IIt starts with ...
One thing, I don't know why, it doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time. All I know...
Time is a valuable thing. Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down to the end of the day. The clock ticks life away. So unreal...
Didn't look out below. Watch the time go right out the window. Try to hold on, didn't even know, or wasted it all, just to watch you go... I kept everything inside, even though I tried, it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
Fingers delicately traced a pattern in the spilled energon. It glittered with hundreds of hues and shades, as he doodled with it.
IOne thing, I don't know why. It doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to remind myself how I tried so hard...
In spite of the way you were mocking me, acting like I was part of your property, remembering all the times you fought with me, I'm surprised it got so hard... things aren't the way they were before. You wouldn't even recognize me anymore. No doubt you knew me back then, but it all comes back to me in the end... you kept everything inside, and even though I tried it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
The doodle was forming a face. He clenched a metal hand, then wiped it away with one swift move. That was nothing he cared to think of.
II put my trust, in you... as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know....
I've put my trust, in you... pushed as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know...
I tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... but in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
He sighed, resting his forehead in his hand. The song was probably helping cause this depressed mood... it was all too accurate.
He was trapped. Trapped in this hellhole of a world, unable to get out, unable to get home. He wanted desperately to get home...
IBWell, do something about it! Where's your fire, Decepticon? Where's your pride? Did you leave them in the ashes of the Dawning Sun?/I/B
He started, barely managing to suppress it so the bartender wouldn't notice. IDon't DO that to me!/I He always hated it when the voice did that... the voice of an old friend. But it was a lot easier to have friends OUTSIDE of his body, rather than in his head.
IBWe have to do something. This place is so... so... so sterile. There's nothing HERE for me. How am I supposed to ascend with THIS to work with?/I/B
He sighed softly. Her endless obsession with her "ascension" could become wearying. ILook, human, what do you want me to do? I can barely earn enough to keep energon in my body, let alone enough for passage offworld. And I could never get a travel permit anyway./I He groaned softly to himself, thinking about his situation.
It was dismal. He'd been a proud warrior, fighting for the Alliance on behalf of his homeworld, Dawn. When he'd escaped from his captors, he'd dreamed of making his way off Cybertron, out of enemy territory, and being hailed a hero…
He hadn't dreamed about living like a mecha-rat, forced to make do with whatever scraps and work he could dreg up. He hadn't imagined a cease-fire being called, leaving him stranded completely…
IBut then, I was very young./I He smiled slightly at the thought. As Transformers went, he was still nothing more than an infant, but he felt much older now…
"Ah, I knew I'd find you here, Rust." The Seeker lifted his head at the rich, throaty voice. There was an Autobot behind him.
But she was a friend. A small smile crossed his face, as he regarded her. "Hello, Foam. Pull up a seat?"
He was pleased to see her, for several reasons. He always found her body ascetically pleasing… she was a bright, canary yellow, the Autobot symbol glinting brightly on her wings/fins. They swept out from her back in a delicate arch. Unlike most Transformers he knew, she had 'hair'… frothy metal curls, made of curled wire, cascaded down her back. Their light blueish white hue had helped give her her name. Her whole body was slender and graceful, meant for blinding speed and maneuverability.
Well, she appeared slender… until she sat down. Then her sheer size hit him, as it always did, when they sat or stood together. He was the average height for a Seeker Decepticon, not short at all… but the top of his head hit the middle of her chest. Even after this long, he felt like a bit of a pigmy beside her.
"Rust, what has that poor energon cube done to offend you so? Put it out of its misery." She said softly, a mischievous twinkle in her golden, glowing eyes. He glanced down at the cube in bemusement, then downed it in one quick gulp.
"Gah." He shook himself slightly as the energon hit his systems. It was vile stuff, but about the best he could afford. "Ick. It offended me by existing. But how have you been doing, Foam?"
"This and that." She said in her quiet, purring voice. There was a faintly melodic component to it, that made him think of the sea. It was nothing as obvious as gargling, thank goodness, but it was there. A hint of waves… She folded her hands on the table, expression reflective. "I was working as a secretary for a fairly important bureaucrat, but I fear that won't last much longer."
