Ep. 2 - Refuge in Audacity ( open)

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee indeed had questions! Such as 'what the hell did 'settle for a 4' mean? What was a 4? It was a number, but... Whaaaat..? Not that he'd ask that question out loud, he'd already made an aft out of himself at the start of 'never have I ever' by drinking at the wrong time, and didn't want to look even more stupid in messing up the first round of this game, too! Should the question about settling for a 4 come up? He'd just follow the crowd and point at who everyone else was pointing to, then ask Raf later what the heck it meant.

Before he got to even think about lifting his servo to point at Carbine, who was the obvious choice in this round? Carbine yelled suddenly, which made Bumblebee jump. His gaze and attention shifting away from Bolo to look up at the helicopter mech as he stood up abruptly.

Bee couldn't help but whine as Bolo was pulled away from him. He was having fun petting the canine, especially now they were on good terms again and Bolo wasn't trying to rip off his doorwings! He pouted further as he realized that Carbine was infact docking the cassette once more, he flinched at the loud bang as the... First attempt didn't work out so well by the looks, and watched with an amused smile on his face as Carbine again tried to get the canine to dock. Everything was so much funnier now that Bee himself was feeling the effects of the high-grade.

Then Carbine buckled some, and Bee's optics would widen. While he had noticed that Carbine hadn't drank a drop of the high-grade, it took him a second to work out that because Bolo had, and they were now one again? That all the drink that Bolo had ingested would now be running through Carbine's lines.

Neat!

Then Carbine did something with his servo that... Confused Bee. Was this part of the pointing game? He'd look down at his own servos, optics whirring in thought. Rotary had pointed at Carbine, and the rule of the game was to point at whoever you thought the statement was referring to.

Was Carbine pointing to himself?!

Yeah that must be it. So Bumblebee would grin lazily, lifting his servo and pointing at Carbine, too.

[Deleted]

The moment Carbine stood up, Thundercloud knew exactly what he was about to do. He had been stealing a sip of his drink when it happened, and he damn near choked as a laugh burst forth from his throat. He hacked and sputtered, bringing a hand to cover his mouth as he tried to stifle his amusement before it could ruin the show that Carbine was about to put on.

True to form, the ex-enforcer didn't disappoint. With all the flair and flourish of a true showman, he made a grand ordeal out of docking Bolo and, in the process, getting himself completely shitfaced in a matter of seconds. Thundercloud finally let himself laugh then, the sound rough and uneven, but unmistakably good-spirited. There was no malice in it, no mockery. Just plain old amusement, the juvenile kind that he and Carbine shared.

"I love this guy!" He boasted loudly, gesturing towards the other mech with his drink. He spilled half its contents on the floor in doing so, but he paid no mind to the small puddle on the floor. Instead, he just downed what was left in the cube and tossed it carelessly to the side.

"He's the fraggin' worst!"


Somehow, coming out of Thundercloud's mouth, that sounded like a compliment.

[Deleted]

Well, Carbine's docking with Bolo and the sudden effects of how much energon the cassette had – was rather immediate. It was even amusing in it's own way, as were the other two mechs reactions, but she was more...Polite in her reaction as she hid her mouth behind a delicate hand – her shoulders shaking with laughter.

This more polite route probably was helped by the fact she did not

Then again, it probably helped she did not have as much to drink. It probably helped more that she was far more toned downed then her old days of dancing on top of tables with the grace of a bitlet!

Still, when Carbine stayed still for as long as he did? Her brows raised some in curiosity. “Carbine?” She asked, before she glanced over at the other two mechs for a moment or two. This being, before she slowly lifted her hand to her head and mimic the former cop/convict. She half wondered if there was something more to this, or if he was going to lower his hand and laugh at the femme for mimicking him in the first place.

Either way, this did buy her some time to think of her own little question to ask the other three.

[Carbine]

Carbine's entire mind felt so fuzzy and off. His processor had been firing properly a moment prior, and now it felt like a plague was creeping up through his lines. For a morbid thought he wondered if this is what being poisoned was like, but the grim subject didn’t even chip his resolve, more a novelty thought than a true bleak realization. The point was, his mind was now skewed sideways, and he was enjoying the bizarre shift.

