Tea and Curiousity

Log Title: Tea and Curiousity Characters: Backblast, Scales Location: Valvolux Date: July 16, 2018 TP: Valvolux TP Summary: Scales finds Backblast to ask for help with some old records. As logged by  Scales Log session starting at 21:24:18 on Monday, 16 July 2018.

Backblast can be found... with a little bit of work. One will have to spot the little hobosign-style chalked markings into a ruined building, up the ruined stairwell several floors and out to the edge of the building. Once one gets there, they'll find Backblast's camo-net, shielding his view from the outside. It's protected by tripwires that set off bells further inside the nest.

The sniper himself is chilling out behind his rifle, a small pot of energon tea heating up next to him on a basic stove.

Scales looks all over the camp first, then starts checking the good perching spots, which is how she finds the chalk markings. She smells the tea before she sees her quarry, and hurries the rest of the way to his nest. "Hello?" she calls out before just barging in.

Backblast looks over as he hears the voice calling out, leaning back from his rifle. "Evening." He says, cheerfully. "Welcome to today's sniper nest. It's where I'll be hiding until tonight or enemy contact, whichever come sooner."

A little wire trails out of his backpack to an antenna hooked up on the building somewhere to let him listen in to any comms he wants... including the Decepticon ones. He's got it on speaker right now, and it's quietly burbling out a low mix of Autobot, Neutral, and Decepticon comms for him to listen for anything interesting.

Backblast is, of course, still wearing his Alloygator, which he's taken to calling Clive.

Scales bounces over, sitting down not far from the stove with the tea on it. "Hi! I was looking for yas." She sniffs the tea curiously.

Backblast tilts his head "Oh? That's unusual." He chuckles, pouring two mugs of the energon tea. It's native cyberflora brewed up in unrefined energon (ie, not engex). It has the equivalent of a herbal, minty scent. "Someone looking for me and I don't even see a weapon in your hand."

Scales blinks at Backblast. "My hand -is- a weapon." She flexes it to show off the claws. "But anyway.. I found a live terminal with some old records on it, but all I got was some log info and a couple of stills. 'M not really all that good at digging through stuff like that."

Backblast 's eyes light up at the mention of an old terminal. "Cor, that sounds like it'd be fun to rifle through. What sort of old records?" He leans forwards, offering Scales the other mug.

Scales accepts the mug and drinks carefully, sticking her muzzle down in the cup. Fortunately, it's a bit oversized compared to a tape. "It was down by the factories," she says, "so most of it was just.. production stuff. But one of the stills was that big repair bay we found underground, with an actual titan being built. I was thinkin' that if I could dig in there more, I might be able to get some video."

Backblast listens, nodding with a grin. "I can help with that. Most of my crypto gear is built in, but I can definitely help."

Scales grins back. "Great! I was hopin' you'd teach me a little bit of how these systems work, too? I should know a l'l more about this stuff, probably."

Backblast nods "I can probably help with that too." He agrees "Nothing like learning on the job."

Scales breathes a sigh of relief. "Good." She laps up more of the tea from the mug. "This is good. What's in it?"

Backblast looks through his pouches and pulls out a small sprig of a cybertronian herb that pulses dull blue-green. "Some of this stuff. No idea what it's called but if you need to stay awake without recharge for a few more hours you can chew it... just don't chew too much or you'll end up as hyper as Dust Devil."

Scales blinks, sniffing the tea and tasting it a bit more carefully. "That's interestin'."

Backblast nods "You can find all sorts of useful electroflora here on Cybertron. Some that have relaxing effects, some stimulants... some that just taste nice. Others can help draw energon out, our increase the energy density without getting you intoxicated. It's kind of a hobby of mine, really, finding out about nature."

Scales oohs. "That's cool!" Her optics have a happy yellow whirl to them. "I bet it's real useful, too."

Backblast nods "It is, yeah!" He agrees, with a grin. "And it's fun. I get to see places most people don't." A thoughtful sniff. "I should do another Wild Cybertron episode soon."

Scales nods, enthusiastically. "When this is done, and we get the 'Cons pushed out, I wanna learn more about Cybertron. All I learned while on Earth was, y'know, the basic history. But it's really different to see it in person!"

Backblast nods "It is. And both planets have really rich and interesting wildlife that I can show people. A lot of animals, especially on Earth, don't see me as a threat, or food, so I can get a lot closer than humans can. I'll get some awesome footage."

Scales grins. "Yeah, I used to go out an' try to see things for myself if I could." She pauses, thoughtful. "Never went too far from Autobot City or the Dinocave, though, unless it was on a mission 'r somethin'."

Backblast nods "It's nice to explore. I've always roamed around a lot."

Scales flexes her wings a bit. "I don't often get the chance, since 'm kind of slow, even flyin'. Takes a long time to get anywhere. But sometimes, I'd go take a nap in the shuttle, and then wake up and find out it was somewhere new." She chuckles.

Backblast chuckles "Slowness don't matter. I'm not exactly all that fast either, although I /can/ swim. There's places even around Valvolux to explore... I'll show you a couple when we head out."

Scales oohs. "cool!" She laps up a bit more of the tea and then rests her chin on the edge of the mug. "I don' wanna interrupt what yer doin' here, so maybe we can go once you're done?"

Backblast smiles and nods "Yeah, that'll be awesome. It'll probably be easier once all this shit's in Valvolux has cooled off anyway." He chuckles. "If we do that we've got time for a proper expedition, I can set up a few cam-drones and we can see if we spot anything really interesting."

Scales nods. "Sounds good. Though I do want to get to those records before then. Really wanna know more about Bulwark, y'know? He's nice, but.."

Backblast nods "Oh of course. I'll be up for that whenever you are, just give me... hm... hour's notice? I'll need to pack down the Nest, wherever I've got it."

Scales nods. "Okay! I'll letcha know." She puts down the mug. "Thanks for the tea!"

Backblast smiles "No worries." He says, cheerfully. Such a contrast between how he is when he's not in danger. Perhaps when there's no real danger, he's got the brainpower spare to kick in the 'don't be a sociopath' circuits more?

Scales waves a paw and bounds back outside, going down the stairs instead of flying, since it's far enough out that she really doesn't want to risk getting spotted.

Log session ending at 23:34:20 on Monday, 16 July 2018.