Conceptions - 7.b
1, 2, 2.b, 3, 4, 4.b, 5, 6, 7, 7.b, 8, 8.b
Mikaela's Intermission 2
Mikaela had not been sure what to expect when the plan was made for Arcee to come pick her up to come to the mall, but it certainly wasn't to be sitting in the comfortable bucket seat and suddenly have a thoughtful voice say into the cab: "Little Bee's pretty fond of his squishie, isn't he?"
"Little Bee?" she echoed, enacting evasive maneuvers. "If I remember, you're quiet a bit smaller than him."
Arcee's laugh was bight, the metallic quality almost enhancing it rather than taking away from it -- like a white belt with a black outfit. "Before Elita-One found a few more mechs about, he was the -- 'youngest', you could say, on our side. That and I see entirely too much of him."
"Then you've got a history," Mikaela caught on.
Playfully swerving through traffic, Arcee's amused 'hmm' harmonized with the purr of her engine. "Babe, given enough time, we could all have history," she said, "but yeah, I probably know Bumblebee best outside his choice group. We used to hang out a lot -- but this? I'm curious. What's up with the boy?"
Stuck somewhere between amused and thoughtful, Mikaela rested her elbow on the door and her chin on her palm. "It's a little complicated," she said, none of her reluctance to explain in her tone. On one hand, while she knew that the chemistry between the two had definitely evolved past that for Sam, she wasn't exactly sure how Cybertronians themselves would feel about that. Ratchet told her a lot about their technobiology, but that explained very little about their psychology. As a matter of fact, Sam probably knew tons more about that than she did, and she wasn't too confident in how much he knew.
What was distressing her over the situation Sam was in was that they had no idea what kind of response Bumblebee would have to idea of being involved with a human. A part of her dryly thought that Sam got in worse 'significant other' trouble than any of her girl friends. With them, all she had to worry about was their self-esteem. With Sam ...? Wow, just wow.
"Simplify it for me, then," Arcee said with amusement, the metal frame vibrating gently as she increased the speed.
As if it could possibly be that easy. "Sam and Bumblebee are a lot alike," she said, "and I think Bumblebee sort of noticed. Which might explain a little of the whole fascination thing ... I guess it's like seeing yourself through a fun house mirror, right? Anyway, all I know is that Bumblebee gets himself into more trouble trying to watch out for Sam, and Sam wanted to kill someone for even looking like they were going to hurt Bumblebee." She reflected over what she just said, and thought she should clarify. "I know that humans say they're going to kill someone when they're angry, but Sam ... it was pretty obvious he really meant it. He has ... serious issues about Bumblebee getting hurt."
"Not so unusual for you humans, though, right?" Arcee said matter-of-factly.
Mikaela cast a tolerant look toward the dashboard. "Not so unusual," she agreed. It was sort of hard to explain that to humans, even something that wasn't unusual ... something that was actually perfectly routine and normal could have some sort of subtext, or ... just ... something about it that warned other humans that there was something more going on than what it looked like. Sam could have behaved in exactly the same matter, and there wouldn't have been any question in her mind that they were friends. She might have even dated Sam, and have been perfectly okay with that behavior. It was just ... she saw something there. A ... well, to be cliche: she saw chemistry.
"Anyway," she added, "Sam and Bumblebee ... are complicated." Mikaela sighed at her own inability to explain it, or sufficiently dismiss the entire subject.
"You know, it happens sometimes with us -- getting attached, I mean," Arcee clarified. "Do I take this exit?"
"Don't you have OnStar, or something?"
"Well, it's too late for that exit. I'll take the next one -- it's the same distance. As I was saying, its not uncommon for us to 'battle partner'. Bumblebee and this boy fought together, didn't they?"
Mikaela considered that. "Not really, no. I mean -- well, how much do you know about everything that happened?"
Not much, it turned out. It wasn't important to know blow-by-blow of the missions. It made sense to Mikaela, when she thought about it. All the important information had been transmitted by Optimus Prime into the depths of space, the same way humans had sent out radio transmissions that essentially said the same thing: "We're here. We're waiting." Optimus Prime already told everyone that the All Spark was gone, Megatron was dead, and that there was somewhere for them to rest for a moment before they tried to find a new home.
