#lsdkjf

hi its everyone’s favorite scriptwriter!!! say hi to archie he’s here to cause problems on purpose

used to run a small claymation studio a good long while ago, it went bankrupt bc claymation wasn’t super popular at the time 

he lonely

he loves his found family very much but has grown distant from them as of late bc everyone is old and staying in touch is hard

he’s also a workaholic, coffee junkie, and has NO impulse control whatsoever

he has a magic pen with which to write his script

he’s into sigil related magic n demon shiz. has been since the old days 

brilliant writer and has a large flare for the dramatic 

he’s not actually in the script at all! he’s outside. controlling things. but he’s still the biggest player here so don’t underestimate him 

he does NOT know the toons/etc in the script are sentient actually. he tested to make sure back when he first made the script. they just seemed to only respond when he gave them a story to play out, even if they played it out just according to their “characterizations” initially

he just thinks the magic is fricking up and will do his best to “fix” things so. watch out sldkjf

Most people were frightened of him, probably rightfully so. The only exceptions were Dareth, Ronin and Harumi, all of which were his family now. He always did his best to give off a gentle impression in public but it never lasted. He had trouble emoting. His dark sunglasses were intimidating, but the red glowing eyes underneath weren’t any less so. Sometimes he thinks he has a chance, picking up things someone dropped or holding open the door. Their thankful smiles would always vanish when they caught a glimpse of his eyes underneath his glasses.

People still didn’t trust nindroids after all, even if Zane and Echo were an exception. Perhaps Pixal as well, but no one outside of the ninja knew the identity of Samurai X.

People were afraid of him. It was a fact E knew from the start, and one he accepted, mostly.

It was still frustrating from time to time.

But Frigidus wasn’t like that. The hacker’s face would light up whenever he entered the room, already prattling on about his current project. It was surprising how much he could talk, but maybe he just didn’t like the silence, as E mainly communicated with sign language or by texting.

There wasn’t a hint of fear or intimidation. He didn’t hesitate to get close, look him in the eye, complain that the sunglasses made it to hard to read what E was thinking. E would take them off, or put them on top of his head, wondering how the intense red didn’t bother him.

Even when they first met Frigidus hadn’t been scared of him. Nervous, of course, but anyone would have been considering the situation. Ninjago was falling apart and he’d suddenly been slammed with the responsibility to patch up a broken nindroid he’d never seen before.

It was a blessing he knew sign language, made it a little easier for E to communicate.

E entered Borg Tower with the visitor pass that Frigidus had finally gotten for him. Borg had been hesitant, but Frigidus said it was either that or E would keep breaking in by hacking the system or slipping in from the roof. E gave a polite nod to the receptionist at the desk, who just eyed him with caution.

The usual.

He got stuck in the elevator with another poor employee. The man stayed pressed against the back corner, never taking his eyes off E. If the nindroid turned up his hearing he’d knew he’d hear the man’s racing heartbeat.

When they reached the man’s floor, he scrambled out of the elevator. The pair of women who were waiting just gave him an awkward smile. One said, “We’re going down so we’ll wait for the next one.”

Probably a lie, E didn’t argue. He just let the doors close without a word.

When he reached his destination there was a crowd waiting. They completely split apart as he exited the elevator, giving him more than enough room to move down the hall. He didn’t glance at them, or apologize, it’d only make them more nervous. Every now and then he’d hear the people who worked here gossiping to each other, asking why he was here, what did he want. Today they were silent.

He used his pass again to open the door to Frigidus’s lab. The room was fairly impressive, huge, despite Frigidus’s insistence that he didn’t need all this space. He was a programmer first, inventor second. Anything he did with machine parts was out of necessity rather than curiosity.

Despite that it was fairly crowded, boxes of spare parts and old files. His work desk was littered with with his current projects, still trying to design weapons that could tap into elemental powers. He’d made breakthroughs with them ages ago, but still refused to release it.

“You know the villains of this country.” He’d said. “You build something like this and they flock to it like desperate parents during a holiday sale at the department store.”

E laughed at the analogy, and Frigidus’s face lit up at the sound.

“E!”

That same expression was on his face now as he slid his chair away from the computer.

“Man, you’re just in time. I’ve got a big surprise for you today.”

E tilted his head.

“Well, you know.” Frigidus got up and headed over to him. “I asked Ronin if you had some kind of birthday and he said not really? But he gave me the date he activated you after repairing you so I guess today counts? I mean, maybe you don’t really celebrate it but…” He was rubbing the side of his head, pushing his hair out of his face only for it to bounce back.

“You got me a present?” E signed.

“Well sure, I think you earned one if nothing else.” Frigidus smiled at him, blue eyes glittering behind his glasses.

E wanted to be happy but he was confused. He was still so confused. “Why aren’t you scared of me?”

