it's a hard knock life

[knaval]

WHO: riptide, tailgate and later the greatly put upon erik lensherr
WHERE: a conveniently large and abandoned building site in nonah
WHEN: morning of the 29th
WHAT: tailgate and riptide enjoy being cybertronians, tailgate enjoys having super powers then it all goes wrong because nothing nice ever
WARNINGS: mild robot gore



[unbeknownst to riptide, when tailgate freaked out over cyclonus supposedly dying, he gained super powers. super strength, speed, all the cool things. it's why when he gives his little friend a call he doesn't really think anything's going to go wrong. just chill out and chat, yeah? what could go wrong? they have the safety net of just turning back into their human forms if they somehow manage to get too low on energon.

it's going to be fine. riptide doesn't even begin to think anything could go wrong. he calls tailgate midmorning, having grown bored of campaign planning (watching tv).]

Oi, Teeg! I noticed you figured out how to turn back to normal. You wanna hang out, mate?

Comments

[itcanwait]

[The fact that he had super strength was exciting to him. He'd tried to lift a few things but it didn't seem like they were really anywhere near his limit.

Tailgate had been raiding the fridge when he got the call and was quick to answer.]

Hey Riptide! Sure! Where will I meet you?

[A chance to hang out and actually be in his cybertronian form, with a fellow cybertronian and not have the worry of hurting someone? Sounded great to him!]

[knaval]

There's this place off the main road in Nonah-- you know what? You'll probably see me. There's not any buildings around to hide me and I'm just sitting here.

[he sends the gps co-ords too, just instead.]

[itcanwait]

Got the co-ordinates. I'll be there soon!

[And it is fairly soon. He uses the porter and once in Nonah he turns into his cybertronian form and into his alt-mode following the gps to the site and turns back. He sure did see Riptide on the way over and his he had a mouth he would be grinning.]

You ever feel rusty when you turn back from being human? I swear I keep getting like a stiffness.

[There's literally nothing wrong with him. He just hates that he can't always be...himself.]

So! Let's hang!

[knaval]

Yeah, all the time. It makes me really tired, too.

[sorry tailgate, riptide picks you up as he answers. he's just too cute not to...]

There's no engex here, so we'll have to find something to do. Like cavemen.

[itcanwait]

I thought it was just me!

[He's used to being picked up so he just lets it happen. It's fun to get a higher perspective of things. Either he's being picked up, or he's climbing.]

Boo! Petition for them to bring engex!

Oh! My file said I have super strength, we can see what I can lift!

[knaval]

Super-- super strength?!

[he GAPES.]

You're only just telling me now? [riptide gets up excitedly, looking around the abandoned building site. he points to a rusty old JCB.]

Pick that up!

[itcanwait]

You never asked! And I forgot. I didn't have it before.

[He nods as he gets to his feet and goes over to the machine.]

Okay Tailgate, you can do this! Super strength, super strength...

[He readies himself as he reaches out and grabs onto the left sides tracks from the bottom and lifts. He's expecting a lot of effort to be used and to strain doing so. But it's like lifting a box full of pillows. A large box. Tailgate almost stumbles back a little with the JCB in his hands.]

Oh my god...Ooooh my god! Riptide look at this! Look! I'm lifting it!

[He lifts it a little higher and looks behind him to see the taller bot.]

[knaval]

What am I watching?! What am I watching!!??

[riptide is yelling and jumping excitedly.]

Pick me up! Pick me up!!

[itcanwait]

[He drops the JCB and if he had a mouth he would be grinning. He walks up to Riptide and wraps his arms around one of his legs and lifts.]

Are both feet off? I can't tell.

[knaval]

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, THAT FEELS SO WEIRD!

[riptide SHRIEKS and starts to fall backwards, unable to hold himself up on one knee.]

[itcanwait]

[He has a think and then lets Riptide down and steps back.]

I wanna try something crazy. But you gotta sit or lay down. I wanna try lift you but see if I can do it with one hand!

[knaval]

[not even stopping to think about any way this could go wrong, riptide sits.]

I'll buy you a drink if you can!

[itcanwait]

You're on!

[He folds his hands together and makes and act of stretching his hands and arms out. He's then going to just reach under with a hand and lift. Which, there's more effort put into this time, but still not a whole lot. He's not straining as much as he really should. Especially as he keeps lifting and has him above his head.]

