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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 26, 2010 7:56:21 GMT -5
Tiny island, packed full of plants. Great, the Dinobots are probably hanging out here, waiting to beat Sentinel Prime's head in. Well, he is wise to their lizard ways! If they attack, he'll just...
...okay, Sentinel Prime has no idea what he'll do when animals attack. But it'll be brilliant, he's sure.
Sentinel Prime purses his lips, and he finally asks, "So it's like Blurr's gun or Nightbeat's head? Parasitic?"
That's probably pretty telling about his thought processes or lack thereof.
He looks inside his pack and stares at the contents blankly, joking, "Uh, ma'am, I don't see Lightyear," pistons, why did all the she-bots go ga-ga over that gearhead? Lightyear's not a tenth as handsome or dashing or accomplished as Sentinel Prime is! "or any playing cards in here."
Sentinel Prime's joking, because it's a lot easier to joke and hope that Botanica will laugh back and correct him than it is to admit he has no flipping clue what she means.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 26, 2010 18:51:55 GMT -5
Botanica does laugh, a soft, musical sound, "The Nebulans aren't parasites. If anything they are now in a symbiotic relationship with their partners, a mutual sharing of power, instead of a taking resources."
She transforms back to plant mode, then moves up closer to Sentinel. She carefully reaches into his pack. "Spade," she says, touching the tool, " and rake" her hand moves to the next item. There's a soft bundle of cloth at the bottom of the pack, as well as some smaller tools that look like picks or crochet hooks."
Botanica then bends down next to the flowering vine. " I want to do as little damage as possible to surrounding foliage." Which will be tricky, given that the ground into which the plant is rooted is completely moss-covered. She places a hand on the moss, then draws a finger along it in a wide semicircle. Where her finger touches, the moss parts, creating a thin circle of exposed dirt.
From her own pack, she takes her own spade. Very carefully, she slips the tip under the moss, sliding it back and forth until a whole section starts to lift up from the ground. "Like this, " she says, indicating that Sentinel should do the same next to her.
At length she asks, "Can you see any beauty at all in the wild places, Sentinel?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 26, 2010 22:03:02 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime can't help but smile at the sound of Botanica's laugh, but her words about the Nebulans bring a frown to his face. His own little experience with Headmaster was one of the top three worst days of his life, though these days, the worst days of his life just keep piling up.
Sentinel Prime crouches down carefully next to Botanica, trying to mimic how she's holding the spade, though he's a bit clumsy with it, and he basically tries to stab the ground with the spade, like he'd stab a training dummy with his lance.
He pauses and then looks over at her. No, he doesn't. It's never been advantageous to him, and old habits are hard to break, but she won't like that answer. On the other hand, if she catches him in a lie, she won't like that, either. So Sentinel Prime replies, "Ma'am, I have no idea what I'm even looking at. Why don't you tell me what I should be seeing?"
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 28, 2010 10:25:04 GMT -5
Without pausing in her own work, Botanica uses her secondary hand on the arm closest to Sentinel to reach over and try to gently grasp the Prime by the wrist. "Gently," she warns, and if she succeeded in the grasp, she will attempt to guide Sentinel's hand in the proper way. If she isn't allowed the grasp, she will repeat her initial demonstration.
Botanica sighs. How does one explain beauty to one who does not see it? It is a futile effort, but she feels she must make the attempt.
"There is no waste here, Sentinel. Everything serves a purpose, every output is utilized by another creature. There will come a time when even this cultivated wild is truly self sustaining- at least as far as it can be when we provide its water and sun. Were this a true wild, I would let the Carnivaliene grow as it willed; however, the balance is too delicate, especially in this area of the ecosystem."
"It is still a beautiful plant, for all its parasitic nature," she continues, "The biggest complaint against the wilds that I hear is that it is not ordered, not symmetrical, that it is chaotic, but that is simply not the case." She uses one of her hands to gently lift a section of the vine closer (but not too close) to Sentinel's optics. "Notice how the main veins of each leaf, while no two are the same, still divide the leaf perfectly. Notice how each cluster is a balanced number of six leaves crowned by one flame-colored flower, how every flower- again, each unique- is still symmetrical. It is an ordered being, Sentinel."
