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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 1:35:18 GMT -5
((December 22nd-2:00 pm- starts at Tranquility High School)) Laula felt as if every good thing that Derrick and Richard did to help her had been undone. She was still sore from the encounter between her wheelchair and the concrete. She sighed softly as she carefully wheeled herself out of the school. She had just finished up her final test before the winter vacation, and early. She sighed softly and she carefully wheeled herself down to the edge of the parking lot only to groan. Her mother wasn't here. Considering her father was busy this week...well, it didn't matter much at this time. She sighed and settled in her wheelchair once she had locked the wheels. She let out a pained sigh, feeling every strain and pull that she had put her muscles through. She hummed softly and closed her eyes a bit. This...was going to be awhile.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 18:16:52 GMT -5
It had been a little over a week since Jessica Ross had first hear the rumbling roar of that mysterious Yamaha Fazer Midnight Special. Now the sound rang out again, a brief growl of welcome, in the familiar and safe confines of the schoolyard. The motorcycle itself was parked where the street met the sidewalk, engine idling somewhat nosily. A human was leaning against it, or what looked like a human, anyway. The helmet, the gloves, and the bandana covered every inch of skin, and the tinted visor prevented anything being seen underneath the helmet.
It wasn’t the first time she had seen this faceless figure. As before, he didn’t make any of the small, reassuringly human gestures one might expect of him. Close inspection would reveal that he didn’t seem to breathe, and he held his balance easily, without shifting his weight even slightly. When the rider was sure he had her attention, he flipped her an ironic salute against the front of his helmet.
The Decepticon was clean and shiny, and looked no worse for the wear, despite having lost at least one limb only eight days earlier. There was one detail, however, about the motorcycle that was drastically different. It had a shiny silver sidecar attached to it. The color scheme of the sidecar was a far cry from the black-and-copper of the vehicle itself, and though it looked out of place, it seemed to be securely affixed for the moment.
Whiplash simply waited patiently, obviously expecting his human to come over to see him. He was quite pleased with himself for finding out her school. He’d actually had to ask for help with that one, since sophisticated technology (or reading, for that matter) was not his strong suit. Now he owed a favor to VC866, one of the sharper drones, a favor; just what he needed. Still, it was worth it, for good intel. He’d only been waiting ten minutes, and already here she was! What a good, dependable pet this girl was turning out to be.
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 18:32:45 GMT -5
The rumbling immediately got the deep green sweater wearing girl's attention and she turned her head to where...a man who was not a man was leaning against a black and copper motorcycle...that had a silver side car attached to it. She raised an eyebrow and with a sigh, she unlocked her wheels before, slowly, wheeling her way over to where he was waiting.
While she may not have known Whiplash for long, she did know him. She highly doubted that he would come over to her. There was also the problem she had with the fact that, despite it being a week, she was still recovering from the entire thing physically. Yeah, being more fragile then the average human was a pain, since her recovery time was...painful really.
"Glad to see you were properly fixed after your stupid altercation with the seeker," she commented as she locked her wheels once more.
She then looked over the motorcycle, plus silver sidecar, and looked back up at Whips's holoform. "Nice addition. Why silver?" she stated, deciding not to point out that he really needed to have his holoform breathe.
And shift his weight slightly.
Because if he didn't, she was going to start talking to this altmode.
Less freaky for her.
She didn't even think that was an odd consideration to have, despite meeting him once.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 18:43:05 GMT -5
Amusingly enough, it was the motorcycle that spoke. Whiplash didn’t yet have the knack for making his holoform speak--he thought it had something to do with the fact that his model was not as detailed as the average holoform. Nor was he particularly good at throwing his voice. “Eh, I’ve had worse. It wasn’t too bad.” Losing an arm was apparently “not too bad” in Whiplash’s book.
And it wasn’t, really. He had, after all, been born in the middle of a pretty vicious war.
“But you’re right. That Seeker was stupid,” he scoffed, and the holoform shook his head. “And I got silver because that was all I could find. It ain't part of me, if that’s what you’re wonderin’.” Which meant, of course, that he had gotten it from some car lot somewhere. Whiplash was probably being very literal when he had told Jessica that he had “found” it. It was highly unlikely that the scornful young mech would pay for anything human-made.
“It’s for you, obviously. Wanna go for a ride?” The motorcycle tilted its single headlight towards her and nudged itself towards the sidewalk eagerly. The rider placed one hand on the seat behind him to steady himself.
