re_alignment | [Video][A friend lost and a strange light Shining]

Entry tags:

brave police: j-decker | mccrane

[Video][A friend lost and a strange light Shining]

[McCrane is on a late patrol, in the junk-yard at night. With the horrors of the Glyphless catastrophe over and all of the paperwork filed, he has been searching for two things: One, the materials to build a soccer-goal, and two...]

Has anyone seen Gunmax?

[He's worried. He's always worried, of course, but now he looks more worried than usual. He turns, and for a moment the camera catches a small ball of light hovering over a silver-wrapped box with a gold bow. Curious, McCrane approaches, and the light moves out of the video, as does the box.]

I am also wondering about Barricade, as he has been gone for several weeks now. I don't know if keeping track of the populace is part of our Law Enforcement duties, but...it should be done. [McCrane reaches down, and suddenly the silver box pops back into view while he holds it. It's still remarkably well-lit for this time of night, but that may be because there's that small ball of light, shining on it again.]

And now it looks like I'll have to add Whirl onto the list, too. [He fingers the nametag, turning it toward the camera. Today was strange enough, but it looked as if it was going to get stranger.]

Is anyone else encountering unusual lights?

[It reminded him of Drill Boy's mythical fairy.]

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Perhaps only Gunmax can pull off speaking in English.

[Or whatever it was that passed for English.]

It's a place on Earth. A jungle. [He can't imagine what Gunmax would be getting from a Jungle, but maybe it is something related to Gumclaps. That...would be more for Dumpson, though.]

Sounds good. Rumble and I'll drop by there in a while, in that case.

No luck is needed. Only skill.

[His tone's slightly more playful. He'd put on the air of confidence if it would help reassure the bot. He did it all the time back home.]

But I will keep in touch.

...

The same as I cannot believe the bot standing before me is Barricade. He was rather...zealous and bloodthirsty.

That's not English. That's ridiculous.

Why would he get anything from a jungle?

[A lesser mech would be daunted by the way his deliberate creepiness seems to have no effect on McCrane. Whirl just figures he has to try harder.]

I say shoot it. But not till I get there.

[[Hey Gunmax, I sold my shotgun shells to get you these decals for Gunbike!
Well, shit, I sold my Gunbike to get you this new Shotgun!]]

That is good advice.

[He reaches out again, however, and with Gunmax standing close enough for this to work, this time, he loops the end of a chain around Gunmax's wrist, and padlocks it.]

But if either of us are going to go--then we're going to go together.

[He does the same with the other end of the chain and his own wrist--symbolic, and also the only thing he could find that remotely resembled handcuffs out here.]

I think either of us could survive alone.

...but I don't think either of us want to.

[He watches Gunmax at that, wondering. Hoping he felt the same way.]

I'll be waiting.

It's...Gunmax.

[What else could he say?]

I'm not sure. Did you receive a present?

[He'll need to compare statistics to make sense of this.]

Are you sure you want to be present when a potential bomb goes off?

[He IS going to set it down and back away, carefully.]

[The playful tone elicits one of McCrane's rare smiles. It reminds him of someone he's been missing a lot.]

I think that may be something I need to ask him about.

[Because he's curious. He wouldn't have believed it, if Mirage had not said it.]

Edited 2012-12-31 19:54 (UTC)

[[WELL THIS BLOWS]]

Ah--?!

[Gunmax stares down at his wrist, then at McCrane's. He's both impressed and a tad flustered, tugging at the chain.]

Really? We're doing this? Tch!

[If one goes, the other goes. He could try to argue, but there's a wry sense of comfort in this as well. Gunmax peers down at the chain.

Then, like the jerk he is, he yanks hard to pull McCrane closer.]

How positively reckless of you.

That doesn't make it sound any better.

[AWKWARD SILENCE.]

[Because this one was there that day. He might very well have seen...]

... a stoplight.

I found... a stoplight. Addressed to me.

I am not Deckerd, but...

His techniques seemed to work.

[When Gunmax gets flustered that way, it causes more of those...emotions. The really difficult to label ones. The one's he'd feel embarrassed to ask about, so he doesn't. It isn't as if they can blush anyhow.]

...!

[Which he would be doing, right now, as he stumbles forward.]

...Gunmax!

[It puts him torso to torso with Gunmax, his feet planted so he won't fall, his other hand gripping Gunmax's waist to steady himself. The reckless part...is that he leaves it there.]

