I'm Spring, also known as Spring Trap (First name, last name!) I don't work for Mann co. I just made the hop over here to bug my counterpart, the Shapeshifter :)
You might know me because of those horror games Five Nights at Freddy's, but something to keep in mind is that the guy you see in 3? That's not actually me, that's William. We got stuck in the same body, sure, but I was awake during the day and he got the night. He's not in here anymore, thankfully.
I also don't look like that anymore! See my profile pic to get a better look at what I look like now. To keep things simple, we'll just say that it was some magic that did it.
I'm at peace with the fact that I'm dead and make jokes about being dead often!! So if that bothers you maybe consider not following me!
All in all I'm a pretty open person, so feel free to ask about me!
ooc under cut:
Spring started off as a "what if" scenario I made for FNaF of "What if Springtrap had the soul of a child too?" and she snowballed from there. There's much more to her, and it might lead to some confusion but in the end, this is all for fun!
Some things to note about Spring:
Her name wasn't always Spring, she doesn't remember what it used to be.
She can shapeshift just like her counterpart, she will use this for shenanigans.
Spring can't feel fear for herself, but can worry for others.
She's undead and can't truly be killed again. She possesses an animatronic even if she looks human, if enough damage is done to her she'll "deactivate" until someone can fix up her wounds, if her body is destroyed her spirit just finds a similar animatronic to possess.
Spring, unlike the rest of the children's spirits, isn't free. She's still stuck to this plane and she doesn't know how to get free.
She can't really feel pain, but she's aware that she's also in agony all the time. This is because agony is like a fuel to her, as is rage.
Despite these fuel sources, she still needs to eat and sleep occasionally! Thinking of it like a fire (how fitting) eating and sleeping create energy, or a "spark" to light the fuel to start the fire.
"Hey Spring! Merry Smissmas! I've got a gift for you and Mal!"
V looks like she's having the time of her life and she hasn't even handed the gifts over yet. She's got four wrapped up gifts in festive paper. Two for each.
-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist
(OOC: We're in the non-linear time soup now lol)
"Oh! You didn't have to do that!" Spring seems surprised, but then again, it was easy to imagine she didn't get gifts often.
Mal appears in a cloud of purple static, throwing his arms in the air. "Merry Smissmas!" He never got gifts, so he was even more excitable than usual.
She passes the gift over. Spring's one gift is significantly heavier and larger than the other. A toolbox is going to weigh more than a few yellow shirts. Both of Mal's gifts are smaller. She's really hoping that he can actually use the handheld game console and that he'll like the games she got for him. Who doesn't like a good platformer?
V is so genuinely happy. She's got the biggest smile on her face, she's animated and bubbly. She loves this part of the year.
Spring holds all the gifts, opening Mal's first to make sure he didn't just stick his head through them to find out what they were before they were opened.
He jitters around in a way that Spring easily identifies as excitement at his gifts, so she pops a game in and turns it on, waving it at Mal who very quickly vanishes into the device.
"He loves it." She clarifies with a laugh, putting the console down nearby.
She opens hers next, grinning at the sight of new shirts and her eyes widening at the toolbox. "Thanks, these will really come in handy." She glances up at her with a small nod.
"Sorry that we don't have anything to give to you in return, but I know of someone who will." Spring notes, of course without making any hint as to who it was.
V laughs as Mal disappears, clearly happy about his gift.
"You were right about yellow shirts being hard to find! I haven't really looked for them before. I'm glad you guys like what I could grab."
Her whole face is lit up in pure joy. She's having a wonderful time.
She nods along at the comment. "You don't need to worry about getting me anything! I'm just happy you guys like this stuff." At this point she isn't even worried about how vague it is. At least it's nothing bad.
"Yeah, usually I just deal with stains and holes because they're so hard to find. Especially around this time of year." She notes, looking through the new tools she had for a moment.
"For us, the whole month is considered what Smissmas is. Some of us call it the gift giving season." She explains, then points at V with a grin. "Don't think you're getting away from me next gift giving season."
