Painting and other Hobbies

Log Title: Painting and Other Hobbies Characters: Backblast, Delusion, Discretion Location: Valvolux Date: August 11, 2018 TP: Dominicon TP Summary: Backblast helps touch up Delusion's paint while she recovers. As logged by  Delusion Log session starting at 15:46:55 on Saturday, 11 August 2018.

Unusually, the medical tent where Bulwark usually works has a Domincon in it. Delusion sits on a slab, one hand tracing the edges of a fresh repair: what had been a deep rent in her shoulder. To those with careful optics, there is also evidence of repairs in her side and to her left arm, but those have already been repainted.

It isn't just one of them either; standing by the bed that holds Delusion is the younger, white framed form of Discretion. "If you hadn't stepped in the way we could have made it back without one of us having to haul the other at all. I'm just glad Widget was close enough to get you all the way back because otherwise there would have been drag marks all the way here, and now we're going to have to explain it all to Knightmare when she checks back in."

The younger femme motions off into the distance. "Do you really think she's going to be happy that we were fighting in the first place? Then you let one of them interrupt your uptime. What were you thinking?!"

Discretion pauses, "No, don't answer that. I'm pretty sure I know what you were thinking, and if I can stand up to the Combaticons I can certainly take one swing from him."

Backblast saunters lazily into the medical tent, doing his rounds as a doctor; he's even wearing a white doctor's coat. He walks past the bay that's containing the pair of them, before backing into view and peeking through the door. "You ladies look like you 'ad some fun last night... why wasn't I invited?" He sniffs. "Let me get a look at you both."

Delusion endures the chewing out in patience. "You are quite correct," she answers mildly. "The rational choice would have been to maintain my position. You are not more fragile than I am, and had been less damaged at the time as well." She pauses. "Do you think Knightmare will do as she threatened and confine me to base, then?" She notes Backblast's approach and the corner of her mouth quirks upward. "Bulwark has a master's touch and generously provided aid."

Discretion snorts a bit at the response. "Maybe, I mean you still have a project to work on there so it wouldn't be a total waste."

"It wasn't supposed to end up in combat, but we couldn't let the Decepticons get that close without a response, and it didn't lasy long enough for us to get any other flyers in the area, let alone ground troops," she explains.

Backblast grumbles a little and nods "Fair'nuff." He frowns. "That close, eh? Bastards, what were they up to?" He examines the pair of them anyway, with a critical eye - inspecting Bulwark's work. He's clearly looking for something to complain about, eventually only managing to find "...he could have at least repainted you... I mean leaving you bare metal like that, leaves you open to all sorts of corrosion later down the line."

As he speaks he's already reaching for the spray kit. "I dunno, not even a clearcoat..."

Delusion lifts a hand. "He left it because it needed to knit properly. Self-repair has caught up by now, but it was a reasonable action at the time." She traces the line with a fingertip. "It was quite a deep wound, and electrically charged besides." She shrugs at Discretion. "He's faster than either of us," she muses. "And if I'd identified him from the outset, I would have requested additional force. Scouting has its risks, even for us."

"I know, and I was planning on trying a call on the Autobot broadband to see if anyone was close enough to offer some kind of assistance. Unfortunately that plan got cut short unexpectedly," she gives Delusion a pointed look, and taps some spots in her side. "Bluwark had me all patched up and painted, but she did need some time for her systems to come back up. Besides, she enjoys painting."

Backblast frowns "That's why I mentioned clearcoat. Provides corrosion resistance while still letting the welds knit properly." He grumbles. "I can do it if you like. Fair... so I'm guessing Bulwark dealt with whatever it was they were up to?"

Delusion nods. "He said something about putting a stop to it from the source. I suspect he will also be addressing their encampment before long. If not, then Knightmare might drop by to reprise her last fight with Bludgeon." She produces a mirror from subspace and examines the bare patch visually. "I'm going to have to redo more than this, to remove the scorch marks," she comments.

Discretion says, "Looked like some sort of drilling. More than likely trying to get at the energon underground from an angle since they can't do it directly."