The large Cybertronian wavered a bit on his spot, his wheel shaped heel lifting off of the ground a moment, pushing his weight onto the tip of the triangular ped, before clunking it back down with a soft thud of the rubber outer liner on the floor below. Despite one hand on the side of his helm however, and the other placed palm flat on the table, he seemed to be having some issues with balance, a rotor wing flicking out occasionally to counter a swaying motion that wasn't occurring until the rotor moved to begin with.

In the end though, he remained upright.

Somehow.

When Thunder laughed and exclaimed just how bad a guy Carbine was, the ex-cop barked out a laugh of his own, but kept his hand held up to his helm, pointer and middle finger pressed against the side plating just over his jaw flaring. He eyed Thunder, judging for a moment, only to notice movement from Bumblebee. Glancing over, he could only snicker at the scout's ignroance, before his name was spoken and his helm reeled around to look at Rota.

"Yyỳy̧ee͝uu͞u̵ss bea-u-tiful?"

He crooned back, the upper edge of the yellow projections that made his eyes hiking up with interest. While he said this in a drawn out tone that was half sing-song, his entire frame bowed to the side in her direction, helm twisting a bit not unlike a puppy that had been called. However, his hand still remained in place, and when Rotary mimicked him?... oh ho ho...

Suddenly Carbine's eyes narrowed in malicious glee and he looked back across the way at Bumblebee and Thunder, zeroing in on the two like a hawk. He didn’t say anything though, didn't give them a hint, he just stared back. Mostly his attention was angled at Thunder... Willing him to catch on, willing his inebriation to not make him too blind. But... then again... he would settle if the alternative occurred.

Bring it.

[Bumblebee]

This was nice.

This being buzzed thing? Yeah. It was pretty great. Sure the high-grade itself tasted awful and he didn't want to even begin trying to work out what exactly was in the rancid concoction, or ask how Thunder had even made it - but it'd done its job on the little yellow Scout. Drinking so much in so little time when he'd never drank this kind of thing before? Oh yeah it'd hit him hard.

He would continue to lazily point at Carbine, resting his elbow on the table as he couldn't keep his arm supported for long in his state - although his attention would turn to Thunder as he boasted loudly. Bee in turn would grin, a lopsided and totally goofy smile, due to the high-grade, and would take another sip of his own drink in a show of support for what was said.

--Yeee-eeahh! He's puhr-reeett-ty great!--

His beeps came out long, drawn out. Slurred almost, and in a higher, weirder pitch than normal as he concentrated on talking. But he didn't care. This was fun. It was probably his turn to say a statement so that the others could point at someone else, but he'd totally forgotten about that already. That and Rota had spoke, so he'd shift in his seat so he was looking at her.

His optics would whir, trying to focus on the femme. Was she swaying? She was swaying. Everything was kinda fuzzy, but it was a good fuzzy. Did... Did she just lift her servo to her helm and point at herself? This made Bee laugh.

--No, noo.. nnooo! Rotary! Rota!! Ya sup-ppooosed to.. Point at Carbine, silly!!-- More slurred beeps. He'd already forgot that she had infact pointed at the ex-cop only moments earlier.

It was almost like she'd caught onto something that Bumblebee hadn't.

He still wouldn't get it as Carbine turned to face both he and Thunder. He was too spaced out, and was staring rather intently at the wall behind Rotary as it was easier to focus on as it wasn't swaying, so didn't notice the malicious glee in Carbine's look.

Here he would sit, content. Arm resting on the table, still pointing at Carbine, enjoying this wonderful fuzzy buzzed feeling that'd taken over his systems. He wasn't sure when he'd next be able to do this drinking thing, so he was going to relish every second. 

[Deleted]

Thundercloud did not get drunk easily. Being the size that he was, he required a considerable amount of fuel just to run at half-capacity - getting overcharged was practically a challenge, energon being as scarce as it was. That's where  homebrew came in. Regular high grade - sure, a few cubes could give him a nice buzz, but he'd need a hell of a lot more than that if he actually wanted to get completely trashed.

The stuff in his hand, the stuff he'd been drinking since the start of this little shindig, it was a lot more potent than that. Thundercloud had learned plenty of interesting things of varying degrees of legality while locked up in Garrus, and making bootleg highgrade was one of his favorites. The slag he made back in the day was so strong it could eat the rust out of a bot's tanks and knock a minibot on their ass after just three shots. Now, Thundercloud had known better than to whip up something as strong as that for the party - he didn't wanna kill anybody, after all, and besides, something told him Ratchet wouldn't appreciate having to flush out someone's tanks because they didn't pace themselves.

