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.
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 1, 2020 2:16:12 GMT -5
"Special? About Earth? Everything changes here, all the time. Every day, it's different, every little thing, and it's... Er, I guess that's like other planets, too, though. I'm sorry though, I'm not quite sure what you mean by feel, sir."
Huh, must just be him. An old seeker that was tired of all the war and the fighting. That accent though. It was not one that he recognized. And that was saying something considering he had been all over Cybertron and all the neighboring quadrants before the war.
“Where are you from? I don’t recognize your accent.”
As they walked, he noticed two things. One, the environment had changed from a lush green environment to a dull desert type environment. And two, Dart was still keeping her distance from him. At least a physical distance so that he couldn’t touch her. Yeah, it all screamed the same thing to him. Someone who always spent time at the bottom, almost like a vehicon. He got the sense that no matter what he said to try and make her feel more at ease, hell no matter what he did, it would never be enough to get her to relax around him. Not at first anyway. It would take time.
He got the sense though that he would have a lot of time though.
The ground under their feet was rocky; their foosteps clicked on the exposed basalt. She lifted her chin and raised her nose; there was a soft huff as her intakes pulled in air. Sniff-sniff. Then she picked her way through some uneven footing, leading them towards a dry wash that curved upward into the hills. Perched a distance away on a twisted bit of brush, a Cooper's Hawk watched them pass. The bird didn't seem to be bothered by them at all, or perhaps it was using them like it used other large creatures to stir up prey.
When he asked his question, Dart's optics shuttered in a soft blink of surprise. Her hands slid to her hip carriers, her grey fingers toying with the latches.
"Here."
The courier quickly lifted her hand in a small gesture to encompass the rocky, dry landscape around them. "Oregon. Well, Portland, really. Earth. Kind of, I guess."
Dart caught herself, realizing how completely weird that sounded. Hurriedly, she gave Thundercracker an apologetic look. "Er, I mean the accent, it's from this area of Earth. My Commander and our teamwere stationed here for a while. I- I think I picked it up from the humans."
Oh, that sounded weirder, Dart. Great.
She fidgeted a nervous sidestep in the dirt, lifted a foot, and pawed a swatch in the dry desert dirt before she hurriedly began to walk again.
"I was re-built here. On Earth. A few years ago, sir. I don't remember anything before that."
It was true. He'd cobbled her back together, but there had been so much in her head that simply wasn't repairable.
Dart remembered the green mech's gaze turned to the side. His brow was furrowed in thought as he sought to explain it to her with tact and politeness. So diplomatic.
We’re, ah… well, like you, our brain modules function a little bit differently now-
His friend stood nearby, his one remaining eye watching her. The other was simply a ruined hole in his handsome face.
“We’re brain damaged. Irreparably.”
The femme shook her head to push that bit of memory away. Her metal ponytail almost scraped against her spoiler as it twitched. She brought up her hand to rub at the side of her nose.
"Nothing," she mumbled quickly. "I don't know much about Cybertron, or cities there. I- I know a few, like Vos, because that's where Commander Starscream comes from, and Iacon, because of - well, Autobots."
"Stasis malfunction, damaged personality components, that's- that's what I was told. I guess that's why the accent's nothing you've heard before, if it's from Earth..."
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 3, 2020 1:55:15 GMT -5
This planet was...interesting...no other organic world that Thundercracker had visited seemed to match up with it. The sights, the smells, the sounds...all of it was so...different.
"Here. Er, I mean the accent, it's from this area of Earth. My Commander and our team were stationed here for a while. I- I think I picked it up from the humans. I was re-built here. On Earth. A few years ago, sir. I don't remember anything before that. Nothing, I don't know much about Cybertron, or cities there. I- I know a few, like Vos, because that's where Commander Starscream comes from, and Iacon, because of - well, Autobots. Stasis malfunction, damaged personality components, that's- that's what I was told. I guess that's why the accent's nothing you've heard before, if it's from Earth..."
Oh Primus...to lose one's memory like that and have no idea of who you really were? That must be terrible to not know anything about yourself. Though to some perhaps that was a mercy. But not to Dart. There was no way she did anything horrible, know anyone horrible that she would want to forget. Unlike him. Oh...there were things he wished he could wipe from his mind. He almost envied her. Almost.