"I didn't really know what sort of tools you would need and all of the stuff I'm experienced with is small, so I hope those work out for you. Oh! I wrote your name on the inside of the lid, too."
She laughs and hold her hands up in the 'I'm innocent!' pose when she gets pointed at.
"You know where I live, I'm good at running but I think you'd track me down! I'm getting you something next year too."
"I'm very hard to outrun." She agrees with narrowed eyes. It would've been threatening if it weren't for the fact that it was about giving gifts.
She looks for any writing on the lid, eventually locating it. She couldn't read much, but she had figured out her name fairly quickly. She didn't usually write her name on her things, it would either be impossible to read or look too perfect to seem like a person wrote it, but it was nice to have something that so clearly belonged to her.
"Hey Spring! Merry Smissmas! I've got a gift for you and Mal!"
V looks like she's having the time of her life and she hasn't even handed the gifts over yet. She's got four wrapped up gifts in festive paper. Two for each.
-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist
(OOC: We're in the non-linear time soup now lol)
"Oh! You didn't have to do that!" Spring seems surprised, but then again, it was easy to imagine she didn't get gifts often.
Mal appears in a cloud of purple static, throwing his arms in the air. "Merry Smissmas!" He never got gifts, so he was even more excitable than usual.
She passes the gift over. Spring's one gift is significantly heavier and larger than the other. A toolbox is going to weigh more than a few yellow shirts. Both of Mal's gifts are smaller. She's really hoping that he can actually use the handheld game console and that he'll like the games she got for him. Who doesn't like a good platformer?
V is so genuinely happy. She's got the biggest smile on her face, she's animated and bubbly. She loves this part of the year.
Spring holds all the gifts, opening Mal's first to make sure he didn't just stick his head through them to find out what they were before they were opened.
He jitters around in a way that Spring easily identifies as excitement at his gifts, so she pops a game in and turns it on, waving it at Mal who very quickly vanishes into the device.
"He loves it." She clarifies with a laugh, putting the console down nearby.
She opens hers next, grinning at the sight of new shirts and her eyes widening at the toolbox. "Thanks, these will really come in handy." She glances up at her with a small nod.
"Sorry that we don't have anything to give to you in return, but I know of someone who will." Spring notes, of course without making any hint as to who it was.
V laughs as Mal disappears, clearly happy about his gift.
"You were right about yellow shirts being hard to find! I haven't really looked for them before. I'm glad you guys like what I could grab."
Her whole face is lit up in pure joy. She's having a wonderful time.
She nods along at the comment. "You don't need to worry about getting me anything! I'm just happy you guys like this stuff." At this point she isn't even worried about how vague it is. At least it's nothing bad.
"Yeah, usually I just deal with stains and holes because they're so hard to find. Especially around this time of year." She notes, looking through the new tools she had for a moment.
"For us, the whole month is considered what Smissmas is. Some of us call it the gift giving season." She explains, then points at V with a grin. "Don't think you're getting away from me next gift giving season."
"Hey Spring! Merry Smissmas! I've got a gift for you and Mal!"
V looks like she's having the time of her life and she hasn't even handed the gifts over yet. She's got four wrapped up gifts in festive paper. Two for each.
-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist
(OOC: We're in the non-linear time soup now lol)
"Oh! You didn't have to do that!" Spring seems surprised, but then again, it was easy to imagine she didn't get gifts often.
Mal appears in a cloud of purple static, throwing his arms in the air. "Merry Smissmas!" He never got gifts, so he was even more excitable than usual.
She passes the gift over. Spring's one gift is significantly heavier and larger than the other. A toolbox is going to weigh more than a few yellow shirts. Both of Mal's gifts are smaller. She's really hoping that he can actually use the handheld game console and that he'll like the games she got for him. Who doesn't like a good platformer?
V is so genuinely happy. She's got the biggest smile on her face, she's animated and bubbly. She loves this part of the year.
