[open] Just roll through town...

[redcosmedic]

WHO: Knock Out & OPEN
WHERE: Various; see starters, all prompts open unless otherwise specified.
WHEN: February
WHAT: Knock Out's settling into something of a routine.
WARNINGS: TBA if needed.


I. Jeopardy #003;

He's rarely there during the daytime hours, but despite not being able to enjoy most of the amenities offered by the building itself, Knock Out still comes back to his assigned housing each night, as much by habit as by design. This will never be "home", but it's a pleasant enough respite for what it is, and the company he keeps here - Rogue and occasionally Kasia - is a welcome distraction. He's settled in for the evening and begun running a self-diagnostic for something to do, entering a low-power mode that wasn't quite recharge. Dozing, essentially, while still keeping a wary eye out for the two Autobot neighbours that lived across the street.

II. Jeopardy - Big Al's Used Autos;

He does eventually remember to attend where his government assigned job is located. The manager is less than impressed by the time it takes Knock Out to show up (what's a few weeks to someone who lives for millions of years, the medic snips back) but eventually they work out his actual job description. He really can't bring himself to promote these (in his opinion) clunkers, but it turns out they mostly want his imPort presence as a marketing gimmick, and that suits him all right. Most of what he has to do is sit around looking extra shiny and talk car specs with any gearheads that come by because they heard about the transforming imPort. All of which are tenable, and they're paying him decently for it.

III. Jeopardy Assorted;

Jeopardy may be creepy, but it's one of the few Porter cities at the moment that's not snowy, which suits him just fine. He learns his new "hometown" with all its idiosyncrasies. The humming takes some getting used to, especially since his audial scanners can't pinpoint the exact frequency, and that's nothing short of strange for his kind. Subroutines to filter it seem to have limited success at best, so eventually he just gets used to it.

He politely turns down the frequent offers to join the Church of the Ancient Web Mistress, though they routinely come up to him with new offers, seemingly "innocently" having forgotten his earlier dismissals.

The hallucination-like sightings are a little more worrisome, considering that he shouldn't be susceptible to the commonly explaining reasoning - ambient radiation - that supposedly causes them. One of the city's many quirks, and sometimes he'll be found sitting in vehicle mode on alongside the curb on various streets, watching some of these ghostly figures and recording them as best he can.

"Did you see that one?"

IV. Heropa Boardwalk & Beach;

Of any city outside Jeopardy, Knock Out spends more time in Heropa for the warmth of the Florida climate, such as it is even at this time of year. A good portion of it is spend actually outside the city and down near the beach and boardwalk, where he's begun building something of a following since the provided space gives him ample opportunity to revert to root mode and stretch. Heropa, already heavily imPort-friendly in general, is a nice break from Jeopardy where the natives are reserved about their world-hopping neighbours. And sometimes he just wants some quiet time, moving down the beach quite far from the boardwalk for a stroll or to sit and look out over the ocean.

V. Other Cities;

He spends less time in the other Porter cities than Jeopardy and Heropa, and it's mostly in vehicle mode as he cruises looking for interesting things, but he will sometimes revert to root mode when there are fans nearby. While it remained a little disconcerting that humans don't react with either fear or even much shock when confronted with an alien robot over 20' tall, the medic has significantly warmed to the attention, even if he tends to outright laugh when questions come up about what kind of hero he is.

And Knock Out has never needed an excuse to preen, so he is obligingly turning this way and that while a few snapped pictures. Honestly, if humans had been like this on the Earth he was familiar with, rather than merely infuriating and disgusting, he might have actually reconsidered his position on Megatron's plan to decimate the little mudball. "Ah ah, look but don't touch," he scoffed, shooing a few over-eager spectators away with wickedly pointed digits. "I don't want your fleshy little prints grubbing up my finish."

Of course, not everyone in attendance was in a charitable mood. A few had gathered on the edges of the crowd, trading glances in the medic's direction with mutters among themselves about 'another imPort too dangerous to be properly controlled'.

VI. WILDCARD;

Anything that doesn't fit the above starters, or hit me up at sojourney and I'll write you something specific!

Comments

[queenofseers]

I mean, you seem to be from different...timelines or something, right? No wonder you don’t know. It doesn’t seem like a lot of shit is consistent. Which- I’ve had timeline problems with people here, but not like that.

[ It’s inherently bizarre- as if the Porter couldn’t make this hard enough.

As for his other question, she taps her chin in thought. ]

We’ve known each other for a year? And- I don’t know, honestly, he’s the exact kind of person that usually frustrates me to no end. [ Now that she thinks about it. ] He is ridiculously sincere. It’s kind of hard to stay mad at him when he keeps doing nice shit for me all the time.

[redcosmedic]

Different... realities, I think. I'm not sure. A lot of our past events seem similar, but we haven't figured out exactly where things diverged. But he and I are definitely not experiencing the same things in our "present" times, no.

[ Knock Out considers her response. It echoes a lot of what he himself thinks of Riptide, especially with the doing nice things for him. ]

I'd imagine a lot of Riptide's relationships were-- [ how to put this delicately? ] --unnaturally short lived due to the war. Perhaps that's why he's so eager to make a good impression on people.

[queenofseers]

You're still way closer than most people from different realities are, though. I mean- most of us aren't from worlds with Cybertronians. You've got enough of the same building blocks that something fucking weird must be going on.

[ As for the reminder of Riptide's origins, she sighs. ]

Oh, I know a lot of his relationships were unnaturally short lived. But honestly, I like him too much to do a deep dive psych analysis.

[redcosmedic]

Oh please. Humans have barely made it to their own moon in most universes, it seems. They wouldn't know if Cybertronians were part of their universe or not unless we were stationed there like in mine.

[ Cass' response surprises him a little; he'd been genuinely curious and not attempting a dig at Riptide's origins. ]

Is that what you thought I was doing? You didn't have to answer if you hadn't wanted to.

In any case, I think we've learned enough for today. It doesn't seem like any more of those glitches are going to pop up for right now.

[queenofseers]

I refuse to believe my world has any possibility of cybernetic wars being fought a few galaxies over. Just for my sanity.

[ She shrugs. ] We were going to get there. But you're right- there isn't shit going on.

[ She moves to go back down the street. ] If you do see anything weird...let me know. Who knows what the hell is important around here.

[redcosmedic]

[ His engine starts, the running lights coming on. ]

I'll leave you a message if I see anything of note, Cassandra.

[ Probably he will. ]