(Untitled)

[a_mere_child]

Alyx Vance is sitting by the fireside, reading a book. That's not too uncommon, these days. Milliways is pretty much the only place where she can get a free moment for reading

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[not_toothfairy]

The dictionary doesn't get much notice from the big black robot that stomps by on its way to the bar, but when Ironhide returns in search of a seat, the list of phrases catches his eye. When you learn Earth language from the Internet, you learn all the Earth languages, Spanish included. So, uh... big black bot peering at the list, his beer forgotten in his hand.

[not_toothfairy]

"You'd know if you had," Ironhide says. "Red and blue, and taller than me."

Ironhide is 6'6".

"He's been coming here longer than the rest of us. Took me with him once, early on, when he was going to help a human fight off a whole lot of trouble in his world. He's like that."

[a_mere_child]

"I'll keep an eye out," promises Alyx. "Thanks."

[not_toothfairy]

Ironhide nods; he's not good at small talk. On the other hand, Blaze Master might be interested in some of those words...

"Looking for some kind of pilot?"

[a_mere_child]

"Among other things, yeah. A bunch of Mexican expatriates just volunteered with us, so I'm brushing up on my vocabulary so I can talk to them properly."

[not_toothfairy]

"Gotcha," Ironhide says. "About how many of them do you have?"

Hey, it's shop talk, whether it's in English or Spanish.

[a_mere_child]

Alyx is startled, but only momentarily.

""

[not_toothfairy]

"" says Ironhide. ""

[a_mere_child]

"know. That's why I'm reading this book.>"

[not_toothfairy]

Ironhide nods and switches back to English. "Didn't know how long you'd had with 'em," he says. "Your Spanish's pretty good, by the way. From what I remember of it on the Net, anyway."

[a_mere_child]

"I grew up in New Mexico," explains Alyx. "But I don't have a lot of the vocabulary I need for this. Hence the dictionary."

[not_toothfairy]

Ironhide's still a little prickly about Cubefall last year. On the other hand, after everything that happened in his world, he's in the best mood he's been in for a very long time. And she's trying to get military jargon together, which takes some doing. So... once in a while he's capable of letting things drop and being something vaguely approaching nice.

"Need a hand?"

[a_mere_child]

Alyx blinks in surprise. "If you're willing to give it, sure."

[not_toothfairy]

"I got a piece of my world back," Ironhide says. "And I got to bring most of the Autobots alive out there to Earth, and most of them made it through. And I get to do construction work again, fixing up Iacon. I owe somebody something for coming through a war with that much good fortune. Might as well start repaying with you."

[a_mere_child]

"I'll take it," says Alyx with a smile. "Now, here's what I need to start off with..."