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Post by Kup on May 9, 2011 22:22:45 GMT -5
Kup glances around at the various parts as he waits for Swerve to finish his checks, then nods and steps forward to hold the leg steady when directed. Upon spying the arms, his optics flicker. "Wait... you were gonna replace your own damn arms, too?" Then he turns towards Swerve and looks him over. "And you've done that before?"
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Post by Swerve on May 10, 2011 17:01:35 GMT -5
"Yeah," Swerve answers without looking up from his leg. He pays a great deal of attention to the bolting of the joint itself and the attachment of the many wires and tubes, enough that he adds only as an absent afterthought, "More than a few times. Thought I said that already."
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Post by Kup on May 11, 2011 14:11:46 GMT -5
"Yeah, well it's just sinking in now," Kup grumbles with irritation. Being aware of something is a bit different from knowing something.
He watches Swerve work, though what the racer is doing doesn't have much meaning for him. He then smirks faintly and observes, teasing, "Guess you're sharper than you act."
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Post by Swerve on May 11, 2011 21:57:24 GMT -5
Abruptly, at that little bit of teasing, Swerve stops everything he's doing to peer at Kup from beneath the ridge of his brow. He isn't smiling.
"What're you getting at?" he mutters. "Because I know what it sounds like, but I wanna make sure I heard you right." Because it sounded like an implication that he lied, and he doesn't want to screw up his newly overhauled legs before they're properly broken in by tangling with Kup over a misunderstanding. He at least wants a real reason for it.
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Post by Kup on May 12, 2011 11:11:44 GMT -5
Kup frowns at Swerve's reaction, unsure what to make of it. "I mean that sometimes y'act like an idiot," he snaps with annoyance. "Especially with that two cyber-ton macro-chip you run around with on your shoulder! Why, what the blazes did you think I meant?"
Kup tends to be of the opinion that plenty of sharp folks act like idiots, some of them with considerable regularity (Hot Rod was particularly bad about this, as far as Kup is concerned), but he usually doesn't attribute it to intentional deceit so much as, 'sometimes geniuses are idiots.'
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Post by Swerve on May 12, 2011 11:32:50 GMT -5
Misunderstanding. Swerve makes a noise that isn't a sigh and isn't a curse, bending back to his work, scowl smoothing into a look of dull discontent. "Never mind. Heard wrong." Sometimes he thinks he has the hang of this life and thinks he's comfortable, but then he stumbles or screws it up.
At least he can get his engineering right; the other knee bolted into place, he shifts his weight and gestures Kup away so he can stand and test this one, too.
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Post by Kup on May 12, 2011 14:47:32 GMT -5
This level of misunderstanding is not screwing it up. Tackling Kup in anger, or shouting at him, or something like that? Yes. But asking for clarification? That's considerable progress.
Not that Kup fully understands what just transpired. When Swerve says he heard wrong, Kup just shrugs. "Arright," he answers, then steps back, letting Swerve test his new leg. He glances over at the arms.
"You gonna want help with them, too?" Not need help, of course. Swerve has made it clear that he doesn't need it. But Kup makes sure the racer knows that if he wants it, the offer still stands.
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Post by Swerve on May 12, 2011 19:34:36 GMT -5
Kup asks and Swerve, mid-crouch, looks up at him. He's used to doing all the work himself, occasionally with a sling or clamp to hold some piece or another in place. Having nobody but himself is nothing new; somebody standing there offering help is a novelty. He doesn't have all the stands and clamps he'd put together back home for this, so an extra pair of hands wouldn't necessarily hurt.
But having someone else right there, watching him, privy to all the details, is as alien now as random wildlife was before he woke on Gillanan III. He stands slowly, expression pensive, and looks distinctly uneasy as he settles down again over one of those arms. He still has to piece everything together, let alone actually attach them.
"It's… gonna be a while before these are ready," he says, surveying the wires not yet trimmed to fit. He lingers over one of the new mounts he came up with for his pipes, which should let him unlock them from his arms without breaking the welds so he can swivel them forward, then picks it up and rolls it between his hands.
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Post by Kup on May 12, 2011 21:16:06 GMT -5
Kup chuckles. "Look, lad, if you don't want someone else hanging around, that's fine, too. Just figured I'd make the offer. Anyway, if you're done for now, I should probably be moving on." He smirks as he starts to move towards the door. "But try to come up for a refuel now and again, huh? Let the rest of us know you're still functioning!"
