[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Card Sharps [All the ladies in the house]

[Sundance]

Day 4, Week 2, Evening

Sundance rubbed her hands together with satisfaction. Everything was as set up as well as she could possibly make it. The table for starters, big round meeting table exactly as it always was in the centre of the rec room. No worries there. On it were six cubes, filled with sparkling purple Energon, the regular stuff however. Suni had not been able to find or otherwise requisition any engex or highgrade. Alongside one wall were a plethora of chairs, every size was available for every size bot. There was even a step ladder for any humans should they also desire shenanigans at the table.

The little flier sat at the table on one of the taller chairs. She was shuffling the cards - two packs mixed - with relaxed skill. In her small hands, the cards seemed quite big but she wasn't in the least bothered by their size or bulk. Her hands were deft with practised ease.

Her field was mixed with emotions. Mostly she was feeling positive and cheery. She was looking forward to some fun with the ladies of the house. Her finials on the side of her head were spread, the top pair high and the low pair low. Underneath her positive demeanor was a swirl of anxiety. She wanted to elevate the mood, but wasn't sure to night would help much. Then there was also the somber mood all but hidden by the others. Ratchet was missing for several days, everyone expected the worst, and the unknown simply multiplied the fear. Dark times called for sunshine.

[Deleted]

Despite the late hour Laura was still in Fowler's office working. Trying to at least. She sat slouched in her chair with her feet on the desk glaring at her laptop screen which was displaying information and locations they had collected on MECH so far; which unfortunately was not a lot.

Laura had been hot on the heels of MECH for months, always getting so close to pinning them down but they'd always manage to disappear at the last moment. And now they had Ratchet, and she had no idea if they'd find them in time to save him or just find what was left of the Autobot. She had been stationed her to bring a different perspective and unique assistance but now she just felt like she was failing.

Heaving a sigh Laura flipped the laptop closed with her foot. The stress of the situation wasn’t going to go away any time soon but she could at least take a break from it. Sundance had invited the ladies of the base to a card game this evening and had been kind enough to extend it to the human ladies as well. The logistics of playing cards with giant bots was going to be interesting, however Laura was happy for the distraction and social interaction.

Getting up she walked over to the mini fridge she kept in the office, reached behind the water bottles and the remains of dinner to grab two bottles of beer she had stashed away. With those in hand she left the office and headed to the catwalk.

Walking into the Rec room she saw she had arrived before the others, which was probably best to give her a chance to get onto the table before getting in someone’s way. “Hey Sundance!” Laura greeted. She hadn’t seen the femme much since the sparring lesson Optimus had lead. “Thank you for the invite.”

Doing a quick look around for roaming bots Laura climbed down the catwalk ladder, carefully with the bottles in hand, and grabbed the step ladder. Setting it up by the table she climbed up on top. Taking one of the player spots, but keeping an adequate distance from the energon cubes, she put one beer down and held the second in both hands. She smiled at Suni “How are you tonight?”

[Deleted]

The scarred femme mech adjusted the tattered poncho she favored for ease of movement and with a casual stride that held a readiness from years of skirmishes, Oversquare entered the designated recreation area. 

Gaming and cards. Two constants of military, civilian and mercenary bases throughout the known universe. Soldiers needed to unwind when not patrolling, working or writing reports. 

Orange optics flicked about the confines, noting the femme mech and organic; she tilted her flame-stenciled black helm in acknowlegment.

"Sundance?", her attention landed on the gray, white and orange mech, "Nice to meet you and thanks for the invite."  Her voice coder was lilting and confident, with a touch of crackle from processor age. 

To the organic - female, according to the body type, perhaps urban military? - the former mercenary commented, "I can't just refer to you as Organic Being of this Planet. What should I call you?"

To both of them, "I only just hit planetside during yesterdays cycle period, so I'm not even sure if security has forwarded a dossier from my arrival interview."

Her mouth quirked into a tired though friendly approximation of a grin. "My handle is Oversquare. I also answer to 'Square, just don't call me Hey You."

[Deleted]

Leisure time wasn’t exactly Skystone’s cup of tea- she was very work-oriented, and even back in the old days with her cohort, when she was a lighter type of person, she often found pleasure in her job.

