.
GURL WRIT WROTE. words exploded. it was messy.
Title: Tactless
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Seaspray, Cliffjumper
Warnings and Disclaimers: Hurr, none.
Universe: G1 n-n
Note: owo written for lob_lob in a prompt thing on my personal.
"Got any fives?"
The question, tinged with humor, was nearly lost amid the squawking of seagulls that lined the railing of the pier. For the two mechs sitting docilely among the noisome flock, the cacophony was more a point of amusement than annoyance.
Cliffjumper had been the one to speak, his frame folded down to sit with his legs beneath him on the sun-warmed pavement. Before him sat Seaspray, half reclined, resting on his elbow, one foot tapping a staccato beat against the ground. Between them sat a stack of oversized cards which were currently keeping them entertained while they awaited Skyfire's arrival to haul them back to the Ark.
Thoughtfully Seaspray eyed the cards he held, and shook his head before replying in his distinctive gargle, "Sorry, buddy; go fish."
Cliffjumper gave a blast of his vents and snapped up a card from the deck, adding it to his hand. "Been hearing that all day," he said with a smirk, and shot a dubious look at Seaspray's growing pile of matches.
Seaspray shrugged easily. "Guess I'm just good at this game," he said, and the joke was too obvious for either of them to make so they let it go with nothing beyond an exchange of a pointed look. Then Seaspray prompted, "Got any sixes?" and Cliffjumper gave an exasperated scoff.
"Fine fine, take it, ya card shark," the minibot grumped, passing the card along, and Seaspray accepted it with a flourish, promptly adding it to his pile.
"Have any..." Seaspray shot him a look. "Twos?"
"Oh for--" Cliffjumper flapped his arms and Seaspray laughed, taking some of the sting out of what was shaping up to be imminent defeat. Cliffjumper tossed the card at him, his optics rolling heavenward. "And why do you talk like that, anyway?" he asked, quick and impulsive, and Seaspray laid his cards down before he lifted his gaze again.
"You mean, like this?" Seaspray gargled, and Cliffjumper nodded, suddenly more interested. Seapray angled his head back. "You really wanna know?"
"Yeah," Cliffjumper said without a thought. "I mean, some of the guys have wondered but we never asked. So what's with it anyway?"
For a long moment Seaspray just regarded the red mech in silence, his air contemplative. When he finally spoke it was nearly a drawl, completely calm and unwavering, full of private amusement; "Because it confuses people. Because it makes people ask questions. Because deep down I enjoy watching everyone's discomfort while they try to understand what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it, even though they'll never be able to figure it out in a million years. Because it's funny."
Somehow, awkward silence managed to follow this statement despite the constant shriek of the seagulls in the background. Cliffjumper stared across the narrow space between them, his expression slack, mouth slightly open, and Seaspray just gazed at him with a serene expression.
Then Seaspray twitched and promptly cracked up laughing and Cliffjumper started sputtering inarticulately.
"You-- that wasn't funny!" the minibot squawked, but Seaspray was too busy flopping over on the desk in hysterics to care.
"Should have seen your face!" Seaspray said in a strangled gargle, flapping one arm in the air before slapping a hand over his face.
Cliffjumper scowled, started scraping the cards back into a pile. "Oh yeah real hilarious. Har har."
Still wheezing, Seaspray rolled over, watched as Cliffjumper subspaced the deck. "Aw, it was just a joke."
Muttering under his breath, Cliffjumper shoved himself to his feet. "Skyfire's gonna be here any minute, chuckles."
Seapray hummed, pushed himself into a sitting position and then straightened up. He gave Cliffjumper's shoulder a good-natured pat, his featureless face still seeming to grin. "You know," he said cheerfully, "I wasn't kidding."
Cliffjumper's mouth fell open and this time Seaspray didn't even last; he started laughing so hard he doubled over and Cliffjumper went from bewildered to outraged in .2 seconds.
"You fell for it again!" Seapray managed feebly.
Too peeved to even try, Cliffjumper spun and his heel and stomped off toward the end of the dock, his posture rigid, intent on leaving Seapray to his childish humor. Cliffjumper would just go and be a damn adult and ignore the cackling mech, that's what he'd do.
