(no subject)

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

There is a brief pause filled with audible clicks and thuds, followed by the slightly echoey acoustics that come from someone recording audio in a large room. "Hello hello! You've reached Dr. Velocity! Feel free to leave a message or a video or whatever here, and I'll do my very best to respond promptly! And if it this is about the stickers, Ratchet, I didn't do it! Love and love and love!"

text | voice | video | action

Comments

text un; docbot

[botopsy]

[DESPITE THE FACT he should be on break:] Do you think it is worth trying to refine holoform activity to treat those smaller mechs quicker with the human sized tools or am I over complicating things for myself again?

Re: text un; docbot

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

I think that is a fabulous idea and we are absolutely definitely going to look into that because I've had thoughts about that, too! But! You are on BREAK, Rhapsodic Ratchet. I will walk all the way from my desk to your desk! Think about fun things! Turbofoxes! Candy! Radioactive staplers!

text un: Megatron

[areaman]

Going to do something very stupid in a few weeks, I would care to book in your attendance in advance to nip any unnecessary complications in the bud.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Really? You really want me to come along? I mean, stupid sounds exciting! Count me in 1000% except actually 100% because you can't go over that! I'm looking forward to it very much!

action;

[madgoddess]

[ In the aftermath of the incident with the Slavers at the volcano, Velocity is definitely one of the most worse for wear of them. She had taken critical amounts of damage, both from the direct injuries to the lava, to being injected with the virulent poison.

On the trip back to the R2, Velocity would wake to find her head resting in Quintessa's lap as the Prime danced fingers along her extremities, coaxing the poison out from each system. Every tube and line, every circuit where it had burned within, carefully and methodically being restored. It's slow work, but good magic takes time, and her domain of Creation cannot be rushed.

Once the poison is brought to heel, she begins to work on the frame damages. First she begins underneath with Velocity's protoform, carefully weaving delicate strands of the precious metal taken from her own body to act as guides where Velocity's natural healing would follow. As she works, she hums something quietly and wordlessly, but it seems a tune she knows well. ]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Velocity came back to herself slowly and reluctantly. Everything hurt. Relentless, merciless pain that made her twitch and moan and call out names she wouldn't remember later. She barely registered where she was or what was going on, and sank gratefully back into unconsciousness.

The second time she awoke, there was still pain, but far less than she'd expected, and fading still further as the seconds ticked away. For what couldn't have been a long time or only moments, she hovered between consciousness and unconsciousness. She clung to the sound of someone humming, to light fingers moving gently over her and the relief from the pain she felt as they did.

This was the second song she had heard today that compelled her and pulled her along, but this one was gentle, and of her own volition.

Her optics were barely online before Velocity had reached out almost blindly to clutch at Quintessa. "I'm sorry," she rasped, "I'm so so sorry. I ruined everything."

text post lavafest 😔

[botopsy]

Let me know when you're up and about, Velocity.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Its hours later before Velocity answers from where she is curled up in her hab suite, fingers pressed to her mouth before she lowers them enough to dictate to her datapad]

I'm up. I'm here. Are you, or are you still in the medbay?

text

[unapprovedtrash]

[ It's been a few days since the whole... volcano thing. Cal's gotten himself mostly patched up, though he still has to poke his heavily bandaged ear every so often to make sure it's Still there. After sleeping for like... twenty hours... there's something else that's been bothering him aside from the holes. He frowns and stares at his communicator for a moment before reaching over and tapping out a message. ]

Hi Velocity! This is Cal, we just met before the whole volcano thing. I was wondering if you had a minute or two to talk?

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity winced and felt guilty all over again when her datapad chimed an alert, thinking it was Ratchet. She still felt all tangled up in the emotions she'd felt a few days ago, as if we're still happening right this minute, and the idea of talking to Ratchet after she'd shot him like that... it was too much.]