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 19:16:04 GMT -5
Jessica resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but a tiny smile did come across her face, causing the right side scarring to flex oddly. And she also didn't bother to correct him in that she didn't think the Seeker was stupid, but that the entire fight had been a fool's errand and moronic to a point so far beyond idiotic it wasn't even funny. However, that was a conversation for another time and she raised her eyebrow further at him 'finding it'.
"How did you get it attached anyway? Doesn't it stop you from transforming?" she inquired, looking at it. She would think about the implications of his 'finding it' later. When she wasn't going to be arrested for it.
Well, not arrested, but still.
However, at the admittance it was for her, instead of the assumption, and the fact he wanted her to come with him, she raised an eyebrow at that. "Whips, first, while I would not mind just heading off for a ride, I do need to ask permission from my mother first. In my society, I am still considered a minor, or a child, even if I am a teenager, and I can't just go wandering off. The second thing is that, while I trust you not to crash and kill me, there are laws about how I do need to wear a helmet. But if you avoid police, then I'm pretty sure the second item can be ignored. Unless when you 'found' the sidecar you also 'found' a helmet," she answered and then paused.
"The third would be, what would we do with my wheelchair and, no, breaking this one is not an option," she stated, feeling the need to the logical rational one. However, she couldn't keep the smile off her face.
Whips had done something, for her, that required going out of his way. In his own way, through stealing, Whips did show that he cared about Jess.
It made her smile to realize the thoughts of friendship weren't one-sided.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 19:31:14 GMT -5
“First of all, yeah I got you a helmet! I ain’t stupid. How else am I supposed to talk to you while I drive?” Most modern helmets were affixed with adjustable Bluetooth devices that affixed to the inside of the helmet. It would be an easy task for Whiplash to simply access it himself. “I got you a red one. I wanted to get one that matched mine, but, uh…” A pause, and the driver rubbed at the back of his cloth-covered neck a bit sheepishly. Clearly some small gestures were bleeding through to the holoform. “I ran out of… time.”
He would say no more on the matter.
Whiplash seemed baffled about why Jessica’s actions would be limited by her age--after all, he was a teenager-equivalent by Cybertronian standards, but then again, he had come from a very different society. “Sure, go ahead, call your mother. And I ain’t gonna break your chair! You’re not fallin’ out of it this time, are you? No.” Whiplash huffed through his vents, the closest he could come to snorting derisively. “That chair folds up, right? I can just, uh… hmm. I’ll figure out a way to hitch it up. It's no big deal.” As he spoke, the driver pushed off the motorcycle and walked in a slow circle around Jessica, observing her wheelchair. He was apparently unconcerned with the fact that Jessica had to ask her mother, and seemed confident that she would be allowed to do what he wanted.
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 19:43:55 GMT -5
Jessica nodded a bit and then smiled. "Didn't think you were, but I am used to hanging out with someone that likes to conveniently forget he's fragile. Army Ranger and big brother or not, he likes to think he will survive being flung from a motorcycle going over a hundred miles per hour," she responded calmly and let him walk around her while she worked to get her cellphone out. She huffed and slid it open, dialing her mother's cellphone from memory.
In the day of modern technology, she was pretty sure that was rare. However, she didn't care and held it up to her ear. She rolled her eyes at her mother's long-winded greeting. "Mom, I ran into a friend. I was wondering if I could hang out with him. I'll try to get him to get me home at eleven, or before, but he'll probably be late," she stated, eyeing Whips as he continued to have his holoform walk around her.
She smiled a bit as her mother considered. Of the two, her mother was much more lax. If this was her father, ironically, he would say no, he would not budge, and she would have to sneak off later with Whips. Because...well, she highly doubted explaining she was friends with a Decepticon who thought of her like a pet, would be hard to explain.
After Linda agreed, Jessica spent a quick bit of time giving answers that weren't really answers and, eventually, she hung up. "She said yes. And you never answered my question; doesn't having the sidecar affect your transforming? And how did you get it attached?" she repeated, getting the phone back in her pocket.
Her curiosity was really itching about the sidecar, even beyond the knowledge that he stole it. And the fact it was red...well, she would have preferred black, but it was fine.
Red hair sometimes really sucked.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 20:15:35 GMT -5
Whiplash’s holoform returned to his side after having completed an inspection of Jessica’s wheelchair. The holoform tilted his head curiously as she mentioned her brother--had she said something about him before? He thought so, but he hadn’t really been giving her his full attention for the wheelchair-and-Seeker fiasco. It was interesting, and good to know.
