Classical goes Autobot

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

(Saturday 20th November, 2027.
Human Barracks, Room 107 - Captain Caliene Meredith's Quarters, Officer's Section, Early Evening - 19:38 hours)

Standing in the doorway to her quarters on Base, Caliene sighed after finishing the mountain of paperwork she had had left over from some of the recent 'battles' that had been had.

Sighing she turned around and headed over to her table near the window and switched on her CD player, after doing that she placed in her Classical Music Disc and turned up the volume, knowing that there weren't many folks in her section of the Barracks - due to it being for Officers, whereas the enlisted personnel were in another section completely - to complain about the noise. She snorted as she thought about those who considered Classical Music as nothing but 'Noise', as far as she was concerned it was great to relax to after a hard day at work, either on or off the Battlefield.

She pushed play and then walked over to her favorite relaxing chair near the window, where she opened the window slightly to enjoy the fresh breeze outside this evening whilst unwinding her mind from work.

She smiled wide when she heard the start of Tchaicovsky's '1812' Overture Op.49 - Capriccio Italien[/i] come from the speakers set around her room. Deciding to enjoy this piece to her hearts content she grabbed the remote to her Player and increased the volume to where it would be loud but not enough to rattle the windows too much. She had to admit that her favorite part of the Score was around the 12:20 mark when they brought in the Canons to do the big finale.

She didn't know that she would be the only one listening to it this evening.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide had been out doing his evening rounds, mostly just driving around the base in his alt mode and flickering his roof lights in greeting as he passed soldiers or other Autobots, his customary "Hello." gesture that most everyone was familiar with. As he drove near the North end of the Officer's quarters he heard rather loud music coming from a partially open second floor window. He paused for a moment, having never heard such music before, not that he would go digging into human music styles all that often anyway. As he listened, the music changed and he heard cannon fire, which surprised him. That was when he transformed and stepped over to the building, peeking in through the open window as he measured the sound of the cannon fire, gauging the size and type used in the song and wondering how much damage he could do with them. The bottom of the window was even with the top of his shoulders, making it easy for him to tilt his head and look inside. And of course, as he listened, he had an amused smirk on his dark metal features.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Cali decided to stand with her eyes shut and pretend she was conducting the Orchestra as the Canons sounded off and at the end she even took a mock bow, then smiled once more as one of her Mother's Favorites came on - 'Men of Harlech' and decided to do her Mother proud by signing the verses Loudly and with Pride.

"Men of Harlech, Stop your dreaming,
Can't you see their spear-points gleaming,
See their Warrior pennants streaming,
To this battlefield.

Men of Harlech stand ye steady,
It can not be ever said ye,
For the battle we're not ready,
Welshmen never yield.

From the hills rebounding,
Let this war cry sounding,
Summon all to Cambria's call,
The Mighty foe surrounding.

Men of Harlech on to glory,
This will ever be your story,
Keep these burning words before ye,
Welshmen will not yield."

After singing that she walked over to her fridge and grabbed an ice cold Pomegranate and Nectarine Water to soothe her dry throat. It had been a while since she had sung that song and it always left her throat dry and a few tears in her eyes. Her Mother's side of the family were extremely strong to their Welsh roots and she was too as it showed when she cussed out the few idiots she knew to work around her.

As she turned to face her chair to sit back down, she jumped when she saw a pair of blue optics shining into her room through her open window from the face of a smirking canon-toting Mech. Walking over to her window she opened it wider and smirked back at him before speaking.

"To what do I owe this rare appearance of the best Weapons Specialist on Base, next to myself of course."

[Ironhide]

Ironhide chuckled in response, his smile widening a bit as he looked at her, placing one hand on the building next to the window. Then he spoke in his slightly accented deep gravelly baritone voice. "I heard music I hadn't heard b'fore, n when I heard the cannons I had ta come check it out. What was that fer anyway. Never heard humans add weapons fire ta music b'fore. Sounded interestin'." he remarked with a slight tilt of his head. He wasn't big into music, but when something did catch his attention, he certainly showed his interest plainly enough.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Cali smiled widely and nodded her head at the question Ironhide had just asked her, it was a question too few folks asked when it came to classical music and she decided that since Ironhide had just about admitted that he had never heard music done like before, that she should try and introduce him to some of the composers she kept on CD.

