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Post by Perceptor on Dec 23, 2011 22:02:46 GMT -5
((ooc: I personally didn't think the post was that unclear at all. I would like to second the request to use PMs or IM for clarification, as both the "confusion" and the timely manner of posting could have easily been rectified by BOTH myself and Drift with a simple POLITE communication. As opposed to passive aggressive little nastygrams like the one directly above.))
Yes, Drift, Perceptor is very serious. No killing the Titans. You're not Perseus here, and these aren't the right Titans, anyway.
With that potential bomb hopefully defused, Perceptor steps forward to introduce himself. "Greetings! Please do not be afraid. Despite the martial bearing of certain of our group, we come on a peaceful exploration mission from elsewhere in the solar system. My name is Perceptor. I promise you that we mean you no harm. Will you tell us your name?" he asks, holding out empty hands toward her in what he hopes is a peaceful gesture.
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Post by Drift on Dec 23, 2011 22:19:34 GMT -5
((Ra: I'm sorry. See, I was the one confused because I got lost in posting order. I only knew I was after Perceptor. I'm sorry for being stupid. I'm also sorry for writing the post so badly that it was so easily misinterpreted to begin with. )) Really, Ultra Magnus? Really, Perceptor? Talking things out with the hostiles? What kind of war are you trying to win here?! Oh. Right. Oops. Drift straightens, sheepishly sheathing his swords. Right. Science. Discovery. Exploration. In short: nerd stuff. He steps backward, trying to keep himself in line of the alien and the humans, so if she does start shooting again, at least he's going to get hit and not them.
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Dec 25, 2011 21:53:39 GMT -5
Pincher is torn between splitting out of his shell so that he has ready access to his robot form forcefield and... putting the shell's armour away and going back to the MiB outfit, as an open show of de-escalation.
Then he feels ashamed. Of course he should put away the shell armour. He shouldn't even be thinking about this!
Pincher subspaces the shell armour and returns to the MiB look. Perceptor put it so eloquently!
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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 Dec 26, 2011 21:44:59 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus is on the spot? He grimaces faintly, gaze sliding from the native girl to the humans as he draws himself up and takes a half-step back. He doesn't know if he should tell her they're technically in charge or if he should let them answer, and he doesn't understand why he's been singled out. Perceptor intervenes, and for a moment, it looks like a bit of mercy… until the scientist drones on and on. It's like Blurr reading a thesaurus, Magnus decides; so many extraneous words to say something so simple.
"What he's trying to say is that we're here as an escort," he answers in stiff but plain fashion, picking and choosing his words to avoid giving away too much, as a precaution. He also refers solely to himself and the other Autobots present, and gestures to Carly and Chip with one hand, adding, "For them. While they get a look around."
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Dec 27, 2011 20:16:51 GMT -5
Oh, yeah! The translating helmets! Carly forgot about those. Probably because human-built versions still have a horrible tendency towards turning everything into bad Engrish.
"This is incredible," she gasps, stepping out past her robot protectors. It would seem that she is just absolutely determined to make herself as difficult to protect as possible. When Ultra Magnus gestures to her, she smiles brightly and waves, though she lifts her arm a bit carefully at first, to let the other see she's unarmed. "Hi! I'm Carly! I'm from E- I'm from one of the closer planets to the sun- erm, really bright star." She attempts to find the sun in the sky, and if she can, she points to it, though this far out it really might not be much more than an unusually bright star.
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Post by Slingshot on Dec 27, 2011 22:53:58 GMT -5
"My name is Talaria." She slants a wary look at Perceptor. Such fancy words to say something so simple. It is a tactic not uncommon among the priesthood, used to confuse and bedazzle her people. It gets her hackles up.
Then the leader speaks out, blunt and plain-spoken. Talaria nods as he declares himself an escort for people, even offering a faint smile-
Then the woman with hair the color of the realm of the dead steps forward and announces that she has come from the sky. Talaria's smile vanishes, and she stares at the woman, her face going ashen.
She does not believe in sky-gods.
("When does disbelieve become denial of the truth, Talaria?" Jero demanded, the final time she was forced to submit to the authority of the temple.)
