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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 7, 2009 16:24:28 GMT -5
They don't have proper quarters, not anymore, and even if they had some completed, Emirate Xaaron would be the last one to ask for one. He should not have luxuries his troops do not. Right now, he crouches in a tunnel grotto, peering at a pile of metallic rocks.
Metallic rocks. It's all of Cybertron that he has. The walls of the grotto are stained and dingy, grime running over grey concrete in streaks, the light dim, a portable electric torch set up on a ledge.
Yet, for his mood, this place could be a sacred shrine.
Emirate Xaaron has a little time for reflection, however, and he makes a call, //Rodimus Prime. Meet me at [coordinates]. I would have a word with you.//
OOC: Semi-private. Please ask before joining. Day 4.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 7, 2009 23:38:27 GMT -5
//Sure. Be right with you, Emirate,// comes the immediate reply. That's all Xaaron has for awhile, however, before the headlights of Rodimus Prime's alternate mode can finally be seen. The shades of gray form of the Prime, still awaiting a new point job and noticeably lacking his spoiler, comes into view not long after and transforms.
Not every spot is devoid of paint. Rodimus's face is still silver, his hands still orange. Here and there, a sliver of red, a slice of yellow can be spotted. Most of his body, however, is bare, the paint blasted off by the unnatural black flame created by his duplicate.
He's been fairly busy. In the first day or two, he contributed to repairs himself, while yesterday was spent checking up on people, seeing how well those he hadn't helped directly had fared. Today, though... yes, he had taken a break, a day to be lazy, so to speak, which of course was when Emirate Xaaron called him.
He smiles in greeting. "Xaaron," he says, being perhaps too informal. He then nods towards the rocks. "Those what I think they are?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 8, 2009 10:01:32 GMT -5
Expecting sympathy of Emirate Xaaron is a foolish gamble. Expecting mercy more so. He still has his own injuries from the fight, with no signs of repairs at all - he may have had a wash, but that's it.
At the lights from the headlights, he rises to his full, unimpressive height and stares steadily, impassively at the approaching Matrix-bearer. He crosses his arms, nod sharply, and replies, "They are. However, they are not the matter at hand. You are."
Emirate Xaaron pauses for just a moment before continuing, "I told you to keep a secret, not because I wish to burden you unduly, but out of reservations that what you carry might incite doubt in your capacities to the troops."
Another pause. "It has."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 8, 2009 14:44:02 GMT -5
Rodimus Prime's optics widen a little in faint start. He actually had been planning on letting Emirate Xaaron know he had told Botanica about the situation, but with everything that was going on, there never seemed to be a good time for it. That Emirate Xaaron learned it through other means doesn't exactly shock the Prime - he's Emirate Xaaron, after all. But the words do carry some unfortunate implication.
Rodimus dips his head forward. "I... see." He pauses. "I ask that you forgive me. I'm... used to my troops knowing, and accepting, and had grown comfortable with more... watchers, so to speak." He pauses, and his optic covers lid his eyes half-way in sadness. "Apparently that's not an option here," he says, some sorrow touching his voice. Then he looks up at the other.
"Can you explain, erm, what you know about how it went wrong? Maybe there's something I can do as damage control..."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 8, 2009 18:45:36 GMT -5
Asking Emirate Xaaron for forgiveness is also not the best of ideas.
He steeples his fingers, narrows his optics, and he notes lowly, "How very interesting. So she expressed these doubts to me and not you. One might even say, she went behind your back."
Emirate Xaaron raises a single finger and assures, "Of course, but your troops there knew the context and saw your deeds in the metal. There is a great difference between knowing that the man who routed the Decepticons off Cybertron has Unicron inside him and knowing that some random red robot has Unicron inside him, if you get my drift."
"When Shockwave took his hostage, Botanica radioed me. Allow me to quote her directly, so you may judge for yourself. Ahem. 'The longer that Matrix stays here, secured or no, the more danger we are in. It was....is...Rodimus' will that keeps the Devourer jailed...the both of them.... How long do you think before the other Unicron finds a weakness in the Matrix itself? Who is to say...that the very act of being here...in another dimension, so close to it's twin...could not be that weakness?'"