The Decepticon waited with surprising patience while she spoke with her mother. He didn’t cut in, or demand she hurry it up, or anything. He just idled, his holoform swiveling his helmeted head around to take in some of the sights. When she was done, Whiplash’s engine gave a satisfied rumble and the holoform, at the same time, nodded his head, but before he could speak again, she asked about the sidecar.
“That thing? It just pops on and off,” he replied airily. Normal sidecars did not pop on and off, as a matter of fact, and were attached to motorcycles with a series of struts and clamps. As if sensing Jessica’s likelihood to refuse to ride into anything that wasn’t properly secured, he went on, “866 helped me with it. He knows all about that tech stuff. It won't fall off or anything, not unless I can transform. Got a latch that I can trigger." The holoform tapped his helmeted head to indicate that he would do this trigger wirelessly. "He also told me how to find you. And I owe him a favor for that, so you’d better be grateful I’m such a good damned friend an’ all.” Whiplash wasn’t genuinely worried that VC866 was going to take advantage of that favor, though. He was a good drone that knew his place.
“So, want me to help you get in? I can sort of fit your chair thing into the luggage compartment in the back. It’ll hang out, but it won’t fall out.” A pause. “Probably.”
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 20:30:08 GMT -5
Jessica did give him a warning look about the 'popping' on and off. However, when he elaborated, she gave her nod. She would now willingly enter the thing, now that it was not a deathtrap. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at his comment on the fact he now owed someone a favor, where if he had just remembered to get her phone number and had asked, she would have happily told him where she went to school.
And he knew her home address. "I'm only at school because today was a test day, Whips. I'm home-schooled...though I'm still not sure whose idea that was," she responded calmly and then eyed the contraption before she focused on Whips once more.
She then smiled and made sure her wheels were locked. "All right, lets get me in your sidecar and the helmet strapped on. And, Whips, if my wheelchair falls out, we're stopping to go back and get it," she responded, giving him what probably should have been a more stern look, but was marred too much by her smile.
She was a bit excited about the driving around thing, true, but she was also over the moon at the fact Whips had called her friend!
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 20:44:13 GMT -5
“Yep. Today’s your last day before ‘winter break,’ whatever that is.” Whiplash’s holoform nodded, and there was more than a hint of smugness in his voice as he said, “866 is very, very good. Y’know, for a drone.”
As she expressed her concerns, the holoform waved her off dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see if I can snag it if it goes.” He, of course, was referring to grabbing the offending thing with one his tentacles, which was beyond a bad idea for a variety of reasons. Without another word, the holoform stepped over, grabbing her wheelchair by the handles and pushing. Nothing happened, because Jessica had locked her wheels. “Oi, I need to getcha closer. I ain’t real good at carryin’ things with my holoform yet, so unless you wanna get dropped, unlock the wheels.” Assuming she complied, the holoform then carefully rolled her forward, moving her off the curb (using the appropriate ramp) and then around to the sidecar. Whiplash’s headlight tracked the movements.
“Pretty good, eh? I did some research about wheelchairs.” That had been particularly frustrating, as ‘research’ was not one of Whiplash’s strong points. He could make do with simply Cybertronian glyphs, but complicated glyphwork left him baffled… not that he was about to admit to Jessica that he was barely literate. He had stumbled upon some lucky video tutorials online, though, most of them aimed at parents helping their child adjust to life in the chair. The holoform’s grip was strong, but not too firm as he helped Jessica out of her chair and into the sidecar, plucking up a maroon helmet for her and handing it off.
The holoform opened the luggage compartment, folded the wheelchair, and then very ungracefully began to try and stuff it inside. Meanwhile, Whiplash accessed the Bluetooth built into the helmet. “Can y’hear me? Is it workin’?”
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 21:08:23 GMT -5
Jessica decided she would work on explaining it to him later. In that 'winter break' meant very little to her, as it was also something she sometimes worked through once Christmas had passed, only taking a break for a couple of different holidays and then she was off and on the school schedule again, though her mother did like to make 'concessions', such as having class take place or stop the day early. She ignored her thoughts and easily unlocked her wheels.
"Yes, it's pretty good," she answered with a tiny smile. She had no idea how he had researched it, didn't even know he was illiterate. She probably would not learn for a long time, if ever. She hummed softly and when they got to the sidecar, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tensing her muscles slightly out of practice.
