Ep 1.5 - It's a Classic! (Closed)

[Deleted]

Stars?



Tailgate hadn't even noticed the twinkling spots in the sky.



Tailgate couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen one. Had he even seen one before? He knew what a star was, but honestly, the Minibot could not remember ever seeing one. As Kitandcaboodle and Bluestreak pointed out, the light pollution on Cybertron rendered the stars invisible. Not like Tailgate spent a lot of his time outside anyway. The period between his sparking and basic life training had all been indoors, within the massive skyscrapers and underground systems of Cybertron. The few times he had ventured outside was when he was on his way to the spaceship ports in Iacon. Tailgate had hoped to see some heavenly bodies as he worked on the Prescient Dawn but his hopes were squashed once he discovered the lower decks had no windows. And as a low caste bot, he never ventured above his predetermined position in the belly of the ship.

That was the one thing he didn't miss. The caste system. To the others, seeing a star might not have been as monumentally important as it was in this moment to Tailgate. That star was more than just a radioactive, gassy fireball fusing elements trillions of miles away. It was like someone had finally lifted the veil from his optics. If only some of his former superiors were around. Tailgate wanted to rub this moment in their faces.

His epiphany was interrupted by Kit's unexpected comment. Tailgate's serene field jumped a little in surprise. It wasn't that he was upset at the flirting, simply, Tailgate had never really received such a compliment before. A job well done back on Cybertron was ignored. It was his place in life to do his job right, after all.

"Uhm, thanks, Kit." Came the uncertain reply. "...Hey I'm not old! I'm...I'm chronologically challenged!" Tailgate said, in a slightly miffed, slightly joking tone. The comment stung a bit as he wasn't expecting Kit to know of his incredulous age. Yet Tailgate didn't wish to offend right back with a mean comment, so he left it at that.

"I've heard of Air Raid 'round the base. He seems like a nice guy." Tailgate said in response to Bluestreak. "Have yet to meet him though. Have yet to meet a lot of other bots, actually."

Tailgate followed the group as they traveled down the empty highway. The sky, so saturated with stars before, was growing brighter. In the distance, a massive blob of artificial light signified a huge human city looming on the horizon.

"Is that Vegas? Does that mean we're close?"

[Deleted]

“…chronologically challenged!”

“Don’t worry your aft off, I wont tell anyone, ‘sides, once Bluestreak gets ya kitted out in a modern Earth mode, no one will be able to tell.” Was there cheek in Kit’s tone? There just might have been a little, maybe.

Truthfully, Kit did not know how old Tailgate was, but he had now just confirmed it. She was only guessing as his altmode was so retro, yet Tailgate didn’t seem the sort to actively aim for retro styling.

Maybe changing her own alt mode would be good for Kit afterall. Her current alt was just so much blah, which truthfully fitted Kit in personality much of the time. But here was a new planet, a new home – which she didn’t have a choice about – so she might as well do her best to actually start somewhat fresh. The stars really were nice, but she missed the particular lights of Vos so much. That settled it, for now at least. Kit was going to try to enjoy getting a new alt mode. She didn’t really like being a grumpy apathetic glitch, so why not have fun with others, however she could, instead of having fun at the expense others.

“So what’s the plan team leader? How do we sneak around and look for totally awesome Earth modes?”

[Bluestreak]

"It's Vegas," Bluestreak agreed. "But we're sure not too close, about... eh, half an hour that way. It's just super bright, like... well, it appears super bright because really, Earth is so dark compared to back- back home. The humans just don't have ambient light like ours in a lot of places, I mean, heck, look at us...

He flashed his high beams and then tapped his brakes. Red light strobed across his silver bumper and then he chuckled again and straightened out in the lane. The air around them was warm and the road was dark. "Have to take the back way in, but yeah, you're going to laugh at me, I uh, don't plan on sneaking too much. That's the neatest things about this place I found, right? I mean, it's open air, right, at a parking lot, and it's just where humans go to show off their cars, and let me tell you, there's a lot of expensive cars in Vegas, gorgeous cars, and well..."

The Datsun bounced up on his tires and weaved from side to side. He lazily slipped between the yellow lines on the pavement and then straightened back out. "And there's a lot of weird cars. We can stay on the edges, and fit right in, as long as they don't see in your windows. I got pretty close the first time, it's just- you'll see. It's probably the only place where our Cybertronian modes work just fine here pretending they're kit cars, -- er, not Kit cars, kit cars, they're different, folks putting cars together that are all parts and makes and and one of a kind, you'll see..."

"Yeah, he's a nice guy," he murmured suddenly, drawing back to the earlier conversation. "Super nice. As for the other bots, you'll meet them, lots of folks have been in and out and and moving and patrolling. Heck I dunno everyone here, but there's quite a few."