Regrouping and Moving On, A.W.

[LeoKingdom]

So much had happened in the brief moment in time since the crash had stranded the Zeta Colony ships on the wild, unkown planet somewhere and possibly somewhen in the cosmos. Friendships forged, enemies born, death and sorrow, and life and joy, all intertwined amongst the lives of all the crew of not only the Zeta Colonies, but among the Predacon ship Conquest which had suffered a similair fate on their own expedition.

Crosshare sat by himself in the messhall, optics drifting off into the distance as he sipped from a cup made of some recyclable material filled with the soft glow of liquid Energon, the lifeblood of the Cybertronian species and a valuable substance the Universe over. So many had died or been lost over the course of their time on the planet, at time Crosshare found himself pondering whether his name would be the next added to the list of the fallen. Those were usually less than an instant long and ended with Crosshare deciding that he was hungry.

[silverblades2]

Since her spar with Streak Sandclaw had learned that reaching out could get you badly burned but it could also get you closer. Perhaps that was the one good thing that had come spiraling out of the horrid energon splattered mess that had been the combination of Ulgris and Streak. People got closer but as she continued to think she realized with a cold feeling that some, including herself, didn't get closer only a yawning, aching, distance stretched across the gash left.

Desperately stuffing those suffocating thoughts away with every other pain Sandclaw padded quietly into the mess hall. Since her run in with Spanner a few months ago Sandclaw had tried to slowly reach out to others even though many times she had chickened out at the last moment. Grabbing a cube quickly Sandclaw was prepared to eat in the solitary silence of the mess hall but stopped short at the sight of Crosshare. Guilt ate away at the Maximals gut as she stared at Crosshare. What if she'd tried to be friendlier to Streak instead of spar, what if she'd just minded her own business, what if... To much what if and not enough had done.

Attempting to swallow her own tongue Sandclaw hesitantly headed toward the fellow sniper and prayed she wasn't about to make a huge mistake.

[Lilblacknwhitebot]

Meanwhile, up on the ceiling, a black and gold batfemme clung to a girder watching the comings and goings in the room. The orange latched between her wing-tip claws slowly being sucked dry of its juices, her muzzle gradually becoming stickier as a result. Extracting one claw from the remains of the fruit, she began to lap at it, cleaning off the remains of the fruit pulp... so intent was she on this task that she let her guard down for a moment, resulting in the sticky, squishy mess of an orange slipping from her claw and landing on the head of an unfortunate passer-by.

(OOC: Any volunteers to get oranged? )

[LeoKingdom]

It was a peculir feeling, having someone's optics upon you when you couldn't see them but knew they were there. An unnerving, paranoia inducing feeling actually, something Crosshare needed no extra help in experiancing. Crosshare broke himself from the glazed over state of mind and swung his around to find any clue as to who was looking at him, if anyone.

Across the sparsly populated messhall, Crosshare did indeed find someone with a rather intent look and pace moving toward him. It took only a few seconds for the scout to place a name to the face. His gut tightened. Sandclaw. In the days leading up too Streak's infection by the parasite Ulgris, the two had dueled and in the end, both were badly wounded but Streak by far the worse for ware. Crosshare had tried to have fun with it, rooting for both to liven the mood. In the end, all it accomplished was alienating him from Streak and a lost week of lunches due to a bet he'd made.

Taking a deep breath, Crosshare raised an arm and gave a cautious wave toward her. Just as something impacted the top of his head, splattering in a cloud of fruit pulp and citrus juice trickling down his face.

The world stopped for the scout, if only for a second, as the sensation of the sticky, slimy impromtu bomb slowly slide forward over his head before loosing its grip and cascading to the floor.

[Lilblacknwhitebot]

An alarmed squeak followed by a contagious giggle came from the ceiling as the batfemme in question, Blackout, realised what had happened. Unfurling her wings completely, she dropped from her perch, landing on the Jackrabbit's shoulder, lapping the juice from his face.

Yes, it was a little overly familiar, but Blacky wasn't one who cared about things like that. She was just too playful in her nature.

Nuzzling him as an apology, she crawled across the table and slowly switched forms to perch on the edge of it, grinning her amusement with a playful spark in her optics: "Sorry! - Accident."

Slipping off the table at the approach of Sandclaw, the smaller femme gave way, scooping up the orange remains in the process: "Will get something to clear it up!"

