Hardshell

Hardshell He is the strongest and most vicious of Insecticons. Countless battles with the Autobot Wreckers has left him with many, many scars proving his victories. Although he is one of the more intelligent Insecticons, Hardshell still shares a close bond with his brethren and at times, acts feral in tendencies. ((This is a TFP Hardshell rp account. I track the tag alphainsecticon due to tags not keeping of track of names with dashes in them.))

[titanicdrone]

The Scenic Route

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/The bruiser snorts amused after Knock Out gave out the signal and automatically got stuck in the sand. Breakdown himself kicks a fair share of dust into the air but a moment later he bounces off the ground and jumps forward, storming through the sand and leaving a visible trail of his tires behind him./

/It wasn’t hard to take the lead in this race, so on purpose he slows down a bit to not lose the others out of his sight. He could see Fearstorm slowly trudging through the sand and his partner was somewhere completely in the back./

/The sudden Insecticon cry out of nowhere startles him. He takes a sharp turn and makes a circle stopping with the hood facing the other racers. Was that Hardshell?/

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

Move, slaggit! Move!

-Knock Out shouts at his wheels, rotating them at full horsepower. For all his effort he barely moves forward a considerable distance - if anything he’s making backward progress, insttead. Noticing this, he tries going in reverse - a little better, but again - the displacement is negligible.

Oh for fu-?

-Oh? Oh! Just as he was about to give up, slowing down gives him the traction necessary to roll forward an impressive yard forward.

That’s more like it!

-Always the quick learner, Knock Out pushes his way across the sand slowly but steadily, in a a side-winding dance of sorts.

[titanicdrone]

Fearstorm’s pace is nothing that could possibly bring him close to Breakdown’s, but he moves along steadily, his weight giving him enough traction to get a good rolling start. He veers towards the surf once more (whether out of design or out of the effects of the high grade is uncertain), and as he veers back towards dry land Hardshell’s sudden earth-shattering cry startles him. 

He doesn’t stay startled for long, though, giving his engine a bass-deep thrum of enthusiasm. “Right on, Insecticon!” 

Knock Out, by that point, has worked out how to handle this sandy, shifting terrain, and pulls well ahead of Fearstorm, who doesn’t seem to mind bringing up the rear. He soon adapts his driving when he sees how Knock Out generates traction, though he doesn’t snake back and forth quite as gracefully as the smaller, lighter vehicle. 

The trick helps, and the heavier vehicle finally begins to pick up some speed, slowly but surely. 

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell swayed in the air, despite the clumsy effort to balance himself out. He repeatedly made the loud battle cry and trailed behind Fearstorm, but as soon as he heard the Vehicon's encouraging cheer, he suddenly darted forward. Maybe if he could....assist Fearstorm and help the large Decepticon win the race, it would let him notice Hardshell. 

Looking out for Breakdown, Hardshell made a loud shriek once more and dove at the Decepticon after spotting him ahead in the race. The Insecticon cackled as he fought against the wind the pursue Breakdown, looking to distract the blue mech for the moment. 

[titanicdrone]

The Scenic Route

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/The Wrecker revs his engine playfully instead of laughing at the responses from his race companions. He goes silent for a brief moment at the mention of betting. Well wouldn’t that make things more interesting…/

Could ‘lways bet chores~ I ‘ave few I’d gladly get rid off!

/He roared quietly, rocking a bit in place restlessly wanting to get off already. The sight of more drones made him just more giddy for the race. For a change they will eat his dust!/

Whaddaya say? 

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

Hmmmmm I suppose~

-He shifts his wheels, trying to get his tires to grip the slippery sand underneath. No such luck - his thin, hard, flat treads just weren’t designed for this particular surface. He adjusts his side mirrors, to see how the competition might fare (and in particular, admire Breakdown’s specialised tires). He straightens his alignment as soon as all the mechs that might join them have gathered.

I mean, I could use a break from the med-bay. So … deal’s on-

-With that he gives a long honk and accelerates, starting the race off with a dramatic …. shower of sand, billowing to either side. Did he just move slightly backwards?

