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.
The opportunity was not wasted. Lifting her hand into the air, Sarita turned around in her seat, angling back with one finger defiantly raised. She called out in Spanish something entirely too inappropriate, and then laughed like a hyaena at the absurdity of it all. She had just crossed the border, without a passport and in a sentient machine, and waved her finger at the blissfully-unaware Border Patrol.
«In your face, you little shits!»
The little things tended to make flights with Deuce more magical, for lack of a better word. As the Rocky Mountains reached up from below, Sarita's eyes rounded in awe at the piling clouds. Like a wall of fog, that which would become rain crept over the edge of one side, not quite making it over the jagged lines below. Threads of lower-level cloud followed valleys like rivers, and the blues of water bodies were clear and profound from the sky. A lake-pond with swampy grasses at one end peeked out from a patch of dark trees; Sarita's eyes followed the foliage into the familiar valley.
Grinning ear to ear, Sarita pointed out the window in the direction of the valley's plateau. "There's a plateau that comes down in between the two peaks there. It's a natural (if short) runway for a flier, so long as you come in west-east. North-south, there's a slope of trees behind it, and east-west has lots of trees too. And a moose — can't forget the moose."
It stood on a wingtip and banked towards the valley. The load would press Sarita into her seat like a firm paw, and hold her there until the jet's engine throttled back with an audible sound. The jet rolled level as it began its descent, its nose slanted downwards.
Wind whipped past the canopy. As the jet passed through eight thousand feet a rumbling began to shake its airframe. Mechanical turbulence off the mountains below, most likely. Though it was a little unpleasant, the jet did not seem perturbed by the rough air as it began a gentle circle over the plateau that Sarita had pointed out.
It continued to descend. Outside the cockpit the mountain peaks rose up sharply, until the jet was beneath then. It turned smartly to avoid striking the terrain. When it was lined up along the east-west approach it began its final descent. The engine roared as it powered back, the flaps gave an electric whir, and the seat dropped from beneath Sarita as the jet abruptly sank.
The ground rushed up. All at once the world around Sarita erupted into a dizzying whirlwind of cold air and mechanical parts. An instant later she would find herself cradled in one of Deuce's hands as he touched down on the grass, light flickering from his heel thrusters.
He casually jogged to a halt and looked around.
"Holy crap, this is pretty!" he said. "Oh, here."
Deuce knelt and lowered Sarita from his chest to the ground.
The singer blinked, then staggered from the jet's hand like a fawn out of a thicket. She had anticipated the first mid-air transformation, as she'd been given ample warning — Deuce's grin had a peculiar cock to it, and his optics a particular shine, when he had an idea. Here, especially after the turbulence before their landing and with Deuce in jet mode? Not so much of a heads-up. Sarita slicked back her hair with one hand, taking a moment to admire the view and regain her senses.
"...Yeah," said the busker, gesturing at the wide, open expanse of grey-beige, brilliant blues and deepest greens. "This is...it. We never, um, really gave this place a name, it was kind of an overnight camping...trip...thing."
Sarita shook her head, then looked up at Deuce. "Um, I know what I said before, but could you let me know when you're gonna do that? Like, it's still fucking amazing man, but I don't really like turbulence. And...we had turbulence. And I wasn't prepared. Yeech."
One hand smoothed down the side of her skirt. She abruptly stopped, looked back down at Deuce's feet, and then back up at the jet's face.
"Wait, how did you float to the ground like that?"
Last Edit: May 31, 2015 11:07:37 GMT -5 by Deleted
To demonstrate he did a tiny leap into the air and hovered there. Yellow light flickered at the boosters in his heels before cutting out again. He dropped to the ground with a gentle thud. "Assists in bipedal take-offs and landings, since no human jets can efficiently hover. At least, not in the way Cybertronians require to get airborne and transform. Had a lot better anti-grav unit back when I was a scrub jet. Ran off my engine, which was a lot more powerful back then."
