OPENING LOG: Awakening

[re_alignedmods]

WHO: Everybody!
WHERE: The Junk Pile.
WHEN: Right here, right now.
WHAT: Game opening! Our Heroes find themselves in a strange place not of their own world, however familiar (or not) it may be.

---

Consciousness is slow, and a struggle to obtain. The moments before darkness are hazy enough; a great vertigo, a twisting, and then, falling. Falling for what seemed like forever. And when you are finally aware of your surroundings, it is most decidedly not where you came from.

Instead, you are now in what appears to be a wasteland. A wasteland...of junk. Debris as far as you can see, heaped in mini-mountains that offer only so good of a view of the world around you. Perhaps in the distance, you can make out some flatter land, perhaps you can just make out what looks like a crevice - but it's difficult at best. The light here is all wrong, the two greatest sources being a white line in the alien sky that doesn't so much give off light as simply have it - and something in the south that glows like a setting sun.

You may or may not notice it at first, but you, too, have something alien - something on your arm, more likely than not. A marking that glows softly, but offers no clue as to how it got there - no pain, no sensitivity. It's simply there, as you are here.

So.

Now what?

((OOC: This is it, you guys! Have a blast! Please remember to keep everything under the first thread for now; we'll be adding the Firstforged in in a little bit...

OKAY There is now a second thread to post in! Feel free to make new threads there to react to the arrival of the Firstforged, or respond directly to the Firstforged themselves.))

Comments

[engrishdetective]

So, let's face it. He's experienced a lot of weird things across the globe where he's from. Nothing can quite beat the giant panda experience that he watched on the news -- thankfully, Gunmax had no part of that -- but that was still pretty darn weird.

And then there's this. Waking up no where near Nanamagari, and something glowing on his forearm.

"What?" he utters to himself in English, stumbling to his feet. Gunmax glances over the junk pile, squinting behind his visor.

His antenna flicks once and he's searching for his motorcycle. Thankfully, Gunbike isn't too far off. He whistles for her, and she comes rolling up to his feet.

"Good girl," he murmurs back in Japanese, patting the bike's seat. The detective reaches around to pull out his badge, speaking into it.

"Yo, how about the rest of you quit being lazy and figure out where we are?" Gunmax pauses. "Anyone else there?"

A whole lot of silence.

"Unbelievable."

got the mod okay for this~

[mccrane]

If there was anything that could interrupt his quiet moment of knowing-everything-had-somehow-gone-wrong, it was the small, tiny beeping from his badge.

That was...relieving.

It was relieving, and it was also worrying. Had he gotten lost on a mission? Were the others just over the horizon, or the next pile of rubble? He'd need to get there, quick.

Keeping his shotgun in one arm, he reached for his badge...and paused, realizing it was on the ground beside where he had woken.

So.

Nothing was where it had been, then.

Very well.

Reaching down, he flipped it open.

"This is McCrane."

bwoo!

[engrishdetective]

Gunmax's shoulders relax when he hears the calm voice on the other side. Could have been worse; could have been Drill Boy flipping his drills about this.

"McCrane," he responds, not hiding the relief in his voice. "What do you see? Because what I'm seeing tells me I'm no where near Japan."

Part of him hopes that McCrane isn't here, if only for the fact that would mean maybe he isn't that far off the map.

But if he is here...

[mccrane]

Gunmax?

That...

Was good. It was actually very good. The motorcycle-riding detective could be brash and hot-headed and overly confident, but he also tended to have a high success rate and better planning than it seemed he had.

He could also take this situation seriously, as evidenced by the first question he asked.

"Garbage, actually."

Glancing around, he looked for a better point of reference. Everything was garbage.

"Strange garbage, half of which doesn't seem worth throwing away. There appears to be a bathtub on top of this peak."

He looked off, peering at the furthest hill that he could see and zooming in, spotting movement. "We're not alone. Gunmax, I..."

McCrane frowned, feeling awkward saying this.

"I do not remember how I got here. Can you update me on our status?"

