The Start of Something Interesting...

[lastonepercent]

The day was calm, with no recent Decepticon attacks, and none suspected to be incoming for some time.  The cons were too busy licking their wounds from the last battle, one that the Autobots had decidedly come out ahead on.  The celebrations had gone on long into the night and the recreation room was already a mess.

Thus, it was the perfect chance for a lone Autobot to slip casually outside.

Mirage had no shift currently scheduled, so he was free to spend his time as he pleased.  He certainly made no move to hide his departure, greeting his comrades in the halls on the way out, but the box in his hands remained unopened despite any passing curiosity.  It was quietly shifted into subspace before long, and  the former noble shifted into alt mode just as smoothly when he reached the doors.  Despite the completely inappropriate earthen race car mode, the mech had little trouble self-adjusting before driving off into the forest covering the mountain, for business unknown...

Comments

[cliffjumper]

Using the parachute as a blanket wasn't extremely effective, at least not when still walking, but it did give some protection. It didn't make it any easier to keep apace with Mirage, though and the only reason he didn't transform was because while he vaguely knew there were ways humans drove on ice, he didn't think he could do that.

Not without something extra.

So instead Cliffjumper quickly stopped trying to walk alongside Mirage and just concentrated on keeping the mech's feet a step or two in front of him - because he wasn't going to ask Mirage to slow down.

It wasn't easy, though, and Cliffjumper caught himself having to try and catch up several times to get to the spot he'd "claimed" for himself. The longer they walked, the slower, he soon realised, he was getting.

"... there soon, or what?"

[lastonepercent]

"...Hopefully. The going is somewhat rougher and slower on the ground...thanks to the cold."

Mirage sighed unhappily, looping the heavy parachute around his frame. It didn't do much for the raw cold, but it at least blocked the stinging ice in the air, carried on the wind.

"It's on the other side of that ridge, in the rock. Looked like a cave or deep overhang. It should at least block the majority of the wind."

He didn't bother to point ahead, too fond of keeping chilling limbs closer to his frame; Mirage simply pinged Cliffjumper the coordinates and a imagine file taken from the air.

[cliffjumper]

That was way too far away in Cliffjumper's opinion, when he compared their current coordinates with the ones Mirage had given him, and he kept falling behind.

This was taking too fragging long, and Cliffjumper would rather just sit down and cover himself with this stupid parachute and not walk any further. But he also understood that it was probably better to chance getting a bit more protection, if just from the wind.

"Right," Cliffjumper muttered and that was probably a good while after Mirage had spoken, but he didn't really think about that.

[lastonepercent]

Mirage didn't think much of the slow response at first, too caught up in his own plodding and frozen misery. His own processor was feeling rather sluggish already; for long moments, he was caught up on the ridiculousness of their use of the parachutes, rather like the humans and how they clung to their blankets.

If only the parachutes were as effective.

Mirage had to half-stumble, left knee - repaired extensively in the last year, still occasionally sore - briefly locking up on him. He grunted, catching himself quickly enough, only to cast a glance back toward Cliffjumper.

...Why was he so far behind?

"...Are you alright? It's not too much further, now."

[cliffjumper]

"... What?" Stopping - even if he was already far behind - at the question, Cliffjumper huffed as he looked up at Mirage and then stomped up to him.

"I'm f-fine. Just go," Cliffjumper snapped and tried to pretend his vocaliser hadn't frozen up for a moment. Pulling the parachute further around himself, both to try and shield from the wind and, sort of, to hide himself from the inquiry. He wasn't actually fine of course, but admitting it, no matter how obvious it was wasn't something he was going to do.

Not because it was Mirage - Cliffjumper was just stubborn.

... And a little, maybe, because he wouldn't want Mirage to think less of him than he might already do.

[lastonepercent]

...This was stupid.

They were both freezing. Mirage wasn't oblivious to it. Cliffjumper was slowing down, he was stiffening up.