That said, Thundercloud was finally - finally - starting to feel the effects of the happy-water he had cooked up. It had only taken him, what, two/three cubes? Not bad, honestly, especially since he had watered the batch down considerably in order to spread it out among four people. The effects weren't severe, or even immediately noticeable. He just felt a little more relaxed, a little spaced out. His thoughts were free to wander a bit more, to lose focus and just not pay quite so much attention to the world around him.

Sometimes a mech just wanted to be oblivious to the world around them for a while. Considering the sorry state their world was in, Thundercloud felt you just couldn't blame anyone for wanting that.

Of course, there were a few downsides to being inebriated enough to start losing your attentiveness - especially if your friends were horrible little shits like Carbine. Thundercloud hadn't even noticed the gesture the other mech had made at first - he was to wrapped up in the humor of the moment prior to pay such a small detail any mind. Distracted as he was by the warm, pleasantly heavy feeling of highgrade flowing through his lines, he might not have noticed the gesture at all if not for that little voice in the back of his head which reminded him who he was keeping company with.

Thundercloud paused, his cube half-way to his mouth as he looked from Carbine to Rotary, noting that the femme was now mimicking the same, seemingly pointless gesture as the ex-cop. It was then that Thundercloud's optics widened and he quickly set his drink down, some of the blue ichor spilling over onto his hand from the force of it.

"--OH SHIT!"

His free hand flew to the side of his helm, two fingers pressing against his temple as he looked hurriedly from Carbine to Bumblebee. The kid didn't realize what was going on before him did he? Primus, he hoped not. He would never live that down.

"Patches, you sneaky little bitch."

[Deleted]

Rotary glanced at Carbine as he slurred sing-songed those words, and as he had leaned towards her. For a moment, there was a flicker in her field of something a touch..Brighter and more alive than what had been before. Her smile turned in a slight smirk. “Simply making sure you are alright, handsome.” The femme replied back with practically a purr in her voice as she teased the black and yellow mech.

And that brief moment of lightness was quickly lowered to the more neutral levels that had shown in her field before. It felt nice in a way, to tease and joke – but it also felt so wrong to be a touch flirtatious with someone else.

Primus help her, the years of being alone certainly had done a number on her that was possibly worse than seeing her love torn apart by Decepticons. It was funny, how isolation could play tricks on ones processor – but it was truly a good thing she had been Shanghaied into this party. She needed to let loose and to get back to her playful roots, before it was too late and she would truly forget how to have fun.

The home made high-grade was helping too, even if she was trying to be a good little femme and not consume too much – who knew what would happen if she did. Maybe she would end up like the young scout who was far too amused by everything at this very moment. Speaking of said young scout, he was slurring his beeps and she let out a softer laugh as she shook her helm.

“I'm mimicking him, try it yourself – maybe he has a party trick up his sleeves as the humans say.” Rota remarked, half wondering if he needed to be escorted to his quarters soon. It was cute though, seeing the younger one experience what it was like to be a little bit off centered on some high-grade. They all needed to live a little, before they no longer could.

As for Thunder's remarks? She glanced towards him with curiosity, and her smile was widening again as she looked at the two friends. Oh, with a remark like that – it had to be good. But given the pair (especially Carbine) had a reputation even she, the new femme, had heard about? Her curiosity was certainly a mix of excitement, and a mix of 'should I be concerned?'.

[Carbine]

Ohh Rotary.

Carbine approved of her reply, warmth and amusement flooding into his field which was broadcasting a bit more liberally now that he was feeling the effects of the high-grade. He didn't try to hide his emotions, he didn’t try to manipulate them and mask them under something else to make himself look nobler, no... Instead he was just letting whatever happened happen, and it came out with a sleazy chuckle and a brush of the knuckles on his free hand sloppily against his chest as if he were polishing his armor.

He knew ladies liked a mech in uniform, and you can’t get a more noble uniform than a cop!

Alas, Carbine could drink, and hold his own if he really tried and buckled down, but the fact of the matter was he was a lighter build than his stature would really depict. Despite his size, despite his implied mass, and the weight of his armor, he had a lot of voids and holes beneath his plating that made him lighter, which meant he didn’t have as many lines to saturate in potent fuel to get absolutely messed up. It is because of this he had wobbled and fell so far from grace.