Unfortunately he was thwarted in his plan when a seagull sailed off the railing and landed feet-first in his face, and his resultant high-volume cursing and flailing just made Seaspray laugh even harder.
When Skyfire arrived, he didn't bother to ask why Cliffjumper was covered in feathers and fit to be tied, or why Seaspray was still uttering sporadic giggles and pointedly NOT looking at the red minibot.
Sometimes silence was just the better option.
Title: Survivorcon
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Rumble, Frenzy, Soundwave, Ravage
Warnings and Disclaimers: None >:v
Universe: G1
Note: written for swindleslog in the same prompt thingy LOL
It wasn't uncommon for scouting missions to take Soundwave and his cassettes to some exotic locales. In their travels they had seen dense jungles, sprawling cityscapes, soaring mountain ranges, seemingly endless stretches of ocean and some of the most inhospitable places on the backwater organic planet they were temporarily forced to inhabit. All of this in the pursuit of energon or power, and all at Megatron's direction.
Often these missions were long, tedious and boring. Soundwave never complained, took his charges with his usual unaffected air, always the stoic professional. His cassettes, on the other hand, tended to be vocal and incessant when they became bored, though they usually had the presence of mind to save their complaints for when Megatron was well out of earshot.
Soundwave was used to it, especially where Rumble and Frenzy were concerned. They were energetic and easily bored, and Soundwave was patient with them. On the rare occasion they got out of hand Soundwave would do one of two things: issue sharp reprimand, which always served to temper their exuberance, or he would simply tell them to go and find a means of entertaining themselves. Usually the latter had a series of conditions attached, such as "without drawing attention to yourselves" or "without compromising our mission" or, if circumstances required it, "without offlining one another."
Today, under the baking noonday sun, in an entirely off-putting marshland with absolutely no one around for miles (if one discounted the native wildlife), Soundwave had simply told the pair to find entertainment and return to him in one piece. Well, two individual pieces. They just both needed to be intact.
Soundwave was operating with instructions to investigate a possible oil well which could be put to very good use in Decepticon hands. Rumble and Frenzy, thus loosed from their boss' immediate attentions, were stalking geese.
Crouching in a thicket of head-high reeds, their legs sunk up to the knee joints in sticky mud, Rumble and Frenzy peered with narrow optics out onto the flats where the large, monochromatic birds were waddling around innocently. Oblivious to the threat lurking in the foliage the creatures were going about their business, honking and flapping and doing whatever the frag geese did when not being eaten by more intimidating animals.
"What the frag do geese do besides get eaten?" Rumble asked suddenly, his voice a hushed whisper.
Beside him Frenzy shrugged and pulled a face. "I dunno. I guess whatever they're doing right now."
"... But I don't know what they're doing right now," Rumble said, shooting the red cassette a sidelong look.
Frenzy snorted. "Being ugly?" he offered. They both snickered.
"Okay, okay," Rumble said abruptly, sobering. "How're we gonna catch one? They can fly."
Frenzy frowned. "Maybe we can shoot it first. You know, slow it down. Works with the Seekers."
"I think that'd kill it," Rumble said thoughtfully. "Their afts aren't near as big as Screamer's. I think they'd just explode or something."
"Flimsy organics," Frenzy muttered. Then, looking determined, "All right, maybe we just run out there and grab one before they can get off the ground?"
“Well whatever we’re gonna do, we need to get it done,” Rumble said, his annoyance clear as he dropped his gaze to where his legs were slowly sinking further into the muck. “This stuff is nasty.”
“Like the rest of this planet?” Frenzy snorted. “Okay, we’ll go on my count. One--”
“Wait, why your count?” Rumble interrupted, frowning darkly at the red cassette.
Frenzy blasted air through his vents in annoyance. “‘Cause it’s my plan!”
Rumble’s optics flickered and he gave consideration to complaint, but ultimately just shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
Frenzy stared at him blankly for a moment and then looked out through the reeds again. “One,” he began again, shot a look at Rumble, and then proceeded with, “Two... Three! Go!”
As a unit the pair leapt forward, dived through the long grass and out into the open just as planned. Then they released twin shouts of surprise when the sticky mud failed to relinquish its hold on their legs, snatched their momentum right out from under them and offered up the soggy ground to break their fall.
