Problems? [Blackout]

[Twister]

(Date: November 1st, 2027 // Time: 6:30 PM // Location: Outside the Decepticon base))

It was evening and beginning to rain. And it was rather gusty. Twister was out on the runway at the Decepticon base working on hoverwork, trying to avoid certain thoughts nagging at her mind. Thoughts of her past serving with the Decepticons, and little memories of things she didn't actually remember that kept popping into her processor to greet her for some strange reason. Blackfire had been having similar troubles since their arrival to Earth, and so far the only ones who seemed wary of their instability now were Starscream and Vortex. Little did she know, someone from her past would soon be within signal range.

All though it couldn't be heard, loud music played in her receptors, as if she was trying to block out the world around her. She darted to and from either side of the long runway, occasionally flying in reverse as she fought the wind. Sometimes she would climb a little and accelerate then stop immediately into a flare...She was just minding her own business, trying to keep herself from going into one of those moods again.

[blackout]

Blackout was relaxing. It was not an activity that he was known for, especially not before the Battle of Mission City. He was Megatron’s hound, more of a guided missile than a mech, who had seen little advantage to be had idling. Dying, however, can change one’s perspective on things, and Blackout had been taking more time lately to simply enjoy himself. He was surprised that he was taking to it fairly well.

They had been enjoying the air before the rainfall, enjoying the feel of the gusting winds heavy with the promise of sky-borne violence. Blackout had been sitting, idly tuning up his arm-rotor, and Scorponok had a whetting stone that he was sharpening his rotator-claws on. Every now and then the giant scorpion would pause and hold the claw up for Blackout’s inspection. The mech would either nod or point to an area that needed more work.

All in all, it had been a pleasant evening.

As the rain fell, Scorponok and Blackout put their tools away, and the symbiote clambered into his master’s lap, nudging against his hand insistently. Blackout stroked Scorponok’s back in slow, deliberate motions, shuttering his optics and concentrating on the feel of the icy drops against his thick armor. It was foolishness, to sit here in the rain doing nothing, but for once he was content to let himself be at least a little foolish, if it meant peace for his symbiote and for himself.

Then she had arrived.

Blackout shook his rotors free of droplets and opened a single optic, swiveling his head in Twister’s direction. He could see the femme fighting the gusts of wind, testing her mettle against the fury of the sky. He had half-expected to feel… something. Bitterness? No. He did not blame her for what she had decided, so long ago. Anxiety? No. She had hurt him far more badly all those years ago than she ever could again. There was nothing to fear from her. Perhaps a hint of warmth?

There was none of that, either.

Scorponok stirred, making a low chittering noise of agitation. He had no such reservations about emotional control, and the presence of the femme clearly agitated him. Blackout sent a soothing wave through the symbiotic link. Calm yourself. Scorponok settled somewhat.

Blackout shuttered his optics again and lowered his head. He had nothing to say to Twister, and assumed she would have nothing to say to him, either.

[Twister]

Twister stopped in the middle of the runway via another sharp flare when she noticed who was relaxing nearby. {"Well look who it is..."} a pang of regret and confusion hit her then. In her hover as she steadied herself from another quartering tailwind (the ones every aircraft doesn't like), Twister recalled more unwanted memories of the three helicopters working together early on in the war. She had at one point taken a liking to Blackout early on, he'd always had her back on the battlefield and she had always returned the favor for not only him but his symbiote as well. Vortex was a little bit harder to rely on, but Blackout was different, despite his daunting size.

She knew they both felt different about the past now, and there was little if not anything at all to mend, even if her Decepticon self wished it. She was confused, believing she had never fallen in love before she met Vortex -- ironically enough he was the one who was the first to show up at Iacon when they captured her, but Blackout soon followed as they initiated the capture to help slow down the Autobots on the ground. Obvlious about all that, Twister thought she had just random, innocent encounters which each of them since she was brought to the Decepticons with supposedly no memories of her Autobot self.

Blackfire stirred in her uncomfortably, also remembering Scorponok quite well. Those two were wary of each other for a while but in downtime they realized they had fun playing with each other. Because she didn't want confusion between the two of them, she had told them they ought to stay professional and ignore whatever they felt for the sake of the Decepticon cause - but there was another reason she hadn't been aware of either, it was because deep down, something didn't feel right as well -- not her connection with them in general, but EVERYTHING about her being a Decepticon. And now she was beginning to question it even more so.

But she wanted to rekindle her...friendship with Blackout, or at least, hoped to. At the very least, apologize for the awkwardness.

Abruptly transforming, Twister released Blackfire and began to walk towards the large Decepticon with steps of masked confidence. Her expression was rather unreadable, which indicated two things: either she was being her calm self, or she was hiding some type of emotion. It was really a fifty percent chance that it could be either.

[Blackfire]

Blackfire ruffled her wings briefly like a bird and then scurried up Twister's right upper arm. She perched on her shoulder and wrapped her long serpentine tail aorund Twister's right arm for support. She trilled softly, partially expressing curiosity and partly expressing uncertainty. Unlike Twister and Blackout, Blackfire had no part in the little love conflict that had formed between the helicopters. Blackfire and Scorponok had simply worked and played together occasionally, and that was it. They had nothing to fear against the other, at least that's what Blackfire liked to think.

Blackfire wanted to express her concern for Twister's stability, but she wasn't sure she could do it in front of either of these two, plus it could endanger her Master. She experienced all the feelings Twister had for both of the helicopters. To under understanding, Twister seemed to yearn for Blackout more as they worked together throughout the War, but then came the time when Twister got frustrated with being used as second rate backup, she distanced herself from them, and that was when their friendships turned awkward and rather...cold. Stalemate.

