Swerve-3
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Maintain the Light
Posts: 169
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Post by Swerve-3 on Apr 1, 2008 16:12:36 GMT -5
It's in trying not to look at that unsettlingly vicious smile of Kup's that Swerve watches Jazz and Botanica for a few moments. Dancing is something still known in her culture, then; he never would've guessed by the Botanica from his reality. He wonders, briefly, if his alternate here knows how to dance where the constable does not. He even wonders if this Swerve would have the bearings to ask Emirate Xaaron to dance; would they dance? Everything seems turned around backwards here, so for all he knows, this Emirate Xaaron and this Swerve can't stand each other.
He really doesn't need to dwell on these things.
"I'll… try to remember that, sir," he says, voice hushed, humble. And as he continues, puzzling out the answer to Kup's question, he grows more quiet. "If we hadn't – if the portal hadn't worked… well… where else could we go?" He doesn't quite shrug, but there's a degree of helplessness about him. "I would've taken us to the Decepticons," he admits, "asked Starscream for asylum. At least for Emirate Xaaron. They could protect him even if I couldn't. And whatever it took to convince them… I'd go back if I had to." He cycles air anxiously and he can't help the very slightest of shivers that slips through, but he adds nonetheless, "I'd give myself to the Prime if it meant Emirate Xaaron's safety." He looks up at last and fixes a slight, sad, matter-of-fact sort of smile on Kup, his optics darkened to a dull bronze. "You might think it stupid of me, but… well, there it is."
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Post by Kup on Apr 1, 2008 18:46:23 GMT -5
"Stupid? Naw," Kup answers, shaking his head for emphasis. "But more than a little naive." He leans back against the nearest crate - several had been left around the roof, as they also serve as chairs, tables, and whatever else - and, still standing, he crosses his legs at the ankles and sets his empty container down on the nearest ledge.
It'll be left there. He's been considering a punishment for Nightbeat.
"If this Prime is anything like how you describe him, what makes you think he'll honor any kind of deal you offer him? How would giving yourself to him keep Emirate Xaaron safe?"
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Swerve-3
Rookie
Maintain the Light
Posts: 169
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Post by Swerve-3 on Apr 1, 2008 21:31:01 GMT -5
Naive. Swerve has been called that many times over the decades, so many times that it must be true, he supposes, so once more won't faze him. He shrugs it off, focusing instead on answering the security chief's question.
"Oh, it wouldn't be a deal," he murmurs, looking candidly at Kup. "More of a… distraction, I suppose. The Prime enjoys – that is, as I've observed… enjoys breaking things. People." Swerve keeps his hands folded at his back, occasionally twisting his fingers to keep himself from sinking into his thoughts. "He sees people as things, one might say. I took away one of his favourite playthings." The constable blinks and slowly scans the rooftop, his gaze lingering solicitously on his Emirate Xaaron. "I can only hope trading myself in would distract him." If he's lucky, it might just do that.
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Post by Kup on Apr 1, 2008 21:50:38 GMT -5
"So you let yourself get broken instead, and just... hope that in the time it takes to break you, he forgets about Emirate Xaaron?" Kup asks, tone doubtful. "You'd just be buying him time, lad. And not even in a position to take advantage of the time you bought."
Kup then shrugs, and looks out at the party. "I s'pose those would have beens don't mean much now, anyway, but... folks who claim that thinking over what might have been is a waste of time are mistaken. Never hurts to go back and figure out how you could have done something better - that's how you know to do better next time it happens."
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Swerve-3
Rookie
Maintain the Light
Posts: 169
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Post by Swerve-3 on Apr 2, 2008 22:04:02 GMT -5
"Hope," Swerve says almost too quietly and in a rough but reverent tone that would be entirely out of place on his counterpart, and he can't help the way his expression softens, "was all I had for a long time, Kup. It's kept me going through… a lot of things." He shakes his head very slightly; he still has hope and now, something more besides. A purpose. A reason to believe again. "I won't be stupid enough to assume I could hold out forever, but I'd try," he adds. "With everything I am." He couldn't give any less, really. And maybe Prime prefers having shiny new playtoys to ruin than the ones he's already taken apart and had put back together more than once.
But dwelling on these thoughts is going to sour Swerve's mood more than drinks or Mirages and Botanicas prying into his private matters.
"I still can't rule out that if we have to go back," and he hopes they don't have to, but knows they more than likely will, "we'll have to go to them anyway." So many maybes and might-bes. It's all a mess fit to give him headaches for days if he tries to follow each and every thread. "Though there's a chance Emirate Xaaron will want to stay… keep trying to make the others understand. If he stays, I stay." Here he sighs, then looks again at Kup. The polite mask is back in place and the mild smile is returned. "Now, where were we?"
