We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
There were some mechs who just had zero personality and just gave a yessuh, nossuh, and went on with life. Then there were mechs like Ghost Wind who resembled a nesting doll of questions. Roulette couldn't fault him, she was full of more curiosity then a cat could handle. But she did sort of want to kick him in the shin and tell him to cut it out. She was supposed to be relaxing!
"Shockwave just arrived on the ship. Still so eager to get on board?" She gave the biggest, fake smile she could before dropping the gesture and rolling her shoulders. Tension had crept into the hydraulics without her knowledge. She resisted the urge to practice drawing and mentally paused at the stifled action. Why not practice? She had all the time in the world (a whole day) to let some steam off. That was the point of getting off the ship.
"You guys going to freak out if I pull a gun? I need to practice."
Ghost kept getting hammered with data that, as far as he could tell, was not on speaking terms with whatever previous tidbits Roulette had provided. It was making it very hard to keep up with her.
Then again, he was not meant to keep up with her. His life did not depend on it, neither did those of the Vehicons stripping the place down. This was just another odd-job, something that just couldn't be done remotely; that was the only reason they were all on-site.
It also meant he could take what she gave him and not question it. Just take it, right as it was given. Unlike Roulette, Ghost had a limit to his curiosity - a good thing for someone as lacking in rank as he was.
It was the rest of it he'd never mastered well enough to rise in ranks.
"Shockwave just arrived on the ship. Still so eager to get on board?"
He rubbed idly at his helm. "Honestly? Yes. Me and everyone here; he's not... MECH." The word passed him like an alien thing. It was only a suspicion, it was only a specter, but it was one that threaded through every Vehicon conversation, one that came up with every missing patrol and mech unaccounted for.
Nonetheless, he shrugged politely. "I'm sure it's not a big concern for someone like you." And there was still that gaping hole where he couldn't bring himself to put her name, and wouldn't put in a title that she didn't want.
"You can practice if you want." He allowed himself a tiny smile as it all finally clicked together: she'd come down here for a vacation. "Long as you're not shooting us or the supplies, there's really not enough energon to be at risk unless you flat out fire on the last dregs in there. That would probably blow the cave."
"Pfft, MECH. Who cares about a few humans?" She turned to the side and eyed a tree on the outskirts of the clearing, away from the mine and any stray vehicons milling about. Wouldn't do to spend her one chance at vacation explaining the concept of friendly fire. "I'm more worried about the scientist who butchers things for a living. That boredom of his is killer."
Without hesitation she drew and fired from the hip, snapping a limb from the trunk in one smooth move. Bam. Snap. Limb on the ground. Not exactly impressive. The tree wasn't even that far away but this wasn't exactly ideal conditions, either. Next she focused on a knot on the tree and switched hands; her gun safely returned to her holster as she pivoted, giving Ghost her back.
"You nervous being out here even with reinforcements?"
"I could live with boredom, m--" Ghost sighed a bit, the honorary almost slipping out. He cleared his vox briefly, watching her from a step back and two to the side. "But, you know... We're all at the bottom of the rung here. We're not the kind that gets noticed by someone that far up, and certainly not someone in science."
Boss could shoot something impressive. There'd been practically no telltales to her draw-and-fire. The Tomahawk relaxed minutely, going to a parade rest position, one audio and one optic on the mouth of the mine and the sounds of tools inside it.
"Beats being down here. Not knowing which human's a bad one, or which one's got a hundred of his friends waiting for you to get comfortable. You ever see scraplet damage? These guys are getting to be worse. There's Vehicons that aren't coming back; sla-- heck, there's patrols that aren't coming back, at least not in one piece."
He glanced back at the cave. "Reinforcements aren't a guarantee. Humans are a sneaky sort. And they're hard to detect until they're basically underfoot. Seriously think you were safer with, uh, him up there. He's only one mech, after all."
"Shockwave-" Roulette huffed and shook her hand out, too flustered for the moment to commit to the draw. "Shockwave is one mech, yeah, but he's...Primus, don't you know anything about him?"
She could write a compendium on the mech and none of it would have a chapter on the scientist's virtues. The mech was terrifying in his complete disregard for anyone or anything. There were no boundaries with the mech and whatever was in the way of his precious science, ceased being in the way permanently.
