(no subject)

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

Ironhide is the one dealing with Rad and any questions of space bridge technology that might or might not be viable in their world. Bumblebee has little, if anything, to do with that. He's still a little edgy, though. Anything involving the Nullspark, even at a couple of removes, tends to have that effect on him after the fight in the garage.

One of the first things Bumblebee did after surviving Megatron's direct assault during the Great War was take steps to make sure he'd never be caught that badly unprepared again for a hand-to-hand situation. He downloaded every self-defense and unarmed combat instruction program- every- that would be usable for someone of his body type. It's stood him well ever since, but now and again that kind of thing needs refreshing, as the garage battle so clearly brought home. The aggressive side of practice he mostly does at home, where he's scaled properly for the prospect. Milliways, on the other hand, is fantastic for simulating situations where he's at a grotesque disadvantage. After all, nearly everyone here is bigger than he is, and heavier. (Even Cheetor.) So he's taking advantage of the Bar's unique internal architecture to practice evasive maneuvers, which is a fancy way of saying: small yellow robot leaping from rafter to rafter like everything else in the building was made entirely of lava.

Oh, and because even at his most irritated or sorrowful he's still Bumblebee, his speakers are playing Earth music. "Take On Me" by A-Ha, specifically. That might be audible from below, too, since the sound system hasn't got any A-Ha of its own on tap.

Comments

[iambetadraconis]

To this onlooker Bumblebee is some large, yellow, mechanoid gibbon, swinging like he is from the rafters.

So if you want to have a conversation you need to keep up.

Fortunately Rabastan has just the means to keep up, and it's safe to use in the bar too!

"Hey," the small, twittering-yet-still-English-and-still-Rabastan's voice says. "What're you doing?"

PS: We have lots of A-ha if you want it.

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

It only takes Bee a moment to recognize the source of the words. Since the topic of apes is already in the air, his tunes switch:

Jungle life
I'm far away from nowhere
On my own like Tarzan Boy
Hide and seek
I play along while rushing cross the forest
Monkey business on a sunny afternoon...

[iambetadraconis]

More of a "what Bumblebee looks like while engaging in rooftop gymnastics", but we'll take that.

The little five inch bird is trying to make like a hummingbird by flying backwards so he can face Bumblebee, but alas, since he hasn't got a hummingbird's anatomy, he's doing a poor job of it.

"This you doing for fun?" Pause. "I didn't think you metal blokes needed exercise."

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

Bumblebee shakes his head as he leaps to the next rafter, balancing briefly on his fingertips before completing the flip and landing on his feet.

To hit the bull's optics, that's my main target
I focus on the center until the path narrows
Let go and split your arrow in my arrow
Archery, plus throw darts, heavy artillery
Heavy delivery, pushin' every ability
Spectacular, miraculous
I blast 'til I can't miss, target practice

[iambetadraconis]

Suddenly he's reminded of the fact that he needs to put in more archery practise than he's put in since meeting Ironhide that one sloppy day out at the range.

He feels guilty over that.

"How is this target practise? It looks like you're imitating a monkey."

The idea of gymnastic evasiveness never occurred to him, since all his combat training before Milliways involved a nine-and-one-half stick of cherry wood with a core of dragon scales.

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

The bird gets a skeptical look before Bumblebee changes the soundtrack once again. He'd been hoping to avoid this one.

It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part
From a faint into a slip, then I'm kickin' from the hip

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting (hunh),
those cats were fast as lightning (hunh)
In fact it was a little bit frightening (hunh),
but they fought with expert timing (hunh)...

[iambetadraconis]

[That should've read "nine-and-one-half INCH stick of cherry wood". No hurray for dropped words.]

As a bird he can't use the Banana Icon, but if he could, he would be.

"Martial arts?" he asks, still trying his damnedest to hummingbird-fly in front of Bumblebee. It's exhausting, and just hanging on for dear life to Bumblebee's kibble is an enticing-and-energy-saving prospect [he might eat enough for a sounder of swine but he still has limits on how much expendable energy he's got so shush]. "Don't know if anything humans use involves creative uses of overhead beams of wood..."

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

With a noise not unlike a sigh, Bumblebee holds out a hand for the bird to perch on.

Nowhere to run
Under the gun
* Run for your life
Run from the fire
Want to survive
Run for your life-

He gestures around him at the rafters. Clearly, you go where you have to when you need to flee.

[iambetadraconis]

About time too!

"Thanks ... mate..," he pants. "Needed that."

Pause. Running for your life is something he's a little too familiar with.

"Who's after you, chum?"

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

He's not going to facepalm, but oh, he comes very close. "I'm practicing," Bumblebee crackles. "In case the event comes to pass. Some things the sims can't replicate."

[iambetadraconis]

What? He's doing his best to follow along, in more ways than one...

"Oh. One of those 'ounces of prevention' things."

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

Bee tends to think he makes more sense than he actually does. It's a thing.

"Yes. I already had one fight I couldn't escape. If another one comes I want to be ready."

[iambetadraconis]

When you speak in song and movie clip, "sense" is a matter of variable mileage.

"Gotcha mate. Gotta be ready in case it ever comes up."

Pause.

"So who started it? I didn't get the impression you went looking for fights."

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

A tiny Japanese girl looks up into the rafters, in search of the source of the music.

Or maybe she's counting the beams in the rafters. Or following a dust speck through the air. It's hard to tell with Osaka.

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

Bumblebee catches hold of the rafter with his feet and twists around so that he's essentially hanging by his ankles. "Hello!"

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" She blinks in surprise. "Good afternoon, robot-san!"

She's speaking Japanese--Kansai-ben, specifically. Due to the bar's translation spell, Bumblebee may or may not pick up on this.

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

Everything the Bayformers in the Bar say is them deliberately speaking a foreign language anyway. They're by and large unaware of the translation field. Bumblebee picks up enough of the sound to switch to the Japanese he learned from the Internet- thankfully, from academic websites in Japan itself- and attempt something like a bow despite being upside down. "Good afternoon, miss! I didn't think anybody saw me."

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

Osaka bows back. "I didn't, really. I was just looking and you happened to be there. Are you friends with the other robot?"

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

"Which one?" says Bumblebee, who is still hanging upside down, largely because he can. "There are several, and one of them really doesn't like me at all."

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

"Um. It was bigger than you, and black, and wanted to know how to get outside?"

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's Ironhide," says Bumblebee. "Yes, we're friends. Although he's much older than me, so he was more of a teacher than anything."

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

"Oh, he has a name? He didn't say. Do you have a name, too?"

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

"He's a little grumpy sometimes," Bumblebee says diplomatically, "so he's not always good with his manners. I am called Bumblebee. How about you?"

[shikkari.livejournal.com]

"My name is Kasuga Ayumu. But everyone calls me 'Osaka' 'cuz that's where I'm from." She cants her head to one side, curious. "Why are you called 'Bumblebee'? You don't look like a bee at all."

[prob-japanese.livejournal.com]

"Because they're small, helpful, appealing creatures with a good work ethic and a color scheme that matches mine," says Bumblebee. "And nobody pays very much attention to them as they work, which is just how I want it when I'm working."