[semi-open]

[redcosmedic]

WHO: Knock Out & semi-OPEN
WHERE: Various; see starters.
WHEN: January
WHAT: Knock Out setting up his social circle whut.
WARNINGS: TBA if needed.


I. Jeopardy #003 - OTA;
It's been an eventful first day as an imPort, and that's on top of the stress of the last few days aboard the Nemesis directly prior, so Knock Out is grateful when things finally calm down enough for a rest. He transforms to his vehicle mode and drives to the address he'd been given for his assigned housing. Laughable, since there was no way he was going to fit into anything except perhaps the garage, but he supposed it was better than parking on a random side street.

He pulls into the drive, lets himself idle for a moment, then parks. He sets a chrono for half a solar cycle, a proximity alarm just in case anyone decides to get too close, and drops into recharge. The sun will thus rise some hours later with a very polished Aston Martin in the driveway of Jeopardy #003.

II. Nonah Forge - closed to Darin;
Following his discussion with Darin regarding testing energon on his smithy creations. Since it required very little of his ration, and he was mildly curious as to why this human seemed so interested in the concept. Regardless of the outcome of the armor testing against energon, Knock Out fully intended to probe for some more information on as much as the blacksmith felt like talking about - which if their initial conversation was indicative of, was quite a lot.

After contacting Darin a few days after his arrival, gaining the address to the forge, and taking the Porter to Nonah, Knock Out pulled up in front of the old foundry building and honked. It looked big enough to fit him in root mode once inside, but the doorway might be a challenge.

III. Heropa Beachside - closed to Riptide;
The beach wasn't actually in Heropa, but it was a pleasant drive there nonetheless from the Porter that brought him from Jeopardy. The two had agreed to meet in person, and the locale was neutral as any. Hopefully the Autobot would have his wax, but even if he didn't, the meeting was prudent on all fronts. There was only so much that was going to be shared on open comms in his public network post, after all. This would give Knock Out a chance to get more information on Riptide, and vice versa no doubt if the Autobot had any sense of healthy preservation. If not, the medic was no further behind.

He didn't really intend to break this truce they'd proposed. There was nothing to be gained by it, not with no other Cybertronians in this world. There was no reason to throw himself behind an allegiance that would only make things more difficult for him. He liked it when things were easier.

He rolls up to the boardwalk, opening a general channel. I'm here.

Comments

time to meet the housemate

[theycalledmeacurse]

Eventful is certainly one way to describe the last few days of Rogue's life. It has perhaps been a little too much so, honestly, and she's desperately looking forward to some calm and delightfully boring weeks ahead of adjusting to her new life. Give her hours of cooking, cleaning, and other monotonous daily tasks and she'll bask in their blissful normalcy.

Sleep is not a regular part of that "normal" life though, and so it's just after sunrise that Rogue enters the kitchen and blearily makes herself a cup of coffee. There are no sounds in the house to indicate the presence of anyone else (at least, not anyone awake). It's not until a few minutes later while passing a window that she spots a very unexpected addition to her new home waiting out in the driveway.

When did that get there.

She's still in her dark green pajamas when she leaves the house, sparing only a few seconds to slip on a pair of sneakers before heading out to the driveway with coffee still in hand. She certainly doesn't expect an answer when she poses the question: "Where on earth did you come from?"

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out is not a morning mech. He never had been, but he'd been hoping that his recharge would prove this all to be a bad memory defrag and he'd wake up back on the Nemesis. Preferably with the war already won.

No such luck.

His proximity alarm chirped across his sensors when Rogue came out to the driveway, but he's still slow to rouse, so it's in a decidedly groggy voice, seeming to emanate from the whole car at once, that Knock Out replies, "Urgh. Not Earth."

[theycalledmeacurse]

The sudden voice startles Rogue and she jumps slightly, having not at all expected to be greeted in response to her question. Her life is weird enough that she doesn't really question it, though — of course there's a talking car in her driveway. At least it's not a giant robot come to drag her away to some secret lab.

