| abstract
| - Starscream is currently taking a 'coffee' (energon) break as the armor is getting replaced on Trypticon. Goa's only visible signature is the cloud of dust he kicks up as he passes by at range, apparently drawing a wide perimeter around Trypticon. Starscream feels more secure now that more patrollers are on duty. Slipstream is on top of the beasts' head, but spots the dust, "Have a contact, going to investigate." she rises up and flies over to inspect who this is... +Roll: Goa rolls against his Intelligence Stat and fails by 4! The total roll was 15. Goa decides to take a shortcut across some rubble to get a look at how well Slipstream and the others finished the placement of his traps, from a safe distance (as in his specifications, anyway). Slipstream lowers down to cut him off, landing just 20 yards away. "Hello Gooey." she says with a hint of a smile. Goa coasts to a stop. "Hey." The vehicle is quiet and motionless for a minute, as if waiting. Slipstream puts a hand on her hip, "Checking on how I managed the traps hmm?" "Yes." Goa stays quiet, but disengages his brakes to roll forward and back slightly. "Has anyone used them?" he adds, after another long pause. Slipstream shakes her head, "No one as of yet, it's been curiously quiet." she reports, "Feel free to inspect and adjust as you wish to, but I think I did a decent job." Goa starts to move forward slowly -- no rev of the engine, just idling -- turning off to the left to resume his patrol. "No, I trust you. Don't want to trigger anything." Slipstream nods and rises up slightly, "Good, I rather not have to visit you in med bay for a while." she muses. Goa seems to be all about the awkward pauses today. "... agreed." Suddenly, and in mid-roll, he transforms, hopping about to face the seeker with an unnaturally cheery grin and squint. "Have they made any progress on the lizard? Gotten him to move, maybe?" Slipstream hovers toward the beast as Goa asks that question, "Working on the armor. Starscream seems impatient." +Roll: Goa rolls against his Wing-walking Knowledge and succeeds by 1! The total roll was 8. +Roll: Goa rolls against his Agility Stat and succeeds by 1! The total roll was 13. Goa quickly crouches and makes a bit of a surprise leap at Slipstream's back, gripping his arms first around her neck, then her shoulders, to bypass the irritation of sitting near or on her wings. "Is Starscream ever patient?" he mumbles. Starscream is rarely patient! +Roll: Slipstream rolls against her Agility Stat and succeeds by 4! The total roll was 12. +Roll: Slipstream rolls against her Strength Stat and succeeds by 2! The total roll was 10. Slipstream wasn't quite expecting Goa to leap up on her like that, but lucky for him she's able to take that and not fall either on her back or her front. "Frisky much Gooey?" she whispers, then a chuckle, "I don't think so, no." Goa leans forward to see better, looking over at Slipstream with one optic ridge angled inward. "Fri...?... never mind." He puts his still-a-bit-unsure smirk on. "Well, there you go then. If it makes the guy feel better, I can weld some scrap to 'is legs, or something. Or give the requisition officer a hard time." His uneasiness melts to an innocent grin after that last bit of dialogue. Slipstream puts up with carrying Goa to the beast, "Leave that to those than can do so and not do damage to themselves or the beast." she notes, "Now if you don't mind, would you please get off?" +Roll: Goa rolls against his Agility Stat and succeeds by 9! The total roll was 5. Goa braces his heels against the seeker's back a moment, then makes a quaint jump over to perch on Trypticon nose in the usual spot. "Only 'cause I like you." He crosses one leg under himself to sit and start his scan of the eastern horizon. Slipstream settles to the higher spot of the beast's head, comments softly, "Only like?" watching his back as he seems to relax in front of her. Goa pauses his scan, slowly turns to look back at Slipstream, projects a smirk of such magnitude that it /might/ be comparable to its mirror in the colossal face of Unicron himself, then points his optics back out to the ground. Slipstream's optics narrow a hint, arms crossing over the glass of her canopied chest. She looks slightly not amused right now. Goa wouldn't notice. "So..." he ponders, "Had any more trouble in Cubicron?" Slipstream says, "Not gone back there since the last time, seems I cannot take you anywhere.. or meet you anywhere