Get Along Lil Steggy

Log Title: Get Along Lil Steggy

'''Characters: Wild Bill, Angel, Slugfest, Nightlash, Interrogator, Snarl'''

Location: Southwest Canada - North America

Date: July 7, 2013

TP: Non-TP

Summary: The Calgary Stampede has the BEST RODEO EVER! Wild Bill is at the Calgary Stampede, because yee-ha! He managed to snag a seat very close to the bull chute, because it is bull riding time! He's wearing his trademark jeans, leather vest, denim shirt, cowboy hat, and mirrored sunglasses. He whoops as a big pale bull charges out of the chute with a rider on its back, bucking like crazy. The man is thrown in about 7 seconds.

Angel is sitting in the stands, near the bull chute but not as near as Wild Bill. He doesn't even recognise the man, why would he. He's at the Stampede because someone got him tickets, and who is he to refuse a distraction? Meanwhile, there's a bit of a commotion from the bull chute area. Something charges through and it doesn't sound like a bull. It's too shiny to be a bull!

"Now that ain't right," Wild Bill muses, "I think I better do something." He rushes to the edge of the chute, ready to leap out onto whatever makes it through. And something does come through, and he jumps...and lands on the back of a robo mini stego!

Angel is ...suprised, to say the least, when a guy jumps into the bull chute and comes flying out riding a robotic stegosaurus. "Um... was that supposed to happen?" he wonders aloud, rushing closer to the arena. He's curious, that's for sure!

Nobody's more surprised than Wild Bill as to the nature of his mount. "Whoa, hey, what're you doing in here? You're not a bull!"

The minute Wild Bill lands on the crook of Slugfest's neck just before the mini stego's back plates, the little stegosaur takes off like a shot, running around the ring, completely confused as to why there is now a human on his back. "Get off! No want rider!" the stegosaur complains, and starts bucking and rocking back and forth in an attempt to dislodge Wild Bill!

Overhead, Nightlash happens to be passing by... Why? Boredom, most likely, and she's prone to wander around when she's bored... Though, finding this? She can't help but seem a bit...confused, perhaps a slight bit amused... Checking her stealth systems, and validating they are indeed active, the Night Raven turns about to get another look. Uh... wait, is that...who she thinks it is?

Angel starts laughing and applauding with the audience; they all think it's part of the show! And why not, people from Calgary are odd folk. "Well, if this isn't a blast from the past!"

"What's a little nosy Decepticon like you doin' in a place like this?" Wild Bill demands, all while holding on tight through all the bucking, and still managing to keep his hat on.

"Was scanning energy readings!" Slugfest says, "Detected lots energy here but when finded was big pile that smell bad! Then wanted out but no could find way out!"

Wild Bill laughs out loud. "You thought there was energy in a manure pile? Ha ha! That'd make some pretty stinky fuel wouldn't it?" He still hangs on as the Stego is still bucking, prancing, and trying to rid his back of the rider.

Angel can't hear the stego and human argueing, but he's been texting someone on his handheld. He's laughing at the antics in the ring.

Nightlash just...sighs. The Decepticon did /what/? She settles into a nice, relaxed pattern overhead. To the tech-savvy, there's some small transmissions being sent, but to whom? Anyone's guess, really. Hey, at least she's not coming in blasting.

"Now you settle down, varmint," Wild Bill says, "I gather this is right amusing entertainment for the folks in the stands, but I don't want nobody getting hurt. You hear?"

Slugfest probably has dirty feets!

It's at about this moment that Slugfest, having failed to oust Wild Bill from his back, does the one thing he's sure will dislodge the riding Joe. He flops onto his side!

Angel is still texting, probably tweeting all of this - well, not really, but that's what anyone looking at him would think. "Shake 'im off, Stego!" he whoops, grinning. He was on leave, and therefore allowed to be silly.

"WHOA!" Wild Bill shouts, as the mini stego goes sideways. Bulls don't usually do that, but horses can, and Wild Bill keeps his wits about him to dismount so that his leg isn't crushed under Slugfest's weight. He rolls a few times on the ground sideways, then gets up and dusts off his clothes.

The crowd cheers!

Nightlash is amused, to put it lightly. Though, amused does not mean she's about to blow cover. Still, those faint transmissions continue. The little stegosaur seems relieved that he's finally rid himself of the human from his back. However, he'd clearly not thought this course of action through. His little feets move, turning him in a slow circle on his side, as he tries to get up. It's after about the third or fourth rotation that the mini stego's legs flail in frustration and he cries, "NO CAN GET UP!"

 Slugfest says, "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5MfDn_27X0" (mental image reference)

"I should get closer to the ring, though. It will give me the opportunity to study both Wild Bill and a Transformer." Interrogator muses as he uses his height and build to muscle though the crowd, quietly saying "Excuse me" as he does so.

