[Cyberformed] Inbox $maketracks

[makingtracks]

You've reached Autobot Tracks!
I'm out cruising right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you!

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[deceptichips]

[LOOKIN' GOOD IS A WORTHY CONCERN Needlenose makes a buzzing noise over the comms and performs another aileron roll, more lazily, holding steady in his position relative to Tracks' flight path.]

Starts to feel awful if you don't, doesn't it? All cramped up and hard to ignore.

[Then Tracks makes a stab at a wobbly spin of his own and pulls it off. Needlenose can't applaud in his alt so he laughs.]

Score!

[Zero gravity takes an adjustment period.] How ambitious are you lookin' to get with your maneuvers on your first test flight?

[makingtracks]

[ He keeps a steady position, fairly close to the ship. Not too close to get caught by accident, but certainly playing it cautious. There's... A lot of space out there to get lost in. He's sure Needlenose would catch him, but- Best not to chance it.

His wings still at the reminder, uncomfortable. ]

It feels like being trapped.

[ He doesn't want to talk about this. Most fliers try to get into the air in any way possible, and Tracks...

Well.

Better to breeze on by that little topic. ]

Not very, I'd say! I'd rather play it cautious, just get a feel for things- Though I suppose you'd guess that, wouldn't you?

I don't think Knock Out would be pleased with either of us if I went careening off like a fool.

[deceptichips]

[Needlenose cooperates with the topic being shoved along. He wants to enjoy this flight after his cell visit after all. Thinking about being trapped in root would dampen the mood.]

I would, but it doesn't hurt to check. [His engine revs.] Warning, if you did forget caution and try to swan dive into the void, I'd fetch you, but you would be on your own defending the stunt to Knock Out. Hog his displease all to yourself.

[lol]

Do you know many miles tall the R2 is? We could do a loop around it.

[makingtracks]

I think you'll find I'm just fine staying close for now, thank you!

[ He laughs, wings flicking a little as he revs his own engine in return, allowing it to push himself a little faster. Tracks is definitely getting more comfortable at this, starting to test how speed affects his movement out here. ]

...I don't. Could we do a loop around it anyway, you think? That sounds like fun.

[deceptichips]

[Somebody who also hasn't checked the dimensions of the ship they're on: it's Needlenose.]

Eh, why not? It can't be more than a few miles.

[Tracks seems to be developing more of a grasp on this. Needlenose tips his front up and makes a turn to pass above him, swooping upwards, aiming towards the top of the R2.]

[makingtracks]

[ That startles a laugh out of Tracks, and engines gun again to try to chase, to try to keep up. He knows it's a lost cause, but even without the wind under his wings it's a thrill to do this again, to get a little daring. He's no jet, but he'll do his best to push himself regardless.

Powerglide would've liked this, he thinks. Maybe he would've liked Needlenose too, for that matter.

Very quietly, Tracks' radio clicks on, softly playing a song over the comms. He probably doesn't realize Needlenose can even hear it. He's enjoying himself, okay? ]

[deceptichips]

[With Tracks in close pursuit behind Needlenose, the two of them pelt up the R2's side and clear it, breaking over the edge to fly above the wide, ridged expanse of the ship's top.

Then the music starts.

Startled, it takes until Needlenose hears an organic voice warbling along with the relaxed tune for it to register what kind of song Tracks is broadcasting at a low volume through the comms.]

Earth music, Tracks?

[makingtracks]

Huh? Oh! [ The music abruptly cuts out, and Tracks' flight path wobbles a little. ] Sorry, I thought- I didn't realize it'd play over the comms.

...Yes, Earth music. [ There's a small note of defensiveness in his voice as he slows slightly. Not-brother or otherwise, he's braced for the sort of needling that mechs think is them being funny. ] It's disco - or, well, disco-inspired - if you're curious. I have a whole playlist.

[deceptichips]

[Needlenose slows too and flips over so he's flying upside-down for a moment to look at Tracks; without air currents or gravity, it doesn't make much of a difference like it would in an atmosphere. Hah, he guessed right!]

Forget to check the settings? It's fine. You can keep it on if you'd want. [Needlenose doesn't get why Tracks would select Earth music instead of Cybertronian tunes, but well, everybody's got their musical tastes? As long as Tracks doesn't play it at Rumble and Frenzy levels...]

Dis-co? I think that was mentioned somewhere in the packet I downloaded for Earth - which Earth landmass is it from? [Pause] As far as organic music goes, I like Nebulon electro-swing more myself.

[makingtracks]

North America, primarily. Oh, it got popular in Europe too! I don't have ABBA on this particular playlist, but I do have some of theirs in my files; they're a pretty popular band.

[ Tracks relaxes a bit and the song comes back on, still at the same quiet level. He hums along for a second or two, speeding up once more, then replies back without that note of defensiveness. ]

It's not the only flavour of Earth music I like! Rock and roll is alright for instance, though Blaster and Jazz like it more than I do. But disco is my favourite.

[deceptichips]

[With their many glaring and squishy limitations, what a surprise organics can create remotely listenable music, let alone in multiple genres?]

Explains why the words are in English. That's the main human language there. [He says, just because most of the humans who had cooperated with Soundwave's faction spoke english to them, not because he has any real insight in regional human linguistics. Running a search through his packet for Earth produces info that matches with Tracks' remark: Disco is a genre of dance music that appeared in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene.]

Sounds like you're compiling all your top Earth hits into your own personal disco collection. Is what you do every time you stay on an alien planet or just because you like Earth's music scene?

[Continues flying upside-down!! Because why not. The miles of the R2 pass by below them, a sheet of metal and windows.]

