Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 24, 2012 6:23:16 GMT -5
Oh, does she suspect? Cecil has to privately admire her determination to pick through his records and decide he's worth shaking down in the middle of the night. Clever girl. He also has to admire the economy of motion as she transforms and stretches out on her side. He might need to advise her to avoid doing that if she doesn't want to wind up in a cheesecake tabloid.
"Ooh," he says instead, "you're one of those robots! You know, I've been meaning to invite you guys over, but it's been hell finding a place that'll rent to me when I mention the guests are space robots taller than a house." Then he grins and makes a return sweep of Lyzack, from feet to face, and he whistles appreciatively. "Maybe if you come with me, they'll change their minds." He looks at Lionessbreast over his shoulder, wobbling a little, but makes no moves to get away as he turns back. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this little visit?" he wonders, folding his legs and propping his elbows on his thighs.
And yes, he deliberately avoids her question to see what she'll do about it.
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 24, 2012 8:35:26 GMT -5
In her own Destron-accented Cybertronian, she asks, "Are you Air Commander Slugslinger?"
Either the human is stupid, fearless, Slugslinger, or some combination of the three. If he does not answer her question now, however, Lyzack will have a choice to make. She could hand him over to Rook to try to make him remember. She could try to handle this issue herself, in secret.
Lyzack could also just kill Mr. Capello. He's only human, isn't he?
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 25, 2012 7:45:04 GMT -5
She is determined, isn't she? Cecil smiles broadly and rests his chin in his hands, blowing his bangs away from his left eye. If only this was a cartoon so his eye could dramatically catch the light and look brighter for a moment. It would be splendidly evil.
"I forgot how nice it is to hear my whole title," he murmurs. "Say it again."
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 25, 2012 14:12:50 GMT -5
So he is Slugslinger. Lyzack shows no reaction. Her options are still the same as before, she thinks. He's just a human. No one would know if he died if she never reported this.
What if someone found out?
Lyzack complies, almost inaudible, "Air Commander Slugslinger, sir. This one is now the aide de camp of Shockwave," she sounds dubious, "and is meant to report any trapped in human form. With respect to what you were and to what this one was, do you wish to be reported?"
He's been in trouble before, she is aware. He may not wish to come home. A lawful soldier would report him anyway. Perhaps she has already reported him and is attempting to set him up. Would he even know if she is?
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 26, 2012 6:14:18 GMT -5
"Might as well," Cecil says with a deep, long-suffering sigh and a rueful bit of a smile on his lips, shrugging with one upturned palm in a nothing to be done about it gesture. "Guess it couldn't last forever. And Shockwave's back?" He probably should expect things like this with dramatic clues such as the cult on Titan. "Where's that one-eyed psycho been hiding this whole time?" he wonders quietly. And if anybody asks why he's calling Shockwave crazy, well, he's just drunkenly conflating the Shockwave here with his lookalike back home.
He doesn't have to fake much of his frown, but he keeps it looking mild, more baffled than upset, as if he's only just beginning to understand the implications of what Lyzack said.
"Wait," he says, tilting his head slightly to the right so that his green eye peeks out from behind his bangs, "there's a bunch of us like this? How come you're not?" He sounds more indignant about this than he feels. Being a tiny, fragile fleshy human makes training Lyzack up much more difficult. And now she's hanging out with Shockwave. Ick.
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 26, 2012 10:52:39 GMT -5
"In some circles, it is said, 'It's better to be lucky than good,'1" Lyzack explains, her wings flicking nonchalantly, "I shall report you to Shockwave, then," as she should have done in the first place. So much for letting the Air Commander handle his problems with a little dignity.
Instead, she finds him reeking of drink. Leozack would never let himself fall so low.
1 "It's better to be lucky than good," says Lamar Gillett, the only P-35 pilot in World War II to shoot down a Japanese Zero fighter.
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 28, 2012 15:24:25 GMT -5
"Appreciate it," says Cecil, chin still in his hand. "No radio 'n' all." Implying, of course, that he'd have been prompt about it had he been capable. As if. He adds, after a pause he thinks is suitable enough for serious contemplation by a drunken thug, "So why'd you come looking for me?" He can think of a few possibilities; he's supposed to be the Air Commander, of course, so tracking down officers first is a sensible move. She seems to only tolerate him at the outside – it's more than most Decepticons will admit to – so a personal interest is unlikely. But what he thinks and what she tells him are two different beasts.
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 28, 2012 15:46:09 GMT -5
"The Air Commander is owed the dignity of deciding his own fate," Lyzack explains, and she seems to be serious. Then her hand wavers. Another con would wave dismissively now; she cannot quite make herself do it. "Shockwave has been informed. If you require further contact with the Decepticons, you are to be referred to Commander Starscream," he who would not be Emperor of Destruction.
Maybe Starscream does not remind Lyzack of her brother, after all.
"For now, you will be watched."
So Lyzack is yet again babysitting.
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 29, 2012 7:22:15 GMT -5
He will be watched. He will be watched. And she didn't really answer his question, but he probably deserves that. Cecil makes a noise that isn't quite a snort or a scoff or a laugh, though some scornful mixture of the three, and lifts a hand to brush his hair back from his face. He leaves it resting on the back of his neck and tilts his head to regard Lyzack with his green eye. It makes her a mostly-teal blur against the darker blue-black span of sky and skyline with a better-defined image overlaid. He's used to his right eye being the sharper of the two.
