re_alignment_logs | Open: Just doing my job, ma'am

Entry tags:

Open: Just doing my job, ma'am

WHO: Elita One and anyone in/near Solus' Temple/AKA YOU
WHERE: Solus Temple and Quadrant, just note where you are and she can be there!
WHEN: NOW (plus minus a few days)
WHAT: Exploring the temple, conversations, etc.
WARNINGS: NONE

The corridors underground that would let people approach the temple without having to worry about what the temperature was at that particular moment on the surface were winding, complicated things, and while she was careful, it was hard to resist not going deeper, beyond the lit, well-constructed parts.

But she wandered the temple from her room down to the corridors, several times, mapping out which route took what time, and then the same for the corridors, mostly keeping to the finished parts... Elita also wandered the temple itself curiously, noting rooms, alcolves, crannies... In one of the lower areas, closer, she assumed, to Solus' forge, she found a pale, but opaque crystal that easily came out from between the crack in two large flagstones it'd been sticking out between.

In the light, it changed colour depending on how it was angled, though it lacked any obvious facets. Uncertain what to do with it, but vaguely reminded of stories of crystal gardens and forests on Cybertron at home, she took it with her as she left the sweltering heat of those lower areas, meandering upwards and out onto the surface.

The only issue she had with walking was that it took such time. She didn't really want to change her altmode, but was aware she ought to...

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There are quite a few workshops in Solus' temple that are scaled too small for the Firstforged to use comfortably. Ask her, and she'll say they're for the refugees-- so one refugee, at least, has taken advantage.

The workshop claimed by Knock Out was still neat and clean, everything well-cared for and in its place, but it was obviously a workshop in use. There were projects laid out on the worktables, and scrap and spare parts scavenged from the junkheap piled in corners and against the walls.

And, of course, the most obvious indicator of the fact that the workshop was occupied... was the fact that the workshop was occupied. The doctor was in-- although the doctor was doing less in the way of docotoring and more in the way of forging himself a new set of rims.

Do come in and bother him, won't you, Elita? Just mind the heat at the forge in the far back of the room.

Don't mind if she did exactly that, pausing at the doorway she had been about to simply pass since the workshop had been empty of any occupant last time she'd been by... And while she'd noted the layout of the room, what was and wasn't in there, since it was obviously in use she didn't have the habit of just looking through when the owner wasn't there.

Giving a firm knock to the doorframe as well as a brief pulse of her field, Elita stepped inside, cocking her helm at rims being made. His didn't look damaged, so unless he liked to have spares...

"Changing your look?"

Knock Out didn't seem aware of the intrusion until Elita spoke; when she did, it surprised him enough that he jumped and nearly fumbled the barely-cooled metal circle in his hands. He managed to keep a hold on it, though, and his fingers went tight around the metal...

And then, with an effort, he relaxed himself and offered a smile. He had no idea who this was, so it was in his best interests to play nice.

"Mm-hmm," he said, turning the rim delicately between his fingers. "Nineteens just don't flatter me~, and a full set of twenty-one-and-a-halfs have proven tricky to find around here."

Promise she won't punch you in the faceplates when it's revealed you're a Decepticon, Knock Out.

Optics flicking from Knock Out's optics and expression, down to the tight grip on the metal and back up again on the frame to catch the tension before it was forcibly put away with a smile, Elita dipped her helm in greeting.

High-strung; she'd thought she'd been obvious enough, since if she actually wanted to be quiet and go, ahem, invisible, she certainly could be and do so. It was hard, however, to not be somewhat confused over the random numbers tossed out, though within the context of the brief conversation...

"... I suppose Earth-related parts would be more complicated to get than cybertronian, even with the Junk Pile." And at least he could, apparently, make at least some of his own detailing so he had some options.

He'll appreciate that-- his faceplates are still in awful shape, the right side of his face abraded and ground away. He'll get to it.....

Soon.

And though the sorry state of his face often preoccupied him, he wasn't thinking about it currently. He was focused on this stranger, who because she was a stranger was also a potential danger. Oh, he'd heard all the idealistic declarations of truce, but that didn't mean he was going to trust blindly in them. Not when it was his own plating on the line.