Spring holds all the gifts, opening Mal's first to make sure he didn't just stick his head through them to find out what they were before they were opened.
He jitters around in a way that Spring easily identifies as excitement at his gifts, so she pops a game in and turns it on, waving it at Mal who very quickly vanishes into the device.
"He loves it." She clarifies with a laugh, putting the console down nearby.
She opens hers next, grinning at the sight of new shirts and her eyes widening at the toolbox. "Thanks, these will really come in handy." She glances up at her with a small nod.
"Sorry that we don't have anything to give to you in return, but I know of someone who will." Spring notes, of course without making any hint as to who it was.
"Hey Spring! Merry Smissmas! I've got a gift for you and Mal!"
V looks like she's having the time of her life and she hasn't even handed the gifts over yet. She's got four wrapped up gifts in festive paper. Two for each.
-@emotionally-helpful-illusionist
(OOC: We're in the non-linear time soup now lol)
"Oh! You didn't have to do that!" Spring seems surprised, but then again, it was easy to imagine she didn't get gifts often.
Mal appears in a cloud of purple static, throwing his arms in the air. "Merry Smissmas!" He never got gifts, so he was even more excitable than usual.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
She listens to Shifty and then Spring. 'There's probably a reason'.
But what reason?!
"Well... yeah alright." She just tries to shrug it off. It's not like she can change it anyway.
It didn't matter before, right? ...Right?
It'll be fine.
She turns her attention back to Mal, something better to focus on for a moment.
"I think any bullying you do is cyberbullying, if we're going that route. You're the one with the," She puts up little air quotes, "'electronics'. I don't think we have a word for actions against computers, I guess you'll have to make it up!" She jokes.
Spring just smiles innocently, unfazed by Shapes' disdain.
Mal grins, tapping a finger to his chin. "I'd argue that cyberbullying works both ways, being bullied by me and bullying me. Both include," He also uses air quotes "'electronics'. But it might be fun to come up with a different word anyway."
Spring connects her thumb and ring finger, then taps the connected fingers against the side of her nose while looking at Mal. Mal just sticks his tongue out in response.
"She called him a nerd." They muse with a grin, then they add on. "Which he is."
One of the more harmless facts that they knew about Spring was that she always loved being able to understand and use sign with others. Other methods that a lot of people who didn't bother to learn sign just straight up wouldn't work with her, like writing notes.
She also loved how some people's eyes lit up at the chance to use sign and have someone understand.
"He doesn't deny it." Spring points out with a laugh. "And yes, it's sign language. Picked it up for a variety of reasons." She smiles. "It works great to keep myself moving when I'm talking while also offering another way to 'hear' me, for example."
Was it strange that she could be signing even when no one in the conversation knew sign? Maybe, but it wasn't like she was normal to begin with.
"I think I still remember the alphabet?" She says, before running through the first few letters. "Still got it! I doubt I remember much else though. That's cool!" She gives a goofy little smile.
V laughs at the jab at Mal, knowing full well that she was also, in fact, a nerd.
Uncontained holograms are pretty impressive. And really, really, nerdy.
The amount of work she had put into inventing her projectors was a reflection of how incredible they were. Even those with no idea of how basic three dimensional imaging worked could take one look and understand their value.
Without much thought, they start signing "my name is" only to get struck by fear as they signed a C. They hadn't really thought about getting used to signing 'Shifty' or 'Shapes' so their mind had apparently decided to go with something they did know how to finger spell easily, their actual name.
They fold their hands together before they can get any farther. "I learned sign from Spring."
Spring on the other hand, signs and spells her name with quite possibly the most fluid motions she has had since waking up. "My name is Spring."
Mal drifts closer to V, hiding his mouth with a hand like he's telling her a secret. "Spring's a total nerd too, she knows how to make whole animatronics."
"I can hear you." She notes with a grin.
"No you can't, I'm telling secrets. That's not allowed." Mal decides, pointing at her.
