robothell | [ CATCH-ALL FOR DRIFT, JUNE & REWIND ]

The conversation with Prowl's left Rewind feeling sick and shaky, even more disoriented in the wake of his inexplicable appearance here. What is this place? Prowl had looked at him like he was seeing a ghost, even if just for a second. And the accusations against Chromedome... Rewind doesn't want to believe it's true, but he's never seen Prowl like that before. So angry -- so hurt.

He feels like he's in a little bit of a daze, wandering out toward the outskirts of the city until he hears what sound like a muffled call for help. Rewind stops, glances around, tries to figure out where it's coming from, but it sounds like it's coming from...below?

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

There's this thing about wandering around in a depressed haze. The thing is that you don't pay attention to where you're going, and suddenly you're down a deep, dark hole. There was a symbolic metaphor in there somewhere, but Chromedome wasn't in any position to actually appreciate it. Right now he was gazing helplessly up at the round patch of sky far above his head.

Thing was, he had been down here for a couple days now. He'd like to think that his friends would check up on him, but with so much going on, and Chromedome not having an actual place to stay, he didn't really blame them. Still, he was stuck down a hole and it really sucked being down here. So when he heard the sound of footsteps he immediately got excited and started calling for help.

"Hello? Is anyone up there? Down here! In this very deep and kinda damp hole, if you don't mind!"

That voice...sounds awfully familiar, but it's distorted by the echo and the unusual acoustics that come with shouting up from the bottom of a deep hole. Rewind looks around until he sees it -- nearly falls into it himself, but he manages to crouch at the edge and peer down. It's dark, and a long way down -- all he can really make out is the light of the other bot's visor.

"I'm here! Oh, man, that's...really deep..." Rewind leans over the edge to peer down farther in the hopes of seeing the bottom, but whoops, nope, he's just gonna scuttle back from the edge a little.

"Hang on, hang on! I'll get you out, I just -- have to figure out how..." He doesn't know anyone he can call for help except Prowl, and that idea is laughable.

If Chromedome didn't know any better, he'd say that sounded an awful lot like Rewind. But he's been hearing Rewind a lot lately, so it probably didn't mean anything. He was just relieved that he wasn't going to be down here for much longer.

"Oh no, please, take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

Spy Shot swaggers into the medibay encrusted from head to toe in rusty grime. He's not swaggering on purpose, it's just his knee joints are a bit sticky which makes his usual speedy jog difficult.

Spotting June, he makes a beeline for her. She's the most similar person he knows here to Vera, and Vera always helped him out when he got into a mess - while sighing about dirty cameras and how he was lucky his lens didn't stay scratched. Plus, he's not sure how well robots with fingers bigger than his entire body would do with helping him.

Reaching out with a small claw to tug at June's pant leg. "June, June!"

June looks down, slightly startled, and she almost doesn't recognize the little bot, covered in muck as he is. She crouches down to look at him, frowning.

"Spy Shot! What happened to you?"

"I was exploring," Spy Shot says. Through some of the grittier places in the rusting city. Who wouldn't want to explore through mysterious pipes?

Then, as though it's not readily apparent, he adds,"I got dirty."

"So I see," June says with a rueful smile, almost reaching out a hand but then thinking the better of it. He's awfully mucky. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up...are you hurt anywhere?"

"Okay," Spy Shot says, climbing onto the toe of one of June's shoes. It's a familiar place for him to ride on! "I am not hurt. I have some scratches, but they will heal when there's no dirt in them."

It hasn't been long since Optimus arrived, and he was still trying to get his bearings with the whole 'transported to an alternate Cybertron' thing. He'd mostly been hanging around the main camp trying to not be in the way, offering a hand where he could. Which felt like 'not often enough' considering the number of times he had to redirect people looking for his double.

At the moment he was on the edge of the camp clearing away more of the rubble, breaking down larger pieces with his axe. The irony that this was not all that different to clearing space bridges wasn't lost on him.

Edited 2015-03-11 07:19 (UTC)

After hearing what happened to Drift through the pipe line (ha), Pipes was pretty distraught. Sure, he'd survived, but it's still awful to know there's murder-happy mechs like Tarn around. He was really starting to understand why Optimus was so weary at the 'everyone needs to work together thing'...

