"OC Episode #5.5 Side Saga"

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick deactivated and sealed his sword, then attached it to his back. He looked towards the bed Visia was holding her hand out, then extended his left feeder tentacle under the bed coiling around the spark carefully and pulling it out. He looked towards Steelclaw as he spoke.

"Guess we'd better get Cecaelia her spark back and stabilize Starshadow's somehow. But, uh... what we do with that?"

Glowstick looked towards the body on the floor That body has two sparks in it.. So now.. we're going to have to use one of my side projects to figure out which one goes where.. some how. She was wrong about one thing though.. It wasn't that we didn't have the materials to make spark chambers.. we didn't have the means of making sparks is the problem.. In any case.. I need to clean up this mess, and.. I guess we'll have to keep Visia around to report to Megatron otherwise the fact the Darksyde was a small battlefield with two sparkless heavily damaged females.. will look REALLY bad on our parts. Though we do have the security camera footage..

Glowstick moved a few of his shoulder tentacles lifting Visia off the floor, he then floated out into the hall picking up Cecaelia's body with another set of tentacles. He looked towards Steelclaw floating towards him carrying the two bodies Hmm.. looks like I'll have a use for one of the Leviathan's un-used features at least.. If you want to see what I'm talking about.. follow me to the Turret on the Leviathan. I might even have a use for Visia.. hehehehe..

He then floated on ahead towards the Leviathan with a dark snicker. Landing on top of the craft, he entered a password and opened the turret hatch, then climbed inside and powered up the room. It was kinda small compared to the size of the turret itself. He placed Cecaelia's body down on the seat, then opened her torso, placing the spark in his grasp inside. Not sure if your Star or Cecaelia.. but for now this body will have to do.. He muttered to himself, then looked towards the console in the turret. He typed in a few commands, a partition on the wall opened revealing not one, but two spark chambers.

He then started to open Visia, extracting both sparks from her chamber.

___________________

Due to the shooting so near the base, sentinel's systems went onto alert. Icebreaker stopped raising an optic ridge, then walked towards Rhinox. Something is going on outside?.. Rhinox said looking up from his work, Icebreaker shrugged Apparently, who's outside at the moment anyway?

Rhinox looked towards the display Looks like.. Wintersong?

Rhinox then turned on the Axalon's com system Wintersong,this is the Axalon. What's going on out there?

[Blackrosefencer]

For what seemed like minutes, Arachnitron lay on the ground not moving. Her optics were not lighted....the Predacon didn't want to give Wintersong the opportunity to run...she wanted the Maximal to come closer to check on her. She heard the tiger's hesitant footsteps coming nearer.

"Arachnitron? Are you alright?"

She turned her head towards the tiger and her optics flickered back on....she narrowed them in hatred. She stood up slowly...dramatically. The other femme was standing much closer to her now....as she had guessed, the tigress had come to check on the fallen spider. The Maximal programming was right- there was no point in fighting-the tiger Maximal had the upper hand in this one....with no weapons the Predacon would, again, be forced to resort to conversation. That was not her style. Though she could hold her own in a battle with or without her weaponry, she was confident that this was not the time nor the place to claim complete control of the body and engage in a fight. She would have to wait until a better opportunity arose. One that had Arachnitron alone where no one could help her other personalities to fight back.

"I mean you no harm....this time..." the Predacon informed Wintersong calmly, but she proceeded to roughly reach out to grab hold of the Maximal's wrist and pull her closer. "But it would behoove you and your Maximal friends to remember which one of us is in control here," she continued with a threatening growl. "My quarrel is not with you...it is with my alters.....and our little feud is no one else's business. But know this....my presence has recently become crippling to the others and I intend to take advantage of that. There is nothing you can do to help the Maximal and Hybrid. In time, their existence will be nothing more than a bittersweet memory. So STOP interfering!"

The Predacon released Wintersong and took a step back. She knew if she maintained control that this would turn out to be another endless question and answer session. She did NOT wish to discuss this further. Her purpose here was merely to remind the others of her dominance. She had ordered them to leave and they had disobeyed. She would give back control to the Maximal personality before the tiger in front of her had a chance to respond. The Maximal feared her; the Hybrid, however, was not quite as intimidated and getting her to do the Predacon's bidding would be more of a challenge.

