August 11th, 2002
~Enfilade(D),

Iron Hitch Saloon
The interior of the building reveals a run-down, shabby bar that still reeks of spilled energon and dirty oil, though there is no crowd here any more. At the tables in the middle of the room and on the balcony above, a few items remain scattered around as if their owners left in a hurry and never returned. A few of the lights have burned out, leaving shadows in which one could imagine the ghosts, or shades, of the patrons still loitering about in the dimness. Through the dust now gathering, a few areas remain active: the bar, which has its gate hanging open so anyone can now play the role of wait-staff and access the drinks kept there, of which there are still quite a few, and the corner table. This table has booth-style seating and a unique graffiti carefully carved into its surface, reading AL & DAX.
Contents:
Enfilade

-Enfilade is lurking in the dark corner, at that table with the graffiti insignia. For a moment there's silence as if the place was empty..then Enfilade rises from her seat and speaks. "Who's there?"
-Moonlight waves a friendly hand. "It's just me...Moonlight. Is that you Enfilade?"
-Enfilade gets out from behind the table. She tilts her head, as if having to think about the answer, and then says slowly, "Yeah."
-Moonlight grins and nods her head. "Good. Someone said that you might be here. I hadn't seen you for a while and wanted to see how you were doing."
-Enfilade shrugs, seeming a little slow, a little...lost in memories, perhaps. "Come on in, then. A drink?" She waves a hand at the bar, inviting Moonlight to help herself as she returns to her seat at the corner table, her hand coiling around the mug that rests there.
-Moonlight walks up to the bar and searches around for an enerwine, the only drink anyone has ever seen her drink for some reason. "So, how are you doing anyhow?" she asks as she looks around.
-There's no enerwine here...wait...far in the back, a small bottle of a very cheap, brand.
-Moonlight shrugs....cheap is better than none after all, as life has already taught Moonlight. "I'm doing okay. Is the history you're refering to your personal history instead of the planet's history...is it the other way around? I'm not really sure what the /right/ kind of history is, not being much of a student."
-Enfilade laughs a little, amused that Moonlight has figured it out. "Yeah. The history of a no-account cargo carrier in a Crystal City slum. Insteada the military stuff I learned at the Academy. That stuff's actually useful." She invites Moonlight to join her.
-Moonlight takes a seat with Enfilade. "Life's experience teaches more than any academy can...at least that's my opinion. Then again, I'm biased because all I've had /is/ life experience. I've never formally been taught anything."
-Enfilade shrugs, leaning back. "My life experience taught me to haul cargo and develop attitude problems. Was the War Academy where I learned to make something of myself." She looks over at Moonlight. "But it ain't academic schooling that makes a decent person outta someone. I ain't never gonna believe that."
-Moonlight nods her head as she sips and listens. "I don't know if I'd call myself 'decent' exactly, but I don't think I'm a waste of space either. How long did you haul stuff around before joining the Academy?"
-Enfilade's optics darken below her visor and she murmurs, "I remember the end of the last so called Golden Age."
-Moonlight shrugs. "I'm afraid that doesn't do much for me...I never studied Cybertronian history. It's not something you pay attention to in the slums of Monacus. Was it so bad that you felt you were a no-account before..?"
-Enfilade looks into her mug and murmurs, "YOu know, Moonlight, i think you may be the only one in the Decepticon army who would understand this." She plays with the mug, swirling the contents around. "If you're told all your life that you're garbage, that you're never going to amount to anything, in time you start to believe it. Or almost believe it. So I went to prove that I could make myself into something more. An' maybe I did...I'm a general now...only maybe I didn't. Because in order to become a general, I had to get a new name and an upgraded airframe and a new history. A whole new start. And "Enfilade" could do what cargo carrier "Airlane" could not." She runs her hand over the carved graffiti in the table...
-Moonlight nods her head. "I certainly do understand, although I wasn't called garbage. In fact, no one even knew I existed to call me much of anything. I was just another street urchin begging and stealing to survive." She sighs. "But now I am part of something, though what that is exactly seems to be open to wide interpretation. Everyone gives me a different story of what being a Decepticon means. But even though it might sound bad for me to say this, I'm Moonlight first and a Decepticon second."
