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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 7, 2011 21:33:22 GMT -5
"I'm not sure Swerve would fit," Emirate Xaaron notes dryly, as if being too large is Swerve's only flaw.
After a moment, he asks just Rodimus Prime, "Do you mind if I transform? There's not much room in here, and I am bit more compact in alternate mode."
Also, he's itching like crazy in places that don't currently exist.
Perhaps they are going to see the Statue of Liberty? And Devastator can try to date her?
On short-range general again, Emirate Xaaron asks thoughtfully, "Do things often try to kill you, Ambassador?"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Sept 8, 2011 18:19:41 GMT -5
"Aw, I'm sure Carly could keep them in line," Rodimus answers Spike, tone as casual and familiar as if Rodimus himself has met her. But, of course, he has, after a fashion.
To Emirate Xaaron alone he says, "Naw, I don't mind. Feel free."
He lets Optimus take the lead, a move that would have felt a lot more familiar a few years ago, but now seems vaguely... awkward. He follows behind, watching the sights and listening to what Spike has to say, but what he's really looking for and listening for, more than anything else, are the differences. Advanced, maybe even more advanced than the Earth he knew in some ways, but less automation, less robots, he notices. Fair enough - these guys haven't had Transformers living among them for decades. The questions he asks are geared in this direction, too.
As they move through lower Manhattan, however, he finally realizes what's been bothering him. "Hey! What happened to the World Trade Center?" In Rodimus's own reality, it was never destroyed. In fact, though he doesn't know it, the dead version of himself that the Autobots have in storage had been crucified between the towers.
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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 12:05:29 GMT -5
Optimus has indeed already patched Spike through. Everyone can talk to everyone else. The Prime follows the ambassador's directions, stopping at stop lights and such, and making cordial small talk as the situation warrants.
He nearly slams on his brakes when Rodimus asks about the World Trade Center. If he was in robot mode he'd face-palm. As the current Elite Guard commander, he's been doing his research, you see. It seems more politic to go ahead and let Spike answer, though.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Sept 10, 2011 14:00:05 GMT -5
"I signed up for the military as soon as I was out of high school, Emirate Xaaron," Spike says easily. "First with the US, then with the EDC. And if the Moonbase isn't trying to kill you, then it's a great day." A pause. "Well, that's different now that it's finished."
Spike just kind of sinks back into Optimus's seat at Rodimus's question. There's silence for a long minute before he answers, and when he speaks, it's in the flat voice of someone reciting facts to keep from yelling. "On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four passenger jets. Two jets were intentionally crashed into the World Trade Center towers. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon. When people in the fourth jet heard what was going on, they tried to take the plane back. It crashed into a field in Pennsylvania instead of its target in D.C."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 10, 2011 16:13:52 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron turns himself into a tank in Rodimus Prime's back. Okay, now the parts that itch are out... and he has no hands. Emirate Xaaron just resolves to sulk where only Rodimus Prime can see him.
"My condolences," Emirate Xaaron says, when Spike finishes explaining. No matter the particular conflict between nations, religions, or ideologies, that's a pretty awful way to go, and Emirate Xaaron knows some pretty bad ways to go already.
Neither Autobots nor Decepticons have ever been much fond of suicide attacks. They don't even like the robot equivalent of cyanide pills. When one can live forever, it's a lot more appealing to live for a cause than die for it. So there's an extra dimension of awful there for Emirate Xaaron.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Sept 11, 2011 21:41:10 GMT -5
Rodimus would wince, but he's in vehicle mode and that sort of thing can be somewhat troublesome when you're driving.
"Ah," he says softly. "I'm... I'm sorry." 2001? That's... wrong. That didn't happen. He should have found out ahead of time, but he'd been pretty busy with treaty law and everything else.
There's always something that gets missed.
Hmm. Awkward silence, huh? Quick! Subject shift!
"I take it that it was because of your time on the Moonbase that you were picked for this position? Do you ever miss it?"
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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 14, 2011 20:06:15 GMT -5
Optimus drives on in silence for a while. He really doesn't know what to say in response to Spike's explanation, especially since he's supposed to be extra-diplomatic.
Once Spike answers Rodimus's question, Optimus will chime in. "What was it like living on the moon? Did it seem confining?" Since hard vacuum kills humans, they can't just go for a stroll on the moon.
Soon enough, Optimus pulls up at Castle Clinton in Battery Park, rolling to a stop and putting on the brakes. "Is this the right place?" he asks.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Sept 16, 2011 10:11:25 GMT -5
"It's..." Not all right. "-over. Just, some things leave marks, y'know?"
