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.
(OOC: Meet and greet for Kickback and Sturm, though other Decepticons could join in if they feel like it and it's not too much of a party. Takes place after Kickback wakes up but before Friendly Raid.)
So this is the Nemesis, thought Kickback to himself. For the first time in my existence, I am no longer on Cybertron.
The tall, elegant black and violet mech strode quietly down one of the lower hallways, antennae atop his helm twitching, taking in everything around him. The ship produced a low, steady undercurrent of noise that he found pleasantly soothing, and the lighting was appropriately dim. Though the architecture suffered from a distinct lack of efficient hexagonal design, it was dark and confining, much like the hives he once called home.
There were no other bots immediately in his presence, but he could sense them around him, above, below, right and left. The energon pulsing through their bodies was palpable to his waveform even from a distance. Like the needle of a compass, that energon drew a small portion of his awareness and beckoned him to seek it out - and consume it.
He stayed his hunger. He could rise above that need, at least, for the time being.
Directly in front of him, however, a large mass of energon and matter was growing closer and closer - likely one of the many denizens of the vessel he would have to call home.
Kickback decided to investigate this energon source as he continued down the hallway.
Slow, yet heavy steps echoed the hallways of nemesis, as femme warrior was wandering around, not having any work to do really, like she never actually had. Not on board, but on planet she had more to do, searching for possible energon lode. This time she had to stay for longer, at least for the time she could make sure situation on nemesis wouldn't get out of hand any more. She was avoided, after her distraction left ton of scrapped drones after her. Raddies weren't too happy to see her any more, not that she was never too popular among them. And not that she even cared.
As she kept walking, letting her gaze wander around the airvents, hallway's structures, she didn't almost notice the massive cybertronian approaching her. Only when tank femme stopped for an while, her scanners picked closing signal. Not too long before her optics narrowing, she encountered... a bug... no, this one wasn't one of those normal insecticons, something was different with this one. Arma hadn't seen this one earlier, newcomer possibly. His size was comparable with tank femme's, which there wasn't many on nemesis. Her cannon arm rested on her side, not being prepared to fire, and would stay like that, if another one would stay put. She slowly placed her left hand on her hip, before opening her audio. "Haven't seen you around here before big guy... when did you arrive." Not even knowing if he could understand anyone else than her master, but most insecticons she wasn't able to understand, hopefully this one was different thing in that matter.
No, he wasn't quite like the regular variety of Insecticon drone that patrolled through the underground of Cybertron, never transforming, never speaking (at least in any way that the average Cybertronian could understand), howling like Earth wolves to one another and eating anything they happened to lay eyes on. You could say, in this case, that Kickback was simply more evolved.
"I've been here for awhile," he replied smoothly. "I guess you could say that someone forgot to set the alarm on my stasis pod." His speech was not encumbered or truncated in any way, though his waveform was utterly unreadable, operating on frequencies used by no other Cybertronian intelligence.
Was he making a joke? It seemed he was.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance....?" he trailed off, waiting for her to introduce herself.
Last Edit: Feb 21, 2013 15:12:30 GMT -5 by Deleted
Well, this explained the stasis pod Arma had wondered some time, but never had asked about anyone about that. The joke he made, could've been funny, if the one to hear it would've been anyone else than her. Yes, he was more, much more evolved from the rest of the savage beasts that existed, and the ones she avoided. Not that she couldn't deal with them, but to avoid the damages to the surroundings. This one, at least seemed to have some manners, and real consiousness, would make better use in the battlefield too.
He was waiting for her to introduce herself. "Armadura..." She responded, at her normal, emotionless tone. "Feel free to shorten it, anyway you feel best, Arma is the name that most of personnel know." She sweeped her hand a bit, while explaining.
"And you were called?" It was better to know him by his name on battlefield, made communication much easier.
"Kickback," the Insecticon replied, bowing with a flourish of cape-like wings behind him. "A pleasure to meet you, my dear."
She was large - larger than he'd expected to see in most any femme; he actually had to look up to her.
He found that just a little bit exciting.
"Armadura," he mused, rolling the name off his glossa like trying a new flavor. "Arma for short, as you've so requested." He tapped his chin with the initial digit of his right servo. "Are you in a hurry to get anywhere? I'm a bit new here and I'd like to get to know the rest of the force I'm serving with. Or under if that's the case."
She vented at calm pace, registering the name she just received from him. Kickback, didn't ring any bells from past. No matter, if he could follow Lord Megatron's rule, and knew how to fight, he could make it up by being useful on battlefield. He ended up in the good old Arma, as she had expected, not any kind of surprise. She didn't actually requested it, she had just noted most of the crew knew her by that name.
