0004: NEW ARRIVAL BRIEFING

[crux_npcs]

Who: New Arrivals, Graham Baker
Where: Briefing Room
When: Late afternoon, Februaro 30th
Warnings: None

When awakening, you'll find the area you're in to be very busy. The people in the medical ward are polite and understanding, but firmly refuse to answer questions until the briefing. The same goes for the robots in the hangars. Either given hospital outfits resembling very comfortable pajamas, drone bodies, or their own bodies, they are escorted by polite, unyielding people in red and black uniforms to the briefing room.

The Briefing room is large. Not enough to accommodate a Cybertronian, but spacious enough for several dozen people. The chairs are high-backed and well-cushioned, more like comforting eggs floating a foot or so off the ground than anything else. A half completed, but still functional, holographic display is settled into the floor, showing a slowly rotating pyramid.

A few Security personnel, dressed in their red and black uniforms, stand at ease in the rooms in strategic areas. They seem fairly relaxed. One man stands at the head. Graham Baker, a middle-aged man, showing the first signs of balding and wearing a rumpled business suit perhaps a size too large, nervously clasps his hands together and smiles.

[Questions to the NPCs will go in the briefing thread. The rest of the post is there for people to mill about and do whatever with. The mods will not be doing hangar/medical awakenings unless it's specifically asked for.]

Comments

[gimmicky]

"I wasn't being serious. Figure of speech, you know?"

He'll try to save this conversation as quickly as he can, though. "Okay, point is, don't know why I have a nose, but it doesn't really matter. Or at least...I'd hope not."

He figured Cybertronians had more important things to worry about.

Either way, he'll hold out a hand, a small smile soon to follow.

"Now, guess I should give you a PROPER welcome."

[robotfightclub]

Oh... A joke. Well, that's good to know. For a minute there she thought she was talking to some kind of human-made Cybertronian. Those...those don't usually go so well. And let me tell you, the idea of one that can talk was pretty frightening for her.

Rolling her shoulders, it's almost like she's rolling off this whole mess. He has a weird nose, she can deal. It just means she gets to come up with cute nose-related nicknames now.

The hand throws her off, though. Here she is being a pain, and with little remorse, and he can still find it within himself to shake her hand. Very well, she'll take it. Seems like a good time to finally tell him her name.

"Arcee."

[gimmicky]

He won't complain or question. She seemed to be pretty easy going, at least from his perspective. Then again, he's not one to really hold people against things if they don't really bother him. In a strange space station with maybe 3% Cybertronian population, you don't really hold a grudge over a nose.

The smile remains as he shakes it, optics and visor shining a little brighter. That is...until she introduces herself.

"Arcee? I heard you correct, right?"

There's almost...slight fear in that tone.

[robotfightclub]

Why do handshakes always have to turn into something awkward?

"Yeah...?"

It's not like it's a difficult name to remember, or even very long. She was a fan of it, personally.

"Promise, wasn't trying to trick you there."

[gimmicky]

Okay, just...play it cool. Arcee was a complicated situation, for sure, but she'd never harmed an Autobot as far as he knew. Just a little off her rocker.

This one...seemed in control of herself. Heck, they had a whole civil conversation despite the nose jabs.

"Sorry, it's just...you're very different back home. My universe, I mean." That won't stop him from trying to make it into something positive, though. "Already like you better."

[robotfightclub]

Um, sorry, excuse her? Universe? What universe? They're all in one universe, it's huge. She's still certain she's the only Arcee in it.



"What?"

[gimmicky]

Ooooh boy. Yeah. Get ready for this bomb.

"We're not all in the same universe. I mean, I assumed we were, but a lot of things aren't matching up, and now that you're here...and I know an Arcee back home...

Guess that means there's more than one of...everything."

[robotfightclub]

There's a surprisingly long pause, mostly due to her not knowing what to say. She even opens her mouth a few times, as if about to start, but stops herself before anything comes out.

After a few of those, she finally throws her hands in the air and turns around.

"Nope."

[gimmicky]

"H-Hey! I know it sounds crazy but...well, it's already crazy, isn't it? Can you really cast it out?"

It's a bit hesitant, pulling back a few times before it actually happens, but he reaches over, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"And think of it this way, you've already got a friend."

[robotfightclub]

That certainly was a bold move and Arcee finds herself stopping the moment she feels his touch. It makes her...angry. Yes, she wants to go with angry. How dare he lay a finger on her? Especially with all the things on her mind right now? Her first reaction is to turn around and attack, but she finds herself resisting the urge after what he says.

Pardon?

"You don't even know me."

Seriously, she seems extremely confused. There she was, just insulting his nose of all things, and just like that they're friends? Really?

