Hanging with Witwickys

Log Title: Hanging with Witwickys

Witwickys

Characters: Cookie, Daniel Witwicky, Spike Witwicky

Location: Autobot City, Earth

Date: November 3, 2019

TP: non-TP

Summary: Cookie gets sent to help with repairs on Fortress Maximus - and meets Daniel while she settles in.

As logged by  Cookie

Log session starting at 16:07:25 on Sunday, 3 November 2019.

Autobot City, Earth

Cookie has been 'deployed' to Fortress Maximus. As part of EDC's restructuring, and possibly, just to keep up with modern mechanical advances, Cookie was an ideal candidate. Fortress Maximus' repairs are coming along, but there are still several open areas, gashes, and exposed wires, pipes, and gears. Spike's expecting Cookie, so he's within view, but he wasn't too sure when Cookie was supposed to arrive, so he continues to do do work on a few exposed fuel lines. It's a mechanic's dream (for many) - repairing a city.

Cookie drives up in her own truck. Sure, it's an older model, but she's taken good care of it over the years. It's an extended cab with a locked toolchest in the bed, the sort of thing that pretty much would fit into any construction crew's lot. She drives to the coordinates she was given, parking just off-road and stepping out to take a look at the newest assignment, tilting her head way back to take in the size of things.

Spike 's very well maintained, but old 2002 Toyota Tacoma is likely parked near Cookie's. Mileage so far: 278,421. In short, it's finally coming into its own after the first 250,000 miles.

Cookie's orders were almost comedically self-explanatory: "You won't need to ask for the Autobot to work on...you'll know it when you see it."

Cookie eyes the big, still open tears in Fortress Maximus' sides and whistles. Yeah, there's no question where the work needs to be done. Having figured that much out, she looks around for her human contact and gives a wave as she hikes over.

Spike Witwicky

Spike sets down his wrench and walks over to Cookie. A fellow mechanic, he still wipes the grease from his hands as much as he can. By the time he reaches Cookie, his hand is clean. "Welcome back, and thanks!"

Cookie grins and offers a hand. "It's a pleasure, Mister Witwicky. Time in the motorpool is all well and good, but tune-ups aren't much of a challenge."

Spike nods. He gestures Cookie inside Fortress Maximus. Unfortunately, they don't need a door, they can just step into one of the massive holes created by the fight with the Deadites. "I'll walk you to the tool area." He looks over at Cookie. "You'll have to forgive me, it's been crazy busy, but...I'm almost positive you've worked on Transformers before, correct?"

Cookie shakes her head. "Not exactly. I've worked on Hawk's Kodiak, though, so I'm at least familiar with the tech." She eyes the gaps in the walls. "And heavy construction equipment, if that's needed."

Spike nods and stops at the tool area. He looks around and gets a hard hat, work gloves, and tool belt. He hands them to Cookie. "OK...here's a good starter." He looks at Cookie. "Would it be cool to maybe start off on two-person operations? A lot of what you're going to see is similar to vehicles on Earth, but there are some differences. Maybe I can help with that, but overall, I know you'll pick up a lot of stuff on your own."

Cookie nods, pulling on the gloves and buckling the belt. "No, not a problem at all. I'm the greenhorn here. I don't mind having an old hand to show me the ropes." She trades her navy cap for the hardhat.

Spike says aloud while he gets the respective tools, which is nirvana to another mechanic geek. Spike grins at the 'old hand' remark. "Let's get you this...and...this...and this...a welder...here we go..." He keeps passing the materials over to Cookie. He looks over at Cookie. "It's the same drill as before, feel free to stay in the civilian quarters of Autobot City." He adds "There ARE living quarters in Fortress Maximus...that's his name, but as you can see, it's a battlestation, so the living quarters are closer to what you'd get in a battle station, while Autobot City is more like a hotel."

Cookie nods and can't help but chuckle. "Just being indoors is luxury. That and a real kitchen. Some of the cooking rigs I've had to cobble together.. sheesh." She tucks the tools onto her belt. "So.. what's the priority, here? Working from the inside out, or getting the armor repaired to keep the cold out?"

Spike grins. "That later." He says "Actually...a lot of the damage was surface-only. But still...kind of an undertaking." He adds "Also, anytime you want to take a break or recharge, feel free to. From what I gather, this is more like an apprenticeship, right? Just Joes learning more about repairing Autobots?"

Cookie nods. "I'm still on call if other stuff flares up, but in the meantime, learning more about how the big guys work can only help out if there's an emergency later."

