[Open -- Communal] Science! Slumber! Party!

[maxicpolarity]

Who: Liege Maximo and ALL THE PEOPLE
What: Following the 'Second Wave,' Liege has collected a number of living (and dead) Monster samples to be studied. He has sent out the call: all scientists/medics or otherwise capable persons are welcome to attend his laboratory conference to look over the critters and find out what can be found!
When: Now-ish. Liege took a bit to set this up, so all new and old characters can come!
Where: Liege's Temple
Notes:

Bring any characters you want, scientists or not! Anyone who comes (IE posts or threads below) will get some samples of Sharkticons or other monster types to work with, and they will also receive a special LABORATORY KIT from an Acolyte, which features a few simple tools sized to your character so they can do their own experiments in the future!
Your character is welcome to learn the following:

-Monsters have superior strength/stamina to their non-lambda counterparts. (IE a Monster Sharkticon would be more brutal, spikier, and nastier than a standard Sharkticon.)
-Beyond the increased attributes there is no physical difference to their makeup. (IE a Sharkticon is still a Sharkticon, a dragon is still a dragon, DNA, scales, and all.)
-Particularly perceptive individuals may notice a trace of an energy signature on the creatures which matches the 'feel' of the badlands. There may be a link between the two...

Liege won't be able to interact with everyone, so this is your chance to MINGLE with others. Tag around, have fun, spend the night, and enjoy the Maximo's superior wash-racks! If you'd rather just explore the temple, you can do that too.



In the confusing, maze-like depths of Liege's temple, there were hundreds of rooms. Many had been hollowed out from the mountainside, curving inwards in some haphazardly specific pattern as if seeking out the greatest potential for heat. Others jutted out from the side with long, wide windows to let in the light, organized, carefully, for his pursuits. The laboratories, of course, were among these.

The many, many laboratories were among these.

He'd needed them all, of course. In the beginning, there had just been one, and one had been nice for allowing him to perform one type of experiment. He'd had a second built when Solus had given him that energon separator, and the third after he'd brought back organics from his first travels into space. After that, it had been somewhat of a collection, and there were laboratories shoved into corners of his temple like extra books shoved onto shelves. He liked it that way. It meant that his brothers and sisters didn't know about them.

Not all of them.

And it meant he could host parties like these on the few occasions when he deigned to socialize. He made sure each accessible laboratory was well-stocked, filled with tools and at least one experiment subject and also populated by an Acolyte to monitor his guests. There would be energon available, and some organic-favored snacks as well, because he had every intention of showing just how well he treated his aligned when he was paying attention to them.

It never hurt to make the others jealous.

He, himself, had work to do in his main laboratory, and for the most part he intended to stay there, drifting out amongst the others only to peruse their findings or to partake in the briefest of breaks. This was what he loved to do, after all...

...but science was useless without others to observe its happenings.

Having the Refugees around again was, in that way, a gift--one that he intended to open slowly, keeping the wrapping safe so he could use it again next time.

And who knew?

Perhaps, here, amongst those who would come, would be a few worth keeping for himself, or offering further incentives toward.

Comments

[docbot]

Ratchet stands at the entrance to the Temple, consciously stopping himself from shuffling nervously. It's an area that he hasn't been to before, but there oughtn't be any hostiles within the Temple of a FirstForged except perhaps Pharma.

Still, he activates his Link again, pinging Jetfire just in case he'd gotten waylaid on his way to meet Ratchet.

"Are you on your way?"

[angleofscience]

He had, honestly, been distracted by the initial survey of the sample given as well as looking over the tools presented, carefully going through what they did. The fact that they also was comfortable sized for him was... definitely a plus.

"Ah... er, yes. A moment," Jetfire said, collected despite the brief, embarrassed lapse that he'd gotten so concentrated on the tools in preparation to go further that he'd forgotten the promise to meet Ratchet outside and walk in.

It didn't, really, take more than "a moment" either. A little over a klik later, Jetfire curved around an outcropping and landed, having left the temple by an other exit which was closer to the lab he'd been in.

"Ratchet. I apologize for the wait."

[docbot]

Ratchet waves when Jetfire arrives, a pleased smile on his face.

