Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jul 11, 2011 21:40:53 GMT -5
Hellbender listens and waits patiently.. until the third or fourth twitchy glance towards Spinister. "Son, Ah'm talkin' to you. Stop lookin' over at Officer Spinister to see if you're givin' the correct answer--he ain't the one that's going to get torqued off if you don't settle down and focus on what Ah'm sayin'."
Hellbender drummed one set of heavy blue-black fingers on the table for emphasis and waited a moment or two before continuing to speak in his deep, slow Southern drawl. "You reacted to incoming--that's a start. Trouble was, your reaction was blind and overhasty. You snap-fired your weapon without knowing what was downrange! Now, without tryin' to second-guess what you think we want you to say, can you just tell me what the simple, obvious problem is with that? Don't overthink it; Ah'm a simple, obvious kind of soldier."
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on Jul 12, 2011 23:07:14 GMT -5
Hellbender may be the one to whom Flame speaks, but it is Spinister who terrifies him. Heedless of Hellbender's warning, he only stops looking at the helicopter when Spinister seemingly leaves; even then, he watches everywhere he can from the corners of his optics. Spinister is never truly gone. That much, he has learned to near-perfection.
"Iā¦ didn't check what was downrange," he answers in the same flat voice as before. Simple fact and nothing more, truth etched in the scorch marks on the deck and on Hellbender's armour. Flame can deny it no more than he can deny that he turns into a tank. Next time, he thinks, next time, he will remember his pistol. Next time, he will be better. Next time, he will do it properly.
If only he knew when "next time" would come.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jul 13, 2011 19:07:00 GMT -5
Hellbender sighs and drums his fingers again. Flame still isn't focusing on the topic at hand. "Ookay. Let's try something a bit more complicated than echoing mah own words back at me. Tell me why that's a bad idea. You can get creative here."
Did Flame know 'here' was a two-syllable word? It is when Hellbender uses it. He leans back and looks Flame over, trying to assess his physical condition, though he has already resolved to suggest Spinister run the newbie through more weapon drills and less floor-scrubbing.
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on Jul 13, 2011 20:29:00 GMT -5
Flame stares at his rations as if the answer Hellbender wants will rise and deliver itself from his cube. Why, he wonders, is it a bad idea to fire downrange without checking? Memories nag, clinging to his fingertips like silicon fibres that drift out of reach when he tries to focus. And abruptly, he opens his mouth to say that it isn't on his shoulders if someone is foolish enough to stand down range. Only targets stand on ranges.
"Because someone might be standing there," he says instead. Because some idiot might be standing there. Because someone might throw things at me just to see what I do.
That last thought makes his face blanch to a paler yellow and he goes silent again. It was uncharitable of him.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jul 13, 2011 20:40:39 GMT -5
Hellbender favors Flame with a thin, tight smile for a moment. "Now we're getting somewhere," he drawls. "Because someone just might be standing there. If you haven't LOOKED AT WHAT THE SLAG YOU'RE SHOOTING AT, that target might turn out to be a pile of unstable energon. Or the blast door keeping out a horde of Kalis zombies. Or Megatron. Or Shockwave. Or ME."
Hellbender's voice shifts to a deep rumbling growl. "Guess what happens when you randomly shoot your superior officers?"
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on Jul 13, 2011 21:27:41 GMT -5
"Punitive measures," Flame answers numbly, automatically. Or a beating. Or an execution. That is how it works, after all. Is this what Spinister meant when he ordered Flame to have a nice chat with Hellbender?
He doesn't recognise all of what Hellbender says right now. He hears it largely as metal and stone grinding together, guttural white noise peppered with words and scorn. But he might, later, think back on this conversation and dwell on one particular phrase. And he might start reading to frame that phrase in his mind, to make it coherent. And he will ponder.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jul 23, 2011 16:57:52 GMT -5
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it," Hellbender growls. "Senior officers are kinda touchy. Some of them might mistake it for mutiny or treason. So just for your own health, you want to be slag-all careful 'bout what or who you shoot."
He pauses for a moment, glaring at the very warm-colored Autobot. "Am Ah goin' too fast for you, here? The point is, you got to control your weapon all the time. Every. Single. Moment. Don't point it at anything you don't want to shoot, and don't shoot anything you don't want to kill--and if you want to kill somethin', make slagging sure you do it right. Seriously."
Hellbender leans back. "Ain't gonna horn in on Officer Spinister's training program, but Ah am gonna recommend he put you through weapons drill in the sim room, pronto. And drill you until you can fire that gun and nail the right target and only the right target when you're in full defrag with a mode-lock on your ankle. Am Ah clear?"
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on Jul 31, 2011 22:32:06 GMT -5
As Hellbender goes on and on, Flame listens with only half his audio cluster. He sits up straight and stiff ā too proper ā with his hands very neatly and elaborately folded against the sides of his cube. Unfinished, but he wasn't told he couldn't leave with it. His expression turns from numb to arch to faintly annoyed.
"Clear as calcite, sir," he murmurs in a flat voice. Then he stands, rigid, icy. "This has been, for the most part, a pleasant conversation. Thank you." Spinister ordered him to chat; he was never given an order for how long it should take.
Now he has to find somewhere else to finish his generously-granted rations. Somewhere quiet, where he can think, where he can replay what happened, where he can evaluate how exactly he failed and how he can improve and make it right by Spinister's judgement. Somewhere he won't be heckled by someone talking to him as though he has only a 20MHz processor. He can accept being spoken to like the worthless thing he is, for he understands how little his life means; but he cannot accept being spoken to as an idiot. He is many things, many awful things. Not an idiot.
OOC: Out of thread unless stopped.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Aug 1, 2011 8:35:55 GMT -5
Unfortunately Flame has shown all the outward comprehension of a Brawl as far as Why Firing Your Weapons Randomly Is A Bad Thing--so Hellbender talks to him like he's Brawl. So far as the pragmatic soldier is concerned, it doesn't matter how brilliant Flame is if he doesn't act like it--talking slow and simple works with crazy people as well as stupid people.
Hellbender's optics narrow. "Funny thing about calcite--it can be dead opaque and densely colored. But, like Ah said, this is Spinister's department to follow through on. You think 'bout what I told you, and don't blow it off 'cause it don't seem important to you. It's real simple, but it's important. Deadly important."
Recruit obviously wants to leave, and right now is not the time to give orders that aren't needed and may not be obeyed without heavy enforcement. The big worm-former allows his words a moment to set in. "Now, far as Ah'm concerned, you're dismissed."
He sits back and resumes draining his own cube.
---- End-of-thread unless there's a response?
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on Aug 7, 2011 8:35:17 GMT -5
The disdain on Flame's face carries a hint of superiority for an instant before it all vanishes, wiped away, fallen behind the bland expression he wears at most times. Times when he isn't worn microfilm-thin and wearing his terror like a mantle.
He doesn't thank Hellbender or even make an acknowledging gesture before leaving, drink in hand, to finish out the rest period Spinister ordered for him.
OOC: Out.
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