| abstract
| - Koriolis Desert Out in the open, this unprotected section of the Old Cybertron Highway was hit heavily in the fighting and is only now being rebuilt. Other than the highway, the area is a total wasteland. Where energon once ran freely in rivers, there is now only a bleak, barren desert subject to frequent blinding, air intake-choking, paint scarring dust storms. Visibility is poor; even the brightest starlight does nothing to illuminate the amorphous mass of dust, slowly swirling almost like pea-soup fog. Half-rebuilt sections show where construction has been temporarily abandoned. The brand new materials gleam like new-found hope, a distinct contrast to the metal dust and grit of this grim desert. Contents: The Steel Balloon Obvious exits: Fly leads to Sky above New Cybertron Highway. East leads to New Cybertron Highway . West leads to Vestral Overpass. You have entered The Steel Balloon. The Steel Balloon Within the Steel Balloon, there is a dance floor immediately past the front door. Behind the floor is the main bar, which curves around like an elongated half-octagon. Several bartenders busily serve the customers that flow into this place at any given time. Banshee has entered The Steel Balloon. Folding and shifting, Banshee transforms into robot mode. Sunder enters the familiar Steel Balloon. He glances about for his regular spot at the bar, sliding up to it and plunking himself on a stool. "Fragged Seeker," he tells the Bartender. Banshee saunters in a few moments later, a definite /sway/ to her hips. "Gold Nectar, bitte." she purrs to the barman, ordering the equivalent of a high-end expensive brandy. "Kommandant Sunder." She turns to the Sweep, her heels clicking together as she salutes. "I hope you enjoyed the show." "Indeed, it was most enjoyable," the Sweep says, in a raspy, low pitched voice. "Come, have a drink with me." He gets his Slagged Seeker, an orange-energon drink with a bit of steam rising out of it, and takes a sip. "So how long have you been with us?" he wonders. Banshee smiles "Not long, Kommandant. I vas... I vos in Investigative Excursion 4, ven ve first detected Megatron's beacon. Ze ship went down unt I was buried until recently. I vas a seeker, but I think I do better as a Stuka" "Interesting," Sunder murmurs, gazing at Banshee and studying her appearance closely. His sensors take in the myriad of subtle odors around him, including the Stuka's own particular unique scent. "I myself was in long-distance interstellar exploration," he says, "So I was not present for several months." Banshee nods "So I heard, Kommandant. It's a shame you're not in port for longer, Sunder. I vould like to paint you vun day." "Indeed," Sunder says, "Would you like to paint my nails?" He proudly shows off his pink talons. Banshee chuckles quietly. "I mean do a portrait of you, kommandant. I've done images of Galvatron and others." She looks crestfallen at the moment. "I just hope ze flooding doesn't damage it too much." "A portrait? I would like that, I think," Sunder says, "I don't often get such requests." He drains his drink and looks at the Bartender. "Raining Nebula," he says, depositing some credits on the counter. The Bartender hands Sunder a hypnotically swirling blue-purple drink, with thousands of little bright speckles orbiting and falling within the confines of the energon liquid. It's quite a stunning effect. And it's tasty, too! Banshee nods quietly. "I like to paint those I respect. It..." She shrugs, spreading her hands. "I don't know, I find it relaxing. Put some music on unt... just paint!" She grins A grin is plastered over Sunder's bearded visage. He doesn't know if Banshee has ever seen a Transformer with a beard before. "I relax after a good day's combat," he says, "I am a Tracker/Terminator by designation, so my purpose is to eliminate the enemy." It isn't often that someone respects a Sweep! Banshee nods "As is similar to my own job, Kommandant. I am a divebomber, it is my job to harass unt damage ze foe rom e air." Speaking of disrespect, the poster child for tyranny and misplaced anger saunters through the door with a smoldering wound on one bicep.. and a drink in the other. "Fellow Decepticons, it is I.. Backfi..eh?" he stammers, when the bouncer informs him outside drinks aren't allowed. Visibly wobbling, the Seeker simpleton throws the drink back.. literally. Aiming for his open mouth, instead the drink goes right over his head and bounces harmlessly on the ground behind him. "Happy?" Stepping through the open bar-room and over to Sunder and Banshee, he begins his announcement again. "Fellow Decepticons, it's is I.. Backfi..eh?" he doubletakes