| abstract
| - Depth is seated cross legged in the middle of the old star port, a large telescope held in both hands. The narrow end is against his right optic, and the wide end pointed up toward the sky.. specifically at the time rift. Whilst not the queen of stealth, Swivel enters the ancient star port with careful, quiet steps. She pauses a moment, taking her time to inspect her surroundings before her optics settle upon Depth's seated form. As quietly as she entered, she makes her way swiftly over to Depth. Without a word, she sits down beside him, no longer moving quite so silently. Depth sniffs the air, still looking through the telescope a bit longer. Slowly it moves it off his optic, turning his head toward you. "Good cycle Swivel." he offers softly, "What brings you out here hm?" Swivel crosses her legs, and then lets her hands fall into her lap, her elbows resting languidly upon her thighs. "Curiosity." Yes. That single word explained a lot of the reason behind most of what she did. She cocks her head to the side, offering an airy smile as she looks over the telescope, then turns her gaze to the sky. Depth hmms then nods slowly, "About anything in particular?" he inquires carefully, moving the telescope across his lap and resting his hands on top of it. Swivel maintains her casual position, still staring out at the great beyond. "Well... been thinking... how do you know this time rift is your buds coming to fetch you? That and for a tear in time and fabric... it sure is a slowpoke." Depth ahs softly, "Good questions, Swivel." he murmurs, optics studying you carefully. "Time rifts are temperamental and not something you can rush. Gotta wait for them to decide if they'll open more or close right back up. Gotta take all sorts of scans to figure out how long it'll stay open." he explains, "As for them coming for me, I know here." he taps his helmet with a finger of his right hand. "That and I think I see something that looks like a ship coming through." Swivel looks up again at the rift, squinting, as if she expected to see something without the aid of a telescope. Of course, she couldn't. But nonetheless she is quiet for a few moments with squinty optics and a mouth pushed down to look serious, perhaps even studious. "Hmmmm..." she even adds after a moment. "Well, what if it closes right back up while the ship is halfway through. Will the ship exist half in one time and half in another?" Depth cocks his head a bit to that, "Uhm.. to be honest with you it'd probably sever the ship right in half. Half staying on one side, the other here. I rather not think of that happening to them and being stuck here too." Swivel allows her smile to broaden at the idea of the ship being just cut in half. "It would be.... a weird way for a ship to be ruined. A good story to tell once things were fixed..." she removes her hands from her lap and leans back,. planing them behind her to steady her from falling flat on her back - which was quite possible due to the positioning of her tires. "But I wouldn’t want your friends to get into any trouble. So... how long do you figure this rift will stay open? Or do you not know?" Depth moves his hands to the telescope again, cupping it gently in his palms. "A good story.. perhaps.. so long as they didn't take out anyone or anything while doing so." he states, glancing at the telescope a moment, "I wouldn't want them in trouble either. As for how long, I've no slagging clue. Did you want to look?" "Oh!" Swivel squeals enthusiastically and makes grabby hands at the telescope. Depth chuckles at that hand motion, "Treat it gentle." he cautions. Handing the telescope over to you. "Just put an optic to the small end here, then point that big end to the following coordinates 508.41 by 273.9. You'll see a little readout in light green in the lower left curve.. its tiny but it's there.. that's the coordinates. Swivel gleefully takes the telescope, but is showing restraint in order to handle it gently as instructed. She keeps bobbing her head as Depth explains on how to use it, eagerly putting her optic to the eyepiece to peer through. "Uh-huh... uh-huh.... what were those coordinates again?" Depth chuckles a bit, repeating the numbers. "Got that?" he asks, hands resting on his knees as he watches you handle the telescope. Swivel gleefully responds with a "yup" and moves the telescope until the coordinates read 508.41 by 273.9. She is quiet for a moment or two. "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh...... pretty.... kinda freaky..." The coordinates show a black opening in space, it looks bigger in that