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

[mccrane]

[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.]

Comments

[mccrane]

I'll be waiting.

[namesnotprowl]

((OOC: actionspam?))

[mccrane]

[The dog cans will be at the front desk--the place that a secretary would sit, if they had any need of one. McCrane can be heard in the office proper, working on something.]

[namesnotprowl]

[Rumble flits off of Barricade's shoulder with a short creel as the mech enters, and alights near the cans. He even fumbles around with one of them with his foreclaws. How open >:\???

Barricade himself is more interested in actually announcing his presence for now, voice loud enough to (hopefully) be heard.]

No secretary yet, I see.

[mccrane]

[When Barricade's presence is announced, the shuffling sounds stop. A moment later, McCrane emerges...pausing for a moment to confirm the cans are still where he left them. When he sees the tiny dragon, instead, he merely stares.]

...

No.

[He manages, still staring at it.]

There's been so much pressing to do, but even so the work outside of the police force is difficult. I don't know that anyone would want so simple of a job.

[Besides, both Blurr and Ultra Magnus liked doing paperwork.]

Did you speak with Solus?

[namesnotprowl]

[Rumble chirps at McCrane, then glances down at the can in his tiny claws. Oops. He's been found out. He churrs in Barricade's direction.

Barricade wags a couple claws at the firelizard to calm it down.]

Eh, you'd be surprised by some people, I'm sure. Sometimes folks elect t'do the simple stuff because it leaves them free for other things.

[Though knowing that some of them actually enjoy the paperwork would be rather baffling.]

I haven't, yet. Probably need to drop a message with one of the Acolytes and twiddle my thumbs a while. You get ahold of Prima?

[mccrane]

[Still curious, McCrane reaches out towards the creature very, very slowly, not wishing to startle it.]

I should maybe look for a can opener.

If you think someone might be interested, though, I can make it a priority to ask.

[Because having that help? It would be...helpful.]

Prima spoke with me, yes.

[He quiets. It is always a daunting experience.]

[namesnotprowl]

[Rumble doesn't startle easily around robots anymore, luckily, setting down the can to hop up onto it, craning his head forward to sniff at McCrane with a chirp.]

My claws'll be fine. Should try t'save 'em for now anyway.

Probably wouldn't hurt to ask around about it.

[Barricade shutters his optics briefly when the other mech quiets.]

He have grave portents to pass on, or somethin'?

[mccrane]

Your claws... [Trailing off, his attention briefly turns to Barricade's fingers. It hadn't occurred to him that they could be used for slicing metal before, but...now it does.]

[McCrane's finger probably smells of dog food cans and gunpowder. He does attempt to gently pet Rumble, though.]

Grave portents...perhaps. It was more that he gave me a direction and a reasoning for what has been happening of late. Including the mysterious light.

[namesnotprowl]

That is what I have, after all. [And they've served him well... and he knows how to keep them - and the rest of his armor - from shredding anyone on accident. Luckily.

Rumble churrs, sniffing McCranes's hands (only one of these smells he likes because food cans) before leaning into the petting. Oh yes, he does like that~]

So, what answers or direction did you get? [He flashes a lopsided smile.] Don't get me all curious and then hold off.

[mccrane]

Yes. And they've been instrumental with construction.

I just...forget you were formatted for destruction not long ago.

[Someone's been talking to Mirage about you. It doesn't stop him from petting the small creature, though, entranced.]

The light that has been following me.

It is from my connection to him.

[namesnotprowl]

Oh, I've always had these. Ever since I was little; they weren't for anything, they just... were.

The destruction came later. And without the destruction I wouldn't have learned construction.

[If he knew, he really wouldn't be surprised by that. Rumble, on the other hand, could care less, chirping happily as his eye color swirls in deep blues and greens.

Barricade does look surprised at that, though.]

So that's what happens when you get... whatever with them?

[mccrane]

I suppose that's...one way to learn how to put things back together.

[Though he still is petting the firelizard, he's now watching Barricade's claws, considering them in a new light.]

Were they common for robots in your universe?

[He figures he might as well learn.]

[Stepping back from Barricade's pet, he tries to concentrate in answer.]

...

[For a moment, nothing happens.]

Ah. Yes. He suggested that my actions had an affinity with his wishes, and...

[AH, there it is. The ball of light re-appears.]

This.

[namesnotprowl]

Yeah. More common among Decepticons than Autobots, but there wasn't exactly an even split one way or another.

[He shrugs. They were kind of the difference between human hair colors, as far as he knew. Just without genetics involved.]

And some of the others probably had their own hands reformatted at some point. I never bothered.

[Rumble sits back on his haunches, joining Barricade in watching as McCrane tries to manifest the ball of light. Barricade's wings flick in surprise as it finally happens... and at the explanation.]

An affinity with his wishes? How vague... and this'll happen to others, if they happen to align to the other FirstForgeds' wishes?

[Something about this doesn't sit entirely well with him.]

[mccrane]

Did you ever...

[He worries over this, but he has to ask.]

Did you ever use them to hurt anyone?