“Perhaps it’s best you don’t remember Cybertron. The last few million years were...hell...to put it mildly.”
He continued walking forward with her, watching her as he continued to observe.
“You’ve had extended contact with the native lifeforms? I was under the assumption that they could be dangerous.”
Last Edit: Sept 3, 2020 1:55:37 GMT -5 by Thundercracker
A soft vent of air escaped out the corner of Dart's lips. She'd been keeping it in, like she was holding onto a breath.
Over the years she'd found that this conversation usually ended badly. Once most Decepticons found out she knew nothing of Cybertron, she became - well, even less useful somehow.
Dart knew what that meant. Vehicons and those like them were utterly expendable. Heck, even sometimes the Vehicons grabbed onto that there was someone else below them. Dart understood why they would use that to their advantage. When you were on the bottom, anything even lower was an asset.
Hey there, guess what your job is today? It's like a message! You get to go check out the canyon for us, yay! Did we mention that there's a badly wounded, very angry Autobot? The guy that turns into a tank? Ohhh, oops, our bad. Good luck with that.
Well, maybe not like that particular situation. That one had ended up okay.
Nothing like that happened here.
Thundercracker's expression didn't change, nor his body language. There was no pressing, no prying, no derisive, dismissive remark from the big jet-mech. All he did was simply acknowledge the issue to let her know he'd understood, and then quietly moved the conversation forward. Dart was utterly grateful.
The courier relaxed, ever so slightly. The tense, tight set of her frame eased a bit, and then the twitchy, nervous flicks of her spoiler smoothed out to where the metal stilled on the hinges and wasn't pricked as sharply up behind her shoulders.
His words stretched across the space between them. The tone of someone who'd been there, who survived their world turning grey and dead. One more thing she could listen to a million times and had never been able to completely fathom. Words weren't the same as seeing. As smelling. As looking out over the ruins of what had been once a thriving world.
"I've heard stories," she offered finally. "It- it sounds awful. I'm sorry."
Dart was quiet for a moment, and then shook her head.
"Extended contact? Um, kind of, I guess. Like- not too much in person, but I like to just tuck somewhere and listen and watch when I get the chance," she told him. "As far as dangerous- some of them are, yes, sir, but..."
She trailed off and then looked up at him again.
"I'm guessing Command said something to you about MECH...?"
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 6, 2020 23:08:43 GMT -5
Thundercracker had begun fighting because he was loyal to his trinemate and Winglord, and Starscream had thrown in with the Decepticons out of a sense of self preservation. He kept fighting because there was no way out even if he wanted to. "I've heard stories, it- it sounds awful. I'm sorry."
Awful was putting it mildly. Despite his questioning loyalty to the cause, Thundercracker fought for Cybertron in the end. But what they ended up doing was turning their planet into a dark, empty shell. And the kicker was that they had no one to blame but themselves.
“Thanks.”
It was easy to blame the big ones. Prime, Megatron, hell even Starscream or bots like Ultra Magnus or Prowl. But it came down to everyone else who took their orders and did not raise a finger against them...the bots like himself. It filled him with a sense of loathing towards himself. The Seeker clenched his servos tight before continuing on.
"Extended contact? Um, kind of, I guess. Like- not too much in person, but I like to just tuck somewhere and listen and watch when I get the chance. As far as dangerous- some of them are, yes, sir, but...I'm guessing Command said something to you about MECH...?"
“Yes, Starscream mentioned them. Said they tear us apart to learn about us. Though...are they not all like them then?”
Last Edit: Sept 10, 2020 17:14:53 GMT -5 by Thundercracker
The motion of Thundercracker's hand instantly drew Dart's attention, but she didn't sidestep or shy away from him. There was a small, unsure flick from the left side of her spoiler.
Thanks? Thanks for...?
She realized quickly he meant for saying she was sorry about the loss of his home. Sorry was just one of those automatic things that folks said. I'm sorry for being late, or sorry for forgetting that book you lent me, I'll bring it next time. Hey, uh, sorry the dog ate your sandwich, come on, we're going out to eat.