Spike nods. He adds "If it's cool, I need to feed my daughter and help her with a homework project. Why don't you get settled in Autobot City." He hands Cookie a datapad. "Also, here's sort of a summary about the battlestation. Why don't you get settled and just radio me when you're ready to start in?"

Cookie nods back, accepting the datapad and looking at it. "Alright. Shouldn't be long to just stow gear." She gives the wall a pat. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough." She gives Spike another nod and heads to her truck to grab her duffel.

Off Duty Lounge - Residential Complex - Autobot City

The Autobot lounge is a stark contrast to the business-first attitude of the rest of Autobot City. Several comfortable couches in both human and Transformer sizes all face a big screen television - small for a Transformer, of course. Several tables are organized in a fashion that both talks of a serious nature of these of fun and games. On one of the tables rests the infamous lego set. A small computer terminal rests on the wall by the door in case of any emergency. 

It's a few hours after Cookie arrived, and thanks to daylight savings, it's dark pretty early, meaning there's not a lot to do tonight at Fortress Maximus, but it's still early. But...there's hardly any humans there. Except for one. A young(ish) young man, who is in the off duty lounge. His laptop is on, and he's tinkering with the code for a robot that's currently a project.

Cookie has already learned where all the vital human areas are in Metroplex- her room, the lounge, and a kitchen. She enters the lounge with a DVD case under one arm and supporting a baking sheet covered with nachos. Chips, meat, beans, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo and chunks of avocado, still steaming from its turn in the oven. She hesitates just a moment at seeing somebody else is here, then sets the bounty down on one of the tables and waves to the other occupant. "Hey. I was going to watch a movie- would that bother you?"

Daniel looks up from his assignment. "Huh? Oh...uh...no!" He moves some of his hair from his eyes. He's going through a sort of 'grow out ones hair' phase in life. He code-locks his laptop. "Uh...you good around here? I mean, you know where everything is, microwave, utensiles, anything else?"

Cookie gives him a smile. "Pretty much." She goes to check out the TV and figure out the remotes. "I don't think we've met? I'm Cookie, at least when I have the uniform on."

Daniel straightens up. He's in his 'loungy' Sunday 'laundry day' attire - jeans and a sweatshirt. "Heyah. I'm Daniel. Daniel Witwicky." True to his dad's teachings, he extends a hand for a handshake.

Cookie gives it a firm shake, courtesy of years of working with military guys. "I take it you're related to Spike?"

Daniel nods. He grins and gestures behind him. "Yeah, he's my dad." He looks at Cookie. "So...uniform, are you like a part of G.I. Joe, like E-D-C?"

Cookie nods. "Sure am. I'm a CM- construction mechanic. I'm over here to help out a bit, learn my way around some of this tech." She sits by the giant tray of nachos. "Hungry? I may have gone a bit overboard."

Daniel nods eagerly. "Sure!" He grins and goes into the fridge. He looks back at Cookie. "Are you thirsty? Anything sound good?"

Cookie is about to dig in before she reconsiders, gets up to get some napkins. "Is there any decent beer in there? If not, water's good."

Daniel grins, happy to be able to have beer now, thanks to the de-aging process, he grew up, then reverted, but now is at the age where he can have a beer. "Oh yeah, we have a few Octoberfests here still." He gets two sixers out for Cookie to choose from. "So...how long have you been with the Joes?"

Cookie pulls a bottle, takes out a keyring to pop the top. "Not long- a little over a year, now. I was fresh on my shore rotation in Norfolk at the time, and the big snake was sitting in DC."

Daniel opens his own beer. He's finished most of his assigments for the night, so can take a few hours off. He looks over at Cookie. "Oh yeah, the 'occupation,'" He gives an appreciative nod. "Thank you...for routing Cobra out. It's nice to be able to go to a concert or visit Los Angeles or San Francisco without a curfew or entering an 'occupied' zone."

Cookie nods, looking sober. "That's really what it's for. Making sure people can go live their lives without worrying about what's lurking out there." She shakes her head. "I wasn't on the west coast, but I did see some of the midwest towns that were occupied. Work camps and propaganda."

Daniel nods. "Wow..." He gives a 'may I?' gesture to dive into the nachos. Something he can't resist. He looks at the DVD case and grins. "Haven't gotten into the streaming revolution I see."

