| abstract
| - Depth walked down to Cubicron from Polyhex, as he walked he began to feel off. Something was wrong. The further he walked, the more off he became. Just on the outskirts of town it really hit him, his body reacting to the radiation and spark energy he absorbed. It took all his effort to get to a safe location before he completely blacked out. Hard to say how long he'd been flat on his back, just out in the open. Slowly though he comes too to find he's very ill. "Uhh.. **** me...." he groans. "Okay, doncha worry 'bout a thing, lil' Swiv gonna help ya out... for a fee 'course, but we'll settle 'at when I'm done. Ta..." drifted Swivel's voice from one of the many tents. Then shortly after the small femme ducked out of the flap of one such tents, brushing a blackish powder off from her arms and shoulders, and then her thighs. Satisfied, she stands up straight and had began walking towards the east, when a sound of groaning caught her audio receptors. She pauses a moment, glancing around, until finally she sees the fallen form of Depth. Without hesitation she darts over. "Depth? Depth? You okay?" Depth's optics take a few moments to focus, even then there looks to be two of Swivel looking down at him. "Am I dead yet?' he groans softly. His form is partially solid, partially liquid. There's a faint glow coming off of him as well. Even his optics seem to glow off color. "Hey.. Bubbles.." he murmurs, ".. not.. okay." Swivel chomps down on her lower lip with her dental plate for a moment, a frazzled look of concern and confusion plain on her features. An expression which Depth likely would see double of. "What is happening to your body? What can I do?" Depth's optics flicker, go unfocused, another groan of pain escaping him. His body seems to melt just a hint more. "Need... river.. water.." he gasps out, "Might.. help.." Swivel wrings her wrists as she stares down as the mech gets a little bit more... slooshy. "River water? Which river? Mercury? Caustic?" She pauses a moment, in her panic not thinking. His liquid form reminded her a LOT of the mercury rapids. "Mercury right? How long can you hold on?" Depth nods to the question to mercury, "Yesss... mercury good.. caustic bad.." optics dim, he begins to writhe slowly, body losing a bit more cohesion. "Go.. can hold on.. long time.." he gasps, words becoming a bit of an effort. "Alright. I'll go get you some mercury from the river. Just hold tight until I return. I will be back soon, Depth." Swivel quickly sprints off towards the road, transforms, and speeds off towards the East, planning the quickest route in her mind as she does so. Depth let's his body go fully fluid for awhile, hoping it may help rather than harm the situation he's in. He keeps alert though, waiting to hear Swivel return. Time passes. There is the daunting fact that the mercury river was on the surface, whilst Depth was lying, waiting, two levels beneath. However, the small car is fast despite being a wheeled vehicle. Where possible, she uses inclines and gravity to give her a boost to her speed, reaching reckless velocities. And it is at such a reckless speed at which she returns to the Buffer Zone of Cubicron. Although taxed, her engines are still not terribly loud. However, the horrible screeching as she sets her brakes to work at such speeds announce her return as sparks fly from where metal studs in her tires clash against the road. When the small car comes to a full stop, smoke rising all about her, Swivel unfolds to her robot form, her arms wrapped around an old paint can. She carefully darts over to where she left Depth. "Depth! Depth! I got some!" she calls out, not seeing him right away as he'd reverted to only liquid. Some of the mercury in the pail sloshes over the side, perfect spherical droplets falling to the ground before flattening on impact and scattering into smaller drops. Depth hears the squeal of tires and slowly reforms as best he is able, of course he is even more incohesive than he was when you left. "Good." he slurs out, sounding a bit like his vocals are gurgling his own liquid metal to even speak. It would be humorous if this was so serious. "Just.. pour.. on.." he manages to gurgle out. Another slow writhing of the body possesses him, a painful groan emanating from the mech. Swivel sets her expression to one of determination and walks over his half-formed body and tips the can upside down, pouring the silvery liquid over Depth. Depth's body absorbs the river water like a dry sponge. Not a drop of it goes to waste. Even the bits that you splattered upon breaking seem to get drawn into his partially formed yet liquidly misshaped body. He still feels ill though, the writhing continues.. slowly flexing his limbs, body undulating.. its sadly pathetic. "Thank.. you.." he gurgles. He's hoping that the water will do something.. anything... Swivel glances inside the can curiously, not seeing one small bit of residue left. But then, Mercury seldom left much in the ways of residue. It stuck to itself. A strange metal, that. She then glances down at Depth. "You.... you don't look much better," she remarks. