We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
Rhinox rolled his optics. "I've lost most of my equipment, but I could make do with a mouth-sized bar of soap. And some duct tape," he added as an afterthought. Just a week on Earth and he'd already fallen in love with the stuff. Humanity's greatest invention.
"Not what I had in mind." Rattrap vented a heavy sigh. "Ahh, how soon they forget."
He headed back toward the still, reaching up to pat Rhinox on the aft as he walked by. "But don't worry, by th' time I'm done with ya it'll all come back."
"Like a recurring nightmare," Airazor murmured from her perch, raising her cube in a toast to them both.
Rhinox hadn't forgotten. He simply wasn't ready for berth games, even with his old friend, who - once you got past the smell - was more than passable in the berth. He felt too old, and too sad, and was much more interesting in the simple comfort of cuddling than the much more fraught act of interface.
Although the pat on the aft was appreciated.
"I imagine you have the same nightmares I do," he offered to Airazor with a smile, moving to sit down next to her. "My sympathies."
Sitting, Rhinox was conveniently positioned for Airazor to wrap an arm around (well, partway) his shoulders. She settled against him, venting softly. "You have no idea," she said, offering him the partial cube. Rattrap, bless him, was back at the still, making sure they wouldn't need to move again once they were settled in.
Airazor leaned her helm against Rhinox's shoulder and offlined her optics, drinking in the feel of him. He felt weighted down by every klik that had passed since the Axalon had fallen, an ache she understood all too well.
"Fortunately," she added as Rattrap rejoined them, the irrepressible high energy of his EMF threading through their more sombre frequencies, "you do get used to him after a while."
Rhinox chuckled and accepted the cube, though he was much more interested in wrapping a strong arm around Airazor's shoulders and pulling her close. "Yes, you do," he admitted with a smile at Rattrap. "Eventually."
"Couldn't imagine life without him," he murmured. "Without either of you."
Airazor settled contentedly against Rhinox's side, and Rattrap, being Rattrap, draped himself around the back of Rhinox's neck, conveniently positioned to reach both of them. Airazor smiled as she looked up; the small mech might be obnoxious, but he was a much needed bright point at the moment.
"Lucky for the two a ya I'm here, ain't it?" he said, handing a fresh cube down to Airazor. "Because ya obviously don't understand that this is supposed ta be a party."
"Bad highgrade and you being obnoxious," Airazor said, fondly remembering other parties. More of them present, to be sure, but Rattrap and bad highgrade had been the defining constants. "How could it be anything else?"
Chuckling in agreement, Rhinox lifted the cube and swallowed half the contents in one mouthful. It burned going down, too much energy in too little volume of liquid without enough stabilizers to make it quite safe to consume. He lowered the cube and rebooted his optics, enduring the pain for the brief time it lasted, and refusing to cough.
"That," he pronounced, "is just terrible enough to be good."
"Ain't that th' truth." Rattrap chuckled and settled in, basking in their overlapping fields and deep, steady vibration of Rhinox's frame beneath him. "Though if ya recall, it don't compare ta th' slag we pulled outta that Con freighter. Th' Axalon's engine waste woulda tasted better'n that."
Rhinox shuddered; he could practically taste the slick, bitter substance even now. "Probably. Almost makes me feel sorry for the 'Cons who had to refuel on that." Almost being the key word - he couldn't feel too sorry for the crew of that particular cruiser, more than most. "Even the repair supplies I salvaged from there were useless, all rusted over. And I had to get through two booby traps to get to them too." He affected a sulk. "Not worth the effort."
"Oh, I don't know about that. Th' explosives on th' booby traps were still good. An' I put 'em ta good use th' next time we got up close an' personal with th' cons." Rattrap chuckled, reaching down to pat Airazor on the helm. "Even Wings got inta th' act that time."
Airazor reached up, swatting his hand aside. "The Con base on the asteroid," she said, a brilliant thread of amusement running through her field.
"Some pretty fancy flyin'."
"I almost dumped you three times."
"Four, if ya count th' time that was on purpose."
She shot him a sideways glance, optics bright in a way he hadn't seen in too long. "Who says the other times were accidents?"
"Cracked that thing open like a rotten egg." Rattrap elbowed Rhinox in the side of the helm. "Ya can't claim that one wasn't worth the effort."
Rhinox's head didn't even budge from Rattrap's elbow. "I have to admit," he smiled, "that was a fun mission. No casualties on our side, plenty of boom, and I got to toss Siege down an elevator shaft."
Siege - now there was a face who hadn't flashed through his processor in a while. A defector from the Decepticons who'd never really embraced the Autobot ethos, Siege had rubbed everybody the wrong way occasionally, though his fights with Rattrap had been the loudest and most theatrical. He'd gone to the Well long before the Axalon had fallen - if he had cared more for his own life than for making a grand gesture of his death for the lives of a few civilians, he probably would have survived that attack. He spent too much time with our commander, Rhinox thought with bittersweet humor.
"The elevator shaft was his idea," he pointed out in his own defense. "And he didn't stop cursing at me about it for a whole cycle."
"Siege," Airazor pointed out, "would have complained just as much if you hadn't thrown him down the elevator shaft."
She ex-vented contentedly, unarchiving memories that were less sharp-edged with Rhinox's field entangling her own. "I still think that's what gave Cheetor his damn fool idea to jump on that 'Con frontliner from three stories up. He was lucky you were around to catch him."
Rattrap snorted a laugh. "Yeah, 'cause that time he sure wasn't gonna land on his pedes."
Rhinox chuckled. "Cheetor was lucky I was around to catch him on many instances. It got so I just reflexively put out an arm any time I saw a yellow blur. Remember when he got his flight upgrade?" He laughed. "I had a hold of his leg yelling at him to put the brakes on while he dragged me along the ground in circles..."
His EMF spiked and flared, uncontrollable and incoherent with random signal-glyphs. Primus, it hurt to unpack those memories, it felt like getting repaired without having his pain receptors shut off first, but it was a pain he welcomed and embraced. He'd had to practically keep his friends' names under encryption in order to not break down completely...
This was what Rattrap had been waiting for, the ragged jolts in Rhinox's field that were as much chaos as actual pain and grief. He slid off his friend's shoulder to settle against his chest, his own field spiking just a little in sympathy. Frag, it wasn't like he didn't miss the kid...miss all of them, from Siege (and oh, the fights he and that over-sized slagger had gotten into, verbal and physical both) down to little Sagewind with her soft voice and big optics (who had still learned to stand up to all of them before the end, putting her talents as a historian to use in ways none of them had expected).
"I remember how Stripes used ta try an' get th' kid ta settle down," he said, carefully reaching out to Airazor as he did. She had gone still, her EMF dropping to a flat, cold line, but she didn't resist when he gently, gently took her servo in his. This memory too, Wings, he thought. If we're bringin' out th' good, that means Tigatron too. A comforting little squeeze, and Airazor was suddenly hanging onto him too tight. He kept going. "Remember even he didn't have th' patience ta deal with Cheetor for long, though."
Rhinox took Airazor's other hand himself, though he didn't squeeze - just warmed it in his own, and let his EMF do what it would, not censoring his grief for his friends' sakes. Though it seemed Rattrap was the healthiest of all of them at dealing with their losses, leading both of them in unpacking the memories.
"But he had that way of just melting out of sight when he wanted a break," he murmured. "When you weren't looking he'd just disappear, and sometimes it took us a while to notice he wasn't there. Startled me every time. Cheetor never took it badly that I knew of, though." He felt himself smile. "And the chief never acted surprised. I think he actually could keep track of Tigatron's comings and goings."