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.
Complacency finally wound Miko down. After a few hours of watching the fire, watching the dark, watching the stars, and dying of sheer boredom, Miko finally just gave up being worried and settled down for the night. She carefully picked all the rocks out of her way and sat in front of the fire with her phone in her lap.
Sarita was fairly interesting to talk to at least. The woman had traveled a lot which was kind of cool. Miko was starting to think that might be the life for her. Not living out in the open like a hobo, but maybe traveling the globe. That sounded really cool. She could see the world and try desserts in every country. Now all she had to do was become a famous rock star and her dreams would be made.
Back starting to ache from the power slouching, Miko blindly felt for her pack and found nothing but sand and a twig. That was weird. The bag had been behind her the whole time. She'd rolled it out of the way when she'd settled down for the night. With an annoyed huff she twisted around to grope for it. The bag was gone. But a notebook lay some feet away from her.
"Uhmmm, Sarita? I think I figured out where the coyotes went." She pointed at the book bag being dragged off in the gloom like an unwilling but strangely pliant victim. A fuzzy muzzle was delicately clamped over a strap. For the life of her, Miko couldn't imagine what they'd want with her geometry notes...
There wasn't a woman beside her anymore — as soon as Miko had mentioned "coyotes", Sarita was on her feet. In a flash of dust and scarlet red, the singer was charging the coyote, bounding across the plateau like a pronghorn. The coyote froze for the briefest second, then began to turn and run away, eyes wide as it realized it had been found out.
With a battle cry that sounded like a warrior princess choking on a hamburger, Sarita leapt for the coyote like an enraged wildcat. She made some pretty good distance too, fueled by desperation and remnant, totally-not-ridiculously-overprotective tendencies coming into play; her hands grabbed a dangling, trailing strap. She landed on the ground with a solid thud, managing grab The canine jerked and flailed, giving a yip before it tried to lunge at Sarita and bite her. The singer took her chance, and grabbed Miko's bag; a sloppy swing let her smack the coyote's nose with it.
"NO! BAD DOG! BAD!"
The coyote grabbed another strap, and thus began a tug-of-war between woman and beast. Sarita began to drag Miko's bag back towards the fire, but the damn beast was strong for it's tiny size. She was nearly lifting it off its front paws with all the force she was using, and the creature refused to let go — books, pencils and empty wrappers were scattering everywhere in the fight. Paper tore as Sarita tripped over a maths textbook, swearing as she nearly lost her footing.
Miko was on her feet in a flash. Even if coyotes were wimpy, mangy little dogs of the wild, she still didn't want to be on her butt if they decided to get close. She wasn't getting a stupid rabies shot! She heard that they injected them in your stomach and nothing was worse than a stomach shot. Except maybe rabies. Maybe.
As much as she wanted to do something daring and heroic, the sight of Sarita flinging herself across the camp and wrestling with the coyote over her bookbag just drew Miko up short. She stared, eyes widening enough to feel instantly dry in the cool air. As uncomfortable as she was, she didn't dare blink, lest she miss something. This was....priceless.
"MIKO! THROW A ROCK!"
Mechanically, Miko raised her hand and flicked the phone out so she could snap a pic before the coyote fled. It was really the only thing to do in such a situation. "Nuh uh. I might hit you with it!"
Last Edit: Oct 23, 2014 19:17:07 GMT -5 by Deleted
"THROW THE DAMN ROCK BEFORE IT GETS AWAY!" Sarita yelled, yanking hard on the bag of books again. A discomforting ripping noise was ignored, the coyote tugging hard on its end of the bag; Sarita growled and tried to heft the bag higher. Swinging the creature's prize back and forth, all four of the coyote's paws nearly left the ground, Sarita's face twisted into a maniacal grin as she watched.
"Oh, so that's how you want to play, eh puppy...?" the woman darkly crooned, taking a hard step back. Lifting the bag up again, she waited until the animal's belly was exposed, then lifted her leg.
"Well then how about this!"
WHUMP!
"ARP!"
The dog let go immediately and fell onto its back, wiggling all around on the ground as Sarita cackled madly. Her foot drew back in satisfaction, the singer rather proud that she could now say that she had successfully kicked a coyote in the ballsack. She was not sorry, she would would not be sorry, and she let out a loud, "WHOO!" as she held uo the backpack.
"FUCK YEAH! Who's the woman?! Who's the big bad bitch here?!"
She didn't notice a sandwich from Miko's pack falling out onto the ground, the busker too high on her ridiculous success to spot such a thing.
Miko felt like her jaw couldn't drop any further or it might actually touch the ground. The whole display, all of it, was just..this was just...it was kinda cool, actually. And a whole lot hilarious. She felt a tiny giggle start to bubble up in her chest and before she could stop herself she was cackling like an idiot, completely useless to defending their camp or for rock throwing.
