1426/AWftF: Bulma Makes a Dragon Radar

AWftF: Bulma Makes a Dragon Radar
Date of Scene:	27 January 2015
Location:	Njorun Station - Infinite Library
Synopsis:	Bulma (spoofed by Serori) provides a completed Dragon Radar to Raditz.
Cast of Characters:	37, 486
Tinyplot:	A Wish for the Future

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Serori (37) has posed:
Bulma Briefs is a certified genius. She's also probably certifiably crazy. Out of the last five days she's spent working on a new Dragon Radar, she's probably dedicated no more than ten hours or so to sleep, and the exhaustion and stress she's feeling is showing on her face. Puffy, dark circles frame her pretty blue eyes, and the focused line between her eyebrows looks like it's becoming permanent. Though she's still sporting an immaculate appearance overall, she's frazzled, which means even the joy at finishing her project doesn't do much to improve her attitude.

"There." Bulma uses the end of a small screwdriver to tap the circular radar's buttons. The two-star Dragon Ball on her workstation lights up on the radar's display as a flashing green indicator. "It's perfect."

She puts the screwdriver and the device down, and sits back to rub the heels of her hands into her eyes. Then, she reaches over to the radio, and calls Raditz.

"It's Bulma. I'm finished. It's working. Hurry up and come and get it so I can go home."

Raditz (486) has posed:
    "I'll be right there."

    Thank god for small favors. Technically speaking, Raditz's request to give Bulma access was about a week ago, but he wouldn't blame her for being right on top of it ever since Raditz called her in with the Dragon Ball in possession. Because it was a big deal, you know.

    It's only as Raditz comes around to pick up the Radar that it occurs to him that this particular Bulma has probably not seen him since that first time he landed on Earth... "Welp, here's hoping she doesn't shoot me in the face on reflex." He mumbles as he pushes the door button to get into the lab.

    And so, Raditz, former King of Earth, former King of the Saiyans, steps on into the lab dressed like a mostly normal person. Kind of like Vegeta with his tank top and pants combo, mostly just to keep it casual. When he sees Bulma, he isn't sure quite how to greet her. "Yo."

Serori (37) has posed:
Bulma turns in her chair to face Raditz as he enters the room. The look she gives him is chilly, and her tone isn't very friendly, either. "So, the Dragon Radar's functioning and calibrated. Do you need instructions? It's so simple a /baby/ could use it, but I can explain it to you if that's what you need."

Before he can answer, she picks up the Dragon Radar, stands up from her chair, walks briskly over to him, and starts the explanation. "You push this button to power it on." She clicks the button located at the top of the display screen a couple of times to show him what it looks like both powered down and powered up. "After it turns on, it needs a minute to scan the local area for Dragon Balls. It's got an active radius of about three hundred miles, and a predictive radius of five hundred."

Bulma points out two other buttons. "Use these to zoom out or zoom into the map. The map is topographical. Coordinates display /here/, approximate altitude or depth /here/. You can select an active signature using /these/ buttons."

She shoves the Dragon Radar toward his chest. "Got it? Good."

Raditz (486) has posed:
    Before Raditz can reply that it won't be neccesaary to explain the Radar, He finds himself somewhat cut off by the abruptness of the lecture. Admittedly, he's not had too many opportunities to use the Radar himself, but it felt kind of condescending, and also not with much heart.

    He catches the device when it's shoved against him, and says, "Hey -easy-, Geez... You don't have to be so freaking icy, you know?" He grumbles. Against his better judgment, he tries to at least talk to Bulma. "I know you're not exactly a fan of mine, but I've been trying to help everyway I could."

Serori (37) has posed:
"Yeah, /sure/. Kidnapping Gohan and killing Son Goku was /sooo/ helpful." Bulma snorts and stomps back over her to workstation to start collecting her tools. Each one is thrown into her case with a rough force powered by her irritation. "Yeah, yeah. You're not /that/ Raditz. You're the /good/ Raditz." She eyerolls and waves her hand to dismiss the claim. "Goku'd probably be your best friend by now, if he hadn't died on Planet Namek."

