FIC: Avatar Advice (part 3)
So my Halloween costume involved a lot of black nail polish. It was inspiring.
Part One
Part Two
At first, Jin figured the best course of action was obviously cold turkey avoidance. Flirting and games were fine, but that sort of thing could get addictive, and Jin couldn't afford Enter having that sort of power over him. At this point, he could probably still get away with increased security measures and staying out of Enter's way in anything except direct combat. With luck, Messiah's avatar would lose interest and go back to pursuing his bizarre cosplay fetish. He'd shown up last week in a tartan skirt, the logic behind which completely eluded Jin.
However, he hadn't realized the precise danger level warranted by a snubbed Enter. This latest episode, while clearly a warning (the robot bunny wouldn't have had a problem clearing the virus), was a distressing warning. Equally distressing was how long Jin had spent watching Enter beat the snot out of Hiromu before remembering he ought to do something about the situation.
So Plan A was out, which was fine because really Jin hardly ever used a Plan A anyway. Plan B was much more fun. This latest escapade just demonstrated that Enter still viewed him as an inferior, a pawn who could be manipulated. Enter was making every one of the key moves, and Jin was left playing a scattered defense. Enough of that. There was more than one master programmer in this subdimension.
******
The base was much calmer without his Majesty bellowing orders. No disloyalty to his Majesty, of course, but Enter did find it easier to carry out his objectives with his overlord quietly evolving in the Creator's tank. He had enough irritations without dealing with explaining strategical complexities to a master with the attention span of an infant monkey.
His Majesty also would not have seen the advantages to his ... call it a side project with Beet Buster. Escape's Metaroid prank had meant he'd had to act early, which in turn appeared to have frightened his project away. While he did not doubt his own ability to break into the Hangar again, he sensed that would also be counter-productive. Nevertheless, Masato Jin could not expect Enter to quietly be stood up by a human . Taking over the buddyroid had sent a clear message, Enter hoped, though the entire plot was dissapointingly simple. A virus-infected can of Enetron, an easily stolen go-changer, and pehaps next time the little bug would think twice before not showing up for dinner.
Enter strolled thoughtfully into the command room, eyes focused on his laptop screen and energy efficiency analysis of the evolution program. The rage-filled howl that burst from what should have been an empty pedestal most certainly did not startle him into nearly dropping the laptop. That would have been undignified.
"GRARL! I DEMAND MORE HUMAN SUFFERING! SUFFERING I TELL YOU! GRARL! AND PIE! I DEMAND APPLE PIE!"
Recovering his balance, Enter calmly initiated a bug scan and gazed up at the suspended disembodied head of Masato Jin.
"His Majesty is not yet evolved enough for consumption of desserts."
"Well that's a shame. I thought everyone liked pie." Jin's face distorted and bobbled like it was trapped in a funhouse mirror.
"You might want to consider double checking your encode. The x-axis coordinates appear somewhat unstable."
"Are you saying this pedestal makes me look fat?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Screw that then." The head disappeared and a somewhat more corporeal Jin stepped out from behind the pedestal, walking with a swagger completely undeserved on enemy ground. "Just thought the place could use a little brightening up. Or bright, you know, anything."
"How considerate. It is, I must point out, much more considerate to arrive in a timely manner or indeed at all when one is invited out."
Jin shrugged. "I thought it was a bad idea."
"And now?"
"I think this is a much worse idea, but I'm here anyway."
Enter smiled. "You are. In the middle of the web, as it were."
"I'm not too worried. I don't think you want to start anything and risk damaging all this hardware. Seemed a safer place to talk than my place."
The human didn't need to know he was right, and Enter was not about to inform him. "And what have we to talk about, ma puce?"
"I'm going to assume that's a nicer thing to call me than it sounds. We have to talk about some ground rules if we're going to keep seeing each other outside work."
"Such as?"
"Such as involve J or the kids again, and I will end you where you stand."
Jin delivered the sentence with the same slightly overenthused cheer he used in every situation. Even his insufferable grin betrayed not the slightest hint of malice. Enter saw the steel of his spine though, which made him just that touch more interesting. And that was the trick, he supposed. The little bug always managed to stay just so interesting. Maintaining his composure, Enter gently set his laptop down on a railing and closed the gap between them. Jin held his ground, though any fool could see him re-evaluating his confidence in the safety of their location. He reached up to touch Jin's hair, twirling a strand around a finger just to see how long Jin could keep up tha nonchalant act. "I would add that if you ignore me again, I am fully capable of making you wish I'd torture your friends rather than go directly for you."
