Road Trip Minus Road?

[sword_redemption]

Who: Drift, Barricade, Vandal, Wing and First Aid (anyone else want in on this poke me via PM?)
What: Exploring
When: Day or so after the dance (so there may be hangovers to start?)
Where: Wildernessy waste places.
Warnings: added as needed

((OOC: I'm going to create three placeholder sub-comments below--first night's camp, random encounters, and the ruined village. Feel free to start your own threads under each or add your own categories, and tag around--I think that'd be easier than doing a long rotation.))

Drift certainly hasn't felt like he's been doing his part. It felt good to fight again, good to do something to help defend. But the battle was over and he was feeling that old emptiness gnawing at him--in a world at peace, what good was a warrior?

A warrior could still explore. A warrior could protect himself, move without fear. And, maybe, notice things that could be useful.

He rolls the tension out of his shoulders as the little party all shows up. "Ready?"

Comments

First Night's Camp

[sword_redemption]

(s'mores, anyone?)

[winged_knight]

The last time Wing had left the Haven to, uh, 'explore' he hadn't paid as much attention as he should have to the scenery. He's still not exactly sure how he didn't get grotesquely lost, he just assumes the powers that be had been looking out for him. This time around he's got company and the circumstances are much, much better. It's nice to get out and see Cybertron when your vision isn't so clouded with personal issues.

Yes things are definitely better now, he thinks as he sits with the others in camp, Great Sword propped next to him. A knowing smile spreads over his face, remembering recent events, the dance and the much more intimate after party still very fresh in his mind.

[sword_redemption]

Drift's still a bit unsure about being a leader of this little expedition. His previous experiences didn't end so well. So he's fretting around the little circle, as though walking around and worrying would, you know, make everything go smoothly.

"You doing all right? Need anything?"

[winged_knight]

"Just you." Wing grins. It's an invitation, for now or later, whichever suits Drift best. Wing knows what it means to be full of nervous energy. Though if he can set Drift more at ease that'd be the best of both worlds.

"Need me to take a watch tonight?"

[sword_redemption]

The invitation sends a warmth through Drift's frame, reducing him to a stammer. If only Wing knew the effect he had on Drift when he said things like that. "I. Uh. I'm here. If you. Uh. Need anything." Hopefully 'intelligent conversation' isn't on that list.

"If you want. And Wing?" A shuffle of his feet. "Thanks for coming along."

[winged_knight]

"A cuddle would do. When you're ready for recharge." Being a pillow doesn't require conversation, so Drift should be safe. "Or earlier if you like." Maybe Wing will be the pillow then, so Drift can relax.

"Sure. I'll take dawn watch then." His smile is warm, not unlike the dawn itself, but with only his spark to light it. "Adventures with you? I can't think of anything I'd rather do."

[vandalization]

After a long day of begging rides off Drift and Wing, Vandal has plunked herself down by their feet, propping her head on her helmet like a pillow.

"This is great. No giant bugs, no crazy fuckin' chaos. Just kind of a walkabout."

She opens a bag of what appears to be M&Ms or something close to it, tossing one at Drift, it bounces off his knee.

"Thanks for the ride, by the way. Walking is so much better when you don't have to walk."

[sword_redemption]

"You're going to jinx us, talking like that." Sometimes, Drift swears, it's like the First Forged or Unicron or whoever has nothing better to do than eavesdrop and do horrible things.

The M&M, a green one, bounces harmlessly off his armor. "And if something does attack you? That's a terrible weapon."

He shrugs off the compliment. What was he going to do? Just leave her? Besides, he'd never admit it, but he liked giving her rides.

[vandalization]

"Lucky for me I'm armed to the teeth and have a few big fellas who really like me around."

She flicks another candy at him, missing entirely.

"Not that I want to cause you problems or anything but you know. I'm not too worried." Except she's always worried, but it's become so normal for her that she's almost adjusted to the paranoia.

"I get to sleep with you and Wing, right...?"

[sword_redemption]

"And unlucky for anything trying to mess with us." He knows she's tough. Maybe not against bugs, but he remembers her standing off against Wing during that awful pages thing.

"Eh, you don't want to sleep with Wing. He snores." No, he doesn't. Drift just likes messing with them.

[vandalization]

She laughs, reaching over to swat his ankle playfully.

"How can a cybertronian snore?!" She says, giving him a wry look, "Unless you have something stuck in your vents."

"Besides, you gonna make me sleep all on my own?"

[lifepersists]

This was the first time First Aid had been out of the Haven... ever. Usually the medics kept inside the boundaries of the Haven as they were often needed inside the medibay, if not for checking over injuries, but for also regular checkups and maintenance. There was always something to be done.

And First Aid... well. He felt a little bit of the odd mech out, with friends but no one particularly close. Still, he didn't regret coming with Drift. This was a new kind of adventure and someone had to make sure Drift didn't lose a leg or something.

