robotsatan: (Default)
robot satan ([personal profile] robotsatan) wrote in [community profile] robothell2015-03-05 09:12 pm

[ INTRO LOG #2 ]

You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With other people relatively scarce, there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

Despite its obvious ruin and aeons-long abandonment, the city and surrounding areas do bear some signs of recent habitation. There's a small but growing population of other people, Cybertronian and otherwise, and there's evidence of their presence -- areas of the city that have been cleaned up for use, intact rooms in ruins of buildings where people have set up to live, a few terminals here and there that have been restored to power.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, a few enterprising transplants have worked together to set up a working local network, which can be accessed via any one of the public terminals, any built-in comms systems your character might have (audio only), or a handheld device produced by one of the people who set up the network.
chickscream: (but for all I aspire)

[personal profile] chickscream 2015-03-11 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Hmm. A few dozen, maybe? I haven't met even close to all of them yet, but there's certainly not enough to fill up the city."

Maybe being the welcome committee wouldn't be so bad, actually. It's not the kind of path she would have chosen if she'd thought about it, but answering questions lets her feel smart without getting shot at, and the noble-minded Optimus Prime had suggested that she ought to do whatever she wanted...

"Where are we going, by the way?" she asks, which she feels is a fair question after all the answering she's been doing.
arnhaid: (Are you speaking words?)

[personal profile] arnhaid 2015-03-11 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Okay... jet contrails aren't usually something good. Then again, with the war apparently over, who can say? It still makes him uneasy. It still makes him track it, until he ends up crashing through some underbrush near Windblade's position.

Graceful, Ironhide is not.

They don't look like anyone he knows. But, given everything lately, that doesn't say much. He doesn't move any closer to the stranger, not wanting to spook them, in case they were friendly. Or provoke them, if they weren't. He's not looking for a fight, after all. Just keeping an eye on things for Prime.
wimbles: (pchooooo)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know yet," says Windblade, a little grimly – it's a serious 'I don't know', the response of someone who has every intention of finding out. "I can feel there's some kind of... summons, though; I'm following it. I think something's trying to communicate."
wimbles: (is that normal)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Windblade is absorbed in trying to work out the display on the terminal, and she doesn't notice someone's followed her here until he makes a whole lot of noise doing it. She whips around, drawing her sword – but she relaxes immediately once she sees who it is.

"Ironhide." She's visibly relieved, although she still looks rather wary and on-edge.
arnhaid: (We can't learn from our pasts)

[personal profile] arnhaid 2015-03-11 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
... Oh scrap.

This is going to be awkward. Talking to Optimus was embarrassing enough, difficult enough. And he knew Optimus.

His expression goes from wary to embarrassed in all of a second.

"Uh." Oh yes, great start. "Hey?"
aerospacecommander: (starscream 27)

tee hee

[personal profile] aerospacecommander 2015-03-11 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Starscream couldn't help but notice the other flier in the sky and he follows, but waits until she lands to approach. He doesn't know this one (that has been happening to him a lot), so he couldn't be sure if she was an Autobot, Decepticon or something else. He assumes Autobot, however, because even he'll admit that most members of his faction just look angry all the time.

It came with the territory.

He saunters on up without really a care, or at least that is the air he gives off.

"You're new. And in need of some help, I presume? Perhaps I can be of assistance."

Because Starscream is the most helpful person ever.
quantumechanic: (wait for meeeeeee)

[personal profile] quantumechanic 2015-03-11 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
Granted, six months of separation was like five minutes, robot time, but Nautica was still overjoyed to see the outline of a familiar altmode against the sky. She checked the trajectory with her wrench, then ran to meet her friend. Her own altmode was of absolutely no use in the city, so it took longer than she would have liked before Nautica was charging up behind Windblade while the cityspeaker leaned over the terminal.

"Windblade! Windblade!"

Watch out girl you're getting hugged.
wimbles: (is that normal)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
She hesitates a moment – puts the sword away, takes a step towards him. Her brow furrows. She can tell something's wrong.

"Are you alright?"

[personal profile] luckyfaceplate 2015-03-11 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
The jet trail certainly catches Optimus's attention. He'd seen many flyers in the sky--maybe a little too many for comfort, but this is one of the first he can feel slightly good about. There's something distinct about it, and tugs at the back of his mind in familiarity. His curiosity piqued, he follows it before it fades into the sky, for once wishing he had wings of his own to tail it.

