robot satan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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
"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."
no subject
"Nonsense, I'm sure if you were faced with the decision you would find it easy to join the fight. Anger can drive you to great heights that you can seldom imagine possible."
He stands, offering his hand in a show of friendship. "Perhaps you will find yourself reevaluating your position when faced with the challenges that so often come in life. One can never quite know for certain what life has in store for them."
no subject
Without knowing about Tarn's vocalizer modifications, Nautica couldn't figure out why she suddenly wanted him to keep talking all day--it didn't have to be about anything in particular, either--nor was she inclined to disagree with him. The urge to have a philosophical discussion about the uses of anger, or even to mention that she didn't really get angry much at all washed away in a surge of almost palpable warmth spreading from her spark and down to the tips of her fingers.
"I. Uh." Nautica stood when he did, accepting his handshake without hesitation. She didn't think she was ever going to trade out badges, appealingly purple though the Decepticon one might be, but she also would have agreed to practically anything Tarn proposed at this point, as long as he proposed it in the tone he'd been using, and she didn't even attempt to correct him. "You're very right on that one."
no subject
"It was a nice talk that we were able to have. As I said, it has been some time since I have had the pleasure of having such a conversation. Perhaps we will meet again, but I'm afraid I should move on and continue looking for my teammates."