[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Finders Keepers [Closed]

[Cintra]

Cintra's brows furrowed.

Test how they work together?... No that couldn’t be it. Not with this framework. Maybe. Possibly... It was hard to say. Didn’t they already know they were combat oriented? That had to have been day one 'yes you are just a fighter' stamp of approval from the moment they stepped foot on Earth.

"We don't DO spy work. That isn't our thing!"

If searching around was 'spy' work.

Which it wasn’t.

The two of them were so far from clever jobs on such levels, that it was asinine to even try to imagine them working in infiltration. Flux was too big and clunky, and even if he had a brilliant revelation, he would likely forget the details that would lead him to such a point. Any chance of him recalling the finer facts of discussions or elements he saw to link back to other things simply wasn’t going to happen. On the other side of the coin, was something just as worthless, Cintra knowing she didn’t have the patience and capacity to solve puzzles on that level.

She liked straight goals. Point A to Point B, nothing in-between other than any physical blockades or issues that could be hurdled over. She didn’t like this Point A to Point H with nothing listed on how to get to that end goal. It confused her enough that it simply stressed her out. Perhaps she would get over it, perhaps not... it depended on how things went. Over time, she would likely be forced to cope and adapt despite her opinions on the matter. Such was life, and she couldn’t throw a fit when it was a directive given by Starscream himself.

Taking in a heaved breath in, Cintra paused a moment before letting out a huffed noise while she tried to continue to think through it all, looking ahead at where Flux was suggesting they go. It seemed like it was a city area, on the horizon, or it could be some illusion refraction thing. She didn't understand how it worked, but she knew mirages were things in hot areas sometimes, and the gray tones could be the outskirts of civilization, or it could simply be nothing of real value.

Oh well, he had picked a direction, and hopefully, fate would shine upon them!

In response to Flux's final question, Cintra let out a disgruntled "Finnneeeee", which wasn't really an applicable response in any way given it was a 'pick one of the above' statement and not a yes or no question. Her words offered nothing about what her decision was, and her body language was equally as descriptive in the way that she continued to hang off his arm with her handhold alone rather than moving. Her lower shins were loosely resting with no efforts made to stand upon her peds, while the long extrusion from her shoulders continued to remain thrown slack as if it were simply an inert rope that was flung down to the ground.

Orange eyes settled straight ahead, Cintra's jaw pressing forward slightly.

[Flux]

“Well, yeah, but that could be the test part. To see if we can.”

He didn’t know the first thing about the decision to send them out here like this, and even if he did? It wasn’t as if he could remember many of the details for very long anyway. He knew Cintra had picked this area with Starscream, and they were here to find Autobots - and that… was unfortunately it.

Though, he still offered the suggestion regardless, just in case it stuck and gave Cintra an ‘ah-ha’ moment to the point she’d stop stressing so much. They were more suited for combat type roles, however they hadn’t been on this planet very long - maybe those kinds of things weren’t really needed as much, and so other positions needed to be filled.

Either way, he wasn’t complaining. Time spent with Cintra was always welcome, even if she was freaking out a little bit.

As Cintra took a deep breath, Flux turned his attention down to her, tilting his helm quizzically, almost as if he was about to ask a question. He’d honestly been expecting some sort of outburst or protest to the direction he’d picked, however there was nothing of the sort - and at her huff, he would smile.

A smile that twisted into a look of mild confusion at her reply to his question. It didn’t really answer anything, though the fact she wasn’t letting go of his arm was probably answer enough.

“Heh, that also works. Let's go, eh?”

Keeping his arm tensed just slightly to support her, he would lift it a little bit to keep her from dragging too much along the ground, and from there? He would begin to walk.

[Cintra]

Cintra didn't seem to care that she was being dragged along the ground, it was simply a side effect of giving up the reins and just going wherever Flux decided to go on this little adventure. It caused the top edges of her peds to click as they scraped along the stony terrain, followed right behind by the long cable in a similar fashion. While her legs had made dull clunky pops when hitting a rock or other bump, the blade in contrast was a higher-pitched rattle as the four plates collided against one another.

None of it hurt. Cintra wasn't BOTHERED by it, it was merely a noisy side effect so long as she sulked. As much as she liked how she was painted and encouraged others to express themselves and embrace a fun color rather than be boring, she wasn't vain about damage. This meant that a worry about what could be happening to her appearance was set aside, there being no doubt that the sand was likely leaving nice scuffs across the clearcoat above bright yellow and pink.

