[AUDIO]

[buildmeasmallintestine]

[Audio clicks on, with the sound of someone fumbling with something before Arcee's voice comes in.]

Ratchet? Fowler?

Anyone? What the scrap is this thing?

Whoever's managing the Ground Bridge, I think you missed.

[Pause, as if waiting for a response, and a frustrated sound from her.]

For the love of Primus... Okay. If any Autobot slash US military person can even hear this, get me a Bridge out of wherever here is. I'm missing a young Scout named Bumblebee, and more importantly, two humans named Jack and Miko.

We're in sort of a dangerous situation, so let's make this hasty, fellas.

[OOC: Annnnnnnnnd with an extremely belated introduction thanks to health and life, say hi to Arcee. FINALLY. Yes I did just jack my sample post because it works for her just coming in. :D;;]

Comments

[Audio] Stage 1: Denial!

[buildmeasmallintestine]

...I saw Cliffjumper dead.

I saw him after he was killed by Starscream, and only half a body then. Nothing more than a ravenous corpse fueled by something that was literally evil incarnate. And that fell into an Energon explosion so massive nothing living OR dead could possibly be left as anything but dust afterwards.

Just what am I supposed to think? If this is someone's idea of a sick joke, I'm going to...!

[Needless to say, anger and frustration is starting to ramp up there. A little voice in the back of her head that sounds suspiciously like Optimus pulls her back, and she tries to compose herself again. And of course, there's also a part of her wondering if this is the real deal, but the immediate cynic squashes that down for the moment.]

[Video] Oh dear

[goingdownfighting]

[At first his attitude didn't change, he was fully prepared to make some sort of crack after 'I saw Cliffjumper dead'. However, he slowly finds his smile fading as Arcee continues, describing everything in detail. Half a body? Explosions? 'Ravenous corpse'? What does that even mean? The only tidbit he got on his death from Ratchet was that Starscream was the one to off him. That was it.

He has his own little silent pause, trying to take all of that in and make some sense out of it. When he feels ready to go on, he switches to a video feed immediately.

No more messing around.]

Woah woah, easy there, Arcee. This is no joke.

[Video]

[buildmeasmallintestine]

[She stares, and ... well, stares some more. It's kind of hard to deny it when she's staring him right in the face, and that composure does start to crack just a bit.]

Cliff, how...

[Of course, as her brain was going off in so many different directions at his reply, what Wheeljack had been telling her about time and this world was still sinking in. Now she was starting to understand what it meant more, and its implications. And she wasn't sure what to feel about them.

Because it was pretty clear - Cliffjumper had still died. That wasn't something that'd just be magically undone.

But THIS Cliffjumper...]

What... do you remember last? I mean. Before you came here.

[Why yes, she does sound and look a bit uncharacteristically shaken, even as she's obviously trying to calm herself down again. Bots don't just rise from the grave and not be zombies every day, after all.]

[Video]

[goingdownfighting]

[It's a good thing he likes to talk because if he were anyone else, he might have found this annoying. He's already explained this scenario to Ratchet...twice. There's a pattern he's starting to sense, he can see this happening a lot in the future.

Oh well.]

The last thing I remember was getting ready to take some 'Cons down. ...Actually, now that I think about it, it was right after talking with you. Remember? The boot?

[He cracks a smile despite how serious this situation is. He can't help it, he still thinks that's pretty funny.]

And then bam! Here I am. I think the worst part of it was being told I wasn't allowed to fight any of the Decepticons crawling around here. Can you believe that? Take me away right before a battle, then telling me to sit on my hands? Let me tell you, it was the worst feeling. Still don't know what to do with myself.

[Video] Sorry Cliff :'D

[buildmeasmallintestine]

[...can't fight Decepticons around here? ... Okay. She'll have to come back to that later when her head is NOT exploding.

Still, there was one key thing in there - and that was the fact no one as far as she knew would know about that story with the boot except the two of them. That was only a few minutes before Ratchet lost track of his life signs.

She bows her head, frowning. There's a part of her that knows she SHOULD be happy, but the reality still was what it was in her time. If she were to go back, that would remain the same.

Still, this was Cliffjumper. Besides, it'd be hard even for someone acting to remain that upbeat and talkative for this long.]

...

You should have waited for back-up...

[Video] /tear

[goingdownfighting]

You know I don't do waiting.

[He, uh, he still hasn't realized that was the fight that killed him.

He also doesn't seem to realize just how bad this really is. Now that he feels that all the explaining and emotion is out of the way, all he really cares about is how exciting it is to have his partner here.]