[Gravity_Dragon]

Spanner had endured a grueling day in the engineering section. He was covered in various patches of grease and soot, and even some dust in places. His armor was actually dented in several places, and because of this combination, it looked like he had the slag kicked out of him.

Thankfully it was the end of his day, and he had decided to get something to drink on the way to his quarters to get cleaned up. Then maybe a trip to the medbay to get straightened out. He hadn't decided yet as he pulled a beaker out of a dispenser and filled it with the harshest energon he could find in the mess.

It smelled bad, and tasted worse. He shivered for a moment as it went down, and then pulled another glass of something much smoother before sitting down. He was trying to find out just what he had been thinking when he had joined the Zeta expedition when he spotted Blackout walking by with what was left of an orange.

The femme's embarrassed expression combined with the look on Crosshare's face told him everything he needed, and he couldn't help but grin as it clicked into place. [color=gold]"Nother awkward entrance Blackout?"[/gold] he asked with a laugh in his voice.

He still remembered pulling her out of the air vents when she had gotten trapped. He never made fun of her, but he knew she found the humor in it as well.

[Lilblacknwhitebot]

Blackout just grinned, flaring her wings slightly in a shrug as a reponse.

"Entrance was fine thankfully, walked here..." she giggled, "Orange slipped off claw. Don't think Crosshare's impressed! Drink?"

Well, Crosshare already had company of a sort or would do shortly and the femme wasn't about to be antisocial. She still owed Spanner for helping her out of the vents that one time and hadn't forgotten about it. She just hadn't seen him since.

[Gravity_Dragon]

"Don't mind if I do." he replied, downing his glass again. He stood, and followed Blackout to the dispensers again, to get a refill this time.

"So what's my favorite comms specialist doing these days? I haven't seen you since that dusty old vent, and I haven't been able to escape engineering for a while now. he said. He was trying to forget the pit worthy day he had endured so far, and the energon seemed to be slow to revitalize his systems.

[Big Kahuna]

The checkup had gone smoothly as could be expected, though Moonhunter had to endure tutorials and lectures from Lightfang, and unwelcome congratulations from Jumpstart, as well as a few snickers from colonists who underestimated his hearing abilities. At least during the examination he had managed to use the medbay’s molecular synthesizers to fabricate a Colony Zeta jumpsuit in Cassidy’s size, which concealed his diapers. He was dressed in a work uniform, but it was the best Moonhunter could come up with. He was no fashion designer.

On the way back to their quarters Cassidy once complained of hunger pangs. The groaning of his stomach told Moonhunter that he needed to eat soon, and he was not so heartless as to make him wait until they got home. The mess hall was closer, and they could get in and out before the lunch rush started. The two entered unceremoniously, though some of the conversing patrons quieted down to stare. Fire issued from Moonhunter’s eyes, warning everyone to mind their own business.

Going through the cafeteria, he picked out a dish of yams, a piece of fried chicken, and a glass of milk for the youngster. Nothing for himself, as he was in robot mode and didn’t want to transform back to beast mode so everyone could compare the two. He picked a bench in the far corner and sat Cassidy down, waiting for him to finish his meal so they could get out of there.

[Mayhem]

The tiny were-pup clung to Moonhunter’s middle and index finger since that was all Cassidy’s paw was big enough to grasp. He had to hop along since he wasn’t quite tall enough but it did not seem to bother the cub. It also gave him an excuse to occasionally swing from Moonhunter’s hand. In his other hand he dragged his trusty blanket.

When he spotted all the new faces, he smiled up at them and waved with his blanket hand. To him, there was nothing strange going on. Plus he was in good spirits over getting to go out and the coming food.

“Hi!” he said with another enthusiastic wave.

There was so much to see! Cassidy bounced around trying to get a good look at everyone and everything. Then he spotted the bat and tugged on Moonhunter’s fingers.

“Look!” he said pointing and staring with wonder.

Guaranteed he would try climbing walls the next chance he got.

[LeoKingdom]

(Ooc: Turn my back for one second and the whole things jumping! )

Crosshare ran the palm of his hand over his face, wiping away the saliva left over from Blackout's tongue bath. "S'all right Blackout, things happen," he responded. In truth he was rather annoyed by being hit in the head with a half eaten orange, not even the proper circumstances for it either! He sighed and let it be as the batformer began to clean the mess from the floor. Try as he might, Crosshare couldn't find it in his Spark to actually be made at the quirky little femme, she was probably one of the most normal people on the planet when he thought about it.