And Daniel is too young to have breathed the same air as the Twin Towers, and by the time he was old enough to pay attention to the teevee beyond Dora the Explorer, the country had stopped harping on the tragedy every year. Spike can only be glad of that.
Oh, hey, they want to talk about the Moonbase! He loves getting a chance to blather on about it. Daniel is pretty much the only person- the only human who knows him who hasn't heard all the stories by now.
"I miss it, yeah. The only reason I came back to Earth was because Carly found out she was pregnant and didn't want to be the guinea pig for what carrying a baby to term in lunar gravity would do to a child. Can't say I blame her - we had enough issues sorting out long-term effects on adults in the early days."
He laughs suddenly. "I remember Dad telling me, when he first heard about my new post, that if he was ten years younger, he'd lock me in the closet and take my place."
"We were really too busy to feel confined, Optimus Prime. Besides we were building out all the time!" Spike has friends in the navy. The moonbase is larger than a battleship, so it only took a few verbal smackdowns to keep him from complaining.
When they arrive at Battery Park, he relaxes a bit more. "Now, this sort of thing I missed on the moon. Is there anything on your home-planet you miss having on your spaceship?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 17, 2011 15:56:21 GMT -5
"There are many things that I miss," Emirate Xaaron comments. "The gravity," because artificial gravity is just not as good as the natural thing, "The colour of the night. What it was like when the sun shone," which Spike may or may not notice as funny phrasing, "The metal under me. How the whole planet seemed... alive."
He hesitates on the seemed, because it is untrue. Not seemed. Was.
"The designers did a nice job on our ship, however. They are to be commended."
Are they anywhere near the Sphere and the eternal flame? Not that Emirate Xaaron has a very good view. Rodimus Prime's trailer needs more windows.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Sept 17, 2011 20:20:57 GMT -5
"I wasn't built until after the sun," Rodimus says softly. If they're stopped for the park, Rodimus opens his trailer. Let the little tank get out and wander around the park. That'll go over well. "But I miss the night sky. And the roads. Roads more than anything." People tend to get a bit annoyed when you race around the halls of the Event Horizon. "Besides the people, that is."
"But I do like the green." He doesn't get that on Cybertron. Heck, he gets more green on the Event Horison than on his homeworld!
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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 24, 2011 19:58:39 GMT -5
"You can just call me Optimus if you prefer, Ambassador Witwicky. Prime is a rank where I come from. It'd be like me using your full title all the time." Also it is a bit of a mouthful.
"My homeworld wasn't always the best place to be, but . . . it was home. I miss it. There's just a certain something about it that no other place can ever have, no matter how great that place is. I'm sure you know the feeling."
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Sept 27, 2011 11:06:21 GMT -5
The Sphere sits in a little garden patch by itself, paved paths ringing it. The landscaping is muted, trying not to distract from the sculpture and the eternal flame while also trying not to be just grass. The sculpture itself looks damaged - dented and punctured, scuffed and soot-stained. The flame burns in a small stone bowl. "When the sun shone?" Spike asks. "Wait, after the sun?" We're sorry, Optimus, that well and truly distracted the ambassador.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 28, 2011 17:35:10 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron transforms inside Rodimus Prime and wanders out in robot mode. Call him crazy, but he doesn't feel like being a tank in the middle of New York right now. Maybe when the humans gets to know him better. He rather obviously tries to avoid stepping in the plants, and he's careful about putting his weight down whenever he steps.
He lets it be obvious that he's rather enchanted by the Sphere and the flame, commenting, "Reminds me of Cybertron and the Matrix Flame. You're a child of the Flame, aren't you, Rodimus Prime?" He looks over his shoulder, back at the Winnebago.
Rather casually, he explains, "We knocked our home planet out of orbit and misplaced our sun. We used to orbit what you'd call Alpha Centauri, I believe. Binary system with a companion dwarf. Not too far from here. It's strange to think I could see it at night in your sky."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Sept 29, 2011 19:18:10 GMT -5
Once Emirate Xaaron disembarks, Rodimus transforms. The two's presence draws more than a small amount of shocked attention, especially with the news of their arrival still fresh, and they're immediately the subject of quite a few camera phones.
Rodimus nods at Xaaron's question. "That's right. How'd you guess? My age?" Most Autobots who were built after Optimus Prime vanished were Matrix Flame children. (Most Decepticons were recycled Autobots.)
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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 4, 2011 10:34:59 GMT -5
"Wait, what's the Matrix Flame?" Optimus asks. "I know the Matrix is sort of like the AllSpark, only different, but it has a flame too?"
Skippable
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