11 - Action for Azalea / Text

[show_my_cannons]

[He jerks awake. Immediately, his hand goes to his chest, to the back of his head, fingers scrambling over his human form.]

[Everything is whole. Everything intact. There's no rust, no gaping wounds from Sentinel's weapon. Even the scars remain. His body is breathing, it's moving. Its systems are functioning as well as can be expected. Even his hip and shoulder feel better.]

[That's not right.]

[He hadn't made it out of DC. He'd felt everything go dark, felt his systems crumble away while he tried to fight to stand up, to shoot, to act and not let the inevitable happen. They'd been betrayed -- he couldn't lie down and let it happen. He'd tried, he'd tried with every failing piece of his strength to stay online. But it hadn't been enough.]

[And now he's here. Alive.]

[It feels like he's been gone for years. And it was -- since the battle in Egypt, it had been three years... His eyes rest on the 'gear.]

[For a while, he just sits in silence, staring at it, while gradually realizing there are people here who may be concerned for him. His team... his friends... they're beyond his grasp now. That realization in particular feels like a physical blow, and he has to bow his head and breathe for a few minutes longer before he can pull himself back together. His allies. His leader. Everything he'd fought for, everything he'd tried so desperately to return to, was gone.]

[There is no more going back.]

[Finally... Ironhide picks up his 'gear, and taps out a brief, halting message.]


How long was I out?

Feels like... |

[He leaves the text unfinished, dropping the 'gear in favor of silence and brooding.]



((ooc: Potential spoilers for Dark of the Moon abound in the post and possibly in the comments.))

Comments

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

I am.

[He was built to be a soldier, anyway. Was.]

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

Y'jus' think y'were. War's nasty business, an' I don't b'lieve th'Good Lord'd evah make someone made jus' f'r it. Don' care if y'are from anothah planet.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

I was built to be a soldier. All Spark saw to that. Not any... lord.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

[All what?]

I ain' gonna start preachin'--not m'job anyway. [She puts the hanky away] I still don' think bein' a soldier's all y'c'n do.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

Good. Because I doubt I would listen.

[There's the old, blunt, honest Ironhide again.]

Nothing wrong with being a soldier.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

[Phew]

Course there ain', but there's more t'life than fightin'!

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

[He wants to argue. He really does. But what can he really say to that?]

[There's no more to his life.]

Sure.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

...You sure you're okay, sugah?

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

Fine. Just processing.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

Processin'?

[Use small words, Ironhide]

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

[But that is a small word.]

Thinking.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

Oh.

[Lottie smiles a little]

Y'want me t'go an' get y'critters? Think Napalm's missed ya.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

[He blinks -- he'd almost, amidst everything that happened, forgotten about the trio of creatures traipsing after him.]

[... or more like five, since the old 'bot sort of forgot he'd received a pair of eggs before passing out cold.]

They... would let her in here?

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

[A pause as Lottie remembers how big the Onix is.]

Maybe? Can' hurt t'ask, y'were just asleep f'r a week an' only woke up t'day.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

... Ask if you want.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

Be righ' back.

[Lottie scurries off, coming back a bit later with Napalm's ball]

One at a time, they said. Here's Napalm.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

[Ironhide hasn't moved much, if at all. He's actually pulled a blanket around his shoulders.]

... She really going to fit in here?

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

[Lottie looks around]

...How big is she again?

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

Twenty-something feet.

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

[Lottie just...looks at him]

Thought she was six feet. Guess that 'xplains th'nurses chucklin' at me...

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

You... thought an Onix was six feet?

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

I don' see a lotta 'em!

[Huffy.]

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

Then... who was looking after her?

[action]

[daddydothis.livejournal.com]

They had her in th'ball, mosta th'time. I think. I was too busy doin' othah stuff t'look aftah her, anyway.

[action]

[show_my_cannons]

... Then I should take her out. See to her.