[ti]Ep 2[/ti]Potential Hot Mess {Open}

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{Week 3, Day 6}

Xero felt lost. She despised the feeling. It wasn’t one that struck her often. For Vorns, she had been part of this Great War that had spanned galaxies, always with a purpose. Giving orders, taking orders, fighting, recovering to fight again. Idleness was akin to madness in the soldier’s mind. Even when Pyrotech had informed her of the truce and she’d found herself in an unlikely alliance with him, she hadn’t felt lost. That encounter had been formed of very clear steps, despite that he was a Decepticon, who, really, she would have been more than satisfied with putting a hole in. Even after the kindness, yes, there was no other term for it, he’d shown her. To owe a Decepticon anything was a situation she did not want to be in.

She paused. No. That wasn’t true. She did truly not want to be indebted to him. But, she did not want to kill him so badly. Her faceplates moved in the tiniest approximation of a frown. Part of what made it so easy, satisfactory even, was that the Decepticons were the other. The darkness, the scourge, the enemy. Once that otherness was gone, the reasoning behind the destruction began to wane as well. That Pyrotech had helped her had pushed that waning further along. He was the first Decepticon to ever spend any amount of time with her that didn’t involve one party attempting to kill the other. Unfortunately, even that short time had been enough for Xero to think of him as a bot with a name and not just one of Megatron’s cronies.

She gave a small exhale of exhaust, beginning to move from where she had paused. Confusion over that matter aside, she was still unsure of how to proceed. She had arrived at the base two Earth days previously, received necessary medical attention, and then been set free. She had no orders. There was a truce, which meant she had no one to fight. A soldier with no one to fight. A soldier with no one to fight and no standing orders. On an unfamiliar planet.

It was a bad situation.  

Her pedes thunked against metal flooring as she made her way down one of the many halls of the base. She had spent the two Earth days since her arrival catching up on much-needed recharge. She hadn’t taken so much as a stasis nap in Primus knew how long. Now, she was left to wander. She hated wandering. Xero was the type of bot who needed a clear plan of action and direction. No orders. No one to shoot. Wandering.

She sighed again.

She was already disliking this planet.

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Demonizing the enemy was necessary, without a clear idea of who the bad guys were shooting them in the face didn't feel right. She was sure the Decepticons did it too. The Autobots were their bad guys and the resulting shooting didn't feel like slaughtering their own kin. But that's what it was. Slaughter. One side or the other once the values and perspectives were stripped away it was just one Cybertronian murdering another. It left a very bitter taste in her mouth.

It was one of the many reasons she never really got involved in the war. She'd only shackled up with the bots in the hopes of surviving another few years before Primus called her back. There was probably someone among the ranks that didn't like that, thinking her a coward for not being involved in the conflict that has brought their planet to ruin and left their race at the brink of extinction. But going in knowing nothing about actual combat would be suicide.

But she was thinking off topic, she had work to do.

She'd found her niche in the omega outpost, so she WAS contributing something to this war. What use was a crumbling base after all? She could only do so much but it was a lot better than layering on duct tape over the problem and praying like a certain flier did. Thunder was a nice guy but a good repair bot he did not make. Shale sighed placing her tools back in their box having just finished a minor repair on a cracking wall. Free time was something she didn't know what to do with, maybe she could find a driving partner? Or maybe she'd stay in and clean some of her tools? They were looking a little beat up after so much use. Her own appearance meant a little less than nothing to her but dirty tools could mean inoperative tools. With enough grime the joints of some tools could lock up and might never be salvaged. Plus it kept her hands busy until she could find a way to recharge tonight.

Picking up her tool box she turned slowly back toward the hall. She'd just reached the doorway when something caught her eye. Motion. She stopped before she could run straight into the other person as they made their way down the hall. She hadn't seen this femme before, another newcomer?

"Sorry."

She muttered just loud enough for the other bot to hear.

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It always amazed Smokescreen how easy it was to rack up dirt on this planet. The young Autobot didn't obsess over his appearance but he did have an appreciation for being clean. Come on, was it really too much to ask that he stayed that way?

And yet.

He'd run an early morning patrol with Bulkhead. There had been nothing much to report other than just that, yet another trip they'd returned empty-handed. Well, not entirely. It had been raining heavily just prior to the start of the patrol and that had transformed Nevadan dust into Nevadan mud.