They both landed simultaneously with a loud splat! and then a long silence. Out on the flats, a number of geese lifted their heads and peered in the direction of the commotion before going about their fowl business.
Rumble was the first to pry his head out of the muck and he did so with a disgusted groan. Then, spotting Frenzy, he reached over and helpfully pried the red cassette’s head up as well, if only so Frenzy would definitely hear his vexed, “Your plan fragging sucked.”
“It was both our plan,” Frenzy griped, reaching up to smack Rumble’s hand away from where it still gripped the front of his head. “Get off, ya stupid--”
“Shut up for two seconds and lemme think,” Rumble said with a scowl, earning an identical look from the other mech. Contemplatively the blue cassette eyed the mud and then began the laborious process of shoving himself into a sitting position. Frenzy followed suit, and soon the pair were sitting opposite, gazing at one another with unreadable expressions.
“You’re frickin’ gross,” Frenzy said flatly. “Soundwave’s gonna be mad when he sees you.”
“You’re just as bad!” Rumble said defensively. “I’m not the only one covered in this slag!” He smeared a hand across his grime-covered chest with a disgusted sound, then shook his hand to try ridding it of the thick, clinging mud, though it had no effect.
Frenzy slouched, face drawn in a scowl. “I hate this planet,” he griped. “It’s gross and stupid and everything’s wet and gross and looks the same. Why don’t we just blow it up? I’m--”
“Wait, shut up,” Rumble interrupted, which had Frenzy looking offended. The formerly-blue-now-lumpy-brown mech threw up a hand and went on before his twin could comment, “No, you gave me an idea. Look.” He stretched out his arm, shoved it into the mud up to the elbow and wiggled it around to get it coated with muck.
“Ewwww,” Frenzy whined with feeling. Rumble threw a glob of mud at him and he yelped and nearly fell over backward.
“Look, stupid,” Rumble snorted, and then held his filthy arm out stretch over the ground between them. Frenzy stared at it blankly for a few seconds and then realization dawned in his expression.
“You’re camouflaged!” the red-brown mech said. “Why the frag didn’t I think of that?”
“‘Cause I got all the brains,” Rumble said modestly, and seemed honestly surprised when a wad of mud hit him square in the face. He sputtered and scraped his optics clear, then glared at his twin, spitting the gunk out while frenzy laughed at his expense.
“Lookin’ real smart there, genius,” Frenzy cackled. His voice drew the attention of the geese some distance away and the duo went abruptly still, staring out at the birds in silence. When the animals finally lost interest the two Decepticons exchanged a look. Then, as one, they both flopped over backward and flopped around a bit to evenly coat their frames in their new “camouflage.”
A few seconds of rolling around resulted in two marsh monsters belly-sliding their way across the muck toward a group of completely oblivious geese. It was difficult for the pair to remain silent in their newfound glee, but they managed. They were professionals, after all.
At one point the geese veered away from the approaching danger and Rumble and Frenzy worried they had been spotted, but the birds soon returned to their calm state, picking at the ground, honking at one another, and generally making easy targets of themselves. Once the two Decepticons had reached a point just a few yards from their targets they drew to a stop, poked their heads up enough to scan the flats and then glanced to each other from the corners of their optics.
Frenzy nodded fractionally, and then in silence they counted off. One... two... three!
They sprang from the mud like the much smaller cousins of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and hurled themselves forward into the geese’s numbers. In panic the birds scattered, darted around in aimless attempts to retreat, and Frenzy and Rumble cackled as they chased after the animals. Frenzy leapt for one, missed and landed in the mud with a bitten-off curse. Rumble had a bit more luck: he made a wild lunge just as one goose tried to take to the air and grabbed the animal by one outstretched leg. Then he landed in the mud.
The goose was squawking indignantly as Rumble dragged it to him, and there followed a moment where the pair of them flailed in equal measure as Rumble struggled to pin the animal’s wings and it did its level best to peck his face off. Finally Frenzy slogged his way over and seized the creature, holding it away from his body while it wiggled and honked in outrage.
Rumble got himself upright with an effort and the goose finally quieted. Around them, the other geese had all escaped and now the three were left alone in the marshy expanse.
