Where the Couture is Beyond

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Characters: Raiza, Knock Out
Location: Med Bay
Content Warnings: N/A
Plot Summary: Knock Out didn't expect to find someone so similar to himself in the med-bay...

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Fashion!
Looking good and feeling fine.
Looking good and feeling fine.
Looking good and feeling fine!

Knock Out finished sterilizing the last of his equipment after the latest repair. Or butchery. It depended on if you asked the vehicon that he had been tending to not long before. On a datapad, he had Earth music playing through the small radio system. Occasionally, he started humming along, quite fond of the music. This "gaga" lady was actually pretty curiously catchy with her music.

He drew in a deep vent, his chestplating puffing out with a hint of pride. He'd managed all this without Breakdown, who was busy assisting at a mine? That was pretty impressive to him. Not that he hadn't managed without him before but work tended to get done faster when Breakdown was around to share some of the load.

But that was beside the point. Even after he had finished the cleaning, he left the music playing on his datapad. He would then take out his buffer to start buffing himself. However, instead of immediately starting the buffing job, he started belting out the lyrics that he was just hearing.

"Fashion~! Step into the room, like it's a caaaaaaatwalk~. Fashion~! Singing to the tune, just to keep them talking~." His tone crooned while he held to the buffer as though it were a human's microphone.

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The last time she ever went to the end of the ship was three cycles ago; she only arrived three cycles. Raiza's expectations of survival were not always at the end of her goal-list, but it was looking out for number one that was at the top. She needed to get herself checked out, after that last encounter with a mech she tried to convince into protecting her, but there wasn't any bending will left in the guy: called her "a glitch", left a mark on her leg, and moved on.

Groaning, while limping her way down to the end of the hallway, Raiza had to put her right servo on the right leg, where the gash was to pick up the pace. She was already leaking a trail in the hallway, and the longer she stayed, the better chance of getting caught by someone far interested in seeing her. Unable to hold her weight, the red and black femme had to lean herself against the wall. Almost there...

After a while of struggling, Raiza finally found herself into the place where she needed to be: the med-bay. It wasn't her fault that she got herself into a beatdown with another cybertronian. She just desperately needed allies. Moving the door with a whoosh, she was greeted with loud abnormal music playing that was strangely an abomination to her audials. A mix of confusion and pain showed upon her features as she moved herself down to a berth, Raiza could not hold in the yelp that she's been holding in from the moment she tried to go down the hallway, as she leaned herself against the berth with her servos.

"Excuse me?! I am in need of delicacy for an injury!", she shouted over the noise. She didn't pay attention to the details of the mech standing in the distance before her, but she did take note of his red paint. Same color, it would seem, she thought enviously, but immediately brushed it aside when another wave of pain hit her within her pain receptors. Somebody turn them off for one cycle, please...

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Knock Out jerked stiff then quickly turned off his music for a moment. His optics had widened. That same color of red--so interesting! He would then draw closer, laying his buffer aside for the time being. Hey, if there was something more important than his paint job, he wasn't going to just slack off completely, even if he had a habit of being a slacker.

"Get on the berth to let me check the injury. Unless you need some help up." He wasn't going to force her to try to put herself through more pain if she was having trouble. "My apologies for the din in here before. I find it helps me concentrate during the more boring parts like cleaning the med-bay after a whole platoon of Vehicons." For a moment his tone seemed to be full of frustration. A whole platoon. Why weren't they fighting back? It was like they were a bunch of Storm Troopers!

He would carefully offer to help her up onto the berth. Some injuries could make it tough to get up onto a berth. He didn't want to get energon on himself, but sometimes it took that to help someone else. And a medic couldn't quite be as picky as he wanted to be sometimes.

"Mm, now I can see exactly why and you aren't even on the berth yet. Lemme getcha up on the count of...one...two...three!"

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All Raiza could do was stare at how much they look similar to each other. How odd; he really looked a lot like herself. Wincing a bit, she smirked at his generosity. No one has ever shown her this kind of interaction, ever since their mistreatment of her from earlier. All it was was a simple offer. One little offer. However, this offer she was getting from him, Raiza felt a strange connection within her spark.

She gave herself a push of her body to help him lift her form. Although she did giggle at his effort. "You know, you're an interesting specimen. Do I know you?", the femme asked out of curiosity, as soon as she was laid onto the berth.

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Knock Out himself couldn't help but marvel. She herself was quite the interesting specimen. He himself couldn't help but show the kinder side of himself with someone he believed needed it. After all, strangely, there was something familiar about the features.

"I don't know if we know each other personally." He purred. "I might be infamous among our fellow Decepticons for my surgical methods. Or perhaps also being an infamous playmech like my sire after my carrier expired." He did after all remember that his sire went on to spread his spark's energy. Knock Out himself hadn't gotten that far, though he was quite the flirt.

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Raiza heard the red mech speak, as soon as she made herself instinctively comfortable on the berth. All she could really do, at the moment, was marvel as well, when she looked over his physical characteristics: red paint with hints of black and white, a matching white faceplate, and the most important crimson-red optics. How is it that he looks so similar to herself? Her adoptive family made no mention of him, even though she didn't exactly know his name. She did chuckle at his attempted flirt though, with her helm tilting back as she did so. "So you love the attention?", Raiza curiously asked him, practically grooming his self-proclamation.

Impressed enough, a glint of happiness came to her. A happy (albeit crazy) grin, to be exact. However, it was an energetic smile. "I'm Raiza", she casually, and eagerly, introduced herself, sounding friendly enough to befriend.

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Knock Out seemed to purr his engine, his optics warm. He did indeed enjoy the attention, and in fact thrived off it at times. Being shunted away, ignored, alone, that was the way to make him feel terrible, the way to make him fear for his safety and his life. "I do so much love the attention. I thrive on attention."

