[ti]Ep 3.5[/ti]Late Night Visitor (Blades, Closed)

[Unit 74]

Episode: 3.5 | Week 1 | Day 2 | Just before midnight

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Peaceful recharge got him through most of the night. Processor lost in whatever place it went when a cleaning unit powered down. As the end of one defragging cycle was reached, and another was preparing to begin, a vague awareness disrupted the process. Optics blinked a few times, as he woke. Looking around Unit 74 took in the size of the room… his room. So much felt wrong. Turning over to sit, the wheels were used to roll his pedes up against his frame. Everything was open… he’d become used to recharging in his alt-mode, waking up in the supply closet, with the.. Not alive scrubbers.

This Unit’s recharge is incomplete. He should resume his cycle.

The Minicon waited. He would comply and go back to sleep, right? Instead he remained alert, surrounded by darkness, openness, and so much quietness…

Our friends are close. We aren’t alone.

But it did feel alone.

Picking himself up, he paced half the length of the berth, meant for frames far bigger than his. Finally, with a gentle outvent, he scooted towards the edge, to leap down. Hitting the floor, the impact was absorbed by his springy legs, folding easily to disperse the momentum. Escaping his quarters might have seemed difficult to mecha not used to be so small, but for Seventy-four it was perfectly normal to climb a wall to access controls. The end result would be a door slightly ajar, and a yellow Minicon wandering the hall.

Down the hall he went, further into the base. It was in a new direction, so he mapped it in his mind, marking doors like he had earlier that evening. Eventually he would backtrack to return to berth; only, instead of going in he settled on his tires, between his room and Blades’. Looking into the still opened passageway, for a time, Seventy-four clicked his claws together, before gradually moving closer to the door that belonged to Blades.

Our friend said we could visit, but this Unit does not want to be trouble.

That would usually be that, but somehow he found himself at Blade’s door, just to the side (where cleaning units wouldn’t be stepped on).

Blades might not like being alone… Unit 74 could check on him?

Hesitantly, the small mech knocked lightly on the doorframe.

If he doesn’t hear us, we will go back to recharge. That seemed fair.

[Blades]

The soft knocks against Blades' door would likely have gone unnoticed if he had been recharging. Fortunately for Unit 74, however, the rotary bot was wide awake...he had far too much on his mind to fall asleep. 

Despite that, however, getting out of the berth felt like an impossible feat.

But someone needed to talk to him. Apparently.

With a sigh, he hoisted himself up, and summoned the willpower to hop down to the ground below.
He shuffled over to the entrance of his room, as quietly as he could manage, and proceeded to greet his visitor. At first, he was a bit confused, as there didn't appear to be anyone standing outside. However, as his optics traveled downward, he found the little minicon he'd met earlier looking up at him from a safe distance.

He crouched slightly, hoping that doing so might make it easier for the smaller mech to hear him.

"O-oh! Hey there, little guy! Did you need something?"

[Unit 74]

Maybe it's good that our friend is in recharge.

Staying put, Seventy-four lingered at the door. Avoiding leaving, he started to go over better options, to avoid returning to the giant berth that was his... without brothers.

We could stay in the hall, it would be closer to our friends. It wasn't allowed with the masters though. How was a cleaning unit to stay out of the way if he was in the hallway? He hadn't seen a good duct to hide in which could be fun. He used to like to recharge in hiding spots.

The room in the medic building was a hiding spot…

Maybe… he would like to not do that for a while.

The heavy thud of the concrete carried through the floor. Insignificant to most, likely Blades himself paid it little mind. The larger Cybertronian's pede-steps had been exactly what the Minicon was listening for. Scrambling to get to a better position, he put distance between himself and the door. Having little else to do, he rested on his full pedes. It felt less 'in the way'.

Blades emerged, searching for the source of the knock, searching for him. There was no taking it back to let the other mech have a peaceful evening. Unit 74 clicked his claws together again, gaze shifting away.

We should call to our friend, but…

The ‘but’ won, as he struggled between not imposing and not wanting to be alone. However, being small and quiet didn't make him invisible. The medic found him, exactly where he stood, in plain sight. They were friends, maybe he would be happy to see him?

“U-Unit 74 is here to check on his friend Blades.” He could have left it like that, and had he had a notion to pretend to be brave, or be embarrassed by the reason he had come, he might have. However, the source of conflict was in his being a bother, so with a few more clicks of those claws he continued.

“His recharge cycle was interrupted, and... he is hoping that it’s ‘later’ now, so we can be together.” From a more world savvy mecha, that could have been a concerning thing to hear from a new person at one's door, in the middle of the night. However, Seventy-four was as innocent as his hesitant vocals, wide optics looking up to his friend, hoping he would agree. Blades hadn’t been wrong in his thoughts earlier in the evening. Solitude wasn’t normal for the scrubber’s model, and in the still darkness, there was nothing. There was no cleaning, no helping or searching, just him.