"You make it sound so serious," he says, grinning. "You will be watched. Like I need a babysitter. Hope it isn't you, 'cause you're gonna get bored." He gives her a wide-eyed, fascinated sort of look and asks in a low voice, "Have you actually seen how dull my job is?"
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 29, 2012 10:06:29 GMT -5
It's really more that Lyzack unconsciously tries to avoid 'I'. She tends to be very passive with her statements.
She feels something she can't quite identify when he makes that scornful noise. She isn't used to being angry. Stoicism is one of her refuges. He is making a mockery of her, and as an officer, that is his right, but as a human, no human should ever mock a Destron.
Has she seen how boring his job is? Does he have any idea how many legal records she's read? All of them. Lyzack remains a machine.
She agrees obliquely, "It may be said that there is not enough violence in the life of an Assistant District Attorney. When next this one is seen, she will wear Terran grey," the shameful livery that she must wear as a disguise.
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 30, 2012 7:40:07 GMT -5
"Not nearly enough," Cecil mutters, not really meaning to be heard. There are the occasional death threats and attempts on his life, but for him, that's hardly anything. Rather than make a conversation about that, he cocks his head the other way at Lyzack and frowns slightly. "This one?" he repeats. "This one? Oh, Lyzack," and he shakes his head sadly, "I know having to put on those godawful–" A word his human memories supplied, and a handy one at that. "–Colours is depressing, but that's no reason to bring yourself down like that. You aren't a thing, a this one." He tsks and stretches then, dropping the subject; she'll think on it or dismiss it as she pleases, he decides, and that's good enough.
He can't have a protégée with self-esteem issues, no no. He'll have to keep an eye on that matter. Surely, if it's only that she's been sheltered, she'll grow out of it with time and tutelage.
"Starscream's not happy about this assignment, is he?" Cecil wonders. He makes a point of sounding less curious about it than he feels, aiming instead for sullen expectation. After all, he's been chewed out by the flying tortilla chip a few times.
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 30, 2012 8:19:54 GMT -5
"You called this one a thing not so long ago," Lyzack observes, her optics narrowing, though she otherwise shows little reaction. Is he making fun of her?
"Starscream's thoughts are his own. If he wished you to know them, you would."
She is debating. Could she just leave Lionessbreast with him to stay in his condo and make sure he doesn't die of alcohol poisoning when he returns? It is not as if she ever uses her gun for anything, anyway.
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Mar 31, 2012 5:56:12 GMT -5
"What," muses Cecil, "was I supposed to just give myself away like that? You could've been some really fancy trick by the Autobots." He shrugs. "I wanted to be sure it was really you." Then he considers just crashing right here. It isn't that he can't climb down on his own, and he suspects Lyzack would have Lionessbreast drag him off in that case; it's that he just doesn't feel like it. Not that it takes much effort. His is the topmost balcony anyway.
He gets to his feet then, since he might as well – it might annoy Lyzack if he tried to sleep here, but he suspects she won't let him stay, and that ruins the fun of it – and takes care to look more unsteady than he feels as he ambles toward the eaves. The drop to the balcony isn't particularly worrisome even when he's sober.
"If that's that then, I'm going to bed," he announces, waving at Lyzack over his shoulder. "I'll need my sleep if I have to talk to that guy." And unless one of them tries to stop him, he's going to walk clear off the edge of the roof, twisting only enough as he drops so he can grab the edge of the roof to stay his fall. The last couple of feet are easy, barely a bunny hop, and he sticks the landing with both feet. He's had worse tumbles from bed.
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Mar 31, 2012 10:48:58 GMT -5
Lyzack watches Mr. Capello, a strange expression on her face. What in the devil1 is he doing? Whatever, if he wants to wear out his landing gear like that, that's his problem.
"Be prepared to be ignored by Commander Starscream. He has more pressing issues to concern him. If a Decepticon requires freedom or an Autobot life in prison, you may be summoned," Lyzack explains, "Lionessbreast will stay with you."
The Breast Animal gives Lyzack a very sour look and pads after Mr. Capello.
1 Cyclonus swore like that in the G1 cartoon! Victory is sort of a sequel to the G1 cartoon! By the commutative property of sequels, it is an acceptable curse phrase for Lyzack to think.
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Slugslinger
Minor
And if it weren't for this blasted coin…
Posts: 388
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Post by Slugslinger on Apr 1, 2012 9:07:20 GMT -5
Just when Cecil is about to feel very pleased that he won't have Starscream breathing down his neck all the time, Lyzack has to go and ruin the fun.
"…You're leaving me your gun?" he blurts out with his hand on the sliding door's latch. "That's stupid," he adds much more harshly, "I mean, what if you get into a scrape?" Not that he isn't willing to host the overly large kitty and feed her only the most sumptuous of robot cat food, and set her up with a splendidly comfortable bed. What baffles him is that anybody cares enough to bother giving him a chaperone. True, his job could be useful, but to leave him with a babysitter?
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