But occasionally, even she needed a break. Never more true then now, as she sat simply staring at the plans for base expansion. She wasn’t specialized in construction- she’d had friends who were, so she somewhat understood, but it wasn’t something that came naturally to her. The longer she stared at the schematics, the more she wasn’t sure where to go next.

So she was more than willing to accept the “game night” invitation she’d received from Sundance not too long ago.

She stepped into the room, taking in the occupants. Sundance and Laura she’d previously met, but she wasn’t sure who the other femme was.

She dipped her head in greeting to everyone.

“Sundance, Laura- good to see you two again.”

Then, turning to the new femme.

“Hey there, my name is Skystone- it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her field was, as usual, fairly mellowed out. But there was a hint of interest over the new femme. She seemed an older, more mature presence than some she’d met at the base.

[Avalanche]

Seven solar cycles. It didn't make much sense as a unit of measurement, but a 'week' was apparently the way the locals broke up time, and it had been exactly one of those since Avalanche had made her acquaintance with the Earth by slamming into Chicago like an angry meteor and then running away. There was still a lot to do before she felt settled at Omega; there were plenty of mecha yet to meet and take the measure of, and the kidnapping (or dismemberment...) of the chief medical officer had put every mecha on edge.

Under the circumstances, an evening's friendly game of cards with the some of the base staff was a gift from Primus himself: a perfect time to get to know the others better, and blow off some steam.

Her heavy stride thrummed through the concrete as she strode down the corridor towards the rec room, fifteen tons of heavily armoured femme moving with a casualness that belied her weight. Keying the door of the rec room open, she ducked through the doorframe and raised one large, blunt-fingered hand in casual greeting to the femmes - and human - already present, just catching the tail-end of the introductions.

The assessment of the chamber's occupants was an ancient reflex at this point; as barely noticed as it was instinctual. Two smaller femmes, one aerial, one grounder. The aerial frame was Sundance - she seemed the younger of the two somehow; less beaten up by experience. Not sure who the scarred grounder was yet. Then there was Skystone, taller, with large, imposing wings and an air of competence, and finally - most strangely - one of the natives, designated Laura, sat at the table ready to play.

"Not sure I've met all of you properly yet," the tall femme said casually. "I'm Avalanche. Been looking forward to this since the call went out. Hope you're ready to have your afts handed to you." A playful grin tugged at her black lips, rueful humour touching her field that suggested she was rather more accustomed to being hammered at cards than winning.

Unhooking the slab of dark blue armour from behind her that was her tower shield, Avalanche leant it up against a wall, then rolled her shoulders to loosen them. Strolling over to the table, she pulled out a seat and settled into it with a touch of habitual care when dealing with furniture of unknown structural strength. Up close, her dense black armour was pitted and gouged, with innumerable dents and scratches that had been hammered out over the years. Her orange-on-black ring-shaped optics settled on the container of energon waiting for her, and she reached out to pick it up, nodding approvingly. "You do know how to treat a femme," she remarked.

A bit of playful smack talk, a few cubes of energon, and this might just turn out to be her best evening on the planet yet.

[Sundance]

How are you tonight?

"I believe the word of the day is Chipper!" Sundance replied with a grin. The same cheerful grin everyone got from the upbeat flier. As all the auto-femmes made their way to the little card meet, Sundance greeted them with a friendly wave and smile. She was going to do what she could to make sure everyone had a good time tonight. They needed it.

When Avalanche took the last place at the table, Sundance took one look at the bodacious brawler and slid her own cube of enrgon over to the arger femme. When it came to energy consumption, Suni and Ava were diametrically opposed.

"Good evening ladies and Gentle-femmes. Patch and Javelin have passed on their apologies as they may or may not be able to make it later, and Rain is otherwise indisposed. For those from other tracks, we have the brave agent from N.E.S.T, Laura Adler. Next we have the highly versatile Oversquare, the surprisingly gentle Skystone, and last but never least everyone's favorite commander, Avalanche." Just in case people didn't catch the name the first time.


One by one, Sundance dealt the cars to each of the five players so they all ended up with seven cards in their hands. It was hard not to laugh at how absurdly big the cards were compared to the human, Laura, but Sundance managed, barely, to be polite.

