Day 38: Lunch

[beloved_less]

Soubi was beginning to feel the effects of a busy morning on a tired body. To make things worse, they were serving Tacos and Burritos. He could really do some with something a bit softer today. Blander. But it was hardly his biggest concern right now

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[scalyfishman]

By all accounts, Depth Charge should have been, if not happy, then at least satisfied.

That made at least four people he'd asked to look out for X now- Lugnut, his roommate Matsuda, the man he'd met that night (Javert?) and now Arlene- with X himself possibly making himself known during the next shift. The net was tightening already, he could feel it, and he was going to be there when it closed on the mutant.

But none of that stopped Depth Charge from taking his sweet time getting from the Sun Room to the cafeteria for lunch. Dawdling along the corridor, 'forgetting' his journal, stopping to look out of every available window... all delay tactics, designed to prolong the time it took him to reach the cafeteria.

He really didn't want to see Blitzwing.

Partly because he knew the topic of conversation wasn't going to be a walk in the park. Slag, he could lay the facts out well enough, spin a little story to whoever asked about Colony Omicron, but actually discussing it? Forget it. That meant thinking about it. But mostly? Mostly he didn't want to admit he was wrong about the 'con. Depth Charge didn't like to be wrong. It opened far too many doors in himself that he didn't wasn't prepared to look into.

He couldn't put it off forever, though. Eventually, his nurse took his arm (gently but firmly) and led him to the cafeteria, put a little salad on a plate to pick at and sat him down at a table. Bring it on, Decepticon.

[lossofface]

Talk about terrible timing - Blitzwing hadn't even caught the bald human's name before the nurses were rushing them both off again. Still, it couldn't complain; it shouldn't be that hard to contact the human over the bulletin board, if he learned anything new pertaining to explosives. And Blitzwing had every intention of learning as much as he could -- blowing this slagged place up wouldn't be nearly as satisfying as wrecking it with his own hands, but only just. Though, he reminded himself, it would be a bad idea do any lasting damage to the structure when he still didn't know where his body was stored. But that was all the more reason to keep an optic on the stranger! He could always sabotage the human if his plans got too grandiose...And in the meantime, a good explosion would go a long way to shaking up that smug slagger who kept making broadcasts on the intercom.

Letting the argument go for now, Blitzwing's attention was arrested by the sight of food he actually recognized: burritos! They'd use to feed Dr. Sumdac burritos, after the squishy scientist had made it clear just how much humans needed to eat -- by passing out mid-explanation. Admittedly, the stuff Blitzwing had eventually found for him (by way of - literally - knocking over a convenience store) had been frozen, but it amounted to the same thing, didn't it? Sumdac had seemed grateful enough -- Blitzwing had to try this!

Piling his plate with a small stack of the tortilla-wrapped food items, Blitzwing balanced his tray on one arm and held it close to his chest as he gave one of the burritos a try. The texture was nauseating, as always -- but once you got past how unnaturally soft it was, the burrito wasn't that bad! It was even kind of fun to suck the soft part out of it's shell, though he quickly reminded himself that it would be most efficient to eat it all regardless. He couldn't be like Lugnut, letting perfectly good food go to waste when his human body needed it to function. Somebody had to be the responsible one -- even if it was really, really boring.

Speaking of responsibility, wasn't he forgetting something? Something about lunch shift, and somebody he'd been talking to on the bulletin board...Oh, right! Depth Charge! He was supposed to meet the Maximal this shift; he'd completely forgotten in the wake of discovering that at least one human imprisoned here was planning to do interesting things with explosives. Such a tantalizing thought. But meeting the Maximal was bound to be interesting too, especially after the very interesting conversation they'd had on the bulletin board.

Decepticons weren't given to empathy, as a general rule, but Blitzwing had to admit it would be...well, interesting to actually meet someone who had experienced loss on something even approaching the same level he had. Especially since Depth Charge didn't seem to be coping with it very well. It'd been funny to see how angry he'd gotten -- Maybe Blitzwing should make him do it again? Hm, best wait and see how the conversation went, first. Lugnut seemed to think they might have a potential ally in the Maximal, and fool as he was it still might be worth looking into. And speaking of looking...