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other uneasily, glancing around, then back down at Depth. "Do you need more? Or is there something else I can help you with?" Depth is finding it hard to think too. But replies, "Maybe.. bit.. more." he gurgles in answer, another write and undulation assaulting his body. Detoxification.. not a fun process.. not in the least. "Uhhhhh... hurry..." he gasps, then coughs up some of his own liquid fluid which reabsorbs back into his partially formed body. Swivel raises her optics ridges. If it weren't for her forehead a) being covered by a star shaped crest, and B) being made of metal, she'd be starting to get worry lines. However, as it is, she just looks concerned. She smiles a little. "Okay, I'll get you as much of it as you need, Depth," she coos. She then turns to go make ANOTHER trip to the river. Depth pools back into a puddle after you leave. It's just easier on him overall. Maintaining his body while he's obviously so sick is proving to be a big strain. The sluggish thought of if this next dose doesn't work.. he'll know what he'll have to do next... for now though he waits as patiently as anyone that is sick can Returns, a repeat performance of her previous trip to the river and back, sometime later. She takes slightly longer this time, and when transforms back into her robot form, she is dragging a large metal drum. One imagines the reason it took her longer was because she had to procure it first. It seems a bit heavier than she is quite accustomed to lugging around. Once she gets close enough to Depth, she just pushes it over. Depth tries to reform, but figures you got the idea that the big puddle of liquid silver is him. The container of water splooshed into the puddle, the size of said puddle remains oddly unchanged as the water is absorbed and made use of by the sick xeno. "Take.. me.. to.. river... to .. the water..." is gurgled.. the puddle forming upwards then slooshing into the drum. (we can rp that too) Swivel just stares as the drum is filled with Depth. She gawks for a moment or two, letting a sigh escape her. "I'm... I'm not that strong! I..." she glances at the drum. Dragging it just from the road to where Depth was tiring. Dragging him back to a patch of road she could drive on and hauling him to the river was not going to be easy. "I'll... I'll try..." she says. She walks to the drum, turning around so her back faces it, then squats by it. She reaches back, her hands firmly placed on it, and tips it so it leans against her back. Then she struggles to get her fingers beneath the bottom. With a grunt, she lifts it up, bending forward to distribute most of the weight along her back, the tilt of her tires cradling the drum. "Let's.... get you... to that... ng.... river." Depth hmms and gurgles from the drum.. "Bucket?" is asked. Swivel takes a few heavy, slow steps towards where the road begins. "Sh. Don't speak unless it's urgent. I doubt you'd fit in the bucket anyway. Yer a big fella," Swivel says. She huffs and then transforms. The drum is almost completely horizontal now, and unless Depth keeps himself from spilling out, he'd fall out down the front of her. The drum just barely fits on top of her small vehicular form without pressing against the tops of the tires that stick out on either side. Then there is a click, a hiss, then a hum as energy straps shoot up around the top and fall upon the drum, only to cinch themselves tight, holding it securely. "Gonna have to drive more carefully, can't flip with cargo," she says. With that, she sets off towards the mercury river. Depth makes a soft gurgling assent to being quiet, content to just be a puddle in the drum. Once the movement begins he monitors his sloosh level as best as he is able, keeping himself from getting spilled out of the drum as you drive the drum with him in it to the river. He takes effort, but he manages to do it. Though there are a few close calls. Swivel finally rolls to a stop by the mercury river, where it is more calm. "We’re here," she announces. Then she inches as close to the bank as she dares in her vehicular form. "Think you can make it the rest of the way into there?" she asks in her chirpy voice. Depth heaves his liquid puddle form over the edge of the drum, slooshing down it onto your hood. From there he just flows onto the ground and into the river. Totally disappearing in the water. Swivel retracts the energy binding she'd used to keep the drum steady and transforms, letting the drum roll away from her in the process. She chases after the drum, stopping it with her foot before, it