Yet among the Decepticons, it was a rare word among those higher up to those below them. Command didn't say sorry to the grunts or the Vehicons.
Dust scruffed under the weight of their feet and drifted behind them before settling back onto the hardpack.
Starscream mentioned them.
That didn't surprise her at all. Starscream knew MECH was a viable, nasty threat; he understood exactly what humans were capable of. He didn't dismiss the danger that MECH posed if they caught one of them. She had told Raf what she had been told; MECH was making leaps and bounds, adapting to the information they had from the mechs they had torn apart and killed. Building things that maximized the damage against Cybertronian physiology and neural nets. Even starting to ID and target Cybertronian specific radar profiles. Weapons that could punch through alien armor, and getting more reliable about the damage.
Most of all, they didn't care. Autobot, Decepticon, neutral. It wouldn't matter. Those people saw Cybertronians the same way that a lot of Cybertronians saw Earth and humanity. A worthless, barely sentient species. Fragile blood and bone instead of fuel and metal. A resource to be taken and used towards an end.
To them, a Cybertronian wasn't sentient or alive, that it was simply a system and a program, a machine had no rights, like a coffee pot or a dishwasher. There was no moral outrage for those in MECH to take apart a giant robot, or shoot it over and over again to see the results of a ballistic test. Not like there would be over a whale or a tiger, anyway.
Yet Dart shook her head at his question with no hesitation.
"No. They're absolutely not all like that," she told him. Her voice was steady and earnest. "Honest. Promise. They're..."
She glanced over at Thundercracker. Her blue optics shone under the shadows of her helm. She offered up a lopsided little smile that quirked up the corner of her mouth.
"They're like us."
"I mean like Cybertronians," she explained after a moment. "Every person is an individual in the end. Sure, they have goals, motivations, wants and needs. They're resourceful. They have hobbies, things they like to do and places they like to be, they have friends and family and loved ones. Some of them don't care about the rest of humanity, or Earth itself, and a heck of a lot of them do."
"To be truthful, they're more like us than not, really."
Dart thoughtfully whuffled out a soft puff of air. Then she sniffed at the wind currents around them once again, as if to reassure herself there was no one around besides them.
"But - Commander Starscream is right, MECH as a group is dangerous and don't let them catch you, because yes, they will take you apart to see how you tick, and then they will kill you. That's the truth. I don't think their goal is to just learn about us so they can get rid of us, though..."
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 10, 2020 23:50:41 GMT -5
She saw it.
Thundercracker quickly unclenched his fist while looking away sheepishly. He hadn’t had anyone to talk to since...well since a long time. But some old habits were really hard to let go of, especially this one. It had been born of necessity after some experiences with Starscream, because the second Screamer sensed an emotion he could latch onto that and twist it against you. Damn him...
He turned back to face her as she spoke, optics on her while he listened. Those same red optics got wider in surprise as she said what she did.
“Like us? So they can adapt their physical shape into an alternate form?”
He found that incredibly hard to believe. Plus, Starscream would have mentioned something about that. But as he listened to the rest of her words, his head cocked to the side in thought. So...every individual was themselves, there was no hivemind like the insects he read about back on Cybertron, or the Insecticons.
This was...fascinating to say the least. Another individualistic, intelligent, and sentient species. There was one thing that caused him to arch his brow towards her as he asked his next question.
“If MECH is so dangerous, how come you’re out here patrolling alone?”
It was a slightly rhetorical question. Thundercracker knew that she did not evidently rank up very high on the totem pole. But still, there were always the extremists within any group or population. Crazies, radicals, you name it they are there. And this group of radicals seemed to be at the top of it all. He would have to be on the lookout.
Last Edit: Sept 10, 2020 23:54:31 GMT -5 by Thundercracker
At Thundercracker's surprise, the metal tips behind Dart's shoulders shifted upwards again. The scruffy femme quickly shook her head and lifted her hand.
"No- no, not like that part of us."
