| abstract | - IC Time on Earth: Mon Dec 09 12:17:19 2034 Tall, beige lockers are set up in rows and line the walls of this stark, tiled area. A small bulletin denotes upcoming games, competitions, and star players, obviously maintained by Eject. There is a quaint trophy case near the entrance, and a big poster of Springer giving a winning grin and a thumbs-up. Obvious exits: East leads to Courts. South leads to Hallways. Air Raid arrives from the Hallways to the south. Air Raid has arrived. Air Raid can be found amongst a bustling group of seekers, all shouting fond obscenities at one another as they prepare to hit the gym. Raid feels quite at home with all these jets! It's the one part of the day that doesn't suck so hard. He lingers on a bench, gazing absently at some notes from the horrible biology class. "Intestines go... here." He draws a circle around the udders of a picture of a cow. Contrail is always a bit out of place in the locker rooms. Put her in with the cars, and someone's always slapping her wings or yanking on her tailfins. Put her in with the jets, and someone is always trying to slash her tyres. Eventually, the school administrators put up to Contrail - how does *she* self-identify? As both, of course, she's a Triple-Changer, but she lied prettily and told them to put her in with the jets, because that's where most of her fellow Con Con Cons are. Right now, however, she looms up behind someone who is not a Con Con Con at all. She puts her hands on her hands and looks down over Air Raid. "Biology, huh? There's only one useful part of that, you know?" "Yeah," Raid replies without looking up, "The useful bit is getting to sit next to the hot nerd femmes and..." Looking over his shoulder, he trails off and quirks an optic ridge. "Well if it isn't... whats-your-face." You'd think she'd be easier to recognize being the only conehead with tires. "Contrail," Contrail introduces breezily. She sits herself down on the bench next to Air Raid, folding her wings back so that they hang over the back of the bench. "Really? I wasn't aware there were any other jets in that class... I was going to say, finding out at which altitude various birds fly at, so as to assess the danger of bird strike on Earth, if you ever do the Honors Earth Aviation tour over Primemas break. Were you thinking about that at all? You get to study with the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, and Red Arrows and see /all/ the sights of Earth." Air Raid grows mildy annoyed when Contrail finds a seat beside him, and begins to get up - Springer's posse should be gathering outside soon. But her talk of aviation is enough to make him pause. He stares, "Aviation tour?" Another pause. "How'd... What program is this? You get to hang out with Red Arrows?" "The Honors Earth Aviation tour!" Contrail says brightly, clasping her hands together. "I did it last Primemas break, and it was such a /fantastic/ experience. Training with such elite groups, seeing a whole different perspective on flying, doing lunch with industry giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing - I mean, haven't you ever wanted to meet the people who designed your alternate mode? Anyway, like I said, I did the trip last Primemas, so now I'm out to spread the word to other students who may be interested. You just need three letters of recommendation from your aviation instructors and a personal statement on why you would want to go." Air Raid hadn't ever looked into this. Perhaps too busy trying to impress folk. Instructors, he tends to tune out, but another jet... or at least a half jet, seems to garner enough of his attention. Hrrrm, Springer's gang will have probably left by now. Ugh. "That sounds pretty interesting, gotta' admit. But eh... I gotta' be realistic. My aviation instructors don't like me much, getting recommendation from them is going to be difficult. And they're all fraggin' Con Con Con mechs." There are little posters for it on bulletin boards, but who pays attention to those? Only people trolling for the lectures with free energon. Contrail puts a hand under her chin and asks the obvious question, "Why don't your instructors like you?" She already has an idea. That's why she's here. Air Raid readily dips into rant-mode. She asked for it! "Frag if I know! I'm a /great/ flier!" He stands and gestures, and the few remaining seekers smirk and nudge eachother. "Maybe they just can't stand seeing a Phi Beta Autobota student excel in both /acting/ AND stunt flying. This whole university's against me. I'm going to fly with the big-time jets one day and perform for millions. I /apply/ myself just fine." Contrail listens along politely. She leans back a bit on the bench and asks, "So why are you in Phi Beta Autobota, anyway?" Air Raid is pretty oblivious to whatever Contrail's motive is. He folds his arms and stares at the poster of Springer. "I..." All of his reasons would sound rather dumb when said aloud. "Um. Well it seemed like a good idea at the time." He squints at her. "Why'd /you/ join Con Con Con? I'm guessing that's your thing." "Interesting guess," Contrail replies, her voice a bit distant, and she shifts around a bit uncomfortably. "My manufacturer was Con Con Con. It was expected of me. But," she looks down at her hands and flips them palms up, "it has aligned well with my goals. I'm in AFROTC, and I'd like to spend my life defending Cybertron." Mostly from stray asteroids. Someone has to go up and shoot them down. It's not like they actually have any real enemies! "So I don't want to just be a good flier. I want to be an excellent one. To achieve excellence in flight, you want to be a Con Con Con. They have all the old aviation exams in their files, and all the best fliers are Con Con Cons, so you can practise with the best to hone your skills. The aviation instructors expect more of you, when you're a Con Con Con. Besides..." She shifts uncomfortably again. "...I don't think Phi Beta Autobota would have been all that accepting of me, anyway." Air Raid studies