[makingtracks]

There's a lot of human languages! Not everything I have is in English. ABBA's a Swedish band, a lot of theirs are also recorded in their native language. This particular song is someone else's remix of a band called... Manganas Garden? I got all of this newer stuff in Svelte.

[ Slowly, Tracks spins in place so he's attempting flying upside-down too. Why not, right? Besides, he's in a very good mood. If he wasn't holding a conversation - or likely to feel a bit self-conscious about it - he may have sang along to the lyrics. ]

Earth's the only planet other than Cybertron I've been to! So I guess you can say it's the latter. Jazz and Blaster are the true aficionados though; I like to specialize. Disco is just what I like!

[deceptichips]

[Information privately filed away for the future: Tracks very specifically likes Earth disco as his top favorite choice in music.

Meanwhile Needlenose swerves suddenly to the side in a display of surprise before righting his course and going back to flying in a straight line. He sputters a little.]

What? You've never been anywhere but Cybertron and Earth? Full stop? I want to ask if you're joking with me. No other deployments?

[makingtracks]

…No? The war was mostly confined to Cybertron. Unfortunately there was significant effort early in the war to cripple space capabilities by both sides, and then the energon started getting low… Most of the working starships went with whatever refugees fled.

Now that the war’s theatre has mostly moved to Earth though, both sides have been widening it. That’s all left to special groups though, more or less. [ And Tracks is not nearly that important. ] I don’t mind though. I like Earth.

[deceptichips]

[Not a joke then!]

Okay, that's a new one. [He whistles, over the low music in the background. The Cybertronian war, but on only two planets - Earth and Cybertron - instead of spanning thousands of them. He tries to wrap his mind around it.] We had the Exodus too, when the neutrals cut and ran from the fighting but we never managed to shut down each other's space access. Our war spread off-planet by its first millennia.

[:/a]

As an outpost to be stationed on, I'd say Earth's not that bad. [As long as you stay out of human clutches, that is.] It has dry land. I was assigned to this waterworld place once. Awful conditions. Unending wet, mold always trying to grow somewhere it shouldn't have - Ugh. That's much worse.

[makingtracks]

Oh, Primus. [ There’s an exaggerated shudder of disgust. ] That sounds absolutely horrendous! The Decepticon ship - the Nemesis - is somewhere under the Pacific Ocean where I’m from, crashed there as it was. I imagine the conditions there are much the same…

I honestly don’t know how any of them can stand it. Particularly the Seekers. I like my pedes on dry ground and with open air easily accessible, thank you!

[deceptichips]

It ranked itself solidly at the bottom of planets I ever want to take a vacation to, that place.

[Continuing on to respond to Tracks' relaying of Decepticons staying fulltime on a ship sunken underwater:] Ew. Makes me feel like I'm rusting just thinking about it. Not my idea of a hospitable environment either.

[Annnnd they've reached the other side of the R2. Needlenose angles himself into a long, arcing dive, keeping a steady distance from the ship.]

Hey, your universe's Decepticons had the Nemesis too? This Nemesis?

[He pings Tracks an image capture of what is recognizably the Nemesis, beached on the bottom of an Earth ocean, with the addition of a number of Autobots and scattered Decepticons swimming downwards it. And what looks to be part of a combiner's hand at the corner of the image.]

[makingtracks]

[ Tracks finally flips upright again, making a soft sound of surprise. ]

Yes, actually! Quite a bit like that! Hold on, I'm sure I've got a picture too...

[ He does! It's clearly a scouting sort of shot, not another mech in sight, the Nemesis peering through the oceanic gloom like a ghost in the night. However, this ghost is more than just the ship; the Decepticons have built around it, fortified and dug in deep. The lights are dim, but they gleam in the dark regardless. ]

[deceptichips]

[Passing by a bank of windows on the R2's side, Needlenose follows suit and rights himself too.]

Aha. Same design! [With a better quality shot too.]

Ours crashed into the Indian Ocean though, after Galvatron had a fight with the humans. [He examines the image again, noticing the fortifications and the visible signs of people settling in, prepared for a prolonged stay in the watery gloom. He adds:] And his group never built anything around it like this before Superion tore the Nemesis in half. Your Decepticons look to be better equipped.

[makingtracks]

They were the better off faction, before we came to Earth. If the conflict had remained on Cybertron, the Decepticons definitely would have won, even if they may have starved themselves in the process. We were up against the wall.

I'm still surprised that things have turned around so quickly...

[deceptichips]

[Clearing the side of the ship, they're under the bottom of the ship's bulk now. The noise of Needlenose's engine rumbling can't travel through the void.]

With your war coming to Earth?

[makingtracks]

Yes! It's almost strange, how much it shook up the war, but I suppose that's the sort of thing that happens once you venture into the unknown. You never know what'll happen out there.

[ Tracks is still doing his best to keep up, but this is quite a workout. It's been a while since he's had so much space to fly in. He might be lagging behind a little. ]

[deceptichips]

Earth's a strange planet. [When he notices after a few moments that Tracks's speed is dropping, Needlenose starts to slow down.]

Speaking of trying out the unknown, how are you holding up with the zero gravity?

[makingtracks]

[ There's a laugh. Well, Tracks won't contest that.

At the question, he waggles his wings a little. ]

Well, I'll admit it's been a while since I've done this much flying... Primus, I'm out of practice. But this has been really nice. Thank you for coming along with me, Needlenose.

[deceptichips]

[Needlenose makes an acknowledging noise in his vocalizer, over the music in the background.] Let's call it good here and make it back to the hanger before you seriously start to tire yourself out. No need to push yourself past your limits for a test flight.

[He slows down further.] ... You're welcome.