"One step at a time," she told herself and to illustrate to Wintersong the truth behind her statement, the Predacon again retreated back to the darkness of Arachnitron's mind, but not without lingering long enough to torture the Maximal programming one last time.

Arachnitron's optics flashed red and green and red and then green again as the Predacon mercilessly returned control over to the Maximal. The spider again doubled over and grimaced, but she did not scream. She whimpered and sobbed and fell to the ground on all fours as the pain receded. The torment lasted long enough for the Predacon to make a point and then disappear again.

Arachnitron remained kneeling and hugged herself protectively with her arms. Arachnitron's optics still showed her fear and pain. Even though the threat from the Predacon was over, she was still in a very fragile emotional state as she sat on the ground shaking helplessly.

[Wintersong]

Wintersong didn't answer Rhinox right away, her gaze was fixed on Arachnitron and whenshe realized the Predacon programming was in control she wa son her guard a bit as she stood but she said nothing as the Predacon made it quite clear she was not one to be taken lightly. Optimus was right of being cautious. But before the tigeress could even say a word she could only watch helplessly as the current dominant programming caused pain to the seemingly weaker personality and there was nothing much Wintersong could do at this point before Arachnitron was looking worse then earlier. Stepping closer to the fearful and pained looking spider Wintersong kneeled beside Arachnitron, still fairly concerned but wasn't going to leave the femme in such a state. "Arachnitron there really is no way to help is there?" She said quietly already knowing the possible answer.

BUt she finally turned her head away to answer Rhinox at last,"It's a bit hard to explain Rhinox just was out for a walk with Arachnitron, to show her the landscape a bit and I said the wrong thing to provoke her Predacon personality. Now...I don't know how much more she can take of the pain the personality is putting the others through." She said hiding the edge of irritation at herself. Wintersong found herself doing more harm then good with anything, even trying to comfort a bot and look what she had provoked and caused, all because of her lack of better phrasing a sentence. "If you want to be alone Arachnitron I'll leave."She said finally looking back at the other femme.

The white tigeress had a feeling the arachnid might not want the help or company after all this had occurred.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Sorry for my brief absence.

@ Alak: Oooh, I see. Sorry about that. I think I was just waiting for Orcariner to respond to the first one so I didn't even bother posting again for Rattrap until just then. Ah well. I did like Orcariner's little panic attack, though. Poor guy. ^^

@ Blackrosefencer and Phoenix: Well, I think you guys are having WAY too much fun with your characters.

@ New Moon: What would you say to Frilla getting her first medical lesson on OP's hand? With help from Icebreaker or Rhinox, of course. Seems a little silly to me to throw OP in the CR just for his hand that most likely needs work on it that the CR just can't replace or repair. Just a suggestion. ))

"Thermostat has been adjusted," "Sentinel is at full operation and every lock is secured. She's not going anywhere."

Optimus nodded to Orcariner, rubbing his throat for a moment with his better hand.

"What the heck were you thinkin', locking yourself in there with her?" Rattrap asked Optimus rather bluntly, knowing how dangerous of a decision that had been. Their leader's hand was completely trashed, and the cut on his throat had been seeping a tiny bit but was now dry.

"She wouldn't have spoken to me unless it was in private," Primal explained, "but I wasn't going to leave that door open." Yes, it had been risky, but Optimus thought it had been the right decision in the end. He had learned a lot more about Nemesis now. Looking up at the larger Maximal, he addressed him, "Orcariner, may I speak with you?" Optimus headed toward the brig's exit, passing Rattrap and telling him, "Stay here and keep an eye on Nemesis for a while."

Sighing, the rodent in robot mode nodded and sat down in front of the monitor.

Continuing, Primal opened the brig's door and stepped out with Orcariner. ((OOC: Alak, I hope it's okay that I move the orca around just a tad, so I can keep this rolling.)) Standing outside the door after it closed after them, Optimus turned to Orcariner and looked up at him. "I understand your actions today when Nemesis fired off those grenades, and that you felt the need to protect me from the blasts," he said softly. "Do you know why I'm bringing this up?" The Maximal leader wanted to see if Orcariner had already thought it through and how differently it should have gone than it did. Because Primal was heavily armored more than Arachnitron and Whitegrazer were, he'd have thrown himself at either one to shield them from the grenades while Orcariner could have done the same for the other, but Primal couldn't when Orcariner blocked him and covered him with his arms and body. In the end, Whitegrazer had been critically damaged, but Optimus wasn't pushing blame on the larger Maximal. It was a mistake, a wrong decision, he wasn't expecting perfection, but none of it would have happened had Nemesis been able to control her outburst. ...Or if Optimus had never brought Arachnitron back to their base. If the orca recognized what had happened, then he was already on the right path and would learn from the less-than-"perfect" decision; one that Primal would have carried out differently, but Orcariner was still learning. All of them were still learning, including Optimus. He was not angry or upset, although his hand was really beginning to bother him. He kept it at his side, patiently giving the whale his undivided attention.