[engrishdetective]

Damn. Gunmax slings his leg over his motorcycle, getting her started.

"Sounds like we can't be far from each other. I'll try to trace you down."

The biker pauses at McCrane's words. Not alone, but it doesn't sound like they're near the others. So who is McCrane referring to? Humans? Probably.

"Sorry; my memory's drawing a blank. I'm not sure if it's missing data or what happened, but I can't actually remember anything..." Gunmax trails off.

"McCrane, is there anything on your arm? Anything glowing."

[mccrane]

"I'll try to make myself more...visible." Holding his shotgun aloft, McCrane took careful aim, compensating the the arc in trajectory, and shot toward what appeared to be a pile of broken steel doors.

He says nothing for a long moment, and then shoots again.

If Gunmax also does not know how they came to arrive, then there are even more unnerving possibilities. Could this be a simulation? A dream? Or could they really be stranded alone on an Alien planet?

If they are here, who else might also be? The people he is seeing do not seem familiar at all. In fact...they seem like other robots.

He raises his gun for a third shot, before Gunmax's question catches him off-guard, and he glances down.

Sure enough, there it is, just as described. Glowing.

"I am going to assume you have one of these, also. A foreign mark--white?" Lowering his weapon, he looks up toward the stars, watching the strange streak of the lambda for a moment.

If this is a real planet...they're going to have to fly back. Only one of them currently had that ability. "Gunmax. How are your fuel levels?"

[engrishdetective]

The shotgun belonging to McCrane is easily heard and very familiar. That'll do for a way of bringing attention to oneself. Gunmax snorts in amusement before he takes off after the noise.

"Yeah, I have the mark, too. Doesn't look like any symbol in my data tracks. Not that they're as extensive as, say, Duke's... but they don't match anything I have. I'm inclined to say alien, considering where we are. We're not even on Earth."

The stars in the sky tell him that they're totally displaced. No constellations that are recognizable.

Fuel levels? He pauses. "About midway. I have a couple of canisters with me." Rarely does he leave HQ without one. "How about you?"

He's getting closer, he thinks, still heading in McCrane's direction.

[mccrane]

"No, this isn't Earth," McCrane agrees, watching the pile of doors that he was shooting as it toppled down harmlessly, making a big enough racket that, he hopes, Gunmax will be able to follow.

"And it feels real." His slugs still projected at the same rate. Admittedly, all that told him was that this planet had a gravity comparable to Earth, but it did 'feel' more real, because of it. "And there are other robots here."

They seemed to be moving around on their own accord. He was sure of that much, despite the distance. Of course, they could have been remotely controlled, but it didn't seem that way.

"Just one canister. I don't believe that we'll have enough to make it back to Earth." Especially because he couldn't tell, at all, where Earth was in the heavens. It couldn't have been nearby--not with that scar so bright in the sky. "Have you been able to contact anyone else?"

He felt slightly ashamed that he hadn't seen his badge sooner, to be able to try.

[engrishdetective]

The biker almost pauses when he sees the other robots. What in the hell--? They don't quite look like BP models, but that doesn't exclude the possibility. What's even going on here? Were they abducted? For what?

Too many questions. He'll worry about answering them later. Finding McCrane is definitely more important.

At the final clang, Gunmax speeds up and finally sees him. Much better.

He drives off a pile of junk, making a small hop over a ravine in order to cut down on some time.

"Nope. No one else has answered other than you."

Finally, Gunmax slows down in order to see McCrane face to face. He doesn't put Gunbike into park, not yet.

"Not enough fuel to get home -- not that I'd have any idea which direction to go in anyway. No contact with anyone else, either. And there are bunch of robots here with us." Gunmax shrugs. "I gotta say, out of all the situatons we've been in, this is one of the weirder ones."

[mccrane]

The distant sound of Gunmax's gunbike is more than a little relieving. It isn't as if McCrane didn't expect him to arrive, so much as it is just nice to know he's real, too, and not just a voice over his communication's badge.

