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robothell2014-12-19 11:20 pm
robotsatan) wrote in robothell2014-12-19 11:20 pm
[ INTRO LOG ]
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...
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...
no subject
"Weird as it is, my scans say Cybertron. I don't recognize the city, I'm afraid, but I'd defer to a native on that." Like Tarn presumably was, and Nautica looked at him to answer the implicit question, despite the fact she'd just indirectly claimed to be something he didn't know existed. At least finding out she hailed from somewhere that had only made contact with the homeworld in the last year or so should ease his existential crisis over not being recognized.
no subject
"I do not recognize it... but I suppose the war has changed many cities greatly." He sighs, lowering his heavy war frame onto a nearby rock, settling wearily. It certainly has been a trying day.
"And, ah, where do you hail from, if not from Cybertron?" His treads rustle and his frame creaks as he shifts to a more comfortable position. He makes another fruitless attempt to ping his team before finally giving up and giving Nautica his full attention.
no subject
"I'm from Caminus," she explained, retrieving Brainstorm's briefcase and searching out her own rock to sit on. "We were settled by a Metrotitan millions of years ago, long before the war started, and we fell out of contact with Cybertron and the other Titans after he became too weak to use his space bridge. It was only recently that anybody made it out far enough that we got back in touch. My friends and I agreed to go help repair Metroplex, and that's how I ended up on Cybertron a few months back."
She got the strained look of someone who didn't really know how to have the awkward part of the conversation. "We were. Uh. Dismayed to find out about the war."
no subject
She missed the war. Away all those millions of years unaware of the strife and injustice happening in the homeland. And yet somehow she defaults to the Autobots? Well...that simply won't do.
"And yet, if you missed the war why align yourself with the Autobots? Why not remain...unaffiliated if you will." While NAILs carry the rank stench that accompanies lack of conviction, at least then it would be easier to gently guide her to the proper side. But then again, when has Tarn ever backed down from a challenge?
or this will get completely jossed in six months WHO THE FUCK KNOWS
Nautica herself wasn't religious in any way, but she came from a society sustained solely by the resources provided by a single Metrotitan, one who'd willingly sacrificed himself so that his smaller cousins could live. It would be hard to overstate the respect they all felt for Caminus and his brethren, and Metroplex was first among them all, Caminus' closest friend and confidant. Even if the Decepticons hadn't turned from freedom fighters to genocidal tyrants over the course of the war, siding against Metroplex would have been unthinkable.
"Besides, Thunderclash was very convincing. I've never met anyone with such a nuanced understanding of ethical philosophy." When the first Autobot one met also happened to be the greatest Autobot, it did tend to color one's impressions favorably.
ITS COOL
It has not been long enough since he last heard that name uttered. Tarn hates Autobots. And if there is anyone more of an Autobot than Optimus Prime himself, it is Thunderclash.
Years past, his team had a run in with the crew of the Vis Vitalis. Never before has the DJD been so thoroughly destroyed by a crew of Autobots. The incident marks the one command for retreat that he has ever issued. An embarrassing moment, truly. Since that moment Tarn has sworn retribution upon Thunderclash and his crew.
He throws on a sort of blasé facade, glancing at Nautica. "Hm. I see...Thunderclash? And how is he doing?" Dead, Tarn hopes. "I haven't been in the pleasure of his company in quite some time."
Its personal now. Tarn is determined to trump Thunderclash. He will convert Nautica or die trying
no subject
"He's well, as far as I know." Sorry, Tarn. On the bright side, that meant Tarn could still fantasize about killing him. "Still looking for the Knights of Cybertron."
no subject
Tarn grins behind his mask."Oh, excellent."
He starts to feel a familiar itch in his t-cog, his need to transform slowly starting to become more urgent. He suppresses it a while longer in favor to learn more about his current companion and how she may best serve the cause.
"Tell me a bit about yourself, Nautica. You seem like a bright and spirited individual. What did you do on Caminus?" He rests his elbows on his knees, leaning forward in interest. Flattery and charm are his best weapon in this instance. He will win this.
no subject
Right. People talked about themselves sometimes. That was normal.
"Me? I'm an engineer." She held up her wrench by way of emphasis. "Quantum mechanic. If it's attached to a ship and does impossible things to the laws of physics, I'm there. In my downtime I, uh--" Nautica faltered briefly before recovering as she realized she didn't really do all that much. "--I read, mostly. I like a glass of good engex."
She shrugged, not really self-deprecating, but somewhat at a loss. "Caminus is pretty uneventful compared to Cybertron."
no subject
"That's wonderful! Such an auspicious talent, I'm sure the Autobots have made great use of it. I, myself, am in a more...corporeal line of work." Tarn explains making a sort of noncommittal hand gesture.
"I can relate to your love of literature and fine engex though. I have a collection of the best vintage blends that I've picked up here and there on my travels. Have you read much from Authors on Cybertron or does your selection come from other worlds?"
no subject
So, talking about something else, then.
Tarn spared her the work of coming up with a subject change, and at the mention of books, she immediately perked up, awkwardness disappearing into a scholar's enthusiasm.
