kismet_loop_logs | They say there's nothing new under the sun

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They say there's nothing new under the sun

Who: Hiro, Sam, and anybody else who wants to watch Tremors
What: Watching Tremors ~~and possibly discussing swear words prior to the show~~
Where: The new outdoor theatre in the Northwest
When: Backdated to Thursday night, dusk.
Warnings: Language? Probably language.

The ‘official story’ was simple, if outlandish: Sam had happened across a VHS tape of Tremors (true) while lost (false) in the dense mire of mess which was Hiro’s room. Though the tape had actually been uncovered in the Warehouse, she had no intention of saying so; she didn’t want to wonder if the truth would reach Dirge, or want to deal with the seeker if he heard and, hearing, took it into his head to reclaim the cassette. What she did want was to make good on what she’d said to Jadewing.

’Sometime, we’ll find for you a few decent horror flicks.’

Tremors had turned out to be the first of that few. With luck, and a little---or a lot---of looking, there would be others, and so the whole theatre project had been buttressed by the hope of having more movies. The screen was situated at one side of the clearing Irja had kindly created, suspended between the trunks of two massive trees and braced by branches across its back. (The controls were there, as well, and at two elevations; the human-scale console sheltered in what looked, to Sam, like an ice shack.) A viewing deck had been built opposite the screen, encircling one wide walnut tree at a height which would have any occupants up enough to talk to standing Cybertronians comfortably, without craning. The deck had been outfitted with a ladder, a small collection of mismatched chairs, and (importantly!) a small free-standing fire pit. Two ridges crossed the clearing so that people could park angled up to better see the screen, but the clearing itself was otherwise almost ordinary---and only ‘almost’ on account of its creation.

All things considered, the set-up was pretty sweet.

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Jadewing landed lightly in the middle of the clearing and surveyed their handiwork, now that all the extras had been added in. He'd only been around to help with the heavy lifting, leaving the details to the much smaller and more dexterous humans. "Well," he said, "don't know if it's up to Constructicon standards, but not bad. Looks like I'm a little early for the show, though."

Sam waved from the viewing deck, where she’d been loitering to watch others arrive. “For a jury-rig job, I think it’s pretty good. Then again…” She set her hands against the railing and shrugged.

“I don’t really know anything about Constructicon standards, or Constructicons themselves, save what seems safe to assume from the term… and I know it’s a bad idea to go on assumptions alone. Wanna fill me in while we’re waiting?” She offered the Seeker a winning grin. “Not like we’ve got to worry about missing the previews.”

Jadewing walked over a bit closer to the viewing deck to more easily converse. "When they're on their game, the Constructicons were and are one of the best teams of architects and builders ever to walk Cybertron," he said. "That's if they didn't let their personalities and... particular quirks get in the way. Scrapper- the leader- likes to build his enemies into his constructions. Hook is a fussy perfectionist and probably the closest thing the Nemesis crew had to a dedicated medic. Bonecrusher is the muscle and hates just about everything; you can tell from his name how that usually goes. Mixmaster is borderline genius chemist; problem is, he's also borderline insane. On a good day, he can whip you up just about any kind of chemical compound you could want, but on a bad day... well, let's just say you'd be well advised to stay clear of both him and his lab. Long Haul does materials transport for the team, and never ceases to complain about how dull it is. And Scavenger... let's just say he has some serious self-esteem issues. He tries to make up for it by digging up random things and bringing them back to his team in hopes that they'll find it useful and toss him a few words of praise."

"They're also the first fully successful combiner team," he added. "They're the ones who perfected the process; before Devastator, most all attempts at gestalt technology left the unfortunate bots either dead or insane."

Sam considered the explanation, shifting to lean forward a little, elbows resting on the deck's railing. "I'm gonna regard 'particular quirks' as an industrial-strength euphemism now, and thank you for the info. It sounds like these guys are all individuals one would want to watch out for. Speaking of individuals one would want to watch out for... I'm going to get to asking about combiners eventually, but I'd first like to ask if you happened to spot Dirge in the air anywhere en route. I'm not really expecting him to show up... but I ask, just in case, and even though it sometimes seems I'd best prepare for that prat by picking up some new swear words---in case English and Quebecois can't quite cut it."

Hey for Decepticons, those did qualify as quirks. You really don't want to know what Deceptions consider truly insane, Sam. "Most Decepticons fall into the category of 'individuals to watch out for' by definition," Jadewing commented. "You've just been lucky enough to meet some of the more stable ones."

"Anyway, no, I didn't see Dirge on the way here," he said. "But I fully support learning new swear words to use on him. Let's see, there's 'slag' and 'frag', and their insult variants 'slagger' and 'fragger'. The latter is the stronger in both cases. 'Aft'is a good basic one and it means exactly what you probably think it means. For jets, you can also substitute 'exhaust port' in phrases like 'blow it out your exhaust port'; same goes for 'tailpipe' if you're referring to a grounder."