"You-you kicked a coyote in the marbles!" Miko cackled and hugged her stomach. She laughed so hard it nearly hurt. Either she was finally losing her mind or the stress of the day was breaking like a thundercloud opening up above them. Laughing felt good in spite of things.
"Wait, wait, I got this." Miko snickered and fished up a stick to valiantly chase after the fleeing coyotes. She even managed to sound somewhat respectable as she rallied a battle cry and chased them to the opening of the trail leading down. There was no way she was going to pursue them into the darkness but she doubted they were going to try coming back up for a cheap sandwich or an old apple after this defense.
"Yes, yes I did," said Sarita, tilting her chin upwards with pride. "And your bag has successfully been retrieved, though a little worse for wear, I'm afraid. If I had a needle and thread, I would try to stitch it back up for you."
She watched as Miko ran after the retreating coyotes, which were more or less two pairs of eyes shining warily in the darkness. Sarita took a minute to chuckle, and then succumbed to protective instincts telling her that Miko "should not be doing such a thing". The singer wouldn't show signs of fussing, but she did walk over to come up beside Miko, shouting something inappropriate at the coyotes in Spanish. As far as she was concerned, the girl wouldn't be able to translate it.
This also meant her attention was away from the dropped sandwich, which was promptly snatched up by a coyote from another, unseen hiding spot. She had watched and waited as her mate and packmates distracted the humans, lunging out when she had the chance. Her jaws delicately but firmly clamped around the foodstuff, the coyote bounded away and waited for the humans to leave the trail's head. As someone once said, behind every great man was a great woman — even if this one let her mate lower his reproductive chances for a sandwich.
"Eh, that's ok. The rips will look cool." Miko fully intended to use this weird night for bragging rights until someone told her to kindly shut up. If anything, this would be the perfect excuse for missing a few assignments. Her homework was literally eaten by a coyote! She couldn't account for that natural disaster!
"....ah-" here she trailed off into a string of her native language that is best left untranslated. "The bag was full of food. I'll bet it's ruined now." She had been looking forward to that sandwich too. Her stomach growled in dismay at the prospect of missing supper. Maybe something had survived the encounter and stayed coyote drool free.
"I think I'm ready to rejoin civilization..." Miko sighed and flung the stick over her shoulder. She just wanted to bed down, try to sleep the night away, and find a gas station or something in the morning. And then she wanted a shower and real food. This roughing it was annoying!
Sarita just...stared. Stared a stare of disbelief, of defeat, and the sheer inability to process what had just happened. She had flung around a coyote and kicked him in the nutsack — and there had been another one hiding. Waiting. Taking its time so that the rest of its group could soften Sarita and Miko up, and steal what was the pair's while their backs were turned.
Sarita took a moment to swear thickly in Spanish, grumbling the words through half-gritted teeth. She rubbed her face as she stomped over to the half-destroyed books and goods, gathering them up roughly and shoving them into Miko's napsack. Her face was now a picture of simmering fury, of someone who was absolutely done with the night's ongoing shit.
"I think I'm ready to rejoin civilization..."
"Go to sleep, I'll do triage," growled Sarita, setting herself firmly down by the fire. "I'll figure out something."
Miko was a grand example of every teenager in the history of mankind. Her body somehow defied physics and all manners of right and wrong. Because the minute she laid down on the hard, sand laden ground, she went to sleep as if she were on feather down. By all rights, she shouldn't have been nearly as comfortable or able to sleep one hour much less six but, by all that was strange and odd, she sure did. The weak morning light burning against her eyes is what woke her first. The realization that she wasn't in her soft bed made her sit up faster than she should have. A nasty cramp struck in her neck and she rubbed at the offended muscles while blearily looking around.
The view was actually breath taking in the morning light. The day promised to be clear and beautiful, but likely hot. She cast an uneasy look at her skin at the thought of more unprotected hours in the sun. With a grumble, she shoved herself to her feet and staggered toward the edge to get a view of the surrounding valley while stretching her legs. She barely noted the difference in the terrain but a flash of metal got her attention and she lost the fog of sleep and shaded her eyes with a hand. Below them, far enough away to appear like ants, a group of people hiked through the maze of natural rock and scrub formations.
"Oh! Um-person! Er, Sarita! People!" Miko hopped up and down, pointing at the distant group of whoevers. She wasn't about to lose sight of them. "We can finally get out of here!!"
Sarita was by Miko in an instant, standing on her tip-toes to get a bit of height over the teenager. She wasn't much taller than Miko, but between the calculating, intense look she gave the horizon and her stiff stance, she loomed. In her hand was Miko's bag, food sorted by how perishable and beat-up it was, and she clutched it protectively to her chest.
