Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 1, 2011 21:53:35 GMT -5
Month 6, Week 4, Day 5 Open
Botanica hands off another pile of burned-off shrubbery to Sentinel Prime. It had been delicate work controlling the fire in a space such as the biosphere, but Jetfire had been eager to offer his assistance. Perhaps he even stayed to help afterward. The burnout was not something Botanica particularly wished to do, but it was the only option left.
Dusting off her hands, she gives Sentinel a tired smile. "I know that isn't as pleasant as some of the other tasks you've helped me with before. I appreciate your help very much."
"Now, what is bothering you?" Because something is obviously bothering the blue Prime, and Botanica isn't used to noting... much of anything from Sentinel along those lines.
OOC: Sentinel's presence and Jetfire's assistance confirmed w/ their players.
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 2, 2011 1:06:35 GMT -5
"Burnt organics smell wretched," Sentinel Prime opines bluntly. He thinks Botanica knows him well enough to know that he's stubborn and not particularly fond of organic life, so such a comment should not seem unusual from him. One may wonder why he continues to do shifts in the biosphere, now that they are no longer compulsory for him.
Simple: Botanica's an officer, and she's willing enough to talk to him. Being a suck-up requires maintenance and vigilance. Sentinel Prime can't just play nice once and then expect it to last forever!
Unfortunately, Botanica is a pretty sharp lady, and Sentinel Prime sighs heavily and admits, "What isn't bothering me, ma'am? The name's Sentinel, after all."
He watches, and he doesn't like what he sees.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 2, 2011 17:49:21 GMT -5
"Burnt anything smells awful, Sentinel," Botanica counters.
She rubs the back of her hand across her brow, smudging the ash which has settled there. She looks over at Sentinel and sighs.
"You don't understand the need for it, do you?"
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 2, 2011 21:37:02 GMT -5
"Burnt rubber's not bad," Sentinel Prime says absently, looking at the pile of burnt shrubbery in his hands, looking but not really seeing.
He looks back at her, again without seeing, and replies, tiredly, "To tell the truth, I don't understand the need for a great many things, ma'am," such as freedom and courage.
That's perhaps more candid than he'd like to be with her, but such is the peril of growing too familiar with someone and closing the distance.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 2, 2011 22:33:22 GMT -5
Botanica's eyes narrow a bit a she looks, really looks, at Sentinel. The blue Prime seems off. Distracted and tired, but not so much from physical exertion.
"Let's drop those over there for mulching later," she says, nodding her head toward the bins before bending down and taking up another bundle of charred thorn bushes. "We still have a lot more to clear."
"I've noticed that about you Sentinel. You act, you don't react, because you don't seem to know the proper reaction at any given time." She reaches over with one of her hands to try and pat Sentinel on the shoulder before moving toward the bins.
"So I'll ask again. What is wrong?"
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 2, 2011 23:28:28 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime doesn't stiffen like someone caught red-handed. Instead, there's that lag that she's picking up, and then he appears to relax, shrugging. Perceptor can keep things confidential to an extent, but Botanica outranks Perceptor. He keeps to his story, "Oh, you noticed that, ma'am? Yeah. I have damped emotions. I have to stop and think about my reactions most of the time. You're a sharp lady, you know that, right? Most don't notice."
Sentinel Prime explains all of this as if it is the most normal thing in the world.
"Nothing's really bothering me. Nothing really can. That said, this controlled burning made me wonder... hmm. How do you justify that these ones died and the others didn't?"
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 3, 2011 22:13:20 GMT -5
"Mmmhmm," is Botanica's only response as Sentinel admits to his damped emotions. The look she gives the Prime clearly indicates that she does not consider that matter to be a closed one. But she will put it aside for now.
She sighs heavily at his question. "That.. is a difficult question. There are many cases when a death is justified by circumstances and so sanctioned by the populace; however, in reality no unnatural death is truly justifiable. There is always someone or something harmed by the absence of whomever or whatever has been killed."
