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Post by Long Haul on Mar 7, 2009 21:54:07 GMT -5
Day 8. Open thread for Autobots.
The Autobots have to build a space ship. One large enough to carry their other spaceships. It's a massive project, but made more complicated by the fact that they're trying to build as many subsections under ground before they start the final assembly above ground. Several of the under-highway fueling stations, with their larger work areas, have been designated just for this purpose.
A large lime green, Cybertronian-styled dump truck putters slowly into one of them, several specialized pieces of equipment (and one small mecha-dragon) piled in the back. As Tiny peeks over the edge, Long Haul pulls up to the construction site and stops.
"All right," his rough voice begins. "I've got the doohicky for the thingamabob and the whirligig that goes on the whatsis. Where do you need them?"
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 8, 2009 8:58:01 GMT -5
Mayday let's out an undignified squeak of surprise at Long Haul's voice, and probably would have dropped his plasma torch if it weren't, well, his hand. What? He was in the zone! You can't expect him to notice when every dump truck pulls up! Only, on this planet there's always the possibility of an invading 'Con showing up... or some sort of horrible local organism that may wish to devour him... Er, perhaps he should see about setting up a perimeter alert system.
Oh! Right! Long Haul has brought him stuff! "The dooha-wa-eh?" Mayday looks confused for a moment, before eyeing the truck. "Well, obviously the... 'doohicky' needs to go by the 'thingamabob', and the 'whirligig' needs to go with the 'whatsis'!" he says dryly, then cringes a little at his own sarcasm. "Er, um, sorry for that. Just stick the converter-thing over there-" A hand wave in the general direction to his right. "-and I could use the one with the blinky lights over here." Truly he is a master of calling things by their proper names.
Orders given - and without so much as a please or thank you, where are your manners? - he turns back to the panels of metal he was welding together.
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 8, 2009 11:24:26 GMT -5
Really, the easiest way to communicate with Long Haul would be to use the part designators that were in common use back home. Well, his home, but given the odd things that prove to be transdimensional, who knows? The thing is, Long Haul has a general idea how parts fit together, and Long Haul knows the stock-system designators that were his responsibility as a logistician, but names? Not so much.
"Sorry for what?" Long Haul asks, missing the sarcasm entirely. He was totally going to put the doohicky by the thingamabob and the whirligig by the whatsis, as requested! Then Mayday requests that he put the whirligig off by the whatchamacallit and the doohicky by the whoosit instead, and Long Haul does his best to shrug in dump truck mode.
"Arright. Got it." He turns to putter towards the first direction indicated, while Tiny gives a questioning "Whrr?" that seems to be directed towards Mayday.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 8, 2009 15:12:13 GMT -5
"Oh, er, well, um." Well, if Long Haul isn't going to take offense, no point in trying to explain himself and probably making it worse. Or, um, bad at all. Since he's not actually offended yet- back to welding! "Eh, nevermind. Um, thanks!"
Weld, weld, weld- double-take!
"What is that?" he asks a tad shrilly, pointing at Tiny.
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 8, 2009 18:47:25 GMT -5
"It's the doohickey and the whirligig!" Long Haul shouts back at Mayday. "Just like I just told you!" In order to point at Tiny, Mayday also has to point at the equipment he's carrying around, after all. He carefully lifts his bed to dump out the items - they had been wrapped up carefully in a cushioning substance in preparation for just such a treatment.
While that happens, Tiny first slides, then hops out of Long Haul's bed and lands on the ground next to the equipment. She shakes her long, silver body, stretches her wings, and, perceiving that Mayday is paying attention to her, chrrrs happily at him and begins to waddle in his direction.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 8, 2009 20:24:56 GMT -5
"No, no, not those! I know what those are, I mean tha...hah... Gah!" Mayday watches and recoils slightly as the little mecha-dragon starts moving towards him. Alert! Alert! Unknown living thingy approaching. Panic level isn't as high as it would be for something organic or Decepticon-ish, but it's still set to 'nervous'.
"No no no, don't do that, stay away." Heaving the newly welded-together panel upwards, he proceeds to cower behind it. "Shoo, shoo!"
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 8, 2009 22:20:26 GMT -5
"Whut?" Long Haul asks as he transforms. The doohickey is where it belongs, but now he has to relocate the whirligig, and since he can't put it back in his own bed, he'll have to carry it by hand. He watches Mayday's reaction, and his optic band flashes. "Oh! You mean Tiny, huh? We found her right after we got here. Actually, we, uhm, killed onna her parents. But it was life and death and all."
