re_alignment_logs | Part patrol, part pondering [OPEN]

WHO: Thundercracker and anyone
WHERE: All over Haven - no, really...he's a fighter jet, he can get from end to end in minutes if he wants
WHEN: This week, spans several days
WHAT: Someone's out trying to keep himself busy . . . and maybe his mind a little quieter than it's getting
WARNINGS: Only if you bring any
NOTES: Don't forget to add your tag to the log. ^,^ also HAHA I suck at log starts sometimes. x,x

Thundercracker's out and about, usually airborne - he's a Seeker, what would you expect? - but often landing as well, especially if something, or someone, catches his attention. It's just that things have been . . . quiet around Haven lately. Too quiet. And he's getting restless because of it. What's that human saying he heard on television a few times (give him a break, it was the Stunticons who always had the thing going) - "It's always calmest before the storm", or something like that.

Why can't he shake the feeling that something's coming? And where are the First-Forged? When will they be returning? Will they be? Or has whatever they went off to deal with overpowered them? And what about those . . . those demons he encountered months ago. Yes, they still plague his recharge sometimes.

Other things bother him too, things he can't quite pinpoint - or just can't quite face. Like that fact that he's nearly asked his roommate if he'd like to be trine with him. More than once. He doesn't know how Starscream would take it, though. Or Cliffjumper, for that matter. He's not afraid of the little Autobot - that's a laughable thought, even - but he doesn't want trouble, either. He finds himself wanting to approach Wing too. For old times' sake, or whatever. And . . . and Jadewing. Because the sparkling Seeker is probably longing for his trine even more than Thundercracker is.

Right now, though . . . he'll take just about anyone's company. If only to help get the wheels in his head to quit spinning ceaselessly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was strange for Jadewing too, used to being the leader of his own trine. But quite apart from ingrained deference to rank, it didn't feel right to take the lead position here. Of the two of them, Thundercracker was more experienced, which, according to the unspoken rules that came into play in the air meant that he was the more likely to be able to keep you alive in pinch, and thus was the one to follow.

Jadewing smiled internally at the wing tap. He'd missed that sort of greeting; Cloudkicker was a bit too hyperactive to pull it off properly, but Snowfall would do it fairly regularly. It was... nice. Just flying with someone again was relaxing. Almost peaceful.

Then, to Jadewing's surprise, Thundercracker suddenly banked off, corkscrewing away, and calling back challenge. There was only a moment spent on being surprised, though, before Jadewing gave a brief laugh and kicked in his own thrusters, banking off to chase Thundercracker. "I should be asking you that, old-timer," he replied. Thundercracker was still in the lead in this little game of aerial tag, but Jadewing was catching up fast.

It had been awhile, though. Since he'd been living on Earth, at least. After returning to Cybertron, there had been no time, and on Charr no energy or inclination to play. Now though? He'd really been thinking more along the lines of something useful, but this would do nicely.

Useful, yes, and Thundercracker would get around to addressing that too, but for now . . . sometimes it was nice to just cut loose. Something Thundercracker had never really let himself do back home, even when there had been both time and fuel for it. Too many cares, too many regrets, too much of a façade to keep up, too much worrying who might be planning to shoot him in the back if he let his guard down. It had taken him time, but he'd been learning, slowly, to shed all of that. He wished Skywarp could be here. His more carefree wingmate would be proud of him.

But Jadewing could use it just as much as he, and so for now, he'll take the lead on that too.

"Old-timer!" He sounds offended . . . or rather, tries to – the laugh betrays his tone. "All right, then. Show me what you've got!"

From the added kick of thrusters that rapidly brought Jadewing even with Thundercracker, he obviously intended to do just that. A cheeky dip of a wing, and he banked off on a long, arcing trajectory that would eventually take him through a large loop and bring him back down on Thundercracker's opposite side, assuming they both continued on their current courses.

But Jadewing didn't intend to stay on course, going into a a spiral near the top of his loop. "How about this, hmm?", he called back over the comms before breaking out of his spiral and banking off again into a sharp turn. "Think you can beat that?"

"Heh, there's no 'think' about it, youngster."

With that, he pulls his nose up to climb a straight vertical without warning, stalls, gets himself flipped back over so he's nosediving, corkscrews in freefall until he's dangerously close to the ground before kicking over his turbines and pulling out, arcs back around and up in a tight loop and flips over again to pull up over top of Jadewing, almost cockpit to cockpit and matching his speed.

"Your turn."

OK, Jadewing probably should have seen something like that coming. Not for nothing had Thundercracker been among the elite fliers of the Decepticons, after all. But that doesn't mean that Jadewing isn't impressed. Or mildly annoyed at being shown up so thoroughly.

But that was what this game was about, so he he merely took it as a challenge. "Oh, so you're gonna play it like that, huh?", he said. "Alright..." And he abruptly he dropped out from under Thundercracker, diving steeply, before leveling off and skimming as close to the surface as he dared, deftly dodging rock formations, ending in an abrupt turn on his side to slip through a narrow opening between two pillars of rock. He then banked hard and spiraled up around the pillars, looping turning back into a loop to fly upside-down over Thundercracker's upturned belly before, looping back down into approximately his original position.

"How was that?", he said with a smirk in his voice.

To say that Jadewing had promise would be an understatement - even for a Seeker, that was impressive. Not that Thundercracker was going to tell him as much. Not outright, anyway.

He let himself "fall" just enough to tap canopies before getting space between them again. "Passable." Is the teasing audible? He's not trying to hide it.

They played for a while longer before Thundercracker leveled out one last time, coasting along as his mind went back to recent conversations. After a moment, he asked thoughtfully, "Jadewing, given the chance . . . would you go back? To our Timestream?"

Jadewing gives a smugly pleased little rumble of his engines that's the vehicle mode equivalent of a small smirk at the teasing tone and the canopy touch. He's definitely enjoying the chance to show off.

And he continued to enjoy it, even after they'd settled down from playing into casual flying. The question came as a mild surprise to him, though, and it was a moment before he answered. "Honestly? I haven't thought too much about it," he said. "I never figured we'd have much choice in the matter, and that these Firstforged I keep hearing about would just send us back en masse once we weren't needed here any more."

"Assuming I had a choice, though... I don't know," he said. "This place is... nice, even if it is kinda primitive. I could get used to being able to do whatever I wanted."

"But on the other wing," he said, "Cloudkicker and Snowfall are back there. And so's the only life I've ever know up til now. Yeah, it's not great, but as sad as it is, it's still... home, I guess."

If his wingmates were there with him, the decision would be much easier. But as it was, he couldn't help but be a bit torn.

Part patrol, part pondering [OPEN]

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