(Untitled)

[l33tmedic]

The bear mech enters Pyro's and halts just few steps inside the door for a quick glance around. It doesn't have the same familiar, welcoming feel that he used to associate with Maccadam's Oil Bar, but it still looks like a pretty good spot for a drink and a chat. Glancing down the way, he notes a table towards the back that will likely be a

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[blinkin_genius]

Wheeljack follows after Ratchet, looking around in interest before pausing to look down at his own hands. He turns them over, his headfins blinking once as he utters a soft, "Heh." He quickly lowers them to glance around the bar again on the way to the table. "I got more questions about the techno-organics if you don't mind, but you go ahead first." He settles into a seat, nodding to Ratchet.

[l33tmedic]

Completely missing the brief examination Wheeljack gave his own hands for whatever reason, Ratchet seats himself across from the engineer. All of two seconds later, the bar bot returns with the mid-grade before leaving the two mechs to themselves

[blinkin_genius]

Wheeljack nods to the response to his comment. "Sure." Then he leans back in his seat, nodding occasionally as Ratchet begins his story. The engineer stiffens, however, at the quote from Skids about death and his nods are more slow after that.

When Ratchet pauses, Wheeljack wishes his had a drink, after all. He settles for picking up one of the coasters from the table and fidgeting with it. "That is a lot to take in, but I think I follow. Seems most realities got some kinda quirk built in. I can't say I can completely relate, but..." He trails off, thinking about the Skids quote again. He forces himself to continue. "But I can understand somethin' unexpected bringing about mass confusion."

[l33tmedic]

((Eeep, long week! Sorry for the delay! Drop me a message if this is too confusing... I'm just trying to hit the basic points.))Ratchet nods, glad the rush of information is not completely confusing the mech across from him. Some of it still doesn't make sense to the medic, so explaining it is difficult, especially when some events occurred at the same time and managed to effect one another in disastrous ways

[l33tmedic]

((Continuing....))"And the techno-organic alterations. Those were taken at the end of the wave, but were again restored when I reached the Nexus. Why, I don't really know, but what I do know is that I never lost my animal alt mode. The base composition of things changed, but not my basic look on the whole. It was the difference between synthetic fur and real fur that could regenerate and shed out. Before the end of wave accident, one of Seether's enemies had encouraged me to do a little inventing of my own and a lab accident involving one of those experiments took what the wave did and sealed the deal minus the organic parts, I guess you could say. Made the animal alt mode permanent no matter what. I'm...something of a failed experiment that way. That wasn't how it was supposed to work, but two of my associates were successful test subjects

[blinkin_genius]

Wheeljack stares at the coaster in his hands as he mulls over all the information. "That's a-- well, I honestly don't know what to say." He sets down the coaster and leans back, hands resting on the edge of the table as he thinks. "That's a lot to go through, and with someone fixin' your processor on top of it. And the rest, the inventin'...I'm sorry to hear about things goin' wrong, but you still have as much right as any one of us on 'team geek' to build stuff. Still alive to talk about it, eh?" His tone tries to invoke humor, in case this Ratchet ever had to retrieve an arm and stick it back on a smoke-covered engineer.

He wonders about the creations mentioned, but doesn't ask yet, aware that things could have progressed differently in what already sounds like a wacky universe. He's unaware of the potential hostility, but it's probably just as well he doesn't try to put an understanding hand on the bearbot's arm.

[l33tmedic]

The smile on Ratchet's faceplate is still bitter as he responds, gaze reamining on the table top. "Not much you can say, I don't think. It's all 'past is past', now. More of our own keep dropping into the Nexus, so I'm hopeful some of my closest friends are still out there somewhere

[shellshockers]

The tension of the moment is broken by some rowdy mechs at the bar's entrance. The first one stumbles in, only to announce loudly, "Finally, somewhere a guy can get TANKED

[l33tmedic]

Ratchet glances over one shoulder to see the menagerie heading his way. His jaw drops. "Guys? PRIMUS! You made it!"