Staying with him on the planet had been nothing short of a frantic, hard lesson in what it took to survive. Some cycles he'd greet her in the lab with one request: find specimens. One a planet with dwindling mechs, that one request started to feel like a Sisyphean task. Roulette had dreaded the day he ran out of subjects to test or, Primus forbid, he got bored.
"He does enough damage on his own, ok? Just...watch the drones and stay away from him on the ship." With a snap of her wrist, she drew and shot at the next target on the tree.
For just a moment Ghost had been afraid that she'd gotten tired of his entirely too free attitude and had decided to shoot him, rather than the vegetation, but no. She was still shooting the tree and he was still in one piece and apparently the conversation was still ongoing.
Griping, apparently, was the favorite sport of any underling, no matter how high or how low they ranked in the underling chain of command. Which, in its own way, was a sorta refreshing and comfortable thing to know.
As far as he was concerned, griping was a very relaxing hobby.
"Well, we-- I mean, I know... who he is. What he does, sort of. Everyone knows that he's the head-honcho for science and weapons and what-not. But I have never even gotten close, or... close." There was really no other way Ghost could put it: he was so far below notice of anyone of even minor importance that it didn't occur to him to think of coming to someone's attention that high up, let alone doing so in a less-than-pleasant fashion. Unless they needed a power line fixed or something heavy carried about.
Just...watch the drones and stay away from him on the ship.
"Already do that when we're planet-side." Ghost gave her a one-sided shrug and a small smile; that was just everyday life on a 'Con ship. "Up there at least there's more optics, more sensors, more Vehicons watching your back if you watch theirs. No such luxury down here. Besides, you look to be fine, no?"
Oh to be that naive. What had life before Shockwave been like? Roulette seemed to remember her cycles being so much more mellow and sweet. Like a dream, really. Now, it felt like time trickled away from her without meaning. As vast and free as sand on a cove floor. What did she need to mark her life with? There wasn't exactly anything she was looking forward to. Living was the goal, not a reward.
Primus, I hate when stupid grunts get me thinking about this existential slag.
With more force than necessary, she holstered the weapon and rested her hand on the curve of her hip. Honestly, she came down here not to think about Shockwave! Not hold a discourse about him.
Why couldn't you have just stayed on the planet?
"Of course I seem fine. I'm his proxy. Or at least I was. I don't know if he'll still want me to continue that. Dunno why he would." Honestly, she couldn't decide how she felt about that. Would she be upset if he forgot about her? He had had countless extensions of himself. She wasn't even that good. But a part of her rankled at the very thought of being so looked over.
The boss was proving to be terribly mercurial, and Ghost felt like he was trying to hop-step on thin glass. It was not a good feeling, mainly because he didn't know her well enough to appease her, and he didn't know what shape her temper might take. Yes, she seemed like one of the good bosses, but that didn't mean she actually was one.
The more they talked about the ship, though, the less pleased she seemed to be; it seemed the only safe territory was the one the two-wheeler could visibly avoid... and the only one he felt safe with. It wasn't like he wanted to dwell on where he was, on what they were doing, and he sure as slag didn't want to think of all that might happen while they were planetside.
"Uh... Why wouldn't... I mean, well. Why would he not want you to be? Or, do you mean you don't want to be? It beats this, doesn't it?" One hand swept towards the mine, where another drill coughed into a reset, then resumed work, and one of Ghost's shoulders rose again in a minor shrug. "It's science up there. Down here it's just boring, it's dirty. It rains. The weather down here is... it just is." There was both resignation and frustration in Ghost's tone; they made his next words, which might have been useful flattery, into simple statement. "I can't imagine how smart you need to be, for that level of science."
Last Edit: Sept 30, 2014 16:15:45 GMT -5 by Deleted
"String bean, you don't have to be clever to be a scientist. You just have to be curious and want to know the answers. Most scientists are morons that can't functions outside of their sterile walls." She shifted her stance, thoughts threatening to settle on Shockwave.