So he put a table between himself and Elita-- under the pretense, of course, of setting the rim down on top of it. "Particularly parts that meet, ah, certain standards of quality. Oh, I looked, but it really just proved easier to just make my own."

Rather amazing that he hadn't done anything about it yet, not that Elita knew that. What she did know, however, was defensive maneuvers when they were done... even if she couldn't be sure why, though she said nothing about Knock Out going behind the table.

"Especially if you want four matching parts of the exact same quality." She shouldn't be amused, but she rather was. "I don't imagine most Earth-derived technology or metal could quite stand up to the standard quality we have..." Even if hubcaps wasn't necessarily... necessary, so to speak.

"Mm, you'd be right about that." He shook his head and tsked. "Oh, you can get away with it for a while, of course. These--" He indicated the tires rising behind his shoulders-- or, more specifically, the rims there. "--have lasted me so far, and I've been wearing them since I, ah, arrived here. But that doesn't mean I trust them.

"And it certainly doesn't mean I like the way they look, or handle. I'm not built for nineteens. I need bigger tires than that." So they're more than just hubcaps, thank you! He eyed the newcomer up-and-down for a moment, and added, "But you don't know much about tires, do you?"

All that does sort of float above her (very pointy and large) helm, since he hasn't yet had any reason to get any knowledge about wheels or anything similar. So at the end of all that, she laughed and shook her helm.

"I don't, no. Haven't had to yet. Previous alt didn't have wheels either." And this one? Certainly didn't, as she shifted and spread her back-mounted hull-panels slightly.

"And it's not been necessary to go into full disguise on a planet with no hover-vehicle capability yet..."

He nodded as her "wings" shifted, critical optics noting that, too. That was kibble, no doubt about that, but what a curious transform she seemed to have...

"Mm, so you're a flier, are you?" Suddenly, the wariness was back-- he knows what fliers think of grounds. "Well. No wonder you don't know anything about tires." He smiles, but it's a thin and insincere smile-- someone was suddenly expecting the worst.

"A flyer?" Optics flickering briefly in surprise, Elita shook her helm but quickly realised why he would assume so... at least from a cursory look and with the admitted visual similarity of the hull-panels to wings.

Helm cocking as she folded her arms over her chestplates, Elita wondered at the sudden reappearance of wariness. Something, obviously, to do with the assumption of her being a flyer, but why?

Flight-capable prejudice towards grounders wasn't something that was overly obvious in her reality, though most flyers of course carried some sense of... superiority.

"No, I'm not. My altmode is just as planet-bound as any car, I just use water to travel on." She paused, somewhat amused at the thought of an honestly flying boat. She'd almost not admitted to what her alt was, but if she ever transformed in front of witnessess, it'd be obvious anyway.

"It's just been arranged so I carry the bulk of eveyrthing like this. It's practical." Didn't overly slow her down since, while somewhat heavy, there was enough counterweight... and it was flexible enough like that to give her her usual mobility.

"Oh! You're a watercraft!" Knock Out's wariness melted away again in the tide of surprise. "I have to admit, I don't meet many of those." He leaned forward over the work table, optics bright and interested, and for all intents and purposes seeming suddenly friendly again.

"It certainly seems to be a capacious alt-mode, hm? Although perhaps a bit disadvantaged if there isn't a lot of water around."

All that back and forth got an arch look and she was quietly wondering if the flyers in his reality really was that terrible... nothing else would explain it, unless he, himself, had something against those capable of flight.

"I've been trying to find something suitable to exchange it for, but it's not been easy. As you say, on Cybertron... especially one lacking something like the Rust Sea currently, I don't have much use of it, no matter what I think of it personally." She said with a frown and shrugged. It's one thing when one had backup in the form of a whole crew in any case where her lack of viable altmode became an issue, or when she had access to a lot of water... but she didn't, at the moment, have either of those.

It made her feel somewhat vulnerable, even disregarding all the time it took to walk or run wherever she wanted to go.

