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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 10, 2008 22:07:35 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron actually smiles now, but there is nothing warm or amused about it. His optics flare with the terrible light of experience, and he says, "Of course. I got it from the start. I simply wanted to be sure that you did, my dear Planetary Leader."
"Now then, as this is your interview, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself? My questions will get more specific once I have a proper basis point."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 10, 2008 22:39:44 GMT -5
"A bit about myself, huh?" She shrugs, then shifts her weight once more, now favoring her left foot. "It'd be nice to know what Swerve's told you already, so we don't have to run that same track, but all right."
"My name's Override. I'm the best racer on Velocitron, a planet dedicated to speed, and as a result I'm its leader. Since I focus on the race, though, this mostly means I've got an administration that runs things and reports to me when things need reporting. Everything and everyone on my planet is dedicated, one way or another, to racing, and as long as that's running smooth, it's not much trouble. Truth be told, most of the leading I do is from the front of the pack on the roads."
"I've also been the Planet Cup holder for a very long time - longer than most people can remember. The Planet Cup is the physical prize given when our most important race is held, the one that determines leadership. This means I've been fending off all comers, on and off road, for ages, and this means that it's been a loooooooong time since I've even had a proper challenge. Now, I don't know about you, but to me it's not actually a race when there's really only one racer that's got a chance. So there I was, a natural-built competitor, and the only competition I'd had was beating my own times."
"I was in this state when Megatron arrived on the planet. He came looking for something called the 'Cyber Planet Key,' with some story about needing to keep it from the evil Autobots and use it to save the universe." She snorts. "I told him if he wanted anything out of me, he had to beat me in a race."
The racer smirks faintly. "He came close. Closest anyone's come in ages. So I told him what I knew: nothing. Not too much later, a couple of Autobots, Hot Shot and Red Alert, showed up asking about the same thing. Said they needed the Cyber Planet Key to keep it from the evil Decepticons and use it to save the universe. Neither side wanted to bring a shred of evidence to the pits." Her smirk widens. "You might see my problem."
"Both sides figured our Planet Cup might actually be what we're looking for, and asked to see it. I told them they'd have to race for in the Planet Cup, just like everyone else." She shrugs. "I'm the Cup-holder. It's not I couldn't have shown them, but I had no idea who to trust, and you can tell a lot about a person by racing against them. I learned a lot about them."
"The Decepticons and their local recruits lied, cheated, and tricked their way through every sub-race leading up to the final event, and I'm still not convinced they didn't somehow hack the process to get in that final event. The Autobots helped each other, helped the other racers out by getting them on track when they found out we'd been tricked off it, hell, even saved my life, all this often at the cost of their own lead. By the time Hot Shot had won the final race, I had pretty much figured out who was on the up and up, and who were lying piles of parts."
She shakes her head. "They were surprised when, once I threw in my lot with them, told them I wanted to help." Another amused snort. "Like the universe ending isn't my problem, too."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 11, 2008 18:04:07 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron sees that Override comes racing out of the gates with a flood of information. he replies, "I am glad that you can see it as your problem. I respect that."
He looks away and rubs the cuff of his wrist, commenting, "I have only heard what Swerve had to tell me about you. He and I are... strained, even when speaking. I seem to vex him. Swerve was an oilsport racer, he told me."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 11, 2008 19:01:09 GMT -5
"And he was pulled from before I was." Override smirks very faintly. "Then I'm shown up for having a criminal figure out that the Decepticons were scrapping bootlegs before I did, although his choice on where he decided to stand says something." She snorts. "Though not enough that I'm going to let him accuse me of lying, just because he's not pleased to hear about events back home."
And, so that Emirate Xaaron can understand what she's talking about, she begins to summarize events back home. The Omega Frequency; the trip to Jungle Planet; Starscream unleashing the army of trapped Decepticon "monsters" and then absorbing part of the spark of Primus; the insertion of the three keys into the Omega Lock and Primus's transformation; Primus's explanation of the universal imbalance through the Mini-Con, Jolt; the attempt to contain the Unicron singularity, interrupted when Starscream absorbed so much of Primus's spark that he grew to the size of a planet himself.
"And that's when I realized that with the amount of power we had diverted to containing the singularity, Primus wouldn't be able to move to defend himself! I was just about to point that out to the others when..." she pauses and gestures around her. "I woke up here."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 11, 2008 19:54:42 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron notes down that she considers Swerve to be a 'criminal figure'. Hey, the gladiatorial games on his Cybertron were more than legal - they were state-sponsored.
