1287/Save Your Goodbyes

**Swivel has posed:**
It's been busy. Between overseeing data mining to monitor for power spikes on their grids, keeping up required training time in the simulator, and setting up clandestine meetings with other intelligence officers, it's amazing that Swivel can also attend to her duties as a scout. Which she is currently doing. Her little vehicular mode can be seen effortlessly moving over the sediment and metal filings that get washed ashore by the tides of the great Mithril Sea. Her scanners and sensors are all on, but seem to be mere background noise for the little Autobot at the moment.

**Blast Off has posed:**
Swivel will hear the low roar of something big- and familiar- coming her way. The thrusters of a space shuttle are a powerful thing, and she'll definitely recognize the particular hum from this shuttle's flight against a background of stars above. He, too, is scouting... to some degree, but he is mostly testing the new armor he's had installed- he's already been up into the cold of space and now he's warm from reentering the planet's atmosphere. For now, he soars across the sky, taking some sharp (for him) turns to see how his heated armor stands up to the pressures and G-forces.

**Swivel has posed:**
Naturally, re-entry and zooming around like an aimless fly would not go unnoticed by Swivel. The small vehicle comes to a pause, and suddenly more attention is being paid to the read-outs. While Blast Off is not unwelcome, the possibility of other Decepticons lurking would be. The small form idles, the engines reduced to the softest buzz, easily muted by the crashing of waves. Not to mention roaring engines up above. Pause. Cautiously, an encrypted tightbeam is sent up. <<"You alone up there?">>

**Blast Off has posed:**
The shuttle comes swerving downwards just as that message comes in. There's a pause as Blast Off continues his descent, then shifts wing elevons to catch more air and slow his velocity as he starts to pitch up again. "<< ...I am, just myself and the stars. >>" He seems to be in a decent mood- flying among the stars tends to do that for him. "<< Are you alone down there? >>"

**Swivel has posed:**
There is some hesitation from the little speck down below. <<"As far as I can tell. Still running some scans.">> Swivel reports as she begins rolling along the shore again. After a while she reports back, <<"Seems fairly empty down here, too.">> But she's not about to let her guard down.

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off doesn't, either, making his own scans, but eventually the shuttle turns and rockets back towards the location of the radio transmission, lowering speed as he approaches, then arcing up, down, and finally landing on the beach as he transforms back to shuttle mode. He looks around for Swivel a moment before pausing to inspect his shiny new armor again, admiring the way it catches the light of the stars.

**Swivel has posed:**
While Blast Off makes his rather intricate landing, Swivel is just turning in a wide berth. She promised herself the last scan was the 'one last scan' but it turns out she's running another. Mostly satisfied, but still running scans in the background, Swivel unfolds to her bipedal mode. She glances to Blast Off and his fancy shmancy new armour, but then keeps looking inland. "New and improved I take it?"

**Blast Off has posed:**
"Indeed!," Blast Off's cultured voice replies, full of pride- for himself. He continues admiring his exterior. "New and improved and tougher than ever!" He flexes an arm, shielded with extra thick plating that seems even stronger than before. "Take your best shot- I shall endure!"

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel just looks at Blast Off, arms still crossed. Slowly, she shifts her weight mostly to one leg, creating the illusion of one leg being longer than the other. "Do you /really/ want me to take my best shot, or is this joking around? Not that it would actually really prove anything because we all know that my best shot is a piddling little inconvenience."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off stops and finally turns to look at Swivel mid-self-admiration. "....Perhaps not. I'm sure this will get scuffed up soon enough- I shall enjoy the sheen as long as I can." He draws himself up, still looking rather proud, and crosses his arms as he gazes up towards the stars. "That was you and Starlock, wasn't it? That time I found myself working alone against a base..." He sighs and shakes his head. "I am \*not\* doing that again." He then glances over at Swivel. "But next time, if there \*was\* one, I'd be better prepared."

