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Post by Kup on Oct 15, 2007 17:11:13 GMT -5
OOC: Crossposted from Autobot Bomb Search: Kup and Swerve
Oh no! Kup keeps making sense! That bootleg! And yes, he would "make a point" if Swerve had pointed that out. A couple, actually. "That's the spirit, lad," Kup answers quietly as he walks up the ramp to the next in-tact floor. Wanting to tear through Decepticons is a virtue in his book. The next floor has been serving as quarters and lounge, but by 'quarters and lounge,' we mean that people have been sleeping here on boxes or slabs of metal laid across boxes or on the floor, and that there are boxes to sit on. There are a few walls in the process of being placed, which serve to section things out, but indeed, repair is right above them, and it's entirely possible, by this point, that they can hear the conversation above (and those above can hear them).
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Bluestreak
Rookie
Silence is golden, but the motormouth is silver...
Posts: 213
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Post by Bluestreak on Oct 15, 2007 17:25:52 GMT -5
Bluestreak feels as if he's taken a punch to the fuel tank. Brawn? Prowl? Ratchet? Ironhide? Slag, those mechs had seemed nearly immortal to him... coming out of every tussle with the Decepticons battered and scraped, but triumphant... and Wheeljack and Windcharger too? He'd always looked up to these mechs, and now...
He doesn't want to hear any more... and yet he has to know how this tale ends. It can't get much worse, can it? "When Prime came... what happened then?"
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Oct 15, 2007 21:19:58 GMT -5
Still silent, still listening, tense enough that one might almost feel a faint tremor pass through his little frame every now and again, Holi looks from Bluestreak to Perceptor. His only question would be an echo of the gunner's, so it goes unasked. It'll be answered soon enough, if the solemn cast to the doctor's face is any indication.
Even if Bluestreak – understandably – missed the sound of others on the floor below, even if Perceptor misses it, Holi does not and glances toward the access ramp. That sounded like Kup….
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Post by Swerve on Oct 15, 2007 22:10:34 GMT -5
Swerve isn't saying much. Not that there's much for him to say; when he's arguing, he'll keep at it and keep at it until the point's been beaten into the ground and probably then some. When he's in agreement, that's pretty much the end of things right there. And… yeah, he mostly agrees with Kup. Which is kind of irritating for some strange reason he can't quite get his head around, and that only bothers him more.
"Spirit. Sure," he snorts without much vehemence. It's just smashing up Decepticons. That's never a waste of time.
He balks rather visibly at the continued use of 'lad', though. He isn't that fragging young! Nowhere near as old as the truck, no, but he isn't some half-shifted kid, either.
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Post by Perceptor on Oct 15, 2007 22:17:24 GMT -5
Perceptor does absently note the voices drifting up from below. Kup, obviously, knows this tale already, and Swerve... probably couldn't care less. Neither one provide any impetus to cease his narration, although he does pitch his voice a little more quietly.
"Optimus Prime turned the tide of the battle," Perceptor replies gravely. "The reinforcements he brought with him helped to drive off the Decepticons. Optimus himself... took on the task of combating Megatron."
Perceptor returns his attention to sorting out the last of that damaged panel on Holi's back, lingering sorrow and guilt for that body in the other room forcing his gaze away from the stricken gunner's. "Neither was prepared to submit to the other, neither one willing to yield. It was a fierce battle, and at the end, both combatants had to be carried from the field. Megatron's wounds proved to be fatal; Optimus succeeded in eliminating Megatron's threat."
He is silent for a long moment, voice low when he continues, just barely loud enough to carry to Bluestreak, but likely no further. "Without Ratchet or Wheeljack... Optimus.... I was unable to repair him. He passed the Matrix to Ultra Magnus before..."
Before I failed him.
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Bluestreak
Rookie
Silence is golden, but the motormouth is silver...
Posts: 213
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Post by Bluestreak on Oct 15, 2007 22:41:10 GMT -5
If Bluestreak possessed organic eyes instead of mechanical optics right now, he would be weeping. Instead, his doorwings droop, and he turns away from Perceptor and Holi to gaze into a corner. Dimly he registers the voices of Kup and Swerve, but they barely make an impact in his mind. So much to process... so many familiar faces gone...
"Perceptor?" he asks finally. "I... I heard Prime's body made it here. If it's okay... could I... could I see it? Pay my last respects?"
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Post by Kup on Oct 15, 2007 23:43:30 GMT -5
Kup pauses at the voices above, looking up at the ceiling, their floor. His expression turns sorrowful when he hears the subject, and the old mechanoid looks that much more ancient. Finally, he heaves a sigh.
It's war. You lose people. Sometimes you lose a lot of people, or good people, or both at once. Considering how many damages can be repaired, it's easy to forget that sometimes, but it happens.
This time he's got nothing to say, no new points to make, as he continues his search. It's a sad story, but one he's already familiar with. And as he's learned since, sometimes the return is worse than the loss.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Oct 16, 2007 23:19:25 GMT -5
If the body of the fallen Prime still looks like it did the last time Holi saw it, he isn't so sure Bluestreak should see it like that. And his worried expression as he looks up at Perceptor says as much.
"…Doctor…?" he wonders quietly. Bluestreak has been so nice; Holi would hate to see him even more upset because this Optimus Prime is in two pieces.
