2331/Clean-Up Crew

Clean-Up Crew
Date of Scene:	05 September 2017
Location:	Legion Cruiser
Synopsis:	Timber Wolf has cleanup duty in the cargo bay, and he's visited by Brainiac 5 then Invisible Kid. (before "Can I go? Huh? Can I?")
Cast of Characters:	Timber Wolf, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid

---

Timber Wolf has posed:
"Sproking waste of time..."

Grumbling can be heard somewhere in the Cargo Bay, along with a growl. Then, there's a crash of some kind along with the sound of something possibly breaking. Hopefully it's just some glass, like a new set of plates instead of something important. If it was a 21-piece dining set, it may be more like a 210-piece set by now.

Had it not already been clear, Timber Wolf is at work and he sounds none too pleased about it.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Which is when Brainy floats in. "Timber Wolf," He says, "I just got a shipment of scientific glassware from Earth and I--"

He pauses, at an overturned crate, and then he says "Well at least I have the receipt. I can claim that it was damaged in transit, probably." He lets out a sigh, with only the faintest hint of disgust, before he uses his force-field to right the crate and then pry it open. He looks inside, and winces. Total loss.

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf's head pokes up over the top of a few larger boxes, only to the point of his eyes being visible. "Oh. Brainy. It's you," he starts out, sounding gruff about it before he goes back to rummaging around. A smaller box arcs its way over the bigger ones, landing with a *WHUMP* a few feet from where Querl is floating.

"Was that yours? Sorry. Yeah, I heard the mail service on this planet is terrible. You should file a complaint. Maybe you can get somebody fired." If he's actually sorry, he isn't doing a very good job of selling the idea as he adds, "I don't know why people leave things in such a mess around here. You try to find something and it's like the noodle in the haystack."

Then, "Earth phrases don't make much sense, do they?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Humans are fond of quaint colloquialisms. They tend to grow on you, much like a fungus." Brainy tosses the crate aside. "We've been so busy since the Cruiser was completed that we've been constantly onboarding supplies with no real time to organize them. It's getting out of hand. I suppose I should assign a task force to get everything organized and brought to where it needs to go."

"I don't suppose you'd like to handle that job, Timber Wolf?"

Timber Wolf has posed:
"Ah!" No, Brin didn't just get electrocuted on something or cause bodily harm to himself. He's found a box with bags of beef jerky inside, and he makes short work of the box itself before slicing open one of the bags with a claw so he can cram a few pieces of meat into his mouth.

"What mafe you fink I wan't'do faff?" he wonders, chewing quite hungrily on the snacks.

Only once he's swallowed does Timber Wolf lick his lips and say more normally, "I think I'd rather have monitor duty over this." Besides, didn't he just break something? "Just have people get their junk before it all starts to pile up. Grife, it's not rocket science. Problem solved."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"The ship requires constant onboarding and storing of supplies!" Brainy says, "And we don't have a logistics chief! I'm already acting as chief medical officer, chief medical scientist, and currently deputy leader," He says, "I don't have time to wear another hat."

He crosses his arms and floats in the air, frowning. "We're all busy. It all starts to pile up."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf snaps off another piece of jerky while Brainiac answers, leaving him to make a face that doesn't indicate enjoyment of the idea. "I doubt you want /me/ to be this ship's logistics guy. That's not exactly my specialty, you know."

He digs around in the bag at this point, adding as he tosses a strip toward Brainy, "You must be hungry. You get illogical when you're hungry. Here. Try some. It's not as good as freshly-caught, but it's close." He might be projecting with the whole 'illogical' thing.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy picks up the strip of dried meat, and sniffs it, slowly, before he delicately sets it on top of a crate. "It was more of a general statement of frustration," He says, "Because more than likely it's get another job I'm going to wind up doing."

Then he pinches the bridge of his nose. "What task do you *want* to be doing, Brin? Because I'm not known for my empathy but even I can tell you're getting restless."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf's not doing the whole 'pace back and forth around the entire ship' thing, but he's been a little stir-crazy lately. "What about the others? Can't they help, too?"

Waving the question off a moment later, the Zuunian shakes his head. "Fine. I'll do it this time, but don't expect me to make a habit of it. I'd rather be out scouting the places around us. I want to go tinkle with the locals." Then he frowns and muses, "Wait. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but that's not the right saying, is it?"

Looking toward the piece of jerky Brainy set down moments before, he strides over and snatches it up to chew on. "If you're not gonna eat that..."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy rubs the back of his neck. "No, I'll find another Legionnaire to assign this project to. Brin, if you want to go down to Earth and be a superhero, you're welcome to. I encourage it. My place, by and large, is here on the ship -- in the lab. Until an official mission is declared, every Legionnaire is free to do as they like when they're not on duty on the Cruiser."

