(no subject)

[sunmedallion]

Who: Celestia, optionally Grimlock, and YOU.
Where: Around LA.
When: Around the beginning of July
What: Celestia out and about, variously grazing her magic horse and walking the gigantic metal dino puppy that Lina brought back to Alpha Tower
Warnings: This will probably be completely PG but Grimlock is very rude


A: JUST THE HORSE
Horseback riding in parks isn't totally unheard of around here, but few horses one sees out and about are as large, gleaming white and undefinably majestic as the one that's currently grazing about 10 feet away from you. The woman clad in white with the unnaturally rippling pastel rainbow hair is a pretty unusual sight too, but if you don't recognise Celestia, founding member of Alpha Force, 40-year supercelebrity and queen of the reclusive magic island nation of Equestria then you probably live under a rock or something. Fortunately her reputation as friendly and amicable is long established, so approaching her isn't totally out of the question. Maybe she can dispense some wisdom. Maybe you can get a signature. Maybe you want to try to prove what a hardass you are by trying to attack her (good luck with that, chumbo).


B: WALKING THE DINOSAUR
Same place, different day, and Celestia is at the park again, but rather than an exceedingly tame and docile equine steed she's accompanying Grimlock. She thinks it'd be a good idea to get the big robot out and about for a bit of... well, robots don't really need exercise or fresh air, but this robot, fresh off the TRIDENT assembly line as he seems to be, could probably do with a bit of time outside of Alpha Tower, maybe some socialisation...

She knows there is every chance this could end in mayhem, but she has every confidence in her ability to rein the dinobot in if needs be – and really, a little harmless mayhem wouldn't totally go amiss as far as she's concerned.

"Now, Grimlock," she says, patting his massive metal leg gently as she leads him through the park, "people here will probably be very excited to see you – children love dinosaurs – but you must remember to be nice to them, and not to attack anybody – or anything."


(If you'd like a different, non-park setup with Celestia and Grimlock, feel free to assume something similar at the beach or something like that!)

Comments

[menobozo]

Squatting at Celestia’s side, Grimlock rumbles, though not disapprovingly, at her touch. He’s unsurprisingly pretty confused though. “Not... attack? HMMMM.” The concept really isn’t something that he’s ultra familiar with. “Me Grimlock not understand. Always thing to fight. Horse lady want me Grimlock to let challenger get away?”

[sunmedallion]

Celestia smiles sympathetically, as if this is the kind of problem that people have difficulty grasping all the time – indeed, as if she herself has struggled with not seizing toddlers in her enormous metal jaws and shaking them until they stop moving, or with keeping herself from setting trees on fire with her flamethrower breath – and shakes her head. "There are no challengers, Grimlock. The people here won't want to fight you – they'll want to make friends."

[menobozo]

This... this does not clarify anything. "Friends.....?" He pauses for a long time, mulling the meaning of the word over. Friends. Friends...

"Me Grimlock not have friends, me Grimlock KING," he exclaims proudly, straightening up to his full regal height.

[sunmedallion]

"Hmm," says Celestia. "Not having friends sounds like it would be pretty lonely. I'm a Queen, and I have friends!"

A

[cyborged]

My, that is a majestic horse. Raiden pauses midstep, kind of unsure about what to do because now he's staring at this horse and is that weird? It's probably kind of weird, he's just no great with animals and he doesn't want to get into a fight with a horse that's the last thing he nee-- oh, is that Celestia?

"Celestia," he says in greeting, "is... this your horse?"

[sunmedallion]

She smiles radiantly.

"Jack, hello! This is Starlight – don't worry, she doesn't bite."

The horse nickers. Its huge dark eyes fix on Raiden, but it doesn't seem threatening.

Yet.

[cyborged]

He squints at the horse, but he'll take her word for it. For now.

"She's very... Majestic." Raiden looks a little uncertainly at Celestia as he finishes that sentence; he's not exactly great at compliments. Or conversation in general.

[sunmedallion]

"She is, isn't she," says Celestia, looking faintly amused. "The strongest and fastest of Equestria's stock." There's the hint of a teasing glint in her eye as she looks from the horse to Raiden, and asks, "Would you like a ride?"

B!!!!

