Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Sept 4, 2011 10:28:38 GMT -5
"You two were very different, even when he was your age," Magnus says with that same sad expression, tired and worn, for Optimus seems so young. It really is too much like seeing Optronix again.
He goes on to explain Optronix who became Optimus Prime, and while his filial devotion remains, there is obvious pain and bitterness as well. He describes the death of his Sentinel Prime as much as it makes all the old scars ache – he can't stop his hands from shaking on his ration cube – and his brother's reluctant ascendency. And then Optimus's disappearance in the Space Bridge accident. There, he stops; his emotions are too jumbled for him to continue just now.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 4, 2011 19:42:02 GMT -5
"Different how?" Optimus asks softly. It's probably masochistic of him to wonder, what with this other version of him going on to be supreme leader.
The young Prime gingerly moves to put his hand on Ultra Magnus's when it starts shaking. "I guess we've both lost a Sentinel Prime, then." He pauses. "I'm sorry I brought this up. I didn't mean to reopen old wounds. I shouldn't try and take my mind off my loss by forcing you to relive yours."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Sept 7, 2011 17:26:22 GMT -5
For a moment, Magnus simply freezes with Optimus's hand over his. Then, slowly, he turns a rueful smile on the whole situation, both of them moping and poking at each other. It's more than he's spoken with any Optimus in a very, very long time.
"I asked," he reminds Optimus lightly, though he lets that topic drop before he can dwell too long on the way he idolised both Sentinel and his successor. "As for Optronix…" he goes on with a fondness all the resentment in his body can't fully smother, "he was always the bookish one. He had no taste for warfare, or anything that even smacked of it. No aptitude for leadership, no interest in the military, and no head for anything but his archives and news feeds." So going by that metric, this Optimus is by far a better Autobot than Optronix ever was. "As for me? It was all I could think about. We… argued, sometimes, about it." His optics dim as he recalls one such disagreement. It was the angriest he'd ever seen his brother, and the first time Optronix had said something genuinely hurtful.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 10, 2011 11:41:52 GMT -5
"Optronix sounds a little like me. I used to spend a lot of time watching old history vids . . . though mostly they were about the War. I guess that's where we differ." The Prime is silent for a moment. It strikes him again how odd it is that most 'bots with his name seem to have only assumed it after taking up leadership of the Autobots.
"It's alright to argue. I'm sure he knew how you felt about him. S-" Pause. "Sentinel and I used to argue all the time when we were cadets. He was the more adventurous, I was the goody-two-stabilizers. I know that's hard to believe looking at Sentinel today. I mean . . . you know what I mean."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Sept 11, 2011 9:42:02 GMT -5
Magnus stifles both the urge to confirm if Optimus means he, too, was an archivist before deciding on a military career, and he stifles the stab of alarm he feels at the idea. We wonders yet again if this queer universe is deliberately out to torment him with painfully innocent Micromasters, an otherworldly version of his brother, and so many other altered elements both familiar and not.
"I know," is all he says, at the same time trying to picture the small blue Sentinel Prime as adventurous. Breaking a regulation would have been adventurous for him, Magnus thinks. Seizing on the topic shift, however, he tries a tack he hopes will have some effect. "I wonder," he ventures gently, "that he'd want you moping like this." There's no question in Magnus's mind that Sentinel would love to have all the attention focused on him like this, of course.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 11, 2011 20:51:36 GMT -5
"Sentinel would probably be offended if I didn't spend as much time as I could lamenting how knowing him was the greatest thing that ever happened to me," Optimus says, giving the larger Autobot a weak smile. "I suppose it's not healthy to mourn too much, though. I'm not ready to move on quite yet, I just . . . need to find a better way of dealing with this than having nightmares. Or overcharging," he adds, looking at the dissipating remains of the energon cube in his hand.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Sept 14, 2011 20:22:56 GMT -5
"Nightmares?" Magnus watches Optimus carefully in case the small Prime tries to bluster away that titbit. Having Magnus looming in concern can't be too terribly helpful, he hazards, but he is genuinely worried. He's seen this sort of mood eat mechanisms alive. He can't simply sit by and let it happen again.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 19, 2011 5:48:44 GMT -5
Optimus heaves a heavy sigh. "Nightmares," he repeats. "About Elita-1 and Sentinel, mostly. Elita-1 'died' once before, when she got turned into Blackarachnia. Sentinel and I both thought she was really dead. You could say it was the major event of our formative cycles that made us who we are today. And now with this happening . . . it's like the past repeating itself, only a thousand times worse," the Prime explains. "I keep wondering if they're both going to turn up again, turned into something horrible."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Oct 9, 2011 9:22:52 GMT -5
Magnus would like to tell Optimus that he's worrying over nothing. He'd like to be reassuring. But Optimus has been through one dead friend coming back in a twisted form already, and all Magnus can think of is how this strange reality seems dead-set on confronting him with his own sins. He can't say for certain that something won't happen later just to break the young Prime.
"…Worrying about it," he says slowly, "won't prepare you. And it won't make it any less painful." Reluctantly, he goes on, "Did you know that in my reality, I was partially responsible for the creation of Micromasters… like Holi and Clipper?"
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Oct 12, 2011 11:59:41 GMT -5
Optimus Prime nods, then rubs his temples, elbows on the table. "If your reality is like Emirate Xaaron's, then the Micromasters were supposed to be smaller, more energy-efficient soldiers, right?" he asks. "Were they . . . young, like Holi and Clipper are?"
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