show_my_cannons | 11 - Action for Azalea / Text

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11 - Action for Azalea / Text

[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.))

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[Ironhide's response is delayed. What she's describing is admirable, on her father's part. And he can understand it. He would have done anything in his power to make sure his charges stayed safe.]

[... Would have.]

[Except, he's not dead here. He's still alive, for now.]

[After a long silence, he fiddles with the 'gear, until he gets it set just so. His voice is rough, hoarse.]

I will protect you.

[It isn't that he doubts her ability. It isn't that he thinks she needs protecting from an annoying bookworm.]

[It's a purpose.]

[Something he has to do. Or he really has nothing left.]

_{[As far as Heather's concerned, the world may never know that its strongest man was a diminutive, mild-mannered novelist, but she knows the truth and that'll just have to be good enough. Ironhide no doubt would understand ol' man Mason's determination to keep his adopted child safe.]

[When the speakers come on, it startles her slightly, but she hits the voice button on her own 'Gear.]

[Normally, she might have protested... insisted she could look out for herself, or even tried to reassure him that she'd be fine, she had lots of people looking out for her.]

[But there is something in his voice right now that freezes any notion of saying such before it can so much as try to come out of her mouth. And... truth be told?]

[Lately, she's really been thinking a lot about just how lucky she is to have people who'd do that for her. People like Ironhide.]}

... Thank you.

_{[She can tell that something terrible happened to him when he went back. Not a clue what it is, whether it's something new and devastating or just being re-immersed in the horrors of the war he often spoke of, but it's terrible, whatever it is.]

[So she'll just be saying thanks, completely sincerely.]

[...And you'd better not add anything about it just being a duty, buddy-- she knows that. She's thanking you anyway.]}

[He hears the sincerity. It almost makes him choke. She isn't the one who needs to be thankful. It's his duty. His purpose. Something that's been denied to him now, in his rightful place.]

[Except there are people like Heather, here. Like Kisa. And Cliff and his creatures. Who need him.]

[That someone is letting him be needed, letting him do his duty as an Autobot, as Ironhide... The acceptance has just given the old soldier back one of the core pieces of himself. He's the one who should be thanking her.]

Yeah.

[And, being Ironhide, he can't think of anything to say beyond that.]

[Hopefully the word is enough to convey how he feels. How very grateful he is.]

_{[Aw, old man...]

[It is enough to convey it-- Heather knows he's not a man of many words. And the fact that he's not gruffly insisting that it's just what he does says a lot more to her than anything else does.]}

Once you guys get moving, lemme know if you wind up close to Ecruteak.

I wanna start learning.

_{[After all, wasn't education the best kind of protection when you got right down to it?]}

Yeah... I will. Think Cliffjumper wants to get to that... golden place.

[He has to pause before he can respond. There's silence on the end of his line, except for some shaky breathing.]

['I wanna start learning' hits him harder than expected. There's still some good he can do. Even now...]

Sure. Soon as we get there.

_{[There's a lot of good that he can do.]}

Goldenrod?

Yeah, that place is like... the hub of this whole country, from what I've seen. Bet you guys'll like it. _{[It's a lot better than AZALEA, for sure-- at least to Heather. She never liked living out in the sticks anyway.]}

[He just needs to be reminded, sometimes.]

That where all the fuel you talked about was?

[Because if he's never getting energon again... he might as well get used to human food.]

_{[Heather will be all too happy to. ... Along with her usual affectionate mockery because let's face it, Heather Mason can't be sappy all the time without keeping up a certain quota of snark.]}

... Fuel?

_{[DURR? Judging from the totally blank tone of voice, she's once again sort of forgotten that 'food' just might have a different connotation to someone who's normally a machine.]}

[Ironhide can deal with the mockery. He's used to it, from kids like her.]

Yeah. The... hmn. Food. Stuff you ingest.

[Oh, he knew the word. It was just buried.]

OH. Duh. Right. I totally knew that.

But-- YEAH. Goldenrod has like... the best food anywhere.

... Well, actually, I guess Olivine was pretty good in terms of restaurants, too... but, hard to beat Goldenrod.

I guess I will have to try, hm?

[And thus Ironhide was introduced to bacon cheeseburgers and fell in love.]

Yes.

Try EVERYTHING.

... Except the weird sub place by the bike shop, I'm pretty sure those things are at least partially toxic.

But everything else is awesome.

_{[Best part of being human: bacon.]}

... Why are you ingesting toxic material?

Well, I didn't ingest it. I took one look at the stuff behind the counter and decided to go somewhere else.

_{[Not all foods are equal, Ironhide. That is an important lesson that ALL people must learn if they're to avoid horrific digestive mishaps.]}

That is my reaction to... most of your fuel.

[This conversation... it's a good distraction. It's something much easier to talk about than what happened at home.]

_{[Heather understands how important distractions are-- heck, her entire method of coping with just about ANYTHING has always been to divert her thoughts from it just enough to keep going. ... Not, of course, that she really... grasps how much Ironhide NEEDS to be distracted at the moment... but aware or not, it's obvious she's all too happy to oblige.]}

Well, get over it, because seriously, food is awesome.

Just not... the food you've been eating.

_{[Energy bars, Ironhide? REALLY? HOW ARE YOU EVEN STILL ALIVE, this diet is completely incomprehensible to Heather.]}

[Maybe they'll have a talk about it at some point. But not right now. Right now, he needs to deal with it, before anyone else does.]

Guess I have to, huh? Get used to it?

Those were food.

[Because he's Ironhide, and his system is durable as hell.]

[... usually. :( ]

_{[Baby steps, man. Baby steps.]}

Don't worry, if you get the good stuff, you won't mind getting used to it. _{[She is confident on this note. Heather's never been like... a foodie or anything, but good food is good food and good food is awesome.]}

Guess we will just have to wait and see, hmn?

Call me when you get there and try something.

I wanna be ready to say 'I told you so'.

Yeah, yeah. If you have to.

Oh, I will.

Believe me.

_{[Just wait. JUST WAIT. You will bite into that bacon cheeseburger and she'll be WAITING.]}

Yeah. I do believe you.

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11 - Action for Azalea / Text

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