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Post by Clipper on Apr 15, 2009 13:37:50 GMT -5
Clipper stifles her urge to sigh at Holi; boys can be so unreasobaly silly sometimes. This? This is a perfectly valid reason to cry, as far as she is concerned. But, no. Rescue Patrol Captains aren't allowed to cry, apparently. Silly. Just plain silly.
Months. She's gone months without seeing him before, when he's been off on missions. But she's always been home, on Micro, with her work and her few friends and her familiar surroundings. The thought of spending months on a strange world with no one she knows around after being, well, kidnapped there unexpectedly... it scares her. She shivers at the thought.
"Well," she replies with obviously false cheer, "you aren't late yet!" She smiles, a slightly sadder, more genuine smile this time, and reaches out to pat his arm. "I guess... I guess that I was taken about the same time that you were. So, it works out, right?"
Except that Holi's been all alone here for months, and that... makes her incredibly sad. And angry. Why is this happening?
"So, I guess... I guess I'm the one who's late, since it's just tomorrow for me, and it's been months for you. So. Um... Sorry?" she offers hesitantly. "If it's not too late... Well, I'm here now. And then you can explain what's going on and why we're here, and where here even is, anyway. Right?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 18, 2009 19:54:14 GMT -5
And now Clipper's taking the blame for this mess. Holi can't have this.
"It isn't your fault," he declares, looking up from his feet, fists tight in front of him now. "There's this – we don't know what it is, but it keeps bringing more of us here. And not just from one world. Or dimension. From lots of different ones, like the one where they all wear animal skin modes like my division vice-commander, or the one where they can call down these red things from the sky for power, or the one where Rodimus Convoy is actually named Rodimus Prime – we have a Rodimus Prime here, he's the second-in-command." And there are other, weirder things. Imagine how long Clipper would be reading if they still had the database running!
Holi never did manage to make an entry on his reality. Oops.
"And… we… don't really know why," he unhappily adds. Or he certainly doesn't. Maybe someone else does and they haven't told him.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 20, 2009 23:28:31 GMT -5
"Different... dimensions?" she asks, perplexed. She'd just assumed that these new mechs were from... well... other parts of the galaxy! It is a big universe, after all. "Like... like different universes, you mean?"
"Are there any others from ours here?" she asks, and then pauses, a frightening thought occuring to her. "We are from the same one, aren't we, Holi?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 22, 2009 15:47:28 GMT -5
"Right. Different universes." So Holi made a poor choice of words. It's a habit he really should have broken by now. "And I haven't met anyone else from mine," he murmurs. "Er. Ours." Could another universe have a Clipper just like his? He doesn't much like that thought.
But now she has him worried.
"Uhh…" he starts, fidgeting. How do they tell if they're from the same universe? Oh! Of course! Holi smacks the side of one fist into his other palm. "Do you have a laser core, or a brain module, or a spark?" That's as good a place to start as any for the basics.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 22, 2009 17:21:23 GMT -5
Clipper blinks in surprise. "Umm... A laser core?" Clipper replies, perplexed. "You should know that, though."
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 22, 2009 18:58:38 GMT -5
She has a laser core! That's good! No, no, it's great!
"Well, see," Holi begins to explain, "not all the universes have them. Like, some of them have these things they call sparks. But they aren't like actual sparks. They're… they're like the same thing as our laser cores. But they aren't laser cores. So it's a good question to ask." Or he thinks so. He isn't wrong, is he? Of all the things to be wrong on, this would be one of the worst. "Now… hm. But–" He blinks and fixes Clipper with an odd look. "But we both remember the date…" he murmurs. Can they both really remember the same exact thing while being from different realities?
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Post by Clipper on Apr 22, 2009 19:20:55 GMT -5
"Oh!" she exclaims, comprehension dawning in her expression. "You want to make sure that we really are from the same dimension! Yes, I remember the date."
She sniffs a little haughtily and adds, "I also remember you walking into a door. After running up a down escalator." No, she isn't slyly smug. Not at all.
"Wait," she asks, tilting her head. "Are there really different dimensions that are that close that the only difference is that some people have laser cores and some of them have... what was it you said? Brain modules or sparks?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 23, 2009 16:05:20 GMT -5
Holi gives Clipper a grand, pouty sort of frown when she reminds him of those little stunts. It's like she doesn't want him to be eager to see her or something!
"What I did is… well, it's beside the point!" he says firmly as he crosses his arms and juts his chin out. "There are more important things to worry about. Because it seems like sometimes, that really is the biggest difference. And sometimes paint jobs." There was talk of it. Or he's pretty sure there was. "I think."
