Random Date!

[Kira Knight]

Date: February 14th, 2025 // Location: some random park in Nevada // Time: 5:00 pm ((Thread is now closed))

Cira stood atop the wooden frame of a small bridge on the right side which bordered a playground on one side of the outer city limits. One leg was bent a little and higher than the other due to the bridge arching slightly across the small river. The weight of her body was put mostly into the balls of her feet for supreme balance. She had sent around a few messages to some of the guys she knew ('Bots as well), and challenged them to a three part date scenario. She may not have felt so energetic if it were in the dead middle of the summer -- Cira HATED the heat and she was amazed she could survive living in a state like this, but with lots of water and food, some how she managed all right.

The first part of the date was a Parkour run with no time limit, set to their own pace so she could test them in their stamina and agility. To her a Parkour run or good spar with someone she was curious about was like a date in a weird sort of way, you could still challenge them and you could learn about how they thought in a strategic, practical sense. It was good physical activity and a great way to let out pent up stress. She had sparred and went on Parkour runs with Talahasse and her step father all the time, and she still ran with Mike now that they were around each other more.

The second part? You guessed it. After a break, the spar at a location of their choosing would be initiated. Being in the military and having a passion for martial arts in general, Cira would undoubtedly want someone with decent martial arts skills. She saw sparring as a kind of dance, if two people got into it enough anyway.

And for the third part, the actual 'typical' date, though typical doesn't include just a fancy movie or dinner in this case. This means a casual walk with little-no showing off free running skills, perhaps find a place to rent go-karts, a theme park, arcade, etc etc. Cira felt she was already pretty flexible and very adventurous. The elements didn't bother her that much and she was tough thanks to Parkour and military training, and being an all around crazy woman (the good kind of crazy -- well, to most she seemed that way. Admittedly some did think she was downright crazy).

Cira wasn't feeling lonely per se as of late, but she felt the need to find someone to get closer to -- it never hurt if one found the right person they could trust. IF they did. Then again, maybe she did feel a little lonely since she lost her kid in an accident those seemingly long few years ago...She wanted to find someone on a similar note as her, someone that could understand and respect her. Finding someone who could also challenge her was another thing she sought, but something she saw as a bonus. Of course Cira was straight, but she didn't particularly care if the being was human or not - she was fascinated in the Cybertronians ever sine she met Jazz, and she was also interested in AI technology thanks to KITT and Interceptor.

So there she stood in thought, surveying the area. Her bangs got ruffled a little in the wind though the rest of her hair, which was tied up in a pony tail - stayed intact as a rough gust of wind hit the area. The 5'5'' tall woman was wearing black jeans, black Sketchers, and a dark blue t-shirt which fit her snugly. The custom wrist blades she always wore were visible, but no blades were apparent -- they looked like metal and leather-bound arm warmers that covered her fore arms. She would only wait so long, but she waited pretty patiently. She would change positions sometimes if she needed to, but thus far she remained standing, her arms folded. A serene look was written on her face, revealing little emotion, but hinting a lot of thought.

((*Cracks knuckles* c'mon peeps, I dare any one of ya to toss someone in! It doesn't matter who as long as they're of a male identity xD. I just thought I'd do this for the hell of it! I know Cira's compatible with Jazz, but I welcome other challengers, because nothing is planned for her as far as relationships go, n I got a truckload of muse for her.))

[Agent New York]

((*Cracks own knuckles* Challenge accepted.))

York hadn't even received Cira's text.

York didn't even have her number. He'd just happened to be hanging around Nevada, hoping that by pure chance he'd stumble across one of the other Freelancers and they could work out what the hell they were going to do next. They'd need to find as many of the others as they could, and then maybe figure out where they'd be able to stay - as their own base of sorts - and then maybe discuss the increased activity of the Cybertronians. He personally didn't have anything against them, but the others might.

It was around late afternoon, so the amount of people in the park had decreased considerably, leaving him free to wander with his suit on and helmet in his arms without receiving any strange looks. If someone did catch him by chance, he waved a hand dismissively and said he was looking for a place to practice some dirt biking. That usually satisfied any curious minds, and sent them on their way at least. Then he could get on with his way. Although why any of the others would be out here was another matter entirely.

