[ 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

The Crater

[pullingamiko]

So "weird" doesn't really begin to cover this. The last time Miko was on Cybertron, it was because she had been kidnapped and stuck in a jar to be used as a bargaining chip. One would think that being here, completely unrestrained and able to breathe just fine no less (maybe she would have been willing to write that part off as the Decepticons being huge liars, but if it were a bluff the Autobots would have realized it and kicked their butts right there!) would be an improvement.

Maybe it would be if she had any idea how she got here to begin with. Or could see anyone in the area. As it is, it looks kind of... ruined and empty. Her best guess is that the spacebridge glitched out somehow and dropped her here, and it's just a part of Cybertron that's too far away from where the 'Bots have been for any sign of them to be visible, and...

And she wasn't even at the base when it happened, and that still wouldn't explain the whole "breathing" thing. Great.

She picks around at the edge of the crater, crouching down to examine the plants and come to the conclusion that she has no clue what they are, then turns to look over the slope of the crater. She bets she could probably get down there without too much trouble. Getting back up might be an issue, but that would be something to worry about when she gets to it. She kicks a pebble experimentally into the crater, crouching slightly and bracing her hands on her knees as she watches it fall.

Re: The Crater

[sailormulti]

Brass hadn't arrived near the crater, but she'd seen it from a distance and decided to investigate. There might be a clue as to how she got here, and she could use any information she could right about now. She'd never been away from Arika this long and she was starting to worry.

As she got near the crater she couldn't help but notice the girl with pink hair crouching near the edge. The very steep edge, and that looked like a nasty fall.
"You should be careful, that doesn't look very safe," she said as she came up, stopping a cautious distance from the edge.

[pullingamiko]

Miko glanced over her shoulder at the voice, momentarily surprised - she hadn't seen anyone else here yet, she was starting to wonder if there was anyone else in the area at all. Apparently there was at least what appeared to be a very small Cybertronian.

"Yeah, it's probably not! But 's no problem, I know what I'm doing." By which she meant she spent a lot of time hanging out in dangerous areas where she shouldn't have been. She was basically an expert by now.

[sailormulti]

Brass wasn't really in a position to say Miko was wrong, but she hung out with Metabee and Ikki. With all the unfounded boasting they did, she could usually tell when someone had a low sense of self preservation rather than actually knowing what they were doing. She walked over anyway though, peering down into the crater.

"Did you get brought here, too?" It was possible the girl was from the city, but considering the state of everything Brass didn't really want to assume.

[pullingamiko]

She raised her eyebrows slightly. "Yeah, I did! So, you're not from around here either? ...and, in that case, what are you?" She didn't mean to sound rude, she just meant 'if you aren't a Cybertronian'. But, well. She couldn't be bothered to make much of an effort to make it sound polite.

[sailormulti]

Luckily for Miko, Brass was used to people being a lot pushier about asking questions.

"I'm a Medabot, from Japan. I was with my medafighter, but then I wound up here." She glanced around, even having been here a while it was still extremely strange. The more she talked with people though, the more it seemed she would be stuck here for some time. No one seemed to know how they got here.

[pullingamiko]

Never heard of that before. Must have been some kind of really new thing, if there were something like this on Earth and she hadn't known about it. "What's a 'Medabot'? And a 'medafighter', for that matter, never heard of that either. I'd think I would've, if that was a thing in Japan before I left."

[sailormulti]

Brass paused. She'd never had to explain what a medabot was before. They were pretty ubiquitous, nearly everyone back home had one.

"Medabots are robots who fight each other for fun, like a sport. A lot of kids have medabots, and they're called medafighters and give us directions during a battle. But my medafighter doesn't like me getting hurt, so we don't robattle very often. There are medabots all over the world..."

She trailed off, the implications of fact this girl didn't know what medabots was finally sinking in. "You are from Earth, right?" she asked, a little sheepishly. It sounded like a dumb question out loud.

[pullingamiko]

Okay, that sounded pretty cool, she definitely would have noticed if those were around. And it sounded like Brass expected that she would have, too. "Yeah, I'm from Earth! I'm from Japan, too, actually - well, I was in America right before I was... here. But, y'know, originally."

[sailormulti]

"Really? That's good to hear." And it was, even finding someone from Earth was nice at this point. She looked back down at the crater. "Do you think there is anything down there that will help us get home?"

[pullingamiko]

"Beats me." Now she kicked down a broken-off branch from one of the plants, watching it clatter down the slope. "Probably something down there, but I mean, finding a way out right away like this? Seems too easy."

Guess who watched way too many movies and therefore never trusted easy solutions. Unless they involved punching things or blowing things up.

[sailormulti]

"You really think so?" she didn't sound surprised, but still just a little dejected. It sure would be nice if it were that easy.

She glanced around the rim of the crater, and managed to spot a section where the slope was a lot less steep than here.
"If you did want to get down there, it would be better over there." She said, pointing it out.

[pullingamiko]

"I do think so. If there did seem to be some way we could leave right away, it would probably be some kinda trap or something."

She glanced over at the less steep area, then at the sheer drop in front of her. "...Eh. Fine, whatever." She totally could have made that though. Obviously.

She glanced at Brass again before heading toward the indicated area. "You gonna come down, too?"

