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Post by Mirage on Jun 4, 2010 23:54:52 GMT -5
Mirage listens to Bambi's words, but more, he watches her movements with a critical eye. She's small and agile, both pluses when stealth is needed, but when it comes to such applications, she's a rank amateur in his optics.
He moves to stand beneath her, and if Bambi is paying attention, she'll notice that Mirage isn't just being quiet; it's like he isn't making a sound at all as he moves. No creak of joint or scrape of metal betrays his movements. Possibly, if someone were quite near and very good of hearing, they might pick up a bit of noise from his systems. But it's faint, and in most cases the absence of white noise is more a tell than the noise itself.
Mirage isn't Spinister, and his tech isn't as fancy, but he's still damn good at what he does.
He looks up and murmurs, "Very good. However, your feet clicked upon the floor lightly as you ran, you generated a directional air current in an otherwise stagnant area, and now you have placed yourself in a location where escape, were you be discovered would be difficult." Mirage gestures to the smaller windows in the upper reaches of the warehouse, and to the vents. "Many outs, but all obvious outs, and still limited"
The spy smirks. "Not that you did badly, mind, but if I'm going to finally have a student smart enough to learn, I might as well do the job correctly, eh?"
Mirage's expression turns thoughtful and he asks, "You rely on your olfactory sensors a lot, don't you?"
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 5, 2010 7:50:05 GMT -5
Bambi is pretty much always paying attention, even when she isn't paying attention. Her world is simply a lot more vivid than most people's.
So she's definitely paying attention to what Mirage is saying, and she indeed does look down from time to time, as if to check that he's still there, but she doesn't stay still. Bambi moves, climbing along the cross-spar, doing her best to keep the main body of her torso concealed by the spar, though she wobbles over a fair amount. She also looks over at the other cross-spars to the left and to the right, a thoughtful expression on her face. Finally, Bambi makes a leap for the left cross-spar, grabs it one-handed, and hauls herself up.
Ah, but Mirage has asked her a question. Bambi pauses on her new perch and replies, "You Mirage have good points. Me Bambi try remember those." Actually, she pulls out a slightly tattered leather-bound notebook and jots down some notes. "Me Bambi have good vision and hearing, too. Maybe all senses. Me Bambi think. Not like me get chance to pop open other robots and check." Bambi shrugs.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 5, 2010 23:04:05 GMT -5
Mirage moves with Bambi, staying near enough to underneath her. He continues to watch her carefully.
"Hmm. We don't have much time, and we shouldn't tarry here much longer. However, I need to gauge a few other things."
Mirage is suddenly not there.
//Find me.// he murmurs over the frequency she gave him.
It's an empty warehouse. Shouldn't be that hard, right?
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 6, 2010 9:35:21 GMT -5
Bambi herself stays fairly still, but her head moves, tilting to and fro, almost birdlike. The less she moves, the less noise she herself will make, and the more of what she'll be hearing will be Mirage. Her hearing is probably her most valuable asset right now, she reckons. For however quiet Mirage is, he's still alive, and living robots make noise. (Except when they don't; stupid Spinister anti-sound.) The main trick is sorting out what is Mirage when there's the deafening roar of spaceship engines just outside.
Vision isn't going to give her much on an invisible man - note to self, upgrade to full-spectrum vision sometime, as opposed to merely better than normal vision. However, if Mirage scuffs his foot and leave a streak of paint behind or disturbs some of the warehouse dirt and grime or causes some weird distortion of the light, air, or shadows, Bambi won't say 'no' to such a clue.
Smell is good, but it tells Mirage where Bambi was, not where he is, and in a stagnant warehouse, it'll take a while to get to her. Also, the stench of rocket fuel and the background level of pollution on Pz-Zazz is annoying.
Someone has died here, she thinks. Perhaps even recently. That dark stain on the floor...
...but no, finding things is her job, and Bambi's been called upon to deliver. Focusing on where she thinks she hears Mirage, she listens a little longer, trying to make sure he isn't tricking her up with echoes or ventriloquism. Then, swiftly, quietly, she loosens the knot on her cloak, and in a fluid motion, she tosses herself down from her perch, aiming for a landing spot that would be right on top of where Mirage is.
Bambi throws the cloak ahead of her - if he's there and he makes a run for it before she impacts, the cloak might still hit him first.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 6, 2010 20:53:42 GMT -5
Mirage does give the little Dinobot a few clues, mostly sound cues. But not too many. She claims some hunting skill, after all, and he wishes to see how she tracks.
He is slightly impressed, and more than a little surprised.
When Bambi leaps (and she does leap in the correct direction), flinging that cloak ahead of her, Mirage does not try to run away. No, as soon as the cloak slided from her fingers Mirage darts lightly toward Bambi, dropping and sliding on his knees under the Dinobot's pounce. He uses one leg to pivot on as he slides, hopefully rounding on Bambi before she can round on him. Mirage's cloak falls away, revealing him in a shooter's position- but without his rifle.