She gently releases the plant, then returns to her section of moss. Carefully, she picks up and entire section and sets it aside.
"You spoke of powers being normal for your reality, Sentinel. My own power allows me to communicate with the green and growing things. They have voices and thoughts and feelings as we do; how they express such is quite different, but their language is no less sophisticated. I could, if I wished, control them, even use them as weapons." Unbidden, a length of the Carnivaliene extends and brushes against Botanica's cheek, "But I do not. It is not right."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 28, 2010 10:56:50 GMT -5
Sentinel doesn't look at her hand, but he does let her show him how he's supposed to do it. It's a hard effort for him to do 'gently'. He's clumsy and stompy and bull-headed by nature, but he really does want to... well, impressing Botanica is probably impossible, but at least not torque her off at him. He's had more than enough of women going off on him lately.
He admits, "I like order." That much is true.
A lot of what she's saying makes him feel rather uncomfortable, though, and he shifts a bit, fidgeting as he works. Finally, Sentinel Prime asks, "Why?"
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 29, 2010 22:59:49 GMT -5
At Sentinel's question, Botanica pauses. She turns to look at the Prime, and she can't quite keep the sadness of her face. Here is someone who is not a product of constant warfare, who was not born and bred in a warzone. Yet, he has been conditioned to regard everything in terms of military use. What use is peace, if you spend it always prepping for more war?
"Sentinel, I really- I am not sure how to answer that in a way that you would understand."
"I am not faulting you," she says, "Truly I'm not. We are all products of our environment," Botanica quirks a slight small, "Even if sometime we forget that fact in our tempers."
She drops her hands into her lap. "We have done enough harm, all of us, with our wars across the universes, and to so many people and cultures that were not our own. We have taken and taken and taken. We, as a people, have destroyed worlds."
"No being should be forced to the pleasure or use of another, Sentinel, regardless of what that being may be. Life is a sacred gift. It should not be thrown away for mean gain or petty vengeance."
Setting down the spade, Botanica takes the rake out of her own pack. It looks more like a whisk broom than a typical gardening rake, the tines close together. She begins to carefully and in small strokes brush the dirt away until the roots of the plant are revealed.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 29, 2010 23:16:26 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime can't argue with the destroyed worlds comment. He recalls that several colony planets were destroyed during the Great Wars, from his long ago history lessons. Oh teacher-bot, why did she have to be so much better to look at than his notes?
He spreads his hands and explains, "I'm just wondering where the line is. Suppose Mayday was in the hallway, working on fixing something, and then Lugnut busted into the hallway, grabbed Mayday, and dragged him in here, right now, and he was going to kill Mayday. I could toss Mayday my shield, so Lugnut couldn't crush him. I could run at Lugnut with my lance and try to distract him. But you could use that plant control power to have some plant cables grab Mayday away or have plant cables sneak into the chinks in Lugnut's armour and sever the power lines to his spark, right? Is that still wrong? Is it just that my shield and lance aren't alive? Would using my shield and lance also be wrong? Help a bot out here."
Sentinel Prime, as he said to Elita-1, is not real big on right and wrong. He's not sure how to figure them out on his own. That's why he sticks to the rules. Makes it simple, clear, and easy for him.
He sets down his spade and also reaches for his rake, not to be confused with Lightyear.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 30, 2010 23:18:14 GMT -5
The rake-broom doesn't still as Botanica replies. "Truthfully, is someone burst in here in such a manner, I would have to do very little. A threat to this environment is a threat to me, you see, and the wild would respond in a rather harsh manner if I were present. Perhaps even if I were not. It and I are more intertwined than most realize."
