Autobrand Party: The Lunatic You're Looking For

[Pee-Dee]

Pee-Dee has snagged herself a cube of the normal high-grade, and she's found a cozy corner of the roof to curl up in a pile of parts and nurse her booze. Her desire to actually party had faded at Nightbeat's revelation about the symbol the arrival spots formed, and there wasn't much else worth doing around here. No Scrap-Kip to sweep her off her feet, no Bedlam to keep her amused, no Layla to team up with and beat the boys at their own games...

Here she was, a thousand light-years from home, and the only people she knew from before weren't her friends... One was an enemy, one was an acquaintance at best.

Sometimes it sucked being the serious girl.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron seeks out Pee-Dee, with Rodimus Prime's advice to arm him. He looks over at her drink and makes a mental note of it. When he was younger, he had a tendency to hit the hardest energon he could afford, if only to knock himself out of consciousness for a while. These days, he better appreciates the more normal blends, if he socially drinks at all. He really tries to avoid it, but there are social protocols for a party.

There are also social protocols for dealing with females. Emirate Xaaron smiles pleasantly, tries to get Pee-Dee's attention, and he greets, "Pee-Dee, hello! I do hope I did not bore you with my speech."

He knows he is a good orator, able to enrapture with his words. He knows that there will be some yawning during even the finest speech. If she was a yawner, Emirate Xaaron'll just have to work a bit harder.

[Pee-Dee]

My, that is some serious shiny. Pee-Dee smiles at the Emirate and uncurls from her pile, bits of rust-colored metal resolving once more into separate limbs and armor-pieces. "Nah. It was nice."

Very nice. All about coming together as one rather than falling apart at the seams just because the world threw them a curveball. Maybe she ought to take it to heart. "Real nice," she adds before taking a swig from her cube.

She's not drunk, not anywhere near there yet, but she's taking the first steps down the path that'll lead to a psychosomatic headache in the morning.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron sits down on the roof next to the former Pee-Dee pile. One knee is drawn up near his chest, but his other leg is stretched out straight along the roof. He balances his drink on his knee and looks over at her. Genial, he replies, "Why, thank you."

He honestly wasn't fishing for praise, though. Emirate Xaaron looks out at the rest of the party. Seems like quite a few of Autobots have taken up dancing. He somehow doubts that Pee-Dee knows any old-fashioned Cybertronian waltzes from a few specific city-states (wrong sort of music for a waltz, anyway), and he knows that he doesn't know how to dance in a fashion with which she would be familiar.

Of course, it could be very foolish to even assume that she knows how to dance. He'd run a high risk of offending her by making such a blind assumption. So instead, he asks, "Do you like to dance?"

If she doesn't, it doesn't matter if she knows or not, and if he does, it still doesn't matter if she knows how to dance well, as some of the Autobots are amply proving. Either way, he isn't making the assumption that she must like dance.

[Pee-Dee]

... Is he going to ask her to dance?

Well, the Bat-Xaaron did have to be suave and polished in his civilian guise. So, she supposed, he could want to dance. It would help keep up appearances that he was just an eccentric, rich young man. Except, perhaps, that this was pushing the metaphor just a bridge too far.

Also, the Bat-Xaaron was not young anymore.

But! None of this was actually answering his question!

"I like to dance. Even when they're shooting at your feet." Perhaps especially when they're shooting at her feet. 'Cause then they're playing the bad guys, and everyone knows it.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Perhaps Emirate Xaaron is Old Bruce. However, he'd need some Bat-Gundams, then. Oh, wait, he had Bat-Gundams. They were called 'The Wreckers'.

Her answer is... interesting. A normal interpretation would be that she really likes dancing, if she still likes dancing even when people are shooting at her, or perhaps that she considers dancing to be a combat art. Emirate Xaaron is pretty sure that he can rule out the normal answer just by considering who he is talking to.

Still, it's encouraging, so he ventures, "Would you like to dance now?" Emirate Xaaron doesn't include the 'with me'. He certainly won't be offended if she says something like, 'Yeah, with Wheelie.' It'll save having to admit that he doesn't know how to dance in a modern fashion, and he can hunt her down again later.

[Pee-Dee]

He is asking her to dance! She tilts her head slightly, an expression of happy bafflement on her face. "With you or with someone else?"

[Emirate Xaaron]

She looks baffled but happy. Now, is she happy that he is raising the idea or just happy about the idea in general? Emirate Xaaron can't tell. It really annoys him, how difficult she is to read.