"Now. Imagine it was just you in command, and your troops had these doubts about you. You might not make the call that I did, that it was better to keep our Decepticon allies here until our mutual enemies were finished, but if you had made that call, those doubts would be most hindering in accomplishing what had to be done."
Emirate Xaaron stares at Rodimus Prime levelly, and to be honest, he is disappointed. Even the Micromasters owned up, without prompting, without disobeying him, but here, a Prime has not even shown the courage of a new-made Micromaster.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 8, 2009 19:53:48 GMT -5
Rodimus Prime looks back down at Emirate Xaaron and, despite his mistakes, hold the Emirate's gaze in return. He does not even offer that he had intended to come clean without prompting, truth though it may be - he knows enough to tell that at this point, such words would just sound like pale excuses here. Best simply to face his mistakes, deal with them as best he can, and move on.
(And beat himself up over it in private later on, as he's prone to doing.)
I didn't need to keep it secret. If you truly comprehended power, you wouldn't either, a disturbingly familiar voice whispers in the back of his mind. Rodimus ignores it.
He listens carefully to Xaaron's quote of what Botanica had to say, and dips his head once, though not so far as to break contact. "Yes. I see the problem," he says, agreeing. He sighs faintly, considering. "She intended well, at least. And yes, I know what humans say about the road to Hell, but it does suggest that she's unlikely to tell the others. Right now, that's what we'll have to work with, and hope that what was done at the crater will make headway in encouraging their - all of their - confidence. I know it's difficult to keep this in mind, given the hostage situation and the accidental triggering that followed, but... our plan worked. We accomplished what we set out to accomplish, and took down my alternate as intended. Though I... do worry about their Scourge."
He once more looks down at Xaaron and holds his gaze. "My double's essence was divided in order to weaken him. Half in their Matrix..." and he trails off. "And don't worry. I don't intend to tell anyone else that, either."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 8, 2009 20:42:43 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron blinks and notes, "I don't know what the humans say about the road to Hell. Pee-Dee hasn't taught me yet."
His optics focus distantly, and he murmurs, "I fear that their Scourge is lost. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that they take him down quickly. He was injured."
Emirate Xaaron rubs the side of his face as Rodimus Prime implies he has picked up another demonic force in his tummy. Oh, great. The lad ought to charge rent. "Is there anything I do?"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 8, 2009 21:57:50 GMT -5
Rodimus sighs faintly as he shifts position, absently looking around now as he speaks. "Just keep watch the way you were be-!!" As he cuts himself off, his optics open wide in extreme shock while his jaw drops. He stands there and stares for a full second, at least, before he manages to recover.
He is staring towards the rocks.
He lifts his left hand and points, finger perhaps the slightest bit shaking at a figure laying amongst the meteor rocks, one that assuredly was not there moments ago.
A rather familiar figure, badly damaged and partially disintegrated, but recognizable in its shades of silver and gold none-the-less.
"Did you see when that arrived?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 9, 2009 14:27:32 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron had been staring over at Rodimus Prime and not paying any attention to his rock collection. However, as Rodimus Prime cuts off and his expression changes, Emirate Xaaron's gaze flicks over to his rock collection and himself.
He kneels, beside himself, and he can feel as his doppleganger dies before the both of them, far more radiant in death than he ever was in life.
But. But. Is it him? Perhaps this is Arcee, from the dimension where everyone looks like Emirate Xaaron. Statistically speaking, there has to be be one, somewhere. He shakes his head, not betraying how shaken he feels, and he replies, "No. Check his serials and chronometer for me, please?"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 9, 2009 19:30:35 GMT -5
With the amount of damage, it's easy to assume that the figure is dead when Rodimus first spies it, but other senses tell him that's not so, and give him the moment of expiration. Still, it's difficult to be sure of anything - the rocks cause some problems, but there's also the fact that the other Xaaron is virtually stinking with an energy that's all too familiar.
