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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 19, 2011 8:35:50 GMT -5
"Well, we could invite him out with us," Rodimus suggests cheerfully. "Or, heck, ask if he wants to show us around. Grab him and see if he's interested?"
If someone decides to temp him, he is interested. If not, he probably has to go home to his family. Stupid Carly and Daniel.
They approach the outer door and nods in agreement to what Xaaron says. "An escort would be a good idea, but he's right. You do have that authority, unless you think someone outside of the Guard would be better suited to the task."
Override squirms a bit uncomfortably. Escort duty sounds boring.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Aug 20, 2011 19:48:33 GMT -5
Optimus is not going to assign Mirage to escort Spike Witwicky. They want to make a good impression, and Mirage's superpower seems to be pissing people off despite having the best of intentions. Override, on the other hand, is squirming with anticipation at the propsect!
"We're fresh out of Bumblebees, or I'd assign Bumblebee. Hm." Optimus falls silent, pondering, as he steps out of the building and into the courtyard.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Aug 21, 2011 14:30:53 GMT -5
Wait, Optimus wants to assign Bumblebees? Has movie 'Bee made a big enough impression to erase Optimus's memories of his own Bumblebee? "Emirate Xaaron! Rodimus Prime! Leaving already?" Spike appears at one of the crossways ahead of them, Katrina on his heels. His aide is currently on her phone, updating the main office of the Office of Outer Space Affairs in rapid-fire German. "Optimus Prime, Override." Spike grins at the other two bots. "- Katrina, tell Jeff he's going to have plenty of opportunity to examine the Mars rocks."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 22, 2011 22:36:37 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron points out, "We were lucky they built with high roofs in this area. Humans usually don't. What good would a Bumblebee do in Ambassador Witwicky's garage if a Decepticon assassin slips in the backdoor? I would suggest some of our smaller kindred."
It's not like a Witwitcky is going to live an apartment complex designed to take cars up to higher floors, is he?
He smiles pleasantly when said Witwicky actually arrives. Emirate Xaaron stows the datapad. He doesn't bow - he's a head of state and this is just an ambassador - but he does crouch down and offers a finger, inquiring, "Your type of human shakes hands, yes? I am, as you have surmised, Emirate Xaaron. Greetings, Ambassador Witwicky."
Emirate Xaaron did download German. And everything from 'Are'are to Zway. He just doesn't see fit to point that out at the moment.
"They'd like to check their wheel pressure," the fun way, on the road, "I can't blame them. New atmosphere and all."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 24, 2011 21:31:15 GMT -5
"One of the Maximals, maybe?" Rodimus asks in response to Emirate Xaaron's suggestion. It's possible he has more to say on the matter, but he's interrupted with Spike's arrival.
He brightens, a broad grin touching his features. "S- Ambassador Witwicky!" he greets. He nods to agree with Xaaron. "We thought we'd try and get a feel for the city, though if you're up for it, we certainly wouldn't mind a tour-guide."
Override grins back at Spike and dips her head low, her torso even taking small part in the movement, an action that definitely has some resemblance to a 'greeting bow' of the sort that's more common among the Japanese. "Hey, sir," she says, her words and tone more casual than her action.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Aug 24, 2011 21:54:52 GMT -5
Nothing could erase Optimus's memories of his own Bumblebee. Some wounds never heal. The guy did make friends with the daughter of an influential human completely by accident, though. If you can't be good, be lucky.
"Ambassador Witwicky," Optimus greets, raising a hand. "Do you have a Maximal in mind, Rodimus? I can't think of any off the top of my processor that are very diplomatic except for Seaspinner."
After a quick transmission to Rodimus Prime and Emirate Xaaron confirming that it's okay to share the information, the Prime explains "Ambassador, we're discussing assigning you a bodyguard. We're afraid the Decepticons may try to harm you."
OOC: Sort-of posing Xaaron and Roddy with permssion.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Aug 26, 2011 23:26:56 GMT -5
No amount of luck in the world could make Carly accept Bumblebee near Spike and, by extension, their son.
"We do. Greetings, Emirate. Yeah? Better or worse on their wheels than the last planet's atmosphere?" Spike doesn't hesitate to take Xaaron's proffered finger and shake as if he was holding the Autobot's hand. He notes the 'they' and Xaaron's lack of wheels but refrains from asking. It might be rude in their culture to ask about transformations, and he still wasn't entirely sure what they meant by that.
Did the Prime start to say his name? Of course, he could have started to say 'sir' too. "Sure! I can't promise you a real tour-guide, but I can fake it pretty well."
Override's almost-greeting bow gets noted, too, and Spike thinks he's going to be writing himself a lot of notes when he gets home. And reports. Hoo boy, is he going to be writing reports. He'd better make sure he has everything in order before he even thinks about talking to the press.