To his question, she targeted her gaze outside for an moment. No, she wasn't in hurry to get anywhere, right now... not that she usually was in hurry to get anywhere. Only if there was big fight coming, then she would rush to the field. But for now, she wasn't in hurry.
"I guess i'd have some time to spare for you. I'll answer your questions the best i can." She turned her gaze back to the KB.
"Fantastic!" Kickback exclaimed, delightedly clasping his hands together and moving out of Armadura's way, should she want to continue to walk down the hall.
"First thing's first," he began. "Would you care to tell me a little bit about yourself? How do you serve our Lord Megatron? What is the present state of the war? Have we won, and where are we, exactly? From what I gather we're on some other world... did we make it to one of the colonies?" He appears to be as hungry for information as he is for energon.
Arma passed him, continuing down the hallway, with slow steps, expecting him to follow her.
First things first he said, and she thought he had wanted to know about the command chain of the ship. Well, if he wanted to know about the history a little bit, who was she to refuse. "I've been serving Lord Megatron, as his weapon, and shield, ever since gladiator rings. When not on combat, i'll try making myself useful by finding new energon deposits on the planet." Arma explained about her ways to serve her master, before continuing. "The present state of the war... what could be said. We're pretty much at the stalemate. Either of the sides has made it to take overhand. Though, since autobots raided nemesis, we are still recovering from that, but we're not in crisis yet. There are also these Neutrals, on the planet, that don't want to take part on the conflicts between bots and us." It was real wonder when Arma explained this much, from her own free will. "And yes, could be said we made it to one of the colonies, this planet was raided with energon during the war, it's living storage i'd say. It's just that harvesting it has become more difficult, since during the millions of earth years, this planet was inhabited by this vermin race known as humans. The nuisance is, that some of them are cooperating with the autobots. That's the short version i can tell." Arma finished her explanation.
"Harvesting energon," Kickback mused, walking alongside the larger femme. That would explain, he thought to himself, why he was awakened out of storage. He had expected to wake in the presence of Shockwave. Instead, it was the Emperor of the cause himself that had freed Kickback from the storage and stasis pod.
His mind was chewing the information given to him by Armadura, processing what it all meant, what these factors indicated. Natives working with Autobots. A stalemate in the war. Appearance of neutrals -- delightful! -- and a direct raid on this vessel. It seemed, to Kickback, that the war effort on both sides was now on its knees, dragging and wheezing along, waiting to drop into the dust and expire.
Food for the worms.
"Did you say you have been put to use in locating energon?" he asked Armadura. "I would be willing to help you in that regard. You see, I can sense energon, even at some distance," the locust explained. "If we work together, we could locate and excavate energon far more effectively than the Autobots who no doubt are looking for resources as well. Would it not please our Master to cooperate for the benefit of all of us?" The Chaos Bringer must have particularly blessed Kickback to have brought him in contact with another who had taken up the thankless task of seeking energon. Allies were the first step towards immersion and integration.
Arma turned her head a little bit, when Kickback mused himself. The situation could've been much worse too. But since Lord Megatron had returned, the order would also soon be returned. Starscream lacked the authority, and respect from the crew to be capable to lead decepticons. But what Arma felt Screamer lacked most, was the strenght.
As she heard Kickback's question, she stopped, turning to face him, to listen his explanation. Aibility to sense energon, at some distance. Arma had a quick thought, about where she would be needed in that matter. Her searching was relied on pure luck. She wasn't scientist, or even miner, she was just a warrior, who wanted to be some use, and have all the time the possibility to face the autobots, crowding at same deposit as her. Of course, she had the meter, which she used to measure the energon levels.
For an while, Arma was facing away, looking like she was thinking of something. There was at least this one place, where she had found many smaller energon deposits, from small area, so small they were barely use for decepticons, and her master. But now that she thought, her meter wasn't too precise. Could it be, that those smaller deposits, would be part of bigger one, deeper underground. Kickback's talent would be very useful at that sort of situation. Arma had marked the location to her radar, but wouldn't tell about this yet, she shouldn't trust him too much, yet.
"That's one impressive ability you have there. But i'd like to hear our Lord Megatron to approve this, before taking any action." Arma responded to him. Yes, she wouldn't take any action before hearin order from her master. It would not raise her scores, if she would take action too independently, and her scores were pretty low right now.
Arma turned back to the hallway, and kept walking, expecting him to follow. "Was there something else you wanted to know?"
"Of course," Kickback nodded, agreeing that his request to find energon should be taken up with the Master first. He liked the large femme; she was somewhat... singular-minded about her tasks and her loyalty. What you saw is what you got. He doubted she would engage in any mental slight-of-hand or subterfuge.
