[ti]Ep 3[/ti]A Clash of Worlds [Closed]

[Carbine]

Episode 3 | Week 1 | Day 2 | Early Morning

What This? New Smell. New Thing. Not Known...

Omega One was no grandiose base. It was large enough to function, enough wiggle room that inhabitants could navigate freely without clipping elbows while being stuffed shoulder to shoulder like they were in tin cans... and yet, it wasn't particularly impressive either like outposts on other worlds may have been in scale. It was not difficult generally to find someone should you really want to hunt them down as long as they weren’t out on a mission, it at most requiring a little stroll around the twin levels to find them at the 'last place you thought to look'. That said, despite this, despite the fact the entire base could be walked in only a few minutes... there was SOMETHING within that could not be found.

It was something unfamiliar, something new, and most importantly... something ODD that couldn't be found through basic scent tracking because it had somehow gone everywhere while being nowhere at the same time. This little concoction of evil unfamiliar scents mixed with a sort of electric buzz had been bothering Bolo for a great deal of time, days having passed where he was unable to pinpoint not only where the smell originated, but WHAT it even belonged to. It was as if it were nonexistent one moment, and the next it touched every surface from floor to ceiling as if it were a rag being smeared all over.

Taps of paws rang out softly through the hallways, a clicking noise that scuttled along a few paces, before stopping, and then starting again... then stopping... The speed fluctuated from point to point, traveling along the lower reaches of the Outpost with an intent FOCUS to try to find that which could not be found. The large canine Cassette had forgone other avenues of interest in his mad hunt. He didn't go try to find who was talking in another room to beg for ear scratches, he didn't want to investigate whatever the bang was upstairs that MAY have been something fun to play with being dropped... no.

He was finding this thing.

Lifting his helm, Bolo saw he had come across the storage area of the base. He didn't really understand the concept of this room at all, but he knew that there was a lot of stuff around here. Places for things to fall and hide, as well as higher points he could never fully explore. The black and white dog simply stood within this threshold a moment, snout raising up as air pulled in and filtered through the mesh on his nose with a few huffed pulls. Drawing in said breath deep, Bolo tried to truly pick apart the muddled scents of metals, chemicals, electronics, and who knows what else was kept down here, before his head evened out and his ears flicked upright, listening hard.

As with everywhere else, the unknown thing could be smelt all over even through everything in this room.

[Quillion]

It had taken Epee the better part of several local solar cycles to scout out the base well enough to find this place -- her new domain. Things piled high for perching, places to hide, to watch, to stalk from. Sometimes her carrier went off and did something boring, and during those times, Epee needed a place to call her own.

She remembered the ship -- she and Quillion had called it their home for so long. Epee had so many places here -- open places, tight spaces, nooks and crannies for days. But, the ship was gone for reasons that Epee found a bit beyond her range of caring, and after an interminable period of wandering, they were here. A new place they were apparently staying.

Epee, so far, appreciated her domain. Tall stacks of supplies, easily breached doors, plenty of things to climb. Strange small fleshy creatures roaming the halls she might try chasing around later for sport. Perhaps she’ll bat one with her paw! Quillion said these creatures were friends, or at least pets, to the Cybertronians here, so no biting, no chewing, no thrashing. That doesn’t mean that no fun could be had with them, though.

She liked this world, too -- the planet’s proximity to its sun kept her warm and energized. She felt better than she had in decades, really, as young as when she was first constructed.

Her memories drifted back to days of competition. The Tarn State Games she had been constructed for appreciated her -- there had been a souvenir toy in her likeness. Quillion had given Epee one for her perusal -- the impudent simulacrum did not survive through the night.

Epee’s pleasant reverie was interrupted.

Whence this interloper?

She had caught this scent around the base. Something stunk. A smell of grease mixed with the soil of this world, the traces were everywhere in this place -- this confrontation was inevitable. Epee peered over the edge of the stack of crates she had commandeered as her resting space and sat up, tall and proud, perched like a gargoyle casting a gaze down at the floor, and at the quadrupedal cassette sniffing around.

While protocol would normally dictate that Epee, the newcomer, should start the parlay, those rules only applied when there were two felines meeting. Cybernetic canines weren’t allowed to lay claim to any territory not ceded to them by a cybernetic feline. It was Space Cat Law.

Epee gave a low, rumbling growl that sounded like broadcast static from atop her stack of crates.

[Carbine]

Nothing. There was nothing here again. Bolo didn't know how many times he has meandered through this room, but it was just like all the others. Perhaps an object moved here or there from who knows who grabbing who knows what, maybe a few more scuffs on the ground from footfalls hitting a bit too hard, or some new smells from whatever that had trailed behind the inhabitants of the base... there were likely other things but it wasn't anything he really could piece together to solve his current dilemma. Whatever the case, a whuff of air shifted out from his vents, before he started to plod forward lazily.

