re_alignment_logs | A day off

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A day off

WHO: Drift and Vandal
WHERE: The lake out near... somewhere. I forget where, but I know it's there.
WHEN Monday to Wednesday
WHAT: Camping! And drinking. Vandal and Drift go on a vacation.
WARNINGS: Vandal's mouth.

"So it should be a ways ahead."

Maybe she'd over-packed, but it's easy when you have a holo-inventory. So they had firewood, food, even high-grade for Drift, and whiskey for her. They were going to have a hell of a time, damn it. If she has anything to do with it. Drift needs it, and so does she. After everything that had happened?

A little R&R will do them both good. So she sinks back into Drift's passenger seat and chews on a piece of very dry jerky.

"Are you excited? I'm excited. We're gonna drunk. And maybe hang out and it's gonna be fuckin' great. I've never been camping. Have you? I've read about it. I always wanted to when I was a kid but. Space. Kinda lacks proper forests and wilderness."

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He is being a big showoff, but she's loving every second of it. She'll admit to herself later, yeah, a bit scary. But in the way that a ride is scary or an adventure movie. She knows she's safe, in the long run.

Drift wouldn't let anything bad happen to her.

Well. Maybe let her sides get sore from laughing too much, but that's hardly a bad thing.

He never gets to drive like this, not really, just for fun. He'd escaped the Swarm, when he'd gotten cut off from the others, by this kind of thing, but it's different to do it without someone trying to kill you as motivation.

Someone laughing is a much better motivation.

But she's in the safest place right now, and he hopes she realizes that.

"Had enough?"

"I need- just a moment to catch my breath. That's all," She wheezes, leaning on his door, still grinning like a maniac.

It's fun when he's playful like this. Lately he's been through so much shit. She missed doing stupid pointless shit with him. Though she wonders how pointless it really was after all? Because these are the moments that make her glad she's here.

Alive, despite everything.

"Fuck, Drift! Where did you learn that? Someone call the galactic police or whatever. We've got a crazy bot on the loose!"

"Right. That's your excuse." It's fine with him: if he tries anything more dangerous, he might risk hurting her. And that's a great big No.

He lets his engines rev down to a slightly more sedate speed. Slightly.

"Running from the police." Truth, but his engines are still rumbling with laughter. It's the first time he's thought of that period of his life, with a laugh.

"Not an excuse! I've just gotta... catch a second wind here..." Totally. Absolutely!

Not.

"Seriously? God. You are such a fucking badass, Drift. Can I have some of your badass? I'm at a critical low."

A ponderous pause.

"And yet you're a giant dork, too. How do you balance it?" She can't help it. Teasing him is a favorite hobby.

He's not going to call her on how obvious a lie that is. Not when he could preen about his driving prowess.

"You were plenty badass back there with--" Right. Maybe not a good thing to talk about. "--all the time. But I could take over for a bit."

...ouch. Way to deplete his awesome-bubble, Vandal.

"...hey."

She nestles deeper into his seat.

"I think I'll let you handle the badass." There's a soft chuckle.

"Aww, come on. I'm teasing you. Dorkiness is a good quality, anyways. Or at least one I value. You're still a big badass who drives like a bat outta' hell and you have this whole. Knightly, samurai thing going on."

She rubs a hand over his dash. Yeah. She definitely adores him.

"Drift, if I were a rob-... a Cybertronian, do you think I'd be as cool?"

See? She's learning.

"I've had more practice." By a few million years.

At being badass, that is. Though also obviously at being a dork.

"I don't know how to be anything else." Truth, embarrassingly so.

"Vandal." He slows, to a careful speed. They're nearing the site she'd given him coordinates for, anyway. "You're always 'cool'. You should know that."

"Drift..."

A more subdued smile, something quiet and genuine. She looks out the window and watches as they approach the lake.

"You're really sweet." She wont play the 'no you're wrong' game. Spoil that moment that she carefully stows away with all the rest for when she's alone and waking from nightmares.

She's never had a friend quite like him before, and that's the giant alien robot car thing aside, too.

"I'm not. Really." But he's not going to argue too much. Especially not when he rolls over another hill, the light glinting off the dappled surface of the lake like silver.

"Beautiful," he says, and then adds, a moment later, "Don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is."

A moment of comfortable silence passes.

"Drift...?" Maybe she should tell him how much she appreciates him. What he does for her... who he is.

"Where do you see from when you're a car?" Because this isn't something she'd covered with Ratchet yet. Altmodes were their own lesson. And yeah, she's totally ruining the moment, but it just kind of dawned on her. And she chickened out on the first part.