Sure, humans and animals were born and then they grew up, gained mass and height. She guessed that it possibly could be seen as an adaptation and a shape change to most Cybertronians. Even for her it was tough to think about how something so tiny and small could grow into but then there was that pesky explaining the whole creatures got born thing and, erk, nope. Dart could explain a lot of things about humanity, but that particular idea made her want to turn into a car and go hunker down in a junkyard somewhere.
That was a question best left to the internet. That was what it was for, right? That and cat pictures. So many cat pictures.
Actually, you know thinking on it, it might be incredibly difficult to also talk about things that laid eggs. Dart wouldn't even dare to go down the platypus road.
All these silly facts and things she'd stuffed into that empty hole in her head. Pretty useless, unless she ever managed to be caller number ten on one of those radio station quizzes.
"I mean that they have personalities like ours," she said. "They don't turn into random vehicles or anything, really. Well, not usually. Maybe in movies and in TV shows."
She started to offer up another small smile, but Thundercracker's follow-up question made her hesitate. Luckily, the terrain underfoot gave her a few moments to think; the rocky wash was beginning to slope sharply upwards into sharp, craggy escarpments that had been shaped by glaciers and thousands of years of weather and erosion. Reddened by the sunrise, the distinct bands of dark and light sandstone rippled in swirling waves.
If the beacon was up on top of them, it was certainly a scrabbling climb.
The courier knew the backcountry. She was careful and incredibly familiar with Earth's terrain. Wherever she'd been stationed, she'd taken it on herself to learn everything she could, to understand how each landscape was different from the other, and she used it to her advantage as much as possible. Dart knew she was a one trick sort of soul. All you could do was pad it a bit with better odds. That said, she absolutely knew her skill in the wilds of Earth wasn't why she was patrolling on her own.
It was for the same reasons that he'd sent others on their own over the years. She glanced over at the tall blue jet-mech walking quietly next to her.
"Steens Mountain- that's where we are - it's hard for a lot of conventional scanners to work in this landscape. You can find places to hide all over. Go to ground if you have to. But... er, they do really try to keep the base locked down and quiet."
"As for patrolling? This is what my Commander assigns."
Dart looked up at the pale sky above them and then back at Thundercracker.
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 15, 2020 2:12:14 GMT -5
He sensed her hesitation...it was a trait he had learned from being around Starscream too often...
But with her, he sensed she would not lie to him, much like the Air Commander and Second in Command of the Decepticons was apt to do in many situations. Hell, it was almost like he did it pathologically, even when he did not need to. Well, if Thundercracker caught onto it now, he would not be as gentle...
“Personalities? You mean as in they are not a hive mind of insects, but each one is a distinct individual with thoughts, feelings, emotions, and desires?”
He noticed her start to smile before pausing, giving what he said some thought. As much as Thundercracker hated to admit, he was a soldier. He actually happened to be pretty good at it, as it was how he had managed to survive on his own after cutting ties with Starscream. He noticed though it might also be the terrain, as it was beginning to shift underneath their peds.
“If you want, I can fly us up to the beacon. I have the ability to fly in root form.”
He motioned with his eyes down to his peds, specifically his heels which when he was in vehicular mode formed the exhaust nozzles for his engines. That also gave him the ability for flight when not in vehicular mode, which came in quite handy when needing to surprise an opponent, though it burned energon at a faster rate than normal flight.
Like the other soldiers she said...but he got the sense and had been since the start of their conversation she was not a normal soldier. Thundercracker was not necessarily a vehicon rights activist, but he objected to the way that they were thrown away by reckless commanders who figured the best way to solve a problem was to throw bodies at it until it was buried and one could walk over it. He was getting similar vibes from her. Like she had never been valued before by anyone, at least within a recent memory due to the amnesia.
Dart nodded, and then eyed the rocky ground beneath her feet for a few strides. Right. Duty. That was a fairly tough thing to decipher lately. She let the silence settle between them. Insects hummed from within the clumps of scattered brush, a low, droning whirr that crackled along the stones.
"As for the humans, you have it right. Exactly like that," Dart offered. "Not a hive mind."
Well, maybe it was on the fence about the folks who made those terrible reality shows. At least when they voted someone off the island the folks just got to go home and hit the talk show circuit instead of never being heard from again.