[New Moon]

(( Sure OOP that'd actually help a bit to get her started in that. In fact I probably should edit her function for her bio and add that before I forget though with my busy schedule lately that may be delayed a bit longer. Just let me know when you guys need her then I'll drop her right in.))

[Phoenix]

(ooc: @OOP; There is no such thing as having TOO much fun with your character. )

After Optimus left, Nemesis retreated back to the same corner she was sitting in earlier. Now she was sitting with her wings wrapped around herself and her eyes dimmed, only to focus her ruby red optics on the camera as she noticed the faint buzzing sound of it focusing on her. But she did not move from her spot.

Aurora had been lost in thought and had not noticed Ironclaw approach. This resulted in her being startled when he placed his hand on her arm, extracting a surprised gasp from her. She turned her head to see who it was, immediately calming down when she saw the badger move the box closer to the CR chamber. Not saying a word yet, she stood on the box and looked in through the window to watch the ongoing repairs on Whitegrazer's mangled form. Seeing the horse's condition improving, even if she did not appear to be awake yet, soothed those feelings of remorse she'd had earlier a bit more. Despite the severe condition the other female had been in, it appeared she would pull through after all. Aurora drew a sigh of relief. She still felt the equidae's comforting presence, like she had earlier at the meeting, yet it was only now that she had fully realized who,-or what that presence had been.

"Aurora.."

Turning back to Ironclaw, the little fuzor smiled gratefully.

"I think she'll be okay," she said, while contemplating all the events that had lead up to this point. It had been a very long day, and the ermine was starting to show some signs of exhaustion.

"How are you holding up? I saw you rush off somewhere, but you seemed to be in such a hurry so I didn't want to disturb you. Did you get to finish what you were working on? Is everything all right?"

She had so many questions, so many things she wanted to know, yet she was getting really sleepy at this point. Aurora yawned and rubbed her eyes before stretching a bit.

"Crazy day, huh? Wonder what tomorrow will bring.."

[Alak]

((OOC: No problem moving Orcariner. I honestly don't mind if people make him perform minor actions anyhow if it helps with story progression.))

(("I understand your actions today when Nemesis fired off those grenades, and that you felt the need to protect me from the blasts," he said softly. "Do you know why I'm bringing this up?"

Orcariner didn't immediately reply. He was afraid that the first impulsive answer would be wrong or perceived as wrong. Instead, the giant turned his head upward and tried to appear as if he was heavily considering his new few words. In his mind, Orcariner thought about Whitegrazer and how her injured body affected Optimus' mood even now.

Maybe he's holding me responsible for her trip to the CR chamber.

The thought stung his spark, but the giant refrained from outright stating that his leader was blaming him for everything. Yet, the fact was still true that he was equidistant to both teammates. It was still true that he opted to save the one who did not need saving. After all, the Axalon's analysis report had on record that Optimus Primal actually had a superior durability-to-size ratio than Orcariner himself. Fragmented grenades had little risk of lethality to beings with metal exoskeletons such as Cybertronians, and it was unlikely that a military based transformer would even be knocked out by one. Orcariner knew he made the wrong choice, and he would have told Optimus right then and there that he should have saved Whitegrazer except for the fact that he made plenty of wrong choices. Perhaps he should not have exited the base to begin with since his presence may have triggered the panic fire from Nemesis. After all, the Beacon 2.0 was strong enough to work through the ship's hull and reach those nearby. Perhaps he should have drawn his carbine and trained its cross hairs on Nemesis, downing her before she had the time to raise her own weapon. The mistakes of this day, combined with those of the past, gave the giant a sense of doubt. Therefore, instead of giving Optimus a direct answer, Orcariner instead provided a more ambiguous one.

"Uh... I think so, but I don't know."

[starshadow]

The Cecaelia's body was brought back to life, finally breathing. Her optics flickered then glowed yellow.