He sighed and put his fists on his hips. His interest perked up again as he took in the valley.
"Seriously though, this place is gorgeous," he said. "Do I get an official tour? Please tell me I get an official tour."
She sometimes underestimated Deuce's ego — he got more and more giddy the more she asked him to talk about himself. Despite this, she couldn't help but find him adorable when he was wound, reminded of a little boy who'd gone to see a thrilling movie. "All right, all right, you get the tour!" she good-naturedly replied, motioning for the jet to follow her. "Come over to the edge, I'll point out the major landmarks first."
A finger rose, aimed at the first two things of note: a pair of high, sharp peaks, almost twins of each other as they pierced the sky in parallel. The songstress traced a line from the one that loomed to the south, and to its opposite across the vale.
"These two mountains we called the Horns of Hattin, after a place where the Saracens fought the Crusaders in...well, the Crusades," Sarita explained. "The Western Horn has many high, sheer cliffs you can sit and stare out from, but it's pretty hard to climb if you don't have wings. If you do? Pick a place to sit, you'll probably be able to get to it. Can't say I'll be able to join you up there if you do, though — I almost fell off of it a couple times, so I'm not keen on trying to get back up there.
"The Eastern Horn, on the other hand, has a lot more slopes and footholds I can get up. Pretty easy to hike up and sightsee from, but there aren't as many wide, big cliffs there. I've been up there to look around, and it's really nice to be, but be careful where you land. Some parts of the mountain might not be able to hold your weight, especially on the near side."
Next was the copse of trees Sarita had indicated where a moose was from. "Over there is the Moosewood," she continued, taking a couple of steps towards it. "We call it that because there's this big, angry bull that lived here when we visited. It chased me up a pretty big, pretty dead tree, which you can see in the centre of the Moosewood from the air. Fun times."
Back to the valley she turned, pointing out something somewhere between a lake and a pond. It was the near the line of train tracks on a sloping ledge, filled with grasses and surrounded by soggy-looking earth. "Nothing creative there, I'm afraid. It's called 'The Pond', and other than seeing the moose come down to it, I can't think of anything notable about it. It's got fish and leeches in it, and I think the water comes from underground. The train tracks are just 'The Tracks'. Did I ever tell you about leeches?"
Finally, she gestured to the plateau around them. "And this...well, we'll call this 'The Runway', for obvious reasons. I came up here a couple of times, but I never really explored a lot. There's a small cave in the cliff face at the bottom we slept in, though I'm not sure if a bear has moved into it or not by now. Won't ask you to come in there, if you don't want to — it's not like it's the biggest thing about this place. As a matter of fact, I think I should explore more around here, if we're going to be camping out here for a while. Who knows what I could find?"
With his hands folded together behind his back, Deuce followed along gravely as Sarita pointed out the unique features of the valley. His optics lit up at the sight of the pond, and he laughed at the story of the moose.
"I think exploring the place thoroughly before we move in sounds like a good idea," he said. He stepped forward, looming above her as his long stride carried him away towards the water. He put his hands on his hips. "Especially if there are bears around. Bear mace and bear bells only do so much. The last thing I want is my Sarita eaten by a grizzly."
He mimicked placing both hands over his heart and grinned down at her.
"Seriously though, I think this spot is going to work great," he declared. "I can't wait to get a better look at the Western Horn. It actually sounds as if it would make a pretty decent lookout point - not that I expect many people to come looking for us here. And this whole plateau is well protected, which should do nicely in the event of bad weather. If that cave is indeed empty, we should have a dry place to bunk down in."
Deuce scratched the side of his head. "Hmm. Those train tracks… do they lead to civilization? If so, how long a hike would it take to get there? I wasn't really looking out for any nearby towns when I flew in."
Especially if there are bears around. Bear mace and bear bells only do so much. The last thing I want is my Sarita eaten by a grizzly."
