1st Build

[rexthebuilder]

Who: Rex Salazar (rexthebuilder) & YOU
What: Rex asks people opinions on snowball fights, doesn't know how shopping works to save his life, and then manages to temporarily get crud in his eyes by trying to be cool while no one's even looking.
When: Early December
Where: In Town
Warning(s): Mildest of eye squicks in the third option (spoilered away)

1. Survey Says.... [OTA]
Rex is carrying around a notebook and pencil given to him from his brother, looking around the crowd in the town square for someone that looks like they might have a good opinion. César gave him an important assignment. It'll be a long time before Rex figures out César gave it to him as an icebreaker to meet and socialize with other people patient enough to give a teenager their time.

Eventually, he gathers up his courage and walks up to a random person with an enthusiastic smile. "Heyyy, what sort of forts and stuff would make the most epic snow battle ever?"


2. Shopping Montage! [OTA]
Rex has his hands in his new winter coat his brother bought him to feel the 100 Brass he's carrying again and again, a wide grin on his face as he walks around window shopping outside. César suggested he go and get himself somethings with the half of his first paycheck that isn't going to food. And as he goes around and starts walking back and forth, realizes he has no idea what to spend it on, and his enthusiasm wanes somewhat with absolute bewilderment and confusion.

"... what sort stuff can I even buy here that isn't boring?"


3. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a... teenager? [OTA, CW: Immediately healing eye abrasion]

Click to reveal

Rex figured that flying with his Sky Slider without goggles would be fine because the cold killed all the bugs. Today, he learns learns chimney ash can be just as bad when he decides to fly through it in order to be cool and it immediately backfires.

"Augh, no, my eyes!" Rex covers his eyes with a hand as he hovers down onto the street and returns his legs back to normal, waving with his free hand. "Uhm?! Anyone there! Need help for a minute!"

Comments

1.

[worstorganplayer]

A man with an S-shaped scar on his left cheek turns to look at the unexpected question.

"Uh ... haven't done that sort of thing since I was a kid at the orphanage," he drawls. "I remember some of the kids actually made a fort that looked like a castle once...."

It's definitely not the sort of question he's usually asked and certainly not something he tends to think about, but he thinks the kid looks like Cesar and he's curious.

"You plannin' to make a snow fort battleground or somethin'?"

[rexthebuilder]

Dude, cool scar.

"We absolutely need a castle!" Rex starts writing that down immediately, not looking back up as he tries to do the quickest of sketches. "My bro's got some unused fields this winter, and I thought we could make use of them for something fun! Since there's no movies or video games or anything."

[worstorganplayer]

Snakes has definitely got used to it by now and it's become a trademark of his, along with purple clothes.

This information doesn't surprise him at all. "Is your brother Cesar?"

[rexthebuilder]

Hey, better than the green suit that Six always wears. The same suit. That's all that's in his closet. Multiples of the same thing.

Rex just blinks in mild confusion for a moment, then his expression clears, and he brightens back up, expression softening a bit. "Guess it's kinda obvious, huh? I'm Rex."

[worstorganplayer]

Guess the fella really likes that suit, Snakes would think.

He grins. "Yeah, the family resemblance is pretty strong. Cesar must be happy to have you here with him."

Except for the factor of having to be near-death to get here.

[rexthebuilder]

Six just sees it as a way to eliminate one more variable in his everyday life. Also, he likes green.

"He's happy I made it instead of, y'know, not making it here." Rex gets what the guy's trying to say. "Still a little weirded out seeing him in a kitchen or a dining room instead of a lab, but I'm getting used to it. To his roommate and fiancée, too. Didn't realize how much César likes coffee until now!"

He's trying to feel out how their relationship has change and how best to be a little brother and dump on his brother. Gotta figure out how to tease him. Rex doesn't remember César from when he was younger, but he knows he's supposed to make fun of his brother a little. Lovingly.

[worstorganplayer]

Snakes would be with him on having a favorite color, at least.

And true, at least being near-death this way means you get another chance. Can't always say that about death, that's for sure.

"So how do you like them?" Snakes curiously asks. He wonders a lot about the both of them, not having met either one yet.

He wouldn't be at all familiar with loving teasing. Growing up a loner in the orphanage, the only teasing he experienced was definitely not loving.

[rexthebuilder]

Rex stands a bit more upright, surprised and then confused by the question. "... what do you mean? Of course I do! My brother saved the world, Magne's really nice to me, and Touya's pretty cool!"

He knows exactly what the man means, but admitting that he understands is frightening. César's the only one he knows from home. Rex would be living in the orphanage himself if it wasn't for him.

3.

[tisnotthehouse]

On the roof for business of his own, Tarantulas squawks in dismay as a teenager suddenly zooms by him, yelling and clutching at his face. "Oh, good heavens," he mutters, dropping down to the ground next to Rex and transforming.

"Here, hold still," he says gruffly, reaching for the teenager's arm. "We need to flush your eyes out, I have a bottle of water...eh, somewhere in here..." He digs through his backpack with two of his extra legs, trying to find it quickly before the teenager runs off again.