She stops to tuck hair behind her ear. Reluctant, she tries to soften her tone. "It's hard, you know? It's hard to look at you and not think back on those times. I know it's been years, and I know it wasn't /you/, but it was...terrifying, and it's hard to let it go. So, forgive me if I don't want to be your friend. I'm not going to stop being helpful, though. Like it or not, what's good for you is good for Earth right now, and I'm going to honor Goku's memory by doing my part."

She looks over her shoulder to give him a hard look. "Just promise me you'll make them regret going after our Dragon Balls, would you?"

Raditz (486) has posed:
    Raditz clutches tightly on the Radar, averting his gaze as Bulma calls him out for the actions that changed how Earth would have to deal with things, how Goku and Friends would have to deal with things. "No, you're right. That was basically me. It might not have been the version of me native to this universe, but it may as well have been. 'The Good Raditz' doesn't really exist anywhere."

    He sucks in a breath, and brings himself to look Bulma in the eyes, "But I mean it when I say that I've been trying to change how things are. I'm going to fix things, somehow... I don't know how, but I'll make things right."

    He does allow himself a smirk, "I'll be starting by wrecking the day of any of them trying to get them. You can count on it."

Serori (37) has posed:
Bulma sighs, and snaps her tool case closed. "I know you'll do what's right. You have the Union to answer to, these days, and if they've accepted you, then you're probably not as bad anymore as I remember. You've got a lot of mistakes to atone for, but it's not like you need my approval or forgiveness in order to set things straight."

She knuckles her forehead to ease her growing tension headache. "If you see Trunks, remind him he's got a home to come back to after he decides to stop chasing after his father. He's not a bad-hearted guy; he's just being led astray. Maybe like you were, once."

Slinging the strap over her shoulder, she starts moving toward the door. Her heels click smartly across the tiles. "Look, if you damage that thing, let me know as soon as possible. I've got all the data I need to construct a second Dragon Radar back at home, but until I have it ready, I'll prioritize the repair of /that/ one. Good luck in your search. Good luck with...everything."

Raditz (486) has posed:
    "I'll make sure Trunks gets the message." Raditz nods and glances at the Dragon Radar, gazing upon it as he considers, before quickly asking, "Oh, just one other question... The Radar is set to track the specific set of Dragon Balls, right? Hypothetically, is it possible to tweak it to track other sets specificly?"

    He scratches the back of his head, "Just... Mostly curious. It might be handy to tweak which set it's tracking some day."

Serori (37) has posed:
"It's calibrated to this particular set of Dragon Balls. We had to stop using the other Dragon Radar because it'd keep picking up blips from other iterations of our world. It's strange, but there's some kind of crossover effect blurring the accuracy of the Dragon Radar. I've done what I can to tighten up this Dragon Radar, but you might still see false positives now and then."

Bulma frowns as she considers his question. "We can recalibrate it to other Dragon Ball sets, but I think I'd need one of those Dragon Balls in order to it."

Raditz (486) has posed:
    "Right, that would make sense, wouldn't it...?" Raditz comments, before nodding, "Never mind about that then. We've got enough to concern ourselves over with the one set as is, and we don't need the Feds thinking we're looking for any other sets at this point."

    Her glances at the radar once more, and pushes the button as instructed, and then blinks as he has himself an 'idiot moment'. "Wait, why is there only one dot...?" He blinks as he looks closer at it, pushing the buttons, coming to a realization, "Oh, right, we have to be back on Earth for this to work right. Duh... Right, this should do the trick." He looks back up to Bulma and gives her a nod, "I'm going to report in, and then we can start hunting... We've had a small problem with Serori getting pissed at one of ours for snagging the ball. I'm hoping to avoid having to do it, but if we've got no options, we're going to have to hand ours over to them..." He growls at that prospect.

    He then says, "You take care of yourself, Bulma. You might want to keep out of sight too, we don't want the Feds getting the idea that they can use you to tweak their Radar too..." He then grins, "And... Thanks."

Serori (37) has posed:
Bulma smirks. "The Confederacy won't even /try/ to touch me. I don't think Vegeta would allow it, and I /know/ Trunks won't. If they do make the attempt? Bring it on. Capsule Corp's got way more surprises in store than they saw back at the lab." She flashes a wink, and a thumbs-up. "Don't worry about me."

"Keep in touch, I guess." Bulma hoists her tool bag's strap a bit higher onto her shoulder, and disappears through the lab's door.