Anyway, he'd managed to find where Drift was staying for now and decided to get him something nice. The weeniest potted plant, no less. He knocks carefully, absent-mindedly wondering if Drift has such a large place to himself.

When Drift opens the door to see Pipes, he has two thoughts: he's glad to see Pipes! It's been a while, not since before Drift ran into Tarn.

And then: oh my god, Tarn was out and about and Pipes was unprotected all that time.

Drift feels his spark plummet in his chest at that thought -- when he learned about Pipes' death from Ratchet, Drift promised himself he'd look out for Pipes, that he wouldn't let anything happen to the hapless little bot. It's not as though he's not totally capable of taking care of himself, except that he also has the self-preservation instinct of a lemming. So when Drift cracks the door open his mind goes straight from "hey little bud" to "you could have died" in about two seconds and Drift slams the door the rest of the way open, optics lighting up in alarm.

"Pipes! Are you all right?"

"--Alright? I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

He's stuck to exploring inside buildings, for now. Tapping his fingers on the plant pot, Pipes tilts his head.

"I'm, uh. Glad to see you well, though."

Oh. Oh good. Drift's sense catches up to him as relief floods his spark and he brightens his expression, half-grinning a little awkwardly. He reaches forward and plants a firm hand on Pipes' shoulder, giving him a little shake.

"Good! Glad to hear it," Drift says brightly, totally ignoring the question. He softens up a bit at Pipes' sincere sentiment, though, briefly squeezing the little bot's shoulder before he withdraws his hand. Drift's usually pretty blase about his own personal safety, but even moreso now because he doesn't want to spook Pipes. "Yeah, I was a little banged up, but I'm doing all right. Hey, what's that you've got there?"

"Little banged up. huh?" Pipes decides not to press, though it's a little worrying how casually Drift shrugged it off. Ironically, he silently decides to keep an optic on Drift himself.

"Oh! It's a... house warming gift, I guess. I thought it looked nice!"

He holds the plant up, clearly quite pleased with himself.

"Oh! Hey, yeah, it does." Drift's smile softens a little, reaching to relieve Pipes of the potted plant. The technorganic fauna on this Cybertron is kind of disconcerting, but Drift finds a certain beauty in it. He thinks it's really thoughtful of Pipes, actually.

"Thank you, Pipes. Why don't you come in for a while?" He waves Pipes in, turning to find a windowsill to place the plant on. There's definitely a slight hobble to his step, even though he's walking pretty well for a guy who just got off a hospital slab. A little banged up was obviously a gross understatement. "Rodimus isn't around, so it's just me here."

He follows Drift in, watching his limp. Wow buddy you are NOT VERY GOOD AT LYING. Regardless, Drift is better and very much Not Dead, Pipes doesn't really want to press. Not yet, anyway.

"Ahh I didn't realise you were staying together. Captains gotta stick by each other, right?"

Yes they're living with each other because they're part of the command trio, clearly. Guess who hasn't been told about Drift's "exile" yet! Fun.

It's okay, Pipes, Drift doesn't really want to tell you about it. Or about your death. Let's not mention that, like, ever. Drift will protect you.

"Oh, ah -- yeah," Drift says in agreement, even though he's not even remotely captain. Third in command once, but with Megatron in the (co)captaincy, what does that make him now? Fourth in command? Is that even a thing? "Well, and friends, too." As if anyone could possibly fail to notice how close Drift and Rodimus are. "And beside that, I think it's a better idea to hole up together with everything that's been going on." Like Tarn beating Drift within an inch of his life. Like that.

Drift peers at Pipes as he sets down the potted plant on the windowsill next to some small sculptures that resemble nitrodeer, though, putting a hand on the little bot's shoulder before he lowers himself gingerly into the apartment's lone chair. Aside from the ornaments on the windowsill the place is pretty bare. "Do you have a place to stay, Pipes?"

He frowns lightly. Somehow.

"I, uh..."

No. He doesn't. "Just kinda slept wherever? I didn't think it really mattered."

So maybe he'd been avoiding Pax since they got back. He really... doesn't know how to handle this situation. He doesn't want to give up on the friendship, he doesn't want to lose his partner... but...

Bah.

He'd gone back to an old project. Rounding up bits and pieces until he managed to cobble together a video player. He'd found a couple undamaged recordings, and it wouldn't hurt to see what was on them.

