[ti]Ep 3.5[/ti]Beep Boop 101 [Closed]

[Bumblebee]

Episode 3.5 | Week 1 | Day 3
Early Afternoon
-

Things were finally starting to move forward.

Well, sort of. While the meeting two days prior had given them all some direction, it was a start, even if things hadn’t pushed off into full swing yet. Things had been in a sort of weird freefall, almost, with a lot going wrong all at once. They had captured a Decepticon, however Patch was still missing, MECH were gearing up and showing off terrifying new advancements in their technology, and Ratchet was still…

Venting out a sigh, Bumblebee looked down at his dented chassis. Without either of their medics, the Autobots had to be oh so very careful. While they had a couple of field medics among their ranks, and those that could slap on a mesh patch and call it a day? Truly devastating injuries would be hard to recover from.

This made his upcoming assignment from Optimus all the more important to get right. He’d been tasked with Petrichor to scan around the area where the monster had been seen - with two humans in tow. Here at the base, it was no issue to really interact with the NEST soldiers should he need to, with Raf usually around to help translate his beepy words so they could understand. While Petra could also act as a translator when out on the field, he found himself worried about those frantic moments when a message would need to be given and heeded instantly.

They were going into unfamiliar territory here. MECH were no doubt unhappy about the damage to the monster, and while he and Neon hadn’t seen any other constructs, what wasn’t to say they hadn’t built more?

They had to be ready for anything.

Mulling over how to even go about this, he’d decided to jump straight in. Nathan had been a pretty constant presence at the base, it seemed, and so would be the perfect test subject for some lessons in understanding Basic. Should this go well? There may be opportunity to teach Laura, Miko and Jack as well.

Using his datapad, a message was sent to Nathan’s phone - a simple message to please meet him in the Control Room.

How do you even teach someone a language, anyway? It was time to try and find out.

[Nathan Walker]

If someone had told Nathan a year ago that he would be running around with aliens, he would have just smiled and brushed it off. If that same person had told him that he would be learning parts of their language, he would have laughed in their face.

But here he was, in an alien military base, about to attend language training.

Well, let it never be said his life wasn’t eventful. It’s a shame he couldn’t put Cybertronian on his official resume, right there next to Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. Though knowing Fowler and the military, there would probably be a note of it in his NEST file. He never understood why anyone hadn’t tried to do something like this before. Sure, Bumblebee was only one bot, but he seemed quite active in the field. Another lesson in the ineptitude of military leadership...

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out as he waited for the Keurig to finish working, turning it over to see the message. Seeing it was from Bumblebee, he opened up the phone. Meet in the control room...

Show time...

Nathan typed a quick reply.

“On my way. ETA three minutes.”

He grabbed the travel cup just as the coffee finished pouring into his cup, dropping in the contents of a packet of sugar before applying the top, then grabbed his pack. Inside would be the materials he needed: a notebook with a list of words he figured would apply to the situations they were in, pencils, and an audio recording device.

He’d take everything and exit out the base’s small kitchenette, heading over to the control room. Once he was there he’d look around for Bumblebee as he headed up towards where the kids had their television and game consoles.

[Bumblebee]

The reply came a lot faster than he’d expected, then again this guy worked for Fowler and was probably pretty prompt because of that. He wouldn’t type a response of his own, though would send a quick thumbs-up emoji just to show that he’d read the message.

Hooboy. Now that Nathan was actually on the way, he suddenly felt nervous. With Raf, it was just so… natural from the very beginning. He didn’t have to sit and try to fumble through his beeps with things like wild gesturing in the hopes that he understood, as the tiny human simply got him. He wasn’t quite sure as to the why and the how, but it wasn’t something he’d ever really thought about in depth. Having Raf be able to understand him was a blessing, as while any other Cybertronian could help translate for him, having it come from a human he trusted so dearly helped.

Teaching someone who couldn’t understand him at all would be different indeed, especially without anyone around to help relay what he was saying. But, if they were going to be working together? They needed to get one another. Even if they didn’t run into any sort of trouble, there was always a chance things could go wrong, and it was in those moments that communication meant life or death.

Starting basic with the… uh, basic, would probably be best. Simple words that would be used a lot. Yes, no, that kind of thing… From there, he’d try to move onto things that hopefully wouldn’t ever need to be used like ‘watch out’ or ‘hello yes MECH and their giant robot monster are right there’... but they’d get to that.

In the three minutes while he waited on Nathan to arrive, he would turn back to the control panel, opening up a simple browser window, and typing in ‘text to speech’. A quick test played the audio loud and clear and… eugh, that lady sounded even more robotic than he did, but it’d have to do.

