10557/Metal Munching Monster

Metal Munching Monster
Date of Scene:	28 December 2019
Location:	Santoro's Salvage, Salem Center junkyard
Synopsis:	Grimlock's nighttime snacking in a junkyard is discovered by a curious Vi.
Cast of Characters:	Vi, Grimlock

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Vi has posed:
Santoro's Salvage is a sprawling junkyard in a rural location chosen where the owner would be unlikely to have to deal with the general populace and the city government. All Johnny Santoro really wanted was to be able to cut up metal, mash it up, smash it up, and otherwise play with it.

Also, for profit.

The place grew until it covers about three acres. Surrounded by a fence, the owner has a dog to help patrol the place, but really hasn't ever had to worry about security that much. Just a few cameras around the front where the office is.

Multiple acres of metal with no one around made it an ideal place for Vi to practice. True it isn't a Danger Room where she won't be hurt by a fall, but then if she is hurt by a fall it means she was being stupid. So it is the young woman sneaks out after dark, jetting off into the air from the mansion and heading for the junkyard. It is only about a 30 minute trip cross country before she arrives, landing lightly in the snow just outside of the fence, looking up at the flakes starting to fall from the sky.

The small, brown-haired girl is wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, with a black jacket and a stocking cap in blue and white with some logo on it (a Bills logo) which seems to cause people to react in ways she hasn't really understood yet. She makes another mental note to ask someone what it means. She just liked the color and the animal on the front when she saw it in the secondhand shop where most of her clothing came from.

Grimlock has posed:
Among the towers of metal, there's a form that's wandering about in the snow. Though he's trying to be quiet and stealthy. Blue optics are set on the dino's head as he watches the girl flying through the air - she's not the first person he's seen fly on this planet, but she's the first one that's been this close to his vicinity.

But she lands some distance away, and when she is that far from him, he doesn't view her as a threat. Instead, Grimlock sniffs at the air, giving a little snort as he's trying to seek out fuel that might still be in one of the tanks.

Hunger is a powerful motivator, and he's been scrapping by for the past couple of weeks while on this long distance patrol far away from the Ark.

Vi has posed:
Vi pulls a scarf out of a pocket and wraps it about her neck once. She isn't really feeling the cold, but still isn't quite sure how susceptible she is to cold temperatures or not. She checks a pocket where she's got a plastic dog toy filled with food that it takes awhile for a dog to get all of it out through the little hole in the hard rubber. It's wrapped around with two little strips of wire for easy retrieval when she's ready to leave.

Vi burns a little of the tin she swallowed, her senses growing sharper to listen for the junkyard dog. She pulls a metal washer from her pouch and drops it for a launching point, pushing on it with hundreds of pounds of force. The disc can go nowhere, being pushed at the ground, so there's an equal and opposite reaction, Vi's body thrown into the air. She doesn't fly like Superman. More like Spider-Man, just launching herself and letting gravity arc her back down a bit before she pushes off some a stack of cars to arc herself back up higher into the air.

Grimlock has posed:
Grimlock watches this whole display with a little confusion. He's never seen a hoo-man eat a piece of metal before. And when she does so and then reacts to it by leaping, the optics of the dinobot follow the woman through the air before she lands on a stack of cars. There's a small snort. As for the dog? It came out earlier - barking at Grimlock..

..then Grimlock roared at it and the dog is currently hiding beneath a pile of cars, waiting for the large dinosaur to go away.

But then something catches Grimlock's attention. A smell. Diesel! Turning about, he looks around, finding the source of it - a run down VW from the late 2010s. Using his snout to flip the car over, which causes a loud noise as metal is crunched and moved the noise is made worse when Grimlock's jaws open to grasp the gas tank and rips it off to shove whole into his mouth and starts to chew on it, feeling the diesel fuel in his throat. It's terrible, but it's filling.

Vi has posed:
To Vi's enhanced ears, the sound of the car being flipped and then metal rending is magnified. And while she's burning the steel in her stomach, she can sense all of the metal around her. In the city that can be very confusing, but here everything is still. Everything except...

There! She senses which bit of metal moved at the same time as the noise. She can't tell what it is, but can tell the car's approximate weight. Maybe one of the stacks of junk shifted? Though, she hears that repeated sound, almost like someone eating the loudest bowl of cereal in history.

Vi doesn't need to use any washers, just pushes off the car beneath her to launch herself overhead. Soon she sees the source of the noise, her eyes widening as she sees Grimlock as well as if it were daylight out.

