Ep. 1.5 - Ice Cream Social - Closed

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<<Jazz and Cat discuss Things and Stuff.  Set a week or two after Shadow returns to the base.  Also open, of course, if a Twister or two and/or a Sides wants to poke their heads in.  Cat and Jazz will be on-base for the first part and then heading off on an ice cream roadtrip.  :D

Just a quick starter.  Assume that Jazz has commed ahead and that he and Cat have a date.>>


Jazz came through the groundbridge in vehicle form, then transformed, looking about the Atrium and miming confusion.  "E...excuse me?  Anybody here?  I was told that there was a dietary emergency?  Something about needing chocolate, STAT?  Anybody?  Critically low levels of ice cream?  Anybody?"

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The base seemed quiet. Seemed, being the key word here. And much of that was probably due to the majority of the furbies now having been harvested off of the ceiling and most every other hard surface in Haven. But though everything was quiet, there was a definite ominous energy.

No Catherine appeared at Jazz's call; in fact, everything remained eerily empty. Quiet enough, actually, to be able to hear a slight shuffling, and the sound of primitive electronics booting themselves up in response to a near-by consumable soul.

"Nyaaaaaaaah." It yawned. And if Jazz were to turn he'd see that lone furby, flapping its little wings, sickly green synthetic fur covering its entire freaky body. Everything but those demonic eyes, now fully open and staring straight at the spec ops 'bot. "u-nye-loo-tay-doo? Hungreeee. u-nye-ay-tay-doo?" The gibberish would continue, as persistent as the silence that came before it.

<< Stormbreaker is the mastermind with the furby-- She'd def be near it, if Jazz would be aware of it. Storm will most likely try and keep herself out of sight in the meantime. Cat will be making her way in soon also. <3 >>

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Jazz turned at the noise (not quite battle-ready, as it was not a terribly Cybertronian sound) and blinked at the furby in question. He checked a smile. Evidently Cleaver had missed one in her clean-up. And was that...yes, his audials said, that WAS a Cybertronian engine he could hear behind that couch. A flight engine...seeker? Jazz doubted that Moonshot would be lurking behind couches, but one never knew in a Neutral zone.

Either way, they were obviously up for a bit of play, if they were lying behind a furby-laden couch.

Jazz turned to face the furby, walking toward it as he spoke. "Ah, sir!...or...madam?...sir-or-madam, are you perhaps who I am here to meet? Hmm...pardon my saying so, but you don't seem to be equipped for ice cream or chocolate consumption, even if you are 'hungreeee'. Hmmm..." Jazz crouched down before the furby, to get on eye-level with it. "...yes, definitely not ice cream-compatible. You look more like a rust-stick...er...being, to me."

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"Waaaaaaah!" The little sickly green thing flapped its nubby wings, even rocked side to side on what passed for its feet. Obviously, 'rust stick' was a phrase that it had been introduced to more than once. "Doo-dah! Doo-dah! Rust stick! Weeeeee! Feed me!" …And obviously, this particular furby has been trained to react positively to the word. But still no Cybertronian appeared from behind the couch, leaving the lone green furry thing by itself to flail and glee over something it would never ingest.

It was about that time that Catherine began to near the atrium, following the sound of Samuel's (she couldn't see it, but given all the shouting about rust sticks she assumed it was the green furby) cries until she could see Jazz's form hunched over one of the arms of the couch; Thing 2 probably hiding somewhere near by. She didn't disturb the scene, though. With all the expertise of a wildlife observer, she merely set down her bag at her feet and leaned casually against the corridor opening, smiling to herself as she watched.

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Jazz smothered his grin. He was beginning to think that there was a scam artist in the room, and for once it wasn't just him. Ah, well, he was willing to play along, if so.

He heard the pitter patter of little human feet, after all, and no doubt this would be entertaining if nothing else.

"One rust stick coming up!" Jazz produced one stick from his subspace. It was not perfectly cast the way that the Cybertronian mass-produced ones had been, its slightly deformed shape a testament to being obviously home-made.

Jazz presented it to the Furby with a flourish, leaving it on the arm of the couch at the Furby's feet. "Enjoy it, kind sir-or-madam. Though I still have the problem of who I'm supposed to go get ice cream with to solve...HMMM...."

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"Pft. I don't see no problem." She said, obvious notes of play underneath her words as always. Cat pushed herself off from her place, bag of specially Cat-choosen supplies slung over one shoulder as she approached. "I've been waitin' on you!" Though the way she smirked (giggled more like) when she said this betrayed the fact that she knew this was an obvious lie. All in good shenanigans.

At the time she spoke, the mysterious aerial entity from behind the couch reached up a hand. She didn't stand up, didn't even raise her head to see, only patted around on the arm of the couch cushion until her talons could curl around the rust stick and the furbie… and very slowly drag them back behind and out of sight.