"I apologize for the assumption, sugar," she replies as soon as she's got her wits about her again. "If not Earth, where are you from?"

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out recognized the turn of phrase but the apology is a nice recoup anyway, and he does his best to drag his still-booting processor up to speed so he doesn't sound so sleepy.

"Cybertron," he answers her question, opting for the easiest explanation since their kind is apparently known here by other imPorts... he has no way of knowing whether she's as new as him or an old hand here.

"Apparently this is my new address," he adds with some amusement. "You'll have to tell me how it is, in case they ask."

[theycalledmeacurse]

Cybertron. It doesn't ring any bells, but considering the context, it's probably a planet in some galaxy. Considering all the people she's encountered here thus far, it's likely they're not even from the same universe.

And they're roommates. Sort of. Glancing back at the house, she grimaces slightly. "It looks like whoever assigned us here wasn't really thinking. I'm sure we can fix up something nice for you, though."

iii

[knaval]

Riptide shows up a little later, walking casually in robot mode. He's holding two barrels of the wax Knock Out had wanted -- he'd managed to get a nice discount on some of them based on his popular imPort status. All it took was a couple of instagram posts which Knock Out will hopefully never find.

"Hey," he says, crouching down to gently place the barrels on the boardwalk next to Knock Out's alt-mode. People are staring, some are taking pictures. Riptide ignores them.

[redcosmedic]

Riptide is much larger than Knock Out was expecting, but the medic is used to being among the shorter mechs in the room. Still intimidating, though the drums of wax are delightful, and his mood is immediately buoyant. Knock Out unfolds from his alt mode and gives Riptide a shameless up and down look over he adds a playful, "Someone ate his energon flakes every morning, big boy. And you even brought me gifts."

The sight of not one Cybertronian but now two is definitely garnering more interest by the passersby. At least in January the beach sand itself is mostly deserted, and Knock Out inclines his helm down the stretch in invitation. "Walk?"

[knaval]

"Oh, you know us MTOs," he says with a snort. It's not something he'd usually give away so easily, but Knock Out is a medic. Riptide wouldn't be surprised if he could already tell from how he walks, or something. "Built to take some good shots."

He nods, gesturing for Knock Out to lead the way with his tiny little legs.

"Can't join you in alt mode, unfortunately. I turn into a boat."

[redcosmedic]

"You're a Hydrobot," Knock Out asserts, filing the information away later, and then connecting the nodes. "That's why you asked about Simanzi? That's where you came online, isn't it?"

There's no judgment in his tone, not even veiled. A lot of Cybertronians owed their sparks either directly or indirectly to the war, even if what had happened at Simanzi had done its best to wipe all of that out.

"How long have you been here?"

Jeopardy

[justlittle]

Bean is nosy by nature. It helped him survive on the streets of Rotterdam, and it helped him thrive in Battle School. It's mere coincidence, that he is out in the driveway of #002 when the neighbor's car pulls up-- he's never lived in a house before, and staying indoors makes him feel awkward and claustrophobic-- but it means he notices the sports car right away.

He doesn't look up from his hover bike at first, simply angling himself so he can see the person who might come out of the car in his peripheral vision. But then... no one comes out of the car. Finally, he abandons all pretense and walks over to peer in the tinted windows himself.

No one there. Had he missed the driver getting out? No, he'd been watching the whole time. He would have seen. The car simply had no driver.

"Toguro..." He muses, wondering why someone would have a driverless car sent over. He walks around it, peering in windows and kicking the tires, supremely impressed.

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out had been hoping to fall right into recharge, but it doesn't take long for a human - a tiny one, at that - to take notice of him. Normally he doesn't mind people admiring his alt mode, he appreciates it even. But not right this moment, when all he wants is some rest. He holds still when the child comes peering around at him, hoping he'll just leave, but then he feels a small foot kicking his tires.

