re_alignment_logs | OPENING LOG: Awakening

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OPENING LOG: Awakening

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.))

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McCrane had felt like this before--twice, now. It wasn't like powering down, which he sometimes did in the small hours of the afternoon when business was slow, nor was it like being offline completely, which...

He remembered.

He remembered the strange time before consciousness had dawned, when his body had been just a machine commanded by the humans. He remembered, also, when he had shut himself down, terrified by the actions he had taken under the influence of the demon, Inti.

Now, though, there was a blank where memory should have been. There was a void, in the midst of data.

And he, somehow, had ended up in the junkyard.

It had to have been a mistake. They'd been battling, perhaps? Something had knocked him unconscious? It...could be that, couldn't it?

But every sensor had screamed at him when his optics had came online, staring up at stars that weren't in the right places, feeling rubble underneath him that was too fresh to belong in a junkyard, smelling dryness and metal and a hundred other scents that, when processed, only equaled one thing.

This was not earth.

He was not supposed to be here.

Immediately, he grabbed for his shotgun.

Not finding it at his side he sat up, his torso wheeling, glancing left and right until he found it, took it, and kept it for only an instant, comforting, in his grasp.

If he was here, and if he did not remember...

Something was afoot.

If he was here, and if he did not remember, he was going to be ready for anything.

McCrane stood up, and brandished his weapon at the world.

While she'd hoped to come upon someone, she'd hoped for someone familiar and not... Well, that he was brandishing a weapon (Earth-make, perhaps?), was noted, but what seemed more... strange was the fact that he...

Well, if he was cybertronian, it was of a different design, and she'd get no answers by being near-to invisible.

Backing off a few paces and behind a pile of detirus large enough to hide her, Elita let her alloys stop adjusting to the landscape and walked around it.

The EMP scrambler put away, of course. She didn't need weapons to take him if necessary.

McCrane was prepared for anything.

He'd told himself this, at least, because 'anything' hadn't included a robot was roughly his size, pink, and very much as close to female as he'd seen a robot come.

He turned as soon as he sensed movement from behind the pile, his weapon pointing but not firing, his glowing lenses flickering once in surprise.

"What...what are you?" he asked, in polite and formal japanese.

If anyone had ever built a female robot, he hadn't heard of it. He did not trust his eyes.

That was not cybertronian. It took a moment to flick through the language files she did have to find a match; Earth, Japanese. Strange choice, and wouldn't they have been informed of... cybertronians? Native mechanoids being somewhere on Earth if the Autobots had known it?

Her optics a shade brighter from consternation but expression otherwise collected, Elita decided to respond in the same language as he did; it wasn't certain he'd understand any of the others, despite so many languages on one planet.

"Cybertronian." She matched his chosen form of the language; she was aware there were several... "variations", but they'd only downloaded languages, not culture when they went to Earth. She had thus no idea what they meant in particular. "Which would mean I don't come from Earth, which you seem to do? Your design doesn't... match what I know in my own species."

The location of his weapon was noted, but not acted upon; she'd only need to know where it was if the situation changed towards a more hostile one.

McCrane was glad for the explanation of 'Cybertronian,' because the word was completely unfamiliar to him. However, given the plethora of unfamiliar objects surrounding him, this made it almost normal to hear.

So.

This was an alien.

And it spoke Japanese?

This was absolutely, completely logical to McCrane's universe, so he thought nothing of it. What did not seem to be logical was the following...

"If you aren't of Earth...why are you built to look human?" He did not lower his weapon, yet, but the lack of aggression from....her...was certainly assisting toward that end. "And female?"

Unexpected question, to say the least. She hadn't actually even seen any humans up close, but for the brief moment they had been visiting the Autobots' base before leaving on the Graviton again Optimus had been speaking with a human, so she was aware what they looked like.

"I think it's mostly coincidence," Elita finally said and shrugged. If she was of another temprament and opinion, she might have remarked humans could just as well have evolved to look like them. "I'm not even sure when humans originated on Earth, but I'm quite sure we're older than that."

And then the second, most confusing statement of all. She even had to cross-reference the word, and yet there was no... full explanation. She supposed knowing more of human culture, life and maybe even biology and physiology might have been useful here.