She raises her hands it mock defeat. "Ah, my bad. These ears are just for show, I forgot."
V is having a great time now. Between the consistent joking and Shapes being genuinely comfortable here, she has completely forgotten all of that stress and whatever questions she had earlier.
She'll remember them later. Probably.
"My name is V." She signs it slowly and deliberately. She grins a little at the simplicity of her name and how easy that made spelling it out. That was sort of the point of it, anyway. Simplicity.
Thankfully V already knew the first letter of Shifty's name, they didn't spill any new information.
She is giggling the whole time Mal and Spring are talking, failing at stifling it.
"There's no way you can hear him! That's just the rules." She says, grinning wide.
"Don't go breaking the rules Spring." They nodded with a laugh.
"But lets be honest, no one here is fully sane and everyone here is a nerd in some shape or form." The amount they committed to accurately portraying the person they shifted into required a lot of research after all.
The sanity thing felt fairly obvious, though. Of the four people in the cave they had two mercs, a spirit that got murdered as a kid, and a living computer virus that possessed people.
"Oh, I see how it is." Spring squinted at her counterpart. "Bully Spring o'clock, is it?"
Mal cackled at Shifty's addition of 'everyone here is a nerd'. "I'll take that! You're definitely not wrong!" As time goes on, Mal's form seems to glitch more, like the attention alone was giving him energy. Neither of them seem worried about this, though.
Very slowly, Spring's eyes flick to V, then to Shapes, back to V. Then she slowly signs three letters. First a C, then an A, and finally a S and points to Shapes again.
"Who needs to be sane anyway? Being all normal is boring! I think everything gets a lot more fun when you've got a few screws loose." She plays up her smile, making it just a bit too big and making her eyes open just a bit too wide.
V takes notice of the glitching, but decides to follow the others' lead and leave it alone. As long as everyone else was fine with it, she could be fine with it too.
She watches Spring's signs carefully and gives a very small nod. Shifty catching themself was at least partially wasted in the end.
If they noticed the silent reveal of the first three letters of their name, they don't say anything about it. There's honestly a solid chance that they were actually a bit relieved to have more of their name out there.
Things are silent for a moment, then they break said silence before Mal can. "Well, I guess there's no point to be sitting in a dark cave anymore, huh?"
The whole point was to wait until Spring woke up, and she was awake now.
"Yeah, the hell are you guys still doing here." Spring jokes, playfully shooing the two living people away.
On a more serious note, she does start helping Shifty pack their things back up, muttering softly about how much time has passed, not that it made much sense. It had only been a few hours at most, right?
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
She listens to Shifty and then Spring. 'There's probably a reason'.
But what reason?!
"Well... yeah alright." She just tries to shrug it off. It's not like she can change it anyway.
It didn't matter before, right? ...Right?
It'll be fine.
She turns her attention back to Mal, something better to focus on for a moment.
"I think any bullying you do is cyberbullying, if we're going that route. You're the one with the," She puts up little air quotes, "'electronics'. I don't think we have a word for actions against computers, I guess you'll have to make it up!" She jokes.
Spring just smiles innocently, unfazed by Shapes' disdain.
Mal grins, tapping a finger to his chin. "I'd argue that cyberbullying works both ways, being bullied by me and bullying me. Both include," He also uses air quotes "'electronics'. But it might be fun to come up with a different word anyway."
Spring connects her thumb and ring finger, then taps the connected fingers against the side of her nose while looking at Mal. Mal just sticks his tongue out in response.
"She called him a nerd." They muse with a grin, then they add on. "Which he is."
One of the more harmless facts that they knew about Spring was that she always loved being able to understand and use sign with others. Other methods that a lot of people who didn't bother to learn sign just straight up wouldn't work with her, like writing notes.
She also loved how some people's eyes lit up at the chance to use sign and have someone understand.