"They haven't found out your ID is fake, have they?" Rust asked, voice lowered. They all had fake ID's. In his case, and Killroy's, that did little good. Decepticons never got good jobs in Cybertron anyway… prejudice lingered from the first war. It struck him as pointlessly stupid, but as ossified as Cybertron's society was, it was understandable.
For Foam, though, things were different. She was the one who made decent credits, and paid for the small, rat-trap dwelling they had rented. Without her, they'd be out on the streets in no time. If she'd been identified...
But she was shaking her head. "No, it's just that his workload has shifted and it's unlikely he'll need me in the future." The bartender brought her an energon cube, and she waited until he was out of earshot to continue. "I could probably find something else, but it's pointless. You said so yourself."
Rust nodded grimly. He and Killroy had cultivated contacts among the thieves and rejects who lived in the deeper areas of Cybertron. Many of those contacts led to smugglers and pirates, but it was useless... no one was willing to smuggle them home. Cybertron was cracking down on illegal emmigration, and it was worth a pirate's life to go anywhere near the Alliance. They had a habit of shooting first, asking questions later, when they identified a pirate ship. Not that that stopped them from skulking around the fringes of the Alliance, but no pirate would agree to carry them anywhere useful.
"What plan do you have, then?" Foam wouldn't be saying this if she didn't have an idea. But she shook her head again, setting her curls to bouncing.
"Not now. Let's wait until Killroy gets here." She sipped her energon carefully, making a small moue of distaste. "Vile."
"Now you know why I was avoiding drinking it." Rust chuckled softly, listening to the music idly. It had gone over to a purely instrumental, Cybertronian tune. He found it rather soothing...
That peace was disturbed as a small figure clattered into the bar, making noise completely disproportionate with his size. "Guys!" Killroy jumped up onto a chair, kneeling on it so he'd be on a proper level with the table.
He was a mini, one of Soundwave's newer cassette tapes. He was built in the same style as Rumble and Frenzy, but mostly sky blue, with touches of black. He was human sized, compared to Rust, who was about twenty feet, and Foam's thirty. Killroy was always smiling, always cheerful. He quickly snagged what was left of Foam's drink, and downed it in one quick gulp.
"Gah! That's disgusting! Ohhh man!" He made a theatrical retching sound, borrowed from the humans he'd hung around with, long ago. "What kind of girbil droppings went into that?"
"It serves you right for stealing my drink." Foam said with an amused smile, but ordered another round for all of them. Rust shrugged to himself. He didn't really need another cube, but Killroy would finish it off for him with no problem. It was amazing, how much energon was needed to run such a small Transformer. IMaybe it's because of the way he can't seem to stop moving.../I
Rust's attention was diverted as Foam spoke again. "The spacebridge." She put her elbows on the table, expression deadly serious.
"What about it?" Rust asked, polishing off his second cube happily. His protests about the quality of the energon were mostly for amusement... Rust was firmly convinced he could drink girbil droppings, and like it.
"It's relatively unguarded." She said quietly, and Rust tilted his head to one side, trying to see where she was going. "And leads directly to Terra. If we can throw ourselves at the mercy of the Terran government, there's a good chance they'll contact our own ambassadors there and arrange something to get us home."
There was a brief silence as they considered that. The whole reason they'd never revealed themselves to the Cybertronian authorities was that relationships were by no means warm, between Cybertron and the Alliance. A cease-fire had been called, and several prisoners exchanged. Maybe Cybertron would ransom them for energon... but maybe not. None of them were willing to take the chance.
But Terra was different. The humans had stayed neutral in the conflict between Cybertron and the Alliance, and they were a signifigant trading partner with Dawn. They also traded with Typhoon and Valhalla, although to a lesser extent. The governments got along well, and the Terrans would have no reason to cerebro-probe them for military secrets.
Cybertron might kick up a stink, but it was likely they'd get away with it...
"I Ilike/I this plan." Rust said slowly, with an amused smile. "I definitely like this plan..." A dark presence curled and stretched in the back of his mind, purring like a well fed cat.