Beady black eyes alternated between the two Decepticons. In silence, the cassettes stared back.
Somewhere in the distance, a bird called.
“... The frag do we do now?” Frenzy said at length, his gaze still locked on the animal he held.
Rumble’s shoulders twitched in a half shrug. “I dunno. I mean, I didn’t think about it.”
A beat as the three regarded each other blankly. The goose was starting to look bored.
“Er...” Frenzy peeled his gaze away from the bird to look at his twin. “We could, uh...”
Rumble’s mouth twisted in dismay and he just shrugged again. Another silent moment followed. They both looked back to the goose. The goose exhaled and started pecking at the bits of leaf in the muck that coated Frenzy’s arm.
Rumble watched blankly as his twin knelt down and set the goose on the ground, then straightened up again. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder without comment as the animal turned and waddled away, tail feathers ruffling. After a moment it stretched out its wings, gave a few fumbling flaps and was finally airborne, and the two Decepticons watched this, too, without comment.
The goose flew off, followed intently by two pairs of red optics. When it was nothing but a dot in the sky, slowly fading from sight with distance, Frenzy finally spoke up without looking away; “What’d’ya wanna do now?”
“I dunno,” Rumble replied, one shoulder shifting. “Wanna go dump Ravage in the lake?”
“Sure,” Frenzy said, suddenly interested, and the pair of them turned around and started awkwardly marching back the way they had come.
It took them an hour to find their way back to Soundwave’s designated meeting point, and another ten minutes to successfully wrestle the thrashing feline cassette across the more solid ground and then duly fling their unfortunate sibling into the clear waters of the nearby lake. Upon Soundwave’s return they were summarily chastised, seized by the scruffs of their necks and chucked into the lake themselves. It served equally as punishment and impromptu cleanup. It was also fragging cold and the pair of them spent the entire process of scrubbing the mud off of their frames cursing blue streaks, while Soundwave stood on the bank with Ravage at his side until he deemed the pair clean enough to drag themselves back out again.
All in all, Rumble and Frenzy decided it was a pretty productive day. And if they saved some of the mud to throw at Starscream later, well, that was just a bonus.
.
Title: Tactless
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Seaspray, Cliffjumper
Warnings and Disclaimers: Hurr, none.
Universe: G1 n-n
Note: owo written for lob_lob in a prompt thing on my personal.
"Got any fives?"
The question, tinged with humor, was nearly lost amid the squawking of seagulls that lined the railing of the pier. For the two mechs sitting docilely among the noisome flock, the cacophony was more a point of amusement than annoyance.
Cliffjumper had been the one to speak, his frame folded down to sit with his legs beneath him on the sun-warmed pavement. Before him sat Seaspray, half reclined, resting on his elbow, one foot tapping a staccato beat against the ground. Between them sat a stack of oversized cards which were currently keeping them entertained while they awaited Skyfire's arrival to haul them back to the Ark.
Thoughtfully Seaspray eyed the cards he held, and shook his head before replying in his distinctive gargle, "Sorry, buddy; go fish."
Cliffjumper gave a blast of his vents and snapped up a card from the deck, adding it to his hand. "Been hearing that all day," he said with a smirk, and shot a dubious look at Seaspray's growing pile of matches.
Seaspray shrugged easily. "Guess I'm just good at this game," he said, and the joke was too obvious for either of them to make so they let it go with nothing beyond an exchange of a pointed look. Then Seaspray prompted, "Got any sixes?" and Cliffjumper gave an exasperated scoff.
"Fine fine, take it, ya card shark," the minibot grumped, passing the card along, and Seaspray accepted it with a flourish, promptly adding it to his pile.
"Have any..." Seaspray shot him a look. "Twos?"
"Oh for--" Cliffjumper flapped his arms and Seaspray laughed, taking some of the sting out of what was shaping up to be imminent defeat. Cliffjumper tossed the card at him, his optics rolling heavenward. "And why do you talk like that, anyway?" he asked, quick and impulsive, and Seaspray laid his cards down before he lifted his gaze again.
"You mean, like this?" Seaspray gargled, and Cliffjumper nodded, suddenly more interested. Seapray angled his head back. "You really wanna know?"