She got into the sidecar, taking the helmet with a heartfelt 'thank you' and snapping it on before she adjusted a bit, settling into the sidecar more.
"I can hear you Whips," she responded and adjusted again.
"And please be careful with my wheelchair," she added and resisted the urge to shake her head at Whips's manner.
She did make sure she had her cellphone, but she wouldn't be able to answer it at high speeds. Which this was probably going to be.
She'd trust Whips not to fling her from the sidecar at any rate.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 21:28:13 GMT -5
Whiplash’s holoform had been trying to force the wheelchair down further with his elbow when she admonished him, and he froze, looking up silently, rearranging his grip, and then carefully re-angling it to achieve the desired effect. Oh. That had been easier than he thought it would be. He came around the sidecar, giving Jessica a thumbs-up before he crossed to the other side of the motorcycle, straddling it and getting himself properly situated.
“Good! Then let’s rock and roll.” Clearly he had been brushing up on his Earth slang. Whiplash leaped forward with a jolt, curving out into the street and picking up speed as he went. He actually minded the speed limit, for the most part, only pushing it when he knew there was nobody else around. “So, what is it that you do all the time, anyway? Like, I tried to figure it out, but the best I could figure humans just run around bein’ pointless.”
He slowed to a stop at a red light, giving a low growl of irritation at being stopped. His holoform’s shoulders hunched in mimicry of Whiplash’s own body language. “And what’s football? Half of the radio stations were talkin’ about it. Is it some kinda big deal?”
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 21:41:38 GMT -5
Jessica smiled a bit as they rushed off, the feeling of the wind rushing past shoving out any thoughts of being trapped in the dark, trapped and filled with pain. His questions amused her and she resisted the urge to shake her head at him. "Me, personally? I spend most of my time being still and reading. Or singing. Surprisingly hard to do when one sits down most of the time. Humans, in general, usually split their time between duty and fun," she answered.
She then grinned. "I also love to go to the movies. Everyone is sitting down and if I go in after the previews have already started, no one notices, and I leave after the lights come back up," she added.
And for two peaceful hours she would be normal.
At Whiplash's question, she laughed a little. "For some, yes. For me, I could care less. However, never be around during the Marine-Army football games at my house. I don't really understand it because I don't enjoy it, but...well, it would probably be better to just watch a few games and see if you enjoy it or something like that," she added with a tiny shrug.
The red light seemed to annoy him and she let out a low hum. She was pretty sure that Whips was going to be an interesting friend to have.
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Post by whiplash on Jan 9, 2012 23:12:33 GMT -5
“Huh.” Whiplash seemed utterly nonplused by it all. Singing? Reading? He knew there was a drone that liked to read, but that was the weird one, and he tried to stay away from it. “Uh. Maybe I will check it out.” Whiplash spent most of his time fighting. If he was on the field, he was fighting Autobots. If he was at the base, he was fighting off other Decepticons that were trying to hurt him (though most of the time these "attempts to hurt him" were just paranoid delusions, resulting in a lot of unnecessary violence). He rarely had a moment to himself, and when he did, he napped, so that he was back at full strength when it was time to fight again.
Human hobbies sounded decidedly less… hands-on that Decepticon leisure time. There was one thing that was nagging at him, though, and for a few moments he kept silent out of pride before he finally spoke up.
“What’s a ‘movie?’” he asked as the light turned. The motorcycle surged forward again, and Whiplash turned. He’d much rather be on one of the less-densely-populated roads, away from all these annoying red lights.
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Post by Jessica Ross on Jan 9, 2012 23:29:41 GMT -5
Jessica didn't know how Whips passed his time. She didn't mind that. She just was trying to share and she settled a bit more in the sidecar as they tore off, having no qualms about clenching tightly at the sidecar with her hands when she felt he took a turn too fast. She blinked a bit as his question and smiled a bit. "A movie is a story that is told visually and audibly. Some stories are bad and others are good. A cheap way would be saying it is moving pictures on a big screen with voices. It is all recorded and some actors, the people who perform in the movies, get lots of money for it. Also, it is mostly fiction. A few movies are based on real events and there are types of movies called documentaries which are true stories or discovery of something. Like the movie, 'March of the Penguins' is about penguins. There are some old movies that were filmed in black and white because they didn't have the technology to record the color as well," she explained.
She then looked thoughtful. "There is a drive-in that starts showing movies at sundown. It happens to be situated near a hill," she stated, looking over at his holoform.
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