"He doesn't deny it." Spring points out with a laugh. "And yes, it's sign language. Picked it up for a variety of reasons." She smiles. "It works great to keep myself moving when I'm talking while also offering another way to 'hear' me, for example."
Was it strange that she could be signing even when no one in the conversation knew sign? Maybe, but it wasn't like she was normal to begin with.
"I think I still remember the alphabet?" She says, before running through the first few letters. "Still got it! I doubt I remember much else though. That's cool!" She gives a goofy little smile.
V laughs at the jab at Mal, knowing full well that she was also, in fact, a nerd.
Uncontained holograms are pretty impressive. And really, really, nerdy.
The amount of work she had put into inventing her projectors was a reflection of how incredible they were. Even those with no idea of how basic three dimensional imaging worked could take one look and understand their value.
Without much thought, they start signing "my name is" only to get struck by fear as they signed a C. They hadn't really thought about getting used to signing 'Shifty' or 'Shapes' so their mind had apparently decided to go with something they did know how to finger spell easily, their actual name.
They fold their hands together before they can get any farther. "I learned sign from Spring."
Spring on the other hand, signs and spells her name with quite possibly the most fluid motions she has had since waking up. "My name is Spring."
Mal drifts closer to V, hiding his mouth with a hand like he's telling her a secret. "Spring's a total nerd too, she knows how to make whole animatronics."
"I can hear you." She notes with a grin.
"No you can't, I'm telling secrets. That's not allowed." Mal decides, pointing at her.
She raises her hands it mock defeat. "Ah, my bad. These ears are just for show, I forgot."
V is having a great time now. Between the consistent joking and Shapes being genuinely comfortable here, she has completely forgotten all of that stress and whatever questions she had earlier.
She'll remember them later. Probably.
"My name is V." She signs it slowly and deliberately. She grins a little at the simplicity of her name and how easy that made spelling it out. That was sort of the point of it, anyway. Simplicity.
Thankfully V already knew the first letter of Shifty's name, they didn't spill any new information.
She is giggling the whole time Mal and Spring are talking, failing at stifling it.
"There's no way you can hear him! That's just the rules." She says, grinning wide.
"Don't go breaking the rules Spring." They nodded with a laugh.
"But lets be honest, no one here is fully sane and everyone here is a nerd in some shape or form." The amount they committed to accurately portraying the person they shifted into required a lot of research after all.
The sanity thing felt fairly obvious, though. Of the four people in the cave they had two mercs, a spirit that got murdered as a kid, and a living computer virus that possessed people.
"Oh, I see how it is." Spring squinted at her counterpart. "Bully Spring o'clock, is it?"
Mal cackled at Shifty's addition of 'everyone here is a nerd'. "I'll take that! You're definitely not wrong!" As time goes on, Mal's form seems to glitch more, like the attention alone was giving him energy. Neither of them seem worried about this, though.
Very slowly, Spring's eyes flick to V, then to Shapes, back to V. Then she slowly signs three letters. First a C, then an A, and finally a S and points to Shapes again.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
She listens to Shifty and then Spring. 'There's probably a reason'.
But what reason?!
"Well... yeah alright." She just tries to shrug it off. It's not like she can change it anyway.
It didn't matter before, right? ...Right?
It'll be fine.
She turns her attention back to Mal, something better to focus on for a moment.
"I think any bullying you do is cyberbullying, if we're going that route. You're the one with the," She puts up little air quotes, "'electronics'. I don't think we have a word for actions against computers, I guess you'll have to make it up!" She jokes.
Spring just smiles innocently, unfazed by Shapes' disdain.
Mal grins, tapping a finger to his chin. "I'd argue that cyberbullying works both ways, being bullied by me and bullying me. Both include," He also uses air quotes "'electronics'. But it might be fun to come up with a different word anyway."
Spring connects her thumb and ring finger, then taps the connected fingers against the side of her nose while looking at Mal. Mal just sticks his tongue out in response.
"She called him a nerd." They muse with a grin, then they add on. "Which he is."