The dragonic symbiote wished Twister hadn't reached that point, but for whatever reason, fate made it so, and thus why they were questioning their very memories to this day.

Blackfire knew that Twister just wasn't hiding uncertainty and confusion, but hints of depression as well. Nothing felt right now, and more to it, nothing felt right to her either. That said something. As effective as they had been working together with the other two in the past, unrecognizeable memory flashes were beginning to catch their attention and call to their Sparks in ways they could not explain.

What would happen to them now? Blackfire wondered if Twister would really do what she thought about doing: leave the Decepticons and seek the Autobots for answers...

[blackout]

Blackout sensed their approach, but did not immediately react to it. Scorponok, however, stirred, clambering out of his lap to face the two approaching females. He hissed, once, before Blackout sent a command to cease down their symbiotic bond. The scorpion had no hard feelings towards Blackfire--after all, she was just a symbiont, as bound to Twister’s will as he was to Blackout’s--but he most certainly did not like Twister, and she was coming closer.

Blackout finally opened his optics as she approached, and he stirred. Scorponok hopped nimbly to the ground and scuttled sideways, crablike, keeping Twister in his sights at all times, his rotating claws raised and ready. Blackout slowly unfolded to his massive height, turning towards Twister as she approached. His face was never the best for expressions even at the best of times, but even so, he looked blank.

He didn’t know what Twister could want from him, but he wasn’t going to waste mental energy on guessing. He simply said, as she approached, ”Twister. Is there something I can assist you with?” Blackout’s voice was absurdly deep, more of a physical sensation than a sound. It hit you in the gut like a fist. He was speaking relatively quietly, though, for his part. His voice had a natural tendency to be on the loud side, and he very rarely yelled. When he did, though, his comrades were sure to remember it.

On the ground, Scorponok gave no form of greeting. In the past he might have scuttled over to rub briefly against Twister’s ankles, but now he was holding his ground as if he expected the femme to attack his master.

[Twister]

Twister jumped up to the roof, fanning her rotors briefly as she did so to propel herself up there. She stood next to him with her arms crossed, staring at the runway blankly. "In a way, i need a listening receptor." Twister replied. "You were admittedly a better choice than Vortex or anyone else."

If she were human, she took the equivalent of a deep breath then. "Look, I know things have been awkward between us in the past, and it doesn't seem right of me to ask for a mutual agreement to mend what was lost...I want to apologize for that no matter how you feel about it now. What's done is done and will never be the same again. I think I owe it to you to explain why I distanced myself from you and some others..." she paused then, turning away to avoid seeing a reaction from the large Decepticon. Her Spark was hammering, partly out of anxiety and nervousness.

"In truth, I distanced myself from you because I was becoming depressed, but not because of you. Have you ever had a feeling that nothing feels right, and you get confused and depressed over it? It's like the wrong kind of deja vu." Blackfire kept an optic on the two habitually while Twister took her visual attention off them. "I fought with it for endless cycles...and I still do, the battle has become worse."

"Any feelings for you are a different matter entirely. What I feel overrides them, and I'm tired of feeling this ache in my Spark. It's not that we don't feel right. I don't feel right. In the head."

What a double whammy that would be, surely. First she admitted she had more than one problem, second, she indicated she may or may not still have some feelings for Blackout, but the problem was, she was depressed because of the confusing memory flashes and the depression she felt from not fitting in after all this time for unexplainable reasons.

[blackout]

Blackout regarded Twister with utmost calm. He watched her stumble over her words, felt the hammering of her spark tingling on the edges of his EM field, sensed the nervousness and uncertainty in her body language. Once he would have reacted to such a thing anxiously, perhaps even eagerly. Once this femme had made him uncertain and nervous. Once, she had made him feel hopeful.

Now, he felt nothing.

“I… regret that things had to be the way that they did,” he replied, “but what has passed has passed. You do not need to make any apologies to me. I am no longer distressed.”

Scorponok had been tense during the femme’s speech, and tense until he felt the intent behind his master’s words. Now he relaxed, satisfied with Blackout’s response, and continued to watch Twister warily.

Blackout knew why Twister was having troubles with déjà vu and unexplainable depression. It would seem her repressed memories were trying to resurface, trying to remind her who she had once been. Her past was irrelevant; she was a Decepticon now, and this was where she belonged. He made a mental note to inform Lord Megatron of these latest developments. It would probably technically be something that Starscream should handle, as Air Commander, but Blackout had no respect for that flighty glitch whatsoever.

“What you are experiencing isn’t uncommon to those of us who have been fighting for so long. War damages you even beneath your armor. It creeps into your processor and confuses you. I have never felt that which you described, but I have always had a stabilizing element.” He glanced briefly towards Scorponok as he said this, who chirred fondly back up at him. The bond he had with his symbiont was deeper than most. It was no secret that Blackout had actually died at Mission City, and that Scorponok had been the one to bring him back. If the experience had been traumatizing in any way, Blackout had handled it well; he had never confided in anyone about it.

“My advice to you would be to seek the help of one of our medics. It sounds to me as if you are suffering prolonged effects of trauma, and of stress. I can’t treat those. However, I am willing to listen to any problems you have that you simply need to get off of your chest.” To Twister, this would probably seem like the extending of a proverbial olive branch. Blackout was willing to still be civil with her, and even to be helpful. Whatever they might or might not have been, they were comrades now and he had her back.

In truth, he was more worried about keeping a closer eye on exactly what sort of troublesome memories popped up in her subconscious… mostly.