Huffing to herself, she surreptitiously glanced at the mech. "You really that worried about this planet? It's annoying but the rain isn't full of acid." She shuddered at the thought. Her planet had been many things but the weather had been downright caustic at times. The first time the vehicons (and she) had experienced rain, they'd fled for cover. Everyone expected the familiar burn.
This planet was wildly beautiful in a creepy way. The weather was temperamental, for more than she'd ever experienced before. One minute the local star would be shining bright and warm, the next the wind would pick up and lighting would cleave the atmosphere apart. Something so mild as a storm could turn threatening in a matter of moments. Even the tiniest particles were often the most troubling. Sand in the pedes was more irritating over time than a actual wound earned in battle.
And there it was again. What this 'string-bean' thing was...
Pah, it would be what it would be. Ghost had had worse nicknames, and surely there'd be more in his future, whatever shape it might take. However, the use of a nickname did herald, or so he hoped, an improvement on her mood.
Pleeeease let it be a hint of mood improvement.
"You really that worried about this planet? It's annoying but the rain isn't full of acid."
"Yet." Ghost's tone was both dark and resigned. He really did expect at some point the weather would dump something unpleasant and potentially injurious on him, he just didn't know what.
He shrugged lightly one shoulder and risked looking up at her, expression mild. "It's not just the planet. It's more what's on it. You're up the ladder, so your safety is important. But Vehicons... this MECH thing. It's real, it's just no one comes back to talk about it, to report it. All you hear is the silence of the ones that don't come back." There was no poetry meant in the words, they were delivered, as everything else had been, with the flat even tone of a statement and little else.
The motorcycle rubbed at his helm thoughtfully for a moment before nodding evenly. "Well, I can see why I'd never be good at the science thing. But that's fine by me. The question thing..." His smile turned wry. "... not good at it, me."
His attention shifted sharply towards the mouth of the cave when the rattle and cough of the tools being used inside wound down to a collective sigh and perfect silence. The hush was near perfect, and a brief ripple ran through Ghost's field at the lack of humming engines, of the subtle vibrations and barely present sounds that accompanied every day on the 'Nemesis.'
But all that happened was that the Vehicons started coming out of the empty mine, in twos and threes, carrying crates and armfuls of materials. A couple stayed behind to pluck up the last of the lights, and it was one of these that marched up to them. He cut Roulette a crisp salute, and turned so the visor could take in both the present, uh... ranking... um... supervising... 'officers'.
In the most narrow band he could find, Ghost offered helpfully. ::That's Brad.:: It seemed like the kind of thing the boss might appreciate knowing.
"We're all done here, ma'am, sir. The rest of the beams are too close to the last energon dregs; like you ordered, we're keeping the laser cutters away from those."
The fact he'd had to give the order at all kinda worried Ghost a bit. He shouldn't have to be the one to point out that energon and intense heat sources did not do well together, but there it was. He nodded and turned to the boss-femme, his tone polite. "We can try and get them out anyways if you want, boss. But I think we're on quote with what we have now. Orders?"
Roulette felt like she was missing something when it came to the drones. They were...well, they were odd. But some oddness was expected in the multi-cloned lot, right? Some of them were barely sentient. And then some, like the few she trained with and Brad here, were very personable. Maybe it was something that developed in each of them over time. Like spatial awareness one developed.
That plunge in her tanks made Roulette uneasy. If she was thinking this, that means another scientist, hell even the doc, would or had already thought along the same lines (only sharper with, say, the precision of a scalpel). She didn't see Doc Knock as the type to lay the drones across his tables to dissect and study them but that didn't mean others wouldn't.
Ugh, gross. Thinking about something else now.
She nodded back to the drone, her own field nearly mute at that point. The best way to combat stormy thoughts was to destroy something. Shooting the tree hadn't done it for her. She considered the depleted mine with a thoughtful head tilt. Hell, it wasn't like they were going to use it for anything...
"We don't need it, right? Pit, let's just blow that sucker up."
They just stared at her. Brad stared, Ghost stared, then Ghost stared briefly at Brad staring because it had to take something to get the Vehicon's attention all focused like that. The rest of the party, waiting by the pile of goods to go back to the 'Nemesis', noticed the sudden halt of input from the command corner over there, and stared as well.