He's just making the point, after all, and he doesn't know how she'd react to a gun pointed at her by an ally, even in training. As he understands it, she was quite skittish in the beginning.
Mirage can't keep a roguish grin off his face though. He's pleased as punch with Bambi right now, and doesn't care if she knows it.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 6, 2010 21:38:27 GMT -5
'Skittish' doesn't even begin to cover it. Bambi was downright hostile and only signed on for a chance to go punch Blitzwing in the face.
Mirage has gotten behind her! The huntress has become the hunted. She hisses, red lips splitting in a snarl that shows she has fangs even as a robot, albeit more dainty fangs than as a dinosaur. Bambi whirls on Mirage, looking quite the feral robot child that she honestly is.
Boom. If Mirage had a gun on her and was inclined to use, she'd be dead as a mad dog by now. The thought is sobering, and Bambi shivers, just a little.
But Mirage is smiling? Scowling, Bambi stalks over to reclaim her cloak from the floor, and she demands, more loudly than she meant, "Why you smiling?"
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Post by Mirage on Jun 7, 2010 0:16:50 GMT -5
Mirage frowns, just a bit, at her increased volume, then stands.
"Mind your volume, Bambi. That was almost loud enough to carry past the walls. Remember, this is field training, not the sim room," he murmurs as he walks toward her, his own tone just slightly admonishing.
The frown can't last long on his face, of course, and by the time he reaches her Mirage is smiling again, and his optics twinkling.
"I smile, dear heart, because I am pleased. You came close, very close indeed, and that's something that few can claim against me." Mirage tries to reach out and chuck Bambi under the chin, "Maybe Xaaron will let me train you as a spy, instead of just how to walk lightly. You just need to remember that it isn't always about the catch. Ambush tactics only work when the opponent isn't on the alert."
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 7, 2010 10:08:04 GMT -5
Bambi half turns, unwilling to fully turn her back on Mirage but also unwilling to actually look at him right now. Stiffly, she shakes the dust off her cloak and fastens it back on.
He's right that she needed to be quieter and that she needed to play her cards differently when hunting the most dangerous prey, though, so she simply burns sullenly with silent smouldering anger. Bambi's moved a few rungs down the food chain here, and she isn't pleased. She was so stupid, like an egg-addled hatchling that can't even tell a predator from its own mother.
Bambi's optics narrow when Mirage tickles her under the chin, and she tries valiantly to resist that smile and those charming words. She grunts out, "Me Bambi have day job." It's not an outright denial - Indiana Jones did do some spy work for the Allies during WWII, after all, but that was during a war, for a good cause...
...oh. Bambi's caught in a war, isn't she? But is this a good cause?
A bit off topic, she demands, "Why you Autobot?" It'll go a ways towards answering whether or not this is a good cause, she hopes.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 7, 2010 22:29:32 GMT -5
Doesn't every side in a war think they fight for a good cause?
Mirage's smile doesn't falter, but there's something...more guarded about his expression at Bambi's abrupt question. He straightens.
"That is a rather personal question from someone who will not even give out her own frequency," he says softly.
"But unlike most in our company who were built to their brand, who have never known a life without some symbol proclaiming allegiance, I chose to take up this brand. The story of why, however, is much too long for our current situation. Suffice it to say that I deemed it the more honorable choice."
He strides over to the dark stain on the floor (yes, he noticed it as well), and kneels, drawing a finger across it and examining the build up of grime. He's trying to determine both age of the stain, and if it is something of interest, rather than a pool of spilled oil.
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 8, 2010 10:01:11 GMT -5
"Me Bambi have reasons for being guarded." Bambi glares at Mirage, and she fairly hisses out, though this time, she keeps her voice low, "Me was built as animatronics. On Earth. By human named Isaac Sumdac. Piece in amusement park, to entertain and educate young humans. Me no think; me no live. Talking with others," okay, Motormaster, "me Bambi figure it out that Allspark give me and my brothers life. Him Megatron first Transformer we meet. He tell us cars no good. My brothers, they..." she looks very pained to admit this, "...they dumb. They believe him Megatron. They go fight Autobots."
"Me Bambi was distracted by butterfly at time. When me go looking for brothers, they gone. Me snoop around; find newspaper. Find this." She pulls out a tattered newspaper and flips it to an article about how animatronic dinosaurs went on a rampage and the Autobots so very heroically stopped them and how the animatronic dinosaurs have been smelted and are no longer a threat to the public.