[Still, she couldn't leave him thinking she was ignoring him, so after waffling over it for a few minutes Velocity pulled over her datapad and was surprised to see that it was from Cal, instead. She stared down at where she'd curled around it, before finally dictating a response]

"Hi, Cal! I, um-" [She hesitated, wincing at the idea of leaving her room at all, then took a deep breath and deleted all of what had been dictated before starting over] "Hi! We can talk, absolutely no problem at all ever! Do you want to meet in person, or a video call, or, um..." [Another pause to look around at the untidy stack of untouched energon around her berth, then deleted the last sentence] "How about we meet in person at the observation deck?"

[She hit send before she could think better of it, turned, and buried her face in her pillow with a groan]

myyyyy inbox hoo hoo

[areaman]

[having sent velocity a message requesting she look at some nebulous hacking locales for their upcoming trip, and receiving no answer, megatron immediately remembers how much he hates being left on read. her not being in the medibay annoys him slightly, because she doesn't even have the excuse of working!!

so, slightly later, she gets him thumping on her door.]

Are you in? This isn't something that can be neglected until the last minute, Velocity!

Re: myyyyy inbox hoo hoo

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[He's answered by a loud, audible groan through her usually open door]

No! [Velocity calls back, embarrassment at not answering Megatron being taken over
instead with a fresh and exciting flavor of embarrassment at the thought of him seeing the state of her usually pristine room or herself, flooding through her while she drags a pillow around the spikes and finials at the top of her helm] I'm not here, I'm out, I'm dissolved, I'm invisible!

[Followed by a quiet, reluctant] ...The door is unlocked, if you want to yell inside.

text

[areaman]

[you know. megatron is usually unconscious for his time in the medibay, but not now. what happened wasn't enough to put him out long and all he can do is wait around for his leg to get glued back on. he's so bored.]

I got blown up yesterday, I can't say I enjoyed it, as I haven't enjoyed any other time.
Have delivered Matrix to rightful owner.
How long does it take to put a leg back on, by your professional estimation? This is taking too long I feel.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity is currently exploring a ship she'd never had the time or allowed herself the inclination to before, when her datapad lights up. She is still wearing the light, worried version of her usual smile she often does these days, but it almost immediately freezes on her face]

What? What do you

WHAT????? You got blownu p? Megatron don't try to get up I'll be right th

[Velocity goes so far as to transform into her vehicle mode and CAREEN down the halls towards the nedibay, which she hasn't approached once since the cruise ship. As soon as she arrives she transforms back and almost hurls herself at him to throw her arms around him, clinging to him for several seconds before breathlessly pulling back]

Are you okay? What happened, why, what's- you have to be careful! [She almost sounds scolding again, but she's sniffing immediately] People worry about you, you know!

[audio]

[mosquitobyte]

[Even if their brief criminal adventure had ended badly for one or both of them, Mass-Byte is bold enough to call up Velocity a while later with a cheery greeting.]

Hi Hi! I don't know if you've heard, but there's a ball in a few days, and I'd love to have the most beautiful date to go with! Will you do me the honour?

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity responded immediately, tugging her dataoad closer to herself as she let out a huffed vent loud enough to be picked up by the microphone]

I should be mad at you! You got me arrested! I've never been arrested before!

[Despite herself, there was more than a trace of a laugh in her exaggerated exasperation, and then it broke down entirely]

It was exciting! I'll have to tell Megatron about it the next time I see him again, and- I-

Oh?

You're- [Her voice went softer and much more hesitant, memories of worse times resurfacing, as much as she wanted to believe they weren't true this time. Not with him!] ...You aren't making fun of me, are you? You really mean it?

audio, un boaty mc boatface

[knaval]

Hey, Lottie! You wanna hang out or anything? It's been a while since we had a chinwag and I didn't have much to do in maintenance today so I'm free earlier than usual!

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Oh! Oh hi, Riptide!

[Velocity laughs, delighted to hear from a friend even when she hasn't been feeling so good lately]

That would be really fun, I'd love to see you! I'm just finishing up helping code a few things at the library, but I should be done in about half an hour?

What were you thinking of getting up to?

Action, There and Gone

[thelordofmisrule]

[ While you were away someone has been in your room.

It doesn't look like this someone has really rifled that much through your possessions. Or stolen anything.

