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| - Shark leads the way into the El Sleazo, in the mood for a drink after all that tracking Trypticon and nothing to show for it other than a report. Chains is in a bit of a sour mood as well, and always in the mood for a drink after a day's work. He heads in, greeting some of the rougher looking bots about as he goes. Shark moves toward the bar, glancing over his shoulder at Chains. "Name your drink, I'll buy." he offers. Chains grins. "I'm easy, just go with the basics, and I'm good." he replies, sticking with old habits when the cheapest things on the menu were all he could afford - and apparently got used to them. He clambers up onto one of the seats, turning to lean back against the bar. "Thanks." Shark nods and gestures to Foz-E to get them a couple ener-beers, he puts down the credit for it and gets on a stool himself. "No problem. You are new, probably only got a couple creds to your name." he grins a bit. Chains shrugs. "Thankfully, I run pretty low energy. Meant for long distance work and lots of time away from base. Never hurt that much, but a good ener-beer is always appreciated.... though what they got here ain't exactly 'good', but still, appreciated." he replies with a grin. Shark takes his mug once Foz-E delivers it and nods to Chains. "Well that's good to know just in case we need you for some sort of long distance scouting mission." then raises his glass, "To a successful mission next time." Chains raises his glass. "Long distance scouting is pretty much the name of my game. I don't much mind not hangin' around the base and all. An' we'll get 'em next time." Shark clinks his glass to yours and nods, "I'm sure we will." then takes a sip of the ener-beer. He hmms as he swallows, "Sheesh Foz-E what you put it in this time?" he asks teasingly with a laugh. Chains takes a swallow. "Same as always, finds the weakest stuff he can and then cuts it." he remarks. "But you can't beat the price." Shark takes another sip, getting used to the stuff all over again. "Its going to rust my teeth out I swear." he jokes. Chains nods. "Probably will. S'why most'a the jokers around here got all those rust marks. You get used to it, if you spend enough time here though." Shark frowns a bit, "Maybe I'll ask for the high grade next time then. Rather keep the teeth." he notes. Chains grins. "In your case, I wouldn't blame you. You kinda need those. Still, its easy enough for the docs to fix... and they need to be kept on their toes somehow." Shark hmms, "Eh I don't want to bother Lifeline fixing them again." he notes, taking another sip of his drink. Chains shrugs. "Ok, yeah, maybe not worth it. Especially if she's yer main doc. And probably don't wanna explain to Ratchet and the rest where ya got rusted teeth." Shark nods to that, "I trust her to do it right. Nothing against Ratchet of course. Or even Starfire. But Lifeline knows my inner workings better." Chains considers. "Ok, her tableside manner may not be the best an' all, or maybe she just don't like the gangs much. I definitely like the bot med bay better, if I absolutely gotta get repairs done." Shark smirks a bit at that, "If you think Lifeline's manner is not good, wait until Jade gets her hands on you. You'll be wishing you were in Cubricon." Chains laughs. "Fair enough, we always tried to give Lifeline's place a wide berth in the old days. She gets along pretty well with the bots though, it looks like." Shark sips on his drink then sets down the mug, "Yeah she gets along well enough, though she can clash now and again with someone." Chains nods. "Believe me, I know. Like I said, she don't think much of gangers. Just cause we were all on Cubicron's side and all didn't make us allies. Ain't like the bots and cons." Shark hmms, "I see your point, but still you are an Autobot now." he pauses, "Want me to talk to her about letting you seek repairs with her?" Chains shrugs. "Nah, don't worry about it. The bot docs are happy enough, and I don't mind. And wouldn't want to test her sunny disposition. I'm sure she and I could work it out if needed and all." Shark inclines his head, "All right. Just if you see Jade is working the medical bay, turn yourself around and leave. Trust me on this." Chains grins. "Who knows, maybe so. I ain't met her yet." Shark smiles a bit to that, "Ah I see. Well once you meet her, you'll understand. Until then, I shall hope it is Ratchet or Starfire that helps you out." a pause then a chuckle, "Even the medical drone is better than Jade with the tableside manners." Chains takes another shot from his drink. "I'll keep it in mind. Luckily, most of the time, I'm more about avoiding getting hit. I'm sure I'll have the bad luck sooner or later." Shark picks up his mug again to take a sip, then another so he can finish it off. He sets the empty mug down and pushes it away from himself, "Well you got the benefit of size there." Chains nods. "Pretty much, makes it easy to get around, run on low energy, all of that. Not as much fun when you do get hit, but hey, can't have everything." Shark mms softly then states, "That's true. Still what you lack in size you make up in other ways so it all balances out eh?" he grins a bit to that. "Besides I'm more likely to get hit just on my color alone, not to mention my size." Chains laughs. "Hey, I ain't