We're gonna do what we do best.

[dadcepticon]

Who: Krok and YOU! Yes, you! Seriously anybody is welcome. Come bug Captain Mopey!
Where: Shopping district!
When: Slight backdate to 10 February, mid-morning/noonish.
Summary: Krok needs something to fill up the much too quiet apartment he's too reluctant to abandon. Time to look for music and movies!
Warnings: Nnnnothing really?


Life has been very quiet in recent weeks. None of the chatter or mayhem that Krok simply took for granted. No being woken at all hours by Misfire with something to tell him, no conversations with Fulcrum, no laughter or jokes or arguments. Just silence and an oppressive sense of melancholy as he looks at empty bedrooms.

He hates it.

He doesn't want to give up the apartment if he can help it; what if they come back? They might, he thinks. It's a possibility, at least. Even if a very distant one. Enough of a chance that he can't ignore it, certainly – but he can't take the emptiness of it any more. It's maddening. He's upset over the absences; Spinister is upset and it's impossible to console the big helicopter when Krok himself can't seem to shake off the unhappiness. Something has to change, he decides, even if it isn't their quarters. So, steeling himself against the likelihood of too much good cheer from potentially all quarters – he needs to not wallow, yes, but there's only so much effervescence and warmth Krok can manage right now – the weary scavenger captain takes himself to the shopping district on a mission.

There must be some sort of recordings he can buy. Anything, he thinks, just to have the noise. Just to fill in the gaps where there should be friendly voices. Vids, music, he doesn't care what it is so long as it makes sounds. He squints at the signs and displays around him and peers into the shops as he slows his stride, debating where to even start. Krok's had so little use for this entire end of the city that he finds himself at something of a loss for direction, staring at the options available and all but broadcasting his usual exasperation every which way as he pauses in the middle of the concourse.

"I must be going out of my mind," he mumbles to himself while looking right to left and back again. There's a place a little further along that seems to sell electronic devices, he guesses by their window displays. It's as good a place to start as any.

Comments

[arnhaid]

Shopping isn't really something Ironhide is... into. Or good at. He's mostly out for a walk. Keeping in motion is better than just sitting around, anyway. And he can't always rely on Chromia to keep him busy. She's got her own things to worry about.

He doesn't come over here often. Maybe he should, at some point. Better to know the area.

Especially when he sees a familiar frame wandering around too. He picks up the pace a big, slowing when he gets near -- so as to not startle the poor guy.

"Hey! Didn't think I'd see anybody else around here."

[dadcepticon]

Ironhide is a hard bot to miss, whether he's just strolling down the street or charging across a battlefield. Krok spots that bright red paint about the same time that Ironhide starts slowing on the approach and Krok lets out a sigh he didn't realise he'd been holding. Old reflexes die very hard.

He's not so entrenched in memories of the war, however, that he doesn't cock his head and give Ironhide a queer look. He doesn't quite laugh, but there's a hint of it in his voice.

"Nobody? Around the shopping district?" he wonders, maybe teasing just a little. Mostly incredulous.

[arnhaid]

Oh, right. He hadn't made that very clear, had he? He chuckles a bit, rubbing at the back of his neck. He looks more awkward than anything.

Definitely more awkward than threatening.

"Er, right. I meant you... here. Yeah. Aha..."

[dadcepticon]

Someday, Krok will look back on this and many other conversations with Ironhide and marvel that they ever happened at all. For now, he just tries to enjoy it.

"Right, well," he murmurs. "I just wanted to see if I could find… something. To fill the quiet." Not really an enjoyable topic, he tells himself, and grimaces. "…You know."

[dragoncrest]

"Krok?"

The voice of the dragon knight comes from above the Decepticon, its owner squatting on the angled roof with her spear at her back. There's some amount of surprise in her expression, though it's the pleasant kind, of course. She gets to her feet and leaps down a level with practiced movements, wanting to speak with him at a more appropriate distance. She doesn't reach ground level just yet, however, in case he doesn't want to be disturbed for long.

"I cannot say I've seen you in this district often. What brings you here?"

[dadcepticon]

Perching on rooftops is something Krok has always associated with tales of Orion Pax. Seeing Freya above his head, weapon close at hand – for antiquated though it might be by Cybertronian standards, that is most definitely a spear of some sort – is a little startling to say the very least. Krok eyes her warily for a second or two before he can muster up an answer.

He's certainly distracted from his fugue.

"Freya!" he greets, a little stilted but warmly after rifling through his memory banks for the name that goes with the face. It has been a while since they last spoke in person. The prompt to his business here gives him the briefest of pauses, more to muddle out how he can talk about it without dragging her through too many details. "I – it's too quiet in my quarters," he says at length. "I came to shop for vids, or recordings… something. Just for the noise, even."