"... Did you say you, ah..." Ghost had to make sure. It was not the kind of thing that you took on faith, even from your own audios. "... You want to blow the mine up?"
The Vehicon turned to give him a blank look, and Ghost couldn't really blame him. Thing was, he was not in the habit of forgetting the chain of command, no matter what you threw at him. It was, after all, why he was still alive among the Decepticon ranks.
He was mouthy, sometimes. Not stupid.
Ghost rubbed at his helm thoughtfully. Femme was the boss, and the boss had said to blow the mine up. All that was left for the two-wheeler and the Vehicons to do was figure out how. "Uh... Yeah, we can make it look like a landslide after" Somehow, he added to himself, taking a couple of steps forward and whistling sharply to get the Vehicons' attention. "Back up and take cover, guys! We could rig it for you, ma... Orrrr I don't know if you could get a shot in to the energon bits left in there." Ghost shifted awkwardly at his slip; he watched the Vehicons shuffle towards the far side of the pile, behind metal girders and hunched over in the lee of any boulder charitable enough to provide cover and idly wished he could join them...
Roulette at least had the thoughtfulness to wait until the Vehicon's hauled aft out of the way. She never willingly sacrificed or hurt the ground units. They were an integral part of the ship and, as insignificant as they seemed some days, they also out numbered the ranking mechs on the ship 3 to 1. Though, she doubted there would ever be a coup as they had loyalty built into them.
I wonder...can they decide to defect on their own? She watched "Brad" scoot across the space to join his brethren. Would they even want to? What little she remembered of the Autobots had been as hard and unforgiving as the Cons. Sometimes worse. The Vehicons were safer sporting the purple badge.
"It's kind of cute how you backpedal like that, darlin," Roulette drawled while taking aim at the mine. She held her arm level in front of her and braced her gun over the forearm while sighting up the shot. She'd had trickier challenges in her future but that didn't mean she didn't need the challenge. "If I miss, we can think of something. But I don't think that's gonna...be..."
She trailed off as she narrowed her optic, the targeting systems coming online with a internal whir. Her HUD display was alive with several prompts and facts that only she'd care to know at the moment. Wind variables, atmosphere, pressure, even the slant of the sunlight were just a part of the information she filtered and tossed aside with practice. In the span of a few seconds, she adjusted her stance and gently squeezed the trigger of the pistol. The bark wasn't as loud as the answering explosion that rocked the ground under their feet. With a satisfying grin, she watched the hillside give away under the internal detonation and topple trees below like a domino set.
"-necessary." She patted Ghost on the shoulder with a hand and holstered the gun. "Well, that was fun. What else?"
The thunder of the explosion made Ghost Wind automatically throw up an arm, simply because standing so close to even the barest trace of energon going up violently required some sort of acknowledgment. He stood his ground, as well, because standing next to a superior officer required you to remain there like a good little soldier unless dismissed.
The concussive blast of wind forced him to crouch down a touch so he could better brace himself. Short and heavy as he was, though, he managed to straighten up just in time to see the hillside, deprived of whatever meager support the mine below it had provided, rolling down like a vast mudslide. The detonation was partially muffled as the energon crumbs chased after one another inwards, rather than outwards; the coughing, hollow thunder of it echoed around them very briefly, and the silence was even more marked when it faded at last.
"... Well, scrap." He stared at a second's handiwork that had, so easily negated any effort he and the Vehicons might have to make to camouflage any remaining sign of their presence on the site. Brad, from behind the cover of the supplies, gave him a thumbs-up when he looked to see if the Vehicons were alright.
"... Well, alright then." Ghost shrugged mentally and skipped that on his internal to-do list. "We just need to load up and call for a bridge on your say-so." He kept facing the mudslide, but slid the briefest of side glances towards the femme. "... Of course, it'd still take a few hours and all to do the mudslide by hand. If... you know. You wanted to do anything with those hours before calling it in."
Bossfemme hadn't come down here to make their lives harder, and that was something Ghost Wind could, and did, appreciate, it happened so rarely. Anything he could do for her in return he'd count worth the effort. If that meant delaying the trip back a bit, well... even for MECH, he'd risk it.