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Post by smokedtoast on Oct 14, 2015 20:52:38 GMT -5
Kamikaze hugged Artemis back tightly, silent at first. He's not quite sure how to answer the question, especially with what was waiting for them back at Deva Corp. "It's been kind of up and down. A lot more down lately, everythings been hitting the fan." Kamikaze explained hesitantly, not quite sure how much she knows and how much he has to explain. "Felis has been at least helping in that. Slag knows Deva Corp's medics need the help..." He adds, before resolving to come out and say it. "Deva's still down and out. Someone actually figured out how to hurt her and make it stick. It is really good to see you, I know she would have wanted to be here." He manages to blink up for a moment and look over at Trailcutter as he headed over, noticing the similarities between the bundle and its carrier. "Though I see you've been keeping busy too." He couldn't help but tease.
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Post by artemisprime on Oct 15, 2015 6:29:01 GMT -5
OOC: (Gonna hit Toast's first, then Strike's; seems to be a better flow for Art's responses; Bedlam's getting first billing because it's Bedlam.)
IC:
Bedlam shrugged, muttered, "okay," and popped the candy back into their mouth, before draping themselfaround his broad shoulders, settling in. A loud purr emitted from their throat as they dimmed their optics.
Meanwhile, Artemis dealt with the mech she considered one of her own. "Glad that boy of mine could be of help. And it's good to hear him active. Equally glad you two are keeping contact too. As for Deva...I'm certain we'll learn more once we reach base." Looking back at the approaching ursine Maximal, she smiled -- a rare, true smile, one she reserved for those closest to her -- and admitted, "Never know when it hits you. Remember when I joined the expedition to reach out to the outskirt tribes by order of the emergency Senate? That's when I met Hound and his boys. They wanted in on our mission, and eventually, when we were asked to go off-planet to petition the Galactic Council, they replaced my original companions. Long story short, befriended them all, got close to one especially and, next thing we knew about six stellar cycles ago, Hound's performing his captain duties in performing the conjunx ritus."
Upon mention of conjunx, Trailcutterhad wrapped an arm around Artemis's; a well-practiced turn of the head, and she brushed her lips with his. "You and I both know it ain't her gun you're looking at," she chuckled, low enough for only Cutter and Kami to hear.
With his tracking skill, Hound heard it, muttering, "Wrecker tact," and, louder, "Strike's right; let's load up, lock down, and get moving. We'll have plenty of time to chat enroute."
OOC again:(I'll post the available G1 characters from the Dawning Light in the shoutboxif anyone else wishes to play them.)
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Post by smokedtoast on Oct 15, 2015 12:44:00 GMT -5
Kami blinked in surprise at all the new informatiom given by his adoptive mom. He thought the name of the other sounded familiar after all. "Really? I want to say Im surprised... but Im not mamacat. You always deserved better then the bird brain." Kami replied with a chuckle before looking in bedlam and Trailcutters way. "A pleasure to meet you sir. And uh.. younger sir." He bobs his head in bedlams direction. At Artemis's comment he couldnt help but laugh. "Eh, isnt the only one around either. Havent met Slingshots new conjunx, its kind of intimidating to be a small pilot around a bunch of warriors." He explaining, giving artemis another squeeze and leading the wau back to the ship. Renegade disembarked soon after, chuckling to himself. "Kami, your dad is practically a bear of a dire wolf. Dont tell me youre feeling uncomfortable now. You wouldnt believe the stories some of these guys have about our dads. Yours pissed mine off all the time! Even called yours an existencial nightmare of protocol." He teased his friend with a smirk. This left Kami with some surprise, hearing renegade actually mention Prowl with no sense of vileness to his tone. Still, the mention of prowl seemed to knock some sense into the boy as he turned to hound and trailcutter. "Sorry, were are my manners..." he stiffened up slightly and saluted. "Kamikaze sirs, son of Ripp-R and resident on-planet courier pilot for Deva Corp. Though you might know my father by the designation Speedsta."
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Post by striker on Oct 15, 2015 20:20:49 GMT -5
Trailcutter blinked, "sir... did he just call me sir?" he chuckled
"Kid's polite like that." Strike chuckled, motioning to the transport, "speaking of kids, does that little one there need a special seat or strapping-in or something? I wouldn't want them to get hurt"
"We got something" Trailcutter nodded, "Thanks for the concern" He smiled as he headed back over to 'Tera, hugging her again, "I really -was- looking at the gun you know."