The pack went face down, and Sundance drew the top one and placed it face up next to the deck for game start. Queen of Hearts.

"Laura, if you would like to start. So tell us lovely ladies, what secret delights are you humans hiding from us aliens?"

[Deleted]

Laura gave a small laugh at Sunni's bright and, well, sunshiny response. She remembered back to the first time she met Sundance during the sparring lesson with Optimus and how bouncy and cheery she was. It was always amazing to Laura how happy, peppy people could remain that way even when things were as tense as they were. It was an amazing quality she hoped those who had it never did lose it. “That's good to hear.”

The first thing Laura took notice of upon Oversquare's arrival was how close the femme’s size was to her own, Square only having about two-two and a half feet on her. There weren't too many bots in the base with that close of a height comparison. The second thing she noticed were the scrapes and dings in the armour; despite being small she was probably a good scrapper.

“I do agree; ‘Organic Being’ and ‘Hey You’ just doesn’t have the nice personal touch.” Laura agreed with a slight playful tone. “Lieutenant Laura Adler. In the off hours you can call me Laura. I’m sure Red will be sending something out by morning, he's efficient that way; but it's much nicer to meet you in person Square.”

The next to come in was another familiar face from the earlier sparring matches. Laura shifted her beer to one hand and used the free one to give a small wave as she returned Skystone's greeting.

The human felt the approach of the final femme before she saw her; nearly mistaking the strong pede falls for Optimus. Avalanche’s arrival was definitely one of the more high pace situations NEST had to deal with in a while. Certainly not the femme’s fault, kinda fell under the 'shit happens' category, and in the end NEST was able cover everything up.

The size of the cards compared to the human was absolutely amusing, and had Laura smirking as she waited for Sunni to finish dealing the cards out. The lengths of the cards almost came up to Laura's hip and were nearly as wide as she was. There was no way she could hold all the cards at the same time; she even wondered if they were going to be too small for the bigger femmes. Of course this was not a challenge Laura was going to back down from.

The cards all dealt out Laura knelt down, placing her beer beside her, and started sorting through her hand. The best way to approach how to handle her cards, without actually handling them, was to develop a system. She placed her cards into three piles in front of her, forming a semi circle. Each pile consisted of one suit with the strategic cards, like her two of hearts, at the bottom ready for quick deploying. While it could be obvious she was missing a suit, they were going to have to guess where her weakness was.

Leaning back to sit on one leg Laura popped off the cap to her beer. “You guys can laugh if you'd like to at my height disadvantage; I certainly am.” She said with a smile. “But trust me, it's not going to stop me from playing a good game and drinking my beer at the same time.” She gave a chuckle before taking a drink.

With the invitation to start the game off Laura lifted her pile of hearts part way and tilted her head to look at the face values. She could play a normal card, but she did already have the option to get more cards into Square's hand right at the start. Thinking it over for a few seconds she slid out a card and stood up.

“If I told you it wouldn't be a secret any more.” Laura teased as she approached the discard pile and laid her nine of hearts on top. “I will say you guys are missing out on chocolate. Very sweet and creamy. Im not sure if bots can get the taste for it; but mix a little with your energon and you could have your own version of a milk shake.” She mused as she returned to her circle of cards.

[Deleted]

Poker was the language of the Universe.

As the rounds progressed and she found herself relaxing, the low-grade tension that always accompanied her into every and all situations abated. It was a natural reaction to play with her off ped digits, keeping her dominant digits resting not far from her weapon when not handling the cards.

Yet, there were no knives out, no guns out. No plasma bazookas out, even. Oversquare was pleasantly...surprised? Intrigued? Disoriented by this fact? Possibly a combination of all.

The femme shifted in her seat, transferring the cards to her dominant and using her non-dominant hand to pluck a card from her splayed set. The three of hearts card was removed and with deft ped digits, placed face up on top of the last card put on the playing surface.


"There you go, Lassies." She took a swig from energon in her tumbler glass. 

[Deleted]

Skystone was content with the atmosphere of the room. Everyone seemed relaxed, which was something desperately needed on a base like this.