Talaria slowly unstrings her bow, eyes never leaving Carly, blood coming back into her face. When the bow is completely unstrung, she drops from the tree to the ground. She hesitates only a moment before resting the bowstave against the tree, then stalks towards Carly.
The leader of her guard scowls and shifts as if to almost-block Talaria. But he does allow her close, and she peers hard at this woman with her uncanny hair. She looks... almost, but not quite, like a Titan woman.
Talaria circles away from her to look at Chip, noting the strange contraption he sits in. A portable throne? Or perhaps-? Was he lamed? She looks hard, but he covers his legs with cloth shaped to mimic legs. How strange.
But he too looks almost, but not quite, like a Titan man on close inspection.
Then she turns her attention to the third one.
He is not a man, Titan or otherwise. She recoils before it consciously registers, then she grits her teeth and forces herself to look. He... does not hold himself as the others do. His breath is just a little too slow. She steps closer, perhaps uncomfortably invasive of his personal space.
She hears the leader of the woman's guard edge closer and ignores it. Instead, her eyes rake across this strange being, her antennae strain to pick him out from the surrounding strangeness.
It's the smell. He doesn't smell like the other two, and neither of them smell like anything of Titan. But this one...
He is not a man.
She steps back and half-turns towards Carly, glaring. "You brought an idol."
OOC: Posing of Ultra Magnus and invasion of Pincher's personal space with players' permission. Presumably the other Autobots also get a bit tense at Talaria going to stare at the humans up close. No need for Magnus to have all the fun! ;-)
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Post by Perceptor on Dec 28, 2011 21:29:00 GMT -5
ooc: skipping Guzzle due to time out.
"Talaria?" How very curious. She isn't quite the Talaria he recalls! Perceptor does, at least, have the presence of mind to not blurt that out. He's trying very hard to be good about not giving away the whole second-trip-to-a-Titan thing to the humans. "A pleasure to meet you, Talaria!"
He's also much happier when she unstrings her bow and leaves it behind. That pleasure fades quickly as the Titan woman stalks much nearer their human contingent than Perceptor feels comfortable with - look, Drift! You're rubbing off on the nerd! - but he does manage to restrain the impulse to step closer to separate her from them.
After all, Pincher is right there, and could do so much more easily than he could.
// Keep your sensors active, // he warns the other Autobots on a secured short distance transmission. // She is different than the Titan woman of that designation that I once met in my reality, however, similar enough, and that Talaria opposed a faction of other native Titans who viewed our kind as some sort of deity figures. //
"An idol?" He tilts his head and studies Pincher.
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Post by Drift on Dec 28, 2011 21:44:06 GMT -5
While everyone else is trying to build bridges with the indigenous life form, Drift is doing what he usually does: figuring out how to stab through the support struts when things--inevitably--go wrong. It's his own special brand of stabby optimism.
He glowers, hands ready on his short swords as this 'Talaria' approaches the humans. He holds back, because everyone else is, though his first instinct is to keep her at a respectful distance at bladepoint. But that would get him a lecture from Perceptor--a LOOOOOONG one--and one of those 'disappointed dad' looks from Ultra Magnus.
//Not surprised.// IF it's bad news? Drift is never surprised.
As Talaria glares at Carly, his first impulse is to put his 'best defense is a good offense' philosophy into play. But he restrains himself. With effort. His hands curl over the hilts, but he doesn't draw them. His frame goes tense, though, and he gives a warning growl.
...it's progress, isn't it?
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Post by Raymond Stantz on Dec 28, 2011 22:23:27 GMT -5
"I am not an idol," Pincher corrects, placidly enduring her getting all up in his personal space. Idol? Does he look like Taylor Swift? No. "I am simply a different species than they are." Does she understand the concept of species? "We, erm, cannot interbreed and produce viable offspring, that is to say. Also, we have no common ancestors."
She has antennae. That is pretty neat, the scorpion thinks. Not that scorpions have antennae, because they don't, but antennae are still neat.
"I am from," and he runs a few calculations, and he points at his best guess for Cybertron relative to where he is standing, based off their charts back on the ship, which is not the same direction as Earth at all.
It's a very good guess. It's just simple geometry, after all.