Whether it was only a few moments, or if it was a long stretch of them just walking, Cintra would seem to tune back into reality, orange optics flicking around once more as though she were seeing it all anew. She considered what was visible from her current vantage point with Flux blocking out a large chunk of her range of vision. It was then she started to seem to think through things once more, her brows furrowing while darting her focus from the distant city line to the natural environmental elements of the region.

Thinking...

Thinking...

Pulling up some, Cintra swung her legs down beneath herself instead of continuing her dramatic fit, getting her footing before she let go of Flux's arm and pop jumped ahead a couple of paces to look over where she was unable to a moment prior. Her helm almost bobbed to the side a short amount, hands flexing before she spun around face and looked back roughly at where they had come from. It was more than apparent she was trying to put something together, though what it was wasn't immediately apparent given she wasn't being vocal about her thought process.

They were out in the open. Being out in the open was bad, as it made one an easy to see target. Autobots were lesser than them, easier prey that had to rely on hiding in order to survive. Vulnerability meant that wide spaces were bad. Wide spaces being bad meant she and Flux were in a bad spot to look for weaker individuals. Being in a bad spot wasn't going to let them hit any goal with any level of success. Success was needed in order to do what Starscream wanted. As such, open spaces equal failure.

Swinging around again, Cintra stared over at the city intently, the tendril that was mounted behind her shoulders swooping around in her wake low against the ground, the blade continuing to rattle.

Suddenly, she spoke, her words slicing through the momentary quiet.

"ALRIGHT!"

She nearly yelled this single word, before continuing to speak.

"We got to find a road if we go city, or we head... uh..."

Another turned motion was made, getting a full 360 view around herself once more to re-acquaint despite having just looked mere seconds previously. At this, she then abruptly pointed at the nearest rocky and disjointed terrain that could be a little bit safer to maneuver for stupid Autobots that were trying to hide in nature. It was a fair bit closer than some of the other mountainous regions seemed to be, so it would be easier to go to rather than trying to walk an hour in one direction.

"At that!"

Cintra swooped back around, looking up at Flux for his input.

[Flux]

While Flux was doing his absolute best to keep the majority of Cintra’s frame from scraping along the hardened ground, it simply couldn’t be helped. The long cable was a menace in itself, to the point he’d have to heft her up onto his shoulder to prevent that from dragging.

At least she didn’t seem bothered, and he found himself thankful she wasn’t overly dramatic about a couple of scrapes.

Dramatic about a lot of other things, yes, but not scrapes.

Thinking back to the mantra he’d been repeating to try and remember the details of what they were even doing, he found himself concerned that he could remember only one part of it. The conversation had been distracting, and the lack of anything apparent now they were here hadn’t helped.

Autobots.

Still, it did not matter. Cintra was here, and she would remind him what they were supposed to do, probably even without him asking.

Trudging on, he would spare the femme the occasional glance as she pushed off and then skipped on ahead. The movement was fluid and so he wouldn't falter in his own movements. He could tell she was thinking, having been around her well enough to note her mannerisms - even when they were silent - though he was no mind reader and couldn’t tell just what was going through her processor.

The quiet was nice, though - at least, until it wasn’t - and a single yelled word cut through the silence, making him pause in his footing. Even if part of him had been expecting the abrupt yell, it was still so very unexpected when it happened.

At least she had seemingly come up with a plan, though - which was more than could be said for him. He was simply here to follow orders, and Primus be damned if he could even remember what those were.

“Hm?”

His attention shifted to her as she spoke, watching as she pointed at… uh… what was seemingly nothing. Just more rocks. Strategic rocks, perhaps? It wasn’t a city. Then again, he only knew of the vast cities from back home - and out here in the middle of nowhere? There didn’t seem to be anything even close to that.

“We can go to that, yeah. If only cos there ain’t anything else around. You want up? Or you okay with being dragged again?” he smirked. He didn't mind carrying her should she want it, heck, they could even drive if she wanted to do that instead - she'd uh, just have to give him a sec to transform, but that was no big deal. 

[Cintra]

"-cos there ain’t anything else around."

"That’s the point!"

Cintra cried this out with excitement, as though she were a brilliant strategist that came up with a plan that couldn’t be contested or bested by mere commoners. In truth, it certainly wasn’t a hard leap to get to, the simple frame of mind that a secret base couldn't be so well hidden that it was invisible on a flat swath of land... yet that didn’t sink in to her mind as a consideration, her teeth locked down onto this next step with newfound hunger and determination.