How do you know someone was here? There is a tiny plastic human toy baby sitting on a medical datapad on your desk. It has been wrapped up in an absurd amount of bandages. ]

Text

[moondurance]

[It hasn't even been a week since her last crash.]

So like, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is it if I died in a crash?

No fire this time!

[Yeah she knows her file is kinda. getting ridic given what she is.]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Even the mere mention of fire is enough to make Velocity flinch away from her datapad at the reminder of that one delightful occasion when she'd been mind controlled and forced to walk right into a river of lava. She squeezed her optic shutters closed tight, counted to ten twice, then again. Then she started dictating her answer in as calm a fashion as she was really capable of, under the circumstances]

Um? Ten? Probably? I think we can safely say ten. Unless the fungus stuff slowly overtaking your body has started doing something nasty, in which case I think I might need to revise my scoring system.

Can you come down to medibay? Soon? I'm almost done for the day but I'm pretty sure this is worth staying a little late for.

text

[mosquitobyte]

Hey beautiful, I found something that might interest you.

I've been keeping an ear to the ground, so to speak, on any activity regarding that new slaverlord, Writhe, and I think I caught something. You'll need to go check it out yourself to know for sure though.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[There was a pause of about thirty seconds wherein Velocity had to press her datapad to her face after reading the first two words and squeak out a very unsteady "He doesn't mean it, he's teasing," to herself before she could calm down enough to lower her datapad and read the rest]

OH. That is very very interesting, you were right! Thank you for coming to me about this, though I-

[Another, much briefer pause, before she sent another text]

What's the something that caught your attention? I'll handle it, or at least get the wheels started turning.

Before the Dylan Event

[moondurance]

[At some point when she's out of her office, Lottie's desk gains a visitor. A cute push that makes a squeaking noise if squeezed. It's adorably small for a mech, but probably on the large size for something human-sized.

How it got there is a mystery. As to who did it.]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity cycled her optics several times as she stared at the tiny object that had suddenly appeared in her desk without warning. She took a step closer and started to reach out for it before swiftly drawing her outstretched hand back against her chest with a wince. A learned reflex. She looked around quickly as if on the lookout for anyone who might be hiding and waiting to burst out at her while laughing about how gullible she was, to even think she'd gotten a present, but nothing of the sort happened. And kept on not happening]

[Finally, after a full minute, she relaxed and turned back around to crinkle her optics at the tiny thing with a smile as she whispered to it]

Oh, how cute! Just look at you, you beautiful thing!

[Velocity swept it up to hug it against her chest with a delighted laugh, only to laugh again when it made an even more adorable squeaking sound]

ACTION: A small box outside your door contains a handful of...

[thelordofmisrule]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity has kept the box of adorable little candies on hand since she got them, occasionally taking them out to appreciate how sweet someone was before putting them back]

[After the day she's had, though, Velocity curls up on her berth and tugs the box over to sadly munch at the candies one at a time]

Action (you are under no obligation to respond to this your character can be 'out')

[betterthanmegaman]

[ Recently Bass requested some important information. Who... is the strongest Cybertronian on this ship. He received a hot tip that it was 'Shockwave' but also 'not the Senator one'. There were a few thoughts that went through his processor. One... it was really dumb that there were two people here with the SAME NAME. It must get confusing! Two, while he does (surprisingly) know what a Senator is, he has no idea what a Senator looks like. Do they wear signs? Bass guesses probably not.

This leads him to one conclusion: He has to fight BOTH of them to make sure he's actually fighting the strong one.

This leads him to a second conclusion: He has no idea where Shockwave lives. He could ask for direction, ask if anyone knows... but that begs the question... If they know how strong Bass is will they even tell the truth?

There is now one solution: He has to canvas the ship himself and check every inhabited room he comes across.

So there's the backstory. And that's why Bass, armored up in his winged Treble armor (being able to fly covers ground quicker!) is pounding aggressively at your door.

Sorry. ]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity was busily packing her bags for the upcoming mission when she was startled by a sudden banging on her door. She half turned away, and called out towards the door]

Just a klik! I'm in the middle of something really super important!