Standing perfectly still, McCrane follows the thrum of the engine--watching as the bike appears, ramping, reflecting the light off of some distant sun as it sails over the ravine and back onto more garbage. It's good driving.

It's also showy.

His expression doesn't change, though, as finally Gunmax is close enough for McCrane to hook the communicator back onto it's place at his side. "It is, as you would say, 'Unbelievable.'"

He finally offers the slightest smile.

"Though I can't imagine why it is just us. If we are being kidnapped...wouldn't it make more sense to bring everyone?"

[engrishdetective]

"Heh." Gunmax allows a small grin in return; he leans forward a little bit then inclines with his head. "I know you can change into your crane self, but it might be faster on Gunbike if you wanna hop on."

It wouldn't be bad to do some recon, he figures.

"I thought that too." Gunmax pauses, glancing at the glowing symbol on McCrane. It doesn't... match his. What does that mean? For all he means, the symbols could mean stupid and wannabe pacifist. "But then again, it's not like I get any of the logic of being here. And a lot of the junk here doesn't look like it ought to be thrown away, does it?"

He shrugs. "The whole thing's weird. We're better off trying to find out who brought us here, and if they can take us back."

Dead laughing at the symbol translations, BTW

[mccrane]

"It would conserve fuel, at least." Given what he's seen, there is likely more gasoline within the heaping mounds somewhere, but finding it could easily become a problem.

If they had to remain for longer than a few weeks, or if they had to do excessive driving, they were going to be in trouble. He made a mental note to keep a watch for that, and carefully approached, eyeing the bike warily. Transforming to drive around was one thing.

Riding on something else was very different.

Especially something underneath someone else's control. "Junk might not be the word for it, then. It seems more...discarded." Which...brought him to a more horrifying thought. "Or lost." Or thrown out. They could not have been thrown out, could they? He definitely does not desire to think on that point further. It doesn't seem likely, and it is uncomfortable.

When Gunmax looks at the mark on his arm, though, he can't help but notice what the other is seeing--the differences. And, glancing around, it is apparent that the 'garbage' does not possess any quantifying marks. Some of the other robots he can see, however...do.

"We should look for someone without a mark." He muses, out loud, and, trying not to be awkward about it, he gets on the gunbike behind its owner. "If we find other sites worth investigating, we can split up." There was a lot of ground to cover, which meant having two of them was going to be useful. "It is...possible that being brought here was an accident, but I don't think it was." They wouldn't have been marked, otherwise.

"I just can't imagine what they want."

Trying to draw parallels between himself and Gunmax was difficult enough. Trying to imagine why there were humans and other robots here?

It did not bode well.

just as planned B)

[engrishdetective]

Once McCrane settles on behind him, Gunmax takes off. A shy bit slower than usual; he remembers the subtle discomfort Deckerd had on the bike when the patrol car had been gutsy enough to cuff them together. He's pretty sure a slower paced construction vehicle might not react well to a faster, unrestrained bike.

"Discarded or lost," he muses. McCrane certainly doesn't fail to take a turn for the poetic. But he's not necessarily wrong, Gunmax thinks. "Good point. I'll keep an eye out."

An accident. He snorts. "I don't think so, either. I think we were branded, personally. The symbols mean something. And I don't know about you, but I don't like a decal being done without my authorization."

[brokendown]

"You're telling me!" Breakdown whistled, coming out of a pile of junk that rattled off his chassis. He'd been heading over to a snippet of bot-made sound and then, surprisingly, English. Coming from a Cybertronian he'd never seen before, and he was sure he knew the entire crew of the Nemesis. But it couldn't be an Autobot because it wasn't proudly sporting the 'bot badge. So : a neutral. First face Breakdown had seen all day. No reason not to try to make a good impression with someone he could hopefully eke out a way to civilisation with. Survival was better in pairs.

Breakdown cocked his head appreciatively at the bike, then its owner, speaking the common Cybertronian patois with as little slur as possible despite having his vocaliser knocked about digging himself out. "I never seen a vespa-wheel like that. Certainly didn't come from this scrap pile! More of a Swindle special. So, where you from?"