"I've been playing catch-up," she said in roughly the same way a small child would talk about Christmas. "The hard sciences don't change and are mostly a matter of presentation, of course, but philosophy and the arts diverged so much, and I get to experience it in one vast arc. The sweep of history is awe-inspiring...and tragic, really. In retrospect, you can see the Functionist orthodoxy hardening, in a way that probably wasn't clear at the time, and the corresponding poverty of expression in the published literature. I'm sure there was underground art, because there always is, but so little of it survived, and--" she stopped when she realized she was lecturing and looked a little sheepish again. "Uh. Sorry."
no subject
"No, please continue. Really the art pieces created in that period were quite eloquent, it's a shame that war is so unforgiving to such institutions. The music though...The music from the beginning of the war is unlike any other. Such passion and suffering."
no subject
"Turbulent times do lead to great art," she agreed, leaning forward as she became more absorbed in the conversation. "It feels a bit...ghoulish to say it, but I think people being able to turn suffering into something beautiful is one of the real triumphs of the Cybertronian spirit."
no subject
"Yes, exactly!" Unable to hold back he transforms. Tank, then back to robot in a flash. "You see all of these pieces born from the oppression of the senate... They hold so much power that the creator, themselves, lacked in their day to day lives. And it continues to evolve even further as the war progresses!" Tarn takes a few steps to move in front of Nautica, kneeling to her level. "Some of the best works are born from pain. I dare say it even increases it's beauty- you can sense the raw intensity of emotion that the maker infused directly into it. Whether it be in the form of prose, or poem, or song; It proves that suffering itself can be the most raw, and powerful, and truly exquisite emotion available."
no subject
At this point, anyone with a working sense of self preservation would have been checking their watch and gathering their coat, but Nautica was merely taken aback by the strength of his reaction. More used to academia than war, she didn't interpret a passionate presentation of a questionable thesis as a warning sign of anything but the possibility of getting cornered in the lounge after the seminar for a longer talk. Of course, her fellow academics didn't wander around with fusion cannons on their arms, but one had to make allowances for culture, and Tarn had been quite polite since their initial misunderstanding.
"Pain--in whatever guise--is primal, definitely." Though she appreciated the courtesy, even kneeling, Tarn was taller than a seated Nautica, and she rested her elbows on her knees and looked up at him, gesturing for emphasis as she spoke. "I'm not sure anything is more so, and that has a certain, hmm...totemic power, let's say, but I think you're coming perilously close to attributing virtue to the sensation itself, rather than the response to it. Those pre-War artists and poets all chose to forge something beautiful and meaningful from their experience. We get to share in that experience, albeit imperfectly, because of that choice. To weigh their suffering as greater or more important than their strength in the face of it would do them, and their art, a disservice."
no subject
“Yes but there within lies the problem.” Tarn claps one of his large hand on his knee while the other gestures to Nautica. “The strength to overcome of course ads to it, yes, but really, in my humble opinion, the beauty is in the complex emotional effusion. To be able to inject that into a work so profoundly takes talent in the grandest sense of the word. To be able to feel it as they feel it? As if you are there with them? Honestly- remarkable. “
no subject
The war, their war, not hers, no matter what symbol she wore on her chest, was over. Why wouldn't she debate?
"You could say that of any strong feeling--love, rage, joy--why single out suffering?" She meant the question genuinely, not as a rhetorical flourish. Nautica didn't care about winning a debate--thesis, antithesis, the point was to get to synthesis. "Because it's the one we want to avoid more than any other?"
no subject
Tarn cocks his head giving Nautica an appraising look "I must say i am pleased that our paths have crossed. There are not many people who are willing to have such an in depth conversation about the arts. Have you read any works by Megatron?"
no subject
"Everything he ever published," she said with a half-smile. Unlike some mechs in this conversation, for her it wasn't near-religious fervor. She just read widely, constantly, and very, very quickly. "He's an immensely gifted writer. Driving him from the pen to the sword should count as one of the Senate's sins."
no subject
Tarn's eyes narrow slightly at Nautica's comment, "Megatron is truly a brilliant artist, but referring to his transition into a warrior as a sin is a bit disrespectful to the cause that he sacrificed so much for. His passion for change is truly the driving force behind his works. Are you insinuating that fighting for what you believe is wrong? That we should be content to settle?"
He settles back on his heels. "No, i think that push into becoming a combatant is quite a beautiful transition. Consider the strength that it took to fight back against the Senate. I would, honestly, consider that a virtue."
no subject
"I'm not insinuating that," she said, a little plaintive at being misinterpreted, and missing that his sudden stillness was a warning sign. "I'm no pacifist. There's a strong moral case for violence in pursuit of redress of injustice, and I'm not going to fault Megatron's choice at the remove of four million years. I only wish he--all of you--had lived in a society just enough that he hadn't been faced with that choice. That's all."
no subject
What Nautica doesn't know is that Tarn loves violence. He craves it. It is a strange sort of conundrum. While, yes, he would love for the injustice that necessitated the need for war to have never happened. But, missing out on 4 million years of sampling the delightful pain and suffering of the mechs he faced? Why, he wouldn't trade that for the world. But vocalizing his disagreement would just make him look...well...like a lunatic. Alliances are necessary. So he remains silent on that topic and opts to go for a more gentle touch.
"It is true. Violence was the only way to handle such a situation." Yes, good.
no subject
"I can't even imagine being there, having to make the choice." In an unconscious gesture, her fingers brushed the Autobrand at her throat. She'd like to think she'd have picked the right side, but she was discovering that everything was so much more confusing when you were living it instead of reading about it a million years later. Maybe she'd have followed Megatron. Maybe she'd have kept following him, even after he'd lost his way. "Maybe I'd be wearing a different badge today."
no subject
"It is quite possible. Hearing Megatron's speeches from the beginning of the war made followers of many. With such a just cause I have a hard time believing you would be content to stand idly by." Tarn hasn't quite grasped the fact that stroking Nautica's nearly non-existant ego will get him no where. He's trying god damn it. He catches her in a level stare.
"Or so i would like to think."
no subject
"That's kind of you to say," she managed at last, too flustered to notice the incongruousness of thanking him for what amounted to assuring her she'd be a good murderer. "But I'm not sure I'd make much of a revolutionary."
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