"Yes?" He circles part of the lakeshore, trying to scout the perfect campsite. Which is a bit difficult, since he has no idea what a campsite should look like.

Uh. Wow. That wasn't what he was expecting.

"Headlamps?" Because that's a weird question, don't you think?

"Ohhh... I guess that makes sense." She's about to ask him if he sees out of his tail lights too, and if that was like seeing out of your own butt, however she's distracted abruptly.

"Oh, oh, oh! Stop! Right over there! That is the perfect spot! We'll camp there."

Well. Maybe she'll get another chance to have that meaningful conversation with him. Maybe later. When he's drunk and he'll forget.

She's honestly starting to question herself, though. She's never been this close to someone.

....don't ask that, Vandal. Drift likes to keep a little mystery.

He's glad when she indicates a spot, letting his tires slowly roll to a stop where she indicated, trying to figure what she's seeing, for future reference.

"Here? So what do we do to set up?" He pops the locks, but doesn't open the door. He'd be okay with just sitting here for a while.

There's actually no rhyme or reason to the spot she picked, as it appears to be the same as the rest of the terrain, aside from a small outcropping of rock over the water.

"Well, here's where we get all cozy, and y'know. No tents or anything, from what I understand, tents are for bitches. Also I have you. So I guess you're going to be the tent if there is need for a tent."

She leans forward, folding her arms on his dash and resting her head there.

"So from here, we hang out, talk, play in the water, make a fire and drink until we're stupid. Apparently we also are supposed to look up at the stars and have some deep conversation about the meaning of life but that's just what I've read."

Tents are for bitches. Right. Got it.

"And you're not a bitch." So, therefore, no tent.

He lets his engine idle down, while she rests against his dash. "Are you all right? Tired?"

He cuts his headlamps so the play of light on water is more visible and stark. It's beautiful. "We can try those. Or something else."

"Damn right!" Drift. You're such a fast learner. Also she laughs because hearing him say the word 'bitch' is downright hilarious.

"I'm good. Just enjoying the moment."

It is a very pretty sight. Not like anything she'd see on any station, not even in pictures of earth. Nothing compares.

"Did you have something else in mind?" Maybe some Cybertronian things?

He has no idea why she's laughing, but laughing is good.

"All right. I thought, you know," and he tries to sound teasing, but maybe it doesn't quite work, "maybe I'd sort of worn you out with all that excitement."

"I don't know. I just don't think we need to be held by someone else's idea of what we're supposed to do out here." Cybertronian things? Yeah, you don't want to know what Cybertronian things he remembers from before the war.

"Pssshhh. Me? I can take much more. Buuuut you did give me a run for my money." She pushes his door and climbs out, taking a breath of the crisp air in and looking over the landscape and water appraisingly before kicking off her shoes.

"You have a point there. Maybe we should play a game. Or explore. I'm kinda all about getting a few drinks in first though. Makes things more lively don't you think?"

Yeah. Already opening up that holo-inventory and offloading some high grade and whiskey.

"I'll have to try harder." Not really. But he can't just take that sort of thing lying down.

Well, in alt mode.

Right. That's a terrible expression.

"Drinks are a good place to start." He waits till she's exited, before straightening, panels sliding into his robot mode.

"Bring it on, tough guy."

No matter how many times she sees it, it's still fucking awesome. Watching a car stand up. She scoots a cube of high grade toward him.

"Drink up."

Because everything is better when you're hammered.

"Big talk from someone with two feet on the ground." He says, also with two feet on the ground, as he reaches for the cube. He waits to see if she takes a drink for herself.

"Aren't we supposed to toast or something? Something inspiring?"

"I could always sit on your shoulders and say it." She maturely sticks her tongue out at him and uncaps her bottle, lifting it slightly.

"Uhh. Yeah. To us? Here's to best friends."

Yeah. Best friends. She tips the bottle back a little quickly, because there's a part of her deep down, that is starting to realize...

"You could try." He's grinning when he says it. It would certainly be better than all the time he spent as a human slung over her shoulders.

That's a good toast. "Best friends." He smiles, raising his cube. "The best friend I've had."

"Likewise," She says as she finishes a long drink, hissing at the burn in her throat.

Padding over, she sits on the small rocky outcropping and dangles her feet in the water. It's cold, to say the least. Shallow enough that she doesn't feel uncomfortable hanging out near the edge. She can see the bottom... swimming wasn't a thing she leaned.

"Feels pretty damn good to get the hell away from 'civilization', doesn't it?"

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*sob* I HAVE NO IDEA

I'm so sorry /gently ruins everything

you have no idea how much I need fluff right now ;-;

Me too ;A; Always happy to deliver <333333

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sob I HAVE NO IDEA