[Blades]

Soooo.... Unit Seventy-Four just wanted to say hi and hang out. in the middle of the night. Blades suppressed a sigh. So much for that already slim hope of falling asleep. 

He was a bit aggravated, but not for long. Any frustration he might have been feeling dissolved as soon as he saw the hopeful look in the minicon's optics and the way his tiny claws click-clacked together nervously. Anyone who could be left unphased by that, and or shoo away such a cute little thing was... probably a monster. Or something like that. Had to be.

"Ok. It's later now."

With that said, he would bend over a bit farther, gently grabbing the handle attached to the cleaning unit's upper back and plucking him up off the ground. he cupped his free hand underneath the small mech as he lifted him, offering a safe place for him to land should he slide out of his grip.

Instead of heading back to his berth, the original plan before he had learned this wouldn't be some quick favor or answering-of-a-question, Blades headed over to his makeshift 'desk', and lightly plopped the scrubber bot onto the metal slab attached to the wall before taking a seat.

"So, I've kind of given up on the sleep thing for right now. I'm probably going to work on some of my drawings. If you want to take a nap feel free. Otherwise you can watch me doodle."

[permission granted to relocate smol boi]

[Unit 74]

It was later! Smiling, the Minicon perked up, raising up to his full height. They would be together, and wouldn’t have to be alone.

His optics followed as Blade's servo moved in. It wasn’t the first time that evening that he had been lifted. Before, he had been unprepared, not realizing the handle of his new altmode had ended up where it had. It wasn't hard for him to recognize what the medic was doing. That didn't stop his pedes from shifting, searching for the disappearing ground. This time a servo was found beneath him, they gently tapped against the support surface before settling on their ends, content to have found the 'ground', even though he wasn’t baring any real weight.

Wherever they were going, Unit 74 was happy, so long as he was with his friend, everything would be fine. Though, being placed on the desk was curious. Looking from one end to the other, he considered if maybe he should clean this place. It didn’t look dirty. Oh, but Blades was sitting down, what were they about to do?

Taking a cue from the medic, the Minicon lowered himself. Using a servo to steady himself, he removed his legs out from under his frame, similarly sitting on the desk, to look up at his friend. Pedes calmly ‘kicked’ at the ankle joint, slowly moving up and down as his wheel remained firmly in place.

“Was our friend Blades an artist?” While his vocals were upbeat, his curiosity was tinted with a slight confusion. Many of his friends had been other things before the war. Still, it was hard to imagine becoming something else, especially something so different. The idea of being anything besides a cleaning unit was beyond him, and if there was ever a thought that he could, which might interfere with his duties? There were protocols to happily brush away such troublesome ideas, not that Seventy-four was aware of it.

Regardless, he was happy to see what Blades did with his drawing.  All thoughts of being alone before had vanished, to eagerly waited to watch. 

[Blades]

This minicon needed to be protected.

A small smile crept across Blades' face as the little mech kicked his pedes and looked up at him.

Deep down he knew...he should be concerned that his spark had been stolen by a bot he'd only known for a day. But he also had a feeling Unit 74 didn't have any sort of dastardly ulterior motives he was keeping secret from him. He seemed like he was truly just that innocent and cheery. And if it was all an act? Blades would be damn impressed.

Though...the idea of this minicon being some kind of evil Decepticon double agent was a bit hard to take seriously. He wasn't very threatening. (No offense, Seventy Four.) The mental picture of the tiny thing wielding a knife briefly popped up into his processor, and it felt so strange and goofy that he couldn't help but snicker to himself.

After regaining his composure, he offered his little friend a pat on the head.

"Drawing is just my hobby. You know, something you do for fun when you aren't working. I've always been a medic."

As he booted up his personal datapad, he tried to make small talk.

"What about you, 74? Do you have any hobbies? Can't clean all day, can we? If you don't, maybe we can find you a few." 

[Unit 74]

Oblivious as to why his friend snickered, the Minicon didn’t think anything of it, happy to just watch his friend and enjoy being around him. As Blades explained his past, and why he was drawing, the wheels in Seventy-four’s processor were turning, making sense of these hobbies. Sure, the masters could have them, but relating what masters did to himself was a strange idea.

“Seventy-four would be happy to clean all day, but he does need to recharge.” His vocals mellowed with thought, as he continued to process Blades' question.

“We agree, this unit has hobbies! He hides, it’s his favorite game but he... doesn't want to play that game for a while.” His enthusiasm for his first ‘hobby’ fell a little flat with the reminder that he had been hiding for a long time, with no friends to find him, since he’d come to Earth.

“Also, sometimes there’s a broken base, and Unit 74 searches. He looks for energon, tools, and for friends!” If the Minicon was capable of being proud of anything, this was as close as he came, the idea that he could find their lost friends so pleasing he drew his pedes towards him with an unbroken roll on their wheels. Not even for a moment did he seem to realize that these ‘not cleaning’ activities might not count, especially as one of them was work.