[neonmonstrosity]

It's amazing how much weird shit you see if you hang out in the parks in LA often enough, apparently. It wasn't like this back home, but it's almost like it's totally unavoidable here.

Chris is out doing some errands; meaning it's his turn to do the grocery shopping and he got distracted, only to be further distracted by-- holy shit is that Celestia walking a robot dinosaur? Holy shit, holy shit. He jogs over, waving a greeting and comes to a stop right in front of Grimlock. "Hey man, are you like--" he stops himself from just going 'what are you' at this poor dinosaur, grinning up a storm, "are you like, one of them autobots or whatever?"

[menobozo]

Grimlock leans back, confused by the sudden appearance of this chattering human who appears to be trying to engage with him. If anyone has told him what an Autobot is, he likely doesn't remember anyway; he has a pretty firm tendency to forget what things mean unless he has an actual experience to call back on to associate the word with. "Autobot...? Me Grimlock, DINOBOT!" he half bellows in his excitement.

[sunmedallion]

Celestia smiles, clearly amused by Grimlock's outburst. "Grimlock is from Earth," she says. "He's only just come to Los Angeles, though, so I'm showing him around."

SLIDES IN HERE FINALLY

[dragonswag]

Contrary to whatever Celestia is trying to prove by officially making Grimlock her responsibility, Lina has basically zero regrets about bringing a talking robot dinosaur back to Alpha Tower with her like a stray puppy. She's used to Celestia by now, and she's pretty sure she's being taught some kind of lesson, but Lina totally has this on lock. As long as she can still trounce Grimlock in a fight -- and that's not changing any time soon -- he's totally under her control! He really is like a puppy in a lot of ways, actually, just…a giant metal fire-breathing puppy. Lina's just that cool.

She even likes Grimlock, honestly, even if she does occasionally have to Dig Volt him to keep him away from her food, but a girl can't be expected to watch her pet robot dinosaur all the time, can she? Lina has heroics and all that stuff to be doing! Plus, a girl needs time for her hobbies. Lina's enjoying a nice leisurely flight about L.A., keeping a casual eye out for any low-level minion activity she might be able to blow some steam off on. She catches sight of Celestia and Grimlock from above -- kind of hard to miss them, between Grimlock's bulk and Celestia's ridiculous hair -- and swoops through the air down toward them.

"Celestia! Hey!" Lina grins cheerfully and lands with a light step on Grimlock's head, crouching to give his snout a pat. "And how's my fire-breathing weapon of mass destruction doing, huh?"

[menobozo]

Grimlock makes a startled noise and goes cross-eyed trying to look up at what the hell just landed on his head at first, but once he hears Lina's voice he settles down again. He looks pleased as punch, even. "HMMM! Me Grimlock OK! Want to smash and wreck, but horse-lady say it not allowed.

[sunmedallion]

"Now, Lina, Grimlock isn't a weapon. Grimlock is our friend." She's still smiling, but she is a little concerned that Lina is giving the dinobot the wrong ideas.

[dragonswag]

"Uh...right." Lina knows just how Celestia can be with her...life lessons, or whatever. Better just to play along while she's watching.

Seriously, though. Grimlock was built by TRIDENT to cause mayhem. He is literally a weapon.

That doesn't make Lina any less affectionate toward him though. She jumps off Grimlock's head to land neatly next to him, reaching up to pat his cheek with a cheerful grin. "Aw, I know celestia's kind of a killjoy sometimes, but stick with me and I promise you'll get to smash plenty!"

BEE

[veritablewrecker]

Whoa. Everytime Verity thinks she's just starting to get used to the crazy junk you see in LA - what with all the giant robot people, and superheroes, and aliens - she goes to the park and stumbles on something new. Like, seriously, it's actually a little ridiculous how often you see some fresh new oddity in this city.

Normally she wouldn't get too involved - best not to get wrapped up in some Weird phenomenon or someone else's business when it would only mean trouble for her....but there's something about a giant metal DINOSAUR though, that you just can't ignore. Nevermind the woman with it, whom Verity is only casually familiar with, but she pays enough attention to the newstands to know who Queen Celestia is at least in passing.

Trying not to seem like an over-eager kid Verity sidles up near the pair as they are making their rounds, her hands in her pockets, looking like she's just out for a regular stroll. Play it cool.

