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.
((Note: Rhinox's garden wound up being not too far from the Autobase proper - maybe a half-hour's drive if you didn't groundbridge. Multiple patrols would pass by the area. But it's not JUST outside the base, to avoid attracting undue attention. Handwaving all the red-tape and bureaucracy-appeasing Funny Dances. This particular thread technically starts inside the base, but as they'll be bridging out in a couple posts max, I'm keeping all the action here to avoid clutter.))
Watering can, already full: check. Various soil-manipulating implements, forged from odd bits of scrap: check. Organic, fair-trade fertilizer: check. Field guide to native flora and fauna: downloaded.
Right. He was ready.
Rhinox dialed in the groundbridge coordinates to his garden (his garden! Internal squeebounce activate), but glanced up before hitting the switch at the sound of footsteps. They were quickly revealed to belong to a familiar form, and Rhinox smiled in greeting. "Hello, Shadow."
Shadow entered the control room intending to appropriate the ground bridge for a quick trip to Anywhere But Here, only to find Rhinox already at the controls, hands full of...things (including what appeared to be a 55 gallon drum equipped with a spout and handle), and EMF broadcasting excitement in longwave bands that nearly crossed the room. She was surprised that he was paying attention to anything else, worked up like that, but he looked up as she neared, and she found herself answering his happy smile with one of her own.
"You got final permission for the garden?" she asked, putting together the oh so subtle clues of "ecstatic Rhinox" and "ground bridge" and (what she finally recognized as) "gardening equipment". "Does that mean your sunrays are going to be all right?"
Rhinox was broadcasting excitement so loudly it was a wonder the whole base wasn't peeking in to see what was going on, but he was completely unrepentant. Garden!
"The sunrays seem to be thriving well in their new home," he reported, favoring her with a broad beam. "Would you like to come with me and see them? I did promise, after all," he offered with a smile. "And there are some interesting cactus specimens as well."
"I'm glad they survived." She grinned. "Especially after all the work we put into saving them. And I'd love to see them when they aren't buried in mud and we aren't half blind from rain."
She settled in beside him as the ground bridge opened, EMF as longwave as his, if not as excited. This might not be the way she had planned to spend her afternoon, but it was Anywhere But Here, and Rhinox...well, Rhinox had proven himself good company in the past.
The sun was baking hot when Rhinox and Shadow emerged from the groundbridge, Nevada in summer proving true to its reputation. Rhinox welcomed it.
"It's just down here," he told Shadow, pointing to a shallow ravine. "I had to keep it at a low elevation to make it easier to stay hidden. And, no muddy ridges to fall down," he added with a grin.
He led Shadow down an old stream bed, past various sweet grasses and sages that grew wild along the walls, until it opened out into a broad, flat area walled on two sides by sandstone, providing some shelter from sun and rain. In the walled corner, nestled in safely and comfortably, was over a dozen of bright, cheery yellow blooms: the sunrays Rhinox and Shadow had rescued.
"Hello," Rhinox murmured to them. "Remember Shadow?"
...Only after he'd spoken did it occur to him to remember that he might be thought a touch eccentric for talking to flowers.
Shadow couldn't help herself; she was analyzing Rhinox's chosen location even before he had led her from the ground bridge drop-off point into the ravine where the garden was. He had picked a good spot, even if it was a little close to base. No high-traffic areas in line of sight, even at ground level, and even the nearest access road was well over a mile away. No natural landmarks to attract hikers, and once they were down in the stream bed even Rhinox was quickly concealed by the gradually rising walls.
A quick internet search revealed they were away from civilian flight paths, so they wouldn't have to worry about being spotted from above...or at least, Rhinox could generally assume that anything overhead was either military or Decepticon, and Shadow suspected that a member of Team Axalon would be more than capable of determining what to do in either situation.
In short, by the time they reached the garden proper, Shadow was fairly sure she couldn't have found a better location herself, and that fact allowed her to relax completely as Rhinox led her over to the sunrays.
Somehow, it didn't surprise her that Rhinox spoke to them. She knew some humans swore that talking to plants helped them grow better, and judging from how much better the sunrays looked compared to when they'd been fishing them out of the mudslide and packing them into Rhinox's toolbox, Rhinox must have been lavishing a great deal of care and attention on them. Not such a surprise that, after that much effort, he'd be attached enough to talk to them.
If he started acting like he expected them to answer, then she'd worry he was glitched.
With a smile, Shadow knelt down beside the little group of plants, observing them intently with optics and sensors. "They really are beautiful," she said. "I don't understand why humans don't cultivate them."
Rhinox's longwave was quickly flavored by sheepishness - caught out in impossibly nerdy behavior. But if Shadow was going to let it pass without comment, then so would Rhinox.
He knelt by Shadow, setting his gardening tools down carefully beside the flower bed. "Some plants can't be cultivated, I think," he answered, nudging one blossom gently with a fingertip to check it for evidence of insect damage. "Or at least humans haven't found a way yet. Some plants, you just have to let grow how they grow."