two, disappears into the river. She then squints her optics into the flowing silver liquid. "Depth?" There's a stir in the water, a bubbling going on.. but no actual sign of the mech himself. Swivel fidgets as she stands, one foot still pinning the drum, and looks into the turbulence. "Depth?" she calls again, looking uncertain. Another stir, a more active bubbling. It's progressing, slowly becoming more agitated. His voice seems to come from everywhere in the river. "mmmmm." Swivel leans over, picking up the drum and slowly backs up. She sets the drum upside down and then uses it as a place to sit. She continues to watch the river. "Gee.... I hope I didn't create a monster." Depth's head peeks out of the river water nearby, formed normally. "That'd be funny." he remarks, still sounding a bit off. "But not worth effort right now." the head turns to eye a electrogator that is swimming toward it. So the head just melts back into the river. Swivel raises her optic ridges, seeing his head looking normal at least. She crosses one ankle over the other and slouches forward, waiting, watching, wondering. "Well... just so long as we don't have a berserker giant Depth crunching up the landscape." Her optics shift towards the oncoming electrogator, but she is scarcely bothered by its presence. Depth's laugh echoes from the river, the electrogator suddenly is jerked under the water. There's a bubble of activity, then the gator is flung up out of water and off into the distance. The head reforms again, "Landscape munching is not on my menu." he assures her. Swivel tilts her head to the side. "Well... will you be alright, now, Mr. Slooshy? I was in the middle of a job when I stopped to help you..." Depth mmms softy, "YEah.. yeah I think so.. go and finish your job. I'll just stay here and wait for the sick feeling to finally leave me." Swivel slips off of the drum and waves at the river. "Well, when I am done I might come back by here to see if you're still here and need anything else." Swivel says. "I do hope you start feeling better, though. Buh-bye!" Later that same solar cycle… Depth is partially submerged in the Mercury River, what is not in the river itself is his head, shoulders, and part of his top most chest. He's just staring up at the sky. He's been here awhile now since Swivel left. "Uhh.." he groans softly. He spits up a bit of liquid mercury off to the side. Shall add here the mech is not in his armor at all. Even his head has no armor upon it. Silver body glinting like the river he's in. A face that is old and young all at once. Optics dimming and brightening as he focuses on anything that flies by. Goa isn't exactly flying by. Barely even rolling, actually. He wheels his way along the riverbank, putting along, like he's looking for something. That spot he had before was a nice place to think, just maybe too noisy ... he's on the hunt for another. The river's a convenient place, far enough out that no one will guess he's not on patrol, but isolated enough he doesn't have to keep an eye on his back too much. Either way, though, his nose is on the ground, not paying much attention. Until he hears something that sounds like an empty. Not too far off, the mech transforms, one hand on his grenade launcher in his holster, his back to the river ... eyeing the nearby buildings warily. Depth turns his head toward the sound of an engine, taking some time to focus his optics. Still seeing double.. he spots the grounder. "Hey.. kid." he offers, voice sounding off. A little smile creeping onto his lips, yeah lips.. he has em. "Long time.. now see.." then another low groan and he spits up another bit of liquid metal. "Uhhh..." "Depth?" Goa glances over his shoulder, not immediately willing to turn his attention away from the buildings. But ... no, that was the sound he heard. He stands down. "You... alright?" The mech approaches, skidding down the riverbank to crouch by the rocks-of-sorts. One more look over his shoulder sates his wariness. Depth replies, "Who the slag else would call you kid?" he asks softly, peering at the double you he's seeing. "Don't mind the look and all.. still me.. just me without armor." he remarks casually. "No I'm not all right." Goa leans slightly closer. The mechanical, jerkier-than-usual movements of his mismatched optics are clear evidence he's scanning the xeno. "Nothing new to me, Depthy." He rocks backward on his heels, raising one antenna. "And I dunno. Got some old friends that might've taken up the mountain-mech livin' without me knowin'." Goa stops talking and tilts his helmet to one side. Not sure what to make of the tone. "What kind of not alright?" Both antennae move forward and droop to the sides. "... is this my fault?" Depth hms softly and smiles a bit, "Not surprising you anymore? Losing my touch." he states, moving his arms to get his elbows beside himself so