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Post by Rodimus Prime on Dec 21, 2011 21:46:36 GMT -5
OOC: Month 6, Week 2, Day 1. Open thread, though each Faction would be in their own shuttle. If this thread gets particularly large, we'll see about logically splitting it apart. Seaspinner mentioned with permission.
Rodimus Prime frowns towards the sensors as he pilots the Autobot shuttle towards their underwater destination. Sure, the thing's been adapted for this environment, but sound moves through liquid differently than light travels through air, making interpreting the readings almost as much art as science. Since he's steering the thing, he's really got no time to focus on anything more than what's immediately ahead, though the one working that position might be able to provide something more useful.
And if not... well, that's what the scout is for.
"Seaspinner, anything interesting out there yet? We should be getting close by now."
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Dec 23, 2011 11:25:40 GMT -5
Seaspinner swims merrily ahead of the shuttle, spider legs curled tight around her abdomen to help reduce drag. She keeps a keen eye and nose out for their destination or any other surprises, while resisting the urge to chase after some of those adorable yet incredibly tasty-smelling fish...
Water rushes through her nares, minute particles stimulating olfactory sensors, and she swishes around to stare straight ahead, distracted from eyeballing a particularly juicy-looking school of fish. In the murky distance of the ocean she spies sharks.
//Just some of the locals as yet, Sir Rodimus. Though we may be getting a visit from some of the larger ones momentarily.//
After a moment she clarifies, //Not as large as I hear whales are, of course. Or whale sharks, though I do mean a different sort of large shark. Terribly sorry for being vague, that's not a very good trait for a scout, is it?//
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Post by Arcee (TFP) on Dec 24, 2011 14:35:51 GMT -5
Arcee can't help a scoff, though it's good-natured. Mostly. "Yeah, generally specifics are a lot better," she quips, adjusting a bit in her chair as she looks over the radar and other sensors. She'd honestly prefer to be the one scouting, but she's not built for underwater travel, unfortunately.
"Sonar's showing a big base up a head, and someone left the lights on. Looks American from the readings...."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Dec 26, 2011 19:31:52 GMT -5
OOC: Posting to keep the thread moving. Do not view this as a participation cut-off - there can be Autobots/Maximals in the shuttle who haven't spoken up yet, and there can still be a Decepticon shuttle arriving a bit later.
"Good, then we're at the right place," Rodimus answers cheerfully as he steers towards it. "Keep an optic out for anything that looks like a docking stat- aah!" The Boy Prime removes one hand from the controls to touch it to his forehead. He shakes his head, fighting off the sudden feelings of dread. "What the blazes is that?!" he demands, directing his question both to the scout and the scout who's not scouting and is instead working the sonar station.
As it turns out, those sharks Seaspinner detected, and there are rather a lot of them, are telepathic sharks, radiating feelings of dread and fear to confuse their pray. (And why would telepathic shark powers work on giant robots? Rapture's does, so why not?)
The sharks themselves swarm closer, aware that there is new life down here because they can sense it, unaware that that life is largely not-so-delicious metal.
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Dec 28, 2011 18:53:40 GMT -5
//O-oh dear,// Seaspinner says as inexplicable fear clouds her mind, stopping short. //I'm n-not- oh.//
She immediately begins to sink, but thankfully doesn't need to swim to avoid suffocating. However, she quickly charges back upwards and toward the nearest shark in a panicked attack, spider fangs poised and her jaws open wide.
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Post by Arcee (TFP) on Dec 29, 2011 8:08:13 GMT -5
Arcee visibly winces about the same time Rodimus touches his head, but she sets her jaw quickly - she's got a bit of practice at toughing her way through fear. "Nothing's showing up on scanners, but I'm guessing you both just felt the same thing that I did--"
Her optics focus suddenly on the monitor, however, and the signature moving at high speed. "Seaspinner, where're you going?!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Dec 29, 2011 22:30:00 GMT -5
"Some sort of psychic attack," Rodimus says over both voice and radio as he fights away the feelings of dread for himself. Then his optics open wide at Arcee's cry of alarm, and he snaps his head over to try and see what she's looking at. "What?! No! Seaspinner, disengage!" The last thing they need is blood in the water, not with this many sharks in the water!
"Arcee, try and identify some sort of docking port! We need to get on that station, and get Seaspinner away from those sharks!" Maximal armor always seems uncomfortably weak to Rodimus, but beyond that, Rodimus would rather avoid hurting the /sharks/ if he can, too. After all, this is their home!
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Jan 2, 2012 0:49:13 GMT -5
Seaspinner jerks to a halt, thrashing her head from side to side to try and clear her head, her teammates' calls breaking through her primal panic.
//Wh-what? What was I- Oh my, oh dear.//
She still really wants to go bite the nearest shark. She really does. And what a terrible, horrible person she feels like for wanting to do so.
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Post by Arcee (TFP) on Jan 3, 2012 21:41:14 GMT -5
Arcee hunches over the radar, grinding her teeth a bit - it was a pain in the skidplate to try and make sense of these things normally - the stress of all this wasn't making it any better. Remind her that if Ratchet shows up to give him slightly less of a hard time for being able to do this stuff quickly.
"Uh...To the left just a bit. Looks like it's about a half-mile ahead!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jan 4, 2012 22:20:16 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Starscream due to time out.
