On the Nexus Menu Tonight: Rat

[slaggin_preds]

Rattrap's sitting on a simple kitchen chair, his arms folded over the backrest and chin resting on his arms. For whatever reason, he's got a plastic black and white guitar slung over his shoulder. Why no, he's not sulking, what makes you think that

Comments

[waterfell]

"Decide that for yourself," says a blue-haired girl. She steps into view, dressed in a somewhat oddly modified sailor uniform.

"But, I'll sing if you want," she offers. She used to like that a lot.

[slaggin_preds]

"It's definitely given me reason ta take a step back an' look at myself. Not sure I'm where I wanna be anymore."

Rattrap gives Sailor Mercury a cursory glance over, his eyes lingering on her legs a bit longer than what could be considerate, but his attention settles on her face. "I'd offa' t'play 'long," he grins, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the guitar. "But it's jus' a toy. I'd love ta hear y'sing though."

[waterfell]

She can relate more than she'd admit. There's a world out there that disturbs even her, and the one who brought it to that point was her alternate there. She brushes that thought aside.

"If that's the case, then change. If it's just him you don't like, don't worry about yourself."

She really doesn't want to go too deep into that subject, so she sings next. It turns out to be an energetic if somewhat cynical song, and she has a strong voice to suit it.

[slaggin_preds]

As Mercury sings, Rattrap pulls down his visor and records her and her voice, storing the song away for later. When the song ends, he claps and leans back a little, elbows still resting on the chair.

"Yer a great singer," he says, flashing her a grin. "An' y'sounded really passionate when y'were singin'. D'you write it yerself?"

[waterfell]

"Nothing like that," she says, shaking her head a little. "I may not look it, but I used to like karaoke a little, so..."

"Doesn't this make it your turn?"

[slaggin_preds]

"We got karaoke stuff back at th' Sanctuary," Rattrap snickers, resting his chin in his hand. "I played 'round wit' it a bit, but I kinna like bein' able ta play 'long wit' th' songs more."

He ducks his head a little when she asks him to sing. "Er... could, if y'want really want me ta. Ain't makin' no promises on th' quality a' it, though."

[waterfell]

"Go ahead," she invites. Mercury takes a decidedly posed-to-be-'cute' seat on a nearby couch and settles in to watch. If she keeps a close eye on Rattrap, it might not just be for the singing. A robot, huh...? She'd like to study that a little more.

[slaggin_preds]

Rattrap never could say no to a cute little lady.

He rises from the chair and pulls his guitar around to his front. "Hope y'don't mind," he gives her a sheepish grin and a shrug, hooking the instrument up to himself with a cord from his side. "I dunno these songs very well yet, an' Cybertronian tends ta be mostly instrumental."

The visor is pulled down over his face, colored lights flashing on the screen. Music plays as his fingers dance over the controller's keys, and he sings along, only a little off key.

[waterfell]

She listens politely, and even gives a slightly mischievous round of applause at the end. "You should do it again!" she suggests.

She's very tempted to match visor to visor and see just what sort of robot this is and what sort of programming went into it. It's very high-level, enough to impress even her, that much she can tell already.

[slaggin_preds]

"No way!" Rattrap laughs, pushing his visor back up. There's a smug grin on his face, and he lowers the guitar. "Not 'less y'sing anotha'. One song fer one song. S'only fair."

[waterfell]

"Another?" There is a very skeptical, are-you-even-serious look directed at Rattrap.

"If you introduce yourself properly, I'll consider it," she offers after a moment.

[slaggin_preds]

"Hey, I didn't come out here t'be gawked at," the rat huffs, but he steps up to Mercury and holds out his hand. "Hi, my name is Rattrap. I'm from th' planet Cybertron. Nice ta meet'cha."

[waterfell]

"Ah- sorry!"

...What? Where did that polite, almost-sheepish apology come from? Whatever.

"I'm Mercury," she says, quickly adjusting for Rattrap's Western habits by putting out her hand in return. She's getting used to it at university anyway where she goes by a totally different name but that's not important right now.

[slaggin_preds]

"Ehn, don' worry 'bout it," he gives her his best disarming grin and shrugs it off. He gives her hand a little squeeze, then drops it, pushing his guitar back out of the way. "Mercury, huh? Like th' element, or th' planet?"

[waterfell]

"It's the planet," she says, but Mercury doesn't elaborate for now. Instead, having successfully gotten Rattrap away from talking about singing, she changes the subject again slightly.

"Someone like you isn't from anywhere I know," she says bluntly. "So, where?"

[slaggin_preds]

Easily distracted? Him? Noooo. But he is glad for the excuse to not have to perform again.

"From Cybertron," he says again, rolling his eyes. "It's a planet across th' galaxy from Earth an' all it's 'umans. Now, dere're arguments 'bout where we came from, exactly, but we're a race a' robots called Transformers. We got colonies all ova' our little niche inna universe, an' I was built on Velicitron, th' Speed Planet. Nothin' but miles an' miles a' track, an' th' fastest a' bots racin' 'round it."