re_alignment | [Video] Paging the Build Team . . . and the nearest "hospital"?

[Deckard is nothing if not a quick study . . . though he's still not wholly convinced this isn't all just some elaborate sensory hoax. But he's been given some real direction ~~from a most unexpected source at that~~ and is running with it.]

Hello? I've been told to seek out a . . . medic. [Is that really the right word?] ...mechanical engineer. Or a robotics engineer. Someone who can modify an engine from running on gasoline to whatever is the common fuel source here.

[If he sounds - or looks - a little on the tired/haggard side, that would be because he's not fueled recently. He'd intended to fill up "tomorrow" when he got in to work, but he's been here for some hours now and he's starting to feel it. But he pushes that aside.]

Also, if anyone knows where the Build Team is, and if they're all right, I'd appreciate hearing from you. McCrane, Power Joe, and Drill Boy. ...and Dumpson. [Because he can hardly imagine three-quarters of the Build Team being present and not all of them.]

Thank you in advance for your help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do not be worried about it. It's easy to be jumpy around here.

[Especially when you never knew what was going to happen next. Being hugged, for instance. It was a surprise...but not the biggest one he's had lately. He even starts to return it, though McCrane has never been the fastest one to accept contact.]

I am...acceptable. The Brave Police were not built to handle many of the problems that come up in the Haven, so adapting can be tough. It will be good to have you around again, if...

[He's about to say 'if you stay,' and stops himself. That's more pessimistic than he wants to be, especially on the tail-end of loosing Gunmax once more.]

[If it seems that McCrane will return the embrace, then Deckard will hold it long enough for him to do so, though again not "too" long. And . . . McCrane doesn't say it . . . but he doesn't have to. He nods.]

If something doesn't happen to me?

I know . . . a robot named Bulkhead told me that people tend to disappear about as randomly as they appear here. And I know that I've been here before. Or . . . a version of me. I don't have those memories . . . and I know why. They're not mine. I got to talk to Prima shortly before that massive storm. He said I'm not the same me who was here, that he was a . . . a different version, from a different reality or something. [Which also might explain why the last thing Power Joe experienced was saying goodbye to Lua, while for Deckard the power shovel had been around for the Gunpulator mess. ...it makes him wonder what McCrane's last Earth experiences had been...]

[He reaches back out to give McCrane's shoulder a squeeze. While considered head of the Build Team, the robot hadn't been meant to be a leader, per se. Deckard is proud of him for doing his best at it anyway.]

I can't promise as much as I'd like to, McCrane. I can't promise I won't up and disappear, since I don't understand yet how that works . . . but I will promise you this - I'll do everything I can to keep you informed of where I am, and I won't intentionally leave. Not you or anyone.

...

Yes.

[He's glad he doesn't have to say it, and that Deckard intrinsically knows. That's something he misses about having the entirety of the Brave Police present. They worked best together.]

I believe that's what I've been needing to hear, Deckard. Thank you.

[He duplicates the gesture, reaching up and squeezing Deckard's other shoulder.]

We can make this work, here. We've been doing a decent job, and we've managed to help. It can...

It can be difficult.

I know you've been keeping busy, yourself...so that you don't think about Yuuta.

[It was a guess, but it was a guess based off how Deckard had acted the first time he'd found himself on Cybertron. It wasn't easy to suddenly be missing so close a friend. McCrane understood that.]

[They /do/ work best together. They were always meant to be a cohesive unit. It's something that will hit Deckard too sooner or later - he's just been too busy, too ragged, to have really noticed yet. Or /let/ himself notice.]

[Or notice THAT as much either...]

[Deckard's hand tightens on McCrane's shoulder - this time less in offering comfort than in drawing support, the last words leaving him reeling a bit as his gaze drops away.]

Y-yuuta...

[He hesitates . . . and shakes his head.]

There's just hardly been time, with everything going on . . . trying to get up to speed on this place, then that storm and then . . . K-kagerou and everyone else who've been affected by whatever's going on . . .

[But McCrane's right . . . and McCrane will hear the upset in Deckard's voice, try as he does to hide it. He's almost ALWAYS slept in vehicle mode before, ever since being released from that first underground warehouse he'd been built in, ever since being assigned to Yuuta and taking up nightly residence in the Tomonaga carport. But he's only done that once since finding himself here . . . and it had been a mistake. He'd been only half-conscious, and he'd been SO SURE he'd felt the weight of his partner's body curled up in his front passenger seat . . . only to come back online more fully to find it had been a dream, or sensory error or something. The pain of that realization - that Yuuta wasn't there, wasn't with him - had stricken so deeply through his Super A.I. that Deckard's not done that since.]

[It takes him a moment to find his voice again, and when he does, it's thinner than he likes, rough with grief.]

I don't want the boss here, McCrane. It's too dangerous and food and supplies too scarce for the humans who are here. Miss him or not, I don't . . . I don't want him here.

[But he does miss him . . . OH DOES HE EVER MISS HIM.]

[McCrane debates on telling Deckard that Yuuta was here, for a time, and then vanished...but he refrains. That is a topic for another day, if ever, and it will not hurt the other Brave Policeman to be worried further.]

[Instead, he squeezes Deckard's shoulder tighter, as well.]

That is a wise thought. Its dangerous here, and we have not always been able to protect each other or protect the people that we care about.

If...

If it becomes difficult to rest at night, let me know. I have been staying here at Headquarters more often than not, in the garage. You would be welcome to stay with me.

[He knows that being with the Build Team had helped him a great deal the first time that Gunmax vanished.]

[He's hardly let himself sleep at all, really /sleep/, since his arrival. At first, the excuse was that he was trying to learn all he could about this alien place. Even better excuse has been all the trouble since that storm. But . . . he knows he can't keep it up much longer. He nods wearily.]

I'd really like that, actually. Thank you. Strength in numbers and all, if nothing else.

[He shifts, forcing his mind from the deep loneliness he's NOT been letting himself deal with since getting here.]

You said once before that you had questions you wanted to ask? And . . . and something about a badge?

I will arrange an extra berth...

[He trails off, realizing.] Unless you would prefer to change into your vehicle mode?

[McCrane had become much more used to Cybertronian customs, here. Sleeping in his crane mode seemed almost strange these days.]

Ah. Yes, thank you for reminding me.

[He heads for a desk, opening the top drawer and reaching in. After rummaging about for a moment, he pulls out a gold star that says 'Sherrif.']

Obviously, these are not as complex as our communicators, but they do distinguish us as police officers.

[He hands over the star.]

As for the questions...

[This will be interesting.]

((ooc: I keep forgetting to ask . . . just out of curiosity, are these human-sized badges or are they Cybertronian/BP-sized? I'm guessing C/BP-sized so they'd actually be visible…?))

Either's fine. I don't want to impose. [He's still very used to and technically prefers to sleep in vehicle mode, but after waking up that one time the way he did…]

[The star gets a highly-amused grin. Really, McCrane? Deckard thanks him and dutifully affixes it to himself where it's easily visible and won't interfere with him changing modes.] Yes?

[Video] Paging the Build Team . . . and the nearest "hospital"?

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