[MEME]
The hand is given a tired, almost uncaring look when Blackguard registers the added weight on her shoulder. Then, as her processors slowly register the details of the hand – uncolored, unpainted grey; heavily armored; sharp and pointed digits – her optics widen and her gaze shifts up to Megatron.
Blue optics look back at her and she knows, right then and there, who he is.
She frowns behind her mask, optics burning with an emotion she can’t quite name and threatening to produce coolant to counteract the sudden heat spike. Blackguard puts her hand over his, weighing it down but not forcing it to stay in place, and leans into his side. A shaky breath cycles through her vents and she shuts her optics, trying to keep her composure and not cry again.
She wasn’t alone in this. She never was, but…
Her hand shifts, turning to the side so she can wedge her talons under his claws and hold them tightly. She needed this. She really, really needed this.
There is a small knock at the door.
(One of his human neighbors?)
(He cracks the door open.) Ethyl? Is your caaa-HAHAHAAAOH MY GOD!
(Bee throws the door open.) MY LORD!
Megatron has to stop himself from taking a step back. He was more than used to Bumblebee’s exuberance, but being so much smaller than him now made his excited motions seem much wilder. Even so, he smiles.
“I was not aware that it meant so much to you.” The hummingbird gets a nod, and the bed gets a questionable look. “I will for now… though I don’t wish to destroy anything when I revert to my regular size. Your hospitality is appreciated.”
It’s human-sized! I can get another one, the planet’s full of them!
(yaaAAAAWN and stretch) Although I’ll be powering down pretty soon. I can get you stuff to read and maybe insulators if you have trouble sleeping? (Megatron’s energon gets poured into a big mug for him.) And we can get you back to your ship and in better working conditions tomorrow!
“Fair enough.” He sits on the bed. Surprisingly comfortable. He supposes it has to be, as humans have no protective armor.
“I’m sure I can manage. Warm fuel is more than enough.” He doubts he’ll be sleeping, but at least his temporary state will be safe here.
There is a small knock at the door.
(One of his human neighbors?)
(He cracks the door open.) Ethyl? Is your caaa-HAHAHAAAOH MY GOD!
(Bee throws the door open.) MY LORD!
Megatron walks as he normally would… at first. Bumblebee quickly passes him, and Megatron feels forced to walk faster to keep up. “This is profoundly strange. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you in such detail, Bumblebee. Or from below.”
I… you know, it never occurred to me, but you don’t talk to me in zoom.
(Bee’s so happy he bounces.) You don’t zoom in on me! Sentinel zooms- ALPHA TRION uses his zoom function on me and you don’t! YOU- You’re THE best! I’m makin’ you something delicious!
(Megatron gets a couch with the bed part pulled out, a table to work/eat off of, and a datapad compressed as small as it will go. He also gets a robotic hummingbird, Bee’s pet named Choux, hovering above him protectively.)
Get comfy!
Megatron has to stop himself from taking a step back. He was more than used to Bumblebee’s exuberance, but being so much smaller than him now made his excited motions seem much wilder. Even so, he smiles.
“I was not aware that it meant so much to you.” The hummingbird gets a nod, and the bed gets a questionable look. “I will for now… though I don’t wish to destroy anything when I revert to my regular size. Your hospitality is appreciated.”
There is a small knock at the door.
(One of his human neighbors?)
(He cracks the door open.) Ethyl? Is your caaa-HAHAHAAAOH MY GOD!
(Bee throws the door open.) MY LORD!
He could have done without the laughter, but coming from Bee it doesn’t feel malicious. Megatron steps inside.
“Bumblebee. For the duration of this spell, It would seem that I’m… unable to easily access my own effects.” Or be seen by my own troops. “Would you mind the company?”
You were on the floor when you shrank, weren’t you? See, this is why I learned to climb everything. Come in! (Bee pulls him in out of the rain.) I’ll get you the stuff I used to keep around for Krys so you have a workspace.
It was true, Megatron had never needed to climb very much. It was usually unnecessary at 35 feet tall.
“That would be very helpful. I can still transform, but it’s inconvenient to do so just to open a door.”
How would you even? (Bee shuts the door behind him and starts fetching the couch and table.) You’d have to fly up to the handle, transform, and then grab it as you’re falli-
(Oops, he’s overtaken Megatron. He slows his steps.) You know what, I’ll just be your substitute door-opener until you get back to normal size.
Megatron walks as he normally would… at first. Bumblebee quickly passes him, and Megatron feels forced to walk faster to keep up. “This is profoundly strange. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you in such detail, Bumblebee. Or from below.”
There is a small knock at the door.
(One of his human neighbors?)
(He cracks the door open.) Ethyl? Is your caaa-HAHAHAAAOH MY GOD!
(Bee throws the door open.) MY LORD!
He could have done without the laughter, but coming from Bee it doesn’t feel malicious. Megatron steps inside.
