Scream of Solitude

Others Like Me

Over the course of the next week, Starscream was slowly beginning to adapt to his new life in solitude away from the war. In the horizon, the flashes of gunfire and explosions continued in the far-off city, all while he searched through the city ruins for other items to keep himself busy with. Every day he went to the osmium forest to drink Energon, every day encountering a few mechanimals. Other than petro-rabbits and lilleths, he also saw dexi-squirrels, cyber-ducks and robotopossoms, as well as a single porcineacon once. He had been very still and tried to avoid eye contact when that one had appeared, as porcineacons were easily provoked, but like the other mechanimals, the boar disappeared as soon as it had taken its fill of Energon.

More often than not, Starscream also saw the small turbofox family make an appearance, mostly the lone parent, but after the first few encounters, it started to bring its kits along as well. The first few encounters, the turbofox had been wary and cautious of Starscream, but as their meetings became more frequent, it seemed to relax a bit more by his presence, as it learned he didn't intend to harm any of them. Starscream would always observe the turbofoxes whenever they appeared, especially as it appeared with its kits.

Starscream had quickly learned that as long as he let the mechanimals be, they would mostly leave him alone as well. He was glad to not have to get into a fight with every living thing he met, not to mention being able to consume Energon with other living beings without conflicts arising. The smaller, herbivorous mechanimals would sometimes drink from the river together side by side, but whenever the turbofoxes appeared, they and Starscream were the only present to drink. It seemed these predators were feared by other species as well, and rightfully so, considering what Starscream had seen of the hunting turbofox killing a petro-rabbit so easily.

This turbofox wasn't interested in getting into a fight with Starscream, having three kits to support and everything. Starscream, in turn, was even less interested in fighting not one, but four turbofoxes, even if three of them were youngsters. It was a strange truce they had at the river, a sort of harmonic place, a sanctuary where there was no fighting, but Energon for everyone. Kind of like Maccadam's, except without the host.

When he wasn't consuming Energon, Starscream was harvesting metalo-fruits and searching for meshetables. The day after finding the platinum-pear tree, he managed to find another forest in which there were tungsten-beets and, surprise, surprise, a cluster of titanimato plants wrapped around some of the tree trunks. He decided to pluck those as well as taking the beets. As he had expected, he didn't find either very tasteful, but they were edible nonetheless, so he decided to take them anyway and check later if he could do anything about the taste. Maybe eat them together with the platinum-pears, who knew, maybe it would improve the overall taste of them.

Despite his dislike for the meshetables, they worked the way they were supposed to; within a week's time of consuming Energon, metalo-fruits and meshetables, the wounds gained from his battle with the Insecticon were almost completely gone, all that was left were three white superficial lines across his chest.

When he wasn't harvesting metalo-fruits and meshetables, Starscream was exploring Cybertron and its various forests and other natural environments. He knew the natural world of Cybertron was decreasing, but he was surprised just how few forests he found while circling the globe. While steering clear of the cities at war, he could count about a dozen or so forests in total, most of them small. He saw a few deserts and plenty of wastelands, but what he saw most of were ruins of cities, as well as a few intact ones clear of the war. Other than that, there were only the Sea of Rust, the Mithril Sea and the Argon Sea, and there wasn't much life in those areas. The war wasn't just taking a toll on the Cybertronians, it was also deeply affecting the eco-system.

Then again, the nature of Cybertron had already been threatened before the war even started, considering how much forest and jungle had been cleared to make way for new cities and to expand cities already existing. Many species of mechanimals and metalo-plants had gone extinct because of it, and even more were endangered now. Even turbofoxes were starting to thin out, despite their vicious nature and incredible speed.