runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 1, 2008 23:44:30 GMT -5
Part One: setting up camp. and scaring the one resident human.
"Someone tell me again why we're out here doing this," Sunstreaker muttered, swatting an annoying fly from his holoform as he worked with his twin and Bluestreak on setting up a tent. The things were annoying, even if their forms weren't completely solid.
"An experiment to experience just what it is humans see in this 'camping' activity," Prowl muttered, eying the tent that he and Jazz and managed to get up. "I dun get it m'self," Jazz muttered, sticking his head out from within the tent. "They come out 'ere t'get eaten up by bugs 'nd possi'ly catch sumsorta sickness... 'Nd they love it." Jazz disappeared back into the tent with a 'they are such a hopeless species' look on his face.
"Hey, don't look like that!" Sam protested from across the unofficial campsite. "If you do plenty of the right things, you'll be fine!"
"Excluding the factor of animals," Ratchet added, bringing supplies out of the back of the chartreuse Hummer, making the only human present freeze. "A.. animals? You mean like... animals that attack?"
"Of course. There's a small population of mountain lions where we are." Sam froze, staring at Perceptor as the scientist glanced around at their surroundings, before having a pine cone bounce off the back of his head. "Stop scaring Sam!" The holoform of said Autobot turned around, looking at the two femmes glaring at him.
"Relax, Sam," Bumblebee spoke up, finishing their tent. "The population is small; it's safe to camp out here."
"Besides," came a unison drawl from the twins. "We have the unstoppable and invincible Ironhide."
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runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 5, 2008 19:19:46 GMT -5
Part Two: fishing. and driving one resident human up a nonexistent wall.
Sam had just started to relax from the insanity that had come from setting up the camp with a pack of curious and slightly dense robots. He didn't even want to remember some of the questions, or think about the fact he was stuck out here for two nights and three days with these guys. Not that it wasn't proving to be the awesome experience he was sure it would be, it was just... weird, being the only of his kind here. They had made sure to pick a spot with a minimum of humans passing through.
Glancing around at the environment--and being reminded of a rain forest in the Amazon--Sam was sure not many humans would come out here anyway.
Blowing out air in a sigh, Sam flopped down onto the riverbank, pulling the fishing rod he had brought along with him and stringing a worm onto the hook. He always thought doing it with live bait was relaxing, and being away from the rest of the group was helping him a bit more.
Tossing the line out into the main current of the river, Sam leaned back against the tree to his back, idly reeling the live bait back. But just as he had thought, his peace was short-lived.
"What're you doin', Sam?"
The teen put his head back, staring up at the holoform of one of the female Autobots; Phoenix, they had said, and was surprised at how solid they could make those forms. Peering back down at him, she looked just like any other human would. With a shrug and a light toss to the worm on the end of the line Sam responded curtly.
"Fishin'."
The silence that came from the female standing behind him and against the tree was tell-tale, at least to Sam. It was the same silence that came from them when they were cross-referencing something over the internet, and Sam just caught himself from wondering how they could get a decent signal for when another voice spoke up.
"Why?" Glancing over to the other side of the tree, Sam wasn't at all surprised to see the holo' for Showtime standing there; she had Phoenix had banded together, being the only females currently in the camp.
"Well, for one, it's relaxing. Second off, you can eat what you catch."
The teen frowned at the snort that came from behind him as he pulled up a batch of river plant and started to untangle them from his hook; he didn't need to look back to know that was Sunstreaker.
"Don't think y'wanna eat that, Sam." The dry humor in the Autobot's voice was more than apparent, and it managed to irk Sam. They were out here in the middle of no where, and he found himself being constantly interrupted. The tension between the two males was broken when Phoenix, finished with her searching, spoke up.
"So.. y'like eating things that look like that?" Sam nodded. "And they smell. But once you get past that, they're good," the teen finished, just barely catching the end of a muttered sentence from Sunstreaker's twin. Turning his head to glare lightly at the form, and earn a cheeky grin in return, Sam sighed in irritation and redirected his attention to the newly baited hook and line. It had sounded suspiciously like 'Well, that explains why he's always eating that female's face.'
