[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Juvenile Delinquency [Bumblebee]

[Bumblebee]

There wasn’t a vocal response to his words over the comm - but it didn’t matter. He’d said thank you, and that was the main thing. Carbine didn’t have to go to all this trouble for him. Even before he’d gotten Raf involved in this little thing, he’d been thinking of ways to cheer up Bee and it was nice to know that even despite everything, he hadn’t been forgotten.

Raf’s words made his helm tilt some, paired with the most gentle flutter of his door-wings.

--I’d like that! I’d like that a lot!-- his beeps were chipper and full of excitement at even the thought of doing something fun with Raf in the future. Raf deserved it, especially after everything he’d been through, and even if some of the chemicals needed were hard to get, they did have military connections through Fowler, and even then if he refused? Wheeljack probably had something they could use if they asked really nicely next time he was around.

As Raf mentioned that he was ready, Bee would take a few careful steps forward into the control room - giving himself some space to transform when they were about ready to leave. Carbine would probably have to transform outside given his altmode, but that was okay - it was nighttime and it wasn’t like anyone would see them.

--Oh that’s also good in that they won’t think anything of the fireworks! They’ll just assume we’re celebrating the sport thing!-- he said rather matter-of-factly and shifted his weight some, nodding.

He did know that some humans seemed to go crazy for sports - and while he didn’t really see the appeal, it could give them some cover just on the offchance someone did come investigate what was going on.

A glance was given to Carbine as Raf mentioned he was ready to go, before there was a familiar whir of transformation and moving parts - shifting quickly into his altmode, a moment later the passenger door would open for Raf.

--Did you want to lead on, Carbine? With the flying thing, you can probably find an awesome spot for this!--

If he’d had any inkling at all that Carbine wasn’t the most confident of fliers, he would’ve offered to go ahead, or even just somewhere they could get to on foot, but, ah well- it wasn’t like they were going super far.

[Carbine]

The comment about smoking confused Carbine... having hoped NO human would be producing smoke?... but he didn't draw attention to it, more focused on what Bumblebee had said and how he was put on the spot.

OH BOY! Time to pretend to be confident and capable!

Carbine watched the yellow Scout with a subtle edge of nervousness as he transformed and suggested that he lead this little excursion. It made sense, as a flyer he could look ahead far further, and with his spotlight he could help illuminate the safest path for Bumblebee to drive with his little fragile counterpart. But... that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to be scream cussing the entire time he was flying to himself praying that it wasn't windy and he wasn't going to be flung off kilter enough to say hello to the ground with his damn face.

The black sheet of glass that acted as his face was ALREADY cracked! He didn't want to completely bust it and fuck himself over...

"C͞a̸n̨do̢!́'"

As Carbine said this, his free hand would crook up and he would extend two fingers, tapping them a second against his helm before flicking out in a sort of half formed salute. After this was made down to the other two, Rafael likely already scrambling into the yellow vehicular form, Carbine would ease his weight to the side upon his right ped, before lifting his left a bit higher than would be needed if he were to simply take a normal step.

A simple click transformation, small, not anywhere near the noise level or length of a true shift in frame to an Alt-Mode, the front triangular portion that acted as his primary landing point swung backwards underneath the wheel that acted as his heel, before snap clicking inside the rear side of his leg that had pulled up to create space for it. His weight then planted down onto the wheel, before his momentum shifted and he pushed off the toe of his right to then transform to match.

This small push was all that was needed for Carbine to gain plenty of momentum and get going, rolling upon his wheels towards the exit not unlike a rollerblader. He could have just walked, but he figured this would be quicker and easier given the fact Bumblebee had already taken on his Alt-Mode. He didn't want the other two to be waiting for him to walk down the long tunnel of an entrance, rolling beside him almost mocking his slower pace. Running would have been an option, but he figured it could look desperate to not want to be seen as slow.

A soft crackle of the thin blade like wheels, a smooth action, Carbine folded his arms at his lower back, holding the duffel back securely in his palm while rotors flicked for balance. He was making good speed, but wasn't particularly RUSHING, so that Bumblebee could comfortably drive in his wake without it feeling like an idle crawl. He may have however put a tad more pep in his 'step' to make sure the scout wasn't DIRECTLY behind him but had a bit of a buffer.