"So, there's folks like MECH. And there are lots more decent ones out there, promise. Unfortunately, MECH knows we're here. Most all the other population of the planet doesn't."
Her spoiler squinched down slightly.
"Most," she corrected herself. "Most of them don't."
Befriending people didn't always work out the way you'd expected. Not because humans weren't willing to risk, or capable of taking care of themselves, no. It was that, well-- being a giant alien robot in the middle of a war easily ended up in dangerous places. It didn't matter who or what your friends were, sooner or later there was a chance they were going to get caught in unexpected crossfire. Dart knew exactly how that outcome could end.
She walked along beside him for a few more steps and then he offered...
"F-fly us-?"
Dart's voice rose awkwardly high on the 'us' part. The scruffy courier flinched, palms coming up as she lifted her feet high in a nervous, prancing sidestep. It carried her a few strides to the side before she steadied and eased back. The tips of metal behind her shoulders twitched and shivered before they pressed tight against her upper back. She struggled with an answer, and then realized she'd lost the actual words somewhere back when her brain was coming to grips with the idea of being carried off the ground.
Erk. No. That wasn't a word.
She followed his gaze then down to his feet. He had good-sized feet, because he certainly wasn't a small mech. He was taller than Starscream, and certainly broader across the shoulder and wing. Wings. Right, flying. Back to the whole air-cargo thing.
"You-you fly."
The moment the words left her mouth, Dart wished she could stuff them right back down her throat. Of course he flies, Dart. He's a jet. They do that. He turns into a big plane and swoops in the sky. Try again.
"I mean er, you can fly up there," she offered quickly, gesturing to the top of of the crags. "I'll meet you at the top, that's totally all right. There's a big red rock up there, you can't miss it. That's where you need to go. I'll climb up, I do it all the time, promise. I just..."
Dart eyed the sharp rise of the hillside before them and then glanced back at Thundercracker from under the brim of her helm.
Fliers didn't offer to carry grounders often, if at all. There was an unspoken thing among the Decepticons that air mechs were superior. He hadn't made a face or done it out of some sort of grudging need. It was just there, an offer to save them time, and she realized strangely that she hadn't suspected it was anything other than that.
That was different, and it deserved an answer.
"I'm sorry, I don't fly, sir," she admitted quietly. "Well, I'm a grounder, of course I don't fly, but I just- I can't. I don't like my feet off the ground."
"Thank you though," she said quickly, hurrying to be polite as possible. "I can really meet you up there, promise."
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 16, 2020 13:20:36 GMT -5
This planet was more than it had been cracked up to be by someone he knew.
A sentient, intelligent native species, with personalities much like a Cybertronian. While this information was fascinating for Thundercracker, it also left him with a sense of dread inside. He knew the Decepticon’s propensity for conquest, and being here on this world meant that there was more to it than the Autobots. It sickened him deep inside his spark.
“So there are others who do know that do not want to tear us apart?”
His offer had been a longshot, most grounders he had met had this irrational fear of flying. Thundercracker was not discriminatory about alt modes like some mechs he had known, but still. What is there to be afraid of flying? It was the ultimate expression of freedom, to soar through the skies, in open defiance of gravity through the intelligence of the flyer. It wasn’t that he hated grounders, but he never understood their preference for staying bound to the ground.
“It’s alright, I’ll accompany you up then.”
He stepped back away from her in order to allow her space to climb while he prepared his thrusters. There was one thing that most flyers were not good at, it was climbing since they were given the ability of flight. Even those who did not have thrusters for heels would just transform into their alternate mode and soar off up to the height that was required before changing back.
After all these years, Dart thought she had a fairly good understanding of how conversations like this usually went.
The mech would eye her, shake his head, nod dismissively, and then transform and take off into the air. Maybe do a barrel roll or two to stretch his wings.
For all that Dart was terrified to fly, she enjoyed watching fliers. They made it look so easy, so effortless. She couldn't imagine having a huge stretch of space where she could run full tilt in a straight line and not have to worry about anything ending up in front of her, like rocks. Trees. Animals. Power lines that you didn't notice before you clotheslined yourself and slammed flat on your back, dazed and staring up at the sky.