"There isn't really anything else around. Everything gets more rolley and raggety and rocky over there. I bet there is even more hills over the top!"

A broad hand flapped out in the direction she had just been pointing at, all of her fingers splayed out in the process to indicate the entire area in general. Some Joshua trees could be seen speckled about with shrubbery and chunks of rock before the flattened earth abruptly jutted up into a series of ridges and rough chunks. There was no telling what could be over it, which meant in her opinion it was uncharted lands that they would get to conquer. It could just as easily be a human populated zone however, a city butting up directly to where the rocks end on the other side, which would be rather awkward all things considered.

This thought didn't really bother Cintra, who took a few additional long strides away from Flux, almost a sort of hop as though she had to strategically place her peds so that she didn't step on something bad. This wasn’t the case in actuality, her helm held up to look ahead rather than at what she was walking upon. There was a sort of delay once this progression stopped, some thoughts put into what Flux had to say, before she swung her hand out again, speaking with a bold declaration.

"Onward!"

Cintra didn’t really react specifically to what he had asked, though her choice appeared to be more along the lines of 'I can walk' rather than charging over to dramatically hang off his arm, or cobble up his frame to sit back on his shoulder. If he were to get up to her side, perhaps this choice would change, though her speed was quicker rather than facilitating his lumbering gait, starting to get ahead as she trotted. The tendril from the back of her helm and shoulders was now held aloft so it didn’t clatter along the ground like a rattlesnake.

[Flux]

Cintra’s excitement and eagerness unfortunately weren’t matched by the bigger mech, though he would offer a smile to show his support. While he didn’t mind leading this mission - if it could even be called a mission, given they had no real directive - it was nice to see her take charge and direct them.

They could work it out together. They’d been through worse, much worse, and he was certain that between the two of them, they would be successful with…

What were they doing again?

“A higher vantage point is prob’ly a good thing anyway, means we can work stuff out better, eh?”

Down here they couldn’t see jackshit, and while he was capable of flight? He didn’t really want to go through the pain of transforming, nor did he want to effectively abandon Cintra down here in the middle of nowhere. She was more than capable of taking care of herself should something actually happen, however out here in the open it was a little riskier - especially as it took him longer than normal to shift forms.

Plus he wasn’t sure what he’d even be looking for. Cintra could communicate over the comm, of course, but going up with an actual goal would certainly speed things along. As such, he wouldn’t offer - not unless she asked it of him.

He wouldn’t move immediately as the tiny femme strode away, though at her word he would move into his normal, lumbering stride. She hadn’t answered his previous question at all, really, which meant she was probably okay with walking on her own.

Glancing at her occasionally - because how could he not - he would keep most of his attention on the surrounding area. While he hadn’t seen signs of anything going awry, they could never be too careful. This planet was unfamiliar to them, and danger could be anywhere.

[Cintra]

"Yes it does! We can!"

Cintra declared this happily in retort, continuing her active strides forward with no regard to the distance she was putting between her and Flux. Her mind was too occupied with what was bouncing through it to even consider his current position, not that it was really of any concern. It wasn’t as though they would be able to lose one another on this more even plane. Once they got up into the rocky region? Things could change fast. Yet here? It was difficult to NOT see either a flat black blob or a flash of neon pink among brown, green, tan, orange, a dash of yellow, and more brown.

This active charge towards their new goal ended as abruptly as it had begun however, her gaze drifting over to a weird thing that she was starting to pass.

It was easy to blot out a good bit of what was around her as being of no interest. Shorter more ground cover like foliage simply stomped through, while bundles of prickly pear and cholla cacti were cleanly stepped around or over to not stumble and trip across them. A few things she did have to weave around that were a bit taller such as the saguaro cacti ending around her hip... though the biggest of all the weird plants caught her attention, as it ended up being taller than herself which was notable among everything else. She didn't realize from a distance just how big it was until getting in this closer vicinity.

Prancing forward a couple of paces to close the final distance, Cintra moved up in front of one of the Joshua trees, not exactly certain she knew what the thing was. It obviously was some Earth plant, she knew that much, but the way it was structured wasn't familiar to any variants elsewhere she had seen, or the surrounding other plants. Then again, any tree on this planet would likely be just as alien and weird to her as any other, from palm to fur, it was all a new novel idea in its own right. The one thing she knew for a fact however, was that it was an ugly piece of crap with some weird twisty brown body and green pom poms.

