07 - This is Only a Tiny Setback

[doofenstrudel]

[Phone - Morning]

Haah... there! Finally! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get to the telephone when you've spent your entire morning shrinking and are now about the size of an action figure?!

...

Well, alright, I'm willing to guess that quite a few of you out there understand what I am going through. It is that kind of week.

[Doofenshmirtz sighs.]

Other than an informal poll on how many of us are having height issues... er, I make no promises on how functional the bakery will be today, if the rest of the employees are feeling a bit small, too. You have been warned. And I will point out that you can live for a day without cake. Suck it up.

[Action A - Around Town, mid-day]

[Necessity is the mother of invention, and being this short has necessitated that Doofenshmirtz swipe Barton's tinker toys and assemble them, along with a few other household objects, into something of a protective mech-walker. His intent was to give himself some height, some visibility, and a little protection from the dangers of Mayfield.

It makes him about a foot and a half tall rather than itty bitty. It's something.]

You! You, clear through! Out of the way!

[Also? He managed to rig up a teeny little voice amplifier. It's hard to make a lot of noise when you're that short.]

[Action B - Around Town, late day]

[Oh dear. Doof has suffered a breakdown. One of the tinker-toy joints has come unjointed, and he is struggling valiantly to get it back into place.]

Blast it! And drat it! And damn it, too! Get... get in... ARRRGH!

[Although he occasionally stops to look around and make sure a pigeon or cat won't try to eat him. He was dreadfully, dreadfully itty-bitty. It would be just his luck.]

Comments

B

[twototheskull.livejournal.com]

Leias notices the struggling tiny evil genius and takes a knee beside him.

"Need a hand?"

[doofenstrudel]

Gah!

[Tiny Doofenshmirtz is startled by the unfamiliar (and much larger) person's approach. He doesn't quite drop the length of wood that he was trying to manipulate, but he does manage to shove it in the wrong socket.]

...blast it! It's stuck!

[He now drops the whole thing, and shakes a fist at the guy.]

Curse you! Curse you, enormous person that I have never seen before!

[twototheskull.livejournal.com]

Leias tips his hat in a pleasant sort of way. He's an older man, late 40s, early 50s, a bit scruffy and trail worn.

"Leias Kline, Courier 6 of the Mojave Express. Do you need a hand."

[doofenstrudel]

[Oh. An introduction. He stops shaking his fist, and instead just scowls.]

This is an extremely delicate construction! One wrong move could wreck the entire thing!

...

...ah, fine, pull that orange stick out, will you?

[He jerks his thumb backwards, while sighing and rolling his eyes.]

[twototheskull.livejournal.com]

Leias sets to work and moves the strut. Compared to repairing guns, this is fairly simple work.

"What sort of device is this?"

[doofenstrudel]

It is a MiniMechInator! I would think that would be obvious! I am no bigger than a child's toy, and I needed something to use to get around town!

[His hands are on his hips now, and it's not terribly amused. But a larger pair of hands will make this easier...]

Put it back in the socket adjacent to the one it was in. Make sure it's secure.

Action B

[myblimpisbigger.livejournal.com]

[Guess who else is only an inch tall? This guy! Given that he's normally seven feet tall, this is somewhat weird. Intriguing, but weird.

Oh. Hi, Doof.]

Having trouble there, Doctor?

[doofenstrudel]

...Klaus?

[Doof looks up from his work, quite surprised. The joint was almost re-jointed, but not secure. He doesn't move from the spot and slightly awkward position that he's in, not wanting it all to slip.]

Some. A little. It's entirely under control!

[myblimpisbigger.livejournal.com]

Well, as you can see, I hardly have anything better to do. Being one inch tall tends to put a damper on what one can and cannot do.

[He regards Doof's work for a few moments, picking it apart mentally and analyzing the structure function of each component.]

You know, I could actually make this much more efficient and possibly faster if you gave me a few moments...

[doofenstrudel]

Handling kindergardeners would be difficult when you're much, much smaller than them. Today? It is not a good day to go to your job.

...W-what?!

[He wants to touch his device mess with his equipment alter his work?! No! Never! That's far too personal! Doofenshmirtz wraps his arms protectively around the MiniMechInator's still-functional leg.]

This is my work! Mine! It does not need any alteration!

[myblimpisbigger.livejournal.com]

[Oh baby just let me retool your work...

I MEAN]

It does it the alteration would improve it.

A

[getsciencedone.livejournal.com]

[GLaDOS meanwhile is also the victim of shrinking, at the moment she's hiding terrified behind a telephone post. Oh god her Ornithophobia is acting up. Because a few feet away from her....bird, bird. Kill it, it's evil!]

TO THE RESCUE

[doofenstrudel]

[And along comes Doof in the nick of time! Or perhaps a few instants after the nick, as his tinker-toy-mech wasn't meant for extremely high speeds.]

Bad bird! Shoo! Away! AWAY!

[There is waving of spindly arms! There is amplified shouting!]

[getsciencedone.livejournal.com]

Kill-it-kill-it-kill-it!

[This is a bird wondering what the hell is going on.....and then flying away.

GLaDOS doesn't look any less terrified till it's gone....then sighs.]

Good....it's gone.

[doofenstrudel]

[Hooray! Victory over the bird!]

Ahahahah! Take THAT, bird!

[He shakes the mech's "fist" skywards, victoriously. And then quickly turns his attentions to GLaDOS.]

Are you alright? Did it hurt you?

[getsciencedone.livejournal.com]

[......oh great someone saw that.]

I'm fine.

....I don't like birds, that's all.

[ phone ]

[imoutos]

E.. eh?! You shrunk? [ She sounds surprised over that, but the majority of the surprise is already gone - she encountered her not!mom shrunk as well, after all. ]

Are you okay..?

[ phone ]

[doofenstrudel]

I am fine, Nadeko! I am short, but I am fine.

This presents me with some interesting challenges, today!

[ phone ]

[imoutos]

W-well, I don't know, maybe it hurts to shrink.. It never happened to me, so I'm not able to tell.

And.. interesting challenges? You mean getting through the day..?

[doofenstrudel]

Ah, no! No, it was quite painless! You have nothing to worry about, there.

And... yes. Everything is much bigger than I am. I will need to.. to build something.

[imoutos]

... But.. if you would build something while you're that small.. then it would just be really small to other people as well, right? Would they even be able to see it from that size?

A

[a-crazygirl.livejournal.com]

[Ow, the makeshift robot definitely just ran into Toni's ankle.]

Hey! Watch where you're... Doof? Are you in there?

A

[doofenstrudel]

[Hadn't even left the property, and already running into things, tsk tsk... He reverses his course until he can see Toni at a proper angle, and then flicks on his amp.]

Yes! Yes, it is me! Is this not fantastic? I made it!

[If you care to peer down at his tiny, tiny face, he looks very proud of himself.]

A

[a-crazygirl.livejournal.com]

[...ahahaha. That is flat out adorable.]

It's nice to see you're making the most of a bad situation.

[doofenstrudel]

The available materials are much easier to work with when small, rather than when they are scaled up!

Seriously, a power supply large enough power a normal-sized one is a bit beyond me... although... if I had a car engine and the rest of the car's components...

[Oh great, he's thinking. With the hand-on-chin pose and everything. Which the mecha is doing along with him.]