Wary and uncertain of how much information to provide Arcee -- they'd only known each other for a few days, and sure, they got along great, but Mikaela would not hurt Sam in anyway, and that included giving someone else the power to do so -- Mikaela only mentioned a few things. Like how he'd trusted Bumblebee when he fought and won against that 'monster', of that instant strange rapport when they were introduced by Optimus Prime, and how when the humans themselves caught Bumblebee, Sam had fought them and snarled and snarked in a furious seething sort of way and still hated them with a scorching viciousness that startled everyone who knew him. She explained how Sam had talked down Bumblebee when they finally got them away from those walking blights upon humanity, about how they had been dizzy and deaf from the close concussion of Starscream's attack, and Sam had staggered over to the injured mech, trying to talk even though the ringing in her ears had made everything silence.
"Well, that is a bit strange," Arcee acknowledged after a moment, sounding rather baffled.
Mikaela made a wordless thoughtful noise, idly smoothing out the fibers of the cloth seat as she would have smoothed the slick soft leather seats of Bumblebee's cab.
"Still, it's not bad," she continued with a content tone as they coasted into the mall's parking lot.
"Oh?" Mikaela inquired politely.
"Yes," Arcee said, sounding satisfied with herself, "Bumblebee no longer wishes to interface with me. I think it's because I insulted the boy."
There was a short silence. Ten minutes later, Mikaela finally sat up, tear tracks down her face, grasping at her sides and making weak almost pained noises that had been laughter at one point. "Oh God," she gasped, "that's excellent."
"I'm glad this pleases you?" Arcee hazarded, sounding absolutely baffled. "Organics. Never'll understand them."
==
- Arcee: Subverting the 'feminine wiles' trope since this fic! (I swear to god, her attitude will make more since when Bumblebee info dumps in chapter 11! ... nvrmnd, I'll tell you now. Some 'bots develop what they call a 'complex attachment program'. Not a lot of them, but a high enough number that it's not considered a glitch. Arcee does not have one of these -- if anything, her attachment program is more simple than most. She has loyalty protocols, but that's about it.)
- If you picked up any Mikaela/Arcee in this intermission, that -- ... that was not completely on accident. But mostly it was.
- People gossip a freaking lot. Mikaela cares a lot about Sam, so obviously his rather tenuous position with Bumblebee is going to weigh heavily on her mind. Arcee just wants some answers to some weird behavior.
Mikaela's Intermission 2
Mikaela had not been sure what to expect when the plan was made for Arcee to come pick her up to come to the mall, but it certainly wasn't to be sitting in the comfortable bucket seat and suddenly have a thoughtful voice say into the cab: "Little Bee's pretty fond of his squishie, isn't he?"
"Little Bee?" she echoed, enacting evasive maneuvers. "If I remember, you're quiet a bit smaller than him."
Arcee's laugh was bight, the metallic quality almost enhancing it rather than taking away from it -- like a white belt with a black outfit. "Before Elita-One found a few more mechs about, he was the -- 'youngest', you could say, on our side. That and I see entirely too much of him."
"Then you've got a history," Mikaela caught on.
Playfully swerving through traffic, Arcee's amused 'hmm' harmonized with the purr of her engine. "Babe, given enough time, we could all have history," she said, "but yeah, I probably know Bumblebee best outside his choice group. We used to hang out a lot -- but this? I'm curious. What's up with the boy?"
Stuck somewhere between amused and thoughtful, Mikaela rested her elbow on the door and her chin on her palm. "It's a little complicated," she said, none of her reluctance to explain in her tone. On one hand, while she knew that the chemistry between the two had definitely evolved past that for Sam, she wasn't exactly sure how Cybertronians themselves would feel about that. Ratchet told her a lot about their technobiology, but that explained very little about their psychology. As a matter of fact, Sam probably knew tons more about that than she did, and she wasn't too confident in how much he knew.
What was distressing her over the situation Sam was in was that they had no idea what kind of response Bumblebee would have to idea of being involved with a human. A part of her dryly thought that Sam got in worse 'significant other' trouble than any of her girl friends. With them, all she had to worry about was their self-esteem. With Sam ...? Wow, just wow.
"Simplify it for me, then," Arcee said with amusement, the metal frame vibrating gently as she increased the speed.