Lifting her hand up, Cintra jabbed at one of the spikey tufts that was at her eye level, noting that it had a little give to it and wasn’t as crackly and dry as the rest of it looked. Nothing really happened beyond that however, it didn't move, and didn’t change color, nor did it try to stab her or expel something in some kind of tweaked out defense cloud. It just was a thing, sitting there, going on about its day as though it hadn't been poked to begin with. Which was rather boring. When she thought about an 'alien world', she at least expected some alien plants to coincide like old movies used to have.

Which said much given she just went right up and touched it... but oh well.

Leaning back upright, Cintra would observe it more, not really sure what to think about the first real plant she stopped to look at, not counting the small ones that were actively stepped through or avoided.

"So! What's this things deal?"

She asked this bluntly as though Flux had the answers to everything out there and then some, her frame rocking upon twin heels in an idle motion.

[Flux]

”We can!”

More like Cintra could. Flux had - for the most part, anyway - already forgotten what they’d been sent to do. Aimlessly walking with no obvious goal or destination in direct view meant his processor hadn’t been able to latch onto something to keep him focused.

The last time he’d been out in the open like this that he could actually remember, there had been others alongside him, fighting, and Autobots, and it didn’t take a genius to work out what to do there.

Now, he’d have to rely on Cintra for guidance - which thankfully was nothing new. Again his gaze drifted to the femme, noting the distance that’d grown between them in such a short time due to her happier prance compared to his lumbering stride. Out here though it wasn’t as if he’d lose her, so he wasn’t worried - and as such wouldn’t make any efforts to speed up, even when she beelined toward a strange looking… thing.

He was sure there was a word for what it was, a name even, and as he approached to catch up, he realized just how weird looking the thing actually was.

“Huh?”

Glancing to the thing, then back to Cintra, he’d tilt his helm at the question - shrugging.

“I mean, it just seems to be content hanging out where it is. I don’t think it has a deal… mm, didn’t hurt when you touched it, did it?”

She hadn’t yelped in surprise or wrenched violently away after touching it, so he could only assume things were okay - but he felt the need to ask regardless, just in case.

Turning his attention back to the thing in question, he would hum in quiet approval.

“S’kinda cool looking, though. Weird. I like it. Dunno why a lot of it looks furry, but… Maybe that’s normal? Prob’ly…” musing aloud, he would smile.

“Y’reckon they come in small size? Might be nifty having one in our quarters.”

This one was way too big, nor did he know the first thing about looking after… whatever it even was... but how hard could it be to learn? It wasn’t like they currently had another roommate so they could probably do whatever they wanted - Cintra had decorated the majority of the room anyway so what was one more weird thing?

[Cintra]

At Flux's question about if it had hurt her or not, Cintra seemed to hesitate and think back, as though it potentially had and she was too distracted to have noticed. Her fingers went so far as the flex a couple of times, the joints stretching out the range of their capabilities. This fleeting hesitation of thought, however, didn't lead her to simply declare no, and instead, she reached her hand forward to give the plant another jab. This time she added a bit more force to it to a point that the branch started to bow and the patterns of the green puff were crushed in, decimating what uniformity it may have had as it grew at that particular spot.

"Noooo it doesn’t seem to."

Pulling her hand back, she would turn it around, looking upon the gray paint and black rubbers to see if any sort of powder, residue, or thorns were left behind in the grippy material. To take things a step further, she even smelled at her hand, as if that was even slightly smart to do if there WAS some kind of who knows what. Really, it was a boring plant, which was half disappointing since she truly wanted an alien world to be ALIEN and not just stuff cast around. She wanted some danger! Some freaky things! Granted, all of it could be described as freaky since she certainly hadn’t seen trees before, though that was in the 'weird' freaky and not 'scary alien' freaky.

Cintra's head seemed to crook to the side some at Flux's comment.

"Ew, gross."

She liked things that were manufactured and clean-cut. While one could argue that some printed-out banner with a tear in it was hardly befitting of such a descriptor, it still was specifically made to look a certain way, and the wording or patterns on it were planned out to be appealing to the eye. Plants, and other organic things, simply did whatever they felt like. Branches may hook off at a weird angle, some leaves may go yellow while others around it were green in no particular pattern of interest... While some were uniform to an extent with a radial pattern, it simply didn't click with her. Find it fascinating? Yes. Like them enough to try to cherish and keep alive? Not so much. It was more work when it was already hard enough trying to tape things to dirt walls.

