We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
The email account Raf Esquivel had set up to contact Car Truthers would receive a message around 7pm.
"Dear Concerned Parent," it read.
"We are having a little meet-up this upcoming Monday at 5.30pm. It will be a gathering of all your fellow truth seekers who have reached out to us in Jasper, a chance to meet each other all face to face and discuss the mystery that has brought us all together. This will be held at the local park. Some snacks and drinks will be provided but please BYO."
"Kind regards, Car Truthers"
Last Edit: Mar 28, 2017 16:38:09 GMT -5 by Deleted
Post by Raf Esquivel on Mar 28, 2017 18:39:51 GMT -5
Raf felt uneasy.
He knew he wasn’t really supposed to be running around on the floor of the base. Knew that Optimus, especially, didn’t like the children to be down on the ground where they could easily be hurt by a hurrying Cybertronian who simply didn’t see the kids so far down. Few people, Autobots or humans, tended to look at the ground when running along.
But he couldn’t get to the Rec Room without going to the floor.
There was a certain Autobot he was looking for, one that he felt might work best for what he had in mind. And while he hadn’t really spent a whole lot of time with him, he certainly knew enough about him to know this might be right up his alley.
And he was usually in the Rec Room.
Raf kept to the walls when he could, knowing people seldomly walked right along walls. A part of him was reminded that that was how mice move in human houses too, along walls. Now he understood why.
The doors to the Red Room were open, and he slipped inside, backpack bouncing on his back as he stepped inside, looking around. This was a place he didn’t often come…he felt it was a place the Autobots were supposed to come to relax, and even horse around a little, and no one wanted little people underfoot. Hard to relax when you were worried about stomping on human kids.
The tables were huge…obviously built for the giant mechanical people, along with the chairs. Raf’s feeling of being a mouse grew in intensity.
Sure enough, the TV was on. It looked like a home improvement show was on at the moment, someone was doing something called “drywalling” and talking about studs. Not sure why anyone - let alone a Cybertronian - would be interested in watching someone on TV build a house, Raf just shrugged to himself as he approached the seated person. Adults, whether human or robot, were often strange.
Skirting around the chair in a nice wide berth, Raf looked to the side to see the sniper’s rifle, leaning against the chair, always within reach. He paused for a second, looking it over from a little distance.
Cybertronian weapons always looked so…well…alien. It was obviously a rifle, but it was still different to the eye. You knew it was special, somehow. Add to that, of course, the fact it was taller than he was, and…yeah. Impressive.
Moving around so to be clearly in view before Bluestreak, a little distance back from his feet….just in case Bluestreak jumped or suddenly decided to get to his feet unexpectedly….Raf looked up at the silver mech, and waved a hand to get his attention, a smile on his face.
This was the fourth time of watching this episode, and Bluestreak still wasn't enamored of where they'd put that sink. It wasn't that it was bad sink placement. It was that it was - no, it was bad sink placement.
"Sink by the window," he said to himself, thinking of Carly's wonderful house, in the suburb. The window had been by the sink, so that when you were standing and washing dishes or using the sink, you could look out on the yard and enjoy the view. "I'm lost, guys. You have all this space and you put the window over the counter and totally wall off the sink, and then hang a picture over the sink? Makes no sense, someone's going to buy this house and wonder what the heck's throwing them off and it's going to be the lack of a window, hmph."
He could really do with another episode. This sink was going to drive him crazy thinking about it.
His hand trailed over the side of the furniture, fingers reaching for the rifle he had propped easily up beside him. A quick, absentminded touch as if to reassure himself that the weapon was still there and then he settled back once more. A stretch, and then the tall silver mech leaned back on the makeshift sofa and eased his arms behind his head, lacing his dark fingers behind his neck. His doors waggled comfortably as he rocked his heels against the floor.
Right then, someone said his name.
Immediately, he shifted his hands down on the sofa and looked behind him. No one.
Great. Well, give it five seconds and Mirage would no doubt either pop in and throw him an amused smile, or he was needed to take over some monitoring duty in the... hey, wait a second. That wasn't from the door, it was from the room and it wasn't even one of the Autobots.
Bluestreak's gaze landed on motion; Raf waving at him cheerfully from the floor.
"Oh!" he exclaimed in surprise, and shuttered his optics in a blink.
It wasn't often that the kids were out of the main control room. Most of the time, they stayed put down there up on the scaffolding, talking to Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead or Arcee. Heck, they even spoke to Prime on a regular basis, far more than most of the Autobots tended to; not because they couldn't speak to him, it was more that- well, the kids had far more things to share about general Earth moments. Sometimes when he was sitting there on monitor duty, one of them would come in and chat away to Bulkhead and Bluestreak loved it. They were always talking about mundane, wonderful everyday things.
School. Work. Every fourth word out of their mouths wasn't a discussion about patrolling or where the Decepticons were going to be next, or talking about what needed to be done at the base. Bluestreak loved it though. Simple, normal, everyday moments and he was surprisingly quiet when he was around the kids a lot of the time, because they filled up those empty spaces with words. The silence didn't press so tight when they were around.