Angel starts laughing; the crowd's amused as well at the poor robot's plight. "Hey, someone help the poor guy up!" Angel calls.

Interrogator looks towards the sound of the familiar voice, and waves in Angel's direction. He thinks, "He probably will not recognise me, But I can try to find him afterwards. He finally gets as close as he can to the two in the ring, and keeps some of his attention on Angel as he watches the Joe and the Transformer in the ring.

Angel waves at the random guy who waved at him. Hey, got to be polite, after all. He keeps on multi-tasking.

"Hm, maybe we should leave 'im that way," Wild Bill muses, "A bit more harmless than before."

Nightlash watches the scene below with a bit more scrutiny. Slugfest is stuck... She mutters to herself before dropping a little bit of altitude. Wait...they really want to leave the stego stuck? She sighs inwardly...steeling herself. This is probably going to sting. If she sees it through. She requires a little more self-convincing, though.

<> Nightlash says, "Are you stuck?"

<> Slugfest says, "NO CAN GET UP!"

Slugfest thrashes and kick-kick-kicks in a flailing, futile attempt to get to his feet!

Nightlash sighs at the radio and transforms, dropping out of the sky to land beside Slugfest. She gives him a critical look. "You... you /owe/ me." She reaches down to pick the stego up and get him back on his feet before looking around, half-expecting hellfire to rain down after.

Nightlash suddenly fades into sight without a sound.

The Night Raven S3P's airframe separates from the drone on its dorsal as it twists and contorts, nosecone folding down to reveal a sleek head, wings collapsing to form a cape of sorts. Her lower body unfolds into legs while engines slide in to hug in tight against her sides.

Angel actually waves as a Decepticon drops out of the sky to scoop up the little stego. "...Oh silly ladybird." she says softly, to himself. Of course, everyone else is freaking out and running away.

Wild Bill steps back as Nightlash swoops down to retrieve her comrade. "Is that a half-con, half-cobra?" he wonders, as he spots the cobra faction symbol on a clearly obvious Transformer.

"Eeee!" Slugfest squeals, as Nightlash scoops him up, "Thanks! No could get up! No wanted stay there!"

Nightlash glares at Slugfest, but nothing is said before she turns her attention to Wild Bill. "It was amusing before... Giddy-up, cowboy." She points at Slugfest. "I'm bored, and my other alternative is high-yield explosives. So I'd get busy." The movement from the stands catches her attention, and she gives Angel a faint nod before turning back to Bill. "Behave, and nothing will go wrong. Honest!" And, then to Slugfest, "And the same goes for you, tape."

Slugfest is set on feets. "Okay!" he says, "Now what do?" His lil thagomizer wags excitedly.

"As long as nobody gets hurt, ma'am," Wild Bill says, making his way back into the stands.

Nightlash looks at Wild Bill. "So you walk away?!" She scoffs. "What was I not clear about?" Probably everything. "You didn't last eight seconds on the Stego... I'm giving you a second chance!"

"Oh," Wild Bill says, "Wasn't sure what you were on about. Well in that case, sure, why not, if you can make the little varmint behave."

The little stego stares up at Nightlash. "Has to give rides?"

Angel stares at Nightlash... and laughs. "Go on cowboy! Ride that Stego!" he whoops, laughing. The other audience members have stopped running, and are now actually curious.

"'Ey cowboy, what'cher name?" yells someone.

Interrogator is jostled by the crowd, but manages to stay where he is. He watches the familiar Night Raven takes care of the Stegosaurus and grins at the exchange between Wild Bill and the transformed Night Raven. Nightlash smirks. "His job is to give you as hard a time as possible." She makes her way to the stands, taking a seat... the audience, in truth, is surprising in their choice to stay. "Yeah, Sluggy... as chaotic a ride as possible. Come on... let's see how many tries it takes."

"Name's Wild Bill, yee-ha!" Wild Bill shouts to the audience, and hops atop the stego once more. He's grabbed a section of rope lariat and loops it around the stego's neck to give him something more to hold onto.

As if on cue, the mini stego starts running around the ring, doing four-legged hops and bucks as well, as he is now ridden again.

Angel heads over to Nightlash, sitting down right next to her. "...Hey Ladybird." he says. "You and me keep crossing pathes."

Nightlash looks over at Angel and grins. "Yeah, how about that?" She looks out at the spectacle. "So, who's he anyway?" She points at Wild Bill. "Pretty gung-ho, for a human. Taking this all in stride."

Interrogator shakes his head as Angel approaches the femme and shakes his head slightly, thinking, "I will have to discuss this with him when we get back to camp."