complaining any. I like gettin' around, and don't mind mixin' it up with people who think I'm an easy target just cause I'm a mini. Never bugged me before. As for coloration, yeah. Personally, I'm startin' to think about talking to the bots, and see about getting one of those stealth systems if I run enough missions. Be plenty valuable in my line of work." Shark's optics flicker from brighter to darker then back to normal. "Seriously? You want stealth?" he asks, sounding incredulous. "That'll take some doing, but I don't think it's out of the question. Might have to run it by the medics and Prime..." Chains laughs. "I'm a scout and skirmisher - yeah, I'd love to be able to silent run right along con lines. Get a lot more useful information and all." Shark raises a hand to rub on his chin, "Hmm, yeah I could see the possibilities there. Still got to run it by someone." Chains shrugs. "Expensive stuff, and a lot of folks still doubt my loyalty. I don't mind proving myself." Shark inclines his head to that, lowering his hand. "Yeah got a point there. Give it time, it'll happen. Took me awhile to earn the vets respect and I came out of the Academy." Chains nods, finishing his drink. "I ain't worried about it, these things take time. Took long enough to get in with some of the gangs. It'll get there with more missions and all. Meanwhile, at least things've been exciting." Shark smiles a hint, "Good, glad you got a positive perspective on it." he glances around, "Kind of quiet tonight." Chains eyes a few of the locals, then nods. "Yeah, no cons about, and no bar fights. Suits me." Shark smirks, "Well could make it exciting." he notes, "I'm reigning arm wrestling champion here." Chains laughs. "That so? I think you got leverage on me, but never let it be said I turn down challenges." Shark nods and turns on his stool then slides off, "Well it so happens they keep the arm wrestling stuff around for friendly wagers." Chains slides off the stool and follows. "Makes sense to me. Loser takes winner's next shift on monitor duty?" Shark hmms softly, "Next shift of harvesting." he states, "Unless you cannot do it?" he asks, taking a seat on one side of the set up. Chains shakes his head. "Can't, wrong software set up, not compatible." he replies, taking the opposite seat. Shark inclines his head to that, "All right, monitor duty it is." he states, placing his one hand behind his back and placing his elbow into the slot. He flexes his fingers, "Foz-E, you calling this?" Foz-E moves around the bar to act as referee, "Sure thing." Chains nods, putting his elbow into the oversized pad, never one to back down. "Alright, so we lock up, and go on three?" Shark smiles a bit to that as he locks hands with Chains and Foz-E puts his hands around theirs so neither have a unfair advantage. "We go we Foz-E let's go. Best two out of three." Chains nods. "Sounds good to me, best of three, on his call." he agrees. Foz-E waits then releases our hands. "GO!" +Roll: Shark rolls against his Strength Stat and succeeds by 7! The total roll was 11. +Roll: Chains rolls against his Strength Stat and fails by 0! The total roll was 14. Shark gets a head start on Chains, beginning to work his arm down. Chains growls, losing fairly quickly. The combination of greater strength and leverage from size difference just too much, though he puts his best effort into it even so. +Roll: Shark rolls against his Strength Stat and succeeds by 15! The total roll was 3. +Roll: Chains rolls against his Strength Stat and succeeds by 5! The total roll was 9. Foz-E takes hold of our hands again, waits a beat, then releases. "Go!" Shark is on top if it again quickly, trying not to use his size as leverage so as to give Chains a fairer shot. Chains is distinctly losing here, but putting his best effort forth anyway. He doesn't seem worried about fair - he took the challenge, after all, and losing fairly suits him well enough. +Roll: Shark rolls against his Strength Stat and succeeds by 8! The total roll was 10. +Roll: Chains rolls against his Strength Stat and fails by 3! The total roll was 17. Shark keeps pushing that arm of Chains down to his side of the table, just using his arm and shoulder strength as much as possible. Chains gets his hand put down firmly this time. He nods respectfully. "Good game. Can see why yer the local champ. Jus' let me know when your monitor shift is." Shark shakes his hand out and flexes his fingers. "Thanks, you did well yourself." he grins and stands up from the seat. "I'll do that." Chains nods. "Hey, I've won more credits than I lost in the old days, ain't exactly a stranger, but I know when I'm whupped." he replies with a grin, pushing out of the chair. Shark smiles to that, "And how did you win those credits eh?" he asks curiously, "Care for another drink?" Chains nods. "Arm wrestling, drinking bots to overcharge, or people bettin' I wouldn't do a circuit of the under city. Bit of everything, typical bar stuff." Shark chuckles softly, "Well doubt you'll be drinking me under the table Chains, I don't like having the cerebral unit ache after an overcharge." Chains nods. "And it ain't good for ya, doubt the CoC would be too happy with it. Ain't like the old days, nobody much cared what we got into. And don't think they'd be too happy with me doing a barrows run. So I'll settle for losin' and