Huh? What's Rathan doin' at the Warehouse?

[Oops, he thinks you mean Haven's ACTUAL crabby dragon. As for the rest, the real reaction is belated and...almost comical.]

Soundwave, nice ta mee-wait, S-soundwave!?

[He'd started to offer his hand, but then /flinches/ back in an instant of near-panic, the name coming out a squeak, and he's wrapping his free hand around the front of Sam, instinctively shielding her against himself. Old habits die hard . . . old reactions die even harder. B-but he forces himself to stop and take stock again in the next instant - the radically different build, the personality, the "wrong" colored brand, things the mech's said about /him/ . . . finally he nods, forcibly rolling the tension from his shoulders as he lowers the hand covering Sam.]

I mean . . . Soundwave . . . right. Heh, tell ya what - you promise not ta torture or mind-rape me and I'll promise not ta stab ya or somethin'. Deal?

[He tries to make it a joke - he really does - but...there's some obvious experience in his optics and buried under his lighthearted tone.]