at Sunder. "Am I drunk or is there a Sweeper here?!" he oogles, poking a wavering drunk index finger at Sunder. Banshee looks over at Sunder and salutes, then her face creases. Ugh. Her direct 'superior' in such a state. Sunder glances up at Backfire, takes one sniff, and frowns. "Yes, you /are/ drunk, and yes, there /is/ a 'Sweeper' in here," he mutters, "So what brings you here? I have just met this new warrior, and am getting acquainted." After all, Galvatron had demanded the Sweeps get more 'friendly' with the other Decepticons, and who is Sunder to disobey his commander? "Ah, you've met my apprentice!" Backfire replies, still blinking in mild confusion.. craning his hands like another 'dark lord'. "I come for the telling of tales, dear.." the Seeker audibly gulps, fighting with the next word. "..brother." Taking a seat, Backfire orders a drink from the bar and reclines back. B anshee sighs. It's a long-suffering sigh. "Kommandant Backfire. My direct superior." Backfire laughs, "Ah, yes.. Kommandant Backfire. Such a delightful ring, don't you think?" he comments, leaning closer to Sunder and breathing nasty enerhol fumes in his general direction. "Oh yes, I am quite familiar with your "kommandant" here," Sunder says to Banshee, "Isn't that right?" He stares at Backfire. "Telling of tales, is it? Well, what tales have you to tell?" His heavy brow ridge wrinkles at the enerhol fumes spewed in his general direction. Banshee scowls slightly. "Be careful with your breath, Kommandant. I /am/ a smoker." To demonstrate this, she extracts an enercig on a long holder from somewhere. she doesn't light it, however; she'd blow the three of them to hell. Sunder cocks an optic brow at the enercig, and sighs in relief when Banshee doesn't light it. Pausing for effect, Backfire eyes the crowd.. drawing his hands out before him theatrically. Eager to either listen to a tale, or laugh at the drunk botard.. other patrons start gathering around the table and lean in, awaiting the account. "Mymymy, what kind of tale? Oh my, what kind of question is that?" Backfire asks others around him, playing it up for effect. In truth, pausing for the dramatic made him actually forget what tale he was going to tell. "Why only the greatest of greats, that's what!" Banshee sips her drink and waits to listen. When the fumes clear, she lights up her smoke Sunder smells the smoke as soon as the enercig is lit up. Fortunately, it's not a variety of enercig that he finds particularly objectionable. It's merely mildly irritating to his hypersensitive olfactory circuits. "Well, don't keep us in suspense," he says to Backfire. Thinking of his feet, while sitting down.. genius no doubt, Backfire starts to recount the 'adventure'. "So, there I was.. responding to an automated distress beacon from an ANCIENT ship and suddenly.." he trails, leaping to his feet and flapping his arms about wildly. "I was surrounded by three score of enemies, a Wrecker, and a circling large gun-ship above me!!" Taking a sip from his concoction, the Seeker simpleton continues. "With only a Seacon.. nay, a Cassettecon and a nobody Seeker by my side; I stood tall in the face of danger!" Gesturing with his hands, one clenched and punching into the other. "First things first, I discharged a venemous blast of toxic energon among their numbers.. and while they were blinded, I took a peak into the wrecked ship.." "Which cassetticon would this be?" Sunder interjects, raising an optic brow. Banshee listens quietly, smoking her enercig. "Oh you know, one of those nameless.. countless hundreds we have around here." Backfire.. fires back, an annoyed wave of his wrist. "ANYWAYS, the ship turns out to be nothing but scrap! But that's alright, I was really there to.. bust some Autobot heads!!" Managing to get on top of the table, Backfire acts like he's wielding a rifle and shooting.. accompanied by the "Pew Pew Pew!!" sound from his own vocalizer. "So then I shot them all with my signature Hypno-Ray Rifle.. and obviously confused, they started fighting eachother! The only obstacle.. heh, if you'd call it that, was the giant air elephant. Recore or something? I dunno." Stepping down from the top of the table, Backfire takes another long chug of his drink. "Obviously outmatched, he stayed high up in the air and flew in big circles around me. Only thing.." he trails, pointing to the wingtips jutting from behind his shoulders. "The Autobafoon forgot we can fly!" he chuckles. Dee-Kal has entered The Steel Balloon. Dee-Kal combs a strand from her optics. Sunder is sitting with rapt attention now, the story getting more interesting by the moment. "That's amusing, an