A Purple Bullseye on His Chest

[Scrapper]

Takes place a little after Time Keeps Dragging On. Open to anybody


Scrapper would like to think that he's the bravest bot around, but...he can't fool himself. He's servo's are shivering from the awkward sitation he landed himself in. All 'cause of the faction symbol on his chest! Of course Scrapper doesn't see why it's that much of big deal. But, he was, after all, born on Earth. He still has only a vague idea of what a Cybertron is. Some kinda planet or somethin', right?

At any rate, Scrapper's pretty glad to be gone from the Autobot Death Gaze that's been touching him every time he enters a room. Maybe this room, he could find some company that isn't contemplating on whether they should slag him or not.

[Skyfire]

This room might just be a lounge; it has an extremely large white Autobot lounging on the largest available piece of furniture with a cube in one hand. Skyfire gives Scrapper a quizzical look when he enters.

"Scrapper, right? I'm not sure we've ever really been introduced, though I've seen you working with Mayday. I'm Skyfire; I was busy with last-minute transport missions until, well, the last minute." He smiles. "You just get off-shift, or going on-shift? Either way, help yourself."

[Scrapper]

Scrapper turns around to see the large white Autobot, sittinng down calmly in the room.

"Skyfire, huh?" Scrapper asks. "Nah, I've haven't really done nothin' since we left."

Scrapper's optics then towards the cube in Skyfire's hand. Help himself to that? No, thanks...

"Well, I'd actually like some oil," Scrapper shrugs. "Wherever dey're keepin' it."

Like some. More like need some after the whole incident with Prowl and Blurr.

[Skyfire]

"Oil?" Skyfire looks a bit surprised. "Might be some in the supplies chest over there," he says, pointing at a set of cabinet doors flush with the wall.

"You're on Damage Control rather than regular maintenance, then?" Skyfire tilts his head slightly. "Take it easy while you can, and hope very hard that you're not needed. Space accidents are usually bad, and combat is worse."

He takes a sip from his cube and says genially, "I'm just off my shift as navigator; figured I'd get a little refuel followed by some recharge in a bit. So what's your story?" Skyfire gestures vaguely at Scrapper's chest with his cube.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper rushes to the supply chest that Skyfire points out. And sure enough, he found some cans of the good stuff in a drawer. Yup. Ol' 'Ron definitely wants Scrapper to stick around.

Grabbing several cans of oil and carrying them in his arms, Scrapper took a seat in another piece of unusually large furniture next to Skyfire. as he's getting ready to open up a can, he hears Skyfire mention space accidents.

Scrapper already had put the fact that he was not on ground in the back of his mind. He really didn't want to think himself as being in space, let alone being in a space accident.

Then Skyfire makes a gesture towards his faction symbol. Scrapper sighs, inclines in his chair, and takes a swig of oil before answering, "So, it's like dis...Me an' my buddy Mix were machines on Earth. Den dis ting called da Allspark hits us an' bam! We're, uh, transformers. Den we meet dis Autobot named Bulkhead an den...it's kinda a blur after dat..."

Scrapper takes another swig of oil. "But, anyway, dis guy named Megatron found us an' offered us some good oil to work for him. So we did. Den he puts dis brandin' iron on us an' we're Decepticons."

Scrapper takes yet another swig of oil, finishing his current hand. He then crushes the can on his head and starts to grab another.

"But, y'know, I don't really care too much about dis whole war ting between you guys an' da other Decepticons. I just wanna kick back, relax, and drink some oil. Y'know what I mean? An' I figured...why not join da Autobots. Dey're at least better ta work with den da 'Cons. I mean, I've never even been to dat Cybertron ting dat everybody likes so mu-Whoah, hold on-"

Scrapper then emits a loud noise from his mouth, quite similar to the human act of 'belching'.

"Yeah, so, dat's all I got," Scrapper says, taking another swig of oil. He told the basics of his story, so he pretty much done, but he figured he might ask dis Skyfire guy the same. "How about 'choo? What's your story?"

[Skyfire]

Skyfire nods, and says, "Might want to consider painting over that symbol. Lot of people here have bad memories and worse feelings about mechs wearing it, and some of them are impulsive--tend to shoot first and check later."

"As for me, I'm a deep-space explorer and scientist. I was out exploring back before the Great War with my expedition partner, Starscream--this was during a time when 'Autobot' and 'Decepticon' were pretty much forgotten as warring factions. Got caught in a sudden polar storm on a planet we were exploring and crashed; next thing I know, I'm here on Gillanan III, in the polar snows."

He takes a long draft from his cube. "I called for help, and my partner Starscream answered, as I expected. He guided me to his temporary base--which I hadn't expected--and invited me to join him--said he was marooned here, that I had actually been transported here after being lost in space for a long time, and that a war had started while I was lost in space. He 'forgot' to mention a few details, like his faction starting the war or the fact that they ruthlessly exterminated anyone who got in their way."

"Some of the Autobots here also answered my radio calls, but I didn't trust them at first--they were my trusted--or so I thought--partner's enemies. Still, they said enough things that I kept my optics open instead of committing myself blindly," Skyfire says.

