Ep0.5 - Control Room -'First Impressions'- Closed

Shadow had been heading for the ground bridge, planning to take advantage of Jazz's absence to go anywhere but here for a few hours without it being noticed (Jazz would notice later, of course, but that was a problem for later), when their guests arrived. She had stopped, staring, barely noticing the human, mentally dismissing Prime and Nurse Darby as she took in the sight of a tall, heavily built femme, one with an obvious rotary alt, and Primus, she wasn't blind, it wasn't like she hadn't seen that color scuffed across Ironhide's finsh when he came back from his late night "patrol".

Cleaver.

She had immediately changed course, heading to a computer station which, by no coincidence, put League directly between her and the group near the ground bridge. She was reasonably sure her expression was one the humans would have called "deer in the headlights", but League, thank Primus, was never the type to ask questions, possibly because he simply didn't give a frag. And then Cleaver and Prime had vanished into medbay, and Shadow had slipped back to her quarters to think.

Primarily, she had thought about the fact that - unless things had changed since Ironhide had come wandering back from "patrol" sporting a thoroughly besotted grin and more than a few recognizable paint scuffs - Cleaver didn't have the faintest idea who she was. Which was oddly comforting; if this all went to the Pit, it at least wouldn't reflect poorly on Ironhide.

With that in mind, Shadow staked out a position from which to watch medbay, and waited.

It had taken a while for Ratchet to emerge, longer for Cleaver, and longer still for Shadow to decide that, if anything, the older femme looked bored. Which might not be an invitation to bother her, but was certainly an excuse as far as Shadow was concerned.

She approached openly, EMF longwave and friendly, more than ready to retreat if Cleaver gave any indication she didn't want anyone's company. Which, luckily, she didn't,, allowing Shadow to approach to easy conversation range.

"Cleaver? I'm Shadowrunner; Bumblebee told me about you the last time you visited our base." Perfectly honest, if incomplete. Shadow forced herself to stay relaxed, and noticed with relief that Cleaver showed not the least hint of recognition at her name. Good. "Is everything all right? Can I get you anything?"

"Oh, no, you aren't in the way at all." Shadow sent her a quick burst of reassurance, only belatedly realizing that a better Autobot probably would have checked on Prime's wellbeing first. Well, scrap, but there was no fixing it, and nothing raised suspicion like a sudden change in tactics. She smiled easily, tipping her head toward the ground bridge, which cycled up as if on cue...or more precisely, as if Shadow had known when Airazor was due back from patrol. "Someone would have tripped over you by now if you were."

She glanced over, a reflexive (and utterly redundant, given the scanners she and Jazz had set up around the bridge, not to mention that was the job of whomever was on monitors) check to make sure it was Airazor, she was alone, and everything appeared to be fine, then turned her attention back to Cleaver.

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't need anything. And to thank you." She glanced toward medbay. "I'm guessing, from the fact Ratchet didn't have to be dragged away, that everything went well?"

"You were Ratchet's supervisor?" And wasn't that something to file away for the next time Ratchet started acting like he was Primus' personal gift to the medical profession.

Shadow couldn't quite hide her amusement at the revelation, even as her gaze followed Cleaver's toward the ground bridge. Her plates twitched a little at the question about patrols, though she was fairly sure the medic was less interested in their patrol schedules than in the possibility of Ironhide returning soon.

"Tonight they are," she said; no harm in confirming what was obvious, and no need to worry her with the fact that this was not routine. The heavily encrypted ping Jazz had sent her earlier - Found something interesting. Don't wait up. (Followed, not a nanoklik later, by the admonition, Stay put, underscored with approximately every authority glyph in existence, plus a few glyphs Shadow suspected Jazz had made up on the spot.) - might have been enough to keep her calm when he, Ironhide, and Blue failed to return to base on schedule, but it hadn't been particularly informative. "I'm not expecting anyone else back until morning, at least."

It was different from what Shadow had always known, too, though, she suspected, not in the ways Cleaver was talking about. "All those backgrounds are why we need the regs. Helps keep us out of trouble, away from each other's throats." She grinned. "Mostly."

Field sliding from humor to curiosity, she swept another glance around the control room before looking back up at the taller femme. "So, different in what ways?"

Shadow nodded; she had been alone on Earth long enough to be familiar with how surviving could be a full time occupation.

"I'll let you in on a secret: half our patrols are excuses to get away from each other." She paused, considering. Cleaver hadn't asked her for advice, and her knowledge of what was planned for the new Neutral base pretty much ended at there's going to be one, but she knew she wasn't the only one who made up reasons to leave the Autobot base, and even the Thirteen had needed time away from each other when there was a lag between missions. "Probably wouldn't hurt to have something similar available. Not patrols. Just something away from the main base, simple enough that just about anyone could do, useful, but not too tedious, to give people a chance to put some space between them."

She shrugged a little, making it clear that Cleaver didn't need to put too much stock in her suggestion. "Of course, that's coming from someone who spent most of her life stationed in deep space. Might not be relevant if people can come and go freely."

And that's what I get for talking without thinking.

Cleaver's question was perfectly innocent, nothing but friendly interest, and it wasn't her fault that Shadow had brought up something that still ached when she thought about it. "It was both," she said finally, with a faint glyph of apology. "And it was," she paused again, searching for a suitable description (dysfunctional, suggested an oh-so-helpful processor thread which sounded suspiciously like Jazz), "complicated."

Shadow settled her field before Cleaver could get the impression she'd asked something wrong; she already looked a little uncomfortable, her frame shifting minutely as if she didn't know what to do with herself. Which could be anything from Neutral in the middle of the militarized base of a faction she wanted no part of (or rather, only certain parts, and Primus, she needed to not think things like that or she was going to give herself away by bursting into giggles) to bored out of her processor.

Smiling, and wryly acknowledging in field that she was changing the subject, Shadow said, "I didn't think to ask, but do you need to monitor Prime from here? Because we do have a few places that are more comfortable than the control room; I can show you, if you like."

"Well, it may only be comfortable in relation to here," Shadow warned, gesturing for Cleaver to come with her while she mentally mapped a route to their new rec room...one that Bumblebee could have taken one of his Con foundlings along without getting a word of protest out of her, because while she didn't think she'd have to answer to Jazz for this, she couldn't be sure. "It's still a work in progress."

Cleaver didn't question the slightly circuitous route they took, and Shadow thought she seemed pleased when she took in the room - still more than a little bare, since it was being pieced together amidst Jazz tearing the rest of the base apart, but it at least had something resembling proper seats and the advantage of peace and quiet, since no one had quite gotten used to not using the control room as the social center of the base.

"I doubt anyone will bother you here, if you want to get some rest." Shadow stepped out of the way, leaving Cleaver free to choose one of the makeshift seats. "But, if you wouldn't mind some company, I'd like to hear more about your plans for the Neutral base."