he can push himself up into a seated position, exposing the torso to the waist. Silvery muscular torso at that. "Sick." he states simply, "Eh, don't blame yourself. Was looking after your own." he pauses a moment, still trying to focus with little success. He spits up another bit of liquid metal that splashes into the river. "Uhh.. dunno why for sure either. Never been sick." "Maybe it was something you ate." Goa sits back on his aft, allowing one tire to roll forward into the 'water'. He thumbs his beard. No one around here exactly provided medical services to aliens. That was bad. And he couldn't see the radiation, but his scanners -- not to mention a gut feeling, more of a hum in his chest -- were telling him it was there. "What've you tried already?" Depth chuckles a little to that, "More like what I absorbed from the sweetness in your repair bay. Took out the radiation and some of the energy from her spark too, couldn't be avoided." he states, then gestures to the river, "This is what I'm trying. It's close to the metal composition of my own body so I'm using it to detox." "Didn't you eat a bunch of that slag before?" Goa sets his hands on the ground. "I betcher allergic to Shredder. She's fine, by the way. Least if no one tries to kill her this cycle." Goa lays his antennae back, unsure whether to smile or frown. It's Depth -- there's no way he's going to find out how /really/ serious the situation is. So he assumes less rather than more. "Can't you transfer it out to something?" Goa mimics the gesture toward the river. "'Cause to me, it looks like you're just blarfing half your mass." Depth mms softly to the question, "Its one thing to take the crystal into my body and absorb it slowly. It's quite another to absorb radiation plus spark energy." he explains, "It may be the combination of those two things that my body isn't liking. May just be the energy from her spark. Hard to tell. Either way, its why I'm in here blarging up as you so quaintly put it." he smiles and nods, "Glad to hear she pulled out of it. Was a bit worried taking so much of her spark energy would kill her. But it was better than the alternative." he turns his head to spit up more liquid metal. "Uhh.." Goa raises an optic ridge. "Didn't answer my question." His tire rolls back out of the shallow mercury. "You need a bit? I can keep on walkin'. But for someone who's not been sick with something, you aren't really bothered by it." Depth nods. "Sorry, was getting to the answer. That's what I'm doing now, using the river water to help strain out the radiation. But this water isn't exactly purified." then shaking his head, "Rather you wouldn't leave.. unless you gotta. As for not being bothered, I am.. for awhile there thought I was gonna die and see old Stalker." There it was. He had to either get serious or shrug it off eventually. Goa dims his optics, and his mouth goes flat, as he stews over something. "Found what I was looking for anyway." He brightens back up, rolling himself forward until he's waist-deep in the river as well. "Glad Firestorm didn't say yes now, huh? You know we can tolerate that stuff. That's what I was askin'." He lifts one leg to look at the way the silver plays on the gold manifolds at his heels. Need to get those refinished... vain-in-denial as ever. "Do I hear a war story comin' on?" Depth hms softly, "Oh, what you were looking for cuz I don't think it was me this time." he notes sagely, then a little frown. "Goa, my offer still stands with her. Those crystals are /IN/ her spark, and we both know she's possibly on borrowed time as it is. The fact that **** hasn't killed her yet is a testimony to her sheer will to live." his tone serious, then he spits up another bit of metal. "Uhh. Man that's just nasty water. Surprised the critters in here don't get sick off it." he remarks, then a chuckle, "Why you asking? Need one?" Goa's ankle falls back to the ground with a splash. "They pro'lly do." His back plate shifts and obscures him to some degree. But he turns his nose around to look at the xeno. "Do I need one? Only good thing about war, ain't it?" he chuckles. "I was ... looking. Just in general." He looks back away. No... No, Depth had something with Firestorm, of course he'd do stupid slag for it. "Course it still stands. ... Just don't get yourself killed." Depth watches you closely, optics finally focusing you. He blinks, Goa glares at you just briefly, from the red sliver of optic that's visible. "Don't have to tell me that. I lived it for vorns." He draws one knee up, and sets the base of his hand on it. "Maybe not good vorns, but vorns that didn't make me look like such an idiot. I don't think so much as a quarter the mechs around here can see that. Certainly weren't around long enough to..." he drifts off. Wondering what he's saying, precisely. Perhaps too eagerly assuming Depth is an alien