He's set up in a small building near the medical bay, putting the finishing touches on the device.

Life on Cybertron isn't super comfortable, but June's adaptable. She's a nurse -- she's half-lived on shitty hospital cafeteria food and slept in chairs and tiny break room bunks for years. It's not a party, but she can deal. She also definitely misses eating food that tastes like something, but as far as she can tell she's getting all the nutrients she needs, and she's not going hungry. There are two things she really misses, though: alcohol and entertainment.

So when she hears the sounds coming from the building next to the medibay as she's leaving to go home one night, she's inclined to investigate. She's gotten used to being surrounded by Cybertronians at this point, and Autobots no less, and while she's still careful it's made her less afraid -- certainly not so afraid she won't stick her head in the door just to see what's up.

Whatever's going on in there, it seems to just be starting up -- June hears a click and then the unmistakable sound of people talking, but it sounds like a recording. June leans a little further into the building and she sees a projection of what looks like a TV show -- and a large Cybertronian watching it. June watches for a few minutes, stepping in closer as she begins to identify this as some kind of Cybertronian soap opera, some drama or another set in a hospital. Giant robot General Hospital. But for someone who hasn't watched so much as a YouTube video in a few months, it's pretty good entertainment, and June watches with interest for a little while before she turns to the big mech nearby.

"So what's a conjunx endura, exactly?"

He finally got it working. Finally something went right. After all the awkward months, walking on eggshells around people he should have been completely comfortable around... something went right. It's about time.

He scrounged up a chair and an energon cube -- it's not his favorite thing to have while he lazes around, but until someone can uncover a vending machine, it'll do. Big feet kick up onto a convenient broken console, and, for the first time since he got here, things feel normal.

At least until he's startled half out of his chair.

Roller doesn't recover gracefully, he's just too big and heavy. So there's a lot of flailing and cringing before he turns to face the speaker.

"Uh."

Oh yeah. Smooth as glass. "Hi."

June covers a grin with her hand as she watches the big mech trip all over himself at a tiny human. It's kind of adorable, atually. He seems like a nice mech so far, at least, although she doesn't see a badge on him. Then again, June's learned by now that that isn't necessarily a good metric. Fuck you too, Sentinel.

"Hi there," June says, waving up at him from the ground, and she takes a few steps closer. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you...I was just curious about what you were watching, and frankly, after a few months with no TV I'd take The Young and the Restless over nothing. My name's June, by the way."

"Hi."

Still smooth. Still totally smooth. He rubs a hand down his face, and resumes his previous indolent posture in the chair. Like nothing had happened. Truly, Roller was the most impressive and suave of bots here.

"It's fine. Just a little edgy after... coming back to everything being screwed up," he mutters. Then nods at the TV. "I found a few vids so I figured I might as well hook something up. Better old Generic Medical Bay reruns than nothing, right?"

A beat, and then:

"Oh, yeah. Roller."

"Nice to meet you, Roller," June says conversationally, although she raises an eyebrow slightly as she watches him. He wouldn't be the first to need a distraction around here. June can sympathize with that. "Generic Medical Bay, huh? Sounds like something I used to watch back home after a long night shift. Sometimes daytime TV is all you brain after twelve hours in the ER."

And since he hasn't shooed her away by now, June finds a foothold in the side of the chair and uses it to hoist herself up onto the arm of it to sit next to Roller. "So what is a conjunx endura? I feel like I'm missing something critical to the plot."

"Yeah, same. Except without the ER part. Unless I was the one in the ER."

Which thankfully hadn't happened all that often. The bigger you are, and all. At least he wasn't getting judged for it. Not like that one time. Besides... it wasn't as if there was a whole lot to do around here right now.

He doesn't protest when she plunks herself down. He really doesn't mind, anyway. The question earns a slight scowl, however. "It's... uh..." How does he even explain this?

"The most important person in your life. Like... emotionally, romantically... everything? Kind of like another half, I guess. I dunno. Never had one."

"Oh, so like a significant other," June says, eyes lighting up with understanding. She looks a little surprised, but she's smiling at the notion. "Of course. I never...well, I guess I didn't know you Cybertronians had anything like that."

She scoots a little closer on the arm of the chair, though, laying a hand on Roller's arm. "No? No one available, or just not your thing?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He shrugs, pausing in the whole awkward explanation thing in order to finish off the drink. "Why not? We're alive, we like company... just makes sense, right?"

