Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Feb 5, 2012 10:23:58 GMT -5
Carly nods in agreement with Chip, and then Pincher asks for proof. She opens her eyes wide, startled, and her first thought is, Why would she lie? but then she looks a little embarrassed. Pincher does make a good point. She scuffs her foot against the ground and looks down, expression distinctly unhappy. "I'm sorry, but Pincher's right. I'd love to help, but we need to see some sort of evidence first." Innocent until proven and all that stuff.
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Post by Slingshot on Feb 5, 2012 13:05:30 GMT -5
"Of course I have proof," Talaria snaps at Pincher. "I did not take your people for fools!"
She sounds more annoyed that he thought she thought they were stupid than that he wants proof.
"Come." With that, she strides off to collect her bow then lead the way through the woods towards the crags. Assuming everyone follows, the first five minutes she will walk in silence, but then she will begin to point things out. How this type of tree is not flowering as it ought because there has not been enough of this type of fruit to bury the extra around their roots1, how this type of vine has been stripped of its berries but they would be green and bitter still in this season, how the only fruits to be seen at all are still bright with poisons.
1. Nutrients from the one enriching the soil of the other, though Talaria doesn't understand that's what's going on, just that it's been well-observed that it's pretty darn well necessary.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Feb 10, 2012 18:45:44 GMT -5
When the gang follows Talaria, Chip uses this unique opportunity to record everything. What she says, the sights around them...Not just with his camera, but with his eyes too, engorging on all the wondrous sights.
Guzzle, meanwhile, is not feeling happy about this. But he does not object. He just follows, clutching his gun in his hand.
__________________
Skipping Perceptor and Drift due to timeout.
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Post by Perceptor on Feb 12, 2012 22:24:03 GMT -5
This is where everyone gets to facepalm at Perceptor.
"Why would she lie about such a thing?" he asks, utterly bewildered.
Verifying experiments and hypotheses? Of course. Trusting without reason. Oh yes, very much that, too. Of course, he also has past precedent from his own reality to color his judgment, too.
He follows Talaria as she takes them on her impromptu tour, transforming anytime she points anything out to examine the soil and the plants in question under his microscope lens with acute precision. He will also rattle off the exact chemical formulae of every nutrient that is deficient, and every toxin he catalogs.
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Post by Drift on Feb 12, 2012 22:36:55 GMT -5
Drift is uninclined to believe she'd lie. He hears the ring of truth in her voice. He may not like her, for the whole 'shooty arrows' thing, but anyone who would reveal that her people thought her a blasphemer...what's left to lie about? You made up lies to make yourself sound better, not worse.
"Anything alive here?" Sure, everyone else can enjoy the walking tour, here, but Drift has appointed himself the Keep Everyone Alive guy on this team. "Like...sentient. Animals. Threats." Please, don't point out every fraggin' plant here. He had enough of that from the nerd and the whole Biosphere thing the last few months.
He falls back, trying to trail behind the others, optics flicking left and right, trying to keep the herd of nerds shipmates in range so he could, if necessary, leap up over someone and do some stabbing.
Drift really wants to stab something.
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Feb 19, 2012 20:47:54 GMT -5
Pincher cringes when the alien woman snaps at him. He does take notes, and he collects readings. It is probably redundant with what Chip and Perceptor are doing, but an extra data set never hurts.
His fingers and thumb clutch harder on the datapad when Perceptor asks, ' Why would she lie about such a thing?' as if to crush the device. Then Pincher catches himself, and he lets up. Though he may have the form of a species not his own, not even of his world, he's still a scorpion walking on two legs. Pincher says calmly, "People can tell what they believe to be the truth without making it true. I would know."
He would have said that Shockwave was a good Transformer, not too long ago. He would have believed it was true. Now, Pincher is unsure.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Feb 19, 2012 22:11:31 GMT -5
Carly asks plenty of questions. In fact, it's hard for her to keep herself from completely derailing things with questions. Botany may not be her area of expertise, but... ALIEN FOREST, HOLY COW! While she puts some effort into maintaining a demeanor appropriate to the seriousness of the circumstances, it's still all she can do to keep from... bubbling in enthusiasm.