If there was ever any 'grace' to begin with...

Either way, Bumblebee made a mistake.

Poor innocent ignorant little fool.

He had a chance, he had a moment to redeem, to save himself from what was to come, but no... Bee waited so long that Thunder's addled mind could grasp onto what was going on, and beat the yellow scout to the punch line. A sloshing of high grade, and slam of a cube coming to rest on the table, met with a cry of surprise as the moment settled into place... it was obvious then what the outcome of Carbine's game would be, and the ex-cop looked at Thundercloud, radiating malicious glee in his field, before he turned to Rota.

"Che͟c̢k ̨th͜i͡s out."

A sharp bang rang out as both of Carbine's hands palmed flush against the top of the table, and a split moment later he had his leg lifted to plant the triangular point of his ped down in place. Systems whirred as they booted online, and the table creaked in protest at having the weight and mass of a Cybertronian effectively thrown against it. But it wouldn't have to wait for long however, for Carbine had kicked up, and used the rubber traction on the ped, to launch himself forward at Bumblebee over the flat surface.

"Ge͞t ̧down Mr. Prime!"

He screamed suddenly, a feigned amount of panic and alarm as if Bumblebee was actually in some kind of danger. It would be possibly realistic, if you ignored the context of what he said, and the slurring stumble in the way his words skewed from his maw. Alas, Carbine's entire frame was hurled at Bumblebee, and the impact was severe and instantaneous.

Carbine had enough of a sense of right and wrong, to know not to actually try to harm Bumblebee. In Garrus, this tackle would have been head on, impacted around the waist so that the victim would be folded practically in half, and slammed into the concrete or metal flooring with their full weight combined. It could, and did, cause injuries. Injuries went really the goal here however, so he had aimed high, and used the elevation of kicking off the table to add some pivot to the situation so Bumblebee would fall straight back, instead of skidding half way across the room to tear at his door wings.

See? Carbine can be courteous!

A bang, a slam, the two would topple away from the table with a heavy clatter, Carbines leg snagging under the lip to cause the entire thing to buck into the air and rattle. All of the cubes wobbled and clanked in protest, high-grade sloshing angrily as a few puddles formed over the slick metal.

Welcome to Garrus Drunk Games.

Enjoy.

[Bumblebee]

This was more than nice! This was awesome.

He continued to stare at the wall behind Rotary. It was a really nice wall. Like really nice. Was this wall always this awesome looking? Sure, Rotary was still sorta swaying there in the foreground, in fact, everyone kinda was... But he really was transfixed on the wall. His optics wide, like a spaced out owl.

He heard Thundercloud's words, which might've clued him into something should he have been paying attention, but... They didn't really register. Nor did the fact that he'd copied the other two with the fingers-to-the-temple action. Naaah. Nah, Bee was in this... Tranquil, spaced out, and so very buzzed state as all the high-grade he'd ingested caught up to him and ran through his systems. Again, he was thankful that he was sitting, because if he tried to stand? Well, he would've made a repeat of Carbine's actions earlier when he'd re-docked Bolo – only instead of catching himself like the ex-cop had managed to do? Bumblebee would've landed smack onto his faceplate - and probably stayed there.

As Rotary addressed him, his optics would adjust just slightly as he processed that aaah, yes, someone was speaking to him. His optics whirring as he seemed to come back to reality, and he'd slowly turn to look at her. His optics continued to adjust, which was a sign he was having a little trouble focusing on the femme. Maybe because in his eyes, she was still sorta swaying.

--Whaa? Uh... Okaaay... He's just poinnnting at himself, but aight.--

His beeps still slurred and drawn out, changing pitch halfway through words. With the servo he'd been lazily pointing at Carbine with all this time, he'd slowly lift - curling two digits and copying the motion as if making a call over the comm.

He'd been so focused on his actions, so focused on the swaying Rotary that he... Haaaaadn't noticed Carbine moving. He didn't register him slamming down his cube. He didn't hear his words. He just sat in total bewilderment as to why he was sitting here with his digits to his temple like everyone else.

--I don't ge-...--

He was cut off by Carbine's scream.

What.

Wwwwhat?

Mr. Prime? Was Optimu-

No.

