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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jan 25, 2012 16:48:51 GMT -5
"Botanica and Perceptor both know that I was running with my emotions damped, and Mirage was close to guessing, but none of them ever knew the... details as to why," Sentinel Prime admits reluctantly. She is grateful about Optimus's discretion on the matter.
Walking down the hallway, she cringes at his question and doesn't say anything until she's at the mess. Then, she gets herself a cube from the dispenser, takes a swig, and then stares at the cube blearily. Finally, Sentinel Prime answers his question, "Probably not. This is Elita-1's body. If Rodimus Prime got the Matrix cleaned out... well, he'd call back the owner of the body if there was anyone to call back, wouldn't he? Not the data echo that happens to be wearing it. Elita-1 wouldn't appreciate it if she came back a snow plow, I don't think."
She stares at the drink some more, grimacing. "So did Perceptor finally stop making the drinks and go back to doing important science? Because this tastes... like nothing."
Oh wait, the problem is that she's a zombie and her sense of physical pleasure doesn't work that well. Slag it.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Jan 26, 2012 20:24:11 GMT -5
"There's got to be a way to put you back in your own body. You're in there somewhere, even if it's not as a spark. Some of the bots here don't have sparks," he says hopefully. He's not motivated entirely by altruism here. Having Sentinel in Elita-1's body is weird.
"Er, I think he still dabbles."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jan 26, 2012 20:38:31 GMT -5
"I've been thinking about a repaint for the time being, though. It wouldn't be hard for Elita-1 to get her paint redone if Rodimus could bring her back," Sentinel Prime says. The subject of whether or not she can be extracted into a new body of her own gets a shrugs out of her. "I'd appreciate it, yeah, if it could be done. Being stuck in this body is amazingly weird and awkward for me. The medics... aren't that hopeful. There's no spark in the casing."
Searching for a conversation segue out of this pothole of depression, she glares accusingly at the energon cube. "So it's just that my sense of taste isn't working right. Fantastic."
Sentinel Prime finishes the cube anyway, not yet having left the dispenser, like a career enerholic. Then she grabs another cube and paces over to punk herself down in a chair, rather sprawling in it in a most unladylike fashion. "And don't get me wrong. I count myself as a valid sapient being. I mean, imagine if you were standing at one end of a square, and there were two equal paths I could take to get to you, no advantage to either option. In Universe A, I choose to go left. In Universe B, I choose to go right. Both Me A and Me B are valid versions of me. We can agree on that, yeah? Well... my spark is... somewhere. I'm not with it. But just like Me A is still a valid me when Me B went right instead, I'm still a valid me, even though I'm just a data echo."
This sort of thoughtfulness is unusual for Sentinel Prime, and it comes of her talks with Botanica. The point of it though, is ultimately selfish - to rationalise herself as being as real and worthy of rights as anyone else, and that selfishness is very much Sentinel Prime.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Jan 27, 2012 19:19:38 GMT -5
Optimus blinks and tries to follow Sentinel as he gets metaphysical. "Sentinel, I never doubted that you were a valid person. I don't think anyone else did either. You're not the first bot here to be, er, 'differently conscious' I guess?" he says as he gets up to get a cube of his own.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jan 27, 2012 19:32:56 GMT -5
"Oh, come on," Sentinel Prime groans. She leans back in the chair and takes a long drain on the cube. "It matters to Kup, that old coot. Oooorrr he just doesn't like me and is looking for a jetslag excuse to deep six me. It's probably that. I won't lie, I would totally lock me up if I was him, but Kup's not me." Thankfully.
"He lets Rodimus run around as second in command of the Autobots with the forces of chaos locked up in his chest. And don't get me wrong, I like Rodimus. Great guy. Snappy paintjob." She takes another hit of the cube.
"Kup let Springer stay second in command of MilSec and captain of the Wreckers, and we know for sure that Shockwave's messed with Springer's head." Another hit.
"And don't even get me started on how many ex-cons we have wandering around. No, I think it's obvious. Kup just doesn't like me, and he was just looking for some flat-tyre excuse to demote me, because he sure doesn't treat any of his favourites the way he treated me." The cube is gone now.
Sentinel Prime looks over at the dispenser and seriously considers getting a third.
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Post by Kup on Jan 27, 2012 21:14:52 GMT -5
By the time Sentinel finishes her rant, she and Optimus Prime are no longer alone in the room.
It seems that Kup finished with his duties and had decided to grab a drink as well.
He crosses his arms and clears his throat.
Then he tilts his head and considers something. "Actually, that reminds me of something I've been meanin' to do." He activates his radio and the others can hear him say, "//Springer? You're demoted from the MilSec 2iC position. Nothing personal, lad, I just doubt your objectivity.//"1
Then he re-activates the radio, once more speaking out loud so that the others in the room can hear him. "//Dinobot. You're my second in command now.//"
So he gives it over to the defected Predacon, instead, although really, Kup has a hard time thinking of anyone who's been a Maximal or an Autobot for as long he's known them as 'defectors.'
He heads over to the dispenser and dials up a cube.
1 Springer doesn't have a player, anyway, of course, but Kup's main problem is less what Sentinel is complaining about and more that he'd already been concerned about Springer favoring the Wreckers over other troops. In Kup's experience, when someone returns from getting reprogrammed/brainwashed and gets fixed, they can safely be trusted to take back up their duties, but zombie Primes are just bad news.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Jan 28, 2012 12:40:31 GMT -5
Optimus's optics go a little wide when Kup enters the room. Of all the lounges on all the Event Horizon, the geezer had to walk into this one. Probably because it is the closest to his office, which is why Optimus and Sentinel are here.