Ah, scrap-!

[titanicdrone]

Fearstorm gives a loud, booming laugh. “That’s a win-win for me! I never minded a little extra work. Unless one of you two, like… i dunno. If the chore is polishin’ Starscream’s skidplate or somethin’.” This is followed be another too-loud laugh. Fearstorm is not exactly the master of volume control at the best of times, but it’s clear from his diction and his tone that the high grade is hitting him at last. 

As such, his reaction time isn’t what it could be, and he does not immediately attempt to surge forward when Knock Out tries to begin the race, flinging sand everywhere. Instead he stalls for a moment, somewhat startled, before realization sinks in. He revs his engines and sets his tires spinning, kicking up a healthy bit of sand, but not skidding quite as badly as Knock Out, before he begins to surge forward.

His tires are less specialized for racing and built more for durability, but nowhere near as suited for this sort of driving as Breakdown’s. He’s also heavier than both of them, much heavier, so his acceleration is poor. Still, this means, at the very least, he isn’t going to immediately skid out of control, and while he might be hefty, he has an engine powerful enough to move all that mass. 

For the moment, though, the drone lags behind, even considering Knock Out’s somewhat false start, and swerves after the other two mechs’ tracks.

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell had his attention back on the sand, but soon engine rumbles caught his attention. He then tries to stand up, wobbling and sinking into the sand slightly before he transforms into his Insecticon form. He wiggles out of the sand and watches the three Decepticons trying to race in the sand and cackles. 

He crouches forward and unfurls his wings, producing a loud buzzing sound as he flapped them faster and faster. Quickly, Hardshell lifted off of the sand, swaying back and forth in the air. The Insecticon continued to chuckle as he attempted to steady himself and slowly inched forward, as if testing out how well he could fly. 

Eventually he darts forward and trails behind Fearstorm, making the battle cry his kind was known for the entire time. 

[alpha-insecticon]

>---%** I present a branch of mistletoe to you :D You now have to kiss the next Cybertronian you talk to in honor of the Christmas spirit. Cheers!

It doesn't take Hardshell long to remember the...events of the previous Christmas and fidgets. "This...Christmas gave me enough trouble last year. Why should I try to partake in it again?"

Unless Fearstorm talked to him. Maybe. But then...how could you kiss a mech with no faceplate? 

[alpha-insecticon]

Do you have barbs on your spike?

"Why….are you asking? That’s none of your business," Hardshell growls in warning. It’s the only thing he’ll say on the matter.

[breaking-things-down-blog]

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum

[titanicdrone]

As Skywarp explains his Micron companion, Fearstorm watches him silently, with an air of caution. The small thing seems to unnerve him. “Oh. Huh.” His response is noncommittal. He doesn’t want to pretend like he likes the little thing, but also doesn’t want to go out of his way to upset Skywarp on the matter. 

Then Skyquake speaks to him again, Fearstorm looks over. “Yeah. The loyalty coding is kinda… it was laid in differently for each of us, but it’s solid with me. I pretty much need to obey, but there are safeguards. If an officer is hurting me, I can defend myself, and if I’m ordered to do something fishy or really obviously and lethally dumb, I can refuse.” He trusts Skyquake with this information. The other officer is a good and loyal Decepticon and has no reason to harm his underlings. 

Fearstorm’s biggest wiggle room stems from his definition of the word “hurt.” He is a well-behaved drone, even under the command of officers he doesn’t particularly like, but he is able to strike back if suitably prevoked with little pretense, and it would be unwise to incur the sudden and unexpected wrath of a mech so big. Of course, none of this applies to Lord Megatron. Lord Megatron could order Fearstorm to shoot himself in the face, and he would probably do it.

The return of Hardshell is a decidedly odd event. Fearstorm watches the enormous insecticon curiously. Is he… is he purring? Before the drone can listen more carefully the fearsome mech is wriggling around on the ground. It’s all quite daft and Fearstorm has no idea what to make of it. Bewildered, he decides not to mention it. He had absolutely no idea how he should act in the presence of a superior behaving this way.

