[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Now You See Me [Skystone, Thundercloud, Cloudcompass]

[Deleted]

Episode 3, Week 3, Day 4

Late Morning


One thing Skystone had slowly learned to appreciate over these few months was the beauty of Earth. It was completely wild, foreign to Cybertron, but there was something about it that always caught her attention.


It was haphazard and totally unplanned looking, or at least areas outside of civilization were. It's what made it the most charming, in her opinion-unplanned, and still that gorgeous. 


It wasn't usually like her to be on a job and let her mind wander so much, but the situation at base was...tense, to say the least. Ratchet was indisposed, and while she had never been close to him, he had always been a pillar of leadership that she respected and looked to. Now, he wasn't dead, but he wasn't him anymore and it was strange. 


Poor Patch, she thought fleetingly. This is even worse for her.


Not to mention Optimus himself. His stress, while totally justified, was felt through the base. Maybe not by everyone, but she actively tried to observe the moods of those around her and would have had to be blind to not see Optimus' emotional situation.


With all of that in mind, she didn't mind taking a moment to admire Earth's beauty, and to enjoy the feeling of being in the sky and out of Omega's stifling air. 


However, no matter how distracted she wanted to let herself get, she was there for a job. Her and a mech named Thundercloud were scouting for energon, trying to find any natural deposits they could.  In light of the famine that hadn't ended too long ago, she wanted to be as productive as possible here.


Montana was where they found themselves, at she believed was known as a "national park". Lots of nature, not much civilization. Hopefully that'd make this whole thing easier.


Mentally shaking off her wayward thoughts, she banked slightly towards Thundercloud, indicating she was going to speak before doing so. ::See anything?:: 


Thundercloud was a mech she hadn't interacted with much except within the bounds of their work together on expanding the base. She wasn't one to go out of her way to make friends necessarily, but she did hope that they could get to know each other a little better, considering they worked together on such a vital project within base.

[Thundercloud]

Thundercloud didn't know enough about Skystone to make any sort of judgement calls one way or the other, but as far as scouting partners went, he supposed she was alright. He would've preferred to be working with Carbine, but that wasn't an option for reasons that were obvious to anyone who knew about the whole Windshield incident - ie: goddamn everybody. He didn't make it a secret that Skystone wasn't exactly at the top of his scouting-buddy list, but at the same time, he wasn't dragging his feet or carrying on either. He'd work with her and he wouldn't complain about it, but he wasn't gonna try to make nice or pretend like they were friends, or anything other than two fliers who got sent out on the same job because they were relatively the same size.

He kept his distance in the air, ostensibly to widen their field of exploration, but really he just wanted room to move around and do some stunts, if the mood struck him. Which it inevitably would, because Thundercloud could only fly straight for so long before boredom threatened to eat away his brain and he had to do a Cobra maneuver or a Kulbit to keep from losing his goddamn mind.

He had behaved himself for most of the mission thus far, indulging in only a couple slow rolls and the occasional oscillation stall when things got particularly boring. He knew better than to try anything too showy - a devil-may-care rebel though he was, he wasn't about to invite MECH to come down on their asses by making a spectacle of himself. At least not yet. With Ratchet the way he was, they really weren't in any position to take heavy casualties. If he got himself all messed up trying to learn MECH a thing or two about going after one of his own, he'd have to rely on Patch to piece him back together, and that wasn't exactly a reassuring plan to fall back on. As much as he wanted to knock some MECH skulls together, he knew more harm than good would come of inviting the bastards to come knocking on his door.

Stupid trash-humans, making him be all responsible and shit.

::Nah, fam. Not a damn thing::

Which was par for the course, because the Autobots consistently had the worst luck in the universe, it felt like.

[Deleted]

Skystone wasn’t sure how much she put into luck, the way some others did. She believed that all you got from the world was directly what you put in, fate be damned.

But it did sometimes seem like the Autobots got the worst of it, constantly. They had just come off of the worst famine Skystone herself had ever lived through, just to already be having a hard time finding energon, once again.

Once Thundercloud answered her question, she once again left his space so she could scan a little aways from him.

When her scan also showed nothing, her mind started whirring. They could continue to fly around aimlessly, scanning only without much visual aid. Or they could land and try to scout on foot, but the issue with that was MECH was ever present. And no one on base wanted the same fate as Ratchet.

Humans in general were a problem really, but even in the air they were- Skystone and Thundercloud were not two types of planes that would normally be flying together over a national park.

::Do you think it’d be worth it to go to ground, or for at least one of us to?:: Thundercloud had been on base much longer than her, and potentially had a better sense for these things. Ex-prisoner or not, she knew enough of him to know he had pretty good instincts, especially where humans were concerned. After all, he’d made it this long.