A stalwart, rank-and-file soldier. One could not ask for better company when acclimating to a new environment.
"Well, I wanted to know a little more about you," Kickback said. "I mean no offense by such a statement; I like to know what my comrades in arms are like, what they enjoy, what they do not enjoy, what they wish to accomplish. I prefer to avoid offending others, and if I can help my comrades achieve their goals, then we all benefit."
He seemed to focus intensely on team work. Then again, when one is born a drone in a hive, everything is about team work.
Tank femme wasn't too liked among the crew, not that she cared at all. It was better to be little bit hated, than liked, so you wouldn't affect your comrades, if you happen to be offlined during battle. Though, Arma's gone mentor had thought differently, and had tried to taught her, that some bonds were strenghtening warrior. So far Arma had only encountered the ones that seemed to weaken her, or so she believed. She was quite singular minded, yes, simply, because Lord Megatron was the last one she fought for, all she had lef. She had never fought for any ideals, she had always fought for someone.
What she didn't seem to believe, was the next statement of Kickback. He did explain himself very well, and Arma understood his reasons... but even her emotionless faceplating, shifted a bit to disbelief looking. Someone wanted to know something about her. She ran her talonlike fingertip over her face, thinking... she actually had to think that question little bit. "What i enjoy, and what i don't..." She vented slowly. "I enjoy hard, heated battle, even better if enemy has the overpower... What i don't enjoy, is that our enemies are the type that tend to leave the battlefield before battle is even near it's end." She paused for an while, after her musing. "Yes, i think i could say so. I enjoy tough battles, and hate the cowardly warriors." She responded then. "What i wish to accomplish... that's too hard question. I simply exist, to serve our master. If i cannot see him rising as ruler of all cybertronians, i'll at least hope that i'll be able to fall by his side, on battle, protecting him till the very end..." It wasn't a goal, she knew that, but that was all she knew to say.
What had gotten into her, she was telling him more about himself in few kliks than most of the crew had learned during millions of years of war. Well, this was pretty harmless information yet, nothing he could ever use against her, at least she believed so.
"A stalward soldier if ever I heard one," Kickback praised. He considered what she had to tell him - it was, to be blunt, incredibly bland. The femme had been fighting all this time and had never taken time to culture her inner world.
He supposed this was the fate assigned to those who had gone from miner to gladiator to soldier. Life was incredibly simplistic and every thought was tied to singular, immediate goals. Kickback felt fortunate to have been a pet and a slave; he had tasted a life of wealthy excess and a life of grinding labor. It had given him a certain amount of perspective, and his many imprisonments had given him time to think.
"And what will you do when we win?" he asked. "What do want to do when all is conquered and there are no more enemies left to fight?"
It was a simple question. It would not have a simple answer.
Arma was warrior, through and through, had always been, as long as her memories reached. Arma never really had taken any time for her inner world, as he thought, she never had had any real reason for that. All she had to do, was to fight, that's all she was required, that's what she knew best. Her frame was covered by great amount of battle scars, she remembered every single one. The oldest ones were before gladiator ring, given her by her first teacher, and master, another one of those two she had admitted herself to care about.
After hearing Kickback's question, she stopped, for an moment, looking like she was thinking somethin. "I don't know." She answered. "Never thought that far. As long as i can remember, i've been fighting. I don't know what else to do." She really didn't know. After their victory, she never really had considered that. War had raged so long, there had been no need to think that far.
"Some day you will have to consider it," Kickback replied with calm encouragement. "Even you must make the climb towards selfhood."
The locust strolled leisurely alongside the somewhat larger femme, arms behind his back. "I was once a young drone," he began to explain. "I was hatched like every other Insecticon - without a sense of self, without anything but the most basic level of instinct. That is how it starts with us. We are soldiers, hunters, workers, protectors, and all of us answer to--" he paused for a moment. "--there is no word in neocybex for That One. I can only say the concept: the Self-Aware-That-Controls."
"That One is our mind for us. We do not think our own thoughts, we think the thoughts of That One. We are nothing but disconnected parts of That One's body. But that is not how all of us remain. Some of us begin to develop our spark: We begin to have thoughts of our own, wills of our own. All of us fight to have our own Self and our own Will; it is our great struggle to hatch a second time into independence."
Kickback looked up at Arma. "You are as I was, when I was the cherished pet of a Tower sparkling: You are a drone waiting to become Self. It is not a bad thing for a soldier to have a sense of self. If you find something you wish to fight for, you fight much harder, much better. You become a stronger soldier."