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel also looks up at the sky, but not for the purpose of stargazing. No, she is searching for something much closer than a distant mass of super-heated gas. "I couldn't help but wonder why you tried to take a base alone. But I had a job to do. As did you. That is a rather prominent point of contention that is very hard to reconcile."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off eyes the Autobot, hesitates, then simply shrugs and looks back to the stars. "Bad scheduling." He mutters, then adds, "Yes, well, we both know what we're in for when a fight begins. In fact..." He lifts an optic ridge and looks back to Swivel as he raises an arm to flex and pose and show off the shiny new armor with, "I suppose I can thank you both for this new armor. The old set was quite ... thrashed, after all. Expedited the need for something more... enduring."

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel cannot help but giggle at Blast Off's antics. "You are welcome then. Perhaps I ought to thoroughly thrash you more oftne when I have access to the big guns and see what other upgrades you can needle out of the Decepticons." Swivel pauses in her fun making and glances about. "I'm growing impatient with this war. But I have a feeling it will last a while yet longer. But my only choices, really, are to give up hope and become further discontent, or just keep enduring."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off gives Swivel a semi-amused, semi-is-it-almost-sassy? look, "You can try. I won't make it easy, of course." If he can just shake his most recent bout of can't-dodge-itis, that is. His look grows more distant as Swivel speaks of the war. He gazes far off somewhere as he nods and dares to speak some honesty. "...Sometimes enduring is all you really can do."

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel can't help but smirk a litte at Blast Off's continued self-promotion. But it's to be expected. But the time for banter has already passed for the moment. "Some /have/ the power to do more than endure. And yet... we're here stuck in thie war." Swivel pauses. "Although maybe I'm wrong in thinking that anyone has that much power. One would think the Prime would, but... People think free will is empowering, but I find as long as everyone has free will, we are all powerless." Swivel tilts her head. "Dangerous thoughts sometimes come to me if I can't keep myself busy enough."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off huffs softly... closer to a winsome chuckle than a hurrumph. "Some have greater power than others, true, but I think in some ways the leaders in this war have become as powerless to stop it as many of their troops do. You can set something in motion, but at some point it may take on a life of its own..."

His arms come to rest hanging at his sides. "\*I\* demand free will." He's silent a moment before admitting, "...But even I do not truly have it... not to do anything as I please. Not right now." He sneaks a look over at Swivel. "...But even then, I find ways." He gestures to her, to him, to them talking here together. His hand drops down and he studies the femme. "...What kind of ...dangerous thoughts?" Pause. "Running away?"

**Swivel has posed:**
"The more responsibilities you have, the more bound you are." Swivel says, with a nod. "I do not envy either Megatron or Prime." Swivel remarks. "I don't think people who crave power realize how little freedom comes with it."

There is a pause when Blast Off implies the lack of freedoms they both have in who to associate with. This causes Swivel to look to the skies again, and her scanners begin another sweep - energon reserves be damned. "Running away. Yes. That is definitely one, but not the most dangerous. When one knows things, too many things, it gives them a false sense of power. But... the truth is, it would just doom me." Swivel shifts her weight uncomfortably. "Sometimes, though, I just want to crash and burn and see where everything falls rather than worry about what might happen."

**Blast Off has posed:**
"No... my days as an elite certainly contained their own sort of... chains." Blast Off looks up again. "Of course, there was always freedom up there for me, one reason I love to be out there." He vents a bit before rolling his broad, sweeping shoulders back. The shuttle's gaze drops down to the ground as he contemplates something, then looks to Swivel again. "...I can understand. Sometimes..." His voice trails off, uncertain about mentioning how some days, some instances when the fighting gets hot and heavy and he's surrounded by his teammates, so many encouraging the worst- it can be all too EASY to just lose oneself to the rush of bleeding energon, pulverized metal, and ego... so much ego. "...Well. Some days it's easy to let things... slip."