She liked skyscrapers and hard right angles, glass windows glittering under the sun to reflect the sky, or holding a splatter of illumination at night in a patterned smear to betray who was still awake at a late hour when others would have shut down in waiting for the next day. Architecture had such a flair to it, Made to work and to look nice, and the mangled fuzzy abomination before her was so very far from that elegance.

It was kind of cool to mess with, however.

"If you want one, you can keep it off in a corner."

Her hand flicked out at this dismissively, not having any frame of concept that a plant would actually need sunlight and couldn't thrive in such an oppressively dark and artificially illuminated area that may not even hit the wavelengths required to survive. There was also the issue of it needing water, which she also had no idea about. Not just any water though, no, an appropriate amount of water to not dehydrate nor drown the freak plant. There was also the fact that she would just rip it out of the ground and not know it required soil or a container of any kind, assuming she didn't just tear it clean off its root structure. It was effectively dropping a living thing into the hands of two idiots that didn't know the first thing about Earth.

At this, Cintra's focus dipped away from the tree, her upper body crooking down at her waist so that she could peer upon the ground plane and what other options there were. To any human, many may look nifty, though she simply didn't see anything that appealed. Perhaps if some of them were in bloom, the large flowers spiraling open on some of the different species to add color, things may have changed, though that wasn't a reality at the moment. The only reason she had stopped to the big thing simply was the fact it WAS as tall as her and stood out as much as it had.

[Flux]

Flux didn’t understand Cintra’s logic sometimes, and he watched curiously - with some slight horror - as how instead of answering his question, she decided to jab at the weird thing again as if to make doubly sure of her reply. This time, it looked like she had actually hurt it, and he’d frown as some of the patterns were smushed in a little bit.

They didn’t know what this thing was, and the fact she kept touching it was probably not good. What if her second jab released some sort of spores, or activated a defense mechanism or something? While he’d commented only seconds earlier about maybe wanting a miniature one for their room, realizing that he didn’t know much about it was making him second guess.

Though maybe he was worrying over nothing. There were no spores, no explosions, or weird barbs rocketing out - it simply stood, the same as it had been moments prior, and probably years before. The fact Cintra hadn’t been hurt was also good, and he’d smile and nod at her words.

Only to immediately frown as she said his idea was gross.

“Really?” he laughed.

He knew she didn’t like organic things - which this most certainly was - but he’d assumed having something… well, different in their room might be a refreshing change. Anyone who stepped foot into their quarters would know in an instant that the femme had been given free rein of decorating it, however it might be nice to have something of his own in there, too, even if it was just some weird… thing.

At least she was quick to relent to his idea, though - and while it’d be shoved in a corner amongst all of Cintra’s decorations and probably forgotten, it was a little win, even if he had no idea just what keeping this thing would even entail.

“Maybe we can come back for it when we’re done with our mission? They don’t move, right? So it should still be here.”

Did they move? There was a lot about Earth and its various species that he did not know, and while he didn’t think this thing was about to sprout legs and take off in another direction once they’d moved from the area, he wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

“Or maybe there are smaller - or even cooler - ones further out?” he added, helpfully, even if he had no idea at all. “Could find something neat for you too, prob’ly?”

Casting a quick look around, he realized this may not be the case. At least not in this area, but maybe further out there’d be more things to her liking.

[Cintra]

"Really?"

"Yeah, really! It isn’t that pretty... Maybe we SHOULD head towards the city, then there could be something flashy to take home you may like!"

Not that such a goal was anywhere CLOSE to what they needed to be doing. If they got some kind of free time again, like the little window they had to try to find their earthly alt-modes, perhaps they could really scrounge around and play with things to learn about them. However at this juncture, the primary focus was finding the Autobots, and anything else along the way was simply a bonus that could be picked up. Whatever the case, despite announcing a potential new change of plans, Cintra would turn and start advancing towards the rocky landscape once more in her lighthearted stride, replying to Flux's follow-up commentary.

"We can, looks like there are a lot of them you could hunt to find a good one."

As if they actually could move.

Popping off the ground in a sort of hop, Cintra would pass over a sage bush cleanly, leaning slightly into the tilt that was forming the closer they got to the mountainous ridge. The incline was slow, though it was apparent that it would continue to adapt and change, as a once rather flat ground plane started to be joined by lines and shadow crevices from the flow of rainfall during heavier downpours. A couple of rocky boulders popped up at points to add variety, though it didn't deter the femme in the slightest, her gait continuing as though absolutely nothing had changed.

