re_alignment | Number III: A Public Service Announcement

[The transmission opens with a full body shot of Axel. It seems he has the communicator propped up on something in order to allow a wider view, and from the looks of the background, he's somewhere around the Junkpile.]

Hey there, robots of Haven. Autobots, Decepticons and.... miscellaneous others. Thank you all for tuning in today for this very special public service announcement.

What is it about, you might ask? Well, to be perfectly honest, it's about your attitudes. Specifically, your attitudes towards humans, humanoids, and other organics like myself.

Now I know what some of you are probably thinking. 'What's that pointy-haired weirdo talking about? I like organics just fine. Why, some of my best friends are organics!' And believe me, we all appreciate the friendliness and general lack of deliberate attempts to stomp us.

However, it's not the liking part that's the issue here. What the issue is is the simple fact that you all seem to think being 20-feet tall and made of metal automatically means that you're superior. Especially when it comes to the ability to defend yourself. And I don't just mean certain unpleasant individuals who'd try to squish us for fun. I mean all of you, or at least most of you.

You might try to be nice about it, and you're probably genuinely trying to protect them, but when one of your organic friends wants to help out in a fight? Your general attitude always tends to come off as 'Look, it's cute that you think you can help, but just sit over here while the grown-ups handle things, OK?' And when your friends actually can fight? It's as condescending as hell.

Case in point, my friend Sora. Recently, Knockout locked him in his medbay with him in an attempt to protect him. Which would be great... if Sora needed it. But he doesn't. Lemme tell you a little bit about Sora.

This kid spends most of his time back home traveling from world to world fighting monsters made of pure Darkness called Heartless. I once saw him take out 1000 of them in the space of about ten minutes using nothing but his Keyblade and his wits. Aside from Heartless, he's also fought and beaten- among other things- pirates, the Boogie Man, a sea witch imbued with all the power of the ocean and grown to the size of a skyscraper, and a sorceress who turned into a giant, fire-breathing dragon. Not to mention, he's saved the world at least twice.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that he can damn well take care of himself, even against things like you. He doesn't need to be protected or coddled. In fact, he should probably be protecting some of you.

And just in case you think Sora is an isolated case...

[Axel steps a bit to one side, revealing a chunk of Cybertronian-looking scrap-metal about the size of a fridge.]

Here's a nice chunk of Cybertronian metal. And here's what a guy like me can do to it if I'm so inclined.

[Axel points a palm at the chunk of metal and tosses off a Firaga at it. The large fireball strikes and envelops the chunk of scrap, which quickly becomes red hot and begins to melt. When the fire dissipates a few moments later, the chunk of metal is badly scorched and melted enough to be mostly unrecognizable compared to its previous state.

Axel turns calmly back to the camera.]

So for future reference? Don't automatically assume that just because we're small and squishy that we're helpless. It'll save your organic friends a lot of frustration and it'll save you from looking like an ass.

Any questions?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I had never met any organics before I arrived here. But from what I have seen so far, you are small, squishy, and interesting.

Though I am not certain that threatening to met your fellow refugees is very nice. I am not threatening to light you on fire or eat you.

...I didn't think you guys could eat us.

[He snickers.]

Well I never said it would be a good idea. You would probably clog up our gears. But of course we can! We have mouths, do we not?

If you eat me I will make sure to give you indigestion.

But, ah... Don't mind Axel. I don't think he'd really do it.

I will not eat you. But threatening to do so is about as mean as threatening to melt Cybertronians.

I hope he does not. He seemed quite angry, however.

I don't think he was really trying to threaten anyone though...

Yeah, it's kind of irritating, you know, being seen as weaker or needing to be protected. I mean, I wanna be able to fight with and protect the ones that I care about - no matter what the enemy is. To be told that I can't hurts... So it is something to be upset about, I think.

No one has ever tried to tell me that. Then again, I am bigger than most of them. However I can understand being angry about being told you cannot do something.

With skills like that I am not certain how they see you as weaker, even if you are smaller and squishier.

No offense, you look a little scary too. That probably helps. [ grin grin. ]

I think it's more like people have a hard time believing me if I bring all that stuff up. Pfft just because I know I'm a hero doesn't mean they think I fit that. Hard to believe a six teen year old human kid can do all of that, I guess.

[Darksteel cackles.] Of course I am! All Predacons are scary! Well, the ones from my world, anyway.

It's good that not all of us have experience with humans from before, I guess. You could always try to prove to them that you're a hero.

[ Sora can laugh right with Darksteel. big and scary looking, but doesn't seem that bad? ]

Oh I'll prove it all right. Just gotta have the chance to.

[He isn't all that bad, no. Possibly because he's a wee baby Cybertronian.]

True. Say, Megatron said something about an army out there to me! Maybe if we ever get a group to fight it, you could be on it. Saving the Haven would count for sure.

[ let him teach you the glories of the power of friendship. and all that soft, mushy stuff. ]

I'd definitely wanna take the fight to them if it's possible.

[This sounds amazing he could definitely use lessons in that.]

Me too! I can't understand why we are fighting each other when there are bigger problems out there. It's a little ridiculous.

[ yes, good. ]

Because some people just can't let things go, I guess. I don't get it either. Fight each other all you want, but in situations like this? It doesn't do any good.

It does not. Especially since I have heard people come back from the dead. What's the point in fighting each other when it won't get us anywhere, or worse, hurts our chances against the real foe?

We'd be better off helping each other. For now.

Exactly. I gotta admit I don't get this Autobot and Decepticon thing and now you're throwing Predicons at me too or why it's even really important here.

What little I know of Autobots and Decepticons I learned from Starscream. He was not the best teacher, and the war was over before I was made. The Predacons are not part of their war. We fight whom we choose.

Well that's a plus.

But. Um. What exactly is a Predacon?

On my world we are the oldest and strongest of all Cybertronian species. We ruled the world until the Great Cataclysm destroyed us all.

[ Sora's counting his fingers about the facts here. oldest race... but this guy wasn't around until after? ]

Then how were you...?

[ is "born" even the right word here? ]

Shockwave cloned my kin and I from the bones of our ancient ancestors. [Darksteel snickers.]

Pretty neat, huh?

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heartdive - 2014-02-28 04:35 (UTC) - Expand

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[Axel smirks a bit.]

I'll take interesting.

And for the record, I wasn't threatening anybody. If I'm gonna threaten someone, I do it one on one. I meant it more as a... deterrent in case anybody out there got any funny ideas about me and my friends. Cause I think we both know that there are some guys around here who would.

If they have funny ideas about you and your friends, they seem to have funny ideas about everyone else too. Just not funny at all.

At least we are not all like them.

All the more reason to warn them off, then.

[Because even crazy medics are a lot less likely to try and grab you when they know you can potentially melt their hands.]

And yeah, I'm definitely glad for that. This place is crazy enough without that sort of complication.

Number III: A Public Service Announcement

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