Autobot forgetting that a Decepticon can fly," he remarks. Dee-Kal carries the drinks tray high, little waitress apron at her waist and notepad and pencil in a front pocket. "Who ordered Morning Rush, thew Battery Aceeed, the Atilla Sunrise?" "Oh, he wasn't allowed his binary processing failure for long.. I assure you comrades, that's when I took to the sky and showed him our MIGHT!!" Backfire gestures, a clenched fist held high in the air. "Transforming, I easily flew around the giant.. placing my shots with PINPOINT accuracy. It wasn't long until the gigantic beast was all but helpless!" "To his credit, Fawncore stayed aloft and tried his best to evade me.. Backfire, GLORY of the EMPIRE!!" Standing once again, the simpleton makes punching sound effects while throwing a jab or two in quick succession. "So what did I do? Hahaha, I landed on the brute and started ripping my way inside!!" Laughing, Backfire attempts to snatch a drink from Dee-Kal's tray. "Are you kidding? Him.. hit.. muah?? Hahahahahahehehehehehe!!" Banshee sniffs "I vas sure he had..." Dee-Kal shades her face as she rolls her optics, so the braggart fails to see her reaction. By all accounts they're caught up in their self-glory to pay attention to her anyhow. Sunder eyes the Junkette that seems to be waitressing at the Steel Balloon. He shakes his head at her. "Sounds like quite a battle," Sunder says. Not that he entirely believes Backfire's most likely self-serving account, but it is entertaining. Banshee grins at Sunder "Kommandant, show ze videos of me annoying ze Autobots." "Not now Banshee, I'm just about to get to the good part!!" Backfire whines, stomping his feet like a three year old who's denied a toy in the store. "So I'm like.. tearing off pieces left and right, engine parts and whatnot. You know, really going to town! Then all of a sudden, umm.. a fist breaks through from the -inside- and punches me in the jaw!" Backfire demonstrates, taking the imaginary blow to the chin while his head wobbles backward. "I'll show him after," Sunder says to Banshee, "This is too good to interrupt." Banshee nods "Jawohl." Taking it a step further, Backfire staggers backwards holding his jaw. "And before me, a great MONS.. MONSTROS.. a big friggin' beast broke out of the Autobot's insides. It was uh Omega Supreme, but you know.. kinda shrunk to gestalt size. No doubt their insidious ploy all along, reducing the titan's size and -hiding- him inside the ship!" Pacing forward, the Seeker growls.. definitely getting into character. "Only dazed for a moment, I shook off the shock and blazed forward.. to face this new threat that had presented itself!!" Sunder strokes his beard thoughtfully as he hears the tale unfold. "Omega Supreme, you say?" he says. "Hey, I dunno man.. all I know is the guy yelled 'Time to get Omega on your Supreme!' and assaulted me. It's kina.. you know, fuzzy from the obvious battle trance I was in. Maybe it was a clone??" Backfire yelps. Sunder knows all about Clones. Banshee nods slowly. "Huh." "Hrm, where was I? Oh right, charging the beast head on.. so uhh, then when I rushed forward they -obviously- knew what was goin' down! Because they all turned tail and ran like cowards!!" Backfire finishes, taking a mighty long sip from the drink. "I uhh, couldn't follow because uh.. I took damage to my thrusters. Yeah." Banshee nods. "Ja. Must've been amazing." Whether she's being sarcastic or not is unclear. Sunder smirks. "An interesting tale," he says. Meanwhile his mind is thinking, 'told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing'. ;) Banshee says, "Indeed, Kommandant." "Yes, it was an amazing battle of grace and poise!" Backfire shouts, lifting his drink in the air and tilting it back to drain the last of it's contents. Too far back, it seems.. as the Seeker falls straight backwards onto the table.. shattering it in half and depositing him on the floor. "Clean up on aisle.. *hic* two!!" Hinder has entered The Steel Balloon. Sunder is so glad he's not cleaning that up. He stares at Backfire's drunken mess and is glad Sweep =/= Janitor. Foxfire has entered The Steel Balloon. Banshee shakes her head at Backfire, sighing. Sunder sips at his Raining Nebula. "Ever tried one of these?" he asks Banshee, "They're quite tasty." Hinder has been here the whole time, honest! She's been passenging, currently a small off-white rectangular patch maglocked to the back of one of Banshee's shoulders. Sunder pokes a talon lightly at the white patch. "Oh, there you are," he says to Hinder. Banshee looks at Sunder and shakes her head "Nein, Kommandant." She hasn't even noticed Hinder. "Huh? Vass?" Foxfire hasn't been on