"... You're going to have to explain that further. 'Female' is one of the human sexes used in reproduction, correct? What does that... have to do with what I look like?" She tilted her helm, utterly confused and not bothering to hide it.

"It was a few thousand years ago..." McCrane began, carefully, not sure at all how a robot could be older than that. This was reading more and more like some sort of bizarre dream, and less and less like reality. "But humans have only been capable of building sentient robots for a few decades. How long have you been built?"

Perhaps the idea of sentient aliens making robots was not so strange.

It was...how familiar she looked that was. Not exactly human, but too close to what humans built for him to be able to unsee.

"Ah. Yes." Females were used in reproduction, he was reasonably sure. "Your proportions and voice..." he began, and trailed off, awkwardly. "Do...all other alien robots look and sound like you?" It could have been coincidence, but he was not banking on that.

"Created, really, not built. While our frames are constructed, yes, other parts can't be. And most of us are over several million years old." He might call her out on avoiding actually replying how long she had been functioning, but she didn't see any need to reveal that. His answer could be just as easily given through the lifespan of others.

She stared, amused as he trailed off and looked down at herself. Yes, there was a basic difference with how most mechs and she was built, she knew that.

"All that I have met of my species are closer to yourself in... general look at least. Size and more specific features may vary due to altmode." Elita had no idea if she was alone as she was, but the differences were mostly aesthetic, and didn't matter overly much.

McCrane wants to put his down as the most perplexing conversation that he's ever had, but he really cannot discount the time he tried to talk to a giant panda.

That...still wins.

However, there is plenty that still is not making sense to him, even if he's mostly lowered the gun by now in pure confusion. "Then...where do the parts come from, if they are not built?"

All of her seemed to be mechanical in construction. He couldn't imagine what else there would be. If her appearance itself was merely coincidence, also, then...

Wait.

Alternate modes?

"You can transform?"

Now the coincidences were blazing, like sirens.

Elita would be inclined to agree about the strangeness of the conversation, especially as she has never tried to talk to a giant panda and thus have nothing to top this with.

"I can, yes. Though unless there's lakes or seas of some liquid elsewhere, a speedboat won't be very useful." Frowning, Elita realized she might need to consider changing her alt if there would be anything around that could be suitable, and with a transformation scheme that'd leave her her shields.

"Others have chosen, or been given, other alternate modes." She paused before tapping the front of her chestplates, above the blue gem in the center.

"Each of us are given a spark, making us what and who we are, which comes from Primus. Usually through the Creation Matrix." She shrugged, speaking with the off-handedness of someone to which this is plain truth, nothing exceptional.

This was an extremely important piece of data, he felt...if the both of them could transform, and if the both of them had such similar robotic structures, and if the both of them had found themselves stuck on this world...

Perhaps something important required them here.

That, or they were in significant danger.

"I have not met a boat before. Perhaps that accounts for your proportions?"

He was completely lost by the ideas of Primus and the Creation Matrix, though, and tries to reconcile it in the only way he can.
"Your AI...then...comes from this Matrix? And it is put inside the body you have?" And one more, important question. "Do you have a name as well?"

"To be honest, I carry most of my altmode on my back." Gesturing over her shoulder, Elita flexed the large back-mounted panels she had there, which made up the hull in her altmode. "And we can choose to change altmode when needed."

So no, there was no practical reason for her overall design to be as it was, really.

"My designation is Elita One. Yours?" She then paused and shook her helm, and it was clear they really didn't come from the same origin, if he didn't know the significance and meaning of that.

"Not exactly. Our knowledge, programming, experiences and memory sits as any in processors. What makes us what we are is separate from that." She wasn't going to open up her chestplates and show him her spark, even if that might help clear everything up.

They could change alt-mode?

If there was not one boggling piece of information, there were several. He supposed that it would technically be possible for him to assume a different mode if the right configurations were fed to him, but something as drastic as a change from a crane to, say, a boat? He'd probably need an entirely different body.

That didn't sit well with him. This was his body. He'd developed the personality that he had while in this body. Change was not so easy.