"So," the first twin drawled, managing to sound very much uninterested. "They look nasty, feel nasty, and smell nasty, but you wanna eat 'em anyway?"
"...yeah, pretty much."
That earned mutters along the lines of 'humans are so weird,' to 'no wonder your entire species is so underdeveloped.'
"Why didn' y'just get a fish at th'store we stopped at before coming out here?" At least Phoenix was being civil, and was genuinely interested in the activity.
"Because, it's fun and relaxing."
That brought along another Autobot's arrival, accompanied by, "Sam...if you had wanted to eat aquatic animals, we could have just purchased some at the store we stopped at..." He couldn't stop the sigh of annoyance that the sentence provoked.
"Because after you gut and cook them, they taste good! Geez, I said it how many times?"
That brought on a fit of gagging.
"You still eat them after gutting them?"
"Sam, d'you know what they eat?"
"Yea.. sorta."
"Then how can you eat 'em after seeing their guts?"
"I'm not eating their -guts-!"
"How d'you know if you get 'em all out?"
"I'm not doing it blindfolded!"
That brought on a strange silence from the Autobots, who were just baffled and endlessly confused by the activity as Sam was irritated. The silence stretched long enough for Sam to actually catch a fish. And, after looking at it, he did the whole Catch-and-Release ordeal.
"...You said you like eating 'em. Why d'you catch 'em, and then let 'em go?"
Sam hit the back of his head against the tree behind him in frustration. "Google it!'
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runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 5, 2008 20:51:15 GMT -5
Part Three: and then the rain came. one human's complaints about Autobots running from something they have to endure.
"No, you can't just go back into your other forms!"
Perceptor seemed baffled by the human's outburst. "Why not?" The problem with the Autobots going back into their alt forms didn't seem to... be a problem at all. Or at least it didn't seem like that to the Autobots.
"Because," Sam growled out. "You guys said you wanted to experience the whole 'camping' thing. Camping does not include retreating back to your robot forms just because of a little bit of rain. That's being a bunch of cowards." An audible protest rose from a couple of the mechs. "Well, if you are mechs, start acting like 'em! The ones not putting up a fight about the entire thing are the girls."
Phoenix and Showtime seemed particularly smug, sitting on the ground nearby their tent. They had, in fact, been the only two not to even show any serious interest in the argument, except to laugh at the appropriate times. Which only proved to irritate some of the younger mechs.
"Aw, c'mon guys," Jazz drawled, one of the only mechs to not complain about it. Actually, most of the older ones didn't seem to mind it. "These forms 'r those, rain's jus' rain."
"These structures seem to be a better shield against the rain," Prowl commenting, choosing that moment to come out from the tent that he and Jazz would be sharing. "Compared to the trees." Sunstreaker scowled at that.
"I'm not worried about these forms; they're just holograms."
"You agreed to coming out here, Sunshine."
At that very moment, the clouds above them thundered and the sky seemed to fall on them. Putting it frankly, chaos ensued.
Prowl disappeared back into the tent, Jazz soon following with a shout of 'fall back!'
The twins bolted straight for their own tent, Sunstreaker getting there just before Sideswipe and holding the flap open for his twin to get in before zipping it straight up.
Showtime laughed with Phoenix as Bluestreak and Perceptor both made a mad dash for the tent they shared, before retreating into their own.
Ironhide and Ratch both spared an exasperated look before going into their own assigned tent, leaving Sam with a quickly retreating Bumblebee.
"Guys, it's just rain."
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runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 6, 2008 19:12:17 GMT -5
Part Four: early morning swimming. and general tradition of shoving each other off into the water.
"Rise and shine!"
Sam groaned and rolled over in his sleeping bag, trying to block out the sunshine that was pouring through the now-open flap. Jazz blinked before look over his shoulder. "'Bee? I thin' he's broken."
