(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."

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?"

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?"

[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.

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]

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.

[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.

[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]

"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?"

[sunmedallion]

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

[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."

[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.

[menobozo]

Grimlock tilts his huge metal head, squinting thoughtfully. "What horse lady mean, lonely?"

[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!"

[cyborged]

"I don't think that's a good idea." His gaze shifts warily back to the horse and it's... everything. He doesn't want to say he's scared of the horse, but also he's a little scared of this horse. "I-- isn't she wary of strangers?"

[sunmedallion]

"Not at all!" says Celestia brightly. "Starlight has an excellent temperament." As if to illustrate this point, the horse leans its massive head forward to huff at Raiden's shoulder.

[menobozo]

"Me Grimlock KING," he corrects them both proudly, thumping his metal tail heavily against the ground, apparently uninterested in any of the other parts of the conversation that just happened. A conversation about the possibilities of his purpose in life, or his place in this world? Who cares, he has a title to uphold.

He kind of melts happily onto the ground when Lina pets him though. What were they talking about again?

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.

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.

[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]

She folds her arms thoughtfully. "Have you ever been on your own, Grimlock?"

[sunmedallion]

Celestia laughs and shakes her head – she's getting pretty fond of Grimlock, honestly. Maybe she'll need to have a conversation with Lina about the whole weapon thing, later, though. She really doesn't think she has the right attitude to this. Not a responsible pet owner AT ALL

"You can be a king and a friend, Grimlock," she says gently. "Lina is a mage as well as a superhero, and I'm a queen at the same time as being a teacher."

[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."