Movement. Fast. Black and white blur. Coming toward him from across the table. Carbine no. Carbine. CARBINE. Stop. Stoppp. Frag. Not stopping. Goodbye. Bumblebee had absolutely no chance of moving out the way, given he had absolutely no idea what was going on. And even if he had? He would've stood up and fallen over anyway. So this was the lesser of two evils. Sort of.

He managed to squawk out a surprised 'Noooooooo' beep of protest that seemed to draw out comically as he fell backward, but other than that, Bee was quiet as his processor caught up to everything. Out of instinct, he'd scrambled to make a grab and attempted hold onto Carbine as he was tackled, if only out of confused panic more than anything else. His optics wide once more as they toppled.

It felt like he was falling forever, but in reality, it wasn't so bad. Again, he was thankful he was sitting – or at least he would be once he had sobered up and could think straight. One thing he did register was how noisy it was being crash-tackled. There was the bang of Carbine colliding with Bumblebee, the slam of Bee's chair falling backward and hitting the floor before he did, the heavy clatter as Carbine's leg snagged on the table itself and the clanks of the cubes getting knocked around.

Then the was the sound of the impact of two mechs crashing into the floor.

It should've been a familiar sound to Bumblebee, given this was the fourth or fifth time that Carbine had crash-tackled him this week. The second time today, even! Even though that was more of Carbine scrambling to grab Bumblebee in an attempt to save himself from falling and failing horribly thing earlier. It still counted. He'd still smashed into Bumblebee in the corridor.

He'd definitely feel all this tomorrow, but for right now he was... Still pretty content. Still very buzzed. Albeit confused as hell. Optics whirring as he stared up at the ceiling, and Carbine, now.

--Yyyooou have gotta stop tacklin' me, man.-- He laughed. His field full of amusement at the entire situation - which was probably a welcome relief given he'd been a bit wound up earlier and felt lame and out of place. Now he felt like he fit in! Sorta. If being crash-tackled and telling a couple of stories about his horrible past counted as fitting in.

--Soooo... Do I lose..? I don't... What are the rules of this game!?--

What was it with these guys and not telling him how to play any of this slag?

[Deleted]

There were times Thundercloud questioned his decision to form a friendship with Carbine. There were times when he looked at the other mech, looked at his actions and his behavior and said to himself 'ah, yes, this is where I've laid my affections.'

This was not one of those times. The moment he realized he wasn't going to be the victim of this little impromptu game his face split into a wide, toothy grin and he moved to set his cube down in preparation for the shitshow that was about to unfold. He looked over to Rota, nudging the femme with his elbow as he nodded his head towards Carbine, urging her to watch carefully.

Carbine, in all his drunken splendor, leaped up and over the table with all the dramatic flair Thundercloud had come to expect from the theatrical little menace. With a garbled, slurring shout, the ex-enforcer tackled Bumblebee with his full weight, sending the poor kid toppling out of his chair and crashing into the ground with a heavy thud.

Thundercloud knew it made him a terrible person for laughing at the hapless, unwitting victim of their little game, but he couldn't help himself. He barked out a sharp, grating laugh that tapered off into a wheeze as he doubled over, one hand moving to cover his eyes as he laughed till it hurt, then laughed some more.

His field was alight with humor and, admittedly, just a touch of schadenfreude. The poor kid had no idea what hit him, he had no idea why he'd even been hit in the first place - while that was certainly pitiable, and part of Thundercloud genuinely felt a little bad for him, he had to admit that it was kind of funny, seeing the yellow pipsqueak sprawled out on the floor looking like someone had just slapped his ass and called him sally.

[Deleted]

Carbine's reaction made her laugh a little – he could not look nobler, he was looking like an adorable fool as he brushed his knuckles against his chest in a mock-polish. She could easily say that his antics were endearing, and it was also easy to say she liked him already.

Even if he thought he stood a chance with her, but that wasn't because she seen herself as above him. It was more because like the playfulness and the 'flirting', it felt wrong. She knew those thoughts were silly, Cipher would have wanted her to have a little fun! But still, she was wrangling with her inner thoughts, and once again being part of a group instead of alone. The femme had to remind herself that she needed to enjoy this night and the antics that presented itself.