[Deleted]

Morning of day 2, out of 4. Everything was set, their campsite organized to the ‘T’, as outlined in Scouting 101: The Ultimate Guide to Always Being Prepared. They’d had breakfast, and as written in Chapter 10: Wildlife and Fauna, under the subsection ‘Beware of Bears’, all their food had been hoisted back up into a tree, and their plastic camping plates rinsed thoroughly. Ben had seen to it all- even if Riley had fudged up getting the water by dropping the bucket not once but Twice! On his way back from the river, and thus delaying them. Danny had said not to worry, that Ben was stressing too much, but this was his first trip to the woods, and he didn’t have the Gold Camper to lose like Ben did! Everything depended on their tent, Team Beaver, getting through this trip without. A. Hitch.

He could almost see it- the badge shining, his pride and joy, at the top of his sash next assembly.

That’d teach Team Otter, and most importantly that Kevin McRoy…

“Ben!” The tween jolted, the twig he’d been bending absentmindedly snapped between his hands. He sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky as Riley ran up. “Ben come see! I found bigfoot!”

The younger boy’s face screwed up, and Ben knew he was thinking hard. “Or maybe… like a dinosaur or something?....”

When Riley didn’t elaborate after trailing off, Ben poked him. “Bigfoot doesn’t exist. He would’ve been in the book if he did.” And he wasn’t. Ben had read the guide cover to cover and there certainly was no Bigfoot.

Nor were there dinosaurs, for that matter.

Riley physically shook himself, like a dog, and blinked dumbly. “Wuh- no! I saw him!” He blinked again, pausing to sheepishly rub the back of his neck. “Actually, well I saw his footprints. But they’re big! So it has to be Bigfoot! Bigfoot’s footprints! omg- BIGFOOT-PRINTS!” The younger tween almost yelled, giddy with excitement.

Ben winced and looked behind him, at the rest of their troop milling about. No one was paying them any mind- which was good. He didn’t want Beaver to be the laughing stock of their division, again. He turned back to level Riley with a deadpan expression.

At his friend’s flat look of disbelief, Riley doubled down vehemently. “I did! They’re back by the stream. Well, across it, I found a log to cross and everything- and I saw lil minnows! And there was a bird and-”

Ben huffed, crossing his arms. “Well I don’t believe it.” He interrupted Riley, who sent him the stink eye.

“Look, will you just come see?”

---

Thinking back on the conversation, Ben should’ve declined. They’d been trekking for a good couple of minutes past the stream now, and Riley still hadn’t shown him anything. He hopped down a shallow dip in the forest floor, huffing. His friend stopped, twisting around to look at their surroundings.

“C’monnnnn Rileyyyy we gotta go back before someone sees we’re gone. Where are these ‘bigfoot-prints’??” He took on a mocking tone, mimicking that one highschool teacher with the nasally too-thin voice and blocky glasses that always ruined their fun.

A grin of pure victory split Riley’s face, and he pointed down in delight.

“You’re standing in it Benny-boy.”

Sure enough, it was a…. Something. Ben stood next to Riley now, gazing down at the print with pensively narrowed eyes.

“Well, it’s too pointy for bigfoot-” Ben held up a hand. “And no, I don’t think its a dino either.” Riley deflated, but perked up almost immediately as his friend kept talking, “I don’t think they’re too old though.”

At least, they didn’t seem to be- as outlined in the Guide anyway.

“Let’s find more! And follow them!” Riley’s grin was so intense it was matched only by Ben’s own unease. That was one big footprint. And his Gold Camper was on the line- their leader’s would not be happy if they got lost trying to find some weird two-toed giant creature in the woods.

However…. He was curious…. And they could always track the prints back after a while.

Riley tugged on his sleeve, following the prints the way the probably-toes pointed. Ben sighed, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“Fine, ok, but not too far!”

[Deleted]

Cloudcompass awoke from recharge in alt to a silent forest. He’d tucked himself far from any kind of inhabited soon, deep in the woods on a mountainside. Still in Montana, the state he’d kept exploring between bouts of random research using Rain’s tablet and recharge. It was a nice place, for sure- and he appreciated how large the trees grew. Made it easier for him to covertly land in a discreet clearing, and tip-toe his way somewhere with denser covering.

He let his system boot up languidly, in no rush beside a small, niggling sensation of being watched. It unnerved him just enough, so that the moment it was apt to do so he shifted to root. He’d wedged himself in a bizarre corner, so he was careful to land on his feet. Otherwise the transformation was smooth, and he rose as the plating along his back continued to settle, his wings refolding themselves tightly behind him with a slight twinge of pain.

He shuffled, taking the opportunity to stretch his cables and test his leg, just to see what its temperament for the day was. Frowning at the results, CC shifted most of his weight to his other leg, plating tightening against his frame as the old wound let it’s dissatisfaction be known. The flier let out a terse vent, turning his gaze upwards to something more distracting.

“At least it’s a nice day…” And indeed the sun was shining softly, filtered through thick foliage and dappling across the forest floor. Rain’s appreciation of the forest where they’d ended their chat came to mind, and he resolved to contact her in the future.
At some point, perhaps, they could meet again…

But alas. He still had much to figure out.