"You're telling me that you still haven't downloaded ASL?"
Look and Listen Book 1
There's a Reason
Chapter 2: Idle Chatter
Rating: PG (physical disabilities)
Major Characters: Wheelie, Daniel, Blurr, Sideswipe, Bluestreak, Skids, Sludge
POV: Wheelie
The Cybertronian and his human friend strode through the halls of the massive Autobot base on their way to the recreation room (that is, if judging by what Wheelie's chronometer was telling him about the time it'd be on Earth in Autobot City). They joke and nudge each other as they walk close to the walls so that larger mecha wouldn't step on or trip over them; taking turns on telling jokes to each other. Daniel doesn't even seem to care that he has to watch his friend in order to know what he's trying to say- Wheelie was still Wheelie, even if he signed instead of rhymed, after all.
When the juveniles get closer to the rec room, Wheelie stops and his organic friend follows suit. He makes a 'y' shape with his right servo and brings it near the side of his head before moving it forward a few inches, followed by four different movements of it- the whole thing accompanied by a quizzical expression on his face-plates. 'Call B-L-U-R?' he asks- cheating and making the name shorter by not adding the second 'R'.
"Yeah, sure thing!" Daniel brings his wrist up closer to his mouth after activating the communicator in his watch. "Blurr, ya available?... Wanna join Wheelie an' me in the re-... Oh, alright! Need someone to g-... Alright, alright! We'll be in shortly then!" The human looks to his metal-friend and gives a lighthearted shrug after lowering his wrist. "He's already in there, and Sides already helped him get his fuel. So we can head right in."
Wheelie grins with chipped dentia and the two then continue into the room.
The recreation room was massive, with dozens of tall tables lined up neatly and bolted to the floor throughout. There were at least two chairs on each side of the five-sided tables- some of the chairs meant for large Cybertronians, others small but with controls on them that'd bring whoever sat in them to the table's height or back to the floor.
There are quite a few mecha present, too. Grapple and Hoist were arguing over a blueprint spread out between them on the table in one corner- Grapple's energon half-gone, and Hoist's untouched. Arcee was sitting on the opposite side of the table, looking over a data-pad with her legs crossed and a cube in one servo- she'd take periodic sips as she scrolled through the information. The Aerialbots were closer to the center of the room, laughing with each other and poking fun at their leader who, Wheelie had found out long ago, was afraid of heights. Alone in a corner was another mech Wheelie didn't know- a blue-armored theoretician he'd seen from time to time, but never really caught the name of. He appeared to be daydreaming. At a fourth table, against one wall, Wheelie could see three others sitting and chatting: Bluestreak, Sideswipe, and Blurr- the latter in a semi-small chair that raised up to be at the table's level.
Wheelie retrieves for himself a cube of pale pink energon- a special grade First Aid and Perceptor had come up with him that was easier on his scarred intake and still more energizing than medical grade. After he'd picked it up, he jogged over to the table and sat in a small chair that was next to Blurr; he holds his cube securely as he hits the buttons on it and it raises upward smoothly. It stops just before the Mini-Bot's knee-pads can hit the bottom of the table.
Wheelie nudges Blurr with an elbow, followed by a silent laugh; the former speedster just rolls his optics and chuckles softly, nudging the smaller mech back. After a bit more of a nudge-fight, Wheelie's forced to stop when Blurr gets him in a headlock and starts rubbing the top of his head with a fist in a nuugie.
"Hey- enough you two." Sideswipe's stern voice cuts through the clanging of metal. Both smaller mechs stop and straighten themselves just as Daniel's chair rises up into position next to Wheelie, and the human sets his lunchbox on the flat surface in front of him.
"Hey Sides; Blue," Daniel greets the much larger mechs, smiling up at them- then he taps Wheelie's shoulder. "Hey buddy, you're gonna spill your fuel if you try that."
Wheelie's servos move into his lap immediately, and Sideswipe gives him an unamused look. After a few moments, the Mini-Bot puts his servos up in surrender to teh red- and black-armored demolitionist, and Sideswipe finally removes his gaze from the far smaller mech. "Kids..." he huffs, earning a glare from Wheelie.
Bluestreak, sitting nearest Sideswipe, covers his mouth with a servo and snickers. "You were young once too, Sides. And he's not really a kid anymore- Wheelie grew outta that stage a lot quicker than ya usually see in mecha." The Mini-Bot brings his digits to his lips, keeping a flat hand, and then moves the hand forward and downward. Bluestreak just narrows his optics. "Ah...what's that one mean again..?"
Wheelie's expression immediately changes to show that he's clearly not impressed, and he turns up his palms in the all too familiar gesture of 'seriously?!' even though it wasn't an actual ASL sign.
"You're telling me," Sideswipe says, "that you still haven't downloaded ASL? It's been six years, Bluestreak- and Blaster even sent out the download to everyone. Twice."
"Yeah...I...never really read my transmissions, I guess? Not unless it's marked as important by the sender."
"You are hopeless."