"Yeah," Cliffjumper said without a thought. "I mean, some of the guys have wondered but we never asked. So what's with it anyway?"
For a long moment Seaspray just regarded the red mech in silence, his air contemplative. When he finally spoke it was nearly a drawl, completely calm and unwavering, full of private amusement; "Because it confuses people. Because it makes people ask questions. Because deep down I enjoy watching everyone's discomfort while they try to understand what I'm doing, and why I'm doing it, even though they'll never be able to figure it out in a million years. Because it's funny."
Somehow, awkward silence managed to follow this statement despite the constant shriek of the seagulls in the background. Cliffjumper stared across the narrow space between them, his expression slack, mouth slightly open, and Seaspray just gazed at him with a serene expression.
Then Seaspray twitched and promptly cracked up laughing and Cliffjumper started sputtering inarticulately.
"You-- that wasn't funny!" the minibot squawked, but Seaspray was too busy flopping over on the desk in hysterics to care.
"Should have seen your face!" Seaspray said in a strangled gargle, flapping one arm in the air before slapping a hand over his face.
Cliffjumper scowled, started scraping the cards back into a pile. "Oh yeah real hilarious. Har har."
Still wheezing, Seaspray rolled over, watched as Cliffjumper subspaced the deck. "Aw, it was just a joke."
Muttering under his breath, Cliffjumper shoved himself to his feet. "Skyfire's gonna be here any minute, chuckles."
Seapray hummed, pushed himself into a sitting position and then straightened up. He gave Cliffjumper's shoulder a good-natured pat, his featureless face still seeming to grin. "You know," he said cheerfully, "I wasn't kidding."
Cliffjumper's mouth fell open and this time Seaspray didn't even last; he started laughing so hard he doubled over and Cliffjumper went from bewildered to outraged in .2 seconds.
"You fell for it again!" Seapray managed feebly.
Too peeved to even try, Cliffjumper spun and his heel and stomped off toward the end of the dock, his posture rigid, intent on leaving Seapray to his childish humor. Cliffjumper would just go and be a damn adult and ignore the cackling mech, that's what he'd do.
Unfortunately he was thwarted in his plan when a seagull sailed off the railing and landed feet-first in his face, and his resultant high-volume cursing and flailing just made Seaspray laugh even harder.
When Skyfire arrived, he didn't bother to ask why Cliffjumper was covered in feathers and fit to be tied, or why Seaspray was still uttering sporadic giggles and pointedly NOT looking at the red minibot.
Sometimes silence was just the better option.
Title: Survivorcon
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Rumble, Frenzy, Soundwave, Ravage
Warnings and Disclaimers: None >:v
Universe: G1
Note: written for swindleslog in the same prompt thingy LOL
It wasn't uncommon for scouting missions to take Soundwave and his cassettes to some exotic locales. In their travels they had seen dense jungles, sprawling cityscapes, soaring mountain ranges, seemingly endless stretches of ocean and some of the most inhospitable places on the backwater organic planet they were temporarily forced to inhabit. All of this in the pursuit of energon or power, and all at Megatron's direction.
Often these missions were long, tedious and boring. Soundwave never complained, took his charges with his usual unaffected air, always the stoic professional. His cassettes, on the other hand, tended to be vocal and incessant when they became bored, though they usually had the presence of mind to save their complaints for when Megatron was well out of earshot.
Soundwave was used to it, especially where Rumble and Frenzy were concerned. They were energetic and easily bored, and Soundwave was patient with them. On the rare occasion they got out of hand Soundwave would do one of two things: issue sharp reprimand, which always served to temper their exuberance, or he would simply tell them to go and find a means of entertaining themselves. Usually the latter had a series of conditions attached, such as "without drawing attention to yourselves" or "without compromising our mission" or, if circumstances required it, "without offlining one another."
Today, under the baking noonday sun, in an entirely off-putting marshland with absolutely no one around for miles (if one discounted the native wildlife), Soundwave had simply told the pair to find entertainment and return to him in one piece. Well, two individual pieces. They just both needed to be intact.
Soundwave was operating with instructions to investigate a possible oil well which could be put to very good use in Decepticon hands. Rumble and Frenzy, thus loosed from their boss' immediate attentions, were stalking geese.