"Hey. That uh...that YOUR metal dino?" she asks the woman, trying to sound as casual as possible, but actually pretty excited and impressed by them both.

[menobozo]

Grimlock turns, tilts his head, and then bellows: "Grimlock belongs to me! GRIMLOCK!!"

He doesn't sound angry; it's pretty clear that this is just the way that the dinobot talks: by shouting just about everything.

[sunmedallion]

Celestia laughs, equally amused by the girl's attempt at seeming casual about a robot dinosaur and by said robot dinosaur's overblown reaction. She thinks of telling him to tone it down a little... but she finds his, uh, exuberance a little infectious, and she doesn't want to rain on his shout parade.

"He's right, he doesn't belong to anyone. But don't worry! He's here with me. I'm showing him around the city."

[veritablewrecker]

Verity probably shouldn't be shocked about anything at this point, but for some reason the fact that the robot dinosaur talks on top of everything else, makes her jaw drop.

"Sorry - I...you...I-I didn't expect him - I mean you - to be able to talk..." Or, you know, in this case...yell.

AYY

[worstprime]

It's nice that there isn't really much of a concern anymore about staying in hiding, and that the Cybertronians don't HAVE to be in disguise all the time - it's nice to be able to explore the city and not worry about transforming or maintaining a holo-matter avatar. Being in their natural state tends to make their cultural faux pas a little more expected as well - something that Rodimus has found to be very helpful.

What's not so nice, is Ultra Magnus lurking in the distance while you're trying to enjoy the nice, ultra violet radiation on a nice, not that awful, not really, planet in a nice park full of interesting things and individuals. But Rodimus isn't about to complain - he's just happy to be out and about for a little while, and ignoring impulses to ditch Magnus and go for a spin around the city, he's actually legitimately enjoying the park - for now. He would honestly probably already be over and done with it, if not for catching sight of something he hasn't seen yet on this planet. Without any hesitation Rodimus approaches the human with ridiculous hair and the unknown white creature with her.

"What is that?" he asks abruptly, not even bothering to strike up conversation in a more civil manner.

[sunmedallion]

She doesn't seem very much bothered by the bluntness of his question – she knows he's an alien, after all, and he does seem to be more curious than anything else. "Ah – it's... Rodimus, isn't it? With the Autobots." She's read the files; she doesn't tend to forget names. "This is Starlight. She's..." She pauses for a moment, contemplating a more complex explanation, and then settles on simply: "She's a horse – have you met one before?"

[worstprime]

Rodimus is only briefly surprised that she knows who he is before deciding that now that the Cybertronians aren't in hiding, of course she knows who he is, and doesn't think any more of it.

"I think I might've seen them in movies, but I've never...er...met one," he gives the majestic horse a scrutinizing look. "'Starlight', huh? Sounds sort of like a Cybertonian name. What does she do? Are horses, you know......sentient?"

A!

[wreckerscombine]

Rotorstorm’s heard of Celestia, of course. She makes it a point to be ‘in the know’ for anyone who’s important, especially anyone she actually has a chance of running into. But until now, she’d always been skeptical about the hair. Even though she’s seen pictures. Even though everyone she knows insists that it’s the real deal. But nope, there it is - pastel rainbow and all. And the worst part? Celestia actually makes it work somehow.

If anything, she’s having a harder time believing the horse is real, even though it’s only a few feet in front of her. It just…it looks more like a painting of one. By someone who reaaalllly likes horses.

Either way, Rotorstorm figures it couldn’t hurt to introduce herself while she has the chance, and walks straight up to them both – giving a little wave with her hand. “Hey. Celestia? Don’t think we’ve met before, I’m new…ish at CONDOR.”

[sunmedallion]

Celestia waves back, apparently not in the slightest put off by being hailed by someone she's never met. The horse doesn't seem bothered either.

"New ish?" She smiles, looking faintly amused. "Well, it's wonderful to meet you. What should I call you?"

[wreckerscombine]

“Yeah, well. You know. Been there a few months now, give or take. So that’s still pretty new in the grand scheme, I guess.”

She tilts her head a little and extends a hand forward. “Call me Rotorstorm.” It’s pretty obviously not her real name, but that is what she’d rather be called.