| abstract
| - Sheet metal, bolted down in overlapping plates, forms the ground in a blank silver-grey monotony. Dim yellow tracking lights follow the edges of the massive plates, but the faint illumination that hangs over the area is mostly reflected from the plates themselves, captured from the innumerable twinkling and flashing lights up in the vault of darkness above. Indeed, if you didn't know better, you might think yourself on the surface, beneath the vault of space and stars. Yet the lights that dot the emptiness above your head are artificial, flares of red-gold and brief white sparks interspersing with occasional bluish crackles that illuminate a maze of pipes, glass tubes, and other unrecognizable structures interlaced within the cavernous vault. Far to the west, a glowing pillar seems to hang in the air. Obvious exits: Fly Northeast West Fleet has arrived. Fragment has arrived. It's pretty unusual to have a 'dance' underground, but the ceiling is high enough to make it possible. Aerial Dance was once a method used in some parts of Cybertron to pick Seeker threes, back when they traveled in threes. It involves performing robot-and-jet mode manauvers in certain patterns. If someone makes a mistake, they are fired at or attacked by one of the other dancers. If they can dodge without breaking routine, they can keep dancing, but if they get hit, that's a mistake, and they're attacked again. The dance starts with four or more dancers, and continues until there are only three. Eventually, this method of choosing evolved into an art and was nearly forgotten as a method of picking threes, and later still, it was nearly forgotten as an art, but there are a few practitioners left. Fleet arrives at one of the rare gatherings and glances around. The crowds are smaller and smaller, but for once, he's brought others with him. Catechism has been dragged along by Fleet, who has blackmail material on her. At least he didn't get her plastered and bonk her over the head to get her to come. She follows along behind him, almost trying to hide behind the flathead, and she whines, "You want me to say something? Me? But why?" Okay, maybe having the Inquisitor endorse the event would cheer the depressed artists up or something? But.... she's the woman who drags people off to be tortured when they sin against the Empire. How is that cheering? "Because you're a new dancer," Fleet answers calmly as he makes his way towards the announcing podium. "We don't get many of those, and new blood shows that it'll continue just awhile longer." Well, all right, Catechism had to be blackmailed into becoming one, but the audience doesn't need to know. Fragment was a fly on the wall, a grey robot blending in with a grey planet. When Fleet and Catechism passed him by without noticing him, he saw enough body language, different from eachother, to be intrigued enough to follow. So, the space faring Decepticon just casually strolled along a ways behind them to see what was up... or down rather, now finding himself underground. Catechism is not sure she wants to follow Fleet to the podium. Public speaking is the nightmare of many. She's about to protest that she isn't a dancer, she's just filling in, but then she considers the gathered crowd and that they shoot any dancer who makes a mistake. She opens her mouth and then closes it. Catechism does not yet notice the sneaky miner. "Now, come on,!" Fleet orders, then tries to pull and/or push Catechism onto the podium. "Just go on about how the art's still alive and as long as it has at least one... well, make that at least four practitioners, it'll never die. Remember you're talking to Survivalis-" during all the moving around, Fleet *does* spot Fragment following him. "Hey. Can I help you?" Fragment turns the NO MINERS ALLOWED sign upside down as he passes it. He doesn't care if they don't serve his kind here. He's a flyer and on the road to being a warrior. He looks enough the part. He's about to do the fly on the wall thing by folding his arms and leaning against it when Fleet singles him out. His purple optics stop on Fleet and after half a moment he replies, "Nah. You can't." Catechism tries to slip out of Fleet's grasp, because hey, these people appreciate agility, right? Then, with some fanfare, she vaults on /top/ of the podium and crouches there like a gargoyle for a moment, staring out at the audience. Their mostly red optics stare back into her, judging her. It's like being watched by a pack of sharks in tutus. She stands and straightens, sweeping her arms out with a flourish, as she composes herself and wracks her CPU. "Decepticons, countrymen! When my /friend/," said more like 'fiend', "Fleet suggested that is should accompany him to an aerial dance competition, I thought he was out of his mind. But now, I think about it - aerial dance is a part of Decepticon culture. Perhaps it is