The wheels on the bus go-- OH MY GOD JENNY THERE ARE BRAKES USE THEM

[foolishwren]

Who: Anyone on the vans and/or big tourbus shuttling volunteers to Olivine City.
Where: ROAD TRIP ROAD TRIP
When: May 23rd
Summary: Hey. Hey volunteers. It's time for a ~*~FIELD TRIP~*~
Rating: G-PG13 depending on the level of profanity reached every time Officer Jenny careens around a corner way too quickly.
Log:

Comments

Totally open!

[show_my_cannons]

Ironhide refuses to acknowledge the way the vehicle is jouncing all over. He refuses to acknowledge the creepy snoring man, the people around him, or anything aside from the inside of his own eyelids. He looks like he's sleeping. But, in actually, the big Autobot-turned-human is trying his best to forget that he's riding in a vehicle all together.

It's disconcerting. He should be driving. Not sitting. It feels wrong.

He crosses huge arms over his chest, tilting his head back and scowling up at the ceiling. At least he was on his way to get something done.

[usedfakestache]

There is something so incredibly tempting about big, burly, stubborn men. Something almost military and if there's one thing Hawk has a hard time resisting it's annoying the ever-living crap out of said stoics. He's not sure if it's due to a temporary lapse in his self-preservation (moth, flame. All that jazz) or just an undeniable urge to mess with anything that ever so slightly resembles authority but whatever it is he's not one to resist, no matter how bad it can be for his health.

Besides, it's a long way to Olivine and he might just go even more bonkers if he has to remain silent and un-entertained the whole way.

"You know what I don't understand?" he starts, quite obviously set on having this conversation with or without the other participating. "Why the people that need help the most always has the worst transportation."

[show_my_cannons]

Ironhide slowly turns his gaze from the ceiling, down to regard the strange human. He blinks. Was he being spoken to? Or was this human addressing someone in his vicinity? A glance around proves the former was probably the case, and he grumbles something to himself before answering.

"Had worse," he says, his voice practically just a grunt with syllables. A master of sparkling conversation, Ironhide was not. "This is on the ground, at least."

It wasn't a plane, and for that, the Autobot was incredibly grateful. He would have hiked to the town, had a plane been his only option.

ack! sorry about the wait, the notif got eaten

[usedfakestache]

Great success and the man sounds just as gravely as the good doctor imagined he would. Sparkles or not, a conversation is a conversation and so far they're off to a pretty good start.

"Oh yeah, I'm with you there. I mean, choppers aren't victims to potholes in the same sense but they also make a pretty good hole on their own if they happen to fall out of the sky."

He shoots the other a crooked grin, quite happy to have someone to yammer at.

"Could be worse. People could try to blow us up."

I am fine with waiting -- I actually flailed when I saw the tag in my inbox, <3 MASH

[show_my_cannons]

"Just hate flying."

He raises a scarred eyebrow, turning the words over in his head. The terms, the phrasing, it's something vaguely familiar. Not the man who's speaking them -- he's never seen this human before in his life -- but the manner in which they're said.

"You a soldier?" he asks. There's no preamble. It's short, to the point. Like pretty much everything about Ironhide.

hee~! I'm glad, more people should <3 MASH!

[usedfakestache]

"Me? No, I'm no soldier."

Even now, after three years, he can't help but chuckle at the assumption. He's unmilitary at best but you can't live in a war zone without picking up a few things and as much as he hates it he talks about the things he knows. Right now... he knows war.

"I am... was a surgeon at a MASH for the last three years. Stationed three miles from the front." A pause as he gives the man a closer look. "You look like the Army type though."

They should!

[show_my_cannons]

"A medic." He nods, and there's a certain fondness in the title that he just can't quite throttle down. A flash of longing hits him, and he realizes just how much he misses his neon companion. Then it's gone, and he's considering the man's statement.

"Something like that," he admits, with a little shrug. "Built for war -- as a soldier. Spent my whole life in combat." He gives the human a thoughtful look. "Last two years was with the human armed forces... Good people."

He always got along well with Lennox and his men. Even if this human isn't a soldier, he's military to an extent -- something familiar. Ironhide can understand that.

[usedfakestache]

He's about to say something about knowing a few guys like that - regular army, military brats, old war horses that signed up with the cavalry before they even needed to shave and then they just forgot to get out of the saddle. The phrasing is a little odd but it does sound like that's what the man is talking about, until that one word finally registers in Hawk's mind.

Human.

The thought isn't as foreign as it would've been a week ago - he's already had a brief conversation with Minnie Mouse - but it still throws him off and for a good few seconds he just looks at the other, gears grinding slowly in his brain. In the end it's just easier to ask so that's exactly what he does.

"So... if you're not human... what are you?"

