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starry-eyed-dr · 23 days

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None of the boys on the Starpoint Squad have a professional background in engineering or chemistry, so when Starline tells them not to eat in the lab or while constructing the robot, they don’t take him very seriously.

This results in him flipping his lid (reasonably so) when he finds them doing just that, despite his warnings.

They do meekly apologize when they learn there is actually a real, scientific reasoning behind his words, and it's not just because he's being a stick in the mud.

Goes to show, Starline’s not the only one to get a slice of humble pie during the competition! XD

Accompanying fanfic below the cut!

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📘📙 Fanfic: A Slice of Humble Pie

Accompanying Music Track: World Trigger - 12/30

Starline stopped dead in his tracks the moment he stepped into the room. The platypus’ eyes widened when he saw Charge, Hex, and Lug standing around a table in the center.

Munching on cookies and cinnamon covered churros as they worked on the robot’s response system to Cello’s chemical mix.

Rivet immediately saw the problem too and clicked her tongue, green eyes shifting to the doctor besides her as his fists tightened at his sides. “Oh boy...” She managed to get out before Starline’s patience utterly cracked.

“GENTLEMEN!!” He exploded at the group, all of whom immediately looked up and froze like they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. (Ironic, because of what they were snacking on.) “WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT EATING AROUND THE EQUIPMENT?!”

The three stared at him blankly before Hex slowly crunched down on the cookie still in his mouth to reply, “Um… not to do it?” He squeaked.

“And yet, here you are, going against my very clear instructions and making an absolute mess!” Starline exclaimed angrily before he stomped over to them with balled fists. “Did it not occur to you—“ He yoinked the cookies away from Charge. “—That I had a very good reason—“ He plucked away Hex’s next. “—For telling you all not to eat in here?!”

He reached to grab the churro away from Lug, but the bulldog knit his brows together and quickly held it up out of Starline’s reach in defiance. The platypus merely gave him an unamused deadpan before a portal activated over his head, allowing Starline to easily take it from him.

The bulldog sputtered at his now empty hand and at being outsmarted, before growling deeply as the doctor continued by without so much as a second glance. “Grrrh… Well MAYBE we just thought you were being a big ole, grumpy stickler! I paid for that, you know!!”

“Well then, maybe next time, you’ll heed my words,” Starline stated with an over the shoulder frown as he crossed over to the nearest trash can to dump the confiscated goods into it.

“I don’t get what the big deal is, doc,” Charge said as he frowned and rested on his elbow on the counter.

“Clearly.” The platypus’s tone was practically dripping with sarcasm.

“…I mean, I get the whole liquids thing for obvious reasons, but is food really THAT much of a problem?”

“Yes, it is. And quite frankly, I’m surprised I even have to be saying that!” Starline exclaimed before the bag of cookies made a particularly loud ‘cur-chunk!’ as it hit the bottom of the cylinder.

Starline then spun to face them again, crossing his arms like a disappointed parent. “I understand that none of you have ever had formal training in a professional setting like this… but even so! I expected you to have SOME common sense!“

“Hey! You calling us dumb or something?!” Lug complained as he leaned atop the counter.

Starline sighed dramatically and pushed his fingers into his ivory bangs. “Your words, not mine, Lug.”

“HUHHH??”

“Regardless! Since it seems that merely believing the words of a professional isn’t enough for you, I suppose I have no other choice than to make it perfectly clear why we mustn’t eat in here.”

Gazing out to the annoyed faces watching him, Starline began to explain. “Contrary to what you all might think of me, I tell you this NOT because I am a stickler and want you all to starve. But rather because ingesting food or drink in a setting like this poses a very real and very dangerous health hazard! Not to mention it could potentially mess with the reliability of our tech later down the line!”

“‘Health hazard?’ ‘Screw up reliability?’” Lug squinted suspiciously, not buying a word of it. “How?”

Starline motioned to Charge, whose ears pointed straight up at being singled out. “For example: Charge is currently handling the concoction Cello made, testing if the fluid is potent enough for what we need to operate the hydraulics system, is that correct?”

Charge nodded and picked up the capped glass container with the glowing blue liquid inside. “Yeah. Cello wasn't sure how concentrated it needed to be, so I’m adding it little by little to get the proper dosage. But I’m keeping it covered so it doesn’t spill and no crumbs can get inside!” He gave the bottle a little shake, causing the liquid to noisily slosh against the sides.

“A measly effort at best to prevent incident,” Starline scoffed dismissively, which earned an immediate frown. “By handling the chemicals, then eating and sharing your food with the others immediately afterwards, you’re running the risk of making yourself and the group quite sick from cross contamination!”

Charge’s grumpy attitude and expression almost immediately dropped when the realization of what he said clicked. The lemon colored cat meekly set the concoction back down on the table and dropped his gaze with it. “…Oh,” he mumbled quietly.