It wasn't exactly a mood she was necessarily used to, but the comraderie was refreshing. Even if we don't have much in common other than all being femmes...or females, she tacked on that last thought to include Laura, remembering how human women referred to themselves.

Her mouth went up in a little smirk at Oversqaure's words, finding this new femme to be charming in her own rough around the edges way.

She considered Oversquare's move and thought through the game rules. The only option she had was to play her four of hearts, so she leaned forward a little and set the card down on Oversquare's last play, before settling back and taking a tasteful sip of her drink. 

((If I just somehow messed up the card rules feel free to tell me I'll come back and edit))

[Avalanche]

Avalanche chuckled as Sundance slid another container of energon over to her, leaving the slim flier with nothing of her own. "Thanks. Won't take all of it, though. Split that cube half and half?" She cocked her helm, brow ridge raised slightly. From some mecha, the gesture would have been flirty, but as far as the big femme went, she simply wasn't fussy about sharing rations.

Carefully sliding her cards off the table into her hand, she pinned them between her blunt fingers, finding them a little small to handle comfortably. Nodding at the little human, Avalanche grinned and remarked, "Seems like we've got the exact opposite trouble, huh? Maybe I should boot up the holo, handle them that way. Seems like you're managing."

Laying down a seven of hearts, Avalanche glanced around the other seated femmes and added good-naturedly, "Could be a penalty thing. You all picked up human-form projections yet?"

Picking up one of the two energon containers in front of her, Avalanche broke the seal with a twist of her fingers and took a swallow. "Not bad. Decent drink's always better in company." Setting the cube back down, she left it within grabbing range of Sundance.

[Sundance]

“Deal!” Sundance grinned up (and up and up) at Avalanche. She grabbed the cube and sipped from the opposite side with a complete lack of distaste for sharing at all. It was an entirely fair compromise and in Suni’s optics, it actually served to build some camaraderie with the Commander. Of course sharing drinks with other femmes had pleasant memories for the tiny flier. The simple act was a celebration of life.

“Well, it looks like we all put our hearts on the table.” She cheekily noted at she flipped down her own Two of Hearts. It was the first game of the night, and Sundance felt like hitting hard early on for this round. Sundance slyly looked at Laura who would either have to pick up two more cards, or slap down a Two of her own.

“Hmm, you’ve got an interesting idea there Ava.” Sundance dropped the shorter nickname to judge how well it would sit with the larger femme, judging if the commander was the friendly sort, or more authoritative sort. Hopefully, she was someone who could juggle both effectively, though that was difficult. “I’ve got my holo ready.”

“So, the gos! What did everyone do before the major kerfuffle broke out? I myself was a waitress at a bar, and amateur racer in the City Circuit League.” Time for girl talk!

[Deleted]

It was pleasant to see everyone enjoying themselves; hardly a round into the game and it seemed the femmes were already relaxing a little despite the current situation the base was in. Laura stayed standing as she watched everyone play their turn, taking swig of her drink every so often.

Adler returned Avalanche's smile and looked at the cards in her hands,. Suddenly they looked much smaller when held in her hands. “Indeed! I think it might've been Suni and Square's plan to get an edge on everyone.” She proposed, looking at Sundance then back to Avalanche. “I think that's a great idea. I'd love to see what everyone has come up with.”

“And Suni draws first blood! On the human no less.” Laura playfully teased as the femme laid down her two of hearts. She placed the beer down beside her cards and looked at the deck of cards at the centre of the table. Comprising of two decks the pile was nearly the same height as the human.

“I must apologize Oversquare, I don’t think I am ready to pick from the pile just yet.” She said to the soldier before leaning down to pull out her own two of hearts from the bottom of her heart pile. Stepping over the rest of her cards she walked over to the discard pile and neatly placed her card.

Returning to her cards Adler sat down with her legs crossed and took a quick sip of her drink. She listened to Sundance describe her occupation before the war and turned her attention to the other femmes to hear their stories, very curious to hear what they did pre-war.

[Deleted]

“Hey there, my name is Skystone- it’s a pleasure to meet you. “ Her field was, as usual, fairly mellowed out. But there was a hint of interest over the new femme. She seemed an older, more mature presence than some she’d met at the base.