[Raf Esquivel]

The minute Bumblebee transformed and opened the passenger door, Raf was already squirming into the back seat. He paused only long enough to slip off his back and stuff it through the space between the back seat and the gap as the front passenger seat slid forward, before crawling in after. It was easy enough to just slide the backpack over to the other side, and then he was back in his usual place, reaching for his seat belt.

Oh, it felt good to be back here again. It felt like home. Bee’s interior was always warm and soft, and after so many times he had ridden there, his small body knew exactly where to sit, how to arrange his legs for the most comfort. It wasn’t often he was ever inside Bee late at night, but there had been a few times, and unless something stressful was going on, Raf often just nodded off. Even that was comfortable, head resting back against the small headrest, eyes closed. When it was warm Bee would crack a window just a little and let a stream of air flow in around his face. Once he had been trying to stay awake, but it had gotten later and later, and while he wasn’t sure, Raf was pretty positive that Bee intentionally turned up the heat inside so he fell asleep faster.

Just as the seat belt clicked, Raf heard a faint transformation sound as Carbine altered his form slightly.

Raf’s skill with computerized machinery had given him the ability to hear one of the Autobots transforming, and after a few times, he could be blindfolded and hear someone change, and he’d know who it was. He knew Bumblebee’s backwards and forwards, inside and out. Likewise Bulkhead and Arcee. Optimus and Ratchet were pretty close as well. He even knew the sound of some of the Decepticons, though not as well. It mostly came down to size – Optimus clearly was louder, and his transformation was heavier than Arcee’s. But each of them also had their own flavour. Little clicks and clacks, a rumble here, a soft ping there. So fast it all blended in together...unless you were looking. He didn’t think the Cybertronians themselves were even aware....maybe it was like how a mouse could hear a human breathing, but they themselves couldn’t? Perhaps if you were really small...larger things just made more noise?

Regardless, Raf was subconsciously listening for Carbine’s own personal transformation sound, to store it in his own memories.

“If we can find a high place that you can drive to, Bee, we could really get them up high!” Raf frowned slightly. Cliffs weren’t normally easy to find in Nevada – everything was so flat....but there were a few rises that might work.

“I’m sure we’ll find something, though.”

Raf leaned forward slightly, peering out through the windshield at Carbine, before speaking to Bumblebee.

“Were you always a car, Bee? I mean, not a car car, but like...I mean, were you always on the ground? Could you fly back at Cybertron?”

[Bumblebee]

--Thanks, Carbine!-- Bee chirped, unaware that Carbine was feeling a little nervous about the whole flying thing. If he had known, he might’ve suggested that they both just make a run for it - with Raf held safely in his servo of course! - as it wasn’t like anyone would be around at this hour anyway.

Ah well, it’d probably be good practice for Carbine if anything.

There was a gentle but content hum as Raf settled into place, and only once he was safely secured by the seatbelt did Bumblebee close the passenger door. Again he found himself thankful that Carbine had thought of Raf in this little outing- while he liked hanging out with Carbine, he loved hanging out with Raf, and it’d been far, far too long since he’d done anything of the sort.

It was so nice that Raf was here. That things in this moment felt normal- like the old days.

He would watch as Carbine partially transformed and began moving, and once the other mech had a bit of a head-start would he begin to follow. He wasn’t riding super close behind, not wanting to make him feel like he had to rush - but was making good speed through the tunnel.

--If Carbine finds a good spot, he could always fly you up there and I can climb or something! That’s if I can’t drive up there, anyway.-- he beepily chuckled at that. There probably weren’t many cliffs that had driving access, but climbing shouldn’t be too hard - especially at night when there was little-to-no chance of being spotted.

As much as he trusted himself carrying Raf while climbing a possible cliff, it’d be so much faster and safer if Carbine flew him in his alt-mode - and he was sure the other mech would be okay with it.

--We’ll find somewhere good though, I know we will!--

Even though he couldn’t think of anywhere off the top of his processor, Carbine had the whole flying-advantage thing and could see far further into the desert than Bee ever could from down here. Even if they had to drive a short ways out to find the perfect spot, it’d be so worth it.

The question that was asked caught him off guard - in a good way! There was another hum of thought before he replied, his tone chipper.

--Aah nope, always a car! Being a hovercar woulda been cool, though, even if it’d be totally bad for courier work and scouting!