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Post by Swerve on Oct 17, 2007 3:22:58 GMT -5
Swerve only partially registers the conversation drifting down from repair. About that Optimus Prime mech, the one Arcee said was the Autobots' leader.
Death is death; it isn't so much that Swerve doesn't care as death – especially of someone he doesn't even know beyond a name – doesn't carry much of an impact anymore. This Prime guy didn't go down without a fight, sounds like, and maybe took out some Decepticons while he was at it, for that matter. Nothing wrong with that. But leader or not, to Swerve, he's just another source of spare parts now.
"Think I'll be staying down here a while," mumbles the racer, and he busies himself checking the side of the floor opposite Kup.
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Post by Perceptor on Oct 17, 2007 5:06:16 GMT -5
"If that is what you wish, Bluestreak," he replies slowly, turning a thoughtful look of agreement down on Holi.
"There is... You should know, before you do... There were mechanisms in dire need of assistance. Assistance that, even now, we would be hard pressed to provide, and were even less prepared to offer in those first days," the scientist explains, returning to work on Holi's structure. His hands are gentle as he smooths the last bend out, returning that panel back to its original, proper shape. "His components saved Jazz's life at the very least, and have assisted several others."
He's done his best to keep what's left of Prime's remains looking somewhat whole and, well... respectable, but there's only so much he can do with what is left of the fallen leader. It wouldn't do much good to explain everything to Bluestreak, only to shock him by not warning him about the condition of the body now. "I was forced to do significant damage to retreive the necessary components," Perceptor explains, patting Holi's shoulder absently - as much a gesture of comfort as a signal of the repair's completion.
"Are you certain you wish to see?" he asks gently as he indicates the doorway to the "morgue" and the fallen Prime within. "Do you require privacy? Or would you prefer company?"
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Bluestreak
Rookie
Silence is golden, but the motormouth is silver...
Posts: 213
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Post by Bluestreak on Oct 17, 2007 8:28:59 GMT -5
For a moment Bluestreak is horrified that Prime had been disassembled for spare parts. But only a moment. He can't help but give a sad smile as he remembers his powerful yet kind leader -- what would the humans have called him? Big-hearted, yes. He had sacrificed much for his troops before; had he made it here alive he might even have donated components from his still-living body to mechs in dire need. It's fitting that even after his death, his body would continue to bring aid to those in need. He wouldn't have wanted it to be kept intact and put on display while others were dying from injuries his components could repair.
"Yeah, I still want to see," he tells Perceptor. "And... I'll be fine on my own. I just want a minute."
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Post by Kup on Oct 17, 2007 9:10:22 GMT -5
Kup finishes searching his section. He looks up as Swerve mentions staying 'down here,' and nods once. "Thanks," the veteran says softly, trying not to disturb what's going on above.
There's still more that Bluestreak has to hear, but the lad's had enough shocks for one day, and Kup, for his part, is worn with all the tellings, anyway. He steps onto the ramp, considering his next move.
They've all had enough for one day. He looks towards Swerve, says, "I guess we're about done. I'll go check on the other groups." Then he transforms and rolls down the ramp.
OOC: Kup out of thread. I may not move him into any of the other bomb-search threads... it can probably be assumed that the other check-ins happen off-screen.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Oct 17, 2007 16:35:23 GMT -5
Almost as absently as Perceptor pats his shoulder, Holi hesitantly musters the daring to rest a hand on the doctor's in an effort to offer someone here some comfort.. He can't think of much else he can do; now seems much too somber to pipe up, and he isn't sure if he really feels up to it. All this has made him wonder what it would be like to lose Commander God Ginrai, or Supreme Commander Star Saber, and… and if the thought alone is so awful, he isn't sure he can imagine how terrible it must be for Bluestreak. And for Perceptor, too.
"If you want, Bluestreak, sir," Holi says, timid and hopeful at the same time, "maybe… maybe later, you could tell me more about where you come from." He's too afraid to ask right now, but perhaps when the gunner has cheered up a little, he could ask what this Optimus Prime was like when he was alive. It's starting to sound like he was as loved and admired a commander as Star Saber.
OOC: No arguments here if the thread starts winding down.
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Post by Swerve on Oct 18, 2007 2:18:35 GMT -5
Swerve shrugs off Kup's thanks with the slightest hint of awkwardness. What's to thank him for, anyway? Steering clear of something that doesn't really involve him the way it involves the rest of these Autobots? Whatever.
Whether or not Kup sees the brief, off-handed and dismissive sort of wave Swerve tosses over his shoulder, he makes it all the same as the oldtimer takes his leave. The racer hangs around a while longer to finish his part of the search. He's less efficient at it than Kup. Big deal. He gets it done, at least. And once it's done, he's on his way out. There's nothing left to do here and he needs to blow off some steam.
OOC: Swerve is out of the thread unless someone decides to yell at him. And even then, he may be out of the thread anyway.
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Post by Perceptor on Oct 18, 2007 14:04:09 GMT -5
Perceptor's expression is pensive as he nods, watching Bluestreak head toward that other room. Holi's hesitant touch registers, dragging the scientist away from darker thoughts and grounding him once again. Perceptor offers Holi a thankful smile for the kindness before he begins replacing the tools he'd scattered in his rush to repair Cannonball's radio.
"Provided that everything feels comfortable and your diagnostics report no faults, your repairs are complete, Holi," he observes. "Thank you."
OOC: Perceptor's clear to complete this thread whenever Bluestreak and Holi are.
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