"I get it from Smokescreen!"
Sideswipe sighs and shakes his head- then he chuckles. It's a small sound. Something only the ones at his table can hear, but it's a lot more than he usually gave. Sides never laughed anymore. "Of course ya do. And what would Smokey say?"
"That...I get it from Prowl?"
"Outta you three, Prowl had the most sense, Blue. You get it 'cause you're as thick-headed as Warpath." Sideswipe pauses and looks to Wheelie. "Speaking of... Has...Warpath downloaded it yet either?"
Wheelie just shrugs. He liked to avoid the security chief- he was too loud for the former survivalist's liking. The Mini-Bot'd ended up almost stepped on by the tank way too many times too.
Sideswipe just huffs and sits back with a look of 'my faction is hopeless' across his face-plates. He takes a sip of neon pink energon and closes dark blue optics. The others knew what this meant: Sides was done talking for now; he'd just listen to the conversation from here on out until he found reason to pipe in again.
Daniel opens his lunchbox, taking out a sandwich that he'd packed that morning and brought to the recreation room to keep cooled in a fridge built specially for the humans that frequented Headquarters: Daniel, Spike, Carly, and some others that the 'bot'd met in their time on Earth and befriended.
"So Blu'," Daniel asks the former speedster with his mouth full and elbows leaning on the table, "wha'f ya been up to la'ely? Ha'n't talked 'ith ya fo' few days!"
The blue mech sets down his energon and breaks the silence he'd been holding. "I've been setting up patrols for the messengers- that's really about it duty-wise. But you know I can't really do much else. No, no, not much else at all. Other than that I've been going to First Aid daily for physical therapy and further repairs- he's really doing a splendid job! Did I tell you that I've started getting feeling in my pedes again? Because I am! And he's to thank!" That brings smiles to the other three, but no one interrupts. "I've also been talking with Perceptor about something, and Rodimuc and Magnus and Jazz are always asking me to help them out in the command room with one plan or another. When I'm not on duty I'm on Earth doing readings, but you already know that so I don't know why I brought it up. So I've been keeping busy, busy, very busy indeed. May I ask what you've been doing? Huh? What've you been up to, Dan?"
Sideswipe has one optic cracked open and an optical-ridge raised a little bit. Blurr didn't talk with the same speed that he used to, but he sure as Pit still rambled. The optic closes again after a second, and the demolitionist remains still.
Daniel swallows the oversized bit he'd taken, then gulps down a swig of water before opening his mouth to answer. "Nothin' much. Dad's been teaching me some new techniques, and Rodimus and Bee do too when they've got time. This Saturday Wheelie an' I'l be going to r-...rr..."
Wheelie's optics widen a little, Sideswipe snaps one open to look to the human, and Bluestreak's gone before anyone even realizes he'd gotten up.
"...Be going to Earth. Tracks wants Raoul to meet Wheelie," he sort-of-lies. He'd caught himself quick enough that Blurr wasn't given much time to ponder what their human comrade was going to say. If he had been given the time, the smallish blue mech wouldn't easily caught that Daniel was about to say 'race'. Bringing up races was a bad idea with poor Blurr around.
They're saved from an awkwardly uncomfortable talk when the communications officer's voice comes over the loudspeakers. *This's Blaster speakin'- Rodimus Prime's requestin' that all officers report to the command room. Could all officers please be reportin' to the command room?* With a soft burst of static, the loudspeaker dies out. Blurr hits the buttons on his chair and is lowered to the ground; Sideswipe gets up immediately to help the mech get his crutches. Grapple, Hoist, Silverbolt, and Arcee had also gotten up from where they'd been sitting.
Wheelie knew that Blurr was in charge of the messengers and that Grapple and Hoist were heads of construction. Silverbolt was the Aerialbot leader, and...what was Arcee again..? Head trainer, that's it! She'd been given the rank pretty recently. The higher-ranked Autobots leave the room- Sideswipe following without a word, but then going in the opposite direction through the hall after they'd reached the door. He was demolition, but not an officer. The other Aeiralbots don't linger for much longer before they too leave and head in the same direction that Sides had taken.
That left just Wheelie and Danie-
The human's watch starts beeping at him, and the organic groans after looking at the message on its face. "Seriously...? Sorry buddy, but I gotta go. See ya later?"
Wheelie nods and gives a small wave, his shoulders slumping. The human pats his friend's shoulder then grabs his lunchbox and has his chair lower him. As soon as his feet hit the floor, Daniel's running out of the room.
With that, the Mini-Bot was left alone.
Or...at least he thought he'd been alone. He'd completely forgotten about the blue-armored mech alone in the corner. Wheelie watches him a moment- still daydreaming? Sheesh. The guy have something wrong with his processors?
Wheelie shakes his head and sits back in his chair, sipping on his energon slowly. It's quiet for a while, and the young soldier wishes he'd brought a data-pad with him- he could've gotten some writing done. But as he doesn't, he closes his optics in this duration of silence- even if it might not last long.
