Into the Dark (Fox Storm and ab103 only)

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel was eating her own pieces of fruit when Alfred asked her that question. She looked up into the same direction where Ty and Simone were talking to each other, seeming very close. The dustchaser scrunched up her face again, thinking. "Hmm...I'm willin' to bet...probably never. They're too dang shy to make a move. Either that, or they're just too oblivious to see it in front of their faces, considerin' what they've been up to lately."

ab103 wrote:

"How terrible. My first girlfriend asked me out after about a month of us knowing each other... These two will probably die single if they don't figure things out." Alfred sighed, shaking his head at the travesty. "Really, what is it going to take for at least one of them to figure out their feelings? Simone already did that song and dance number a while back, and that should have been enough! You remember that, right? Hilarious..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel snickered. "Yeah. It was funny. But at that time, she was just thinkin' about why she acted so strongly about the whole Wirewolf deal and Ty's trial. I think she began to consider it after we told her that she DOES like him. As for Ty, well...I think he's just too stubborn." She shook her head.

ab103 wrote:

"I suppose it didn't help that I was teasing him about it when he was about to ask for her help..." Alfred mused. He finished the last of his fruit and frowned little. "So... Pixel... Are you going to finish that fruit?"

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel looked at her own fruit and saw how much Alfred was hungrily eyeing the fruit. She sighed helplessly and gave him her fruit to him. "Sure. Ya need it more than I do."

"Anyway, I dunno how long it'll take for them to admit they like each other...but maybe..." She grinned mischievously..."We could pull a prank on them to get them....even more closer."

ab103 wrote:

Alfred grinned in success and gleefully took the fruit from Pixel. "Thank you!"

He took a bite of his fruit and paused after hearing Pixel's suggestion and shook his head. "No, no, no... You can on your own, but you'll have to leave me out of it. For one, I'm not the best at pranks, and for another, I don't want to do anything that will risk those two getting even more upset with me."

Fox Storm wrote:
She grunted in annoyance and then pouted, "Aw, man...oh well. But still...it sure would be awesome to figure out some way to get those two to just admit they like each other!" She turned to Alfred and asked, "But just suppose. I mean, IF there was a way to get them to admit they're crazy about each other, how would you do it?"

ab103 wrote:

"Oh, how would I personally do it...?" Alfred thought about this for a good long moment. "Well, it would basically involve talking to them about just the right things until I could get them to realize exactly what I want them to realize... But, I could only do that if I knew exactly what they were thinking, which I can't because I'm not allowed to use my-. Uh... Never mind..." His monocle was one of the few secrets he still had. He wasn't going to tell any other soul about it, even if that soul was Pixel.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel shifted her head to the side. "Huh? Your what? You're not allowed to use your what?" She then realized what she was asking and snorted, silently berating herself. It was none of her business what Alfred was talking about."Whatever. Fat chance. Even if ya did have...whatever it is you were going to say, it wouldn't work. Those two have their thoughts about each other locked up harder than a lonely bird in a cage at night."

ab103 wrote:

"Oh, you'd be surprised about what I can and can't do when I get the urge..." Alfred finished the last of Pixel's fruit and frowned again, lamenting the lack of fruit. "Nice comment about the bird, though... Take these broken wings and learn to fly..." he muttered to himself, though he knew that Pixel most likely heard.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel snorted again, this time out of humbleness. "Well, I'm just speakin' the truth." She looked to see Ty and Simone talking to each other. She observed how whenever their hands were on the bench table, they almost brushed against each other, and then jerked away from each other. She told Alfred of her observation.

ab103 wrote:

"Acting shy with each other, hmm?" Alfred smirked a little. "The way to fix that is to tie them together, clearly." Oh, he was so glad he was free to use his strange sense of humor again. Being with Pixel made him feel much better than he had during the past few weeks.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel smirked back. "Heh, yeah. We'd have to get a VERY strong special kind of rope to tie them up. At least they wouldn't have to act so shy then!" She laughed at that.

ab103 wrote:

"Or, we could lock them in a closet and play romantic music," Alfred offered, laughing.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel nearly fell over with laughter. In fact, she couldn't stop laughing! "That'd be funny AND cheesingly romantic!"

ab103 wrote:

"I know!" Alfred agreed, laughing as well. Of course, their laughter seemed be drawing the attention of the others in the room.

