re_alignment_logs | Road Trip Minus Road?

Entry tags:

Road Trip Minus Road?

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?"

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(s'mores, anyone?)

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

(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!)

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.

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?"

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?"

"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?"

"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."

"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?"

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."

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."

"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.

"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?"

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."

"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."

"I'm wishing I'd looked around a bit more then, you'll have to show me sometime." But they're here, now, exploring this new--but not exactly undiscovered--area.

Wing blinks. Not the first? It comes as a surprise to him. He'd heard things, cryptic things that made sense now, but never stated as plainly as Drift had. It's a bit...disappointing, knowing that when they'd all woken up in the Junk Pile that day they weren't the first to experience this new Cybertron.

Not so new, apparently. "...Unicron won?" It's ominous, the sound of that.

Wing runs his fingers over the walls, taking in the details of the place, mildly curious about everything. He pauses, optics cycling in the dim light. "...maybe. Up ahead. Something that doesn't look natural...?"

"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...?"

Drift winks. "Oh, are you afraid of the big scary outdoors, Wing? I'll be your teddy bear." He knows it's not true: he knows Wing has gone off without him. But he's making light of it because, well, you know. Tough guy exterior.

"Dawn it is." He gives a nod. He'd been ready to pull watch all night himself.

"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.

"You can get to more of them than I can." The paths were treacherous and Vector was a flyer--there was a bit of pro-flyer bias there.

"I guess." Drift shrugs. He thought Wing was, you know, buddy-buddy with Vector. It felt weird to know more than Wing did.

"What do you see?" He frowns, for a moment hating the blue optics and how they limit his lowlight vision.

"Really, are there that many?" Color him intrigued. "We'll if I can get there then I can take us both."

"That's ominous," Wing frowns, his processor whirring around the implications. "So there was a previous population that was...wiped out?" Or something. Preferably something less ominous.

"The texture of rock...it looks like it changes?" He points to the opening ahead of them, trying not to get too ahead of himself.

"I could see a bunch." He shrugs. Obviously, he couldn't get to them to explore.

"Several previous populations, unless I misunderstood Vector." Kind of takes the polish of the special, huh? It had upset Drift to hear.

"Yeah?" He steps closer, hand out. "You're right. This wasn't shaped naturally."

"We should go look sometime then!" Because exploring is fun and interesting and Wing's learned the hard that doing it alone has its downsides. Besides, he likes having company, especially this kind.

"S-Several!?" That's got him line-facing in disbelief. "How long is it taking them to prep this planet for Primus anyway?"

It's out before he can snap his mouth shut. Because it feels wrong to speak poorly of the First Forged...except that it remains a very real question in his mind.

Unsettled, he turns his attention back to the wall, running his fingers over the surface for a ways. "It gets smoother here, like it's been...cut or shaped." He peers off into the darkness, noting the same odd sheen on the cut stone which the natural formations lack. "Looks like it goes on like this..."

He laughs, loud enough that he has to cup a hand over his mouth. It just seems smart, out here in the wilderness, to be discreet.

Not that he's really succeeding. There's still a laugh or two that sneaks out from behind his hand before responding, "So maybe I am? You should have seen the thing that jump me in the lake! I think it's definitely in my--our--best interests for you to stay with me tonight."

Wing can play the damsel to Drift's tough guy anyday.

He nods his assent. "Maybe one of the others can take the middle watch." So you know, that cuddle time can actually happen. Because laying out here under the stars, so far from Prima's light, with Drift? Sounds sublime to this damsel.

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.

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Page 1 of 4

Road Trip Minus Road?

First Night's Camp

Random Encounters

The Ruined Village

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