R-Riptide?!

[knaval]

God, this is weird!

[he laughs, but then it peters out when tailgate sounds distressed.]

Woah, lil' guy. What's up?

[itcanwait]

This really isn't normal...

I don't find it hard to do.

[And he tosses him up a little once, twice and then he does it higher. It's after a few times of doing it he feels a little tired. But puts it down to having been human most of his time here.]

[knaval]

Oh!

[seeing as tailgate is only balancing him, riptide easily gets up off the minibot's hands. he rubs his chin, then gestures at some rusted old girders instead.]

Try those! Bend them into rude words!

[itcanwait]

[He starts bending them. S is done alright, L is quicker just because it's a straight bend but he's part way through A when his arms start to shake which shrugs off as just being tougher metal. But with the G it's more visible and for a moment he's sure everything was dark but he doesn't remember shutting his optics off.
He hasn't finished the letter yet. ]

It's just tougher stuff. [One of his hands twitches and he ends up dropping the bar.]

[knaval]

[riptide is by tailgate's side in an instant when he stumbles and starts visibly shaking. he puts a hand on tailgate's shoulder, straightening him up.]

Maybe you're just getting a bit tired. You want to sit down?

[itcanwait]

[He's grateful for the hand steadying him. Tailgate just sits down where he stood and grips at his chest plate a little. He didn't feel so good.]

Y-yeah maybe it's just tiredness. [He'd done a lot today and there was a lot of excitement over his powers. But it happens again like before only this time he seems to shake and jerk a little before he falls back offline.]

[knaval]

Slag! Tailgate!

[riptide yelps as the small bot falls forward, catching him and lifting him up so he's not on the ground.]

Oh, god, it's not Cybercrosis again, is it?! Don't do this when there's no medic! Wake up!

[itcanwait]

[He's limp and unresponsive as Riptide holds him. It takes a minute or two before his optics come back on, shining brighter behind the visor and he reaches out. One hand is going for Riptide's face to shove him back and the other grabs one of his arms, gripping tight before yanking on it and ripping it off and shoves at his face.

Tailgate drops to the ground and the light dies down and his posture changes, more relaxed.]

Huh? [Everything looks hazy before it comes back into focus and oh no, what?]

Riptide wh-what happened to your arm?! Are you okay?

[He hasn't even noticed that the arm is still in his hand.]

[knaval]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

[TAILGATE HIS ARM IS OFF!! THERE'S ENERGON LEAKING OUT THE END OF IT AND ALSO HIS SHOULDER.]

YOU'RE HOLDING IT! TAILGATE! WHAT THE FRAG?!

[itcanwait]

[WHY WOULD HE BE HOLDING IT? WHY WOULD YOU BE SAYING THESE AWFUL LIES?

He looks to his hand and freezes. He's shaking again as he yells and drops the arm.]

I didn't mean to! I-I don't remember doing it! I'm sorry oh god...

[knaval]

WHAT THE HELL, TAILGATE?! IS THIS A JOKE??

[he is full on flipping out... though doesn't seem to be that bothered by the injury, all in all.]

[itcanwait]

N-No! I [He picks up the arm and goes over to Riptide. Oh...oh it doesn't look like a clean break.]

Why would I do that? OH NO AM I LOSING MY MEMORY? RIPTIDE WHY WOULD I RIP YOUR ARM OFF?!

[knaval]

[he bites his lower lip as he reroutes the pain away from his shoulder, trying to focus on keeping tailgate calm.]

You just passed out for a moment and flinched, you didn't do it on purpose, okay? Tailgate, can you call a guy called Erik Lenscherr for me? I know he's the political enemy but he can do stuff with metal and can probably get my arm back on.

[itcanwait]

Erik? Y-Yeah I can do that. You're gonna be okay.

[He's nodding as he places the call to this Erik Lenscherr.]

I'm still really sorry about your arm.

Hello? Is this Erik Lehnsherr?

I'm with Riptide there's been an uh...incident? You can do metal stuff, right? We need your help.

[incogneto]

[ Shows up 5 minutes later with starbucks like ]

So you blacked out and ripped off his arm.

[ He turns to Riptide ]

What do you remember?

[knaval]

[riptide shrugs, a new squirt of energon erupting from his torn shoulder.]