At the sound of footsteps, he would swivel around - greeting Nathan with a wave, and a cheery trill of a beep.

Wait, ugh! While that was probably obvious enough since it was paired with a gesture, he was quick to turn back to the console, typing quickly so that the robot sounding lady would speak.

“Hello!”

[Nathan Walker]

“Hey!”

Nathan raised his hand to wave in reply to Bumblebee’s wave when he saw the yellow mech spin around and type something on the keyboard. It caught him by surprise when the text to speech lady spoke, but he managed to recover from the surprise pretty quickly. It was a sensible measure, and would save some time and hopefully prevent any miscommunication.

“Hey.” he repeated, walking over to the couch and coffee table. He set his bag down on the couch and his coffee on the table, but not before taking a quick sip. He would need all his energy for this.

“It’s nice to meet you face to face, Bumblebee. You can call me Nathan or Sergeant Walker.” he said as he turned to face the yellow mech. He was about to extend his hand for a handshake when he remembered how ridiculous that would look. “I look forward to learning from you today.”

Nathan turned then and opened up his pack, taking out the tape recorder and his list of words and setting them on the coffee table next to his travel mug.

“We can get started whenever you’re ready.”

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee wouldn’t move as Nathan moved closer, instead simply watching as he made his way to the small couch and table. While he was sure the human was more than used to being around Cybertronian, he didn’t want to inadvertently spook him by moving, plus he kind of had to stay here anyway so he could get the robot lady to translate what he was saying.

The first thing he noticed was how… formal the soldier seemed to be. With Raf, the conversation was a lot more fluid, relaxed - like old friends just catching up. But this was weirdly proper, and while it wasn’t a problem, it took him a little by surprise.

A trill of a beep escaped him then, followed by a few more beepy words. They weren’t overly high in pitch, and sounded like his normal speaking volume and speed. Then, he would turn to type on the console once more. He was a decent typer, thankfully, though he found himself missing Raf. Not only could the tiny human help translate, but he could type so much faster than he could.

But, the whole point of this was to be able to communicate with humans without Raf around, and while this was a clunky, awkward way of doing things? It was the only thing he could think of - at least for right now.

“Nice to meet you too, Nathan.” the robot lady started, sounding as monotone and weird as ever.

More beeps would follow - these ones were slightly more chipper, almost excited sounding. Then he’d type a little bit more.

“I hope this will be fun.”

Wow, she sure sounded positively thrilled - hopefully his own tone was more reflective of how he felt, though.

Then, more beeps. He would turn to Nathan each time he spoke, not wanting to be rude by talking while facing away. While it probably would’ve saved time to simply type what he wanted to say, it felt a little weird.

Turning again to type, he could already see how tedious this was going to be. However, it would be worth it - and what they did here in this room could be the difference between life and death on a mission, meaning it was important to keep at it.

Maybe they could turn it into a weekly thing, with more vocabulary learned as they went - though that of course depended on how today went.

“I haven’t really done this before, so are there any words you can think of that are important? I have some in mind, however now I think about it I’m not sure.”

[Nathan Walker]

As the robot lady started to speak in a brain cell killing monotone voice, Nathan couldn’t help but think back to the last time he had to use an interpreter to speak with someone. While Captain Terrill had been a pretty good translator, the experience had been so laborious that Nathan had resolved that if he made it through that mission he would start learning Farsi.

With this robot lady voice? He’d definitely be putting in a lot more effort that he did with Farsi.

“I’m sure it will be, Bumblebee. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now.”

As he listened he was starting to notice Bumblebee’s natural vocal cadence and all the tonal shifts that came with different emotions. If he had to venture a guess, Bumblebee seemed pretty excited. An excited teacher was usually a really good one. At the scout’s next statement, Nathan nodded in agreement.

“I drew up a list of words that based on my experience I believe would be the most helpful for our session today.” he indicated the pad of paper on the table. "What my plan was is I could record you saying the words so that I would have a reference library to study and familiarize myself with.” he indicated the recording device next to the pad of paper.

"However, I would eventually like to get to the point where I can carry on a full conversation between the two of us without aid.”

[Bumblebee]

As the robot lady droned away in her monotone voice, Bumblebee couldn’t help but inwardly cringe. Having another Cybertronian here to translate would make this go so much smoother, without the added awkwardness of him pausing to type every time he spoke. The only upside was Nathan seemed pretty patient with the whole thing, and Bee knew it was probably because this really was the best way to learn.