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Post by Swerve on May 12, 2011 21:55:06 GMT -5
"I didn't say that," Swerve snaps, gripping the mounting joint tightly in both hands. Just as quickly, he sags again, frowning at the tabletop. "I didn't – I don't know, okay?" He sets down the part and leans back on his stool. "It's… hard. Look," he blurts out, one hand clapping the tabletop, "I just wanna finish this. I get more work done bringing my energon down here instead of sitting on my bumper somewhere doing nothing but fuel up." He turns to Kup, still frowning, but there's an uncertain twist to his mouth. "And I save the walking time staying here."
But parking in the corner in his racer mode or clearing off a table and napping there isn't quite the same as resting in his bunk. And he still has some of the more stressful work to go. Rigging the new joints and slides on his "backpack" will be his least favourite part.
"But…." He turns back to his piecemeal arm and grabs the soldering iron, then pauses. "…Maybe I'll take a short break later. Could probably use one."
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Post by Kup on May 13, 2011 13:31:59 GMT -5
Kup pauses at the door and looks back. He smiles faintly. Swerve's trying. If anything, it almost seems like he's starting to beat himself up for not being 'Autobot enough.' It's something Kup may have to watch.
"Right. Well, I'll see you then," he says, and then he leaves.
OOC: Time skip, to Swerve a bit further along in the rebuild. Will let him reset the scene for his new assistants. Kup is out of thread.
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Post by Swerve on May 16, 2011 21:26:37 GMT -5
OOC: Timeskip go.
Swerve does, indeed, stop work later and convince himself to sit in a lounge, however awkwardly, while he nurses a cube of energon and finds some film about racing that somebody else must have uploaded to the database. It's like some mix of the topside and underground racing he knows; it's fast-paced and full of risky precision manoeuvres, and looks illegal by whatever standards run the world it's in, which is populated by those human things.
After that, he trudges down to quarters and surprises himself by nodding off almost the instant he sprawls on his bunk. (It's actually Kup's bunk, but Swerve is too out of it to notice.) The full and proper defragmentation cycle – as opposed to short naps in the back corner of the medical wing – does him quite a lot of good. He knuckles down again afterwards, though, to make up for the lost time.
Now here he is, one-handed and still going. It's been a long while since the last time Swerve had to remove an arm and reattach it. He'll have to play further havoc with his forearm once he's done with his shoulder; currently, his new arm depends from a clamp holding it in place while he lines up and affixes the wires and motor lines. An adjustment here and his fingers twitch. A tweak there and the new mount for his pipes unlocks, the action satisfactorily smooth and quick. Every so often as he's worked through this day, a thought has come and gone: he could get help with this. And every time he ponders it, he ends up shaking his head and carrying on.
"If I want help," he grumps at his shoulder bar without thinking about what it is he's saying, "I'll ask."
Then he pauses and warily checks the door, halfway expecting somebody to materialise as if summoned by the words. Last time he said anything out loud, Kup showed up!
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Post by Perceptor on May 16, 2011 21:30:30 GMT -5
Swerve should work on his Summon Help skill some more, because it seems to be working, even when he doesn't seem to want it to.
"Hello, Swerve!" Perceptor greets cheerfully as he wanders in. "Did I hear you express a desire for assistance?"
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Post by Swerve on May 16, 2011 21:33:49 GMT -5
That is entirely too much good cheer for Swerve's taste, and a queer interpretation of his muttering. He glowers at Perceptor the same way he does at faulty parts.
"No," he snaps back, "you didn't. You heard me saying if I wanted it, I'd ask. I don't want help."
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Post by Perceptor on May 16, 2011 22:33:00 GMT -5
Swerve totally just kicked Perceptor's puppy.
"Oh."
Swerve is down to one arm. And he's... "Are you certain?" Perceptor asks, edging closer, unable to help himself from peering at the work Swerve is doing to himself. "I would be happy to assist you with your calibrations? Oh!" He suddenly pulls a datapad out of subspace and attempts to offer it to Swerve. "I am not certain if you are aware that one of my specialties is metallurgy, but I have been experimenting in my spare time with more heat resistant compounds. I thought you might wish to have a look at my results? The ferrocermaics have been quite promising?"
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