Mirage kneeled down, back toward the minibot. He flinched briefly at the contact of cold metal on metal- before the metal of his frame warmed slightly from the shared contact and faintly trapped heat.

Scrap. Now he just wanted to curl up and not move again. But staying in the open could mean their deactivation, at this rate.

"...Get on."

[cliffjumper]

Staring, tt took a moment before Cliffjumper realised what Mirage wanted him to do, and then he ended up staring a bit more, sputtering.

"I can f-fraggin' well walk on m-my own!" He was not doing this! His legs were working perfectly fine, and even if he was a bit slower than Mirage... "Just 'cause I'm shorter than you and take s-shorter steps---"

His vocaliser sezied up with an angry burst of static, and Cliffjumper winced, angry and frustrated. With the situation, with the cold, with his slagging frame. It was just embarrassing that Mirage had come to the conclusion that this would be the best and fastest way to get where he thought they should go.

[lastonepercent]

"Cliffjumper. We're freezing."

Mirage slapped a fist down at the snow, sending ice fragments flying, cold-weakened optics flaring bright again in his fit of temper.

"This isn't about pride, for once! You're slowing down, I'm stiffening up, and at this rate, we won't be able to move to make it to any shelter and wait for rescue."

Mirage sniffed, jerking a cold-stiff hand toward his back.

"Now get on. It will be warmer for us both this way."

[cliffjumper]

Mirage was right, and that was just as frustrating as the situation and the fact that he'd have to get a slagging piggyback ride from the noble. If he'd had more power to spare, his optics would be blush-bright.

"... Yeah." he could've said a lot of other thing, but even being angry didn't stop the heat from being damped down into a sullen mutter. He could still feel the blush that was there as he got on Mirage's back, using the wheelmount to pull himself up before he hooked his legs around Mirage's waist.

This was closer than he'd ever thought he'd be to Mirage, and that included sitting right next to the berth during that blasted ceremony and Mirage petting his helm.

It was a shock of cold metal on metal, but even just clinging there trapped small amounts of heat and friction which lightened the cold up, if just a little.

[lastonepercent]

"Thank you," he said with relief, biting back any further comments when his wheelmount was tugged on.

Mirage's plating shivered at the cold contact, and for a moment, he wondered if he would even be able to get back up again. The weight wasn't great, but his knee... But the tiny amount of warmth - and a minibot-shaped wind block - helped somewhat.

Bracing himself with a palm on the ground, Mirage slowly stood himself back up. Once he was stable, he looped his arms back under Cliffjumper's knees, for stability and more contact-warmth. The parachutes would be hopelessly tangled, but at least they helped a little.

Then he began to plod off across the ice, keeping as fast of a pace as he could manage.

[cliffjumper]

Cliffjumper engaged his vocaliser, opened his mouth and then closed it again; the only thing that escaped was a slight huff. There was absolutely nothing he could say to that that wouldn't be completely unreasonable, and he wasn't angry enough to spew out just anything.

So instead he hunched up and grimaced as he tried to sit still and yet keep the wheelmount out of his faceplate. This was so slagging embarrassing.

... Admittedly, though, even with his added weight Mirage wasn't slowed down noticeably. Most of it was due to the ice and wind, not carrying Cliffjumper. Which didn't make it any better, even if it was getting them where they wanted to go faster.

He was being fragging carried. By Mirage. That was both incredulously, embarrassing and making him flustered. Because of that, it was hard to stay still.

Somehow, he managed, though part of it was probably the miserable situation and the cutting wind.

[lastonepercent]

At the increased, fueled-by-willful-stubborness pace - and the hint of Primus blessed warmth seeping through their shared contact - Mirage was able to make much better time. It still took several minutes to even reach the bend in the rocks, patches of ice making the noble's feet threaten to slide out from under him.

But the sudden drop in wind strength on the lee-side of the hill was a relief.

"...H-help me look for anything that could be a cave or shelter. It should be nearby." Mirage gestured with his head, continuing on to make his way across the rocky slope.

