Nexus. Arcee's room in the safehouse. Meeting Kia

[random_xtras]

((From here))


Arcee sighs and creaks to her feet, then limps over to her desk and sets the little Bumblebee doll next to the little Ratchet. "Well, that didn't work. Let's hope Ratchet has a better plan, because I don't like how your engine sounds, kid."

As expected there's no reply from the little silver being under her berth, and she sighs and leaves the room to go wait in the common room and see if there's anything worth watching on TV.

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[random_xtras]

"This's all over my head," admits Arcee, her scowl growing a bit, though there's no anger in it. "This the 'elementary protoform' I heard people talking about sometimes?"

Then she falls silent to watch him work.

Kia looks at her hand on his chest, her optics once more wide with curiosity, then beeps and looks down as he taps her. Her own ridges lift as her faceplate registers quizzicalness. She can sense something is wanted... she's not sure what.

After a moment she hesitantly taps his windshield.

And Arcee frowns intently, shaking her head slightly. No, that's not it.

[critical-medic.livejournal.com]

Knowing now that Kia cannot even begin to fathom their conversation, Ratchet nods at Arcee. "Technically speaking, she's an accident. The idea among some is that bots like Kia are so elementary that they can't function and therefore it's a mercy to put them out of commission. I could try to work with her systems, see about setting some of her programming right...but it would take time. And some things, well, some things we can't do for her. Life is a learning process for everyone, but more for her than for 99.9% of our race."

Knowing he needs to make her understand that the words he's using are names, Ratchet again taps his own windshield and says his name. He then taps Kia's chest plate and says her name. Taking it a step further, he points at Arcee and says her name as well. The process is then repeated, each of them named in turn. There is a chance her vocalizer is damaged, but he's willing to wait and see if an actual effort on Kia's part will result in success or strained static.