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Post by Slingshot on Feb 26, 2012 19:15:16 GMT -5
"Animals?" Talaria says the word as if she is not entirely sure what Drift means by it. "There are Titans and there are insects. Nothing else lives in the orchards."
She motions the Transformers and humans to quiet. There are other people in the forest now; they can be heard talking in the distance. Talaria circles them, never getting close enough to see them or by seen by them. Eventually, the voices fade to a faint murmur.
The ground begins to slope upwards, and the trees don't grow so tall. Dirt gives way to rock and the few trees are stunted and twisted. Then even they are gone.
Talaria leads them through mountains of blue stone. At one point, there is a place where they stop and can look below. There are the forests, and near the base of the mountains is a city of stone and wood. Titans move among the streets, but someone with keen eyes might note there are fewer Titans than would seem necessary for a city of that size. Too, many of the stone buildings are show holes in the masonry. The oldest ones have no roofs. And the grandest of the wooden buildings are in clear disrepair.
Talaria does not linger here long.
Soon, they come to the temple by way of a passage winding up to its side. She gestures all the more insistently for quiet, then leads the Transformers and humans inside. There are no guards. Not even when they come to the central chamber and the idol of Chugway.
The statue, complete with single yellow glowing eye, has headfins, is very busty, and has a rod-thing instead of a hand. There are offerings of various fruits and vegetables on a carpet below the step plinth on which the titanic statue stands.
Actual description of the idol lifted from Blast Off's post in "Known Kadath".
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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 Feb 26, 2012 20:49:23 GMT -5
Magnus follows the group, silent, listening and watching. He has nothing to contribute to the discussion, knowing nothing of tending plants or farming. He does look with ill favour on the lack of security, wondering why it's so lax if this is such an important place as Talaria says. The safety of his rifle clicks off with a shift of his finger. This is the sort of arrangement that leads into traps.
Briefly, when he lays his gaze on the idol, he's certain they've been led right to their doom. His shock clears and he sees it for what it is: a statue, not the mechanism who tried to kill him. But it's the image of the one person who inspires unadulterated hatred in every trace and via of his body, in the very fibre of his being. Those near enough to him might hear the way his plating creaks, limbs tensing as anger wells up inside him, hot and caustic. His expression turns dark and furious, optics too bright, and his loathing seems to take over his motor controls. He's programmed for too much aggression and the sight of Chugway's – Shockwave's – statue makes it boil over.
He'll look back on this and regret losing control. But he isn't thinking about that now; all he can think about is how much he wants that blight on the landscape wiped out. Magnus snarls a wordless curse and opens fire on the idol. He won't stop shooting it until someone intervenes or the statue is reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Feb 27, 2012 20:02:04 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus is not the only one who's suspicious. It is simply too simple to get inside. Sites of religious worship are always heavily protected, with very few exceptions, and Guzzle doubts that this is one of those.
Whatever it was that Guzzle expected to find in this temple, though, a statue who was unmistakably one of their most dangerous enemies was not it. The minibot looks up at it, the finger on the trigger twitching as he grumbles "Bugger".
And then Magnus starts firing on it like a mad man.
He does not try and stop the city commander. The tall ones who can actually reach his arms without standing on their tippy toes can do that. No, Guzzle quickly moves to transform, his barrel looking down at the main entrance while the doors of the wheeled tank pop open. "Humans. In. DO IT. NOW."
Chip is just horribly, terribly confused. One second he was looking up in awe at the statue and the next one of their guards go mad! He turns to look at his designated protector but doesn't move to get in. Instead, he protests. "What are you doing!? Are you trying to single handedly ruin our first contact with alien life in our own solar system!?"
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Post by Perceptor on Feb 27, 2012 22:47:29 GMT -5
Between listening to Talaria's descriptions, cataloging exactly what he will need to compound to assist the agricultural state of Titan, and still mulling over "Chugway", Perceptor is distracted enough that he misses that first, critical glimpse of the idol. He is, in fact, staring down at his feet, deep in though, letting Drift make sure that he doesn't inadvertantly stumble over anyone, as they enter, muttering to himself.