"Ma'am. Optimus Prime." He blinks as the young Autobot says they're wanting to assign him a bodyguard, then considers it. "Yeah, the official UN alien ambassador would make a good terror attack target to your enemies. Anything I should tell Security to add to their standard checks or any immediate and likely threats they should know about?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 27, 2011 14:44:51 GMT -5
"The atmosphere here doesn't seem too polluted, which they ought to enjoy," Emirate Xaaron explains, making rather pointless small talk. Acid rain during a drive is kind of a bummer, and yes, this is New York, but Pz-Zazz was worse, much worse.
He straightens out - thank goodness for high ceilings - and continues on a somewhat more relevant note, "We don't know how many of them are here. We'll be working on finding out, and we'll certainly appreciate any offered assistance, though I will caution that Decepticons and their allies are extremely dangerous, and we wouldn't want anyone risking their lives unduly without a proper understanding of the situation. Depending on who the Decepticons have here, they could do anything from sell arms technology at exorbitant rates," Swindle, "to blow up dams and infrastructure," Scourge, "to enslave your populace," Mindwipe, "or blow up your sun." Hook probably left the Decepticons a copy of solar needle plans. It would be foolish to assume Hook didn't. He holds up his hands in caution. "I'm not saying that they're going to do any of that, but it's consistent behaviour for them in previous situations. They might do something else entirely. I really cannot speculate without better intel. However, you might want to keep Geiger counters on hand. Some - not all - of us run a bit... hot. Shockwave almost assuredly does."
"Some of the Minibots might work, if Seaspinner's not up to it," he muses, back to Rodimus Prime and Optimus.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 28, 2011 13:14:07 GMT -5
As he talks with the others, Rodimus continues to walk towards the outside. "Yeah, there are options," Rodimus says to Xaaron and Optimus. Then he smirks and nods towards Spike. "Besides, the Ambassador might want a chance to talk to our 'less diplomatic' members at some point." They're not bad people, after all! Just sometimes... grumpy.
Once he's outside, he walks towards the parking area, steps onto it, and transforms. He opens his trailer for Emirate Xaaron, but says to Spike, "So you've got your choice - me or the fire truck." The grin is audible as he adds, "And don't worry, I won't feel insulted if you go with the fire truck. Or the race car."
"Actually, Prime, if you don't mind, I think I'd like to get outside the city, feel the highway roads instead," Override interrupts, falling quickly into her own alternate mode. She transforms more swiftly than Rodimus does, though it may not be the sort of thing to stick out right at the start.
"Ah! Sure, Override. Enjoy yourself."
He doesn't think to ask Override to stay inside the speed limit, but she'll stick around just long enough for one of the others to speak up if it occurs to them.
OOC: Override will be out of thread by my next post, but she'll be here long enough for any good-byes or similar by the others.
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Optimus Prime
Minor
Caution: Hero makes wide right turns.
Posts: 385
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Post by Optimus Prime on Aug 29, 2011 20:21:34 GMT -5
"I suppose we could write you up a threat report. Just keep an eye out for machines behaving oddly, or out of place. Military vehicles where they don't belong, things like that." Optimus doesn't say anything about the fact that the Decepticons probably want to kill Spike just for his last name, because that would mean explaining that they are not only aliens from space, but aliens from multiple alternate realities.
"Actually, what I meant was that even though Seaspinner is diplomatic, her appearance is . . . not," he says, a bit sheepishly, before transforming. He decides to go trailerless, as he sometimes does, so he's just the front part of a fire truck at the moment.
"You know about speed limits, right, Override?" the Prime asks. It seems the natural question given who she is.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Aug 30, 2011 8:25:20 GMT -5
"That's... probably kind of terrifying," Spike says in reply to the Emirate's pointless small talk. He's not really the green type himself, but he hears about it a lot.
He listens to everyone's assessments of the Decepticon threat. "Right. Geiger counters for UN Security at the very least. There's no way that won't cause a flutter." Spike really hasn't been that impressed with this job until today. "Katrina, pass that on as an official advisement from the Alien Ambassador. I'll handle the rest when I get back."
"Of course, Spike. If you don't need me for anything else, I'm going to prepare the briefing-"
"-for the rest of our department, gotcha." The two of them talk seamlessly, like people who've worked together for a long time. Part of it is just natural personality mesh, part of it is the fact Katrina has been working with Spike since he got his current position only a few months before Daniel was born.1
She pays her respects and departs. Then Override makes to depart. Spike looks a bit longingly after the race car- he wanted to ride with the Mach Five her.
"Try not to scare the other drivers," Spike calls after her.
"I'd like to meet everyone at some point!" It's hard to tamp down on the excitement, but he feels like a five-year-old struck by the wonder of the universe again around the Autobots.
He glances back and forth between the flaming Winnebago and the firetruck, then heads towards Optimus. "Rodimus Prime has the Emirate, so I'll keep you company, Optimus."