"That piece of music you heard was know as Tchaicovsky's '1812' Overture Op.49 and it is one of the few pieces of Classical Music ever written that included Canons in it's score when played. I must admit it is one of my favorites and my family play the music from an old vinyl record, especially as we're welcoming in the New Year and everyone can be home together. I just enjoy listening to it as it helps me relax.... and I enjoy listening to the Canons too... it's a Munition's thing my brothers tell me." she said as she sat on the edge of the window frame. She had to admit, that she didn't usually talk to the other Mech's and Femme's on Base too much, usually it was just occasionally Sideswipe and Notitia and her Guardian Interceptor she spoke to, since they were the usual ones she'd see around Base. It would be interesting to see which of the Classical Scores she had available to her that Ironhide would enjoy listening to.

[Ironhide]

"Hmmm..." he intoned thoughtfully. "I like the sound o' that." he responded, then asked, "Do ya have more like that? Somethin' fittin' fer a big mech like me? Somethin'... I dunno... hard hittin' n aggressive kinda thing." Ironhide really didn't know how to describe music, he wasn't that familiar with it, not like Jazz was. Jazz could purr eloquent words that invoked all the senses while Ironhide was just blunt, when he wasn't fumbling for words. He was never really very adept at tact or flowery speech, but he could well get his point across with fist or cannon when he needed to.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Cali thought for a moment before heading on over to her Player and grabbing a different CD. As she placed this new one in and returned the other to it's proper case she said to Ironhide "If ya have a Holoform ya could use it and listen to the Music in here instead of standing outside, I was rude not to offer ya some hospitality before and mah Mother if she were ta ever find out about it would never let meh live it down. She would give meh a right tellin' off she would and it wouldn't be in English either." she added as an afterthought.

As soon as she found the right track for Ironhide, she pressed play and told him the name of the piece.
"This is a piece by a composer called Mussorgsky and the piece is known as 'A Night On Bald Mountain' and is very thought provoking and aggressive for the majority of the score. I think it might suit a Mech like yourself." she said as she smiled wider as the first stirrings of the score started.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide chuckled as he listened to her speak, nodding a bit. He then placed his hand on the window sill and peered inside as she changed the CD's around. "Eh, I dun mind either way. But if ya want me ta come in, I s'pose I could." he offered, and at that point a swarm of something dark and metallic rose up from his chassis and gathered by the window just inside, then coalesced into a 6'1" figure. For a split second she could see an armor-less miniature version of Ironhide's robotic form before the holoform projection appeared around it, looking like an older and somewhat scruffy human male with longish shaggy salt-and-pepper hair and coarse stubble on his face. He was lean and well built for a man who looked to be in his 60's, with kind eyes and an easy smile. He wore a black t-shirt and black jeans with what appeared to be black steel toe boots. "This better?" he asked in a warm voice that was not quite as gravelly as that of his true form, a half smirk on his face.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Caliene stood and looked closely at Ironhide's Holoform, she noticed the half smirk on his face and the subtle difference in his voice but she attributed that to him not being in his true form. She had to smirk back as she shook her head at a random thought of how if she ever had a thing for older men she would have jumped Ironhide's Holoform right then and there. But since she didn't she just nodded back at him before saying "Yeah, yer Holoform is great 'Hide, really how ah could imagine yer being if yer were ever born Human."

As she showed him over to one of the comfy chairs near to where she had been sitting she sighed as she listened to the Music playing in the background, which was kinda hard to ignore when she had the volume turned to around 15 Decibels - any louder and the windows would be shaking and she would have the MP's complaining about the noise.

As soon as 'A Night On Bald Mountain' was done she quickly switched it to a piece called 'Anvil Chorus' to be followed up by 'Bach: Toccata & Fugue in D Minor' which she figured would suit one of the 'Bots on Base, she just needed to figure out which one.

"If ya wan' anythin' ta drink 'elp yerself, should be somethin' in da fridge ya could have, I dun wanna seem like ah ain't got no manners now." she said as she sat down and took a sip of her own drink, her accent really coming through as she relaxed (the only other time her accent ever showed was when she was fighting/cursing some idiot out in another language.)

[Ironhide]

Michael nodded as Ironhide stepped back and transformed back into his alt mode while his holoform remained inside to interact with Caliene and listen to the music. Michael stepped over and sat down in the chair, and when the Anvil chorus came on, he listened like before, til it changed and he heard the clanking metal which apparently struck him as funny since he started laughing heartily. "That reminds me o' the sound my fists make on Decepticon cranial plating!" he said with a very amused chuckle. "I think I like this kind o' music." he added with a nod, though he declined the offer of a drink. He didn't use his holoform enough to warrant needing the extra fuel to sustain it. Yes, he was very much starting to like this sort of music as the next song began and he imagined himself either training to it or fighting to it.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Cali nodded when she heard Michael say that he liked the music she was currently playing on her system, so she turned and started to rifle through her music collection some more hoping to find some more that he might like. She smirked even more when she registered what he had said before saying that he liked the music. The fact that it reminded him of when he was beating the scrap out of Decepticon cranial plates.