"Well, this just got awkward," he mutters under his breath. "Kup, sir," he says out loud, saluting, energon cube in his other hand.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jan 28, 2012 13:20:09 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime stands to go get herself a third - so what if she's totally blowing her salary on something that doesn't even taste good. She has feelings to repress with the liberal application of energon, here.
Then Kup clears his throat, and she turns around slowly. Sentinel Prime's face drops. Please, AllSpark, tell her that Kup did not hear what she was saying. Tell her that Kup came in too late. Mechanically, she forces herself into a salute and plasters a pleasant smile on her face.
After what Kup says, though, she drops to her knees, and the pleasant smile is replaced by panic. She clasps her hands in front of herself and pleads, "Please tell me you're not being serious, Kup! This is all just... just a funny joke on your part, yeah? Tell me you didn't really make those radio calls just now. Because Springer is going to hate me forever, and I don't want him to hate me forever, I have enough enemies already, I was just... just... complaining a little. It's a soldier's AllSpark-given right."
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Post by Kup on Jan 28, 2012 21:41:35 GMT -5
Kup looks down at Sentinel, one brow-ridge raised. "Get up, kid," he orders, a bit exasperated. He snatches his cube from out of the dispenser and steps around Sentinel. "Naw, that wasn't a joke, but I was serious about you remindin' me of something I'd been meaning to do anyway." He takes a drink from the cube and continues. "Had a tendency to favor the Wreckers' well-being over the other Autobots, and that's something just can't have in a second." He points towards Sentinel with the cube. "And if he a asks, that's what I'm tellin' him, and your name ain't coming up, but tell the truth, I don't think he'll be bugged much, much less hating anyone forever."
He takes another sip, then heads towards the door. "Anyway, let me get outta here so you can get back to your complainin'."
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Jan 30, 2012 19:31:57 GMT -5
"Well, that was mortifying," Optimus says, downing the rest of his energon cube in one swig and going to get another one. "So we'll be saluting Dinobot now, I suppose," he adds, planting himself at one of the mess tables near where Sentinel is kneeling and making a spectacle of herself. "That's kind of weird."
Sure, Maximals are people, but are they as much of people as Autobots are? Probably they are. Besides, Dinobot used to be a Predacon.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Jan 30, 2012 20:34:35 GMT -5
The thing that bothers Sentinel Prime the most is that Kup has not denied that he just doesn't like her or that he plays favourites. He's her commanding officer. He can make her life the Pit. She even tried to be friendly with him. But is she actually going to say anything about it or is she just going to stay shut up like a good little suck-up sycophant? Sentinel Prime gets up when Kup tells her to, though she's shaking faintly. Then she does get herself that cube she was wanting before walking back and sitting next to Optimus, slumped and defeated. She stares at the cube blearily. Dinobot. The traitor. Even a violence-obsessed defector is more trust-worthy than she is. Utterly miserable and defeated, Sentinel Prime asks a simple question, "Optimus, why can't I ever do a single thing right?" - - - OOC: Got the thing Kup asked for done now. Thank you.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Feb 1, 2012 18:13:05 GMT -5
Optimus holds his cube in both hands, looking contemplatively into the glowing pinkish purplish depths. He might be starting to be a little overcharged. He doesn't drink much.
"You should worry less about doing things right and more about doing the right things, Sentinel," he says, taking a swig from the energon cube.
It's maybe not the nicest response, but he did ask.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Feb 1, 2012 18:51:55 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime takes a swig of that third cube and deliberately swallows it. Then she breaks down laughing and nearly falls out of the chair.
Still snickering, she says, "Oh yeah, that's rich coming from you, Optimus, my bot."
That is actually once of the nicer things Sentinel Prime could have said, given the circumstances, not that she expects any gratitude.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Feb 2, 2012 19:26:51 GMT -5
"What's that supposed to mean?" Optimus says defensively. He was the moral center of their little group when they were cadets, and he's always tried to do the right thing since then.
Honestly, you condemn three Dinobots and you never live it down. He didn't know they were people, okay? Also, this Optimus hasn't done that yet.
"Is it because it was a corny thing to say? It wasn't that corny."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Feb 2, 2012 20:09:29 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime guzzles down some more of that third cube and says slowly and deliberately, "You know, a defendant isn't expected to incriminate himself. There was no reason for me to speak up at our trial, so many years ago. While it was my stupid idea," a surprisingly candid admission from Sentinel Prime, "you were the senior cadet. The military takes seniority seriously. You would have gotten the harsher punishment, no matter what I said. The only question is how harsh my punishment would have been if I had said anything, which, I will remind again, I was under no obligation to do."
"And hey, maybe there's a reality where I took that lighter punishment, but I forgave you and climbed the rank ladder and pulled strings to get you forgiven." She laughs. "And maybe there's a reality where I spoke up and I ended up a third class maintenance-bot in the Azazel asteroid belt, and you... you still ended up a Prime."
Sentinel Prime clicks her tongue. "And that is the thing. Ultra Magnus pulled strings and gave you the rank of Prime and a ship of your own because he liked you. He fawned over you when we were only cadets, and that got old fast for everyone else in the class, let me tell you. Just before I got pulled to this AllSpark-forsaken reality, whenever we ran into you on Earth, I had to put up with Ultra Magnus telling me to be more like you. You should have been a maintenance-bot and nothing more. Not a Prime. Not a captain of a ship. Did you speak up about the injustice of that nepotism? No. You just quietly benefited from it."
"You act all righteous, but when the chips are down, you're as fallible as anyone. You're just... better at getting out of a sticky situation unstained. Keeping that squeaky-clean reputation intact."
"That, Optimus Prime, is why it's rich for you to tell me to focus on doing the right things."
Sentinel Prime finishes her cube.
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