"Elita One." He repeated the name, and nodded, assuming it to mean she was the first in her series. "I am McCrane, Brave Police Department, Nanamagiri city, Japan. And I..." he trailed off, feeling somewhat lost.

"...do not entirely understand." He knew he could, given time...but he also knew time was not necessarily something they had right now. "But if you claim to be sentient, that is enough for me given our situation." The gun was finally lowered the rest of the way. "Have you been here, before?"

It didn't occur to Elita at all that such a piece of information, that any cybertronian would be capable of changing their altmode, would be... disquieting. That sort of change was built in, really, regardless of the resistance to change or the stubbornness of the individual otherwise.

It's ease itself to internally bring up the map of Earth she still has saved to place his origin, and it's strange... How could they not have known humans were capable of building mechanoids with sentience? She couldn't see the Prime keeping that from them if the Autobots on Earth had known, even if they hadn't ended up anywhere near Japan.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure one of our scientists could explain it better." And maybe have something on hand to show what a spark was, to give a proper visual to differentiate the processor and the spark.

At the question, she once again looks around with a frown, shaking her helm.

"As far as I'm aware, no. This pile stretches too far to get a good visual, even from the top of one of the larger mounds." She says it with a faint grimace, because it's impreative to find out where she (and all of them) are, really.

"The few places the junk doesn't cover the ground seems metallic, though, so either it could be Cybertron, or it's some planet similar to it." Looking up in the sky, though, revealed two moons which were... very familiar, if not exactly as she remembered them.

"I would like to know more," he admitted, "But there is somewhere that I need to be getting back to." He needed to find Earth, again. If he'd been on some mission, here, and it was over? Then he was supposed to be protecting Japan. They could not form Super Build Tiger without him.

When Elita One confirmed their presence on another planet, it was at least a bit relieving. If it seemed like a real world to another individual, then in likely was one. "Cybertron is your homeworld, correct?" Given that she'd called herself 'Cybertronian,' it seemed a logical leap to take. "Do you remember how you got here?"

She nodded, and it wasn't hard to figure out that it was Earth he meant. She could understand the sentiment. Whether this was Cybertron or no, after she found out what was going on with it - since there shouldn't be a giant junk pile anywhere on it - she needed to find the Graviton. More specifically, its crew.

"Yes. There's even the two moons, though they look a bit... different than I'm used to." Another look upwards, and when she looked down again, it was with a frown and crossed arms.

"Nothing that would explain my presence here. I was on a ship, in the middle of... beyond light-speed transport mode. And nowhere near Cybertron, as we'd just left Earth." She paused, frown deepening, though more thoughtful than displeased, now. "What about you?"

Could there maybe be... similarities in how and when they got here?

"Two moons..." he repeated, and followed her gaze to look up at them, still surprised to see the strangeness of this sky. "But not that?" He cocked his head at the long white scar across the heavens, still curious about what sort of phenomena it was.

It looked almost like a nebula, but...much too close.

"I was..." he started, and trailed off. All he'd been doing, the last that he remembered, was sitting in the Brave Police office, loading his shotgun. "...doing nothing remarkable." He'd been on call, but there hadn't been any crimes or any suspicious activities to investigate. "Sitting in headquarters, that was all." He looked down to his shotgun, trying to imagine how only a few hours ago he'd been where he was supposed to be.

But here he was.

And if this was some form of Cybertron, and if this...female...was Cybertronian, then it only seemed to follow that she might have some further clues. "Is there any device that Cybertronians have which could transport us like this?"

The mention of the strange gash in the sky had her looking up again, squinting at it even if it wasn't really bright enough to necessitate that. It was a truly alien thing that even this giant pile of junk couldn't top among something that was seemingly familiar.

"Not that, no." Once again, she looked back down from the sky, unaccountably... unsettled by the lambda, and not certain why. If she knew what it was and its origin, maybe it'd make sense.

"No real commonalities between our appearance here, then, beside that we did wake up here, and, whether this is... Cybertron or not, neither of us, and, I'd think, none of the other as well, should be here." She couldn't really claim transwarp was unremarkable, after all. It did have its pitfalls and dangers.

