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Plan B
May 10, 2012 22:05:09 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on May 10, 2012 22:05:09 GMT -5
M8W3D6, at Shanodin's spot of wild, open
Deep down, Elly has concluded that hopping on a bus and then walking to Shanodin's wee bitty jungle was a colossally terrible idea. She pauses at the outskirts, out of breath. Elly looks back at her roller bag and sighs. Then she steels herself. She is Sentinel Prime, dashing commander of... absolutely nothing, and she never admits that one of her ideas might be a bad idea. Her ideas are always the best ideas there are. That's just how she rolls.
Elly straightens herself out and then looks at the green patch, muttering to herself, "Oookay. No paved walkways. But... I need my bag. It has my don't-slagging-die medications! And my gun. Which is more like preventive medication." She rubs her chin and thinks, "Yeeeaaah... I'm just going to skip straight to bribery."
She starts to unzip the bag and pulls out a sack of fish meal.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
May 17, 2012 11:17:03 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on May 17, 2012 11:17:03 GMT -5
The fish meal is a worthy token, and a few plants do perk up as the bag is brought out.
Not far from the edge of the grove, Shanodin watches, frowning. She knows who this newcomer is, she thinks. She she was warned about her. The living dead girl. The one who stands in opposition to the natural order.
Dimly, she recalls championing this one's cause before. Now... now she is unsure. The dead should not walk in flesh.
Shanodin can't deny the woman, though. Elly will notice a path free of thorns or other things which might scratch or cut. Once the girl is withing the grove, however, the path will close behind her.
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Plan B
May 17, 2012 20:32:23 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on May 17, 2012 20:32:23 GMT -5
Come now, Demeter eventually came to terms with Persephone as the Queen of the Dead.
"Fantastic," Elly murmurs, mostly to herself, in the best Cybertronian her beleaguered human vocal cords can manage. She is clearly wary and uncomfortable, and yet, here she is. Still in Cybertronian, Elly explains aloud, "I'm not... well. I need to have my medication on hand just in case, and I need the gun in case my murderer comes looking for me again." She sighs. Elly is not just making excuses. She'll have hours of dialysis tomorrow because her kidneys are.... mostly failed. Still, being here is inherently selfish. She did not have to burden Botanica... Shanodin with her concerns.
"I just never got a chance to thank you for talking Kup out of locking me up on the brig and throwing away the key, and I figured 'thank you' was the least I could do, ma'am. I can understand if you don't necessarily want..." Elly's voice trails off, and she enters where she is bidden. Call her against the natural order, but she is very much of order, nonetheless. She walks softly, almost trembling, and she lifts her roller bag up so the wheels will not drag on the ground, which is a visible strain for her.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
May 20, 2012 12:03:41 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on May 20, 2012 12:03:41 GMT -5
"Let them help you," calls a soft voice from a bit deeper in the grove.
The path closes behind Elly, a few large vines shift to try and lift Elly's case away from her. If Elly will allow, her bag will be transferred along down the path as she walks.
"Fallen guardian, how could I not plead for you? I am not in the habit of abandoning my work."
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Plan B
May 20, 2012 15:18:25 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on May 20, 2012 15:18:25 GMT -5
Elly looks genuinely alarmed by the vines taking up her bag, but she obeys. Following the orders of a superior (and then maybe complaining about it later) is something she can do. Her meat body makes her nauseated, both because she's genuinely ill and simply because it is meat. This much green around her makes her (disgusting) skin crawl. Still, Elly tries to marshal herself and control her reactions to appear polite and attentive, ever the dutiful soldier.
Wandering deeper along the path, she smirks and asks, "I'm your 'work' now, huh?"
Elly isn't sure how she feels about being someone else's craft project. A little indignant, she supposes. Elly wants to say that she is not broken; she does not need fixing!
Is that really true, though?
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
May 25, 2012 20:47:55 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on May 25, 2012 20:47:55 GMT -5
"Aren't you all?" says the voice, closer now to the girl now.
Elly's path will take her to an open area in the center of which is a large, smooth, flat-topped rock that looks freshly washed. It's dry to the touch, however, and is at the perfect height for Elly to sit on.
Nestled in the curve of a low-hanging willow tree variant is the dryad. She regards Elly with a carefully neutral expression.
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Plan B
May 25, 2012 21:02:45 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on May 25, 2012 21:02:45 GMT -5
Elly considers the rock. Elly wars with herself. Elly sits down on the rock.
She points out, "Only if we're willing to go along with it. So, ah.... fish meal?"