[dragoncrest]

"Walking about where the people are certainly seems like a way to find noise," Freya remarks with a smile, but she can imagine there might be some desire for privacy behind his words. She doesn't intend to pry, but she'd like to help if he'll allow her--though likely more on the emotional end than the actual search.

"I admit I don't know much about the types of recordings here," she muses. "Watching the moving images in the theatre was remarkable, but I have not investigated them more than that... Perhaps I could accompany you and take a closer look, if you don't mind the company?"

[dadcepticon]

"I don't mind at all," Krok blurts out before he can overthink it, latching onto the conversation and the company. "We've some catching up to do, don't we?" He offers a hand to help her down so they can carry on walking – not that she needs his assistance, really, he thinks only after the fact. She hopped this far on her own with no issues.

Well, no taking it back now. It won't sting more than his pride to look a fool, anyway.

"How've you been keeping?" he wonders, and hopes it will help cover his sudden case of awkwardness.

[smallspot]

"Should we wait for it to come back? It would be sad if your mind got lost!" Diarmuid giggles and looks up at Krok from where he standing at his friend's side. Krok is kind of hard to miss, so when Diarmuid caught sight of him as he turned the corner, the boy had made his way straight to the robot's side.

He is sad to see his friend still looking so sad, but maybe a joke will help cheer him up some?

"What are you looking for? I come here all the time so maybe I can help!"

[dadcepticon]

It's amazing, Krok thinks, how Diarmuid seems to simply pop up from nowhere sometimes. Almost like magic.

"I'm not sure yet, really," Krok answers the boy, unintentionally cryptic as he crosses his arms in thought. "Or rather… I don't much care. Movies, or music recordings. Something of the sort." He cocks his head to the right as he peers down at Diarmuid, and while he doesn't quite smile, his curiosity wins out over his upset for the moment. "I don't suppose my best scout knows where I could find something like that?" he wonders.

[smallspot]

Considering the time and place Diarmuid is from, magic is always a good guess.

"I do! I do!" Diarmuid jumps up and down excitedly, "At least for music. I don't really watch movies." The boy turns to point toward the end of the block and across the street, "There is a store down there that has actual music instruments if you want them to play around with and..." he spins around until he is pointing in the opposite direction, "...there is a shop that has lots of round things in it down there. The person inside said they hold music and are called CDs. I don't know how they work. Do you know?"

[dadcepticon]

"I… don't think I've ever heard them called ceedeez," Krok says slowly, following Diarmuid's arm with his gaze, "but they sound like discs. I know those well enough. I don't think I'll have such luck with instruments." Now he does smile; it's thin and tired, but genuine. He hasn't had much cause for it lately. Slowly, knees creaking, he crouches and gently ruffles Diarmuid's hair. "Where would I be without you?" he muses.

Wandering around for ages debating whether or not to ask a random person for help and if it's even worth the trouble, most likely. But he won't dwell on that, he decides, and his smile widens.

"Would you like to come help me pick out a few?" he offers. "I wouldn't mind the company, if you're willing."

[fuckinstoplights]

"Why?"

He doesn't mean to throw that out there. Out of nowhere. But... he can't help himself. He'd been hovering in the market district, trying to work up the courage to say something.

Also, to find the location of the store where Spinister had shown him sold fuel. He was running a bit lower than he liked.

[dadcepticon]

Krok wasn't really expecting to hear an answer. Certainly not that question. He blinks and looks around himself first; that was Kagerou's voice, he's sure of it. As sure as he can be, given how piecemeal his memories of the last few months still are. He's sure that's Kagerou, but he doesn't see the sad fellow anywhere.

Then he remembers with a wince that Kagerou has wings. So he looks up.

"Why what?" he prompts in a deliberately calm tone, trying not to take out his frustration on Kagerou. He remembers how little the other bot always seems to think of himself and he'd hate to add to it. "Why must I be going insane?" He gestures, not quite a shrug, hands open and upturned. "I don't know. I think I just am."

[fuckinstoplights]

He's perched up on something solid enough to hold his weight, watching curiously as Krok looks around for where he is. He chirps a bit -- an honest chirp -- in order to help. But it turns out not to be necessary.

"Yes."

His head tilts left and right, thoughtfully. Then it bobs back and forth to watch his hands move. It really is like a bird. "Maybe you should have it checked," he suggests, like it's just that simple. And to him, it sort of is. Thank you AI programming.

[dadcepticon]

Not the most helpful of responses. Krok just… sighs, deeply, and reminds himself it's no worse than some of the ridiculous behaviour he dealt with on the W.A.P. At least Kagerou is better-behaved.

"Maybe I should," Krok murmurs, rubbing his optics. "That's a very good suggestion. I'll look into it later." He lets his hand drop to his side and looks around again as if this time Primus will descend and point him in the right direction. "After I find what I came for, hopefully."