"Seibertron.... Cybertron... Chugway... Seiber... Cyber.... Chugway... Shookwah? Shugway? Shukwa--"
"Shock...wave?" That couldn't possibly be correct. Truly it couldn't. Could it?
He reaches for the nearest mech, looking up just in time to get a very quick glimpse of the idol before Magnus's first shots begin to hit it.
"Shockwave! It was him!" Oh bloody slag, and now Ultra Magnus is quite thoroughly ruining any chance they might have had at remaining somewhat discreet!
"Ultra Magnus! STOP! STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!" he demands, diving forward, heedless of his own safety, as he tries to grab the nearest weapons-wielding arm. "HE IS NOT WORTH THIS, MAGNUS! CEASE IMMEDIATELY!"
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Post by Drift on Feb 27, 2012 22:54:51 GMT -5
((ooc:I apologize for failing at everything lately. I had to put my favorite cat to sleep last week and my head was just...a mess.))
Lagging behind the rest of the group, Drift was too busy checking their six to notice what was in the temple until Ultra Magnus started shooting.
And then Perceptor started yelling.
Huh. He wants Magnus stopped? Drift can do that.
Drift is fast, dodging under Perceptor. His swords are stowed--he's just throwing himself bodily at Ultra Magnus.
((posing under Perceptor done with player permission))
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Feb 27, 2012 23:19:29 GMT -5
Pincher notices that there is a distinct lack of people around and the disrepair of the buildings. He considers the stunted trees and what Talaria has said, in so many words, about the nutrient problems. He notes down on his datapad, Tentative conjecture: Famine? Unless the Titans are a created species, which certainly happens, he suspects that a small group of them were trapped on this 'island' by circumstance, which accounts for the lack of animals.
He wanders along inside the temple, taking readings and jotting down notes - hey, the readings are spiking here, aren't they? Then Ultra Magnus, whom Pincher admires deeply, completely loses it on... a statue of Shockwave. He says softly to himself, "Oh, Shockwave, what were you doing here and... when were you here?" His Pretender-eyes narrow. For a moment, he wonders if Shockwave planned it all this way, to leave his image behind such that when the Autobots found it, they would destroy it out of hatred and thus forever ruin relations with the Titans.
Pincher has not been an Autobot in a long while, but the fact of the matter is that proper Autobots don't go off their gourds like that. Like the clack of claws, he snaps, "Ultra Magnus! You have a right to hate Shockwave. You have no right to destroy the property and objects of worship of others. How would you like it if the Titans came to Cybertron and destroyed the Helix Gardens?" Okay, so the Decepticons destroyed those. The point stands. "Now we need to offer them aid in rebuilding. I volunteer my leave time."
His fingers press together and his thumbs come away from his fingers.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Feb 28, 2012 21:43:35 GMT -5
Carly's eyes open wide in shock and confusion as Ultra Magnus just up and attacks a statue. "Wait, what? What are you guys doing?!" Like Chip, she doesn't climb into Guzzle like she's supposed to, though she does crouch and starts looking around for a place to dodge. She looks at Chip. "That statue... that looked like one of them, didn't it? Like, their kind?"
Knowing Carly, if she can find an exit, she'll use the robots' distraction to go off on her own and explore and... "Hey, are those stairs?" she asks, darting to investigate the pathway taken down by the Decepticons not too long ago...
... Decepticons who can probably hear the noise, since they're in the cavern right below.
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Post by Slingshot on Mar 10, 2012 21:48:38 GMT -5
By the laws of her people, Ultra Magnus and Talaria are now married.
Of all the reactions to the idol of Chugway, the guard commander destroying it with extreme prejudice never crossed Talaria's mind as a possibility. She can't say she disapproves, though. Especially as she was considering how to break it best herself.
She steps carefully out of the way of the giant robots flailing about, moving in Carly's general direction. "I had hoped Jero would be here..."
Because if there's anyone who can convince people the religion of Chugway has to go, it's him.
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