PathofStars

RP sideblog for Starlane, a next generation OC with TFP post-canon origins. Multiverse friendly, follows back from @rustyvolumedial3

[the-wolf-and-moon]

NGC 1398, Galaxy Eye

[pathofstars]

(Always fun in the groupchat when everyone is talking about ages, the six million+ muses teasing the guy who's 'only' four and a half - and then I nudge Laney into the spotlight to say "hey this one's less than ten thousand years old" :D

Got some lovely bluescreen reactions that made me cackle)

@polyhexianchicken @wild-at-spark

[musiisms]

                      sticks and stones                       may break my bones,

                                                                 but words will make me hurt you.

[pathofstars]

"A worthwhile endeavor," Starlane says with a thoughtful nod. Politics are hardly her strong suit, but- she's old enough to remember the early days of reconstruction on her Cybertron, when the entirety of their species could be housed in twenty square miles.

"I haven't had much chance to look around yet - what are focusing on first, in terms of infrastructure?"

She recalls education had been high on Skyfire's list of priorities, establishing a system to certify more mecha in necessary occupations. Wonders if Starscream feels similarly, or whether he places greater importance on other aspects of rebuilding.

[autobotstarscream]

"Other then minor aesthetics, the cities are pretty much already built." He gestures to the city that's standing around them. And isn't he glad he wasn't around for that part. He knows nothing of building buildings, but he heard the wreckers and later on constructions had done a good job leading the rebuilding.

"It's mostly social aspects now that is still being handled... Not always the easiest thing when everyone want different things" he frowns softly, this isn't the most interesting conversation.

"Have you ever been to the high towers of Vos?"

[pathofstars]

“No. I’ve seen a few image captures, but- never visited in person.” Mainly because the ruins of Vos remained largely untouched during the early years of Starlane’s life, and even after flighframes began returning to and rebuilding their ancestral city-state, she’d never... really felt much need to visit, in all honesty.

Her massive wings give a slight twitch. “It, would be nice. To see them. My creator’s former partner apparently loved to fly through the city, a long time ago.”

She nearly says would you show me, as if Starscream’s going to drop his current tasks in favor of playing tour guide to a perfect stranger. Ha.

[pathofstars]

after a vacation, do they immediately unpack or slowly retrieve items from their suitcase until its empty?

Specimens or other items collected with certain people in mind get unpacked right away, and either passed along or put in longterm storage to become gifts later down the line.

Anything else, she'll get to when she needs to.

[visvivathms]

THE TINIEST DETAILS: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS

do they drive? if so, do they enjoy driving or do they hate it? or somewhere in between?

if they drive, where is their favorite location to drive to?

if they drive, do they own a vehicle? if so, what make and model?

what bumper stickers do they have on their car?

what paintings and/or posters are on their walls?

what is a song they listen to with the windows rolled down, turned all the way up, on the highway?

is there an artform they've always wanted to try (glassblowing, woodworking, painting, ect) but never have? if so, what about that artform speaks to them?

what time of day do they usually start getting sleepy?

do they catch a second wind? if so, what is their method for catching it (napping, drinking coffee, exercising, ect)?

are they a nap person? if so, how long are their naps? do they set a 20 minute timer and wake up before it? or set no timer and wake up in the middle of the night?

what is the most obscure book they've read?

what is a book that interested them so much they took it with them to the bathroom?

what did the air smell like during their childhood?

what is a core memory from their childhood that they look back on fondly and for comfort?

when was the last time they were held, and truly held, for several minutes? who was it with?

do they meditate? if not, have they ever tried? how did it go?

how many pennies and quarters do they have in their couch?

how dusty is their home? spotless, lived-in, dust bunny haven?

what is their favorite chocolate bar?

do they like their brownies fudgy or cakey? or not at all, and only want the crusts?

whats that one weird food combination that everyone else thinks is gross but they think is delicious?

where do they put their shoes when they come home from a long day?

after a vacation, do they immediately unpack or slowly retrieve items from their suitcase until its empty?

how often do they do self-reflection?

are they more afraid of being alone with themselves or with others?

have they ever had a near death experience? if so, what was it?

out of all the subjects in school, which was their favorite? which one did they excel at?

how many alarms do they have set on their phone? what is their alarm ringtone?

do they fart in front of other people? or do they hide their farts?

do they have to see any specialist doctors? if so, do they have a strong bond with their doctor or do they dislike them?

what is their favorite seasoning?

what is their favorite sauce?

how spicy is spicy for them? (pepper, jalepeno, ghost pepper, ect)

how long do they let the dishes go unwashed?

how much laundry do they accumulate before doing it?

what shampoo, conditioner, cologne/perfume and deodorant do they use?

[cyber-streak-2]

Starscream: I’ve only said “I love you” to three people: Skyfire, and my dying trinemates. And two of those I regret.

Megatron: Which ones?

Starscream: My trinemates. They both survived so now I look like an idiot.

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Rho Ophiuchi

[pathofstars]

"Creator, singular," Starlane replies automatically. Then- she pauses.

"...and no, actually. He was briefly an Autobot, but his stories came almost entirely from before the war."