Cali decided to break the silence that had fallen between her and Ironhide’s Holoform while the music level was low enough for a conversation to happen. “So… I’m guessin’ that ya were patrollin’ around Base when ya heard mah music blarin’ outta mah window?” she asked as she continued to look for a few of her Classical CD’s that she hadn’t listened to in a while.

She stood up again and turned slightly to relax a muscle cluster that had decided to twinge from the position she had had herself in whilst searching through the boxes of CD’s. This gave her a good view of Michael’s face, which she had to say looked good, and unless you knew that Michael was Ironhide’s Holoform, you would have never figured out that they were one-in-the-same.

But she had come to know most of the ‘Bot’s on the Base well enough to read what their expressions and other body language was telling her, but sometimes there were ‘bot’s like Ironhide who made it sometimes difficult to figure such things out.

So paying attention to her guest she waited to see what he would say.

((Well here is the new re-post for this thread, gonna see what 'Hide has to say before I do the next one.))

[Ironhide]

He smirked a bit. "Yeah, I was. Just my usual rounds, mostly outta boredom n just wantin' somethin' ta do, really." he replied with a half shrug. "Heard the music n thought I'd give a listen. The cannon fire really got my attention though." he added with a crooked grin. "So, what got ya listenin' ta this stuff?" he asked, his head tilted slightly.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

”I got inta this type of music thanks to mah folks and a really awesome Music Teacher in High School, he and my folks said that if ah was gonna learn Music it should be done the correct way. In other words listen to lots and lots of Classical Music, and learn to really appreciate it for the Art that it is before even starting on the more modern stuff.” Cali said as she reached for her drink and took another swig to wet her throat some more.

Sighing she tilted her head in thought for a few minutes before nodding to herself, putting down her drink and walking to the closet on the side of the sitting room nearest the kitchen area, opened said closet and rifled through a box or two and with a slightly muffled ”Aha!!” she grabbed a thick red leather-bound folder, stood up and closed the closet door again before heading on over to where Michael was sat.

Once she was sat down, she handed Ironhide’s Holoform the thick folder and smiled at him. ”Ya wanna see some really old pictures of meh and mah family, here is where ya get ta look.” she opened the folder to one of many picture filled pages and pointed to a few on one side.

”Here is a picture of me in my Concert Attire with my chosen Instrument – the Trumpet, although I did do Piano too, but I was mostly a Trumpet player.” she said before pointing to another couple of pictures.

“Here I am with both my Mom and Dad on my left and my Music Teacher on my right. It was fun and every once in a while I still like to tickle the ivories of a Piano or toot a tune/melody on the Trumpet. Figure there was no sense in letting myself loose those skills once I spent the time learning them.” she added before getting up and leaving Michael to continue looking at the pictures whilst she continued her search for some more Classical Music to put on.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide's holoform nodded at what she said regarding her past with music. It all sounded pretty reasonable to him at least. When she showed him the photos, he had to smile. "Ya were cute when ya were little." he remarked, and he continued to flip through the photos, looking at the various pictures of her and her family. It all reminded him of Lennox and his family; the difference was, having been there to see little Anna grow up right before his optics Ironhide was in a lot of those photos, sometimes in his truck mode, sometimes with his holoform, and on very rare occasions with his bot form. There was a wistful smile on his face as he looked at the photos and remembered his time with Lennox's family. He had often wished he had his own family, though he had taken it upon himself to not only raise Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but to take care of as many of the lost Sparklings as he could find before the war. Even as the war started he tried to care for the little ones who were orphaned, which was why he took in the twin brothers, though Wheeljack ended up taking on some of the ones they found, much to the poor inventor's detriment emotionally.

[Capt. Caliene Meredith]

Cali smiled when Ironhide mentioned about her being cute when she was little. Sniggering she responded, ”Ya never would believe it but I used ta be a right monster for mah folks, bein’ a Military raised child, I had very few friends because we were always moving somewhere new after a few years. I finally got over it though once I hit Middle School and my folks asked if I was interested in something that would keep me outta trouble and such. Hence why I took up Music… it also helps me to meditate when ah’m stressed and need ta relax.”

Looking back at Michael as he continued t browse through the folder, she watched his facial expressions change. He obviously had some good memories that these pictures were bringing up for him. She was glad she could him happy for a while and forget the battle that was still ongoing with the Decepticons.