Having it be just the two of them here, they could get used to one another - which would certainly be helpful considering they’d been tasked to go on a mission together soon. While there was some self-consciousness, almost, that he didn’t feel when he was around Raf, he knew that if they just kept going with the lesson, it would quickly vanish.

He wouldn’t verbally respond to Nathan’s comment, though it made him so happy that he’d been looking forward to it. Instead of a vocal reply, he would give a cheery thumbs up - which was pretty universal. It was so nice that he could finally teach someone else his language - as while it was awesome having Raf around, something he wouldn’t change for the world, being able to talk with other humans as well? He’d wanted to do that for a long time now.

Tilting his helm as Nathan spoke, he would beepily hum, dropping his arm back to his side.

Then, more beeps would leave him. Even though the human couldn’t understand him, he made a point of trying to speak slowly enough so he could pick up on the pitch and tone of each ‘word’, before spinning around to the console again.

“A full conversation would be amazing. One day.” ugh, the fact she was so monotone killed this. He really, really was excited to do this, and while he was sure Nathan could tell from his actual beeps, the lady wasn’t doing any favors.

“Your plan sounds good. Can I see the list of words? I can read your language, even if it’s small. We can go through those, and see if any other words that are important come up.”

He’d ‘helped’ Raf with his homework a few times, even if it was just sitting there in awe at how the tiny human knew so much about so many things, so there’d be no worries about the tiny handwriting being too hard for him to read.

Turning around to face Nathan again, he would take a few steps forward toward the small fence on the raised platform, carefully holding out his servo.

[Nathan Walker]

Beyond having to learn each other’s languages, Nathan made a mental note to put in a recommendation that he and Lieutenant Adler have a training session with the bots here at Omega in order to work on combined human and Cybertronian battlefield tactics. He was quite positive that such a request would be well received, as it was a universal truth that proper training prevents poor performance. And while it might take a while to iron out the kinks, it was certainly better to do so in the confines of a training exercise than out on the battlefield where such errors could get people and bots killed.

“Gives us something to look forward to and work towards then.”

Nathan gave a thumbs up of his own and a smile in reply. It was a bit surprising to see a thumbs up from a member of another species, though perhaps the bots had picked it up from the kids. Smiles also seemed to be cross-cultural just like the thumbs up, going off of what he had witnessed inside Omega One during his short time here, though it was possible that they picked up on that from the kids as well.

At the mention of the list, Nathan opened the notebook to the first page which had a list of words neatly written in two columns across the two left thirds of the page coming to a total of thirty one words. He then spun it around on the table so that it would be properly oriented towards Bumblebee.

“Here it is. If it’s too small I can type them up on my phone and send it to you in a text.”

[Bumblebee]

As Nathan gave a thumbs up, Bee would beepily chuckle and nod. While he was sure that teaching a human to be completely fluent in Basic - or at least, knowing enough for day to day conversation - would be quite a feat indeed, it sure would be nice to work toward.

He adored Raf, he really did, but there were times when Miko was playing a game and missed something that needed pointing out, or Fowler needed to get something to someone urgently when the lack of being able to communicate was really felt. He wanted to join in with conversations, contribute, and help. He wasn’t lonely by any means, though being able to be understood by only one human was certainly isolating.

It wasn’t something the others really got, either, and felt like such a weird thing to be sad over sometimes that it wasn’t really worth bringing up.

Hopefully this would work, though. Starting small with a list of words, and other important things - and going from there. He was certainly willing to put in the effort, and it sounded like Nathan was, too. Though… having never actually taught anyone before, he found himself worrying that it’d simply be too much.

They wouldn’t know if they didn’t try, and he was definitely willing to do that.

Standing up on the tips of his pedes, he leaned forward to carefully pull the notebook with one squared digit, before delicately picking it up. He was used to handling human-sized objects, and so took great care with his movements. It felt comically tiny against his servo as he pulled his arm back to look at it. A gentle whir of his optics sounded as he focused his attention on the paper and the tiny writing.

‘Yes, No, Enemy, Soldier, Vehicle, In front, Behind, Right, Left, Up, Down, Take cover, Numbers 0-9, Sniper, RPG, Mortar, Artillery, Helicopter, Fall Back, Advance, Meters’

A quiet hum escaped him as he read down the list, wondering how to translate some of them into the human equivalent. The list was good, some of the words listed he hadn’t even thought of, so he was glad Nathan had, and there were words not written that he’d planned to bring up - which was always a win.

Reading the list once more, he would then look to Nathan and nod. A few beepy words leaving him, the various trills weren’t high in pitch, almost as if it was just normal conversation - then, just as before, he would turn to the console so the monotone lady could translate, carefully setting the notepad down before he began typing.