Vi arrests her fall pushing down on two pieces of metal once. Then adding a third she pushes off of. It's like learning to ride a bike, pushing a little easier there, and harder there to keep. She adds a fourth source to push on and that helps her stabilize herself, hovering in the air above Grimlock about thirty feet up above his head.

She peers at Grimlock, trying to decide where the person is inside of him. She's never seen a vehicle like him before!

Grimlock has posed:
Chomping on the metal of the gas tank and slurping on the fuel that comes out, the massive dinosaur munches and chews, fuel flowing over his teeth and off his gums, causing his tongue to flick out to get at the falling fuel. Then she hovers in front of him, and the Cybertronian chews and swallows.

Then he lifts his head to peer at the woman and tilts his head to the side. His optics are still blue at least, he's not raging at the moment.

"What." he finally rumbles in a deep throated growl. "Me not stare at you when you eat."

Vi has posed:
Vi's never seen a machine that looks like some sort of animal before. She's still not sure if there is a person inside talking to her from it or not, but it's certainly talking to her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," the undersized nineteen year-old says. Her balance is off for a second, starting to drift to one side before she adjusts and halts herself again.

"I just haven't seen-" Vi says, and pauses on what word to use to describe Grimlock. "Haven't the like before," she says finally, coming up with some wording that won't make a mistake as to him. Is this your home?" she asks of the junk yard. "And are you... what are you exactly? If it isn't rude of me to ask?"

Grimlock has posed:
There's a tilt of the Tyrannosaurus' head. "Me Grimlock is Dynobot. What are you?" he asks in return, as he watches the young woman floating there. Then deciding that she's not moch of a threat to him, Grimlock lowers his head, sniffing around again.

Finding another fuel tank, Grimlock steps forward, using his foot to flip over the car and leans down to rip open the fuel tank to devour the gasoline within. Looking up with his mouth full of fuel and metal, he chews and slurps a few times. "What you do here? Live here?"

Vi has posed:
Vi hovers in the air for a few more moments, and then begins drifting towards an old metal shipping container, pulling on the metal at first to get herself going that direction, and then once above it, letting herself fall and giving a soft push to make the landing a soft one. The slow flight is still a little unsteady, more so than just shooting herself long distances through the sky.

"Grimlock," Vi repeats. "I haven't heard of a Dynobot before. There are a lot of things I'm not familiar with here, though," the girl tells him, speaking with a somewhat quiet, meek voice. Though she's downright outgoing compared to what she was like three months ago.

"My name is Vi. I'm..." she says, trailing off. Does she mention what she is? She knows by now that some people are anti-mutants. And... this couldn't be a Sentinel could it? She encountered some in the Danger Room and Grimlock doesn't look anything like one. "I'm a mutant," she says. "I come here to use the things here to practice flying," she tells him. Vi tilts her head to the side as Grimlock gulps down the fuel. "So you eat gasoline?" she asks.

Grimlock has posed:
To Vi's surprise, perhaps, Grimlock immediately doesn't go all killing machine on her. Instead he gives a little snort as he looks down at the car. "Fuel taste horrible. But energon hard to find. So use fuel. Not efficent. Works." comes the response as he uses his foot to knock the car to the side. He watches her as she comes in for landing, and he gives a snort-chuff of amusement.

"You look like new Seeker, unsure of wings. Me find that funny." And he chuckles in fact at it. "You quiet. Not assertive. Scared?"

Vi has posed:
The small teen's general posture and body language, if Grimlock is up on reading humans, is generally the kind of meek you'd expect from someone who spent a lifetime trying to not stand out to guards, work crew foremen, or even the other workers from whom the street thief would be looking for her next meal from.

"A little. You're very large. There are robots who hate mutants, I'm told," the girl replies quietly. "I have only been able to practice for a few months now. I'm getting much better though," she tells him.

Vi looks around the junk yard. "I don't know what... energon?... is. Can you get the gas at the places the cars get it though? They just pump it straight from a hose," she explains, in that tone that someone has when they are explaining something that was explained to them in the not too distant past.

Grimlock has posed:
"Me not eat you. Hoomans taste terrible." Whether or not he's serious about having eaten a human? That's not easily a tell by the tone that the massive dinosaur uses. Instead, he steps over the car, continuing his search for fuel. "Could." he finally rumbles.

"But take fuel from station draws attention. Get attention, then others know where I am. Me not care for them to know that at this time." comes Grimlock's complaint as he crouches down, getting closer to the woman to sniff at her curiously.

Vi has posed:
Vi bites her lower lip as she tries to decide if she can trust the large robotic... she has no idea what a dinosaur is, so at least isn't extra fearful on that account. "Oh, so you have to hide yourself from others? I understand how that is," the mutant teenager says.