Cybertron in awhile! It's good to be home. Sort of. Something like that. The little vulpine slips into the tavern, moving in a way that indicates he doesn't want to be seen, since, apparently, he knows there are Decepticons present. Sure, the tavern may be a no-combat zone, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be cautious. And when the cleaning crew does manage to make it out, the Seeker extroidanaire AKA Backfire is fast asleep on the floor.. surrounded by shattered pieces of broken table. Hinder has been recharging, or she would have spoken up sooner. But getting poked at by a talon, that's noteworthy. It wakes her and sends her into fight or flight mode instantly. Bursting out of cassette mode and leaping away from the surface that she'd been resting against (aka, kicking Banshee in the back), she tries to get away from whomever was messing with her. Oh, and she hisses, just for good measure. Dee-Kal shies away with her drinks tray to avoid Hinder landing in the drinks, breaking the glasses or both. Maybe the ferret does land in it. Pickled ferret. Sunder pulls back at the startled ferret. "Apologies Hinder, I did not mean to frighten you," the Sweep says soothingly. He peers at the fallen drunken Backfire. "He'll be fine." And then his senses tingle as he detects the odor of Autobot fox! Banshee twitches a bit at the 'kick', blinking. "Ack, vassis? Hinder, hallo!" Hinder can't stop her trajectory, even though she now knows who woke her up. Doesn't mean she doesn't TRY, though, which makes it look like she's flailing her way into a collision course with Dee-Kal and her tray of beverages. "EEE!" Banshee watches the Ballistic Ferret with that expression of 'save the booze!' Dee-Kal backs away and to the side, but prolly not far enough. The Atilla Sunrise is a rather interesting shade of magenta .... and the more potent of her remaining drinks... Sunder singsongs in a very low voice, "Come out, come out, wherever you are, fox..." Darkwing has entered The Steel Balloon. Well, he's been detected. Foxfire freezes in midstep, his body going rigid, ears pinned back. Slowly, he sets down his front paw, and a sigh escapes him. "Blast it..." Sunder smirks at the Fox. "You know as well as I know you can't hide from me, Foxfire." Hinder simply can't stop her mid-air tumble. She crashes into the tray of beverages Dee-Kal is carrying, that bright magenta one in particular. The splatter pattern is almost mesmerizing. But as abruptly as she hit the tray she scrambles away again, probably upending all of the rest of Dee's drink containers in her haste to get away. "Yeah, yeah," Foxfire grumbles as he turns his gaze to Sunder. He narrows his optics as he studies him. "Been awhile since I've seen a Sweep. What rock did you go hide under?" Banshee blinks quietly and watches Hinder, getting ready to catch Sunder chuckles. "Oh, wouldn't YOU like to know?" he says, almost tauntingly, "I have travelled across interstellar space, and seen sights no Transformer has ever seen. I have explored countless worlds in search of new territory to conquer. And I am back, for a time. And you never know when I may be lurking in wait." Dee-Kal moves with the impact of ferret on tray, and douses Hinder in a good layer of thick, 'high-octane' energon as it tips. One way or another, Hinder is definitely 'plastered'. As the tray too clatters to the floor, Deek notices Foxfire. "Ahoy, aloha," she greets. "Come to smurf me at work? ..visit?" Foxfire snorts. "I'm sure." He brightens, however, as he finally takes notice of Dee-Kal, even going so far as to start wagging his tail. "Now there's a friendly face!" Hinder is now coated in energon and about to slam into the floor the way that Dee-Kal's tray just did. And, of course, she's still flailing. Dee-Kal puts on a little wiggle, pleased at the compliment. "Your wish is my command!" she smiles, bowing. Banshee moves surprisingly fast to try and catch Hinder on an extended wing - cushioning the impact, in theory! Hinder is actually spared hitting the floor by Banshee's thoughtfulness and REALLY good reaction times. However, she's still kinda freaked out so instead of realizing she's okay and thanking the Germanesque Decepticon, she goes straight into a hopping, hissing, rolling, skittering, flailing weasel war dance of panic. Banshee rolls the flailing weasel-war-ball up her wing and into her hands, ignoring the teeth and claws to gently scritch Hinder's ears, attempting to calm her. "Shh, shhh, easy Hinder, easy..." Hinder is easy enough to catch and restrain, though it takes her a few more seconds to realize that Banshee is trying to reassure her. She finally calms