As if it could possibly be that easy. "Sam and Bumblebee are a lot alike," she said, "and I think Bumblebee sort of noticed. Which might explain a little of the whole fascination thing ... I guess it's like seeing yourself through a fun house mirror, right? Anyway, all I know is that Bumblebee gets himself into more trouble trying to watch out for Sam, and Sam wanted to kill someone for even looking like they were going to hurt Bumblebee." She reflected over what she just said, and thought she should clarify. "I know that humans say they're going to kill someone when they're angry, but Sam ... it was pretty obvious he really meant it. He has ... serious issues about Bumblebee getting hurt."
"Not so unusual for you humans, though, right?" Arcee said matter-of-factly.
Mikaela cast a tolerant look toward the dashboard. "Not so unusual," she agreed. It was sort of hard to explain that to humans, even something that wasn't unusual ... something that was actually perfectly routine and normal could have some sort of subtext, or ... just ... something about it that warned other humans that there was something more going on than what it looked like. Sam could have behaved in exactly the same matter, and there wouldn't have been any question in her mind that they were friends. She might have even dated Sam, and have been perfectly okay with that behavior. It was just ... she saw something there. A ... well, to be cliche: she saw chemistry.
"Anyway," she added, "Sam and Bumblebee ... are complicated." Mikaela sighed at her own inability to explain it, or sufficiently dismiss the entire subject.
"You know, it happens sometimes with us -- getting attached, I mean," Arcee clarified. "Do I take this exit?"
"Don't you have OnStar, or something?"
"Well, it's too late for that exit. I'll take the next one -- it's the same distance. As I was saying, its not uncommon for us to 'battle partner'. Bumblebee and this boy fought together, didn't they?"
Mikaela considered that. "Not really, no. I mean -- well, how much do you know about everything that happened?"
Not much, it turned out. It wasn't important to know blow-by-blow of the missions. It made sense to Mikaela, when she thought about it. All the important information had been transmitted by Optimus Prime into the depths of space, the same way humans had sent out radio transmissions that essentially said the same thing: "We're here. We're waiting." Optimus Prime already told everyone that the All Spark was gone, Megatron was dead, and that there was somewhere for them to rest for a moment before they tried to find a new home.
Wary and uncertain of how much information to provide Arcee -- they'd only known each other for a few days, and sure, they got along great, but Mikaela would not hurt Sam in anyway, and that included giving someone else the power to do so -- Mikaela only mentioned a few things. Like how he'd trusted Bumblebee when he fought and won against that 'monster', of that instant strange rapport when they were introduced by Optimus Prime, and how when the humans themselves caught Bumblebee, Sam had fought them and snarled and snarked in a furious seething sort of way and still hated them with a scorching viciousness that startled everyone who knew him. She explained how Sam had talked down Bumblebee when they finally got them away from those walking blights upon humanity, about how they had been dizzy and deaf from the close concussion of Starscream's attack, and Sam had staggered over to the injured mech, trying to talk even though the ringing in her ears had made everything silence.
"Well, that is a bit strange," Arcee acknowledged after a moment, sounding rather baffled.
Mikaela made a wordless thoughtful noise, idly smoothing out the fibers of the cloth seat as she would have smoothed the slick soft leather seats of Bumblebee's cab.
"Still, it's not bad," she continued with a content tone as they coasted into the mall's parking lot.
"Oh?" Mikaela inquired politely.
"Yes," Arcee said, sounding satisfied with herself, "Bumblebee no longer wishes to interface with me. I think it's because I insulted the boy."
There was a short silence. Ten minutes later, Mikaela finally sat up, tear tracks down her face, grasping at her sides and making weak almost pained noises that had been laughter at one point. "Oh God," she gasped, "that's excellent."
"I'm glad this pleases you?" Arcee hazarded, sounding absolutely baffled. "Organics. Never'll understand them."
==
- Arcee: Subverting the 'feminine wiles' trope since this fic! (I swear to god, her attitude will make more since when Bumblebee info dumps in chapter 11! ... nvrmnd, I'll tell you now. Some 'bots develop what they call a 'complex attachment program'. Not a lot of them, but a high enough number that it's not considered a glitch. Arcee does not have one of these -- if anything, her attachment program is more simple than most. She has loyalty protocols, but that's about it.)
- If you picked up any Mikaela/Arcee in this intermission, that -- ... that was not completely on accident. But mostly it was.
- People gossip a freaking lot. Mikaela cares a lot about Sam, so obviously his rather tenuous position with Bumblebee is going to weigh heavily on her mind. Arcee just wants some answers to some weird behavior.