1. Subject to revision based on Adminimus feedback.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 31, 2011 9:35:25 GMT -5
"Override?" Emirate Xaaron gives her a very serious look. "If you drag me into traffic court, I will have you fixing potholes for a month. At least. Is that understood?" He had enough of that jetslag with Sentinel breaking traffic laws. He's not angling for a repeat here with Override. If Shockwave shows up again as the prosecutor, Emirate Xaaron is going to borrow Impactor's spare pistol, and then he is going to shoot someone. However, a quick glance over the traffic laws that he's downloaded for New York, at least, suggests that there are some loopholes. Override is not a person driving a vehicle. Override is a person who is a vehicle. Argh, maybe it would just be easier to try to insert 'go any speed' rights into the treaties and get the troops special government tags? Otherwise, Blurr is going to give him so many headaches...
"It's not necessarily ionizing radiation. It's just that Geiger counters happen to detect it,1" Emirate Xaaron comments in an off-hand fashion to Spike, casually necessitating a rewrite of every physics book on Earth.
He gives Optimus a puzzled look. What's wrong with how Seaspinner looks? Oh, wait, Optimus doesn't like spiders. Emirate Xaaron corrects, "We are all aliens on this planet, Optimus. I daresay Seaspinner might look more like what they're expecting than we do. Anyway, Optimus, patch the Ambassador through for a little radio chatter on your dashboard. It's difficult to carry on a conversation out the window of a truck cab."
Then Emirate Xaaron tries to pack himself into Rodimus Prime's back. It's a tight fit and not particularly comfortable.
1 If it was ionizing radiation, it would be carcinogenic to some extent, but none of the NEST guys ever seem worried about coming down with cancer over hanging out with Bumblebee, when they do wear rad suits to visit Chernobyl, which implies that it is some other, non-carcinogenic kind of particle/waveform that Bayverse Transformers emit and that Geiger counters just happen to detect it. Now, someone like Shockwave or Needlenose might emit ionizing radiation, but given that Needlenose carries around two Nebulans who don't seem worried about cancer, Transformers are probably pretty good about building effective radiation shields when they feel like it.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 31, 2011 21:34:51 GMT -5
"Don't worry, Optimus! I've driven on Earth before!" Override answers the smaller Prime in a way that doesn't actually answer his question at all. To Spike, she calls out, "Naw, I won't scare anyone." Then Emirate Xaaron speaks up, and she hesitates. Finally, she says, "Got it!" and peels off.
Within the speed limit.
Granted, the truth of the matter is that she's just decided that if she is going to get in trouble, it will be for a reason that's worth the punishment. Because some things really are worth a month of pothole duty, oh yes.
If Rodimus is disappointed that Spike chose to ride with Optimus instead of him, he gives no indication. At the human's declaration that he'd like to eventually meet everyone, though, Rodimus chuckles and says light-heartedly, "So much for our good impression! Well, in that case, Emirate, maybe we should start with Swerve or Rattrap as his guard?" Rodimus would suggest Kup, but humans tend to like the geezer enough that he hardly qualifies as reputation-ruining (even if his own Kup got off to a rocky start with Spike).
Once Emirate Xaaron is inside, he shuts the trailer and starts his engine, idling in place as he waits for Optimus, the one who'll be carrying their tour guide, to take the lead.
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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 3, 2011 14:23:13 GMT -5
Optimus opens his passenger-side door to allow Ambassador Witwicky to climb aboard. He suddenly feels like he ought to give some sort of safety briefing, but he can't think of anything to say. Spike has doubtless ridden inside automobiles before, and if a situation suddenly arises where Optimus needs to cease being an automobile, no amount of lecturing beforehand is going to help.
"I'm sure either of them would be thrilled," he deadpans, watching Override go. Once Spike gives him the go-ahead, he'll start driving in the indicated direction.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Sept 7, 2011 20:34:39 GMT -5
Spike has indeed ridden inside automobiles before. This is why he buckles. His hand lingers near the buckle, though, ready to release it and throw himself out the door if need be.
This kind of thing drives his wife crazy.
"I'll take your word for it, Emirate Xaaron, and I'll pass it on," Spike says in response to the Emirate's comment about non-ionizing radiation.
"I've had conversations in worse conditions! At least nothing's trying to kill me today. Yet." Here's to hoping Optimus has already patched him through!
And yes, he always adds 'yet' when he says things like that. Let's not tempt fate too much.
"As long as Carly likes them, Rodimus Prime. She's the one you really have to worry about." He grins and tries to figure out what to do with his hands. Putting them on the steering wheel is what's comfortable, but he has no idea how much the steering wheel actually works. He'd hate to try to drive Optimus Prime without invitation!
He gives directions to some sort of tourist-y landmark, commenting on the neighborhoods along the way. As you do.
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