“Bumblebee. For the duration of this spell, It would seem that I’m… unable to easily access my own effects.” Or be seen by my own troops. “Would you mind the company?”
You were on the floor when you shrank, weren’t you? See, this is why I learned to climb everything. Come in! (Bee pulls him in out of the rain.) I’ll get you the stuff I used to keep around for Krys so you have a workspace.
It was true, Megatron had never needed to climb very much. It was usually unnecessary at 35 feet tall.
“That would be very helpful. I can still transform, but it’s inconvenient to do so just to open a door.”
There is a small knock at the door.
(One of his human neighbors?)
(He cracks the door open.) Ethyl? Is your caaa-HAHAHAAAOH MY GOD!
(Bee throws the door open.) MY LORD!
He could have done without the laughter, but coming from Bee it doesn’t feel malicious. Megatron steps inside.
“Bumblebee. For the duration of this spell, It would seem that I’m… unable to easily access my own effects.” Or be seen by my own troops. “Would you mind the company?”
now you can better appreciate how scary your kind is to humans ♪
Oh, I am well aware. You have every right to be frightened of us, we are massive, powerful, long-lived and far more advanced than you.
I simply do not care.
Sir, are you really smaller than me right now?!
“…So it would seem, Impact.” His tone is somewhere between amused and exasperated. “I imagine it must be quite the sight.”
I will come over there and I will kiCK YOUR ASS–
::Ah, Riou. I do appreciate an overconfident sparring partner. It’s so very satisfying to watch them realize they’re losing.::
Megatron was not forged for flight; he felt no call to the sky as some of his troops reportedly did, had no wings or rotors that ever craved the wind against them. Even so, it was the smallest fraction of escape that he allowed himself as a warlord. It wasn’t often anymore that Megatron is able to venture off-ship on his own, without some sort of imminent peril that needed addressing, so he flew at a relatively leisurely pace. As he came to a forested area with signs of a recent crash, it became apparent that imminent peril was indeed at hand. Ah well.
Landing mid-transformation, Megatron waited for his plating to settle completely before walking down the path of destruction. Only a large, military vehicle could have left this amount of carnage, and there had been no human distress signals in the air. Soon enough, the end of the trail dropped down into a ravine, with gouges from claws running down the sides. Definitely not human.
What he hadn’t expected to see was a mech he had thought was long since perished. Megatron dropped down into the cavern for a closer look, to ensure that his optics hadn’t deceived him. Despite the other’s injuries, the warlord approached him with a grin.
“Blackout. So you still function after all… albeit with some difficulties, it seems.” He put in a call for immediate evac and medical assistance. Strong as he might be, Megatron could not lift the tyton out of here on his own.
Fuck his life. Just … fuck it from start to finish, top to bottom, forwards, and upside down running backwards through a cornfield. All of it.
Blackout sidles several feet, plonking his rotormount and back against the side of the ravine, keeping himself mostly in the shade. He is a creature who was born to withstand pain, so the sharp throbbing is nothing he hasn’t felt before (and worse), but that doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. The tyton pulls out a cygar from subspace and lights it, taking a deep drag, letting it out of his nasal vents and mouth as his helm leans back against the protruding mass of his rotormount.
Mismatched optics glare at the exposed strut sticking out of his knee. He’s in no danger of bleeding to death; his internal repair systems are already working on clotting the severed lines. The break itself is too bad for his IRS to repair on it’s own. Blackout supposes he had better call for an evac, or at least some manner of assistance.
But someone beats him to it.
Jumping at the voice, the tyton’s helm twists to see who the speaker is. Oh, bucket of bolts, of course his aft went down (magnificently) in front of Megatron of all mechs. But, after a moment of study and reflection, Blackout realizes that there is something … off about his leader. He still functions? He supposes a mech could have perished from a crash as bad as the one he’d had.
“Seems so,” he drawls in his usual drunk-sounding slur. Long-time deafness and multiple severe head wounds over the course of the war have not helped him speak any clearer. Blackout brushes mud off of one forearm bracer, cygar hanging from his scarred lips. “Wasn’t one of my better landings.”
As he approaches, what strikes Megatron isn’t the severity of Blackout’s injury, but his casual tone. His fellow gladiator had never been particularly formal, but to go for so long without contact, presumed (and if somewhat questionable reports were to be believed, confirmed) offline, to dust himself off and joke? The slurring is new to him too, but he mistakes it as a result of the crash, and makes a note to have the medic check him for a concussion.
“Apparently not. Were you shot down? Soundwave’s readings failed to detect any activity in this sector.” He didn’t even detect you, he neglected to add. This was beginning to look suspicious. Megatron hadn’t forgotten Makeshift, and his particular method of disguise. At any rate, the warlord wasn’t coming within arm’s length of Blackout until he’d worked out the mystery of his miraculously reappeared comrade.
“Why did you make no attempt to contact us, before you crashed?”
Megatron's back up 