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Post by Perceptor on Jun 17, 2011 15:52:07 GMT -5
Perceptor should be expecting this. He shouldn't feel like reaching through the barrier and shaking Pincher until his diodes rattle. Really he shouldn't. Honestly, having ones self suddenly transported into what appears to be a captive situation and then having someone who you trust tell you that everything you ever knew was a lie... Pincher is taking it better and with a much more open mind than Perceptor has any right to expect.
That does not mean that it is not still as frustrating as pounding concepts of hygiene into Rattrap's skull is.
Magnus' explosion is... regrettable but perfectly understandable to Perceptor, as he has been the one working most closely with the larger mech on those very patches which are producing the behavioral conflicts. That Magnus has not exploded before this moment is... a good sign, actually.
"Magnus! Stand down!" he demands calmly, pacing forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Magnus. "Stand down." His voice is calm, almost soothing, but without the notes of concern that Ultra Magnus would only read as pity in his state. He needs a commander right now, not a confidant, and Perceptor will be that for him for the moment.
"Hardly malignant, Pincher?" he asks, his tone cool, considering as he looks the scorpion over. "Then what is that you are holding, and, more importantly, why are you holding it?" Because that doesn't look like enertea and crumpets to Perceptor.
And then he proceeds to rattle off even more code positions, place after place, line after line, and the values held therein, a quiet litany of bytes that... no one beyond someone who has intimately examined Pincher's code should have any right to know what values those positions hold.
Unless someone has seen that code in detail... somewhere else. Go ahead, Pincher. Tell him that it's ALL just related to the core tapping. Prove him wrong.
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Jun 19, 2011 23:43:54 GMT -5
When Magnus explodes, the vial stays in one of Pincher's claws, but he draws his laser torch in the other claw - a purely aggressive move. Not that they'd know, but it's unlike him. Pincher's equipped with a forcefield, and feeling threatened as he is, that would be the better choice.
He hisses out, "I'm sure, if you spooled out your code for me, Commander, I'd see that you're very sick indeed. I'd tell you to get some rest. But I can't see what makes you tick," click-click-click, "and we have only just met. Should I be concerned about your health?"
Because Pincher will fuss and nursemaid.
"I will be."
Then he looks down at the weapons in his claws. Uhm, awkward? Pincher rattles off, "Hyper-pressurised and super-cooled liquid state dihydrogen monoxide in a thin polymer shell. Breaks on contact, flows into crevices, and generates rapidly-growing ice crystal that expand in volume, to burst open in cavities, causing internal damages."
Nasty, but it's just water and plastic. Easy clean-up, after the battle. Also, only has a few seconds of acting time, so unless he aims wrong, it's not liable to harm friendlies, unlike a cloud of gas.
"And a laser torch. Uhm. Standard?" Pincher says it like a dirty word.
"I... don't know?" Pincher peers at his own code some more. The weapons vanish away, and his knees hit the floor first, and then his forehead, and his claws come up to cover the back of his head, He curls up like that, shaking.
There's something in his head, and it isn't him, and he's in another reality, and Ultra Magnus hates him, and Perceptor thinks he's an idiot, and Pincher just wants to crawl under a rock and die.
"I've been such a fool."
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Post by Perceptor on Jun 29, 2011 18:52:10 GMT -5
skipping Magnus due to time out
So, effectively, an ice bomb designed to harm Transformers. "If we are allies," Perceptor asks calmly, "then why would you need offensive weapons? Neither of your choices are defensive in nature."
But Perceptor probably does not need to actually point these things out, given that those weapons vanish, and Pincher collapses. He feels for the other scientist, he really does. He wishes that he could do something, attempt to comfort Pincher, something, however useless, to cushion the blow to Pincher's entire concept of... well... everything.
But he can't. Nothing he says would be much more than empty words, and, really, how can he be certain, trully and honestly certain, that this is not an act. It likely isn't, but if he jumps to that assumption, not only will Xaaron skin him alive, so will Drift.
"You are not alone in that, Pincher," is all he can offer, though he does try to make his tone sound more sympathetic, rather than the colder, more stoic voice he had adopted. Perceptor doesn't think you're an idiot, Pincher. Just a victim.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jun 30, 2011 23:46:37 GMT -5
Still spun up and aggravated, Magnus finds it a trying task indeed to hear and obey. He finds it just as difficult to empathise with Pincher, but he's angry – not so much with Pincher, he tells himself. No, not angry; he's furious with the one responsible for infecting their minds, leaving these barbs in their heads. His superstructure audibly groans as he eases back, slowly, as though moving through sludge or with rusted joints. Still, his shoulders quiver and though he lowers his arm, his hands remain clenched into fists.
He'll murder Shockwave someday. And he'll enjoy it.
"That… backstabbing wretch," he mutters by way of commiseration, "had everyone fooled."
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Jul 1, 2011 21:26:44 GMT -5
"I, uhm, feel... threatened?" Pincher answers Perceptor weakly. His worldview is collapsing; he has a funny way of putting things. Pincher stays curled up on his knees and mutters bitterly, "I am a fool. There were rebels. I always dismissed them as malcontents, but perhaps, I..."
He what? Pincher could have taken up terrorism and become an enemy of the state? Yes, Ultra Magnus will just love hearing that.
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Post by Perceptor on Jul 10, 2011 20:52:25 GMT -5
"You believed what you were intended to believe, Pincher. No more, no less. Nor were you ever put into a position, until now, where you would be allowed the opportunity to discover the truth," Perceptor offers.
"I have already been working upon programming patches by which to disable the aggression coding. Once the standard arrival protocols have been satisfied, I will provide you with copies. I have not, unfortunately," he adds sadly, "managed to wholly circumvent the entirety of the code alterations, but I continue to work upon the programming, and I will continue to do so until a whole and complete solution can be found."
"Now, understanding that there are individuals whom you have knows as 'rebels' for a great deal of time who are anything but, are you prepared to continue your in-processing? This is a new, curious reality you have been transported to, Pincher, and I fear that this is but the first of many oddities that you will be forced to confront."
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Jul 16, 2011 20:01:44 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Ultra Magnus due to timeout.
Pincher is not comforted by Perceptor's words in the least. He is an idiot; that much is plain.
He mumbles, "I like oddities." A little more loudly, Pincher confirms, "Do with me as you will, sir. Sir?"
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 31, 2011 21:14:09 GMT -5
At describing their situation as full of oddities, Magnus snorts once, quietly, scornfully.
"Odd is an understatement," he mutters. As if to answer Pincher, he adds, "You'll be interviewed and screened. They'll want to confirm your story and background with what we know of that part of reality." He, at least, is relatively well convinced.
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 7, 2011 21:06:25 GMT -5
"Excellent, Pincher," Perceptor replies. "Then let us commence with those formalities at once, and expedite your release as much as Kup deems feasible."
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ooc: fade?
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Aug 12, 2011 20:35:47 GMT -5
Pincher supposes that he deserves Ultra Magnus's scorn - his scorn and more. He cringes and shrinks in on himself. He agrees quickly, too quickly, "Yes, of course, whatever you'd like."
Perceptor is too nice. He doesn't deserve it.
OOC: Fade is fine by me.
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