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
Drift had left. Drift had let Rodimus pin it all on him, to -- what? Save face? For a moment Drift can't believe it, can't imagine how that would go, but...he'd have to take the fall for Rodimus, wouldn't he? The Lost Light can't survive without him. It'd be the only way to recoup from something like that, to ensure the mission goes on.
The realization, even fractured as it is, weighs heavy in his chest but Drift pulls himself together anyway, pulling his weight away from Ratchet. His optics dim, and he vents out, slowly. He's not okay, not by a long shot, but he can't afford to crumble where he stands here, either. He has to find some way to make this right.
"You came after me -- why?"
no subject
"There were, well, a lot of reasons," he says, sounding drained and frustrated. "But--it's not what you deserved. You should never have been forced to leave. And...
"...you were missed."
no subject
"What I deserved? Ratchet, Rewind and Pipes are dead because of what I did. I had a hand in that. That -- " Static crackles on the edge of his vocalizer but he resets it before it sets in. "I can understand why I'd need to leave."
no subject
"Drift, no. You were used as a scapegoat. You knew about Overlord being on the ship, but that doesn't make what happened your fault. The whole crew was lied to to make them think it was entirely your idea so they'd hate you and everyone else would be off the hook. No one else was forced to give up everything they'd worked for. No one else was forced to leave their home. You shouldn't have had to go."
no subject
"I don't think I was forced to do anything." Drift's voice is low, almost hollow, but steady. The sharpness of the anger in Ratchet's voice is familiar, and it's almost comforting. He lifts his gaze back to Ratchet's face, his face set in something akin to resignation. "I know I have no way of knowing exactly what happened, not right now, but...I doubt anyone forced me to do what I did, Ratchet. I know Rodimus wouldn't, whatever you think of him."
He looks at Ratchet almost helplessly, his shoulders slackening. "We can't afford to lose Rodimus, Ratchet. Everything depends on him staying on the ship. I can't tell you what happened, Ratchet, but -- I'd have done it. I'd have convinced Rodimus to do it."
no subject
no subject
"It's not that simple, either." His voice is heavy, his entire frame weighed down. "Look, Ratchet, I just -- this is a lot. I don't...I've got a lot to think about."
no subject
"Yeah," he says, his voice a little fuzzy with static. "...yeah. All right. It's a lot. But if you have more questions later, I'll answer them as best I can."
no subject
"Thank you," he says again, and he sounds like he means it, this time. He doesn't reach out for Ratchet, but there's a closeness suggested in his body language, in the way he doesn't pull away any further. "I mean it. I'm not -- I don't know what exactly happened between us, or I don't remember -- but whatever it was, I'm glad it happened."
no subject
"Yeah," he says, sounding unnerved. "Me too."
no subject
"Thank you for telling me...about Overlord, too," he says then, some of the heaviness pulling back into his voice. "I needed to know."
no subject
He shakes his head, cycling his vents and letting go of the frustration.
"Anyway, you did need to know, and it's over and done with now. At least you're where you belong, here, with us, even if it's not home."
no subject
He needs to. He doesn't need Ratchet going and guilting Rodimus, not the least because he's so good at it. And Drift wants to hear from Rodimus why he'd kept the Overlord event to himself.
"It kind of is, though, isn't it? Home, I mean." Drift glances around, turning his optics briefly skyward. "I can't help wondering why we were brought here."
no subject
"And, this is like no Cybertron I've ever seen. There's energon here, and it looks like we'll be able to survive, but it's not our Cybertron, whatever the hell that even means anymore."
no subject
"It's definitely not the Cybertron we launched from," he muses. "But there was obviously a war here, too. And this city, this whole area is deserted...it's been deserted for a long time. You can see it in the shape of the city, the way it's worn down. It was destroyed before it was abandoned, but I think we're the first ones to set foot in this city in a long, long time."