He sits by the fire by himself, his optics lighting a data pad that he had propped against the backs of his legs. Hey, even out on a journey, he had to document it somehow. Behind him was his cybercycle, providing a small barrier to lean up against.

[namesnotprowl]

This is all just a bit of a good chance for things, for Barricade. Meet a few new people, maybe find a few things. He hadn't had much call for his medical skills and - for the time being - he could use a break from construction. Exploring was a good opportunity for that.

Besides, he doesn't deal often with mechs from other temples. Particularly from Megatronus's. Probably because he was wary of being around anyone Shockwave had something in common with. They hadn't had the best rapport of late and any way to avoid him.

Still, this particular mech... didn't seem so bad, from the network. Barricade approaches from the side, slow enough to try to avoid startling him. "Data pad, huh?" Some kind of conversation starter besides 'So what brings you here' because they all already know.

[lifepersists]

Barricade was a mech First Aid had heard of and only spoken with briefly (the topic, he recalled right, was over their strange form of reproduction), but aside from that he didn't quite know the other mech well. Just a few things heard, here and there, about him being ex-Decepticon. First Aid didn't discriminate; he worked with Ambulon, after all.

The sudden question makes his head jerk up, facial plating heating. He rolls his shoulders, then quickly saves his progress with the data pad.

"I... Well, it's a diary..."

[namesnotprowl]

Barricade knows the general feelings of others mechs, related to his old allegiances and his field of work. Decepticon medics from his universe tended to carry certain... connotations, after all. Still, he's hardly going to bring it up or stop him from associating with other medics. They were all here to work, as far as he was concerned.

"You don't gotta stop on my account. Trying to keep a record of the whole journey, I'm guessin'? Not a bad idea."

Good idea to catalogue it in writing as it occurs, if nothing else.

Random Encounters

[sword_redemption]

(there are creepy crawlies out here: feel free to have random encounters!)

[vandalization]

When she'd said no bugs... well. Apparently shed spoke too soon. Having excused herself to go to the bathroom moments before, now there are plasma rounds being fired from behind one of the rocks.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH FUCK FUCK SHIT! DIE!"

Silence.

"Oh wait-! It's okay guys! It was just a tumbleweed."

[winged_knight]

It's pretty amazing the number of Wing's body parts that can move when he's surprised. Which is what happens when he hears Vandal's screaming.

He's also a speedy thing when he wants to be, cresting the edge of the rock outcropping--

"What, WHAT!?"

--just as she's giving the all clear. Whoops? Hope you're decent Vandal.

[vandalization]

"OH! Uh-" Just as she's got her pants back up, honestly. She turns, waving a hand at him.

"It's okay! Just startled myself!"

Not bad response time, though, to be perfectly honest.

[winged_knight]

He blinks, and then remembers the laws of propriety for humans and fixes his optics somewhere to Vandal's left.

"A-are you sure?"

Because that scream? That was one for the record books. At least by way of the ones Wing's heard.

<small((ooc: we should fix that sometime. /GRIN))</small

The Ruined Village

[sword_redemption]

(holy diodes, we actually found something out here! It's a village, set in caves, abandoned, but with clear signs of former Cybertronian inhabitants. Explore here!)

[winged_knight]

He stands on the crest of the path, a spot where it switches back along the wall and back down towards the ruins of...something, a village perhaps. Only the echoing scrape of their footsteps and occasional drip of some underground water source comes to his audials, twitching as he peers out into the small cavern.

"How is this even here?" Wing says with a small hint of wonder. "Who built it?"

[sword_redemption]

"There are caverns near Vector's," Drift says. "So maybe geologically it's not surprising." And then...that's the end of him having smart things to say on the subject.

He pauses in the doorway for a klik, listening, before drawing one of his short blades. "Well, they're not going to explore themselves, right?"

[winged_knight]

"You mean bigger than that small cave?" It's all Wing's seen, thus far. Though he'd been curious.

"I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. I'm just so used to thinking of this place as untouched, undeveloped." There seems to be multiple things that wish to prove that wrong.

Wing tosses a grin at Drift as he follows suit and readies the grip of one of his own weapons, leaving it inactive for now. "Well if they did we might have a whole lot more to report."

[sword_redemption]

"Some seem to be." Hey, Drift did some exploring before he picked his Cave of Angst. He picked that one because he liked the view.

"Vector'd mentioned that we aren't the first. That others have been here before and, I guess, Unicron won or something." Kind of took away from the glamor of thinking of yourself as special and chosen, but Drift should be used to that by now.

Drift turns, heading cautiously into the cave. He can't hear anything except their own systems and the faint, almost musical sound of dripping water, but that sound echoes so much around the cave's contours that it's impossible to tell where it's coming from.

The cave is old, old enough that stalactites and stalagmites have joined together to create long columns, punctuating the spaces that here and there look to have been shaped for habitation. "See anything?"