[show_my_cannons]

Ironhide just waits. He may not be good with conversation, but anyone could see something about what he said has thrown the man for a loop. So he waits, his big arms folded over his chest, until the human can formulate a sentence again. He has time -- the bus doesn't seem to be getting where it needs to go any time soon.

"Autobot," he says. And then pauses. He always needs to elaborate on that one. "Mechanical life form. From Cybertron."

Hopefully that's going to be good enough. He knows what they are in their terms -- but that never seems to be helpful to humans. He tries though. But he's no Ratchet.

[usedfakestache]

No, he doesn't really get it. The technology of the early 50's hasn't quite reached anything even resembling intelligent life and even if it had he'd no rocket scientist - he can (almost) get his Studebaker to work with a quick kick in the carburetor but that's about as good as it gets.

If Hawk has learned anything though it's that you don't have to believe something to accept it and so he settles for a shrug and a nod, chalking it down to another thing he should just leave well alone lest he's going to drive himself mad.

"Works for me." And that is, as they say, that. He offers his hand to the other, suddenly realizing that they should do that whole introduction thing at some point.

"I'm Hawkeye, by the way. Hawkeye Pierce."

[show_my_cannons]

Ironhide just accepts the man's words. If he says it works, then it works. There's no reason to dwell on it. Even if the specifics don't quite translate, the basic understanding is there -- the stranger knows he isn't human, and he knows the stranger is a medic of some kind. Good enough for him.

It actually takes him a moment to figure out why there's a hand extended toward him, he has to cycle through his memories until he can see a clear image of Major Lennox doing the same thing. Ah, a greeting. He does the same, gripping the human's hand.

"Ironhide, weapons master," he says. And then cants his head slightly to the side. "Your name... I like it."

Mostly because it sounds almost Autobot, in its own way.

[usedfakestache]

The time it takes for the other to process this whole hand-shaking conundrum is somewhat... endearing. It reminds him a little of how some of the villagers living close to the 4077th would take to American customs with an air of curious apprehension and just like back then there's a very satisfying feeling when it stands clear that they've made a connection over the cultural borders.

"Thanks." he smiles, pretty darn pleased that they're getting along this well so far. "It's from the Last of the Mohicans. Only book my father ever read."

[show_my_cannons]

"Never heard of it," he answers, with a slight shrug of his shoulders -- it's an apology, of sorts. There's probably a lot Ironhide hasn't heard of, in terms of Earth culture and literature.

In return, he offers, "It sounds like an Autobot name. Sharp one, good with the optics." He gestures at his eyes, in case the meaning of that statement is unclear. "Could be a good medic's name, for one of us." His eyes flick over the man. "Or a human, too."

[usedfakestache]

He mirrors that nod - it's fine, really. A lot of people back home hadn't heard of it either, let alone read it and mentioning the emotional bond was more a habit than an attempt to gauge the other person's reading habits.

"You do need good eyes as a surgeon. Perhaps my dad knew that I'd be walking in his footsteps before I did?" he starts, pausing for a second to let the pang of homesickness fade. "Ironhide... that's a General's name. Or perhaps an indian chief."

A thought hits him then, or rather a habit from spending too much time pouring over medical textbooks and the long hours in the OR. The man sure looks human enough but who's to say what lies under the skin? It's worth asking about, just in case their driver makes good on her constant threat of putting them all in a ditch.

"So... how does this work, if you don't mind me asking? The.. mechanical life form thing."

[show_my_cannons]

"Maybe," he agrees, with a short snort of amusement. And then he shakes his head, leaning back in his seat to regard the ceiling for a moment. "Not a general. Just a captain."

Before the war, anyway. There weren't any ranks anymore. Only Prime as commander. And everyone else leading whatever teams they could piece together for as long as they could hold together. Complicated. Messy. Just like the war itself.

He blinks, then, turning back to his traveling companion. "Same as any life form, just mechanical," he says, and shrugs. "Framework, sensors, vital fluid..." An awkward gesture with his hand. "But with armor, weapons. This form is lacking all of it."

It's entirely human. And it's vulnerable. Ironhide doesn't like that feeling.

[usedfakestache]

"Huh. That makes us the same rank, technically."

An amusing thought if he ever saw one - Hawk is quite possibly the most unmilitary man you can find but being a surgeon automatically put him in officers country. Pulling rank did come in handy more than once in the past but it's still odd to think that they share the same rung in the hierarchy ladder, if by title only.

"I guess it's pretty much the same when you go down to the basics..." he muses. Machines were never his strong suit but at the same time he can understand that a mechanic looks at a car much like he'd look at a human patient. "Skeleton, circulatory, lymphatic, nervous system, muscles... it's the same basic components. Toss a handful of gravel in the machinery and we'll all have a breakdown."