So he's here, trying to get his hands on the Rosetta Stone. Emirate Xaaron smiles, all confidence, and he replies, "With me, although I won't be offended if your answer is someone else."

Emirate Xaaron polishes off his drink, and he stands. He bows to her with something of a flourish and offers her his hand to help her stand. Perhaps he is old-fashioned, but as far as he is concerned, courtesy never goes out of style. One would get the impression that he would be doing the very same thing had he just asked, oh, Bumblebee to dance.

[Pee-Dee]

Courtesy not only never goes out of style, it adds a special layer of silver gilt when used correctly. Xaaron offering her such a courtly flourish makes the edges of her optics dim and the center brighten in a robotic blush.

There is a shift in her as she rises to the occassion and gracefully accepts his hand. Absently, her free hand presses down where skirts ought to be if they're playing something formal and old-fashioned. Shakespearan, she decides, or Victorian. Something with long skirts and ruffles and elegance. Not her usual role, but she knew enough of any source to get along with it.

"You'll have to lead," she warns him.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron attempts to lift up her hand to give it a light peck. She's actually taller than him, but as far as leading goes, he's never let height get in the way.

He's also going to try to not let the music get in the way. Terran techno is not anything like the music he used to listen to back on Cybertron. He tries to at least pick out the beat so he an sync up to that. Would it be too much to ask for a 3/4?

Emirate Xaaron answers, chuckling, "Oh, I think I can manage that." He then tries to lift up one of hers hands and to place his other hand lightly on her waist. It's not exactly a Terran waltz, but it's coincidentally similar, for the same reason that Transformers just happen to mostly be ten-finger bipeds.

[Pee-Dee]

The peck on her hand causes Pee-Dee's optics to flash in another blush.

She carries herself differently for this. Cocksure confidence, almost ready for a fight or a shoot-out at any moment, all that normally lets her stride through life with her head high has been altered. The confidence is still there, but muted, and she does not carry herself as if she could shift from walking to fighting at a moment's notice.

It's hard to fight in skirts, after all. But that's why Miss Congeniality carried a pistol.

"That's good." She smiles as she recognizes the waltz-pose, and her free hand goes to his shoulder automatically. It's a little odd to be looking down at her partner, but that's all right. It means she can watch her feet and not be quite as obvious about it.

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron notes the blush with curiosity, but he has little time to think on it, as he has to try to remember a skill has hasn't used for over four million years at which he was never more than passable. He simply smiles back and looks up at her.

He has short, stubby feet. If anyone really wanted to over-think his feet, they might compare them with Megatron's. He's just a little more nimble on his feet than average, no paragon of grace, but he's taking it slow, and he's being very careful of Pee-Dee's location. Just because her feet go back on doesn't mean he wants to step on them.

Iaconese waltzes are fast. He's butchering the dance by taking it so slow, but he's just trying to remember how it goes. Once he thinks he and Pee-Dee have it, perhaps he'll try to get it properly back up to speed. Besides, who is going to call him on doing it wrong? They'd have to admit that they knew how in the first place.

First beat, he steps forward with the left - that would be Pee-Dee's right.

[Nightbeat]

Emirate freakin' Xaaron is dancing with Pee-Dee.

Xaaron is dancing with Pee-Dee.

Xaaron is dancing[/b][/u] with Pee-Dee.

Nightbeat is not jealous. Oh, no. He's so not jealous he's going to lean back and act cool. He's so cool you could chill drinks in him. Oh yes. Doesn't care one lick.

[Pee-Dee]

Pee-Dee steps back with her right, then matches the glide to the side. The music keeps throwing off her rhythm some, and she's having to rely on the subtle nudges from Xaaron's hands on her body to move in the right way. But she's quick enough on her feet that only someone familiar with an Iaconian waltz would recognize that she keeps losing the reel of it.

She also a tendency to tap her heels just hard enough to make a distinctive sound. That's probably a Junkion thing.

But, oh, how she's smiling!

[Emirate Xaaron]

Emirate Xaaron might notice Nigthbeat coolly leaning over there, but he's busy wracking his memory banks to try to figure out this even works. He doesn't have time to worry about how cool Nightbeat looks.

Pee-Dee seems to be managing - quick learner, her, so perhaps they can speed up just a bit and better match the tempo of the, er, this is music, right? Traachon would and Tomaandi would be rolling in their graves, but then, Xaaron is sure he made a vow to dance on their graves sometime or other. Gently, subtly, he tries to correct his initial, slowness and bring it up to proper Iaconese speed.

She seems to be happy, anyway. Guess Pee-Dee really does like dancing, then.