[It's not hard to detect Barricade's discomfort with the idea of the light, either, so he feels doubly awkward for the previous question.]

I believe so. He did not seem surprised that I had manifested this talent.

[Which indicates that its happened before.]

He also suggested it could become even stronger, in time.

[namesnotprowl]

[The question... doesn't really come as a surprise. It's not one that he answers often - most people don't really want to know - but it's not a shock.]

Tore out my fair share of sparks - cores - with them. And hurt folks. Got really good at it.

Gotten really good at fixin' hurt folks too, though.

[Sometimes, he almost misses the days when his reputation preceded him.]

Stronger if you keep in line with him. Huh. And it must've happened before, if it didn't surprise him.

[He ponders on it, rotating the tires on his pauldrons.]

Been a while since I've seen mechs... bound to each other like that.

[mccrane]

You can hurt without killing, then...and patch when necesary.

[He looks way too introspective about this, for the topic that it is. However, if Prima is forbidding them from incarcerating criminals, they're going to need some other preventative measure. He's going to consider all options.]

[The way Barricade says that word, however, sends a shiver down his back strut.]

What do you mean, bound?

[namesnotprowl]

I can. As much as required... or requested, if the circumstances are right.

[He's gotten better at it, lately. Or at reining himself in, at least. Hurting them had never been the problem. It was the stopping himself from hurting them that he'd had trouble with.]

What I mean is... you know of symbiotic relationships, right? Two creatures adapt to support and better one another. Some dimensions, Cybertronians do it too. But it's more- [He taps his head.] -up here. Or- [And, hesitantly, taps his chassis just over where his spark is.0 -in here.

It's being tied to another mech.

[mccrane]

Would you...be willing to do so again, if I requested it?

[Because the point would be moot, otherwise.]

[He still stares, trying to consider what Barricade is saying.] A relationship with benefits for both sides? Such as humans and the brave police?

Or...

Gunmax and Gunbike?

[The two of them seemed like an extension of one mind, which makes it seem like a closer parallel.]

I do not feel tied to Prima in that way, but... [The ball vanishes, and his hand clasps over his glyph.] It is hard to say. Do you feel differently, if you have a symbiotic relationship?

[namesnotprowl]

It'd depend on what you'd be asking for... and who I'd be doing it to. But yes.

[He's pretty sure McCrane isn't the sort to ask for that, though.]

More like Gunmax and Gunbike. Especially with mechs.

[The last question is more difficult, and he struggles with trying to put it into words.] You feel closer sometimes, more attached, but... It's not so much feeling differently as... knowing. Being able to anticipate when and where the other one needs you, f'r whatever reason it might be.

[mccrane]

It is just...we may need to think of creative ways to punish criminals. I will not ask it of you if it ever makes you uncomfortable, though.

[It makes him uncomfortable, but...it also makes sense. He will, in the end, go with what the Law Committee decides.]

Gunbike always comes when he calls. I suspect it would hurt him, too, if he ever lost...her. [He has to think before assigning it a gender, but he's pretty sure Gunmax has called Gunbike 'she' many times. However, there's something else going on here, and he frowns.]

You have felt this before.

[namesnotprowl]

No, no. I did that f'r the 'Cons, from time to time. And I got good at it, physically. But I won't do anything t'their processors, not unless there ain't another option.

[Even he has his standards, after all. Though the statement about his previous... affiliations hits a bit closer to home.]

... Felt something like it before, yes. I had a partner like that, a symbiont. A hacker. His name was Frenzy.

[At least he can talk about him now, without sounding distraught over it.]

[mccrane]

[This all sounds very acceptable to McCrane. The fact that Barricade talks about it so easily makes it seem less horrifying to him, all the way up to--Wait.]

Processors? What do you mean?

[You can do that?]

...not the Frenzy that is here, however. [Its very obvious, but he does want to confirm.] I am...sorry.

I can only imagine a little what that is like from the times when I was connected to the Build Team. We shared a body. It made us closer, and helped us understand each other and cooperate.

I think it is different from sharing those other parts, though.

And I...do not feel anything like that toward Prima.

[namesnotprowl]

You know. [He taps his head.] Robot brains. Hook the right - or wrong - mech into another's processor, and... well. The damage c'n be terrible. Memories deleted or walled off, or if the mech happens t'know what to do with someone's motor control functions...

[Which Barricade personally has a morbid curiosity about he's never acted on.

He was a pilot, after all.]

Not the one here, no. He was smaller and spikier. And silver, with blue optics. [He waves one hand slowly.] Don't be. I don't regret my time with him.

Yes. I forget you're part of a gestalt. Or what we call a gestalt back home. I can't say how it felt f'r them, though; they combine in ways that symbionts and their hosts usually don't.

[mccrane]

[This is a new sort of horror, entirely.]

You can make someone act against their will? Change them?

[This reminds him all-too-much of Kagerou, who was going to have his memories wiped for a transfer. It's significantly uncomfortable territory for him.]

I would not ask you to do that, Barricade.

[He's gonna take this analogy one step further, then.]

So it may be like...being connected, when we form Build Tiger, except that you have this feeling without needing to connect?