[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Meeting of the Minds [Miko]

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[Week 1, Day 6: Afternoon]

If anyone questioned the presence of the shiny red Lamborghini in the parking lot of Jasper’s local school, they certainly weren’t making their concerns known to Sideswipe. The sports car looked like any other, innocuous save for the obvious expensiveness and the scowling mask in place of the maker’s logo between the headlights. The emblem was just a little bigger than a maker’s logo would be, a red face outlined in white. Anyone who knew what to look for and where to look for it would most definitely see it. That included 'Cons, but, he hardly minded. He hadn’t had a good brawl in ages and was more than ready to throw down. Maybe if he got lucky-

No, no, focus, Sideswipe.

He was in near pristine condition, red plating shining nicely in the afternoon sun. First impressions were important after all. His holoform, a young man of average height with dark hair and shockingly blue eyes, leaned against the hood of the car. He wore dark jeans and a black form-fitting tee under an open red, short-sleeved button up shirt. One of his arms was tattooed from his wrist and up to his shoulder, where the images were hidden by his sleeve.

As soon as he’d used his holomatter generator for the first time on Earth, he’d known he needed to personalize his image. Over the past three years, he’d worked on finding the right balance between inconspicuous and him. The human tradition of marking their bodies, he’d found, was perfect. It showed off who he was without, well, giving too much away. He’d personally programmed the images on his holoform’s arm. On his forearm, a small Decepticon emblem with a black ‘X’ over it, underneath which was a rather impressive number of tick marks. A golden sun wrapped around his elbow, tendrils of light stretching over his arm. Cybertronian glyphs were interspersed with imagery of the mechanized surface of his home planet and the green of Earth landscapes. On his shoulder, beneath his sleeve, would be the Autobot emblem, covering the entirety of his deltoid. Yeah, he liked his balance between distinctive and average human. And so did the human femmes, if some of the appreciative looks he’d gotten during the times he’d used his holoform were anything to go by.

The holoform raised one hand to idly scratch at the shadow of stubble on his jaw, glancing at the door as his chronometer informed him that it was nearly time. He’d arrived fifteen minutes early, just in case. When Bulkhead had been called away on a mission, Sideswipe had happened to be in the vicinity to hear the big guy worrying about who would pick his human charge up from school. Sideswipe had immediately volunteered, giving the wrecker an easy-going smile. Resident prankster or not, Sideswipe was responsible enough to transport a human safely from Jasper back to base. Bulkhead had given him an image, a time, and a warning to be careful. Sideswipe had sent him off with assurances that Miko would be safe with him.

Now, he was simply waiting. He had yet to meet Miko and was curious about the girl. Was she old enough to sit in the front seat? He knew that humans were picky about that sort of thing….
The ringing of a bell startled him and he jolted, the Lamborghini stiffening in instinctive preparation for something bad. It wasn’t until the children started to exit the building that he relaxed. Primus, there were a lot of them of all at once….

[Miko Nakadai]

Uggggh. Could time go any slower?

For the past hour and a half, every time Miko looked up at the clock in the classroom? It'd barely moved at all. This day had dragged on for an absolute eternity, and now she was so close to the sweet release of freedom from this prison of a school? The last few minutes had slowed to an absolute crawl.

The teacher at the front of the room droned on and on about something in that snore-inducing monotone voice of his. It was probably something important being said, but Miko stared out the window, her mind and attention a million miles from this place. She had one hand resting under her chin, while her right hand held her pen, absentmindedly doodling on the edges of the notes she'd taken that class – which weren't many.

It was so hard to pay attention and focus on the mundane when all you wanted to do was to get back to your friends. Not human friends, no... they were boring, just like this class. The Autobots! Sometimes she wished she could tell others about them. She'd get to boast about how her best friend was a giant alien robot from another planet! Maybe one day... She knew how dangerous it was for them, what with MECH and the Decepticons - and the last thing she ever wanted was something slipping out and Bulkhead getting hurt or taken away because of it.

At least she had Raf and Jack to talk to about them. Not that they were dumb enough to discuss the subject at school if they ever saw each other, but it was nice that there were others who knew this secret.

The bell sounded then, and in an instant Miko had opened her backpack and with one sweeping motion had thrown everything on her desk into it. Time to get outta here! She quickly moved to a stand, lifting the bag up and over her shoulder and making a beeline for the exit.

“Miss Nakadai, I didn't say-- Miss Nakadai!” The teachers protests to her leaving without actually being dismissed were loud and clear, but that was so totally a problem for future Miko. She practically lived in detention so it wasn't like she was scared of that.

Losing herself in the wave and flow of foot-traffic of other students, she made a run for the main entrance.

Aaah sweet, sweet freedom.

Only... Her gaze instantly snapped over to where Bulkhead should be waiting, to find him not there in the usual spot - and in his place a very shiny red Lamborghini. She didn't bat an eye at it or find it odd – and nor did anyone else it seemed. Having fancy cars waiting outside the school wasn't exactly an uncommon sight – Bumblebee was a frequent sight here, and there were countless others with fancy sports-car altmodes that'd been seen around the sleepy town of Jasper – and nobody cared, chalking it up to rich folk driving through from Vegas.