Seeing Cira on the bridge was completely unexpected, though a small smirk did appear on his face. The quiet hum of Delta was just audible in the back of his mind; his AI partner was probably still uncertain of the new friend he had made, and probably curious about her own AI friend. KITT was certainly a mystery to them both. He casually headed up the wooden structure to see what mood she was in.

"Bit far from Arizona to be seein' you again." He commented as he neared.

[Kira Knight]

Cira couldn't help but stare as the suited man came into view. She'd been lucky to see his handsome face before, but aside from that, she was fascinated with the armor, its strength and its abilities in general. She knew they came in different colors after seeing Carolina suit up as well. She was practically envious! Of course York might assume she was staring just because she knew what he looked like regardless of the fact his helmet was off, but with Cira, it was more than that, that was for sure. If one studied the path of Cira's sight, one could tell she was studying more than just his face - she was eying the thick sandy armored plating as the evening light ricocheted off some of the shinier parts of the armor. She couldn't help it, she liked her technology, yes she did. That's what happened when you were around advanced artificially intelligent vehicles. One got spoiled, and they saw the world completely differently. That fact aside, she still probably would have been staring at the armor even if she didn't work with FLAG.

She didn't move from her position on the rail as he approached, but she glanced at him with a sidelong glance. Well, she certainly hadn't sent HIM a text. She had known better than that, she knew he was busy trying to track down the rest of his team and that required a lot of mobilization.

"Well Nevada is mah home technically." Cira shifted into a crouch, both her knees tucked up on the rail and she held onto it with her hands. "Not my ideal home, too damn hot, but it works." she pushed off the railing then, moving straight outward like a horizontal spring, and turned to face him directly after landing. "I was just about to challenge a random "victim" among my friends to a three part date challenge. Wasn't really expecting you to be in the vicinity, that's fer sure." she smirked, unable to help but reveal how oddly coincidental his timing was. If he seemed to have some time for the challenge...why not offer?

"How's the search going?" she asked instead for the moment.

[Agent New York]

York chuckled softly at the comment of the heat. "Imagine my point of view. I can't take this thing off without the possibility of someone identifyin' who's under the suit." He told her. He then shrugged lightly as he came up to lean on the wooden railing of the bridge next to Cira. "I get around places with the Warthog. Well, I need to if I'm gonna find any of my conrades." He answered, before sighing softly at her next question. "No sign of any of them yet. Although I wouldn't really expect it to be easy. They ain't like that." He admitted, glancing away. It was going to take a while to find any of them, he knew.

But he hadn't heard anything. Not even Delta had been able to pick anything up, even from Maine, who was literally a walking AI host. {"We cannot expect to find them straight away, York. It will take some time, but eventually we will."} The AI assured his partner, and the Freelancer hummed inside his head in agreement.

[Kira Knight]

((this post refers to Dark Matters a little, regarding stuff that I will have Cira or someone mention to York at a later time when he and Carolina are getting ready to leave.))

Cira tilted her head thoughtfully a little before using her arms to pull herself up onto the rail and sit on it rather than stand. She had not fully considered the downside of the Suit in extreme weather because she had been marveling over how useful it must be. "Hah, yeah good point about the Suit, I shouldn't be complaining. Guess it's good they're playing hard to get, especially with the recently learned Decepticon threat." of course, Cira still didn't know about MECH, nor did she know that some of the Freelancers had been recruited by MECH while others like York weren't. "I'm surprised you haven't found the one with white armor and weird weapon, he was the one that got our attention initially, he attacked one of my friends earlier that same day Carolina showed up and all. That was like, my second full day at the base too. From what I heard from Danny and Ratchet, that dude doesn't sound like the kind you wanna find but that's just my opinion." she shook her head a bit then. "Guess I'm glad that same person hasn't tried to attack the base since. Gonna have to keep my eyes peeled and scanners alert whenever I'm out and about."

