[ 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

[asafepairofhands]

{The Crater}
Ratchet has wandered around for a while, inspecting the energon deposits and the surrounding landscape, but nothing makes any more sense than it did a half-hour ago. This place looks like home, but it's not even the twisted wreck he remembers leaving on The Lost Light--he's crouching down now and lifting the leaves of one of the small plants with his fingertips, peering down at it and the heavy fruit at the ends of its branches .

"What the hell...?"


{The City Center}
Ratchet eventually heeds the nagging call at the back of his mind and wanders into the city. It's both familiar and entirely alien at the same time, and the weird, nagging homesickness he gets from staring up at the ruined structures annoys him more than anything. He tries to shake it off as he maps out where he is as best he can, slowly taking stock of what supplies he can see and looking out for any familiar faces.

CRATER

[auramatic]

Drift's retreated to the crater since his confusing conversation with Rodimus -- confusing and a little devastating, if he's totally honest, although he's intent on not letting it get him down. He doesn't really have a clear idea of what happened, after all, and considering it was Rodimus doing the telling, that's not exactly surprising. But Drift can only take in so much, and with the sudden change in setting and all that missing time, he just...needs to step away from it all.

The crater is a good retreat for now, at least. Drift can stand on one of the higher rocky formations and turn his gaze skyward, studying the constellations in the sky. They're familiar when nothing else is, but even that in itself is frustrating. There's no mistake that this is Cybertron -- but if that's the case, then why does this city look so wholly unfamiliar?

He hears the grind of silt and rock under someone's foot and an indistinct voice and his hand immediately goes to his sword hilt as he pivots, optics searching.

"Who's there?" Even as he says the words, his gaze settles on a familiar form, and surprise overtakes his face. "Ratchet?"

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet looks shocked himself, optics widening.

"Drift," he says, no malice in his voice at all, only a kind of soft surprise. He straightens quickly, his optics flicking over Drift and lingering at his Autobot badge. He hesitates, unsure.

"What... are you doing here?"

[auramatic]

Drift was ready for an acid response, a sniping retort, but...nothing. It catches him off guard, and he blinks, a baffled look flickering across his face.

"That's the question of the day," Drift says, peering at Ratchet with an almost worried look on his face. He hangs back, looking hesitant. "Is...everything all right?"

[asafepairofhands]

"What, you mean aside from being kidnapped off the ship and dumped here with no warning and less explanation?"

Ratchet's voice is caustic now, but he doesn't sound angry with Drift, just annoyed in general. "Yes, everything's perfect, why would you ask?"

[auramatic]

Ah. Ratchet's only just arrived, then. Drift winces a little at the acid tone of his voice, though something seems a little off nonetheless.

"You just seem a little...nothing -- never mind." Drift feels badly thrown enough already. This isn't worth arguing over, not when there are far more pressing concerns. "You're not the only one. Pretty much everyone here is in the same boat -- and yeah, there are others. Quite a few, actually."

tiny humans all up in here

[smarterthandad]

Valeria was sitting on the fountain ledge, idly kicking her feet and making a list on her datapad of all the things she was going to need to get off this dumb planet.

It was a long list.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever." She slammed the tablet down on her legs in disgust, giving up on her work for a moment only to see yet another Cybertronian. Unlike many humans including her player she could easily tell them apart, and this was one she hadn't met yet.

Autobrand. Well, that was good. The worst any of them had been so far was flaky. Drift.

"Hello," said the tiny human child in the black and glowing green jumpsuit, who was somehow not dead, and also not apparently concerned about being on a ruined alien world.

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet looks around, then... down, his optics widening in surprise to see a human on something that looks so much like Cybertron. A quick check of internal scanners confirms that, yes, the atmosphere here is actually within livable parameters for organics. He frowns a little--something else odd. He's startled into politeness, however.

"Hello," he says back, then hesitates slightly. "I don't suppose you know how you got here, either."

[smarterthandad]

"I have a few hypotheses, but they're untestable under present conditions." Val gestured around the forum with a grimace. Just where was she supposed to get a working quantum resonance scanner in this mess?

[asafepairofhands]

"Tell me about it," Ratchet says dryly. This kid sounds like a perfect imitation of Perceptor, and goodness knows they don't need another of him wandering around--if he's even here. Though it might get everyone home faster if they didn't wait until the end of his explaining how he managed it to send them all on their way.

She looks like a human, though--and a young one at that. He takes a few slow steps closer, trying not to alarm her, or think too hard about the last time he'd been on Earth, which hadn't exactly left a lingering sense of trust and fondness for all but a few of her species. "Guess we'll have to start with what we do know, then. What's your name?

"I'm Ratchet."

CITY 8)

[arnhaid]

Hopefully, Ratchet is paying attention to his surroundings. Because, in time, there comes a heavy tread -- uncertain, almost panicked steps. Dammit, not again. He doesn't want to have to go through all this again.