But then Knock Out is speaking and Fearstorm immediately looks in his direction, his visor flickering. Knock Out is looking back at him, and Fearstorm allows his engine to give an eager rev. It’s an understandably deep sound, coming as it does from so large a mech. He would normally never be so bold as to invite himself into the recreational activities of a superior, but he’s had two cubes of high grade and a race sounds like a fantastic idea.

Besides, despite his freakish bulk, Fearstorm still has the spark of a sports car. “Is that an offer, sir?”

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

Skywarp grunts, “Well, I haven’t particularly come out with any injuries, Yet because of it. Happens though, unless I’m really drunk.” Shrugging it off some. “I do happen to distort everything around myself when I do it, so it can pretty much warp it.” 

He blinks at Fearstorm and doesn’t say much from it. Okay… It didn’t seem like he liked Balo too much but that was …okay. He lets the big bull down onto the floor as he sits obediently next to him. Grabbing a regular cube and setting it in front of him. 

The young seeker observes the drunken Insecticon for a moment. Light weight.. then his optics flicker over, so they were going to watch a race? This would be interesting considering this island had no roads of the sort just dirt and sand and rocks. He might laugh if Knockout starts whining over his paintjob from it. Not like he’s going to say anything about it.

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/Breakdown got back in time to witness Hardshell’s sudden fascination in sand. Not paying much attention to anything else, he stared puzzled at the Insecticon flailing in the soft dust, finding it quite amusing./

Huh? A race?

/His partners teasing nudges finally got his attention. Bruiser sipped from his cube glancing over to the red medic and enormous vehicon./

'Ere? /He chuckled./ Why? Think ya can beat me on sand?

/While Knock Out was a self proclaimed king of the highways, once they stepped down to more uneven terrain or worse, sand, it was Breakdown’s domain. And he loved driving in the sand or crashing into it, maybe it was just a nature of all mechs possessing all-terrain vehicles as an alt-form./

/He smiled sheepishly at the thought of a race here and now, thinking how easy it would be to win… However, Fearstorm seemed to in for a challenge as well./

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

-Fearstorm’s enthusiasm would be contagious, if Knock Out’s need for speed wasn’t already causing his transformation seams to buzz in restlessness.

Only if you’ll take it.

-He smirks crudely at the vehicon, before turning his eager and slightly tipsy attention onto his … Primus couldn’t describe what he felt for Breakdown right now, not after those words. The medic’s long fingers hook into the convenient slots on his assistant’s plating, idle for the moment. What a magnificent, cocky-bastard.

Don’t … don’t think you can write me out of the competition just yet~!

-Rather affectionately, he chides the other, then tugs the blue mech down by his breast-plating so that their optics were more or less level. Then, without warning, he lets out a chortle, his red gaze scanning over Fearstorm, then back to Breakdown.

You know … I’d be honored to race two such … ‘extraordinary’ mechs, however - a thought just came to me~

-He leans over to whisper his idea against Breakdown’s audial, the ends of his lips just barely able to keep from curling upwards.

… tell me what you think - no. Tell him what you think, partner~

-He chuckles, unable to keep a straight face.

[giant-green-moth]

Skyquake gives Dreadwing a brief, appreciative glance when he walks off to grab him another cube of highgrade, before looking away and fixing his gaze back onto Fearstorm, listening to the large Vehicon speak. 

"If any officers are dumb enough to hurt you, you have my permission to defend yourself against them, by any means necessary," he says.  Fearstorm obviously has a much higher tolerance for abuse from officers than Skyquake.  He himself only tolerated such behavior from Megatron, and he felt if his master was disappointed in him, it was more than likely deserved.

His focus is turned from the conversation to Hardshell, now rolling in the sand.  Skyquake watches him with amusement for several moments, chuckling to himself.  It makes him think of the afternoon he and Dreadwing spent sparring on the sand.  His swordfighting skills had been rusty at best, and Dreadwing seemed to be taking it easy on him.  The two wound up in the sand regardless, much to Dreadwing’s disapproval.