Raf spoke about his science projects, or that he had aced a test. Miko grabbed her guitar and showed Bulkhead new chords, chattering on about wrestling matches, and that one show on TV, what was it... oh, right, Mythbusters, haha, he'd seen a few episodes himself. It was both fascinating and a test in all the things you really shouldn't be doing, like tying rockets to cars and launching them off of a ramp to see if they'd actually get airborne, and-
Wait another second. Raf was here by himself? No Bumblebee. Huh, that was a little odd.
"Hullo, Raf!" Bluestreak said, his expression lighting up into a friendly, easy grin. He leaned forward carefully and set his hands on his knees, blue eyes bright under the brim of his helm and red chevron.
"Sorry, so sorry, I don't see you in here very often, I sort of thought you were someone else for a second there. Mirage likes to see if he can get me to fall flat out of a chair. Makes him happy though, so I don't mind. Talk? Aw, sure! Sure we can talk. Love to talk actually, well then again it's me, so that's a given, right?"
"Hey though, you want to come up here while we chat?" the silver mech offered, politely indicating the space on the bench beside him. "Or we can sit at a table if that works better for you."
Last Edit: Mar 29, 2017 3:39:10 GMT -5 by Bluestreak
Post by Raf Esquivel on Mar 29, 2017 16:31:46 GMT -5
Raf smiled up at Bluestreak, already feeling better about what he was doing.
Bluestreak just had that way about him. He was always smiling, always seemed honestly glad to see you and talk to you. He never sought out the children, but they knew when they were talking to him he actually enjoyed it, wasn’t just putting up with it to keep Prime happy. Kids weren’t as blind as some thought they were. And Bluestreak had such an open, honest face it was hard not to like him.
“Um, the couch beside you is ok, thank you.”
As he waited for Bluestreak to help him up, either by lifting him or just extending his hand for Raf to step on - there was no way Raf was going to be able to climb up there on his own without a step latter or something - he started talking.
“I need help with something. There’s something I’m trying to do, and I think you’d be the best one to help me. You have a really good hologram, like, it’s really solid and can move things and stuff. And you know a lot about humans, too. You watch a lot of tv and talk to people so you know what would be really strange for a human and what wouldn’t. And that's really important for what I need.”
Raf peered around the side of the couch for a second, checking to make sure no one else had walked in, or was maybe eavesdropping just outside. Like Miko.
Especially Miko.
“And…it’s kinda…a secret. For now. So just you and me, ok? Just in case.... nothing happens."
He paused.
"It has to do with how you guys always have to have your holograms out when you're outside now. Those Car Truther people."
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
The silver mech looked down at him and then nodded. "No problem. Up it is," he agreed.
Immediately he bent down from the waist and lowered his palm down. His dark fingers contrasted against the lighter metal underneath Raf's feet. The back of his hand rested flat against the floor so that Raf could step up when he so decided.
It had really been one of those things Bluestreak had found himself dealing with lately. He'd never really enjoyed talking down to any other species in his travels, and had always found himself gravitating towards using the avatar to interact. At first it had been a polite thing; he didn't like talking down to the humans; Bluestreak understood physical intimidation and he certainly didn't enjoy it one bit.
Now he had personal reasons not to like it, and that grew every day in leaps and bounds.
Sure he understood, they were small, they were lower than he was on the ground. It wasn't just a matter of size though... it was the way you dealt with other life around you a matter of perspective and tone, but still. He didn't like it, didn't enjoy doing it, and he was incredibly grateful when Raf agreed to come up on on the seat beside him. Not to mention then if someone came stomping in here, there was no chance of Raf getting hurt by accident.
The very idea of that happening upset him.
Bluestreak carefully curled his fingers up so that there was no chance that Raf would fall. Not holding him tight, but sliding a thumb over so that the young man could grasp on it for support. Gently, he lifted him up towards the sofa and then flattened his hand again so the boy could step out as he wanted.
As he listened, he inclined his head. There was a puzzled look on the sharpshooter's face- how was he the best one to help him? He knew that the others had far more experience as fighters. He was just that one who stood in the back and provided cover support from a distance at them, so if this was something that required...
"Whoa, really?"
The silver doors behind his shoulders had raised high, echoing the surprised note in his voice. "Wait, wait, okay, let me see if I got all of this. You need me to go with you, because I know a lot of about humans - I mean, sure I watch a lot of TV and talk as much as I can to Car- ah, people, right, right, okay, and I kind of know what's strange for humans, sure. I'm trying to learn, I really am, I think I'm getting better, oh, ah, you need me because I can pass as a human with my hologram? Lift things and touch things and stuff? Huh!"
He said all that without even a moment's pause, then leaned back and eyed Raf.
Then he grinned.
"Neat," he said, with obvious delight. It was. A smart human who dealt with Cybertronians day in and day out, who was partnered up with one of the best scouts Bluestreak himself had ever seen... and he just had told him that he could pass as human.
"A secret?" he echoed, and watched Raf glance nervously around the room. Immediately, the sharpshooter's voice lowered.