He tilted his head up to smile at her. "Want to help me water them?"
"You seem to be doing all right with them," Shadow pointed out, turning to look at him briefly before reaching out to brush the tip of a finger along one delicate stem. She could still see the damage from the mudslide, places where Rhinox had trimmed back broken stems, torn leaves and partially crushed blooms, but none of the plants appeared to be drooping or turning brown.
She smiled when he asked if she wanted to help water them; so that was what the modified drum was for. "Of course I'll help. Even if it does seem amazing they'd need more water after what they went through."
She watered the flowers under Rhinox's careful optic - it really did amaze her they could need it, considering they'd been washed away from their old location and then packed in mud for Primus only knew how long before Rhinox transplanted them - and when he was satisfied she set the watering can aside. The other tools Rhinox had brought were standing in a neat row along one sandstone wall; Shadow tipped her head toward them and regarded Rhinox with open curiosity. It was the sort of thing she normally tried not to admit to, but gardening was already something so...unusual that she doubted her curiosity could be criticized.
"Do you really need all that for one little patch of flowers? Or did you bring them to prepare a spot for something new?"
"Some of it is for them. They still need tending." Rhinox nodded to the bag of fertilizer. "But, Jack picked something up for me..."
With a flourish, he pulled a waxed-paper packet of seeds from subspace and showed it to her. It was smaller in his hand than a postage stamp would be in a human's. "Cleome serrulata," he explained. "The Rocky Mountain bee plant. Or so Jack says. If they grow, I might get to see some bees! To observe their behavior, of course," he amended.
His nerd was showing again. There went the sheepish-waves. "And even if they don't, it's an interesting-looking flower," he said. "I hope I can get these seeds to sprout."
Shadow quickly checked the internet for more information on the plants in question, and was rewarded with several far better images than the one decorating the packet Rhinox held. That'll give you, er, bees, she refrained from saying, doubting Rhinox would get the reference; his field was already reflecting embarrassment over his enthusiasm, and she didn't want him to think she was mocking him.
Instead, she pulsed amusement/reassurance at him and said, "Those will look good with your sunrays. And if they sprout, maybe you can get one of the humans to pick you up a wildflower seed blend. Then you'd have the opportunity to observe a variety of native plants." A quick sideways look and grin. "A variety of insect life, too, most likely."
Rhinox lit up hopefully. "Do you think so? That would be perfect. I'm trying to be careful to stick with plants that are native to this area - transplants can have an adverse effect on the ecosystem - but it'd be easier with someone who knows this area well."
He started breaking up the ground at a likely-looking sunny spot with his tools, preparing it to receive the seeds. His usual longwave tightened up a bit with excitement as he worked - finally going to get to grow a whole plant from a seed! All by himself! Well, with Shadow's help, if she was willing to continue to wield the watering can.
"They make regional seed blends." Shadow paused, rapidly searching the internet, discounting any websites which didn't list the species of flora their seeds inclued; she doubted Rhinox would be content without knowing precisely what he was planting. "There," she said finally, pinging him with a site which met the criteria of complete list of species and regional native plants only. "Twenty different wildflower species native to this region, and you can buy the seed blend by the pound. You could have this entire area in bloom if you wanted."
"By the pound?" Rhinox laughed. "That's a little too ambitious for me. I'm only a beginning gardener."
"...Maybe next year," he amended after some thought.
The thought of having the whole area covered in flowers - that he grew! - was an exciting one, he had to admit. But first, those bee plants.
"Dampen the ground a little for me?" he asked his gardening buddy. "We're going to give these little guys a good start." He deployed a pair of tweezers and carefully undid the package, unable to help a little sparkling-click at the tiny seeds.
Shadow obligingly applied the watering can to the section of crumblingly dry dirt Rhinox had broken up, watching him from the corner of her optics as she did so. He was just so charmed by the seeds, EMF filled with an uncomplicated joy that made her smile.
Shadow leaned down to break apart a stubbornly large chunk of dirt. Rhinox was easy to be comfortable around, even if he did have the questionable taste to be friends with Rattrap, and when he started clicking softly to the seeds she answered with a basic-level trill that was equal parts amusement and good cheer.
"I think you're right that a pound of seeds would be a bit much," she teased. "You might explode before you got them all planted."
Coming out here with him had been an excellent decision.
Rhinox laughed outright at the teasing, pleased as well as amused at himself and at Shadow's gentle needling. There were times when she reminded him a little of Airazor - she would have been similarly amused by Rhinox's display of Plant Geek. Rattrap, on the other hand, would have been merciless.
It takes all kinds.
With infinite care, Rhinox tweezed up a seed and settled it gently into the damp ground. "There we are," he murmured, tucking a few crumbs of dirt over it. "Grow well, little one."
He repeated the process with the next seed, and the next, always careful and gentle. "I suppose exploding would be a bad thing," he answered Shadow, amusement/fondness/teasing making their way into his field. "You might have to clean it up."