[cliffjumper]

"Uh-huh," looking up from where he'd been tucked against Mirage's back and scowling at the snow and ice passing them to the side, Cliffjumper frowned at the stark interplay of dark rock and pale ice.

It was a good thing they had far easier to adjust their visual input than humans did, because it meant the glare could be cut out and...

Scrunching up his nasal ridge as he squinted, Cliffjumper tapped Mirage on the shoulder and pointed past him, slightly to the left from where he'd been going.

"Over there. Might just be a fraggin' deeper crack or shadows or whatever, but..." In fact, Cliffjumper would, in his current cold, frustrated situation, bet on that it was nothing but a dip in the rock too shallow to shelter them...

But maybe he was wrong.

[lastonepercent]

"Is it...?"

Mirage stumbled closer, frame and field both perking up as they approached the dark underhang.

"Thank Primus! Turn your headlights on, Cliffjumper!"

It was a cave. A shallow, fairly low cave - it would be impressive enough to house a number of humans easily, but for them, it was little more than a dugout. But it was deep enough to give them out of the wind, which was what they needed.

Mirage paused only long enough to pull a beacon out of subspace with shaky fingers, slapping it on the outer ridge of the cave before crawling inside.

"Watch your head..."

[cliffjumper]

It would be enough - kind of, anyway, and the light from his headlights merely underscored how small the cave was for them. At least it was big enough to provide some shelter.

"... Huh?" Cliffjumper looked up at Mirage's question and then barely ducked down in time to avoid knocking it on the rock. Giving a huff, he waited until Mirage had gotten inside before he squirmed, tapping Mirage on the arm.

"Lemme down. You can't sit down before I'm off, anyway," Cliffjumper said, surprised at how loud their voices were now that the rock was cutting some of the wind off.

Glancing back at the opening behind them, Cliffjumper frowned. Could it maybe be covered up..? Or was it better to use both parachutes as 'blankets'?

[lastonepercent]

Mirage practically had to kneel to get into the cave anyway, so releasing Cliffjumper was simple enough.

The cave was rocky, small, and wouldn't be comfortable to sit on, but it might work long enough.

Reluctantly, he started unwinding his parachute from his frame, eyeing the cave entrance with a critical optic.

"I don't suppose you have any tools or bolts on you? We'll need to cover the opening..."

He opened his own subspace and started to rummage.

[cliffjumper]

Trying to get out of his own parachute, Cliffjumper just shook his helm as it dropped to his feet.

"Nah. But we've got guns. I figure we can just shoot the rock up and get some pebbles loose to pin one of 'em down, at least at the floor. Might be more of an issue up near the ceiling, but I suppose the strings might work to tie it down with?" Shaking out his parachute, Cliffjumper scowled at the long rip in the cloth and huffed.

That wouldn't work at all, so they'd use his to wrap around them he supposed. With another grimace he bunched it up and tossed it behind him, the parachute ending up pooling at Mirage's feet.

"Gimmie yours, since mine's torn up?" Pulling out a gun with one hand, he held out his other hand behind him without looking, frowning at the rock around the opening to try and figure out where he could shoot to both get loose rocks and somewhere to tie the rest up to.

[lastonepercent]

Pausing in his search, Mirage jerked upright, nearly cracking his head on the short roof of the cave.

"Really? Shoot it?" Mirage asked, aghast. He clutched his parachute closer to his chest protectively, as though Cliffjumper had suggested shooting it as well.

"What if we collapse the entire cave!?"

[cliffjumper]

"Why n-not?" huffing, Cliffjumper gestured at the opening with his gun, frowning, "it's a fr-raggin' blaster, Mirage, not a bomb! A few shots ain't gonna collapse anything!"

Really, why was he being so difficult about this? Killing his headlights since the light outside was easily enough to see by given the size of the cave, Cliffjumper stomped his feet.

"Just a f-few scrappin' shots to loosen up some rocks so we can weigh the bottom down, and maybe create some deeper s-scores to tie the top up. You've got a better blasted idea, or what?" He tried to ignore the way his vocaliser kept glitching or freezing up thanks to the cold.