“He also searched for our Autobot friends, but he didn’t want to go too far from the medic building. “ Pace slowing as he thought over his words, the cleaning unit wasn’t really sure why he hadn’t. Part of him knew he needed to search further if no one was nearby but… it was nice being close to the machines that were almost like his brothers, and to hear the humans in the halls. They weren’t always talking about happy things, but they would talk. It was like not being alone.

“But, Wrecker Miko is the best at searching”, his mood picked back up almost immediately, practically singing the praise of his first human friend. “Seventy-four only found Blades, she found us both.” Yes, Miko was one of the most wonderful people who could exist, and it was unlikely that he would be convinced otherwise. He hoped where she went, she wasn't alone.

[Blades]

As the minicon rattled off a list of his supposed hobbies, Blades couldn't help but notice that none of them really involved simply having fun just for the sake of having fun. But maybe there was some enjoyment to be had in those tasks for a mech who had been coded to be a helper?

He briefly considered bringing up a few suggestions for new pastimes the minicon could pick up, but well- he didn't know where to start. There wasn't much free time to be had in the middle of a war to begin with... anything of the outdoor variety was almost certainty out of the question... they didn't have the resources for any kind of culinary ventures... Unit 74 wasn't able to read... Oh well. Perhaps at the very least, he might be interested in making a silly doodle or two on the datapad or trying out one of those games the human children played to entertain themselves.

When the minicon mentioned not wanting to hide anymore, Blades would frown slightly. "Aww..poor lil' guy. No more hiding. Do you know how saddd I'd be if I couldn't look at your adorable little face?" He let out a light laugh as he said this, moving his free hand downward to gently poke at the area where one would expect to find a nose on a human. He couldn't deny it. Unit 74 WAS adorable. Both in looks and personality.

As his attention turned back to his datapad, he would realize it had finished booting up. Now...what to draw. That was the question.
 
"Good thing "wrecker Miko" found us, huh? I bet she has all sorts of talents."

[Unit 74]

His optics widened, their glow briefly brighter as he considered this news. He didn’t flinch or move away from the approaching digit, even though Blades was so many times his size, instead remaining focused on the medic’s faceplates. The laugh elicited a smile from the Minicon, but that didn’t stop him from reaching out to pat the finger that ‘beeped his non-nose’ to reassure his big friend.

“Don’t worry. If Blades is upset, he only has to say so. Seventy-four will tell him where he is, right away!” He promised this in his upbeat tone. “The game isn’t fun if our friend is sad.” It wouldn’t do for the other mech to think the game wasn’t fun, because it really was. Even though the cleaning unit was sure he wanted to take a good, long break from hiding, that didn’t mean that he would forget just how happy it had made him.

When Blades’ attention returned to the datapad, he followed his gaze to the screen. Even though nothing had happened yet. Of course, he understood, in some way, how drawing was done but, that wasn’t the same as seeing it. After a moment of trying to look from his seated position, the little mech’s ankle wheels unstuck so he could flip around. Laying out on his front, his knee joints rested against the wall to keep him from sprawling out onto the datapad, the bending of joints landing his pede wheels and ends against the wall, as if he intended to spring off from its surface. It might have been rude for most mecha, but seeing as the cleaning unit was regularly expected to climb walls? It was far from unusual for his model. Resting his chin over crossed arms, the little mech settled in comfortably. Though, how well he could see from his current angle might be debatable.


“We wouldn’t have met Bumblebee if she hadn’t found us.” Without a sense of the danger that existed outside the bunker, it was easy for him to focus on the person they had met.  “But, We were happiest to see that Blades wasn’t broken…” His vocals trailed off softly in thought. So many friends he found were broken, and Blades had been the first in what seemed like forever.

"Does our friend know what he will draw?" 

[Blades]

As Unit 74 gave his finger a gentle pat and explained that he didn't want him to be sad, Blades' smiled faintly. The minicon's sweet and gentle demeanor was refreshing amongst all the pain and hardship that loomed over them. He would do whatever he could to keep the little mech safe. 


The comment in reference to himself "not being broken" caused Blades to pause, and frown slightly. Unpleasant emotions started to rise to the surface, but he fought to push them down, not wanting to upset the cleaner-bot, who had seemingly already moved on to a different subject.

At the question, he would humm softly in thought.


"I'm not sure. Let's see what happens." Blades brought his pen to the surface of the datapad, and began to scribble lines absentmindedly. As time passed, and he'd made up his mind as to what direction he wanted to take things in, it became clear that what the medic had sketched out bore a vague resemblance to the base's primary control room. 

"What do you think, little buddy?" With his free hand, he picked up the screen and rotated it so that Unit 74 would be able to see it more easily.