[triggerhappycopter]

These days, Spinister shadowed Krok a lot. He's been trying not to show just how deeply the events of the past months had affected him, but every time Krok went out of the house, he lasts about five minutes before the anxiety sets in and he has to follow. Without the rest of the Scavengers to keep him anchored to the place, he had no reason to stay.

He tries to be subtle about following his Captain around. He doubts Krok would appreciate the over-protective, well... helicoptering. But there's only so many places to hide in a small city like Saeng Seong and less so for a ten foot, pink and teal robot.

Today, he's attempting to blend in with a group of newspaper reading locals.

[dadcepticon]

Spinister is following him again. Krok sighs.

It's odd, he decides, how Spinister can manage to avoid his notice most of the time when this happens – the big copter is terrifyingly good at going along in secrecy when he doesn't try. But he sticks out like a large fuchsia flag right now, and Krok scrubs tiredly at his face with both hands, then lets them drop to his sides.

He doesn't have it in him to play the game today and let Spinister think he's unaware of his chaperone. Too tired, too anxious. He'd rather have the company than not.

"Spinister." Krok keeps his back turned for the moment. "…What sort of music do you like?"

[triggerhappycopter]

"Hyeek," Spinister squeaks, slapping the newspaper spread onto his face as if that'd somehow reverse Krok spotting him. After a long moment of that, the heli eventually, slowly drags the, uh, 'cover' down so that he could peer nervously over the top edge of the paper down at his Captain.

"Uhm. Dancey stuff," he whispers, because he's still kind of hiding. "Like. Like Acidstop's mixes before the Functionists sawed off his face?"

[alley_kit]

Kit huddles under her umbrella (lavender, with a pattern of cute cartoon animals playing in the rain along the outer edge). Stupid rain. It was never cold and wet like this in Thundara, and Kit's decided that she's not fond of it at all. Why couldn't winter be the dry season here too?

But while annoying, the weather ultimately doesn't matter. Kit is on a mission. And her objective is just up ahead.

Unusually so is something else. "Oh, hi, Krok," Kit says as she goes up to him. "Don't see you around here very often. What're you looking for?" Because the only reason anyone would come to this part of town during the drizzley rain that had been near omnipresent for the past few weeks would be that they were looking to do some shopping.

[dadcepticon]

All Krok sees at first when he looks down is that umbrella. He blinks and tilts his head to the left to get a better look, and who does he see underneath it but Kit. He pauses to chew on his answer for a second, because he realises it's not the most clever of responses.

He's got nothing better, though. He shrugs one shoulder awkwardly, then, and gives his little friend a lopsided sort of smile.

"I'm not exactly sure," he admits. "Something to… to keep the habsuite from being so quiet all the time." So he doesn't have to think about why it's quiet. He adds, curious, "I don't suppose you'd have any suggestions?"

[alley_kit]

Kit even if the term 'habsuite' wasn't exactly familiar Kit understood the feeling quite well. She often found her apartment too big and quiet with just her in it, though finding Emerick had helped a great deal. Thus, she was more than happy to help her friend out, if he was in a similar position.

"Well," she said, "I'm actually here to get some movies myself, so we could look together, if you wanted. See if we can find anything that looks interesting." She indicated shop both she and Krok had noticed earlier.

[pizzaninja]

Michelangelo wasn't working that day, but he still ended up skateboarding around the district anyway for something to do. However, he came to a halt at a street corner when he caught sight of the large walking robot. Wow...it must be one of the Cybertronians he had heard about. He had spoken to one on the network before, but he hadn't met one in person yet.

Jogging over, skateboard under his arm, he waved with a free hand while grinning. "Hey big guy! Are you a Cybertronian?" He greeted in an openly friendly manner. "I'm Michelangelo, nice to meetcha!"

[dadcepticon]

It's rare that Krok hears Cybertronian spoken in a warm tone with nary a hint of spite or fear, even here – though more for lack of familiarity with his kind than anything else. He blinks once, twice, then turns to take in the odd organic approaching him. Doesn't seem threatening, he thinks. Can't hurt to be conversational, he supposes.

It's even more of a novelty to be called 'big guy'. Were he in a better mood, he might even laugh about it.

"I am," he answers after a pause to consider how he should even handle this. Michelangelo is much more energetic than Krok feels and it's too easy to let it sour him. "My name is Krok. I…" They've only just met. Should he ask for help? Then he tells himself that's quite the thing to think for someone who picked up so many stray Decepticons, no questions asked. "…I don't suppose you know your way around the shops?"

[pizzaninja]

Woah - these Cybertronian guys looked even cooler close up. This was awesome!

"Well I'm not a pro for knowing all the shops around here, but I do work not that far from here! I might be able to point you in the right direction!" Mikey nodded with a grin. "What are you looking for?"