The Start of Something Interesting...

[lastonepercent]

The day was calm, with no recent Decepticon attacks, and none suspected to be incoming for some time.  The cons were too busy licking their wounds from the last battle, one that the Autobots had decidedly come out ahead on.  The celebrations had gone on long into the night and the recreation room was already a mess.

Thus, it was the perfect chance for a lone Autobot to slip casually outside.

Mirage had no shift currently scheduled, so he was free to spend his time as he pleased.  He certainly made no move to hide his departure, greeting his comrades in the halls on the way out, but the box in his hands remained unopened despite any passing curiosity.  It was quietly shifted into subspace before long, and  the former noble shifted into alt mode just as smoothly when he reached the doors.  Despite the completely inappropriate earthen race car mode, the mech had little trouble self-adjusting before driving off into the forest covering the mountain, for business unknown...

Comments

[cliffjumper]

"You're only 'cause it's dark in here." Huffing and glancing away again at Mirage's laughter, Cliffjumper ended up laughing himself at the image of Mirage lurking in elevator shafts or taking a lift on top of an elevator.

It was... impressive, and he could well imagine it wasn't safe, at all, but the first thing that popped up in his processor was all that space you might fall into.

"Really enough space in there to hang out and not get crushed by the elevators?" He could see Bumblebee maybe, but Mirage, however slender, was of average height and took up more space than your average minibot...

[lastonepercent]

"I hardly have a problem with the dark, as you should imagine," he chuckled, golden optics brightening briefly.

"And if you know what you're doing, of course there is."

Mirage grinned, glancing up toward the roof of the elevator.

"I could probably do it right now, but it would involve breaking a number of locks, wires, and sending Red Alert into conniptions when he finds out I've been up there, so..."

[cliffjumper]

"Red gets fraggin' conniptions nearly twice a week!" Shaking his helm, Cliffjumper tilted his helm back to squint up at the shadowed ceiling of the elevator. "Though doing that now means someone's gotta repair it later... At least there'd be the elevator to fall on if somethin' happened, I suppose."

He snapped his vocaliser off at that briefly before letting it turn back on again. It was doubtful Mirage would notice, or understand what it was for and that was perfectly fine with him because he didn't really want anyone to know about his issue about not having his feet on stable ground.

It wasn't even about heights, it was just... anything that led to being in the air with - a lot or not - air between him and the ground that was deeply unsettling.

Squirming, Cliffjumper scowled.

"Teletraan, how long until repairs are done?"

He actually really hoped Mirage's guess would be more correct than his---

"Up to half a joor as of current calculations. Apologies."

Grimacing, Cliffjumper huffed and glared at the floor.

"Thanks."

The freaky thing was that he couldn't tell if the apology was for the time they would spend trapped in the elevator, for the negative reply at all or because Teletraan somehow knew.

... Which it might. It might not be a sparked intelligence and definitely not a metrotitan, but it was a very advanced A.I with full connections to the Ark, and the only one who otherwise knew of Cliffjumper's little issue was Bumblebee... and he'd told him in the Ark.

[lastonepercent]

Mirage snorted with surprised laughter at poor Red Alert's expense, head rolling back against the wall of the elevator.

"Entirely too true, I must admit!"

He shook his head at Teletraan's estimate, oblivious to Cliffjumper's source of concern.

"And really, there are rules against compromising the integrity of the ship...not that it stops the scientists, as we've well seen." He waved a hand around them and their current situation, golden optics rolling.

[cliffjumper]

Despite feeling uncomfortable, Cliffjumper grinned at Mirage's snort - that, too, wasn't something he'd expect to hear from Mirage, but there wasn't any surprise this time, just amusement.

"Good at his job, but that ain't changin' the fact he spazzes out a lot..." trailing off, Cliffjumper huffed even as he shifted around, changing position a few times in an attempt at lightening his tension, "not like it ever stops them, 'cause apparently they can flout the rules as much as they want to."

It was a bit annoying, even if they were extremely useful.

[lastonepercent]

"Indeed. No reason to follow the Science Team's poor example and give him additional glitches, if we can help it."

Mirage glances up at the ceiling, face slowly falling into a scowl toward the audio/video hookup in the upper corner. He slowly raises a finger, pointing up at it directly.

"But if we're stuck here past the estimated timeframe, all bets are off."

[cliffjumper]

Grimacing at that, Cliffjumper wasn't sure he agreed. Had they been stuck more or less anywhere else, he would have. Really. He could be patient and he did have some things to occupy his hands with.

At present, hanging over a nothing (or a 'something' that was very far below them) even if the brakes on the elevator were keeping them securely still, Cliffjumper did not feel patient.