"I am also here to escort them," and to study some weird energy readings, but he is not really sure how to start to explain that. I want to wave a box around and look at what the box tells me. Yeah, that sounds crazy, he thinks.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Dec 29, 2011 20:07:26 GMT -5
((OOC: I'd like to apologize for my earlier OOC post. That was out of line. It did not concern me and I delivered it inappropriately. Sorry for making you uncomfortable and offending Perceptor's player.))
Chip trusts in the judgment of their multiple stories tall robot guardians, so when Talaria steps closer, he does not flinch. Instead, he looks at her as she does him, observing the similarities and the differences, showing no fear, only curiosity. "Extraordinary." He finally murmurs, then watches her as she steps away, and quickly activates the radio link that connects his and Carly's helmets. "Is your heart pounding as well?" He quips, turning his head slightly to give her a wide smile.
Then, the woman draws his attention again, and he can't help but blink and wonder. Why did she single out Pincher as an idol, when any one of them could be considered one to her? Especially the giant robots! He does not want to interrupt Carly before she can answer, but he can't let this slide and risk them being worshiped as deities, something that is bound to give them far greater trouble in the near future. These things always spiral out of controlled if allowed to grow to that point, after all! "Miss, I assure you, we are not in any way part of your pantheon, or send as avatars by them. We are visitors from beyond, yes, but we are mere mortals, who simply have advanced to a stage where we can travel between planets."
Well, okay, he has no idea if their escorts are mortal, but it's probably best if Talaria thinks that they are.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Jan 2, 2012 17:47:11 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Ultra Magnus due to time out. If it helps, Slingshot follows.
Carly's eyes go round in confusion for a moment as she wonders what it is about what she said that got the alien's (wait - isn't she the alien now?) hackles up. However, the other woman leaves her bow behind before getting a closer look, so despite the proximity, she relaxes slightly. She gives Talaria a nervous smile as the other circles her. "Nice to meet you, Talaria," she answers, voice still cheerful despite the tense situation. Since Pincher's clarified the whole idol thing, she doesn't address that, but she does nod in answer to Chip's question, returning his smile.
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Post by Slingshot on Jan 4, 2012 23:30:58 GMT -5
Pincher and Chip's answers cause Talaria to relax, and she inclines her head slightly towards the wheelchair-bound human. Then she glances sidelong at Pincher for his explanation of being a different species from the other two. She agrees, "You are definitely not of their kind."
Everyone keeps pointing towards stars. Talaria is a bright woman and was respected before she turned heretic. She knows the patterns of knotwork a respected worshipper of Chugway would know.
She steps forward to extend both her hands towards Carly. "My apologies."
The pattern of stars is a knotwork in her mind, ropes connecting and tying back towards Titan-
She knows this pattern.
She turns sharply towards Pincher. "-You're from Seibertron?!"
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Post by Perceptor on Jan 4, 2012 23:35:50 GMT -5
Anything that Perceptor might have said to anyone is abruptly choked off as he stares at Talaria with a stunned look.
"You know of Cybertron!?"
She is the first native to this reality to have spoken the name unprompted. Perceptor had ceased even hoping that it might exist here.
If Guzzle had leaned over and punched him right in the gut, he'd be less surprised than he is right now.
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Post by Drift on Jan 4, 2012 23:49:56 GMT -5
Drift cleared his throat, loudly. In that AHEM YOU DID NOT JUST HEAR WHAT THE NERD SAID kind of way. Seriously. Operational Security? Ever heard of it, Perceptor?
Apparently not. Drift seemed to be the only one who remembered that this Talaria mech, female, human critter had been shooting at them just a short time ago.
"'Advanced to a stage'," he muttered. Right. Advanced to a stage where they could kill each other all over the fraggin' galaxy. Yay Cybertron.
Over the mission channel he bursts //I am NOT going to apologize.// Just in case any of the other Autobots thought that, you know, he'd grown manners or anything in the last few minutes. Sulky!Drift is sulky.
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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 Jan 5, 2012 20:55:48 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus eyes Perceptor for the outburst, and glowers at Drift – he didn't think "apology" was even in the carbot's lexicon, given the circumstances of their previous encounter – but says nothing to either of them, instead turning his gaze on Talaria. If he wants to split hairs, she called it Saybertron, but he can't exactly ignore the coincidence.
"Well?" He stares at Pincher and the humans. Talaria isn't talking to Magnus, after all.
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