That had been several hours ago and it meant that patrol had been spent with gathering an uncomfortable layer of mud. The dust he didn't mind so much, mud on the other servo was non-negotiable. Smokescreen had headed straight for the washracks immediately after reporting in. Once he was clean, he figured he'd head to the rec room and grab a cube of energon, see if there was anyone else off-shift in there or maybe he'd settle down and watch some tv. He was slowing beginning to make sense of the human shows.

Smokescreen's pace was unhurried as he walked down the hall. He still had a few passageways to go before he reached his destination. Absently, he hummed a tune as he walked. He could hear footsteps up ahead, in the next hallway, sounded like some other Bots were about. Whoever they were, he'd know in just a few moments.

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Xero had begun to pick up speed as her agitation grew. She needed something, anything to do. She would even put up with speaking to a random chatterbox ally at this point. At least that would give her access to information. Disciplined as she was, the entire situation she found herself in had her utterly on edge. Her sensors failed to pick up the approaching field until she was passing a doorway. Wartime experience was the only thing that saved her from a close call. Her instincts kicked in and she pivoted back quickly, one pede skidding lightly over the floor as she whirled to face the newcomer. Her assurance of her safety within the Autobot base was what kept her from immediately going for her weapon, as she much wanted to do. As it was, she paused, one pede slightly in front of the other. Her faceplates were again arranged in an impassive expression.

Despite the knowledge that she was among allies, Xero could not help her startled reaction. For innumerable stellar cycles, quick thinking and even quicker reactions had been what kept her online. When she came to fully face the bot she had nearly collided with, she paused. Her audial receptors rotated just slightly, the finlike appendages behind them giving an odd rippling movement as they barely picked up the muttered apology. She inclined her head just slightly, accepting it.

Her defunct optic flickered as she scanned over the other femme, taking in the dirt and grime that coated her from crown to pede. Xero’s gaze lingered on the toolbox for just a moment. A mechanic of some sort, then. That explained the build and appearance. The femme was bigger than her but didn’t carry herself like a fighter. Xero would guess she was made more for heavy lifting than combat. Satisfied with her brief observation, Xero spoke in a soft, naturally commanding tone.

“I am at fault as well. I was lost in thought and not paying attention.”

Inexcusable for a soldier, really. She felt the barest hint of self-disgust flare within her. Even in the Autobot base, there was no excuse for her distractedness.

Her audials rotated again as she picked up on a new sound: heavy footsteps approaching. She glanced in the direction she heard them coming from. Another bot would be joining them in just a moment. She wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but, she had thought to herself that she’d rather be doing anything than wandering alone. It seemed that the powers-that-be had taken her seriously.

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The other femme jumped when she picked up on Shale's presence. She didn't mean to scare her. HOW had she scared her? She'd barely spoken loud enough to be heard, seemed she wasn't paying attention to what was around her then. As the other femme stared Shale felt slightly uncomfortable and her eyes began to focus anywhere but on Xero's. Until she spoke she watched the rippling of the antenna on her head.

A simple 'sorry' would have worked just fine too.

Shale really didn't want to be here, she was itching just to slip past Xero and go back to her room. Just leave this as it was and walk away. But she couldn't. Not with Xero standing right in front of her. If she tried to slip past her into the hallway she'd probably push the poor girl right into the wall or onto the floor. Svelte she was not. Instead she shifted the toolbox in her hands awkwardly before lifting her shoulder in a one sided shrug.

"Either way, didn't mean to scare you."

She'd interacted with more people since landing on this planet than she had since the war went into full swing. Shale wasn't sure how to feel about that. On one hand it was probably a good thing to make a few more friends before she eventually died, especially since she was now in such close proximity with so many mecha now. On the other.... people. In her experience with people they either wanted something from her or didn't give a slag if they tried. They had bigger things to worry about than getting to know some random femme. She was fine with that, she was one of the latter anyway.

But here that didn't really cut it. She'd be running into way too many mechs around to avoid them all. Even if interacting with them made her feel uncomfortable. There was the faint sound of footsteps coming their way too. Oh good, more people to talk to. She really just wanted to go to her room right now.

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Smokescreen had been too far away to catch the exchange between Xero and Shale. All he'd been aware of was footsteps and now they had stopped. He cocked an optic ridge at that but otherwise showed no other reaction.