"We don't know them," said Sarita matter-of-factly. "We're in the middle of fuck-all nowhere, and this isn't a designated camping area. People do not usually come out here unless they're lost like us, or they have something in mind. They could have drugs."
Sarita didn't feel like explaining the handful-or-so of drug deals she'd accidentally come across in remote places. The woods, wildernesses and semi-open spaces of the world were nice, but any clever mind could hide a meth lab or a grow-op. She unconsciously put her hand out, the singer gently trying to push Miko away from the edge.
"They probably haven't seen us yet," said Sarita, "but they'll see the smoke. Miko, help me put out the fire."
Turning around and striding with purpose, the singer began to kick and throw dirt into the remaining charcoal. She then would poke rocks carefully with one finger, drawing her hand away sharply from anything too hot to handle. Snatching what she could, she slowly carried them over to the trail and threw them off the side, trying not to hit any bushes. It would make too much noise if she did, and any residual heat risked starting a fire.
"Take a branch and sweep away our footsteps around the fire," said Sarita. "Groom the sand, like a cat. Make it seem like the dirt blends in with the other dirt, and that nobody was ever here. Once you're done that, break down the branch and help me put the kindling in your bag. When we go down the trail, pick up that other big, bushy one and drag it behind us, to cover our tracks."
"Oooor, they're a search party looking for a lost student. I was with my class when I got lost." On purpose. "The teacher's don't get paid a lot but I'm pretty sure they would have noticed me gone by now and be held accountable. I'm not exactly the best student available but that just means they'll notice the quiet. Which means this is someone trying to find us! And hey, if we spin it right, you can be the hero and I can be the hapless student who had to spend a night out in the wild fighting off coyotes. At least, that's what I'm telling them."
They didn't need to know the specifics. Like her having deviated from the path on her own choice. She could very well just admit to being distracted by something shiny. As for giving her umbrella to the other gal, well, she was getting sunburnt. So really, Miko wasn't at fault here. And nobody really got hurt. Other than the coyote singing soprano by now.
"Don't you want to be a hero?" Miko waved her arms to the people far below in the hopes that they'd see her.
Sarita considered Miko's words. Her eyes narrowed at the youngster, a thoughtful, scrutinizing frown crossing her features. She crossed her arms, turning to glance at the party of people in the distance, and then back at Miko. Too much of the singer was insisting that they use stealth, taking the element of surprise and using it to their full advantage against these strangers. Would a search party even come out so far? There was nothing for miles around, not even an unused shack or a road as some sort of landmark.
But then again, Sarita had made a fire. Someone might have seen the smoke and gotten suspicious, and word had probably spread that a child had disappeared from her field trip. There were perks to being a hero — it led credibility and good impressions to any arguments Sarita made in favour of herself — but it also made the cops aware of her existence. News reports picked up and reported this sort of thing as "feel good news", whether or not the disappearance was minor.
Turning back to Miko, Sarita said, "I'll get their attention. Go hide in the nearby bushes, and when I call for you, make it look like you were going to get firewood or something. It's just in case, Miko."
Striding over to the edge of the plateau, Sarita cleared her throat, then sang a few, quiet test notes to make sure her vocal strength was right. With a deep suck of air, she cupped her hands around her mouth, screaming from the chest for maximum volume and distance.
"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IS ANYONE OUT THERE?! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
Surprisingly, Miko actually took the suggestion to step away from the edge of the sheer face. Whether it was her taking heed of the woman's words or her trying to get away from the surprisingly loud set of pipes Sarita possessed, would remain a mystery. She took the time to make sure the fire was fire like and to gather the remains of her notebooks (that still had dainty teeth marks in them) and her ruined bag. Once everything was set up in a neat pile, she walked away from the improvised camp site to meander through the brush.
For a search party, they took their sweet time making it to the plateau. But it was a search party and they even had a eager mixed dog leading the charge. Even better, they had water for her and Sarita and some aloe for her burns. Score! There was a big fuss over her getting lost from her class and for Sarita finding her. At first they didn't know what to make of the woman, but Miko plaid it like she and Sarita relied on each other all night long and would surely have been in trouble without each other. There were even coyotes!
Well, anyway, it made a great story in the paper even if they left Miko's name out because she was a minor. Which was for the best. She didn't exactly need the publicity given how the Cons were still sort of out there and not entirely stupid. Still, she clipped out the article and hung it in her locker to remind the other students how much of a BA she was.
As for the glimmer she saw in the distance...well, as luck would have it, that was a energon vein. Albeit a tiny one. But Miko at least felt the flush of pride for having taken a chance and been rewarded. However, she wasn't going to Lone Ranger that crap again. Next time she was just going to call Bulk before braving the stupid desert.