Starline then turned to Hex and Lug. “And you two! Even if you’re not handling the chemicals, you’re still getting crumbs everywhere! And no matter how tidy you may try to be, they’re still going to end up getting into the ports and components of whatever you’re trying to build! Which, in the long run, can and will affect connection integrity, and potentially cause a multitude of other problems!”

“Oh.” Both bulldog and rat too shrank down like wet, burlap sacks in embarrassment.

“That.. might actually explain some problems I ran into back home…” Hex mumbled, scratching at a tuft of purple fur as he recalled his favorite robot struggling to work properly after a few tests. He had snacked quite a bit around that one as well. Namely, pretzels and granola bars.

Starline huffed out a breath, pleased to hear their arguments silenced, though he was still just feeling plain annoyed. “Do you understand now why I was so insistent on this? One careless misstep, and our chances of winning the competition could be over before we even get the chance to show them all what we’re capable of.“

He sighed and pushed up his glasses as he pinched the bridge of his bill. “Honestly, I get being hungry on the job, but if you feel as though you MUST feast so badly, then please, for the sake of everyone here, do us a favor and take it to the cafeteria where that stuff belongs!!”

The boys went silent, and Starline took that as a sign of their understanding. “Thank you!”

With that seemingly now settled, the platypus huffed from his long winded speech, feeling the twinge of an oncoming headache building in his head. “…Augh.. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some air… I expect this place to be spotless when I come back, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Starline,” The three boys somewhat mutedly murmured in unison.

“Good.” The platypus shut his eyes and headed for the door, brushing past Rivet who hadn’t said a single word the entire time. “Honestly, the things I put up with sometimes...” he grumbled to himself as he walked out.

The room was deathly silent as the door closed shut behind him. Then Rivet shifted her gaze over to the group. Before she could even so much as breathe in their direction, Charge held up a hand. “Don’t— say anything, sis.”

Rivet shrugged nonchalantly. “I wasn’t going to.” She paused. “…He is right though, you know.”

Charge groaned in response like he knew she was going to do that and grit his teeth. “I—!! Know that! Ugh… Now, anyways.” He rolled his eyes sideways and slunk down.

“I didn’t mean to make him so upset…” Hex murmured softly, quietly picking at the hard plastic on his tablet. “I just didn’t want to fall behind on our tasks…”

“Augh, no, don’t blame yourself, Hex,” Lug groaned, rubbing his face with a gloved mitt. “We’re the older ones here. You were just following our example... Technically we should be the ones held responsible..”

“Humble words for someone who, up until a minute ago, was the most eager out of all of us to defy the doc’s instructions,” Charge pointed out with a smirk.

Lug start, completely caught off guard. “WHA—! Yeah, okay, well— MAYBE I realize I was being petty… But it’s not exactly like you were any better!!” He then exclaimed.

“Ha..! Yeah alright, you got me there.” Charge gave a small, sheepish grin. “I can admit I was wrong too…”

“Look, I’m sure you all didn’t mean any harm by it,” Rivet encouraged them. “But maybe from now on, just trust what he says when it comes to things like this, yeah? It’s clear to me that this competition is really important to him.” She chuckled weakly and sweat a bit. “Otherwise, he.. probably would have kicked us to the curb about a week ago…”

The lavender cat then moved to join them at the table so she could lean back against it. “I know he can be a bit arrogant, and… a little rough around the edges at times, but he IS trying his best to work with us despite his pride. So… maybe we can try a little harder to work with him too, yeah?”

The room was quiet for a moment, then Charge smiled and nodded, seeing her point. “..Yeah. Guess we were kind of being jerks and pulling a him by ignoring his request.”

Lug grumbled and put a hand on his neck in bashfulness. “Mm.. yeah… Especially when at the end of the day, all he was doing was just looking out for our wellbeing,” the bulldog glanced over at the trash can where their treats now lay discarded.

“We’ll apologize then when he gets back,” Hex stated, holding up his determined little fists. “Let him know we do appreciate him! And that we’ll try even harder from now on to be the best teammates he could ask for!”

Charge gave the rat a little thumbs up of approval. “Yeah, sounds like a plan. Eheh… Even if he’s likely going to lord this over our heads for a while…”

“Better than him staying quiet and letting you accidentally poison yourselves, right?” Rivet flashed them a coy smile and pushed off the table to retrieve a roll of paper towels from one of the nearby counters. As she passed them to head to her own work station, she bumped it against Lug’s chest.

Lug accepted it and blinked at the roll, turning it over in his hands. “Yeah, you’re right about that,” he stated, before sighing and ripping off a square of it. “All right then.. come on guys! Let’s get this place cleaned up like the doc instructed.”

The coder and bio-electric kinetic nodded, and the three got to work on cleaning while Rivet sat down to resume work on her part of the project.

When Starline would eventually return to the group ten minutes later, their work area would be just as he expected it to be.

Bright, clean, and sparkling, with not a single crumb or drop of chemical concoction in sight. ✨

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