Strike gave a very unlady-like snort, grinning
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Post by artemisprime on Oct 15, 2015 21:05:04 GMT -5
This. This was how it should have been. That moment where peace was achieved and they could go about living a normal, life.
Seriously. You've existed four million stels, and how many of those were spent enjoying peace? What would make this any different?
Artemis hated that little voice, and instead dismissed it by focusing it on her family's presence. Family. Before she had this mission, the word was loose, consisting of the kids she had taken under her arm, whether by coding or by chance. Even when first boarding the Dawning Light, she had been an outsider amongst those close-knit mechs, eyeing her warily as either reputation or rumour roiled their processors about her. Certainly, Hound had been civil -- he was friendly enough, but he could afford the front; he could shift gears from friend to opponent quicker than a chased petrorabbit. The others took time to gain their trust, if not for her ties in the Great War, than simply the glaring points that she was one of the First, those reformatted in the first wave of the virus. There were those still upset over that ordeal, regardless of how their lives and sparks were saved in the long run.
And then, there was one, who welcomed her with open arms of friendship, one she was more than happy to accept.
And things went their own course, and now she stood, in a field, introducing her adult son to her conjunx endura and their sparkling.
"Kami, can you show Cutter where we're being stowed?" she questioned, before addressing her mate. "I'll go give Hoist a hand with the essentials. Also remind Huffer we don't need to pack the entire engine to take with us. Anything you and the bitlet need from our quarters?" Under her breath, she added, "Since you're so interested, shall I bring my arsenal and we can see if Strike would be interested in comparing notes...?"
Hound rubbed his brow, emitting a noise somewhere between a groan, and a chuckle.
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Post by smokedtoast on Oct 18, 2015 20:35:13 GMT -5
Kami nodded with a response. "Yes ma'am." He replied with a light smile before motioning to follow. "It's over here sir, might even recognize it I've been told. Though it's before my time." He explains as he leads the way over to the hidden shuttlecraft by Strike's original position. It was a slightly round spacecraft that could have easily been mistaken for a city-bot headmaster unit if not for the added wing extensions. Noticably modified since the last time the Ursine bot had seen it... one thing was very apparent. Slingshot still had his scavenger and sneaky side, years of peace and not having to fear the DJD had left the former Decepticon with too much time to have done this. Slingshot had managed to find the biggest embarrassment of the Great War... the Rod Pod. And apparently he had it altered in his own -image-. Kami rubbed the back of his head as they came over to the ship, bringing down the ramp for access. The inside showed signs of modification due to the sudden shift in smaller size when it came to cybertronian. " I uh... it's durable I guess? It's done better then then last ship I flew for Slingshot anyways..." Renegade glanced over with a raised eyebrow as they got closer to the ship. It sort of made sense that they went with this ship. He was supposed to be meeting up with the premier ship when he had joined Artemis's crew, along with the two former autobot elders who had joined his ship. "It'll do in a pinch Trailcutter. After what happened to Slingshot's conjunx... he wanted everyone to be safe." Kamikaze nodded in thought, before glancing at the small one in Trailcutter's arm. He can't help but ask. "Mamacat named the kid... didn't she? It seems like her kind of name." He seems a bit awkward, but trying at the moment at least. Renegade just chuckles at this, patting his friend on the shoulder. "I need to apologize for my friend here 'cutter... he's a little awkward at first but damned if he doesn't have a lot of heart. 's a Wellspring... held some of my lifelong friend's sparks in stasis when they would have died for the longest time, despite the fact we all kind of tried to kill him at one point. Last I was here Ironhide of all people was mentoring them in the way of the Protectobot." Huffer meanwhile left the ship, grumbling and growling to himself. It was...aggrovating to be back on this planet. Especially after what had happened, so what if he had jumped the trigger on a potential threat and indulged in a little enhancer action for a council member. All the youth and energy he had as a young teenager didn't matter a damn with all these primus-damned -hormones- and -urges-. "I left most of it behind." He grumbled in Artemis's direction, giving Strike a long look as he passed by. Great, another thing to trigger his 'age' issues.
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Post by striker on Oct 18, 2015 21:56:37 GMT -5
Strike sighed, shaking her head as they walked up to the ... ship. She -refused- to call it either 'RodPod' or Slingshot's less than creative and equally kinky-sounding 'SlingPod'. Honestly, sounded like a 'toy' you'd find in a shop that didn't allow sparklings past its doors. "Right this way folks" she said, grinning back at Pantera and Trailcutter, winking at the two.