With another hop, a narrow ped planted down atop one of the taller rocks, stopping her forward progression suddenly as she used the foothold as a pivot point to redirect her momentum into a full turn, aiming back at Flux to make sure he was alright. The process left her standing upon the single foothold, the other slightly held out from her central mass to counterbalance with the aid of her tendril in the opposite direction. While she would indeed move subtly with a faint waver, she didn’t start to fall and didn't wave her arms out, held rather steady while looking upon her companion to see how far he may have fallen behind.

Cintra had no doubt he would be fine with the terrain, especially as it wasn’t even close to bad yet, though she knew Flux’s speed was never the best even if he was going in a straight line towards the goal... which she didn't know if he was. For all that she knew he could be lazily walking around plants now instead of barreling through them to look for some kind of 'friend' to bring home or whatever. Once they found the Autobots and destroyed them, he could spend hours out here picking the best things. They didn't have time for that right now, as they had a mission to accomplish! Which... was ignoring the fact that she had been the one to initially stop and look at the tree. That was a little detail she conveniently didn't draw attention to.

"What do you bet is over this ridge?"

The pink femme asked this happily, knowing they had plenty of time to speculate given the distance they would need to go up. If it was only her, she would likely have already gotten to the top, if not a good distance up toward it. She knew that climbing rough terrain going vertically wouldn’t slow her down, however, she did have to pace herself given current company. At this thought, her leg that was held slightly out would pull in to lightly plant beside the other, leaving her perched precariously atop the boulders point.

"Other than more of this."

Her arms flared out with these words, gesturing to everything that lay around them.

[Flux]

"-there could be something flashy to take home you may like!"

“Hmmm...” a clunky digit tapped to his chin as he pretended to mull it over. “Flashy is more your thing.” he grinned, having no qualms about calling her out. Should they find anything closer to the city that could be considered flashy, they would take her fancy - not his. As far as decorating went, she had free reign - and her immediate reaction of ‘Ew, gross’ at his suggestion of the plant meant that this was probably a losing battle from the start.

Not that it mattered - and again he found himself thinking back to his motto of a happy wife means a happy life, something that was especially true when it came to Cintra. Should they find fanciful things that she thought were even worthy of being taken home? They’d take priority over his random need for a weird plant thingy, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

That was if he could even remember his want for one once they moved on from this area.

Maybe she’d remind him.

Probably not.

Following as quickly as he could manage in comparison to her faster, prancier step, he could only watch as the distance between them grew. He still had sight of her, though even if he didn’t? He wasn’t worried about her getting too far ahead. This was simply how it was, and how it had always been, and as eager as the femme was? He took solace in knowing she would wait for him - as she always did.

Ignoring the change in terrain, he took this moment of relative downtime to look around. While he may have forgotten their initial mission, he knew that no matter where they were on this planet there was the risk of danger - which went without saying for all over, really. Autobots were a constant threat, as were the… he couldn’t remember - native pests. Just because things looked still, quiet even - that did not mean it truly was, and as such he was on alert, focusing on the task at hand and not allowing himself to be distracted by the different types of plants that’d shifted into view.

Catching up to Cintra as quickly as he could manage - which wasn’t very fast at all - he would keep going, even as she stopped to ask a question and gesture the surrounding area. He knew she could overtake him in an instant should she wish, and now he’d gotten some sort of momentum going, he didn’t really want to pause in his footing.

Tilting his helm, he would hum - glancing at her as he passed.

“More of- oh.” he laughed. “Uh. Well. I mean, prob’ly more of this, but… maybe not as much? Or at the very least, something we can start heading toward? One way to find out, eh? You still good to walk?”

If she didn’t mind the slower pace of things, he didn’t mind carrying her - though with how eager she seemed to be, it probably wasn’t even worth asking.

[Cintra]

"Flashy is more your thing."

"That it is!"

While Flux was mindful of potential threats to the point that he cautiously kept an eye out for anything that was amiss, Cintra's own hunt was swung in a more aggressively careless direction, her focus darting over an area just enough to convince that there was nothing there before pushing forward to a new point. She was almost trying to do a quick crash course in Earth, attempting to learn what was both normal, as well as atypical, when it came to this landscape. Not that such a thing could even be remotely figured out in one mission... let alone numerous ones given just how different this world was at different points.

She would get a B for effort.

Remaining planted down upon the rock, Cintra would watch as Flux moved past to keep his momentum going, her arms draping to idly fold at her lower back behind her as well as they really could while listening to what he had to say. With her chunkier limb design, the motion was more of a rough approximation rather than a tight pose that could ever look semi-formal, though it seemed close enough, her helm crooking to the side slightly before she whipped down off her perch and moved ahead once again, blasting past him which was answer enough on if she wanted a ride yet or not.

