On Wing and a Prayer

[Misfire]

Timestamp: Day 11. Open thread

Misfire is happy. Things have calmed down to a reasonable level enough level that he has some time to himself. Time to literally spread his wings and gets some air- and get used to his nifty new anti-gravs.

He doesn't even have Aimless to worry him, as the Nebulan decided he could use some private time as well. Or as private as bonded individuals can have.

The interceptor jet runs through a few maneuvers, ending a flip with a quick transform and switch to the anti-gravs. He wobbles just a bit before straightening. "Hrm. Balance seems off. Gonna take a bit of getting used to, I think.

[Fleetwind]

Mishap isn't the only jet who picked today to stretch his wings. In the medium distance, the form of a tetrajet bursts up through the clouds, heading straight upward for a while before it seems to stall out. For an instant, a moment's eternity, the jet just hangs there, shining in the sun, before gravity takes effect and it starts to tumble to the right. After a fraction of a second during which the yellow plane seems to be out of control, its jets fire up and it starts rocketing downward until it dives into the cloud cover and out of sight.

A breath later Fleet, now in robot form, bursts out of the cloud cover, flying with the ease of a lifetime, hands pulled back rather than forward in the 'Superman pose', head held high and back, face displaying the wild exhilaration of one truly in his element. As he nears, though, his long distance sensors ping, and he pulls up and hangs there, casually, in the sky.

"Ahoy, Misfire!" he shouts over the radio. "Up for a fly?"

[Misfire]

Misfire's own sensors had picked up the tetrajet, and so Fleetwind's hail does not catch him unawares. He doesn't mind the company, especially not the company of another skilled flier.

"Hard to fly if you're not up, and hard to be up and not fly, don't you think?" he teasingly answers, transforming and heading toward Fleetwind. "But if you're asking if I'd mind company, then no, I don't."

"Finally got those nifty anti-gravs. Thought I'd try them out."

[Fleetwind]

Fleetwind closes the gap, flying casually. "I find it hard to imagine life without them," he says, slowly drifting back and forth as he flies. "Sure, they were only invented at the start of the third war, but since then, all Decepticons have had them." He once more pulls up and hovers.

"Back home, if you see a Decepticon, you assume robot mode flight. Heck, I was built with them." He tilts his head, looking Misfire up and down, examining his poise and balance. "How you coming along?"

[Misfire]

"Well, they're definitely a handy thing to have," Misfire says, "Wish we'd made such an advance. I can think of more than a few times when a quick transform mid-air would have been handy. Like when that mini-Prime was harassing me back in the desert."

Misfire shrugs then, "I'm doing all right, I think. I'm a little wobbly coming out of a maneuver, but I think that just takes practice. the balance is off a bit for me; I'm not designed for this like you were, and my weight's not quite evenly distributed in robot mode. At first I was overcompensating."

Misfire doesn't take umbrage at being checked out by the other jet. He's seen Fleetwind in the air before, and liked what he saw. With luck, the pastel jet will decide to share a few moves with Misfire.

At least he's not wobbling anymore.

[Blitzwing]

Another jet bursts from the cloud cover, no fancy flying to be seen here. he banks off to the left, almost making to go around the two before he quickly corrects his course and makes a beeline for the Misfire and Fleetwind.
slowing only slightly as he approach, he finally transforms and back flips to burn off the excess speed, slowing to a crawl and stopping in front of the pair.

"Thought I saw someone leave base. You two come out here to frolic in the dainty clouds?" Blitzwing says, more amused than wanting to insult, given away by the lack of sneer.

[Fleetwind]

"Yes," Fleet answers Blitzwing levelly, giving him a faint, polite nod in greeting. If he did intend his words as insult, Fleet, obviously, chooses not to respond to them as such. Insults are not the way to ruffle this bird's feathers.

"Being able to transform and not fall is a useful advantage," Fleet then agrees with Mishap, smiling. "Some people almost seem to forget they can do it, but when some foolish Autobot wants to try grappling you in flight or something similar, nothing shakes them like a sudden transformation. It is useful, in fact, to practice combat procedures that emphasize taking advantage of it. For example... well, it's easiest for those of us with thrusters on our feet, but transforming is one good way to bleed your speed very, very quickly, since the motion acts as something of an air break. Use that right, and you can twist and transform again, changing directions far more quickly than most jets are able to do while staying a jet." He seems to speak authoritatively on the subject of making the most of one's anti-gravs.

