Peace and Quiet or I'll Vivisect You

[Hook]

This takes place a day or two after the truce with the Autobots-3 begins.

The lounge deepest inside the mines lacks a few of the creature comforts of the other two lounges in the Deceptibase. A fourth wall, for instance.

Where the left wall should be is a rather nice gaping black abyss. If one sits near it, one can hear the sound of rushing water far below. If one falls in, one can simply fly back up to the lighted lounge.

If one can fly.

It should be noted that Hook designed this lounge to discourage most people from using it. So while it lacks a fourth wall and does have both seating and tables, it doesn't have anything else of particular interest.

The Constructicon curled up in a chair with a datapad in his lap likes it that way. He brings his own interesting things in when he needs them.

[Sable Conolly]

Hasn't Hook ever been taught the rules of acting?

Scourge stands near the doorway, his posture suggesting that he has long been stalking the hallways of the base and that his searching is at an end. He does not fear the abyss, does not fear it looking back into him. The abyss should fear that he looks into it.

He addresses Hook, "If this is a poor time, I can try again later," but there will be a later if it is not now. Scourge has already delayed once, and he is not overly known for is patients. Banned from interacting with any of the strange Autobot higher-ups, Scourge has been something of a recluse, keeping inside the base, and it's left him with a great deal of pent up energy.

[Hook]

Hook lifts his head. "I suppose it isn't."

[Sable Conolly]

With that lukewarm invitation, Scourge steps before Hook, all confidence, and he explains, "I have a low-priority request to make of you and your department. I'm not sure if you'll even accept it, but I will tender it all the same."

"We need a pool, a sort of communal bath. As it is now, the chances for entertainment are rather limited - there are the holoroom, reading files, randomly blowing things up. The later is to be discouraged, really, so alternatives would be useful. Also, a pool would assist in cleanliness by providing another option than showers and could even be used for specialised training."

Never mind that Scourge just misses his kooky bath-obsessed team.

[Hook]

Hook's visor blinks. "A pool."

The Constructicon can count on one hand the number of times people have made 'low-priority' requests that are that benign and fun to make. Most of them were made by drunk Seekers, come to think of it.

"Indoor or outdoor? Or both?"

Scourge suddenly has a very interested Constructicon on his hands.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge is very much not a drunk Seeker, sorry to disappoint. He's even sober.

He notes Hook's interest, and encouraged, he suggests, "Indoor, to start. There is plenty of unused room in the mines and a ready clean water supply from the aquifers. It also makes it less vulnerable to attack."

Scourge is putting way too much thought into how to militarily justify a pool.

[Hook]

"Mm, yes, and it would be fairly easy to put in a simple water-recycler. The heaters and steamers might be a little more difficult, but not impossible..." Hook's fingers skitter across the surface of the datapad, switching it from reading to editing-mode. Then he happily sketches out neat little designs to accompany his trains of thought.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge can see that, very shortly, he won't be needed here at all. He decides to make one interjection before Hook is completely absorbed by planning and comments, "I would suggest keeping it a secret, to make it a better surprise for the troops. Thank you for considering my idea."

That, and he wants to throw Dead End into the pool. It's not really Scourge's style, but Dead End is the type who really needs to be thrown into a pool.

[Hook]

"I suppose restricting anticipation does prevent anyone volunteering to commit suicide." By which Hook means asking him things like 'is it done yet?'.

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge does not quite get Hook's meaning, and he has a brief moment of dubiousness about the Constructicon yet again.

The world is trying to convince him that Hook is a serial killer, isn't it?

If the world is, Hook is a serial killer who is going to build Scourge a pool. He'll let it slide. Scourge concludes, "Thank you. If you have nothing to ask of me, I'll leave you to your solitude."

[Hook]

There are rumors back on Cybertron that imply Hook is a mass murderer, even if he isn't a serial killer. Hook, naturally, repudiates such slander. Lies and calumny, all of it.

"No, no questions at all..." Hook sketches a bit on the datapad, working out the design of the design of the water-recyclers and how they would work with the local water source. "There will have to be an above-ground one eventually... Easier if they use the same general type of equipment..."

[Sable Conolly]

Scourge was not asking if Hook has questions, really. Scourge was asking if Hook wanted him to do anything. However, he easily accepts Hook's dismissal.

He takes one last look around the lounge. It's a nice, quiet little place. A good place to haul someone for a talk, and he bets that Frenzy could cling to those abyss walls and record the whole thing.

Scourge turns on his heel and stalks out of the lounge, happier than he was before. This is what Starscream gets when he prevents Scourge from being militarily productive: a pool. It'll totally teach him. Or not. Probably not.