Plus, being a normal grounder made adjusting to Earth way easier, since you guys don’t have hovercars!--

A pause.

--Or do you??--

There was maybe a touch of excitement there.

[Carbine]

Fly Rafael up someplace high?

AHHAHAA!

Frag no.

It was one thing to fly Miko away from the base during the middle of the day. Able to see, able to orient, not being watched directly by Miko's little psychotic bodyguard of a mech... Should he have a little 'hiccup' in flight, even if it wasn't truly dangerous, he probably would have been yelled at by Bulkhead or snarled at for putting her into risk of injury or worse. A hazard that wasn't even there when they had been alone without the added pressure of being watched. Carbine's outing with the little human had gone safely and well with no hiccups... but to fly Raf in front of Bee?

Oh no.

Nighttime, trying to fly atop a ledge or mountain, relying on spotlight alone for navigation as Bumblebee stared him down to make sure he wasn't putting his best friend in the entire universe in danger... No... that was something Carbine wasn't too keen on doing. If it had been daylight and he was pressured enough, he may have considered it. Yet there were too many variables going against him for him to want to dive into that cluster of trouble. He didn't think he would survive the night should he slam his rotor into a rock he didn’t see, and be forced to transform, possibly missing catching Rafael in the panic and scrabble to send him cascading down to a less than pleasant outcome.

Carbine pushed off with every transition of limb as he skated, making good progress down the tunnel until the end came in sight. The plating and false rockwork pulled away with a clanking hiss to reveal the world beyond Omega, letting a cool brisk chill flow in to overcome some of the stagnant neutrality of the interior. He would continue to push off from this exit point, getting a fair amount of space between it so that Bumblebee would have plenty of room to roll out to let the door seal in their wake.

Once fully out of the base, still positioned on the rough road that trailed back to the city, He would take in an invent of air nervously, before triggering his transformation.

The Ex-Cop wasn't always too thrilled with his transformation. It didn't feel too natural, it didn’t feel normal to him. He missed his REAL Alt-Mode, not the little falsified primitive mimic of what it was to fit into this world. As Rafael undoubtedly listened, he may be able to pick up on this, Carbine's torso ratcheting around sharply, Bolo's frame splitting apart as small wheels and supportive beams pushed out from his mass... His legs clicked together to form the tail of the helicopter, the rings on his heels hooking up as short rotors spiraled out to fill the gap in-between. On his side some black panels flipped and turned around with a series of rattles to show their underside out, white painted words of 'Police' forming with a few other patterns to mark him accordingly. Lastly the posts on his back roughly rammed together with a popped boom, the rotors that had been neatly folded splaying out abruptly into right angles before tilting and canting to get a feel for their angles.

It would only be a moment before the helicopter was fully formed, resting on the small wheels as its rotors lazily spun to make sure everything was properly connected together.

Then Bumblebee asked a very pointed question.

An unseen gaze slowly crooked back to look at the yellow car, a fierce intensity and focus to try to hear what Rafael said in return. DID humans have hovercars and nobody told him!? DID he have the option to be something he actually felt comfortable being!? The concept, the mere IDEA he may have been lied to shot a sudden feeling of frustrated stress through him, as well as an excitement that maybe, just MAYBE Ratchet could reset him so he could fix things back to how they were but in a human format!

He didn’t kick up his rotors yet, trying to hear the reply.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf continued to watch as Carbine moved down the tunnel, impressed with how easily the black and white mech seemed to rollerblade along. He made it seem so easy!

“We sort of do, but not like you see in cartoons of the future and stuff. They’re mostly for military or people that travel around in the swamp. Normal civilians can’t have one, and you can’t travel on the highways with them. They’re mostly for going over water, or for military excursions over rivers and stuff like that. You couldn’t be one around here.”

Raf fell silent for a minute, “Did they have roads like this on Cybertron? Or could you just drive anywhere you wanted? Do you have, like, metal forests and things? I wish I could see what it looked like! It must be so amazing, to be in space!”

Raf moved back, settling himself into the seat more, resting a hand on his oversized backpack. He had a couple of surprises in there for tonight, and was hoping they worked the way he was hoping they would. He had never actually made fireworks, though, so he wasn’t entirely sure.

“I wonder when we’ll start going to other planets?” Raf asked aloud, musing. “How far away is Cybertron, anyway? It must be pretty far, huh?”