Angel shrugs. "I'm... not exactly sure, actually. There's a Joe that goes by Wild Bill, but... it's a common nickname, so he might not be the same guy." The off-duty Cobra grins, obviously comfortable with the Night Raven Decepticon. "But... Hey, he's having fun, your buddy's having fun, I'm having fun... There's no reason to start a fight. Sometimes you've just got to take a break from war."

Nightlash quirks a brow and looks out at the riding arena. "Hey! Cowboy? You a Joe?" She passively listens for a response before looking back to Angel. "Yeah, I suppose... Still not quite as entertaining as it could be..." She thinks. "Sluggy! Use your jets!" She blinks. "You /do/ have those, right?" "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe," Wild Bill says to Nightlash, "Why's ya askin?"

"OH yeah! Forgotted!" Slugfest says, and starts using his jets! Now his leaps from the ground are much higher!

Angel facepalms. "...Isn't this a little overboard?" he asks, but he's laughing quietly. Who knew Decepticons were mischeivious? "Hey Sluggy, don't hurt him, now!" he yells at the now flying stegosauros. "So... Tell me about Sluggy." Interrogator's eyes gleam behind his mirrored shades as Sluggy uses his jets, thinking, "Fall off, Cowboy, fall off!"

Nightlash frowns. "I don't care if you are or aren't, Cowboy! Lasers aren't coded to care either, just keep it nice and honest and no trouble comes of it... deal?!" She can't help but grin as Slugfest kicks on the rockets.

"Well in that case, yessiree ma'am, I am a Joe," Wild Bill says, tightening his grip on his rope and squeezing his calves tightly against the stego's sides.

Nightlash looks over at Angel. "There, settled. It's him, and not some amateur." She grumbles. "Can you do a flip, Sluggy?! He's holding on too well!"

Slugfest practically does a somersault in midair with the help of his jets!

And throughout the midair spin, even Wild Bill's hat manages to stay on...

"Ffft, fine so it is him. He's enjoying himself though." Angel says, laughing at the stegosaurous's antics, having no idea that Interrogator spotted him breaking direct orders from Major Bludd. He applauds. "You enjoying yourself, Ladybird?"

Nightlash thinks for a moment. "Yes." There's a pause. "No." Another pause. "Maybe. I should be shooting him. My circuitry is yelling at me to shoot him... Like, really loudly. It's not...normal for me to ignore that."

Interrogator watches as the Joe stays on, and smiles slightly, despite himself. He think to himself, "Wild Bill IS really good at this. I wonder what Angel and his companion are speaking of?"

"That's what makes you different than just a machine, Ladybird." Angel says, his smile softening. He's still watching the antics of a Joe riding a Decepticon, but he's obviously paying more attention to his conversation with Nightlash. "Your programming is telling you to attack, but your mind, heart doesn't want to attack." He smiles. "The ability to choose our character, and thus our fate - that's what makes us sentient."

Nightlash hmms. "If you insist." She smirks faintly at the antics happening in the arena. "Come on, Sluggy! You're not going to let a Joe make you look bad, are you?" She looks back at Angel. "So, the question begs to be asked, why Cobra?"

The little stegosaur is now leaping over the barrels in the ring which were intended for the barrel racing event! He's still hopping around with four legged hops like an overweight deer on steroids.

It's no use, Wild Bill is stuck to the stego like a tick on a dog. "This here's the best bronc riding I've ever done," he says, "Of course, none of the horses had such litte short stubby legs."

The question is forgotten as Bill holds on, and Nightlash turns to yell, "OH JUST FALL!" She scoffs. "Heheh...stubborn thing, isn't he."

"Why Cobra? I could ask you the same thing, Nightlash. You've chosen a difficult fate, my friend..." Luckily for him, Nightlash is soon distracted by Wild Bill doing his best 'I am Glue' routine. "Oh come on, did you put super glue on your legs or something?"

"Ain't a horse or bull alive that can throw Ol' Wild Bill!" Wild Bill says, "And doesn't look like there's a stego that can, either!"

Nightlash settles back. "I would not expect a human to understand. But to those that create us, there is a sense of loyalty." She leaves it at that, not bothering to explain any further.

"EEEEEEEE!" Slugfest squeals, now rocking back and forth between his front and hind feets like a rocking horse.

Interrogator decides it's time to see what Angel is discussing with his companion, and gives up his ringside standing position and begins to move through the crowd towards Angel's position.

A sound familiar to the military is heard, that of a C-130 on a relatively low pass. As the aircraft goes overhead, a somewhat familiar red, chrome and gold stego is seen jumping from the lowered cargo door, only to be caught by cargo chutes, decending slowly from the makeshift harness, cackling maniacally!

"I think we humans would understand quite well, Ladybird." Angel says, grinning at the stegosaurus's antics. The crowd's having a blast, temporarily allowing the Decepticons to stay; if was a rare sight to see Decepticons who didn't threaten humans at every turn. "I am loyal to Cobra because I owe them my life. Perhaps it is not the same as loyalty to kin; but it is my reason."