"A few flier-specific ones are 'ground-crawler', 'dirt-crawler', and 'dirt-lover'," he said. "Basically anything to do with dirt or the ground in relation to a flier is probably a good bet. There are two other really nasty ones in that vein, but they don't translate very neatly, and I don't think you could pronounce the Cybertronian. Roughly, they mean 'one who lets dirt interface with them' and 'one whose fuel lines are full of dirt'."

"Those last two are more often used by Seekers against non-Seekers, though," he said. "We've always had a bit of superiority complex going on, even before the war, and sometimes it shows more than others."

"As far as social circles go, I'd say I'm not lucky but exceptionally so. Doing better here than my most recent move, which is... honestly sort of strange. Not that I'm complaining!" Sam flicked a hand, as if to knock the very notion away. "Just appreciatively acknowledging the odds."

The odds were a far cry from what she would've expected, though Jadewing's ready answer was anything else---the Seeker was a sport. Pleased by his willingness to offer instruction, the adept listened attentively, filing each insult away for future use, and grinned at the end.

"Duly noted. And I should say thanks---I'm just enough of an ass to find my newly-expanded repertoire delightful, though I suppose someone did say 'profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.'" Sam shrugged. "In my experience, it's true... and so maybe I shouldn't stop at saying thanks, but teach you some sacres? If you're interested."

Jadewing smirked. "I've never heard that saying, but whoever said it had the right idea," he said. "And sure, let's hear 'em. I'm more than enough of an ass to appreciate the opportunity to expand my repertoire."

"You're how tall and you weigh how much? You're more than enough of everything." Sam snorted, amused, and considered where to begin very briefly. "My personal favourite is 'j'men calice,' which is equivalent to a very forceful and rather rude 'I don't care.' 'Va chier?' 'Go shit.' 'Mange de la marde?' 'Eat shit.' Va chier is fair for teasing---a joking or skeptical 'get out.' It's a sacre, sure, but it's also like 'okay, whatever, I was planning on doing that eventually anyway, I can't be all that offended.'"

Fact of life.

"For offensive, there's 'mon tabarnak j'vais te décalisser la yeule, calice.'"

"Hah!", Jadewing scoffed good naturedly. "I've got news for you, human, Seekers are hardly as big as it gets. One word for you: citybots." Let Sam think on the implications of that one for a minute.

Jadewing listened carefully, committing the new curses to memory. "Dare I ask what that last one means?", he said.

Sam's (rather reasonable) response came almost immediately: "Goddamn." She took a step back to throw her hands up more dramatically than she might've, shaking her head as she lowered and then crossed her arms.

"I mean this in the friendliest way, but you guys---Cybertronians generally---are kind of ridiculous. With your lifespans and subspace and sheer friggin' scale. Still like you lots, and most of the other bots I've met, but I also still stand by 'goddamn' and also 'what is this even.'" Snorting a little laugh, the adept moved on to actually answering, though she struggled to keep from laughing again. "You do, because it's so over-the-top it's what made me decide I really should make an effort looking into learning sacres. You're familiar with the versatility of the word 'fuck' in English? 'Mon tabarnak j'vais te decalisser la yeule calice' is the Quebecois equivalent of 'motherfucker I'm gonna fuck you up as fuck.'"

Jadewing chuckled. "You're not the only one who thinks citybots are a bit ridiculous," he says. "Though to be fair, they're not whole cities. Really they're more small- by Cybertronian standards- mobile bases that just happen to be sparked and sentient. But 'small mobile base bots' doesn't really have the same ring to it. Cybertronians my size can and do live in them though, when they're in base form. Which is... sort of creepy if you think about it too hard, so we try not to."

"As for the rest of us being ridiculous," he shrugged, "that's a matter of perspective. There are still Cybertronians who'll argue that considering any organic truly sentient is ridiculous. Some take it further than that, even and claim that Cybertronians are the only beings in the universe who can be considered truly sentient, because we're the only ones that have sparks." Which Sam could probably guess, had been an excuse for much prejudice and harm perpetrated by Cybertronians over the millenia.

The explanation of the long sacre got another chuckle out of Jadewing. "I'll have to remember that one," he said. "'Frag' is similarly versatile among Cybertronians, and its base meaning is about the same."

"Sort of creepy, but also pretty cool---they must be something to see." Sam mused over the idea, imagining an aura that spanned city blocks. Little---so to speak---could compare. Her attention returned to Jadewing at 'as for the rest of us,' and she straightened as the Seeker spoke. "...y'know, of all the complications coming from the intangibility of the soul, that's one no-one expects to field. That I've found, anyway. Used to read through a lot of new-agey and parapsychology stuff, so I can sorta say."

Sam unfolded her arms to lacing her hands together atop the deck's railing, a crooked little smile spreading across her face. "There's more to be said about those arguments, of course, but I think you know me well enough to guess all of the important points so we can stay sort of on-track. To that end: excrement. When 'j'men calice' just isn't dismissive enough, there's 't'ant pis por toi,' which is a little softer swear-wise but still basically 'tough shit for you.'"