"Have you considered a manual overhaul?" Knock Out asked curiously. Scanning a new altmode was the usual way most mechs changed their transforms-- at least in his experience-- but it was always an option to just straight-up rebuild. It was a more difficult process, but it was an option.

And it was a procedure he'd done more than once for clients back on Cybertron, before the war started. Just thinking about the design challenges involved made his optics light up.

She rubbed a chin, resting that elbow on her other arm as she nodded after a few moments. That was, of course, partly what she'd been considering, but she wasn't sure she'd want to do that with anyone not from her own reality...

Unless they were talking about the Firstforged themselves; that was slightly different.

"Partly, yes. I've got some proof drastic changes to or in my frame might work from home, but in most of those cases it's been through an unknown substance being added, or a complete rebuild after near-deactivation." And she wasn't sure it was such a good idea to follow in dear Grim's footsteps and do something like using Nucleon.

"Hm. Things aren't quite the same where you're from as where I call home, then." He echoed her pose, cupping one elbow with the opposite hand and giving his free hand a wave. "Oh, it's inconvenient to manually overhaul one's alt-mode, and we don't do it much anymore, but it is possible. No massive trauma or questionable substances necessary!"

It's an interesting thought, really, and she nodded, slowly, optics narrowing more in thoughtful curiosity than necessarily wanting to know more for herself.

"How does it even work? Stasis lock for the subject while you work around them, or CR chambers?" Though, CR chamber reformatting usually was due to massive trauma, again.

"Stasis lock, usually," he said with a shrug. "And then CR chambers for the first phase of the recovery after-the-fact, since operating in a pool of medical energon isn't exactly feasible. Not that CR chambers are available any more, at least not where I come from."

"We've only just developed CR chambers ourselves; the war left resources strained and while useful we didn't exactly have something like that to its full extent." Similar machines of less capability, to keep mechs from offlining immediately and sparks from extinguishing?

Yes, and those had saved many lives previously, but not CR chambers as such.

"They're very useful... But without them, has that... manual overhaul been possible?"

"Hm. Curious. We lost the use of ours during the war-- energon shortages, you see." But he wasn't really that interested in comparing the medical minutiae of their various wartime shortages...

"Ah. Well... in ideal conditions, yes, it's still possible...." But the tone of his voice made it fairly clear that those ideal conditions were not often met.

She really wasn't either, and shook her helm slowly after a moment.

"Not sure I'd want to try that without some guarantee it'd work, considering the huge differences in how we get altmodes... and what types we can get without any sort of interference." Because she'd rather not lay potentially her life on the line just to get a more usable alt structured around her current frame design without a guarantee it'd mesh with her physiology and usual frame capability.

"But at least it might be an option, so thank you."

"Certainly it's something to think about~." Knock Out smiled a salesmech's smile and sketched a little bow in her direction. "And I hope you'll keep me in mind, if you think on it further, hm? I do like a challenge~."

The attitude was enough to make her pause, and then Elita laughed, shaking her helm in amusement before dipping it in a nod in response to the bow.

"I suppose it is, and I will, if nothing else comes up. This isn't practical enough, after all." She gestured to herself, and then cast a look around the workshop again.

"But, perhaps I should let you finish with your work. It'd be a pity to leave you... non-matching." Slight teasing tone; she does understand the urge, but while she's as well appointed as possible around here, Knock Out, clearly, is a lot more vain than she'd ever be.

Knock Out's mouth twists wryly. "You have no idea," he says with deadpan sarcasm. "It is such a chore." He heaves an exaggerated sigh, then continues more seriously, "But I do have some rather delicate work yet to do, and the fewer distractions the better~."

Decepticon double-speak translation: shoo.

She can hear that translation perfectly well and chuckles, retreating to the doorway before pausing there.

"Much be terribly frustrating, yes. And I'll leave you to your work... distraction-less." She grins dryly before turning back around and leaving.

The thing with walking through Solus' tunnel system was that, on occasion, the Prime might actually be using them as well. On the rare occasions in which she came up from the depths, at least.