At her mentions of Primus, he shows some keen interest. Primus transforming? Not anything he has ever heard of, but it would seem that there are multiple Primuses, a fact that deeply troubles him.
Emirate Xaaron inquires, "What would you call your greatest strengths and abilities? Humour me."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 11, 2008 21:24:05 GMT -5
"My greatest strengths and abilities?" Override laughs. She shrugs, palms slightly ceilingward and answer, "Well, my speed tops them. Hot Shot may have beat me at my last Planet Cup, but to do it he had to make so many mods to himself that he was practically degenerating while he rode. Needed a driver for his last race, in fact. Me, I can keep those speeds up week in and week out, whether you're talking paved road, sand, dirt, or swamp. And since sometimes your feet can take you where your wheels can't, I've optimized my transformation, too. I can spring from vehicle mode to robot mode without missing a beat, and hit the ground running if I need to."
"But that's not my real strengths, though." Override grins. "I'm not just fast, I think fast, too. You need it on the race track. I think fast, I adapt fast. And I don't give up. If I start a race, I don't quit until I'm done, and the same thing applies to other things I set for myself, too."
Override rests her hands lightly on her hips, despite the somewhat awkwardness of her build. "Those are my greatest strengths."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 11, 2008 22:16:47 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron listens, and he notes, "It sounds as if you know your strengths." He looks her up and down in a curiously non-charged manner, the way that one might look at a poster on a subway. "But do you also know your weaknesses?"
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 12, 2008 9:04:01 GMT -5
"A few weeks ago, I would have said 'none,'" Override grins, "because a few weeks ago all I cared about was racing, and when it comes to that, I have no weaknesses."
"Now?" She shrugs. "I'm new at this whole soldier thing, and don't know, completely, what I'm doing. I'm adapting fast, but I still lack experience."
Notable is what she's leaving out: her stubborness, her impatience, and her tendancy to rush headlong into things. This is because up until now, life has rewarded her for these traits. Why should she see them as weaknesses?
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 12, 2008 14:15:01 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron chuckles lightly and inquires, almost rhetorically, "You don't run out of power out of the sun?"
And that's not even the dumbest sort of weakness that his brand of Transformers are known to suffer.
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 12, 2008 18:27:00 GMT -5
Override's optics flash in surprise at the question. "What? No, why would I?"
"I run out of power when I run out of fuel. Like everyone."
Override doesn't have those kinds of weaknesses, because she wasn't designed by Marvel. Although she did once have to lie about her pronouns in order to race.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 12, 2008 18:48:39 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron smirks and replies, "You see, quite a few of us do indeed have that sort of weakness."
His weakness, up until a while ago, was that transforming could kill him. Now it just hurts a lot.
Also, he has no idea how to fight.
Emirate Xaaron thinks and concludes, "I do believe that is about it, unless you would like to add anything. You will likely be working for Kup. He's a tough old truck. Knows every trick in the book and invented a few of them. Do you have any concerns or anything you'd like to ask of me?"
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 12, 2008 19:36:08 GMT -5
"What? Are you serious?" Override asks in response to Xaaron's talk of weakness. "That's bizarre," says the Transformer from a reality where alternate modes like pay phones are not uncommon.
She shakes her head, then shrugs. "No, I guess that's all. I mean, if I come up with something, I can just ask then, right?" Then she pauses. "Kup. So is he the one I should report the routes we mapped out to?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 13, 2008 21:05:31 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron nods and agrees, "Oh, I am very serious. You have never seen me being more serious than this. Of course, you have seen rather little of me, and I assure that while I can get a good deal more serious than this, I am still being serious." He grins winningly.
He agrees, "Feel free to ask others for help. Let me know if they give you any trouble. You can report either to Kup or to Bumblebee, his second. Bumblebee is a yellow muscle car with some rust. It's a... feature."
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Aug 13, 2008 21:13:12 GMT -5
Override grins back in the face of Xaaron's winning smile. How can she not? And she nods at the offer of help. "Feature, huh? Not weakness?" Strange realities indeed! "All right. Well, if you've got nothing else, I'd like to ride a bit more before returning to camp. If that's all right with you."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 13, 2008 21:19:06 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron waves a hand airily and insists, "A feature. You'll see what I mean."
The world needs some mystery to it.
He inclines his head and replies, "Enjoy your ride. Let someone know if you find anything interesting. Me, even."
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