[She frowned down at her suitcase. In one hand she held a first aid kit for organics, and in the other she held the stuffed toy she had received from a mysterious and very generous person recently. Logically, she knew she could bring both. It would almost be expected of her to bring both. But she was already going to bring the squishmallow toy Megatron had given her on the cruise, so wouldn't she be pushing her luck...?]

[She started towards the door while still holding both, and hit the button to open it with her elbow. Once it opened she smiled out at what turned out to be empty air, cycled her optics, and glanced down]

Oh! Hello! Did you need something? I already told the medibay that I'm going to be unavailable for a little while, but if it's an emergency I can certainly help? So... Was there? An emergency?

Not long after The Slaverlord's Prize

[mosquitobyte]

Hey beautiful
You doing okay? You seem to have had it a bit rough.

It's okay if a mission fails you know
it happens
and sometimes that's just how it is

I'm sorry that you're hurting
you wanna talk about it?

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Hi, Mass-Byte. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you earlier, I should've, I've just had a lot on my mind. Again.

...I think that I would really like talking, actually. That I ought to. Been doing that thing where I hide, again. Sorry. I'm sorry.

[Anon] During the Bodyswap event

[memoriacrew]

Link to the message for future Velocity to read

action. after this... https://deceptamom.dreamwidth.org/281.html?thread=28953#cmt28953

[deceptamom]

Nickel stares at the communicator for a long moment. It hasn't responded again. Somehow that makes her feel uneasy.

She's still in the Medbay and Velocity has only just left. It takes hardly any time at all to bound back to the doors and Lottie's long gazelle legs.

"Lottie get back here!" he pokes her helm out the door.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Velocity hummed as she turned halfway around, tilting her head with a curious smile. "Did I forget to lock my work station again when I was done?" She asked, already starting back.

She tapped a hand off of the side of her --Nickel's-- head as she approached. "It's been a few minutes since the last time I messed up," she said, though something about the angle of her smile was a bit off when she said that, and she forced it wider in an attempt to compensate. "It was probably about time, right?"

a few hours post body swap audio un primetime

[emojibot]

[once they've all had a chance to get back and swap and settle back into their own bodies and such, as weird a sensation as it is, and after optimus gets a nice big zap from his matrix for some goddamn reason, he decides to hit velocity up, as he had decided to while on visio.]

Velocity! [he sounds cheerful, at least.] Have you settled back in? Let me know if I can bring you anything.

[after, you know, All That.]

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity has returned to hiding in her hab suite and mostly letting her messages go unanswered, but this one she can't ignore (or try to). She tugs her datapad closer and dictates her reply into it]

Hello, Optimus. I'm, um. [Her voxcoder clicks and clicks for a few seconds as she struggles with keeping her voice level] I'm fine, it's fine. I don't need anything. You don't need to worry. Day or two, and I'll be right as acid rain.

text un warp

[telepro]

i want to talk where are you

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Oh? This was unexpected, but not alarming, except in the sense of wondering what she herself had done wrong now? Skywarp had always seemed reasonable to her, even if they disagreed, so Velocity shrugged and dictated her response]

My hab for write now, room XXX. Aye will see you soon, then?

Duckstribution

[thelordofmisrule]

[ laying on Velocity’s night stand is a yellow beaded rubber ducky bracelet. Looking at it just makes you kind of happy and reminds you of friends who have your back. ]

(( The rubber duck bracelet is useable once during an event to reroll a social crit fail by reminding you that there are friends who have your back. ))

text

[mosquitobyte]

Hey beautiful!
Want to go to the ball with me? Make me the luckiest insect on the ship?

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity's face instantly lit up when she saw the message, and pressed her datapad to her chest as she spun in a little circle with a squeal]

Of coarse I will, if you'll make me the luckiest Caminus colonist on the ship inn return.

...Lucky, though? Really really?