Blitzwing surveyed the cafeteria, trying to pick out any tall humans with blue hair. Fortunately it seemed to be a fairly rare color -- he hadn't realized humans even came in blue! -- so his search didn't take long enough to get boring.

"Depth Charge?" he asked coolly, just to be sure, as he loomed over the blue-haired human, now holding his tray normally with both hands. First impressions counted for so much, after all.

[scalyfishman]

It was probably highly unfortunate for the Maximal in question that he couldn't scan Blitzwing's processor for peace of mind- without a doubt, the fact that the he was taking their meeting so lightly would've definitely cooled Depth Charge's jets a little. Pit, he was expecting some kind of inquisition.

As it was, however, when the sound of his name being spoken and the shadow falling across his (thus far untouched) plate caught his attention, Depth Charge felt an uncomfortable twist in his lower body. Not fear, of course, especially not over some jumped-up, spawn-of-Unicron 'con. Just... apprehension. He turned his head to get a look at the visitor. So. This was Blitzwing. Funny- the guy looked almost ordinary for a human. He wasn't sure why, but he'd been expecting something a little more dramatic from the resident Decepticon psychopath.

"That's right." he answered evenly, his expression as carefully controlled as his words: cold, detached, uninterested. Playing it cool and keeping his cards close to his chest. "You gonna just stand there or are you gonna sit down?"

[lossofface]

Undramatic? Blitzwing? If only Depth Charge could read minds, he'd soon see how wrong he was. Fortunately, he'd have the entire shift to learn better.

With a slight smirk at Depth Charge's attitude, Blitzwing sat, tearing into another one of his burritos. "So," he growled, and licked a stray bit of sauce off one of his fingers. "Too embarrassed to talk about your tragic past where people might see?"

So what if the Maximal was a potential ally? If he was too thin-plated to stand a little friendly heckling, then he was a waste of Blitzwing's time anyway. And yeah, this was Blitzwing's idea of friendly heckling.

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge’s response was almost reflexive: “Get scrapped.”

So, this is how the ‘cons play, huh? Well, Blitzwing was going to be sorely disappointed if he thought that this Maximal was going to be intimidated by that hard-bot act. It would take a Pit-load more than just smack-talk to move him.

With a controlled swipe of his hand he pushed his own tray away from him and leaned forward on the table with his elbows, mouth set into an unyielding line, eyes narrowed into a glower.

“Spare me the slag.” he said flatly. “I’m not in the mood.”

[lossofface]

"Really," Blitzwing said, coolly amused. "So what are you in the mood for, then?" So, not only was the Maximal prone to throwing tantrums, but he was easy too. Easily angered, that is. Blitzwing, meanwhile, might as well have been a former cucumber; he wasn't about to let a little thing like an upset Maximal interfere with his lunch.

"I must admit to a certain amount of curiosity," he murmured, not even missing a beat as he steadily worked his way through another burrito. "It's not every mech that can survive the level of carnage you described." That would have caught his interest, even without the superficial similarities between their two stories.

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge didn't answer, holding the same stony expression. What he wanted was to find X, kill him and get the slag out of this Inferno, but telling Blitzwing that wasn't going to win him any respect. Might as well just bend over then and there.

The Decepticon's second response, however, provoked a little more of a reaction. "I just got lucky," he muttered darkly, dropping his stare to the table. "Guess he liked the idea of someone to play cat-and-mouse-bot with." Except somewhere along the line, we both stopped playing by the rules.

[lossofface]

"Ah. I'm familiar with the type." Familiar with, but had never really cared for; he'd never really had the attention span for that sort of game.

"You don't really sound like a mouse, though," Blitzwing continued with a playful grin, voice suddenly shifting into a lighter tone. Making Depth Charge angry was all kinds of fun, but watching him sulk would be the worst kind of boring. Time to look at the subject from another angle! "How long have you been hunting him?"

[scalyfishman]

A crooked smile crossed Depth Charge’s face. “Like slag I am. Would’ve given up a long, long time ago.” The question was a good one, though; how long had it been, anyway? Forget time, after a while, everything just seemed to blur into one, endlessly long chase.