Planning to do a quick roundabout anyway to sniff and see if he found some sort of answer to the perpetual question, Bolo meandered along, however he only made it a few steps before a sound cut into the relative quiet. In such an empty open room, the staticky crackled growl likely seemed louder than it normally would, the canine's helm rocketing upright along with his ears which pivoted around wildly to try to figure out what direction the noise came from. This startled posture with legs splayed slightly in case he had to run, only lasted the briefest of moments before yellow eyes shifted up to see the little gargoyle that peered down upon him with bright blue eyes.

For a moment, Bolo could only stare. He looked upon the unfamiliar thing with a fair bit of confusion in play on how he should really react here. He didn't know if this was friend, or if it was foe, as Master wasn't here to clarify. Reaching back in his processor he knew that in some places along their journey he had hunted down and tore apart rodent like beasts that were pests... a SPORT to gain treats and praise... but was this one of those scenarios? It didn't look like one of those things.

With limbs still splayed out and paws apart from one another, Bolo held his ground, looking up at the unknown entity with intense focus. As far as he was aware the rest of the world had vanished, leaving just him, this thing, and the floor and shelving that separated them. Soft whirs sounded as the rings along his shoulders clicked and twitched a small amount, before he let out a confused low half aborted bark that was more of a low 'boof', wondering if the animal would move at all.

[Quillion]

'Boof'.

'Boof' is what this creature said, this interloper, this... strange and twisted alchemy of cybernetics and a scent that was reminiscent of a real animal that regularly dined on a steady diet of soil and grease.  Even its frame was a mockery -- four legs, which is proper, but its snout was too long, its overall form too sinuous and strange.


Epee had no idea what 'boof' meant.  Perhaps this beast was swearing fealty?  That is perhaps the only logical answer, and the vocalization was not firm or steadfast enough to be a proper oath.   No, this required further examination.

Slinking down a stack of crates, she got a little closer to the monster, now only a meter or so above him.  The creature just didn't seem to understand anything, staring at her unblinking, slack-jawed and dumbfounded.  Alert, she had to admit.  Was he expecting a reciprocal gesture?  Was she to 'boof' back?

No.  Never.  Never surrender, never give ground.  

Never 'boof'.

Was this a declaration of war?  An interrogative?  She didn't understand this misshapen creature's crazy moon language.  Under the circumstances, there was only one way to respond.  She pressed herself low to the crate, ears swiveled around and flat, a low noise in her throat like staticky beeping connection protocol.  She leaned forward, slowly, slowly, as if to sniff at the monster's snout.

Then a single paw shot out, to boop him on his snout.

A masterful move.  A brilliant stratagem. 

But the next move must be the monster's.

[Carbine]

It moved.

Bolo didn't know why he may have expected differently... Perhaps because there hadn’t been another individual like himself meandering these halls. Nothing that wasn't a bipedal thing like Master, jabbering and talking in a language he only caught bits and parts of. Single words, single phrases... things he knew that were meshed in ways that couldn't be compared to an order or other instruction of some kind... it was confusing at times. Whatever the case, as the feline dropped down to a lower level, Bolo rocked back some with an ever so slight 'pop' to one side, a light click of paws against the ground.

He hadn’t lurched into a full play or fear stance, but he did twitch a bit, gaze intent on the smaller animal as energy bubbled up without clue on which way to go with it. Aggression? Play? Fear? These thoughts skittered along, before the thing eased forward a bit. It was only then Bolo realized it was in range now, not very far above him where he could jump up and potentially slam his teeth into it. He thankfully didn’t do that however, instead his weight rocking forward while helm pulled up, trying to offer a sniff of his own.

Heavy whuffs of air filtered in through the mesh of his snout, puffed exhales hissing from the vents on his back. He was processing what the creature was to the best of his ability, that odd static like charge in the air, the combo of metals and other signatures that marked the animals specific profile... it for sure was the thing he had been hunting for, a sort of victory felt! Before a paw whapped out and booped him on the nose with a quick little bap.

Instantly, Bolo's frame popped back a short distance, ears pinned upright once again while forelegs splayed further. This dipped his forebody down, haunches pushed up a bit while he processed the fact this unknown entity had whapped him. He could piece together it wasn't in malicious intent however, no hard-hitting WHACK to make him back off and away. It seemed more curious or... playful? He didn't know. He didn't speak the exact same language, yet it spurred him into a more jovial thought process, away from the 'murder it' line of thought.

Letting out another 'boof', Bolo popped to one side before he swung forward, his mass wrenching up onto his hind legs. Unless the Cybertronian feline decided to try to teach him a lesson for daring to intrude, his paws would whap down on the crate on either side of Epee, before he would swing his snout forward to try to sniff far more energetically, not minding if he were to push it around in the process.

His tailless rump would wiggle while he greeted his way.