The saboteur's shadow was quickly replaced by another holo's, this one only slightly smaller, and a Sam heard a growl.
"He's not broken, Jazz," the scout muttered, aiming a kick at the teen's back and earning a yelp in reply.
"I will be if you don't watch it!"
"Just get outta the tent," the other replied. "The rest of us are going swimming down the river, with, or without you."
The prospect of being left alone in a possibly dangerous place did not sound at all appeasing to the teen, and he almost broke a record getting ready and out of the tent. Blinking at the waiting Autobots, he quickly glared.
"You guys didn't have to sleep," he accused.
"Incorrect," came the cool reply from Prowl, walking down the edge of the river. "We did have to recharge, and it takes a bit more while staying in these forms."
Sam blinked.
"Basically, these forms drain as much as we can get in one of your nights of recharge," Bee explained. "We'll be as tired as you will when we get back to base."
Sam opened his mouth for a further explanation when he was interrupted, "Are we going swimming today or not?"
Ratchet spared the impatient saboteur a distant look before stalking over to him and peering down at the rushing river from a dock. "The water seems to be at most seventy degrees Fahrenheit†," Ratchet noted, glancing over towards Jazz before a glint came up in his eyes. "Test it out for us."
"Test what out--GAH."
Ratchet made sure to shove Jazz just enough so that he went into the river head-first. The medic smirked and crossed his arms over his chest as the holoform came back up, spluttering and flailing wildly.
"S'COLD. IT'S. FRAGGIN'. COLD."
"Seventy degrees is not exactly comfortable, Jazz."
The medic's smugness only lasted a few seconds before he was abruptly shoved into the water as well, coming up to glare at the two twins and one mildly amused Bluestreak.
"The best way to get used to cold water is immediate exposure."
"I couldn' 'gree more."
The twins were only on their feet a few more moments before they were picked up and roughly thrown off of the deck, Ironhide then making Bluestreak follow as well. Prowl then threw the ones in the water a few floating tubes before jumping into the water himself, coming up on the other side of Jazz, who had floated out farthest.
Perceptor completely objected to going into the water, saying he was much more content examining what creatures he found on the banks. Sam shrugged and followed 'Bee into the water, coming up just in time to get dunked by Sideswipe while Sunstreaker got Bumblebee.
Ironhide, who looked a little bit more wary of the water and was about to back off from joining them, was finally convinced by the cajoling. Although the moment he jumped in, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe started swimming for their lives. It had been more than apparent, even to Sam, that the large mech was definitely after the twins.
Sharing a glance with Bumblebee as they both cambered up onto their own inner tubes, Sam realized that this vacation was probably going to be like hanging out with a bunch of high school students.
A bunch of giant, alien robotic high school students.
No biggie.
†- 21 degrees Celsius for SC<3
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runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 16, 2008 20:53:24 GMT -5
Part Five: campfire and marshmellows. and how not to set a human on fire.
"Ironhide! You're not supposed to light the whole thing on fire!"
The holo of the weapons specialist looked up from the small, flaming orb that had once been a marshmallow. "What? Why not?"
Showtime huffed in irritation as Phoenix chuckled. "Because the pictures online don't show 'em looking like that! Primus, what is with mechs and lighting things on fire?"
"Jus' be glad Fweeljack innt hur," Jazz muttered through a mouthful of his own marshmallow, earning a light chuckle from Prowl as the tactician looked the other way. "Fwut?"
Ironhide meanwhile, had been peering at his--still--burning marshmallow, frowned for a moment, and then shrugged. "It looks kinda cool."
"...he does have a point," Perceptor piqued up from the other side of the fire. "..but it over carmalizes the surface of the marshmallow, which more than likely does not taste too pleasant."
"Perceptor?" Sunstreaker started, levelly the scientist with a cool glare.
"Yes?"
"Eat your damn marshmallow."
Ironhide merely shrugged again before tossing the flaming marshmallow--and attached stick--over his shoulder. A small hiss was heard in the darkness, indicating it had hit the water. Bluestreak peered over towards the edge of the water, a slight frown on his holo's face.