She still felt horrible for poor Bumblebee, who was clueless to what was going to happen to him. She might have not known what exactly the former cop had in planned, but she had a general idea that whatever was going to happen next? Would be hilarious and possibly leave a couple harmless dents in Bumblebee's frame. There was also telling with that radiating malicious glee in Carbine's field as he looked towards Thundercloud, and the way he turned towards her and told her to 'check this out'. Add in the way Thunder nudged her? Oh yes, this was going to be interesting.

She still jumped when Carbine slammed his hands onto the table, and shouted 'Get down Mr. Prime!'. It was loud, all of it, and poor Bumblebee was tackled with full force by the heavier looking ex-enforcer.

The femme, was laughing though, her hand over her mouth as she laughed to the point her whole frame was shaking. “Oh...Horrible!” Her words broken up thanks to her laughter, her field was bright with amusement and the touch of sadness had taken a backseat to how funny this whole thing was.

Soon enough, she was getting up to her feet – her frame wavering thanks to the amount of high-grade she had been sipping at. Tiptoeing around the table, she moved towards the two mech's sprawled out on the floor, her drink abandoned on the table. “Alright, alright, lets get you both up to your feet!” She mentioned, her voice cheerful and light as she reached down to both to help them up.

[Carbine]

Carbine couldn't help it if many of his games and much of his fighting style revolved around tackles. They were painfully effective, and they allowed him to get an upper hand more often than not. When out chasing down criminals, it was one of his favorite parts! Skating after them at full speed, wind brushing over his armor, Bolo charging at his side or egging him on through their link from his back, then the satisfying slam of ramming all of his weight and momentum into someone's midsection to send them cascading down where their flee to escape the law was clipped short... yesss...

It was no surprise his fighting style warped and built from this premise.

And the games.

So many games...

Carbine had hit the ground hard with Bumblebee, but it was not a graceful landing. If he had hit around the scouts middle, he would have slid forward while Bee skidded and his legs would have flopped down behind him to ram into the ground, but he had aimed high. The fact Bee pivoted back so fast, and how elevated Carbine was from the table at the onset of his tackle, it meant his lower body was a lot higher than his upper. This meant that while Bee swung backwards entirely, Carbine pivoted over him almost like a tumbled roll. He whacked down hard, and his legs snapped down to hit the ground above them, leaving him on his back laying beside the scout with his head around Bee's elbow.

A spinning world, dizziness, lying painfully on Bolo who caused his spine to crook into the air and bend at a horrible angle, one rotor splayed out to stick awkwardly into the air, some spikes of pain, it all was fuzzy and blurred and so totally numbed from being inebriated off of the hell concoction Thunder had made. But he still heard the others!

"But you are so ta͘c̸k-àcka͜-abl̨e ta͞c̵k͠-̷a͜ble... tack-LL̴A͝H-͝ble... tack...tack..."

Words were hard enough when sober, and he struggled badly to answer Bumblebee, a grin heard in his voice that wavered and sputtered with static. Alas, he did show his support to bee, when he peeled his arm out from under the scout's with a squeal of metal, and roughly patted him at his chest or neck or if he aimed right maybe his head... whatever... he patted at him in support.

"Yah lo-st, it ok, yah͞ ẃin̶... yah do goo̸d̸ ̵next time."

He assured, trying to filter a mental note to actually Tell Bee the rules later so he could not be a victim of it, or could try it around Thunder and himself later. Alas, his support of the runt vanished instantly when the pretty little femme approached, and the top part of his projected eyes snapped up with a gleeful 'raise of the brows'.

Instantly Carbine threw a hand up above his helm, and he stretched out his frame to the best of his abilities, his helm crooking up as he took on a pose of what he thought a damsel in distress would do. He was sure to try to pitch his chest up a bit more, which wasn’t hard given the mass of Bolo beneath him, and he drew a leg up as if he was trying to look 'sexy' for whatever that entailed.

"Oh no! I afra͞id͟ ̢I n͡eed a dain-d͞a̡in͢-͠tey femme's kiss to give͢ m̷e ͡s̛tr̴ength to proc-͏ée͟-eed! Woe! I have been injur͜ed͘ in ́battle!"

What a little shit.

[Bumblebee]

The world was spinning from down here on the floor now that Bumblebee was stationary and had settled.

It'd been spinning when he'd been sitting in his chair, sure, and Rotary had been swaying along with it, which was amazing - but now he was down here looking at the world from a different angle? Oh man, this was weird.