"You and me? All right, I can keep a secret, honest, but..."
He lifted up a hand to scratch his head. There was the scritching sound of metal on metal as he eyed Raf, obviously puzzled. "We have the holograms up to keep people from noticing us driving, sure. I mean, from all people, just to blend in, right? I don't know who the Car Truthers people are, though?"
"Can you fill me in?"
Last Edit: Apr 1, 2017 0:43:19 GMT -5 by Bluestreak
Post by Raf Esquivel on Apr 1, 2017 10:36:14 GMT -5
Raf hopped into Bluestreak’s hand, and took ahold of his thumb as he was lifted up to the sofa, then stepped out, to stand beside the Autobot. It was a little easier on his neck to look up at Bluestreak here - there wasn’t as much of a massive height difference.
Raf slid off his backpack, laying it down by his feet as he thought about how to explain the whole “Car Truthers” thing. He had assumed everyone at the base knew about it, so now he was rewinding what he had planned to say, to make sure Bluestreak wouldn’t be in the dark about anything.
He looked up again, pushing his oversized glasses back up onto his face, “Ok, well. See…sometimes people - humans, I mean…take pictures of you guys and put them on the internet. Like, pictures of you guys as cars and sometimes, even a few when you’re in your real form, standing up and everything. Luckily, they’ve been fuzzy and kinda hard to make out. But I’ve been looking for them online, and whenever I find one, I’ve been removing it from their website. It’s called “scrubbing”, I remove it and all traces of it, and I usually replace it with something kinda silly. Like a dancing monkey or chicken or something. So if people see it, they think it’s a joke. I’ve been doing it a while now.”
Raf walked a little closer towards Bluestreak, “So these other humans saw what I was doing, and started to think that it was suspicious. That every picture people put up of you guys disappears, and so they started thinking there was a conspiracy about it. That…I don’t know…maybe our government was trying to keep the truth from everyone. Which….actually, yeah, that’s exactly what’s going on, isn’t it? Only they probably think it’s lizard overlords or something. Anyway….”
A deeper breath. Raf’s hands moved about as he spoke, counting things on his fingers, “So a group of these humans have called themselves “Car Truthers” and they’re posting pictures of you guys again, and now they’re here in Jasper-” (Raf pointed in a random direction to indicate Jasper) “-looking around for anyone else who may have pictures or know what’s going on, and they put out flyers and things-" (indicated with a random point to his schoolbag) “-asking for photos and people to meet and talk about the “Ghost Cars” - that’s you guys - so maybe they think it’s spirits or something - and so I emailed them to try and see what was going on, only now they emailed me back and want to meet me, only they think I’m a parent, so I can’t really go, but someone has to go meet them and find out what they know, and see if they’re just a group of harmless people or if they have anything to do with MECH, and I think you would be the best person for that.”
Raf took a gasping breath, having almost run out of air at the end of that long explanation, his face reddish from lack of air.
He looked up at Bluestreak’s face, trying to catch his breath, “Any questions?”
Last Edit: Apr 1, 2017 10:37:01 GMT -5 by Raf Esquivel
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
Bluestreak simply followed right along with Raf's explanation. His head tilted a few times, and he did laugh at the idea that somewhere there was a dancing monkey replacing Autobots on the internet. Then he sobered, realizing that- well, he was careful. He was very careful when he was out among the humans not to make mistakes like that. He didn't transform in public.
Sure, accidents happen. I know that. Sooner or later you have to make a decision to blow cover. For good reasons, yeah, because someone's going to die if you don't. Wow, though, I didn't realize it was as bad as it was, but then again, Wash is really a good teacher about how not to do stupid things, well okay, marginally stupid things, but things that most folks can just ignore because they're humans doing them, not giant alien robots and - gah, glad that Raf's on top of this. I don't know if we'd know how to find those things and get them out of there, certainly no one would think to put in something silly like a chicken, hahaa. I like the chicken. I want to be a chicken if I ever mess up so bad someone takes a picture and...
Listening to Raf, Bluestreak didn't move as the boy paced towards him on the sofa.
Car Truthers were people, and they were people who were starting to notice. Bluestreak wasn't surprised, wasn't like they could keep a secret from everyone forever. Humans weren't stupid, and he was rather disappointed when some Autobots acted like they were. Raf was incredibly bright, and if he said he had emailed them and wanted to go to check it out, Bluestreak trusted him. He wasn't like Miko with her wild Wrecker urge to go tearing right into danger to whack it a few times.
If they were MECH-
Bluestreak frowned slightly. His doors raised up. There were certain people in his life that MECH just needed to keep away from. If there was something dangerous going on, they needed a warning. Period. Well, not that the warning wasn't important for everyone, but he just didn't like the thoughts that were going through his head right now. Not at all. Not in the slightest.