Without thinking, Rodimus places one hand on one of Xaaron's shoulders, squeezes, and releases. He nods, then approaches the body and kneels.
"All right." Then he turns back to look at Emirate Xaaron. "You sure you want to watch?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 9, 2009 22:20:20 GMT -5
"Certain," Emirate Xaaron replies, voice unwavering. This might not be his own death - it would be nice to know that there are other hims out there, as he has seemed something of a singular figure so far - but if it his, he seems to have dodged whatever destiny was set for him simply by being here on Gillanan. He may return to meet such a death in time, but if he does, it will be with dignity.
And dripping with the essence of Primus, evidently.
That gets an optical ridge raise out of the resistance leader.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Feb 9, 2009 22:53:35 GMT -5
OOC: This thread is now a public thread. Individuals may join at will. Keep in mind the timeline date.
Rodimus inclines his head quickly, briefly, as Emirate Xaaron proclaims his certainty. He removes a minimal toolkit from subspace, though really, it's a simple matter of moving aside chunks of blasted armor to get inside the new arrival's chest.
"No 'Spark'," he observes, leaning back on his knees. "From what I understand, most from Perceptor's reality keep their laser cores in their chests, some in their heads, and since those components look identical... it could be that they have a version of you, after all, but seems unlikely."
One part he does remove from the chest region is the chronometer. It takes a moment of fiddling to get an accurate final date from the thing, but when Rodimus reads it off, Xaaron will recognize it as being only hours past the moment he was pulled from before arriving at Gillanan III. The Prime goes on to add, voice quiet, "We... eventually lost contact with our Emirate Xaaron, but it was definitely after this timestamp."
With that done, Rodimus goes to open a panel on the head, a task which takes a bit more effort because some parts have fused together. After some work, the damaged, overburned brain module lays available. Rodimus picks it up, turns it over, and reads off a series of numbers.
"Pretty low serial," he notes grimly as he looks up at Xaaron, studying the other for reaction, a restrained sort of compassion evident on his features.
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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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Post by Shanodin on Feb 10, 2009 19:37:22 GMT -5
Botanica had been on her way back to the surface, passing near the tunnel grotto where Rodimus and Xaaron are, but not right by. Something caught her attention, though, perhaps a word brought to her through some echo trick, and so she had turned that way.
When closer, she'd felt something...something that made her move just a bit faster...
"Oh...oh my!" she gasps softly, as she reaches the pair. She can feel what they both feel, and it hits her hard. One pair of hands goes out to steady herself against the tunnel wall.
"I..I am sorry. I did not mean to intrude..." she trails off, finding herself completely incapable of turning around and leaving, despite her apology.
She also can not keep her gaze from moving between the two Xaarons, a bit of wonder in her gaze.
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Wheelie
Rookie
Can't sleep. Sharkticons will eat me.
Posts: 191
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Post by Wheelie on Feb 10, 2009 20:49:26 GMT -5
Wheelie has taken to a lot of wandering, simply because, in the Autobot's current situation, he doesn't really have much to do. He's primarily a warrior or a scout, neither of which are applicable right at the moment. And construction is somewhat difficult when you almost need a step-ladder for every little thing.
He arrives just in time to see Botanica need to steady herself.
"Why plant-lady starting to fall--Wheelie thinks that's no fun! Does she need to go up and be in the sun?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Feb 10, 2009 23:02:58 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron murmurs, "It would be a low serial number." He's only the oldest living Transformer his Cybertron has left, excepting mythical figures such as the Last Autobot the Liege Maximo - not that Emirate Xaaron would know anything about them, now. Yes, even older than his own Kup.
He looks up at Rodimus Prime, and then over to Botanica and Wheelie, and he explains, "When I was pulled here, I was praying to Primus to save Cybertron from Unicron."
He stares over at his own dead body, and he remarks, "And there's the answer I would have had."
Dead and soaked with Primus's own energy. Primus ever made all his children as tools; Emirate Xaaron is no different.
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