"No need to say sorry. I haven't been waiting that long at all."

He rubs at his helm briefly, then decides that the pleasantries have been taken care of well enough.

"So... how do we get to the lab?"

[organ_pharming]

Pharma was currently occupying one of those laboratories, standing in front of a slab and not stroking his chin, despite trying several times only to remember that he still did not have hands.

What he did have was an acolyte. An acolyte with several tools, one of them being an active welding torch. The sharkticon he'd caught was strapped to the slab and sedated, blissfully unaware of the experiments it would soon be part of.

"Now," Pharma said, gesturing to a piece of paper on the desk, "We'll start here, according to the diagram I've dra- you've drawn up for me. This incision first- be careful not to split the main wire- and then we move on to the left side."

[maxicpolarity]

There was one lab that Liege was certain he would not need to check up on, but found himself heading toward nevertheless. It's tenant had been busy lately, working on a cure for a disease that left terrible rust-stains across the floors. He'd already caught the samurai out on the hallway, once, carefully mopping up after himself, which was one of the few reasons Liege had tolerated the mech's presence at all.

Pharma, on the other hand, rarely left his lab, and kept it almost spotless.

Liege suspected this was why his green glyph glowed, now, on the medic's arm.

That, however, was not what he had come to talk about today. He entered the lab, glancing to the Acolyte that Pharma had 'claimed,' taking great pleasure as it bowed to him and stepped back when he approached, effectively stopping the other's work. "Your tenacity amongst such setbacks is admirable," he began, looking over the diagram that rested on the desk. "Can nothing stop you from your task?"

[organ_pharming]

His acolyte was just lowering the scalpel when Liege arrived, interrupting the delicate procedure and provoking the jet medic's ire. He scowled at the bowing fool and turned to regard his First Forged with a frown.

"Liege. How kind of you to drop by," he said, wing-tips twitching with irritation. His little display of disdain was quickly stored away though, the jet's proverbial feathers smoothed by the praise and the knowledge that he owed this mech quite a bit. Best not to piss him off.

Especially if he didn't want to start having recharge dreams about Tarn's foot pressing down on his back again.

"Nothing short of divine intervention, I'd say," Pharma answered with a wry smile.

[must_do_science]

Each lab that Wheeljack visited contained more unique and fascinating equipment than the last. The acolyte that had materialized soon after his entering Liege's grounds kept patiently attempting to steer the engineer to a particular alcove, to which Wheeljack kept responding that he would... as soon as he checked out the next room.

In this case, the next lab turned out to be the first one he'd found that had another actual mech in it. He didn't notice this at first.

"-just want to see what's in this one. Ah, mostly medical stuff. ...Oop." He stopped short, abruptly realizing he was intruding.

[organ_pharming]

"No! Not there, you idiot- Here!" The good doctor was in the middle of yelling at his acolyte when Wheeljack poked his head in, trying and failing to direct the mech's shaking scalpel without the use of his hands.

They both turned when they heard the newcomer's voice, Pharma's expression an exasperated glare and the acolyte's one of relief.

"Is there something you need?" he asked tersely.

[automobile_enthusiast]

Knock Out, despite his particular Megatron's assertions to the contrary, was not much of a scientist. He certainly wasn't here tonight for science-- no, he was here to make a delivery. If he noticed how many others there were in the temple tonight, or how many of the labs contained specimens, it wasn't enough to give him pause.

Tucking the box he carried under one arm, he poked his head into Pharma's lab. "Anyone home~?"

[organ_pharming]

Pharma was in the middle of instructing his acolyte on the proper procedure for tieing off a main fuel line when he was interrupted for the third time that day. At this point he'd come to expect it though, so instead of scowling or angry questions he merely sighed and turned towards the door.

It was Knock Out. And he was holding a box. Excellent.

"Please come in! Don't mind the mess, we're in the middle of something here," he said with an eager smile.

[my_own_trope]

Not for the first time, and certainly not the last time, Starscream was poking around the temple looking for Liege Maximo. Instead he found this guy.

Leaning prettily against the door frame, Starscream called, "I think you dropped something~"

[organ_pharming]

Pharma was busy instructing the acolytle on how to properly clean the tools when the latest interruption crowded up his doorway.