She did wonder where Bulkhead was, but it obviously had to be somewhere important if he couldn't make it to pick her up. 

She managed to break away from the mass group of kids who were standing around chatting, hurriedly making her way over to the Lamborghini and its driver before the teacher could rampage out here and catch up to her. Not that she thought he would, but y'never know!

“Uuuh yo!” She waved with the hand that wasn't clutching the strap of her backpack. This dude, whoever he was, had a really cool looking holoform. Nobody might've cared much or questioned the fact there was a Lamborghini parked outside the school, but a few of the senior girls were whispering and giggling to each other about the newcomer.

“Soo I take it you're my ride? Suh-weet!”

She hadn't seen the Autobot emblem on the front of the car – but those tattoos on the guy? Man those were badass!! – and so totally telling to someone who knew about Cybertronian that this dude was, infact, an Autobot.

A really, really cool one at that.

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Sideswipe scanned the crowd for the girl he was meant to be picking up. He hadn’t counted on there being so many humans all at once. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this outflow of children. They were everywhere! How was he supposed to find just one in this crowd? He’d been in battles with more organization than-

Oh, good. She’d emerged from the crowd.

Obviously, she had seen him before he was her, because she came running straight toward him. He did a quick mental comparison to ensure this was the right girl. Yup, she checked out with the image Bulkhead had given him. He relaxed. Good. He’d been preparing to do something like blare his horn and hope to be noticed. Shoving a holoform into a crowd was a bad idea, after all. But! There was no need for drastic measures!

Sideswipe grinned as Miko approached, lifting one hand in a returning wave. His holoform moved from where it had been leaning up against the car, walking around to the passenger side.

“What’s up?” he called, expression and tone full of that laid-back goodwill that he was known for among his friends, “Sure am! If you're Miko, that is," his tone was a bit teasing, "Something came up and Bulk had to roll out. Hope ya’ don’t mind.”

The holoform moved as though opening the Lamborghini’s scissor door, and it swung upward. Red paint glinted in the sunlight, catching some appreciative looks from some of the older male students. Sideswipe’s ego skyrocketed. Damn, he loved showing off his altmode.

He motioned to the passenger seat with a flourish.

“Ready to head out? I’m not as suited for rough terrain as Bulk, but I’ll do my best to keep it from being a boring ride."

At that, his smile took on a hint of mischief. He planned to be safe, of course. Bulkhead would have his spark if he wasn’t. But, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t got fast. Sideswipe only followed speed limits when he had to, and those open desert roads were fair game.

“Fair warning, I don’t do slow. Make sure to buckle up.”

Once she was safely inside his alt mode, he would move back around to the driver’s side and ‘slide in’, reminding himself to keep his holoform activated so as to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Then, he would back out of his parking space and set off toward base.

“Name’s Sideswipe, by the way.”

[Miko Nakadai]

“Not much dude!” she was equally chill with her reply, smiling as she adjusted the hold on her backpack. “And yup, I might be!” she laughed, waving her free hand as he explained about why he was here over Bulkhead. “Ehh that's cool, thanks for coming to pick me up!” honestly that was part of being the biggest buttkicker back at base, sometimes Bulk had to go help out with things that were a little more important than picking her up from school – and hey it meant she got to meet new Bots sometimes, so it was win-win.

She was ignoring the majority of the stares as he moved to open the door. She found that the less you paid attention to the... well, attention? The sooner people got over it! She'd explain it as having a rich relative stopping by if anyone asked her about it later, and wasn't too concerned.

“Thanks!” she smiled as he motioned to the passenger seat, stepping forwards and carefully climbing inside. She'd set her backpack down on the floor between her feet, and would pull the seatbelt over and across herself, clicking it into place. Safety first, after all! Bulk would be sooo mad if she ever forgot that little detail.

She noted the hint of mischief in his expression, and she couldn't help but grin as she closed the door. She knew that look, heck she'd mastered that look.

“Hell yeah I'm ready! We should probably get outta here before teach comes storming after me anyways. I think I made him mad.” she wasn't too worried but ahh, it'd happened before. “And pff, I doubt it'll be boring! Look at you!” didn't take a genius to work out that he was built for going fast. Nothing against Bulk, but sometimes it was way too much fun to speed along those desert roads at crazy speeds.

“Already done my dude!” she'd give an affirmative metal salute, sitting back in the seat and getting comfy. Everyone was still staring – a lot of the older male students had cars of their own and could appreciate a good set of wheels, they were all quietly waiting for him to set off – wanting to see the obvious speed in action!

“Sideswipe huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Miko, but duh – you already knew that! So how long have you been here on Earth? Don't think I've seen ya around the base before!”

[Deleted]

Sideswipe’s easygoing smile remained well in place as he pulled away from the school. He glanced over to check again that she was safely buckled- no need for Bulkhead to tear into him later!- and was glad to see that she was. He went through all the motions of human driving. Holomatter eyes checked mirrors, hands shifted knobs and handles, and feet moved over the pedals. And! He could make his mouth move at the same time! He totally had this. Take that, people who had accused him of having a short attention span!