"Ugh...Glowstick...? What happened..?"

Wrong spark. Definitely the wrong spark.

"I remember...a bomb.. placed on my back.. then a large slagging headache came and..nothing..where am I? And why is-" her optics widened after turning her head to her side, "what happened?!"

Starshadow looked at herself. It seems that she's in Cecaelia's body, but why was Visia outside sleeping or unconcious? "What did you... do to her?"

[Blackrosefencer]

OOC: Agreed!!!

Arachnitron was still convulsing as the last remnants of the incredible pain passed through her. In this state, Arachnitron looked frail and fragile hugging herself helplessly. Wintersong looked at her concerned and knelt beside her.

"Arachnitron there really is no way to help is there?"

Though the three personalities had always shared the body and had always jumped back and forth taking turns controlling it, this pain she was feeling whenever it happened was totally and completely new. It began only a few solar days before she ran away from the research facility. She wished she had an answer for the tigress, but she really had no idea why all of this was happening.

"I don't know," the spider whispered simply. She took a shaky breath as she tried to calm herself. She wanted someone to help her, she really did...at least, this personality did. The Predacon liked things this way. She liked the power she had over the others. The Hybrid would never admit her fears and would never ask for help. But the Maixmal had never known such pain before and to be rid of it was all she could ever hope for. She knew it was her job to be the one to get help.

"It's a bit hard to explain Rhinox just was out for a walk with Arachnitron, to show her the landscape a bit and I said the wrong thing to provoke her Predacon personality. Now...I don't know how much more she can take of the pain the personality is putting the others through."

Wintersong gave her report to the Maximal base who had, at some point, radioed questioning why their defenses had gone on high alert. Arachnitron hadn't heard the earlier communication. As Wintersong gave her report, Arachnitron let her optics flicker off a moment and she took some more deep breaths...each one was less and less shaky than before. The pain had finally subsided and she had stopped quaking with fear. Arachnitron listened to the report and felt saddened by her phrasing. Even after Arachnitron's previous attempts to ease Wintersong's guilt, it seemed as though she still blamed herself for the Predacon suddenly taking control. When really the truth of it was if the Predacon had heard her than she had already been trying to take control. And it was almost better that she heard Wintersong's statement- otherwise, the Maximal would never have seen the switch coming and would never have been able to warn the Pred that there were no weapons. Without that knowledge, the Predacon would have jumped headlong into battle and may have damaged Wintersong....or herself. She almost interrupted to explain all of that, but Arachnitron was no better with words than the tiger believed herself to be, so she wasn't quite sure if her explanation would have provided any comfort at all.

"If you want to be alone Arachnitron I'll leave."

When Arachnitron's optics lighted up again, she was much more calm and collected. She wanted to be alone more than anything, but she surprised herself when she responded: "You don't have to."

Had it been anyone else, she would have withdrew and probably even succumbed to the Predacon personality. She would have scurried away and she might never have been seen or heard from again and probably would have eventually gone offline just like the other test subjects had. But when Wintersong had asked her earlier to "look into her memories", Arachnitron had done so. She remembered the incident with the tree and the Hybrid helped her to remember that it was Wintersong who also helped her out of the escape pod before it exploded. She felt she could trust the tiger and felt comfortable and safe in her presence. She had very little experience with all of that before, but she didn't want to let go of this new experience just yet. And she wasn't ready yet to be alone again. Her fear was still too great.

"And it's not your fault," she finally stated. "Don't feel guilty. It's what the Predacon was trying to do. Don't give her the satisfaction."

[Wintersong]

As Wintersong looked back at Arachnitron she at first wasn't sure what to say until the spider explained more of what had been occurring with the personalities, which she wondered if the Predacon personality was trying to take over completely. Taking a moment to think over of all that had just occurred and thinking of what the Predacon had said to her before the tigeress soon let the guilt pass realizing it really wasn't something to be guilty for since it had only provoked the Predacon due to the worse timing it seemed when she had intended to take over. It was no wonder. "I suppose it was just the worst timing and poor choice of words on my part, and I'll make sure to be more careful with that next time." She promised managing a smile. "Though you hit the ground pretty hard earlier, sure your alright from it? Mini-missiles can pack a punch." She added just to make sure the spider would be fine.

