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Post by Swerve on Sept 11, 2011 22:21:49 GMT -5
OOC: Month 2 Week 4 Day 3. Semi-private.
As one of the Autobots who lacks in tact, social graces, or anything even resembling diplomacy, Swerve has largely ignored Earth and the locals he'd be expected to play nice with if he showed his face. Though he has been staring longingly at satellite photos of Earth's highways.
The problem, he's found, is that most of the roads are heavily trafficked. And he has enough self-awareness to realise that he can't enjoy driving on those roads because his long-time instinct is to race his way, and between speed limits, construction zones – it'd be more efficient if they had drones like Velocitron to fix road damage in a few hours rather than spend weeks or even months while dozens of easily-tired humans pick away at the problem, he thinks – and the bad drivers so many on the Internet complain about, he'd be frustrated to the point of murder. He realises that if he causes problems, they won't be his alone. But there are isolated areas with highways crossing them, he finds. And there are highways with little to no speed limits.
So he heads off to lose himself and some time unwinding on the long, isolated roads that criss-cross the southwest U.S. Maybe, if he finds the opportunity, he'll try that place he read about called the Outback. It looked promising on the maps.
Swerve hasn't completely dropped off the grid, however; there's a note, a text file left in the database where it can be easily found. Gone driving. Not looking to start trouble, but I don't promise I won't hit back. Radio's on.
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Post by Kup on Sept 11, 2011 22:55:03 GMT -5
Swerve has been gone a long time. Long enough that it's notable.
Of course, it's also notable that he's made himself easy to track, easy to find. That he left a slagging note, even.
That's probably even more notable than the fact that Swerve has taken off. That's new. New, and interesting and worth commenting on.
And so Kup has followed the radio transponder to pick a stretch of road that Swerve is due to drive down in order to make a comment. Of course, Kup, with his wretched top speed, has no chance at all of keeping up with Swerve. So instead, he just calmly places himself in the way, sitting in the middle of the road in vehicle mode. Swerve should have no problem seeing him - not way out here in the middle of no-where. But Kup's interested in seeing the racer's reaction.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 11, 2011 23:12:25 GMT -5
No, it's hard to miss Kup even in the half-light before dawn, all green amid browns. And Swerve didn't much expect to see anybody; he expected a radio call. There isn't much space on the old two-lane highway to steer past the pickup, but Swerve doesn't need much space. He cuts right, tires riding on the worn, cracked edge of the pavement, close enough that he nearly taps Kup with his wing mirror. He brakes just past the old Autobot and whips around, coming to a stop facing Kup.
Somehow, he isn't surprised that if anybody was to show up and bug him, it'd be Kup.
"Yeah?" is all he says.
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Post by Kup on Sept 12, 2011 7:28:27 GMT -5
Kup snorts at the showy stop. What is it with people treating his roadblocks like they're made to be run through? Although actually, this one was.
Kup backs up so that he can start to turn in the direction Swerve had been going. He may not be able to match the racer's speed, but it still makes more sense to talk while driving instead of talking while sitting in the middle of the road.
"Been out for awhile," he points out.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 12, 2011 16:54:03 GMT -5
Kup will have to put up better roadblocks if he doesn't want them run all the time.
"I left a note," Swerve grumbles in a protest that lacks its usual fire as, baffled, he comes about and pulls alongside Kup at the oldtimer's near-limping pace. Not only did he leave a note, he kept his radio on, so it wasn't as though he was completely in the wind. He doesn't see the problem.
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Post by Kup on Sept 12, 2011 21:39:40 GMT -5
"Yeah, I noticed," Kup grunts, but his tone is warm. Pleased. "Left your radio on, too," he observes.
"You really are workin' on it, aren't you?"
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Post by Swerve on Sept 12, 2011 22:03:09 GMT -5
For a while after Kup asks, Swerve just rolls along in silence, not quite sure how to answer. Or if he should. Kup isn't mocking him, at least not that he can tell. Eventually, he just answers with a nonverbal sound. Then, however, he slows a little. The sky to the east is just a little brighter and paler than the last time he checked.
"It's…" he mumbles, headlamps dimming. "A mess." He means to say that it's harder than most things he's done. Killing somebody the first time, and meaning it, came easier than this.
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Post by Kup on Sept 13, 2011 20:57:12 GMT -5
"It'll get easier," Kup assures, slowing as Swerve does - though he can't help but be surprised that Swerve is slowing, since he knows well he wasn't going that fast for the racer, anyway. "But... probably not cleaner. People're messy. Friendship's messy. Ain't much getting around that, I'm afraid. I think you'll find it worth it, though."