Sure, the fliers had their own worries; ice, snow, storms, wind shear. Plus they also had to worry about gulls and other birds, but that hopefully was fairly rare. Still, the fact that they could orientate themselves so quickly between the sky and the ground was amazing to her. It was such an alien thought pattern to her. Which was funny, since really, that's what they all were on Earth. Aliens.
So when Thundercracker backed up a step or two and began adjusting his feet, she cocked her head from side to side. The small points of metal behind her shoulders tipped forward and framed him between them. Dart then lifted her nose into the air and sniffed as if she couldn't quite place an odor or a scent. Her weight shifted forward as she raised her her left foot and pawed at the dirt in a quick swipe. It took her a second to stop fidgeting and settle back down.
Everything about her said she didn't know what to make of this moment. Not afraid. Not scared. Simply confused as all get out.
Fly. Seekers fly. They go up, and they touch down somewhere else. That was just how things worked.
The courier turned her head to stare up at the mountainside, with the bands of sandstone and fields of shifting scree, and then glanced at the big flier. Thundercracker seemed so matter of fact and no-nonsense about the whole situation, as if this was just an everyday thing for him to gather himself up, eye an alien mountain and hoof it up in the dirt and the grime. Maybe he'd done it on other planets before this one. That had to be it, he had to have seen worlds and places out there in the galaxy.
He hadn't even groaned or rolled his red optics heavenward to call on whatever deity happened to be closest to his general direction.
"Wait- er, you're going to climb up there...?"
The question escaped her before she could rein it back, tuck it away somewhere.
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 20, 2020 22:37:58 GMT -5
There was surprise in her optics again, those curiously blue optics that would stand out in a sea of red...
Thundercracker had decided eons ago that he would be different. It had started back when things had gone wrong with Starscream, as the former Winglord of Vos had been climbing the Decepticon ranks, but really became important to him after he had left. He made a vow that he would never make the same mistakes that Starscream had made, as well as make a conscious effort be different and treat others equally, unlike other Seekers.
He looked at her for a brief moment before chuckling and shaking his head.
“No, I’ll be using my ped thrusters. Climbing and I go as well together as energon and blaster fire. But I will be accompanying you up.”
Another vow he had made, even before the war was to never leave anyone behind. There was an unspoken creed among Seeker trines that one never abandoned a brother. All for one and one for all or something like that. That is what twisted him up in his spark when he thought about it hard enough. He had abandoned Starscream. What kept him going was the thought, no matter how false it could be or how hard he doubted his justification, that Starscream had abandoned them first.
Not just him, everyone else who had been counting on the Winglord of Vos to lead them. The issue itself had divided the Seekers divisively, which almost resulted in insurrection if it were not for the machinations of others who saw an opportunity for power.
But shaking himself out of his thoughts, Thundercracker looked to Dart expectantly.
“Ready when you are. I’ll give you a head start and keep an eye on you for safety.”
His soft chuckle surprised her as much as his joke did. What caught her off guard was how self-depreciating his sense of humor had been. So many of the Decepticons would have flung her misunderstanding right back at her- of course we're not going to climb it, you idiot, whatever gave you that idea? Yet he didn't, he simply laughed, shook his head, and it wasn't at her. It was all gentle fun at himself; nope, he was a flier, certainly not a climber.
The courier tipped her jaw to the side. For the first time in all of their conversation, Dart's optics fully met the mech's gaze. It was brief, it was quick, but it was there. She rocked her weight back on her heels, her hands sliding to the panniers on her hips. She curled her fingers over the edges, flattening her palms against the top.
Then she laughed. The sound was surprisingly light and open.
It only lasted a few seconds though before she seemed to catch herself.
"Oh, okay," the femme replied, even as she brought her right hand up to rub at the side of her nose. A strip of the duct-tape wound around her arm had lifted; it fluttered slightly with her movements. The adhesive backing was starting to peel loose with weather, dirt, and time.
"That makes way more sense than what I was thinking you were going to do," she admitted. "Also, energon and blaster fire is bad. That's something even I know, even though I don't know much."
Dart dropped her hands loose at her sides, and eyed the eyed the planes of the mountain in front of them. "Right then, yes sir, up we go."
