video; | location: the general area of Vector's temple

[stabbywheelfeet]

So let me get this straight.

[Says the unfamiliar -- well, maybe unfamiliar to most -- silver Autobot lounging in a temple doorway. You heard it right, lounging. Apparently no one told him about the giant bug monsters.]

New Cybertron. A bunch of different -- [AIR QUOTES, LITERAL AIR QUOTES] -- "realities" flying around. None of us asked to be here... aaaaand we get to play construction equipment to these 'bots I've never even heard of?

Right, you know what? I'll pass.

When's the next shuttle home? I don't feel like getting my paint dirty.

[He looks as if he's about to turn the Link off entirely, but pauses. Oh, right.]

I'm guessing it's too much to hope anyone I know showed up too? Regardless... this is Sideswipe, shoot me your location and all that.

Sideswipe: out.

Comments

[stabbywheelfeet]

The who what where now?

[He spreads his hands.]

Take a real good look. Do you see any bulldozer parts on this frame?

[winged_knight]

[He points up.] That huge scar in the sky. It prevents safe travel offworld.

[Well since you offered, he'll take a good look.]

I could say the same. [He spreads his own hands, though it's half a shrug.] This is an undeveloped Cybertron. If you want amenities beyond basic shelter and fuel, we have to create them.

[stabbywheelfeet]

... So someone should go fix it then.

[And he'll just lounge there, in an effort to show more of it off.]

You could. But I don't know. I might need proof.

"We?" I didn't sign on for any manual labor, thanks.

[winged_knight]

We've been trying. But that, and most of the other things wrong about this place, are Unicron's work. Overcoming them is no simple task.

[Ah, someone is a touch vain. Though not without some cause.]

Proof? Like what exactly? [His flight panels rustle. Whether that's in challenge or interest you don't know.]

Like I said, it's optional. But I'll remember your disinterest the next time I see you at the bar. [Because he's going to gamble that that's something of interest.]

[stabbywheelfeet]

Uniwho? Unicorn?

[Okay, so Sideswipe wasn't really paying as much attention to the Acolyte lecture as he should have been.]

Like that. That might work. If you're not going to be shy about it.

[Honey you've been here five minutes, stop that.]

Wait, there's a bar? Where?

[winged_knight]

Evil deity of chaos, antithesis of Primus...? [Keep up with the class, will ya?]

What's to be shy about? [His pinions flick.] Call me Wing.

[It's always the flight panels. Signs point to grounder.]

Ah. I see now you're interested in our construction efforts.

[stabbywheelfeet]

Primus?

[The only 'godlike' thing he's ever known was the All Spark. And the Matrix. But the latter was more recent than anything else.]

Well that's fitting. And easy to remember. Sort of like that frame of yours.

[Sideswipe STOP...]

Of course. I can't remember the last time I've seen a bar that wasn't blitzed, and raided from the inside out.

[winged_knight]

Our creator? [Who else?]

[What, no Primus? That would break Wing's world.]

Is it now? I could say the same for you. Barricade and Mirage are the only other mechs I met who are similar.

[You get yourself into trouble often, don't you Sideswipe?]

A common sentiment. That's why it's the first thing Soundwave and I had built.

[stabbywheelfeet]

I was created by the All Spark.

[He has no idea what you're talking about, bro.]

Barricade? He's here? I thought he dropped off the face of the planet... Anyway, yes, I know them. But I'm one of a kind.

[He hasn't gotten into trouble for a while, thanks to Ironhide being around. But he used to.]

... Soundwave?

[winged_knight]

[...]

[WHAT EVEN.]

I've...never heard of that. And I know a lot about Cybertronian religion. [He frowns and strokes his chin.] _{I mean, there's been mention of the phase in reference to an afterlife in older histories, Nominous's time, but the Afterspark is a way more common and contemporary term and never in relation to creation...} [He's lost in thought for a moment, then it's like he realizes you're still there.]

Ah! Sorry. It's curious is all, and a little troubling... [Ahem. Stop theology nerding on the poor mech Wing, seriously.]

Well I guess technically he did, which is how he ended up here? [A smirk.] I'll take your word on that, since I know so few from your world.

[Meaning you need someone around to get you out of trouble. Gotcha.]

Yes, though not the one you know, if you know one. He comes from a reverse polarity world. All the Decepticons I've met from there have been really nice. You should meet Megatron!

[stabbywheelfeet]

Surprise. I've never heard of anything you're talking about, so... But that's where I came from. You must not know as much as you think.

[At least that's what the old ones always said. When he bothered to listen.]

And now you know the best there is. You should feel proud.

[He knows he does. He's always proud of himself, anyway.]

Reverse... what now?

[winged_knight]

Well, I know a lot for my own universe. Yours sounds...quite different.

[Remarkably so. He's kind of...blown away by it. And a little unsettled.]

Well you're certainly...confident of your place.

[Wow Sideswipe, could you love yourself more?]

He's from a different dimension where everything is reversed. The Decepticons are more like Autobots.

[Actually they seem nicer than a lot of the Autobots he knows, but he doesn't want to break your brain.]

[stabbywheelfeet]

Well, I like it. So that's all that counts, right?

[Sideswipe stop talking.]

Of course I am. I was built to be the best thing in the Autobot army. Why wouldn't I be confident.

[Except when Wing starts talking about reverse Decepticons, some of that confidence dissipates.]

Decepticons can never be like us.