The veteran begins to realize that it's starting to get lighter, and it occurs to him why Swerve might be slowing.
"Should be a nice one," he observes.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 14, 2011 20:11:25 GMT -5
"…They're always nice in the desert," Swerve agrees very quietly as he not only slows further, but eventually coasts to a stop where the desert floor drops away from the road into a shallow bed tracking off toward the east. Once stopped, he transforms, more habit than anything else. He can see perfectly well in car mode, but ages of sitting atop Mount Stargaze to watch the dawn remain a stronger impulse than practicality. He decides to just let the more uncomfortable talk lie, though part of him wants to rail at the way he feels he has to second-guess himself constantly, and how distracting it is to suddenly think of things – like whether or not somebody deserves to be punched outright for grinding his gears – that haven't crossed his mind in millions of years.
But he came out here to let all that go for a while. So even though it's monumentally hard, he turns his thoughts from the anger that never really fades, and the new uncertainty that always seems to follow it, to the coming sunrise. If Kup looks, he'll see a tired, pinched expression on the racer's face, but it's anticipation making his optics gleam.
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Post by Kup on Sept 15, 2011 18:58:59 GMT -5
Kup, too, slows down and transforms. Hey, robot mode at least makes it a bit easier to look around. He smirks faintly. "Good to see there's some things even you race nuts are willing to slow down for."
The veteran does look at Swerve, and he does see the tired expression. He hesitates a moment, trying to decide if he should ask about it, then he looks back up at the sky.
"Mess or no mess, you been doing good," he allows roughly.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 15, 2011 23:06:02 GMT -5
Swerve snorts indelicately while easing himself down to sit on the shoulder.
"Can't speak for anybody else," he says. For all he knows, he's the only guy on Velocitron who stops for sunrises. Or maybe there's a whole enthusiast club that he missed joining. He can only speak for himself, and he doesn't even do that, just heaving a sigh and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. He doesn't know what to say about Kup thinking he's doing well, so he says nothing, just waiting for the sun instead.
And when it finally appears, peeking over the horizon in that first glimmer of gold on the orange-pink sky, the fatigue seems to fade. The worry and the anger and the tension are gone, forgotten for the moment, and the seams in his face lose the pinched, furrowed quality that's deepened them lately. In fact, he smiles. It's a small one as smiles go, but it's more of a smile than Swerve's face has seen in some time. His jaw will probably start aching after too much longer.
He doesn't think about that, either.
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Post by Kup on Sept 18, 2011 19:40:59 GMT -5
Kup inclines his head faintly in acknowledgement, but otherwise stays silent. If even Swerve can slowdown for a sunrise, there's no reason Kup should ruin or rush things.
He sits alongside the hot-headed racer in companionable silence as the sun starts to peak its head over the horizon.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 19, 2011 20:49:01 GMT -5
Privately, Swerve is pleased to no end that Kup keeps his big, storytelling trap shut for this while. He even sort of enjoys the way his armour warms under the wan morning sunlight as the day grows brighter, from grey-purple to soft oranges and yellows. The sun is fully up before Swerve even shifts his weight, let alone speaks.
"…It's different," he murmurs without taking his gaze off the horizon, "but it's kinda the same, too."
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Post by Kup on Sept 20, 2011 21:41:46 GMT -5
Kup nods. "Most planetary sunrises got a certain similarity, but they all got their quirks, too. Take Alkor Zephyr, for instance. Mess of a planet. Seven light givin' suns and one invisible one, so's mostly they had days what were brighter or darker, but every once every few thousand years it would go dark for awhile. The sunrise that followed? Really something else... assuming you could take the time from dodging magma spurts, earth quakes, and magnetic storms to enjoy it."
Swerve probably shouldn't have thought about how nice it was that Kup wasn't running his mouth. That was practically inviting something like this.
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Post by Swerve on Sept 27, 2011 20:35:25 GMT -5
For a second, Swerve almost tells Kup where to stuff his weird planet with eight suns. He's ruining one of the few times in life Swerve can feel at ease – even happy. But after that second passes, he just lets it roll beneath his wheels; his fists unclench and he heaves a sigh that only starts off with a half-hearted grumble.
"…Must be something," he allows, trying to picture it in his mind. It's a little too fantastic for his imagination. "S'it worth all that other scrap?" he wonders, looking sidelong at Kup.
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