"In this case, the Crevilane thorn thicket somehow became infected with a non-native root fungus which was not only slowly crippling the Crevilane but changing the very makeup of it's seeds and pollens. The bird and insect population within the Biosphere is vital to its existence, and more than a few of those creatures live partially off the Crevilane's fruits."
"In short, the fungus- rather unimportant on its own- was threatening the entire stability of this artificial ecosystem. My attempts to halt or even slow its spread have been unsuccessful; I have managed only to confine it to the thicket and that only from exerting a good deal of my will."
Botanica returns to the burn off, picks up a rake, and begins to gather up another pile of charred brambles and roots for them to cart off.
"I did not wish to do them harm, but had I hesitated much longer, I would have risked this entire ecosystem's stability. The fungus was found to be able to live on in the soil, even if the plants were removed, but it can't stand up to the immense heat of a fire. The tilling under of the charred soil and the addition of the ashen mulch will make the soil unpalatable to the fungus, should any have been buried deep enough to escape the fire's heat."
She stops and leans heavily on the rake as she stares sadly at the ground. "Though it will be some time before I can make this ground viable for growth again."
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 3, 2011 23:23:29 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime continues to act relaxed, almost ignoring Botanica's look. There's nothing weird or wrong about damped emotions! His own Perceptor did way worse!
...and did some terrible things, and isn't Sentinel Prime blackmailing Mirage and also holding what he knows over Elita-1 as leverage?
...well, he probably would have done that anyway. Some Autobots are just bad cogs.
Sentinel Prime frowns and points out, "By failing to remove the fungus, you would cause the collapse of the biosphere, when you could have prevented it. By failing to take actions, are you not taking the action of non-action? So in this situation, you are suggesting that there is no justified course of action whatsoever, neither action nor inaction."
Sentinel Prime likes win-win, not no-win. They've had pieces of this discussion before, however.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 5, 2011 12:06:31 GMT -5
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.1"
"Ah, but now we get into the issue of point of view, and it is there we find our justification," Botanica answers, "It is a commonly accepted maxim that the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few. Ergo, if an action benefits the majority of a populace, said action is considered justified."
She pauses, leaning on her rake as she look back at Sentinel, "I think most of us here, were we to have the opportunity to remove Megatron- any Megatron- from the equation would do so without hesitation or remorse, and none among us would condemn the act."
Her tone turns musing, "Except that there is always another waiting to take his place, and the devil you don't know may be more dangerous than the devil you do know. It is a risk."
Botanica waves a hand a the pile, then nods toward the bins, indicating that Sentinel should start carting that load away, and then she goes back to raking.
"So to save the populace, that is the majority of the vegetation and wildlife here, I am justified in the populace's eyes in destroying this small segment of the same population. I will have to monitor the ecosystem very carefully until the wildlife switches to another food source, but the Green is much more adaptable than most people think."
She smiles sadly, "Justified, but in truth... it is selfishness on my part."
1Shamelessly stolen lyric from Freewill by Rush
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 6, 2011 18:20:40 GMT -5
"The majority isn't always right, however," Sentinel Prime says, feeling a little dirty to even point that out, though being contrary is so very satisfying to him. "So I don't think you can really use 'the needs of the many' as justification without further supporting your point."
He throws the pile he's carrying into the air, transforms, and catches it in his truck bed, a bit of showboating for the lady. Then he trucks it off.
Sentinel Prime asks the obvious question, "How are you being selfish?" He doesn't see it. He wouldn't.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 6, 2011 23:54:22 GMT -5
"An excellent point," Botanica says to Sentinel's rebuttal, but she does not attempt to continue the argument at the moment.
She doesn't stiffen at the next question, because she expected it. However, she does not immediately reply, taking the time to choose her words carefully.
