A Blind Awakening

-It's been a while since Panacea took Whirl away from the scene of his shooting. Because she doesn't have a space of her own yet, she rented a small storage room; it will suffice. Since then she has done everything she can for the mech that doesn't require any 'specialized' parts. Of course, she's taken a pretty good scan of him for her 'medical records' and examined in some depth the differences made through the Empurata. She even decided to make some casts of those interesting 'claws' of his.

Now she's ready to wake him up, despite the fact he won't be able to see. Some information she can't intuit just by looking at him. Leaning over him to check the latest readout, she finally brings him back online.

As he comes to he'll probably be able to feel her presence there as well as hearing some soft music in the background.

-It's always a bit jarring to come back online and find yourself in an unfamiliar place, not knowing how you got there or where there even is. Whirl is no stranger to this sort of thing as the life he leads pretty much guarantees it will happen occasionally, but this time is a little different. Okay, it's a lot different. As he comes to, he's greeted by an overwhelmingly empty darkness which, to put it bluntly, freaks him out. Whirl jolts upright into a sitting position, head snapping every which way as the mech denies his blindness. Surely he's just in a really dark room or something right?

"What's going on!?" Whirl brings up a claw and stabs into the darkness, hopefully not striking anyone unfortunate enough to be in his reach. "I know there's someone here! Explain yourself!"

-Panacea gets thrown off as Whirl bolts into a sitting position. "I don't know if you remember me, but we've met before. I'm the medic, Panacea. You were shot in the face and by the time I was called in to help, you were unconcious." Despite being tossed to the floor, her voice is calm within the darkness. "Unfortunately I couldn't find a replacement for your single optic."

-"Panacea. Yes, I remember you. Heh, we just met not too long ago and already you're having to patch me up." Kind of ironic considering his whole 'hospitals are terrible' tirade last time they spoke. He thinks silently to himself as he takes in what she tells him though his claws twitch ever so slightly. So he was shot, eh? Only one explanation for that.

"It was Blast Off, wasn't it?"

-"I don't know for sure; I was not a witness and I didn't get a real report. But I suspect you're right, mostly because he tried to pass it off as an accident first." Panacea shrugs. "My primary concern was making sure you were fixed up, not chasing after justice." Standing up and dusting herself off, she pats Whirl's shoulder gently. "This must be very hard on you, not being able to see. Do you know where I might find an optic like yours?"

-There is a distant sound of voices outside of the current storage unit. Then some silence. A few moments later a voice much closer can be heard. "There... there... n'tha.... aha! Thi'oughter b'it!" Varely a moment later, the entrance is opened and that strange-talking femme pokes her head in, looking around before actually entering. "'Allooooooo?"

*S.T.: "There. There. And that. Aha! This ought to be it." "Hello?"*

-"OH DID HE?" Whirl says a little too loudly at the mention of Blast Off trying to pass off attempted murder as an accident. Yes, there is definitely going to be some seeking of vengeance once he regains his sight and strength. Sure, he dared Blast Off to kill him but that doesn't excuse him actually doing it, or trying to.

"I don't know where you get a replacement for sure, but I think I know someone who would. The last time I found myself in trouble I was taken to a free clinic in Dead End. There was a doctor there who mentioned he knew someone who looked like me so.." Whirl shrugs, "It's a long shot but he might be able to know where to get one."

It's at this point that he hears Swivel, and he knows it's her because there is literally no one else that he knows of who talks like that. "Did you come to visit me? I'm flattered."

-"Yes. And then he admitted that you had been shot, but not by himself. He seemed rather uncomfortable, so what little I know about the nature of people, I would guess it was he that shot you. But he seemed worried about your recovery, so maybe he just wasn't thinking clearly." Panacea sighs deeply. "What I don't understand is why everyone is so happy to hurt each other." She pauses briefly and maybe Whirl will hear her tacking away at a console. "Do you remember the name of this clinic or the medic that you spoke to?" she asks Whirl.

When Swivel comes in she nods her head to the odd little femme. "Come on in. I'm sorry this place doesn't look better, but it was sort of assembled at the last minute. I really have to get myself a proper workspace, but this will do for now. I'm guessing most people with emergency needs won't care if the place is pretty."