"And that's Stormbreaker." At her name, the steely blue creature raised just her optics above the couch to stare down at Catherine. Whether or not it was a glare.. Cat couldn't honestly tell. She always looked like she was glaring. "The furby is Samuel." Storm shifted her optics up and over to Jazz, expression as flat as her field, studying him a moment. Then disappeared behind the couch again with the sound of some things being subspaced, and in another few seconds shifted herself from floor to ceiling to corridor-- gone.

"She doesn't hang out much, unless Sideswipe or Shearwind are around." Cat clarified, pausing when she was near Jazz's pedes to smile up at him. "S'up, mech? Long time, no see."

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Jazz caught the flier's movement out of the edge of his optical range and watched without moving his helm as the rust stick and furby disappeared. The silent, measuring look at him followed by the equally silent exit reminded Jazz of some of the wild organic creatures he'd encountered: not certain who you were or whether you were friend, foe, or food.

Hopefully the rust stick would tip the balance.

"S'up, cool Cat?" Jazz curled his fingers and crouched down so that they could fist-bump as properly as a human and a Cybertronian could manage. "S'been awhile. I've been around and about, y'know how it is. Stuff and things and whatnot. Fort's holdin' down pretty decent, though. How 'bout you? Looks like you folks've had some new arrivals and some...rainbow-paint-and-furby-related excitement? Why do I get the feelin' that you had somethin' to do with that?"

Jazz grinned and then said, "Ah, but wait, we can do the Q&A on the way to ice cream." He held down a hand, palm up, fingers curled up for easy grabbing. "Want a lift? Gotta punch the coordinates into the 'bridge."

<Jazz's fingers, btw, are pointy and quite sharp, though he's curling them in so they wouldn't be pointed at her when she's in his palm. Feel free for her to sit/hang out in his hand or climb up to his shoulder or whatnot. His shoulder is not as big as Sideswipe's.

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"I see how it is: blame the human, huh?" She smirked up at him, shoving her fist into the gesture before the fist bump turned itself into her own personal lift. She climbed easily into his palm, wrapping one arm carefully around one of his fingers for support, and apparently was perfectly at home high above the ground courtesy of giant aliens. But once settled and while he was punching in coordinates she began to dig around in her bag. "Did Sides ever send you pics?"

She scrolled through the contents of the device she pulled out, muttering a distracted, "He started it, by the way." Before she raised the thing up to selected pictures. …He could always just magnify his vision… right? "Look, see? Literally took me like a week to wash that shit outta my hair." Scrolled through another few picture sets, some of them including a neon Sideswipe, two neon jets, a neon BASE and a neon paint nymph, otherwise known as Cat. "Got 'im, though. Moonshot would have been proud if the neon didn't make him hiss so much."

A glance was spared to the ground bridge control as she scrolled. "Where we headed, anyway?"

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Jazz glanced down at the offered pics, zooming his vision in, and had to lock his arm so that he didn't shake Cat around as he snickered and then full-on LAUGHED at some of the pics. "PFFFFT, oh Primus, NO, Sides has NOT seen fit to share any of this intel with me, and I THANK YOU, Cat, for remedying this. Oh Primus, is that....ahahahhahaa, oh his FACE! Oh, you got to send me that one. HAVE TO. It is a moral imperative."

Jazz continued chortling as he finished programming the 'bridge. "Oh, girlfriend, that makes me wish I'd been here for the fun. Except NOT, because I just got done having Ratchet freak out about the crap under my plates, and if I came back with paint all up in my everything, he would reformat me into a toaster."

The 'bridge accepted the last of the coordinates and revved to life, space splitting into a tunnel of blue-green light. Jazz set Cat back down on the ground and stepped back to transform. "And we, my fine organic friend, are going to a land where cows are cows, ice cream is ice cream, and the wild frozen custard roams. A great land. A hallowed land. A DAIRYLAND."

Jazz popped open his door invitingly. "All aboard for WISCONSIN."

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That struck her as a bit odd. But then, she supposed with everything that's exploded, it really wasn't. Neon paint probably kind of took a back seat.

"Oh my, you go all out with your 'thank you's, huh?" She sat herself down on the passenger side, shuffling her Bravocci-approved-and-made care package and all its contents to the floor space left between her feet, and sat back. The effects of the ground bridge were never something she quite got used to, and she had to wonder if she ever would, but her body was better at returning to some type of a normal state after shooting out to the other side.

Still, she waited to speak again until they emerged on the other side, the new landscape blooming from behind the bluish green light. "So," She said around the rolled down window, shifting the bag with her foot, "How much can you tell me about this new girl? She holdin' up okay?"

<<Ack! Sorry about this lateness! >-< >>

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<<Some idea of the area where they are and the visuals: goo.gl/maps/q4cL3.
Baraboo is also close to the Wisconsin Dells (an incredibly cheesy but fun tourist trappy area around the Wisconsin River: www.wisdells.com/wisconsin-dells-attraction/) There will be tons of signs as they get on the main road for attractions, a waterpark, a casino, a Baraboo Candy Company store, various cheesy things like this: www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2239, etc. Jazz could have brought her anywhere in Wisconsin for frozen custard, really, but the Dells looked the funnest to him.>>


Jazz rolled down the country road, gently rolling farmland on either side of them. While it had been evening in Africa, it was only late morning in Wisconsin, and the sun was still climbing the sky. Jazz rolled along County Rd C, heading vaguely northeast.