[gimmicky]

The statement immediately removes his hand, as if he feels like he pushed a button. She sort of had a point--despite knowing his world's Arcee (a tiny bit, rumors only), she was completely different.

"Well true, but you don't make friends with people you already know."

But his eyes dart to the insignia on her wing, gently gesturing to it.

"Autobot. That's a good start, right?"

[robotfightclub]

Her wings lower the moment he mentions them, almost as if they know he's talking about them. Or it just makes her a little uneasy, who knew? But if she had a point before, he had an even better one. There was something, something serious, she had to accept.

"I need all the allies I can get."

She has yet to see any of her team here, and considering the hangar is the only place the majority of them would be able to fit, Arcee could guess they weren't around. That would be her luck, wouldn't it?

[gimmicky]

"Don't feel bad, it's sorta the same way with me too."

Considering all the ones he's seen around here are from his world, he can guess what it must be like to be the odd one out.

"So what do you say? Buddies? Acquaintances? Partners?"

[robotfightclub]

There's a twitch in her face, a sort of trigger response the moment he says partners. Nice try, big guy, but a few nice words aren't enough to butter her up so quickly. If she was won over so easily, she'd probably be dead by now.

"Acquaintances," she can't make that anymore clear, the way she says it almost sounds like she's simply blurting out a solid fact. "Just because you know how to work a first impression, doesn't mean I should trust you."

...But it's a good start.

[gimmicky]

The tone in which she says it causes him to shift a little uneasily. Had he gone too far with all of that? Maybe, but he couldn't risk losing his ally the moment he made one.

"Acquaintances. Got it."

Those arms fold across his chest, looking off to the side. "Well, can we agree that we trust each other a bit more than we trust this place? Makes it sound better if you think about it."

[robotfightclub]

"What, this place? You mean space?" There's a gesture to, well, everything to emphasize her point. Obviously she knows that's not really what he meant, but to be fair that is where she is. And she does trust space more than him. Who even knows what kind of universe he's from. It could be a real twisted one, like where Decepticons are good and Autobots are off their rockers. Wouldn't that be something?

"You know, it's funny. A part of me always thought humans in space would lead to disaster. Good to know I was right."

[gimmicky]

"Actually, I meant the giant ship. " And just like her, he gestures to...well, everything. He can kind of get the air of distrust from her, which is honestly unsurprising. No sense getting offended. That didn't win you any friends.

...

But when she says that last line, he laughs and shakes his head. "You don't know the half of it. Rodimus can't stand 'em."

[robotfightclub]

Why would anyone laugh at something like that?

"Well 'Rodimus' can stick it up his tailpipe. Just because humans are stupid, doesn't mean you should hate them."

They're a baby race, after all. Why would you hate a bunch of babies? What a sparkless moron, she hates him already.

...And she can do that because he's not a baby race.

[gimmicky]

"Hey."

And he gets an extreme mood change. He doesn't usually like the tone, but it has to be said. "I never said he hated them. We wouldn't have put our energon on the line for them if we did. Just...we're not exactly on good terms.

Rodimus may be kind of quick to judge, but the humans kind of hated us. Tried to kill us. Sometimes even worse than that."

...Wow what a downer.

"So...yeah."

[robotfightclub]

Oh no, he did not just use a tone on her.

"Can't stand, hate, please forgive me that I couldn't get the right level of contempt down."

Although there's a lot of contempt coming from her right now, she's down right defensive. Someone must've poked a nerve.

"And what kind of universe did you come from where you couldn't follow the golden 'robots in disguise' rule? I can't...how would humans even kill you? They're humans."

[gimmicky]

His plating lifts a bit, the glowing lines on his body flashing slightly. As if you just struck a bit of a nerve with him too.

"One where we change out of our disguise to stop a building from falling on them. Being trapped in rubble and blown to bits by humans I guess was their way of saying thank you."

Granted, they got Prowl out of there, but only because of one singular human.

"They don't care if we're Autobot or Decepticon. They just wanted us gone."

[robotfightclub]

Her arms fold, clearly not looking very impressed.

"Great, well, now I know what would happen if we completely fragged up. On the other side of things, humans were a great help despite being unfortunately dragged into our scrap."

Even after Decepticons blew one of their towns to hell. Granted, it was a small and pointless town, but a town nonetheless.

"Oh, and one of them just so happened to be my partner. So, yeah. Can't say I'd play nice with someone who 'can't stand them'."

[gimmicky]

"Hey, I'm not asking you to agree with us. Just...you know, see where we're coming from. It's great they helped you guys out, really! We just...weren't so lucky."

He offers a small smile.

"We didn't completely mess up. We won, after all. Despite humans being less than pleased about it."