Cookie waves a hand to for Daniel to go ahead, grinning back. "Habit from my last ship rotation- hard to stream when you're limited to satellite communications. Bandwidth tends to be used for more important things. So it's DVDs and games that can be played from a disc."

Daniel nods. He's a bit of a protected college kid, and as a result, kind of unaware of the challenges that Cookie has endured. "Ah...gotcha." He takes a bite and gives an appreciative nod. "Ohhh...awesome...thank you."

Cookie settles and digs in as well. "Glad to hear it's good." She starts up the movie - The Transporter. "So, are you here often?"

Daniel shrugs. "Not...really, with school. But I came back for the funeral this week , but I wanted to stay a few extra days to hang out with mom and dad, and my sister." He looks over at Cookie and his mouth gapes open a bit. He wants to continue the conversation, but Cookie has already stated the movie. He gives a slight smile and takes a sip of beer. "I'll...leave you to your movie."

Cookie arches eyebrows and waves. "You don't have to. I've seen it plenty of times already- didn't mean to scare you off."

Daniel chuckles nervously. "I didn't...I wasn't..." He gulps. "I wasn't 'scared' - just like...didn't want to interrupt your movie-watching experience." He sits down on one of the many couches in the lounge. "So how long are you staying?"

Cookie nods, taking another bite first. "I don't know for certain. Depends on if things stay relatively quiet. If nothing suddenly heats up, I'll be here at least a couple of weeks."

Daniel nods. "Cool..." He looks over and takes another bite. "I'm going back to school tomorrow." He looks over at Cookie. "You'll like it here. I mean, I don't 'know' you, but if you like this kind of stuff, robotics, alien life forms...you could do far worse."

Cookie chuckles. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. And not just because it means Wetsuit can't make me PT with him and the other SEALs while I'm off base."

Daniel's face contorts in concentration. "Pee-Tee?"

Cookie shrugs. "Physical training- you know, going out and running through sand, doing push-ups, that kind of thing."

Daniel nods eagerly. "OH! Yeah! Totally!" He shakes his head, grinning. "Sorry...totally blanked on that." He's also a civilian, and most likely knows next to nothing about what Cookie has endured so far as a Joe.

Cookie takes a couple more bites, wipes her face. "So.. if you were here for a funeral, I'm guessing you lost somebody recently. Sorry for your loss."

Daniel looks over at Cookie. "Huh? Oh..." He shakes his head. "No, I mean...a few Autobots died recently, but I didn't really KNOW them, but it was important enough for me to be back here." He gestures up at the ceiling. "Stuff that happened on Cybertron."

Cookie ahs and nods. "So, what are you going to school for?"

Daniel leans back in the couch and takes another swig of beer. "Robotics, at the University of Oregon." He adds with a grin "I told my dad 'sorry, but I'm not going to be a third-generation mechanic for all my life.' He seemed to take it okay."

Cookie hehs. "Yeah. There were all kinds of mixed emotions when I decided to follow the family tradition of enlisting. At least you're still playing with the cool toys."

Daniel nods, taking a few more nachos. "Yeah, I'm more intersted in like the 'human robotic' side. Not the Transformer side of it." He adds "But...I mean, stuff my dad likes, fixing cars, construction, that stuff...that's just not my thing. I'm not a grease monkey."

Cookie nods. "So, more the programming side of it?"

Daniel nods. "Yeah, mainly, but I suppose the 'phsyical' nuts and bolts is pretty cool." He looks over at Cookie. "So...what's your story?"

Cookie shrugs. "Not much to it. I'm fourth generation Navy, following the family tradition. Signed the papers before I even graduated high school. My dad has a restaurant he started when he retired from service, so I started fixing things there just to help keep things running. That made me a natural for my rate- er, my job in the Navy."

Daniel nods. "Ah...cool!" He takes another sip of beer and looks back at the movie. "So, your boyfriend pretty bummed you're going to be here for a few weeks?"

Cookie chuckles. "I don't have one. I mean, most of the guys I know are the ones I work with, and you don't date within your unit- that's asking for trouble. One of the ninjas went out with me on a day trip a few weeks ago, but that's about it."

Daniel laughs. "Wow...that'd be an experience, I mean, going on a date with a ninja." He takes another bite of the nacho concoction, realizing he's eaten almost half. He gives an apologetic look toward Cookie. "Sorry...was hungrier than I thought."

