OPEN | Ride It by Regard on blast

[aurable]

CHARACTERS: Drift and YOU
LOCATION: Simulation Room
DATE: Late April
CONTENT: Driving lessons! + closed starters
WARNINGS: TBD

SIMULATION ROOM

The important thing to remember is to take things slow. And ask me questions as we're going through this. Keep your left foot on the brake pedal at all times until you're ready to move.

[ Drift 'sat' in the passenger's seat where he and his student were parked in the simulation room. The simulation itself was nothing ostentatious or potentially distracting. They were idling in the middle of a nondescript parking lot in the middle of a forested area on a bright, sunny day. It was the sort of place you could find anywhere in middle America near a big box store, only without the store or any visible buildings. Drift wanted to keep things simple and remove the stimuli for dumb stunts. ]

The first thing is to keep both hands on the wheel until you're ready to shift gears. I'm automatic, thankfully. Think of a twelve-hour clock and put your hands at three and ten o'clock. [ A sigh erupts from Drift if the person receiving those instructions crosses their arms at the wrist to be cheeky. ] Alright, but with the corresponding hands — don't get smart.

Before we drive, you'll see two levers between us — the gear shift and the emergency brake. I want you to tell me which you think is which.

[ Hopefully, this wouldn't be too long of a day and Drift's transmission stays in tact. ]

SUNLIGHT ROOM closed to Yennefer

[ There wasn't much sun in the sunlight room. The artificial sky was a dying red ember splotched in the bruised purple of an early evening winding down into twilight. This late into the season, the full verdant green of the meadow had returned, now a carpet of deep blue in the dying light.

Drift hadn't wanted to meet Yennefer during the height of the illusory afternoon. One last means of him cleaving to the mask he had been hiding behind. It was an idea that was ridiculous once he sat down and thought about it. What Drift hadn't been a secret, or even a well-kept one if he had been. A few of the others had found out embarrassingly late into his time here that the man they knew was only a disguise because he tended to isolate himself out of some misguided need not to be a burden.

— And then the situation with Yennefer had turned into a uniquely well-timed mess. Drift hadn't intended to keep anything from her after that night, just as she hadn't expected naked honesty after one encounter. Compounded by the last mission, where they were out of contact through most of it, all she had to go on was a few alarming and understandably hard to believe text exchanges.

Activating his device, Drift sends out one more text — asking Yennefer to meet him in the sunlight room for the truth as promised. Then 'he' sat on the glossy white hood of the vehicle parked in the meadow just off the brook, half concealed in the grass like a crouching predator. There was enough daylight to spare, and the white sheen of this form could be spotted a mile away. ]

WILDCARED

( please feel free to hmu on pm or bretons if you want to write/receive a starter of running into drift anywhere around the station and don't feel like we need pre-existing CR! )

Comments

[tochnyy]

[ from mal's perspective, there's a roof over his head, food available at any hour, and he's free to roam at any hour. it's more consistent than the orphanage he grew up in before signing his life away to the first army.

he's surprised to see drift jolt, doesn't let himself flinch at the sudden movement from a very large cybertronian where he's standing at his full height. he hadn't expected that, not quite so big. not that mal's small either. he watches him for a moment, ready to jump to his side in case that sort of movement leads him to lose his balance in the way mal would after drinking so much. ] We-- We grew up together. You know her?

[aurable]

[ Drift noticeably perked up, and his eyes went a little bright, clearer. This was a thread in the conversation he could follow that took his mind off the state of affairs that led him down the neck of a bottle. ]

She's been here for several months and is a friend of mine. At least, I hope so — it's hard to get a read on her sometimes.

[tochnyy]

[ mal's surprised by that, but the response and enthusiasm earns a smile and then a soft chuckle as his expression grows fond. ] That sounds like Alina.

She's kind of like a cat. If she keeps showing up, chances are good. [ but the fact someone would call alina their friend here, well, that makes this place better than home. ] She likes sweets, if you aren't totally sure.

[aurable]

I assume anyone with her...character would like the simple luxuries of life. I understand that. [ Drift said in an unfiltered moment, one finial flagging. Giving him a sort of asymmetrical, floppy-eared stray look. ]

So I suppose that means you know the other guy. [ His expression sours slightly, but that could have just been the drink coming back on him. ] The Darkling.

