Praxus - Stalker Mode

[Freefall]

"Thieves are just unwanted visitors," Freefall states as he sips his cube. "But I suppose you're right."

Then his attention is drawn to the cloth covered thing Aftermath sets next to himself. He blinks, tilting his head inquisitively as he looks at it. "Uh...what's that?" he asks, pointing out one of his pink, fleshy fingers.

[Aftermath]

"My other friend," Aftermath eyes Freefall over the lip of the energon cube for a moment, looking contemplative. "And my reason for being here, as it is."

He reaches down and uncovers the cage, dropping the fabric into his subspace. Inside, a small gibby snarled at the intrusion, brown fur bristling and the bell on its collar jingling.

[Freefall]

Freefall's optics widen in a mixture of surprise and alarm and he swiftly drops his hand. What was Aftermath doing with that and why, by Primus, did he bring it here?

He quickly hops off his stool and ventures closer, stooping low to look at the furry creature in the cage. His studious tendencies nearly got the better of him, for he was sorely tempted to poke at the cage and see what the gibby would do.

"Uh, what exactly do you mean "reason for being here"?" he asks, head shifting from side to side as he looks the gibby over.

[Aftermath]

"Well, I need someone to take care of the lil' bugger," Aftermath shrugs. "Things are gettin' a wee bit rough homeside, so the fellow just needs a place to stay. You know, outta gun fights an' stuff."

Entirely oblivious to the conversation, the gibby rolls over onto its back and makes a low, bubbly noise.

[Freefall]

"Take care of it!?"

Freefall pulls himself away from watching the gibby and stares at Aftermath. "But-but...I can barely take care of myself, let alone this--thing!"

The bubbly noise alerts him briefly and his ears twitch at the sound as he glances at the critter before swiftly returning his attention to Aftermath.

"Besides, I know nothing about caring for it. I don't even know where to begin!"

[Aftermath]

"It doesn't really need constant supervision. Just somewhere to sleep. And maybe a foot to chew on." This, of course, coming from personal experience.

Aftermath opens the cage and picks the fluffy critter out with familiar ease. The gibby grumbles but doesn't otherwise object and settles when placed on the ground.

"Jus' don't touch its belly."

[Freefall]

Freefall eyes the gibby uneasily as it's placed on the floor. It certainly seemed a lot more manageable than the other little beast he'd encountered back at Axiom's lab.

"Uh-huh, and is there anything else important I should know about, like what it eats? ...Does it even eat? Oh, and why shouldn't I touch it's belly? That'd make picking it up a tad difficult, you know. Not that I've agreed to anything yet."

[Aftermath]

The gibby is on the floor. The gibby does not care and just sleeps some more.

"Dunno what it eats either, personally. It just disappears and reappears and doesn't bother you 'bout food. They do like aluminum shavings now and then." Aftermath chuckles at the second question.

"Wull, the belly is where the mouth is, and you kinda, really, don't wanna lose yer hand, do yah?"

[Freefall]

No, Freefall doesn't want to lose his hand, and for some reason wishes he'd never asked. He rubs his clawed hands together and shudders.

"Okay, okay. And is there anything, anything at all, that'll make it go crazy and set it off on a destructive rampage? Because I'd really need to know that before even thinking about keeping it here."

[Aftermath]

"Oh, just everything." A beat skipped by, long enough for Aftermath to potentially see the look of horror on Freefall's face, before he amends, "Energon makes 'em go batshit if they eat it, so keep 'er away."

The gibby makes another bubbly noise.

[Freefall]

"...R-right..." Freefall stammers uneasily.

Strange, the more the conversation went on, the more certain it seemed that Freefall was indeed going to look after the troublesome little furball. The thing's already out of it's cage and settled on the floor! If he could be assured his equipment and research wouldn't be totally annihilated, he really wouldn't mind. It might even be nice to have company. Belly-biting, bubbling, grouchy company...

Then again, if his current luck is anything to go off, the gibby will most likely eat him out of house and home, eat him, and then probably die before Aftermath came back for it. Or escape. One of the two.

Freefall rubs his brow. Aftermath must be pretty desperate if he's hoping somebody he hardly even knows will take it in for a while. And it doesn't look like he's in a hurry to pack the little beast back up. Clearly objection isn't an option.

With a sigh he adds, "So, what do you call it?"

[Aftermath]

Aftermath is very nearly grinning behind his mask, although the only outward indication of his mirth is a brightening of his visor.

"Name s' Five. For, you know, finger eating."

[Freefall]

"Five," Freefall repeats, slightly disappointed at the unimaginative response. "Okay, that's easy enough to remember. And just how long will Five be staying with me?"

[Aftermath]

"'Bout a month, or less. Prolly less." What? Now people were expecting Aftermath to be creative with his pet's names? He lost his fingers to the beast, he wasn't losing his creativity to her either.

Aftermath picked the little monster off the floor and set her on his knee, facing Freefall's direction, "Lookit yer new baby sitter, Five. Ain't he cute?"

Five looks at Freefall blankly for a moment. Then it utters a low, bubbling chirr-chik noise that was very close to being an unimpressed grunt.

[Freefall]

Charmed, Freefall thought, folding his arms as Five sized him up for judgement.

"A month? That's a little long for baby sitting, don't you think?" Well, just long enough to lose all his clawed digits, no doubt. "I mean, it's not as if I don't have things to do too, you know." He waves an arm at his work bench. "I have important research to conduct."