Cookie waves it off. "Hey, it's the best complement to a cook." She shrugs. "I mean, out on a date, he's just another guy. No enemy ninjas jumped out to duel him or anything." She's also been through a good amount of nachos. But then, if you're out running laps and doing exercises every day, you can afford the calories. "We did happen to see an Autobot when we were driving back to base, though. This giant half-spider one, playing with a little doll."

Daniel chuckles. "Oh...THAT one...Trojan!" He grins. "Trojan's... interesting, even for an Autobot. Comes off as absolutely terrifying, but really nice, inquisitive, even a bit on the innocent side to tell you the truth."

Cookie nods. "Yeah, she was just waiting for a package delivery. I got a picture with her and promised to keep in touch. I'm still not really used to all of this-" she waves at their surroundings, indicating the general Giant Robotness of the area- "but she turned out to not be all that scary."

Daniel watches the movie, enjoying the action scenes, but more zoning out and getting absorbed in the conversation with Cookie. "You'll get used to it. Personality-wise, they're really not that much different than us." He adds "Ok, there are some that are WAY different, but the majority are very much like you and I."

Cookie nods, leaning back with her beer now that the nachos are basically destroyed. "And really, there's weirder things out there. Like the stuff up in Idaho these days."

Daniel looks over at Cookie quizzically. "Oh yeah...I read about that." He arches a brow "Are you involved in that?"

Cookie shrugs. "Sort of. I was on the team that checked things out." She shakes her head. "We brought some stuff back for the labs to work on, at least, but it was the weirdest thing."

Daniel grins curiously. "Oh? Like what?" he adds "I mean...if you're allowed to say it."

Cookie grins back. "The odds anybody'll believe it is pretty low. We were attacked by potatoes."

Daniel bursts out laughing "WHAT?! Oh my god!" He goes up to the fridge to get another beer. "THIS I gotta hear!" He adds "I mean...if you're allowed to say it." He opens the fridge. "Hyeah, you wanna try the other Oktober fest in here?"

Cookie shakes her head. "Still got about a third of this one," she says. "And I shit you not- they pulled up out of the ground and came at us- ordinary potatoes."

Daniel freezes. "Jesus..." He opens another beer and flops down on one of the couches. "Did anyone get hurt?"

Cookie shrugs. "On our team? Some bruises. But I'm pretty sure some of the locals were messed up before we checked it out."

Daniel winces. "Wow..." he chuckles. "That's even weirder than the Fortress Maximus thing."

Cookie ohs? "There's a 'Fortress Maximus' thing?"

Daniel nods and takes a sip of beer. "Well...the one that you're repairing...he's like a living transformer, like Metroplex, the one we're living in." He takes a sip of beer. "So, dad helped build Fortress Maximus - with all these other Autobot medics, and mechanics." He rubs his eyes. "So, in order to give him life, they needed ANOTHER Autobot to sort of 'pilot' Fortress Maximus. So, they all went to this super-computer on Cybertron to give Fort Max life." He finishes his story before it bores Cookie. "Anyway...the computer accidentally 'zapped' Spike, along with the co-pilot, who's called Cerebros. And now... Spike's like...psycically 'linked' to Cerebros and Fortress Maximus. Like...sometimes, they can hear one another's thoughts, and Spike and Cerebros are needed to fully 'transform' Fortress Maximus."

Cookie wows. "Yeah, that's a thing." She shakes her head. "That's crazy complicated."

Daniel smirks and shakes his head. "Yeah, it's kind of crazy."

Cookie nods. "Sure is." She finishes her beer. "So.. you ever get involved in the crazy, or do you get to stay out of it?"

Daniel massages his forehead and looks at his beer. He looks over at Cookie. "Uh...kind of. But, promise you won't think I'm a total freak for telling you this before I say it?"

Cookie pauses thoughtfully for a moment. "Must be a doozy." She holds up a hand. "I promise."

Daniel pauses, obviously more at ease talking to Cookie since they've been chatting for the better part of two hours. He gestures to his chest. "Well, I turned 21 about 6 months ago..." He fidgets sightly "But...in all honesty...I was born in 1993."

Cookie raises her eyebrows. "Huh. Some kinda time thing, I guess? I mean, some of the Joes who've been in for a while are like that- not as old as they ought to be."

Daniel rubs the bridge of his nose. "In like 2005, there was this weird temporal rift - and it resulted in everyone in the affected area...Autobots and humans alike 'deaging' - some more than others. Mom and dad...deaged like a decade, but I went from like 12 years old to like a 6 year old."