[Bumblebee]

Bee was honestly surprised at Raf’s answer - he’d obviously seen hover cars back home on Cybertron and so he’d expected ones here on Earth to be kinda similar, if they had them at all. But it sounded like they were rather basic and couldn’t be used everywhere.

But even so! Driving over water and in swamps? That was cool!

--So they’re just for going over rivers? That’s neat! Ain’t many rivers around here though!-- he beepily chuckled at that. Maybe one day they’d have ones that could go over land, but he wasn’t sure how that would even work!

Maybe they’d have to redo every single road on Earth so the hover cars could move? Or have roads made of water! Wait, no, that was silly.

He was lost in his own thoughts on the matter, and so didn’t really notice the silence from Raf - it was a comfortable lull anyway, and only when Raf started talking again did Bee pull his attention back.

--We had roads, yep! As for forests, uuhh… I didn’t see any, did you, Carbine?--

The downside of being sparked in the middle of a war was everything had been pretty decimated. Even the most beautiful of areas had been completely ruined, and even if there were still areas that were untouched? It wasn’t like he had any time to stop and appreciate them.

--I can try and draw you a picture of what Cybertron looked like though! From space, I mean! It’s so different to Earth. Earth is more like a marble, what with the swirls of clouds and all the colors. Cybertron was more… structured?-- was that the best word for it? He wasn’t sure.

That was one mental image he’d never forget, though - Cybertron getting smaller and smaller as they fled on the Ark. The picture would do him good, too - even if he wouldn’t be able to get it exactly right, at least the general idea would be there.

Even though he loved Earth, he did miss home.

The mused question from Raf made him chuckle, and while he wouldn’t pull forwards and drive off, he did ease forwards some to allow Carbine room to take off now he’d transformed as well.

--Surely it won’t be too long for that kinda thing! Humans are pretty resourceful! There are rockets and stuff going up all the time, right? And a satellite that hovers around the planet?--

That was progress!

The second question made him hum, and the steering wheel would ease left and right a moment as he tried to even work it out.

--How far? Oh man… Uhh… I have no idea!-- he finally admitted with a chirp, --Really, really far!--

Maybe Carbine knew? Even he was curious now, and it was something he honestly hadn’t thought about before.

[Carbine]

Mostly for military? Carbine could work with that! He didn't care if he couldn't go into a human area. It wasn’t like any of their planes or jet Autobots could really go to such areas either and they coped! He would happily take a hover vehicle even if it meant he had to only coast over Nevada and go on missions in a more remote location away from prying eyes. His rampaging thoughts stalled out however as Rafael continued, his excitement seeming to trickle down to a disappointed whir at the idea that they only functioned over water, and weren't viable for areas such as where they were now.

This really kicked Carbine down a bit, having been bottling up how much he missed his own Alt-Mode. He thought then about how if it WAS a military only vehicle, how he was so ready to just... completely abandon the idea of going to human populations. How ready he was to heave all that away without a single fuck given. It made him wonder about the viability of simply going back Cybertronian and giving the middle finger to all areas in a similar way. What difference did it make if he avoided humanity as a fancy military vehicle, verses just avoiding humanity as a completely alien device? But alas, nobody would ever bite onto that idea and he was probably more useful as a helicopter anyway here on Earth.

With this cast aside, he silently grumbled before he started to ramp his rotors up, knowing he had to actually take flight at one point or another. Dust would start to kick up some as things began to amp up, Carbine hoping Bumblebee had his windows up lest Rafael get a big bite of dirt. It was while this occurred, he heard the question pitch through communications, his gaze somewhat flicking over to the yellow vehicle, trusting he would throw his words through the radio since things were getting louder.

::I was st̶a̵t̶io̕ne̶d̕ ̵i͟n̵ a lo̡w͘er end part of P-Praxus near the border and r̸arely traveled out, nothi͘ng th͡e̸r̀e that isn't- er... wasn't indu͜s̢-i͞ndư-i͘nd̨-tr͢ialized and populated::

'But hey, it is a desolate wasteland now being claimed by 'nature' so who knows! HAH!'