"Oooch, right," he nodded. "That's universal, you know that? Goverments keep the truth from everyone. All these conspiracy theories and stuff are kind of truthful sometimes, I guess. I know that sounds like I should be wearing a tiny tinfoil hat - well, you guys call it a tinfoil hat, right? Yet let me tell you, I watched all of X-Files a few weeks ago and - uh, sorry, I don't know where this is going except that I totally agree with the comment of the truth is out there. Also, I totally want Mulder's poster on my wall but I have no idea where I'd find one like that, and- erk, sorry. Just sort of got ahead of my thoughts there, sorry Raf. Okay okay, questions. Questions."
"Only one," he laughed, and gently put his hands up as if he was shielding himself. "Swear. Promise. Just one. So, you're going with me to this, right?"
"Because out of the two of us, I dunno, I think it's better that we let you do the talking. I mean, I can sure tell them the finer points of human surfing and how not to put in insulation, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not sure I would be able to understand the nuances of what you might notice as being off with them."
"Also, erk... we have that uh, thing at base," he admitted after a moment. "Have to go in pairs now, because of MECH. I don't want to get either of us in trouble, but I'm concerned that you're right about the avatars and tipping these people off."
Post by Raf Esquivel on Apr 4, 2017 16:11:32 GMT -5
Raf listened to Bluestreak, thinking.
He had totally forgotten about the “pair” thing. The question was, who else would they get? His first thought would be, of course, Bumblebee, but….well…the thing was, Raf kinda wanted to be able to do this on his own. Well, with Bluestreak, of course.
Raf was edging towards 13. He would almost be a teenager! How great would it be if he could look at Bee and say that he had done it himself?! Taken care of it and everything? Bee would be more like his equal and best friend, and less like his…well…babysitter.
Because sometimes that’s how Raf felt. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but sometimes everyone just acted really…really…protective over him. Even more than Miko or Jack. He was the smallest one. The kid. The baby. And sometimes he was scared that Bee felt like he was stuck babysitting him. Miko got to go have adventures all the time, but everyone had to watch out for little Raf. It was only lately this was starting to bother him. Until lately he liked being the smart one, and didn’t mind always being shuffled out of the way, but…
Since he came back from the Science Fair, he started to realize that being smart was great and all, and he liked being able to help his friends, but even the other smart kids at the Fair were bigger than him. They still went waterskiing and had fun and adventures. He’d never want to be as wild as Miko, of course, but lately he just felt really, really…. useless. Except for that one thing he was good at.
It was like when he was fighting with his sister, and his Momma told her to leave him alone, he was “the baby”.
He wasn’t a baby!
Raf spoke again, “I…don’t think I should do the talking, though. I mean, I’ll definitely be there with you! I’ll be in the…in your…in you. In the backseat. But I don’t know if they’ll let kids in there, it might be an adults only thing. Can you keep your radio open, so I can hear what people are saying to you, and then I can tell you what to say, or if they’re acting weird?”
“I forgot about the going in pairs,” Raf sheepishly admitted, “Who do you think we should get? I dunno about Arcee, and Bee’s photo is the most uploaded, so unless he gets a color change, I don’t know if he’s the best choice. We could maybe take Bulkhead, but Miko would be angry if we left her behind and….I really think we should leave her behind. We can ask Bee if he’d change his color for awhile, maybe? Who would you pick?”
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
The television flickered, casting soft shadows along the walls of the room.
"Who would I pick? Honestly?"
Bluestreak brought up his hand and rubbed at his chin again.
Who would he take with them?
Let's see-
No, no, no, um, he'd gripe and groan the entire way, I don't mind him but sooner or later he'd say something terribly sarcastic, no, oh heck no that would end in a fiasco, no, maybe, sure, but that isn't going to help us with the whole talking to humans thing, no, uh, absolutely not, not unless we want to hear all the gee that car is hot jokes from someone who might actually be sort of serious...
To be honest, there weren't many folks Bluestreak would take with him on an undercover mission around humans.
Not because they weren't good mechs to have covering your back. It was more that he had come to appreciate how truly hard it was to emulate humans correctly. It was the little things; the gestures, the way they moved. The amount of time they kept their mouths open, the amount they blinked, the words they chose. Even the way they didn't turn and sniff appreciatively at some food smell.
Lots of things to contemplate.
Finally, he shook his head and looked over at Raf. His red chevron shaded his optics. This close to the sharpshooter, Raf could no doubt see the slight mismatch in the glass color between Bluestreak's left and right eye.
"Out of everyone here, right now?" the silver mech said, "I'd take Bee with us. He's the only one I think who would listen and do his best to stay low key and out of the way, and he's watched you the most. He knows when something's really incorrect as far as human behaviors go."
His doors lifted slightly. "I mean, he knows he can't talk to them, so he wouldn't want to make a mistake, so he'd keep calm and quiet. He's the one I'd want at my back if something went wrong, flat out. You can trust him to get you out of the tight spots. I mean, I can. Bulkhead and Miko - well, the idea is not to uh, punch something here. I mean they're good at punching. Great at punching. They're amazing at punching, but that's not the goal.
"If Bumblebee is the one you have to sort of uh, scrub, that's not going to work, so... okay, other than Bumblebee? I'd honestly ask Ratchet to go along with us, but we both know there's no way we'd be able to get him out of here, he's got too much work to do."