The Starscream of those tales was acerbic, yes, and certainly fond of insults disguised as compliments.

But on any given day? So is Laney.

And she takes pride in that.

"If I may ask, what have you been working on since the fighting stopped?"

[autobotstarscream]

Starscream hums at that. It's not the most common, but neither is it unusual for singular bots to have sparklings.

At the explanation that the stories told is pre-war, Starscream cannot help but look surprised. It means that this creator must have know Starscream way back. And Starscream can't think anyone alive who would tell such old stories about him rather then the famous nasty ones.

"What I'm working on?" He repets, coming back to the conversation. "Ah, boring political things mostly." He explains before his whole mode suddenly changes. Because this? this is something he burns for, this was the original reason he joined the Decepticons after all.

"I want to make a better, friendlier and stronger connection between ground and flight frames. To not isolate Vos the way it was in the past. To unite us all as the way we should have been"

[pathofstars]

"A worthwhile endeavor," Starlane says with a thoughtful nod. Politics are hardly her strong suit, but- she's old enough to remember the early days of reconstruction on her Cybertron, when the entirety of their species could be housed in twenty square miles.

"I haven't had much chance to look around yet - what are focusing on first, in terms of infrastructure?"

She recalls education had been high on Skyfire's list of priorities, establishing a system to certify more mecha in necessary occupations. Wonders if Starscream feels similarly, or whether he places greater importance on other aspects of rebuilding.

[autobotstarscream]

@pathofstars from X

Hrm. Does Laney bother to fully explain who and what she is, which would almost certainly dive into an aggravating spiral of disbelief and rising agitation - or does she try to pass off her comment as a product of idle gossip? ...on second consideration, that entire line of thought is foolish. "Nothing," she sighs, briefly waving one hand in a dismissive gesture. "You're Starscream. I've heard of you. I should know better than to let stories color my expectations." Even if those stories came from Skyfire, in a universe where his Starscream was long dead, and Laney knew them all by spark. She'd been raised a scientist and explorer, and Rule Number One for both was not allowing preconceived notions to affect interpretations of your data. "My name is Starlane. It's- nice to meet you." There. That's not too bad. A little flat, maybe, but not insincere

"A pleasure, I'm sure" Starscream can't say his surprised. He knows that most Cybertronians, once neutral or Autobot are unhappy with him. The fact that he was an Autobot himself before the war ended is not wide spread information. Only Primes earth group knew, and after the Primes death he does not know if they passed that information on, it's not like he was there under the rebuilding of Cybertron to correct anyone.

"Let me guess... Your caretakers where Autobots, and they told you a bunch of stories how horrible I am? Probably said I tried to take over the world at one point" He sighs, looking more tired then anything. But his here now, and he has corrected many bots.

"Granted they are not fully wrong, I wasn't the nicest mech back in the war... But I have changed."

[pathofstars]

"Creator, singular," Starlane replies automatically. Then- she pauses.

"...and no, actually. He was briefly an Autobot, but his stories came almost entirely from before the war."

The Starscream of those tales was acerbic, yes, and certainly fond of insults disguised as compliments.

But on any given day? So is Laney.

And she takes pride in that.

"If I may ask, what have you been working on since the fighting stopped?"

[cliffandthekid-archive]

♦️ (@pathofstars)

"Galaxy."

Yeah, there's the whole space-shuttle alt mode, and the aesthetic with stars and whatnot, but really, the word has more to do with presence. A sense of grandness that fills Laney's words and actions.

...and yeah, maybe the height factors in a little, she IS literally three times taller than Cliffjumper but shhh

[galaxyshuttle]

Well. This is new.

Starlane can count on one hand the number of mecha she personally knows who are taller than her; perhaps a handful more from stories or history texts.

It's a distinctly odd sensation to be tipping her helm back to look up for once.

(@pathofstars)

Beats looking down constantly. Proximity sensors from heel to knee allows him locomotion when moving in populated areas when pedestrians gawk up at him instead of fraggin' moving out of the way, but still. He missed landing pads and dock crew just unloading his hold with little pallet jacks.

Sometimes, the client wanted in hand delivered. Annoying, but depending on legality, sometimes you didn't want the dock master adding contents to the import manifest.

Which leads Deepspace, on a leisurely little jaunt through the laneways.

[pathofstars]

Honestly? If the bigger shuttle *did* step on someone too idiotic to remove themselves from his path, Laney wouldn’t judge. There have been far too many times she's nearly kicked a co-worker out of her way out of sheer frustration.

...it's probably a mistake to bother him. Common sense dictates leaving the mech alone and continuing on her own task.

...then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

"Pardon me - I apologize for being rude, but could I ask what your specific model of alt mode is?"

[autobotstarscream]

"You're a lot different than I thought you would be." Starlane frowns as she looks the Seeker up and down. "Still not sure if that's good or bad, yet." (@pathofstars)

@pathofstars

"What's that suppose to mean?" Starscream squints back at her, arms crossed as he tilts his head. His not sure how he feels about this situation.

