Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Mar 29, 2009 0:15:10 GMT -5
Grimlock means no harm by the nickname, really! He's just a silly when he's in dinosaur mode.
And now, he's wrapped up in the story, leaning in.
"What you do?! What kind of edge Kup get??
At least it's a new story for him, so he's not begging for Kup to skip to the "good part".
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Oh yeah? Well I don't know what that means!
Posts: 383
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Post by Optimus Prime on Mar 30, 2009 14:01:03 GMT -5
Optimus is still getting accustomed to this new storytelling method, but he's clearly interested with the story. For now he sits and listens, although it's clear he too wants to know the edge.
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Post by Kup on Mar 30, 2009 21:55:07 GMT -5
"The petrorabbits!" Kup explains, hands splayed enthusiastically. "The petrorabbits were our edge! See, the damn things were all over the place in that ridge, and petrorabbits," he holds up the index finger of his right hand, as though lecturing, "can dig through the metal layers that make up Cybertron like an Zantrillian knife through hot scramax!" Kup makes a chopping gesture with the flat of his right hand against his left forearm.
"Not only was they a way under, but they was a way under and through that got overlooked." And then Kup grins. "And they could be armed..."
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Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Mar 31, 2009 21:55:02 GMT -5
Grimlock clenches his fist, and...laughs.
"Me Grimlock never expected stupid petrorabbit burrowings to ever be useful."
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Oh yeah? Well I don't know what that means!
Posts: 383
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Post by Optimus Prime on Apr 3, 2009 7:04:07 GMT -5
Optimus looks kind of confused at this remark. "...I'm sorry, Kup, but I'm not so sure I know what Petrorabbits are." He gets the basics, sure, but he doesn't think Kup is really going to object to offering more details for his story. "And how do you arm them?"
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Post by Kup on Apr 3, 2009 22:06:20 GMT -5
Kup is about to continue his story when Optimus Prime's question takes him by surprise, moving him out of the 'zone.' His optic-lights flicker as he stares at Optimus.
"Petrorabbits?" Kup asks, startled. "They're small, autonomous, unintelligent robot lifeforms - originally intended as a sort of cleaning drone, it's suspected - native to Cybertron. Builds more of their kind out of the appropriate materials, not usually fast enough to be a danger, but they can be real pests in some areas. And we didn't arm /them/ so much as we armed the bombs we stuck to 'em, after one of our techs fiddled with their navigation circuitry so they'd head where we wanted 'em to head."
Kup frowns. "You mean your Cybertron didn't have any?"
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Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Apr 4, 2009 22:57:27 GMT -5
Grimlock looks over at Optimus, head canting a bit to the side. "Everyone know petrorabbits! They everywhere on Cybertron, according to Kup."
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Oh yeah? Well I don't know what that means!
Posts: 383
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Post by Optimus Prime on Apr 6, 2009 14:31:53 GMT -5
At Grimlock's 'correction', Optimus simply smiles and looks at Kup. "Uh, perhaps where you're from, Grimlock, but I'm from a different Cybertron... remember? Perhaps we had them and they were wiped out in our wars. I'm not sure."
But back to the story. "But that is brilliant, Kup." Utilizing the resources that are around you to your advantage: It can mean more than,"Hide behind the big rock."
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Post by Kup on Apr 6, 2009 21:52:19 GMT -5
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Kup asks Optimus, a wide grin plastered across his expression. Then he chuckles lightly. "Wish I could take credit for the idea, but no, that goes to a kid named Sparkgap. Bright lad, clever with the tools, lot of..." Kup's smile fades suddenly as he shifts positions, and his expression becomes, for a moment, distant. Haunted. "Guess he wouldn't be a kid now, would he?" he seems to be asking himself more than the others. Finally, he shakes his head, forces a smile, and goes on with the story.
"Anyway, so we decided to go and catch a bunch of them petrorabbits, fiddle with their navigation, like I said, stick bombs on 'em, and let 'em back loose again. After that? It was just a matter of waiting for the explosions. When those started happening, we knew it was time to move!"
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Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Apr 7, 2009 21:24:45 GMT -5
"Oh, yeah...me Grimlock knew that" he answers Optimus, scratching at his head in an embarrassed fashion. "Me Grimlock been here long time and me still forget that..."