But on those rare occasions, it could make some of the smaller tunnels slightly cramped.

Even with her faceplates half buried in incomprehensible holo-schematics, armor still steaming from the heat of her forge down below, Solus gave Elita a brief nod as the large Prime moved to carefully pass her by. The tunnel itself got a brief glance of attention as well. Perhaps she should do another expansion soon...

Indeed, this particular tunnel was a bit... too small perhaps since Solus was one of the largest of the Firstforged and Elita wasn't overly tiny for a regular-sized cybertronian. So she certainly stopped and went to stay up against the wall to let Solus past more easily, giving a nod as well.

When the vague thought that Solus probably took less time walking around her own temple because she was more fit for it crawled up briefly, Elita at first dismissed it so the Prime had gotten at least two steps past before her processor caught up with her and she remembered what Solus did.

Or could, perhaps, potentially do. It was worth asking for input at least, wasn't it?

"Do you have a moment, Solus Prime?" Elita called after the Firsforged as she stepped away from the wall.

Solus paused in her tracks, glancing critically down at the smaller being already behind her.

Did she?

"...I believe I can spare a moment or two."

The holo-schematics flickered out of existence, and she turned to expectantly face the femme with her Mark.

Elita waited, quietly and with the patience of someone used to be still for unknown lengths of time until some sort of result had been gained. Whether or not Solus said yes or no didn't matter now; she'd wait and accept the answer, whichever it was, especially since even if the Prime humoured her, there was still a chance this would lead nowhere.

"Thank you. I've been... trying to find another altmode; mine isn't precisely... suitable for easy and fast transport on Cybertron." Elita shook her helm, twirling the crystal between her hands as she spoke.

"I need to keep these panels however, as I use them elsewhere and not just as parts of my altmode, and none of the passable vehicles in the Junk Pile would give me a scheme that'd let me keep them. Do you have any suggestions?" She had ended up extremely fond of her speedboat altmode, found that racing across water was an exhilariation and a three-dimensional experience even a hover-capable alt wasn't exactly capable of giving.

Nonetheless, she was practical, and currently, with there being only one body of liquid of limited size (she wasn't even sure if the Sea of Rust was around yet) on this Cybertron... If she needed to get somewhere quickly, she simply couldn't keep the speedboat alt.

Whatever she had been expecting - a quick request, a question regarding the Haven or Cybertron or the Lambda - this wasn't it.

This was far more complex - and potentially interesting.

"Hm. And intriguing difficulty. You have found no other satisfactory alternative modes on your fellow refugees that you can scan?"

She takes a moment to scan Elita's current form herself, which she had not previously paid much attention to.

"...Your current form is curious, but most certainly not adapted to this world."

Understatement.

She shook her helm, frowning.

"Not really. I possess only limited mass-conversion, and of the ones of a similar size and mass, wouldn't really allow me to keep the back-mounted panels, which make up my hull," Elita said, a static sigh ghosting over the last words as she nodded at Solus and her assessment.

It certainly wasn't.

"I spent some time with an alien planet which was mostly made out of mercury seas as my base; my altmode was at first merely taken to fit in. It didn't take long to take advantage of and incorporate the hull-panels into my fighting style, however." She had, after all, been able to use her alloys' absorbing and releasing lasers as strong flashes of light even before this altmode, though it'd been slightly more precarious then.

Further, using her camouflage ability was a lot easier with the panels acting as extra shields to "hide behind". She did not need them, she was certainly skilled enough to go unnoticed without them, but they lent some margin of error.

Solus 'hmm'd thoughtfully as she eyeballed Elita's frame further, while the quick yet intricate scans she'd taken were already idly being meshed together with several dozen possibilities within her processor. The size class was limited, but the design possibilities were endless.

She nodded to herself. Her Marked required a better altmode, not something frivolous. There was little reason not to help, and she resolved to assist fully.

"What was your original mode, before you switched to this one?"

She could probably guess, but it was impossible to know for sure without accessing Elita's files.