"Dropped what?" he grumbled at the skinny jet.

[noparachutes]

By function he was a scientist, however that part of him only emerged from time to time - when the situation called for it. When his size and skills extended to making him one of the best at killing, it was no question as to which got used more during a war. Not that he ever minded. Killing was something he enjoyed.

But killing here was a bit more. Complicated. Shockwave was no idiot, and as much as eradicating Autobots would keep him busy, it wasn't an option at the present time. Soon perhaps, if he planned correctly. Logically.

So a party of sorts for science? It seemed like a suitable use of his time.

Shockwave had claimed one of the laboratories for his own, silently working away at the samples provided. Although Shockwave may have been silent, the room certainly wasn't; tentacles broken through the ground and waving about, holding onto Shockwave's tools... Prodding the poor Acolyte trying to stop any further destruction of the flooring.

[maxicpolarity]

Liege hadn't believed it, when he'd heard.

He hadn't believed that anyone would have the audacity to ruin one of his labs that he so graciously allowed to be used. He hadn't believed someone would continue using it, even after the initial affront.

He hadn't believed it, at all, even when he stood, glowering in the doorway, his countenance dark.

"You were supposed to experiment on your Monster, not let it loose to rip my laboratory to shreds," he hissed, and looked to the strange, purple, spiked mech who appeared to be the offender. This was not going to go well, at all.

[noparachutes]

The fact that he's upset the host does little to move Shockwave away from what he's working on. It mattered little to him if others viewed the Driller as an issue. The creature was always like this, and keeping it away from him for extended periods of time was difficult to say the least.

"The Driller is not a monster." Why everyone thought it was he'd never understand. The creature was magnificent, and so few seemed to realize that.

"I'm certain your laboratory can be fixed."

[my_own_trope]

Do you know what happens when you have a huge monster burrowing in through the floor? Well, among other things, vibrations happen. And do you know what kind of robots are especially sensitive to vibrations in the flooring? The kind of robots that are heavy on the top, spindly on the bottom, and also balanced precariously on what might as well be stilletos.

Sometimes you had to wonder what evolution had in mind when it made Starscream -- and then you have to remember that it wasn't really evolution so much as 100% human error. (Where the human error is in fact Cybertronian error and oh, I guess everything makes sense now.)

Anyway, as Driller happily tore through the ground tiles, from outside the lab came an indignant little squawk, the sound of something metal hitting a wall, and then Starscream gripping the edge of the door. It looks like he might have been in the midst of falling. Instead, wide eyed, he points at the giant slug thing and with something akin to terror demands: "What IS that?"

[ex_dishonestly997]

Over the eons Starscream had let his mental, metaphorical subscription to Scientific Cybertronian lapse somewhat--there had been more military pursuits, and as a direct result he'd lost a lot of the panache in that field he once had. Wheeljack could talk circles around him hypothetically, these days.

But Sharkticon monsters weren't exactly hypothetical, and he wasn't passing up the opportunity to earn the approval--better? the esteem--of his new "commander".

Which explained why he was elbow-joint deep in one of the experimental subjects, vivisecting it with slow and deliberate, if unpracticed, and not overly sadistic purpose. Opening it up alive was far more enlightening than killing it first - and to think he and Jetfire had had this moral debate only a few days ago.

"Now--obviously I wasn't here to fight these things, but judging from the tensile strength of these cords, they're stronger than your run-of-the-mill Sharkticon--" He vented out a whistle. "Nasty looking motherboards."

[maxicpolarity]

Liege couldn't help but lean over as he passed by, curious at the rather unusual methods this jet employed. The frame type was familiar, too...had he encountered this mech, before?

"You know, if you hook the fuel pump's feedback line up to the intake, you can keep him alive for much, much longer," he murmured, peering down at the motherboard in question. This one, then, was just like the last.

"Their input voltage is higher, too. I've considered wiring one up to a dummy system and seeing what commands are hard-wired and what it's adapted, but I lack compatible circuitry." Liege glanced toward the jet, again, considering his frame type, now, with a completely different purpose.