Carbine would never say that openly, but he damn well thought it, a sort of twisted 'smile' pulling back across his spark that warmed him down to his core. The idea that all of those backstabbing allies and filthy corrupted pieces of slag had burnt away in a sea of explosions and flames... Those who survived the initial bombings instead being crushed beneath collapsing skyscrapers to be smeared and ground into ribbons... Sure, there were a lot of innocents that didn't deserve that, a good LOT of them, but Carbine only dug his claws down into the idea that the ones that knew the full extent of his deeds that landed him in Garrus were absolutely obliterated and would never be able to speak again.

Good memories.

::There were places̀ ̶y͘ou c͟òuld go to see alien f-foliage, organic and otherw̸is͢e͞ from d-different worlds, but I neve̡r͘ we̡ǹt ̵iń ̧one::

Why pay to go somewhere when you could see it on screen from the comfort of home? Sure, it wasn't the SAME, and looking back he probably should have been more open to enjoy more parts of Cybertron before... well... before there was NO Cybertron left, but what was done was done. Those areas were either filled with skeletal remains of plants should it not be decimated, or were being overrun by the types that could actually survive in their environment. Now THAT may be cool, but oh well...

At the next question Carbine paused a moment in thought.

::Uhh... ghn̵.̵.̸. ̷I͝ ͝dơn't know... d-damn trip was way too long th͞o͞ugh::

Which, when a Cybertronian said it took a long time, you knew it wasn't a week long trip.

By now Carbine's rotors had really kicked up speed, wind chopping down, the sound so much louder than before. It took a cant of the rotors themselves before there was enough downforce that he kicked off. With a push and heft, Carbine went fully airborne, pulling himself a notable distance to clear both the ground well and good, as well as the side of the mesa where they had started off. It was once he was up a large spotlight slammed on, casting a focused cone onto the ground so he could actually SEE where the floor was at all times.

Now... well... now it was time for him to start actually nervously looking for a place, and he stalled out into silence as he thought, unseen eyes casting across the dark horizon line, trying to let his vision focus upon the faint light of the sky in contrast to the black earth. Well... black other than the point directly below him.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf contentedly settled back even more into Bee’s interior. It was always comfortable in the back, and more than once he had drifted off. Now, with the sun sinking in the sky, and the darkness starting to creep in, it seemed even more like an adventure.

As the dash lights of the yellow scout became visibly brighter, Raf continued to listen to the conversation between Bee and Carbine.

He always tried to imagine what Cybertron must look like. He had sort of seen images of it, in a few spots on screen that Ratchet had managed to capture, but they were more like....textbook images, not really real. How he wished he could stand there, alongside Bee, and just look at it all! Everything must be so huge!

They often talked about travelling to other planets the way humans talked about going to another state, just popping out for a look, home again before supper!

To answer Bee, he spoke, “We do, but....I mean, compared to you guys, we’ve just discovered fire.”

He was content to keep listening to the two Cybertronians talk.

[Bumblebee]

As Carbine’s rotors began to spin, Bumblebee doublechecked that his windows were all the way up and secure. Nevada was dusty at the best of times without wind kicking up further dirt and dust. His radio would also blink to life- if only so that he and Raf could hear the helicopter mech better as he replied.

He didn’t know Carbine had been stationed in Praxus, then again he’d never really asked. It made sense that he couldn’t travel much though, from what he heard of the city? It was absolutely huge in its glory days- and given Carbine had been a cop? He was probably kept busy. Maybe.

He was a little saddened to hear about the second part of what Carbine spoke about. He never got to see things like that- by the time he’d been sparked the war was already in full swing, and so he couldn’t exactly visit those kinds of places - simply because they were no longer around.

::--Kindaaa... like a museum here on Earth? Well, except the ones here don’t have things from other planets! ...At least I don’t think so?--:: he’d never actually been in one before, although he knew what they were!

Even though he was speaking over the comm, his beeps were also broadcast over the radio, just so Raf could stay included in the conversation.

He was jealous in a way - jealous that Carbine had gotten the chance to see things like that and never did. Maybe he found it boring, or maybe he simply never found the time. It drew his attention to his own thoughts about Earth, though - how he found himself so excited by even the smallest, little details that Raf spoke about. How everything was so fascinating and fun- even things that most didn’t care about, or even take note of. Bee took everything in, wanting to learn everything he could.

He beepily chuckled at Carbine’s response. Absolutely zero help as there wasn’t a solid answer but at least he confirmed that it took ages to get here. A quick mental note was made to ask Ratchet or Optimus later - they’d probably know the exact distance, or at least something close.