"That can't be good for the fish."
"The fish can deal."
Sam laughed softly before reaching into the bag behind him that he had pulled the marshmallows out of, graham crackers and chocolate following afterwards. Phoenix caught the action, and tilted her head to the side. "What's tha' stuff for?"
Jazz smirked and Bumblebee grinned as Sam shook his head. "Just watch," he directed the female Autobot, toasting another marshmallow and putting chocolate on two graham crackers, placing the marshmallow between them and squishing the mixture together. "S'mores; best damn thing ever."
"Why're they called s'mores?" Sideswipe asked, eying the strange sandwich-like snack Sam was biting into, earning a shrug from the human. "And I thought we were making marshmallows," Sunstreaker added, eying the chocolate and graham cracker before shrugging, settling for eating just the chocolate. "I'm not impressed."
"S'mores and marshmellows go hand in hand, Sunstreaker," Bumblebee said, "If you're gonna make marshmallows, you gotta make s'mores. It's a rule."
"Lemme try one," Showtime muttered, taking the s'more that Phoenix offered her.
"You sound like Prowl," Sunstreaker scowled over to Bumblebee, invoking an immediate 'do not!' which spiraled down into an immediate 'do not,' 'do too' war between Bumblebee and the Lambo twins.
"Hey, hey! Knock it off!" Sam shouted over the fight that had escalated into shouting. "I don't need you all starting a fight right now." The teen remained standing, glaring the rest of the Autobots down, and not noticing the sudden change of temperature on his left leg until Perceptor spoke up,
"Uh, Sam.. you're on fire."
The next few moments were of complete and utter chaos. The fire from another one of 'Hide's deadly flaming marshmallows had somehow gotten onto his pants, and somewhere between Bumblebee flailing and the twins shouting at him to 'drop and roll,' he had been shoved. Right into the river. By Prowl.
Most of the Autobots (save Bumblebee, who was trying to fish a now spluttering Sam out of the water) just stared at the tactician, who shrugged before saying nonchalantly, "It was the logical thing to do."
The one Autobot that didn't seem the least bit interested in how Sam was faring was the one who had caused the entire problem. And Ironhide was laughing.
At least until he was leveled with an icy cold glare and a phrase in Cybertronian that sent the seasoned warrior scrambling away from the campfire, with a medic, complete with murderous glint in eyes, not too far behind.
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runyasan08
Gunner
when you believe in things that you don't understand...
Posts: 828
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Post by runyasan08 on Mar 31, 2008 20:16:19 GMT -5
Part.. Six? insert witty comment here.
Jazz peered off into the darkness in the direction that the two had disappeared off to, before sighing and shaking his head. "Dunno if they're gonna come back," he concluded before shrugging and plopping another toasted marshmallow into his mouth. Prowl smirked.
"Considering how much they like to 'experiment with their holoforms..." Jazz practically rolled with laughter as Sam choked on his drink and stared at Prowl. "Y-you don't mean..." The tactician managed to fight his smirk and keep his tone level. "I do, actually. They're as bad in these forms as their mech forms."
Bee glared the other Autobot into a silent smirk while Sam just stared into the fire. "I.. did not need to know that," he finally muttered, putting his face into his hands.
"'Kay, whatever with traumatizing the human," Sunstreaker snapped. "I'm more interested in this 'horror story' you were rattling on about, Jazz.
The saboteur just grinned, leaning back against Prowl and making himself comfortable, ignoring the tactician's mild glare. "Well, 'ctually, s'more of a recap than a story," he began, only to provote snorts from the twins. "No, m'serious! 'Jack had this.. thing from.. well, he didn't know where it came from. It actually came down inna meteor - which is jus' cliched, I know. But it was small t'start off with!"
"You were there?" Bluestreak questioned, seeming more interested in it than the twins were. Jazz had to fight back a grin; it would only be a matter of time and embellished details before the Lambos were sucked in as well.