-Enfilade hehs. "Yeah, don't say that around some individuals or you'll end up on some lousy joe-job duty." She pauses. "I'm a few parts Al and a few parts Enfilade and sometimes I'm not quite sure who the hell I am." She pauses. "Specially in this city."
-Moonlight shrugs. "Don't worry about it. You have a lot of people around that care about your wellbeing. Like many of the people who came to rescue you that one time. By the way, is everyone still on a Phantom head-hunt, or has that died down yet?"
-Enfilade's optics flicker at the mention of the name. "I...don't know." Her voice becomes very quiet. "I...try not to think about Phantom." The mention of the Autobot who fooled her brings more sadness than anger.
-Moonlight tries to sound really casual and off-hand. "Oh, I've seen him recently."
-Enfilade's swingwings flicker; through the visor the optics visibly spark. "Really?" And then, to avoid appearing too eager, she asks coolly, "What was he doing?"
-Moonlight shrugs. "Not really sure. Looks like he was sculpting, but it was in some ruined city I was exploring." She chuckles. "He thought I was some assassin out to get him, and it took me a while to convince him I wasn't there to take his head back as some sort of obscure trophy."
-Enfilade appears intrigued. "A ruined city?" A pause. "I never knew he was an artist." No, she never got time to know him that well. And instead of shrugging it off, that he never became a long term companion, she instead feels sad that the chance was denied her.
-Moonlight nods her head. "I think they were real people who had something odd happen to them or something. The place was a mess. He seems really touchy too...prone to waving weapons around at people."
-Enfilade says, "Where is this ruined city?"
-Moonlight takes a sip of her drink. "It's to the north-west of here some ways." She points in the general direction. "Sometimes I like to wander around, so I wandered into that ruined city...and he was there." Grins. "At the time I didn't know who on Cybertron he was, and he started babbling at me about which assassin I was and waiting for me to take his head." She shakes her head. "Not the best conversationalist in my opinion...."
-Enfilade strokes her chin, probably frowning under the mask. "Did you get /anything/ coherent out of him?" Psychotic babbling...not the Phantom she knows.
-Moonlight nods her head. "Oh, yes. Once he was convinced I wasn't there to kill him, he calmed down quite a bit...then he got all excitable again and pointed a gun at my head. I'm beginning to wonder if he has some sort of death wish."
-Enfilade's optics darken. Aw, no... Damn! Why does she care so much about this fraggin' Autobot?! "He...er...didn't say anythin' about me, did he?"
-Moonlight takes off her hat and lays it aside. She looks right into Enfilade's optics. "Once I figured out who he was I decided to get nosy. I told him I didn't approve of what he did. That's when he pointed the gun at my head, called me Decepticon trash, and told me if I mentioned you again I would meet my maker...which I wouldn't mind if it didn't involve dying the way the saying is supposed to mean." She sighs. "Then I had to calm him down all over again."
-Enfilade startles. "You actually told him you thought he was scum for what he did to me?" Oh, she can't help it..she actually laughs a bit.
-Moonlight nods and looks around. "He didn't take it too well. He wanted to know why I was even interested in the matter, if I wanted to drag him back so /you/ could kill him. I took that notion out of his mind as fast as it came out." She looks a little guilty now and fidgets a bit. "I told him what you said to me that one time we were talking."
-Enfilade feels compelled to ask, "You told him /what?" She does relax a bit and say softly, "Thanks for the support--all the Con army rushin' to my defence an' all--but I think I'll be able to handle it from her.e"
-Moonlight takes a deep breath, "And he gave me a message for you."
-Enfilade swallows, hard. Does she really want to hear this? "Okay....go ahead."
-Moonlight smiles, but not in her usual, confident and mischievious way. "He told me to tell you that he misses you and he thinks about you every cycle when he comes out of recharge and that he /will/ take you to Monacus someday."
