[OPEN] Not Your Usual Ultra Magnus

[primebyproxy]

When: Backdated sliiiightly to 12 September
Who: Ultra Magnus and OPEN
Where: Wandering just about anywhere in search of a quiet corner to break down in
What: Ultra Magnus arrives to Knowhere and finds it all a bit overwhelming.


Never much one for panicking, Ultra Magnus finds the whole situation he's landed in here distinctly unsettling all the same. Though at the very least, the strange… people? He supposes that is the word he should use. The people who greeted him were kind enough to explain what was going on and how he'd come to be in this place rather than the mines, but none of it has quite managed to sink in yet. It's hard to believe, certainly. Why, he still has the finger-shaped dents in his neck. Self-consciously, he lifts a hand and rubs at the marks.

He can still picture Megatron looming over him. It was only moments ago in his mind – terrifying, painful moments, full of noise and chaos and the memories are so fresh that he feels his fuel pump slam against its housing in rising panic. Magnus staggers and leans against the nearest wall, rapidly cycling air and staring ahead blankly.

Somewhere else, he thinks as more strange people pass by him, most doing their best to ignore him in spite of his size. He needs to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Somewhere he won't be in the way or cause any more problems. Somewhere he can quietly fall apart. He makes a low, strangled noise, desperate, and looks ahead. The corridor seems miles long and it feels like the walls are collapsing in on him.

Slowly, one hand still on the wall to keep him grounded, he walks. He has no idea where he's going, but so long as it isn't this hallway, he doesn't care. And the going is slow as he finds in short order how careful he must be around such small persons. He very nearly kicks one, so focused as he is on simply being away, and he visibly shrinks back from the rebuke he gets for his inattention and carelessness until his back is pressed to the wall. It seems like ages before he's allowed to leave, taking small, halting steps when all he wants to do is transform and drive. But he can't do that here around the organics.

So he walks.

Comments

[littlecousin]

Namorita flies.

When there's room, anyway...and any corridor big enough for Ultra Magnus is downright spacious for her, so she floats along over the heads of the crowd, the tiny wings on her ankles fluttering as her mutant gift keeps her improbably aloft.

Lost though she is in her own thoughts, she still isn't going to miss a giant robot who towers over even other giant robots, despite his best and entirely doomed attempts to blend into the wall. She coasts to a halt when she notices him, rising a little higher to hover at his eye level. "Hey, big guy...you all right?"

He sure doesn't look all right, and Nita cocks her head, concerned, as she waits for an answer, long blond ponytail falling over a bare shoulder and odd eyebrows arched even higher than usual.

[primebyproxy]

Ultra Magnus is most assuredly not all right, and he stops, drawing up short to regard the hovering girl before him with flickering, unfocused optics. He hadn't meant to draw quite so much attention… but then, he thinks, this place is teeming with races and creatures he's never seen and nary a Cybertronian in sight so far. Self-conscious, he tries to draw himself in as much as his frame will allow, to take up even a few inches less space.

"I-I'm sorry," he says at the same time as though she might as well have reprimanded him. "I didn't mean to be a bother. I'll… be fine. I just need – is there somewhere… quiet? And not – not cramped?" It's hard to keep his thoughts organised. He glances down to be sure he's not causing too much of a disruption in the foot traffic around him.

[rodders]

Well that's a frame shape and color scheme Rodimus knows. He's wandering around out of boredom, thinking of dropping in on Drift and seeing if he wanted to take themselves for a spin through some of the bigger halls and he doesn't nearly miss Magnus - it's almost impossible to, with how big the other mech is.

"Magnus! Mangus, hey!" This is great. This is better than great, this is amazing. It doesn't click that something's off, he's too busy being excited that Ultra Magnus is here and he's finally, finally gotten the three of them back together. Drift, Magnus, and himself. "It's about time you got here. Drift said he thought he saw Optimus. Guess I'm gonna have to tell him to learn the difference between blue and red mechs."

This is a hand on your arm, Magnus, to drag your attention away from the wall and walking. Toward Rodimus, who is clearly more deserving of your attention. He missed the entire run-in with the organic, and had really only made his way towards Magnus by roughly telling the ones around his feet to get out of the way, and quick. Because he's not going to miss saying hello in person, oh no.

[primebyproxy]

Magnus almost ignores the unfamiliar voice entirely – except that it's calling his name. He didn't expect anyone here to know him, really, given the environment and the people who seem to call it home. He turns just as that hand closes on his arm and, surprised, he finds he's looking down only slightly – relatively speaking. He even very nearly smiles, a bit gunshy; he's just happy to see another Autobot, even one he doesn't recognise.

Unfortunately, the stranger starts dropping names and information that Magnus has no context for, that are so unfamiliar and baffling his smile fades into confusion. And then outright dismay that Optimus could be here and that he could have been mistaken for the Prime.

"What?" he stammers out eventually.

[rodders]

Is that a smile? Is Magnus smiling? Rodimus grins in response, even if it's barely there. "Is that a smile? You really have been working on the whole thing haven't you?" Even the confusion doesn't stop Rodimus from continuing on like nothing's changed - maybe he should have noticed, but he's too excited to have Magnus here to actually slow down and realize the gaps in appearance and manner.

"Some sort of vision thing? I dunno. He just said he thought he saw Prime wandering around." Have a pat on that arm, Magnus. "I mean he isn't. Obviously." At least if Optimus was there then someone could deal with Megatron should his true colors shine through. Not that Rodimus wouldn't have tried to deal with him, but he still remembers that hole in his chest and the fact he's only alive because of the Matrix.

[primebyproxy]

The stranger seems personable enough, but he keeps going on as though he knows Magnus. As though they're friends, perhaps, and Magnus feels distinctly caught out. If he's met this Autobot before, he doesn't remember, and the way the conversation is going, he gets the impression that he should.

So rather than focus on the distressing topic that is Optimus Prime, Magnus instead chooses to pursue another course.

"I'm sorry, but… what 'thing' am I working on?" he asks, brow furrowed.

[rodders]

"Honestly? Something about cultivating a better public image after the whole thing with Tyrest. Which is great because I've been trying to get you to loosen up for ages." Magnus should know this, and he wants to roll his optics at his second in command, but then he actually looks at Magnus' frame and whatever he's going to say is unimportant. Instead:

"Did I miss the memo that said we were going back to our frames we had on Earth or something?"

Why does not one tell him these things? Was this because of Megatron? Scrap.

[knightoflight]

The sight of a new mech catches Wing's attention. And more than that, the way the other walks, as if injured, needing the wall to brace himself.

Since Wing's gotten his convertor working, he's gotten the habit of carrying an energon ration with him, just in case. For just such emergencies, he thinks, pulling it out of his storage, and crossing over the market place, holding it out.

"You look like you could use this, friend."