A rather large tree was near the bridge, just with in York's reach of his left arm. Eying the tree, she decided that since she was here to have fun and cure boredom on "Single Awareness Day", she decided it was time to get off the bridge whether or not York had time to take on her 3 part challenge once she offered. She shifted her feet onto the thick wooden railing again and made a diagonal precision leap straight for the tree and one of the low hanging branches that was high enough she'd be looking upside down at the armored man from about two feet up. Hopefully the branch wouldn't snap, it looked pretty sturdy. She grabbed onto the mid point as she propelled herself up with her feet, and then wrapped her ankles around the branch. The branch wobbled a bit but it was holding, thankfully. That would be embarrassing if it broke and she fell into the mini man made stream below. "Oh yah, happy Valentine's Day, or eh, "Single Awareness Day", as some like ta call it. You up fer that 3 part challenge? I know ya already got various obligations though." She asked with an upside down smirk. If he raised questions as to what exactly the 3 part challenge was, she'd explain without wasting time. Why not add some twists to the typical Valentine date. It didn't matter if you were considering long term or short term relationships, having fun was important to Cira, and she wanted to get to know people better. Cira didn't have a desperate need for relationships, but they were certainly nice, and she wanted to get to know some of her newer friends better. It was a bonus for York that she was particularly curious about HIM, but she had a her own suspicions about him and Carolina. That wouldn't stop her really, but if he declined, whether he gave reasons or not, she would understand and continue on with her day. It would be certainly fun to run and spar with someone new for a change, never minding the more 'typical' aspects of the date that would follow after challenges number one and two.

[Agent New York]

"Oh man, you met Maine?" York laughed, shaking his head. At least one of his previous comrades was running around causing enough havoc to catch some attention. Maybe he could try and find the dude sometime, if he was willing to go on a road trip, anyway. Maine might prefer his solo time. Probably better to come back when he'd found other Freelancers. He then paused slightly, glancing away. "Yeah, you don't wanna mess with that dude unless you know him and he knows you. And Carolina... heh, sounds like you've been busy lately. You wouldn't know where Carolina went, would ya?"

The three part challenge sounded interesting at least. Something unusual for Valentine's Day. Or Single Awareness Day, as she put it. That got another chuckle out of him. He'd never been too interested in the holiday; it wasn't like the Freelancers had any time for it. He couldn't actually remember a decent Christmas, either, which sucked now that he thought about it. Still, there was the question to answer. "That depends on what this challenge is. I don't think I should stay too long, just in case anyone... suspicious pops up. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble 'cause of me."

[Kira Knight]

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen any Freelancers since, though we have some of the simulation troopers at the base now. I'll find some way to let you know if I do though. I just hope we don't run into Maine again." Cira shrugged a little, still holding her position on the tree like the monkey she was. "Well, part one: sparring match. Part two: Parkour challenge. Part 3: random date, i.e., whatever sparks yer interest. I'm just out to have some fun, gotta kick back now and then." she smiled a little deviously then. "Ain't nothing like a good spar or run with someone."

[Agent New York]

Simulation troopers? That was a new one. York hadn't seen any of those in a good long time. How had they managed to get away from the BWC? On second thought, that was probably a question for another time. He was disappointed that Cira hadn't seen any other Freelancers, and that she didn't know where Carolina was either, but he knew it wasn't her fault. Maine was scary enough that you could pretty much forget about anything, especially with his new love of AIs. He needed to keep Delta away from that guy.

He listened quietly as the woman before him explained the three part challenge. The sparring match might end up being unfair on Cira unless he took his suit off, and then they'd need a VERY secluded area. Hopefully she'd understand if Delta was his eye, too. The Parkour challenge sounded fun, but again, he may need to take his suit off. Eh, it didn't look like there'd be too many people out here. Certainly not some money craving mercs looking for folk in suits. The third part could be anything, which made him curious. "That sounds like a decent plan you've got there. I'd be happy to come along if you aren't waitin' on someone specific." He replied.

[Kira Knight]

"Nope, it's a first come, first serve sorta thing. So it seems yer it." Cira grinned. She swung a little to get on top of the branch again before hopping down onto the angled railing again, using all fours to maintain her balance to not fall forward or backwards. The small but agile woman hopped off not a moment too soon and booked it to the left down the little bridge, towards the park. "Game on!"

She was really curious to see just HOW good these Freelancers were, at least she could find out now-by pure chance too!

For such a small woman of 5'5'', she was VERY quick. It didn't take her long to reach a random trash can along the sidewalk a few meters up ahead and vault over it before continuing towards a slide. She ran up it, used the top cover of it to slide through the hole, landed a short ways, pivoted, then turned towards a fireman's pole. Backing up to one side of the top of the slide where kids would approach to go down, she sprinted forward, latched her hands onto the pole, swung off it with an intense swing and propelled herself into a backflip before landing right on a cement boundary of the wood-chip base the park was placed in. She balanced by the front half of her feet, then turned back the way she'd been running to see where York was at relative to where she'd been. Her heart was racing, and she was just getting warmed up!

