un: romano | text

[badlydisarmed]

I have one question and one important announcement.

The question:

Do you pull the lever?

As for the announcement, the hospital now has a wing to treat magical maladies. Witch doctors and the like are welcome to come check it out. People with magical maladies also welcome to come get treated, I don't know how any of this shit works.

Comments

[badlydisarmed]

Yeah me too. The helpfulness rarely trumps how annoying they are.

Do you have a superpower that makes trains go faster? Is it trains specifically or can you also make slow walkers speed up?

[fieldtrip]

[ She snorts. He sounds so cranky that it's genuinely funny, like when Zuko is grumping just to grump. Toph decides not to point out that he's been a helpful adult so far... at least not yet. She's saving that one for later. ]

No, I have a different trick for slow walkers. It's called yelling at them.

[ Pause. ]

I'm a master earthbender. Where I'm from we only just started using steam power instead of bending to make trains go. If the bots can push it, believe me, I can push it a lot faster.

[badlydisarmed]

[ Blind, superpowered ten year old. Okay. That means he doesn't have to worry about it. ]

You were born with the ability to control earth?

[ He really wanted to ask if she had a special ring to summon Captain Planet with, but the reference would be wasted on this child. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ Good, or she really will call him a helpful adult.

She's pleased he catches on so fast. ] Yeah! Exactly. And I'm really, really good at it.

[badlydisarmed]

Sounds more fun than traditional echolocators. But you'd have to be there to make the trolleys go faster, wouldn't you? That's be a waste of your skills when you could be working in demolition.

[fieldtrip]

Please, demolition is the easy stuff. Anyone can make something fall apart. Putting it back together is way harder.

Not that getting a big metal object to move on a metal track is all that hard, but-- [ She smirks to herself. ] If everyone's as impatient as you, that means I could charge for it.

[badlydisarmed]

Charge Aurora points. Invent capitalism.

[fieldtrip]

There's no other forms of currency around here, what else would I charge?

If I'm providing a valuable service, I should be compensated.

[badlydisarmed]

Just ask Aurora about it, I'm sure she'll allow it.

[fieldtrip]

Oh, I will.

If you refer people to me, I'll give you a 10% kickback.

[ Hey, Beifongs didn't become the wealthiest merchant family in the whole country for no reason. Toph knows how business works. ]

[badlydisarmed]

What's you business' name?

[fieldtrip]

Good question. My stage name was Blind Bandit, but that doesn't really instill confidence as a legitimate business.

I just used my family name for my school -- Beifong.

[badlydisarmed]

Fast trolley rides with the blind bandit is funnier.

[fieldtrip]

[ That surprises her into an honest laugh. ]

The Blind Bandit Rides Again does have a certain ring to it.

[badlydisarmed]

There's a Robbing You Blind joke to be made there.

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph smirks. She loves when people aren't afraid to make blind jokes at her. ]

Think I should offer construction, too? I've gotten pretty good at plumbing at this point. [ She'd had a lot of practice in Aldrip. ] I just can't do the electricity myself.

[badlydisarmed]

I don't know if there'll be a business for it for most residents, there seems to be enough space.

There's a mammoth, however. I think the mammoth might appreciate something custom-built.

[fieldtrip]

Hey, if the mammoth can pay, I'm down.

Think there's more of a business for jewelry or mechanics or something? I've been trying to work on that.

[badlydisarmed]

Can you build arms?

[fieldtrip]

... Like a working, metal arm? Huh. I dunno, I've never tried.

[ But she does love expanding her skill set, especially when it's something previously thought impossible. ]

Do you have an example?

[badlydisarmed]

Yes, actually. I have an old arm you're welcome to disassemble and reassemble as many times as you want.

[fieldtrip]

Let's get to it, then. I could use a new project.

Where d'you want to meet?

[badlydisarmed]

The hospital? I live here.

[fieldtrip]

Okay, on my way!

[ Thank god, honestly. Having something to do is infinitely preferable to sitting around listening to computer voice read her things at high speed. Toph is immediately shutting down the connection and hopping out the door. It takes her a little bit to get there since she's coming from Ramsey farm, but true to their conversation, she makes the train go at her speed. It's only a couple stops, anyway.

Toph is a tiny girl with bare feet dressed in vaguely fantasy Asian green clothes, and she comes striding into the hospital with an unfaltering confidence. ]

Hey, [ she calls out to the nearest bot. ] Where's the sassy guy with the arm? Uh... Romano?

[badlydisarmed]

[ A small child with fantasy clothes is more or less what Robert was expecting. She looks older than he expected.

Robert's a shorter than average white man who sounds exactly as bitchy in person as he did over the network. ]

I'll take sassy over bitchy, but I'd go with dickish over both.