telescope. The very tip of a large ship has begun to make its way through. Looks very futuristic. "Mmm hmmm." Depth intones. Swivel is quiet for a moment more. "So.... yes, I see the ship. And you know that this is their ship? It's one you are familiar with? Because I would be sad if it wasn't your friends and something threatening coming to cause even more problems to Cybertron. We have our troubles, and don't need anymore." Depth mms softly, "I need to see a bit more of it before I'm 100 percent sure, but yeah that looks like something from the quadrant we lost out ship in. Shadow is like majorly independently wealthy being like the crown prince and all. Folks would still take his money cuz he put it all off world just in case something bad went down on the home world. I got to give him kudos for his forethought." Continues to make polite "Uh-huh" noises and slight nods that wouldn't knock her forehead into the eyepiece of the telescope. However, in all truth, Depth seemed to have lost her at the words 'crown prince'. Depth chuckles softly, "You got no clue what I'm talking about do you sweetness?" he asks with a soft purr to his tone. "Mm-hmmm," is Swivel's response as she peers through the telescope. "Not a clue." Depth laughs, slapping his knee a little. He does that for a short while, then sobers up. "Shadow is royalty. Sort of like your Prime here, but more money and probably better looking." he notes, a little snicker added there. Swivel raises her optic ridges and finally pulls her head back, turning to glance at Depth as he bellows out a laugh. "Well... of course he'd be better looking to you; he's your species. I'm sure Prime is a fine looking mech... I mean, I've only seen images, never seen him for real. You know, come to think of it, some people you don't really know how good looking they are until you see them for real, because, well, some of it is how they hold themselves! I mean, some people just act pretty or ugly." Depth continues to snicker, now rolling onto his back cuz he finds the fact you believed him very amusing indeed! Legs kicking a bit as he roll side to side, holding his belly area with his hands.. just laughing his fool head off. Eventually he calms down enough to actually talk, "Heh, sweetness.. hee.. you are too easy." he snickers a bit, "I wasn't being serious. Mechs are mechs. I wouldn't know a good looking one from an ugly one if you paid me all of Shadows' vast royal fortune." another little snicker, then he sobers up, "Heh, sorry bout that, needed a good laugh. Shadow was always good for a laugh. I'll be happy to see that sappy do gooder virgin." Swivel watches as Depth goes into a hysterical fit of laughter, and begins laughter as such amusement is contagious. However, she isn't the one rolling around at the whims of mirth. When she lets her own giggling come to a slow she just wears a smile. "I think that being easy is one of my endearing qualities, don't you?" She Sets the telescope down. "How do you know Shadow is a virgin? I mean, you've spent time away. Things could have changed." Depth stares at you a long, hard moment. Totally not moving. Just.. staring. He mutters something that is definitely a cuss word. Then he nods, "I don't know, that's true. If he got himself a lady, then good on him. About slagging time. If not, it’s the same as usual." he notes, chuckling a bit. "You know, yer pretty smart. I sort of thought maybe you weren't in the beginning." Swivel stares back at Depth. She is equally quiet, but her face becomes more and more perplexed in gradients, until it's screwed up in charicature-esque portrayal of puzzlement. When he finally speaks her expression gets less extreme until she offers a small, sheepish grin. "I ain't smart, I just make lucky guesses sometimes." Depth shrugs, "Guess or not, still you got a point." he states, shifting his legs out of a crossed position, drawing them up so he can cup his knees with his hands, feet flat on the ground. "I think they'll land here, its big and clear." Swivel glances back up at the sky for a moment then looks over at Depth. "Well, I make points every once in a while. It happens to everyone," Swivel says. "I just figure if while you've been here you've managed to fall in love, then the same could happen to this friend of yours. Or he could be the same old, same old. I guess you're eager to find out and catch up either way." Depth hms, "Another good point. If he found love, then great. Means he and Magmorta found some of our species that survived either the home world or the prison planet when they got munched." he states, "I pray to the Divine Weld