But then the story picks up again, and Grimlock's attention is sharply set on Kup.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Oh yeah? Well I don't know what that means!
Posts: 383
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Post by Optimus Prime on Apr 13, 2009 14:50:23 GMT -5
"It's all right, Grimlock." Optimus says. "There's a lot to remember, here." Optimus says this without taking his optics off Kup, keen to learn what happens next.
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Post by Kup on Apr 13, 2009 19:28:22 GMT -5
"Well, see, now," Kup continues, optics alight as he leans forward and tells his tale, reliving the past through his story, "just because they was distracted didn't mean it was easy for us. They still had the high ground, and not alla their defensive weapons was taken out by the petrorabbits. So progress was still slow, and we had to constantly switch from crouching," here Kup gets into a low crouch to demonstrate, "to driving up as vehicles," and now Kup transforms, "to out and out crawling!" He transforms again and falls flat on his stomach, miming a gun in his hands as he crawls forward a foot or so to demonstrate.
"See, back in those days, Autobots what had weapons in their alternate mode were pretty rare," the veteran explains as he pulls himself back up to his feet. "Usually, if they was built for war, they were old timers like myself, designed to mimic the civilian vehicles left behind by the Quints and so unarmed when they had wheels, and there weren't many of us left. Young 'Bots built for war were pretty rare, too, but for another reason - they had only just started making him. In fact, our Optimus Prime was the first of that breed, and back then he was about as green as you are right now," here Kup gestures towards the smaller Optimus standing before him. "Barely done with being Orion Pax, really."
"So's, anyway, the point is, we had a choice. Either we could return fire, or we could roll forward and make faster progress, but we couldn't never do both at once. This made things extremely rough, and..." Kup shakes his head. "Gotta say, we took a fair number of losses just getting up that ridge. 'Course, at the time, my focus was a lot more narrow - I was only thinking about what was going on right near me, and we were lucky. Got off light. That is, we started lucky, but you see..."
Kup leans forward and lowers his voice to something only a little above a whisper. "The navigating reprogram done on the petrorabbits wasn't completely reliable. Some of them... some of them doubled back on us. And so it was, my platoon over three quarters of the way up that ridge, when suddenly..." and Kup springs up, going from whisper to a loud, top of his voice shout as he claps his hands together to further emphasize his point. "BOOM!!!"
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Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Apr 16, 2009 8:51:17 GMT -5
Grimlock nods as he listens to the story, quickly enthralled, even leaning in a bit when Kup starts to whisper.
Then he jerks back when Kup imitates the explosion, and then growls. "Me Grimlock knew using Petrorabbits be bad idea!"
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Oh yeah? Well I don't know what that means!
Posts: 383
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Post by Optimus Prime on Apr 16, 2009 16:12:46 GMT -5
Optimus frowns. That's not how war stories are supposed to be. Talk about the glory days, noble fighters singlehandedly turning the tide of battle, not bad ideas and wholesale slaughter! Yeah, he's kind of naive.
Oh, and there's that Orion Pax guy he's heard so much about.
"How... how many went offline?"
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Post by Kup on Apr 16, 2009 23:08:58 GMT -5
Kup straightens and narrows his optics, looking at no particular point on the ceiling. In fact, it seems, almost, as though he were looking at something that's long gone, peering into ancient history itself.
"Weeeeeeell... I wouldn't exactly call it a bad idea, Grimlock. We did take that ridge, something we hadn't been able to manage without that stunt, and having that ridge meant we were able to get supplies and forces elsewhere where we needed it later on. Troops who would have died were it not for the parts we were able to get through, towns that would have fallen if we hadn't made it through that ridge... Of course, it wasn't an ideal solution, but these things don't generally have those. Now, in the end, was it worth the price we paid? That's a lot harder to be sure of. But if it's ever worth the price that gets paid, it was worth it that day."
There's a slight wince as Optimus asks his question, and while he rubs his chin to consider the answer, there's something of a pained look to his expression. "You talking my platoon, Optimus, or all the 'Bot forces fielded that day? With the second one, I can only give you my best guess... whole thing was pretty chaotic, truth be told. I can give you better numbers for my own unit, though."
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