IBI like it too.../I/B
One thing, I don't know why, it doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time. All I know...
Time is a valuable thing. Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down to the end of the day. The clock ticks life away. So unreal...
Didn't look out below. Watch the time go right out the window. Try to hold on, didn't even know, or wasted it all, just to watch you go... I kept everything inside, even though I tried, it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
Fingers delicately traced a pattern in the spilled energon. It glittered with hundreds of hues and shades, as he doodled with it.
IOne thing, I don't know why. It doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to remind myself how I tried so hard...
In spite of the way you were mocking me, acting like I was part of your property, remembering all the times you fought with me, I'm surprised it got so hard... things aren't the way they were before. You wouldn't even recognize me anymore. No doubt you knew me back then, but it all comes back to me in the end... you kept everything inside, and even though I tried it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
The doodle was forming a face. He clenched a metal hand, then wiped it away with one swift move. That was nothing he cared to think of.
II put my trust, in you... as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know....
I've put my trust, in you... pushed as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know...
I tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... but in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I
He sighed, resting his forehead in his hand. The song was probably helping cause this depressed mood... it was all too accurate.
He was trapped. Trapped in this hellhole of a world, unable to get out, unable to get home. He wanted desperately to get home...
IBWell, do something about it! Where's your fire, Decepticon? Where's your pride? Did you leave them in the ashes of the Dawning Sun?/I/B
He started, barely managing to suppress it so the bartender wouldn't notice. IDon't DO that to me!/I He always hated it when the voice did that... the voice of an old friend. But it was a lot easier to have friends OUTSIDE of his body, rather than in his head.
IBWe have to do something. This place is so... so... so sterile. There's nothing HERE for me. How am I supposed to ascend with THIS to work with?/I/B
He sighed softly. Her endless obsession with her "ascension" could become wearying. ILook, human, what do you want me to do? I can barely earn enough to keep energon in my body, let alone enough for passage offworld. And I could never get a travel permit anyway./I He groaned softly to himself, thinking about his situation.
It was dismal. He'd been a proud warrior, fighting for the Alliance on behalf of his homeworld, Dawn. When he'd escaped from his captors, he'd dreamed of making his way off Cybertron, out of enemy territory, and being hailed a hero…
He hadn't dreamed about living like a mecha-rat, forced to make do with whatever scraps and work he could dreg up. He hadn't imagined a cease-fire being called, leaving him stranded completely…
IBut then, I was very young./I He smiled slightly at the thought. As Transformers went, he was still nothing more than an infant, but he felt much older now…
"Ah, I knew I'd find you here, Rust." The Seeker lifted his head at the rich, throaty voice. There was an Autobot behind him.
But she was a friend. A small smile crossed his face, as he regarded her. "Hello, Foam. Pull up a seat?"
He was pleased to see her, for several reasons. He always found her body ascetically pleasing… she was a bright, canary yellow, the Autobot symbol glinting brightly on her wings/fins. They swept out from her back in a delicate arch. Unlike most Transformers he knew, she had 'hair'… frothy metal curls, made of curled wire, cascaded down her back. Their light blueish white hue had helped give her her name. Her whole body was slender and graceful, meant for blinding speed and maneuverability.
Well, she appeared slender… until she sat down. Then her sheer size hit him, as it always did, when they sat or stood together. He was the average height for a Seeker Decepticon, not short at all… but the top of his head hit the middle of her chest. Even after this long, he felt like a bit of a pigmy beside her.
"Rust, what has that poor energon cube done to offend you so? Put it out of its misery." She said softly, a mischievous twinkle in her golden, glowing eyes. He glanced down at the cube in bemusement, then downed it in one quick gulp.
"Gah." He shook himself slightly as the energon hit his systems. It was vile stuff, but about the best he could afford. "Ick. It offended me by existing. But how have you been doing, Foam?"
"This and that." She said in her quiet, purring voice. There was a faintly melodic component to it, that made him think of the sea. It was nothing as obvious as gargling, thank goodness, but it was there. A hint of waves… She folded her hands on the table, expression reflective. "I was working as a secretary for a fairly important bureaucrat, but I fear that won't last much longer."