He soon sees Dreadwing returning, and the topic around him has shifted among the grounders to racing.  Skyquake snorts softly and rolls his eyes, but keeps quiet.  If they truly want to go racing, he wasn’t going to spoil their fun.  He gives Dreadwing another nudge over the bond.  //I think the grounders are getting a little restless and are considering a race// he tells his brother, with amusement.

[expertinbombsandswords-blog]

The blue seeker was silent when he returned, a clawed servo extending out to hand his sibling the cube. He doesn’t bother trying to participate himself, not that he’d really know how to paricipate in.. ‘idle chit-chat’ with those not, well, his twin. He isn’t left stranded for long however, mere seconds later his twin’s voice echoing into his helm and causing an optic ridge to raise as he tosses a glance around the circle before looking out the corner of his gaze to the green mech. //That sounds like a great idea,// he retorts, //a set of mechs racing around intoxicated. I suppose as long as they’re not doing it in the halls of the Nemesis, there’s no reason to really mind.// There’s a pause, his optics brightening, //..Unless Knockout somehow ends up injured, that would be an interesting problem, would it not?//

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell paused in his fascination with the sand and glanced up to the grounder mechs. He tilted his head, flicking mandibles in fascination and listened for a short time. 

"Fearstorm could beat you easily," he murmured before making a loud series of short, hiccup-like sounds. 

The Insecticon then flipped over and began to drag more of the sand closer to him. 

[jessicatheshark]

imagine the Insecticons trying to sing Christmas carols

"Trash the halls with parts and bodies!

WALALALALALALALALA!”

sweet Primus almighty

[alpha-insecticon]

...

[alpha-insecticon]

The Best Day Ever

[treacherous--decepticon]

Once the cable was secure he looked over to the medic and his assistant. His lip components pressed together as he crossed his arms, resisting the urge to tap his foot. It was obvious that Breadown was … uncomfortable about this, likely about Starscream being the one to help; not that he cared one bit.

Crimson optics narrowed slightly before he huffed out, ‘finally’. Starscream walked back over to the terminal and after a few keystrokes he looked back to Breakdown then to the two swapped Decepticons that were laying down. He regarded the medic’s assistant with a short nod before he activated the cortical psychic patch.

Now, to see if this would actually work.

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell watched as Starscream came closer and followed him with his optics. He opened his mouth after a moment to say something to the Seeker, but suddenly things turned dark and Hardshell felt as if he went into an emergency stasis. 

"What?" Hardshell asked suddenly and glanced around. It seemed…empty and dark. He raised his servos up for a moment and tilted his head, slightly surprised to see his own claws again. Did this mean that the cortical physic patch worked then? 

He continued to look around and made a soft sigh. It felt…nice to be back in his body again. 

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

-About time. He huffed, just wanting to get this over with - a little pain was nothing, if it meant returning to his original frame.

…

-It felt … stranger than a groundbridge, that was for sure. Grabbing his helm he felt around for the CPP, only to …

Ha!

-His mind, ah! He didn’t have to deal with any strange anatomy in here! Clasping his hands together he appreciated the feel of his dextrous, capable fingers for a moment before gazing up, seeing Hardshell right across from him, some distance away. Right … Walking towards him, he expects that they have to go in opposite ways to restore themselves, but before he can find anything out-!?

What the …!

-He peeps, clutching his face after it hits something. But what, when there was nothing in front of him? He looks at the Insecticon just to the side of him with a glare, thinking perhaps the other was reluctant to trade back and had blocked him before striding forward again, with purpose-!?

-stop that!

-He snaps, optics bright with anger. This wasn’t funny!

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/Breakdown very warily kept looking both at the unconscious bodies and the terminal waiting for something to happen. On the outside not much changed, so it’s obviously was all some overly complicated programming procedure… or something like that. It was taking a while and the tension was wearisome. Starscream seemed as upset as everyone else for being dragged into this, maybe they owed him some credit after all. From all four of them he was probably the least interested in participating in this charade./

Errr… Starscream, Sir. /He broke the silence awkwardly looking at the flier with a more warm tone of voice than before./ Thanks fer ‘elpin’ out. I mean it. Without’cha it’d just be a bigger mess.