Heheheueheueehh

[starscheme]

Starscream has been conscious for the better portion of an hour now but he certainly isn't any closer to having a clue of what the hell is going on here.

He stands on the precipice of the crater, peering down into it, optics squinted suspiciously into its depths- and then catches sight of movement. A... human? How in blazes is a human here? How is a human not only here on this planet, but here without any sort of equipment or air tight container to protect themselves?

He squints at the distant figure thoughtfully, remaining silent while he puzzles this all over- and then reels back with a surprised snarl when he recognizes who the hell the little fleshy in question is. It's been literal years from his perspective, but he's not about to forget that face. Especially since the last time he saw her, she was giving him a sound thrashing with his own Apex Armor.

Say hi Miko, it's your favorite Decepticon.

screech

[pullingamiko]

Maybe she looks in his direction thanks to hearing that snarl, maybe she just happens to turn around. In any case, it doesn't take more than an instant to recognize him once she does - and it hasn't been nearly as long from her point of view.

Crap. It's pretty clearly too late to hope she can just avoid being seen, so she immediately tenses up, shifting her feet on the ground and staring at him cautiously. Maybe she can run and get in somewhere too small for his ENORMOUS YAOI CLAWS to reach. Uncertainty aside, though, she still can't help saying something. Or, more accurately, shouting it. "What do you want?!"

[starscheme]

"What do I--" his expression hardens, wings tucking back furiously. “I’m the one asking the questions here! Which, coincidentally, what I want is some answers...!”

He moves suddenly, skidding down into the crater in her direction and lunging with the intent of cupping his hands over her in the hopes of snatching the girl up before she can scurry off somewhere out of his sight.

[pullingamiko]

OH CRAP

She darts away, flinching as his hands land right next to her, where she had been standing an instant before. She keeps running a few steps before spinning around to check behind her, half-stumbling backward. Maybe just continuing to run would work a little better, but maybe it wouldn't, so she might as well consider other options. She's not sure what those options are, but they must exist.

[starscheme]

Starscream growls, half crouching on the ground where he landed before. It's pretty obvious that he's not in the mood for taunting and joking around today.

Also, a thought occurs to him: If the human is here... well, there's every chance that her caretakers might be nearby as well. Which gives him all the more reason to capture her alive, as leverage.

"Stop scurrying," he snaps, rising to his feet again to make another, more coordinated attempt at scooping Miko up.

[pullingamiko]

This time he's more successful. Miko yelps, stumbling backward and only succeeding in tripping over one of his fingers and bumping into another. Why do this guy's hands have to be so big?!

With that strategy not working, she instead takes the opposite approach and tries to launch herself off his hand, in the direction of his wrist, trying to clamber up his arm and towards his ridiculous shoulder-thing.

[starscheme]

ALL THE BETTER TO CATCH YOU WITH, MY DEAR

He yelps in surprise, because that's a pretty bold move. What is WRONG with this girl?! "Oh, really-?!" he yells in exasperation, rearing up to full height, shaking his arm out of panic... Which, GRANTED, this is probably not the smartest course of action if he's trying to catch her alive, because there's a very good chance she's going to get hurt if she falls off, but there's a tiny organic crawling on him. It's kind of hard to not freak out.

[pullingamiko]

She wraps her arms and legs around his arm and holds on like a really alarmed koala. It would be pretty ridiculous if her LIFE WEREN'T AT STAKE (It does look ridiculous, who are we kidding here. This is ridiculous.)

The moment he stops shaking long enough for her to get a sentence out, she shouts, "Lemme go, Screamer!" As if she's not the one clinging to his arm at this point.

[starscheme]

Starscream does one of those patented exasperated Starscream growls- you know the ones, where his whole frame shakes a little bit as he does it?- and then snatches her up in one fist.

Now that he's got a hold on her he glances around suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "I know you're around here somewhere, Bulkhead!" he shouts at the surrounding area at large. He gives Miko a tiny little shake. "How unusually irresponsible of you, letting your pet wander about unattended! I suggest you show yourself already so that we might talk."

[pullingamiko]

Miko glowers up at him, kicking her legs and trying to squirm out of his grip and generally struggling ineffectively. She starts to open her mouth, to inform him that Bulkhead isn't here and he should really stop making assumptions like that (not in nearly such polite words, of course), and then the implications of what he just said fully sink in.

He doesn't know Bulkhead isn't nearby. Which, of course, makes this a perfect time for bluffing.

"Dude, you really think he's gonna want to negotiate with you? Soon as the 'Bots catch up, you're toast!"

[starscheme]

Starscream glowers at her sidelong. "Oh please, as if they would dare aim a single shot at me with your insignificant life at risk." Still, he isn't taking any chances. He pauses another moment, and... still no response. ...This is growing more concerning by the minute.

Starscream fidgets and turns this way and that, glancing around the rim of the crater with one eyebrow raised, a perplexed scowl on his face. Then he lifts Miko to eye level and stares her down through narrowed optics. "I strongly suggest you start talking."

[pullingamiko]

"Uh. About what?" She grins, a little too widely. She hadn't really thought about what to do when it became clear that there were, in fact, no Autobots around at all. Not that she knew of, anyway. Better keep stalling until she can think of something better. That's a viable plan, right?