He seems to hesitate a bit again, rubbing one black hand into the palm of the other. "You think of... what? Changing sides? Giving the Decepticons an advantage against Autobot plots?" There's that everlasting note of hope, muffled as it is by now, somehow still in there.

**Swivel has posed:**
"I felt more free under an oppressive rule than I do now." Swivel murmurs. Her optics sweep over Blast Off long and scrutinizingly when he mentions letting things slip. "Sometimes, yes, it would be easy. But what's the cost?" Swivel looks down for a moment. "I'm always thinking about the cost of my actions. So I do nothing. But there are wrongs I want to right. But I have neither the power nor the finesse to see it through." Swivel balls her tiny ineffectual fists for a moment before releasing them.

When Blast Off once again hints at her changing sides, Swivel shakes her head. "I've thought about it many times, but the future I always envision is grim. Autobots will be gunning for me, and if I don't ration my secrets carefully, I'll outlive my usefulness to the Decepticons. After all, if I was willing to betray the Autobots, they'd know it's in my nature to betray. And who could trust a traitor? The only reason to keep such people around is if they can continue to be useful. A brilliant scientist or mastermind strategist can slip up a few times. But me? I'm easily replaced. My value in a war is limited. And I'm sure the rest of the Combaticons would be more than happy to see me gone and no longer corrupting you."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off listens as Swivel speaks, growing more uncomfortable as the femme continues until glancing to the side as she mentions the other Combaticons. He... wants to argue that point... but can't, he realizes. His own fists ball up briefly as he mulls on that. They release eventually with a sigh from the shuttleformer. "...Perhaps so." He looks to her, then away again. "I won't argue your points, but..." Now he's shifting a purple rocket foot, watching how sand collects in the curve of his thruster rim. "If it ever \*did\* seem like a desired option, well... you know where to find me." He glances back up to the stars, growing restless.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel is silent for a moment or two, sensing how uncomfortable Blast Off is growing. "Sorry. It's possible I am over analyzing. I think desertion would be less messy than full on defection. But... it would likely mean we'd not see each other for a long time." Swivel crosses her arms. "....Although that may very well happen anyhow. I'm... embroiling myself in an internal investigation. And if I'm not careful, there's no telling what will happen to me." Swivel glances towards the sea. "I should probably say goodbye and hope it's not my last goodbye. But if it is, just... don't get it in your mind it was a concerted effort on my part to abandon you."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Well, that's certainly reassuring- NOT. The shuttleformer frowns, face pinching as Swivel tells of some investigation. Internal investigation. He's outright scowling behind his mask by the time she mentions goodbyes. "Internal? You're ferreting out Autobot corription, potentially?" There's a note of hope mixed in with the tension of concern.

He stares at Swivel a long moment, studying her. "...You be careful. And..." He stops as he hits the mental brick wall of being in opposite factions. And yet... "Don't forget I'm around. Not to mention my team... we're rather resourceful in a pinch, as you may have noticed. I know you don't... approve, but if you have nowhere else to go..." He lets the promise drift off unsaid, but still implied. He's not sure what her can do to help, but he'll try if she calls for him.

The shuttleformer steps away, preparing to transform and fly away. He looks back one more time. "...Good luck. I'll save the goodbyes for later."

**Swivel has posed:**
"Potentially," Swivel says with heavy emphasis, uncertain whether there will be any fruits to her labour. Swivel does her best not to argue or huff herself when he mentions his team. It's just not something she wants to get into at present, so she just nods and - well no, she doesn't smile. Just nods.

"Suit yourself. Take care." Swivel says, getting herself ready to transform and resume her patrol.

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off isn't surprised at her reaction. He does hesitate one more time, the sudden urge to uncharacteristically run up and give her a hug before he goes suddenly welling up out of nowhere... Ok, maybe not nowhere. Still, he's far too ALOOF and DIGNIFIED for such shenanigans! ...yes. Ahem.

He nods, then turns and transforms, leaving a cloud of icy smoke trailing in his wake.