becoming a forgotten part, and that is a shame - forgotten lore is where /power/ is to be found, and power is our lifeblood! So I'll do what part I can, as we all will tonight. Can I do less?" That said, she vaults down from the podium, transforming as she tumbles, to neatly land as a jet. Catechism transforms to her jet mode, which is quite astoundingly simple for the coneheaded model that she is. Fleet gives Fragment a faint nod. "Ah, very wel-" he breaks off and turns towards Catechism, then begins to applaud at her speech. The front of her speech? "Ah, that's better than I expected!" he observes softly. Shark in a tutu. Fragment has a stylin fin, but no tutu. He's a con apart. Aerial dance? These Seekers are a strange bunch... but aparently this is a part of becoming one of the elite. A challenge. And that intrigues him. He strolls closer. XF-35B Astral Lightning transforms back into a robot, and she flings a hand out pointing at Fragment. In as close to a showman's voice as she can manage, she suggests, "And maybe next time, we'll get him in on the action, too!" Fresh blood. Blood in the water. Sharks in tutus. Maybe they'll spare her some of the hungry looks and save them for Fragment now. XF-35B Astral Lightning transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position. Several in the audiance begin to clap warmly at Catechism's words. Then, after a few moments, there is more applause, then it dies out. A good start, there, but nothing more. Meanwhile, Fleet smirks at Fragment. Bananas in pyjammas. Fragment brow arches. The crowd seemingly easily entertained. Perhaps they drank the kool-aid. He stares right back at Fleet. "What?" Catechism is done with giving her speech. She tries to grab Fleet by the elbow and asks him in a low voice, "Can we just get this over with now? You and your two best friends can shoot me down, and you can all go home happy." So she says, but she really doesn't intend to make it that easy. "Sure, sure," Fleet answers as he heads towards one of the starting spots. There are two other random Seekers placed elsewhere in the field, and a spot for Catechism as well. Once they are all in position, they both leap into the air, and the dancing begins! Fragment peers upwards slowly, not eager to remove his optics from the small crowd too quickly. Let them look up first. Catechism gets into her position with a minimum of fuss, and takes to the still, dead air of the vast underground cavern. Aerial dance can really be beautiful, if done correctly, like an air show crossed with a ballet. But if done incorrectly... add a firing squad in there, too. Which might be inspiring to the fuel-thirsty Decepticons in the way that chum in the water is inspiring to sharks. In tutus? Yes. In tutus. You're all nuts. Agreed. Fleet leaps into the air, flying towards the other Seeker. He twists as he flies, and they pass close, to the point of nearly brushing wingtips... and then transform. By rights, the sudden size and shape change at such close quarters should result in actually scraping against the other dancers, but... Combat: Fleet compares his Agility to 30: Success! ...it doesn't. Catechism also has to pull off a knife-edge pass against the other nameless Seeker. Catechism is more comfortable in her ability to show some creative flair as a jet than she is as a robot. She's also much more comfortable in her aerobatics and her acrobatics, for that matter, but this move is hardly a showstopper... Catechism transforms to her jet mode, which is quite astoundingly simple for the coneheaded model that she is. Combat: XF-35B Astral Lightning compares her Agility to 30: Success! Fragment studies the dance as it begins. And grunts quietly and ambiguously. The grey midget seeker or tall minicon's purple optics shimmer as they track, and his faceplate closes over his mouth and nose. Fleet transforms into his Tetrajet mode. Oh, yeah. Fleet transformed last pose. Tetrajet pulls up, spinning as he rises, until he reaches the roof of the underground area. Then he flies along it, heading directly towards the glowing pillar that seems to hang in the air. Once he reaches it, another sharp-angled turn has him flying down and around it, in a spiral pattern. The others should probably be doing similar, four points in a circle, until they reach the bottom, at which point they all dart at each other once more, transforming at the near pass with little room to manauver... Combat: Tetrajet compares his Agility to 50: Success! But once more the pastel yellow one makes it! Tetrajet transforms into his Fleet mode. XF-35B Astral Lightning chases along the length of the pillar, down and down, like a strand of DNA in a fabulous polyploid quadruple helix. She cheats, though. She has a lift fan and can hover, even as a jet! But cheating is only proper in a Decepticon event. The glow worries her. What if the thing is