[VOICE from the R2's local landline; Caller ID Unknown]

[bloodsoaked_lover]

H-Hello? I-Is this thing on? A-Ah OK, cool! Nice nice nice. Alrighty —

Hello, Velocity!! I would like to say thank you for giving me a part of your blood to me from a few nights ago! I know you were asleep at the time, but I still wanted to give thanks to you since getting to become you was really great! On a side note, maybe I should've asked you first . . . but that aside —

I usually don't get that many chances to become a huge robot like you, but with your blood, now I can grow closer to the other guys on board . . . and especially you!

A-And again, thank you so much for the blood! It was a little bitter at first, but at least I didn't gag too much on it like I used to. If you want to talk to me . . . just go to Room 231 and I'll be waiting there! I don't have my phone with me right now, so I can't wait to see you in person again!

Byeeeee ~ !

audioooo

[maximalize]

[now, like some of the others, primal is prone to avoiding the medibay. too long spent working on the bare minimum and having no choice but to just walk off any injury or discomfort makes it difficult for him to accept that help is readily available. he's getting better at it, but he's not great. so it's kind of an indication at how much what he is contacting velocity - the medic he usually sees - is bothering him when he does go and do it. whatever it is that was wrapped around his spark chamber doesn't hurt, but it feels wrong at the same time it feels right, enought that his entire frame has been extremely tense since he returned from his mission with the others. his HUD is very displeased with him, and so are all his joints.]

Doctor Velocity, when you next have a free appointment I would be grateful to have it.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

[Velocity picks up the call at once. She's mildly surprised he's contacting her for an appointment as stretches of time usually go by between when he makes one, but he at least does follow through on being checked out more often than some on board. She does worry about him, too, so this would be reassuring on that level, too]

Of course, Primal, no trouble at all. I actually have a stretch of time free early this afternoon, someone cancelled. Would you be available to come in for it iiiiiin... [She peeks at her schedule] Three hours? The medibay ought to be quiet around then, too, nobody likes having appointments around lunch.

Dream

[memoriacrew]

Not long after returning from the Cathedral of Mirrors, Velocity finds herself floating in darkness. Is she floating, actually? Or is she falling very, very slowly. Her thoughts float gently from one idea to the next before her one last peaceful moment is broken when a white chain suddenly clamps around her right wrist. Then her left one. Then, lastly, her neck. She's yanked in all directions, her arms pulled into a t-pose as she's forced to look up into the darkness.

He descends, his hands outstretched, reaching and holding her face tenderly with both hands. His silver-blue tentacles float behind him as though he's swimming through water, his face pulled back into a malicious grin.

"Mine again, just as you were meant to be." He whispers, leaning in until their faces are uncomfortably close. "Such a pity your teammates didn't consider you worth sacrificing for. Your life and safety is never anyone's top priority, is it? I know your worth though, Velocity. I would have given the world to you."

He laughs, cold and mocking.

"You will be useful to me again soon enough.

Sleep well, my dear. Until our next reunion."

Abruptly, the dream ends.

[tenthtimeisthecharm]

Velocity jerked awake and sucked in a strangled vent to scream that didn't come back out, optics flaring so brightly they'd gone from yellow to almost white. She catapulted herself out of her berth, stumbling and crashing into her end table and scattering unseen objects as she crumpled to her knees. Sucked in vents that shrieked in her audials, too fast and too ragged and too too too-

she'd chosen this she'd known it would happen she'd accepted it she'd chosen this she'd known it would happen she'd

Without thinking, she scrabbled frantically for her datapad and attempted to comm Megatron, unknowingly opening an audio message to the entirety of the group chat instead as she dropped the datapad. Velocity bent in half over it and hugged herself and rocked, hyperventilating vents dragging ragged gasps that scraped her throat raw.

"M-Megatron I'm sorry I'm sorry I- I- you c-can be mad still be gone still- st- I need you I need you please he was in my dream he-" She clapped two hands over her mouth and keened through her fingers. "I'll s-say anything you want if you just-"

Her forehead touched the floor next to broken glass and the sticker on her datapad that proclaimed 97% in faded pink glitter and let out a broken, punched out noise as she started to weep alone in the dark.