He pauses long enough to go refill his cube.

[Scrapper]

Again with the 'Bots telling him that he needs to change his faction symbol! Scrapper's still doesn't completely see why it's such a big deal.

"Yeah, 'Ron told me da same ting," Scrapper shrugs. "But, y'know...it's not like I'm tryin' ta make people mad or nothin'."

And he isn't! He's not like the other Decepticons stranded here! Especially not like that creepy Mixmaster...

"Well, I can tell ya dat da Decepticons here might have a little screw loose if ya know what I mean," Scrapper says, moving his finger around the side of his head in a circular motion. "I mean, I was lookin' for my pal, Mix, when dis other Mix answered the radio. Man, was dat guy nutty."

[Skyfire]

"It's a safety precaution, Scrapper," Skyfire says, pouring himself another cube. "The Decepticon emblem is a sign meaning 'Bad! Danger! Trouble!' to a lot of people here. Like I said, people that haven't heard about you might be a bit trigger-happy--because they've come from times and places where seeing that purple symbol meant they had to shoot fast and straight or they were dead."

"Long Haul had some trouble when he came here and he wasn't even wearing that symbol like you were--just because people remembered him as a Decepticon. Nowadays things are okay, though we do have to warn newcomers about him-- and you, now." Skyfire sits back down with his cube.

"I don't have that reaction, because I didn't come here from a war zone. You're right, some of the Decepticons here are a bit... off. My former partner is one of those. He always had a petty cruel streak, but now? He's a vicious killer. He tried to kill me when I figured out his crew wasn't on the up-and-up," Skyfire says somberly, drinking slowly.

"I ended up here with the Autobots because they're my kind of people," he says with a faint smile. "You seem like a decent fellow; I think you'll find that you fit in here better than you would have with the Decepticons, in the long run."

[Scrapper]

Scrapper looks down and mumbles a bit under his breath, staring down at his faction symbol. If Skyfire listens closely enough, he can hear some thing similar to, "But, it looks so awesome..." emerge from Scrappers mouth.

"I...guess it doesn't matter too much," Scrapper mumbles. Just...please don't tell me I have to be branded wit' da Autobot symbol."

The last time he was branded hurt him enough...and strangely changed him from yellow to green.

[Skyfire]

"I think the Autobot symbol is pretty good-looking, too. Or consider Rattrap's Maximal symbol, that's different. Or just stay without a symbol for a while, until you're sure of what's right for you." Skyfire gives him a rueful look. "I wish I could honestly say 'keep it if it makes you happy', but I'm concerned about you getting accidentally hurt by people who would be your friends if they got to know you."

"Branded? No, I don't think so. Mine was painted on, when I joined these guys. Had a big party, celebrating it, too." Skyfire grins. Little does he know that his alternate in Emirate Xaaron's reality was branded with the Autobrand, as they called it.

[Scrapper]

"Well, I guess I'll get to it eventually," Scrapper shrugs, inclining in his seat even more, taking another swig of oil. "What exactly is a Maximal anyways?"

Scrapper's heard someone around here mention the faction name before. He had learned that it was used to refer to Botanica and the animal bots around here, though Scrapper never really learned why they weren't called Autobots.

At Skyfire's mention of parties, Scrapper grins. Parties might just equal tons of oil.

[Skyfire]

Skyfire looks thoughtful for a moment. "As I understand it, they are future successors to the Autobots who downsized to save energy. They are much smaller, and the ones on our ship have organic alternate modes to protect them from alien environments that were destructive to unshielded circuitry."

If he had eyebrows, one would be raised. "Apparently they came here from exploring one such world, as I understand it." It occurs to Skyfire that he really ought to find the time to talk to Rattrap about it; a fellow explorer should have many interesting stories about the worlds he's seen. Kup, too, come to think of it. He stares at his cube with a frustrated look; he's been spending too much time either in the lab or hauling things, and not enough time with his fellow bots.

[Scrapper]

Scrapper raises an optic at Skyfire's description of Maximals. The story sounds cool, no doubt about that...but...Eh. Scrapper just has to get used to seein' weird stuff. He feels rather talkative, oddly enough.

"So..." he starts. "Dey got fembot around here, right?"

Scrapper is intrigued at the fact that there is such a thing as fembot. He might have seen one flying around at the big battle at Megatron's base, but there was just too much going on for him to notice her too much.

[Skyfire]

"A what? Oh, a female Autobot." Skyfire comes from one of the few G1 realities where female Transformers aren't a one-off special case; they actually exist. "We have a couple. Arcee--she's pink, and Pee-Dee, who is a Junkion."

"I think Oracle uses feminine speech mode as well."

[Scrapper]

Man, if Scrapper knew those existed in his reality...well, he's not sure what he'd do. Though, hitting on fembots seems like it would have better results than hitting on sports cars. Possibly. Maybe. Only one way to find out.

But, before Scrapper goes off to try and makes some moves, he still has a question regarding his faction symbol.

"So, where exactly would I get dis ting removed, anyway?" he asks.