radioactive? What is it if will drain her dreams and replace them with nightmares? What if... she focused on the task at hand? And she tries to, but will she avoid the other jets? One of the members of the audience tries to nudge Fragment and asks, "Who are you betting on, anyway?" Combat: XF-35B Astral Lightning compares her Agility to 50: Failure :(...no, Catechism does not avoid the other jets as she tries to continue the hairpin spiral down the pillar! She SCRAAAAPES into one of the other competitors. Uh oh... Fragment narrows his optics andtilts his head towards the nudger. "The one with the most to lose." Fleet spies when Catechism makes contact with the other jet. "Sorry about this, Inquisitor," he says as he pulls around towards her, moving to make another close pass while flying upside down. Combat: Fleet strikes XF-35B Astral Lightning with his Deep-Freeze Ray attack! [Pulled -5] Combat: Fleet (Fleet) used "Deep-Freeze Ray": A Level 1 RANGED attack. Combat: You took 7 damage. XF-35B Astral Lightning hisses in pain, and then she hisses out, voice clarion, "Don't apologize to me, Ace. We are Decepticons! We do not apologise for punishing failure - and we do not admit failure in the first place! We strive to overcome it!" She transforms to complete the move, trying to continue on into the dance as if nothing had happened, her moves hiding the pain. The random artist in the crowd who is bothering Fragment says mournfully, "We all have everything to lose." XF-35B Astral Lightning transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position. Combat: Catechism compares her Agility to 50: Success! Fragment makes one of those psh faces under his mask and in his optics. "Then perhaps you should give it all up and start over with nothing. Starting with perspective." He moves away, not caring to converse with one with such dour attitude. He keeps looking up and wonders where the challenge is. Perhaps some death traps will be introduced... or a saboteur. Fleet pulls his feet close to him, then cuts anti-gravs and tumbles in the air for a distance, only momentum keeping him from dropping like a rock. Then he straightens his legs out, legs over head and head over heels, until finally he is pointed with his feet away from the other dancers, his head pointing to them. With that, he rockets towards the others and transforms once more, flying, again, upside down, while his landing gear extend... Combat: Fleet compares his Agility to 70: Failure :(Fleet transforms into his Tetrajet mode. But this time, it's Fleet who scrapes the other dancer! Oh noes! The challenge is mainly in not colliding with the other dancers. When the moves are this close to each other, collisions become more of a dreadful inevitability than something that can be avoided. So demonstrates Fleet, as he hits the other dancer. The challenge is also in how the other dancers are all bound to the shoot the dancer who makes a mistake, which makes his mistake harder to rectify. Catechism tumbles after the other dancers thought the air. She transforms and tries to not hit the other dancer as they do another close pass, landing gear extended. if she doesn't hit him, she'll have to shoot Fleet, too. If she does collide, though, she'll be shot. A cheerier artist, who looks like he might just be on something, asks Fragment, "Dude, isn't this awesome?" Catechism transforms to her jet mode, which is quite astoundingly simple for the coneheaded model that she is. Combat: XF-35B Astral Lightning compares her Agility to 70: Failure :(XF-35B Astral Lightning also fails, bumping the other dancer as she passes by. Fragment mutters gruffly, "They're leaving their landing gears down... plain dim if not sloppy." Once more, Fragment shuffles away from a bothersome artist. He'll give it a little more time to prove worthy of staying for. Success is more impressive than failure afterall. Combat: Tetrajet compares his Agility to 70: Success! Tetrajet is fired at when he bumps the other dancer! He twists just slightly, avoiding the shot, but in doing so he breaks the dance pattern and so is fired at again! This goes on for awhile until he draws too near to the floating piller, and crashes right into it. Ohnoes! Fleet has lost! Combat: XF-35B Astral Lightning compares her Agility to 70: Success! Fragment turns around and walks out through the enraptured crowd as they enjoy the spectacle of disaster. Fragment has disconnected. XF-35B Astral Lightning somehow manages to survive until the finish, thanks to Fleet running into the freaky oillar of evil. Battered from the shots where she erred but awake and mostly in one piece, she slowly settles down to the ground as the other dancers also land. Oh bother, she should go retrieve Fleet's pieces, shouldn't she? Yes. >:(Catechism has left. (THAT WAS THE FINAL POSE OF THE SCENE. (
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