robothell | [ INTRO LOG ]

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[ 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

Well, his manners needed work, but some people just lacked the social graces. Actually, come to think of it, most people lacked the social graces. Maybe it was a Cybertronian thing. Regardless, she ignored the grumpiness and introduced herself.

"I'm Nautica, theoretically chief engineer of the Lost Light, but since the Lost Light is currently derelict and probably in another timeline, I think that can safely be considered academic." She shrugged broadly in a 'what're ya gonna do' gesture.

"Nice to meet you." That was his cue to give his name, and she cocked her head, still smiling and not expecting him to burn through his benefit of the doubt nearly as quickly as he was going to.

How does she not recognise him!!!

"Sentinel Prime. I would expect an Autobot to recognise their leader."

Maybe she's new. Or just. A shit academic.

excuse u she is a surpassingly excellent academic

"Sentinel...Prime?" Oh, good grief. Nautica's eyes widened in surprise and belated recognition, but the cowed apology he was probably expecting was not forthcoming. "Wow, I--" Well, this had the potential to be extremely awkward. "--I can honestly say I was not expecting to meet you."

Ever.

On account of the 'highly, highly dead' part.

Edited 2014-12-22 20:26 (UTC)

"Get over yourself quickly."

He doesn't want to stay in the crater. Just came out of a warzone, still slightly paranoid there might be Decepticons lurking around. While Sentinel isn't worried about them getting one up on him, it's just something he doesn't really want to deal with. Being out numbered is never good.

Also, he wants to find Megatron and punch him into orbit.

"Riiiiight." Nautica thought, accurately, that she wasn't the half of this conversation that needed to get over herself. "Well, I'm more or less done here, so what did you have in mind?"

Given how literally every other Autobot was going to react to him, Sentinel really ought to consider making an effort to appreciate Nautica's tolerance and general good nature.

Also turbofoxes were going to grow wings any day now.

"Venture out this crater, into the city. There will be something of use there."

Even if it's abandoned. Cybertronian tech is pretty hardy.

"Energon's useful. No one wants to end up in stasis lock." Still, Nautica picked up her briefcase and rested her wrench on her shoulder.

"Okay, fearless leader, let's go exploring." That was just a little wry, not a taunt. She was willing to humor Sentinel and tag along with him, at least until they found Optimus or Megatron, but she sure wasn't going to run to keep up if he wasn't considerate enough to take their size difference into account. Even her cheerful tolerance had limits.

Nautica gets an odd 'what the fuck are you on' glance from Sentinel before he turns away.

"Your skills should be put to good use here."

Look he's a callous bitch of a leader but Nautica is obviously smart and useful so he's not gonna be too dismissive.

Nautica was on 'not having any ingrained sense of inferiority or status anxiety.' It might strongly resemble insanity for someone from pre-War Cyberton, granted.

"I can probably get the comms network back online at least, but we'll need to restore power first," she said, ignoring his bad manners. Whatever Sentinel thought about the matter, he wasn't her commanding officer, and Optimus could make that quite clear later if she needed him to. In the meantime, no point in prompting a temper tantrum from the large, touchy soldier, right? "The oxygen concentration in the atmosphere is much higher than it should be, so we're looking at potential rust in some of the infrastructure."

"Good. It was incredibly fortuitous, running into you."

Achievement unlocked: a comment that wasn't entirely shitty and maybe also somewhat encouraging???

Wow, such leadership.

"I'm glad I haven't come across anyone hostile." Sentinel just being kind of cranky didn't count as far as Nautica was concerned. It seemed like practically everyone from Cybertron proper was kind of cranky. "This is bad enough without getting into a fight, too."

"Do not worry. If anyone attempts to wrong my Autobots in my presence they will regret it."

Sentinel may be a CORRUPT ASSHOLE but he does care about the Autobots to a degree. Also he sort of hopes someone DOES attack because he wants to slap someone. Also to be fair he considers Autobots his property and that's sorta UNHEALTHY.