One of the more harmless facts that they knew about Spring was that she always loved being able to understand and use sign with others. Other methods that a lot of people who didn't bother to learn sign just straight up wouldn't work with her, like writing notes.
She also loved how some people's eyes lit up at the chance to use sign and have someone understand.
"He doesn't deny it." Spring points out with a laugh. "And yes, it's sign language. Picked it up for a variety of reasons." She smiles. "It works great to keep myself moving when I'm talking while also offering another way to 'hear' me, for example."
Was it strange that she could be signing even when no one in the conversation knew sign? Maybe, but it wasn't like she was normal to begin with.
"I think I still remember the alphabet?" She says, before running through the first few letters. "Still got it! I doubt I remember much else though. That's cool!" She gives a goofy little smile.
V laughs at the jab at Mal, knowing full well that she was also, in fact, a nerd.
Uncontained holograms are pretty impressive. And really, really, nerdy.
The amount of work she had put into inventing her projectors was a reflection of how incredible they were. Even those with no idea of how basic three dimensional imaging worked could take one look and understand their value.
Without much thought, they start signing "my name is" only to get struck by fear as they signed a C. They hadn't really thought about getting used to signing 'Shifty' or 'Shapes' so their mind had apparently decided to go with something they did know how to finger spell easily, their actual name.
They fold their hands together before they can get any farther. "I learned sign from Spring."
Spring on the other hand, signs and spells her name with quite possibly the most fluid motions she has had since waking up. "My name is Spring."
Mal drifts closer to V, hiding his mouth with a hand like he's telling her a secret. "Spring's a total nerd too, she knows how to make whole animatronics."
"I can hear you." She notes with a grin.
"No you can't, I'm telling secrets. That's not allowed." Mal decides, pointing at her.
She raises her hands it mock defeat. "Ah, my bad. These ears are just for show, I forgot."
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
She listens to Shifty and then Spring. 'There's probably a reason'.
But what reason?!
"Well... yeah alright." She just tries to shrug it off. It's not like she can change it anyway.
It didn't matter before, right? ...Right?
It'll be fine.
She turns her attention back to Mal, something better to focus on for a moment.
"I think any bullying you do is cyberbullying, if we're going that route. You're the one with the," She puts up little air quotes, "'electronics'. I don't think we have a word for actions against computers, I guess you'll have to make it up!" She jokes.
Spring just smiles innocently, unfazed by Shapes' disdain.
Mal grins, tapping a finger to his chin. "I'd argue that cyberbullying works both ways, being bullied by me and bullying me. Both include," He also uses air quotes "'electronics'. But it might be fun to come up with a different word anyway."
Spring connects her thumb and ring finger, then taps the connected fingers against the side of her nose while looking at Mal. Mal just sticks his tongue out in response.
"She called him a nerd." They muse with a grin, then they add on. "Which he is."
One of the more harmless facts that they knew about Spring was that she always loved being able to understand and use sign with others. Other methods that a lot of people who didn't bother to learn sign just straight up wouldn't work with her, like writing notes.
She also loved how some people's eyes lit up at the chance to use sign and have someone understand.
"He doesn't deny it." Spring points out with a laugh. "And yes, it's sign language. Picked it up for a variety of reasons." She smiles. "It works great to keep myself moving when I'm talking while also offering another way to 'hear' me, for example."
Was it strange that she could be signing even when no one in the conversation knew sign? Maybe, but it wasn't like she was normal to begin with.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
She listens to Shifty and then Spring. 'There's probably a reason'.
But what reason?!
"Well... yeah alright." She just tries to shrug it off. It's not like she can change it anyway.
It didn't matter before, right? ...Right?
It'll be fine.
She turns her attention back to Mal, something better to focus on for a moment.
"I think any bullying you do is cyberbullying, if we're going that route. You're the one with the," She puts up little air quotes, "'electronics'. I don't think we have a word for actions against computers, I guess you'll have to make it up!" She jokes.