-Having confirmed that she found the right place, and wasn't instead walking in on some clandestine dealings that would get her knocked off or at least threatened to silence, Swivel grins. She walks in, her hands behind her back as a way of signalling that she plans to keep them to herself. She glances about. "S'not t'bad a place," Swivel insists. She slowly approaches the foot of the berth Whirl is presently sitting upon. She tilts her head one way, and then the other, staring at Whirl. "Yeah, 'ere t'visit ya. "en summun falls near dead on ya, it kinner make it hard ta ferget 'em... so I wanner see if yer 'covering okay."

*S.T.: "It's not to bad of a place. Yes, here to visit you. When someone falls nearly dead on you, it kind of makes it hard to forget them. So I want to see if you are recovering okay."*

-Whirl lets out a snort of disapproval. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he was real worried. So worried that he came to see if I was okay, right?" He makes a show of looking around (even though he can't see anything.) "Oh, wait, he's not here. It's almost like he.. doesn't care! At all! Not even enough to confirm his kill.." He says that last part a little softer, like he was hurt by the fact Blast Off didn't feel it was necessary to make sure the person he shot died or not. "As for the clinic, I don't know what it was called. All I know is that it was Dead End and the doctor who treated me..I think his name was Ratchet?"

Swivel's voice seems to have gotten closer and Whirl snaps his head back to stare somewhere in her general direction. He has to concentrate really hard to comprehend what she's saying, the femme has such an off manner of speech. "I.. fell on you?" The blind mech can't help but laugh at the mental image. "Hahahaha! Ahh.. haha.. That's funny. I didn't even know you were there. Hell, I didn't even know I got shot until just now. It all happened so fast."

-If Panacea could add a translator to her systems for Swivel's odd speech, she would. As it is, it takes her a few moments to process all that. "I can't say that I know Whirl well enough to speak for him, but a lot of patients do appreciate having visitors." Pause. "But only when they're actually well wishers and not people looking for trouble. Not that you strike me as the type." She waves vaguely towards a bench as an offer to sit if the other femme so wishes.

"Well, if he's in as much trouble as he seems to be, I'm not surprised that he didn't show up," Panacea says. "Now, you're going to have to make some decisions. I can release you, but you won't be able to see. Do you have a stable place of residence? Or friends you can stay with?" While her questions are all business, her tone is gentle rather than brusque.

-Swivel sits rather promptly. She shrugs and laughs a little bit with Whirl. She had thought of complaining, but what would h er complaints be to someone who was shot and is blinded as a result? "Scared me dim 'en ya fell o'me! I'm 'kay now, s'it kinner IS funny." Swivel nudges her seat back a bit and begins to swing her legs. She doesn't have much else to say, as she is interested in the answers to Panacea's questions.

*S.T.: "Scared me dim when you fell on me. I am okay now, so it kind of is funny."*

-Whirl sees no reason to admit it, but he does like having visitors. The fact that anyone, even people he only just met, care enough about his well-being to help him means a lot.

But what's next for Whirl? Panacea's question makes the mech seriously question his life, it's so hard to answer. He hasn't had a real place to call home since.... well, let's just keep it simple and say a long time. "I don't know if you would call them friends, they're just some people I have been staying with. Shiftlock," he pauses, claws twitching. "..A friend of mine, she brought me here, convinced some of her acquaintances to let me stay with them but I don't see the point in going back. She was the only reason I was here and I don't think I'll ever see her again so.."

Whirl flops onto his back with a loud thud. "..Where do I go now?

-Panacea purses her lips tightly. "That does sound like an unfortunate situation. I don't really have a stable home or I would offer to help. But until I have an actual job, or at least have my own permanent building to work out of, I've been staying wherever I happen to be at the time." She shrugs her shoulders a bit helplessly, though Whirl wouldn't be able to see that. A hand is laid gently on the mech's forearm. "Well, what cities have you been in so far? Which do you want to avoid?" Maybe she can find him somewhere to stay until he's all fixed up. "I would take you to the clinic right away, but I don't know if you'd really want to march into Dead End blind, and I'm not enough of a fighter to do anything if someone wanted to cause trouble."

She gives Swivel an odd look. "Okay, but that sounds like a weird thing to find amusing. Maybe it's just me. And if I wanted a mech to fall for me, that's not how I'd go about doing it." She laughs softly at her own bad joke.