[Agent New York]

York couldn't help but smirk at the challenging tone of Cira as she darted off. He let her have a few seconds of a head-start so he could place his helmet back over his head. There was hardly anyone around at this point, so he wouldn't get any bewildered looks. Now he had full use of his limbs. He then darted forward, heading along the same route as Cira, but instead of vaulting over the trash can, he jumped up and tucked his arms and legs to his chest, allowing himself to front flip over before he landed and carried on.

Now for the slide. He leaped up again, this time using the momentum to slide over the very top of the slide and through the small tunnel that led to the fireman's pole. His legs almost instantly wrapped around it, his hands gripping the metal as he twirled whilst he slid down it, before pushing himself off to land neatly next to Cira. His smirk had turned into an energetic grin, though it was covered up by his helmet, but his head tilted to look at her as the sure sign of 'where to next, boss?'.

[Kira Knight]

Cira pivoted and hopped off the little boundary to their right, moving towards a merri-go-round off the far left corner of the playground across from a set of swings and classic monkey bars. Ran for the currently still merri-go-round and ran towards the middle, moving between the bars. Doing a single leaping forward flip off the other side, she shifted back into a sprint and steered herself towards the monkey bars. Vaulting over the series of bars you would normally climb over to get up, she moved to the middle and leaped up to grab hold of the bar almost in the dead middle. Swinging once, when she began to swing forward, she carefully but rather smoothly flipped herself into a sitting position on the bar like a gymnast migh before planting the balls of her feet on the bar with her to balance herself into a more ready-to-move position.

She didn't stay there long. Cira steadily stood into a standing position, wobbling only ever so slightly before performing a precision leap not one bar down, but a bar just shy of the other end of the set. Cira steadied herself in the same crouch as before before pushing herself off to the left into a mid-air cartwheel of sorts to land on the ground. Knowing that York wasn't far behind, she kept up her speed and moved to the end of the park leading back to the parking lot. Though she had nearly missed seeing York perform a flip off the traschcan thanks to her peripherals, she knew he was keeping up, and that would keep propelling her legs forward.

At this point, she could ditch the little playground all together, and go for the more challenging things, such as parking lots, parking garages, various buildings, fences, etc etc.

For the moment, this was like any run she did with Mike or perhaps Danny and Jade, but a new person to compete with certainly spiced things up. She had to be clever and show off, but not to the point she risked hurting herself. So far, she wasn't doing anything absolutely suicide to her, but she'd certainly have to see how long that lasted.

Going for the bike racks, she leaped over the arch of one of them into a one handed freeze, flipping herself over backwards afterwords. It was a move breakdancers did frequently, and sometimes skateboarders had similar tricks when working on rails. Cira was no skateboarder, but she certainly knew a good bit of breakdancing. Of course, this was no dance, that could potentially be saved for later with sparring. Cira then moved towards the parked cars, scanning for any fellow humans approaching their vehicles or signs of them leaving the park before vaulting over the Impala and Subaru, the only two cars actually present in the lot for this little park. One vault was one with one hand, the other two - which applied a move called the Kong (see 0:39 to 43 in this vid)

((**the link is a vid of Cira's Parkour hero ^^. This guy is DA BOMB. I model her strengths after his.

Nother vid you might wanna watch; Damien Walters for a little extra inspiration, i got a good idea for a move from this >D. It's difficult though oO, Not something I might use for a human. This guy, never heard of him before, but he's a new role model for Cira. Holy crapola, this guy is good!

One more! look at what he does with his hat!))

[Agent New York]

York followed suit, using the same route that Cira had but with some different moves so that he wasn't copying her or anything. He had his own style of movement, anyway. Heading to the merri-go-round, he suddenly jumped, kicking off the metal with his left foot and flipping through the air, landing and heading for the monkey bars. Instead of vaulting the bars used to get up, he used them as a sort of springboard, grabbing the first bar and using the momentum to literally do a half cartwheel up to the top of the bars. He ran straight over the long bar that held the others, before jumping and landing, rolling with the impact.