they did. I wouldn't like the odds of the species surviving with just three of us alive. May as well just throw ourselves into the sun or something.. get it over with.." Swivel tilts her head to one side and then the other. "Well... things work in mysterious ways. Lots of causes once thought lost or hopeless... well things happen. Good or bad, extraordinary things happen, and I believe in those extraordinary things. I believe the impossible is more likely to happen than the improbable." Depth stares at you again, optics brightening. "Slag Swivel... you are scary with the guesses." he murmurs, moving a hand off a knee to scuff a couple knuckles off your chin. "Yer a good kid." Swivel smiles, not flinching as her chin is brushed by with knuckles. She returns with reaching out and giving a hardy pat on the back of Depth's shoulder, with a closed fist rather than an open hand. "I try to be. I may be foolish, but I try to be good. I'm not much strong in ways people usually want to be, you know? So being good is all I got, but hey, that's enough for me. Course I have my mischief, but I think someone who is good all of the time is... well... not actually good. They aren't comfortable enough with themselves to indulge once in a while, and can't be actually very happy." Depth doesn't mind the fist cuff against his shoulder, not at all. He peers at you intently though, then nods. "Yeah, well I'll hope that you got someone extraordinary in the stars for you there sweetness. Just like you cannot be all good without a little bad, you cannot always be alone either. It’s good to have someone to call a friend.. or maybe even a lover... to depend on, to lean on.. someone you can trust with secrets, who will be there no matter what." Swivel shrugs her shoulders and looks out into the wide expanse of.... well... space. Cybertron has sort of an openness to it. "Ha ha ha... well, perhaps it would be nice to be loved for real. But... I don't try to come off as a loner, I just try to let people know I'm not sad being without. I have lots of friends...." she trails off for a moment or two. "...but I guess not really really close ones. The last person I relied on and told all my feelings and secrets to..." Depth listens quietly, then nods. "It's nice to be loved for real. Trust me. And it's good you got friends." then he notices that pause there. "I feel one of those ugly buts coming on..." Swivel shrugs her shoulders. "No ugly buts. I just guess my problem isn't that I push everyone away, but that I'm not discerning in who I open up to." Depth hms softly to that one, "I see.." he rubs at his chin with a hand. "Tell me something Swivel, when you first met me.. what did your gut tell you.. as in what were the first words that came to mind? The first thoughts?" Swivel leans back, lifting her chin, and bringing a solitary finger to tap upon her chin. "Hmmmm...." she thinks for a moment or two. "Well.... when I first saw you, curiosity more than coherent thoughts came first. Then Amusement. You were different. Interesting. But you didn't feel threatening at all. I guess I felt you were someone that wouldn't hurt me unless I provoked you." Depth bobs his head a few times, then chuckles. "Good. Excellent. That's your key there, who feels a threat and who doesn't. If your thoughts are all tell you to be wary, best to listen to them rather than find out too late you should have done so." he notes, "How about Greeny?" he asks. Swivel tilts her head to the side for a moment or two. "Greeny? You mean Goa?" she asks for clarification. As far as she'd known Depth, he always just called Goa 'kid'. Depth nods, "Yep, the kid.. Goa.. what was your first thoughts?" Swivel tilts her head back again. "Hmmm...." she says and then whips out a small data pad. She uses a stylus to click through a few menus, glances at the text that appears, and then quickly powers it off and stows it away again. "My first impression was "Hey look! Another Drunk Mech to talk to!" to be honest. However, he didn't seem terribly threatening despite him having sharp teeth. Not the pointiest I'd seen, mind you." Depth mmms, then chuckles, "Ah the first impression is a dandy ain't it.. it’s the one you never escape... he's lucky he was drunk... probably more open that way anyway." he notes. A pause though as he reaches over to take his telescope back, "Mind if I have that back now?" Swivel nods her head, making a permissive sweeping gesture with her hand. "Go ahead. I'll not keep what ain't mine from you," she responds. "And, yeah, probably best he was drunk. Oh my, that is terrible, isn't it? I just love it when he's