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Post by Clipper on Apr 23, 2009 19:05:14 GMT -5
Of course she wants him to be eager to see her! Besides being a very nice little boost to the ego, how else would she find things to tease him about?
"It isn't beside the point," she refutes archly, holding up one finger. "Is verifies that we share yet another common reference point in a memorable event."
"Really, Holi," she scolds, shaking her head. "If you want to truly make sure that we are from the same dimension, you should think of these points."
"So. I have a laser core, I remember the same things you do, and you still have the same paint scheme as what I remember. Not as... tidy as it was," she sniffs, "but... close enough." Not that her paint is any less untidy - he'd better not be uncouth enough to point that out, at least not without some noises of commiseration, that is - but she's just gotten back from being buried alive. She figures that that is a good excuse. "So does that work to prove that we're both from our Micro? Or do we need to think of something else?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 25, 2009 13:46:56 GMT -5
But Holi didn't have time to wash up! Clipper can understand, right? Sometimes things happen and she's a mess, too… not that he's about to mention it since he has no room to talk.
"Well," he mumbles, arms still crossed, "you didn't hit me when I hugged you." Because that's what girls do when a random stranger runs up and hugs them with nary an introduction. Why they keep things in subspace just for that purpose, though, he'll never quite get. Probably a girl thing.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 25, 2009 22:53:07 GMT -5
Smart Holi! That must be why they made you the Captain!
"Well, no. Should I have?" she asks, tilting her head to peer at him. Was she being... too friendly? To... familiar to allow that hug? Good girls are careful and proper, but... but after this morning, darn it, she'd just wanted a good, solid hug from a friendly face, and Holi's face...
Well, it just doesn't get much friendlier than that.
And she doesn't exactly keep something tucked away in subspace just for hitting strangers who try to get fresh with her.
That's what her pistol is for.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 26, 2009 18:38:38 GMT -5
Should she have–?! That Clipper even asks that hits Holi so hard it's almost like a physical blow that sends him lurching forward, bent at the waist. He recovers just as quickly, looking up at her from his stooped position with both hands balled into fists near his collar.
"No, you shouldn't have!" he cries, aghast, voice practically a screech. "You'd really have hit me?!" Only once the words leave his mouth does he worry he might be overreacting. Too late now to save face.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 26, 2009 19:01:58 GMT -5
"Of course not," Clipper snaps waspishly. What kind of girl does he think she is, anyway? "But the way you asked that made it sound like it was normal, and it made me wonder."
"Oh, drat!" she grumps, stomping one foot, hands balled at her stiff-armed sides. "After what you said about different dimensions and how some can be so similar, now I'm all worried that we aren't from the same one!"
And if this isn't her Holi... How much worse would it be to, everyday, see someone whom she should know and trust and know, instead, that he isn't the same person? Clipper is the one pouting now, lower lip stuck out and just barely not trembling as she struggles not to cry at that thought.
"If you aren't my Holi, I really will hit you!" she bursts out suddenly.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Apr 28, 2009 20:04:44 GMT -5
Holi's gone and talked himself right into a corner. Even he isn't sure who's whom any more.
"…I'm sorry," he says quietly, hanging his head in defeat, arms dropping loosely to his sides. Now he's upset Clipper, too. This isn't what good guys do. This isn't even what good boyfriends do. Maybe if he'd just kept his big mouth shut and stuck with the hug, they wouldn't be in this mess right now.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 29, 2009 9:19:02 GMT -5
Oh, anyone who thinks that boyfriends and girlfriends always get along perfectly and never, ever have a disagreement, and are always of one accord and never, ever fight? Needs to have their rosy optics recalibrated. That's all great for a tenth-credit store novel, but real life doesn't work that way.
Not even on Micro.
And that hang-dog look and sad apology, that is so perfectly Holi that Clipper can't help but smile with relief.
"Oh, Holi," she sighs, exasperated with his silliness, and relieved that everything is all okay after all, and still just a little scared at this whole kidnapped-to-an-alternate-dimension situation, and all sorts of other things fluttering around her processor that she just decides to ignore it all for later and hug Holi instead.
"Nevermind," she murmurs, slipping her arms up under his as she hugs him. "I'd know that apology anywhere. It's you."
"I'm glad it's you, you," she whispers. "Because this is all kinda a little..." No. She will not admit out loud that she is even a little bit scared. Not even to Holi. Especially not to Holi.
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