Into the Dark (Fox Storm and ab103 only)

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel had seen the dilemma that happened in the cafeteria while she was in there getting herself a drink of water from her dish. She looked at Alfred in alarm; she had never seen him act so deranged and frantic before. She couldn't help but cringe at some of the comments Blaze made at Alfred. She knew that Blaze was a bit hot-headed, more so than her, but even she wouldn't dare say anything that horrible. She looked on as Alfred ran off. Her concern for him was genuine, and so, she decided to sneak out of the cafeteria and follow him.

...

She pawed at the door again, trying to get Alfred's attention. But he didn't want anyone to come in. She sighed, almost in a parental way, and said,"Alfred...it's me. Can I come in?"

She knew he felt so sad from all that he felt; she wanted to let him know that she wasn't loyal ONLY to Ty.

ab103 wrote:
Alfred groaned and pulled his blanket over his head. "Why?" he asked, "So you can call me out on building NOS-4-A2 too?" He downright giggled for a quick moment, choking a little at the end of it. "Oh! Ha! Two-to!" He then groaned, clearly agitated, even hit the wall with his fist. "Darnit! I thought I was over that! Just- Just- What do you WANT?" he cried out, pulling his blanket off of him and sitting up, sending a fearful glance tot he door.

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel glared in determination. "I want to TALK to you. I ain't going to call you out on building NOS-4-A2. If I did, I would have done that to your face a long time ago. But I'm not going to do that now. I just want to TALK to you. Can I come in?"

ab103 wrote:

At first there was silence. Then some shuffling, followed by a thud and a rude word. Finally, the door opened, Alfred looking out at Pixel. "Um... Um... I don't know why you would WANT to, but... Um... O-Okay...?" He waited for Pixel to come in and then shut the door behind her. He then sat down on the floor, back against his bed.

Around them, the room was starting to become messy. Things hadn't been dusted recently and some items were just thrown about or not put away properly. Anyone who knew Alfred well enough knew how obsessed with cleanliness he was. It honestly wasn't that bad just yet, but it seemed to be getting there at the current rate.

Fox Storm wrote:
She looked around the room, looking around at the messiness of it all. Shocked at how things were disorganized and messed up. She felt so bad for him as she watched him hug his legs near his bed and sat next to him. The dustchaser said nothing for a few minutes until she bluntly stated, "You've been busy."

ab103 wrote:

"Hnn?" Alfred seemed to snap out of a small daze and looked at Pixel and then straight ahead. "Oh, yes. Busy. This and that. We're working on the new security system, you know. Not that the others seem to want it. Because I designed it. But what do they know? Forget them! I'm building this FOR them! Working so hard that I hadn't gotten a chance to eat 'til today. Still haven't. Since... Yesterday? Today's Wednesday, right? Unless it's Thursday... Let's just say I haven't eaten since Tuesday. Or, was it Monday? Hmm..."

He was rambling for many reasons. One was his current mental state, another was the conditions that brought on that mental state, and the third was sheer avoidance. Of what, he wasn't ever sure anymore. He stopped caring about what he said a few moments ago when he decided that life hated him.

Fox Storm wrote:
The dustchaser's eyebrows creased up. He was worse than she thought.

"Today...is Thursday. And I'm sure the security system will be awesome against Zurg's bugs." She said carefully.

ab103 wrote:

"Ah, yes..." Alfred's expression darkened a bit. "Zurg has a thing for insects, doesn't he? He has his Grubs, cute little darlings but very disgusting at the same time, and then he has those robots of his. Hornets, Beetles... Not very well made, glad to say I wasn't a part of that. Wouldn't want him to be too powerful, after all, and wouldn't want my name attached to shoddy workmanship like that... And then he has Darkmatter, who is a breed of insect all his own."

Fox Storm wrote:
She blinked. "Uh...right. Darkmatter is just a loudmouth who thinks he's so cool.." She couldn't help but grunt at Darkmatter's name. But the dustchaser went back to the conversation; she needed to talk to Alfred and get through to him.

"So...anyway, I think the security system will be successful...you're pretty good with machines."

ab103 wrote:

"Very good," Alfred nodded, agreeing. "I made a living off of it, after all. I know what I'm doing. The new security is much better than the old one. It's similar to what I use for my own house! Not that they would trust that it's any good..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel sighed. She knew she had to say something now.

"You know, Alfred...you can't keep on beating yourself up like this. It's not good for you."

ab103 wrote:

"And why not?" Alfred demanded. "It's a good reminder about why I shouldn't try to get involved in any type of friendship or whatnot. My relationship with my father was so bad that I ran away. I thought I managed to actually become friends with Ty and Simone yet they clearly don't want to be anywhere near me. None of the other rangers trust me anymore, so it's better to just remind myself that EVERY relationship I EVER have is destined to fail. Even my wife..." He trailed off then, developing a distant, hurt look. He glanced over to Pixel, seeming like he was actually regarding her for the first time.

