It's not easy being a ruler

“I shall be spending this Holiday alone but I prefer it that way.” She admitted, preferring a more distant Christmas.

Traveling the multiverse would mean knowing one of many rules, one of rules were that laws and government types would vary per world. Different ruler types do result in a general concern, the most major of them being where the level of technology is with some of the more oppressive governments.

Across the park at the trashcan with the rusted out hole at the bottom, is Gadget, waist deep in garbage. 

“Hey, Zip?” Her voice ricochets off the barrel’s oxidized walls. She wrinkles her nose as she shoves an old hamburger box aside. “Can ya give me a hand? I’m sort’ve–” She grunts, small hands wrapped around a sheet of perfectly salvageable canvas, and she’ll be damned if she won’t take it. “–stuck.”

There’s a familiar buzz, and the belt at her waist grows taut as Zipper grabs on and yanks hard. She braces her feet against the edge of the trashcan and leans back, and together, they manage to drag out the mysteriously stained bit of canvas (without falling square on their tails for once).

“You know,” she starts, patting her paws off on her coveralls. “Maybe I need to make this a daily thing, before the trash fills up.” Zipper nods emphatically, and she grins. “Thanks for helping me out, Zipper. Hey, d’ya think you can cart the main haul back to HQ? The canvas is a two-mouse job, and I wanna give the trash one last dive.”

Zipper puffs his chest out with a trumpeting drone, and salutes her, before grabbing the handle of the wheelbarrow she’d jerry-rigged ages ago to maneuver it across the field. The day is overcast enough to be dreary, and the park is mostly empty; even the birds are quiet, which brings an unusual peace. Gadget turns back to the day’s prize and begins to fold it as carefully as she can. 

The blast is teeth-rattlingly loud, close enough that a wave of heat blows Gadget’s hair forward, and instinct makes the little mouse drop to the ground with a yelp of surprise, paws clamping over her ears. She scrambles back around, heart leaping into her throat. Professor Nimnul crosses her mind like a strike of lightning, but the curl of smoke meters away from her isn’t…–she squints. It looks like a figure!  

Gadget leaps to her feet and rushes over.

“Hey! Hey, are you okay?” The nearer she gets, the odder the sight becomes. Violet fur, a spray of mechanical sparks. Gadget spies the large, rounded ears–another mouse?–as she drops to her knees, hands reaching out to turn the figure over.

“O-oh, golly!” She’s greeted by half a cybernetic face, straight out of one of Dale’s movies.

There is a famous thing in a movie, and this can be seen happening in most war or action films. When a large blast or intense impact occurs, a ringing of the ears is simulated in the sort of moves mentioned. That was what the other mouse was dealing with at this very moment....though it probably did not help that face of the half face was exposed. The area revealing the cybernetic portion appeared to have several inner attempts to get the eye to turn on.

The covered area had the eye closed, meaning that a single eye was trying to cope with having no facial protection. To anyone watching the stranger’s left eye, it appeared to be moving in and out of focus. Which would be similar to a pupil becoming larger or smaller. Internally however would be a different story, as various system huds were displayed for the cybernetic mouse, showing off regions that still functioned and how bad the damaged was.

A hand attempted to reach forward and try to move upward form the ground, which only proved futile as various errors began to blare all over the open eye internally. It barely even had time to register the fact that another rodent was in their field of vision, as things will still distorting to the eye. The stranger would go back to passing out as a female voice spoke out as a means of vocal information to the cynernetic mouse. This in term would be heard to the one that found the figure in her current state, as a female voice spoke out.

Risk was the name of the game that was gadget testing, for any attempts to figure something out had the risk to backfire. The means of each and any backfire ranged from small ones, to complete and utter disasters waiting to happen. The risks always varied with the gadget in use of course.

The current gadget being tested on is the use of a belt, one that would ensure someone travels to a different reality in the grand multiverse. The tester in question was a rodent in a yellow jumpsuit, the last set of buttons typed onto the belt before it started it up. Things were looking great at first at the rodent left her own reality and moved to target universe. However the belt began to gltich out and started to fry circuits midway through travel.

The snow was a sign of many things, fun times, a holiday oddly enough, and the lack of life for untold miles. Perhaps that is why the rodent chose to wander through such a colt and semi-barren wasteland of cold, to find what lingers in such a place like this. Life had ways of living through any condition, so that was reason for study.

