Day 47: Greenhouse [4th Shift]

[mitase]

Entering the greenhouse was almost like coming home, and Hanatarou had been looking forward to this shift for that reason. Everywhere else in the building was strange and confusing (and often dangerous) but in here was the familiar scent of soil and sun-warmed plants with the musty sort of enclosed-space smell overlaying it. His expression turned

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[scalyfishman]

... oh, boy. He'd run into one of those types. The kind of picky, perfectionist afthole that ran you out of their lab for forgetting to dust off your bumper. To the Pit with that. As far as Depth Charge was concerned, the more that kind of 'bot sat around cleaning, the less he had to think about them getting up in his face.

Of course, knowing that saying so out loud wouldn't be a good idea didn't exactly take a diplomatic genius- especially when mutual hatred made for an easier ride. "I don't know about the dirt, but I've got bigger reasons to hate this scrapheap of a -"

- wait a second, did he just say Primus?

Immediately, Depth Charge leaned in, dropping the sarcasm in his voice in favaour of intensely scanning the man up and down for anything he might have recognised from an old robot body- eyes, colouring, features... true, he'd thought of Rhinox before, but that definitely wasn't Rhinox's voice. In fact, human or not, he didn't know anything about this guy at allWhich meant he wasn't from his own time. Hmm. Not like he'd been

It's a sign of the times, man!

[scalyfishman]

[♥]

Never mind tackling the idea, from the look on his face Ratchet seemed to be pretty much wrestling with it. To be honest, Depth Charge didn't blame him. When they'd met during the day, before the attack? He'd had Lugnut down as a perfect match to his name- the classic big, dumb, Decepticon piledriver, with the processing speed of a Trash-80. The fact that they ended up fighting side by side six hours later was still seemed impossible.

The effort of puzzling that one got the better of the both of them, and while Depth Charge had given up days ago, Ratchet sounded just about ready to throw in the towel right now. While he resented the 'kid', he could take it as karma for the 'old timer' crack. "You and me both. The longer I stay here, the less I know. It's a crazy little universe." He met the Autobot's eyes, cautiously hopeful behind his crooked smile. "So I can trust you not to throw your rattle at the nearest 'con the second you leave this room?"

[war_wounds]

Ratchet had only been here a couple of solar cycles, and already his processor felt half-fried. Depth Charge was right; he really didn't know what to think anymore, and the fact that he now saw the truce as the strangest part of this little organic Pit was not a good sign at all. He caught himself wondering if Lugnut still had that big central optic as an organic. It wasn't a pretty picture.

No force in the universe could make any variation on the theme of Lugnut a pretty picture.

Something about his new comrade's smile relaxed him just enough for his irritation to come back, and Ratchet rolled his optics. "Please. What kind of third-rate medibot do you take me for? Of course I won't start anything. I'm a noncombatant, you know." Technically. Practically speaking, Ratchet was usually right there in the fray, if only because Decepticons generally made few distinctions between soldiers and support personnel. Or rather, soldiers and bonus points

[scalyfishman]

Depth Charge chuckled, smile broadening a touch at Ratchet's tone. That was nice. He hadn't had a real argument in nearly long enough- maybe having a crotchety old jerkaft around wouldn't be so bad. In fact, he was actually taking this pretty well, all things considered- then again, he had yet to mention Lugnut's ever-so-casual, mumbled half-suggestion that they could help each other out every now and then.

"Hah. Good, 'cause I'm not your commander, so I'm not about to chase you up for every little thing you do. Not my style." Only Lugnut had apparently cared about keeping the whole rank-and-file deal sparking while they were here (Scourge seemed set on making a hobby out of finding bigger and bigger 'bots to hide behind), and, by the Pit, that was Lugnut. What did he expect?

"And hey," he continued, giving a loose shrug, "if one of them tries anything? By all means. Introduce 'em to your fist. All I'm saying is that right now there's an understanding."