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Post by Swerve on Jun 1, 2007 23:59:23 GMT -5
"Guess they don't sound too bad," grumps Swerve. They had the good sense to pave things, for one. He sets a reminder while wondering just what the roads on Earth are like; he'll have to check himself for anything worse than some scrapes and dings when he gets the chance. Too much slagging scraping going on.
He doesn't say much else for a while, mostly for lack of anything to mention that isn't a reiteration of something he's already mentioned. He can only complain about the road so many times. No idea what to ask Arcee. Or if he should bother asking anything. She sure seems fond of those human things. Maybe that'd be a good place to start.
"Allies, huh?" He drops back, spotting the little brown thing on the ground this time, then veers around it to catch back up.
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Arcee
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Posts: 330
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Post by Arcee on Jun 2, 2007 22:25:18 GMT -5
"Yes," she says. "Almost from the moment Optimus Prime and his original crew of explorers awoke on Earth, they were befriended by humans, Spike Witwicky and his father, Sparkplug. Others, including many amongst the governments of Earth, followed."
She's quiet a moment, the loss of Optimus still very recent and hard to take. "But the humans have continued to stand by us, even giving us the materials we needed to build Autobot City, when the Decepticons finally drove the last pockets of resistance from Cybertron."
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Post by Swerve on Jun 2, 2007 22:43:23 GMT -5
Spike and Sparkplug sure sound like half-decent names. These humans don't sound too bad. They have good, paved roads and they can't exactly be total slime if the Autobots keep company with them.
"What's Cybertron?" Swerve can't help asking. The name sounds vaguely familiar, like something he heard longer ago than he usually cares to think back, and the impulse to ask was just too sudden to resist. That and the thought of Decepticons makes him twitch a little.
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Arcee
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Posts: 330
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Post by Arcee on Jun 2, 2007 23:10:14 GMT -5
How can a Transformer not know what Cybertron is? Arcee thinks.
"It's our home planet," Arcee says. "The Autobots and Decepticons have been fighting for control over it for millions of years. Now... now they finally drove the last of us off."
And without Optimus, they might never see their world again.
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Post by Swerve on Jun 2, 2007 23:35:32 GMT -5
"Ran you off?" Swerve echoes. "That why a couple of you Autobots showed up on Velocitron, draggin' that fight of yours with 'em?" Maybe he's more hostile about that than necessary. Okay, he probably is. Alright, definitely. It's still a sore spot with him.
Just dropping in and screwing things up, them and that big Decepticon, the one that ordered around Ransack and Crumplezone. It still torques Swerve off when he thinks about it.
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Arcee
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Post by Arcee on Jun 3, 2007 0:33:51 GMT -5
"I... I don't remember anything like that happening," Arcee replies. "We've never heard of Velocitron, as far as I know."
And they'd never meant to bring their fight anywhere. Optimus and the others couldn't have helped where their starship had crashed. If anything, the Decepticons were to blame.
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Post by Swerve on Jun 3, 2007 3:22:40 GMT -5
Swerve stops – well, mentally – at that.
They haven't heard of Velocitron? He isn't sure what to make of that. He had no idea what Cybertron was, Arcee had no idea what Velocitron was. It's all sort of baffling. He blames it on whatever it was that Perceptor mech was babbling on and on about. Otherwise, there's a little too much thinking involved.
It was two Autobots and a Decepticon who came to Velocitron, though. He's dead sure of that. There'd been talk of them, especially the Autobots, even in the underground. Some stupid overclocked rookie looking to take on Override – Override, of all racers – and his torqueless buddy. Swerve had never met them himself, only watched the rookie from a distance once or twice and wondered what he thought he was doing, tackling Override on the track when he could barely handle himself.
Nevertheless, when Swerve had found out the Autobots were against the Decepticons, and it was the Decepticons backing those rejects Crumplezone and Ransack – never mind what the rumours of a leader who could best Override had been doing to the underground, racers taking sides and most of them falling in with the Decepticons – well, Swerve knew where he'd stand. He still remembers getting the emblem airbrushed onto his hood and… feeling slagging proud about it, actually. A different sort of proud than he felt when he won a race.