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Post by Kup on Apr 3, 2008 8:18:58 GMT -5
Kup sighs and shakes his head faintly. Hope is all well and good, but it's no substitute for taking matters into one's own hand. As for the whole, 'Standing strong in the face of all odds,' business - well, it has its place, too, but sometimes planning for the long term means picking your battles. Many millions of years ago, Kup withdrew from confrontation with the government his own actions had made possible and went into self-imposed exile before they could impose it. He did this, though all his instincts were screaming at him to stand and fight, to see it through to the end. From what Swerve is saying, his alternate had stayed put. Kup wants to push further right now. From what Swerve says, any solution that ends with him and Xaaron back in their own reality also lands Swerve in the control of these... other Autobots. The thought doesn't sit well with Kup, but Swerve is being stubborn enough about this that Kup decides to leave it lay until he can figure some more effective arguments. Sometimes you've got to pick your battles. As Swerve slips his mask in place, Kup forces a faint smile that doesn't stay for long, then nods. "I believe we were going over what to expect from your Autobots - the bigger dangers, the smaller tricky stuff, those sorts of things," he answers. OOC: Might be a good idea to time-skip the tedious, "This person does this and is like that," etc, part of the conversation, so that Mirage and Xaaron-3 can stop making small talk and head on back. If you're all right with that, we can do it in your post?
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Swerve-3
Rookie
Maintain the Light
Posts: 169
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Post by Swerve-3 on Apr 4, 2008 1:02:14 GMT -5
OOC: Skip away, skip away, skip away all.
Several explanations later, with periodic nudges and questions to keep the conversation on track, and Swerve has exhausted pretty much every bit of information he has to offer on every Autobot and Maximal he can detail. From Skyfire and his penchant for collecting jets to Oracle's precognition to Bumblebee's psychopathy and self-enforced muteness and so on. Most of it's just what he has picked up by association; he tends not to go asking personal questions of the other Autobots, in part because he isn't sure he'd like many of the answers.
He really has tried to be thorough; even Pee-Dee's shotgun got a mention.
"I think that covers it," he concludes with a stifled sigh. "Or is there anything else you need?"
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Post by Kup on Apr 4, 2008 11:17:41 GMT -5
Kup shakes his head, expression sober. "Sounds like you got it. If I think of something else later, though, I'll let you know." He pauses and looks down at the floor for a moment. Without looking up, he adds, "I'm sorry to have to ask you to talk about this."
Then he pushes himself away from the crate he'd been leaning against all this time and scans the area. Ah, there's Mirage and the alternate Emirate getting a drink.
Come to think of it, after hearing all that Swerve had to say, Kup could use a drink, too.
The elder gestures idly towards the drinks table. "So, you wanna rejoin the others?" he suggests.
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Swerve-3
Rookie
Maintain the Light
Posts: 169
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Post by Swerve-3 on Apr 4, 2008 21:14:33 GMT -5
Swerve nods; he won't say there isn't the chance something might've slipped his mind in the recounting that he'll recall later, so he can hardly complain if Kup – or anyone in command, really – has cause to call on him again if need be.
"No need to apologise, sir," he murmurs, blinking bemusedly at Kup for that rejoinder. "I offered to help however I can, and if it's in answering questions, then I'll answer." Though if that means drinking every time, he might just start rethinking his offer. He doesn't dwell long on that, though, following Kup's arm. He won't be joining anyone in drinking, but he won't turn down the company, either. "As a matter of fact, I'd like to," Swerve answers the security chief, "if you don't mind, that is." Kup probably doesn't since he was the one who put forward the question, but Swerve can't help wanting to be sure.
Assuming Kup is, in fact, amenable and wasn't being rhetorical, off goes Swerve.
OOC: Out of thread, off to crash Mirage's party join the cast of The Spy Who Loved Me.
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Post by Kup on Apr 4, 2008 21:44:20 GMT -5
Kup's optics flicker in response to a minor surprise-induced voltage spike. "'Course I don't mind! I suggested it!"
Not known for his tact, this one. One would be inclined to wonder how he got to be Security Chief of Cybertron and third in charge of the Autobots in his universe, if one didn't take into account the fact that the Autobot leader was prone to cracking jokes about destroyed planets in front of the refugees of said planets.
The security chief follows the ex-racer towards the table and out of the thread.
OOC: Thread finished.
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