enough to look up at the fraulein. "What happened?" Dee-Kal straightens up to see Rewind also in the place. What is it with everyone showing up here tonight? "Aloha, Rewind." She gestures to a seat and sets a small glass of Beat Ally Blue energon in front of the humanoid tape Autobot. "And Ree..?" she adds, with a hand on her hip. Rewind isn't exactly sure how he even got here... wait.. did Dee-Kal knock him out when he wasn't looking? Did that darn soapdish Con abduct him? Someone is gonna answer for this! "We are so not in Kansas anymore Toto." Topspin has entered The Steel Balloon. Foxfire moves under an unoccupied table, where he peers out at Rewind. "You've been watching The Wizard of Oz too much, bro." Topspin says, "I are here!" Rewind says, "Actually I said that for the Junkion's benefit since I said I'd try talking tv with her." Sunder chuckles at Rewind. "It's raining tapes in here," he says. Rewind says, "You abducted me .. you.. you.. bearded soapdish!" Foxfire snickers at the "soapdish" comment. Banshee blinkblinks and scritches Hinder still, rather confused by the activity, seeming a little swamped. Hinder settles down, still being held in Banshee's hands. She turns to see who else is in the room and yips out cheerily, "Sunder!" Dee-Kal pats Rewind's shoulder. "Now, now. Here is not the place." She nudges the drink. "(You can take your smurf-guard off to drink, it is okay. No allergens here)" she adds in an undertone. Rewind blinks at the Beat Ally Blue energon, "I thought you knew I like Blue Busters.. but this'll work." he notes with a shrug. Picking up the blue stuff, "This better be high grade." Sunder orders another Raining Nebula. It's a favored drink of Dredclaw, and Sunder has grown to appreciate it as well. He's a very little bit tipsy now, so is not feeling particularly hostile, in this atmosphere. Dee-Kal taps at Ree's helmet. "Only because I like you." Rewind nods to that, "Ahh I sorta figured that out on my own Dee." he notes and sniffs at the drink before he sneaks a sip from it. Banshee looks at the barman "I'll have vot Kommandant Sunder ist having." She decides, putting down her empty enercig-holder as she scritches the little ferretcon, just listening. "Mmm. Zis is vot I vas talking about earlier. No fighting, good atmosphere. Vhen the var is over, even in ze infinitisemal chance ze Autobots unt zere allies vin, ve're all goink to haff to live together." Hinder ohs at Banshee softly, bobbing her head in acknowledgement. She looks around the room again and focuses on Foxfire. Foxfire notices Hinder looking at him. He peers back. Dee-Kal returns to the bar area and converse with the bartenders. A few seconds later, she reappears with two glass dishes filled with the same Beat Ally Blue energon as Rewind has. "No fighting," Sunder muses, "I guess we'll be relegated to fighting holographic opponents in a training arena, then." Banshee shrugs "Or gladiatorial combat for fun. I'd be game for zat, unt I'm sure ze Autobots vill still haff need of our skills. Or, if as is more likely, ve vin, ze threats zat face ze universe." Rewind puts his feet up on the table in front of him, using his hand to hide how exactly he's sipping his energon down. heheh. Hinder squirms a bit to get Banshee to let her go. She's not freaking out anymore, so she's not going to hurt anyone or anything else. Dee-Kal sets the two dishes down on the counter. She then visits BAnshee. "If you could bring the lady to her drink, o kudasai," she suggest to the femme of the ferret. Banshee releases Hinder The little Junkion then makes a visual inspection, to locate Foxfire. "Your drink, 'sir', " she grins. Hinder shakes herself off once Banshee has let her go (and probably splatters a bit of residual energon about) then shuffles toward Foxfire. Straight toward him, no meandering about. Sunder watches Hinder head for the fox-tape. Oh, this could get very interesting. Astrotrain has entered The Steel Balloon. Rewind stops his drinking to watch the situation very carefully. Dee-Kal stands quietly by with her serving tray tucked under her arms. Dee-Kal is motioned to by a bartender. She returns, is passed a RAining Nebula (not to be confused with a reigning Nebulan) which she carries on her tray to Banshee. "Douitashimashita," she bows. Banshee nods to Dee-kal and sips her drink "Danke." She sips at Sunder's tipple of choice Rewind goes back to secretly sipping his drink as he watches the other bots... Sunder grins. "Junkions may be good for something after all," he murmurs. He watches Banshee sip the drink, gauging for reaction. Astrotrain doesn't come through the door. He's actually in the back in one