Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Jan 29, 2010 14:39:46 GMT -5
Day one, following What's Your Deal? by a few hours. Private thread.
She knows he'll follow her.
She knows he'll try to save her, try to persuade her back to him, just like he did before. Of course, before, he didn't have a young, pretty, unspoiled version of her to choose instead.
Never mind those thoughts. He will follow her.
He has to.
She left a deliberate trail of spider's silk from the roof of the building she scaled all the way across the pleasure district, through the slums, ending on the banks of a man-made river. The river reeks of chemicals, and the banks are littered with refuse. Not even the homeless seek shelter here, so foul is it.
She waits now in the deepest shadow; her prey should be here soon.
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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 Feb 5, 2010 17:40:48 GMT -5
Scrap it, why is Elita doing this? Optimus makes his way through the town following the webs. He continues his pursuit on foot--there is somehow something wrong with chasing after her as a loud terran-based Fire truck. Of course, he is empty-handed, but that can be a meaningless gesture when a single point-and-click can employ grapplers, foam and bolas.
This version of Elita has met him before--that means she's survived until Optimus' present day. That is good, he supposes. But does that mean she's learned of his fear of spiders? If so then she knows just how unnerving it is for Optimus to follow it.
As he nears the river, his olfactory sensors object violently to approach further. He ignores them and presses on.
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 5, 2010 23:44:32 GMT -5
And there he is. So predictable as always. In many ways, Optimus can be so much easier to twist about her fingers than Sentinel; gullibility is a failing of the Good Guy all too often.
She moves forward just enough so that a shaft of neon light from a sign falls across half her body. All she needs is veil and a cigarette to complete the classic femme fatale picture.
"So very punctual. And all alone, too. What's the matter, afraid to share your shameful past with your new friends, Prime?"
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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 Feb 13, 2010 16:57:01 GMT -5
And there she is. Optimus halts and steels himself as he turns to face 'Blackarachnia'.
"They know what happened that day," Optimus says, unflinching in how he owns up to his mistakes. "I came alone because I wanted to talk to you myself. I mean... the Decepticons? I cannot imagine the trauma you went through, but to sign up with our sworn enemies? Elita, what were you thinking?
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 14, 2010 22:08:35 GMT -5
Unconsciously, Blackarachnia's fingers move to the crest at her throat.
"I'm not her. Not anymore," she snaps, "Don't call me by her name."
"What else was there for me? You saved Sentinel's aft, left me there- you two who were supposed to be my friends. I couldn't depend on you, why would I depend on the kindness and charity of the Autobot regime?"
The sarcasm, it drips.
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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 Feb 16, 2010 6:47:09 GMT -5
"I scanned for your signature.. I couldn't find it. I'm sorry Elita..."
Optimus' fists clench as he straightens up and speaks with conviction. "..And you are Elita. If you hate me now, that's betrayal at a friendship between me and Elita.
"This is a new Autobot regime. Organics aren't terrible to them--our Autobots were wrong to ever think they were. We can help you. You don't have to be like this anymore."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 16, 2010 12:20:04 GMT -5
"'Organics aren't terrible to them,'" she mimics, then laughs, "You're from early enough on in your Earth adventures to not know me and you still say that. Ha!"
"You always were blind to such things. You still don't see it, do you?"
She shakes her head, "The only way the Autobot system works is if it keeps its people away from alien worlds, and keeps them frightened of exploration. Keeps them from possibly forming ideas contrary to whatever the reigning powers want them to have."
There's a touch of Elita-1's sentiments in those words, not just the bitterness of betrayal.
She smirks. "But of course, you think I can be helped. Repaired. Redeemed. You still thought that at our last encounter, Optimus Prime, even with the lives of your teammates hanging in balance."
"You know," she affects an innocent look, "I was pulled right in the middle of the kerfluffle with Meltdown. I wonder, since that means I won't be there to hold up my end of our bargain, if poor Prowl and Bumblebee will perish from my venom after all."
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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 Feb 18, 2010 15:16:34 GMT -5
"...Prowl? Bumblebee? What did you do to them!?"