Seeing the trail eventually taper off, he stumbles into the area around Windblade's approximate position, eyes tracking the area until he sets sights on her.

And never before has he been more glad to see such a new--yet familiar face.

"Windblade."
arnhaid: (saddest bara in bara history)

[personal profile] arnhaid 2015-03-11 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
"I... yeah. I'm not hurt or anything."

But how did he even bring this up? He grimaces, holding his hands up. The embarrassment is gone, and there's nothing but resignation in his face.

"It's just... I'm sorry. There's a lotta weird time stuff happenin' and on top of that, my memories ain't all here." This is really the best he's done yet with the information.

"So... where do you know me from, an' I'm sorry if I ever decked you or anybody you liked."

Nailed it.
wimbles: (is that normal)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
She knows that voice.

Windblade turns around slowly, but she looks surprised when she actually sees the bot who's addressing her. It's pretty clear she was expecting someone different – or at least someone who looks different.

Her optics narrow a little, although out of perplexedness more than suspicion. "Are you... Starscream?"
wimbles: (c:)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Nautica–?"

Windblade is not much of a hugger, but she's so glad to see someone who she recognises who also recognises her that she does at least sort of awkwardly put her arm around Nautica's shoulder and pat her back. She vents out a breath she didn't realise she was holding in, and leans back – or tries to, anyway – to get a better look at her friend.

"Nautica, I – what are you doing here?"
quantumechanic: (my interests let me tell u them)

[personal profile] quantumechanic 2015-03-11 06:50 am (UTC)(link)
The welds from her misadventure with the bad Megatron weren't bothering her anymore, but Nautica hadn't yet bothered to cajole Brainstorm into whipping up a batch of paint to fix her finish, so the scars were still visible against the purple and yellow of her impellers.

Nautica let Windblade pull back far enough that they could have a conversation that didn't happen into each other's shoulders. "Fixing things, mostly."
wimbles: (whispery handshakey)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Optimus Prime."

She looks a little surprised, but not as surprised as she would have been, say, three or four threads up. She also looks kind of relieved, although it's not the same kind of sparkfelt everything-will-be-okay-now relief that someone with more first-hand experience of his status as an icon and a figurehead and a leader might have felt. But she trusts him, and his presence does make her feel like whatever's going on here might not be quite as difficult to deal with as it could have been.

"It's good to see you," she says earnestly. "Or as good as it can be knowing you've been relocated against your will..."
Edited 2015-03-11 21:23 (UTC)
wimbles: (i GUESS)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
"'Weird time stuff'," she repeats. After what Slipstream had said about alternate universes it isn't too difficult to swallow, but this whole situation is more than a little bit overwhelming. There's no way she thinks Ironhide would be making this up, though. She does her best to take it in stride. "I... Right. Okay. My name's Windblade – we met on Cybertron, after the war..."
Edited 2015-03-11 07:05 (UTC)
wimbles: (i GUESS)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
She notices that, it's hard not to – her surprised smile disappears, and she holds Nautica at arm's length so she can look her up and down. "Fixing yourself?" she asks, her optics going a little wide as she takes in the damage. "What happened?" Chromia showing up with dents or fresh welds in her plating is never really worth remarking on, and Windblade herself gets into her fair share of scrapes, but seeing Nautica this dinged up is kind of jarring...
Edited 2015-03-11 07:11 (UTC)
quantumechanic: ('trisyllabic' is four syllables)

[personal profile] quantumechanic 2015-03-11 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh no, First Aid and Megatron did the surgery." No, wait, right, she was going to have to explain the whole Megatron. Thing. "Uh. There are at least three Megatrons here. One of them is the regular Megatron, from the Lost Light. One of them is from before the war and he wants to be a doctor--he's so adorable, Windblade, you'll love him--and he helped patch me up. One of them is...I don't know. Spiky. He's the one who threw me into a wall."

Welcome to Robot Hell, Windblade.
wimbles: (is that normal)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Windblade stares at her. She can only imagine how utterly baffling what she's hearing must be for people who've actually been aware of Megatron as a terrifying threat for four million years, and she's kind of struggling as is. With what she does know she's kind of doubtful about the idea that she'll find any kind of Megatron adorable.

"He threw you into a wall?" she repeats. She wants to ask, isn't this the same guy who's Nautica's ship captain? Doesn't that make her feel kind of uncomfortable? Has anybody stopped him? How many more dangerous war criminals are running around throwing helpless nerds into walls completely unchecked?

