"Okay," Mikaela says, as her boots hit gravel. "Transform." They're in a canyon a ways outside of town, and this is probably as close to private as they're going to get. "Slowly," she adds, but she's asking, not insisting.
Ironhide makes this noise that's half human snort, and half machine rumble, but he listens. He moves slowly, hydraulics hissing, so Mikaela can watch. It's breathtaking, the smooth slide of his parts, the way he can change -- the way he can be a machine and also alive.
"May I?" she asks, reaching up, bracing her hands against the heavy plate of his...ankle? Is that still the right word, even?
"Go ahead," Ironhide says. "That what this was about? You curious?"
Mikaela boosts herself onto his struts so she can look closer, see how he fits together. "Don't you guys get curious about us?" His plating is pockmarked, his gears caked with rust.
"Not like you do," he says. "We've had millions of your years to learn about new life forms."
"Oh. Right." Mikaela hesitates.
Ironhide laughs. "You don't have to stop. It's a good thing, curiosity."
That shouldn't make her feel so warm, but hell, she's not going to complain.