(All those posts of angst you make at times is just great, if only there was a blog made by a cruel person who loves angst~)

The feline was quite aware of the other as she walked. Every slight rustle and footfall was noted. Aside from being a predator at heart and of species, she was also the Guardian of Sol. Her body had been honed and trained, pushed beyond limits most mortal limits to make her effective in her role. Still, she didn’t let on nor did she smile despite wanting too. This entire act was sweet and even amusing really. Penelope really put in the effort.

She glanced over as the pounce occurred and the mouse was quick to hug her and rest her head, happy in triumph of surprising her. Blaze allowed herself to giggle and just enjoy the moment. While not surprised herself, she could enjoy that jovial mood.

“Is it Penelope?” She asked once her giggles had settled and her standard firm tone could resume though it was always a little lighter when Penelope was around. She had that sort of uplifting effect upon the monarch.

The rodent thought that she was being stealthy, not at all thinking of the possibility that the princess knew where she was from the start. Even if Penelope had a doubt that it was a successful sneak attempt, hearing Blaze giggle just proved it did not matter.

A gentle kiss on the cheek was made before Penelope gave an answer, giving a happy little hum while keeping her head on the feline princess’ shoulder. There was just something about hanging around the monarch that made the rodent happy.

@cyborg-mouse

If anything, Blaze was quite surprised the mouse was still hanging around. She had stayed longer than Blaze had thought and she was even getting the impression the mouse was electing to settle herself down in Sol. Strange but it was not as if it was a bad thing. The feline herself welcomed the company in private where she was the more affection sort. She and the mouse DID get along, that was quite clear. It was weird to have someone worthy of the term company in the mind of the feline…

While she thought on Penelope, the feline was walking through the grounds, taking some time away from work and respite from responsibilities. Not a long one but one to clear off any ideal. If Penelope wanted to see her to talk to her, the gardens would be the best place to seek her out currently. Not like the mouse needed to know that of course.

Originally the mouse was not meant to stick around for as long as had been, for she would normally entering a zone for a few days and than vanish to the next one. Sol did seem like the right place to settle for awhile longer, hanging around with someone like Blaze sure helped in this sort of thinking.

A few of the staff members that resided in Blaze’s place of residence did give clues on where the royal was, leading the rodent to enter the gardens. Though Penelope wanted to greet the other in her won way, causing her to sneak around and avoid being seen. When the time to reveal herself and make herself known to the monarch, the mouse would make a light pounce from a nearby bush and hug Blaze tightly. Her head rested on the cat’s left should before speaking cheerfully.

When you remember you are a cybernetic abomination

This was difficult. 

Unfair, even. 

He wanted to move past all that had happened, he wanted to forget. Forget the time machine, forget the time traveling, forget losing Sly in time, and forget being with her. 

After months and months of unending work, he finally managed to find Sly and bring him back.

He still felt raw from the guilt and shame from just having created that confounded contraption that caused the whole mess altogether. 

Bentley slowly withdrew his hand, using it to rub at the bridge of his beak instead as his voice began to soften. 

“What do you mean ‘you didn’t expect me to worry?’ Penelope... I worry when Sly and Murray don’t eat breakfast in the morning. Did you really believe I wouldn’t have worried about you? You didn’t think about how terrified I was when you disappeared for days on end? You left no notice, you didn’t call, you didn’t answer my calls, nothing to let me know that you were alright. That you were safe. You didn’t realize how utterly horrifying it would have been to have the love of your life, just vanish like they never even existed?”

“And I know you used to do that sort of work but-…..weren’t you happy with me? Weren’t you happy that you didn’t have to do that type of work anymore? I know we didn’t have much money but- we had enough to do the things we wanted….wasn’t that enough? I know you say being with the gang were the ‘best moments’ but if that were the case, you wouldn’t have betrayed us. We weren’t just ‘a gang’, Penelope. We were a family. All of us. And that included you. Sly and Murray thought the world of you. They weren’t just my friends, they were your’s too.”

And there it is. 

Of course. 

She’s already moved on. 

It’s almost as if he suffered a slap in the face. 