==== "I swear, I was talking about the gun, I -uh... um..." Trailcutter blushed at the wink from the saurian femme. Groaning as he saw the RodPod. Sure, it might've been altered by this Slingshot... but you don't forget ugly, or ostentatious. And that was the RodPod.
Unicron could come for Cybertron a hundred times, and that would -always- be the RodPod.
TC smiled, patting Renegade on the back, "No worries, it's been a long trip. I imagine everyone's as cranky as a bear." he paused, "Hah!"
He grinned at Panterra, "Come on, sweetspark, let's go strap in the kidlet." ==== Strike snorted at Trailcutter's bad joke, "Geez. The more things change the more they stay the same." she sighed.
Grinning at Huffer, she thumbed to the back of the ship, "Refresher's back there, sunshine"
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Post by artemisprime on Oct 19, 2015 12:22:19 GMT -5
Oh. Artemis thought the ship looked familiar. Grinning, she shook her head. To Kami, she pointed a finger to his nose. "There isn't anything wrong with me naming things! They're accurate and to the point!"
Bedlam at that moment decided to ragdoll off Trailcutter's shoulder, hanging precariously by their legs from the crook of his arm, and started singing: loudly, off-key and nigh-illegible. "I wuzzzz buuuuuunnnn un looooonatooooo! Juzzabuchawokkinodddzinenns -- "
"Yep, helping Hoist," the jaguar quickened her step, past Huffer with a pat on his shoulder and up the ramp to the Dawning Light, leaving the cacophonic situation to be handled by her conjunx endura.
Bedlam's voice carried through the ship as Artemis approached the cramped crew's quarters; she found Hoist and Grapple discussing what was necessary to bring along and what to leave.
"You don't understand!" Grapple clutched the model of a solar needle to his chest, "they may need to see this in action before implementing a working prototype! And with our schematics for defencive refortifications Trailbreaker helped us design, they'll need to understand the project from all the angles!"
"Now, Grapple, we've been over this before," Hoist reminded. "You have more than enough data to use a holoprojector for your presentation. I know how much you prefer to have a physical model, but it's not required. Besides, it's not like we're not abandoning the ship. We'll come back after we're assigned our planetside quarters."
"Oh, Artemis! Help me convince Hoist that I need to bring the solar needle model with me!" Grapple pleaded.
"Gotta side with Hoist on this, sorry," she shrugged apologetically, sliding the door to the quarters she shared with partner and child. "We need to pack light for the trip. Besides, Hoist's right: we'll come back for everything else." Crossing her arms, she tapped a claw against her arm. "Pack light with a sparkling. Oh, that's an oxymoron."
Hoist held up the bag he had in his left hand, a stuffed Insecticon wrapped in a blanket and poking its head out of the opening. "Drawing pad, games, snacks and juice, emergency provisions, Ganket, and Bob."
"You are going to bring the mobile I built for them, right?" Grapple pleaded. "Bedlam loves that so!"
"We're coming back, Grapple!" Hoist reminded, pointing to their quarters. "Schematics. Datapad. One kitbag of tools and sketching supplies. Go."
"But -- "
"Schematics. Datapad -- "
"-- One kitbag of tools and sketching supplies. Understood." The yellow and grey river otter slumped his shoulders and padded off, defeated.
"And judging by the racket coming from outside," Hoist continued, attention back at the larger Maximal, "I take it things are safe to disembark."
"As much as we can expect." Pulling a large footlocker out from under the double berth, she hefted it onto the surface and tapped out a code, pressing her thumb to the panel. A pneumatic hiss, and the lid opened, revealing Artemis's stored arsenal of pistols and shotguns. Holstering two pistols and slinging a shotgun over her shoulder, she slammed the lid shut and replaced the locker before approaching the weapon rack on the wall. Again, a combination glyph pad and print scan to unlock the latch, and she dislodged the two-handed Lucerne hammer from its mooring. "You set?"
"Is all that really necessary?" Hoist balled his fists onto his hips and arched a brow.
Sheathing the hammer across her back, Artemis granted her friend a wry smile. "As the token tank of this outfit, I would say that's a resounding yes."
Hoist rolled his optics with a disapproving tsk. "Wreckers."
