Stand Together

[tillallareone]

[1]

[A video broadcast pops up around the base. To everyone's great surprise its Optimus Prime.]

Everyone, I know that the past few days have been difficult for a great many of us. However we should not be discouraged by whatever adversity awaits. As such I am organizing a team building exercise in the hangars at Sakihama Base.

[Optimus' head inclines forward slightly in a polite nod.]

I would like to make it clear however that though this exercise is aimed to better allow us to trust one another attendance is not mandatory.

Thank you for your time.

[2] [HERE AND NOW] [FEEL FREE TO MINGLE]

[As everyone gathers in the Hangars of Sakihama, the 'team building exercise' is revealed... its more or less a large makeshift theater area with enough room for many people. What is on show you ask? Well what it is may surprise you. Soap Operas. Not Cybertronian ones. EARTH MADE Soap Operas. Now this may seem silly, but the reasoning used behind this was, to bond with your comrades by trusting them to see you when your emotions are unguarded. Of course that could just be utter bull.]

[Optimus and Grimlock watch stoically, though there were the odd, occasional noises that imply that if they were human - they would be crying silent, manly tears. Bumblebee, Ironhide and Wheeljack were a little more open on their end with their inelegant blubbering, while Ratchet (still having a slight limp) and Red Alert seemed to be somewhere between those two extremes - and sometimes alternated between them depending on how immersed they are in the scenes. Blaster and his cassettes were handling the viewing equipment and were enjoying the show for everything it was worth. But what of Kup and Cliffjumper?]



"Oh for the love of Primus, why can't you just tell her how you feel Wolfe?! You know she won't get it unless you tell her face to face!"



"Can it Kup, some of us are watch-SHE'S IN LOVE WITH HER OWN BROTHER?! WHAT?!?!"

Comments

[actuallyselfish]

"Say..." Dido adds. "Since we're here and talking, I wanted to ask: how do Cybertronians reproduce?"

[tillallareone]

A question I suppose was to be expected. Bodies can be manufactured easily enough but what truly makes us alive... our sparks - though in human terms you could call them our souls... these are not reproduced so easily.

At first sparks could only be recovered from areas of Cybertron and its moons known as 'Hot Spots'. Nascent Sparks would often flare to life in reaction to active cybertronians... live sparks if you will and would need to be extracted from where they were before being placed into bodies.

[Optimus seemed to sink a little into thought.]

A later method was crafted as less hot spots were formed... spark splicing, or cold construction as it was called. Essentially a donor would have a piece of their spark shaved off to create a new one. Humans would liken this process to cloning, though the new spark in question is almost always nothing like its donor - becoming a unique being in its own way.

Those who were constructed cold were often seen as second class citizens before the war...

[There was... disapproval? annoyance? regret? several things in his tone.]

The war proved that they were no different than the rest of us though.

[actuallyselfish]

"Wow..." Dido says, both in awe and in bemusement.

"So where does Megatron fall on the side of the Natural Spark debate?"

[tillallareone]

He was forged from one of the hot spots before they began dying out. As was I.

He was something of a glaring hole in the argument of those who believed that cold constructed cybertronians had greater proclivity towards behavior that can be construed as... violent or otherwise criminal.

[actuallyselfish]

"And now that you're both cut off from Cybertron, your future lies with cold construction." Dido muses.

Here eyes widen. "Sweet Lord: does Megatron use cold construction to 'make' himself more cannon fodder? Is that where beings like the Insecticons came from?"

[tillallareone]

That...

[Optimus goes dead silent. That would make a lot of sense wouldn't it? Especially with how frivolously he shoots his own troops.]

The process in itself is difficult, but it is something I would not put past him.

[actuallyselfish]

"...I'm really starting to dislike Megatron." Dido says.