The sound of movement catches his attention, so he opens crystal-blue optics- and gives a soundless yelp. Now sitting right across from him was the blue mech. The orange-armored journalist blinks twice, then upturns his palms with a quizzical expression. 'What?'
"Sorry, didn't intend to starl you," the mech says, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're Wheelwasher, right? Saw you doing the servo-gestures earlier- hoped I'd be able to catch you alone."
Wheelie blinks again. Who was this guy...?
The mech reaches a servo across the table, and Wheelie tentatively shakes it. Either just being polite or seeing the dumbstruck face of the younger mech, the larger one introduces himself. "Name's Skids. I've read some of your works- pretty damn impressive considering your age compared to the lot of us. You dish out the poetry like it's nothing." Skids sits back after releasing Wheelie's servo and places his own in his lap. "Go ahead and use the gestures- I downloaded sign language long before I even know who the Quints were, let alone anyone knew you."
Wheelie lifts his right servo, watching the blue-armored mech cautiously as he starts signing. 'Just W-H-E-E-L-I-E,' he signs, 'real name only F-O-R-M-A-L.' The mech had to sign each individual letter of the word 'formal'- he'd never been able to find an actual sign for it, and apparently 'polite' was the closest. That didn't work very well here, though.
He raises an optical-ridge, watching the other; had Skids even caught any of that? Considering he nods, Wheelie assumes that the blue-armored mech had caught what he 'said'.
"Wheelie, huh? Odd nickname for a soldier to have." Wheelie doesn't sign anything. He knew his nickname was more of a kid-angled one- it's just what he preferred. He'd been called that for as long as he could remember- from his creators, to Varta, to the Quintessons during his Trial, and then now. "So what's with the poetry? You've got quite a bit of it."
'I once talked in verses.'
"Really now?"
Wheelie makes the same knocking gesture he'd used for Daniel when they'd come into the rec room; 'Yes.' Why would he lie about that?
"Just messing with you, kid. I know you did."
The Mini-Bot blinks. How this mech know that? 'How?'
"Look Wheelie, I know about every mecha on this base an more. You ask me about nearly anyone, and I'll be able to tell you the date, the battle, and the location that they lost a digit four hundred vorns ago. As long as the files hold the information, I know it."
The journalist can't help but cringe. Now that's just creepy...
Wheelie wants to change the subject, and quickly. He looks at the older mech, crystal blue optics narrowed a little. 'You look-like I-R-O-N-H-I-D-E.'
"Huh. So someone else does his homework too, eh?"
The smaller mech doesn't sign anything. Kup had given him a list of war heroes to study when the Mini-Bot had been younger as 'schoolwork', as the old mech'd called it. Ironhide and Optimus Prime were the ones he remembered best- and this Skids had some similarities- especially his head!- so the red-armored veteran that Wheelie couldn't overlook anymore.
Skids just shrugs like it wasn't important. "Cousins," he says nonchalantly.
Wheelie nods. He didn't know Ironhide was related to the mech- but it did make sense. The Mini-Bot opens his mouth, and his optics immediately turn dark red when no sound comes out- how embarrassing! The theoretician tips his head back and laughs in good humor. He leans over the table, fists a servo, and bumps it against the younger Autobot's shoulder. "Come on, kid- it's all good." Skids has a friendly smile on his lips- until it starts to fade to the sound of crashing steps coming to the room. "Great...hey, I gotta go..."
Not another word, and the blue-armored mech stands and hurries out of the room- squeezing past Sludge in the doorway on his way out. The Dino-Bot turns his head to look at the theoretician, and then he lumbers right on in and stops at the table Wheelie's still seated at. His long neck arcs down, and he brings his head level with the tiny mech. The brontosaurus mech rests his chin on the table, and Wheelie pats the beast's snout with a welcoming grin to the Dino-Bot. He then pulls back so that his servos can be free. 'Hello S-L-U-D-G-E. What's up?"
Sludge lifts his head off the table so that he can speak. "Me Sludge come to see if you Wheelie want train with us Autobots at training field. Us Autobots doing flag-capture. Him Sideswipe ask Sludge to ask you Wheelie to come."
Wheelie grins and nods- he'd only been clocked for one patrol today, and he and Daniel had already finished it hours ago. He didn't have anything else to do until the evening- he'd be looking through reports and making sure that they're written up correctly. 'Yes.' The sign itself doesn't seem too excited, but the Mini-Bot was looking forward to this now!
A nod from the Dino-Bot, and Sludge backs away from the table before lowering his head to the floor. Wheelie drinks down the rest of his energon, lowers himself from the table, and then discards of the empty cube before running over to the brontosaurus. He pats the mech on the snout before climbing onto it and sitting cross-legged.
Sludge then raises his head slowly so that his passenger isn't knocked off, and he makes his way out of the recreation room. The Dino-Bot explains the groups that had already been chosen as he makes his way toward the outdoor training field.
"You Wheelie been put on team with me Sludge. We also with him Smokescreen and. . . ."