A whole lot of silence.

[engrishdetective]

There's a bit of a surprise. Gunmax leans his head back a bit, listening to the strange words coming from this robot. Doesn't quite look like a BP model, but maybe he's missing something. Gunmax squints behind his visor at this robot, holding up his hands.

"Yo, wait a sec," he requests in English. "I didn't understand."

Maybe it's just some language he's never heard, but it definitely doesn't sound like it's anything he's listened to before. Not that Gunmax is any expert on languages. (And if you asked Duke, he doesn't know English either, but the Brit can kiss his aft.)

[brokendown]

Breakdown blinks one eye. Some mech that didn't understand patois? But spoke in English? As in, the Earth language. That's absurd. But then, who knows how long this guy'd been neutral, or where he'd been.

"Okay, I speak English too. I was saying I'd never seen a bike like yours. She's a beaut." Breakdown tried again. Though he couldn't help but notice something really off about the entire situation. Eh, just chalk it up to awakening Primus-knows-where.

[engrishdetective]

"Know any Japanese?" Might as well check for the heck of it. "Thanks, I appreciate it. It was designed specifically for yours truly." The biker smirks a bit and gives the motorcycle a pat.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one around here. Got a name, big guy?"

[brokendown]

"Japanese? A bit. I'm rusty since I oversaw the mines in Hokkaido a few decades back." He inclines his head. "The name's Breakdown. You?" His Japanese is spoken with an impeccable accent, but with an unwavering use of pronouns. He's not speaking in a formal register, either.

[engrishdetective]

There's a small laugh. "Breakdown, huh? Name's Gunmax. I was mostly in Nanamagari, but I've been around a bit. Sorry about the language barrier; I haven't learned much outside of two languages."

Interesting, this guy's been around, then.

"This place look familiar to you at all?"

[brokendown]

"Only two? And neither of them is Cybertronian patois..." Breakdown has to think about that for a long while, dumbfounded. This mech speaks Japanese and English, but not one of the languages of his homeland? Was he sparked on Earth? And was that even possible? And why does he keep his spark's field so tight as to be unreadable? At least the neautral's friendly. "This place doesn't look like anything but a garbage dump to me. The sky doesn't look right with that thing up there. So I have no idea where we are. But we'd better find some fuel. Don't know how long we'll have to ride before we see another mech."

[engrishdetective]

"Cybertronian?" That's definitely a foreign word. Gunmax rubs his chin, curious. "What are you talking about?"

When the word fuel is mentioned, the biker holds up a finger, as if to tell Breakdown to wait a second. Gunmax kneels by his bike, pulling out a canister before he offers it to Breakdown. "Assuming you fuel up on gas. I don't carry diesel, baby."

[brokendown]

Breakdown holds up a hand in a no-thank-you gesture, shaking his head mostly in disbelief. "I fuel on energon. Not... that stuff. I mean, thanks, but..." He really can't understand a lick of what's going on here. "How can you not know what Cybertron is? That's our home."

[engrishdetective]

"Energon?" Yeah, they're... talking about two different things here, he's starting to think. They need to meet somewhere in the middle.

"Look, I don't know about you, but my home's in Nanamagari, Japan. I don't know anything about a Cybertron or what energon is. So, why don't you start from the beginning, Breakdown?"

[brokendown]

Breakdown stares open jawed. What. A robot actually from Japan, on Earth, one that doesn't run on energon, and doesn't know anything. This was. Incredible, and maybe not in the good way. If they were still on Earth, one ground bridge away form the Nemesis, breakdown would have called shenanigans. But waking up on another planet, this could be something other than a terrible joke.

"From the beginning? I'm beginning to think you're not a Cybe... you're not like me. Do you even have a spark?"

[engrishdetective]

Not like him. Possible, but he didn't think that it was likely. Sentient robots are a new thing, to his knowledge. So what's this guy on about?

Gunmax shrugs. "No idea what you mean by spark. I have a Super A.I. chip that allows my personality and heart. Dunno if that sounds familiar to you or not."