She had begun to follow him, curious as to why he was headed for the pond. It probably wouldn't reach up beyond his ankles, and Sarita had sunk into the mud the last time she was there. How was he supposed to get around if his feet got stuck in the —
My Sarita.
Sarita stopped, jerking to a halt entirely too fast. Her expression was blank, as if her mind was yanking back to another place. Her mouth opened a little, but then quickly shut as she shook her head, resuming her following of the robot. Her chest tightened in a strange way, enough so that Sarita scratched at what felt like a sudden itch.
He's looking at you, dumbass.
"O-oh!" the singer said, mind speeding through the background noise that had been Deuce talking. Western Horn, lookout, protected plateau, cave, train tracks — "It's, um, it's about one or two days by foot if we head away from the border. If you head south...fuck, man, can't really remember where the nearest town is, that way; we hopped a train and pretty much kept our heads down until we were back on the U.S. side. Can you imagine the shit we would've been in we were caught up here without passports, hopping random freight?"
She gave Deuce a funny look. Overhead, some sort of raptor cried and circled, diving down into the valley below. "And wait, aren't you afraid of enclosed spaces? I mean, the cave is more human-sized. I'm pretty sure we could fix that, but you got the heebie-jeebies staying in Haven too long. If you wanted, you could park yourself on a cliff or something, and I could get you a tarp the same colour of the stone. You'd be dry during rain, and you wouldn't be stuck in a hole with a roof.
"Or are you okay bringing your holo into tight spaces, and it's just when you yourself is there that you feel sick?"
Looking dubious, he wibbled a hand back and forth. "That's a bit tough to say. Venturing into yonder dark underground caverns with my avatar is a little easier than diving in headfirst with my handsome self, yes. I think that owes to the reduced sensory input of the avatar - it doesn't get bombarded with the same sensations as the real deal does because it simply isn't equipped to pick them up. It's hard light, it's lucky it can manage to hear and see things."
He laughed a little nervously. "Me, on the other hand - I get overloaded on all of that crap. And ugh. Yeah. Suffice to say, I won't go splunking with you any time soon. But the avatar should be all right. And I'll be fine too, so long as I stay near the mouth of the cave, if it's big enough to admit me. If not, I'll gladly bunk out in the trees or on the cliff or something. No paint off my wings."
Deuce shivered, his wings rattling. He held up his drooping hands, like a society lady who had just picked up something icky, and made a face.
"Ick. Ack. No caves," he said. "No thanks. That said, the rest of this place is pretty spectacular. Good find, Sarita. A very good find. I think this is gonna work nicely."
"No caves, then," said Sarita, nodding. By the way he acted, wearing a tarp might evoke the same claustrophobic conditions a cave did, making that a potential no-no. "What about an overhang, though? Something open on all sides and all you have is a roof for rainstorms? We find something tall enough, you can even transform and just sit there while the water goes somewhere else."
The admiring look wasn't lost on her. She blushed again, face turning a shade of scarlet as she brushed some hair out of her face. "Oh, don't act like you didn't help," the woman said, "and don't start saying that I 'did all the work'. It is your marvelous wings that allowed us to soar above the border and find this wonderful spot again in the first place!"
The songstress then gestured towards the cave, holding out an arm as if to hold a door open for someone.
"Shall we go off for a little adventuring, then? If you want, you can fly off and check out the Horns first, or whatever. 'S'your valley too."
Last Edit: Jun 14, 2015 14:05:56 GMT -5 by Deleted
Deuce looked inordinately pleased by the praise. He stuck his fists on his hips and straightened to his full height. A curly smile came over his face as he swept back his wings and pricked them over his shoulders.
"I'm all for checking out the Horns!" he said. "That sounds fantastic. It'd be nice to get a good eyeful of the view up here. But first…"
A maniacal gleam entered his optics. "First, I am gonna cannonball the hell out of that pond."
He did.
And smelt like dead weeds and algae for the rest of the afternoon. So that was a fun adventure for Sarita to endure.