Not at all. This was strategically planned.

[With plans that lie around him in failure. Still, he finds it difficult to complain, even if his chained hand reaches out to take Gunmax's chained wrist...and put it on his own waist.]

I know you aren't him. And I'm fine with that.

[Only one person can be Deckerd, after all. And he likes McCrane the way he is.]

Heh, something wrong?

[So here they are, terribly close, and he can't say, honestly, that he particularly minds. Gunmax holds still, glancing briefly at the hand on his waist. That's definitely more reckless than usual for someone like McCrane.]

How's that strategy working out for you now?

[It seems McCrane is able to adjust quickly enough. Gunmax goes silent as his wrist is taken, hand placed at McCrane's waist now.

Hm.

Eventually, he kind of leans forward, resting his chin on McCrane's shoulder, his antennae flicking back somewhat.]

I'm glad.

[At the question, he can only answer truthfully.]

Everything has been wrong, since we've arrived here. We have had to cope in too many situations that we weren't programmed for, and without our full team we've not met with much success.

We'll just have to keep adapting.

[Adapting to everything. Adapting to this, which is one such situation he does not have programming for.]

[Nevertheless, he makes the last step forward, and just pulls Gunmax into a hug, holding onto him the way he's seen humans holding each other. The way he's seen Yuuta hugging his friends. His family. People he cares about.]

Strangely, Gunmax...this went exactly as planned.

[He's needed this contact. He's needed it, and he hopes that it will help Gunmax, too.]

[Cope. Adapt. It's true; there are no instructions or data on how to adjust from here. Gunmax has always thrived to stray from what he'd been told to do, what he'd been educated on. Because it was... fun, to be alive.

All of this, though. The pain, the suffering, the loss -- it's been awful. He has no idea how to cope with it. He didn't do it well concerning Kirisaki, and he sure as hell hasn't been the same since everyone else.

Gunmax jerks slightly at the embrace, then leans into it more. No one's ever held him like this, no one's ever had to. It-- does something in his Super A.I. he knows he recognizes.

That could be very good or very terrible.]

You could stand to do reckless more often. I think.

[And he finds himself clutching the combat specialist, almost ridiculously fearful to let him go.]

[McCrane doesn't let go. He went into this imagining that it would be a quick hug. A small gesture to mean 'I'm here for you, if you need it.']

...

[That changed. It changed almost instantly, and he could tell the change in the way Gunmax's fingers tightened on him, the way he, himself shifted protectively around the other, the way a second engine felt pressed up against his. Without a conscious thought to do so, his optics had dimmed, his senses focusing on the touches or armor against armor, the warmth of another body nearby, and the sounds of a chain jingling between them. It isn't familiar.]

You'll have to teach me how.

[He shivers just a little at the newness of it, and rests his head against Gunmax's.]

This is as close as I've come yet.

[The sheer idea of anyone looking out for him would probably put Gunmax into a little bit of a fit. A brief lashing out while he complained he could take care of himself and so on. But it's not an awful idea in the end. None of them can make it on their own, and he was built to be partnered with others.

So despite all attempts to be on his own, he's really just meant to be with someone, in the end.

He quietly appreciates the helm resting on his own.]

Suppose between the two of us, I'm the expert, hm?

No worries. I'll make you a rebel in no time. [There's a slight hint of a joke in his tone.]

You can try.

[He likes this. Just the way it is. He doesn't know if it would have happened without everything that had gone wrong, and he'd give this up, if it would spare Gunmax the pain...but for now, he's selfish, and enjoys the moment while it lasts.]

However, you must promise you will return to the force when you are ready again.

[Sometimes, he's learned, the bad needs to be suffered through in order to find relief like this.

He thumbs a bit at the chain linking them together.]

I must, huh?

[Gunmax snorts in amusement.]

I promise to come back when I'm ready for it.

[He agrees, really.]

...

A stoplight?

[That does sound familiar.]

From Earth?

A stoplight.

From Earth.

[This is so. Embarrassing.]

I will hold you to that.

[Though he trusts you. Slowly, he pulls back...though his hand stays in contact with Gunmax as though reluctant to sever this moment completely.]

Otherwise Ultra Magnus and I will have reformatted all the reports documents, and you'll be lost.

It...

It is that stoplight, isn't it?

[Oh Kagerou.]

[Just. Flustered shifting.]

It sounds like the same one.

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