Backblast nods "If you don't mind?" He gestures with the spray gun. "I consider myself... skilled at blending and painting. If you can give me the hex codes of the paint, I can give it a shot. If not, well, I'e unpacked the setup for you."

He nods to Discretion. "Sneaky, and smart. Glad you disrupted it, though."

Delusion chuckles. "Well, it -is- difficult to reach my own back. I have done it, but only when Discretion and Widget have not been available. The black is simple enough. The red is two-tone, to give it a living look. And, of course, high gloss on top."

Discretion says, "I think we were more an annoyance since we didn't get any hits in on they're actual equipment."

Backblast shrugs "Kept 'em from noticing what Bulwark was doing." he comments, examining the original colours. He pull a magnifier down over his eyes and sets to work, first applying an etch primer and using a heatgun to dry it quickly, before the black basecoat and layering on the gloss red. "You know." He comments. "Some of the stuff that's left over after engex brewing might have pigment potential. He's got an interesting colour-shifting red that might be a usable pigment."

Delusion hmms. "Fixing the color in a paint would be something of a challenge. Engex and its components do not always play well with solvents." She holds quite still as Backblast works.

Discretion furrows her brows. "It might be doable, but you would have to figure out a different forumlation for a solvent based on the quality of the Engex."

Backblast nods "Probably, yeah." He agrees. "But it'll be interesting lab work, and it'll help me keep my hand in with lab procedure. Can't be letting myself get rusty, can I?"

Delusion lets out a small chuckle, careful not to twitch. "Of course not." She looks over at Discretion. "Just how far along is that storage keg? I know you were working on the design, but haven't heard if it's been fabricated yet."

Discretion says, "I'm pretty sure we hae the prototype finished, but not stress tested yet."

GAME: Backblast PASSES a TECHNICAL roll of High difficulty.

Backblast nods "That the towable rig for Encore, to let us groundlings take a good share of the hauling?" He asks, using the heatgun to help the black dry... he re-mixes the colour slightly and applies a second coat to get the blending right. He dries this one with the heat-gun too, and when he's finished it's almost indistinguishable from the original black. A little bit of flying around to let the airstream even out the finish and one would never even know of the repair.

He moves a light around the existing red striping to examine the effect, before getting to work on that.

Delusion tilts her head. "Only the storage component, so far- a keg that won't explode in adverse conditions. A rig to carry such a thing isn't exactly difficult. Storage for engex that doesn't explode when handled roughly- that's the challenge."

Discretion nods, "That would mostly just be a something similar to a steadycam rig. Something to keep it from jostling too much. The reql probalem is keeping the liquid stable inside of it."

Backblast nods "Agreed, that stuff's volatile." He nods at Discretion's idea. "Something like that, something with all-axis shock damping, and to prevent too much roll being transferred too fast to the stuff inside. You've already thought of putting anti-slosh baffles in there, right?"

Delusion gestures to Discretion. "I defer to the expert," she comments. "My contribution has been mostly to work on the testing implements."

Discretion says, "Widget wouldn't hear of not putting those in. Also gives us a place to put in some of the cooling systems to prevent overheating."

Backblast nods "Glad to hear it." he says. "Not that I doubted you." He puts a a last layer of gloss clearcoat on the red and gently tugs away the masking tape. "There we go. Give it an hour or two before you get in the air, then do a little bit of flight to let the airblasts even out the finish. Good as new."

Delusion tilts her mirror to check the edges. "Not bad," she judges. "No ripples."

Discretion looks at Backblast. "We still do need someone to carry it so we can get good telemetry for acceleration and deceleration, not to mention g-force load under turns at all speeds."

Backblast inclines his head. "Thank you." He smiles, putting the spraygun away after purging the lines. "It's... well... I aim to do everything as perfect as possible. Doesn't matter if it's medical work or respray or sniping."

He nods to Discretion. "Yeah? I can do that, just let me know when."

Delusion nods. "Details are important." She shifts to get down from the slab and flex her shoulder and arm.

Backblast chuckles "Details are everything."