drunk and says things he shouldn't." Depth finishes the rest of the reach over, taking his telescope carefully in a hand. "Nah, not terrible.. bad.. maybe." he notes with a humored tone. He lifts the telescope to his optic and points it at the rift, "Like whut?" he asks. Swivel shrugs her shoulders. "Gossip mostly. Learned quite a few interesting tibbits about a few 'cons, as well as colorful opinions he has for some others. But I been good at not spreading it around, but it was amusing to me at any rate." Depth chuckles a little, then hmms, "Eh well I won't ask you what he said considering that I know for sure now that the ship coming through that rift definitely is something Shadow would be piloting around." Swivel draws her knees up to her chest and stares up at the sky, although without the aid of the telescope she could not possibly see the ship. "Well... how fast does it seem to be moving?" Depth hmms, "Hard to tell, cannot make something that big go too fast through a rift, just in case you misjudged how big the rift was and end up cutting off a part of the sides of the ship." Swivel pops her optic wide open. "Really? You can't just sort of... wiggle through?" Depth keeps looking at the ship as it moves through the rifts. "Its a ship, it don't wiggle.. waggle.. or otherwise shimmy. It's not like its from the home planet after all.. now one of those could squeeze through with no problem." Swivel shrugs her shoulders. "Well I figured since you could sloosh, maybe your vehicles could also sloosh is all. I mean, it makes sense to suppose that, doesn't it?" Depth lowers the telescope from his optic. "It does. But this isn't a ship from our world, like I said. But I see the family crest on the uppermost cabin.. so its definitely Shadow." Swivel smiles. "Well, then it looks like your strong belief in them coming was not misguided! I couldn't be happier for you." Depth nods his head, "Thanks Swivel." he puts the telescope in his subspace. "I'll buy you a drink before they show up okay, sort of a good bye gift." Swivel smiles even more broadly, but then quickly sobers up, her optics going wide for a moment. "Um.... it'd be nice, but don't order me one of your Blue Blasters, okay?" she requests in a light tone, but then snorts and begins giggle. Depth nods, "I'll do that sweetness. For now though, I want to watch that ship get all the through the rift safely." Swivel nods her head. "Yes, I understand... you want to be sure everything happens right, even if you could not do anything even if something went wrong... unless... that is... there's something you could do from back here? I mean... you have a key that alters memories, so I really do not know how far your powers extend." Depth nods, "Key should only be used sparingly. I'll only use it if I absolutely have to.. so yeah I'm gonna sit here and make sure they get through okay. Then I'll have to find Firestorm and spend some time with her too. Say good bye to the kid.." Swivel nods her head. "Firestorm? Ah, so finally you speak her name. Guess I feel REAL trusted now, but I guess it matters little since you'll be gone soon enough," she says. She stands up, dusting off her thighs and back tires. She then stretches. "Well, I best get going. Hope all goes well. And if you don't have time to buy me a drink, I'll by myself a drink and just pretend it's from you. You'll probably just rather spend the rest of any remaining time with Firestorm... and I'll say bye to Goa for you." Depth nods. "Yeah, that's her name." he replies, watching you get up. Reaching into subspace he pulls out some creds, "Here, just in case I don't get to buy you that drink, take these and buy yourself a Blue Buster and have a toast to the future eh?" Swivel bobs her head, and takes the credits without much of a second thought. "Thank you very much Depth. I'll toast your favorite drink to the future... and then get Goa to drink it. Better him have loose lips than me!" Depth chuckles. "That's the spirit. Take care Swivel." he says, offering her a hand. Swivel takes the hand and shakes it. "You too, Mr. Slooshy! If I actually get a chance to meet this Shadow friend of yours, I'd be sure to refer to you as Mr. Slooshy! There's nothing like embarrassing people in front of their friends as a way of showing affection," she says brightly. She lets go of his hand and turns to leave much less carefully than her arrival had been. Depth grips your hand, turning it slightly then plants a kiss on your knuckles before he releases your hand. "You do that.. he'll get a good laugh out of it."
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