"To bring it back to the ethics of your question- I would do what needs doing, and not hesitate a moment. It would not be a forcing, however; the plants will never deny me permission, never tell me no if I have need of them."
She sighs and sits back, turning her head to look over at Sentinel again. "That is why I do not, Sentinel. That is why it isn't right. The green trusts me to care and to protect, and in return it sustains me. Abusing that trust by having it fight my battles is against my personal ethics." Botanica shakes her head. "Some may not see it that way. But it is how I see it."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 30, 2010 23:57:29 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime is tentative with the rake, as if he expect the roots to jump up and strangle him if he's too rough with them. Hey, with all the things she's saying, they just might!
He thinks about what he's saying, and he finally concludes, "So you have your own personal set of rules? And no one makes you follow those rules but you?"
Sentinel Prime works a bit more, accidentally hitting a rock and flinging it into his elbow. He grimaces. Why do elbow injuries always hurt so much? Stupid, stupid.
"How do you know it's right?"
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 31, 2010 14:43:04 GMT -5
Botanica frowns, not because of Sentinel's question, but because of the implications of it.
"Sentinel- setting aside the ideas you were taught about organics and war and such- what were you taught about right and wrong by your Autobots? Certainly ethics had to be a subject of consideration for someone on track to a rank like Prime."
The roots are exposed enough on this side, so Botanica shifts her focus to the vines where they are hooked into the large tree trunk.
"I'll get them to release, but I will need you to gently-very gently!- tug them away and lay them down upon the ground."
OOC: the vines will try to wrap loosely around Sentinel's hands. up to you how much and such.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Oct 31, 2010 15:41:54 GMT -5
"I was always more concerned with things that can be measured objectively, like schedules and discipline, not so much with intangibles like - oh holy motherboard of silicon!" His optics fairly pop out, and his antennae crank all the way back. Muted, buried reactions aren't no reactions, and those are vines trying to wrap around his hands, argh!
Making some truly pathetic whimpering noises, he yanks back in a futile, ineffectual manner, his whole expression like a child who has been standing at a raining bus stop for half an hour and his dog died just this morning. He's beaten and disgusted and miserable, and the only thing keeping him from running is that there's no place to run to - don't finish this round of punishment? It'll probably be twice as long, next time!
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Oct 31, 2010 23:30:00 GMT -5
"Gently!" Botanica hisses when Sentinel jerks back. The vines uncurl quickly, like water flowing off rock, before they are broken following her mental commands. They wind about Botanica's arm and waist instead, sliding behind her like a child hiding behind its mother.
"It will not hurt you Sentinel. It is a natural reaction to being moved from its tree, the clinging is, but it can't attach to metal. It cant hurt you- but you can certainly hurt it."
She sighs, "I know you are trying, and you have been doing very well. But please, I do need your help with this." She carefully unwinds the vine from around her and lays it out, the flat side up.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 1, 2010 0:06:50 GMT -5
"Says you, ma'am," Sentinel Prime grumbles sullenly when she says the vines can't hurt him. "For all you know, they could be made out of something that causes a delayed fatal reaction when it touches my paint."
The second thoughts catch up with him, and he sighs and admits, "Okay, probably not, but it could."
Then he shuts off his optical sensors and insists, "Okay, I'm ready, ma'am. Let's try this again."
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Post by Shanodin on Nov 1, 2010 23:46:25 GMT -5
Oh good, Sentinel is being reasonable.
Wait.
"Sentinel," Botanica says dryly, "You need to be able to see to do this work."
She reaches up to try and tap Sentinel on the side of his helm.
"Back on with them."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 2, 2010 9:33:18 GMT -5
It was worth a try.
His baby blues flicker back on coincident with a stifled groan.
Did she have to touch him? Oh, of course she did. Does he need to get a "Do Not Touch" bumper sticker? Bumper stickers are so trashy!
Then he tries again with this business of letting plant cables crawl all over his hands and then unwrapping them on the ground. Turns his fuel-tank, it does.
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