Elly offers up the bag.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
Jun 1, 2012 18:53:58 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on Jun 1, 2012 18:53:58 GMT -5
Shanodin tilts her head as she watches Elly sit. The dryad's lips are pursed in a frown, and there are shadows of concern in her eyes.
"It must be exhausting, to constantly be straining against the natural order," she says, "You are very weak."
She drops from her perch and walks over to Elly. If allowed, Shanodin will take the bag of meal and start to scatter it around the base of some small plants near the rock.
"Was it wise to risk yourself for this visit?"
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Plan B
Jun 1, 2012 20:23:33 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 1, 2012 20:23:33 GMT -5
Elly draws herself up in haughty fashion and corrects, "The natural order is that I am Sentinel Prime, commander of the Elite Guard, next in line after Ultra Magnus, a purely mechanical being possessed of both snow plow and robot modes, back in my home reality, and a man. That is the natural order. I never asked to be an abomination." She glares down at one of her hands. "Don't tell me I'm weak. Right now, I can almost understand why Elita-1... Blackarachnia was so willing to do anything to return to her proper form."
Her eyes are hard and remorseless. In this moment, would she make a deal with even the Fallen?
Yes. She would. Sentinel Prime has changed some, but she has not changed that much.
Elly sits wearily back down on the rock and allows the bag to be taken. She shrugs and insists with blustering machismo inappropriate for her frame, "I'm fine. Going for a walk is good for me and all. Sure isn't wise for you to stay out here, though, ma'am."
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
Jun 3, 2012 15:16:28 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on Jun 3, 2012 15:16:28 GMT -5
The dryad turns back and watches Elly's tirade with impassivity. Once the girl is once more seated and behaving in a typical manner, Shanodin returns to feeding the plants.
"Your current body is weak, Sentinel Prime, and it is the only body allowed you at the moment. You must be careful of it. Otherwise, you are as you ever were, for it is not the body which defines us."
"As for me," she moves back to Elly and attempts to hand the empty sack back to her, "I am safe here. The biggest danger is fire, and the one who desires me most is not likely to risk that. Beyond that, I can not leave. Were you not informed of that fact?"
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Plan B
Jun 3, 2012 15:35:35 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 3, 2012 15:35:35 GMT -5
Elly shrugs over the sack and says, "Keep it," waving a hand. What's she going to do with an empty bag of ground up fish bones? Maybe Shanodin can donate it to some nesting birds or find some other ridiculously Earth Goddessy use for it.
She makes a fist absently and studies her hand. Elly admits, "I may have heard that, but I know rules very, very well, and here's the thing about rules: there's an exception to each and every one of them."
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
Jun 7, 2012 23:07:10 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on Jun 7, 2012 23:07:10 GMT -5
The dryad tucks the bag under the edge of a rock for the time being. It can be used elsewhere, certainly.
"Not this rule, guardian. Even if I felt comfortable leaving these fragile children to the humans' whims, I wither when outside this park's bounds. Literally."
Shanodin reaches out, though her hand stops just shy of actually touching Elly's living dead flesh. "Do not worry over me, guardian."
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Plan B
Jun 8, 2012 10:06:29 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 8, 2012 10:06:29 GMT -5
"Maybe you just like having an excuse to go play gardener and abandon the rest of us on our own," Elly says sourly, and then she adds a weak smile and, "sir."
She stands up again, slowly, and folds her hands behind her back and places laboriously. Elly muses, "Because you see, if you believe that life matters, the simplest approach that you can take is to weight all life equally, such that a carrot has the same intrinsic value as a marmot, right? There are certainly more complicated approaches that you could take, like, oh, weighing in intelligence or the capacity to feel pain, but let's keep it simple for now. Each and every bacteria in my gut is equal to me," and her face twists in obvious displeasure to say so, "which makes tending to any given group of life equal. So these 'fragile children'," and she gestures, and there is something derisive in her tone of voice, because she thinks this whole 'fragile children' business is complete jetslag when most of these plants could kill her dead in a few seconds and these slagging trees are sure a blasted sight more sturdy than she is, "are equal in worth to the humanised Autobots," clearly not something she actually believes.
"But here's the rub. You were already looking after us. You didn't have to. You could have left us. You could have joined the Decepticons and buddied it up with Blackarachnia!" There is a Batman episode about that. "You could have gone off and been worshiped by the humans as a goddess. You were with us by your own choice, even if you did not want to be in this stupid universe. Then malign forces outside your control rip you away from us, perform grievous non-consensual modifications upon your body, commit even worse acts of violation upon your mind, and force you to tend these plants. Oh, and if you try to leave, you will die."
