Nexus. Black Dog. Pet Comparisons

[microbots]

Drift: *tried, yet again, to teach Knockout and Goretusk the concept of "Stay". Failed miserably, as the twin mammoths are currently with him as he makes his way to the Black Dog*

twins: *Knockout follows Goretusk, holding brother's tail. Goretusk follows boss-brother and holds Wing's tail*

Wing: *wing sits on Partner's shoulder and ponders tail holding* o.0

Drift: *absently wonders to himself if there's ever going to be a time when the twins get the fact that they aren't always going to be able to go with him everywhere*

black furry trunk: *reaches through the Black Dog door and beeps his nose as he reaches it*

Drift: *startled* Ack!

Knockout: *warning rumble, ears fanning out*

Requiem: *sitting in the booth by the door* Kid, heel.

Drift: Knockout, heel.

Requiem: *hears Knockout's answering sound and leans over to look through the door* *amused eyebrow quirk as he sees the two pinto mammoths* The slag?

Sparky: *steps forward in her spiked collar and makes a quizzical sound at the two small males*

twins: *... uh. Whoa...*

Drift: *blink blink* Er...

Requiem: *amusement grows* Relax. Sparky's friendly.

Sparky: *small sound in response to her name, is still looking at the boys curiously*

Kid: *is a happy rustling under Requiem's table*

twins: *looking at boss-brother. They've come into another herd's ground and it's a herd with females. Aren't sure what they should do*

Drift: *small nod* Knockout and Goretusk'll behave. I hope.

Requiem: Still teaching 'em the cables?

Drift: *nod, sheepish expression* They at least know what 'heel' means.

Requiem: Shouldn't be too hard to teach 'em anything else you want them to do. *picks up his can of drink and knocks some back, then boots Sparky gently to get her attention. Tells her to at ease and watches her wander off behind him to stuff food into her mouth from the tub he bought for her and Kid*

Drift: *brow ridges up as he notices that Sparky only has three tusks, when it's obvious she should have four* We're still working on 'stay'... Did she lose a tusk in a fight?

Requiem: "Stay"? And don't know. She lost it before we got her. It's just a digger, she can still fight.

Drift: Ah... Yeah, there're gonna be times when Knockout and Goretusk just won't be able to come with me.

Requiem: *quirks a brow* Yeah?

Drift: *nod* Like if I have an intel mission. *has been learning the basics from Nightbird and from Mirage as of late*

Requiem: Ah. Can't help ya with that. We get our intel from somebody else. *eyes the twins as they sway on their feet and talk to one another with deep rumbles* That one's got a busted tusk.

Drift: *nod* Happened during a training exercise.

Requiem: What kind of training? *jerks head at the table* Siddown.

Drift: *as he moves to sit down* Combat training against heavy hitters.

Requiem: *perks even as he lifts a finger to order Drift a can of what he's drinking* You're combat training 'em?

Drift: *checks on the twins, then nods in response to Requiem's question* They already know how to hunt and kill, so it ended up being more about pointing 'em in the right direction and getting them to wait for the signal to attack.

Requiem: *watches Sparky bully the twins into sharing her and Kid's food* Hunt?

Drift: *nods and begins explaining about how the people of Gordon's planet and the mammoths that live there work together* They help their families get food.

Requiem: *takes the can from Aleph and shoves it at the white bot* So they learn it from their femme creator?

Drift: *nod* Yeah. *grins and begins playing the footage of the combat training, even as he moves to take the can*

Requiem: *watches thoughtfully, then scans the twins* They're not gonna get much bigger, and they're pretty frail compared to Sparky.

Drift: *small frown as he nods and sips from the can before responding* Wasn't sure how big they'd get. But I'll see what I can make for them, armor-wise. *gives himself a bit of a shake, before blinking and giving the can a puzzled look*

Requiem: Could probably get them something good from the Three Jacks. *sits back and chugs from his own can* Good thing the 'Cons of your reality're runts. *yes, he's making a playful dig at the size and strength of your mammoths, Drift*

Drift: *slight shrug* The smaller the 'Con, the meaner they are, I've found... *will take a long pull from his can, and give himself another shake* Besides, not like yours could do better, even if she is bigger.

Requiem: *snerks and starts a holovid. One that shows Sparky with a thick, viciously spiked collar on her neck, a harness bearing a horn on her forehead, and bladed cuffs on her front ankles. The black mammoth is facing off against a daunting rain of plasma fire, and showing no more reaction than a bit of scorched fur as she trumpets her rage and challenge to the shooters*

Drift: ... *cuss*

holovid: *and then the shooters come into sight, and they are a horrific blend of reptile, insect, and mechanics. Hideous beyond reason, and obviously driven forward by blind urge to consume and destroy, they mob the black mammoth, only to fall before her strength and her weaponry*

Requiem: *grinning as the feed plays*

Drift: *more cuss!*

holovid: *with massive bots in the background blowing more of the abominations to shreds Sparky makes terrifying use of her lower tusks and her added horn and blades. The recording screen is spattered with sparkling green ichor*

Drift: ... Ewwww. *snickerfit*

Requiem: *grins as he shuts the feed off* As I was saying.

Drift: 'Mkay, I was wrong...

Requiem: I had to teach her to use the added armaments, but the herds on their homeworld have to fight against this giant field of goo that eats anything it gets hold of. *more drink*

Drift: ... Huh. *quietly contemplative as he takes another long pull from his can, wobbling a bit as he does so*

Requiem: We went to get some training against it, and Sparky and Kid were there, separated from their herd. They saw us fighting the goo and decided to join us.

Kid: *now making cute little sounds as she plays with Maximal puppies and a pink and grey Minicon over by the stage*

Drift: *small nod* Knockout 'n Goretusk were visitin' their first family the last time I was visitin', 'n decided t' tag along...

Requiem: You have any connection to that family? You said they count their humans as part of their herd, right?

Drift: *nods* Yeah... The Clarksons're the first people I met after I left Cybertron. They're part'a my family, too.

Requiem: Makes sense. Mammoths tend to chase the males off after a certain age, and the guys make their own herds till they get old and rowdy and start only thinking about femmes. They figure you're part of the family.

Drift: *soft 'heh', will work on finishing the contents of his can, tipping back to get the last few drops out and failing to notice the danger of doing so*

Requiem: *puts out a hand and catches him* Hey, what the slag's your problem?

Drift: *blinks and looks surprised* I fell...

Requiem: No slag, Sherlock. What for?

Drift: ... I have no idea.

Requiem: *scans him and then laughs out loud* You're drunk off your slaggin' aft.

Drift: *blink blink* *checks for aft*

Requiem: *laughs more, and then gets a tarp and several straps. Soon has the smaller mech bundled up and is getting the twins interested in said bundle as Wing sits and chirps with concern*

Drift: *trying to protest that it's not naptime*

Requiem: *snerks* Maybe when you come again you can show me if you're any good with those toy swords. *gets a PINpoint coded and sends the twins and their bundle and the wingcat home*

Drift: *mumbles something about being good with swords*

Pietro: *lifts an eyebrow at the bundle that the twins are trying to load onto Goretusk's back. And then comms his mate*

((Written with random_xtras))