[tochnyy]

[ mal nods at that assessment. anyone who grew up like them would find even the most basic of things comparable to luxuries at times. ]

Yeah. [ he says after a moment, finally lifting the drink to his lips. it tastes like kvass, so he's sure he can handle it just fine. he feels like he needs another drink as soon as the other guy is mentioned.

so in stead of answering, he doesn't lower the bottle for a bit longer. when he does, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. ] Unfortunately, yeah. I know that asshole. [ and he's not sorry about how a hint of anger slips into his tone. he can't and won't hide it. ]

[aurable]

Yeah. [ Drift echoed, now creasing over that point of drunkenness where it was easier to parrot the last words heard than form a coherent thought.

Mal's adam's apple bobs up the unshaven column of his throat on the next pull — he was taking that sort of sweet time one did when drinking when they needed to drown harsh words. The vitriol Mal spits is stronger than that bottom shelf vodka that sputters on his chin when he says that asshole.

Drift thinks about the Darkling — about the man with so many sharp edges to his character he cuts himself on them, who carried the torments of a life too long-lived, and whom Drift saw a flicker of himself in. Someone Drift understood, in a way, even empathized with at times.

Then Drift said, ] He's an arrogant prick. I saved his life once and he shrieked like a damn child.

[tochnyy]

Nice way to describe him. [ too kind for the anger that mal feels for what the darkling did to alina, what he threatened to do.

the alcohol is taking effect though, making mal a little bit fuzzy. he isn't sure he's heard what drift said properly because of it, though he's also pretty sure he hasn't had as much as other. not nearly. ] Pardon? He what?

[aurable]

It's a tempered response, I'll admit. [ Drift didn't hate the Darkling, in part, because he didn't know the whole story with all of that — and he would be a hypocrite to cast too harsh a judgment.

He nodded with a second wind of sobriety lighting up behind Drift's eyes. ] Oh yeah, I got him out of a tight spot and — [ Drift stifled a hiccup into the back of his hand. ] — excuse me. I have a recording hold on. I'll send it to your comm device.

[ Mal's device with ping with an audio file of the Big Event. ] You can hear us arguing but it's a few seconds after that.

[tochnyy]

[ that seems to abate some of mal's suspicion, really, but he had already been mostly focused on the idea of the heretic screaming like a small child. ] A recording?

[ what that is is lost on him until something appears in view through hiss device. mal is still taking all the technology in, learning slowly. it takes him a moment to play the file, not sure what he's listen to.

and then -- ] Fucking Saints. [ is what he manages before he's laughing, a belly laugh that has him shaking a little. ] That's really him. [ the alcohol makes him stupid, yes, but this may be better than any present mal's receive. ]

[aurable]

A copy of images and audio that can be played back — an echo on blast. [ Drift tried to explain as another wave of insobriety made him sway and the inanity of his words seemed to make sense — sort of. ]

Who is fucking saints? [ A peel of laughter erupted out of him to match Mal's as he forgets more and more what drove him to the bottom of the bottle that evening. ] Wish you could've seen the look on his face. That smugness fell off like a grease smear.

[tochnyy]

[ the gift becomes better and better, now that he has a copy of the file he can play back. maybe he'll share it but surely the only person he would share it with has seen. ]

Fucking them? No-- [ but mal's laughter then continues to flow, lighting him up and adding to the warmth already flowing through him with the alcohol. ]

How did you get him so off-guard? [ he can't imagine what lead to this but saints, he does wish he'd seen it. ]

[aurable]

[ Drift makes a grunting sound as he tries to recall events from two months ago while his tanks were swimming in high grade. ]

We're were actively trying to fight off things bigger than I am so in all fairness
to him — a lot was going on.

[tochnyy]

Something bigger than you? [ there's disbelief in his voice. at his current size, drift looks pretty big to mal. then again, he's also seen volcra that are bigger up close. ]

[ he snorts, shakes his head and takes another drink from his bottle. ] Somehow it's not surprising he'd scream when faced with a real fight.