party. "Oh. /That/ kind of Stalker." Depth nods to you, "Yeah, I know." looking off toward the river, making sure no electrogators are trying to sneak up on us. Then he giggles, peering down at the water, "What the slag.." another snicker. There seems to be movement around his legs, he reaches in and pulls out a squirming black cyber eel. Another giggle, then dropping the little thing back into the water. "Little buggers are playing with my legs." he muses. There certainly is a lot of movement of little black bodies swimming around now. Then he peers at you again, "Eh? You know who I mean eh?" Goa doesn't seem to be paying much attention to the water -- maybe because he assumes there's nothing more fearsome on Cybertron than what he's handled before. "I know /what/ you mean. Sure somebody out at the temple knows more than me. I figure with us, you just shut down and that's it." He whips his head back around when he catches movement in Depth's hands. Cyber eels? "... that's weird. I never seen them pay much attention." Goa glances at his own feet, turning them over. Depth nods to Goa, "Ah good. Stalker don't mess around none. He's taking you to the Great Weld no matter what. No sense trying to beg him either." he notes. Another snicker as the little cyber eels swarm over his legs. "Ticklish little things." he murmurs, "Eh maybe they like me.. or maybe someone's been feeding em." She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes.... or in this case, just around the bend. With every intention of making good on her word, Swivel rolls through the uneven terrain with more abandon that she could have afforded on her last visit, what with not having a metal drum filled with Depth goo strapped to her. However, before it gets too treacherous, she transforms into her more sure-footed robot form, heading to the bank. She cups her hands over her mouth. "MR SLOOSHY, YOU STILL HERE?" She stops herself, seeing two figures amidst the swirling silvery liquid. "Oh...... hullo thar Goa." Goa looks slowly over his shoulder. It takes him a second to recognize Swivel's voice, but his programming knows well enough that his back plate would stop anyone shooting. Or throwing rocks. Or shouting at him. So he's slow. "Hey Swivel." He waves, then looks back at Depth. "Might've smelled that slag you're spitting up." The mech quiets up, antennae out. Why was Swivel here? Funnier to let her explain. Depth turns his head and a bit of his torso toward Swivel, the shiny muscular form peering toward her with a smile. No armor, just him sitting in the river water. The grounder sitting down nearby. "Bubbles. See you came back to check up on an old warrior." he intones, another snicker. "Hey now.. getting naughty down there." he says, shooing the eels away. "Go now.. shoo.. find your mamma or something." he picks that moment to spit up again, but a bunch more this time around. "Hurrrggghhh." Swivel causes the flexible metallic substance that makes up parts of her face to scrunch up and buckle when Depth coughs something up. She tiptoes over to the edge of the river, but does not step in. She just tilts her head to the side, wondering what Goa was doing there. She blinks her topics a few times. "Well, I said I'd come back. You still feeling sick?" She glances over at Goa, then back at Depth. "Well I do not feel quite so bad seeing as you have some company." Goa looks over at Swivel, now that he doesn't have to turn his head so far. He just stares as she seems unsure whether to look at him. Suddenly his attention turns to Depth. "You're sure you don't have any other ideas?" And back to Swivel, with a smirk. "Slooshy." Depth finishes purging and wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand. "Ugh." he mutters, then looking up at Swivel he smiles a little, "Yeah, still sick. River water helps, but its a bit polluted. If it was pure, wouldn't be taking so slagging long." he notes, then a nod, "Goa just got here not too long ago. But I am glad you came back." a nod to Goa, "Kid, if I had other idea don't you think I'd be trying them?" he asks, then a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm Mr. Slooshy. She's Bubbles. Your Kid." Swivel stares into the river. It isn't that she has an aversion to liquid. It was more or less that she had a tendency to somehow lose personal items into rivers... such as losing her diary in a river not long ago. "I'm sorry you're still feeling sick. Can't do anything about the purity of this water, though... you certainly aren't helping matters though." She squats down by the river bed, idly dipping a finger into the liquid, and then stirring it a little. It makes little difference in the current. "You look different." "He does that." Goa rolls his curled-up leg back into the river, rotating his torso so he can face Depth and Swivel properly. "And I dunno. I can get ideas, then