robothell | [ 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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Megatron flew over the crater several times. Who was he not to admire the pure destructive force of whatever had landed there? To think he had nothing to do with it. How odd. How wrong. Megatron wasn't a mech who liked being outdone in any regard. Sadly, he had no ability to do even greater damage at the moment. That was because, at the moment, he seemed to have been forcibly taken from Earth and stuck in this sham of a Cybertron.

Was he upset about it? No, not by much. Yes, he could huff and rage about being taken somewhere against his will, but he considered this an opportunity. For what, he didn't know yet, but there was always something to do in a place like this. So, for now, he viewed the situation with an air of detached amusement.

Besides, there were probably several interesting individuals to talk to! Who was he not to take this moment to be social? Wouldn't Optimus be proud.

The moment he spotted someone down below, he'd swoop down and land in front of them with a thud loud enough to immediately establish dominance. He'd give his most charming smile and say "Greetings."

Megatron might not get to the point of issuing any greetings, in this case. Because while the way he smashes into the ground does appear to startle the shit out of the bot moving around below, his expression shifts from one of alarm to surprised relief as soon as he spins around to see who he's dealing with.

There is something really weird about all of this, but he'll get to that in a second.

"Megatronus?" Orion Pax asks with genuine joy. "How did you...Your altmode!"

"Eh?"

A natural reaction. How often does one experience this twice in a lifetime? He recovers quickly and offers Orion Pax a gracious smile. How does he know it's Orion Pax? Well, all the clues are there if one is looking hard enough, and there is no one who knows Orion or Optimus better than he does. Yes, it's very weird, but Megatron majored in rolling with weirdness in robot university.

"Ah, Orion Pax. Pleasure to see you again, old friend. Forgive me, it has been some time since we've last... seen each other."

Which is a very nice and fancy way of saying that the last time he saw Optimus was when he roasted his homebase. Haha, good times.

Orion does actually look exactly like he did before becoming Prime and upgrading to a war frame, so there is that. Megatron has certainly changed less, though the subtleties are notable indeed.

Orion doesn't really get what is being implied, and the uncertainty immediately takes the tentative smile from his face.

"...Has it?"

"Yes."

Is he going to elaborate on that?

Probably not.

"Tell me Orion, what is the last thing you remember before arriving here?"

Orion looks increasingly uncertain. There is something missing about all this - he finds himself desperate to understand Megatron's meaning.

"It...is hard to describe the specifics. We were planning out journey to Iacon not long before."

Good instincts Orion. Best pay close attention to them. Megatron's expression turns thoughtful as he digs through centuries of conflict to find that one memory Orion is describing. It's difficult, as Megatron hasn't had to think of those times in a while, but he sort of knows what Orion's talking about.

"Hmm, yes. And how many people have you talked to before you came to talk to me?"

"A few," he says, glancing away uncomfortable. The perceived distance here bothers him more than he was prepared for. He is not accustomed to him having him at such an advantage.

"None that I knew, though. You...you are the first I've found."

"Wonderful."

He grins and spreads his arms out in some kind of grand gesture. He's learned all he needed to know, and now it's time for a little performance.

"From what I gather, Orion, I am from many, many, many years in your future. We have had many trials, but eventually I accomplish all that I've ever wanted. Undoubtedly you have many questions. I imagine that now is the best time to ask them!"

There is a flutter of hope at that assertion - because Megatronus getting what he wants would not be something Orion would conceive of as a bad thing. But it's all so strange on a base level, that he is finding himself too fundamentally disturbed by the thought of losing such time to be excited.

"On Cybertron?" Orion asks, stepping forward. "Do you mean with your movement? The things we spoke about?"

"Well," He says carefully, a smile tugging at the corner of his scarred mouth, "I can certainly say that the Caste System is no more. The full truth is rather... ugly, my dearest Orion. I will spare you the details."

He gestures in front of them and starts walking. There's no reason for them to stand around on the edge of this crater for longer than necessary. Megatron has no particular plan about what he's going to do about this strange Cybertron, but he'll bomb that bridge when he gets to it. One step at a time. First, let's see what Orion himself offers.

Okay, look dude, you can't just say something like that and then not explain yourself to a fucking historical archivist. Orion pauses long enough to stare after him, his fixation about that suggestion clear in his optics.

"...No!" Orion says, snapping out of his momentary daze and running after Megatron. "Don't - I mean, don't spare me. The details."

Those last two words of clarification are pretty important, where Megatron is concerned.

[ INTRO LOG ]

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