corner, seated at a table and in the middle of a conversation with two other Decepticon warriors. The triplechanger has a huge mug of high grade energon that's sizzling ominiously next to him, and on the table is his Ionic Displacer rifle, which he seems to be showing off to the two nameless troopers. "This, is my weapon." He points out, speaking slowly. "It weighs one thousand, five hundred kilograms and fires two hundred credit custom-tooled energy cartridges at a thousand rounds per minute." He falls silent to let that sink in. "It costs four hundred thousand credits to fire this weapon...for twelve. SECONDS." Foxfire stays under the table, watching Hinder as she approaches him. He says nothing, and remains stiff like a statue. It's almost as if he's anticipating something. Sunder has been watching Hinder approach Foxfire under the table, but his attention snaps elsewhere as he hears Astrotrain's voice. "Oh there you are," he says, "Been having fun?" Hinder stops directly in front of Foxfire, but not so close that she's invading his personal space. She looks at him for a moment before saying in a neutral tone, "Hello." Foxfire slowly perks his ears, his gaze never leaving Hinder. "Hello," he answers back. "Is there something I can do for you?" One of the soldiers scoffs at the triplechanger's story, arms crossed over his chest and giving that 'yeah right' posture. "Pfft, yeah right. Whatcha gonna do, shoot -everything-?" "SOme think they can outsmart me..." Astrotrain states. "Maybe...but I have to meet the one who can outsmart this." He holds up something in his hand, that the soldier leeeeans forward to look at. And promptly gets the fist right in his face, sending him smashing back onto the floor, completely unconscious much to the guffaws of the triplechanger and the other trooper. "Bwahahaha!" Astrotrain swipes up the pitcher and downs the whole contents in a single go, before letting loose with an ear-shaking "BEEEEYUUUUUUUURRRP!" That's probably all the answer Sunder needs at this point. Rewind finds a napkin and writes something on it then holds it over his head, "Russian judge gives that belch an eight!" Sunder facepalms. "Sounds like you're having too much fun," he murmurs, then peers back down at the ferret-fox standoff under the table. Dee-Kal goes over to the table Astro is seated at, calmly picks up the empties, views the distracted Sunder, the KO'd soldier, the tipsy Astrotrain, and pertly clears up his ionic displacer rifle as well. Phew, high grade energon breath. Hinder plops her hind end onto the floor, tilting her head as she looks at Foxfire. "No." Rewind finishes off his drink and pushes the glass away. Now content to relax and just watch things unfold. He eyes Dee-Kal as she walks by. Foxfire has been deliberately ignore Astrotrain, but then when the Triplechanger releases that huge belch, the little saboteur winces visibly and looks over in his direction. "JEEZ! You tryin' to cause a quake or what?" And then he looks back to Hinder, deciding to ignore Astrotrain again. "Then am I just fascinating to you?" Banshee chuckles quietly and holds up a napkin something scrawled on it too. "Ze German judge gives a nine!" "Pew," Sunder mumbles. The smell of the belch reaches his olfactory circuits a mere few seconds after he hears it. Astrotrain may be tipsy but he's posessive when it comes to his weaponry! Quick to snatch it back a moment later, he waves it for good measure before making it vanish into the realm of subspace. "OI! No touchy-touchy! A mech's gun is his...precious...thing, or other. Ya don't touch without permission!" He then trails off, narrowing his optics as he peers towards the sound of other voices aimed in his direction. "What? Quake? I ain't even gettin warmed up yet! MORE BOOZE!" Banshee chuckles quietly. "Enerhol breath. Bleh." She waves a hand infront of her face. "Ach." Rewind snorts softly, sing songing, "This is my rifle, this is my gun. This one's for fighting..." Dee-Kal points to the notice. "No weapons on tables" she reminds curtly. "This is a *drinking* establishment, ne? Smurf them to subspace or place them in the charge rack." She give a firm nod as he opts for the former. Hinder ducks her head slightly when Foxfire rants at Astrotrain briefly, but then she lifts her head again to answer the cassettebot. "Yes." Foxfire peers closely at Hinder momentarily, then shrugs as best as a quadruped can. "'Kay." He tilts his head slightly as he continues to watch her. "So does it bother you when you're away from Soundwave?" Hinder shakes her head no. "No." Foxfire nods slowly. "I see. You're lucky you have Soundwave around so much, though--Blaster's