He can feel the prickling sensation at the corners of his eyes and the dry lump in his throat that’s threatening to let everything break loose. ‘

It should’ve been obvious that she would’ve moved on by now, but it still hurts to hear her say it. 

He should’ve moved on as well, but it was painfully difficult for him, like removing a large thorn from one’s side. Penelope was someone that had been imprinted onto his heart, figuratively speaking. He had bared his soul out to her, gave her access to everything and anything she could want from him, and while that didn’t seem like much to some people, it was all he had. 

She was the first and only person he had ever shared all of himself with. 

And to hear that she’s already moved on and still feels like being ‘greedy’, he could only force out a bitter laugh. 

“-you….heh, you really don’t understand me at all….do you, Penelope?”

The sounds of that bitter laugh made it feel like someone had wrapped a tight hold around her neck, she had thought by saying that she moved one that he would move away from the pain she caused....it was clear that was just making things worse. A exhale was made through her nose, not having the ability to do so with her mouth, a brief blink of the eyes did reveal some tear works.

But they were swept away with a gesture that tried to make it seem like Penelope was just rubbing her eyes and nothing eyes.

She wanted to hope he was better

she failed....again.

she made it worse....again.

“Of course I was happy to be with you, every moment we had were moments I just wanted to enjoy forever. I had hoped you would not at all notice as I thought that my passing in time would only be a few minutes...and then I would be back into your arms again. Clearly it just shows my utter incompetence...” She spoke in a soft tone, moving forward to Bentley before having her knees touch the ground..she needed to be eye level with him.

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The rage was expected and received a high mental calculation of happening, the only thing that was not predicated had to be the level of rage that Bentley had given her. Penelope stayed her tongue and said nothing to allow the turtle to release all his anger and frustrations toward her, during that time of silence she was listening with her full attention.

She only admitted to being jealous cause she was not the sort to lie often to the turtle, though it was clear that saying the mouse saying she was jealous made it far worse than it was during the last encounter they had. It was only when he was done that she chose to reply back to him, speaking calmly to attempt to explain herself....she knew it was going to sound pitiful.

“I was never truly expecting you to worry about me or even find me in that time era, while it was my intent to betray the gang...I planned to leave after working with Le Paradox to give him what he wanted. The way I saw it the skunk wanted a cooper cane from a different time period, easy hire money. Remember how we met Bentley? My profession is to be hired to assist certain...jobs if you will. I did not tell you because I was sure that by the time the job was done, the timeline would not be altered to badly and my return would be like nothing had happened.”

It took a moment as Penelope needed to calm herself down, the sudden rethinking of what she had done began to slowly haunt the mouse’s mind. She needed to not appear like she is breaking down toward Bentley, that was the last thing that should happen.

Her friendly tone was starting to get on his nerves as she continued to casually insult him and his work. She needed to leave his region or she was going to find herself on the operating table for Maw to cut open with eerie pleasure.

“You can continue to travel in this region, but I can’t guarantee the defense system won’t mistake you for one of those rebellious miscreants that cause trouble for my people. It would save us both a lot of time and pain if you continued your….whatever somewhere else.”

This was perhaps seen as the most basic reactions when it came to people like him trying to not allow the rodent to go to certain places. Of course she was not at all going to listen, for there was a objective far more concerning than the mere ideals that was territory restriction. The mention of a defense system was what caught her attention though.

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“To say that your ass is all I think about would be giving too much credit. I think about other things than just that part of you. I was merely curious about things that involve it was all.” The reply was smug as always, as the sigh from the feline only made Penelope smile. The answer to her questions were perfect for the ears, having a plan for that information later.

To be fair, both of them were a lot more different around each other than around others. It was just how it was. The wide-hipped and plump-bootyed feline followed along with Penelope, blinking as she was kissed on the cheek. She didn’t blush since it was Penelope. Kisses were quite common place.

“Wow…. That’s a lot of money to spend on food… As for favorite place…. I wouldn’t know. I don’t frequent places like that.” The feline admitted as she thought it over. Why did Penelope want to spoil her with sweets? How strange.

Not having a favorite place to eat sweets? Now that was quite a shame to hear from the other, causing Penelope to wanting to have Blaze go someplace that did sell cakes and ice creams as their main food item. The rodent knew such things existed in her world, surely some existed in this universe.