Which was the truth. Bluestreak trusted Ratchet implicitly. However, yes, he always had too much work to do, and secondly, Bluestreak had never seen the other mech use an avatar at all. Not that he had to, being in the base. That posed a curious question. What the heck did the medic's avatar look like, what would he actually use?
If it wasn't for the fact that the medic no doubt would never be caught without the use of his fingers, Bluestreak would have totally said that grumpy, flat-eared, frowning cat that was meme'd all over the internet.
The sharpshooter rubbed at his chin and then settled his hand back down on the arm of the makeshift sofa. "Give me a second," he said thoughtfully. "I'll call Prime and ask him directly. I mean, it's daylight, you have a handle on it, and you're going to be with me, so I'll be okay. I really think you're right, the less folks who go, the less chance we have of getting in trouble. I can control my avatar great - well, okay, I think I can control it great - but all it would take is someone glitching out while we're smack in the middle of a place with a bunch of humans discussing how everything gets wiped off the map and whoo boy, it would be so much of a mess."
"Your idea works great. We find a place to park, see if you can come in, if you can, great, if you can't, okay, I keep the comm-line open in the car, and you listen and direct me, so I know what to say besides hi, how are you, lovely weather we're having, gosh you're here about alien robots on Earth too, me too, wow, what are the odds of that? If you're directing me, I'm not worried in the slightest."
"So yeah if we can swing it? I'll follow your suggestion. You and me. I'm no spy, I'm no fighter, but I can get us out of there fast if something goes wrong."
With that, he opened up a comm-line and sent a polite chirp of query out. Bluestreak didn't often call Prime at all - the mech had enough of that from everyone else. However, he wanted to get polite permission on two things and also explain the situation to Prime in case things went badly downhill so that someone knew exactly where they had gone and what they were doing. It was the responsible thing to do.
The last thing he wanted was to deal with MECH one on one and get Raf hurt.
Last Edit: Apr 8, 2017 20:33:38 GMT -5 by Bluestreak
Post by Raf Esquivel on Apr 9, 2017 20:24:43 GMT -5
Rafael watched Bluestreak think, politely waiting. He couldn’t help but notice the mech’s eyes - they were two different colors of blue. He had noticed that once before, when he had gone to visit the ‘bots who were on monitor duty, but he knew it wasn’t polite to just bring it up. Bluestreak might feel uncomfortable talking about it. He might even hate it, but couldn’t do anything about it, so Raf said nothing.
Personally, he thought it was kind of cool. It gave Bluesteak his own look, it made him special. Maybe it was a form of robot heterochromia. He learned about that some years back, and thought it was interesting!
He nodded when Bluestreak talked about Bumblebee. He knew Bee would be good for this, but there was no way to hide him.
And he was pretty sure Ratchet wouldn’t agree to go. Ratchet was…..
Prickly.
Smiling, he nodded when the mech agreed to his plan, of Raf being in the car, and listening in. It would make the most sense. In all honesty, he didn’t think they would allow kids, they would consider themselves far too important for that, and besides, they were probably very used to strange people anyway! Bluestreak, if he did act odd, would just fit right in!
“Ok! And I can fill you in on what I told them and stuff, so you know what you are supposed to have said. You’re a parent of a kid at my school. I guess if they do allow me in that could be me. If not, I can still tell you what to answer and what to ask, and I’ll know if they’re a real threat or not!”
This was going great!
Raf inwardly flinched a little when Bluestreak told him he was going to talk to Optimus. The human was utterly convinced there was no way the great leader was going to let this happen. It would be risky, as far as Prime was concerned, and would probably insist there were at least four others, and Raf would have to stay at the base. Or just stay home.
But he understood Bluestreak. He couldn’t just go against Optimus, go behind his back and do stuff. He’d be in so much trouble.
“It’s going to be this Monday at 5:30 pm at the park. I’ll bring a snack so I won’t be hungry - I don’t want to eat inside you or anything. I’ll get a ride here with Bulkhead since Bee’s out of Jasper for a little while, and we can go from here, I guess.”
He looked up at Bluestreak again. If the Autobot agreed, he guessed there wasn't much else to do but wait.
And, of course, worry.
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
Post by Bluestreak on Apr 10, 2017 17:39:19 GMT -5
Bluestreak had settled back on the sofa, resting his arm on the rest. His fingers trailed over the edge, but he didn't touch his rifle at all. He waited patiently to hear back from Prime, knowing it might be a little bit before the Autobot leader would answer him. Which was fine, Prime was busy all the time, twenty four seven - well, using Earth terms for time.
"Monday, five thirty pm, got it. You sure you don't want me to just come out and get you? At the park, huh, seems like an odd place to have an important meeting," he offered. "Or maybe they really are trying to be careful about who shows up, and kind of keep an eye on things in a public area.
Then he laughed and waved his hand with easy reassurance.
"Everyone's got to refuel sometimes, and isn't that- isn't five thirty close to most human dinner time? Six? Later? I'm not sure. If you need to eat, just ask, it's totally cool with me, we're wash and wear, come on. If crumbs are the worst thing that happens in my day, we're fine, really. It shakes out sometime. Long as you don't spill a soda on the floorboards in there."