Tiny pauses and tilts her head at Mayday's curious hand gestures. Then she hops up and down a bit energetically and chirrups, starting to circle to Mayday's right to better study this strange, excitable creature.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 9, 2009 17:59:34 GMT -5
Mayday shifts around to keep his metal shield between himself and Tiny, and whines, "Could you please stop i- uh, her?- from eating me? I'm kinda busy right now to deal with being eaten."
Sticking one hand over the edge of the panel he flaps it rapidly at Tiny. "Shoo!"
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 9, 2009 19:30:33 GMT -5
"She ain't gonna eat you," Long Haul grumbles as he trudges towards where he was told to with the whirligig. "Her mouth ain't big enough." He walks a few more feet, then adds, "'Sides, I'm carrying something."
As Mayday flaps his hand at her, Tiny stops, then perks up. She hops up and down in time with the flapping hand, a happy grin on her face, but does not, for the moment, get either closer or farther away from Mayday.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 9, 2009 20:04:19 GMT -5
Mouth too small. Ahah. "Right," Mayday says in a monotone. "I'm very reassured. See how reassured I am."
Eyeing Tiny over the edge of the metal panel, he slowly shifts his flapping hand to point down at the ground. "Staaaay." Maintaining a suspicious stare for a bit longer, he finally glances away towards Long Haul. "You can just put that down wherever around here, I'm gonna attach it to the rest of the array soon."
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 9, 2009 20:57:35 GMT -5
"Glad to hear it!" Long Haul answers cheerfully as Mayday announces how reassured he is.
Apparently Long Haul took him at his word.
As Mayday gives him new directions, Long Haul grunts. "But you said to put it over there earlier, not here!" he complains.
Meanwhile, when Mayday points at the ground, Tiny pounces forward just a little bit (though she's still a good several robo-feet from Mayday), lowers her head and shoulders as if trying to scrunch down further with the first half of her body, and peers up curiously at Mayday.
"Chrrr-rrrrrppp?"
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 10, 2009 17:26:43 GMT -5
"I said to put it over here! Here is a very general area that's all around, well-" He flails around with a hand at the surrounding area, but is interrupted from continuing his rant by Tiny's pounce.
With a squawk, Mayday jumps backwards, leaving the metal panel to stand on its own. Unfortunately, panels aren't well-known for their sense of balance, and so it soon topples over to collide with his feet and ankles.
"Hrgk." Mayday's optic twitches. "...ow."
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 10, 2009 20:08:11 GMT -5
"Now, look!" Long Haul shouts, putting the whirligig down and balling his hands into fists, which he puts at his hips. "I can't /put/ the thing all around here! It's all in one piece! It's only gonna go in one little part of here! I need you to tell me which portion of here this whirligig is supposed to go in!"
As the metal panels topple and fall, they clatter loudly, causing Tiny to leap into the air, startled. She immediately scampers back several feet, but when no more noise follows she cautiously turns and looks back behind her. Then she stretches out her long neck and peers towards the panel, whirring curiously.
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Post by Mayday/Maddox Wayne on Mar 10, 2009 21:01:00 GMT -5
Freeing his feet from beneath the metal panel, Mayday first eyes Tiny to ensure that she's not attempting to get within touching distance, then turns his attention back to Long Haul.
"There! There is perfectly fine. There is a perfectly acceptable part of here for it to go. I can come get it from there."
People! Really! This is why he went off to be alone in space as soon as the Perdition was complete. Er, well, it was more the not wanting to be near people physically more than their attitude. And technically he wasn't always alone and- Er, right. People!
With a 'hmph!', Mayday crosses his arms and heads towards Long Haul, giving Tiny a wide berth.
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Post by Long Haul on Mar 10, 2009 21:26:53 GMT -5
Long Haul shrugs. "Don't know why you wouldn't want me to put it as close to where you need it as possible, but hey, I'm not complaining." He looks around and scratches the back of his head.
"Hey. So where's the plans for this bird, anyway?"
While Mayday heads towards Long Haul, Tiny continues her approach on the panels he had dropped, creeping nearer, occasionally taking a little nervous leap back. Once she closes the distance, she sniffles curiously at the sheets of metal.
Then she chews on a corner.
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