"I was, 'ctually. 'Jack wanted someone t'come along t'investigate it, 'nd I went wit' him. He didn't want 'nyone else t'know 'bout it, 'nd I promised t'keep quiet.
"'Kay, so this thin', see, it started off inna lil bitty ol' meteor, nuthin' bigger' Sam's head - "
" - are you saying I have a big head?"
"No, m'sayin' s'small."
"Oh, good... Hey wait - "
"'Nyyyway, so, like I said, it was tiny, so 'Jack thought it was nuthin', 'nd we brought it back t'the base -" Here, he was interrupted by Prowl.
"You brought a possibly dangerous lifeform back to the base...?" Jazz gave an annoyed huff before smaking Prowl light in the fact. "Hush you.
"So, yes, we brought a 'possibl' dangerous lifeform' back t' th' base, so shoot me. Regardless, we thought it was prett' harmless, afterall, our scanners hadn't picked up 'nythin' 'bout it. But we got it back t'base, and 'Jack set it somewhere, well, maybe not-so-safe. Somehow, th' thin' got chipped 'nd we didn't notice 'ntil somethin' had crawled outta it."
"Something?" Perceptor echoed, looking doubtful beside an almost panicked looking Bluestreak and mildly interested Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.
"Somethin'," the saboteur echoed, nodding his head. "M'mean, it was kinda hard t'miss, with it eatin' a hole through th' desk."
"Woah, wait, back up," Sideswipe interrupted. "Eating though the desk?" Most of the mechs surrounding the campfire seemed concerned - most of them new whatever was in Wheeljack's lab happened to be one of the strongest materials known, even to Cybertronians.
"Well, yea, eatin' through th' desk. 'Nd that's not the worst part even. 'Parently, th' thin' had some sorta.. sentientness, and came after us."
"Bullshit," Sunstreaker cut in, earning a glare from Jazz. "D'you wanna hear this, or not? Then shut the slag up
"'Kay, so, this thin'? Yea, it had some sorta intelligence, 'nd knew how t'pick out, I dunno, what metals would taste th' best?" That earned a couple of snickers from a few of the mechs and provoked Prowl into glaring at them. "Hush." Jazz chided them, fighting back his own snickers. "So basically, this thin' decides to chase after me 'nd 'Jack in his office, eatin' through whatever got in its way. 'Nd I mean, some of that stuff... woah." The Solstice's holoform cut off with a shake of his head, and Sam realized that a lot of the acting came from the way he said stuff, even though the story seemed to ring a bell.
"What's your proof?" Came the challenge from the Lambo twins - at the same time - earning a cool look from Jazz he must have borrowed from Prowl. "'Member that mornin' when Ratch' was yellin' at me 'nd 'Jack f'r havin' done 'somethin' stupid' 'nd makin' it seem like we'd tried Jet Judo?" The silence from both of the twins was enough for Jazz to think smugly 'hook, line, and sinkers.'
"So," Blue ventured cautiously. "How'd you stop it if it was eating through everything and going after you and 'Jack..?"
"'Xcellent question, Blue," Jazz shot back with a grin. "Froze it."
"Froze it?"
"Yeep, like th' humans did t'ol' Meggers," the saboteur's holoform stood up at that, stretching slightly with most of the mech's eyes trained on him.
"So..." It was Perceptor this time. "Wheeljack is keeping a possible threat to the Autobots in his lab..?"
"Maybe. I dunno if he kept it 'r not. Knowin' him, yea, he still has it."
"Has what?" Came a voice from the shadows, making the younger ones jump slightly as Ratchet's holoform came into the circle of light from the fire, Ironhide's looming in the shadows behind him.
"D'you remember when you had to put Wheeljack and Jazz back together in the early hours of the morning?"
Jazz's holoform bit his lip as Ratchet regarded the saboteur. "Pit yes, slaggers had managed to mess just about everything up in them."
"Did it involve anything 'alien'?"
The medic snorted at the tactician's questioning the moment Jazz slipped off into the shadows. "No! ...Unless you count 'Jack as an alien."
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