"I think Miko maybe did that once to Bulk," he shared, lowering his voice in a conspiratorial tone. "All I know is that I heard a whole lot of laughing and a whole lot of grumbling from Ratchet later. Something about attracting ants into the base."
"Sure, you fill me in on what you told them, and - oh, a parent of a kid?"
The sharpshooter cocked his head. "Will my avatar be okay for that?" he asked. He was a bit concerned about it. "Not sure if I can pass for a parent - er, well I know I'm probably not going to pass for someone's mom, I just don't have the right sort of clothes in hang on one sec. Here, you better tell me if this works, all right? If it doesn't, I should be able to adjust something so that we can make it work better. I mean, sure this assumes we can go but I'd rather know now, get that out of the way. If that's okay with you?"
He grinned. "Give me a second here," he offered to Raf. "I'll bring my avatar up and online for you."
The mech sat up a bit straighter. His doors lifted and then lowered behind his shoulders as he looked at the room and then looked back at Raf. Usually he was in his vehicle mode or had it nearby when using his avatar. There was never a need to use it at base, really. Everyone knew where you were and things were all adjusted to the size of the Autobots. No tiny chairs or Orange Julius cups that felt as if they were going to explode in your hand if you gripped too hard.
He'd done that at the mall. The whole frozen drink had ended up on him, the table, the floor. Nell had laughed like a loon at his expression as he pushed himself back from the table. All he'd been able to do was stand there looking incredibly embarrassed and try not to laugh. Luckily, a very nice young woman had come to his aid and helped him mop it up with the handful of napkins he'd retrieved from the people at the counter.
People were always super friendly, and Bluestreak gratefully appreciated that. Like when him and Wash had gone to Vegas, there were always signs with human women on them that cheerfully suggested you could call them any time. He'd found that most humans loved to talk, and he loved to listen.
In front of Raf, a blue shimmer touched the air. It flickered once. A soft little buzzing sound curled into the quiet room as it solidified into the human form of a man. He looked to be about thirty years old, with bright blue eyes and perfectly ruffled blond hair that spiked slightly. He rocked back on his heels as if catching his balance.
"Okay, that's kinda weird," he admitted. Both the avatar and the mech closed their eyes and the robot shook himself with a rattle of plating.
"Whoa, how the heck does Wash do this so easy. Guess it's just a matter of practice. Never tried this before. Well, let's give it a whirl and holy heck, this furniture is tall, isn't it? Note to self, don't jump off the sofa, got it."
Clean cut and tall, Bluestreak's was wearing a worn and faded grey t-shirt that accentuated his wide shoulders. He was a man who worked out regularly, fit and trim, solid chest that tapering down to his well-tailored jeans. On his left wrist was what appeared to be a bracelet, the turquoise bead sliding back and forth along the circle of braided, twisted leather. The kind of thing that you saw on surfers all the time.
The mech's outfit was completed with a set of cowboy boots.
Ones that likely had never been within a mile of a horse, but that was probably for the best.
The man tilted his head and eyed Raf as he took a few careful steps across the sofa towards the boy. "Is this okay?" he asked with the same easy, outgoing smile that he had as a mech.
Post by Raf Esquivel on Apr 12, 2017 13:14:08 GMT -5
Raf watched slightly awed as Bluestreak created his avatar out of what seemed like thin air.
He never got used to it. No matter how many times he watched Bee do it, it was still amazing. A whole person, just kinda appearing out of nowhere.
And they were so real! The best humans could make were sorta holograms, and even on TV and in the movies they were mostly made up stuff. But this was different. These could often pick up stuff, and had mass!
He had once asked Ratchet how they worked. And to be fair, Ratchet had tried to explain things to Raf so that he’d understand. Raf was sure the medic had actually dumbed it down for him. But it was too complicated for even Raf to really grasp. At first, Raf felt a little annoyed that he wasn’t getting it…it wasn’t often he encountered something he didn’t understand. Even the Cybertronian language made sense to him! But after spending some time on the internet and reading about light and how it worked (long story short - no one knew. No human, anyway), and Raf came to the realization that what humans knew about physics and light and matter was so woefully inadequate compared to what the Cybertronians knew, there was no way he’d ever really be able to get it. Raf understood computers, not things like Quantum physics and the like.
It rankled a little, but he had been forced to admit defeat before even trying.
Raf smiled as Bluestreak walked towards him on the sofa. The mech-in-human-form looked so amazing. Raf loved to see how the mechs saw themselves.
“That’s really good, Bluestreak! And don’t worry about not looking like a dad...dads don’t really...look a certain way, you know. I mean...once you have a kid, you’re a dad. Sort of. It’s a lot more complicated than that, but there aren’t any physical limitations on what a dad can look like.”
He tilted his head, smiling to see the human holomatter figure before him still had that open, friendly, approachable aspect to it the mech did. How did they even do that?