“Hey, no problem,” he said modestly in return to her thank-you, “We’ve got few enough bots that we all can pitch in to help you guys get where you need to go,” he turned his grin on her, “Plus, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. They said you were fun to hang with.”

Sideswipe listened to gossip. He knew from his law enforcer days just how important it was to keep an ear out. Now it was just habit. And, from what he’d heard, this human was great!

He glanced over his shoulder at the school, chuckling in response to the mention of her teacher.

“Don’t worry, he can’t catch me,” Sideswipe puffed up just a little at her compliment, “I’m one of the fastest front liners the Autobots have,” he winked, as though sharing a secret, before shifting gears and turning himself toward the edge of town, “Don’t tell Bee I said that, though.”

Or Hot Rod. Or Blurr. Or anyone else who had a claim to speed. That was usually a one way ticket to a race and, honestly, Sideswipe wasn’t sure how well he’d fare. He was fast, yeah, but he’d been built for hard hitting, which meant he was heavier than the speedsters. In a hand to hand match, he thought he could probably take them. But straight wheels…? Better not.

“Yup, Sideswipe. Though, friends call me Sides. I’ve been here…five Earth days? Your time is different from ours. It’s weird.”

As soon as they passed the town limits, he opened up. His sports car’s engine roared as the speedometer jerked upward sharply. His holoform vanished in a static crackle, leaving the driver’s seat empty.

“What about you, Miko? Have long have you been around base?”

His tone was slightly teasing, full of lighthearted humor. He was good at making conversation. He’d always been the more personable of the ‘Terror Twins’. And the more open, which was why he was generally better liked than his brother. Until he covered someone with green slime. He doubted Ironhide would ever forgive him for that one. But it had been funny as pit.

[Miko Nakadai]

As they pulled away from the school, Miko would settle back some in the seat. It was always a little weird to think about the fact she was sat inside a giant transforming robot but hey – they didn't seem to mind, and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever being able to do it. Plus she didn't ever really think about it – it was second nature to her now being it was an almost daily occurrence.

The male students who'd been watching in awe quickly went back to what they were doing as Sideswipe left, no fancy burnout or wheelspins here – laaaaame. Oh well it still looked and sounded cool – plus it wasn't every day they got to see a Lamborghini up close and personal! So they'd take it even if the driver didn't want to show off!

“That's true! Although that'd probably be a bit suss if we got taken home in fancy cars every day!” she laughed at that – grinning right back at him. For being robots in disguise, the Autobots sure did love their fancy expensive alt-modes – not that she minded! “Since you've done it once, now you'll probably be the go to guy if Bulk can't do it so I hope you don't mind sitting around outside the school!”

His next words made her face light up, and she'd sit up straighter. Wait really? They said she was fun? And he'd been looking forward to meeting her? Awww!!

“Dude we are going to have so much fun! The base has been a tooootal snore-fest lately. They aren't gonna know what hit em!” there was a twinkle of mischief in her eye at that, and the smile would remain on her face.

Bulk was usually up for fun after some gentle convincing, but he had this inside voice that worried a whole lot and so they were rather limited to tame things. But this dude seemed like he might be up for more exciting and daring things – he was young and seemed rather chill.

“Whoa you are? I believe it!” she beamed, raising her hand in a 'shh' motion with a giggle “I won't tell him don't worry!” even if she did, she didn't think Bee would contest it honestly, the dude had raced once and gotten into trouble and since then she wasn't sure he'd done it again! Then again who knows, maybe the competition would spur him on.

“Five days?” she gawped “That's like no time at all! You bored yet? Please tell me you're bored! I've been wanting to make things more exciting around base but I don't know hooow. Everyone is so serious all the time.” she pulled a face at that, wrinkling her nose and huffing out dramatically. Okay so there was good reason everyone was super serious – there was a truce involving Megatron and those creepy MECH guys, and she'd heard murmured rumors about the Energon shortage at base which would make anyone a little sad, but that was all the more reason to try and get people having some kind of fun. Bring up the mood!

His question made her quirk a brow as she thought. How long had it been now? Raf would probably know the exact answer, but she hadn't been keeping track honestly.

“Me? Uuuuh.. A few months now! Feels like forever though! Which I think is a good thing!”

She was so focused on the fact they were now going way faster that she did a doubletake after her response. His holoform was gone. It was no big deal, there was nobody out here on these roads – and they were going so fast that even if they were, they wouldn't exactly notice! She'd lean back in the seat once more, turning to watch as the scenery wooshed by beside her.

She wanted to ask what he meant by the time being different, but that was kinda boring and something she could ask Bulk later to get out of doing homework. He did like to ramble and go on tangents sometimes, so if she posed a hard hitting question like that? She could kill an hour or so easy!

An idea popped into her head then and she'd grin, turning her attention back to the windscreen.

“Sooo, Sides - I'm totally calling you that from now on by the way! You got any ideas of how to make things more exciting back at base? You're like a fresh pair of eyes to how dull everything is!”