[pathofstars]

Hrm. Does Laney bother to fully explain who and what she is, which would almost certainly dive into an aggravating spiral of disbelief and rising agitation - or does she try to pass off her comment as a product of idle gossip?

...on second consideration, that entire line of thought is foolish.

"Nothing," she sighs, briefly waving one hand in a dismissive gesture. "You're Starscream. I've heard of you. I should know better than to let stories color my expectations."

Even if those stories came from Skyfire, in a universe where his Starscream was long dead, and Laney knew them all by spark. She'd been raised a scientist and explorer, and Rule Number One for both was not allowing preconceived notions to affect interpretations of your data.

"My name is Starlane. It's- nice to meet you."

There. That's not too bad. A little flat, maybe, but not insincere.

[pathofstars]

For a long moment, there's no reaction.

Then the massive shuttleformer turns her helm and peers downward, where the human is seated on the grass nearby. The rest of the hilltop is rather dominated by a sprawling amount of devices used to observe and record details of quite literally everything in the night sky above them: the orbits of nearby planets, the rotations of distant stars and galaxies, the passage of comets, the distortions of far flung black holes. All the sorts of things that can easily differentiate one universe from another, far quicker than taking the time to visit one particular chunk of dirt and checking if certain people exist upon it or not.

There are some holographic displays rotating nearby, providing a quick reference of certain nebulae, as well as a less tangibly useful aesthetic ambiance. Somewhere in the array of equipment is a simple music player, cycling through The Planets, a seven piece orchestral suite by the human composer Gustav Holst.

"...actually," Starlane eventually answers, in the driest, most deadpan sarcastic tone of voice physically possible to achieve, "I prefer gardening."

[wagenstung]

Mechanics were one thing. Charlie could take half a glance at a piece of machinery or a tool and tell you exactly how it's made, what it's used for, how to take it apart and how to put it back together in one go. Mechanical devices? Used for measuring space and beyond? That was a little out of her comprehension, but it fascinated Charlie nonetheless. Space itself was fascinating. Measuring it, recording and logging and exploring it without needing to move? Incomprehensibly cool. The question was asked as a bit more of a buffer than anything, something that should've been obvious and makes her cringe at for asking, but.. well, it felt rude to just sit in silence.

When Starlane finally answers, Charlie's attention snaps right up to her optics. It does take her a few beats, mouth hung open just a slight bit while she processes the deadpan tone and the very left-field answer before it clicks. When it does, she presses her lips into a thin, amused little line, nodding and looking back out among the array of devices around them.

❝ Right, ❞ she puffs with a dimpled smile. ❝ Obviously. ❞ Cue another stretch of silence that only she really seems awkward in. Her attention is brought back to the devices surrounding them, watching as they blink and glow with what data they were recording for Starlane. The nebulae hologram catches Charlie's attention and she nods towards it.

❝ How exactly does this all.. work? -I mean, that thing's showing a cluster I know for a fact N.A.S.A. hasn't found yet.. It's amazing. ❞

[pathofstars]

Laney might just come to like this human.

"In a basic sense, all I'm doing is recording," she slowly explains, gaze returning to the projected screen in front of her. "Measuring. Paying attention to how everything moves, with the intent of comparing how it moves differently from other realities."

Maybe that's a little more simplistic than the girl needs, but Starlane would rather under-estimate her ability to understand rather than expect too much and be forced to backtrack.

"That one's a good example, actually. Certain universes where a specific nebula is closer to Earth are more likely to share other phenomena, whereas those where it's further away, or never formed in the first place, tend to follow different patterns. That, essentially, is my job: finding patterns, analyzing how they coincide with one another, and using that data to determine future outcomes."

Or threats, but she doesn't mention that part.

"...I don't have anything as mundane as a telescope, but would you like to get a closer look?"

[frostbittenfemme]

"Congratulations, Sherlock," Starlane snarls, one hand half-buried in the massive hole through her leg, trying to stem the energon loss. "That only took you a few centuries to figure out-!" (@pathofstars)

"Get snippy with me and I'll make sure you lose it!" The medic snarled back, arming herself with clamps from her medkit.

"Move your servo, you're blocking my view." Wild growls, pushing Starlane's servo out her way.

The medic hones in on the bleeding fuel lines, clamping them to cease the bleeding.

"How the frag did you blow a chunk out your leg?"

[pathofstars]

For a moment, the shuttleformer only focuses on holding her temper in check - normally an easy thing, but in this case made significantly more difficult by pain and circumstance. "I am not the one who left mines embedded in random asteroids, for any passerby to activate by flying too close!"

Honestly, the annoyance is going to eat at her more than anything else. Starlane studies the multiverse, she fully knows how each aspect and element of it can vary from one reality to another.

And yet.

She let her guard down. Set a course to curve around the boundary of an asteroid field she'd never encountered trouble from before, and completely failed to detect the explosives until they began to erupt.

It's sheer luck Laney didn't suffer more damage, and she abhors relying on luck.

[tackytacs]

@skystarweek Day 3: Mundane

this was my piece for the skystar zine, but it was perfect for today’s prompt

here’s a link to the free skystar zine!!

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Meteor and Milky Way