dear_mun | ...oops, woke him up.

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...oops, woke him up.

"Oops"? What do you mean "oops"?

What the frag is going on in that glitched mind of yours, tossing me back out here again? I'm retired. Not only that, but I was busy!

[Uh huh. Taking a stasis nap.]

Don't you back talk to me, missy! And don't you think for one nanoklik that sendin' me back to Nautilus again is a good idea. My time there is done. The city's in good hands with the likes of Lelouch, the other Ascended and veteran Wakened handlin' whatever issues come up.

Now slag off and leave me be.

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[Oil Slick chuckles, all too terribly amused by this.]

Ah, yes, leave it to an Autobot to be so blatant about how something isn't their problem...

I didn't have to make you my problem, Oil Slick, and yet I did.

So keep runnin' your vocalizer if you want, but you wouldn't have one to run at all if it wasn't for me.

And for that, I am quite thankful, Doctor - though I'm quite confident that others would have wished you hadn't been such a merciful 'bot.

Yet others were grateful that I was, since getting that sample of the antidote to the Ministry of Science spared lives.

I don't regret saving your life... Only that you didn't learn anything from it.

Oh, I learned plenty, Autobot. Primarily that I needed to go back to the drawing board, but that's rather good for me in the long run. Being a one-trick 'bot isn't good, after all.

That's debatable, since I imagine that bein' in exile isn't too good, either.

...What's slag? [Nosy miss is nosy, don't mind her.]

And why's my mun giggling so much over you? She only giggles that much for my sisters, or my other-reality-sisters-but-really-brothers.

It's a Cybertronian slang word.

[He frowns a little.]

Best ask your mun, kid. I'm no mind reader.

But what's it mean?

[And a shy little smile.]

She says I'll understand when I'm older. But I'm already 117, how old do I have to be?

[...aww crud. Alright.]

It's a waste product left over from the process of refining metal ore.

[Meaning the word isn't a pleasant one as a slang term.]

Old enough, apparently. One hundred seventeen isn't much to us Cybertronians, anyway. We tend to live for millions of years.

[It's her brother's name that catches her attention.]

Oh, you were in Nautilus?

[Sorry, Ratchet, this isn't the Nunnally that remembers you.]

[Nunnally! ...though, yes, it's clear from her response alone that this is a different one than he knew before. Regardless, his expression softens a little.]

For quite some time, yes. I was one of the very first to Wake there.

Really?

I've heard a few stories about Nautilus from my brother and Suzaku.

Your brother and I were quite close. We Cybertronians don't have families as you humans do. On the rare occasion, a split spark will result in siblings, but that's as far as it goes. However, Lelouch and a handful others gave me an idea of what it was like to have family. As much as my old spark could fathom the concept, he was like a son to me.

[She's silent for a moment, contemplative. She can tell, even from this brief interaction, that Ratchet is someone that is sincere in his words.]

I'm glad.

[It makes her wish she had known him during his time in Nautilus.]

Did he give you any trouble?

[Ratchet offers a rough chuckle in response.]

Only a bit here and there as a child those couple of times Nautilus saw fit to de-age him.

A child? Brother never told me about that!

[She giggles.]

Don't tell me you had to watch both him and Suzaku? I remember that those two could be a handful.

Didn't he? Hn, well then. I suppose I'll have to remedy that, won't I?

[Because as Lelouch's adopted father of sorts, Ratchet can't possibly allow that chance to slip by, right?]

As a matter of fact, I did. Kept them out of trouble as best I could. Had to keep ab optic on Lelouch in regards to sweets, however. That kid and his chocolate pudding...

[Of course not. And Nunnally is going to soak all of them up.]

Oh, he didn't try to eat it with every meal, did he?

... What if we miss you, old timer?

[Slag, don't do this to him, kid.]

[Ratchet vents a small sigh.]

Missin' me isn't really the issue, Sideswipe. More that she and I both know that if she tries again, not likely I'll last all that long.

Though that does beg the question... Which would you rather have? This old bot back for a little while or not at all?

I know.

[This is really difficult. Don't make him choose.]

Just... things have happened. It'd be nice if you were there to hear about it, I guess. I don't know.

[He rumbles quietly in thought.]

...I suppose you an' the rest are also up to your shoulder struts in more newly Wakened. And likely still as much of a chore, keeping them in line and spreading information.

I'm trying to do that. Explain... things, I mean.

Granted, no one tends to listen like they should but. Trying counts, right?

It's not wasted effort. Some things always do manage to sink in. As for the rest, well...that's what experience is for.

Your experience.

That's better than mine. I mean, I'm good, but I was made to fight, not... lecture. You're good at lectures.

Even if you don't come back full-time, is there any way you could pop in for a visit? I think the new Arcee would appreciate it. [And so would everyone else.]

[Dana...]

Not that I'm aware of, no.

[Though the name mentioned DOES catch his attention.]

"New Arcee"? Take it she's another version of the one from my continuity. [A beat.] What's she like?

That's too bad. I wouldn't mind hearing your history lesson again, and I know there are newer people who could hear it for the first time.

Probably. She's not much like the Arcee we had before. She's... much pricklier and more pessimistic. She seems to think you'd hate Nautilus, and maybe if she saw otherwise, she might change her own opinion of it.

Should I ever make it back, I'll personally inscribe that lesson somewhere no one'll miss it. Save a good deal of time and trouble.

[He arches an optic ridge at the description of this other Arcee.]

I'll admit, didn't care too much for Nautilus when I first arrived. Fortunately, ending up with a wounded patient on my servos right out of the gate helped ground me and keep me occupied.

Whether or not my current view on the city would change that Arcee's is debatable. I'm not the Ratchet she knows, so my word might not mean much.

You know, I think you're the only one who might be able to talk some sense in to Sideswipe.

[And there is that whole missing you thing too.]

[His optics light up a little at the sight of Lelouch, a smirk creasing his faceplate.]

It's just as much an earned power as anything else that could be bent up.

[He then vents a sigh.]

Though this is the part where my mun attempts to remind me that minus Optimus, I was the closest Nautilus had to a Prime.

[Lelouch smiles in response, just as happy to see Ratchet.]

It's a superpower as far as I'm concerned. I tried to make him understand why I could not just toss people in jail without having enough facts to be sure it was fair.

It did not go well...

[Lelouch nods in agreement with that.]

You were. There were a lot of people who looked up to you. Still do.

Sometimes dealin' with him is all about approach. And sometimes it becomes a simple matter of "because I said so."

[Which apparently only works if you're either Optimus Prime or Ratchet.]

Just how many Cybertronians are left at this point, anyway?

That's pretty much where it ended up.

[Lelouch mulls it over for a moment.]

Sideswipe and Mirage and Skyfire... Dead End... and a different Arcee just recently arrived in the city.

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...oops, woke him up.

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