-"I try n' find laughs 'ere I kin," Swivel explains to Panacea. It's true. Swivel laughs about many innapropriate things. Most of them involving herself and some sort of misfortune. Swivel slouches forward, resting her elbows on her thighs. She had been listening to the current tight spot Whirl seemed to be in, and also to Panacea's circumstances. "I canna 'member last I'der home," she adds with slight wonder in her voice.

*S.T.: "I try and find laughs where I can." "I can not remember when I last had a home."*

-Whirl tenses at the touch on his forearm but quickly relaxes once he realizes that it's just Panacea trying to be comforting like all good medics try to do. Unless you're that Ratchet guy he was just talking about, that guy has terrible bed-side manner and Whirl loves it.

"Listen, I appreciate all that you've done for me so far," the mech starts, sitting back up and staring at what he thinks is Panacea's face. "But I'm not your responsibility. I can handle myself from here, trust me. I'll find someplace to recharge tonight and make my way towards Dead End the following cycle. I don't need my optic when I'm in my alternate mode, I'll be able to make it there on my own. Hopefully I can find what I need, if not.. I'll find another way."

-"It's a lot more of a problem than it should be," says Panacea. "People without homes, I mean. Not you laughing," she adds for clarification to Swivel.

Whirl might not have his sight, but he might be able to sense that Panacea is giving him a long look. "I don't know; I think it would be irresponsible for me to just let you go," she says hesitantly. "But I won't keep you since you're not technically in danger from your own systems at the moment. Let me at least give you my frequency in case you don't get ahold of the other medics." She sounds very reluctant to just let him go.

-Swivel ceased swinging her legs as something seems to dawn on her. "If y'kin see in yer alt... 'en why can't what y'see wit in yer alt b'c'nected to yer 'ead? She tilts her head as if this is something very puzzling to her. Naturally, the femme doesn't really know much about how her own body works, let alone those of another.

*S.T.: "If you can see in your alt, then why can't what you see with your alt be connected to your head?"*

-Whirl would be a fool not to take Panacea's frequency when offered so he does, even though he doubts he could put his pride aside and contact her should he find himself in another near-death situation (which is starting to become a habit it seems.) "Sure thing," is all he says to that before standing up.

Swivel's comment makes him pause and he has to think long and hard about it. "I, uh...." More thinking. "..That's a good question, maybe you should ask Panacea about that. She knows more than I do about the Cybertronian body." He snaps his claws in the femme's direction (he thinks) and turns to exit the make-shift medical room. "Anyway, like I said, I can take care of myself. If you see Blast Off tell him I'm coming for my revenge!" Whirl begins walking..

..Only to slam 'face' first into a wall he cannot see.

-Panacea winces visably (to Swivel at any rate) when Whirl walks right into the wall. Mechs! "How about I help you get outside at least, and then when you transform, you can be on your merry way, hm?" Panacea is trying hard not to a) laugh or b) get mad. "As for connecting things around that way, well, it might be possible, but then if he needed his other form for extra speed he would be blind then. It's probably wiser to keep sight in whichever of his forms is fastest." She smiles faintly. "By his bits and bobs I would guess he can fly a whole lot faster than he can walk."

-Swivel winces and slips off of the bench she had been occupying in response to seeing Whirl walk into the wall. She scurries over to him as if about to grab his arm and guide, but then thinks better of it. "Er... 'bout I take ya on out t'where ya'll 'ave room ter change?" She glances over at Panacea with a 'I got this' expression.

*S.T.: "Er, how about I take you on out to where you will have room to change?"*

-Okay, maybe Whirl needs a little help. The mech grunts and taps the wall with his claws. "I meant to do that," he huffs, feeling around for a door or maybe a window to climb out of. He can hear Swivel approach and he stretches out his arms in the direction of her voice, poking her a few times with his claws before wrapping an arm around her and pulling himself close. "Normally I would say no because I can totally handle this on my own, but I'll make an exception for you and graciously allow you to assist me."

-Panacea nods and lets Swivel deal with Whirl while she makes a few notes. Medical notes, of course. "Be safe Whirl," she says softly as the two make their way out. Hopefully Whirl has the sense to not harm Swivel...hopefully.

-Swivel isn't overly alarmed by the poking. She expected it. So when Whirl finally has acepted her help, she also extends an arm out to help support and guide him. "Right-o! This way!" she proclaims rather clearly as she uses light pressure to direct him towards the exit and takes some steps, pulling/guiding him along.