“Ok, so here’s what you need to know, I guess. Um. These Car Truther people came to my school and they were handing out flyers and things about their organization. They’re trying to find out the truth about the “Ghost Cars” - that’s you guys - and so they were asking anyone with any information to come forward.”
Raf looked from Bluestreak’s true form, sitting on the sofa, quiet and still, back to the Holomatter avatar, and kept talking. It was sorta weird seeing an Autobot in robot mode with his avatar out at the same time. He felt like he wasn’t sure who he should be talking to, the one who was closest, or the actual mech?
“So your son...I guess that would be me if I go inside...brought home one of those flyers, and you got the email address and sent them an email saying you have seen the Ghost Cars and wanted to meet with them but you weren’t sure if they were trustworthy or not.”
Raf pushed his glasses up on his nose, “That’s about it, really. I mean, anything else they ask we can answer as it comes up. You can just say that you saw some cars around Jasper that were acting sorta funny, like...um...driving badly, or they just made you feel something was funny about them. Probably don’t mention seeing them around the school, we don’t want them to start looking closer, or it won’t just be Bee who’s not allowed in Jasper for a while. Bulkhead and Arcee will be kept back as well.”
A thought came to him, “What name do you use when you’re using your avatar?”
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
Post by Bluestreak on Apr 20, 2017 23:10:59 GMT -5
"Aw, thanks," the mech said, and both the avatar and the robot looked down at the man's booted feet. "Glad you think so. I'm really trying."
He was getting better at the avatar. Well, at least Bluestreak was pretty sure he was better than he had been. He practiced with it every chance he got. Most of them just threw them up on the front seats, to give the world an impression there was a driver within the car, but they missed just how amazing and wonderful an avatar could be. You didn't learn things about a world, about the cultures, about the cities, about the individuals themselves by just driving around as a machine and tuning out everything else.
You listened. Turned on the media (even the terrible awful media stuff) and listened to all sides, took in everything you could.
"Uh, my name?" he echoed, eyeing Raf.
He thought about it for a moment. "Blue. I just use Blue. I have a last name on the identification that Wash gave me, but originally I was uh, well, it's kind of a long story, but I'll try to make it short. There were these MECH guys that were after Carly- er..."
The man lifted his hand and ran it through his hair. Behind the avatar, the robot ducked himself back against the sofa. The Datsun's doors behind his shoulders raised, then lowered, then ended up sort of on a lopsided little angle as the avatar's words drifted off. He seemed to be sunk in some memory or thought.
Then he gave an embarrassed little chuckle. "I should probably explain that, huh. She's a friend of mine. Well now she is, I mean, she's a friend now, she wasn't when we first met but that's how things go, you aren't usually friends the first time you meet someone out there, I guess, now that I think about it. Then again, I think you and Bumblebee were friends from the get go, but I sure don't think Jack and Arcee were from what I sort of heard here and there that was sort of different and oh, ah, er-- well, she's amazing. Carly I mean. Arcee's pretty cool though, but... oh, right, my friend."
"She graduated with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering and worked for a company that designed cranes for the Navy."
The mech's avatar settled comfortably back on his heels even as the robot settled his arm behind himself. Bluestreak's words had slowed down slightly. They were not quite as rapid-fire, nor his usual ramble. He seemed focused and thoughtful, even a bit wistful. "Those big ones. The ones that lift helicopters onto aircraft carriers? That was her team. MECH sent her a headhunting letter because they went back and found that she specialized in field and space robotics, which I find amazing. She used to be part of the MIT Biomimetrics lab and -- oh right. MECH went after her, Wash and I saved her from them, and to help her and her family stay safe she's working with Fowler's people, but..."
"I couldn't think of another name when we met, she kind of surprised me with the question."
He ducked his head with a sheepish grin. "So I just called myself Blue. Oops, that turned into a long story, sorry about that, Raf. I went with the story that my family was way out there, unlike those families on TV with picket fences and two cars. I guess mine are probably the parents that are part of the CSI shows."
The avatar took a couple of steps back and forth on the sofa. The green bead on his leather wristband slid back and forth.
What was still neat to the sharpshooter was that the young woman actually liked that he'd been named Blue. She'd not looked at him once like he was some sort of weirdo. Instead, she'd just talked to him, filled the quiet spaces between them with her voice and he loved it, he loved how she talked about her job and her life and... well, even though she'd nearly been run down on her scooter, she handled herself amazingly and confidently.
Far more than probably would have.
"Oh..." he nodded. His avatar's blonde bangs fluffed back and then settled perfectly back into place. There wasn't even a single hair astray or sticking up. "Okay, so a dad doesn't look a certain way got it. I mean, on TV they seem to all be the same. Lots of sweaters."
Which was good that this worked out. He didn't want to go back to the mall and scan a bunch of sweaters. If had to be perfectly honest with himself, Bluestreak didn't really like sweaters that much. Except the goofy ones that everyone wore on the holiday specials on TV. Light up sweaters weren't bad.
"So, got it. You're my son - and you brought home a flier, and I sent them the email saying I've seen the Ghost Cars and I wanted to meet them."