her closely. "Huh," he finally murmurs, considering. He's not the most impressionable mech in the university but he /does/ have his own goals, and if it means switching fraternities... "They don't seem to be keen on wings," he finally scoffs, nodding. Venting a sigh, he places his hands on his hips and tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling, "All right... Who do I talk to about joining? I'm not disloyal, okay? But I... really want to go on this aviation tour." Contrail encourages, "Don't think of it as disloyalty! This is just four solar cycles of your life, which will have no end." Pfft, like anyone really dies. A Transformer has to try *hard* to actually die. "Think of it as networking for the rest of eternity. Do you want to know every flier in the business - and be known by them in return? Besides, I'm talking to a Phi Beta Autobota right now, aren't I? I haven't burst into flames. I'm /sure/ you'll be able to keep up with all your old friends." "You'll want to talk to Galvatron. I know he seems intimidating, but I'm sure his terms will be quite reasonable." She could have referred Air Raid to Scorponok, instead, but Scorponok hasn't done much to earn Contrail's loyalty. No need to risk things. It is, with odd timing (the sort that only happens in TV, RPGs and whenever you're doing something totally embarrassing) that Galvatron, with a group of those Sweep hanger-onners walks into the locker room, "So, Scorponok thinks he can keep me out of our own locker room by telling the dean that his Nebulon friends feel uncomfortable." Galvatron grabs one of the Sweeps, pulling him close, "I want you to go speak to Shockwave, get something... nasty to release into the Nebulons halls, show them what 'uncomfortable' feels like." Galvatron then continues to walk through the locker room, stopping as he spots Contrail and Air Raid talking. He leans against one of the nearby lockers, "Ahhh Contrail, interesting company you're keeping." Nothing accusational in his tone, but then with Galvatron even an innocent sounding voice is potentially dangerous, given how he is at giving hints. Air Raid manages a chuckle. "I guess. Just sayin'... I've got integrity!" His vague amusement fades at the mention of Galvatron. "Femme, that guy is crazy. Have you heard the stories? What about the other ones? Can't I talk to Cyclonus? I trust a guy with a beard." Enter Galvatron. It's almost as if Contrail planned this... Air Raid stares at her. Then tries to muster up some willpower, "Galvatron," he greets stiffly. "Contrail here was just telling me about the benefits of joining up with Con Con Con. M'... Maybe you can confirm?" He loses a bit of bravado. Because Galvatron is Galvatron. Contrail sits up, just a bit, when Galvatron wanders in. No one ever tells Galvatron he's in the wrong locker room. Then she actually stands up and positions herself slightly in front of Air Raid. Galvatron can be difficult to deal with and somewhat off-putting, and Contrail dosn't want one of the best fliers to get scared off from Con Con Con just because Con Con Con's leader is Unicron's darling little boy. She says smoothly, "Air Raid here is a superb flier. He would be a /better/ flier if he was a Con Con Con. If there's an aviation course offered here, a Con Con Con has taken it, so we have all the old exams. Plus, most of the aviation instructors were members of Con Con Con in their younger days. Finally, Con Con Con is much more embracing of military builds than Phi Beta Autobota. Galvatron, wouldn't you agree that Con Con Con is the place for Air Raid?" Ahhh, of course, recruiting new pledges would explain Contrail being all friendly with a PBA type. Of course, Galvatron is all for recruiting all the flyers he can. He seems to vaguely recall a memo left by Megatron about Air Raid and some other flyers being persuaded to join Phi Beta Autobota, it was basically a long rant about how bad it was, boiled down to Megatrons version of 'NYARGH!'. So, an opportunity. Not being subtle, Galvatron walks past (read: gently moves Contrail out of the way) as he walks right up to Air Raid. Standing for a second he looks the smaller student over, and then grins widely, before placing a hand firmly on Air Raid's shoulder, "Ahh but of course Con Con Con is the place you should be. Have you seen the amount of flyers we have? And all of them first class. As Contrail says, we have all the old exams. We even have a number of professors who will give extra tuition, and not just if you're struggling, they'll do it to make you the very best you can be." Galvatron looks at Contrail, "You are absolutely right Contrail, Con Con Con is the place any and all flyers should be. Specially those as talented as Air Raid." Air Raid tries not to appear intimidated as a big ole' hand comes down on his shoulder. He remains rigid, but it seems Galvatron isn't going to smash him into a locker today. Con Con Con sounds nicer and nicer. Also, he's praised! He lives for praise. "I'll uh... I'll notify my fraternity, if you'll have me, then. I won't disappoint!" Contrail stands asides. She claps her hands and encourages, "I'm glad to hear it, Air Raid! If you take any classes I've taken, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you with the instructors, and you'll find all my old exams on file. If any of your Aerialbot study partners want to learn more about Con Con Con, we'd be glad to talk with them, too." The grin on Galvatrons face manages to get a little wider as Air Raid confirms he'll join Con Con Con, "Excellent. And I have absolute faith you will not disappoint." He looks to Contrail as she comments on the rest of Air Raids study group, "Absolutely, the more flyers the better." And thus the less well Hot Rod and his lot can do in certain contests. "Contrail will of course keep me updated on getting you officially registered and all that paperwork nonsense. Welcome to Con Con Con Air Raid." Air Raid moves south to the Hallways. Air Raid has left.
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