/The Wrecker smiled sheepishly, in hope that a little bit of friendliness will help both of them feel slightly better about this whole situation. He was about to add something else, maybe a joke to try lighten the mood further, when he noticed some distressing pop ups flash on the surface of the terminal./

What th-

/He quickly moved closer, moving the flier slightly aside to read the flashing errors. The readings were dropping down out of a sudden and they weren’t just de-syncing, they were cutting off. One by one the open channels in the mental bridge were disappearing and that couldn’t end well. He snatched the nearest medical datapad and rushed to check the vitals./

Fraggin’ pits! They gonna fell into a coma if we dun’ turn this off!

/Or worse. Breakdown wasn’t really a specialist on this subject, but he remembered reading about this in the medical files. The errors in procedures like this often ended up in comas. The mind was a very delicate thing and any bigger disruptions might cause system shutdowns. What to do?! He felt like his own mind was all over the place. What would Knock Out do?/

Screw that!!

/He growled and decided on more practical approach (known as “first thing that comes into your mind and can’t be worse than doing nothing”) and grabbed the patch just unhooking it off both mechs. Out of nowhere a wave of stinging pain struck his body, his fingers tightened more on the cable that was the source of the painful sensation. Electricity ran through his body, it felt like it was tearing him apart but he couldn’t throw the patch away because of his joints going stiff. He clenched his teeth trying to endure it a little bit more, Starscream should shut down the power any klik, but he eventually gave in. Everything went black./

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell frowned as he watched Knock Out be repulsed away and he tilted his head. Slowly, the Insecticon reached one claw out after Knock Out was pushed away again. 

"....It is not me," he answered calmly as his claw was stopped by some sort of force field. He gently pushed against it before raising his arm up to strike against it. It would not budge...

"I do not understand! Shockwave's creations have never failed before!" he hissed in annoyance and glanced around. 

Suddenly, as if the whole world was...dissolving away, Hardshell glanced around warily, watching, unsure of what was happening. 

...

He blinked and looked around, slowly coming to. He felt so groggy; it almost felt like he was going to purge as a result.

"Ugh...That did not go so well," he murmured and frowned, glancing down to his....or rather Knock Out's servos. It seemed that the C.P.P. had not done its job...

[foreverajaruga-blog]

[Jaruga had been trying out some new things lately because he was bored and hungry. He was forgotten at mealtimes so he never got dinner when everyone else did so recently he attempted to make his own fuel. The first several attempts weren’t successful but lately his fuel have been coming out decent. He only half-way mastered the microwave and could not work a stove, oven, or grill at all. Today however he was going to try to learn how to work the grill. There was no instruction manual or box so he assumed the grey things at the bottom were rocks. He grabbed a few rocks lying outside, put them in the grill, then shot at it with his blaster to ignite them. Much to his dismay, there was no flame and he only succeeded in putting holes in the grill that allowed the used charcoal and rocks to fall out. He stood there frustrated for a few minutes before searching for possible experimental energy samples on the Thunder Arrow. He found some in a room and took a handful then returned to the grill. He set the samples in the grill but nothing happened. Out of frustration he picked up a rock from the floor and threw it at the grill, causing an explosion that sent him flying.]

[alpha-insecticon]

-Hardshell had been napping on the ground, worn out by stressing over his hive and many of the eggs that had yet to hatch yet. But even as he tried to recharge for a short time, he continued to shift and turn over, producing many unhappy sighs as a result. After sitting up, he glanced around and watched as many of his Hivemates scurried back and forth. He stood up and just as suddenly, the floor gave way. Hardshell growled and tried to claw against something to hold, but as he fell down, he spotted the very familiar portal of the accursed tears.-

Again?! -Hardshell cursed as he fell through and landed on the ground at the other end with a less than graceful thump. He sighed and looked around, rubbing his large claws together. The last time he was away because of one of the tears, his whole Hive became infected.-

-Suddenly, Hardshell heard an explosion close by and looked around expectantly. Enemies? Following the explosion, he saw an unfamiliar frame soar through the air, flying at his direction. He frowned and held up his arms, catching the odd looking Cybertronian and placed them down afterwards.-

That was quite an...entrance? 

