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Post by Swerve on Jul 29, 2009 15:35:54 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Slingshot due to timeout.
Swerve glances aside to the living Kup only for a moment. He doesn't trust Slingshot to not lunge when he isn't looking. He doesn't really trust Slingshot to not lunge even when he is looking, but taking advantage of a distraction is what he expects.
"This prancing scrapheap got a spanner up his thruster nozzle over somethin'!" he barks, keeping both fists up so he has his pipes guarding his midsection.
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Post by Kup on Jul 29, 2009 22:59:00 GMT -5
"Of all the gear-crackin', turbo-guzzlin', axle-splittin'-" Kup starts up, then cuts himself off with an angry wave. He gestures at the dead Kup.
"There I am lyin' dead on the floor, and you're over there brawling! What are you, a couple of fresh-"
Then Kup remembers just how old Slingshot is.
He rubs the back of his head. "Oh. Uhm... never mind."
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Post by Slingshot on Jul 31, 2009 17:57:52 GMT -5
Slingshot's optic-band flares and his scowl gets even uglier. Great, not only could he not pound this disrespectful dipstick, but Kup thought he was being a young idiot.
Silverbolt would probably recognize the way mortification is feeding Slingshot's anger. Fireflight definitely would. Neither Fireflight nor Silverbolt, however, is here.
"Fine!" He snaps. "What the frag do you want to do about it?"
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Post by Swerve on Aug 2, 2009 12:01:02 GMT -5
"That – that was my fraggin' point!" Swerve shouts in his own turn, for a moment about to grab his head with both hands in frustration. He stops before he can lower his guard too far and clenches his jaw, then points at Slingshot, engine revving. "You got some kinda problem with me, kid?! Let's settle it somewhere else!"
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Post by Kup on Aug 2, 2009 22:23:07 GMT -5
Kup frowns a moment at the way Slingshot snaps, and then Swerve yells about 'that being his point'? His optics widen a moment. Then he lowers his head, fingertips of his left hand touching his forehead, right hand raised in a calming gesture that he's not watching.
"Look. Look. Let's all just calm down here. And yeah, that includes me. Seein' my own dead body has me kind of out of sorts, you know."
He lifts his head and looks at Swerve. "We ain't takin' this anywhere. We're keepin' it here and keepin' it cool." Then he jerks his head towards his dead body. "You think you can access the chronometer and find the other me's timestamp, Swerve?" He then looks at Slingshot and holds up his hands. "Let's wait until we find that out before we worry about what's next, huh?"
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Post by Slingshot on Aug 3, 2009 18:48:27 GMT -5
"Yeah, I got a problem-" Slingshot starts to say in response to Swerve, then Kup tells them to calm down. So the Aerialbot shuts off his vocoder before he can finish that sentence.
This is probably a miracle in some systems.
Instead, he crosses his arms and scowls. "Yeah. Fine. Let's find out."
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Post by Swerve on Aug 4, 2009 21:06:55 GMT -5
"Keep it cool?" Swerve spits, indignant. "Keep it cool?!" He turns his glare from Slingshot to Kup to Slingshot again and back to Kup where he lingers briefly, both fists clenched, jaw grinding, fans spinning up. He starts to say something else, then just works his jaw for a second before rounding sharply on one foot and stalking back to the body lying on the floor. He crouches again and slams his kit open, snarling curses one after the other while he works.
He's never actually bothered with checking anyone else's chronometer. At least it gives him an outlet that doesn't leave him with a broken hand; he makes no attempts to be gentle or reverent in the way he handles the dead Kup.
Not like he'll care now.
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Post by Kup on Aug 4, 2009 22:31:04 GMT -5
"Thank you," Kup hisses out, rubbing the back of his head as the youths stop bickering, even if they're all, well, angry.
He begins pacing himself as he waits for the answer, and what's more, dreads that he already knows it. While he paces, he makes a point not to look at where Swerve is working.
OOC: His timestamp corresponds to partway through RoOP part 1. Those who know the live Kup's, and it is on record, know that his is from partway through RoOP part 2.