"Her name's Soledad, and yeah, she's doing pretty good, all considered. Real trooper, actually." Very lucky, too, though Jazz didn't say so. If Shadow hadn't come across Soledad during the raid, he wouldn't have expected Soledad to survive Starscream's tender mercies. "She ran into some trouble with the Decepticons, but she's come out of it ok. LIke I told you in the email, she's gonna be staying with us for a while. She and Shadow have really hit it off. Don't know that we could pry 'em apart with a crowbar."

Jazz deliberately handwaved the details. He wasn't terribly worried about privacy in the same way that, oh, Fowler would be, but Jazz was spec ops, and some secrets were not his to tell. He doubted that Soledad would mind discussing what had happened with Cat, but he figured it was up to her how much of her ordeal she wanted folks to know.

"Soledad's a real nice girl. She's dealt pretty well with the whole giant alien robot thing. Reminds me of someone else I know...."

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"I know you ain't talkin' about me. I flipped when I first met Cleaver, aaand almost lost whatever I had in my stomach my first trip through the 'bridge."

Though she supposed she got over the whole shock right quick, compared to how a few of her cousins might have (one of which was a conspiracy nut anyway). Made a gig out of it, actually… which was only supposed to last for a few months, she supposed, but somehow ended up lasting… longer. She'd made a home in the DMZ and friends and family of those that also made their home there, and part of her (the part that remembered Barricade) wondered when exactly that was going to bite her in the ass. But eh… deal with it later.

"That's good, though. Really good." And sense they were on the subject, "Speaking of humans, how're Miko, Raf 'n Jack? Haven't seen them in forever." Only spoke with them really that one day before bridging back to Haven. "And June." She let her mind linger on that one, the only parental figure she knew of that was involved. She wondered how well June handled it, when she first learned about her son's new after-school friends. If their conversation was anything to go by, it still very much bothered her. And Catherine wondered if she would ever really be okay with it… but as a mom, probably not. Which was (she winced) expected, she supposed… but not reassuring.

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"They're doin' great! Bee and Jack have a rivalry going over Street Fighter Max, and Miko and I've been jamming every now and then. I'm tryin' to teach her a Cybertronian metalliclash song, and she's not doin' too bad on it. Raf's been hanging out with Blaster, which kinda scares me kinda a lot. The hackers hangin' out together is enough to make a mech worry, y'know?"

Jazz slowed and put on his turn signal, making a right and heading them more-eastward. "So what you got goin' on lately? Other than furbies and paint wars, that is?"


<<Jazz is making conversation, getting the how-you-doin's out of the way before springing the Dells on her, but feel free to bring up anything you want them to talk about. We can work around, btw, to them talking about anything Cat might like: the war, the Thing With Megatronus, whatever all. Let me know or give me a PM, and we can get them there. >>

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"Heheheh, I need to drop in for some of that. Raf's cute anyway, and hacker!Raf is pretty much one of the most adorable things in the history of ever. Not that I want to corrupt his cute li'l self or anything." She smirked at the dash in front of her, then rolled her head to look back out the window, one hand casually on the steering just for the sake of appearances.

"But nah, not much. Then again, everything kind of pales compared to the Furby Incident. Moonshot's getting his place closer to being finished, though, been helping out with that. And by helping, I of course mean made to sit on my hands in the corner on his desk well away from everything I could possibly touch." But the lightness in her voice told she didn't have any resentment about this. She was glad the Cave just remained open to the public, no barricades. That he began to slowly take care of himself again, even if it meant just taking cubes back to his cave to continue working. At least he was refueling. "Until he needs something wired that's too small for even him to reach, that is." She giggled, and turned her attention back to the dash. The catch all for having a 'face' to chat at. "You've met Moonshot, right?" She knew he did. "You seen the Rave Cave, yet?"

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"Oh, if by 'met' you mean 'talked for like six hours about music and the best way to reproduce Cybertronian instruments', then yeah, we 'met'." Jazz grinned, though of course Cat couldn't see or feel it. "And sweet, I'll have to go see the Cave soon. Last I saw it is was awhile ago, and I'm sure he's made it at least a power of awesome better in the meantime."

Jazz was just glad that things were getting back to normal at the Neutral Base. And that all their scrap hadn't spilled over onto Moonshot and Cat and the other really-no-really Neutrals. It was something he'd worried about when he'd heard that Cat was taking up residence in Haven, same as he worried about the kids back at Omega One. Humans were so fragile.

Not that the human in his interior would appreciate being called fragile. Cat had enough metal in her spark for two femmes.

They reached an intersection with a 4-lane road, middling busy at this time of day. A gas station, a convenience store took up one side of the street and a truck dealership another. Jazz put on his right-turn signal. "ETA to frozen custard, 5.4 minutes, by the way. Anything else you want to stop and get while we're out and about in the US of A? We should pass some bigger stores in a bit."