“Must be nearly five stellar cycles now,” he said, after a nanoklik’s though, “and it’s still going.” He gave a short, harsh laugh. “You’d think it’d end after death.”

[lossofface]

"He must be very good at hiding," Blitzwing said diffidently. Or very good at evading pursuit. And hadn't Depth Charge just admitted that his survival was as much due to luck as his own skill? Perhaps Blitzwing was cultivating the wrong ally.

"You don't happen to know if he's here, do you?" he asked, in as casual a manner as he could manage.

[scalyfishman]

"He's scum." Depth Charge spat. "You know how many times I faced him in that time cycles? Me neither. Took me four stellar cycles to bring him down." And even then there hadn't been a slagging thing he could do with him.

"If I'm here, he's here too. Although," he added, cracking his knuckles, "he won't be for much longer, so don't get any ideas."

[lossofface]

"I wouldn't dream of it." If only because Transformers couldn't actually dream. In truth, however, the idea of forging an alliance with the kind of fugitive Depth Charge described did sound attractive...Assuming, of course, he could be trusted not to stab his new allies in the back before they were done with him. Such were Decepticon politics. If only there was a way to contact him.

"In fact, why don't you describe him for me?" Blitzwing said, sounding as though he were offering Depth Charge a huge favor. "I could keep an optic out, and let you know if I meet him."

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge sat back for a klik, eyeing Blitzwing beadily. Being interested was one thing, but actually being helpful? A Decepticon? Slag, he knew fishy- he'd been one, for Primus' sake- and this just plain reeked. Still, what could he gain from not telling him? At least if the two did meet up they'd have to communicate through the bulletin board, and that he could use to his advantage.

"Don't say I haven't warned you, 'con," he growled, "'cause if you try anything behind my back with X, you're officially in my line of fire." He paused. "Been told he could have red hair or green eyes. Maybe some purple in there."

[lossofface]

Blitzwing just smirked at the Maximal's attempt at a threat. Depth Charge plainly didn't trust him (a point in his favor, actually) but was desperate enough to give out the information anyway. The description, however, made Blitzwing blink.

"So you're the one who made that post on the bulletin board?" he asked, astonishment making his voice drop back into a growl. He'd noticed it, but not paid it any mind, beyond checking with a nearby nurse to make sure his optics were not, in fact, green. He was suddenly glad for his foresight; there was a world of difference between deliberately getting involved in Depth Charge's little vendetta, if the opportunity came up to twist it to his own ends, and getting pulled into it without his knowledge. Being mistaken for the Maximal's X could have been anywhere from a nuisance to an actual inconvenience, depending on whether Depth Charge actually was as good as he thought he was, but either way Blitzwing was glad to have dodged that laser blast.

"Subtlety isn't exactly one of your strengths, is it?" he asked a trifle irritably, and without irony.

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge raised an eyebrow slightly at that. That was rich coming from the 'con. And he was so unsubtle that the message had passed right under Blitzwing's radar without setting off any alarm bells? Not that he particularly minded; if anything, it was the best sign he'd had all day. If Blitzwing hadn't realised who was behind it, there was a good chance that X hadn't either, and right now any kind of advantage was a plus.

"I'm as subtle as I need to be." he answered smoothly. To be honest, though, the word hadn't been in his vocabulary until now; the path of destruction was usually obvious enough to keep him on X's tail, he'd even been kind enough to leave a slagging energy signature to follow when things got tough, but here? Things were a little trickier. "Yeah, that was me. And before you say anything, I'll let you in on a little something: I got a bite."

[lossofface]

There something about Depth Charge's tone that set Blitzwing on edge? Was the Maximal actually daring to be smug with him?

"You mean someone actually agreed to meet with you?" he snarled, changing his mind halfway through and trying to pass it off as a scoff. "How do you know it's not a trap?" After all, he'd hardly exchanged a handful of words with Depth Charge when the message met up; just because he hadn't recognized the Maximal, didn't mean no one else had.