"And..." He sighs, "...You have an irrepressible spirit. This is meant to be a home, and you shouldn't see it as a cage."

Timber Wolf has posed:
"I told you I can take care of it, and I can," Brin answers, starting to get that look about him that suggests he might take it as a challenge if Brainy continues to object.

...did he just get talked into doing it after all?

"Anyway, it's not that I'm itching to go down and play hero. You know where I came from. I'm used to having my feet on the ground, feeling the pulse of the city. There's nobody else on this ship better equipped to learn about what's what down there." This is his belief, evidence of confidence in himself.

Then, he almost visibly puffs up in some way at the talk about his spirit. "Did you just say something nice about me, Brainy?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Then that's what you should be doing." Brainy says. But he may smirk, ever so slightly. "But if you'd LIKE to organize the cargo bay, the work would be appreciated." He makes a note on his little pad.

"You're imagining things," He says, "I don't say nice things about people."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf totally got played. Even he seems to realize it after a few more seconds, but aside from a grunt and a muttered 'Grife,' he stuffs his mouth full of more beef jerky before turning back toward the boxes. He'll do the thing and manage not to break anything else. Probably.

Let's just say airlines wouldn't want him as a baggage handler.

"Once I'm done with this, I'm going down to look around. I hear this planet has a lot of people like us. That means I should fit right in." Yes, Brin sounds eager about this prospect.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Please," Brainy says, as he runs inventory on his pad, "Go ahead, we need all the help we can get." He moves a crate into place, because nobody said he can't help a bit.

"So it would be good if you acted as a Legion Ambassador of sorts, and found us a few friends. Just--if you find yourself in trouble, *please* call for help--this is an uncertain and dangerous era on Earth."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Having ducked down to rearrange a few more boxes, Brin's head pokes back up again. "Ambassador? What do you want me to say if I bump into anyone that seems useful, then?" This..seems like an important question, especially if he's going to be trusted with a task of that nature.

"This is yours. This is yours. This is yours. This is yours. This is yours. This is yours." Boxes are shuffled around further, then he regards Brainy with both hands firmly at his hips. "I'm starting to see a pattern here."

Invisible Kid has posed:
    A little black kitten floats in a bit over a meter and a half off the ground, sitting on what appears to be thin air. And from the general direction of the cat come the words, "What's mine?"
    In fairness, no one has heard the cat speak for herself before, and in any case the voice is male... and Lyle's. So it's probably not the cat.
    For her part, the kitten kicks off, floats over to Brainiac 5, and lands on his shoulder. "Mew?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy reaches up to stroke the cat with one finger, and then he smirks. "Feeling better, I see." He says, to Invisible Kid. "Which is to say, I don't see."

"No, it's my lab supplies." He begins organizing them neatly, with that giant force-field hand. "I appreciate your assistance, Brin. Not all of it is mine."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf eyes the cat, squinting for a moment before he figures it out. The nose knows, every time. "Nothing yet, Lyle," he says with a grunt, pausing in the shifting around of Brainy's stuff to have himself another piece of jerky. That one bag out of about a dozen in the box is already nearly empty.

Evidently, it's 'clean up the cargo bay' day, though there's one box of casualties so far: a crate full of broken glassware. "Just so you know, I'm not afraid of anything that might be down there," he informs Brainy with a sniff.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle flicks back into view, grinning. "Well, I say I am. I still haven't been cleared to return to duty. I was going to get a reading on my vitals in Medical in hopes of making my case with you. And did you get that cat for me, or for you?"
    Shadow mews again, and sticks her nose in Brainy's ear, purring. So it *is* a little bit of an open question as to whether she was chosen just to be Lyle's pet, or for compatibility with Querl.
    Brin also gets a smile. "Well, I try to only have one or two projects at a time going, not seventeen or eighteen, so most of it should be his."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Why would I pick a pet for you that didn't like me?" Brainy says, stroking the cat. "That would be ludicrous, and give you all kinds of ammunition." Brainy sighs, and says, "The trip to talk to Indigo went well. Though I learned she has no memories of the era where she was built. So no information about times after our own."

"Not even the psychic man-eating ape? The homicidal clown? The man who's awfully similar to you except for the Adamantium-laced skeleton?" Brainy pauses, and then strokes Lyle's cheek. "I think you're fit to return to duty. Your first assignment is to assist Brin in organizing the cargo bay!"