She also is sensing what she can of Grimlock, though enhancing her smell and hearing only get her so far. As he moves over and sniffs towards her, she hesitates just a moment. The pewter in her stomach is consumed faster, used to strengthen her body should it turn out to be a ruse, and then she steps nearer to the edge of the shipping container, lifting a hand for Grimlock to smell.

"Have you tasted many humans before?" she asks hesitantly, ready to launch herself back away from Grimlock if he makes a lunge for her. "Are you hiding from people in general?" she asks.

Grimlock has posed:
"Most hide. Have to use other ways. Holograms. Me not care. Me welcome challenge." Grimlock has no real want for the holoemitter he has, and for now, he's just keeping to himself. "My team away. Just me. Wanted to see what world was. Only been in one area all this time." he rumbles.

He takes a sniff of her, his olofactory sensors already kicking into overdrive to translate what it he just smelled.

While her senses may be confused by what she gets from Grimlock. It's not a metal of any terrestrial source, the sentio metallico is living and self-replicating. The protoform that was melded into a the creature, which became what the hulking Dinobot is now. He gives a little rumble of thought as he rises back up.

Vi has posed:
Vi's own scent is not too unusual for a human. Scents of food as if she ate something savory earlier that had a nice aroma by human standards. Scents of laundry detergent in her clothing, though not as much as some. As if she wears her clothes for longer stretches than most humans.

Vi peers at Grimlock curiously. "You look like metal, but I don't sense you like I do other metal," she comments. She reaches out a hand and a stray bolt from something flies up towards her and she catches it.

Vi moves to sit down on the edge of her shipping container she's on, her legs dangling over the side. "It sounds like we have that in common. I only knew one place all of my life. Until a few months ago when I got away and came here," she says. "Things here are so different. There's so much to the world I haven't seen before. Have you been to the zoo? There are animals there. Amazing animals I've seen on TV. THere's one with a really long, thin neck, a tiny head, but as tall as yours is because of the neck," she says, a smile coming to her face at the memory of the giraffes on TV.

Grimlock has posed:
"Me am die cast construction." It's a lost art. Grimlock pulls back and rubs at his nose in thought. "Sound like Sludge." he rumbles at the description that Vi offers to him. "But Sludge bigger. Not stronger. Me Grimlock strongest!" he declares proudly before the massive dino starts to step back.

As he does so, his frame starts to shift and change, the dinobot fascade twisting and shifting away as the grinding of gears brings him into his larger robot mode.

Vi has posed:
Vi's mouth falls open a bit as she watches Grimlock changing shape. "That... is so cool!" the nineteen year old says, practically gushing. "Wow, that's amazing. How many different ways can you make yourself look?" she asks the giant Dinobot.

"This Sludge looks like a giraffe? I'd be interested in meeting him someday too," she says with a smile. She glances around the junk yard. "So, what do you do? I mean, do you... have a job of some sort? Everyone here seems to focus on finding a job and becoming something. I'm working with a detective in the city. He helps out a lot of people. Mutants, especially."

Grimlock has posed:
"Sludge no giraffe. Sludge apato..apato..apato.. brontosaurus!" Stupid name changes. Grimlock huffs angrilly as he shakes his head, the dinobot grumbling to himself mightily. Then he finally starts to come back down from his brief moment of anger. "Me no need job. Me have job. Bash Decepticons!" he announces proudly. "Why need job?" he asks in confusion.

Vi has posed:
Vi pulls out a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil and she jots something down on it. Brontoesorus. She puts it away, having made herself a note to look them up later. "I don't think I'm familiar with that type of animal. And, your other body, is there a name for what that was?" Vi asks curiously, her love of animals she developed at finding out the diversity that exists showing through.

Vi hesitates at the answer. "I think for most people, it's so they make money to buy food and have somewhere warm when it's cold. Though, some places seem to have so much of that, I wonder why it can't just be shared with everyone," she tells him finally.

The girl's head tilts to the side a little bit. "What are Decepticons? And why do they need to be bashed?" she asks.

Grimlock has posed:
"Me am Tyrannosaurus." Grimlock responds, the dinobot moving to take a seat on a small stack of cars. They crunch and squeak underneath his weight before he's settled and he grunts. "No need for money. Never too cold. Never too hot." he rumbles in thought as he folds his hands in front of him and his fingers press together.

"Decepticons are bad. Strip planet of resources, leave barren. Will try to convince you otherwise. That here to help." he grunts. "Then will stab you in back."