Daniel nods. "Yeah." He takes a sip of beer. "It gets weirder though. When I was like 13...like '13 NOW,' he paused, 'somehow, that rift thing wore out on me, so...I ended up aging to like...18 in a week." He paused. "So...I already tested super high, and...I ended up going to college."

Cookie shakes her head. "You must have some brains." She leans her chin on her hand, mulling it over a bit. "I guess you got to skip all the worst parts of puberty, at least."

Daniel frowns, taking a sip of beer. "No...actually...when I was in college, that first semester or two. I went to a few parties." He shakes his head. "I was used to having friends over and playing video games, or playing one of those fantasy board games, and now I was like...seeing people pass out, fall over one another drunk, and literally screwing around on the couch..." He shakes his head. "I remember calling my mom and dad in tears, begging them to come up and visit." He looks over at Cookie. "It took about a year, but I finally sort of 'matured' to at least 18 or 19." He smirks. "It  wasn't easy..."

Daniel makes a face, still having a bit of that nervous 16-17 year old self in him. "You must think I'm like a total freak for telling you that."

Cookie shakes her head. "Look, you haven't seen immature until you've seen a room full of marines out on deployment." She grins. "And I wouldn't blame anybody for not really wanting the whole college experience. I certainly skipped out on it- I was home all of two weeks after I graduated before I was off to basic training." She twirls her empty beer bottle thoughtfully. "Really, I don't have much experience with civilian life. I was eight when dad retired, and seventeen when I jumped in, myself. The middle part between those was all school and helping out with the restaurant."

Daniel nods thoughtfully. "Wow..." He now nurses his beer. "I think you'll like working with my dad. Your backgrounds sound alike." He says plainly "His mom...my grandma was killed in a car accident. And...his dad, ended up having to raise him and his brother." He adds "Well...things I guess got really tough financially, and my dad ended up working at an oil rig when he was 14." He grins "But...it ended up okay in the end, right? I mean, he got to meet the Autobots." He adds "But...I heard it was really tough. You're supposed to be like going to movies and swimming pools when you're 14, right? Not busting your hump in a restauant or on an oil rig, right?"

Cookie nods. "Yeah.. at 14, you have to get a lot of papers signed off to work even apprentice level jobs. At least here, anyway. Different other places." She hmms. "I guess it depends on the person, not just finances. I know dad would have liked me to have gone out more, had more friends my age, but I already knew what I wanted and was headed that way."

Daniel nods. "I know grandpa has told me he felt bad for bringing him on board, given that there was no one his age to hang out with." He looks down at his watch. "Oh man... it's later than I thought...I gotta get up tomorrow at 6:30 to get back to class." He smiles at Cookie, unsure what to say. "Uh...it's been really cool hangin' out. Again, sorry I dusted off half of the nachoes!"

Cookie smiles. "Hey, no problem. I can always make more!" She gets up to start cleaning up the table. "It was nice talking to you- good luck with your classes."

Daniel grins "Thanks." he at least helps clean up the mess he made, also gives him a bit of a chance to finish off his beer. "Good luck here, but for some reason, I think you'll like it."

Cookie grins. "Well, so far, the company's all been good."

Daniel grins, almost in a goofy way. He quickly recovers. "Heyah...uh...are you on Facebook?"

Cookie ahs. "Well, no. I have an instagram but it's almost all food pictures," she says, looking a bit embarassed.

Daniel nods. "Oh...cool." He says sheepishly "I'm 'OKComputerGeek2001' on Instagram..." He pulls up his phone. "I mean...you know...if you ... if you wouldn't mind."

Cookie gets out hers. "Sure, I don't mind! Mine is 'TrytheFriedLocust'." She pulls up the app on her phone, turning it to show him some of the pictures. It is, indeed, all food - most recently tacos, empanadas, and suspiciously familiar looking nachos.

Daniel shows Cookie some of his handiwork, it's more of a hodgepodge of everything - a few nature shots, a few shots of the robotics projects, a few photos of funny late night session rituals. "Awesome!"

Cookie makes sure she has Daniel's handle entered correctly, then puts up knuckles for a fistbump. "I should head to bed, too. Even if I'm not on base, I should stick to my workout routine or I'll pay for it when I get back."

Daniel clinches his fist and bumps Cookie. "Cool!" He gathers up his books and a few robotic parts. "Maybe I'll see you back here." He looks at the movie "By the way, cool flick!"

Cookie grins. "Thanks! Good night!"

Log session ending at 22:50:22 on Sunday, 3 November 2019.