Blackout wandered off to throw away the mashed mess, or at least Crosshare hoped that was the case, before bumping into another mech, Spanner he thought his name was, and striking up a conversation. Taking his seat with his back to the table, Crosshare spotted out of the corner of his optic Moonhunter sitting at a table with what for all purposes looked like a miniature version of his shaggy beast mode. So, it was just a bizzare rumor! A smile exploded across his face and he waved over to Moonhunter and his charge, trying his best not to fall over laughing his skid plate off.

[Lilblacknwhitebot]

"Planning new network and upgrading base systems," Blackout returned matter-of-factly, depositing the orange remains in a waste disposal unit, "Designing transmitters. Own range is limited you see and trees don't help either when I'm outside."

Yes, she'd been busy, not that anyone had probably noticed improved clarity in their comms transmissions because things like that didn't usually make a difference. However, the soon-to-be improved range of the base transmitters could yield some very interesting information from the Predacon camp if she was careful.

Grabbing a half-measure of energon herself, the femme unspaced a small flask and poured in what looked to be fruit juice, topping it up to the mark and taking a sip, "Much better. - Looks like busy day on your side too. Anything interesting or just unlucky?"

[Gravity_Dragon]

"Little bit of both I suppose. Since things are still a disaster in some of the lower levels where the hull was damaged, I figured I'd try to get some things online again. You know, more safe storage space inside the ships for whatever reason. Sadly, the place is flat out dangerous. If it weren't for my maglev generator we wouldn't be having this conversation. Had half a compartment worth of heavy equipment try to fall on me. Next time, I find someone bigger than me to go along to help." he commented, downing his drink again.

"Glad to hear that your work is going smoothly though. I think my comm is on the fritz, I can hear, but I sure as heck can't be heard once I get to the lower decks. I'm going to see Lightfang here after my energon to get patched up. Though, it looks like Moonhunter may have brought in a distraction." he commented, gesturing toward their leader and his "cub" sitting in the corner.

He grabbed a half beaker, and followed Blackout's example, but he filled his with a protein mixture instead. He took a sip, and found it to be oddly palatable to both halves of his body. "Let's go and introduce ourselves Blackout." he said as he proceeded over to Moonhunter.

Instead of looking like he wanted to poke fun, Spanner's faceplate was etched with curiosity as he got closer. He knew how Cybertronians raised sparklings, but he was still somewhat in the dark as to how biological entities raised their young.

[Big Kahuna]

To Moonhunter, seeing a mechanoid who could hang from walls was nothing special. He had seen beings who had even more amazing abilities. The Great Wars had brought about many innovations in technology, and at one point in his life he had been one of those innovations. Cassidy was much more unique, though he didn’t know it. And, frustratingly, he was calling much more attention to himself. It never even occurred to him that the child might pick up a bad idea or two. He was either underestimating the child’s attentiveness or overestimating his discernment. “Yes, I see her,” he said, cutting up the meat to make a point. “Try this. It’s called chicken.”

Crosshare was here, oh perfect. Moonhunter returned his wave half-heartedly before his attention was called by someone closer. As he feared, some of the bystanders started coming over to gawk. Some beings had no sense of tact. Moonhunter was no social butterfly himself, but he was the good kind of misfit: he kept to himself. He braced, fearing the worst. The Colony had plenty of children running around, offspring of the human crewmembers and future members of their small society themselves. Cassidy was no different, if the fact that he was a clone of a Maximal and less than a day old was overlooked. “Can I help you?” he asked.

[Mayhem]

Having a bot wave to them only made Cassidy more excited. He waved enthusiastically to Crosshare, having no idea who Crosshare was. As Spanner neared, the were-pup beamed brightly up at him. Although they had come there for food, the cub was having a ball just getting to see so many bots. His small world was expanding in leaps and bounds.

At least the chicken slowed the pup down from making anymore of a spectacle of himself. Of course, little would be able to fully stop him from doing so. The chicken proved to take more work than bananas and he had to sit there and chew, forcing him to be quiet. However, he continued to smile at everyone, especially any who looked his way. Thankfully he liked the chicken and kept quiet.