Timber Wolf has posed:
"I don't do projects," Timber Wolf remarks. Is it any wonder only one of the boxes has anything to do with him, and it's food-related? Then, another is held up. "Oh! What's this one? It came from some place called Minn..oh, right. I remember now."

Tearing it open as carefully as can be with a clawtip, so as not to damage the contents (poor glass lab items), he comes up first with a few pouches of plastic that seem squeezable. "What the sprock is this stuff?" He sniffs at one, puts it up to an ear, then curiously bites at a corner of it only for the thing to *POP* as air blasts him in the face! At this, the box is dropped, he stumbles backward into a few more boxes, and he shouts, "Sound the alarm! We're being attacked by..by..by I don't know what, but it tried to blow my head off!"

Having fallen out of the box is a custom basketball jersey for the Minnesota Timberwolves, 'Londo' on the back with the number '1' on it.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Shadow hops back from Brainy's shoulder to Lyle's, and Lyle returns the gesture to Querl. "That's probably just as well. I wouldn't want to know about our future any more than I want to give away information about the future *we* know to this era."
    He blinks at Brainy's orders, though. "Oh, I think I need another week of bed rest," Lyle says, with his patented 'smack me' smirk, although he does start going through boxes. A fair, although not overwhelming, number are probably his. His on-hold projects have to go *somewhere*, after all.
    That stops when Brin gets bowled over. "That can't be an attack, everything here should be our stuff -- I hope!"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy raises an eyebrow at Brin, "It's packing insulation, they use it in this era. They USED to use bits of foam but those were messy and pollutive. This is actually a step forward--" He silences Lyle's protests with a kiss. And while he's doing that, he holds up the duty roster that shows he's already assigned Lyle to helping Brin organize the cargo hold. Ha!

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf did not just get spooked by a bag of packing air. He most certainly did not.

(He totally did.)

"Why doesn't anyone sprocking tell me these things ahead of time?" he practically snarls, making a show of popping every last one with a claw now that he realizes there's no danger. Then, the jersey is grabbed and slung over a shoulder while Brainy and Lyle are having their moment.

"Contrary to whatever the two of you just saw, I can handle myself just fine down there. Clowns, apes, it doesn't matter. I don't know what the whole thing is with this guy you keep talking about that's supposed to look like me, though."

Clearing his throat, he adds, "This is why you need me scouting down there. I have a lot to study." Does he ever.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    That's a good way get Lyle to shut up, even if Brainy does show off a duty roster that *has* to be in error. Brainy's dignity score, however, is probably not helped by Shadow climbing up and nesting on top of his head.
    He only needs a moment to recover his composure. "Well, we all should probably be spending a little more time planetside. There's a lot going on in this century that we should at least be aware of, if not involved in. Carefully, of course."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy scores this as a victory, and he is USED to furry lower-order mammals clinging to his head. He barely even notices the cat! At least till she sticks her claws in his scalp in that loving way and Brainy winces and says, "All right, that's enough," As his force-field gently deposits her on top of a crate.

"That's a good idea. You should all take planetside mission rotations -- I'll pitch the idea to Mon-El." And Brainy will have the lab all to himself, mwahaha.

Timber Wolf has posed:
"You don't have to tell me twice. Even Brainy said I shouldn't be caged up on this ship," Brin points out, having regained his composure. While they've all had the option to go down to the surface of the planet, the sense of being cooped up in here has eaten at the Legion's most feral member more than most.

Further, he offers, "I'll take double missions to help out." More time off the ship can only be a good thing, right? Nothing bad could come of that at all.

Invisible Kid has posed:
    Lyle claps an arm around Brainy's shoulders. "Great idea! Though we should go in pairs, for safety's sake. I'll show you around! This *is* my planet, after all!" Translation: Hell no, you're not getting solo lab time at my expense.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy gives Lyle the side-eye. "You can't even ask me on a date in a straightforward manner. Very well, I accept, but I *expect* that you'll dress up for the occasion." He smirks, the corner of his mouth turning up, before he glances back to Brin. "That... should be acceptable. Just put it forward on the duty roster so Mon-El can approve it."

Timber Wolf has posed:
Timber Wolf might bristle at the idea of needing clearance to go down to explore the Earth's cities and other locations, but it may be best not to rock the boat on this one and end up stuck up here longer while others get to enjoy what those places have to offer. "That's a great idea," he says, his teeth only clenched to a minimal degree. "In fact, I think I'll go get a jump on that right now. Lyle, it looks like you can handle the rest of the crates."

Snatching up his box of beef jerky, he takes to striding toward the exit before Brainy can come up with a reason to stop him. Hopefully.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Oh, and Brin--" Brainy says, calling out to Timber Wolf. "I meant that, about your irrepressible spirit."