He tracked her through the parking lot, doing hurdle jumps over the bike arcs and right hand side vaulting the Impala, but he wanted to try something. As he vaulted, he grabbed his helmet and pulled it off, gently tossing it onto the hood of the Subaru before him. It landed upside down, the visor facing towards him. Once he had landed, he then jumped, doing a front roll onto the hood and allowing the helmet to slip back onto his head before he came up straight again and jogged after Cira. This was getting fun.

[Kira Knight]

Cira glanced back just in time to see York complete this move. She laughed, nearly losing her balance as she picked up her speed, and almost tripped over a crack in the sidewalk were it not for her cat-like reflexes which forced her into a random hand-spring. "Hahaha-Woop!" she shouted in surprise as she felt herself lurch forward from the crack. Shaking her head a little bit and exhaling, she continued on with hype as though it hadn't happened.

She picked up speed, gaining even more distance between them. Her body was low to streamline the relative wind rushing against her, and her knees were bent. Cira was a well practiced sprinter, and she expressed her need for speed pretty well.

After moving down the sidewalk a good bit, she started scanning the nearby infrastructure for possible things to climb up. As she was doing so, Cira pivoted to the right down a block and vaulted one handedly over a fire hydrant. She ran along the wall and pivoted on it with her hands, doing a cartwheel of sorts on the wall before continuing on. Farther down the alley was a large green city dumpster, and spotting it, she ran for one side of the top and made a long precision leap for one edge of the large container. Pulling up and pushing herself off it with her feet, she cleared the closed top then flipped off of it to move farther down the alley towards another intersection which would lead her to bigger buildings and apartments.

(We can just have fun with this for a while before moving on to the next 'challenge' ^^.)

[Agent New York]

York ended up laughing at her almost trip, and had to admit he was impressed at how she had managed to pull through without falling over. He knew that some of the others would probably argue, but in his mind, she might have made a fairly decent Freelancer. Too bad there was nothing left for her to join. He made sure to keep sprinting so that he kept just a few meters behind her. He definitely hadn't had this much fun in a while. Maybe he could organize something when he found more of the other Freelancers.

He too pivoted right, planting his right foot on the fire hydrant to propel himself to the wall, running along it before jumping off again, doing a front flip as he did so. The dumpster was also spotted, and as soon as he was close enough, he jumped, tucking in his legs and then extending them again to slide across the closed lid on his side before landing back on the ground again and continuing. It would be interesting to see how much further Cira would go; whether she would go for more obstacles, mazes of alleys, or even take this to the rooftops.

[Kira Knight]

Cira was in fact, scanning for good buildings to climb up on. She'd rather start out small and work her way up if she could. She also wanted to find a parking garage before the run ended. She crossed the street and leaped over a parked SUV's hood with a one handed front flip over it. Pivoting, she moved down the sidewalk and bolted onward, moving out into a larger intersection a couple blocks down and made a running pass onto a fence belonging to a small rather cookie-cutter style condo that led to a chain of them in the vicinity, though some were more than two stories. Running along the roofs, she jumped between the gaps with ease, landing softly in most cases as she started to look for even greater challenges.

Of course, she wouldn't stop York from taking the lead if he so wished, neither of them had an assigned role in this little run. It was not a competition per se but it still tested their abilities and endurance.

Buildings being in the way didn't really phase Cira unless there was something tall enough that she couldn't reach with out a running start and/or a long leap. Around these parts, there were very few places. The more dense parts of the city were always a challenge however, especially for her size. Big apartments tended to be tough to climb up without proper leverage, and scaling the outside of a sky scraper or just a building that was more than 3 stories was generally more difficult even for a Parkour Master. Ultimately though, there were still many ways for them to get around efficiently especially with smaller buildings.

{"New idea! There's a mall somewhere nearby, I must find it!"} Cira thought after crossing a few of the condos and small houses. She cut to the left and leaped onto the balcony of a much larger house in an intersecting neighborhood. Leaping over one end of the balcony with a vault to initiate another change in direction, she grabbed onto an edge a fairly large one story house next to it with a rather long and flat roof, that was a bit higher than the balcony. She swung herself up and over with upper body power and swinging her legs up it to one side before re-accelerating.

Once they got there, this would be no ordinary mall trip.