show_my_cannons | 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.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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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