Bambi's frame is taut, as if she could run at any time, and her voice is heavily pained. "Me Bambi lived life thinking that Autobots killed my brothers. That Autobots no even bother figure out my brothers alive before killing them. So me ran. Saw articles about war on television and in newspapers, but them Decepticons... mostly seem going after Autobots. What war even about? Why it even matter to me Bambi? Seem stupid vendetta."
She shakes her head and gazes off at the warehouse doors. "Then me end up here and meet him Optimus Prime. Him from past. Him no kill my brothers yet. Maybe him never do it. Maybe it all just trick. Me Bambi still need to talk to him Prowl, but..." She's been avoiding it.
Bambi's voice wavers a bit, "So me Bambi not even sure if me real Transformer, or if me just like Galatea, cold, dead statue given life by cruel goddess Aphrodite. And if it even matter or not." She touches her Autobot symbol, under her cloak. "This symbol just on me Bambi when me first know thought. Me no choose it. No understand what it mean."
She looks up at Mirage, finally. "Me Bambi was no programmed as Autobot, see. Was no programmed as Transformer. Me have no excuse, 'Oh, it just me programming,' for fighting war. So if me pick side, me have be extra careful me pick right one. This no one's responsibility but mine. That why me ask. Me still searching. Maybe always searching."
Bambi crosses her arms, under her cloak. No one's guilt but her own, too, if she gets it wrong. Leaving now would be the easiest thing in the world. She could find work. She could stowaway again and get off planet. There's a whole universe out there to catalogue and explore. She sighs. "Me sorry for getting existential all over you Mirage."
The stain has been washed and scrubbed and is quite faint now. It would have been rather darker and larger and originally. Looks like splatter marks, the kind caused by violent blows to pressurized hoses filled with oil and hydraulic fluids.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 8, 2010 14:25:08 GMT -5
When Bambi begins to well...quietly rant, really, Mirage turns to watch her, paying as much attention to her movements and carriage as to her words. By the time she finishes and offers that apology, Mirage is looking at her with an expression of understanding...and just a touch of sadness.
"I understand," he says softly, "Better than you realize, I'm sure. When we are done here, and if you are still interested, I will tell you why I chose as I did. Though it may not help you, as the reasons for your war may not be the same as for my own."
Mirage never expected to find something in common with a Dinobot. What is the universe coming to?
He turns back to the stain, frowning. It is a...rather unique and unpleasant pattern, one he recognizes. Still...
"What do those enhanced senses of yours tell you may have happened in this place, if anything?"
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 8, 2010 19:11:40 GMT -5
"Everything interesting," Bambi mutters darkly, scooting over to examine the stain. She crouches, and she sketches out how the stain would have looked before it was scrubbed off. Why, this is just like reconstructing the path of blood running down a sacrificial altar!
As she sketches, she adds, "So while me Bambi love hear history, definitely do that, me think it more important why there war in this universe, since that be war me would be fighting."
Bambi holds up the sketch and explains, pointing at various details, "Mechanical lifeform beaten to death here. Think flogging, based off spray pattern, and that weird because flogger no typical weapon, here. Long, slow death. Me Bambi guess would have been noisy, too, but rocket engines, they cover lots. Would need lab to guess dating, though."
Or Glyph, but Bambi hasn't met Glyph yet.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 8, 2010 23:32:07 GMT -5
Mirage chuckle, a dry, harsh sound that is quite at odds with his previous demeanor.
"There's war here because there was war everywhere else."
He does not sound happy about this fact.
He is even less happy with Bambi's analysis, and the hard expression he wears does not sit well on his handsome features.
"Not so weird when one is trafficking in people, and trying to make an example of a problem subject," he says, tone clipped. Mirage could be jumping to conclusions, or course. But given what Pyrite told him, and what research he's managed so far? He doubts he's too far from the mark.
"Which, incidentally, is what we're here looking for signs of, Bambi. Pyrite's sister disappeared, and she is not the only one."
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Post by Lynn Deanna Payne on Jun 9, 2010 0:18:07 GMT -5
Adults must remember that they look like insane giants to children.
Bambi grimaces and grumbles, "That stupid. Not shocking. But stupid." Humans fight each other all the time, too. Usually over stupid things.
She nods along at Mirage's conjecture. "That reasonable hypothesis. Now trafficking people, that wrong." Finding stolen people is a good goal, she thinks. Perhaps Mirage isn't a bad sort, despite the company he keeps. She closes her book and stands back up.
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Post by Mirage on Jun 9, 2010 12:24:51 GMT -5
Mirage gives Bambi a considering glance. This spaceport is large, very large. They could cover more ground if they split. But she is so young, untrained, and if something happened to her Mirage would never forgive himself.
"Let's get going. I want to get further in, see what kinds of cargo they openly ship, and if we can find any hints to explain this." He nods down at the stain.
Mirage holds his arms out to Bambi, silent invitation for her to climb into his arms once more.
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