He stands up just in time to get knocked over by the tiger and bear shells, the two licking his faceplate enthusiastically. "Whoa, whoa! Okay, knock it off! Get your shells under control, I don't NEED a bath! ECK." Pushing the pair away with both hands, he sits up. "When did you get here? Just now? Did anyone else arrive with you?"

[shellshockers]

"It was horrible! We fell out of a hole in the sky and ended up in a pile in the middle of...somewhere," Chainclaw explains with a whine.

"Well, you and I did anyway. And our shells. Moledive there managed to use his ray wings to glide down and land on his feet," Catilla adds, jerking one thumb towards the clawed mech, who actually smirks just a tad. "We wandered around a bit and then noticed the bar sign."

"You're the first we've seen from our reality outside our group." Moledive fixes his gaze on Ratchet, then lets it slide to the engineer present. "...unless that is the Wheeljack we know. But I find it difficult to believe you'd be chatting over drinks with him if it were..."

Catilla rubs his chin thoughtfully. "True, that. The smell of ignorance is distinctly lacking."

[l33tmedic]

Ratchet clears his vocalizer, almost embarrassed over Catilla's open assessment of the Wheeljack they know. "Have a seat, guys. Order up some drinks or something."

He then retakes his seat, himself, and reclaims his own cup of energon. "It's about on par with Maccaddams, really. You won't be disappointed."

[shellshockers]

As the animal shells lay down on the floor, Catilla and Chainclaw pull up a pair of chairs, the former turning his around backwards so he can rest his arms on the chair back. As soon as a drone waiter comes by, Catilla orders a drink while Chainclaw merely declines to order anything. Moledive, however, remains standing.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna have a look around," he decides. "I don't like being in unfamiliar territory for long without scoping it out."

[l33tmedic]

"Alright." Ratchet frowns, then sends his fellow fused Pretender a secure, silent message over their comm links. "Actually, I have a favor to ask while you're scouting around. I need someone located, but not engaged. Think you can manage that? The Nexus' anti-violence field won't let you fight, anyway."

[shellshockers]

Moledive arches a brow ridge. "Sure. Fine. Information received. Just don't get completely cratered while I'm out. You're obnoxious when you're tanked." Turning away, he heads for the door.

"...says the king of belching contests," Catilla comments once Moledive is gone. Glancing over at Wheeljack, the Pretender eyes him with the practiced gaze of a former security officer. After a moment, he seems to conclude that the other Autobot is alright to converse with. "Sorry, didn't mean to crash your party with the boss, here."

"Er, yeah. Here we are yakking away at each other and um...yeah." Chainclaw picks up a coaster and fiddles with it. Noticing that his shell is sniffing at one of Wheeljack's legs, he prods it with one foot. "Don't mind him...it...er, me. ...him. He's curious."

Catilla merely shakes his head at both his partner and his partner's shell.

[blinkin_genius]

Wheeljack had been giving much thought to his response to Ratchet's last comments when the group of mechs entered. He stared at the furred shells, intrigued -- if he had a mouth it would have been gaping. He continues to watch the tiger and brown bear as they settle on the floor, computing the earlier comment from Catilla about Chainclaw controlling his "shell

[l33tmedic]

"These are the two I mentioned before who were the successful ones in that little experiment. Catilla--" Ratchet nods towards the mech in company of the tiger shell before nodding at the other mech present, who is still eying his bear shell "--and Chainclaw. I rigged up a modified Skyspy to scan for organic life forms and it ended up over the Portland zoo. Made a few adjustments for Catilla so he'd get the saber-toothed look. The shells are meant to be like portable CR chambers that can hide the guys when they're worn down or injured; each one has its own programming and what you might call built in instinct. They don't need their 'owners' to get around and make decisions, but they're not on par with regular bots in terms of intelligence, either."