[Misfire]

Misfire just nods agreement as Fleetwind answers Blitzwing. Perhaps the Targetmaster's smile is a bit more neutral now, but just a bit. Misfire was hoping to make it through the day without having his flaw thrown in his face, and Blitzwing tends to enjoy pointing that flaw out.

The interceptor listens intently to Fleetwind's explanations. Misfire can easily visualize the maneuvers as the other jet describes them. "From what I've seen you make pretty good use of the things. And didn't you mention some sort of dance involving them before?"

[Blitzwing]

Fleetwinds talk about quick transformations, thruster feet and general use of anti-gravs. These are areas where Blitzwing might just know more than Fleetwind about certain things.

"Its fine to talk and discuss how best to use your anti-gravs, but I find doing is a much better way to learn. I can give you a crash course in rapid combat transformation if you think you won't end up as a crater." Blitzwing says, sly smile spread across his face.

[Fleetwind]

There's a bit of a difference between being faster to transform because one was designed that way, and between simply being well studied and trained in order to use the timing to your best advantage.

Something Fleetwind is quite aware of.

The Seeker smiles rather pleasantly, left foot lifted slightly as he hovers. "Erm, pardon me, Blitzwing, but aren't triple-changers designed from the start to transform faster than standards, such as myself? Somewhere between us and, say, Battlechargers or such, if I remember right. What I was talking about was simply making the best use of what we have available. Naturally, of course, you would have the edge on speed."

[Misfire]

Misfire nods again, "Yes, that's how they are in my reality, too. I've always thought the increased transform speed is supposed to combat the complexity of the transform, or some such." He shrugs, "But I'm just guessing."

'Though I'll agree that I tend to prefer doing as well," he says. His smile widens just a touch. "I've got speed and agility to burn; I can keep up, no fear."

[Blitzwing]

"Built for faster transforms I may be, but you don't fight and come out of it alive as long as I have without knowing when a quick hit of the afterburners and a transformation later will leave you over a wrecked enemy, and when it'll leave you a wreck." Blitzwing says, arms folded in mild irritation at Fleetwind.

Without waiting to see if Fleetwind will follow, Blitzwing transforms with a quick burst from his foot thrusters, turning him upside down before he jets off directly down into the clouds. He'll see if the others can keep up.

[Fleetwind]

Actually, Blitzwing will have rather a hard time seeing if Fleetwind can keep up at all, because, had the Triplechanger waited to see if the Seeker were following, he'd be able to tell that the pastel wonder is, in fact, not even making an effort. He absently waves a good-bye to the other Decepticon, then turns partially away and rubs his chin.

"Hmmm... he went... that way," Fleetwind mutters, pointing after Blitzwing, "so I do believe I'll go... this way," and now he points directly up, not completely opposite of Blitzwing's direction, but quite a far bit divergent from it. Then, almost absently, he starts to fly upwards, still in robot mode.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Misfire took the Triplechanger's bait, or happened to hang back long enough to hear what Fleet had to say.

[Misfire]

Misfire considers. Follow the arrogant Triple-changer whom he doesn't like, or follow the unassuming jet that offered to teach him how to dance?

Easy choice.

Being in no mood for a game of Quienes mas macho?, Misfire slowly rises after Fleetwind. After a few minutes, he calls up to the pastel Seeker.

"Now, what were you saying about using a transform as a directional shift?"

[Blitzwing]

Bah, cowards. Sure, it is fine to talk about things and pass on tips and tricks, and he gets the feeling that Fleetwind knows what he's talking about, but Blitzwing would actually have been able to show Misfire how things are done. Its not particularly often that Blitzwing is in such a generous mood.

Sure, Fleetwind can probably show him whats what and maybe what Blitzwing was going to do would have been a bit demanding, but It'd be better for Misfire to slip up and reach his limit amongst relative friends than with enemies around.

Either way, Blitzwing should probably go back just to make sure that Fleetwind isn't filling Misfire's head with nonsense. turning back to where he came from, he bursts through the clouds and spots them, moving towards them.

As he nears them he attempts to transform quickly to burn off speed again, but he can feel that somethings gone wrong the second he starts the transformation.
The transformation gets stuck halfway between robot and jet mode, and Blitzwing finds himself falling quickly with no way to stop himself.

//Help!// Is all that he can send out over a local frequency before he hits the bank of clouds beneath him again and disappears.