Nightlash looks down at Angel and nods, though, whatever she was about to say goes unsaid as the plane flies overhead. Uh oh... That's not good. She reaches into a subspace pocket, pulling out a blaster...but just leaves it sitting beside her. For now.

Slugfest now tries a series of weasel-like hops to try to dislodge Wild Bill!

Wild Bill pulls the rope tight, reining the stego in. He slaps the end of the rope against the stego's side. "Hyah!" he shouts, and the stego starts running around in circles!

Some kids get to have mil spec cargo parachute materials, as the Dinobot gets out of the harness. He looks for familiar faces, spying some 'cons and others, making his way towards the circle, thagomizer swishing slightly as to avoid thagomizing the humans.

"EEEEEEEEEE!" Slugfest squeals again as he sees Snarl, and pelts little feets faster!

Interrogator reaches Angel and sits quietly beside him, trying not to look like he is listening in on the conversation.

Angel is taken aback by the large Stegosaurous parachuting into the ring. "...I would make some smartass comment about that being Sluggy's dad, but I think that's an Autobot." he comments, shifting a bit. "...You're loyal to Cobra, because you're a Cobra jet? Did I get that right, Ladybird?" he asks, watching the ring with interest. "...Even though you're Cybertronian, you prefer to fight alongside humans."

Nightlash seems...content, for now, that the Autobot on-scene is not about to cause any undue mayhem, but the blaster remains by her side. "Then you know why I will keep trying," she finally offers to Angel. "I will not say it is coded in me, but there is a draw I cannot resist. It goes beyond just the jet, there's...more. I believe I told you that I do not measure up to the other Seekers...too much has changed."

Snarl watches the mini-stego, and the human doing the stego-busting. His head tilts, as he watches Slugfest's antics, his thagomizer swishing more.

"This is the best darn rodeo ever!" Wild Bill shouts, waving his hat as the mini stego does his best impersonation of a bucking Ig-yak.

Slugfest runs past Snarl around and around in a circle, pelting little feets as fast as can, trying to make Wild Bill dizzy! However, that's not likely to work on a helicopter pilot!

"If it were my decision, you'd have a home among the CObras. But, I'm just the guy with the gun. I don't make decisions." Angel smirks a little, watching Wold Bill having the time of his life. "...I fear that I am no longer welcome in my orginal home; but Cobra is my family." He turns to Nightlash. "You are different from others like you... but that does not make you less than them."

Nightlash narrows her optics for a moment. "Yeah... I know that much, but...let's be quite honest, what I think, and what you think, matters little for the Decepticons."

"Yeah, you're right." Angel says, looking up at Nightlash's face. "But I don't let that stop me. I'm stubborn like that." He smiles. "...Maybe, someday... we won't have to worry about it anymore. Then, you can tell me all about your world." unidle Snarl watches as the stego cassetticon runs by, almost chuckling, his thagomizer swishing a lot.

Nightlash finds her attention drawn to the Autobot. "Again...I should be shooting..." She sighs. "Sluggy! You can find your way home, right?"

Wild Bill finally pulls on the rope to pull the stego to a full halt.

Slugfest twists his head this way and that as the rope is pulled, finally stopping. "Am done?"

Snarl looks to Nightlash as she mentions 'shooting', "Why ruin funz wiff fightingz? Specially since facing Dinobot? Not what consider healthy for septicon."

Nightlash smirks slightly. "Until you can outfly me, I'm not worried, small-fry." She pushes herself up and grabs her blaster, stowing it in subspace again before engines kick on, pushing her into the air. "Let's be quite honest as well, Autobot... I would gladly do everything I could to kill as many humans possible before you took me down anyway. You wouldn't like that, would you."

Flame trickles from Snarl's mouth, his eyes start to glow. That answer enough?

"Now now," Wild Bill says, "No need to get hostile. Innocent people around still, see?"

Nightlash smirks. "Yeah...thought so." She winks. "So, no causing trouble, 'cause even if you won, you'd lose." She looks at Slugfest. "Come on. I don't have time to waste waiting for you." Bill is likewise given a look. "I won't... not this time."

Wild Bill hops off the stopped stego and slaps the stego on the backside. "Go on nao. Git!"

"Need ride home," Slugfest says, "Am dizzy!" He stares up at Nightfall.

Nightlash transforms. "Let's go, then." She sends the drone down to pick up the tape as she flies off, the drone rocketing to catch up once it's retrieved Slugfest.

Nightlash's body collapses and reforms into the sleek shape of a COBRA Night Raven S3P before rejoining with the drone. Wait, where'd the drone disappear to in the first place?

Slugfest yays and hops into the drone compartment! It's a comfy place to nap on the ride home!