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Post by Slingshot on Aug 5, 2009 16:02:46 GMT -5
Slingshot bristles as Swerve so brusquely handles Kup's corpse. Given that Slingshot got in a tizzy over cutting Optimus Prime's body up to save Jazz's life with, he thinks he's being rather restrained in only glaring death at the racer and letting his ailerons and vent-nozzles on his jet shift.
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Post by Swerve on Aug 6, 2009 12:45:03 GMT -5
After a few seconds of muttered curses, clattering tools, and the creaks and squeals of battered, bent plating being expertly abused out of the way to reach that chronometer – no handy gadgets to access the thing externally, not that he's ever needed something like that before, so Swerve just does it the old-fashioned, hands-on way – Swerve finally shifts his weight back onto his heels and peers around one fender at the other Autobots.
"It's <timestamp>," he says flatly, jaw still tight. The date has no significance to him. "So now what?"
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Post by Kup on Aug 6, 2009 13:39:10 GMT -5
It was the answer Kup was expecting and dreading. He knew it was coming. It still feels like a blow from Grimlock when it hits. The veteran stumbles, and has to support himself with the terminal that contains the electronic cage controls.
He stares down at his hands for several silent moments. That's his past. That was him, just days before he came here. Not some eventual fate, this already happened. And it's not a matter of being pulled before the medics could get to him - he learned later how they hadn't been able to repair him until they could get the Quintesson.
The Quintesson that had brought Optimus Prime back from the dead.
Kup had died. Kup had died and been brought back before he ever arrived here, and what's more, he had been killed by his own side!
Kup doesn't look up, can't look up. His head stays slumped, looking at his hands, his hands stay locked into place, keeping him upright. When he speaks, his voice is hollow, unsteady, and maybe just a little fearful, even if his words try to make light of it. "That's... good job, lad. I... I guess we've got some more spare parts around here, huh?"
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Post by Slingshot on Aug 7, 2009 19:44:50 GMT -5
Slingshot gives Kup a hard look. The security chief recognized that timestamp, pretty darn obviously. So he probably knows something about what that Kup was going through when he dropped in here.
But he keeps his mouth shut. Because he's having to remember how to be Silverbolt and Fireflight, Air Raid and Skydive, as well as Slingshot, and they wouldn't talk to Kup about this when he's sounding like that.
"Yeah. Sure."
You could cut steel on those words.
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Post by Swerve on Aug 8, 2009 20:06:06 GMT -5
"Looks like it," says Swerve without looking up as he fits plates back into place as best he can. Things don't quite sit properly with the damage that's already been done. He glances aside once that's done, putting away tools by feel. "For what it's worth. Outmoded stuff like this probably won't work for just anybody." Swerve wouldn't choose much of it, at least. Worn down from age and use isn't his ideal place to start with replacements, but some of it has to work for the oldtimer. Maybe Swerve can cast new copies from them.
The racer gets to his feet and shifts his weight awkwardly, toolkit vanishing into subspace.
Anything to keep from going crazy around here. "I'll haul this down to medical," he volunteers. It's as good a reason as any to get out of here and away from the oldtimer since Swerve doesn't even know where to start with a Kup who looks like he's the one who just had a brush with whatever caught the dead one.
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Post by Kup on Aug 8, 2009 23:05:16 GMT -5
Really, that casual insult (or so Kup perceives it) helps to shake Kup out of his state of shock, and his head darts up to glare at Swerve. "Who you callin' outmoded!?" he demands of the racer, pushing himself up and off the counter. "Just 'cos they built us to last in my day!" The anger keeps him from focusing on his own body, and the revelation that it brings with it.
Kup then waves his hand almost violently. "Just get it out of here," he growls, throwing himself down into the seat behind the cage-activation terminal. "Just... get it gone."
He glances up at Slignshot, then rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs.
"Ever learn something you'd just as soon be happier not knowing?" he asks hypothetically.
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Post by Slingshot on Aug 9, 2009 12:09:17 GMT -5
Slingshot would have hauled the body if Swerve hadn't volunteered. Say what you want about the Aerialbot, he doesn't shirk from work.
"Not back home," he says to Kup. "Here, yeah. A lot of things."
Optimus died.
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