She had too much energy to spend.

"I know this planet has a lot of water on it-"

Supposedly.

"-I wonder if the ocean is over it?"

Cintra chirped this out in thought, thinking back to that horrible place and how that all had gone. Maybe that beach was just over the crest? That recognizable tangle of trash and stuff that lead to the water. It had some interesting things! Though it wasn’t what she'd call fun for more than a couple of reasons. Perhaps seeing it again would change her perspective. With this thought, she would hook up atop and over some of the newly forming obstacles.

As they progressed the incline would begin to become more severe, the splattered sea of agave, cacti, and Joshua trees being overtaken by stone that was growing more ragged rather than the lumpy mounds they had been at the base of the climb. They jutted up in sharper peaks in clusters, while off to the left was a smoother face where erosion had flattened it out, though what they all held in common were a series of vertical and horizontal lines that chunked everything into weird squares. It could almost be compared to the results of a blade having cored out long lines, however, they were far too numerous and widespread to be anything other than some natural formation.

While moving up to her newest point of sentry, Cintra stopped at one of the deeper seams, scrabbling and clawing at it as though it were the edge of a door and it could crack open and reveal some Autobot hovel. These few fleeting scratches were quick and stopped as swiftly as they had started before she hopped up to a new point and did the same. It caused some smaller stones to flick off behind her, though she paid no heed, leaning back to observe the weird etchings and how surreal they were and just how prevalent they were becoming.

While much of the foliage was starting to thin out due to the terrain leaving fewer dirt patches, the ironwood trees kept holding on strong, creating path-like clusters that zigzagged up that would likely block Flux off eventually in some way. Cintra had no doubt he could handle it, as it wasn't a matter of IF he could get up, so much as it was a matter of how long it would take. She could be rather impatient on the best of days, though she knew that complaining wouldn't solve anything at this juncture, and she had to adapt and learn a form of patience for moments like these.

With this in mind, she settled down into her new point overhead to wait, calling down towards the mech.

"How you doinnn'?"

[Flux]

Trudging onwards, there was no surprise whatsoever when Cintra quickly moved to overtake him. Well, that answered that - he figured - gently chuckling as he shook his helm. Ah well, she knew where he was if she did end up wanting to take him up on his offer, as it wasn’t like he could move at a pace to put any real distance between them even if he tried.

“Water?” he quirked a brow, casting a quick glance around the landscape that looked as if it hadn’t seen a drop of the stuff in years.

“You sure about that?” he teased.

While he couldn’t recall a lot of places he’d been here on Earth - what few places that’d even been, anyway - he did remember the disgusting sea that he and Cintra had encountered shortly after their arrival here. It’d been more trash than actual liquid, or at least it’d felt like that, but it still counted as an ocean.

This place seemed like the absolute last place anything like that would be, then again he didn’t really know the first thing about this planet, nor its various environments or weather. His first encounter with rain was scary at first, he did remember that much - expecting it to eat away at his paint like acid, only to find it didn’t, and was actually kind of refreshing.

This place could use some rain, he figured.

But, maybe Cintra was right. Maybe over this hill that he realized was way steeper the closer he got to it, there would be nothing but water. Was that how it even worked? He vaguely knew what an Earth ocean was, though couldn’t remember exactly the terrain that surrounded the water itself.

Though, he couldn’t hear anything. There were the gentle buzz-like chitters of some sort of tiny creatures, the occasional rustle of the weird tree things as an all-too-short breeze moved through their branches, but other than that? It was silent, save for the heavy thud of his pedes and whirs of his vents as he began the sharp incline.

For Cintra, this would’ve been easy - her small footfalls no doubt making easy work of the ragged rocks. They seemed clustered in parts, meaning he would have to take care of where - and how - he moved. The scattered trees further up wouldn’t be an issue when he got there, though he would make efforts to move through them without disturbing too much - however it was getting to that point that would prove tricky.

The only thing he knew was that he didn’t want to stop moving. Not on an incline like this. Glancing up occasionally to try and map out a path that’d suit him, he was making fairly decent progress in his climb.

Though probably not fast enough for Cintra, who he’d noticed had stopped a ways up. He appreciated her waiting, and the patience that she always had for him - though could tell she was antsy. With her energy? The LAST thing she’d want to do is sit and wait for him, and he felt bad that he was holding her up - even if he didn’t make any motions of quickening his pace.