[breaking-things-down-blog]

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum

[breaking-things-down-blog]

Fearstorm doesn’t hear Skywarp’s low mutters, his attention instead focused on the rest of the group’s antics. When Skyquake brings up Starscream, the Vehicon scoffs, lifting his chin. “I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t obey Starscream if I didn’t have to,” Fearstorm replies, which is a damn bold statement considering his normally highly submissive attitude regarding the Decepticon hierarchy. He seems unaware that he might be making Skywarp uncomfortable with the candid way he refers to the purple mech’s trinemate.

He has nothing to say in regards to Hardshell’s statement to Dreadwing and Skyquake, and instead focuses on finishing off his cube. The drone seems happy merely to stand there, his EM field thrumming with a growing sense of calm contentment as the high grade works its way through his systems. It isn’t just the warmth of the potent brew that pleases him, it’s the sensation of a full tank. He glances over to Hardshell as the Insecticon announces his departure, and nods. 

He glances back over to Skywarp, his visor flickering. If he’d had eyes, he probably would have been narrowing them suspiciously at that moment. “What is that thing, anyway?” He asks, gesturing to Balo.

"I guess you can say that." He shrugs, "Thundercracker finds it hilarious..at times." He turns his attention to Knockout. Actually he could contain his warping abilities but if he so happened to be thinking of it and actually initiate it then it would happen… Maybe a nervous tick or something in his systems might bug it out for him to warp randomly. It didn’t happen to often. 

"its easier to control than you think." His helm tilts, "Without what? Knowing?" Shrugs, "If I think about it then I do, even in sleep I can.." Being drunk? Not so much, maybe once or twice, he made sure he was careful about that.

When they get on talking about Starscream, Skywarp just falls quiet and starts paying attention to Balo. Sure, Starscream had done many things he shouldn’t have… but he never used to be like that. Sure the power was something he had, maybe he missed it? Who knows but he saw the true side of Starscream that no one would ever get to know besides him and Thundercracker. He sighs quietly and pets Balo, feeling outnormously uncomfortable to the point that he feels like leaving this group…

His attention is caught yet again, “Huh? Balo?” He said it already but he’s willing to say it again… “Its an Arms Micron. Little robotic companions to help with battle and or other such necessities. He helps me with battles and drilling.” He…had a lot in his storage…perhaps he could give one if he found the right companions but he wasn’t too keen on some of them… If they got on his good side, perhaps he would be willing to give one away. Fearstorm seemed like a reasonable mech and so did Knockout with his medical work. “Each has a different personality and forms. They’re quite nice to have for company, if you need it.”

/Blue mech followed the Insecticon with his gaze, letting out another amused snort./

'Ope 'e get knocked out soon, it'd be a shame if we'd ran out of booze.

/Just to be sure he glanced the monstrous pile of high-grade crates. It was enough for their entire army but you never knew how long it’d last with Insecticon’s hunger. Speaking of hunger, his cube got empty way too quickly. He moved away to get a refill, and stopped by again to talk with some already drunk vehicons./

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

-Shaking his helm, he clarifies for the flier.

Getting sliced in half - there’s got to be a safeguard in place, no? I mean, otherwise … it’s impossible for two ‘things’ to occupy the same dimensional space. Or something like that.

-Feeling a bit charged up from the high grade, Knock Out starts to feel restless; he looks around. Some of the drones appeared to have split into groups to play their own little social games.

I’d kill for a race right about now.

-He states, flashing a grin at Fearstorm. When Breakdown returns the medic gives his partner a nudge, more a teasing gesture than anything.