Oh, and now the questions got a little more awkward. He grimaces, shifting in his seat.

"Never really thought about it. Like... ever. Busy and stuff -- things are getting really heated lately. There's not much down time."

Plus he's. Huge. Sort of hard finding someone who's okay with that in a romantic partner.

"I hear that," June sighs. Boy does she ever. Kind of hard to get out and date when you work twelve hour shifts every other day. She cocks her head up at him, though, smiling curiously. "But you don't have anyone in mind, huh? No one you'd want to be with if things cooled off a little?"

"Uh."

Oh yeah, totally smooth answer. Totally convincing. Totally ignoring the brief mental image of blue and red armor and a faceplate. But wearing a different name. Millions of years ago.

"Not really."

Not anymore, anyway.

Too much time has passed since Lock-On's last conversation with June, so after a bit of asking around, she heads to the medibay, where June seems to have been spending her time. With her usual rumbling, she rolls in through the doors. She looks around a bit for June. It's quiet enough in the medibay, though, that it doesn't take very long to find her.

"Hello, June," Lock-On says. "Are you currently preoccupied?"

Lock-On is always a welcome sight -- by far the most polite Cybertronian June has met. Manners go a long way, okay. She looks up at the cannonface, which unnerved her once but now she finds it sort of...charming.

"Not enough that I can't chat a little," June says, dusting her hands off on the front of her scrubs. "How are you, Lock-On? I haven't seen you in a little while."

"I am sorry for my absence, but it is good to see you again." June is always so approachable and friendly; Lock-On would be hard-pressed to think of a situation in which it would not be good to see her. What a wonderful small human friend.

"In the time since our last conversation," Lock-On continues, "I have been attempting to acclimate to these new surroundings. While I enjoy spending time around others, I am just so unused to it. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do, in more ways than one."

"Not used to being around people, huh?" June smiles sympathetically. "Well, it's a pretty small community here as far as most places go, so you can ease into it. But you're pretty friendly for someone who's been alone most of her life."

He'd only just finished visiting First Aid. After all, the medics had to go about their daily routine, and Trailcutter wasn't going to get in the way of that. But on his way out, he notices June, and takes notice of her gathering some supplies.

A smile softly spreads across his face as he walks up--June had been one of the friendlier faces of this new Cybertron, and a welcome human. So...why not say hello?

"Hey, need a hand with that? Or two, since I'm already offering."

June looks positively delighted at seeing Trailcutter, beaming at the smile on his face. He seems so gloomy sometimes -- it's nice to see him smile. Hello son, mom is so pleased to see you

"Trailcutter! I didn't know you were passing through here." June reaches out to pat him on the leg, the closest part of him she can reach. "I'd love some help. I can carry most of this stuff on my own alright, but it'd be a lot easier for you to grab it. You don't mind giving me a ride, too, do you?"

"Ah, yeah. I had someone to see." He wouldn't go into details about First Aid. That was probably already a.) obvious or b.) not the right time or place for. But seeing June here was definitely a welcome sight. She'd been only courteous to him in the short amount of time they'd known each other.

Without hesitation, he starts gently taking the things she needs, placing them in his palm while holding the other out for her. "Sure thing! Beats walking with...you know, smaller legs."

...

"I have no idea where we're going."

"The clinic, naturally," June says, hopping right into Trailcutter's palm. She's getting pretty used to this whole being carted around by giant robots thing, nbd. "Well, my clinic. I'm trying to get one set up for the other humans here -- it's in an annex to the building where Red Alert and Ratchet have been treating people. So who's your friend?"

The answer catches him a moment, almost coming to a stop as he looks back at the clinic they were currently in. It takes him a moment when she elaborates though, that he mouths a soft 'oh' and smiles. He gets it now.

"Seems like a good idea, I mean, humans can't necessarily fit on our beds. Seems like a good way to keep things easy on all of us."

But at the question, his expression turns a little bashful. "Oh, just First Aid. He's kind of my physician, for the most part. And a good friend."

June smiles, looking delighted just to hear that Trailcutter's been getting out with friends. Just to hear he has a close friend. June knows Trailcutter's got some insecurities of his own -- not that they've ever talked much about it, not really, but...June can see it all the same, little things here and there. Mom vision.