The sound of the rotors was so loud now, thankfully muffled some by the interior of the car, but not by much. He heard Raf fine, though.

--Gotta start somewhere! It’s awesome to see you guys learn and advance! Imagine where you’ll be in a few years!-- he chirped excitedly.

Sure they’d only been on the planet and around humans a few years now, but in that time humans had come so far- even with little things like the components of a computer, they were advancing their technology and Bee was fascinated.

[Carbine]

::--Kindaaa... like a museum here on Earth?--::

::Yeah, I g-g-gue̡ss,̶ ̕or̕ ̢a pl͠a͢nt ̨Zoo?::

Museums were meant for old historical things he thought, but perhaps that was the only word to really translate for such a thing? Carbine didn't really know about this topic all things considered. If he was going to try to sound smart and technical, he would probably claim blindly that Zoos were for living things, and Museums were for things that were no longer functional and provided a snapshot back in time. Things that showcased objects that were not bouncing around their world still. Alas, 'Plant Zoo' sounded absolutely stupid however, and he scraped his processor to try to come up with a more applicable term.

Or... he did until he went airborne.

Completely derailed from his thoughts to focus on the idea of not crashing into an explosions of shattered bits of armor and twisted struts, Carbine's attention latched ahead of himself to look for a raised platform of some kind to really get them up more for bigger effect. It would be really easy for him to simply fly atop one of the nearby mesas, but not so much for Bumblebee. There was the thought then about the top of Omega which actually had an elevator to reach, however that may cause the noise to potentially wake others if they were attuned to such things. Illogical? Unlikley? Perhaps.

Looking ahead, Carbine asked himself where could a grounder go? What obstacles could mess with Bumblebee and possibly hurt Rafael? Thing is, he couldn't really get a good bead on what was between him and the nearest short little rocky formation away from them. With a low growl of thought, Carbine would lean forward a bit.

::Hard t-to ̛s͏e͟ȩ ͜ţh͜e g̸ro̶und ahead, don't bl͘índ̶ ͟fol͜l̛o͡w::

Not that Bee would, but it was good to say.

::I think the͢r͘ę i̡s a sţu̕mp͠i̡er̀ M̡-m-e̡s͝-aa thing by a bigger one̸ áheąd. Bit ways off. O-or we can simply go in̡t̛o a̶n̛ e͞m̢pt̶y p̀at͏ch on gro̵-groun͡d ͝le͢v̨el...::

Empty patch please. Though maybe that would be a bigger fire risk? Carbine had vague recollections that this part of Earth was dry and perfect tinder for flames, Rafael's earlier comment pulling such thoughts from the depth of his processor when he mentioned fire in general. This only brought up more questions on how Miko had bribed for big kid fireworks... but he didn't think too hard on it since it didn't matter and it was HER that would get in trouble if caught. What was she going to say? "Giant robots wanted me to get this for fun!".

HAH.

[Raf Esquivel]

Raf listened to the talk, and nodded at Bee’s words. He supposed they were advancing sort of fast....his grandfather didn’t even have electricity when he was little! But it always seemed so slow to Raf. He wanted more, and he wanted it now.

Leaning forward, Raf peered out into the darkness, his own reflection looking back at him in the soft lights of Bee’s dash.

“I’m not sure how easy it would be for Bee and myself to get up high, but I think that might be best for setting off fireworks? They could get up night and high that way!”

Although...maybe really high wasn’t a good idea....he didn’t want them to attract any attention they shouldn’t.

He sat back in his seat again, content to let Bumblebee and Carbine decide.

[Bumblebee]

::--A plant zoo?--::

Bumblebee could only laugh at that, a beepy chuckle. That was such a weird thing to think about. He knew what a zoo was, they had animals from all over the World and stuff! But one that was just plants? Well, it sounded kinda boring. Then again even here in the desert of Nevada there were a few types of cacti, then closer to town there was a little more greenery with various types of flowers. Earth was a small marble of a planet, and yet the amount of flora it held was immense - he couldn’t even imagine how many plants and animals were still undiscovered within the various biomes!

Maybe a plant zoo wouldn’t be so bad if it had plants from all over the galaxy. Maybe some of them would have pretty bio-luminescence or flowers that could eat a Cybertronian whole!