Elly turns to stare at the dryad, her hand open wide, and concludes, "That's... fragging slavery and extortion. And you're just going along with it. You're even cooing over these speeecial baaaabies like this is something you would have chosen for yourself, but you had no choice. Something, someone took away the group you did choose and replaced it. Me, I'd be torqued. I'd send a message. I'd do the minimum I needed to stay alive, and the rest..."
She looks around at the verdant green, her pale blue eyes like chips of salted ice, burning and dead, "...I'd make examples of. Show that no one forces me to give a slag about special babies by replacing the ones I chose, enslaving me, and putting a threat on my life."
This may well get Elly kicked out. It may get her hurt. It might even get her killed, again, for good. Elly just cannot understand how anyone, let alone someone she respects, could so passively accept this outrage.
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Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
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Plan B
Jun 14, 2012 11:15:04 GMT -5
Post by Shanodin on Jun 14, 2012 11:15:04 GMT -5
Shanodin listens to Elly's tirade without interruption. The dryad's countenance is calm, and there is no outward indication of how the dead girl's speech affects her. The grove's opinion, however, is very clear. The brush rustles in such a way as to sound like hissing, and vines slither through the trees, keeping tabs on Elly. It is only Shanodin's will that keeps the plants from Elly, and the dryad actually frowns at that realization.
Once Elly is finished, Shanodin folds her hands into her lap and sighs. She doesn't look at the dead girl, but at the ground.
Shanodin shudders and speaks, "Oh Sentinel, I hope that you are never tempted. You are so much like my Megatron in so many ways, with your obsession with order. I think given power you would kill us all in your attempts to make us behave as you deem proper." The dryad sounds much more like Botanica now than she has at any point previous.
"We could take this conversation and reorder time so that it occurs just after my original reformatting by Primal, you know. To protect my crew, I alone answered Cybertron's distress call. Unlike Primal, and his crew I did not choose to be reformatted, to become partially organic." She looks up and her eyes flash, "I dd not choose to become linked to my world in such as way that leaving it's atmosphere will kill me. I did not choose to have a psychic bond with Cybertron forced upon me, the only one blessed or cursed with such a thing. I am an explorer, a scientist, and I discovered that I could not even return to the plant upon which I left my crew and check on their welfare."
"I did not ask to be brought to this universe and have to choose between bonding my life to another planet or dieing. That is why we have the biosphere, Sentinel, because it keeps me alive. Without it's presence, my spark would extinguish and I would fade into nothing and then what good would I be to anyone?"
"You would have me rage against yet another usurping of my life as if it had not become a commonplace occurrence. The fact that it has become commonplace does not please me in the least, but I have discovered over the years that raging, refusing, comes at a higher price than I am willing to pay!"
"I am sorry to be such a disappointment to you, Sentinel."
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Plan B
Jun 14, 2012 11:37:46 GMT -5
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 14, 2012 11:37:46 GMT -5
Elly visibly bristles back at the grove, and she slips her forearm through the straps of her bag, bringing it up like a shield. With her other hand, she rifles through the bag, pulls out a pamphlet that was given to her at the hospital, and she holds it out to Shanodin. Elly's expression is sad but determined as she explains, "Look, it's just... you're in a textbook abusive situation. You can't even have an honest conversation about your situation without it getting angry," and she gestures to the grove as a whole, "You act like you believe you deserve this, and you don't. No one deserves this. You feel helpless. It threatens to hurt you if you try to leave. It's excessively jealous and possessive. It controls what you do and where you go. It keeps you from seeing your friends. It constantly checks up on you. It refuses to let you have access to a phone, a car, keys, or bank accounts. It gaslights you and brainwashes you to see things its way."
The hospital gave her that pamphlet and talked to her endlessly about abuse because, at one point, her 'boyfriend', who seems to have fallen off the face of the planet, was a suspect in her murder.
Elly turns almost gentle and says softly, "I'm not disappointed in you, sir. You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't 'bring this on yourself'. You're just a victim. Bad things happen to good bots because the universe is a hostile son of a glitch. I am, however, torqued at your abusers, and I will do whatever I can to get you safe and free."
So Persephone swears vengeance upon Gaea in the name of Demeter.
Then Elly crosses her arms, the bag still held like a shield, and she huffs, "...but I'd kill everyone? I'm like your Megatron? Seriously? Now that's just uncalled for. Don't worry, I know it's not really you speaking; it's just the brainwashing," which is both completely wrong and yet amazingly progressive, for Sentinel Prime.
Sentinel Prime does not realise what a compliment it is to be compared to Beast Machines Megatron.
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