"Got it," Rodimus answers, steering the shuttle according to directions. The farther they get from the sharks, the weaker the feelings get, and the shuttle, at least, is quite a bit faster than they are. Still, it may be hard to fully escape those feelings of dread while in the area. He makes sure Seaspinner has the directions to the docking bay/airlock, a room just large enough for the Autobot shuttle (making it huge by human standards), currently open to the ocean, with an airtight inner door that's currently closed, and an outer door that closes when the subs it's designed for docks (before the room itself is drained).
Rodimus carefully pilots the Autobot shuttle towards the room, then sets about docking, leaving room in the tiny bay for Seaspinner. It takes a few moments for Rodimus to figure out the radio code to shut the outer door, but he manages it. "What'd'you know?" he observes. "Still works!"
After a few moments, however, he frowns. "But the inner one doesn't. Well, better to flood them with what's in here than the whole ocean, but this might make leaving tricky! We'll worry about that when it comes." He stands up and turns to Arcee. "Hope you can handle a short bath!" he observes cheerfully as he... opens the shuttle bay door and holds tight onto the entry-hatch edges. The water rushes in in a torrent, quickly filling the shuttle - they did have everything properly secured where it belongs, right? He waits out the torrent, waits until the pressure inside the shuttle is the same outside, and then walks out into the flooded docking bay.
Because of the water in the shuttle, the very top of his head is now above the liquid level. He approaches the inner hatch, then glances back at the others.
All right. Be ready.
Then he punches his way through the hatch, releasing the water and opening the way into the base beyond.
OOC: Seaspinner being in the bay mentioned with permission. Others are free to make up details for this Sector Seven lab - you guys have already been given a good idea on some of the sort of weirdness that's going on.
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Jan 6, 2012 21:54:55 GMT -5
Seaspinner scuttles sheepishly up behind Rodimus, partly transformed because when she's in robot mode she doesn't feel quite so swayed by her beastly urges. Head bowed and hands clasped in front of her, she braces herself on her four untransformed spider legs as the water washes past, exposing her to the air.
She's feeling too dreadfully ashamed to say much of anything, or be quite as ready as Rodimus would likely want. However, she does utter a soft, "Goodness," at the glowing organisms growing on the walls. They're really quite pretty! She also squeaks in surprise as a large school of shrimp takes off suddenly from the coral-like growths, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that they're swimming several feet above the water that just rushed into the hall.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jan 11, 2012 19:28:44 GMT -5
OOC: Skiipping Arcee due to timeout.Rodimus grabs onto the sides of the hatch, holding himself in place as the water rushes past him. He waits until the water calms, then works on tearing the hatch the rest of the way open so that everyone can get through. He hesitates, however, as the shrimp swim past through the air and stares as they fly by. "So is this where I say something about things getting curiouser and curiouser and start looking for food with instruction labels?" he jokes as he steps into the hallways, looking around. There's some sort of growth on the walls, even in here, where there hadn't been water. It glows softly, making up for the lack of electrical lighting. Rodimus frowns at the scale, finding he has to crawl to get through, which really only enhances the Wonderland feel. As he crawls along, one arm scrapes against the wall. Unknown to him, the coral-like growth he brushed against has just duplicated his strength, but given that it's immobile, it's unlikely that anyone will ever know. OOC: Timeskip to further along in the exploration. If neither of you guys take up after the jump on your posts, I'll go ahead and do it on mine, but you can feel free to add in any bits that seem interesting along the lines that we've already seen, or even toss in potential trouble.
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Jan 13, 2012 21:49:32 GMT -5
Seaspinner follows after Rodimus, fitting much better inside the hallway than the Prime. Though really, she'd much prefer to be in front, because... well... She politely averts her gaze from Rodimus's backside as best she can, but it's very large and right in front of her, making it difficult to both look where she's going and not see it. Oh dear. She'll just pay attention to the pattern of the strange glowing growth on the wall, why doesn't she?
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jan 14, 2012 22:18:34 GMT -5
Rodimus does have a fine backside, so he could completely understand someone having difficulty averting their gaze from it. He leads the way further and further into the strange base, occasionally distracted by the stranger sea-life that's made its way in. Every now and again, the ceilings are high enough to let Rodimus stand, often along transport hallways, but usually he must crawl, or at least duck. Eventually, though, they approach what seems to be more or less the center of the base. It's a large room with an unusually high ceiling for a human structure. Rodimus pulls himself in and stands up, optics bright in the dark room. He trips over a seahorse that somehow rushes across the dry floor... before suddenly turning into a squid. He manages to keep from falling and instead just stumbles a bit before staring at the thing, then he pinches his nose and heaves a sigh, muttering, "I think I'm starting to see why the humans pulled out of this place." He turns back towards the center of the room. It's difficult to see, even with the glowing corals, but there's something recessed in the center that seems to glow. Rodimus's optics grow brighter, flaring briefly a bright blue, and his mouth opens faintly. "This is... this..." he rubs his forehead, gaze dropping towards the floor. "They were prodding at something beyond their understandings," he says softly, tone... changed. OOC: In the center of the room, in a recessed pit surrounded by safety rails, is something resembling the 'well' in the bottom panel here: i22.photobucket.com/albums/b347/ContraryShinigami/Random/Mecha/019.jpg
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Post by Seaspinner/Susannah Webber on Jan 16, 2012 19:15:00 GMT -5
"Oh look," Seaspinner says, staring at the seahorse-turned-octopus, "An organic Transformers!" For all that Rodimus seems bothered by it, she thinks it's positively delightful! And tasty-looking. Oh dear.
The thing in the center of the room isn't nearly so delightful. Just... strange. "My word," she says, tone hushed as though speaking too loudly might cause something horrible to happen. "Do you know what that is?|
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