either." Goa ends his scan and turns to look up at Slipstream again -- his facial features droop as he takes in the standoffish pose and glare. "Hey..." He pushes off and stands up, whispering a sigh from his fans, "I didn't mean for anything to happen. It was a..." The mech pauses, either to gather words or fight off his own internally souring mood, "... a long day, right? A long, weird day." Slipstream looks unamused when he looks back, a scowl making her actually look ugly. "Fine." is all she has to say to that. A deadly word.. fine.. Goa's optics just blink a few times as he stares at Slipstream, expression a bitter medley of hurt, confusion, and just a dash of worry, all molded into the sad shape of an abandoned cyber puppy. Slipstream's face soften a bit at that look on Goa's face. "Why you care about her anyway?" she asks. "Just a slave." "Her? Who? What are..." Goa scoots around to perch facing Slipstream and tilts his helmet, seemingly at an utter loss... "-- Waaaait. The femme from the Sleazo? Tempo?" An incredulous, wide-eyed smile appears. "You actually thought ... wow, okay. Sorry, Slippy." He chuckles nervously. "Should've had Echo talk to you." "Slip, I would've done that if it was a mech, a femme, or a pit-slagged turbo raptor." Goa's optics narrow in a playful way. "I hate it. Hate the little reminders how bad it's gotten. How bad Cubi's gotten." Slipstream still has those arms crossed firmly over her canopied chest as she peers down at you. "Yes, her. You two stepped out and just left me there like I didn't even matter. Was her voice that good?" she asks, sounding a little hurt, "I could have been ganged up on while you two were playing hero." Goa shies away, arms hooked around his legs, looking further hurt. "I didn't ask Echo to come with me. Didn't have heroic intentions." His chin rests across his knees, and his optics flutter dim. "'d you even see me paying attention? No, I just saw the mess outside. Didn't care about her. Just Cubicron. Slag, like releasing a confused 'slave' is noble for anyone involved." Slipstream states, "Yes he did, you two attacked her handler then killed him. Left me in that bar with a mech that was friendly enough but picked up another mech like he was nothing at all." uncrossing her arms now to put her hands on her hips. "Why do you even care about that town." Goa has a low gurgle in his vocalizer, nearly a growl. "Close to home, Slips. Close to home. That's what Cybertron seems to want to show me." He rattles his helmet and stands up to look the femme in the eye. "I didn't kill him." The green mech speaks this with a complete, serious deadpan, then he lightens, almost visibly as his shoulder struts un-tense and the associated tires drift upward just a centimeter or two. "... Nor did I intend to. I'm sorry you had trouble." Slipstream inclines her head a little in understanding. Sighing patiently she says, "I wish I had such a connection to a place like that.. but I don't. As for the trouble, it's not like the mech picked me up and glared me down." "No, but he could've." Goa frowns a bittersweet frown, then takes one confident step forward and plants the side of his head on the seeker's chest. He's actually twitching a little, but is fighting a full-on tremble if it exists. "Don't you remember how confused I was? About how femmes got such a difficult time? I just figure, you're a Decepticon, I'm a Decepticon, you're trained to take care of yourself." Slipstream peers down at the top of his helm not sure why he is twitching. "I remember, yes. Didn't give you an answer that satisfied you from what I recall. It's something hard to explain without actually just seeing it for yourself. Then it would be more clear to you. As for taking care of myself, I could have... just would be nice to know that someone had my six." Goa wraps his arms around the femme in an awkward, wing-avoiding hug, then backs off a step or two. "I'll take your 12 and 3 and 9 too, if you're slow, Slippy. Just got to make a ruckus about it." He sits back down again, swinging his legs to dangle off the side of the immense Trypticon's head, and giving the horizon -- maybe the sky, the way his nose is tilted -- another good look, without the mechanical motions of a scan. Slipstream softens to the hug and asks, "Three shifts in a row?" she inquires, trying to ascertain his full meaning. She had the rest of this shift to finish up which ended at 12, then she could recharge. 