"That about sums it up." Studying the desk against the wall and its scattering of writing materials and datapads, she shrugged. "This looks important." Taking a kit bag to the edge of desk, she cleared the surface with one arm into the bag. "He can sort it en route."
After a couple of cycles, with Grapple and Hoist flanking the jaguar Maximal, they approached the other ship.
No matter what was done cosmetically, there was was no way to disguise the original design of Strike's ship. "You have to be kidding me," Hoist's shoulders slumped.
"Isn't that the -- " Grapple began.
"Let's pretend it isn't," Hoist interrupted.
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Post by striker on Oct 19, 2015 17:52:11 GMT -5
Teebs groaned inwardly as Bedlam started to sing. Oh, he didn't mind of course, often joining in. How else did the little hellion learn it, after all.
He was more worried about how their hosts would take to a loud sparkling, so when Pantera turned on her heel and scooted her boot out of the 'Pod he stammered, "wait, don't! Hey!!" he worried his bottom lip in a groan, rubbing teh back of his neck with the hand attached to the arm Not presently standing in for a jungle gym's climbing bar. *Oh I'mma get her back for that~* he grinned to himself.
"BWHAHAAHAH" followed by a very unladylike snort came from the front of the ship near the cockpit of the 'Pod. Apparently Strike found it hilarious.
*Why does that laugh sound familiar* Trailcutter blinked, then sighed, picking Bedlam up and holding him, "Come on Sweetspark. We gotta get you ready to fly, if you're good, I'll see if the big dino-lady has another energon goodie for you." he smiled. Always appeal to the sweet tooth.
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Post by artemisprime on Oct 19, 2015 19:14:12 GMT -5
Bedlam squirmed in Trailcutter's grasp, reaching out to take hold of the fur along his cheek structure before squealing, leaning forward to give his face a hug. Before he could reply, they pulled away, sniffing the air and looking over their shoulder, screaming happily when they saw their Uncle Hoist holding the stuffed Insecticon before him. Twisting at the waist, they reached out towards the toy.
"Now, Bedlam, Bob needs you to mind," Hoist reminded. "We're going on a trip, which means you have to put on your harness. Once you're in the harness, Bob will sit with you. We want to keep Bob safe, right?"
"Yeah!" Tumbling to the seat next to Trailcutter, they struggled with the harness before looking up at their parent. "Can you buckle me and Bob?" They held out their hands, in part to allow the five-point harness to go over their arms, more so to take their toy when the deed was done.
"I wonder if this flight serves drinks," Artemis mused, taking the seat on the other side of Trailcutter. "Sorry 'bout bailing, luv, but I had a feeling Grapple was trying to pack his models."
"I could have used them for visual reference!" Grapple protested, stowing his schematic tubes and tool bag under the seat he claimed across from Trailcutter. "Some prefer the physical model to hold upon hearing the project!"
"I swear, sometimes I wonder if I'm the only responsible adult here," Hoist shook his head as he took the seat across from Bedlam, keeping Bob in his lap until they had settled in.
"You know the old human idiom? 'It takes a village...'?" Hound questioned en route to the back of the ship. "Anyone seen the triplets and Mirage?"
"I saw Huffer when I went back to the Dawning Light, " Artemis shrugged. "As for Mirage -- "
Grapple giggled at the joke as Hound rolled his optics.
Bedlam pointed in a seemingly random direction before making a "gimme" motion with their hands towards the stuffed animal.
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Post by smokedtoast on Oct 19, 2015 19:14:06 GMT -5
Kami just chuckled to himself as he headed over to the cockpit. "Don't worry 'cutter, we've had much... much worse then singing where we're going. Some of Deva's employees get a little... prank happy. They should be on best behavior when we get there." He paused for a moment as he started to pass Strike, looking in her direction. "... Right?..." It had been a while since he had entered the building, but Strike had been in charge long enough for some changes. At least he hoped as much. He walked over to the cockpit and sat down, listening for Strike's answer as he started to warm up the ship.
Getting antsy as he waited for the others to arrive, he took out his communicator to hail his brother Felis. After a few minutes, he frowned and shut it off. Felis was probably working on Deva, it was the most logical thing in his mind. His brother would just be surprised in person instead of over the line. It was his own fault for not answering the phone.
Huffer just grumbled to himself as he headed for the back. A good long hot refresher sounded just about right now. At the least, it'd get his mind off the curvy dino femme on the ship. That her armor was smooth an- He practically spat to himself as he headed into the room, realizing he was about to obsess about it -again-.