Solus could indeed probably guess, but Elita nodded and flipped open the computer she had on her arm, bringing up a holographic display of the vehicle.

"Four-point speed-based hover. I could, of course, revert to it with no problems, but I'd lose the panels due to how it was built and where the hover engines were set." She frowned at the slowly rotating display thoughtfully.

It had been a lovely altmode, but she'd become used to being able to use the panels, and while she could make the panels collapsible to redistribute their mass a bit, that wouldn't work with her previous altmode.

The four hover-engines wouldn't allow for it, and she'd prefer merely two collapsing/joint points for the panels each, if she needed any as that would lessen the stress put on them when they were used, but might actually allow for some more flexibility...

"A reasonable design," Solus remarked upon seeing her old designs, quickly noting to herself several areas that could be markedly improved upon.

"But yes. You will need a rather different design if you wish to keep those shield-panels. One moment."

It would take her longer to come up with something from scratch, but not by terribly much. And either way, she did not have to. There had been a number of refugees over the years, and the Prime had taken an interest in the multitude of designs the Cybertronian and mechanoid beings had. Most had never asked for assistance with their forms, content, but Solus was constantly changing and altering and improving...even on designs she never intended to use. A hobby and a calling, both.

So it only took the length of their conversation to finalize a good half dozen designs (with a plethora of more cosmetic options,) transferring them over to one of the smallest datapads she had on hand. She stooped down to offer it to Elita.

"Cycles and trikes are your best fit, along with hover options of the same configurations. I included a few more unusual modes if those might be your preference, such as gyroscopic and solar-sailor modes, but neither are particularly versatile in this environment."

Solus Prime's face twitched to reveal a wry smile.

"Choose well."

Taking the datapad, still somewhat oversized but comfortable enough, Elita flicked through between the possibilities. While the gyroscopic modes were exceedingly interesting and she lingered over them for a good few kliks, she finally shook her helm and went back to the more possible suggestions.

Yet maybe...

"You don't make it easy to choose, Solus Prime, but..." She once again flicked back to the gyroscopic suggestions, then went to the latter of the two, realising it may not be as impossible as it looked. Frowning as the holographic representation made its little circle above the datapad. "I know I can't choose something with limited versatility, no matter how interestingfree.

She wasn't sure how it would handle, being that the balance would rely on that single wheel (balance, not truly movement, so there was an element of hover-effect still), but she doubted the Firstforged would have suggested something that wouldn't be feasible insofar as control went.

And it looked oh-so-very interesting and sleek.

So sue her.

Edited 2012-09-14 22:26 (UTC)

Solus knows that look, and she raises a brow, not bothering to hide the faint, self-satisfied grin that crosses over her faceplates.

"...I take it that you've made your choice?"

She watched the gyroscopic holomodel circle about, nodding to herself. It would suit her, in form and aesthetics both.

Another moment of hesitation, but this time it was more of a question of Elita giving in to what she wanted or not; it wasn't massively or obviously impractical and... Now she was just being silly.

There was no reason not to try and if it didn't work, she'd be no worse off than she was now.

"I have, yes. The others may be known quanities insofar as handling goes, but change... is part of what we are, yes?" She couldn't help the little grin, and even just as a schematic the vehicle simply... called her attention to it.

"Exactly." Solus nodded approvingly, her smile deepening.

"Now, my question is this: are those from your universe capable of self-shifting? I am aware of some that cannot."

Which was something of an odd shame, and while she would never admit it out loud to any so afflicted, Solus Prime could not help but wonder if something was lacking, or had even gone wrong in those universes. Freedom between shapes was their gift, and if she were not able to continually upgrade and re-perfect her own design as she willed...

The idea of being so constrained vexed her, but she was willing to aid those that were.

She should perhaps not be surprised by the question, but she was, nonetheless, and nodded, toning the brief flare of her optics down to regular strength.

"While I'm somewhat constrained in what I can choose - I couldn't choose to easily, or at all, become a flyer as far as I'm aware, Anything ground-related as long as it matches my mass and height I can access on my own." She shrugged, looking up at Solus with a tilt to her helm.