Crouching in a thicket of head-high reeds, their legs sunk up to the knee joints in sticky mud, Rumble and Frenzy peered with narrow optics out onto the flats where the large, monochromatic birds were waddling around innocently. Oblivious to the threat lurking in the foliage the creatures were going about their business, honking and flapping and doing whatever the frag geese did when not being eaten by more intimidating animals.
"What the frag do geese do besides get eaten?" Rumble asked suddenly, his voice a hushed whisper.
Beside him Frenzy shrugged and pulled a face. "I dunno. I guess whatever they're doing right now."
"... But I don't know what they're doing right now," Rumble said, shooting the red cassette a sidelong look.
Frenzy snorted. "Being ugly?" he offered. They both snickered.
"Okay, okay," Rumble said abruptly, sobering. "How're we gonna catch one? They can fly."
Frenzy frowned. "Maybe we can shoot it first. You know, slow it down. Works with the Seekers."
"I think that'd kill it," Rumble said thoughtfully. "Their afts aren't near as big as Screamer's. I think they'd just explode or something."
"Flimsy organics," Frenzy muttered. Then, looking determined, "All right, maybe we just run out there and grab one before they can get off the ground?"
“Well whatever we’re gonna do, we need to get it done,” Rumble said, his annoyance clear as he dropped his gaze to where his legs were slowly sinking further into the muck. “This stuff is nasty.”
“Like the rest of this planet?” Frenzy snorted. “Okay, we’ll go on my count. One--”
“Wait, why your count?” Rumble interrupted, frowning darkly at the red cassette.
Frenzy blasted air through his vents in annoyance. “‘Cause it’s my plan!”
Rumble’s optics flickered and he gave consideration to complaint, but ultimately just shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
Frenzy stared at him blankly for a moment and then looked out through the reeds again. “One,” he began again, shot a look at Rumble, and then proceeded with, “Two... Three! Go!”
As a unit the pair leapt forward, dived through the long grass and out into the open just as planned. Then they released twin shouts of surprise when the sticky mud failed to relinquish its hold on their legs, snatched their momentum right out from under them and offered up the soggy ground to break their fall.
They both landed simultaneously with a loud splat! and then a long silence. Out on the flats, a number of geese lifted their heads and peered in the direction of the commotion before going about their fowl business.
Rumble was the first to pry his head out of the muck and he did so with a disgusted groan. Then, spotting Frenzy, he reached over and helpfully pried the red cassette’s head up as well, if only so Frenzy would definitely hear his vexed, “Your plan fragging sucked.”
“It was both our plan,” Frenzy griped, reaching up to smack Rumble’s hand away from where it still gripped the front of his head. “Get off, ya stupid--”
“Shut up for two seconds and lemme think,” Rumble said with a scowl, earning an identical look from the other mech. Contemplatively the blue cassette eyed the mud and then began the laborious process of shoving himself into a sitting position. Frenzy followed suit, and soon the pair were sitting opposite, gazing at one another with unreadable expressions.
“You’re frickin’ gross,” Frenzy said flatly. “Soundwave’s gonna be mad when he sees you.”
“You’re just as bad!” Rumble said defensively. “I’m not the only one covered in this slag!” He smeared a hand across his grime-covered chest with a disgusted sound, then shook his hand to try ridding it of the thick, clinging mud, though it had no effect.
Frenzy slouched, face drawn in a scowl. “I hate this planet,” he griped. “It’s gross and stupid and everything’s wet and gross and looks the same. Why don’t we just blow it up? I’m--”
“Wait, shut up,” Rumble interrupted, which had Frenzy looking offended. The formerly-blue-now-lumpy-brown mech threw up a hand and went on before his twin could comment, “No, you gave me an idea. Look.” He stretched out his arm, shoved it into the mud up to the elbow and wiggled it around to get it coated with muck.
“Ewwww,” Frenzy whined with feeling. Rumble threw a glob of mud at him and he yelped and nearly fell over backward.
“Look, stupid,” Rumble snorted, and then held his filthy arm out stretch over the ground between them. Frenzy stared at it blankly for a few seconds and then realization dawned in his expression.
“You’re camouflaged!” the red-brown mech said. “Why the frag didn’t I think of that?”
