AUDIO;

[engrishdetective]

Deckerd's missing. He's not answering the Link or the badge.

So I'm thinking: must be that calling business.

Which means he's probably in the Badlands. Hmm?

Guess I know where I'll be for awhile.

Comments

[mccrane]

I haven't seen him, either. [He thought he was with you.]

...

Gunmax, where are you going?

Video;

[winged_knight]

[Wing hastily appears on the Link but it takes him a moment to compose an articulate response.]

WHAT!?--missing? Are you--[Of course Gunmax is sure, DUH]--when was he last seen?

[Wing shudders almost visibly. He'd heard the Calling when they'd gone to Badlands for Ashitaka. He couldn't imagine Deckerd falling to something like that...]

Are you certain it's the calling? Maybe...something else...? [Prism? How horrible that such a thing sounds better. But at least it means he's not lost.]

[engrishdetective]

Out there. The Badlands.

How bad of me! The Firstforged always insisting I stay away. Suppose I've always been so awful about following rules.

Video;

[engrishdetective]

He was in HQ last I saw, making me sit down and watch a movie with him. Then he's gone, when I wake up next.

...I don't know. Maybe it's something else. But history says it's probably one place. That's where Breakdown ended up, and that's where others have gone.

Video;

[winged_knight]

Was he scheduled for a patrol? Maybe he ran into something he couldn't handle...

[He's grasping here for anything, because anything is better than the Badlands.]

True... Do you really think he'd succumb to something like that? [Wing's brow tilts with worry. He couldn't imagine it--denial is a powerful thing--but Gunmax and the other Braves knew Deckerd far better than Wing did.]

[mccrane]

We weren't built to follow these rules...

[He wasn't even entirely sure what they were, but they weren't like laws on earth.]

[Still, he shakes his head.] Please do not go. Getting too close to the badlands was what make Breakdown disappear. [He doesn't want that to happen to you, instead.]

Video;

[engrishdetective]

If he was scheduled for a patrol, you think I'd be more focused on that.

...No. I don't. But then, I don't know much about this Calling business.

[engrishdetective]

What if Deckerd's out there?

[mccrane]

[That's too hard a question to answer. He knows he'd risk himself to save Deckerd, and he knows you would, too, but still.]

This isn't like Deckerd. If he was leaving, he would say. Which...

[Which means this is bad.]

Which means you might not be able to save him.

[engrishdetective]

You can't just decide that! I'm not turning my back on him-- I'm not losing another partner!

Video;

[winged_knight]

[He sighs.]

I'm sorry, you're right. You've probably examined all these options already, it's your job after all. I just...

[He shakes his helm, still denying it even as he speaks.]

...it's hard to imagine. I've felt it, heard it...the Calling. When I went with Ashitaka to the Badlands. [Robots don't really go pale, but if they had an equivalent it's what Wing's face looks like now.]

Video;

[engrishdetective]

...What was it like? You and the others came back. You resisted.

[mccrane]

I--

I understand.

[So that was what this was about.]

I just don't want...

[How did one decide something like this?]

I don't want to lose you, too.

[engrishdetective]

McCrane...

[He sighs, frustrated.]

What the hell am I supposed to do?

[raceme]

Hesnotanswering?

...

I will go with you.

[mccrane]

...

[He has no idea, but having no idea isn't an option. This...it's just another case, isn't it?

It's a case involving Deckerd and everything is complex but if they're going to solve it, then they have to do what they always do.]

...

[...]

Go. [It's probably what Gunmax would do, anyway.] Drive back into communications range at least once a day and check in with me, but go. I will try to find someone who can track Deckerd's last whereabouts and possible direction that he left in.

Video;

[winged_knight]

[It takes him a few moments to collect his thoughts...]

It's hard to explain. Words don't really do it justice. But you know that feeling when you're sad or depressed? Or when you've been angry for a while and are finally so wrung out there's nothing left? Heavy, listless, weighted down but empty....

But instead of inside your mind, it's all around you. Getting under your plating, worming into the cracks. Dragging, pulling at you. Like if you aren't careful it'll steal pieces of you... And maybe you wouldn't care so much...

[He runs a hand over his face.]

And there was whispering. It was near constant, in the back of my processor, when we were closest. But I fought it. Put other thoughts in my head. Focusing on it, trying to figure out the words...just made it worse. Like I was letting it in.

[He just looks sad now, his head bowed and the gold of his optics dimming as they shutter slightly.] I can't imagine Deckerd succumbing...

[engrishdetective]

All right.

McCrane, I...

[He pauses. This isn't easy for him to say.]

Thank you. I'll be careful. I won't leave you or Drill Boy.

[engrishdetective]

Well, well. How nice! I get a tagalong.

Good thing you're quick. It'll cover more ground.

Video;

[engrishdetective]

[He listens, closely. How hard that might have been. He doesn't think Deckerd would ever give up, would ever give in. Why would he?

Yuuta and Deckerd are the strongest people that Gunmax knows. If they ...]

Neither can I.

Maybe I'm just worked up and jumping to the wrong conclusions. I'm hoping I'm wrong, Wing.

voice;

[thxforthememories]

What--

[Well that's. Entirely unexpected.]

And you're going by yourself? Wing said it wasn't safe out there alone.

voice;

[engrishdetective]

You'd go out there anyway, wouldn't you? For someone else.

[He won't say who specifically. You know who.]

That's how important... this is.

[How important Deckerd is to him.]

Video;

[winged_knight]

I hope so too...

[His optics tilt sympathetically.]

That's not to say we should give up. I'll start a search pattern locally, just in case. And...whatever helps you through this, whatever you need to do, just don't do it alone okay? I'll go with you, if you want to search.

I know...if it was Drift, I wouldn't rest until I'd done everything in my power.

[mccrane]

[He only nods, quiet for a moment considering those words he isn't used to hearing but appreciates.]

If you can, take someone with you.

I'll feel better.

[He'll make sure to mop up and maybe put a pie in for when you get back and everything.]

[engrishdetective]

All right, all right. I won't go by myself.

I get it.

[You can hear the smile in his voice, at least.]

Thank you.

[Wow you're the best housewife.]