Spring just smiles innocently, unfazed by Shapes' disdain.
Mal grins, tapping a finger to his chin. "I'd argue that cyberbullying works both ways, being bullied by me and bullying me. Both include," He also uses air quotes "'electronics'. But it might be fun to come up with a different word anyway."
Spring connects her thumb and ring finger, then taps the connected fingers against the side of her nose while looking at Mal. Mal just sticks his tongue out in response.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
"Yeah! He's nice enough. That's all it really takes. The humor is a bonus." She says, commenting as though he wasn't there when he very clearly is. If she hadn't seen Mal helping Shifty as her first impression, things might've started very differently. She knows it too.
But he's playing nice. So I'll burn the papers. No use for them anymore.
Shifty is comfortable and V is not going to be the one to mention it. It doesn't need to be brought up. She's not sure she's ever seen them quite this... calm? Safe, almost. Certainly not in the past few days.
Whatever Spring can see past the 4 people in the cave, V can't. She tries to look in a similar direction subtly but it's empty. Like it should be.
"Don't compliment him, he doesn't need a boost to his ego." They tease, moving slightly in an effort to get a bit more comfortable.
They notice V trying to figure out what Spring occasionally looks at, and smile slightly. "I'd suggest not worrying about some of the weird things Spring does. It's always a mixed bag."
Sometimes it was just a spirit seeing other spirits, and other times it could be much worse. This time around they were pretty sure she was just watching one of the phantoms, but they were never certain.
Mal, who definitely wasn't preening under the complement, pouts at Shifty's comment. "Mean."
"Not wrong though." Spring notes with a grin.
"I'm being bullied." He deadpans before tilting his head in thought. "Is any bullying towards me technically cyberbullying?"
Spring elects to ignore him. Instead focusing on what Shifty said about her. "Words of wisdom, honestly. There's probably a reason that I can see these things but you can't."
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
"'Different color bad' is really all it is in the end, isn't it?" She laughs along. It was almost concerning how simple it was once she took a step back to look at it. Anything blue got gunned down as quickly as possible, usually faster than anyone could call out what it was. Or who, rather.
Almost concerning. Right now it's funny.
V watches Spring's eyes literally light up. She just hums a little at it before tilting her head almost as if to get a different angle on the effect. These three just could not stop creating questions.
"It really is." They laugh with a grin. "And yeah, technically Spring would be the founder of that team, Mal. I may not know a lot about you, but I know Spring's existed longer than you."
They wave a finger at Mal. They almost seem... Confident. There's still clearly some anxiousness in them, but it's still a far cry from the anxious and jumpy person they usually were.
Spring on the other hand, was watching V's reaction, or lack there of. She raises an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything either. Her eyes flick from object to object, person to person, but occasionally they land on something and stay there for a moment. Like she's watching something that no one else can see. Which she likely was.
"Seems like you've taken to Mal pretty well." She directs the statement to V. She knew why Shapes and him were getting along.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
"That's the one thing I like about the uniform. They let me wear purple on base but I've gotta 'represent the team' or something during matches."
V keeps picking up the little similarities and also keeping her lips sealed. It's like she's somehow committed to asking nothing about anything at this point.
There are so many things she really should be asking about.
"With how many people look the same between the teams, the difference in a shirt color is pretty important." They shrug. "We're basically trained to notice when someone's wearing a different color, and that different color bad."
It was a point of interest for them, seeing how the teams differentiated themselves. From the mandatory red or blue clothes, to wearing different cosmetic items or using different weapons. As someone who's job was to blend in on a completely different level to the Spies, they supposed it made sense that it interested them so much.
They looked over to Spring, noticing a particular oddity with a quick laugh. "Open your eyes all the way, it's not like you to hide like that."
"Callin me out." Spring sighed dramatically, but sure enough her eyes open all the way. She usually forgot that her eyes glowed white in the dark, it wasn't like she ever saw it unless she happened across a mirror. But she had remembered this time, and tried to avoid spooking V so soon.
