[ INTRO LOG ]

[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 no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- 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.

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, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

Comments

[towardspeace]

Megatron doesn't feel super compelled to leave here, but he can hazard a guess that it's the same mysterious force drew that him here in the first place that's causing that, and he'd rather follow a suggestion from Optimus than submit to whatever the hell that is. Let's have that walk; it sure as hell doesn't seem like there's anything to be gained by staying.

"No," he agrees. "And I've never known organic life forms to be able to breathe the atmosphere, either." He glances at Optimus. "Have you been here for long?"

[luckyfaceplate]

And that's the way their relationships should be. Casually listening to each other while simultaneously regretting it for every moment of their lives. It's only going to lead to more.

"Not very long. I've noticed organic life forms here as well, two in particular."

...

A head turn.

"One who met you, actually."

[towardspeace]

"Ah," says Megatron. "The human 'June'?" He hums thoughtfully. "She claimed to have friends among the Autobots, but I don't imagine that you know her, do you? She thought I didn't 'look like Megatron'."

[luckyfaceplate]

"That was the one I came into contact with. I do not recognize her, but she is familiar with me. But at the same time claims it is not me."

If that makes sense.

"It appears she knows of an alternate universe, and probably hails from it."

[towardspeace]

It does make sense – Megatron's experience was similar. Although – "She didn't recognise me at all until I told her my name... She thought I was an Autobot. Trusted me immediately." He sounds amused. "I imagine she is from an alternate universe... One where the idea of Megatron as an Autobot is inconceivable. Can you imagine." His tone is distinctly sarcastic, but a little bitter with it, as if he still can't quite believe himself.

[luckyfaceplate]

"Funny, she recognized me the moment she saw me." Then again, he'd been told he painted himself a very noticeable silhouette. His eyes flick down, finger tapping against his faceplate, considering the humor in that statement. Not too long ago, Optimus would have agreed with June.

"Amazing, how our futures can change. Alternate universes where paths can branch out moreso than others. Ones where a Decepticon, as misguided as they were, can become an Autobot."

His eyes look to the sky.

"Which makes me wonder what happened to this one.

[towardspeace]

Honestly, as much as he's willing to admit to having been misguided, hearing it Optimus say it grates on him a little. Probably because it's such a grotesque understatement – it feels condescending, especially coming from someone who's spent so long opposing him. He doesn't remark on it, though, just shoots him a frowning sideways look – one which turns to the sky as Optimus does, the frown still in place.

"I assume we happened to it," he says, "one way or another."

[luckyfaceplate]

Those eyes harden back, because if anyone doesn't get to make remarks on just what Megatron was during the war, it's Megatron himself. Sorry, he'll refer to you as 'mass murderer' from now on for better clarification.

Thankfully, the topic changes, as he follows the familiar star patterns, voice as even as ever.

"That seems to be an unfortunate constant. Makes me wonder if any universe avoided that."

[towardspeace]

gosh OP he just wants you to be HONEST

Megatron considers that for a moment, quiet and thoughtful, looking at the stars. "If it wasn't me," he says after a while, "I'm sure there would have been someone else. Sooner or later."

[luckyfaceplate]

gosh!! Maybe he just wants to think the best of you!

"Hmm."

He's quiet for a moment longer as they walk, seeing their feet walk side by side. Odd, how the last time he considered this was four million years ago.

"Change was inevitable, that's for sure. The Senate--no, our planet was corrupt."

[towardspeace]

Kind of stating the obvious there, mate, but Megatron nods anyway. He wonders, not for the first time, what form that change would have come in – some other Megatron, just as determined but with a stronger spark, better able to hold onto his morality despite the grim necessities of revolution? Or Orion's changes from within, with all the compromise and pandering to the elite that Megatron still can't help but believe that would have to entail... but even that slow, dishonest change would have been better than what his own war did to their planet.

"I think I thought that if I didn't do something about it, no one else would," he muses. "Perhaps that was my mistake."

[luckyfaceplate]

Hey, it's what Optimus is best at. It's something that's been running through his own mind as well. If his plan had worked. If reform would have been for the better. Anything probably than what happened.

Four million years of war looks bad no matter what is put next to it.

"You had determination and a desire for change. Admirable traits considering the society."

But.

"I often wonder if I was the reason it dragged on for so long. Your ambition changed from a new world order to...destroying everything I held dear."

A pause. "I suppose it's blame we both share."

[towardspeace]

"Perhaps," says Megatron. He vents a long, heavy sigh, his eyes on the unfamiliar, desolate horizon. "Do you ever wonder how different things might have been if we'd taken the same side?"

[luckyfaceplate]

"I certainly do." He says it without hesitation, and without looking away from the exact horizon Megatron's gaze has settled on.

"There are a million paths one can take, and we can only choose one. In the end, no matter which one we end up taking, we wonder about the others."

He stops there, to consider.

"But I wonder if it is ever that easy."

[towardspeace]

"Hah – I'm sure it's not." Despite the laugh, he's not really smiling. "No doubt it would only have been a matter of time before some conflict of ideology divided us regardless."

[luckyfaceplate]

The laught, while Optimus knew it wasn't anything joyous, got a slight, thoughtful hum in return. Some things--no matter how much you try and think otherwise--just don't change.

...But what if they could.

"Would you like to try, here?"

He stops walking, now entirely focused on Megatron, the blue glow trying to pinpoint the red, lock on to it. "There's nothing left of this world, no government to oppress and no chaos." Those ears flick slightly, as his gaze shifts to the landscape for only a moment.

"A different chance at redemption perhaps, and one I can witness myself."

Which..he secretly admitted he wanted.

[towardspeace]

Megatron turns back to look at him, slowly, a strange look on his face. It's a moment or two before he replies.

"With you?" Something like a smile does cross his face now, if just for a moment. "... Yes. Yes, I would. But I can't imagine your Autobots would like it."

[luckyfaceplate]

The "Yes" seems to calm his plating more than any other words probably could have. It's almost amazing, how much something like that could change him. Megatron had a tone now--one with none of the deception he'd come to know over four million years.

They're both tired, and they both need to start again.

"They won't. But change is never an EASY thing to accept. Even if it's for the better."

[towardspeace]

"We can only hope it will be," says Megatron; and he holds out his hand to his old rival, as if to say, I won't fuck it up if you won't.

[luckyfaceplate]

And, without hesitation, he takes that hand, eyes never looking away from his once-nemesis. I won't fuck up if you won't, either.


"Then we've got some work to do."