"Hey!" he snaps waspishly, and the car door flings open to knock the boy back before shutting itself again. "Weren't you taught not to touch without permission?"

[justlittle]

Bean isn't sure what he's expecting, but he sure isn't expecting the car door to fly open and whack him back onto his behind in the driveway. He's stunned, enough so that he thinks he just hallucinated the car talking to him. No way that happened, right?

"What kind of emossin' car is this?" He pushes himself to his feet, dusting off his butt and his hands, before leaning right back in to examine the door that had flung open. "Who's commanding it?"

[redcosmedic]

The driver's side mirror angles to catch Bean in its view, and Knock Out sniffs haughtily. "This is a highly sought after model, I'll have you know. Twelve cylinders, 420 foot pounds of torque, custom wheels and interior--"

Seeing that the boy was not going to be leaving any time soon, Knock Out decides to make his point, and unfolds from vehicle mode into full root mode. Most average height humans stand approximately to his knees - Bean is considerably shorter than that, and Knock Out stares down at him with a distinctly unimpressed look.

"And one very, very sophisticated driver. You'd better not have gotten your grubby prints on my finish, fleshy."

FORGE

[forgeabettertomorrow]

The day had been relatively normal as far as days at the forge went. Darin had made the business lucrative enough through various avenues and contracts to be living well within his means. Lately, he'd been inspired to work on some new ideas that had been floating around in his head; purely personal projects aimed towards himself.

His appointments had all be in for the day and he was taking a break when the honk came.

Darin made his way outside to see the luxury sports car parked in front of the forge. He whistled at the sight. Someone clearly had money.

Problem was, parking there was a problem, and he'd hated to see a prospective customer get a ticket. He strolls over and taps lightly on the driver's side window.

"Hey, friend. Love the car, but you can't park here. You'll get a ticket or towed."

[redcosmedic]

"Anyone with taste would," Knock Out replies haughtily; his voice comes from the whole car, but it's impossible to tell exactly where. He's also not bothering to disguise the fact that he loves being admired.

"And I'd like very much for someone to attempt to tow me. It'll be funny."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin jumps back a solid six feet when the entire care talks.

He stares in open amazement and curiosity. He recognized that voice, after all.

"Wait...Knock Out? You're a car?!"

Given that Riptide never told him that Cybertronians can transform, this is kind of crazy.

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out's motor revs in put-upon irritation at that. "Yes, if by that same type of comparison you'd call a letter-opener a sword. This is a limited edition luxury automobile, thank you very much. I haven't had an alt mode I liked this much in at least two million years. Maybe more. Check out my custom rims." He waggles them back and forth enticingly.

closed to Riptide;

[redcosmedic]

Following Riptide's call and subsequent request to have his shoulder looked at, Knock Out made use of the Porter to get to De Chima. Although colder than Jeopardy, hovering around the freezing mark, the weather was bright and clear, and the streets dry. Knock Out transformed to his vehicle mode and set a slightly more scenic course through the city than was strictly necessary. He even obeyed the speed limits, for the most part.

Rolling through the outskirts, he sent out a general EM ping to locate Riptide. It was a little curious that the Autobot had wanted the repair (which he was happier to do than he'd wanted to admit - his servos felt too idle, since repairing Vehicons had been a near-daily thing up until now) but had chosen not to share the "who" of the injury happening.

It wasn't that he needed to know, but he was curious. Nosy, really.

[knaval]

Receiving the ping, Riptide responds. He's not too far away-- he's near a huge seemingly abandoned warehouse. It's not a great location, not the most hygenic, but Knock Out had wanted somewhere indoors and they could both fit inside. It'll be a little cramped but hey! He's certain they've both been in worse places over the course of the war.

He smiles when he sees Knock Out, waving happily.

"Hello!" Still chipper as ever. "I did my best for venue."

