[closed] I don't know how we push and pull...

[redcosmedic]

WHO: Knock Out & Riptide
WHERE: Cybertronian House, Jeopardy
WHEN: Following this network post
WHAT: Knock Out is in a Bad Mood following his conversation with Cecelia and one of his roommates has a good idea as to why.
WARNINGS: Will add as needed

What had started as a mellow evening with Knock Out tucked comfortably on the common room couch at the Jeopardy house had quickly derailed when he'd decided to check the network and gotten embroiled in a heated discussion. By the time the conversation was over, the medic was too riled to focus on finishing the sketch on his datapad, and left it open on the table to stalk into the kitchen. Before long, the sounds of empty energon cubes being aggressively washed and plunked down into the drying rack with far more force than necessary filled the room.

Stupid, he fumed to himself. An idiotic squabble. Arguing with an organic over such a thing? I should know better. I've had sealant coats with more permanence than her!

Comments

[knaval]

Riptide wasn't home when he nudged in a text, and he doesn't come back for a couple hours after. He's not avoiding-- he's just... out, and doesn't think he needs to get back to check up on Knock Out. He doesn't! Knock Out is a grown-ass man-bot. It's fine.

He gets back as the evening is drawing into night, casually sauntering past to take one of the cubes off the rack. Gonna reuse it.

"Don't we have a cube-washer for that? I could probably jury-rig one. Maybe see if Ironfist can make it rocket-powered."

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out was definitely ignoring the perfectly functional cube sanitizer in favour of washing by hand, because you just couldn't push a button with the same angry vehemence that felt pettishly satisfying right now. But at least nothing was currently being dissected, so that counted for something.

"Please do not ask Ironfist for rocket-powered appliances, because he'll think that's a perfectly valid idea."

Finished washing the last cube, he fills it with clean water and begins moving around the room to water the various plants dotting the house, some in pots on ledges and tables, some hanging in baskets under the skylights.

[knaval]

"What, like it's not?" he asks, genuinely offended for a moment as he moves out the way, watching what Knock Out's doing with them. It's funny how the medic has the aesthetic knowledge to make something as boring as a plant actually look like a nice set piece.

"Those are new," he comments blandly.

[redcosmedic]

"A lot of things are new," Knock Out answers without turning around. The plants, the curtains, the scenic art pieces on the walls... some days it was hard to believe that this was the same industrially austere house the two had built just a year ago, even if it was still there under the trappings. And yet every piece of personality that had been added prior to Riptide's Port out was still there, from the hummingbird suncatcher in the kitchen window to the Autobrand toaster on the counter. Knock Out hadn't replaced those things... just built on them.

[knaval]

"Probably for the best you didn't leave any of this decorating up to me. I don't have an optic for it."

In retrospect, it's not actually surprising Knock Out knows what he's doing. He seems to with most things.

"...So, uh, you weren't jerking those cubes around and pretending they were little orange-haired organics, were you?"

[redcosmedic]

"You're still welcome to make changes if something comes up," Knock Out replied. It was hardly Riptide's fault that he'd come online when the war was already in full swing and therefore never started with anything resembling civilian life. At least he was getting a chance to experience it in his post-war world.

The medic slanted a shrewd glance at the unsubtle question. "Why? Wouldn't that be better than doing it to the real thing?"

[knaval]

"I have all of zero ideas for that, mate," he says with a shrug, then crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "Sure it is. I just wanted to, uh... I don't know. See how you were doing?"

He makes a face.

"I'm not gonna try and make excuses for her, if you're thinking that. Organics just don't get it and never could."

[redcosmedic]

"The toaster speaks to disagree," Knock Out answered dryly, where Riptide's Autobrand symbol was still there.

Truthfully, he hadn't known whether Riptide would defend Cecelia's remarks or not, even if just in the context of 'she doesn't know better'. So he's pleasantly surprised when the Hydrobot makes no such overture, even if it does surprise him a little.

"No, they couldn't. Which makes it all the more absurd that I even brought it up in the first place. I really do know better, I've just been... out of sorts lately. Clearly it's affecting my judgment."

Out of sorts was putting it lightly. Knock Out's sleep patterns were highly erratic anymore, and what recharge he did get was rarely restful. He'd often disappear for long drives, sometimes for days, and his appetite had almost disappeared. And while he was doing his best to hide the effects from his housemates, his irregular spark activity often left him drained and weary. He made up for it by putting extra care into maintaining his appearance, but it was getting harder to conceal.