"What about you...? Why are YOU still being so kind to me...?"

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel's ears dropped at his bitter rant, sensing a sense of loneliness within his words. She sighed again.

"Because over the past week, I saw how you slowly began to lose that childish and spoiled yet somehow charming attitude of yours. To me, that's just wrong. It's wrong that the way everyone's treatin' ya!" She felt a small amount of disapproval creep into her blood.

ab103 wrote:

Alfred stared for a moment, face completely blank. Suddenly, his lips twitched and then formed a small smile. "You think it's charming...?" he asked, seemingly missing Pixel's entire point.

Fox Storm wrote:
When Pixel heard that, she did all in her willpower to resist groaning at how Alfred missed the point. But she did smile a bit when Alfred smiled. She said, "Yeah. I mean, sure, you're a jerk at times," She ignored the annoyed scowl he gave her, "But you're not all bad. You really wanted to help Ty. Sure, I don't like what ya did in the past, but...that's it, ain't it? It's all in the past? If there's anything I've learned in life, it's that you gotta keep runnin' and livin' and never stop for anyone or anything you don't care about."

ab103 wrote:

Alfred sighed, but then nodded. "It very much is all in the past. I would know that more than anyone. Time doesn't let you change what already happened... But you are free to do what you want in the present to affect the future..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel nodded. "Exactly! And you should keep up and keep on runnin'! Just sittin' around like a rock ain't gonna help ya, kid." She put a paw on his knees to comfort him.

ab103 wrote:

Alfred raised his brow at the "kid" comment, but he decided not to say anything about it. "But..." he started, "What do you do when you trip?"

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel scrunched up her face, as if she were thinking of a good answer for Alfred. She came up with an answer and, with a spirited grin, said, "You get up, brush yourself up and keep goin'."

ab103 wrote:

"...Yeah, okay." Alfred sighed. "Thanks for the advice, really, I'll try to use it... But, I still don't know what I'm going to do around here... I have no clue why Commander Nebula made me stay here in the first place; he already knew that I worked for Zurg. But, I can't just leave now... But I'm starting to... Well... Did you happen to see that little... 'incident' in the cafeteria...? I just hope that they don't plan on sending me to a psychiatrist or something..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel nodded. "I saw." She laid down, crossing her front legs together, tucking her back legs against her, and curled her tail. "But I didn't like it. If anything, I think it's stupid what Blaze said about you. I also think it's bad what you were going through back there. Like I said, I've been watching you act like this for the past week or so, and, as stupid as I can act at times, even I can tell you're clearly under a LOT of pressure there, kid. If you want...."

She wasn't sure if this decision was going to be the smartest thing she ever did, but it certainly was the right thing to do, for Alfred's sake. She would have to argue her decision against Ty and Simone later, and Nebula if he got involved."...I can be here for ya, actin' like a...well, like a mirror. You tell me what's troublin' ya, and I'll just listen."

ab103 wrote:

There was that "kid" thing again... What was with that?

Alfred watched Pixel for a moment, probably checking to make sure that she was sincere about the offer. "Mirror, huh? A kind of furry mirror that can talk, but, okay... I think I'd like that... Should I start now?" He watched her nod and then he took a deep breath. "I don't want to be alone." That was all he said for a moment, due to a sudden rush of emotion from having finally admitted this. "One of my worst fears is to be alone, hated... All of that. I'm... Not exactly the best at common sense in this regard. 'If you don't want to be alone, then why did you spend ten years virtually on your own?' Because, I figured that if I didn't have anyone around, I wouldn't risk doing something stupid that would make me lose them. Again..."

He bit his lip, hesitating over what he wanted to say next. "But, then I came here and Commander Nebula insisted that I stay. If I didn't, I wouldn't be given help in quitting working for Zurg. I mean, I'm not sure if you know this, but I first just asked nicely and Zurg threatened to blackmail me, so I came here in order to have help destroying and otherwise altering the blackmail material... Nebula didn't tell them WHY I was being blackmail, but I digress... I came here, I stayed here... And, suddenly, I grew used to having people around me all the time, even if I didn't actually associate with them."

He paused to take a break. Well, actually, he wanted to see if Pixel would say anything in response to what he already said before he continued.

Fox Storm wrote:
She tilted her head and took her paw off his knee, placing it on her head, as if to scratch it in confusion."What did you mean by, 'make me lost them...again'?...was there someone...you lost?"

ab103 wrote:

"Weelll... In a sense... She's no longer around, at the very least..." Alfred sighed. "I miss her... I really do... But, I rather not talk about it. It wasn't really the best of things I had to deal with, but it's not important right now either."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel softly whined. "I'm sorry I asked." But she wanted to hear more from Alfred; she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable about something he wasn't willing to talk about.
"So you were saying...before I butted in?"