Discretion says, "You can miss a lot if you just focus on the details."

Backblast chuckles "True. But... I'm a sniper. Not... usually a 'bigger picture' type of role."

Delusion hmms. "One's role need not determine one's entire life," she comments. "There is plenty more out there to explore."

Backblast nods "True. But that's why I film a nature show, Earth and Cybertron, although it was originally just Cybertron." He chuckles. "Gotta have hobbies, right?"

Discretion says, "That's why Delusion etches patterns and paints. Gives her something else to do."

Delusion nods. "We all have our hobbies, and sometimes we even pick up a new one."

Backblast nods "My newest is doctoring, apparently." He sniffs. "Course, I wouldn't want me as my doctor unless I was really messed up. I mean... would YOU really wanna be treated by this?" He laughs. Even with the lab coat, he's still wearing that alloygator skin. "I'm the kinda doctor they bring in when all else has failed, I'm the weird one they keep in a closet until the mysterious or strange stuff comes out."

Delusion smirks. "When it doesn't matter if you accidentally kill the patient, because they're going to die anyway?"

Backblast chuckles "Nah. When it doesn't matter if the treatment is esoteric, unusual, painful, and so on and so forth. Very skilled, if I do say so myself... but lacking in bedside manner and interpersonal skills... plus I got weird habits. I don't care about the patient, I care about his or her problem as if it's an enemy to hunt down... and it probably shows." He sniffs. "If you go in for a basic thing you come out saying 'I don't know what was worse, the damage or the doctor'... I try to avoid routine medical work so I don't traumatize people too bad, you know? But I love puzzles."

Delusion shrugs. "You don't sound that much different from many of the medics I've known. But then, I suppose the Autobots have different standards."

Discretion looks at Backblast. "Do you always talk anout yourself like this?"

Backblast chuckles "Yeah I guess they do. There's this big fuckoff list of ethical standards." He looks to Discretion, shrugs. "I know I'm... odd, for an Autobot. Dunno, helps people relax... working on the bedside manner thing. Besides, we were talkin' about hobbies, and..." He trails off, looking embarrassed.

Delusion opens a hand. "Simply, if I were to describe someone who did not regularly repair others, but involved himself only when a sufficiently interesting challenge appeared, I'd be describing Starscream. But then, medic is not his job, merely one of his hobbies."

Backblast laughs "Oh, great, lovely, I'm the Autobot Starscream. Please, if I look like I'm tryina assassinate Prime, stop me. I'd be a terrible leader."

Backblast adds "Arseholius Prime, that'd be me."

Delusion chuckles. "Well, I doubt you have the sheer arrogant ambition that Screamer does."

Backblast laughs "No, thankfully."

Discretion shrugs, "I was just noticing you tend to promote yourself and your skills fairly often in conversation. I can't say for certain, but it doesn't seem like you're to Blast Off levels with that."

Delusion smirks. "Boff is rather the standard for that sort of thing."

Backblast laughs "Well... in my old line of work it paid to advertise. Old habits die hard, you know? Mob bosses were impressed when I told 'em I could hit a playing card at half a mile."

Delusion nods. "In my own time, I have found keeping my capabilities quiet to be advantageous."

Backblast nods "Different roles, different sides of the coin." He chuckles. "In the underworld it's all about yer rep. You gotta talk the talk an' walk the walk."

Delusion nods. "There are generally two courses among the warrior types. Trash talk is its own tradition, but there are many who prefer to let their weapons speak for them."

Backblast nods "Yeah. Both methods are valid, both have their uses." He agrees. "I don't generally trash talk my foes... I'll big myself up, but I try not to exaggerate too much, and I try to back up what I say. No point talkin' it up if you're not walking the walk too."

Delusion nods. She begins to stroll from the medical tent, arching an optic ridge at Discretion as if daring her teammate to stop her. "Any Miles Gloriousus gets found out sooner or later."

Backblast nods "Exactly." He agrees, smiling. "Fly safe."

Log session ending at 20:10:34 on Saturday, 11 August 2018.