"I'll manage." Replied Spanner without a concern. "I had to pay for the shipment of my Mosca here, so I'm a bit broke at the moment, but I'll figure things as they come." Wow, Tsuna didn't remember meeting such a lackadaisical individual ever before. Byakuran and Kyoya were laid back, true, but not this unworried about the near future as their new acquaintance.
"Your Mosca?" Repeated Hayato with a puzzled tilt of his head. Sometimes Tsuna thought the boy was way too poppy-like in his gestures and his behavior. It made ignoring the imaginary dog ears and wagging tail all the more difficult.
"The robot I built. I used scrap pieces from various devices around the house, so it could use some perfecting, but so far it can walk on its own, identify the people in front of him if they are entered in its database, pick up small objects and fire laser beams and lead rounds at will."
Tsuna wanted to bash his head on the closest wall, and he saw from Hayato and Shoichi's mildly horrified expressions that they felt the same. Byakuran was just insane and was chuckling creepily while sucking on the raspberry flavored lollipop Spanner had offered him minutes ago.
Why had he ever entertained the notion that anyone he met and talked with could be normal again? Spanner had looked sane enough so far, apathetic behavior, breaking in and excessive passion for robots aside- yeah, OK, maybe there were some signs, but Tsuna would very much like to hope he could meet someone whose first reflex was not to build/throw/wield/fire/threaten with weapons. Was that too much to ask for?
He must have spent too long being the straight man to his friends' brand of madness, because the next sentence left his mouth without his input. Apparently, picking up on the quirks and insanity of his acquaintances -even if only in his head- had become so common that it had become an automatism. "You built weapons on your robot." It was not even a question which went a long way to show how much he was in despair and how sadly used he was to rampant craziness.
"Yep." Drawled Spanned excitedly. "Armament is a fascinating topic, and what is the point of a robot if it can't kick ass?" Hayato was nodding thoughtfully besides him. Oh, God, no, please don't let Spanner give any ideas to the already explosive silveret. "I actually want to add more weapons on my Mosca, and build more than one. Maybe I'll build one for each type of weaponry. But no matter what they all will have at least some features in common anyway. Like propellers so they can fly and track their target until it is destroyed, and at least one machine gun and one small missile launcher. Those are basics, really." He tilted his head with a sigh. "It's too bad I don't have the necessary materials yet. My only Mosca for now was made with pieces I scavenged from devices all around the house and pieces I picked up at the closest dump. I can't work properly and build the best Moscas I can with subpar materials, and even if I have enough money, some parts are heavily regulated and only sold to the military..." He looked really downtrodden by the thought that he didn't have whet he needed to build weapons of mass destruction thought Tsuna. He didn't know if he should sympathize, be glad or cry.
Probably a mix of all that actually...
But the conversation had kept going while Tsuna was despairing over his existence, and by the time the brunet managed to get out of his dark mood, Spanner, Shoichi, Hayato and Byakuran were already debating over the specs and the design of an army of death robots armed to the teeth with top-of-the-line weapons.
"So," The Sky started to say, louder than needed, but he couldn't in good conscience let his friends and new acquaintance plan the robot apocalypse from Terminator without at least trying to divert their attention. Luckily, the four geeks interrupted their mad scientist talk to listen to him. Unfortunately, Tsuna had not really planned further than that and scrambled to find a valid question. "Do you have anywhere to sleep tonight?" He ended up asking.
Chapter 23: That learned about robots
Start from the beginning