“‘Cause I got all the brains,” Rumble said modestly, and seemed honestly surprised when a wad of mud hit him square in the face. He sputtered and scraped his optics clear, then glared at his twin, spitting the gunk out while frenzy laughed at his expense.
“Lookin’ real smart there, genius,” Frenzy cackled. His voice drew the attention of the geese some distance away and the duo went abruptly still, staring out at the birds in silence. When the animals finally lost interest the two Decepticons exchanged a look. Then, as one, they both flopped over backward and flopped around a bit to evenly coat their frames in their new “camouflage.”
A few seconds of rolling around resulted in two marsh monsters belly-sliding their way across the muck toward a group of completely oblivious geese. It was difficult for the pair to remain silent in their newfound glee, but they managed. They were professionals, after all.
At one point the geese veered away from the approaching danger and Rumble and Frenzy worried they had been spotted, but the birds soon returned to their calm state, picking at the ground, honking at one another, and generally making easy targets of themselves. Once the two Decepticons had reached a point just a few yards from their targets they drew to a stop, poked their heads up enough to scan the flats and then glanced to each other from the corners of their optics.
Frenzy nodded fractionally, and then in silence they counted off. One... two... three!
They sprang from the mud like the much smaller cousins of the Creature from the Black Lagoon and hurled themselves forward into the geese’s numbers. In panic the birds scattered, darted around in aimless attempts to retreat, and Frenzy and Rumble cackled as they chased after the animals. Frenzy leapt for one, missed and landed in the mud with a bitten-off curse. Rumble had a bit more luck: he made a wild lunge just as one goose tried to take to the air and grabbed the animal by one outstretched leg. Then he landed in the mud.
The goose was squawking indignantly as Rumble dragged it to him, and there followed a moment where the pair of them flailed in equal measure as Rumble struggled to pin the animal’s wings and it did its level best to peck his face off. Finally Frenzy slogged his way over and seized the creature, holding it away from his body while it wiggled and honked in outrage.
Rumble got himself upright with an effort and the goose finally quieted. Around them, the other geese had all escaped and now the three were left alone in the marshy expanse.
Beady black eyes alternated between the two Decepticons. In silence, the cassettes stared back.
Somewhere in the distance, a bird called.
“... The frag do we do now?” Frenzy said at length, his gaze still locked on the animal he held.
Rumble’s shoulders twitched in a half shrug. “I dunno. I mean, I didn’t think about it.”
A beat as the three regarded each other blankly. The goose was starting to look bored.
“Er...” Frenzy peeled his gaze away from the bird to look at his twin. “We could, uh...”
Rumble’s mouth twisted in dismay and he just shrugged again. Another silent moment followed. They both looked back to the goose. The goose exhaled and started pecking at the bits of leaf in the muck that coated Frenzy’s arm.
Rumble watched blankly as his twin knelt down and set the goose on the ground, then straightened up again. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder without comment as the animal turned and waddled away, tail feathers ruffling. After a moment it stretched out its wings, gave a few fumbling flaps and was finally airborne, and the two Decepticons watched this, too, without comment.
The goose flew off, followed intently by two pairs of red optics. When it was nothing but a dot in the sky, slowly fading from sight with distance, Frenzy finally spoke up without looking away; “What’d’ya wanna do now?”
“I dunno,” Rumble replied, one shoulder shifting. “Wanna go dump Ravage in the lake?”
“Sure,” Frenzy said, suddenly interested, and the pair of them turned around and started awkwardly marching back the way they had come.
It took them an hour to find their way back to Soundwave’s designated meeting point, and another ten minutes to successfully wrestle the thrashing feline cassette across the more solid ground and then duly fling their unfortunate sibling into the clear waters of the nearby lake. Upon Soundwave’s return they were summarily chastised, seized by the scruffs of their necks and chucked into the lake themselves. It served equally as punishment and impromptu cleanup. It was also fragging cold and the pair of them spent the entire process of scrubbing the mud off of their frames cursing blue streaks, while Soundwave stood on the bank with Ravage at his side until he deemed the pair clean enough to drag themselves back out again.
All in all, Rumble and Frenzy decided it was a pretty productive day. And if they saved some of the mud to throw at Starscream later, well, that was just a bonus.
.