[ 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

[auramatic]

Drift only catches a brief glimpse of the jet before there's nothing but a vapor trail to follow, but even at a glance he knows it's no one he recognizes. Someone new, he's guessing -- and given how things have been shaping up lately, it wouldn't hurt to greet them. He follows the trail to the center of the city, tires tearing up old stone paths -- his alt mode isn't nearly as fast as hers, sleek as it is, so by the time he gets there the other mech is already in front of the terminal, her back to him. Drift knows his approach isn't exactly subtle, though, so he's not worried about surprising her when he transforms without coming to a halt, running off the last few steps of momentum as his feet hit the ground. It's too bad you weren't watching, Windblade, that was a pretty sweet entrance.

He's about to draw a little more attention to his presence with a cool greeting, but he's then immediately distracted by the sight of the terminal over her shoulder. He's been here about as long as anyone, and he's never seen the terminal here light up like that -- as far as he knew, no one could get it working. Drift's optics narrow slightly in bewildered curiosity as he approaches from behind without introducing himself, more interested in the strange images than Windblade for the time being. All of them are unfamiliar, but they strike him as somehow meaningful.

"How long has it been doing this?"

[wimbles]

Yeah, it's hard not to notice him showing up – Windblade's already turned to watch him approach by the time he comes up to watch the terminal over her shoulder. She's frowning – she doesn't recognise him, but he does have an Autobot badge, which... in theory ought to mean he's not too much of a stab-first-ask-questions-later sort of bot, but you can never really be sure.

She shakes her head at the question. "I don't know," she says. "I haven't been here long. But I think it's trying to tell us something. It... called me here, did you feel it?" She's matter-of-fact about it, like this is a normal, everyday sort of thing to discuss – although it's pretty obvious that she's keenly interested, regardless.

[auramatic]

Drift's optics are fixed on the terminal, but he jerks them away to look at Windblade with a faint look of surprise. It's then that he chooses to study her a little more closely -- there's something different-looking about her, despite the badge. He's definitely never seen her before, though. Drift would remember someone with such striking eyebrows.

His face quickly dissolves into something more serious, appropriately solemn for the matter at hand. "I do," he says quietly, way less matter-of-factly. In fact he sounds like he's pretty deep into the mystical bullshit end of things. "I'm glad I'm not the only one."

[wimbles]

She's glad to hear it, considering how Slipstream reacted; she doesn't smile, but her nod is a little more – invigorated, perhaps. She glances back at the monitor, still flickering between images.

"It's definitely not just a slideshow," she says seriously. "This is... I'm a Cityspeaker, I interpret for metrotitans, and... it's not the same, but it feels like I could get it if I just had a better idea of what I was dealing with."

[auramatic]

Drift is seriously impressed by Windblade's vibe here. What an intense aura. He studies the terminal screen carefully, but his optics flick back to her face, lighting up with interest.

"Sorry, you're a -- you talk to metrotitans?" He frowns slightly, his curiosity more than just piqued. He looks on the verge of fascinated. "That sounds...wow. Why haven't I ever heard of a Cityspeaker before?"