[giant-green-moth]

Skyquake has to stifle the desire to snicker at Dreadwing’s discomfort with Hardshell.  Soon Hardshell begins to laugh and leaves them to grab another cube of high grade, and Skyquake responds, briefly, to Fearstorm.  “You have to follow Starscream’s orders?  I take it it’s in your coding to obey others?”  He himself can’t imagine being required to obey someone.  Even if his loyalty may see like a lack of freewill to an outsider, Skyquake always made his own decisions about who was worthy of his loyalty.

Soon after he speaks, he hears Breakdown make a comment about Hardshell.  “I doubt we have anything to worry about, especially if other Insecticons are as much of a lightweight as he is.”  On that note, he finishes off what is left of his current cube, before giving Dreadwing a friendly nudge through their bond to go grab him another.

[expertinbombsandswords-blog]

It would seem the troops were already hitting intoxicated states, if Hardshell was anything to go by, it should be an interesting night. The SiC couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward at the position he’d been placed in by the large Insecticon and he couldn’t help the relief that followed his leave either. 

He doesn’t try to place any input in the conversations, Skyquake could handle that just fine for the both of them, so he continues to listen in on the idle chit-chat of his subordinates. At the nudge through the bond of his twin he simply hums, tossing the green mech a small glance before he turns to go and approach the stock of high grade and fetch the green seeker one with no argument. Dreadwing was glad his twin had sent him off this time rather than left him behind. 

[alpha-insecticon]

If Hardshell was attracting any attention by how quickly the highgrade had affected him, he was nowhere near a sober state to notice or care. As he stumbled back to the table to retrieve another cube, he barely managed to avoid knocking any of the Vehicons in his path. He reached for two more cubes after arriving to it and cradled them to his front. 

He glanced back to the others and slowly made his way back.

"I'm back!" he boomed in greeting before laughing and making his way through the small crowd. 

He made soft purrs as he stood by Fearstorm, but soon he decided to sit on the ground instead. He crouched down, with a very wobbly stance and dug two spots out lay his highgrade cubes in the sand. After sitting down and grooming his face for a moment. He picked up one cube and began to drink from it eagerly, pausing only to poke the sand with curiosity. He pushed his cubes away and began to roll around in the oddly soft material. 

Hardshell produced a softer version of the cry his kind often made as he rolled over in the sand and stretched out. 

[alpha-insecticon]

The Best Day Ever

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/Breakdown growled at the mention of that purple freak. His reputation spoke for himself./

I ain’t trustin’ ‘nythin’ that ‘as to do with that gorram creep! But… /He moved closer and picked up the cables laying on the floor with a frown./ … seems like we dun’ really ‘ave ‘ny brighter ideas.

/He inspected the patch briefly. As much he possessed some knowledge about the whole process he never was present during the procedures, so he didn’t exactly knew how to use this bloody thing. But maybe…/

If ya said that it ain’t gonna work… /He turned to Starscream suddenly./ … ya probably know ‘ow it works, right? 

[treacherous--decepticon]

He watched as Knock Out and Hardshell got situated before he looked back over the Breakdown with a small incline of his helm. “Of course,” he muttered before taking the end of the cable he still held and hooked it up to a near by terminal. Pressing a few keys, he booted the system and prepared it for the cortical psychic patch.

Starscream had something of a science background but he knew neither Breakdown or Knock Out knew that about him. Even if Hardshell trusted Shockwave, which was foolish, Starscream did not. He did not trust that this would work and it was a waste of time but he did not care to deal with Knock Out in such a state any longer so here he was taking the psychic patch from Breakdown.

There was no way this was going to work.

"Plug it in to Knock Out," he said, nodding to the end of the patch in the brute’s servo. Starscream himself went to the head of the berth Hardshell was on and secured the end of the cable to the back of the Decepticon’s helm.

[breaking-things-down-blog]

/Flinching slightly he went over to Knock Out residing inside Hardshell’s body. The buggy medic was slightly fidgeting restlessly, more than ready to just get over with the whole procedure.

Uh… might sting a bit? Sorry.