"Fair enough."
"Then it seems we have reached an accord. Tres bien."
"A la mode," Jin replied. He looked almost amused at Enter's touch, upping the stakes by sliding a hand under Enter's coat to wrap around his waist. "Strictly off the clock, though. When we're working we don't mention any of this."
"I'm not working now," Enter pointed out, his hand tracing lightly down Jin's side. "I set my work down. Over there. Far out of my reach."
"I'm pretty free myself..."
Enter hadn't expected Jin's ass to start ringing at that point. It was only his boundless patience that kept him from grabbing the Gochanger and launching into the darkest pits of the subdimension. Jin grabbed the cursed toy with an exasperated, "What did you do?"
"I assure you it is nothing of mine."
Jin spent a few moments in heated conversation about getting back in time to save a bus full of orphans or something equally trivial. Enter stopped paying attention and reaquired his computer for a formal search. "You needn't go. I can kill her myself."
"Nobody'd complain. But it'll look weird if I don't show up. I can come back after..."
Enter scowled at the data shuffling across his screen. Messiah's tramp clearly did this on purpose, and she was too stupid to see the foolishness of starting af fight on home ground. He'd need to deal with her before continuing. "Your presence here might not be advised. I'll find you."
"I'll try to be impressed and not at all creeped out by that," Jin sighed. Enter was so absorbed in the data, he failed to notice Jin lean in for an entirely too casual kiss on the cheek. It was so unexpected, his fingers actually fumbled on the keyboard, a fact that did not go unnoticed. "See you around, Capslock."
It was all Enter could do to maintain a decently affronted posture. "Sooner than you think, little bug."
Jin's avatar evaporated, and Enter spent a few moments staring at the empy space, wondering at his project's changeable nature. He minimized the information on Escape's childish interruptions and traced Jin's break-in path instead. A few taps and he managed to recreate the floating head on the pedestal, albeit with a facial expression that looked permanently about to sneeze. Perhaps he'd leave it there while Messiah was rebooting. It did, as he'd said, brighten up the place.
Part One
Part Two
At first, Jin figured the best course of action was obviously cold turkey avoidance. Flirting and games were fine, but that sort of thing could get addictive, and Jin couldn't afford Enter having that sort of power over him. At this point, he could probably still get away with increased security measures and staying out of Enter's way in anything except direct combat. With luck, Messiah's avatar would lose interest and go back to pursuing his bizarre cosplay fetish. He'd shown up last week in a tartan skirt, the logic behind which completely eluded Jin.
However, he hadn't realized the precise danger level warranted by a snubbed Enter. This latest episode, while clearly a warning (the robot bunny wouldn't have had a problem clearing the virus), was a distressing warning. Equally distressing was how long Jin had spent watching Enter beat the snot out of Hiromu before remembering he ought to do something about the situation.
So Plan A was out, which was fine because really Jin hardly ever used a Plan A anyway. Plan B was much more fun. This latest escapade just demonstrated that Enter still viewed him as an inferior, a pawn who could be manipulated. Enter was making every one of the key moves, and Jin was left playing a scattered defense. Enough of that. There was more than one master programmer in this subdimension.
******
The base was much calmer without his Majesty bellowing orders. No disloyalty to his Majesty, of course, but Enter did find it easier to carry out his objectives with his overlord quietly evolving in the Creator's tank. He had enough irritations without dealing with explaining strategical complexities to a master with the attention span of an infant monkey.
His Majesty also would not have seen the advantages to his ... call it a side project with Beet Buster. Escape's Metaroid prank had meant he'd had to act early, which in turn appeared to have frightened his project away. While he did not doubt his own ability to break into the Hangar again, he sensed that would also be counter-productive. Nevertheless, Masato Jin could not expect Enter to quietly be stood up by a human . Taking over the buddyroid had sent a clear message, Enter hoped, though the entire plot was dissapointingly simple. A virus-infected can of Enetron, an easily stolen go-changer, and pehaps next time the little bug would think twice before not showing up for dinner.
Enter strolled thoughtfully into the command room, eyes focused on his laptop screen and energy efficiency analysis of the evolution program. The rage-filled howl that burst from what should have been an empty pedestal most certainly did not startle him into nearly dropping the laptop. That would have been undignified.