forget I get 'em because of conviction. And you've got conviction." He leans forward to look around the xeno, at Swivel. "It doesn't bite." Goa motions at the mercury river itself. Depth inclines his head a bit to Swivel, "I'll live Bubbles. Just taking awhile is all. Never been sick before. This river is as close to my own liquid metal natural state as I can get. I draw it into myself then spit out what is toxic. And yeah I know I'm not helping matters. But slag you folks didn't do it no favors either." a little pause, "Heh, you like it?" he asks, honestly curious. "Just me all in the buff. I'll be good though and not get up in polite company. Might just make you both go into shock." he winks at Swivel, then looks over to Goa. You say, "Uhm..." Something black slithers up out of the water off to Goa's side. It appears that mamma cyber eel is here. She noses at Goa's leg, flashing patterns at him, then nudges at his hand. "Uhmm.. I think it likes you." Swivel laughs sheepishly. "Oh I'm not scared. Actually, I love water. I sometimes wish I turned into a boat. I just have had some bad luck with rivers lately. Losing things." She offers a little shrug and then dips both of her hands and cups water into them. She then brings up the thick, silver goo in her hands, then spreads her fingers, letting it slip through in globs and precious little beads to rejoin its larger body from whence it came. She then looks up at Depth. "You and your weird words. Buff," she says idly as she stands up again, tilting her head to the side, her optics large and wondrous. "Um...? What would make us go into shock? I mean, that you haven't exposed me to already, that is." Goa watches what Swivel's doing, like he's insuring the water does, indeed, not bite her. He starts chuckling deeply at her question, muttering something about "don't get him started". "So it's not your own mass? That's better th-" Goa is instantly distracted by the nudge at his leg, darting his optics toward it, the angle of his helmet frozen. Very slowly, he twists so that he's facing forward again, without moving in the water. "... you think so?" He waits for the eel to quit nudging his hand, then cautiously wiggles the fingers of that hand in the water. Completely rapt by its behavior. Depth is staring at the cyber eel that is half out of the water, addressing Swivel, "Buff. Naked. Without armor." he extrapolates. Then a little snicker, "Bubbles, be careful what you ask around me. Just know I got stuff you shouldn't be seeing and let's leave it to that eh?" Reaching over to the eel slowly and offering a hand, she turns her head and nudges at it. "Mmm hmm, someone's been this mamma and her babies, no doubt of it. Wild critters don't beg for hand outs." he states. The eel flashes patterns, a swarm of babies swirling around her. "Hmm.. what's that about my mass?" Swivel remains outside of the water, placing her hands upon her hips, her optics rapidly going between both of the mechs. She then averts her gaze and looks upwards for a moment or two. After this she shakes her head. "If I didn't have my armor all of my wires would be hanging out and it would be a mess. I need my chassis to function," she says. "You're strange... having form beneath the metal." She cocks an optic ridge. "And as for having things I shouldn't see, what, is it contraband or something?" She glances at the eels for a moment or two, then over at Goa. "Hmmm... I don't imagine they make good pets." Goa shakes his head, poking at the edges of his left optic with his free hand. "Strange is the word." He takes his other hand out of the water, now that Depth's got the creature's attention. "Anything's a good pet if you can feed it." Goa pulls some tiny energon cubes from his subspace, mercury still rolling off his hand, and then places it back in the water. "Figures, that..." He tilts his nose down and drifts off, clearly thinking about or remembering something. Depth watches the eel nudge at his hand a bit more; said eel then turns toward the cubes and nudges at it before taking a bit so the babies can feed off of it.. He hmms softly at Swivel, "That's the difference between your race and mine, Bubbles. You are wires, parts and such woven inside a armored body. Me, I'm liquid metal til I form myself. No parts, no wires. My armor is part of me, solid and tough." he remarks, chuckling a bit at Goa. "Kid if they weren't water bound they'd probably follow you home." then he leans over and upchucks a good gallon of liquid metal with an audible, "Blargh." Oddly enough the big eel takes notice and nudges at the xeno's cheek like she was sympathizing. He hehs, "Thanks." he murmurs to her, straightening back up. "I'm so ****ing thirsty. " he announces. "Goa.... you trailed off. Where's your mind at?" Swivel asks. She decides that she'd much rather turn her attention to Goa, who is not using