The footsteps stop -- Ironhide stops -- when he catches sight of familiar plating.

"Ratchet!"

And that's all the warning there is before Ironhide crashes into the medic and all but crushes him into a hug.

oh my god

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet hears the footsteps pause and has time to half-turn before Ironhide collides with him and lifts him bodily off his feet, too shocked to even struggle. He squirms weakly, the air knocked from his vents and both arms pinned firmly to his sides.

"Ironhide?" he manages, kicking his feet a little without any real effect. "What--"

AGGRESSIVELY HUGS

[arnhaid]

"Haha! Yeah! Yeah, buddy, it's me!"

He is way, way too happy to see you, Ratchet. He's half laughing, half yelling, all the while squeezing the poor medic flat against his chest. He never thought he'd see him again -- not actually see him. Maybe have some more awful hallucinations about failure or something where Ratchet was involved but--

This is real.

"Surprise! I'm alive!"

[asafepairofhands]

"Good to see you, Ironhide." Ratchet's plating makes a truly alarming creaking sound and he wriggles a little harder, his voice strained.

"...please put me down."

Crater

[luckyfaceplate]

"I thought the same thing, although perhaps not in the same phrasing."

Hi Ratchet. It's just Optimus Prime, chilling like he's been here the whole time. To be honest, he's as confused as you are, he just had the joy of finding out about Cybertronian foliage earlier.

"It's good to see you, old friend."

Alive, mostly.

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet looks up and straightens, optics flickering in faint surprise before he settles again, venting softly.

"...Optimus. Good to see you too. Any idea what we're doing here?"

[luckyfaceplate]

"Your guess is as good as mine, old friend."

He shifts his gaze outward, taking in the crater as he tries to assess the situation. "The star patterns clearly indicate Cybertron, although I have never seen something like this--" a hand gestures out to the plants.

"--And with everything destroyed, my suspicions raise even further."

Please tell him this isn't what happens when you leave Starscream in charge. He's really going to regret that one of these days.

[asafepairofhands]

"But I don't even recognize all of the destroyed stuff. I'd buy the geography being different, but all the things that were built and knocked down are equally unfamiliar. It seems like Cybertron, but I honestly have no idea where we are."

Ratchet shakes his head, his mouth compressing wryly.

"Not that it's not great to see you but, as always, circumstances could be better."

[balloon deflating noise]

[planate]

Seeing Ratchet around was a normal thing, really, especially for the Lost Light. A frequent patron of Swerve's, Pipes sees him yelling at people a lot as well. Not to mention all the times he's saved the stupid minibot's life.

He quite likes Ratchet.

So, of course, when Pipes sees him crouching at the fruit, he decides to make his presence known, wandering over with a fruit he'd straight up ripped off the plant.

"D'you think they're edible?"

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet jerks up at the sound of that voice, his optics widening and his lips parting soundlessly as he just stares for a long moment, struck and helpless. It's a long few seconds before his brain kicks into gear and he can make himself respond, focusing on the question at hand.

"Not for us. But there are organics around--it's probably for them."

[planate]

If Pipes thought Ratchet's reaction was out of the ordinary, he doesn't really show it much. If anything, he just assumed he'd surprised Ratchet by popping up out of nowhere.

"Organics? Like. Ones that need to breathe? In this atmosphere?"

It's not the best.

[asafepairofhands]

"Yeah... I've seen one or two around so far." Ratchet tries to compose himself, his optics still on Pipes like he's afraid Pipes will disappear if he looks away too long.

"Pipes..." he hazards after a long moment. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Crater

[kaijugrrroupie]

Newt's taken some time getting used to everything that's just happened to him--he's still on the fence on whether or not this is a drift induced hallucination and he's probably in the med bay in a coma like an idiot--and after a few conversations with a few people, he's decided to go exploring. Not to mention that he's hungry, and apparently the only food is outside the city. For humans that is. God, this made zero sense.

He sees the large robot way before he's close, and though everyone he's met so far has been somewhat friendly, he's not about to take chances. Or at least, he isn't until he sees that the robot is looking at what he's looking for. He's closer now, and the bot is certainly a lot bigger than he first thought, all logical thought escaping him.

"Uh. Nice fruit."

[asafepairofhands]

"It's not mine," Ratchet says, sounding amused. "I wasn't sure what it could possibly be doing here until I saw a few of you. Where are you even from?"

[kaijugrrroupie]

"Not around here, didn't you get the memo?" He says before awkwardly peering over the edge, trying to figure out how he's going to get to the fruit without sliding to his death to the bottom.

"So wait, your planet didn't have these fruits before? What do you guys even eat? Did it even have a breathable atmosphere, because, uh, this is my first time on a different planet and I was pretty sure they didn't have breathable atmospheres or carbon based life forms, I watch movies," he says before pausing and adding, "And totally study aliens too, not just movies. I'm not talking from a background of just the Alien movies and HAL 9000."