"GRARL! I DEMAND MORE HUMAN SUFFERING! SUFFERING I TELL YOU! GRARL! AND PIE! I DEMAND APPLE PIE!"
Recovering his balance, Enter calmly initiated a bug scan and gazed up at the suspended disembodied head of Masato Jin.
"His Majesty is not yet evolved enough for consumption of desserts."
"Well that's a shame. I thought everyone liked pie." Jin's face distorted and bobbled like it was trapped in a funhouse mirror.
"You might want to consider double checking your encode. The x-axis coordinates appear somewhat unstable."
"Are you saying this pedestal makes me look fat?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Screw that then." The head disappeared and a somewhat more corporeal Jin stepped out from behind the pedestal, walking with a swagger completely undeserved on enemy ground. "Just thought the place could use a little brightening up. Or bright, you know, anything."
"How considerate. It is, I must point out, much more considerate to arrive in a timely manner or indeed at all when one is invited out."
Jin shrugged. "I thought it was a bad idea."
"And now?"
"I think this is a much worse idea, but I'm here anyway."
Enter smiled. "You are. In the middle of the web, as it were."
"I'm not too worried. I don't think you want to start anything and risk damaging all this hardware. Seemed a safer place to talk than my place."
The human didn't need to know he was right, and Enter was not about to inform him. "And what have we to talk about, ma puce?"
"I'm going to assume that's a nicer thing to call me than it sounds. We have to talk about some ground rules if we're going to keep seeing each other outside work."
"Such as?"
"Such as involve J or the kids again, and I will end you where you stand."
Jin delivered the sentence with the same slightly overenthused cheer he used in every situation. Even his insufferable grin betrayed not the slightest hint of malice. Enter saw the steel of his spine though, which made him just that touch more interesting. And that was the trick, he supposed. The little bug always managed to stay just so interesting. Maintaining his composure, Enter gently set his laptop down on a railing and closed the gap between them. Jin held his ground, though any fool could see him re-evaluating his confidence in the safety of their location. He reached up to touch Jin's hair, twirling a strand around a finger just to see how long Jin could keep up tha nonchalant act. "I would add that if you ignore me again, I am fully capable of making you wish I'd torture your friends rather than go directly for you."
"Fair enough."
"Then it seems we have reached an accord. Tres bien."
"A la mode," Jin replied. He looked almost amused at Enter's touch, upping the stakes by sliding a hand under Enter's coat to wrap around his waist. "Strictly off the clock, though. When we're working we don't mention any of this."
"I'm not working now," Enter pointed out, his hand tracing lightly down Jin's side. "I set my work down. Over there. Far out of my reach."
"I'm pretty free myself..."
Enter hadn't expected Jin's ass to start ringing at that point. It was only his boundless patience that kept him from grabbing the Gochanger and launching into the darkest pits of the subdimension. Jin grabbed the cursed toy with an exasperated, "What did you do?"
"I assure you it is nothing of mine."
Jin spent a few moments in heated conversation about getting back in time to save a bus full of orphans or something equally trivial. Enter stopped paying attention and reaquired his computer for a formal search. "You needn't go. I can kill her myself."
"Nobody'd complain. But it'll look weird if I don't show up. I can come back after..."
Enter scowled at the data shuffling across his screen. Messiah's tramp clearly did this on purpose, and she was too stupid to see the foolishness of starting af fight on home ground. He'd need to deal with her before continuing. "Your presence here might not be advised. I'll find you."
"I'll try to be impressed and not at all creeped out by that," Jin sighed. Enter was so absorbed in the data, he failed to notice Jin lean in for an entirely too casual kiss on the cheek. It was so unexpected, his fingers actually fumbled on the keyboard, a fact that did not go unnoticed. "See you around, Capslock."
It was all Enter could do to maintain a decently affronted posture. "Sooner than you think, little bug."
Jin's avatar evaporated, and Enter spent a few moments staring at the empy space, wondering at his project's changeable nature. He minimized the information on Escape's childish interruptions and traced Jin's break-in path instead. A few taps and he managed to recreate the floating head on the pedestal, albeit with a facial expression that looked permanently about to sneeze. Perhaps he'd leave it there while Messiah was rebooting. It did, as he'd said, brighten up the place.