"Dunno, could make 'em repair it," Cliffjumper muttered and fingered his blaster, starting to feel frustrated as well as displeased. He shouldn't have asked how long it was until repairs were finished, though Mirage might just have done it at some point anyway.

Right now it felt like his plating was flush with static electricity.

[lastonepercent]

"...True. That sounds like an excellent suggestion, Cliffjumper." Mirage chuckled, appraising optics turning to cast yellow light on plating in the dark.

"Even so, I will give it that half a joor."

Mirage nodded resolutely, helm falling back against the side of the elevator with a muffled clunk.

"After that, you might get to see what elevator-shaft-climbing is like in person.

[cliffjumper]

"They'd probably be really fraggin' offended too." Ducking his helm, Cliffjumper hoped his snort and smirk distracted from the slight flare of his optics. This was a terrible situation, and not just because he felt uncomfortable - and foolish, because he'd never had issues with elevators before, but then, he hadn't been stuck in an unmoving one before either - but because of this.

The talk in the washracks hadn't been particularly relaxed, even if it had been a chance to just talk to the mech... This, though, was simply radically different. No pressure, no direct annoyance or antagonism between them. He was seeing far more of Mirage than he ever had, and Cliffjumper was starting to wish he hadn't, because like slag did he need more reasons to like an impossible crush.

... Not that he was regretting this, however, since even if nothing ever happened, it was kind of nice to get to know Mirage a bit better.

"I can hardly wait," Cliffjumper said sarcastically. Not that he didn't want to be out of here, but climbing an elevator shaft wasn't something he particularly wanted to do.

Then he shifted again and glanced at the floor, because then again, the elevator shaft and being moving might be preferable to this.

[lastonepercent]

"Too bad for them," Mirage said waspishly, turning up his nose with a sniff. "They should have thought of that before they blew the breakers for this whole section of the ship, or whatever they did."

Well, their conversation had still turned into grumbling, but it was grumbling with one another against someone else.

Still much improved.

"But you still have to wait," Mirage sighed unhappily at the idea.

"They've still got some time left to fix it. I'm sure you'll manage it fine, if we must."

[cliffjumper]

"Seriously." With a huff, Cliffjumper slid further down against the wall just to keep himself from standing up and starting to pace again because he probably would.

"If we weren't stuck in a fraggin' elevator I wouldn't mind so much," he said with a growl, dropped his blaster in his lap and crossed his arms over his shoulders.

Half a joor was way too long, and it didn't matter that he knew the elevator wouldn't fall - that didn't really help at all.

[lastonepercent]

Mirage nodded and allowed the conversation to fall silent for several long moments, but the silence was a bit much almost immediately. Conversation was the best way to pass the time, and his own natural curiosity wouldn't allow the chance to pass him by so easily.

"...does it really bother you that much?"

Mirage asked hesitantly, glancing over across the dark toward the twin points of blue light. He was careful to keep the question neutral - they were in a sealed tin can after all, and the resuscitation of their previous attitude toward one another would be quite unfortunate.

[cliffjumper]

In those moments of silence, Cliffjumper had loosened up, started fingering his gun and then slowly started to pick it apart. They had around half a joor, at least, stuck here, and he was pretty sure the stress he'd put on his still-repairing hand wouldn't be too much strain for him not to be able to fake in front of the medics.

Hopefully, anyway.

"Uh---" Freezing over his gun, Cliffjumper grimaced and didn't look up from it. "It ain't claustrophobia, so I suppose it could be worse," Cliffjumper said with a growl, frustrated at himself... but unable not to feel uncomfortable.

At least the floor wasn't see-through or anything like that.

[lastonepercent]

"I'm certainly glad it is not claustrophobia, though I imagine we might have been forced to deal with the fallout much sooner if it were."

Mirage made a wry chuckle, though he didn't stop giving Cliffjumper a searching look.

"I suppose it is the highly unlikely chance that we could fall, as you brought up the breaks earlier?"

[cliffjumper]

"Probably," he tried to sound flippant about it, but feeling Mirage's optics on him didn't really help with that.

Mirage's question didn't either, and there was no way to hide that twitch - even in the gloom of headlights-lit elevator it wouldn't have been impossible to pick up on. Growling, engine rumbling along, Cliffjumper tapped his gun against a knee.

It still took a good few long moments before he said anything.

"... yeah. Off the ground and slag."

[lastonepercent]

Mirage's gold optics bobbed in the dark as he nodded. That explained a few things, and he could sympathize, even if he did not share the phobia.

"There is hardly any shame in that. I'm not Sideswipe, after all - I won't be teasing you about it.

Without concious thought, he reached out, giving the nearest portion of Cliffjumper - a folded knee spur - a consoling pat.

"A much more acceptable worry that 'human cooties' or 'rodent infestations', after all!"