confusing terms and coughing up muck. Of course she listens to what Depth says about the difference in bodies between the two races, but her optics fall on Goa now. "Mm?" The Decepticon grunts, tilting his helmet back up. There's no more prodding at his hand, so he draws it back again. Empty. "Heh." He looks at both sides of it, then shakes it off. "Just remembering ... before. I tried the whole forest-friends schtick once. It was alright, I've just got a rule, don't feed any animal that could eat you." The mech smiles blankly. "I got a ration or two on me, Depthy, but I don't think straight energon's really your thing, is it." Goa stares back down at the mercury with the same far-off look in his optics. Depth watches the mamma eel and her babies til they all swim off, apparently getting the idea that all they are going to get is a little energon treats. "Good rule." he tells Goa, then draws his knees up out of the water, leaning his arms on top of them, "Energon is fine, may help at least. Been soaking and purging so long now that its getting tiresome, takes a lot out of me." he says, "So if you got some, I'll take it. Will hold me for a bit at least." Swivel finally wades into the river, the mercury swirling gently about her legs, creating a small seam in her wake. "Uh-huh.... good rule. There was a turbo rat I named Moochi and used to feed, but I haven't seen it around much lately," Swivel says. Swivel heads over to stand by Goa, but keeps an optic trained on Depth. "I don't suppose trying to actually recharge in the river would work well for you... goodness knows where you might end up. But on the other hand, it might be fun! Call it an adventure!" Swivel chatters excitedly. Goa gets a proper-sized cube of the purple stuff from his subspace, and passes it to Depth with one hand. His optics trace Swivel as she moves over in front of him. "I bet the electrogators would like that." Now that she's closer by, Swivel may notice the scalpel gash on the left side of his crest. "... moochie?" Depth cocks his head a bit at Swivel then chuckles. "I don't recharge in moving bodies of water." he states, then splashes a handful of water at her, "Now be careful out there, there be electrogators." he notes, another splash for giggles and grins. He takes the cube and takes a sip of it, just to get a taste. "Eh.. tasted worse." he mutters. Another sip. Swivel throws her hands up in front of herself, giggling as the spatter of silver comes sloshing at her. Lowering her hands she smiles and glances around. "I'm not terribly worried 'bout electrogators when I got two strong and kind mechs about to protect vulnerable little me. And besides - EEK!" she throws her arms up as Depth splashes her again She then sticks her hands into the water and then scoops up a fair amount and slings it back at Depth. She keeps one arm up to shield her optics and turns to splash Goa, hating to see him miss out on the fun, when she notices the mark on his head. "Oh, hey.... Goa, where'd you get that?" she asks, pointing at the gash. Goa barely even flinches as the mercury splashes him and rolls off his armor. Suddenly grinning, he kneels forward stabilizing himself with an arm, lowers the other into the water, and sweeps an entire wave toward Swivel with his wide gauntlet. It flows through the row of holes in that plate, making an odd, serrated wake behind him. "Med bay, of course," he snickers. There were many worse answers to that question, considering who he was talking to. Considering his luck, Goa marvels, after a moment, that he managed not to choose one of them. Depth sips on his drink til he gets splashed back. "Hey now.." he laughs, "Oh you are so gonna get it now." he puts down the cube and splashes at her with both hands, "Water fight!" he howls and chuckles, just sluicing the femme with splashes of water. Hey at least he's still sitting there and not say getting up. "Get her Goa!" he grins. Swivel is woefully out slooshed! Swivel raises one of her optic ridges. "Med bay. Of course. Even I could tell that was made with a scal- HEY!" she shrieks, but it is more a sound of merriment than protest. With both of the Mechs gaining up on her for splashing, she simply kicks her legs out from beneath herself and flops into the mercury, making it splash in all directions from her mess, and then slips under the surface grabbing at the bottom to keep herself from being swept away, and lays flat. She then crawls on her belly a little ways to Goa's side with the intention of springing up, throwing as much silvery liquid as she could at him. Goa just gets splashed again by Swivel's belly flop, with the same unmoved reaction. "Hm." He glances over at Depth, then gets jumped, so to speak, by the femme. He brings his arms up and makes his own amused sound, but it's more of a roar, overlaid with a pretty good mimic of an electrogator's