usually gone off on some mission." Rewind mutters, "Probably off with Soundwave comparing notes." then he snickers. "Okay who spiked that drink?" he laughs. "Yeah yeah yeah, whatever." The triplechanger states, clearly showing his opinion of weapons policies, even if he -did- make the gun go away like he was supposed to. "More booze! Aw heck with it...too slow. Lucky I always keep an emergency supply..." His chestplate opens up a-la Autobot Matrix-housing style and produces...a pair of small kegs, which he takes out. One in each hand, and begins to shake up their contents while pulling the pitcher over in front of him again. No good can come of this. Banshee watches Rewind "Zis cannot be good." "Oh it's going to get really good soon," Sunder tells Banshee, "You have no idea." The Sweep is smirking from audio to audio. Dee-Kal dumps a keg of Atilla Sunrise on Astro's table. "Compliments," she grumbles, wondering why the hosts do this. "Smurf yourself out," and she leaves Astrotrain to it. Banshee blinks and tilts her head "O...kay..." Hinder tilts her head the other way as she keeps staring at Foxfire. "Oh? Why?" She doesn't mention that she intentionally avoiided Soundwave for several months. Astrotrain mixes up the two kegs some more, shaking them harshly until their contents are boiling over so intensely they're actually vibrating a bit. Then he pours a bit from one keg into the pitcher, followed by the other, then back again. A dangerous, volcanic bubbling noise starts to filter in the air, as the energon mixture glows and switches between different colors from blue, to reg, to green, to purple, to pink, then back again. "Uh..." The remaining trooper nervously edges away. "Oh no no, I ain't put in the special ingredient yet." Astrotrain states, pulling out an eyedropper and adding just a -little- drop of some mystery liquid. There's a tiny explosion on the surface of the boiling liquid, followed by a puff of smoke that rises into the air slowly. The smoke is shaped perfectly in the symbol of the Skull and Crossbones. And with that, Astrotrain stands up, holding the mug in one hand (with some difficulty as it's actually -vibrating- from the chemical reactions taking place), "Hah! Perfect! Bottoms up!" And with that, he proceeds to tilt his head back and drain the whooooole thing in one go. Foxfire says, "You mean the mission thing? Or the 'being lucky' thing?" Rewind watches Dee-Kal pass by again. "Eesh am I invisible all the sudden?" Hinder says, "Why am I lucky?" Dee-Kal picks up Rewind's glass and sneaks him a fresh one. "That will smurf oxide on your tape, ne?" Foxfire just shrugs again. "Because your guardian is actually around. That's all." Rewind chuckles, "It'll smurf something." he agrees A long moment of silence surrounds the Decepticon triplechanger, nobody daring to get too close to him, though the anticipation is really starting to get hard to handle until the trooper finally speaks up. "Well?" "Huh. Nothing." Astrotrain grunts, narrowing his optics and peering at the bottom of the empty pitcher, then tossing it aside. He's so distracted and apparently, disappointed, he doesn't even touch the one that Dee-Kal brought him, already stepping away from the table and making his way to the door. "...I must have mixed something wrong. Coulda -swore- I had it all figured out." The door opens, then closes again as he makes his way outside.
* BRAKA-BWOOOM*! A deafening explosion sounds outside, a window shatters inwards and two wings with purple Decepticon emblems come smashing through to the inside. A moment later, a blackened, wingless Astrotrain comes back inside, scooping up the errant pieces of his body while engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke over his own form. "That was it!" He announces for good measure. "Just forgot about the aftertaste..." And with that, he turns and marches his way out again, one wing tucked under each arm. Sunder watches in bemusement as the erstwhile immolated Astrotrain returns for his parts. "You're going to have a heck of a hangover, you know that," he calls out after the triplechanger. Rewind blinks at that explosion. "I've heard of explosive diarrhea... but that's in humans." he snickers. "Assuming he has anything left to hang," Dee-Kal quips. Dee-Kal sighs. "Cleanup in aisle 4..." and she heads off to find a broom and a dustpan. Dee-Kal's optics flicker and go dark, her systems shutting down. Hinder takes a moment to consider Foxfire's words, then finally bobs her head. "Okay." Rewind shakes his head and yawns. Hinder shuffles back over toward Sunder after Foxfire leaves.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)