"They definitely are," Jadewing said. "The Autobot Metroplex turns into a humanoid robot form and our Trypticon turns into a dinosaur. A lot like the Dinobot leader Grimlock's beast form, except much, much bigger."

Jadewing noded at her desire to stay on their original subject, though. He didn't really care to get into a serious spiritual debate tonight, especially when he wasn't entirely sure where he stood on such things himself. Seeing Primus up close and personal during their battle with Unicron had affected him deeply. He just hadn't figured out how yet.

He snickered as their discussion of curse words continued. "Cybertronians don't really... produce waste like organics do," Jadewing said, privately being very glad of that fact. "But 'slag', a waste product that comes from forging metal, has a similar meaning to us. 'Scrap' can also be used similarly, though it's not as strong."

"Both of them can also mean 'kill' when used as a verb, though," he continued. "For example, 'I'm going to scrap you.' It's sort of a shortened version of 'I'm going to turn turn you into scrap.'"

"I'm not surprised that there are Dinobots when I've met dragon-bots, but that doesn't mean I don't think that that is awesome. Provided at least a few are fairly personable. For the sake of the kid I was, I want so badly to be excited about this." She grinned, glancing at the boards beneath her feet for the span of a shrug. "Silly-sounding, I'm sure, but I grew up in the heydey of dinosaur stuff, and I've got a soft spot still. Don't suppose you've seen Jurassic Park? The day someone spots it, we've gotta have a showing---but I better stop myself. Just gonna say 'my childhood,' and move on. And apologize for the digressions."

Not that any apology seemed to be necessary. There was the content of the conversation, for one thing; for another, the tone. It was nice to just chill out and bull, the normal pre-show hang out feeling as... well, as normal as it would've in Edmonton.

"So, dross. And duly noted. Once in a long while I've overheard 'slag' as an insult, but it's mostly people from the UK or Australia using it, and never---that I know of---as a verb."

"I'm really the wrong bot to ask about the Dinobots' personalities," he said. "I know what they look like and what they can do. They're powerful and dangerous opponents in either mode. Most all of them tend to be pretty dumb, though, especially the first three, Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge. Yes, his name's actually Slag; his main weapon is fire, and he's the most violent of the group, so it fits. Snarl and Swoop, the two built later, seem to be slightly brighter, but not by much. Grimlock's beast mode is a tyranosaurus rex, Slag's a triceratops, Sludge's a brontosaurus, Snarl's a stegosaurus, and Swoop's a pteranodon. Other than that I don't know much, but they are Autobots so I doubt they'd be kept around if they couldn't at least be civil with humans."

Jadewing shrugged. "As for 'Jurassic Park', I've heard of it but not seen it. Like I said, the selection of human movies I had access to was pretty limited. Wouldn't mind seeing it though, I guess."

"Really?", he asked, a bit surprised that humans would use the word thus too. "What does 'slag' mean in that context?"

“Makes me think of the d[rive-ins on Earth.” Breakdown drives up, transforming to take the last few steps before stopping at the comfortable conversational distance from the taller mech.

"It kind of does, doesn't it?", Jadewing agrees. "Though we made sure to include plenty of room for any bots or organics that either fly or walk too."

"I admit, I'm interested to see what this movie's like," He says. "Sam said it's good, and anything's better than Rumble and Frenzy's tastes, so it should at least be worth watching."

"You guys did good, it looks good, has a lot of room."

He smiles and looks over at Jadewing. "It's not an amazing movie, but it's not bad either." It's not entirely his kind of movie either, but his partner sure enjoys horror movies, so he's seen his fair share of Earth horror flicks now.

Jadewing chuckled. "Like I said, anythings better than Rumble and Frenzy's tastes," he said. "The ones they like usually feature lots of young humans being killed in various unrealistic ways, usually because they did something completely against common sense. Along with gratuitous scenes of them mating, for some reason. I never understood the appeal."

He grimaces. "Yeah, I've seen a couple of those. Knock out really doesn't like those ones...can't say I do either. This one still has people dyin', but it's not like those ones."

"Proof that he's got taste in more than just paintjobs," Jadewing said, giving an amused smirk. "But yeah, wouldn't be able to consider it much of a horror movie if no one died."

"I'm interested to see what's up with those Dweller-looking things, though," he said. "Sam said they're not much like the actual Dweller aside from appearances, so I'm not sure what to expect."

Breakdown claps his shoulder with a knowing smirk. “Guess you’ll find out soon, won’t you?” He’ll kind of motion for Jade to head over to take a seat. “Hope you enjoy the experience.”

"Guess I will," Jade agrees, smirking right back. "See ya after the show." Following Breakdowns motion, he'll go look for a good spot to sit. One where he hopefully won't block other people's view with his big wings.

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