[rexthebuilder]

Rex has some feeling that the mass of the person next to him shifted, but he's helping, so Rex isn't going to question it, and he lets himself be pulled along. "Aw mannnn, I can't believe I'm missing eyewash stations right now...."

Yes, Rex was very acquainted with those.

[tisnotthehouse]

"Indeed, that would be very useful right now," Tarantulas agrees. "But I've found it...now just lean down and open your eyes when I tell you to...oh, and try not to freak out over my appearance, will you? I'm as much a citizen of this town as any other off-worlder."

His voice is gruff and businesslike, but not unkind. He does a very thorough job of cleaning out Rex's eyes and checks him carefully for injuries.

[rexthebuilder]

Rex does what he's told obediently, very much used to this process and perhaps way too calm about it after the initial complaints. The guy even talks a little like Six.

When he does catch sight of Tarantulas, he doesn't even blink. "Ehh, I've seen way stranger. On a scale of 1 to 10, you're like a 4. Maybe even a 3 & 1/2."

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas barks out a laugh. "Really? One wonders about your basis for comparison -- hold on." He squints at Rex for a moment, turning his head side to side in order to see the boy from different angles. "You look familiar...are you a local after all? Related to someone here in town?"

1/2

[rexthebuilder]

Rex lets out the sigh only a teenager can.

[rexthebuilder]

Another person recognizing him, huh.

"César's my brother. I'm Rex."

[tisnotthehouse]

"Rex?!"

Tarantulas grins widely, showing an unsettling number of teeth. He hugs the boy around the middle, with both arms and four of his extra legs. "Yes, I see it now! Oh, really I should've seen it before -- your brother's a good friend of mine! A very good friend! How long have you been here, my boy?"

[rexthebuilder]

Oh, dang, those are an impressive amount of teeth. That's actually kinda sick. OOOP

Rex FLAILS for a split second as the hug happens but then suddenly holds extremely still, worried he might break a couple of those legs if he struggles away. "How does César know this many people...? Uhhh, a little over a week? I asked César to let me be incognito instead of him introducing me to everyone. Sorta ease into this place and all."

3

[ss_buttcrack]

Is that kid... flying? The stab of jealousy he feels is immediate but short-lived because he can see disaster about to strike--and strike it does.

"I'm here, I got ya," Cricton says as he races up to Rex. "There's a clinic nearby. I can take you."

He'll just... hold all questions about how this kid turned his legs into a hover vehicle until later.

[rexthebuilder]

Rex's middle name is disaster. Or, actually, there's a line item in Providence's budget solely for Rex related accidental (and sometimes purposeful) destruction.

"No, I just—" No, not a written record of this momentary stupidity, because his brother is supposed to be picking up his goggles tomorrow in less than 24 hours, and he'll die of embarrassment. "I-I only need to wash my eyes out. My body can handle the rest."

[ss_buttcrack]

"All right, well, we'll need to go somewhere with running water for that. I happened to notice you're sporting some interesting body modifications. You mean that literally?" Nothing is going to shock him now. "By the way, I'm Commander John Crichton. What's your name, kiddo?"

[rexthebuilder]

"That was my Sky Slyder. And yeah, literally. I heal fast." Rex seems more annoyed than upset about this current situation. "I'm Rex. Rex Salazar. ... ... ... man, I just realized White Knight never even gave me a rank even after I kept saving the world! Rude!! Commander Rex would sound so cool."

Yup, he's definitely just annoyed. And a teenager.

[ss_buttcrack]

"Rank comes from discipline, not heroism," Crichton says. Sorry to burst your bubble. Wait. Salazar. OH. Yeah, this tracks.

"You wouldn't happen to be the little brother of Cesar Salazar by any chance?"

He will continue to escort Rex on as they talk, taking it as truth that the boy will heal fast just like he says.

[rexthebuilder]

"Now you're starting to sound like that drill sergeant from home." One groan, followed by a second at the question. "Yes. César's my brother." He's been getting that question a lot. "I never realized how much we look alike until I showed up here."

Rex regularly gets thrown against concrete walls and is used to being in pain during fights (see previously). Eye pain is worse. But he can power through it since it'll be getting fixed.

[ss_buttcrack]

"I'm not actually military, just so you know. I'm a science officer and an astronaut. Different career track." And yet he still has a pistol in a holster on his thigh and very much looks like he knows how to wield it.

"If it makes you feel any better, I recognized you by the name. I know your brother. He's talked about you, too. It's great to finally meet you in the flesh."

They come to the front of Crichton's home and he jogs up the steps to unlock it. "In here. You can use my bathroom, straight ahead down the hall. You want a snack?"

[rexthebuilder]

"That's way cooler anyway." Rex thinks space is cool and hasn't grown out of it; also, he would notice that pistol if his eyes weren't otherwise occupied.

"... that makes me feel a little better." Don't tell César he said that. "Dude, yes, please. My nanites mean I'm always hungry!"

Which means he tries to hurry down the hall too fast before Crichton can guide him and hits the door frame with an "owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" but continues into the bathroom nonetheless.