[ 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

[targetlocked]

It doesn't take much rumbling through the streets of this strange ruined city for Lock-On to hear a sound other than the occasional collapse of architecture. In fact, it sounds like a voice. How exciting!

On the lookout for other people, she moves down the street toward the source of the voice. It's not long before she rolls up to the little organic whom she assumes was the one calling out. Strange that an organic would be here on looks-like-Cybertron, but she's not bemoaning the new company.

"Hello there," she says pleasantly – as if she ever says anything unpleasantly – and, through instinct, points her cannon down at Newt.

[kaijugrrroupie]

Newt is so done with this limbo world. So done. As if talking jaegers and teenagers wasn't bad enough but apparently there's also now a tank trying to shoot him. Or well, he figures they are trying, since theyre very pointedly aiming a cannon at his head.

Newt swivels on his feet and holds both hands up, trying not to look too terrified. Which is hard considering he's already beaten and bloodied.

"Woah! Hey! You got the wrong guy, okay?"

[targetlocked]

What a funny little creature.

"Are you alright?" Lock-On asks, amusement creeping into her voice. "I was just saying hello."

Maybe they greet each other differently on whatever planet this creature is from, or maybe they're not doing so well. She doubts the fluid dripping from their nose is supposed to be there, but who knows.

[kaijugrrroupie]

His hands are still up in surrender as the turret is still pointed at him, and he blinks incredulously at the tank in front of him.

"Uh! Most people don't threaten somebody straight away before saying hello," he starts, gesturing with one of his hands. "Which, uh, is kinda what you're doing right now?"

[targetlocked]

"I do not understand," says Lock-On slowly. "To my knowledge, I have not been threatening you." She thought she was situated perfectly within the parameters of acceptable social interaction, but it looks like she was wrong. It really has been too long.

She tilts her cannon down to the side, as if in shame. "Does my current form intimidate you? Would you be more comfortable speaking with me if I were in my alternate mode?"

[kaijugrrroupie]

"Dude! You're pointing a gun at me!" He says, gesturing more wildly this time at the barrel he's staring down. This place keeps throwing him curveballs. But then she--he thinks it's a she, can he really apply gender to a machine?--mentions an alternate mode and he pauses.

"Uh, yeah, if that's uh, less intimidating."

[targetlocked]

"Oh! I am very sorry." Lock-On moves her cannon further, so that it is now not at all pointed at him, or in his general direction, or near the ground where he is standing. She certainly seems embarrassed. "I was attempting to make eye contact as best I could in this form, but it seems that was not a good idea. I will transform now."

She rolls back a little bit, and then she transforms into her robot mode. She is still, y'know, pretty dang large, but she's got a face for a face now, instead of a cannon for a face. She probably should have done this a lot sooner. Whoops.

"Am I less intimidating in this form?"

[kaijugrrroupie]

He visibly relaxes when she transforms--which in itself is kind of weird, since a tank just transformed into a giant robot on an alien planet that he's been abandoned on but everything is relative right now--and he cranes his head a little as she folds out. Talking to faces instead of canons is definitely better.

"Yeah, a little. Everything on this planet is out to make me feel like a bug, seriously," he huffs, eying her. "Thanks for uh, y'know. Not shooting me."

[targetlocked]

"You are welcome," says Lock-On. "Thank you for notifying me of my social misstep. I have not spoken to another living being in...quite some time." Let's not dwell too much on that, though, hahaaa.

Now that this misunderstanding has been rectified, it becomes even more apparent to Lock-On that she doesn't know very much about this organic, or vice versa. Best to start with the basics. "You may call me Lock-On. What would you like me to call you?"

[kaijugrrroupie]

"How long is 'some time'? Because last I checked, this planet is sort of crawling with giant robots. Who almost keep stepping on me," he laughs nervously, but the tension is definitely shifting away from fight or flight tactics. The cybertronian seems to be amicable in any case, which he's grateful for--meeting a robot who wants to kill all humans isn't high on his top ten cybertronian tour list.

"I'm Newt. Newt Geiszler. Nice to meet you, uh, Lock-On."

[targetlocked]

"It is nice to meet you too, Newt. I have not met many people yet, aside from you, but you are right. There seem to be other Cybertronians here, and I think we have all arrived at around the same time."

"The question I have," Lock-On says, sitting down so that she is no longer completely towering over Newt, "is what are you?" She hasn't seen any beings like Newt before – or really, many beings who are not Cybertronians – so she's curious.

[kaijugrrroupie]

Newt backs up a little as she sits, unsure if he needed to move to give her the space. He's grateful for the move, it's hard to not feel threatened when something is just towering over you like a kid with ants.

He raises his eyebrows, blinking a little, before looking down at himself to make sure he was still him.

"Last I checked, I was human. Apparently theres a little colony of us on this place now or something."