“Easy enough. You picked some words I hadn’t thought of. I have some of my own that I will add as well, if you think that is okay?”

Turning, he would give another thumbs up as he spoke again. These ones sounded a little more excited, and quicker in pace.

Typing once more, the lady would again ruin all sense of excitement.

“Let me know when you are ready to start.”

[Nathan Walker]

He hadn’t expected Bumblebee to pick the notebook up, but any trepidation Nathan felt was suddenly put to ease when he saw how delicately the scout handled the notebook. It then occurred to him that they probably had practice with human sized objects given how long the kids had been hanging around here, especially with Raf since apparently he liked to race remote controlled cars according to Fowler’s briefing.

Despite it being a voice that Nathan figured must offend Bumblebee or at least irritate him, Nathan felt a sense of pride hearing the praise from a being who was old enough that he could have met Nathan’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents. It was a strange sense of vindication at having done a good job that impressed someone who had been doing what Nathan had been doing for a hundred times longer than he had.

“Thank you. And please, let’s do that.”

He reached over and grabbed the notepad from the place that Bumblebee had gently set it down on the table, spinning it around to face him so he could read it as he reached over and grabbed his recorder. Making sure that it was ready, he turned to Bumblebee and gave the scout a nod before pressing the record button.

“Ready when you are.”

[Bumblebee]

Now that they were actually doing this, Bumblebee found himself… weirdly nervous. With Raf, conversation felt so natural - helped in part by the fact the tiny human could understand him from the moment they met. He’d never taught anyone how to speak Basic, as while there were Cybertronians who didn’t understand it, it seemed everyone at Omega One was somewhat fluent.

Teaching someone from scratch though? Even with a list of words it seemed daunting. With normal talking, the word was the same no matter the volume or pitch - though inflections could give it a slightly different meaning or emphasis. Basic was kind of the same depending on the word, but what about those moments of panic where he spoke too quickly, or the beeps were muddled by other things going on?

He was overthinking things, and he knew it - but he wanted to do this right. To have another human who could understand him would mean the world, even if they only started out with a few simple phrases.

Glancing over his shoulder to look at Nathan, he would bob his helm - before quickly typing something else for the robot lady to ruin with her monotone voice.

“I will go down your list in order and say each word twice. I’ll try to vary the pitch, though with Basic it is difficult sometimes, as it can easily mean something else. If you need me to repeat anything, let me know.”

The fact Nathan had a recording device was good, meaning he could play it back to re-listen and learn - and even get Raf to help with should he need extra help later on.

“Okay. Here we go.”

Turning to look at Nathan he would give a quick thumbs up before shaking his arms - almost as if to shake out the nervousness that’d crept in, before he would speak.

--Yes.--

The first word - yes - was simple enough. A quick, buzz-like beep sounded, and even if one didn’t understand Basic, it certainly sounded like an affirmative. Then, he would say it again, the slightly-higher-pitched beep drawing out a fraction of a second longer - it probably didn’t sound too different from the first one, however to one who understood the language it was certainly different enough.

Then an awkward pause. He wasn’t sure if he should keep going after every single word - or wait for Nathan to add the human translation after his beeps. A gentle whir of his optics was heard as he looked to the human for answers about what to do next.

[Nathan Walker]

Yes.

Top of the list, and easy enough to start with. Strangely enough as Bumblebee said the word it sounded correct in Nathan’s brain, despite the fact that he had never associated the word with its meaning before. It was an interesting thought in his brain...human language similarities could be explained by geographic, cultural, and biological ties. But this...communication with an alien...

Shame this was classified. Someone could win a Nobel Prize researching this. Though to be fair, a lot of Nobel Prizes could be won if the Autobots weren’t a matter of national security.

Maybe one day though...one could only hope.

“Yes.” Nathan repeated in English into the tape recorder, so that he would have a record of what the words actually were instead of having to go off of memory.

He then went silent, waiting for Bumblebee to repeat the word in Cybertronian with different pitch like they had agreed on.

[Bumblebee]

Letting the silence linger for a moment, Bumblebee found himself a little confused. He’d already said the word - though it seemed Nathan wanted him to repeat it again. To be fair, he’d said it twice pretty quickly, maybe the human had assumed that the two beeps were the word itself, rather than one beep for each.

He wasn’t sure if he should ask what the mistake was - Nathan was recording, meaning that any other beeps he did would be picked up and could be confusing. This entire process was new to him and as such he should probably have been expecting a little uncertainty.