As far as Wintersong could see she had only been dazed by the impact and the Predacon side had used the chance to grab her, making it quite clear she intended for control. This was a bit disturbing to the tigeress, especially seeing how the other could inflict pain on the two personalities though what had caused this sort of thing in a femme and how did she handle it? Three different personas in one body just in a way seemed like it wouldn't work, and from the looks of it nothing was coming good of it. While she waited for Arachnitron to answer she offered a hand to help the arachnid up and listened for her com-link from a reply from Rhinox.

[NaitoKage]

Glowstick looked towards Cecaelia's body hearing Starshadow's voice. He then spoke up while loading the sparks into the chambers, He then started to type into the console. Basically, you got slagged.. Badly.. Your little friend here Visia took your spark, and got into the Leviathan, she then trashed and took over Cecaelia's body. Then she decided she wanted to play a little game, using your sparks as bargaining chips in her little death game.. So Instead of her race as she wanted, I forced her out of Cecaelia's body and beat the slag out of her.

The Leviathan computer then spoke up Twin drive online! Warning, Behemoth unit has not been detected. Accessing core conscious.. Scan complete!

Glowstick spoke up again while typing Your body is currently heavily damaged still. I got the torso back together, but it'll need a run through the CR tank, I can shorten the time using one of your spare armor sets.. As for Cecaelia's body, it is also heavily damaged.. It was unavoidable to keep Visia from causing further damage, or ditching the body in a lava pool as she intended. So.. I can either swap you out into your original body, or leave you in Cecaelia's for awhile though you'll find it hard to move around since Cyber venom is still running around it... As for Visia..I guess I'll study her body and keep her spark locked down for awhile in the twin drive unit.

The monitor then displayed a split screen showning Cecaelia on the left, and Visia on the right. Alright ladies.. I've managed to pinpoint who is who. You feeling okay Cecaelia?

____________

Rhinox's optics narrowed as he heard Wintersong on the radio, he turned the microphone off looking towards Icebreaker That.. doesn't sound good.

Icebreaker nodded Yeah.. well I didn't think we could just leave her unsupervised.. Her pred side is just going to cause so much trouble..

Rhinox brought up the scan of Arachnitron's programming Hrm.. A Predacon side.. a Maximal side.. but there seems to be another area as well.

Icebreaker blinked Another.. Wait.. like Dissociative identity disorder?

Rhinox nodded Yes.. if.. we think of the Predacon side as the Id.. and the Maximal side as the Super ego.. then a third personality should act as the ego. If that's the case, we might be able to use therapy techniques used for that disorder to help her..

Icebreaker blinked confused Uh.. Right, what you said. So.. are those techniques effective? I'm not exactly a expert in this sorta stuff Rhinox.

Rhinox shaked his head Those sort of things take time, often requiring medication and an expert of the cybertronian mind.. Though.. we might be able to make a treatment..But for now, don't worry about that. Just go out there and try to calm things down.

Icebreaker blinked, then sighed Oh yeah.. like that's going to be easy. I'm not exactly on the best of terms with that Spider.. at least one side of her. Not sure on these other two you speak of.. Well Whatever..

Icebreaker then walked towards the lift and stepped inside, being lowered outside he looked over the area noticing Wintersong's tracks still having some heat to them with his visor, he started to run following the tracks, slowing down as he came to Wintersong's area. He slowed down keeping his distance, holstering the new gun on his other hip as he looked towards the two females. Hrm.. Looks like you have things under control Winter..

(Yay, psychobabble theorys based from the fact I played Xenogears a ton of times and Arachnitron is alot like the main character Fei Fong Wong; Who's personality disorder is directly based off Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche.)

[Mystrea]

Ironclaw was plased that she was able to see Wintersong in the CR chamber. He waited a few moments then when she turned and smiled he smiled back. When she asked him how he was and if everything was alright, he was going to tell her everything. How he was feeling and how much she had began to mean to him. Before he culod open his mouth she yawned and spoke of the next day. "Yeah, crazy. Hopefully tommorow will be calmer" Ironclaw answered her but keeping everything else on is mind. His glance went from her to his feet trying not to give anything away.

[Optimal Optimus Primal]

(( OOC: Awe. Okay, Alak, Optimus is going to beat more confidence into Orcariner! Kidding.

Excellent, New Moon! I don't think it will be too long when OP will seek for some medical attention. Unless he gets interrupted by the fiasco happening outside. ))

"Uh... I think so, but I don't know."