"And why haven't I met this First Aid?" June teases, poking fondly at his plating. "It's a good question, actually. I guess I just haven't run into him around the clinic yet."

You'd be the first, June. While his insecurities are obvious to a lot of people, it didn't really come up as something to deal with. Which is why he thinks nothing of it, personally. There's a smile back to her as he talks.

Even if he isn't the most confident, he'll certainly be for other people.

"Well, he had a bit of a run in and got his arm torn off. He's...doing okay. Still armless though." There's nervous shifting as he talks, fingers drumming on the stuff he's carrying. "You can't miss him that way."

June's curiosity turns abruptly to shock, because honestly she's still not totally used to how cavalier Cybertronians are about things like missing limbs. Humans don't exactly have that luxury.

"I -- oh. Yes, I guess that would make him pretty distinctive."

Her surprise catches him--ah right...humans. Limbs. Not exactly as easy to deal with. You can tell it's been some time since he's been on Earth!

"Ah...yeah. He's fine though! Don't worry about him. He was doing datapads and stuff so....

All's good with him."

And there's a reassuring smile.

"He's resilient. It's what I like about him."

Starscream's making his rounds about the populous, and it's only a matter of time before he runs into Drift. He can't help but snicker to himself before landing because hey, this should be an interesting conversation. It's not like he ever worked very closely with 'Deadlock' back when they were both still with the 'cons, but he'd certainly heard a good deal about this Cybertronian before and after his defection, and seen his face up on stage with Rodimus at the announcement for the journey of the Lost Light.

Also... well, the last time Drift had come up in conversation, Starscream had been, weirdly enough, defending him to Metalhawk while they were both paling around at Maccadam's. Just on principle that kind of makes him compelled to strike up a chat.

"Now there's a face I haven't seen in a while," Starscream says by way of greeting as he transforms and touches down nearby. "Drift. How've you been?"

Drift is generally pretty civil in conversation, but even he looks at Starscream a bit like one would look at something unpleasant you've just discovered is stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Back when he was still Deadlock, they had fought together plenty of times, but you can't really say they enjoyed each other's company. Drift thought he was a massive gearshaft back then, and time hasn't exactly made him any fonder.

"Starscream," Drift responds, looking like he's trying not to make a face. He rests his hands on the hilts of his swords -- not so much a threatening gesture as one of confidence, leaning back a little. The Decepticon brand Tarn carved into his chest has since been covered with Rodimus' badge, although it's still a little visible around the edges, the edges of the deep gouges peeking through. "I can't complain." You should, Drift. You should. He looks Starscream up and down briefly. "You've got a new look, I see."

Wow no need to be rude, Drift. Starscream appreciates the effort though, noting the hand on the swords without looking directly at it. He's got swords too y'know, tough guy. You're not impressive.

"I thought it was time for a change. It seemed fitting, what with my ascension to the position of leader of all Cybertron, and the uh... well, the re-building of the planet, and everything. Everyone else was getting a fresh start so I thought, why not me? Of course, you know all about fresh starts..."

He takes a step closer before Drift can respond, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, it's too bad we're not having this conversation on our Cybertron. Your unique perspective on things would be immensely useful to the rebuilding effort. But I guess we've got our hands full with this Cybertron, huh?"

Drift looks about as unimpressed as Starscream does, plus a dash of not wanting to have this conversation at all, mostly because Starscream. Maybe the salient question Drift should have asked of Autobot Megatron was why Starscream. Just why.

"We," Drift repeats flatly. What is all this we business, Starscream. But he looks at Starscream suspiciously, unwilling to take him at his word. "You can't be serious about wanting me back on Cybertron."

An airy shrug. "Why shouldn't I be serious about that?" he says simply.

[ CATCH-ALL FOR DRIFT, JUNE & REWIND ]

FOR CHROMEDOME

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FOR JUNE

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For June (sorry it's short I'm leaving for Sydney eminently)

FOR DRIFTO

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Re: FOR DRIFTO

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lady robot mom person

let me know if this is ok, i can edit!

LOOKS FINE

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FOR JUNE

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JUNE

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tfw june's hair down PB looks like it could be teeb's PB's mom

I KNOW RIGHT ITS GREAT

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For Drift MAKES KISSY FACES AT

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