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[quantumechanic]

Who: Nautica and whoever is not going to start shit
Where: the clinic
When: after she gets hurled into a wall (thx tfp megatron) and before she's off the robot drugs
What: drugged-up Nautica is even friendlier than regular Nautica
Warnings: shameless fluff?

A docile patient, particularly in comparison to the other people around here likely to end up in the clinic, Nautica was curled up on her side in a berth, uncomplaining despite the fresh welds spidering silver across her back and impeller housings. The circuit dampers keeping those welds from bothering her might have been slightly miscalibrated--she was a small mech, and didn't have a tolerance built up from a lifetime of hospital stays over the course of an unending war. It was hardly the medics' fault they'd erred on the high side, especially considering the scavenged supplies they had to work with.

It did mean, however, that she was feeling no pain, either literally or in the colloquial sense, and for the moment was quite involved in watching her fingers as she repeatedly flexed them into claws or drummed them somewhat less than rhythmically on the edge of the slab. Hands were so complicated.

Comments

[luckyfaceplate]

Optimus had only just gotten back, and his original intent was to see Ratchet. With...things the way they were (everyone was pretty scattered, and considering what the planet had told him, that was worrying), he trusted Ratchet to be the most honest with him on what exactly went on. Lo and behold, when he walks in, he sees...quite a number of people in the medical bay. Okay...that certainly wasn't a good sign.

"You've been busy." Whether or not that was to the patients themselves or Ratchet was unclear. And probably for the best. His eyes scan, seeing familiar and relatively new faces....before resting on Nautica.

He knew that Nautica's forte wasn't exactly fighting, so he can assume that's how the injury happened. Not exactly what he wanted for an ambassador of Caminus, that's for sure. He strides over, keeping himself as professional as possible as he looks at her lying on the bed, staring at her fingers.

...Okay. Where does he go from here.

"It seems you hit some bad luck. Or rather, bad luck hit you."

SMALL TALK. HE'S TRYING.

[quantumechanic]

Nautica waggled her fingers at Optimus in a sloppy wave. At the best of times, it wasn't a sure bet she'd notice someone feeling awkward. She certainly wasn't going to pick up on it now.

"It depends on your frame of reference," she said, sounding for a moment a lot like Perceptor, "but setting the wall as the static frame and me as the moving body makes the math a lot easier."

More things she wasn't going to pick up on: other people's jokes.

[luckyfaceplate]

Maybe that was for the best. He's not even all that funny a jokester. He'll consider that the world doing him a favor as he watches her, looking at that hand that waved to him.

...

His own hand gently reaches out, taking her own and studying it. Just how unscathed from battle it was compared to his own. His eyes soften slightly, secretly glad for that. If there's one thing he didn't want in this universe, it was Nautica having to endure those years.

"Ratchet and the medical staff are reliable. They'll take care of you. But that also means you need to relax your mind as well."

Softly, aggressively dadding and you can't stop him.

[quantumechanic]

Small and slender, her hand all but vanished in his, the plating of her fingers marked with the scratches and scrapes a ship's engineer couldn't help but collect, little things that would heal themselves and leave no scars on her hands or her mind. Nautica would not have made it through the war whole, whether she died outright or merely survived with the sparklight behind her optics turned cold and hard.

Not thinking of wars or even of violence, she smiled up at Optimus, happy to hold his hand if that was what he felt like doing. "I am entirely relaxed," she informed him.

[luckyfaceplate]

It was strikingly different, but in a good way. Because with the Camiens on Cybertron, even if they were small in number, they could learn to heal the scars on their hands. They could learn what peace was before all the war. Before even the classist system. Camiens--and Nautica as one of them--brought hope.

It would be a rough ride (Starscream a hurdle that he has yet to leap), but just looking at their hands lifted his spark. He didn't know Nautica very well, but he'd certainly have her back should she need it.

"Somehow I don't doubt that." There's slight humor in his voice, although it's only to himself this time, as his other hand reaches up to pat the hand holding hers.

"Is there...anything I can get you?"