Renegade didn't seem to mind the singing, not at all. In fact as if to mess with their new hosts, he started to singalong with the sparkling with a smile even as he found a seat nearby to rest. If Teebs had given him any mind, he was fully prepared to start singing louder. Artemis had almost nicknamed the young kid too well before she had left the planet, Renegade was nothing like his father when he had a mind to it.
Kami watched his mother and her two companions board the ship, even as he closed the entrance ramp behind them and slowly took to the air with the ship. For all the silliness of the modifications, Slingshot's changes to the ship seems to have at least stabilized any issues it's had in the past. That was a good thing, right? "Ladies and gentlebots, don't worry about pulling down your trays. We should be at Deva Corp relatively soon and it's got the best cafeteria on Cybertron. Beats the airline energon around here by far." He managed to call over the intercom, relaxing now that he was in his zone.
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Post by striker on Oct 19, 2015 19:50:15 GMT -5
Trailcutter winced as his sparkling gripped the fur, still need to teach them 'gentle touch'. Exhaling as Hoist came up and 'diffused' the situation, plopping into the seat and helping Bedlam buckle in, "Here we go, kiddo"
As 'Tera returned, he snorted before kissing her cheek, "Yeah, I'm sure you're so sorry about leaving me with a squealing kidlet to try and wrangle into a seat." he laughed, his tone light-sparked and only a tiny touch 'betrayed'. The ursine transformer also lightly punched Renegade in the shoulder, "Hey, don't want you tossed out at a couple thousand feet do ya?" he teased.
"Yeah" Gears, a honey badger, grunted as he grappled with the harness, "fraggin blasted..." he muttered to himself trying to undo the tangled straps, "I might do the throwin' if that dino-lady don't." He rolled his eyes, "No one -cares- Grapple. Well, maybe Perceptor... but he's not here and we need to -go- so... stuff gets left behind."
Suddenly Bob began to float from Hoist's grasp, around Bedlam's head as a familiar chuckle sounded, "Aw come on kiddo. Ya went and ruined the surprise~"
Shimmering into view with a circuit-like line effect (any human who saw this might call it a "tron-like" effect) was the missing bot in question, his posh accent giving away the fact he was smiling, "I wanted to see how long I could milk it"
In the cockpit, Strike nodded to Kami, "Yeah, they should... if they know what's good for them" she grinned.
Turning back, "Drinks and snacks are under your seat Councillady! Pass'm out to the group if you want" she called back to Pantera.
Drinks! Good Primus, drinks! They could imbibe... on cybertron-brand soft drinks, in a variety of flavors at least, as well as a mix of snacks. Trail-mix, energon goodies, sweet things, spicy things. Beef Jerky too.
"Alright folks!" Strike called, "Buckle in and head's up!"
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Post by artemisprime on Oct 21, 2015 19:41:38 GMT -5
Bedlam squealed with delight as Mirage appeared, reaching out for the toy, they asked "Please?" When the blue and white noble relinquished Bob, Bedlam hugged the plushie, nearly as big as they, to their chest. "Thanks, 'Raj!" they chirped, kicking their legs. They started singing again, this time a nonsensical string of syllables. Within fifty clicks, their head dropped over the stuffed Insecticon, emitting a noise between a snore and a purr.
"And that's why you let 'em run wild," Artemis grinned. "Sooner they wear themselves out, the sooner they're out of it."
"And it would work more often if they weren't high yield like a certain someone across from me," Hoist muttered.
Despite the good-natured ribbing, Hound picked up on his frontliner's mood. "Something's bothering you," he whispered, in part so to keep their hosts from overhearing, but mostly so to not disturb the now sleeping sparkling.
The jaguar Maximal frowned, optics on Bedlam on the other side of Trailcutter. "I'm being selfish," she admitted, lacing her fingers with those of her conjunx endura. "I guess I just hoped we could leave the political slag behind us, yeah? Keep 'em safe, let 'em grow up proper-like, without worrying who's powerplaying who." Staring at the ceiling, she muttered, "Omega's Conundrum: something both empty and full, until you observe it. I wonder if I had ignored the message, would we as a whole be better off...?" A harrumph. "Yeah, I'm just rambling now. I want to do whatever it takes to keep my offspring -- by code or by choice -- safe." She closed her optics. "Must be the jet lag."
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