Really. The number of things some of the mechs on Earth had begun to fuss over after arriving...

[cliffjumper]

At the mention of Sideswipe, Cliffjumper snorted - it was, however, a relief that this was Mirage and not Sideswipe. And Red Alert, if he was listening or picked up on it later, wouldn't say anything.

"That's somethin' to be glad for..." Huffing, Cliffjumper couldn't suppress the brightening of his optics at the pat - or the immediate spike in sensitivity of the sensor nodes there, even if the pat was short.

Fragging embarrassing.

"At least even humans are afraid of human cooties!" He was surprised to find himself laughing, but... it was a far better option than anything else.

[lastonepercent]

"I should hope so!"

Mirage chuckled at Cliffjumper's reaction, internally pleased and smug that he had at least temporarily managed to distract the minibot from his fear.

"Yes, and human 'cooties' are for humans, not Cybertronians. Really. The Autobots on this ship should know better than to fling wild rumors and fearmongering around." Mirage waved a hand, optics rolling.

[cliffjumper]

He couldn't help but snicker, ducking his helm.

"Yeah, at least the germs and scrap. But all the fraggin' stuff that can stick to ya ain't pleasant." He didn't have any fear of it, but it was pretty disgusting and after landing on Earth he'd become a far more regular user of the washracks than before.

Usually he just kept to daily maintenace and whatever else, but here? That sometimes left him feeling as if there was slag still sticking to him, especially after having been on a drive, patrol, battle...

It was annoying was what it was, though presumably he'd be more used to it if they'd fought on more planets before this...

[lastonepercent]

"Well no, it isn't fun. I've lost count of the number of times I've gotten rocks or twigs or muck stuck in or between my undercarriage."

His extreme distaste was obvious, given the look on the former noble's face.

"But it isn't worth flailing around in a panic over, either. From what I've heard, the medics have been stuck giving refresher courses on basic xenobiology to several panicked individuals."

[cliffjumper]

"Ugh, yeah." Grimacing, Cliffjumper twitched, and at Mirage's expression he was struck both by the openness of it, and the ease with which they were talking. He shook his helm.

"Muck and bugs and whatever else is in all the slag around here that can get lodged everywhere... hate the fact that any battlefield basically becomes a mud pit, if we ain't fightin' in the streets."

The planet was way too wet and even when it wasn't, like, say, in a desert, the sand then got everywhere instead.

At least that was dry, but it could itch something fierce, especially if it had lodged itself somewhere but good.

"That's true, though," he couldn't help laughing again, some of the earlier tension bleeding out of his shoulders and wheel-wells unnoticed by Cliffjumper, "I ain't got it that bad, no matter how disgustin' it can be. Kinda surprised you ain't been among those, though."

Tilting his helm, Cliffjumper peered up at Mirage, both with some faint underlying incredulity coming from their class differences - nobles always seemed so slagging stuck up and prissy - and just amusement and some respect that Mirage wasn't reacting like that.

[lastonepercent]

Cliffjumper wasn't the only one who was surprised, but Mirage was a bit too pragmatic - and easily swayed thanks to the pain in his helm - to question it much, not even in his own processor.

Trapped in an elevator was the perfect place for a suspension of hostilities, even if it didn't end up lasting past the doors reopening.

"Me?" Mirage asked, hand going to his chest-plates as though wounded.

"Hardly. I take Ratchet at his word about what harmful flora and fauna might be on a planet. "

He sniffed, before giving Cliffjumper a slow nod.

[cliffjumper]

"Thought for sure you'd get upset by the dirt of it, if nothin' else." That was pure teasing, with a smirk. It lacked any annoyance or rancor which he might have lashed out with earlier, of in any other situation if he was actually angry or annoyed with Mirage.

At the moment, there was no actual meanness meant at all.

"So I guess that means you've got somethin' up on Sunstreaker and Tracks," he said with a snort and a glowing roll of his optics.

[lastonepercent]

"More than one 'something' I'm sure."

Mirage sniffed again, only half serious as he hid a smirk. He waved a hand idly around in the air, imperious and languid.

"I am not going to roll around in it, 'no, thank you for the invitation Hound', but I accept the fact that there is little to do to avoid it on a planet covered in, and even named 'dirt'."

[cliffjumper]

Cliffjumper burst out laughing, shaking his helm and leaning back against the wall behind him, surprised at his amusement. But it was nice too, because it diffused some of the tension that was squeezing his pistons and kept his field in tight against his chassis.

"I really don't get how Hound can like it so much, but it's nice that someone does I suppose. And yeah, we shoulda guessed how bad it'd get when we found out the name, shouldn't we?"

This was far better than he could've hoped for - and yet he'd rather it not have happened, but Cliffjumper was too anxiously wound up and amused at the same time to care too much at the moment.