Fox Storm wrote:
Ty, Simone and other Rangers looked over at Pixel and Alfred and saw that they were laughing. Ty and Simone looked at each other and thought the same thing: "What are they laughing about?"

ab103 wrote:

"But, anyway..." Alfred's laughter died down to a small smile. "Honestly, they're going to have to figure it out by themselves... We can't force them into it. Love doesn't work that way."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel was about to say something when she saw Ty and Simone looking at them! She started panicking, and rapidly shook her head, trying to tell Alfred to be quiet.

ab103 wrote:

"What?" Alfred glanced to Ty and Simone, subtly, and hid his own panic when he noticed them watching them. "Oh, well. Anyway, Pixel..." They had to change the subject, and quickly. "Did you want an early tour of the new security changes?"

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel nodded quickly. "Yeah, let's go!" She noticed the other Rangers staring at Alfred and her like they never saw them before and abruptly yelled, "If you guys don't mind, Alfred and I will leave the cafeteria lickity split so that you don't have to hear us talkin' too loud!" She looked over to see Ty and Simone with raised eyebrows.

Ty and Simone looked to each other. "Is it me or is she acting strange?" He quietly asked her. Simone nodded. "I think she's just acting strange because she was asked by Nebula to look out for him. Quite frankly, I don't blame her, since it IS a heavy responsibility to look after the Commander's son." She paused for a minute. "Which I still can't believe that is whom Alfred is, since I was a bit too busy...overreacting to the fact that he built that energy vampire."

Simone had calmed down gradually ever since she yelled at Alfred that day when she found out he built NOS-4-A2, but she still held some contempt towards him. Ty would have cringed about that if he suddenly didn't feel a wave of concern wash over him. He felt the paranoid rise again, but he managed to keep Simone from seeing it in his eyes.

He just said, "Well, I just hope she doesn't hurt herself while she's with him; she's taking a big risk at her job."

Simone put a hand on his shoulder and assured, "Knowing her, I'm sure she'll be fine with the pressure and your cousin. She is a resilient creature, after all. What could happen?"

And with that, they felt a little more assured about Pixel's presence with Alfred.

ab103 wrote:

Alfred did his best to hide his embarrassment that Pixel decided to actually announce their departure. He saw the raised eyebrows Ty and Simone had, but left the cafeteria before anything could be said. "So... What to show you first...?" he mused to himself. He snapped his fingers and grinned once he had a good idea and proceeded to take Pixel around Star Command, showing her was was already developed and how it would work, and also explained what needed to be done.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel and Alfred left the cafeteria, grinning like a pair of idiots. Once they left, Pixel said, "Er, sorry about that stunt back there. I was kinda nervous about Ty and Simone findin' out what we were laughin' about, and I didn't want them to find out we were talking about them." She snickered at the irony of it.

ab103 wrote:

"A little more warning would have been better, of course," Alfred chuckled. "Don't worry too much about it, though. I've dealt with worse exits... In the past month alone, even."

Alfred started pointing around at a few things. "Anyway. We haven't installed it yet, but I noticed that the air ducts are currently large enough for smaller people or robots to be able to climb through. In fact, I checked back on a few reports and noticed that XR had snuck a group of children through the air ducts at least twice before... For one thing, the grates will be better protected so it would be difficult to remove them. And, should someone happen to be able to get in, there are sensors that, when triggered, will release knock-out gas and magnetize the area. That way, both organics and robots are stuck there until personnel comes to take them into custody."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel perked her ears up. "Children? Why the heck did that tin can sneak kids in there? Doesn't he know that takin' kids up there and havin' them crawl through the air ducts is dangerous?" She berated in disapproval.

But she smiled when he mentioned about the sensors. "That sounds so cool! AND effective!" She even barked at how neat that sounded.