"Most aboard this ship never really questioned the need for this biosphere. It was assumed by most that it was included specifically as a habitat and retreat for us Maximals, given that most of us have nature-oriented modes, and prefer natural environs."
"All of which on the outer surface is true enough, and we preferred that the true underlying cause not become common knowledge for my own safety."
Botanica stares out across the burned off land and into the trees beyond, though she really isn't looking at anything.
"If this artificial environment fails here, in the middle of space, I will most likely die, Sentinel."
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 9, 2011 20:45:12 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime was disgusted and repulsed by the biosphere, but like a good soldier, he did not question it. Now Botanica, as is her way, turns everything on its head. Thinking about it, his natural reaction here would be a sad pity, for so clever and lovely a lady to be so cruelly shackled. Thinking some more, Botanica is too proud to take pity well. However, she has to have realised by now that there is very little genuine anything in any of his reactions.
Luckily, he's a truck, until he transforms to drop off his load, and when he does, Sentinel Prime doesn't bother with faking a reaction. Instead, he says what he thinks, "It don't think it's selfish to not want to die. Just some... actions taken in the process of not-dying may become inappropriate at times. What's your back-up plan?"
Botanica has to have a back-up plan. Sentinel Prime faintly likes her and refuses to lose another pretty yellow lady to something ridiculous.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 10, 2011 20:36:14 GMT -5
"Hmpf. There really isn't one. Toss me in a CR chamber and hope it keeps me alive long enough for someone to get me back to Gillanan III," Botanica shrugs one shoulder before returning to her work. She doesn't mean to be flippant. She accepted the possibility that going along when the majority of the Autobots left Gillanan might be the death of her before the ship even got off the ground. It bothers her, yes, but she is not one to live in constant fear of possibilities.
"You see, when I was reformatted, I was psychically bound to my own Cybertron. I think the Oracle wished a guardian for the fledgling technorganic life growing beneath the planet's surface. Regardless, I discovered the hard way that blocking that connection in any way could do me serious harm." Very serious. She literally almost faded away.
"In order to survive after my displacement to this reality, I had to create the same connection with Gillanan."
|
|
|
Post by Sentinel Prime on Jun 11, 2011 13:47:44 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime frowns and transforms back into a truck to go pick up another load. He says flatly, "That's not good enough, ma'am. I know you're the type to go out on a limb for another," oh, slaggit, "but if you're always sacrificing yourself and you end up dead, you can't protect anyone. Sometimes, to care about others, you have to have some concern for yourself!"
He takes that tact with her specifically because he has noted that she is both self-sacrificing and stubborn. Sentinel Prime doesn't want to hear 'oh, but I don't want anyone troubling themselves over me'.
"Can't say I think much of an Oracle that would do such a thing to you - sure doesn't sound to me like you asked for it. Or wanted it."
Maybe she's just lucky she didn't end up mentally stunted like some other Guardians who also didn't ask for their burdens.
|
|
Shanodin
Major
The Chamberlain, Her Chivalrous Immensity, Lady Botanica. The Unyielding Vanquisher of Weed Killer
This is NOT her field of dreams
Posts: 700
|
Post by Shanodin on Jun 12, 2011 10:59:33 GMT -5
"I didn't say I wasn't concerned for myself!," Botanica snaps, "My spark, might- might- survive a transplant, but as I've also had my spark forcibly ripped from my body before, it isn't an experience I wish to undergo on a whim!"
She sighs and turns toward Sentinel. "I'm sorry. This is a rather touchy subject for me. I trust my team, Sentinel. If the worst happens, they will do their utmost best to save me. That is all I really can do."
"Choice didn't enter into the matter initially, but had Primal not recognized me as a Transformer and attempted to reformat me, I would likely have been killed by my own people. Megatron's virus had driven me quite mad."
"There are things I regret, and things I miss about being a fully mechanical mechanism, but my connection to the green and growing wilds? I would not trade it, not even for my life."
|
|