Vi has posed:
Vi gives little nods of her head as she listens. She pulls out her pad of paper, adding 'tieranosorus' and 'deseptikon' to her list of things to look up. It takes her a few moment to spell out each word as she is phonetically trying to work them out, writing more like an elementary student than a nineteen year old.

Vi frowns as Grimlock shares the description of the Decepticons. "They remind me of Hydra," she says, the frown growing. "Are they people, or are they robots like you?" Vi inquires. "And... where do you come from? Does someone build you and your friends somewhere?" she asks curiously.

Grimlock has posed:
"They Cybertronians too. Not robots." Grimlock makes sure to make that designation clear. "Robots dumb, have to be programmed. Cybertronians aren't programmed. We develop. Grow. Free thought." he rumbles quietly as he considers her. Then he gives a shrug of his large shoulders. "We come from Cybertron." But at the question of someone building them, there's a low growl of disapproval.

Vi has posed:
Vi catches the growl at the end of the explanation. "I didn't mean to offend you. We didn't have school or anything like that where I grew up. I've only just started learning the countries in the world. Is Cybertron a country, or a city?" she asks, looking a little sheepish as she reveals just how ignorant she is, not knowing things that many children are aware of.

"Do you find enough gas here to keep you fed?" she asks, glancing around. "I don't know how expensive it is to buy. If it wasn't too much I could try to buy you some. Though I don't have much money I'm afraid." She doubts she could steal enough gasoline even if she wasn't trying to not do that anymore now she's escaped from the Hydra work camp.

Grimlock has posed:
"Do not need charity. Will be fine." Grimlock responds as he looks around. "Plenty fuel around. No complaint from owner. Don't have to worry about cleanup." He may be a messy eater, but he is very thorough in his devouring. He needs to have that fuel, every drop he can get he needs at the moment. He shakes his head though, perhaps a mote of amusement in his tone.

"Cybertron is planet. Far off in space." he explains. "Far far from here." he rumbles. "No way to get back at the moment." Not that Grimlock is big on going back.

Vi has posed:
There's a widening of Vi's eyes as Grimlock tells her that he's from another planet. "I... didn't even know..." she says, before trailing off and shaking her head. A phrase she has had to say way too many times. But of late she had felt like she was catching on.

The girl pulls off her gloves and then her hat, ruffling her fingers through her brown hair before doffing the cap again. "But you have other friends here? You're not alone?" she asks Grimlock. "I'd like to be your friend. You're the first Cybertronian I've met," she tells him, offering a soft, pretty smile.

Grimlock has posed:
"Other Cybertronians. Other Autobots." Grimlock is not quite going to call them friends. He gives a little grunt of thought. "Being friend dangerous. People will look for you. Want to know what you know." he rumbles in thought and gives a shake of his head. "Not sure if good idea." Plus she's a fleshie. And he's not sure how to feel on that.

Vi has posed:
Vi hrms quietly after hearing that. A cold wind swirls across the junkyard, carrying with the scents of metal and rust, and sending the snowflakes that have started to fall again to slant to the side as they drift down. Vi lets a few of the snowflakes land on her bare hand, not seeming bothered by the cold. "Ok. I don't want to cause any troubles," Vi agrees with the giant Autobot.

She glances around the junkyard. "It is a good place for me to practice, anyway. I don't come here a lot, but sometimes," she says. "Always so much metal for me to push off of." She is sitting on the edge of the shipping container, and then pops up into the air like she'd jumped, coming back down to land on her feet. The girl pulls out a small vial from the belt of a pouch about her waist, opening the top and swallowing the contents.

Grimlock has posed:
Grimlock senses the temperature change as well. He considers for a moment and starts to shift back into his more fearsome mode. "Come out here." he rumbles. "If I am here, will visit." he states finally. "No guarantee." The large Autobot is gruff in his tone, but he gives a little scoff. "Help make you assertive." comes the dry comment as he starts to swing around, his large tail swishing behind him as he prepares to depart.

Vi has posed:
Vi nods her head back to Grimlock and gives him a soft smile as the Dinobot leaves the possibility of running into him again open. "I'll come by again sometime then," she says, nodding her head. "And if not I'll leave you a marker that I was here." She doesn't explain it better, just smiles to him and waves goodbye as he moves off.

Vi glances at her phone to see the time. She's not very good with her phone, but has mastered basic calls, and using it to tell time. "Should probably head off," she says to herself. With fresh fuel metals in her stomach, she pushes off the shipping container, launching herself into the air like she was shot out of a cannon, arcing off to the north.