Yeahhhhh, coming off as kind of possessive there, brobot. Still, it was a sweet sentiment...if you didn't really know Sentinel, squinted, and assumed the best of people. Fortunately, this was Nautica, so she had most of that covered.

"That's good to hear." She looked up at him with a half-smile. "Still, I hope we don't run into anyone who wants to pick a fight. I'm not sure there's a doctor within a light year of here and I'm not good for much more than fixing dents."

Look if he has to, he'll gladly use Nautica as a club.

"It will not come to that."

Decepticons have been upgraded to murder on sight just for you, Nauts. "Our best bet would be to head towards the city in the distance."

that is sort of nice albeit in a really creepy way BUT NOT WHAT SHE MEANT

In response, Nautica pointed her wrench at the city, bounced a range-finding laser off the nearest building, then checked the readout. Wow, bit of a hike, and that crater wall didn't look fun.

"Agreed, but just so you know, my altmode's aquatic, so I'm walking." She wasn't apologetic about it in the slightest. Her altmode was awesome but also thoroughly useless on Cybertron. (Maybe Caminus has bodies of water we just don't know.)

That altmode exemption for the intellectual class sure can be annoying, huh Sentinel?

"Aquatic."

Can you hear the incredulity in his voice? Since when was a fucking engineer a BOAT BRO

"Deep-sea submarine." Dig the propellers, man. That are are actually air turbines and any kind of aquatic propulsion is completely the wrong flow regime for that design it would tear the blades off are you kidding me with this shit I MEAN ignore me my degree is in aerospace engineering.

"It's also space-worthy for short hops." Nautica grinned. She loved being her and didn't care what any long-murdered Functionist Council thought about things.

SORRY HE'S JUST

"Aquatic."

"Aquatic!" His incredulous disapproval bounced right off the undeniable fact that her altmode was awesome.

Sentinel stops walking and s l o w l y raises a hand to his nose, pinching it and exventing audibly. Of all the useless alt modes...

He needs a minute. There's a headache coming on.

Edited 2014-12-27 22:38 (UTC)

hey u misspelled "supremely excellent" as "useless" for some reason

"Are you okay?" This couldn't possibly be about her altmode, since 1. how rude and 2. her altmode was great.

"I'm fine. Stuck on a desolate Cybertron with a mech who doesn't even possess wheels."

Which is pretty hypocritical because Sentinel doesn't have wheels himself - he has tank treads. BUT STILL

Rude. Nautica folded her arms, concern for Sentinel replaced with a flat expression as he finally crossed the line. She was willing to let a lot of things slide, but this was simply uncalled for.

"Don't wait on me, then." She made a shooing gesture in the direction of the city. No company was better than a mech who'd been raised by turbofoxes.

Sentinel frowns, then unhooks a small gun (don't ask how many he has on his person. It's embarrassing.) and holds it out to her.

"Don't be a moron."

Okay, based on what she'd seen so far, from Sentinel that counted as conciliatory. Her shoulders came down from around her ears, and she accepted the pistol from him.

And looked at it like she'd just been handed a dead weasel.

"...Thank you?"

not unless u ask nicely >:[

pls

everyone has intrinsic worth :3 /pats forearm reassuringly

>8(

look i don't know what's more validating than that okay

its true nautica is a saint tbh

being oblivious resembles sainthood if you squint i guess

squint REALLY HARD

she's just really sweet from...not being from their shithole of a homeworld /sad trombone

ITS TRUE THO

SORRY ABOUT YOUR EVERYTHING SENTINEL

excuse you he is MAJESTIC

uh sure whatever u say mr giant insecure fake prime

he's not insecure >:u

/tolerant "mm-hmm"

sweats profusely

/pats forearm again

hhhhhhHHHHHH

sorry you're stuck with a robot care bear dude

nauts will you at least comfort him when megatron stomps his shit in

...maaaaaybe? she doesn't really approve of violence when lives aren't at stake

this nerd with morals

"moral philosoophy" IS one of the things she rattled off to swerve

you have an answer for everything!

i didn't think i was ever going to use this icon tbh