He took the corner and now Smokescreen's pace slowed at the sight of two Autobots stuck at a doorway. Smokescreen's raised optic ridge rose higher as he took in the situation. He didn't recognise either of them but there had been an influx of new Autobots in the base over the past few weeks. Smokescreen himself had not been around for that long.

Neither of the two Bots looked comfortable where they were. Smokescreen frowned inwardly, he'd heard no sounds of an altercation. But it also hadn't been all that long ago since he'd walked in on that nasty fight between Bumblebee and Carbine and had realised that he should assume nothing about his fellow Autobots.

He altered his course slightly, angling it closer towards Xero. "This base, huh," Smokescreen remarked guilessly with a friendly smile. His voice was warm and clear, pitched loud enough to be directed at both Xero and Shale. "It really is on the small side. Looks like you two are caught in a bit of a traffic jam over there."

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Xero was by no means a social expert. On the contrary, she was usually oblivious when it came to social cues, not really caring about them. But, even she could tell the larger femme was uncomfortable. Since they had not met in the past, and she had no reason to be particularly uncomfortable about Xero herself, the soldier could only assume this was an aspect of her personality. She gave a nod in response to the second apology and stepped to the side. It would do no good to hinder her further.

She was just about to move when a voice spoke up. Her head turned towards the sound, finding the mech it belonged to. Obviously, he was the one she had heard previously. Her optics flickered over him, taking in his bright coloring. Judging by his tenor and general bearing, he was young. But, youth only sometimes had a bearing on station and experience. For all she knew, he could be her commanding officer or the best fighter this Earth base had to offer. She, of course, knew nothing about her current planetary location or allies. Another annoyance.

"I've seen smaller," she replied, tonelessly, "And this is easily remedied."

She took one step back and to the side, motioning with a slender servo for the fem to pass. If anything, Xero thought, she looked even more uncomfortable with the arrival of the mech. Apparently, this bot wasn't one who enjoyed interaction with others. Xero could sympathize, but, even she needed interpersonal interaction at times. That was partially the reason for her wandering.

[Deleted]

Shale was about to make a desperate - yet subtle - escape to her room once Xero stepped to the side. But then Smokescreen came rounding the corner cutting off her exit again. The first thing she noticed was his paint; white with red and blue stripes. What kind of soldier wore that? Not exactly the most inconspicuous, especially out here where it was nothing but brown with bits of black asphalt thrown in for variety. And as he approached she could tell he was the friendly type.

Joy.

He kind of reminded her of Bumblebee now that she thought of it. Maybe it would be that terrible to talk to him after all. When Xero spoke and Shale could move her way out of the door she nodded in agreement.

"I've worked in much tighter conditions myself."

Not like that was difficult given her size. She was bigger than both these bots standing in the hall with her.

"But it's defiantly on the smaller side of the scale."

For as many close quarter places she'd been in there were equally as many grandiose buildings as well. Ones with ceilings that towered far above her head and that were so wide several bots of her size could stand arm to arm in them. This base was significantly smaller than that but it was by far not the smallest she'd seen in her lifetime.

Shale shifted slightly moving the tool box under one of her arms. She just wanted to go polish these then maybe try and get some rest. There wasn't much left to do except wait and see if another pipe started to leak or someone rammed into a wall too hard. Maybe she'd catch something on tv for a little while... or just walk around the base for the seventh time in the past three days. At this rate she'd have the entire layout of the base memorized by the end of the week.

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Woah, talk about cold. And two people who would rather be anywhere but here.

Smokescreen didn't let that put him off. He'd approached the two Bots just in case things weren't so cheery and someone else was needed to intercede. And while things were certainly very frosty, intervention wasn't turning out to be necessary.

He glanced between the two of them, amused that both their answers were essentially the same.

"Well," Smokescreen commented brightly, not the least bit put out. "It's definitely the smallest base I've seen so far." He shrugged one shoulder. "I can't really imagine what smaller looks like. It'd be like, what, a base for minibots?"

He dwelled briefly on the one minibot he did know. That…sounded like the worst base in existence.

Moving on from that horror, Smokescreen settled a bit more firmly on his heels as he took in the two strangers. They both seemed uncomfortable the longer this was drawn out, so maybe he should get on his way and stop bothering them. The bigger Autobot was carrying a toolbox, so it looked she was probably busy with something. The other Smokescreen wasn't too sure about, maybe it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I'm heading to the rec room," he said. "If anyone else is going that way. If not, I'm sure I'll catch you both around."