rumble -- which dies off into a snicker. "Glah!" The 'Con covers his face with one arm and splashes spastically with the other. Depth aws as Swivel disappears, splooshed by her flop. "Well two can play that game." he states, slipping into the water silently.. well more like melting into it. Then instead of popping up behind her, or even in front of her, she feels his hands around her legs and a YANK meant to dunk her in the river water. Hands move off her legs and he rises up to about chest height off to her side, chuckling. "I know all the sly, sneaky, underhanded move in the book. No one can out maneuver me." Swivel catches herself so not to clumsily flop back into the water... which was an exercise in futility as her legs are grabbed and she goes down with an "AIYEEEEEEEEEE" amidst the frantic splashing from Goa. After going under she props herself up on her hands and knees, then slowly raises to her feet. "Awe come on... ya'll aren't being terribly gentlemechly ganging up on a wee lil' femme like myself," Swivel says, but one can hear the humor in her voice. However, she does have her own sneaky little trick, but this one doesn't involve the river. She just turns casually to Depth. "Well, I ain't ever said I was sneaky, just doin' what I can to get an edge," she says. And then her headlights suddenly flicker on to their most intense setting. Yes. Swivel, did indeed, just flash Depth. Literally. Depth snickers softly then pouts a bit, "Never said I was a gentlemech." he notes, wading back to his spot at the edge of the river, some of his armor forming around his waist so nothing too shocking shows. Then he gets head lighted. "Great my vision just came back and you gotta blind me. Nice." he sits down with a harrumph! Goa snickers and rolls himself backward to the shallower waters. He's nearly coated in mercury. Looking over his arms, he starts to chuckle, "Hey Depthy, check it out, I'm you." stretches, her expression showing how pleased she is with herself, even if it was a spiteful thing to blind Depth. "You'll be fine, Depth. Just take it easy," Swivel says. She starts heading out of the water, beads of mercury rolling off of her and rejoining the river as she moves. As fun as that was, she doesn't fancy losing any items she may not have secured properly on her person. She laughs at Goa. "Splendid impersonation, Goa. now you just need to be boisterous and snoop into people's business." Depth hms, "Yeah right kid. Need these." he flexes his arm muscles. Another bout of puke comes upon the mech and a good couple gallons of liquid mercury spew out of his mouth. He wipes at his mouth and hmms, "Say, I feel better." he then picks up the cube and sips on it some more. He ponders a few moments as he sips, then gets his vision back, "Think though I'll need a good long rest after this whole puke party of mine. Just puddle up near the river here." Goa clambers to his feet and watches astutely. "Alright, so I've got to do this," He raises his arms out to the sides. Well, there's tires there. It's a start. But the actual supports? Twiggish. And the mercury's already draining off his armor, returning him to his typical glaring green, though perhaps with a new sheen. "And then this? Bloorrgaagg--" He does the thing where his glossa hangs out again. "Right?" He looks at Swivel. "Boisterous? Snoopin'? So you mean like antagonize Megatron?" He smirks at Depth, "I dunno Slooshie. I dunno." He lifts and spins the trapped river water from each ankle tire in turn, then turns to head up the riverbank. "You guys're alright, and I've gotta at least look like I'm working." He offers Depth and Swivel a casual salute before scuttling off. "I see a Stalker, I'll shoot 'im." Swivel lifts one of her feet as she steps onto the bank, and then gives it a little shake, flinging the last of mercury off. She then repeats this process with her other foot. "Of course we're alright." She glances over her shoulder towards Depth. "You'll be fine here on your own? I think snoozing in a puddle might be the best option now." She glances off to the distance. "More people need to have fun every once in a while... without it involving beating on each other and messing with people's heads." Depth sips down the rest of the contents of the cube, then crawls over to a shallow hole near the edge of the river. "Ah, perfect." he murmurs sitting down in the middle of it and allowing everything but his head puddle down into it. He snickers at Goa, then comments softly, "I think I'm flattered. As for that, I may come back and do it some more, Megatron is emotionally unstable." then a pause before he states soberly, "Can't shoot Stalker, he's already dead. Take care, kid." is offered as the grounder heads off. "I'll be fine Bubbles, and I agree." then the head too melts down into the puddle.
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