-Enfilade's optics flicker...her first fear was that Phantom would tell her to go frag herself. And now...maybe in a way this is worse. Her hand goes to her head as if it hurts. "Aw, fraggit...." Damn, she misses him now. Even if Stormrunner was a lie. Even if he's an Autobot.
-Moonlight reaches over to pat Enfilade awkwardly, completely oblivious to things such as rank. "I'm sorry if I distressed you." Her tone is sincere.
-Enfilade startles, then reaches out and takes Moonlight's hand. "Not yer fault," she says gently. "You...er...ever had a mate?"
-Moonlight shakes her head. "Sadly, no. I've just had Swipe and the gang. But he was more like a father and they were all more like older brothers though we all came from all over Monacus and from different backgrounds."
-Enfilade snorts a bit of laughter. "I've been through two and a bit, an' they're pains in the aft." There's still a trace of pain in her voice, but she's a survivor, she's going to pull through.
-Moonlight shrugs. "Like I told Phantom, this planet gives out nothing but lose-lose situations. I'm not a big fan of war or fighting...and I'm not going to pretend I am. But I also know people have to do lots of things they don't want to to survive. Yet that's no consolation, is it?"
-Enfilade shrugs. "I'd like to think someday the Cons might win this war and a certain Autobot might survive it, put on a great disguise, an' take a retired Field General to Monacus. But...the way things are going that's gonna be a long ways away, an' I got a life to live in the meantime."
-Moonlight nods her head. "Certainly you do. But you still seem rather...elusive...at times. Either way, you're doing a good job of hiding from that life you're supposed to live. Then again, I could just be making dumb assumptions again. I do that a lot you know."
-Enfilade hehs. "Ain't just cryin' over Phantom, Moonlight. It's pretty damn weird to suddenly be conquering warlord over your own fraggin' home town."
-Moonlight shakes her head. "I wouldn't know anything about that either. But whatever bothers you, and I'm sure a world of things will before the war is over, just remember that there's a set of audials here waiting to listen. I won't pad the truth, but I won't hit you with it either. Of course, it might just be my opinion, but sometimes an opinion not entrenched in the Cybertronian way of thinking might be refreshing."
-Enfilade tilts her head, gives moonlight the squinty-optic gaze that means there's a smile under the mask. "Thanks. I appreciate it. Specially since Whiplash can't hear Phantom's name without snarling, and describing how she'd like to eviscerate him. An...ok, if someone has to do it I understand, but I'd kind of rather he survived if you know what i mean."
-Moonlight nods. "I told him to watch himself, though that was a very non-Decepticonish thing to do. But I like to go with feelings instead of my head. I find that logical thinking dulls the intuition and instinct I need to get myself out of sticky situations. But anyhow, I told him to be careful because /if/ the war ends, then everyone can start thinking differently."
-Enfilade shakes her head a little. "You know, that's a weird thought. What the frag /would/ I do if the war ended? I'm a slottin' professional soldier."
-Moonlight shrugs. "I don't know. I mean, we would still need soldiers. There are other forces in the galaxy after all that would want to take us over, I'm sure of it. But we wouldn't be fighting /each other/ anymore...except for whatever small pockets of rebellion existed."
-Enfilade hehs. "You know, maybe I could go back to my original function. Set up a cargo corporation, go galactic in scale. Trade. An' take real permanent care of any pirates or hostiles." She runs her hands over her guns.
-Moonlight glances at the gun. "Do smugglers fit in that category?" She grins.
-Enfilade laughs. "Only if you're gonna steal my stuff or shoot my people. Hm?"
-Moonlight raises her hands in mock defense. "Steal yes, shoot, /never/."
-Enfilade raises an optic ridge and says, "Ok Moonlight, here's some advice, since I like ya...how about you steal from my COMPETITION? I'll even help ya." She winks.
-Moonlight winks back. "We'll just have to survive until then."
-Enfilade nods. "Thanks, Moonlight. Fer everythin'. I appreciate it."
-Moonlight waves a hand dismissively. "Not a problem. Maybe they should move me into the moral support team or something...if we even /have/ one that is." She finishes her drink.