She settles on just, "Are you okay?"
tsunclonus: (Sorta serene)

[personal profile] tsunclonus 2015-03-11 12:18 pm (UTC)(link)
'Antithesis to organic life'? Primus grant him strength. Cyclonus only looks thoroughly unimpressed at Miranda's obvious distaste.

"'Mechanoid' is common," he says. "If I am to call you 'human', then 'Cybertronian' is more precise."

He notes the disappearance of the barrier with a narrowing of his optics, but doesn't otherwise mention it. He'll remain wary; this human may have some tricks up her sleeve.

"If you've encountered others, than it is likely you've been here longer than I." He gives another glance around the ruins. "But I would suspect war is the culprit."

The city is in better condition than much of the Cybertron he knows, following the war, but it still shambles compared to the Cybertron he loved. If this is some alternate timeline created by Brainstorm's meddling, then he aches to know that it is apparently destiny for Cybertron to be ruined.
chickscream: (you've had your fun)

[personal profile] chickscream 2015-03-11 02:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Slipstream falls into silence for a moment, then goes "Huh!" in surprise.

"I didn't even notice," she tells the other jet, "but there is, isn't there?" It's not the strongest tug she's ever felt, not hooking around her spark chamber and yanking like the last (and so much worse) summoning she'd felt, but it's there, like a line gently reeling them in.

Slipstream is instantly wary of it.

"You know what? I don't think I can help you with that!" she announces, suddenly. "I think I... will see you around, if whatever's calling you isn't hungry. Bye!"

Yeah, she's noping on out of there. She's no coward, but she hasn't lived this long (cough cough a year and a bit cough) by going exactly where she's led and being incautious enough to answer things tugging on her; Windblade can go the rest of the way on her own.
ancillary: (Easy living crowd so flat)

[personal profile] ancillary 2015-03-11 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"You're offended."

It wasn't a question. Independent synthetics were uncommon, but not unheard of; the legal red tape stamping out artificial intelligence research were proof enough, even without the geth or Reaper threat, of the dangers of AI rampancy. Here, over the course of this brief and curt exchange, Miranda has gauged a nuanced ambit of emotion and rationale.

This was unprecedented and compounded with growing evidence culled from the environment that there was now creator species, Miranda is now staring down the uncomfortable possibility that her first impression was flawed. Pity.

"I see." She nods, coming to some other conclusion to herself.

Then, without warning, she leaps down off the catwalk through the guardrails with only a forty foot drop between her and the ground. Only a few feet before impact a timed application of biotic barriers slows her descent to a crawl and she lands deftly. She kept the cautious distance of a few yards distance between herself and Cyclonus, but her demeanor changes and she doesn't appear to speak as if she were addressing a computer.

"Miranda Lawson. If you'd indulge me any information you can provide would expedite my efforts to investigate why your planet has spontaneously evolved to support human life."
arnhaid: (Right back home again)

[personal profile] arnhaid 2015-03-11 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah."

He scrubs a hand over his face, looking embarrassed and apologetic. "I'm sorry," he says, and then holds a hand out in awkward greeting. "It's uh. It's good to see you."

Part of him wants to say "again", but he refrains, for now.
quantumechanic: (aww nightbeat you're trash)

[personal profile] quantumechanic 2015-03-11 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
There'd be more nerd-bashing except Nautica had somehow managed to get along with all the other dangerous psychotics.

"I'm fine." She patted Windblade's shoulder to reassure her. "First Aid's a great doctor, and most of the people here are just fine...you have to meet all my Lost Light friends! And Shockwave!"

Obviously the most important thing was shoving all her friends together so that they could be friends, too. Not the whole 'abandoned planet in another universe' issue.
wimbles: (pchooooo)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Windblade's a little surprised by her sudden departure, but on reflection she can't really blame her. She herself doesn't really know what she's going to find here, but this kind of thing – it's her job.

Maybe there is the possibility it's malicious... but it doesn't feel like it is. She trusts it. Perhaps she's a little too trusting.

She flies on. Hopefully she'll see the other jet again some time.
wimbles: (whispery handshakey)

[personal profile] wimbles 2015-03-11 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
She shakes her head at his apology, and takes the hand he offers to shake that, too. "It's good to see you too, even if you don't remember," she says earnestly. "But... could you tell me what you mean by... time stuff?"

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