"But I'm going to need to download the schematics from a comupter or a drone which has scanned the actual vehicle and gained the information that way." So on-the-fly scanning and changing wasn't possible, but on the other hand this meant a drone could scan several different vehicles and they could mix and match if desired and then get the altered schematics downloaded.

The Prime's optics narrowed brightly in smug amusement, and she gestured down to the datapad in Elita's hands.

"You should be able to jack into the third port on the right side of that, if I am not mistaken."

She almost does so immediately, going so far as to pull free a jack to use, electricity teasing the connectors as she pauses right before actually plugging in, pausing.

She doesn't want to wait, but...

"I... don't want to draw this out unnecessarily, but..." She grimaced, annoyed at herself, but on the other hand, while she was practical, she should probably not jump on this amazing suggestion the first thing just because it was there.

"Could I... ah, keep this? To think it over for a bit." It's probably obvious this wasn't what Elita would necessarily want to do, but found it as the best thing to do.

Even if she wanted to change immediately and get used to it.

"It's your frame," Solus said dryly, shaking her head.

"And the design is free to use. My brothers may horde information, but then the information never evolves or grows. Take it, use it, tweak it, modify it. For the better, I hope."

She smirked. "Just show it to me when you are done."

She grinned then, and the datapad disappeared into a subspace pocket as Elita dipped her helm in something near a simple bow, gratitude obvious.

"I'm not an engineer, even less one specialised in frames, but I do know enough about what I'd want out of my altmode I might be able to do some light tweaks." Very simple ones, if any, in that case.

"I'll certanly do that, Solus Prime. Considering the help and what's being asked, it's a simple request to fulfill." And really, considering it was simple, it'd be sort of rude to refuse to do it.

And she would certainly want to show of whenever she changed altmode.

After finally getting up and out on the surface of Solus' Quadrant, Elita wandered lazily about, though sometimes broke out in a run just to get a bit further. Time wasn't, technically an issue here; she could wander for a few days if she wished since there was nothing pressing going on, and she had energon with her for any unforseen event.

She's not sure why she's doing this, however... There wasn't a lot to see, landscape-wise, in the quadrant, even if some of the rock formations were interesting, and the pulsing waves of heat and moisture was leaving patterns on the ground and on softer rock or virgin metal that definitely was pleasing...

The crystal in her hand was noticeably warm, drops of moisture collecting with each wave of eat and either dripping off, or seemingly being absorbed. Elita glanced down at it, currently greenish and pink, and wondered what it'd look like larger.

Larger, like... Stopping, Elita turned until she was facing the huge spire with its light on top in Prima's quadrant, radiant if somewhat dim from this distance, and held the crystal up.

It turned into a veritable storm of rainbow, even as her hand was still--

And then it suddenly turned brilliantly, achingly bluish-tinged white, edging towards transulscent at the edges.

She stared and then clutched it in her palm, hiding it as she set off running with a purpose.

It was too small to be admired as it should be, by as many as possible; she wouldn't keep this for herself even if some small part wanted to. That could come later. No, more than one person at a time should be able to admire what she'd just seen, and she remembered well the one time she'd seen a native crystal copse on Cybertron before the war.

Now, all that she needed was a spot...

Almost three solar cycles later, and not having really stopped, Elita found what she was looking for; in the westernmost areas of the quadrant, nearing the edge out towards actual wilderness and the gorge where Solus' temple sat vaguely visible on the horizon, the rock and metal dipped into a depression.

The bowl was wide, but not deep, spots of it sporting jagged and smooth metal which reflected what light came from Prima's spire even out here. Elita smiled and walked down into the center of it, turning slowly around and then pushing the crystal into the ground, like she'd found it in the deeper parts of Solus' temple.

Maybe nothing would happen, she thought as she cast a narrow stare at the "planted" crystal, but if it did, with the heat from the forge in this area and the moisture it left behind... If it did, it ought to be stunning.

Edited 2012-09-11 22:08 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Open: Just doing my job, ma'am

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[narrative]