That was one thing he did love about Earth, though, just- the sheer variety of plants and animals. Cybertron wasn’t like that, at least not that he ever saw. The only animals he ever really got to see back home was the very, very rare cassette when out on the battlefield - and did they really count? But here, just outside the Omega Base even, he saw desert hares and so many different types of birds just going about their day - and in parts where there was some greenery? There were so many other animals like cows, horses, sheep, goats! He liked those, they were cute. Not quite as big as sheep and yet so bouncy, some research had shown him rams which he thought were goats, cos of the whole horn thing, but nope! They were sheep!

Carbine’s gentle warning snapped him from his thoughts about farmland animals, and he’d immediately shift his attention back to what he was doing. Not that he wasn’t paying attention to the road, because he was! But gosh, humans were so lucky here.

::--I won’t.--:: he confirmed, just so Carbine had one less thing to worry about, although he would make note of the general direction that the other mech was flying.

::--As for getting up high, that’s no big! I can climb if need be!--:: even through beeps, his tone could be considered boastful. Climbing a mesa shouldn’t be too hard, although for safety he’d probably have Carbine take Raf in his altmode- just in case!

::--I think up high is probably better, though! Cos of what Raf said!--::

Sorry, Carbine!

[Carbine]

When both Raf and Bumblebee agreed that going somewhere high was best? Carbine shed an invisible nonexistent tear.

He didn't WANT to carry Raf. He didn’t WANT to have to transport the little human when Bumblebee was watching, judging, and grading his flight skills because his best friend was trapped within... It put a level of pressure that just stressed him out atop already present stress. Yet, to admit otherwise, to try to argue for flat earth over the mesa, it would betray his uncertainty and nervousness. It would put his cowardice into light and snitch to them both just how messed up he was when it came to flight. He wasn't bested by flight! He flew as a Hover Car! Just... a much shorter height off the ground!

Don't show weakness!

A low grumble snarled out into the open air, not piped through the comms so they didn't hear it. The sound was muffled beneath the whirring chops of the rotor blades and engines, a noise more made for himself than openly betraying his displeasure at their little agreement. As such, when he canted his frame forward, the helicopter began to fly lazily in the direction of the shorter mesa he could vaguely see through the darkness in the distance. It was a modest way off, but it would still be a bit of a drive. As such, Carbine moved slowly, carefully, masking it under the idea he was waiting for Bumblebee.

While the yellow Scout was fast on land, and could possibly even outpace him if he were to go full tilt through the air ((Carbine didn't know either of their max speeds)), the terrain crippled any real advantage. Carbine had all the power here, so he took that into consideration while scanning the ground occasionally to make certain he wasn't drifting towards the earth in a spectacular crash.

"S̴òm͠e w͏-wa̛sh l͡i̕ke t̀-t-tr͞en̸ch t͟h̀i͞ng to̸ ͢ri̢ght."

Not too conversational in flight, Carbine simply dropped this out while continuing on.

[Raf Esquivel]

A plant Zoo?

Raf frowned faintly as he tried to logic that one out. Was there such a thing as a plant zoo?

Well...in a way. Biological Gardens were sort of like that, where you could go and see exotic plants that you wouldn’t normally see. Raf had gone to one once a long time ago with his family when they had all been on vacation. There had been some really exotic plants there, and even one that was supposed to smell like a dead body! Raf had never actually smelled a dead body -thank goodness! - but if they smelled anything like that plant had, he was happy he hadn’t!

Seeing as they were just driving along in the dark, with Carbine letting Bee know if there were any dangers ahead, he decided to turn the conversation to something that had been on his mind for a while now. And here he could get Bee’s and Carbine’s answers too!

He leaned forward slightly, and spoke through Bee’s system to Carbine could hear him better.

“What was Cybertron like before the war, Carbine? I mean...what did it look like? Was it like how our cities look, only bigger? I mean, like with tall buildings and lots of lights and things? Did you have, like, houses or apartments? Shops and stores?”

Raf knew Bumblebee had been sparked when the war was ongoing, so he guessed Bumblebee might not really know how it looked before, either.

He knew that their lives were different than a human’s – you were told what you were going to do for the rest of your life, and knew that they had classes of people. Those on the bottom weren’t treated very fairly. But he wondered if they still had lives similar to a human’s.