"…Whatever," he mumbles. It's as close to apologising as he'll get.
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Arcee
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Posts: 330
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Post by Arcee on Jun 3, 2007 12:40:10 GMT -5
Arcee'll take it as it was meant then. Considering how rarely some Autobots--Hot Rod--appoligize even that much, it's still pretty good.
"What's Velocitron like, then?" she asks.
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Post by Swerve on Jun 3, 2007 15:09:19 GMT -5
If there's any sort of wistful twinge to his voice, Swerve does his best to quash it. Not overly tricky if he just concentrates on the lousy road. He sure hopes there are better roads here somewhere. If it's all like this, he'll have to find the parts he needs and mod his suspension and tires. Really not something he's looking forward to.
"Velocitron's the best," he states with certainty. "Roads and tracks from horizon to horizon. You could drive all the way around the planet and never touch dirt if ya wanted. Anyone'll race ya if you just ask. Slag, some of 'em'll race even if ya don't!" He chuckles at that; he's been in more than a few of those spur-of-the-moment contests. Started a few himself, even.
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Arcee
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Posts: 330
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Post by Arcee on Jun 3, 2007 17:47:18 GMT -5
"Sounds like Hot Rod and Blurr would love it," Arcee comments. "But you almost make it sound like your whole planet's nothing but racing."
It strikes her as odd, at least. Even on Cybertron and Earth, where it sometimes seemed the main focus of the culture was war, there was time for other things, little niches of creativity, art, and the like.
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Post by Swerve on Jun 3, 2007 18:35:23 GMT -5
"Well, what else is there?" Swerve wonders, at least partially rhetorically. "I mean, you could do service work for the racers if you wanted, or just watch, sure." It's all about racing. Even the band is there for fanfare.
Another ugly bump, a hissed curse or two, and Swerve latches on to a new topic.
"This green nightmare better have an end soon." Were he more observant right now, he might notice the sunlight waning just a bit.
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Arcee
Minor
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Posts: 330
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Post by Arcee on Jun 3, 2007 19:15:40 GMT -5
"No art? No music?" Arcee asks. The idea boggles her, and she's been fighting a war for over four million years.
She, however, does notice that it's getting late. "I hope so too. It's going to be dark soon."
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Post by Swerve on Jun 3, 2007 19:49:31 GMT -5
Music? Art?
"Well, there's the band," Swerve says, "and some service groups do paint jobs…." He'd gone to one of the better custom shops for his Autobot emblem, in fact.
As for nightfall, well, he's not too worried about that. He's run more races in the dark than he could be bothered to count. Nighttime in this place, on this road, though, is an annoying prospect more than anything.
"S'pose this road leads out at some point. Better sooner than later, if y'ask me." He'd really like some open terrain right about now. This stuff can't go on forever. …Can it?
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Arcee
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Post by Arcee on Jun 3, 2007 20:19:21 GMT -5
For now, at least, Arcee will leave the notions of art and music and other cultural items alone, seeing as how she does not think she'd be able to explain it very well. Especially not to someone who's clearly got a pretty ingrained sense of culture of his own.
"Perceptor said we should be coming to something eventually," she says. "But it does seem like we've been driving a while now."
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Post by SceneMod on Jun 3, 2007 20:32:53 GMT -5
Before very much longer, the roads do get better. Never paved, put the stone-work roads are eventually replaced by the metal roads that are so much the norm on this planet. At first, it is metal laid down so thin that the unevenness of the surface beneath can still be felt cleanly, but not long after the metal gets thicker, better maintained, although overgrowth at the edges still indicates it's been awhile since the last time upkeep was done.
Buildings begin to intersperse themselves with the trees. Most are of an intricate, elegant design similar to the roofless structures back at the temple, but some are thicker, studier. Silvers, however, give way before long to brightly colored paint as the two begin driving through an ancient settlement of some sort. The buildings never crowd out the trees entirely, however, and there are even sections of turf left in meridians down the middle to allow plants to grow.
Not only does the scenery change; it also gets darker. As Arcee and Swerve have observed, it is getting darker, but as it turns out, night has nothing to do with it. A thick cloud cover moves in, crowding out the sun. Not long later, the first sprinklings of rain fall.
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