Ep. 1 - Roommate Quest - (Open)

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Hijack had her nose stuck solidly in her data pad, one hand holding it while a stylus swiftly scribbled away on the pad. It seemed to be yet another day on the base, and yet another jobless day for her. She loathed not having a job, but yet she did cherish these quiet moments more than she cherished her paycheck. Nothing could make up for lost moments of quiet.

As she rounded the corner, optics more focused on her data pad than where she was walking, she found herself bumping into another. Hijack was startled, as she hadn't heard this mech before she rounded the corner, and dropped her data pad, watching it skitter across the floor before she turned an orange-eyed glare to the mech. "Hey, you know you need to be a little more careful, I was working on a good piece." she stated as she walked over to the data pad and plucked it up, turning it off before coming back to stand across from the mech.

"So, I've never seen you before.. You new here or something? Oh where are my manners, the name's Hijack. Its a pleasure." she said, offering her free right hand to shake, smiling a little bit as she looked him over. He was a good bit taller than herself, and bulkier. And missing a horn. Her orange optics fixated on it, and she briefly wondered about the story behind it, before she returned her gaze to his face. She'd have to remember to draw him later. "What are you doing back here anyways?"

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She gave him a nod at learning his name, removing her hand from his and placing it on her hip as she looked at him, waiting for an explanation to her question. However, the answer she received caused her brows to raise impossibly high as she looked at him, incredulous. Then, he included her and asked a question about the berth. Thats when her brows fell, furrowing as her face filled with rage at his rude question, and she raised her data pad to slap him with.

However, she paused, as she thought about it, about the way he seemed to struggle with his words and with what she said. Then realization dawned on her and she balked a little as she looked at him, and suddenly felt a little sorry for him. He didn't understand her completely, and he was trying his hardest to make himself understood. Unlike what she had previously thought, that he was just trying to get her to swap paint with her.

She sheepishly grinned, and lowered the data pad, holding it close to her chest with both hands. "Sorry.. I thought, um.. You were propositioning me.. Forgive me, uh yea... I can show you to an empty place to rest your head." she stated before motioning for him to follow, turning the data pad back on and going back to sketching. "There is one next door to mine, and you don't seem like a guy who'd create a ruckus. I prefer quiet... It helps." she stated as she headed toward the direction she had just come from.

The trip was otherwise quiet until they reached the empty quarters, and she keyed the door open and stepped inside, not looking up from her data pad, until they got inside. The rooms were bare except for an equally bare desk and chair, and a one person berth. "It isn't much, but its standard and if you want to liven it up, well I guess thats your decision. If you need anything, I'm next door, and I don't mind helping you out, okay." she stated with a nod before turning to take her leave. "You got this, mister?" she asked as she paused in the doorway, data pad at her side as she tilted her head inquiringly at him.

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Hijack rested for a moment in the doorframe, looking at him as he seemed to scan her form, and she raised a single optic ridge at him. What exactly was he looking for? Did she have dirt or something on her form? She was sure she'd gotten the mud from yesterday all off her form...

Then, he asked his question, and both eyebrows furrowed. Oh, that. Of course. The one thing that seemed to define whether or not you were trustworthy or not. Her memory banks brought up old files that she'd thought she put away a long time ago as she let her optics trail down to the data pad and the sketch it bore. It was that memory, come to life in her dreams to haunt her till she got it out, but she'd have to finish it later. Hijack powered off the data pad and sub-spaced both it and the stylus.

"I never took up a badge. Neither side represents something I'd fight for, and besides.. I work for both sides, when they need a person of my skill set, and can pay the price." she stated solemnly, her face serious as she raised her gaze back up to his. "So.. May I ask what side your on? Cause, you seem to be missing a badge also... Or what is it exactly you do around here now? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions, too quickly... I'll try to slow down a bit for you, Cyclonus." she inquired as her face began to bear a broad, teasing grin, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned against the doorframe, the side of her head resting against the doorframe also, causing her to look at him from a slight angle and give her an overall nonchalant look.

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Her optics widened slightly at hearing that he had been in the middle of installing a translator module. Her surprise and curiosity grew even more at hearing that he did not speak her language natively, that he and his language was old. She wondered about him as she stood there, curiosity rising up in her chest like a small child, but yet doubt was nestled in her spark. It was impossible that he could.. Or was it?

Then, he further explained, and the curiosity trailed up to her eyes as she looked at him. Here she was, staring at a living legend, and she couldn't help but smile at him. Even if he did seem like a crotchety old man to her. Her orange optics watched him as he explained that something pushed him through space and time to now, and that even though it only seemed like a few months had passed, in actuality, millions of years had come and gone in his absence. And suddenly, she briefly imagined that he must be one of the most lost and lonely individuals she'd ever met.

Her mind mulled that idea over as she listened to him explain what he would be doing around the base. "An Elite Guardsmech... Huh.. Sounds like something to be proud of.." she stated as she suddenly felt very small. She remembered her humble beginnings as a manual labor bot, one of the lowest castes, and she shuffled her feet, a nervous response and suddenly her happy personality shut down. Those had been bad days, before she became a gladiator and slipped deep into the darkest moments of her life. The ones that haunted her recharge..

"Well, like I said.. If you need help, I don't mind if I can help." she stated solemnly as she straightened, putting on her smile again as easily as one places a visor over their brow. "It was nice to meet you sir, maybe we could catch a drink sometime and you could humor me. I have a few questions I'd like to ask about the Cybertron long before the war.. If you don't mind answering?" she inquired tentatively, not wanting to pester the older bot when she was sure he would appreciate his rest.

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She eyed him for the briefest of moments, then nodded as he replied to her. If he had missed such a gap in their history, then it was her job to inform him as best she could. Well, it all started with the caste system. I myself, come from one of the lowest castes, manual labor. The caste system was created to create order within our world, but instead it was corrupted, and mechs and femmes alike were forced into lives they didn't choose. I came into being in one of the lowest castes, as a basic laborer. However, like me, some of the lower caste found a way around it by becoming gladiators. This is where Megatron got his start, he is the leader of the Decepticons."

Hijack paused, to allow him to absorb the information, then decided it safe to begin again after a moment. "Then, he began to rally the lower castes, and as the upper class began to see it, some balked in fear, some were outraged, and others stood by him. Eventually he went to the council, and something happened.. All I know is that Orion Prax was named Optimus Prime, and when Megatron struck against the Council in anger, Prime lead a force to fight back. From there things have become muddled, and the sides have become a mixture of all the castes... I'd dare to say this is what brought us together, but... War always tears things apart."

She looked at him for a while, and briefly wondered if Cyclonus knew of the fate of their world... Hijack knew good and well it had long been dead, and though she leaned against the doorframe, she went ridged. "You know of our home, correct? The fact that we are a very quickly dying species?" her face took on the emotion that rent her spark, sorrow. "Its pathetic how we have killed ourselves... So, I guess.. We better live whatever time we have left to the fullest, right?" she added, trying to smile and cheer up the gloomy humor that had fallen into the room.