Optimus squinted one of his red optics up at Orcariner for a brief second, having a feeling that Orcariner knew where he was going with this but decided to disregard his instincts and allow the doubt that he might be wrong with his assumption to take over. So the leader went on. "This crew is capable of surviving without me," said Primal in a calm voice, deeming himself expendable because it was something that had been proven more than once already. "I don't expect anyone to risk their lives for me, but it's my responsibility to protect everyone on this team and lead them to safety. Today I couldn't do that for Whitegrazer, whose armor isn't reinforced to withstand heavy explosives, because your actions to defend me denied me that opportunity. It was fortunate that you and Whitegrazer showed up when you did to provide back-up, but we could have worked together to protect both Arachnitron and Whitegrazer equally instead of choosing one life over another." He paused as his mind wandered to the white mare's condition and remembering her pulsating spark that had been exposed. He... They had almost lost her. "I know the events that took place happened fast and those require quick observations, thinking and solutions. We're very lucky that Whitegrazer is recovering from her wounds. I'm not blaming you for what happened, Orcariner. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. Maybe I shouldn't have brought Arachnitron to the Axalon. I knew by doing so that I was endangering everyone's lives because I wanted to help her, but I wasn't expecting Nemesis to drop in with such a strong interest in her." Optimus sighed, lowering his gaze to his hands, holding his damaged one in his good hand to keep its fluid from dripping on to the floor.

-----

Meanwhile, inside the brig, Rattrap watched Nemesis settle herself in a corner of the cell and wrap her wings around her. Leaning his head on his fist that was propped up on the console by his elbow, he sighed quietly and thought about the day's events and how dangerous eveything had been that happened. He thought back to Starshadow's death and the odd, small movement he saw in the brush immediately afterwards. What was that? Should he have stuck around longer to find out? It was probably a good decision that he didn't since he didn't want Wintersong, Frilla and Dinobot to pay for his actions when Glwostick warned them to leave.

[Phoenix]

(ooc: ugh.. Freud.. who claimed children seek sexual gratification. What a loony bin.)

"Yeah, crazy. Hopefully tommorow will be calmer"

"Well.. it's not like it could possibly get much worse in the next few days to come," Aurora responded, as of yet blissfully unaware of the events that the alien technology, the attack on their base, and everything else that had transpired would lead up to.

She scooted sideways to get a little more comfortable.

"I sure hope everyone will recover.. Did you see Optimus by any chance? I haven't seen him since the meeting, and his hand looked pretty busted up then."

Aurora could not help admiring the Maximal leader for his brave composure and his caring nature. He obviously cared more about the well-being of his troops than himself, a fact that was obvious to even someone as new of this world as her. She hugged him earlier because it looked like he was in pain with his hand being mangled that badly, in addition to wanting to show him she forgave him for putting her on the spot, so she had wanted to offer at least some comfort with a small gesture of friendship.

Shifting her gaze to the badger, she could not help wondering what was up with her furry friend. He seemed so.. awkward.. around her sometimes, like how he hesitated before speaking and acted a little nervous, but she did not want to bring the topic up out of fear of alienating him further. Whatever was bothering him, she was sure he'd tell her when he felt the time was right.

"Did you get any assignments yet? I haven't quite decided what I want to do around here yet, but I think Icebreaker and Rhinox will probably help me figure out what I'm good at when I start my training."

[Mystrea]

(ooc: Took me a while to get this one right. If she lets him down, make it easy on him. )

"No I didn't get a chance to see Optimus, he was still speaking to the Predacon when Orcariner told me to leave" Ironclaw answered her question remembering what Orcariner had said to him. He then put his focus back on Aurora. "No I haven't been set any assignments. It will probably be engineering related." he said not really thinking anything of it. Ironclaw was more concerned about the beautiful female Maximal infront of him. 'Did I really just think that?' he thought to himself, 'Wait, why am I thinking about thinking?!' He shook his head. "Aurora, I like you, a lot. I know you don't understand that yet and thats fine. I also know that Icebreaker is very protective over you and will try to keep me away from you." Ironclaw got most of it out and then went to stand close to Aurora. There faces were only a short distance from each other which made it easy for him to see all the detail in her eyes. He kept his gaze down at her. His hand crept up wanting to grab hers but didn't quite make it. "Optimus is fine with it, but I don't know if you are"