It was accurate to admit that while his sire, after the loss of his Conjunx Endura, had gone on to be a playmech, but Knock Out never went beyond flirting.

Not with anyone.

The strongest platonic bonds were his biggest forte, really. He didn't know how to carry a romantic relationship for very long. Friendships? The vow of Amica Endura? Those were child's play to him. Platonic was what he drew through.

"Knock Out. Sometimes known as Medic Knock Out." He knew when to use his title at times and he knew it'd be best to use both his normal name and his name with title.

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Raiza scanned this mech's form with her crimson optics, that (eager) grin of hers still there. This time, it was small. Thinking about the designation that she received, the red femme was already impressed with him. So his name is Knock Out? I like him already. So many of her questions, however, were beginning to repeat themselves:

So he loved the attention?
He thrived on the attention?
Does he fear loneliness?
Is he in need of a companion?

Then it came to her, maybe he did; but Raiza didn't want, or let it, get over her head. "Hmm", she hummed, kind of thinking over what she should say next. "Tell me, Knock Out", it sounded rather fast, but she let it sound clear for him. "Would you be offended if I called you 'Doctor'?", now Raiza was curious yet genuinely eager. Her optics were glinting.

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He almost seemed to preen himself in a seeker-like manner; he couldn't help himself in a moment of pride. It was little things like that which showed he wasn't exactly of Velocitronian stock though he claimed to be. Crimson optics seemed to focus on the femme, and he was carefully trying to tend to Raiza. The conversation, of course, kept him tied into the moment.

He tended to lose himself if there was silence. It was why he so often carried on raucous conversations with his Amica, Breakdown.

"I wouldn't. It's such a HIGH degree of respect!" His optics were bright.

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Raiza gave a confident smile at his confirmation to call him by his title. So he did enjoy the stroking upon his ego, it was a statement, not a question. That was the conclusion; all she had to do was keep his respect, and hopefully, trust will begin to blossom between the two of them. If she's lucky, then he would an amusing ally. Straightening herself up on the berth, the red femme adjusted her leg for him to see the wound that was leaking energon.

"In that case, it hurts most right here, doctor", she purred the title with a smirk. As Raiza observed Knockout, the same question nagged the back of her helm, so she had to ask him to find out herself. "I hope you don't mind me asking, doc, but have we met before?", with a tilt of her helm to the side, she wanted to know. "I mean, I didn't expect myself to see someone looking a lot like me."

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He had a certain level of vanity that those native to Vos were known to have, though he definitely did not look Vosian by his current frame. He had chosen this, to run the roads after having lived the skies when he was young.

"I see. I'll do what I can." His voice had a slight croon to it. He had gotten out the mesh he would need, as well as the visor he would need for his welding. He would ease his visor in and angle a light carefully, ready to weld the energon line. However, the question had taken him off guard. "I don't believe we have until today. Though you look similar to another I once knew as well. Do you...perhaps recognize the name Rainshadow?"

Rainshadow, though he had dark blue accents on his frame, had that same deep, rich red that the two seemed to display. Knock Out barely remembered him now, the memories fading over time, overwritten with faces that had stayed constantly in his life.

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The red femme adjusted her sitting position upon the berth, angling her leg to allow Knockout easy-access to the gash that's now leaking energon. She did, in fact, tilt her head again, when he reached for the tools needed to patch her up, and it made her wonder; taking wonder about his profession, at least. He seemed confident on the task at-hand, and Raiza somehow felt that she was in good servos. The questions repeated themselves; ones that she was compelled to ask:

How long has he been here? As a doctor? In general?

Her crimson optics narrowed at his pause in his reflexes. Did she say something personal? If she did, then they would go off to a bad start, even though they just started warming up a conversation. Plus, Raiza was already intrigued, almost amused. There was no ill-will being reflected upon her. Overall, she was curious. With him to ask about someone named 'Rainshadow', Raiza put on a thinking face for a moment, trying to recall of she ever overheard this designation. From her shallow, troubled past, she didn't know her neglectful creators; only her adopted family, meaning the only one mech that raised her. Raiza vaguely remembered their names, but 'Rainshadow' wasn't one of them. "Hmm...not sure about that said designation; sounds vague", she answered after a while. "But my curiosity is still unquenched: who were your creators?", maybe those names would help her remember.

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Knock Out seemed quiet about his job now; he had studied as a medic, but he had never passed completely. He had mostly studied under a strange medic back at Deltaran, but he didn't remember who it was anymore. Maybe one day he'd remember but for now, for now he was just the medic on the Nemesis

He paused when she answered. She did not recall but it seemed vague to her; it was then that she asked him a question that had made him go quiet for a moment. "Their designations were Rainshadow and Rosethorn--a ground-bound mech and a seeker femme. I barely remember them so it's no use asking much about them." He then drew a breath softly. "She died when I was young, and he had left when she was still sick."

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Raiza was inwardly going through her memory banks; those names sounded familiar, but it was really the name of a mech that had her thinking. "I don't know about the femme, but this 'Rainshadow' name is faint", she paused for a moment in her energetic, fast-talking speech, and looked back at Knockout. Her expression became sympathetic, probably for the first time. "I didn't know my carrier. I was adopted by a mech named 'Gearstrike'; grounder and an inventor. He told me that I had a sire, who was a playmech. The problem is, this 'Rainshadow' sounds a lot like him", Raiza was really trying, going back into her memory banks to remember what Gearstrike said to her about her parents. It wasn't there...not now...not yet...

Showing a frown at the red mech's state of nostalgia, the red femme couldn't help but pity him. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Did I say something wrong?", she asked, her speech slowing down albeit wondering what was on Knockout's mind.