The room wasn't quite dark enough to get the full affect, but there's definitely a ring of white over her usually green eyes.
Mal on the other hand was snickering at 'different color shirt bad' before opening his arms in a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to team 'I can't subtly look at anything in the dark'!"
"Wouldn't I have technically created that team?" Spring tilts her head.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
She's taking mental notes for Smissmas right now. It might not be a great time but she doesn't interact with Spring very often and this is her first time meeting Mal. She needs all the information she can get. It's not that far away.
She notices the odd phrase and misses the punchline of Shifty's joke. As usual, she elects to ask nothing about either.
"Damn. It sucks to lose a nice shirt. Hopefully you can get that out." It was quite a bit of blood. She has no advice to give for it, just the small bit of hope.
"A bright side to always wearing red: I don't have to worry about that." They joke, grinning and wrinkling their nose in amusement. It's eerily similar to how Spring does it.
It happened a lot, actually. Spring and them having very similar facial expressions. It was obviously impossible to tell before, but now even more similarities between the two piled up.
"I'd suggest soaking it in cold water, but I think it's a bit late for that." They muse. "Not to mention you've probably got plenty of tricks up your sleeves."
"My sleeves might as well be made of tricks." She agrees. "It's not that big of a deal in the end, I've got other shirts."
"For now." Mal adds.
"It's not my fault yellow shirts are hard to come by for some reason." She huffs, running a hand through her hair. She'd already resigned herself to the fact that any blood that managed to get in her hair was probably going to stain. "Especially around this time of year."
What time of year was it? She never really paid attention to time anymore, but it didn't really matter since the statement was almost always true.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
"Oh! Hi!" V waves at Spring and then snickers at Mal.
"You really don't like to wait for anything do you?" The second thing Spring has said at all was the threat Mal earned for being impatient, an interesting way for someone to wake up.
V steals another glance at Shifty. It's much harder to gauge how they feel when they're not really the center of attention, but she wants to make sure her friend is alright.
They're counting down to the moment Spring points out their lack of a mask, although they aren't completely sure she'll even do that. "I'd say you could've left a note or something, but.." They joke. Spring couldn't read or write, Mal usually took over for those things. "Your shirt's seen better days, but I'm not convinced that's all your blood."
No point in asking her how she's feeling, Spring couldn't feel pain. They seem pretty alright, glad to have something to focus on.
Spring waves back to V, her joints are still a bit stiff, giving her a bit more of the stiff movements you'd expect from an old broken down animatronic, but she doubted anyone would ask. Shifty and Mal because they knew, and V because she wasn't one to 'push' even if it could be a completely valid question. "He really doesn't." She agrees, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
She looks down at her shirt, confirming that it was in fact, covered with blood. "Eh, I doubt it's all mine too. If I can't get all the blood out, I'll just make the hop back home to get a new shirt."
It's hard to tell if she forgot that V wouldn't know what 'making the hop' meant or if she just didn't care.
"I see how it is, I'm not allowed to miss my person." Mal sighed dramatically, making it clear he wasn't actually upset. It was equally as hard to tell if Mal could even get upset.
Waking up after deactivation was a slow process that, unless you knew what to look for, could go unnoticed. Unfortunately the two that knew what to look for were either facing away or Mal.
First thing that always started was the breathing movements. Or at least, the first thing that could be seen. Other internal things likely started before this, but it wasn't like anyone could really tell and Spring herself was never awake for it.
Small fidgety actions were the next visible change, making it seem much more like she was just asleep rather than dead for a second time.
But truthfully, Spring had been awake and aware for a bit now, just listening to the conversation around her. Waiting for a funny time to interject.
And she finally found it. "Couldn't agree more." She muses with a grin, finally opening her eyes. "Watching arrogant idiots get shown up is always free entertainment."
"About time you woke up." Mal grouses.
"I'm going to put you in a zip file." Spring points at him.