12 was coming up soon. Goa looks down a bit lower, then over to Slipstream. "... circle divided into 12 points." He makes a swirling motion with one hand. "Used to navigate on a flat plane? Got a contact on my 3, my 4, my 8?" The mech's expression goes utterly blank for a solid click as he shuffles through his databank trying to figure out precisely /where/ he picked that up. "... slaggin' walking laser party ..." he mumbles, not directed at anyone or anything in particular, before turning back away and hunching, arms supported by his lap. "I'll pick up your shifts if you want." Slipstream nods to your explanation of the points and can visualize it. "I understand what you mean by the circle but sounded like three shifts in a row and even Megatron would frown on that. How about just take my first one next cycle, then the second one on the cycle following that, then back to the first for the cycle following that?" Goa nods slowly, slowly becoming more and more self-conscious as he tries to rub the paint from the knuckles of his hands. "Sure. You got somewhere to be?" Slipstream cocks her head at him then states, "I could use the time for other purposes. Where that takes me I won't know until I decide what to do with that time." "Hey, just curious." Goa seems to get bored with this view of the star scape and flops backwards, crossing his hands on his chest. "Think I've spent... enough time in Polyhex for a few decacycles' worth anyway. Glad to get out. Even if I've gotta do it through Starscream's muffled cursing." Slipstream smirks at that last comment and lowers her hands from her hips, since you are all relaxed she is more alert to the area now. "I've heard words out of that mouth that made me a bit confused. I guess he's older than he looks." Goa entertains himself by locating some star maps he downloaded while hooked up to the Polyhex network and overlaying it on his optics. "You never told me when you came online." Slipstream turns slightly as she scans the horizon. "Indeed." she notes softly, having to take a few moments to go back to that first moment of consciousness. "Does it matter to you how old I am?" she asks, curious. Goa rolls his head from side to side, making a weird rumble-grind noise between the back of his helmet and Trypticon's hull. "Why would it? Not like you cared how long I'd been kicking around." Starscream has been taking a recharge break. So he's groggy now. He looks up at Goa and Slipstream. "Everything secure?" he wonders Slipstream pauses from answering that as she calls down, "All is well, Commander." then whispering to Goa, "Longer than I have, Gooey. I read up on you." "Secure as it can be with me around," Goa shouts, then chuckles to himself, looking at the femme, perhaps to extend it to her as well. "Okay, so? You gonna tell me you got sparked the day before I landed here or somethin'?" Slipstream smiles a bit to that question, then shakes her head. "Goodness no. They'd never have let me join this army if I was that young. I'd barely be out of academy." Goa slowly moves his hands to clasp behind his head, kicking both heels against the hull behind them randomly. Still staring up at Slipstream, he smirks, though perhaps not as incorrigibly as before. "If you don't want to tell me, don't, though I feel you won't be able to hide it much longer anyway." Slipstream muses that over a few moments, "You'd be in my profile looking it up, like I know you will the moment you got the free time to do so. Not like it's a big secret, just that.." she drifts off, ".. I guess you'd think less of me being less experienced than others." Goa crosses one leg over the other. "Why the slag would I care? I didn't even make it /to/ the academy. Much less /through/ it. Probably still wouldn't." He smiles more gently, now. "I have no intention of background checking you, Slipstream." Slipstream considers and says, "Point made. I was privileged to be put through academy." then tells you her date of spark coming online down to a nanosecond. Goa has no visible shock. If anything, he just looks more calm. "That's good. That's a date, some information," he mutters, bringing one hand around to his beard, "A point when... hmm." He just chuckles away whatever he was going to say, and claws his heels in to sit up. Slipstream states, "My shift is over, Goa. My replacement is below. I shall be going to get my recharge in so I'm ready for my next shift." Goa nods. "Thanks, Slip. Good cycle."
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