[ INTRO LOG #2 ]

[robotsatan]

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.

Comments

[primebyproxy]

Ultra Magnus' back and arms still ache from the weight of the drill as he powers down, curled in on himself to fit in what space he has in his cell. They'll still ache when he has to shoulder the massive machine again tomorrow. There's nothing he can do about that any more.

Everything still aches when he comes online to the overpowering need to walk somewhere. He knows he shouldn't try; disobedience means pain. But he can't shake the urge, and when he looks up slowly, ready to be kicked back down by a guard, he finds he's no longer in his cell. He has no idea where he is or how he got here from the mines, and as he labours to his feet, he groans. His entire being feels sore and worn down to the frame. Abused joints squeal under the strain of standing straight for the first time in weeks; bleary optics focus skyward, at some distant point he can't see.

Magnus has no idea where he is, but he knows he needs to be somewhere else. His first step is a staggering one and he grabs at the wall for balance, kicking over a pile of rusted rubble in the struggle to avoid falling.

He should try to find fuel, too. He starts forward again, more slowly this time.

toot toot trainwreck express

[staygoldponybot]

Sentinel is out... well, he can't really use the "scavenging" excuse, anymore. He's just straight up bumming around, looking for somewhere to stay.

Which is why, coincidentally, he comes across Magnus. He almost pulls a gun on the guy, until he sees the state the other bot is in. He doesn't lower it out of the goodness of his spark, but rather not wanting to waste bullets.

He cocks his head at the figure, squinting. Who is this Autobot. Why is he so big.

all aboard

[primebyproxy]

Magnus is so busy watching where he puts his feet so he doesn't fall that he hardly notices his would-be assailant. It's only when he sees the shadow about to fall across him that he looks up, and when he does, suddenly, his air compressors stop working for a moment. It feels like a punch to the chest.

He knows those colours. He knows that shape. He looks at the other Autobot like he's just seen a ghost.

"S… Sentinel Prime? Sir?" he ventures, uneasy. It can't be, not really, he tells himself. He saw Sentinel Prime's body torn to pieces in the crater where Megatron left it. And yet…

[staygoldponybot]

He's... not entirely sure what to say to that. He doesn't even know who this is.

"Yes...?"

That's about as much as he's got. Magnus might notice he's slightly hesitant; despite calling him 'sir' that doesn't necessarily mean this isn't someone further in the timeline who wants to murder him.

Maybe he's just being paranoid.

[primebyproxy]

Too exhausted to care about the hesitation and the wariness. Too exhausted to care about anything right now, save that he isn't hallucinating. Magnus turns a broken sort of smile to Sentinel as he lurches forward a step or two, then brings himself up short.

"I'm – I'm glad," he says very quietly. Shy. Maybe it is a hallucination, or a dream, and soon he'll wake. "Or maybe… I'm dreaming? I thought you were dead." He knows Sentinel Prime died.

He's too exhausted to care about that, either.

[staygoldponybot]

"So I've been informed."

He doesn't move when Magnus stumbles. No, this is obviously someone who doesn't want to murder him. This is exactly the type of someone needs, not someone like Optimus. Not that that'll necessarily change his demeanour towards Magnus; Sentinel was an incredibly stern commander.

Sentinel watches him for a long few moments. The state he's in won't do. Not at all.

"There's a medibay relatively nearby." He gestures in the general direction. "You look like you need work."

[primebyproxy]

"No, sir, I'm well enough," says Magnus. Just tired, he almost adds. But that's irrelevant; Sentinel Prime is alive. Battered, Magnus realises as he collects himself and starts closer to the Prime, but living. All his own aches are quickly forgotten. "But what about you, sir?" he asks, gently, looking Sentinel over.

He looks like he's halfway through the fight with Megatron already. The scars on his middle make Magnus' fuel run cold. The Matrix.

Magnus failed Sentinel Prime once. Maybe this is his second chance.

[sciencetank]

He's not the only huge bot out and about.

Although, Perceptor is more used to the sudden change of pace by now. Enough to where he's gotten sick of the whole "new world" nonsense. Time to get down to the business of studying and working on a way to leave.