[lastonepercent]

"Well let me look first and I might!"

Mirage hissed, shivering as he shoved around in his subspace recklessly.

His tools, rifle (no), field kit...hmm.

He pulled out the first aid kit, glancing inside, before pulling out a small staple gun, use for field-patching torn fuel lines and mesh wounds.

"I don't know if it will go into the rock but at least try this first before you shoot stuff?"

He offered it over, unwinding his parachute to start holding it over the doorway.

[cliffjumper]

Huffing, Cliffjumper crossed his arms over his chestplating as he waited, kicking the jagged rocks of the opening near the ground and loosening frozen rocks, pushing them aside.

Looking up when Mirage spoke and held the staple gun over, Cliffjumper gave it a narrow stare and took it, turning it over in his hands.

"Dunno how the slag ya think this is gonna work on rocks, but fine. We'll try it your way first. A few blasted shots ain't gonna collapse this thing though," Cliffjumper said with a mutter, waiting until Mirage had the parachute spread out before he stretched up and shot the staples through the parachute into the rock, both up near the top and against the ground.

"... Don't think this is gonna hold long. At least try tie it up with the strings or some slag like that?" Cliffjumper didn't trust the parachute to stay up long with just the staples, but if Mirage was going to be an anxious protoform about it...

He laid the rocks he'd kicked loose on top of the parachute on the ground, to help the staples he'd shot through it stay in place, but he really didn't think it'd stay up long near the ceiling.

But well. If Mirage wanted to do it this way... He tried to suppress the next grumble.

[lastonepercent]

"Feel free to use it liberally," Mirage said, reaching up to test a staple with a thumb, attempting to jab it in further with a frown. Many were loose, but others had gotten a decently solid hold in softer rock.

Shrugging, he reached for the chute straps readily enough, pulling them out to tuck into crevasses and looping them around any useful rock. Hopefully, between the staples, straps, and rocks, the tarp would keep the doorway blocked enough.

"...feels better without that wind, at least."

But the rocks were still frigid on their skidplates, and Cliffjumper had the remaining tarp.

[cliffjumper]

"Yeah, yeah..." Shaking his helm, Cliffjumper still went back to punch in more staples, tugging on the parachute in a few places and finally shrugged.

"Yeah, it d-does. That's one slaggin' good thing about this. And I guess unless it starts stormin', it's probably gonna stay up. Here." Holding the staple gun out, Cliffjumper bent down and picked up his torn parachute and held it up, frowning.

It was big enough it ought to cover them both as long as they didn't decide to sit at completely opposite ends of the cave, even if it was a tiny cave. And, with something to cover the entrance of the cave somewhat at least, what heat they'd give off wouldn't escape immediately.

It wouldn't really do much to help the expelled heat build up or anything, but... Grimacing, Cliffjumper twitched his shoulders in an attempt to warm up the joints.

"I guess we just sit our afts down and wait, now." Cliffjumper muttered and very definitely didn't look sideways at Mirage. Sitting around in a confined space with the spy.

Great.

[lastonepercent]

Mirage shivered in agreement, eyeing the remaining parachute. Cliffjumper seemed to be at a loss.

But Mirage was already well aware of what they needed to do to survive this. Carrying Cliffjumper across the snow had made that clear.

He vented a sigh that skipped from the cold.

"Come here." Mirage gestured toward himself with a shaky arm.

[cliffjumper]

Eyeing Mirage with a stare that wasn't so much suspicious as it was hesitant, Cliffjumper shrugged. He had intended to get closer when Mirage was away from the opening and sitting down properly again after all.

"What? I was gonna come over..." Shaking his helm, he took the basically single step needed to get to Mirage and held the parachute out, uncomfortably aware of the cold and how stiff his joints were.

Also completely unaware Mirage had decided they'd need to do better than 'share the parachute sitting down beside each other'.