His optics whirred audibly as they struggled to remain focused, and his gaze would lazily drift from side to side like he was watching some kind of weird insect flying around – when really he was trying to make sense of everything going on around him.

He heard Thundercloud's laugh somewhere amongst the fuzzy static that filled his processor... And there was the giggle of Rotary in there, too. He didn't feel like they were laughing at him, more like the whole situation in general. If it'd happened to anyone else, Bee would've no doubt laughed too!

He was blissfully content – even with the spinning room.

--It's because I'm bright yelloooo-oooow, right?-- His beeps getting hung up mid sentence as he slurred happily. That had to be why he was tackled. Because he was yellow. Nothing to do with the fact he'd lost a game.

Carbine's next words, and the awkward 'you did good' pat that made contact with the side of Bee's helm, made his field flood with pride. He may have lost, but it was okay. And next time he would kick some serious aft and win this thing! Groggily he'd lift an arm and do an overly enthusiastic thumbs up... Before the sight of his arm swaying against the spinning world made him flop it to his side just as dramatically before he made himself sick.

There was movement from Rotary somewhere above him, although he wouldn't turn to look at her. Remaining still was probably the best course of action right now.

--I'm goood. I aaaaam goooooood.-- He slurred, trailing off some as he spoke. He was honestly okay, just content to lay here and watch the world spin as his processor came to terms with the amount of high-grade the small Scout had actually drank. He'd do another thumbs up, although didn't raise his arm this time.

Movement beside him. Carbine. Carbine being dramatic.

Carbine being gross.

--Maaaan. Noooo..-- He whined, jabbing out an elbow in Carbine's general direction – hoping to smack the ex-cop and teach him a lesson! Instead, it didn't work out quite as planned - and he missed entirely, sliding his arm along the floor and jabbing at absolutely nothing.

It'd probably help if he used the arm closest to Carbine.

It's the thought that counts.

[Deleted]

It was moments like this that Thundercloud wished he could control time - he would drag this moment out for an eternity if he could. One little snapshot of hilarity dragged out forever, until the inevitable heat-death of the universe. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed almost some kind of beautiful.

Shaking his head, Thundercloud set his drink down on the table beside him with a hard clank. God, he had to be pretty damn buzzed to be thinking up sentimental, quasi-poetic bullshit like that. Maybe he should've held back a little on that third cube - or, alternately, maybe he should just bite the bullet and get completely shitfaced. At least if he was black-out drunk his thoughts wouldn't be making any kind of sense whatsoever, and any sappy non-sequiturs that happened to pop into his head could be blamed entirely on the highgrade turning his brain into mush.

Eh, whatever. That was a decision for later. Thundercloud had a few more immediate concerns that needed addressing at that moment - namely getting his lazy ass up and following after Rotary, because as the host of this beautiful disaster of a party, he had an obligation to be at least somewhat responsible.

Following to Rotary's right, Thundercloud walked up to the two idiots tangled up together on the floor and stared down at them, his hands planted on his hips. He tried to look like he was completely unimpressed, but he couldn't help but crack a lopsided smile that proved he wasn't nearly as mature as he was trying to pretend he was.

He looked from Carbine to Bumblebee, unsure which to help first until Carbine made the choice all-too easy for him by being an obnoxious little shit - so, himself, basically. Kneeling down, Thundercloud dropped to one knee next to Carbine and slapped a hand down on his shoulder. The grin he flashed the other mech's way was not at all friendly, which was the first sign that things were not going to go the way the ex-cop had probably intended.

"Well come on then Sleepin' Beauty, gimme some sugar." He said with a too-sharp grin, his field alight with rakish laughter as he leaned down to plant a kiss on Carbine's visor -

Or so it seemed. Rather than declare himself the all-time king of Gay Chicken by actually laying on on his friend, he decided instead to preform a rather spectacular fake-out and slap his hand down between his mouth and Carbine's visor at the last second. With an exaggerated mwah sound, Thundercloud shoved the other mech's head back and then quickly scrambled away, intent on putting distance between them before he could suffer whatever the ex-cop's retaliation might be.

Then, thinking quickly, Thundercloud decided to kill two birds with one stone and reached out towards Bumblebee, intent on helping him up if only so he could use him as a human shield.

"Come on Mr. Peabody, we gotta get in the WABAC!"