[knaval]

"Okay. I'll put more Autobrands on stuff."

A horrible mistake has just been made.

"Uh... yeah, no understatement intended, yeah?" he asks, immediately thinking of about fifty reasons why that could be. His top one is anniversary related. "I noticed you like to go out for the ol' night drives a lot."

Riptide's usually up through the night, though that's more due to him not bothering to keep a regular pattern than actually having issues recharging.

"You gonna tell me what's up or do I have to sit on you until you do?"

[redcosmedic]

Ugh. And after Knock Out had purposely gone out of his way not to inject too much purple into their house colour scheme, just in case more Autobots arrived and raised a fuss about it.

"Velocitronian," Knock Out reminds him automatically, even though both of them know that likely has very little to do with the late night drives. He sets down the now-empty cube on the counter, the assortments of planets attended for another few days.

"It's fine, Riptide. Nothing you need to be concerned about," the medic says, turning and flashing the larger mech a winsome smile that lacks any hint of sincerity. "A medical irregularity, that's all."

[knaval]

The roll of his optics makes it clear he doesn't buy into that for one second.

"I'm sure a medical irregularity for the only medic here is nothing to worry about. What happened? What is it?"

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out's empty smile turns into an annoyed frown. "So sorry if my deterioration causes an inconvenience to the rest of you. It's not like any of you have needed medical attention anyway."

[knaval]

"I mean there's no-one here to help you, moron! I don't care about me! I'm fine!"

He gesticulates wildly with his hands.

"What is it? It's not cybercrosis, is it? Oh, god, it's cybercrosis. How long do you have? No, wait, don't tell me!"

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out instinctively stepped back, outside Riptide's reach. "Watch where you're flailing, I just polished! It's not cybercrosis, must you always leap to the worst case scenario?"

He folded his arms across his chassis and glances away; his mind plays back the conversation he and Riptide had following the Autobot's return. It happened on Earth. I'm still... recalibrating.

"... my spark behaviour has been aberrant for a while now. It's just... gotten more pronounced in the last year, that's all. I've been managing it. Sometimes the drives help."

[knaval]

"It usually always is!" he snipes back, though there's no bite to it. "Do you know why it's been weird?"

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out hesitates, because frankly it's none of the Autobot's business, but playing it off as if Knock Out didn't know what was causing it would likely only increase the bigger mech's nosiness... and probably worry. That was a feeling Knock Out didn't care to examine at this particular time.

"... yes. I know why it's 'weird'."

Still, he strove to keep the wording as detached as possible. A clinical description. "A terminated spark bond causes orbit damage, among other things. It's... out of alignment, for lack of a better term. Which has physical side effects."

[knaval]

It's probably immediately clear from his expression that this was something he'd considered -- grief, though, maybe. He doesn't know how bonds work or if they're even possible for mechs of his universe. Funnily enough, what Knock Out does with his spark isn't something that really occupies Riptide's mind.

"Oh," he says, blandly. "Is there, uh... anything to be done about it?"

Is it going to get worse?

[redcosmedic]

It was the same question Jane had asked, and Knock Out resists the urge to roll his optics and answer the same way: if there was, don't you think I'd be doing it?

Instead, he just sat at the table and retrieved his datapad, opening the last file he'd been working on. "No, Riptide," he said. "It may yet settle out, I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience dealing with mechs with this condition."

But the escalating frequency suggested it was not, as he'd hoped, getting better.

[knaval]

Riptide would say that he's a Cybertronian, therefore any help he can offer is inherently on another level to a human.

"Slag," he says, simply, putting a hand to his forehead. "I..."

He falters for a moment.

"Do you want company on those late drives?"

[redcosmedic]

No, he wants to say. He could even soften the blow with I'm poor company those nights, why would you want that?

What he says instead: "... perhaps. If you think you can keep up. In the line of thought about alt modes though, when are you going to let me fix that t-cog of yours?"

Redirecting topic? Absolutely. Nailed it.

[knaval]

"Sure I can," he says with a scoff. "I mean, if digging around in my guts will make you feel better, then whenever you next have an opening."

...Not to mention his t-cog failing him if he went on one of those drives with Knock Out would be so terribly embarrassing.

[redcosmedic]

Knock Out laughed at that. It was no dissection but it'd do.

" End of the week, then. I'll be holding you to that."