The fact Nathan didn’t understand him without the silly robot lady was a problem, too, though that was nobody's fault - it just meant he also didn’t want to type and have her speak, thus muddling things further.

Ah well… after a moment - before the silence became awkward - he would bob his helm and began speaking once more.

--Yes!--

This one was higher in pitch than the previous two - almost as if he was excited about something. In a scouting mission, he probably wouldn’t be too enthusiastic or excited like that, but for around the base? Sure.

--Yes…--

This one was drawn out, disappointed almost - like a sulky child. The human equivalent was probably a teenager saying ‘yeah, yeah whatever…’ - though in Basic, it was condensed down into a rather concise beep.

--Yes.--

This one was shorter than the rest, akin to a ‘yep!’ - it sounded more neutral in tone, likely to be used in more casual conversation, or when he was rushed about something.

Pausing after that, he would tilt his helm inquisitively at Nathan, looking for either the ‘okay’ to move on to the next word, or asking him to repeat one of them or clarify with the dumb robot lady what each one meant, even if the beepy tone of each word alone was pretty self-explanatory.

[Nathan Walker]

There was no mistake. The repetition was just so that Nathan would know which word he was pulling up on his voice recorder, even though he would be sure to label off of these recordings when he got a moment to himself.

As agreed upon, Bumblebee proceeded to repeat himself three times with different vocal inflections, allowing Nathan to be able to practice hearing the word in different contexts. The first one seemed happy and excited, like what he had heard when Raf might have suggested playing video games. The next one was longer...drawn out. Like a balloon that had the air let out of it. Must be tired...or sad. The last one was quick.

Once all three variations were said, Nathan shut off the recorder and made a mark next to the word on his notebook to show that it had been done.

“One second, just need to make sure that it worked,” he explained. It wouldn’t do to go through all this effort only to find out when he got home that there had been some sort of issue.

He hit the replay on the recorder and listened to it. Sure enough, everything came through crystal clear.

“Alright sounds good. Ready when you are for the next word.” He said as he turned the recorder back on and held it up to capture Bee’s voice.

[Bumblebee]

Bobbing his helm at Nathan’s words, Bumblebee waited patiently for him to double-check that the recording had actually worked. Listening to the playback was a little weird - he’d never actually heard himself talk before on a recording device - man, is that what he actually sounded like? It was so understandably alien, and it made him realize just how strange he must sound to those who don’t understand him.

It also brought with it a fear - one that was probably unwarranted, but it was a fear all the same - in that if Nathan somehow let that tape slip into the hands of MECH? They would have an easy database on the Basic language. Of course, it’d only be a few important words, but with how quickly their technology seemed to be progressing? It’d be an advantage for them somehow, he was sure.

Shifting that terrifying thought to the very back of his processor, he would nod again at the confirmation that everything was okay. He was glad that his beeps came through alright and weren’t too loud or muddled on the playback - and was glad Nathan had thought to check!

With this newfound confidence to keep going, he would start on the next word. Typing into the computer to let the annoying robot lady speak, he would then beep the word itself. ‘No’ was simple enough, and just like before he would say it three times in varying pitch and tone. It was a far shorter beep than ‘yes’ had been, meaning the translation probably wasn’t needed, but he did appreciate how thorough Nathan was being.

From then on, he would repeat each word on the list - slowly, with each one varying just slightly. Some of the differences in some of the words were subtle, given how it translated, but each was indistinguishable enough from the last to the point that should they want to converse in future, the meaning behind the beep wouldn’t be lost. There was so much difference when tone came into play, and he hoped things were being conveyed to the point Nathan would be able to understand.

Counting from 0-9 was interesting, and he hadn’t realized how nervous he was about doing so until he found himself counting on clunky digits as he went - a feat made a little harder, given he didn’t have as many fingers on each servo as a human. Still, though, he managed without fumbling - repeating each set three times, even if it probably wouldn’t be needed.

Waiting for Nathan to stop the recording once he was finished, it was then he would relax - rolling his shoulders and shaking his arms loosely as he turned his attention back to the human.

Beeping out a few excited words, he would quickly realize that… ah, yeah - right - the stupid robot lady, and so would turn to type so she could ‘translate’ for him.

“That was great.” wow she sure sounded enthusiastic… Hopefully his flurry of excitable beeps showed that he was at least happy with how things went. “Were there any other phrases or words that may be useful? Maybe your name. That is probably good to know just in case I need to address you, yes?”

Bobbing his helm, he’d offer Nathan a thumbs up - just to show that he thought it was a pretty great idea, even if the robot lady made it sound monotone and dull.