lostcarnival | Caw-Caw

Who: Starscream and YOU
What: Shistscram is freed from one kind of bird jail, but is still just as trapped as ever in the other. Er. He's out of his cage, but he's still trapped inside a tiny feathery body.
Where: Here, there and everywhere around the carnival grounds.
When: After the Matrix
Warnings: Nothing worse than a Rude Nasty Bird.

First the Ringmaster turns him into a crow, then he gets shoved into solitary for an extended period of time. Truly, the cruelty of the tyrants that run this place knows no bounds.
At least, that’s how Starscream sees it. Anyone sensible who actually has the full story would unanimously agree that he deserved it for being a wad, but, Starscream isn’t a Cybertronian known for taking responsibility for his actions.

Regardless, he’s back now. Free, in a sense… or as free as he can get when he’s bound to the carnival grounds. As soon as he’d been turned loose from the Ringmaster’s tent he’d taken wing and flown as high as he could get, circling several times around the carnival grounds before settling atop the peak of the Big Top. He’s been out of action for a while… the first thing he should probably do is get the lay of the land.

A. Somebody’s watching you…

Relative newcomers to the carnival scene may find themselves suffering under the uncanny sense that they’re being watched. That feeling can be traced back to a singular source: A large, black and grey crow that has been skulking around the fairgrounds, watching workers and guests alike with its beady little eyes. It doesn’t seem to be particularly malevolent, nor does it seem to want anything. It’s just watching you, far more closely than any regular crow should be. In fact there’s something unsettlingly intelligent about its gaze, even by corvid standards. Like it knows and understands far more than it should, or that maybe it’s capable of speaking to you, and just hasn’t spoken up yet.

Wherever you are, if Starscream doesn’t recognize you, he’s going to be watching you. Trying to size you up, and figure out if you’re the type of person who might be useful to know…

Bad Blood (closed to Veterans)

Likewise, veterans of the carnival who have been around since before the vampires attacked may also get that same feeling of being watched, but Starscream is being far more furtive about it with you. In some cases, depending on past interactions, he may even be avoiding you, cawing and flying away at first eye contact.

Basically this is a sort of vague prompt for establishing old CR and playing out reactions to seeing a known traitor and troublemaker out and about on the grounds once more. Starscream used to work as a scout before he hecked up and got a one-way ticket to crow town, so veterans from that area will likely know him as a former 30 ft. tall robot with a nasty attitude. He’s kind of a negative CR machine. Message me at

awkwardpossum if you want to set up anything concrete for this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Indeed, Starscream has written Greg off as being of little use to him, by this point. He had just been gearing up to take off and direct his attention elsewhere in the carnival, when the human actually addresses him, pulling him back.

Is that... food...?

The crow cocks its head, sizing up the offering. Gone are the days of consuming nothing but Energon; Starscream actually has to eat on a regular basis now, much to his chagrin, and that chip is far more tempting than he'd like to admit.

"...Whatever that is, it doesn't exactly seem like the sort of substance that one can partake in very easily when one is in possession of a beak," he says aloud suddenly, eyes narrowed.

In turn, Greg's head tilts ever so slightly. Maybe he's spent too much around seagulls, but he thought beaks were pretty well suited for anything. Maybe it's different for crows. Or maybe just talking crows?

He looks at the offered snack in his hand a moment, before crunching it in his fist. He holds out the handful of crumbs.

"That better?"

The crow hops back a step in surprise when that crunch happens; what kind of devilry is this!?!

Then another two hops forward. He's still squinting at the contents of Greg's hand with suspicion, and seems to swell with indignation at the sight of those crumbs as his feathers all puff up. "You clumsy oaf, what good is it to me now that you've gone and shattered it!?" Starscream squawks, red eyes flashing.

Yikes. Way different from seagulls, then. Greg pulls his hand back again, looking at the mess of crumbs, before dropping the crushed mess into his mouth.

"Still seems good to me."

He offers Starscream an apologetic smile as he wipes his hand off on his shirt.

"Guess it's an acquired taste. Sorry about that."

"Human food is an acquired taste in general, as far as I'm concerned," growls the Decepticon. "And I refuse to eat out of human hands on mere principle. The very idea makes me want to fry my own circuits beyond repair, I'd rather ingest things straight off of the ground."

Greg briefly considers offering him food on a plate or something, if that's better, but it's probably better to cut his losses by now. He spreads his hands. "Not from a race of eaters. I gotcha. I know a few who like to chow down just for the novelty of it."

"I can't even begin to comprehend wanting to do such an inane thing for fun," Starscream says flatly. If he still had hands, he'd be examining his claws in a bored manner.

"But enough chatter... just who are you, anyway?" The crow stalks around Greg in a circle, eyeing him up in an almost predatory sort of way. "I don't recall ever having seen your face around here before... So you must be new."

Ahh. This almost feels nostalgic. Greg shrugs it off with a smile. "Maybe it's an Earth thing. We love our inanities." He does, anyway.

"Name's Greg Universe. I'm on for doing the lighting and show effects, joined up a couple months ago. You been off on business?"

Lighting and show effects. How unimpressive.

Starscream lets out a bark of bitter laughter at the question. "I suppose you could say that... if you consider being punished by the Ringmaster to be 'business', at any rate."

You haven't seen his light shows, man.

He pales a little at that comment. "Ah... I'm sorry." He looks away shamefaced, focusing on his work again. "I know she's... not a person to cross."

"No, she certainly isn't," Starscream agrees, still watching Greg with sharp little eyes. Maybe he can grab a chip from that bag for himself, while the human is preoccupied...

Caw-Caw

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