He's so engrossed in studying the scrap of unfamiliar flora that the sounds of footsteps doesn't seem to rattle him. He'd been so used to Grimlock's stomping, wall-shaking footfalls, after all. What's one more?

[primebyproxy]

That familiar shape, in those familiar colours, draws a look of surprise from Magnus when he finally has a chance to pause so he needn't watch where he puts his feet. He didn't expect to see the scientist ever again, yet there he is. Magnus almost smiles.

"Perceptor?" he sighs, relieved. Perhaps they infiltrated the security systems and got everyone out of the cells.

[sciencetank]

"Yes?"

Despite the promptness of his response, Perceptor doesn't so much as look away from his data entry. He's at a very key point of his work, after all. If he messes it up now, he'll have to start all over again, and won't that be irritating?

Besides. He's used to being large enough to deter most threats, and most bots know of his bodyguard detail.

Or, ex-bodyguard detail, as it were.

[primebyproxy]

"Where are the others?" Surely he can't be the only one released, Magnus thinks. There are too many other valuable Autobots in the cells. "You… you freed the others, too, didn't you?" he asks even though he probably shouldn't. Of course whatever plan Perceptor and his team put together worked. Of course everyone is accounted for.

But Magnus worries.

[sciencetank]

"What?"

Oh, now Perceptor looks up. Looks up and... blinks. This isn't someone he completely recognizes. Parts of the frame are familiar, but overall, this is a stranger. He blinks.

Not to mention, he has literally no idea what this bot is talking about.

"To my knowledge, my assistants are still in the Nerve Center where I left them."

[primebyproxy]

Magnus not only pauses at that response, he draws back half a step and fumbles for what to say. Perceptor seems right enough to his tired optics, but the words ring oddly.

"No," he stammers eventually, "I mean the others… the others in the mines with me." It is Perceptor, he reasons; the scientist has always been one to be engrossed in whatever task lies at hand.

[rodders]

Well there's a familiar bot - Rodimus hadn't seen Magnus in a while, and it ate at him that he couldn't bring him up on the comm as well. Had he gone home? And if he had, how had he managed that? Surely he wasn't so put out with him that he decided he just wouldn't tell the rest of the crew - no, he was certain Magnus wouldn't do that. And hey, he'd managed to find and get himself into the armor.

He probably could punch the shit out of anyone they needed him to now at this point.

It takes a bit of jogging for him to catch up to Magnus, grin in place. "Hey, big guy!"

[primebyproxy]

Big guy. Magnus pauses, bemused. He's never heard anyone address him like that – it sounds warm. Friendly. It's not something he's used to. He turns that briefly unguarded look on the stranger before unease shutters his expression and furrows his brow. He has no idea who this person is – or why he acts like they're familiar with one another. He isn't even wearing a brand.

"H… hello?" Magnus ventures awkwardly, stiffly. He doesn't want to be rude but he isn't sure how to proceed, either. He can't even be sure what faction the other bot is with. Magnus tucks in on himself just a little, unconsciously preparing for the backlash. Or a fight.

[rodders]

He'll get neither, just an even more friendly grin and a pat on the arm. Personal space? Oh please, that's not something Rodimus knows. "Wondered where you'd gone off to after Drift. You missed all the action!"

Eventually Rodimus will clue into the fact that something is off about Magnus, but that moment isn't right now.

[primebyproxy]

"After… after what?" Magnus asks, blinking. He shouldn't let the stranger just casually touch him like this, he thinks. It's a security risk. Grimlock wouldn't hear of it.

Grimlock is gone, though. Grimlock is gone and simple contact like this is… calming. It's not a fist smashing into his face or a hand dragging him down by the neck. It doesn't hurt. Magnus' gaze flickers to where Rodimus' hand rests on his arm, however briefly, as if expecting to see some visible evidence of the unexpected ease slowly warming his circuits.

It certainly doesn't seem like this one means any harm.