takin' an extra monitor shift." Shark inclines his head to that, "Yeah, that too. CoC got upset at me once already for going to the gladiatorial games and taking part. Rather avoid another audio bending to be honest." he grins widely. Chains grins. "I bet. Hope it was worth it though. I don't mind a good scrap, but usually avoided the ring folks. They'll spike yer energon fast if they think they got a sucker bet." Shark only smiles more, "Was it worth it he asks." he chuckles, "Of course it was worth it. You really don't know what you got til you take on a well known gladiator my friend." Chains grins. "I'll keep that in mind, and maybe have to try it some time. We'll see how things go. Definitely sounds like fun, I jus' don't trust the Mafioso’s behind most of the rings." Shark hmms, "Yeah I'm sure they probably got themselves some sort of cut in those gladiator fights." Chains nods. "Oh, they do. S'where most of the credits go. They get a cut of most gambling. And like I said, they'll cheat if they think they can get away with it. Still, sounds like good fun, if its straight up." Shark shakes his head a bit, "Not totally straight up. One of the mechs I fought was a prisoner." Chains frowns. "Yeah, that sounds about right too. But that's the way of dealing with them sometimes." Shark cocks his head a bit, "Well I am not sure those were willing participants is all. The one I fought really couldn't fight. Was sad really." Chains nods. "S'what I mean, they'll toss out whoever they got, willing or otherwise. Sometimes its good gambling, sometimes its garbage disposal." Shark mms, "Yeah suppose you are right. Just glad it wasn't to the death." he points out. Chains nods appreciatively. "That's something, its true. Not always the case, but they can't call it fun and games then. Even if you got more on the line." You say, "Well if it were to the death, I wouldn't be talking to you right now more than likely. Not sure what they do with dead mechs, but I doubt they'd return my body to the Bots.." Chains shakes his head. "No, they use most of 'em for spare parts and decorations, at least that's the rumor. Claim is some of the big figures got mech's heads on poles to dissuade anyone from messing with em." Shark hrms, "I see. Well glad its not my head in some mechs room is all I got to say." he smiles a bit. Chains nods. "Yeah, looks better where it is. Who knows, maybe when the war is over, we can do something about the mafia, but I doubt it." Shark smiles a hint more to that, "Ah so you don't know that we tried that once eh?" he asks. Chains nods, "I know there was some effort. They just dig in, s'like the gangs and all." Shark ahs to that, "So you heard about it. We focused more on those that were wanted. Sadly we didn't go into the depths of the city. Though I heard this rumor that Metro-X himself went way deep to get some wanted types.. got some cores to prove it too. Course I've not seen the mech to ask him myself if it's even true." Chains nods. "Well, if there's ever an effort, I'd be happy to play guide and scout into the way deeps. I've been down there, but never stayed too long. And the bots ain't got the resources, with the war on and all." Shark looks thoughtful for awhile then says, "I'll keep that in mind if I ever see Ironhide around. I swear that mech is busier than Prime these days. Barely see any of the CoC out and about anymore." Chains shrugs. "They're busy, last I heard, the war wasn't going so hot and all. Can believe they'd be being kept pretty busy trying to figure out what we can take and hold." You say, "Yeah I suppose so. I did turn in a report on areas that were in dispute. They might be figuring out what we may have to fight over and what may be diplomatically settled." Chains considers. "Probably so. I didn't even know there was any serious diplomacy going on, but then I don't blame 'em for not letting me anywhere near diplomatic anything." You say, "I'm on guessing really. But I figure they'd talk with Crystal City and probably the neutrals to see who wanted to claim what, then move on to the Cons last since they'd more than likely fight for land with energon sources." Chains nods. "Probably so. I can't harvest, so I got no idea really what's best for that. S'why they handle it, and I'm fine leavin' it to them. Probably right about Crystal City and all, anyway." Shark considers that and says, "Yeah, well, be glad you don't know how to harvest. Those machines you got to use have a bit of a temper at the worst times and can blow up on you. Trust me I know." Chains nods. "S'what I've heard. I've been plenty content with combat software instead. I know some people would prefer not to be on the lines and all, but it suits me fine." Shark smiles to that, "I know what you mean. So we done with the drinks then?" he asks. Chains nods. "I'm still on remote duty, and I radioed in. If you're ready to head back, I'll catch you later." Shark nods his head, "Yeah I should head back. Got to let the mech in charge that you got my shift for monitor duty so he'll switch me to a later shift." Chains salutes. "Sounds good, I'll be back for that, just give me a shout. Til then, I'll either be out here or border running on scout duty." Shark smiles and says, "All right then, you take care out there Chains."
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