Beat up Optimus as much as you want, Blackarachnia. It won't be anything more than he would want to do to himself.
But do not mess with his crew.
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 19, 2010 23:15:30 GMT -5
"Why, nothing Optimus," Blackarachnia says, laughing lightly, "A little kiss, a little taste, just enough to leave them wanting more." She touches the tip of one stinger and winks.
"Nothing lethal. Well, it won't be, if they receive the anti-venom in time." She shrugs. "But who knows what will happen now? If there are others from our reality in your group, and they come after <Black Friday>, ask them."
Yes, she just shared information that might actually be helpful to Optimus without being asked. What of it?
She saunters a few steps closer.
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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 1, 2010 13:52:03 GMT -5
"And their lives mean that little to you?! They have nothing to do with--- with what I---!"
Optimus' face reflects his sadness, as if before him he's seen his dear friend vanish before him; then hardens as he faces off against this villain that bears her likeless.
"Fine. Blackarachnia. For your sake they had better be returned to full functionality. If they don't, I'll bring you in myself."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Mar 2, 2010 16:08:10 GMT -5
Her optics narrow for a moment, and then Blackarachnia laughs, a loud and mocking sound.
"Will you now? Bring me in? But you don't even know what happens to them, you can't know, because even if we're all returned to our proper places and seconds some day, who is to say we will every even remember this adventure?"
She tries to step closer still, within arms length of Optimus, now.
"Optimus, Optimus, the universe is not so black and white- or should I say red and purple? Really, this, " she touches her throat, "is not an indication of evil incarnate. Some of the lot in our current crew are actually decent individuals."
"But why should I care about them at all? I never knew them before, and all I know of them now is that they are worth more to you than I ever was."
That last is delivered lightly, with an almost singsong quality.
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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 2, 2010 22:44:37 GMT -5
Optimus' finger points as his own emblem. "And this is not an indication of corruption! The sparks of the decent individuals in my crew were just bargaining chips for you, purely for the crime of knowing me. I would have given anything to have swapped places with you."
As Blackarachnia gets too close, Optimus takes a step back, his arm raised, as Blackarachnia should well know, as if ready to draw his axe. When he realizes what he has instinctively done, he looks appalled at his actions, and then resolved as if he is prepared for what might happen next.
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Mar 3, 2010 15:06:25 GMT -5
"Optimus..."
For just a few seconds, there is something other than hate and deceit on Blackarachnia's face. Instead, it's regret, pain, and a little bit of longing that fleets across her features at that unconscious gesture of Optimus's.
"If you'd taken my place, you'd be dead. It was my download power that kept me alive, and that alone," she says softly.
"And it wasn't all about hurting you. It never was, and never will be," she adds as she turns sharply away from Optimus, facing the putrid river.
Even after everything that's happened, everything they've done, Blackarachnia still trusts Optimus Prime not to attack her back when she presents it to him. Not when she hasn't attacked first.
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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 3, 2010 23:01:15 GMT -5
...perhaps Optimus was too quick to judge Blackarachnia, as he picks up on her regret. When she turns her back to him, he recognizes the gesture as one of goodwill, and lowers his stance.
"I know what taking your place would mean." He says with conviction.
"Blackarachnia... these are not the Autobots we left behind on our own world. They would welcome you, do everything they could in their power to help you. Can you trust me enough to believe me?"
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Mar 4, 2010 11:16:27 GMT -5
"Hmph."
The sound comes out somewhere between a snort and a laugh.
"I trust you to be as you always have been- an optimistic fool." Blackarachnia's tone is less bitter than her words. "What would you do when they didn't live up to your expectations, when a Prime who'd shoot through you to hit his target decided a Decepticon lab experiment was too big a liability? And that if that Xaaron fellow let me live that long."
She turns back to face Optimus, "I'm not so foolish as to take every report with a drop of oil, but I recognize patterns. Your leaders are no different from any other."
She slowly raises her hand as if she is going to touch his cheek, but lets it fall before making contact.
"I'm beyond salvation by you, Optimus. Best for you to understand that now."
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