He blacked out and - watch the pink stuff - ripped my arm off. What can I say? I need hand! Super strength, am I right?

[itcanwait]

I didn't mean to. I didn't even know I could! Can you help?

[incogneto]

Yes, it's not that difficult, but I'm going to need some scrap metal. And you might not be able to get full range of motion for awhile; it'll just be stiff for a bit.

And I'll need to check in about a month to make sure things are still stable.

...But right now I need you to explain what you mean blacked out.

[knaval]

Tailgate, do you think you can tear some off those girders?

[he grunts in affirmation at erik.]

Thanks, mate. And-- it's the same way humans do. He dropped offline for a moment and didn't have control.

[incogneto]

When people black out, we typically stop functioning, not tear each other apart.

Don't you need to check to make sure he doesn't black out and tear the other one out?

[itcanwait]

I just remember being really tired and then...waking up.

[He still feels tired, like everything has been drained from him and he needs a long recharge. He feels awful on top of that but he pushes through as he goes over to where he sees more girders. He has to climb a little to get a better looking one and manages to grip on and drop down with it, pulling it off. A couple more he finds lying around and drags them all back over to Riptide and Erik.]

This enough? When it's better, you should come to my work and I'll give it a paint job!

[knaval]

You, little man, [he says, pointing at tailgate.] are going to nap after this is done.

[then, to erik:] He didn't run at me or anything. I think he just flinched and... uh. He's strong.

[incogneto]

He did this from. A flinch.

[ Yeah that's making Erik feel a lot better about this. ]

Alright. Hold still a second.

[ He hovers and brings the arm up. ]

How are your pain receptors?

I'm only getting half these notifs so just going to track it o_o

[itcanwait]

Naps are good. As long as it isn't all day.

[He looks to Erik and shrugs.]

I got given super strength when I got here. Spark induced or something. But I still didn't mean it!

[knaval]

--Hold up, from your spark? Teeg, we gotta talk about this once you're done sleeping.

[HE HAS SO MANY QUESTIONS.]

Fine. If you're wondering why I'm not screaming it's because I turned them off.

[incogneto]

Great.

[ He floats into a little hole in his armpit and pulls the arm and a few pieces of metal up ]

Don't turn them back on anytime soon.

[itcanwait]

I didn't mention that, did I?

[He climbs up onto the JCB from earlier and watches Erik work with his chin in his hands.]

Rewind would love this.

[knaval]

No!

[he says still, letting erik do his thang.]

...Rewind would love this. I kinda hope him and Chromedome show up. That would be fun!

[incogneto]

[ He is not gonna ask about the names.

After a little bit, Erik bores a hole through the shoulder to climb out of, and patches it right back up with a wee seam. Surgical scar. ]

Try moving your arm.

[itcanwait]

We could do a recreation of it! With props, not actual arms. I'd love to see people again.

[He hops off the machine when Erik is done and walks over, going up on his...tiptoes. Which doesn't really add much more height.] Hey! That looks really good!

[knaval]

Oh, no! [he giggles, while erik is futzing around inside his arm.] Chromedome would hate that!

[when erik emerges, he moves it as requested.]

Stiff, but works! Thanks, mate. I'll vote for you if I remember, haha!

[incogneto]

...Aren't you running?

--Also turn your pain receptors back on before I leave.

[ And um. He moves away from Tailgate as he moves closer... Pointedly ]

[itcanwait]

Chromedome would just have to suck it up.

[He notices, not like it was hard to miss it stings just a little, but he's pretty sure if he was human he'd be unsure. Actually human and not just with a human form. He's trying not to let on, but he's worried about what had happened and that he has no memory of it, that's terrifying.]

You are allowed to vote for others if you're running right? I don't know why you would though. [Staring at Riptide.]

[knaval]

What? Why the staring? I'm allowed to vote!

[he huffs.]

You got weird about me wanting to tell people about the danger room thing as well. Why is that such a big deal? Jeez.

[incogneto]

[ Erik is packing up the other scraps they didn't need, maybe they'll be of use later. Or uh. Returned to wherever they got these from... ]

Usually candidates don't try to help each other win.

[ Anyway ]

Is there anything else either of you needed?

[itcanwait]

What he said! Rodimus wouldn't vote for anyone but himself.

[He looks at Erik and shakes his head.]

Thanks though. I was super worried.