Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 19, 2008 21:49:00 GMT -5
Something in the tone brings Mixmaster's attention away from the rag and back to the berth.
"Yes," he answers, and flickers his optics in a blink. "Hook told me to go to you if I needed someone to test it on," he shrugs, "we need something for Long Haul, we do. So he doesn't fight so much."
And really, to Mixmaster this equals a huge complement from both of them whether it actually is or not. It's not everyday you are trusted enough to provide good enough results when the well-being of his gestalt-mate is at stake.
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Post by Starfighter on May 19, 2008 21:54:20 GMT -5
"Hook? Hook set me up?" That's even more depressing, that Hook found him so unimportant that he could be used for medical research without thought to what might happen to him afterwards.
...wait, Long Haul, what? "You're going to bring Long Haul back?"
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 19, 2008 21:58:32 GMT -5
Why so depressed? It was a complement, right?
Mixmaster whirrs in frustration. "Why would anyone else do? I needed someone I could trust for good results on Long Haul and Hook told me about you." This probably isn't what Hook actually meant, but Mixmaster's decided to see it this way for now. And in his mind, the jet being upset with that is just insulting.
Mixmaster goes back to fiddling with the rag. "We hope to," there's a guarded off-handedness to his voice as his twists the rag around his fingers.
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Post by Starfighter on May 19, 2008 22:02:51 GMT -5
"You could have told me up front instead of manipulating me." The feeling's starting to return to his arms. "I could have told you about uptake rates or something. I'd have done it if you asked." Starfighter is not being complimented, he's feeling like a patsy and a fool and he'd almost want to shoot Mixmaster if the stutter wasn't so endearing.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 19, 2008 22:11:58 GMT -5
Mixmaster looks up again and frowns. He still doesn't see how he did anything wrong.
"B-but if I'd a-asked then you might have shot me," he tilts his head and narrows his eyes, "w-why should I have trusted a st-stranger to accept what I needed to do for h-him?" And he's talking about Long Haul.
He's not regretting it and he won't regret it, and the only reason he hasn't left yet is because he'd prefer it if the jet didn't hate him, if only because he was interesting. Mixmaster crosses his arms as best he could.
"And I didn't p-poison you."
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Post by Starfighter on May 19, 2008 22:14:01 GMT -5
"Because..." Starfighter looked down at himself. Physically he was an average seeker, but he was so used to being meek and nervous that he almost felt as if he was smaller than the others. "Because I wouldn't have. Because I trusted you. Because I'm a moron."
Noooo, no bitterness at all.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 19, 2008 22:23:04 GMT -5
"H-how could I have known th-that," Mixmaster snaps, annoyed.
Did this jet not get the meaning of 'Decepticon' at all?
"H-Hook told me not to kill you, h-he warned me about your laser core. Th-there was l-little chance of y-you being permanently incapacitated." Really, he didn't understand what the jet wanted.
Mixmaster pauses for a second. "A-and I didn't j-just shove it down your throat and r-run, or s-spike your energon, e-either," he says, which is a great courtesy from him, "I-I stayed."
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Post by Starfighter on May 19, 2008 22:33:36 GMT -5
The glare dims slightly as Starfighter recognizes the valid, if vicious point that Mixmaster's making. "I...I guess that means something, if you kept a watch on me afterwards. Still wasn't exactly polite."
Very, very easily manipulated.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 19, 2008 22:44:35 GMT -5
Now that it appears Starfighter's understanding a little, Mixmaster relaxes and turns back to his rag. "Of course I s-stayed. A l-little jet all alone and o-offline wouldn't have d-done very well."
He carefully rips into the rag, a clean slice down the middle until it splits in two. "A-and you're not too bad. I-it w-would have been bad if you were...h-hurt." He rips the rag into fourths and stacks them one on top of the other, moving to leave them on the berth near Starfighter. There's no real reason for this, but he does it anyway, and leaves it up to Starfighter to interpret them as he will.
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Post by Starfighter on May 20, 2008 10:52:50 GMT -5
Starfighter still doesn't understand, but by now he's learned that Mixmaster's nonsense is not necessarily safe nonsense and he regards the rags as a potential threat.
"So...was it a successful experiment?" he asks reluctantly. It would be even more depressing if his flawed structure meant he'd spent an hour unconscious for no good reason.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 20, 2008 17:13:38 GMT -5
Mixmaster grins and rocks back a little. The rags are just rags, left there for no other reason than that it was a place to put them.
"Y-yes! It went very well. Everything's completed now." His optics gleam a little as he tilts his head at Starfighter.
"Unless there's something you haven't t-told me?"
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Post by Starfighter on May 20, 2008 21:50:19 GMT -5
"N-no, nothing strange happened." Now Starfighter feels as if he's being put on the spot somehow, as if it would be his fault if the test had somehow gone wrong. His smooth fingers flick over each other, a nervous habit left over from decades of fingering a datapad.
"Glad to hear your experiment went okay," he says reluctantly, trying to be helpful.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 20, 2008 21:58:26 GMT -5
"That's good, then." Mixmaster says and gives Starfighter's fingers a briefly suspicious look before flicking them back up to Starfighter's face.
"And is the jetling hungry?" Not that Mixmaster expects a truthful answer, but he asks anyway.
Then he moves over to settle comfortably on the end of Starfighter's berth, because standing was getting boring, anyway.
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Post by Starfighter on May 20, 2008 22:00:21 GMT -5
Yes, actually. But suspicious jet is suspicious!
"Um...sir, no offense, but I'm not quite sure I trust you to not put something in my energon," Starfighter mumbles, trying once again to sit up.
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Mixmaster
Minor
The chemlab on crack...I mean wheels.
Posts: 272
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Post by Mixmaster on May 20, 2008 22:08:33 GMT -5
That is actually a good answer and Mixmaster gets a little fuzzy feeling for it right there about his fuel tank is.
He reaches out to catch Starfighter's arm and pull him upright, grinning happily. "That's good, it is. I didn't have any energon with me, anyway."
Which is a lie that isn't actually a lie. Because with Mixmaster there are two types of energon. There is 'Energon', and then there is 'uncontaminated Energon.' And the amount of the latter he had on his person tended to vary depending on how long exactly you'd taken your optics off him.
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