"... Well, there's transwarp and space bridges," Elita said with a shrug. "But a space bridge requires you to go into a structure that contains the machinery to create and contain the power that transports you. Transwarp is similar, but used in spaceships." So while both of those things were possible... If the transwarp had been responsible for her coming here, the whole of the Graviton ought to be too, as well as the others.

Her comm. however, was still silent.

"So neither of those options is likely, unless the technology here is greatly superior to that of your Cybertron..." He glanced around to the junk, as if the words 'greatly superior' were in serious question.

"And the only similarity between us seems to be that we're mechanical." At least, as far as he could tell.

They were still missing some crucial piece to this puzzle, and it was probably a corner piece.

"If this is not your Cybertron, however, then...can there be multiple ones?" That was an increasingly worrying fact to him. If, somehow, there was more than one Cybertron, then there was also more than one Earth. And if there was more than one Earth...

...then returning home might not be as simple as a space ride.

She nodded, but while she could agree it seemed... unlikely that this planet had more advanced technology than the planet she knew, she doubted that this junkpile covered the whole planet.

"If there is something more advanced, the amount of energy that would require seems like it'd be prohibitive..." Shrugging, Elita looked over McCrane again, considering it. While there was enough... general similarity (given basic frame-type differences, if they could translate across "species") that she was confused as how it could be that way, he was not cybertronian, so there wasn't really anything but a surface aesthetic similarity.

"... Multiple?" Optics widening and her expression widening in surprise, she wasn't sure whether to shake her helm and just deny it, or... what. "I... suppose. Maybe that could be possible. I don't see how though."

Energy could definitely be a problem. McCrane was far from a mechanic or an engineer, but he knew the basic limitations. Right now, they were the same limits preventing him from being homeward bound.

If he looked at the situation with all the facts laid out, however, then the only possible solution was the one that seemed insane.

"Theoretically, if the technology had enough energy to pull us through space, it...could have pulled us through time, couldn't it?" Or through reality. There weren't many other reasons for why this could be Cybertron but not be Cybertron.

"Yes, I suppose so... Through time or space. Time-space... reality, I suppose," Elita said, continuing out loud the thought McCrane had been thinking. Rubbing the bottom part of her helm, she slowly shook it.

"Maybe. I'm not unfamiliar with the theory, but I've never seen, or heard, it done." Theoretically, though, she supposed it might be possible. Except that how could there be more than one Cybertron, when Cybertron was the body of Primus?

"Maybe there'll actually be answers to be found around here; if anything, none of us can stay in this junk pile." It wouldn't just be unstable and unsafe, since detrius seemed to... wait. Frowning, Elita followed the arc of a piece of junk that seemed to be... dropping from the sky?

Looking up, she could see nothing that would be the source of it - unless a ship was so far around orbit it couldn't be seen - unless it was that strange tear in space.

Either way, it would be unsafe, especially with junk continually falling down. They'd need somewhere else to stay if they couldn't get home. She futher wanted to try and find out more... and maybe meet up with someone she knew.

"It is the best theory we have, so far." He sighed, not liking it despite that fact. "But we could gather more information, and compare it later."

Given that they'd covered all of the basics, he was getting eager to move on and see if there was anybody else who could progress the case. Elita seemed to desire a trip home as much as he did.

"If anything, getting a look at things beyond all this gargage could give some more clues... and maybe help to get home." She looke dup at the sky again, and then around them.

"Splitting would cover more ground. I assume you're looking for others you know as well? I hope you find someone at least," Elita said with a nod, back-mounted panels shifting with her own... Not exactly unhappiness at being alone as of yet, more like... displeased.

She could do solo-jobs, but she'd been working with a crew and backup and friends for over a decade now.

"Those are my thoughts exactly." He offered a smile, finally, feeling comfortable enough around Elita to do so. "If I find out anything, I will attempt to contact you again.

He bowed his head, and slung his shotgun over his shoulder.

"I hope there will be familiar faces for both of us. Good luck?" He hoped that luck was something alien races had, and that she'd understand what he meant by it.

Giving her a quick salute, nevetheless, McCrane turned to continue on his way.

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OPENING LOG: Awakening

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