* * *
The courier had obviously gone up this route many times, but to call it an easy climb had been a bit generous.
Dart knew that you had to trust your weight to those places where the scree hid the slabs of solid stone. Or where the tough Oregon shrubs clung to life, their fibrous roots tangling the slippery ground to solid purchase. The deer and other wildlife knew how to navigate it and had worn pale, winding trails among the rocks and the yellowed tufts of grass. Even the wild bands of horses followed these precarious paths in the summer to escape the swarms of stinging gnats.
It was more than a scrabble then a full out climb. The loose rocks skittered out from underneath the lean femme's weight as she worked her way upwards. Sometimes she had to flatten a hand down to steady herself, or grab at a chunk of stone to keep from sliding backwards, but she didn't falter and didn't appear to be in any trouble with the terrain. In fact, she appeared at more at ease with the job; the mobile spoiler across her shoulders moved to instinctively counterbalance her weight.
There were places that she could pause along the way, chunks of sandstone and basalt that made rough ledges that were big enough to support even Thundercracker's weight, if he needed to land for a moment or so to steady his flight and regroup.
When they finally crested the top, Thundercracker would find himself first to arrive, and he would be to land on a heavy outcropping of supportive stone, high on a rough rock summit. There had been other fliers here at some point, perhaps, the thin smattering of soil was compressed and flattened. It was likely that the other Cybertronians could have come up here together, because the space was big enough for three other mechs his size to stand wingtip to wingtip. The sun had risen higher, and the sky had gone from warm golds and yellows into pale blues. Wisping clouds still remained, but scattered and driven by the upper jet stream.
There was a faint band of thicker grey on the west side of the horizon, a dark, heavy patch that hinted at some sort of storm off in the far distance.
If he looked around him, he would see the expanse of the land below. Brown dirt and smatterings of green along the few and far between waterways, and it was as far as the optic could see, in all directions. Sharp mountains and deep valleys. To the east, the sunlight reflected off of what appeared to be a lake or two, nestled low within the largest depression.
Dart had climbed up by then, and quietly come to a stop. As always, she was careful to keep polite distance between them. She lifted her nose into the air, sniffing lightly at the swirl of cold wind that blew steadily against their plating.
A glance over to Thundercracker, even as she realized something.
"I didn't mean to ignore your other question," she apologized, even as she looked down to the valley. "The one about the humans not wanting to tear us apart...?"
Post by Thundercracker on Sept 26, 2020 0:07:05 GMT -5
She sure seemed like she was being held together by nothing but good intentions and Primus’ will...
But now it seemed like she was finally becoming comfortable around him, because she was laughing. It was not that nervous laugh that underlings would use when their superior made a joke, no matter how bad the joke was. This seemed like a more honest type of laugh, of one who was actually happy and having fun.
“Glad I am making sense.”
He chuckled to himself as he stepped back and watched her ready to climb, letting her get about twice his height up before he readied himself. This method burned more energon than standard flight, but it was a nice feature to have in the arsenal. It was certainly more utilitarian and made Thundercracker really handy to have when the Constructicons were off doing who knows what, and the machine gun needed to be moved up three stories.
The ground began to shake as his peds roared to life, flames coming his heels elevated him up in altitude. He was going as slow as he could without stalling while remaining fuel efficient, so this meant that he passed her during the ascent. When that happened, he would pause and hover until she caught up before climbing again.
By the time they reached the top, he had landed not too gracefully, coming down with a bit of a tiny thud on top of the ledge. His optics stayed on Dart as she continued climbing, making sure she did not fall. He was ready to leap off to grab her until she came over the lip and joined him. Once there, his optics then turned to the view before him and he was taken aback. He had not seen much of this planet since his arrival, yet this seemed so...beautiful. So full of life, unlike his final memories of Cybertron as he had left the planet and orbited his home one last time before rocketing off into the unknown in search of a new life.
“Wow...”
He breathed out that one word as he just stared at it all before looking back over to Dart. Her words shook him out of his nightmare.
“Yes, the ones who do not know or bear us no ill will...”
Last Edit: Sept 26, 2020 0:07:42 GMT -5 by Thundercracker