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out transforms back to root mode and approaches with tool kit already in hand, looking over the warehouse. Primus, but he was going to end up missing his fully equipped medbay aboard the Nemesis sooner rather than later, wasn't he?

But Riptide was reminded him of a happy turbofox kit with his eagerness, and Knock Out gives him an genial smile in return. "It will most certainly do," he agrees. "Thank you for finding somewhere on such short notice."

The interior leaves much to be desired, but Riptide's right: they've both seen and done with far worse. Besides, Knock Out is hardly doing invasive surgery today.

"You know, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to find some place like this on a more permanent basis," he comments as he finds somewhere to set out the tools he'll need.

[knaval]

"You're doing me the favour, so..." he says with a shrug as he ducks in after Knock Out. "Worst case scenario, someone stalked me and takes pictures and suddenly there's a load of magazines saying we're illicit lovers."

A pause, he pats his chest.

"Whoof. No offence but I purged in my mouth a little at that. Ugh. Played myself."

He looks around, then sits a little on some of the old, discarded hay.

"I suppose... I never really thought about it, but maybe a plane hangar would work? What sort of space would you need?"

jeopardy 003 - closed to Rogue;

[redcosmedic]

It was nearing sundown when Knock Out returned to Jeopardy's housing section. He'd just come from the military base where he'd picked up his weekly rations of energon and returned the empty cubes to them. He wasn't sure what they were actually doing with the returned cubes, but at least this way they weren't cluttering up his space. Speaking of his space, he'd need to store them in the garage, which he couldn't do in vehicle mode.

He hadn't forgotten Rogue's reaction to seeing his natural form, and though he knew a little bit more about what had prompted it - based on her explaining the basics of Sentinels - she still hadn't made any overture to wanting a repeat, so he'd been carefully timing his changes to when she wasn't home.

Kasia didn't seem that alarmed by him, but she was rarely at the house that he'd been around for. So the majority of the time he spent at Jeopardy #003 was in vehicle mode in the driveway, recharging. If Riptide came through with his promise of finding somewhere that would accommodate their sizes, he would probably spend less time here overall.

Knock Out had linked his communicator directly to his comm frequency, so when his scan informed him that Rogue was home as he pulled into the driveway, he sent her a text.

I'm back. Stay in the house for the next twenty minutes or so, please, I'll be in root mode.

[theycalledmeacurse]

The fact that she has not again seen Knock Out in his other form hasn't escaped Rogue's notice. She'd asked him for warning so she could be prepared for that shock of terror she desperately needed to overcome, but she hadn't asked that he avoid it altogether. So when she receives the message of warning while curled up in her room with a book, she spends only twenty seconds contemplating her options. Stay where she is, or face this ridiculous obstacle and work toward conquering it.

Decision made and book set aside, she zips up her green hoodie and slips on a pair of shoes before heading downstairs. One glimpse out the window is all it takes to send her heart racing at a frantic pace, but she steadfastly reminds herself that this is Knock Out. He's been kind to her and she has no reason to fear him.

One deep breath, two, and she nearly throws herself out the front door with a big smile. "Hey there, sugar," she greets him with a brightness in her tone that she's trying to really feel. "Thought I'd come out and say hello."

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out had just expanded his plating to prepare for the transformation back to root mode when the front door flings open and suddenly Rogue is there greeting him.

There's a sound of grinding metal on metal as the panels of the car had been in the process of unfolding. Then they seem to collapse back in on themselves, retaking the original form with a screech and groan while Knock Out makes a terribly undignified sputter like a flooded engine backfiring.

"That's the opposite of what I just told you!"

[theycalledmeacurse]

His reaction takes her by surprise, though she supposes she must have done the same for him. With her emotions running high and her nerves on edge, his sputtering pushes her just enough over the edge that a laugh bursts out of her. That surprises her as well and another follows, and another, a whole string of giggles bubbling up.

How long has it been since she laughed like this?