"They haven't found out your ID is fake, have they?" Rust asked, voice lowered. They all had fake ID's. In his case, and Killroy's, that did little good. Decepticons never got good jobs in Cybertron anyway… prejudice lingered from the first war. It struck him as pointlessly stupid, but as ossified as Cybertron's society was, it was understandable.
For Foam, though, things were different. She was the one who made decent credits, and paid for the small, rat-trap dwelling they had rented. Without her, they'd be out on the streets in no time. If she'd been identified...
But she was shaking her head. "No, it's just that his workload has shifted and it's unlikely he'll need me in the future." The bartender brought her an energon cube, and she waited until he was out of earshot to continue. "I could probably find something else, but it's pointless. You said so yourself."
Rust nodded grimly. He and Killroy had cultivated contacts among the thieves and rejects who lived in the deeper areas of Cybertron. Many of those contacts led to smugglers and pirates, but it was useless... no one was willing to smuggle them home. Cybertron was cracking down on illegal emmigration, and it was worth a pirate's life to go anywhere near the Alliance. They had a habit of shooting first, asking questions later, when they identified a pirate ship. Not that that stopped them from skulking around the fringes of the Alliance, but no pirate would agree to carry them anywhere useful.
"What plan do you have, then?" Foam wouldn't be saying this if she didn't have an idea. But she shook her head again, setting her curls to bouncing.
"Not now. Let's wait until Killroy gets here." She sipped her energon carefully, making a small moue of distaste. "Vile."
"Now you know why I was avoiding drinking it." Rust chuckled softly, listening to the music idly. It had gone over to a purely instrumental, Cybertronian tune. He found it rather soothing...
That peace was disturbed as a small figure clattered into the bar, making noise completely disproportionate with his size. "Guys!" Killroy jumped up onto a chair, kneeling on it so he'd be on a proper level with the table.
He was a mini, one of Soundwave's newer cassette tapes. He was built in the same style as Rumble and Frenzy, but mostly sky blue, with touches of black. He was human sized, compared to Rust, who was about twenty feet, and Foam's thirty. Killroy was always smiling, always cheerful. He quickly snagged what was left of Foam's drink, and downed it in one quick gulp.
"Gah! That's disgusting! Ohhh man!" He made a theatrical retching sound, borrowed from the humans he'd hung around with, long ago. "What kind of girbil droppings went into that?"
"It serves you right for stealing my drink." Foam said with an amused smile, but ordered another round for all of them. Rust shrugged to himself. He didn't really need another cube, but Killroy would finish it off for him with no problem. It was amazing, how much energon was needed to run such a small Transformer. IMaybe it's because of the way he can't seem to stop moving.../I
Rust's attention was diverted as Foam spoke again. "The spacebridge." She put her elbows on the table, expression deadly serious.
"What about it?" Rust asked, polishing off his second cube happily. His protests about the quality of the energon were mostly for amusement... Rust was firmly convinced he could drink girbil droppings, and like it.
"It's relatively unguarded." She said quietly, and Rust tilted his head to one side, trying to see where she was going. "And leads directly to Terra. If we can throw ourselves at the mercy of the Terran government, there's a good chance they'll contact our own ambassadors there and arrange something to get us home."
There was a brief silence as they considered that. The whole reason they'd never revealed themselves to the Cybertronian authorities was that relationships were by no means warm, between Cybertron and the Alliance. A cease-fire had been called, and several prisoners exchanged. Maybe Cybertron would ransom them for energon... but maybe not. None of them were willing to take the chance.
But Terra was different. The humans had stayed neutral in the conflict between Cybertron and the Alliance, and they were a signifigant trading partner with Dawn. They also traded with Typhoon and Valhalla, although to a lesser extent. The governments got along well, and the Terrans would have no reason to cerebro-probe them for military secrets.
Cybertron might kick up a stink, but it was likely they'd get away with it...
"I Ilike/I this plan." Rust said slowly, with an amused smile. "I definitely like this plan..." A dark presence curled and stretched in the back of his mind, purring like a well fed cat.
IBI like it too.../I/B