"Well there's a lot of cars driving around Jasper funny," Bluestreak laughed. "Most of them are texting though, but... yeah. I won't mention seeing them around the school. Absolutely not, we don't want them to know your school, in case it is MECH. Also... er, so what do I need to call you? I mean if we use your real name they'd be able to go into a database and find you, wouldn't they?"
Last Edit: May 4, 2017 13:56:11 GMT -5 by Feldspar
Post by Raf Esquivel on Apr 21, 2017 15:18:20 GMT -5
Raf listened as Bluestreak talked. He looked at the boots as well, and thought it was a really nice touch. You didn't see a lot of cowboy boots around Jasper. It was a pretty cool little touch.
He listened to Bluestreak talk about his friend, and Raf started to think maybe Bluestreak was a little more taken with this Carly than even he knew. He sort of sounded like one of his sisters talking about a crush, only without the annoying "Oh My GOD!" and "So cute I COULD DIE!" which was fine by Raf.
So close to 13, Raf was becoming aware of the girls around him, but they were more baffling, weird, and often just annoying than anything else. They seemed to come in two forms; like Miko, wild, loud and over the top, or a weird combination of giggly, obsessed creatures concerned with make up, boybands, and sighed dramatically a lot.
The only girl he had met so far that didn't just exasperate him was Rebecca, a really nice girl he met at the Science Camp. She was quiet, shy, and really really smart. Her specialty was even robotics! Raf had wanted to tell her about his friends so badly, but he knew he couldn't. They had traded emails after the Science Fair was over, but he hadn't actually written her yet.
Maybe he should.
He blinked when Bluestreak asked him about his name.
"Oh. Uh..I didn't think of. Only...I don't know if it's a good idea giving a made up name. There might be others there that know me, or have at least seen me around. I don't know who else might show up. So...maybe we should go with something that sounds close to my real name, but isn't? So...it could just be explained as a mistake? Like...um...Ralph?"
Raf mentally cringed.
Ralph?
"So I guess that's it, we're all ready to go when the time is right."
He smiled shyly at Bluestreak. They were really going to do this! It was both exciting...and scary.
Code just makes more SENSE than people. Either it works, or it doesn't.
"Ralph?" Bluestreak echoed, and then smiled brightly. "Aw, like the movie, got it!"
Whatever movie the silver mech was referring to was completely up in the air. Poor Raf was either wrecking his way through a video game world or watching his dad set up a lamp shaped like a leg.
"Understood the Raf thing though, I think you're right, someone at your school might be there and have a whole lot more questions if you changed your name in front of them or I-uh, mess up and then I'd have to explain how apparently you're my kid and yet I don't know your name, right? Not so good, not so-- oh, hang on a second..."
The robot's chin lifted, optics going slightly distant for a moment. It was that particular look that everyone got the moment they picked up a cell phone call and answered it and were talking to someone on the other end. The silver mech's doors twitched behind his shoulders as he drew himself up slightly and respectfully on the furniture they were sitting on.
He nodded politely in a few places, his avatar standing still. Apparently he couldn't concentrate on all three things too much at the same time; the holo had frozen in place, the look on the man's face one of inner introspection. Great for art museums and perusing koi ponds but not so much for everyday use.
The conversation didn't take long though; and then the silver mech shook himself and the avatar animated itself quickly once more and eyed Raf.
"Wow," the sharpshooter said thoughtfully. "Prime says he agrees we should check it out, and he trusts us to use good judgment as to the situation. If there's any issues, we're to call back immediately."
It surprised him a bit. He had expected that Prime would have certainly discussed them taking someone else. There hadn't been even a moment of that. Then again, he had sort of explained it all in a rather long ramble of why it was a bit awkward and how Raf felt that most of his fellow Autobots wouldn't have the skills with their holo to pull it off entirely well. The mech was a bit proud about that but hey, he'd been practicing and working with it. Kind of fun to actually go find a sink in one of the sections of long-term living facilities - amazing that humans had actually lived here on some level to man this place.
Of course, he didn't think any of them had ever thought that the sink would be used to water a space alien's potted plant but hey. His plant was growing. He'd managed to rig up a desk light with the right spectrum with some help from a friend or two, and he'd read a ton on plant care. This was a pretty hardy plant though, and really the most helpful thing on the interenet about it was "don't overwater it, don't underwater it" which was a rather fine line all things considered. Hard to test how much it needed water though, the avatar's touch pressure could be controlled, but it really didn't feel things like wet. Which was weird, so he did his best to give it three or four days between waterings, and only water a careful amount.
A laugh. "I think he knows you'll keep me safe and out of trouble," he admitted, bringing his avatar's hand up to scrub sheepishly at the back of his neck. "So we're good to go, and hey - you sure you don't want me to pick you up at school tomorrow? I don't mind. If I can't, that's okay, but... I've never gotten to be super close to the school before. I kinda wanted to see it sometime, but if it's not safe, it's okay. Bulkhead can grab you and we'll meet here."
Last Edit: May 4, 2017 14:08:41 GMT -5 by Bluestreak