“Good, I’m great.” he huffed, not out of annoyance, but simply due to the mix of momentum and strain of not wanting to pause, even for a moment. The direction he was going was similar to the path the smaller femme had taken, though with some gentle veering off at points that proved to be too cumbersome to traverse normally.

“You can go on ahead if you want-” he grunted, turning his attention back to where he was stepping. “-I know you prob’ly want to go see the ocean over the top of the hill.”

This way, too, maybe she could see if this damn hill was even worth the climb, because right now? He sure as hell wasn’t feeling it.

[Cintra]

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't it be? The land hard changed from solid to shore, not like there is much of a division."

Cintra sounded so incredibly confident in her idea. While the ocean may not be there, it didn't mean that it was an impossible expectation from her perspective. Perhaps if she thought more on it things would be clearer, noticing the lack of humidity, the missing bite of salty air, or even the absence of those screeching flying birds, though that didn't negate her idea fully. If it wasn't the ocean that was alright, as there were more bodies of water than that. It could be a lake, or pond, or river, or who knows what other terms that all meant the same thing of 'water'. Or... liquid of some kind. Could be a pool of magma, but she was smart enough to know that probably wasn't an option in this current environment.

She hoped.

While lava would be something she didn't want to see and would deter her from progressing out of a sparked semblance of self-preservation, she was getting rather interested in the idea of water for some reason. If pushed to actually articulate the why on this matter, however, she wouldn't be able to come up with anything of note, it more an abstract feeling rather than any tangible wish. It was this that made her want to proceed quicker though, a yellow-capped ped tapping down a couple of times while watching Flux.

In the pink femme's vertically inclined mindset, the hill was hardly anything at all, barely worth mentioning if talking about their adventure later on in the day to another, though for her companion that seemed to be different. This made her jaw push to the side in thought before a distraction was offered that took her focus, Cintra looking at the top of the crest, the finials on either side of her helm crooking up slightly along with her posture.

Pointing out just how close they were was a good way to distract, and without even a second prompting she kicked off her post to start her ascent once more, no longer watching Flux who may start to find greater issues with the journey along the way. Despite this distraction however, she did deviate sharply every now and again, darting to the side to investigate any odd crevice that looked 'wrong' to her.

Hiding something within rocks like this would be so incredibly smart she thought, as any kind of carved-out opening would mesh in seamlessly within all the other weird cuts and slices that were taken out. It was one of those 'hide it by being obvious with it' or whatever the phrase actually was that indicated the same premise. With this concept, she would scrabble and dig at a couple, and even stop longer at one she felt was profoundly notable.

After clawing for a moment, the tendril that was an inert element through this entire ordeal, finally took on a more active role, its long form lifting up into the air behind her. It would flick to the side once in a single shake, causing the folded blades to rattle along one another as they re-settled into alignment, before the entire mass hooked up and over her not unlike a scorpion, spearing down hard into the crevice with a noisy strike of metal against stone. The impact was not throttled at all, no tentative poke of the knife to even test the metaphorical waters. It was aggressively powerful, and a good example of why Cintra's weapons needed to be sharpened often as she was incredibly abusive to the poor things regularly, making a truly point-perfect tip a fleeting existence.

When nothing occurred after this strike and a door didn't crack open, Cintra's focus looked up at the nearing ridge, her frame standing upright and pulling back to twist her blades free so that she could hop up the final steps... only nothing happened.

A second wrench, and nothing happened.

With a hard snap, Cintra's helm looked down at the deep groove, noting that she had effectively bound the blade within somehow and she couldn't see exactly how. It wasn't a good situation, as the second she realized she was trapped there was a sort of panic-laden wrench and pull, her peds planting on either side of the opening where she then hooked her spine and heaved with whatever strength she could, potentially wedging the metal in deeper. When this didn't work, she looped her forearms over the tendril, looking over at Flux pathetically.

"I'm stuck..."

A pathetic whined cry, playing the damsel in distress since Flux was around to potentially coddle and help her. If she was alone? Or in the presence of literally anyone else? It would be unhinged rage and angry clawing to try to get free like some kind of feral animal, one that was willing to chew off its own leg if it meant it could be free. Whether proactive or pathetic, there was the true large issue in play, and that was the fact the spot she found herself in was on a sharp incline around smoother rocks and a notable drop-off a short couple of strides to its side.

It would be easy terrain for her, yet for Flux...