robotsatan: (Default)
robot satan ([personal profile] robotsatan) wrote in [community profile] 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...
asafepairofhands: (pissed)

[personal profile] asafepairofhands 2015-01-04 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, everybody knows about it now because Rodimus went and told everyone when he thought he was going to die so he could go out with a clear conscience." Ratchet knows this is unfair, but he doesn't really care just now. "So it was pointless anyway. We all had a vote and Rodimus got to stay captain and there was no reason for you to be anywhere but on The Lost Light, with us, so I went to collect you. It's not that complicated."
auramatic: (how hard this life can be)

[personal profile] auramatic 2015-01-04 04:29 am (UTC)(link)
It stings, hearing all this -- Drift doesn't know if it's any better or worse or different at all for hearing it from Ratchet. He covers his Autobrand with one hand, feeling the shape of it under his palm. He wonders what he'd look like without it.

"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."
asafepairofhands: (wait)

[personal profile] asafepairofhands 2015-01-04 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Ratchet looks like he's about to protest, but he subsides after a moment, his lips pressed together.

"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."
auramatic: (out in the sun)

[personal profile] auramatic 2015-01-06 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Thanks," Drift says distantly, his gaze far away, staring past Ratchet. After a moment, he blinks, his optics brightening a shade, and he really looks at Ratchet, the words finally registering. He looks slightly at a loss for a moment, but his expression softens a little, and he vents out softly.

"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."
asafepairofhands: (wait)

[personal profile] asafepairofhands 2015-01-07 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
Ratchet stares at him, the memory of his hand gripping hard at Drift's shoulder, the smear on the side of his helm, very close, the shouting of the rest of the crew and the odd solidity of Drift's body under his palms as he hauled him to his feet nearly swamping him for a moment, his optics flickering before he looks away.

"Yeah," he says, sounding unnerved. "Me too."
auramatic: (or did you bring a friend?)

[personal profile] auramatic 2015-01-07 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
Drift sees the flickering light in Ratchet's optics, hears the strange tone to his voice, and he wonders for a moment if that was the wrong thing to say to Ratchet -- if perhaps he shouldn't be glad for what happened. But he's never had Ratchet look at him or talk to him like this, not since Rodion -- maybe not even then. Concern flits across Drift's face, his brow knitting slightly and his mouth pulling into a flat frown, but he doesn't comment on it, doesn't ask. He's not sure he wants to know the details just yet.

"Thank you for telling me...about Overlord, too," he says then, some of the heaviness pulling back into his voice. "I needed to know."
asafepairofhands: (quiet)

[personal profile] asafepairofhands 2015-01-07 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah," Ratchet says softly, before his voice hardens. "Yeah, you did. Sounds like I have to have another friendly chat with Rodimus about responsibility, and maybe giving people necessary information in the correct order."

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."
auramatic: (what did you say?)

[personal profile] auramatic 2015-01-07 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Don't. Don't go yelling at Rodimus, all right?" Drift looks weary at the thought, but he only lets it last a moment before his optics brighten a shade, and he draws himself up a little taller. "I'm going to talk to him myself."

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."
asafepairofhands: (pissed)

[personal profile] asafepairofhands 2015-01-08 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
"I'll yell at whoever I like, thank you," Ratchet grouses, eyeing Drift. "But you should talk to him anyway.

"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."
auramatic: (havin fun and feelin free)

[personal profile] auramatic 2015-01-08 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
Drift frowns at that, but honestly, it'd take nothing short of a cosmic force to stop Ratchet yelling, so he's just going to release it and move on.

"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."