[organ_pharming]

"Not quite as nasty as your technique," a voice opines from the doorway. It's Pharma, a jet medic from the wings and insignias and one that also seems to be missing his hands. It doesn't seem to bother him as much as the sloppy display piled on Starscream's slab.

"Getting rusty, or have you always had this gentle of an approach?"

[must_do_science]

You didn't need to say 'Free scientific equipment' more than once to get Wheeljack's attention. Given the dire straits and criminally understocked labs he'd had to make do with over the recent events on cybertron, he was more than willing to pause in setting up his space in one of Nexus' crater-bunkers to drive across to another of the First Forged's locations. Soon enough the northern mountains that marked Leige's domain came into view.

His mind was revving as high as his motor. He'd only been hearing about these 'monster' attacks second-hand and was eager to get a look at some of the captured or killed assailants that had come before him. After all, the more scientific information that could be gathered about the Lambda, the sooner they could understand it.

Arriving, he eagerly transformed and took to wandering through the various labs, poking around and gawking at certain pieces of equipment with both respect and a slight tinge of envy. He still remembered his reason for coming here, of course, but it was currently playing second fiddle to his geeking out over the research equipment itself.

"Oh. Wow. A gravimetric impactor with built in particle radiation spectrometer? Those were just being developed back on... well. Old Cybertron."

[ex_dishonestly997]

"Pretty exciting, isn't it. I don't know what 90% of this stuff does." He was just wandering in without knocking or being invited, like he belonged there. Wheeljack was fast becoming one of his favorite fellow refugees, and he was eager to strengthen that alliance for numerous reasons.

"Are you just exploring or are you looking for one of the specimens, or what?"

[idle_time]

Wreck-Gar was not, in the strictest terms, a scientist. No more so than the average Junkion was, of course. But really, was working to turn part of your planet into a spaceship really all that remarkable?

What he was, however, was certainly a medic. If a Junkion couldn't fix it, odds were, it couldn't be fixed.

He stood outside the temple for a moment, watching it, idly humming. "Enter freely and of your own will?"

With a shrug, the Junkion headed on inside.

[my_own_trope]

Guess who else was headed inside: this jackass.

Addendum: this jackass covered in scratches, dings, dust, and surliness. He was also dragging along a sleigh behind him, equipped with everything from little silver sleigh bells to a pretty little garland nailed to the back. It was also full of one snarling, spitting, metal animal-type-thing strapped to the sled with what looked like 2 metric tons of what used to be bungee cords but were now effectively a web of knots. Nestled in the back of the sleigh was what looked like a large aquarium full of ... sparkling rainbow jello (???), and the creatures legs, both secured in place with the remains of something that used to be a parachute.

Muttering under his breath, Starscream caught sight of that one robot with the facial hair, and made a face.

"What are you looking at?"

[aerospacecommander]

Starscream was only here because he followed Jetfire. He held no interest towards science -- no not at all. He hadn't even stashed the tools he was given inside of his cockpit or anything like that. Nope.

The kit he was given just happened to be magically empty.

It was something like that anyway.

He did creepily walk around the lab and try to not seem interested at all in anything anyone was doing.

He was just there to annoy Jetfire.

That was totally the only reason.

Tsun, tsun, it's not like I like science or anything, Baka!

[my_own_trope]

Meanwhile, THIS Starscream wasn't doing anything like that either. Not at all. (No really, he totally wasn't.) See, he didn't have a Jetfire to bother, and more than that, he was just creepy by nature. It was a gift that came naturally, and it had nothing to do with playing coy with that sultry mistress, Mme. Science.

He may have been, however, quite keen in making like a Starscream and participating in a way that left him completely innocent in the disappearing act of his own little science kit. And a couple things that looked handy which had been in the general vicinity of that science kit which was in fact, no longer present. And while THIS Starscream might not have known what all the tools were called, he did know how most of them worked. He also knew he needed most of them. So. Into his inexplicable robot pockets a whole bunch of things may or may not have gone.

And actually, one can neither confirm nor deny that they ever in fact, existed at all.

Oh. Look. Another nifty tool. Lying right there on that science counter. All alone. And if you listened closely, you might even hear it cry out in the tiniest little science tool voice: 'take me, Starscream, take me hard.'