“Skystone, your’re a biggin’! I’d sure as shootin’ would want you as backup or just to stand there and look menacing! Nice to meet you!” the older femme nodded and offered a welcoming half smile.

"Not sure I've met all of you properly yet," the tall femme said casually."I'm Avalanche. Been looking forward to this since the call went out. Hope you're ready to have your afts handed to you."

At the words of the other femme-mech regarding afts, ‘Square cocked her helm and lifted a digi-ped to say something sarcastic in response...and then shook her helm in a silent ‘no’ as if to caution herself...for now; instead she turned her attention back to the cards and offered a glance as the resident organic spoke up.

Leaning back to sit on one leg Laura popped off the cap to her beer. “You guys can laugh if you'd like to at my height disadvantage; I certainly am.”

Oversquare took another shot of her energon and then drew four cards, placing a Ten of Spaces face up on the surface of the table; as she was doing these movements she spoke in a matter of face tone to Laura.

“Laura, was it? I’ve found that being on the shorter side can be an advantage. As a Human, it likely allows you smashing access right for the knee muscles and bone. I’ve been known to crack a few knee joint armors out myself and the bastards never saw it coming,” the femme-mech paused, realizing how the wording sounded out loud, “and...wow. That statement sounded much less aggressive in my processor. Hello there all. I am not normally that bloodthirsty.”

[Deleted]

Slowly, the camaraderie and atmosphere of the room was letting Skystone relax. Enough so, that when Oversquare excitedly pointed out her size (and usefulness in battle) Skystone outright chuckled.

“I’m not sure I’d ever call myself ‘menacing’, but it does help to be tall.” She was slightly leaned back as she was saying this, her posture mellow.

She straightened a bit when Avalanche spoke, intrigued by the other femme. So I’m not the only one here with “menacing” height.

She glanced over when Laura spoke, a little intrigued.

“Actually, I’ve been curious about that...by human standards, are you still considered short?” The question was direct and to the point, but with no malice behind it. She was genuinely curious, and from what she had seen of Laura, she didn’t feel the question would bring any offense. She was also hoping her question might mitigate any awkwardness from Oversquare’s...enthusiastic statement.

As she was speaking, she went ahead and played her Ace of Spades.

"Does that even really matter in your culture, since your heights are out of your control?" She pondered, her gaze now openly inquiring.

[Avalanche]

Sundance didn't seem to mind a damn about sharing rations either; the big femme nodded in approval. It didn't do to be too fussy in the field, and some habits carried over. The diminutive little abbreviation of her name did make her break into a grin, though. Ava. Not many of her troops would have dared try it, but again - as she kept reminding herself - these weren't her troops. That was an adjustment she was still getting used to.

Reaching out, Avalanche poked the small flier's arm and said with good humour, "Don't try to get away with that one when I'm on duty later." For the time being, however, she didn't appear to mind.

Pre-war jobs. Now there was an interesting assumption. Did Sundance know all of the other femmes were of that same vintage, or might there be war-born that the question would pick out in the room? Still, the femme herself seemed to suit being an amateur flier, with a kind of bright, jumpy energy that the long conflict had failed to knock out of her. It was a nice trait, in truth.

A grin crossed her faceplate as the human commiserated with her about the awkwardness of the cards, but for very different reasons. "If I lose this round, I'll bring out my holo," she promised. "Then I'll struggle with you."

Her orange, ring-shaped optics turned towards Oversquare and Skystone as they talked, and her black optic ridges rose in amusement at the exchange.

"I'd definitely call myself 'menacing'," the black armoured femme remarked, casual humour in her field. Neither Oversquare nor Skystone mentioned their pre-war roles... that was interesting. The smaller of the two was blatantly a combat specialist now, and would probably be fun to swap a few war stories with. Skystone, though, was the only femme around that was close to her own size, and after their talk in the storage levels...

"Not hard to tell what I was built for," Avalanche remarked. "Heavy construction. Hauling, excavation, pile-driving. That's what these were for, originally." She tapped the piston beneath her forearm that bore the heavy impact weight. Looking down at her cards, she grunted, then reached out for the deck to take another card. "Can't play. On you, Suni."