Frigidus’s smile dropped. “Huh? Should I be? I mean, I know you have the whole death biker look going on.” He gestured to E’s jacket. “And I know you can tear the shit out of almost anyone, but you’ve been nothing but polite to me since day one.”

That was true but… “Most people are still frightened of me, regardless of how nice I act.”

“Cause they’re stupid.” Frigidus glared for a moment. “Did some other jackass from the engineering department talk shit about you? I’ll flood their email with awful heavy metal covers.”

E smiled and shook his head.

“Fine, just keep me posted on that. Don’t worry about it right now anyway, come on.” Frigidus grabbed his hand and pulled him to the corner of the room. There was a blue sheet covering something that was domed on top. “Now I can’t take all the credit for this, Zane gave me the idea, but I thought it could help you out, you know?”

Zane had the idea? What could that possibly mean? E prayed it had nothing to do with his ridiculous hairstyle.

“Alright, here she is.” Frigidus ripped the sheet off.

Underneath was a bird cage, a fairly large one, and perched in the center was a… vulture? No. E blinked, trying to get a closer look at it. The shape indicated a vulture, but not a real one. It’s black and red feathers were synthetic. It’s face looked more like a skull, eyes glowing red. Its head tilted with a click. It shifted on its mechanical feet, long claws curled around the post.

“I named her Cherry Berry, or just Cherry.” Frigidus snickered. “Not that you have to tell anyone that. Figured if Zane had a bird companion you could too, something more fitting to your style. I programmed her system to work almost effortlessly with yours. She’s built with heat vision, infrared, and can even shoot lasers out of her eyes.” Frigidus pointed to his own and grinned. “I tried to give her a flamethrower too but it kept causing her feathers to burn so I’m working on that.”

Frigidus opened the cage and gestured to her. The huge bird hopped out, landing on his arm. She seemed to be almost too heavy for him to manage.

“Claws are already sharp.” Frigidus cringed. “But they can extend some too, latch on tighter. Built her out of light material but still durable so she can take a few hits.” He tapped on her chest. “Go on, see if you can connect to her and communicate a bit, get her up and running.”

E wasn’t entirely sure about this, but he trusted Frigidus. He did a quick scan for nearby signals, picking the bird’s up right away. There seemed to be security clearance for it, but he must have already been added in as it let him through with no trouble.

“Hello, E.” The bird’s voice was soothing, gentle, far different from her appearance. “It is nice to meet you.”

E wasn’t sure what to do at first. Eventually he held out his arm, much how Frigidus was. Cherry hopped over to him immediately. Her weight didn’t mean much to him, but she was lighter than he expected.

“Let me know when you start taking her out for test runs, send me some data. I can make improvements from there.” Frigidus grinned at him. “Think she’ll be pretty handy next time you and Harumi stake out a place. She’s got a bunch of other features but I think I’ll let you figure them out as you go.”

“If you like I can go ahead and build a map of the city.” Cherry tilted her head. She moved so much like a bird.

E figured that was a good idea, and Frigidus’s eagerness to test her out only pushed him further. They rode the elevator up to the roof of the building. The hacker was practically skipping around before finally settling against the railing.

Dork.

“Don’t strain yourself.” E told the bird. “If something isn’t functioning correctly you should come back.”

“Of course.” She nibbled at his ear before she jumped off his arm and over the side. Her wings caught her, sturdy and well put together. The wind lifted her back into the air and she flew on over the city.

“Awesome,” Frigidus grinned. “We tested flying in the lab but it’s so much better seeing it out here. I was a bit worried how her wings would handle the outside air.” He opened the holoscreen from his jacket, taking a few notes.

E waved to get his attention before signing, “Thank you.”

Frigidus shut the screen down, still smiling. “No need to thank me. About time I returned the favor for all those times you saved my ass.”

E decided to be bold, taking a step forward. “I will save it as many times as I need to.”

“Come on, I can’t be that special.”

He shook his head. He wanted to tell him that he was, that he was wonderful, that E wouldn’t know what to do if he stopped being a part of his life.

But he wasn’t sure how, and maybe it would take too long to sign it out, so instead he just brought up his hand to say, “I love you.”

Frigidus’s cheeks turned pink, then his ears. His eyes glanced away but he was still smiling. “Yeah, love you too.”

“Just what do you see in that nerd anyway?” Harumi had asked. It really wasn’t anything thrilling or complicated. E just loved being around him, because the feeling was mutual, and that was that.

His hand moved slowly to Frigidus’s face, cupping his cheek, tilting his head up. E always hesitated with things like this because he didn’t want to spook him. He didn’t want to do something that would push Frigidus away for good. But maybe now–

A light clack interrupted them. They both turned to see Cherry sitting there, red eyes fixed on them.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account.” If she had the ability to smile no doubt she would be.

E felt his system heat up as he let go. Frigidus’s face turned even more red.