[rodders]

"Uh." That's... odd. Magnus would remember, wouldn't he? Maybe he just smacked his helm on something, but his tone is slightly skeptical when he offers to fill in the blanks. "After Drift got mauled by Tarn and left for a message for Megatron? Who took it badly, obviously, and went to punch Tarn's stupid mass right off his face."

Hyperbole, but when has that ever stopped Rodimus? He frowns, however, concern flickering over his face.

"You do remember that, right?"

[planate]

"Magnus!"

It's not hard to recognise the general shape. Even with the differences, not many mechs are as FUCKING HUGE as Magnus is. Pipes runs up to him, delighted.

"It's good to see-- you?"

A little late does he see just how different the armour is. The minibot doesn't sound disappointed though, just mildly confused.

[primebyproxy]

Ultra Magnus peers down at the strange Autobot who inexplicably feels comfortable abbreviating his name with so much familiarity and he frowns, more in consternation than disapproval. He doesn't know this bot and while he could understand being recognised by just about anyone in the ranks on either side of the war, being called to like a friend is what's most baffling.

"Thank you?" he murmurs, equally confused.

[planate]

Considering Magnus hasn't written Pipes up for something, he's already concerned. Something must've happened to him. Of course, this being an alternate version did cross his mind - he'd been filled in on the Megatrons and Starscreams and that one Optimus - but he's still concerned.

"Ah... are you okay, sir?" Pipes can't help but wring his hands slightly, "I can take you to the medibay or we can find some energon if you need it."

Maybe he's just hungry. Pipes is sure with some energon in him Magnus'll go back to being his usual write-up-for-venting-too-heavily-self.

[primebyproxy]

Sir is a little more comfortable for Magnus, at least. It makes more sense. Odd thing to cling to in a situation that makes so little sense in general. He tries to stand straighter; a good leader doesn't let those relying on him see him weak, after all.

Optimus never did.

"Just a little tired," he says. It still nags at him, the vague sense of recognition he feels, but he can't drum up a name no matter how hard he tries. Whether from fragmentation or a real lack of data, he isn't certain. He leaves it lie for now. There are bigger concerns at hand. "Where are the others?" Surely he can't be the only one brought out of the mines.

[planate]

"That's fine. There's plenty of space for recharging."

The entire city, in fact! "You mean the crew? Oh, they're... not here, I guess. It's a bit of a weird situation if I'm honest."

oboyohboyohboy

[airguardian]

Jetfire happens to be in the skies. There's never too much air traffic and getting the lay of the land is far easier like this than on foot. He's not likely to get shot at either. It's a shame that he hasn't been able to salvage much in the way of equipment or anything of use.

However, he doesn't need any scanners or anything of the like to see that someone is struggling down below. There is no telling at this distance who it is or what badge they wear. Jetfire is still under the impression that such things don't matter so much in this environment. Thus he makes a rather quick descent, transforming mid way with his hands up in the universal 'I mean no harm' gesture.

It's then that Jetfire notices who it is on uneasy footing. Ultra Magnus... Perhaps the question should be 'which Ultra Magnus' but right now that's not something that really matters. Instead the scientist lands and extends a hand.

"I don't think you should be out here in your condition, sir."

Doesn't hurt to be polite regardless.

[primebyproxy]

The first sound of engines in the sky sends Magnus looking for cover; ages of war with Seekers makes it a trained reflex. There aren't many places on an open street like this for someone of his mass to hide. He half-steps, half-staggers into the meagre shelter where a support has started coming away from the very wall it was meant to keep standing and leans back, wearily watching for one of the Extermination Squadron drones to appear. He hasn't quite got his rifle into his hand before that sleek white jet transforms.

He stops. He hasn't seen that one in quite a long time. Something like relief washes through Magnus and he sags against the wall rather than take Jetfire's hand right away. Exhaustion makes his limbs even heavier at the thought of asking anyone to support him now.

"Just tired," he lies. Starving and abused and tired. "What – what happened to the guards? The drones? How did I get back to the surface?" He squints and shakes his head, trying to clear it, and looks up and down the empty street. "…Where is everyone else?"