/Breakdown frowned apologizing in advance for the inconvenience and attached the cable to back of his helm, in the same way he saw Starscream do it. He was anxious about performing this without Knock Out actually supervising the process, but he’ll have to trust the ex-SIC. After all, he knew what he was doing… right?/

Kay, th’ cable’s ready.

[treacherous--decepticon]

Once the cable was secure he looked over to the medic and his assistant. His lip components pressed together as he crossed his arms, resisting the urge to tap his foot. It was obvious that Breadown was … uncomfortable about this, likely about Starscream being the one to help; not that he cared one bit.

Crimson optics narrowed slightly before he huffed out, ‘finally’. Starscream walked back over to the terminal and after a few keystrokes he looked back to Breakdown then to the two swapped Decepticons that were laying down. He regarded the medic’s assistant with a short nod before he activated the cortical psychic patch.

Now, to see if this would actually work.

[alpha-insecticon]

Hardshell watched as Starscream came closer and followed him with his optics. He opened his mouth after a moment to say something to the Seeker, but suddenly things turned dark and Hardshell felt as if he went into an emergency stasis. 

"What?" Hardshell asked suddenly and glanced around. It seemed...empty and dark. He raised his servos up for a moment and tilted his head, slightly surprised to see his own claws again. Did this mean that the cortical physic patch worked then? 

He continued to look around and made a soft sigh. It felt...nice to be back in his body again. 

[giant-green-moth]

alpha-insecticon said: …N-no! I didn’t mean it like that. They are a part of Insecticon life! They aren’t meant…only…for that!

It’s nothing to be ashamed of!  I think they’re kind of neat looking actually.

[alpha-insecticon]

I’m not ashamed! It’s just…it is awkward to explain their purpose when I’m not so…distracted with highgrade. 

[giant-green-moth]

So are they also used for fighting?  Actually, you don’t have to answer that, I think enough has been said.  I apologize Hardshell, I don’t mean to pry.

[alpha-insecticon]

No. It's fine. I just did not expect so much attention to be brought on them... And to answer your question, yes. Well, more or less. If there is a dispute between Hivemates, they will often battle in a show of dominance.

They can help to scratch one another because they are so sharp...but really when one wins, they will rub their scent over the loser. It's more of rubbing it in that the victor won and it is a way to temporarily humiliate the loser.

In other words...these are extremely sharp scent glands. And....er..when it comes to mating, they will rub their scents on one another.

[alpha-insecticon]

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

 alpha-insecticon said: … They aren’t meant to be attractive! They help Insecticons to function!

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

>Not meant >Attractive

I remember you saying they’re used for mating, which in turn, is meant for attraction. Just statin’ the facts.

[alpha-insecticon]

Yes…But! Not like that! Mates don’t care about their appearance!

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

I’m sure some do like them~ I’m sure they like the stronger ones. I dunno. Not dissin’ ya or nothing. They’re kinda cool

[alpha-insecticon]

...If you must know, their main purpose is that they have scent glands...And it helps to leave distinct scents on mates. 

[giant-green-moth]

alpha-insecticon said: …N-no! I didn’t mean it like that. They are a part of Insecticon life! They aren’t meant…only…for that!

It’s nothing to be ashamed of!  I think they’re kind of neat looking actually.

[alpha-insecticon]

I'm not ashamed! It's just...it is awkward to explain their purpose when I'm not so...distracted with highgrade. 

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

 alpha-insecticon said: … They aren’t meant to be attractive! They help Insecticons to function!

[warpingprankster-blog-deactivat]

>Not meant >Attractive

I remember you saying they’re used for mating, which in turn, is meant for attraction. Just statin’ the facts.

[alpha-insecticon]

Yes...But! Not like that! Mates don't care about their appearance!

[anonymous12367i13-deactivated20]

alpha-insecticon replied to your post: Insecticon Prickles.

They aren’t a waste of time. They are vital to Insecticon life.

I am not an insecticon, therefore they are a waste of time to me.

[alpha-insecticon]

There you go with that superiority complex again. Sympathy wouldn't hurt once in a while, medic. 

[alpha-insecticon]

... What?