite of cake and peers at Alto from over the plate. "So how have your classes been? I haven’t seen you much lately." Not that Blake saw Alto much anyway - Alto was always either working or studying - but he’s been scarce to Blake’s awareness even more than usual, lately.

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Why can't anyone just straight up listen to him or tell him what's going on? Must everything be some kind of great struggle? Alto's frown hardens, considering Blake knows full well that he's not about to just let this go that easily. If something's been bothering him and he's admitted to it, Alto will find out. 

"They've been fine," the boy returns evenly, not taking his eyes off his adopted brother, "Boring, but fine. What's bothering you, Blake?"

He hates being left out of the loop... Hopefully Blake would realize this soon and just spit it out already.

[hotterthanheat]

And so Heat’s demanding little pout turned into a big smile. “Yay!” He bounced a little in place, listening to Metal’s proposition. Hang out with Shadow? Humm… Yeah, fair enough. Even though stuff had happened with him and the others, he at least seemed to feel bad about it and was trying to make it up to them. He could do that.

"Okay- but you have to rest, or I’ll tell Flash on you!" Flash most certainly wasn’t going to let it slide, after all! Neither was Dr. Wily, probably, but he wasn’t here at the moment.

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

...Curse you, Heat. You're too cute for this world. The smile gets one out of Metal in return, and he pats Heat's head. 

"Alright, then. Heaven forbid I have the both of you hounding me about this; I'd get no rest at all just listening to you two go on about how bad for my health overworking is." A soft chuckle. 

[hotterthanheat]

Heat Man puffed his cheeks, a teensy flame coming from his nose. He wasn’t gonna let his big brothers overwork themselves! So he marches up to big brother and grabbed onto his arms with both of his hands.

"You rest now," he said. "For as long as Shadow should rest. That’s an order!"

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"Heat..."

Was that a hint of protest in Metal's tone? Alas, even the serious and work oriented Metal wasn't immune to his youngest brother's dangerously high cuteness levels. The taller of the two sighs, relenting at last.

"...Very well. Perhaps you ought to go spend some time with Shadow, though. I've noted he seems to feel like he's unwanted around here... I feel that if he has more people to talk to, he'll feel more welcome."

[toserveanewmaster]

"I felt it was necessary in order to prepare for the coming conflicts."

"But… if it’s an order, I won’t disobey."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"...Good. While I'm glad you're taking this seriously, all work and no rest makes for a dull processor."

"You're still young, Shadow. You should take some free time to do something that interests you-- That isn't related to work."

[hotterthanheat]

"How so? Everyone needs lots of rest, why would you need less than others?"

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"..."

Heat brought up a good point.

"I'm not going to deny that I'm being a hypocrite, Heat Man. But this is what I was built for, so I am going to do it. That way, the rest of you have time to relax more."

[hotterthanheat]

"Haven’t you done the same stunt before, though, Metal?"

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"Ah, that's-- That's different."

[toserveanewmaster]

"There’s always work to be done, Metal. Especially so with all that’s going on."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"I'm well aware of that, but-- Seventy-eight hours, Shadow? That's ludicrous. Go take a break--That is an order. Don't make me go to Flash Man."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Dear Heat Man,

Heat, 

Did you want to do something later? Something fun? I've nearly finished with the database I was compiling, so I thought maybe we ought to spend more time together. We can do whatever you like... Within reason, of course. But you're responsible enough to know what will and won't attract attention, thankfully.

I wouldn't want to neglect my youngest brother, after all.

-- Metal.

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

Dear Quick Man,

Quick, 

As annoying as you can be, you're still my brother and I do care for you. Please come back to us safely.

-- Metal.

[toserveanewmaster]

"I had an E-tank a few minutes  - or perhaps it was an hour? - ago now. But I’ll move on to other duties now, if you’d prefer."

[fallvictimtomymetaldance]

"...No, Shadow. I meant a rest. As in no duties, only sitting down and relaxing."