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

[herodecoded]

"The rest… is silence." The last words that left his breath as his systems went critical in that jungle, on that planet far off. He made no mistakes, he knew what had to be done. Megatron had to be stopped from destroying all of reality.

But the rest wasn't silence. First his sense picked up the whooping of air from the high velocity of his descent, a descent into darkness. The impact told him this was definitely not the well of allsparks.

The haze of flickering in and out of consciousness made it hard to keep his usual militant awareness. Even coming into full consciousness failed to help.

Ah, this must be the pit...but wait. A marking on his arm. Could it be the marking of the damned? Who knew. Dinobot would have to find out whether death had taken him to the unknown country or if he had gone to another world displaced from his own.

Hauling himself to his feet, Dinobot's eyes narrowed as he scanned the heaps of junk, a hellish wasteland indeed.

[wheeljackofalltrades]

You might notice a bot walking in the distance, Dinobot. He certainly doesn't notice you. But who knows! Maybe you could have something in common.

You're both...metally.

[herodecoded]

The first life form he spotted wasn't what he expected. It...looked like an Autobot, but it appeared it went through an upgrade. Could it be a missing page in Cybertonian history, a link between the Maximals and Autobots?

Dinobot cared for neither of these questions. What Dinobot cared for was that somehow he go answers. The best way to get that was to follow, quietly and watch.

[wheeljackofalltrades]

Wheeljack's not doing anything of particular interest, except for the part where he pulled another mech out of a scrap pile by his head. That was probably interesting to watch. Or him climbing to the top of a pile of junk.

Clearly this Wrecker leads an achieving life.

[herodecoded]

Well one's actions has a tendency to speak volumes. And Wheeljack's tome spoke of someone who at least had a good sense of direction. Dinobot leaped from one junk pile to another as he kept following Wheeljack from afar.

Hey Jackie, you got a stalker.

[wheeljackofalltrades]

After awhile, Wheeljack began to get the feeling like he was being followed, making his motions slower and slower, casually looking behind him every so often. He just had to wait for the right moment...then he'd get his stalker.

Slowly, he walks behind a pile of junk, staking out behind it to see if his fanboy would follow suit.

[herodecoded]

Ah he could tell that the Autobot had deliberately slowed down. The Maximal will follow suit anyhow. Hopefully he shared the Autobot's sentimental ways. He leaped to the pile, sliding down to where the Autobot would be.

[wheeljackofalltrades]

And Dinobot is met with a sword pointed at his face. The Autobot's eyes look fierce, a faceplate sliding over his mouth.

"You better have a slaggin' good reason for followin' me."

[herodecoded]

The Maximal has his hand clenched over his sword, looking the Autobot dead-on in the eyes. His weapon rested but he would be ready if blows came to blows.

"You are an Autobot," he might as well get that out of the way, "Are you familiar with this...location?"

[wheeljackofalltrades]

"'Bout as familiar as my fist is with your face. At least for right now."

He doesn't draw away his sword, keeping his guard up.

"Never seen a bot like you before. Ya don't got an insignia either."

[herodecoded]

"And yet both of us have been drawn to this...place."

He couldn't exactly divulge his Maximal status, he wasn't sure if the Autobot was familiar or not.

"I was a special model. The only insignia I bear is this wretched mark."

He showed the larger mech the odd symbol marked on his person.

[wheeljackofalltrades]

"Ya don't say...I got one of those too."

His shoulder shifted so the Maximal could get a better glimpse at his own mark, embedded right up on his shoulder. It was different than Dinobot's, but it had the same glowing characteristics.

[herodecoded]

Odd. So the possibility of branding hasn't been ruled out. But what for? The possible answers might be far worse than the Pit.

"So I am not the only one with this accursed brand. Could it be we have been gathered like cattle on this wretch of a planet?"

[angleofscience]

Trying to get a good idea of where this was, Jetfire had - since he could - early taken briefly to the air; what little he could see the... piles of junk reminded an awful lot of Cybertron.

But not as it ought to be.

This wasn't as entirely confusing for Jetfire as it could be with his prior knowledge of a confirmed theory of multiple realities, which seemed like it would hold up here - wherever, whichever Cybertron it was - as well.

Since he wasn't planning on leaving the area before he had a better idea if the theory held up, however, and who else was around, if anyone, when he spotted a... Cybertronian? that was decidedly... hm, dissimilar to what he was familiar with, Jetfire landed a distance away and approached on foot.

[herodecoded]

He heard the impact of a foot on the ground. He immediately stiffened up as the Cybertonian approached. Now that one had the appearance of a standard Autobot.

The Maximal waited until the scientist came close enough, "What is your intent here?"

[angleofscience]

Very standard; the Autobrand was even prominent and easily visible at the center of his chestplates above the cockpit. Holding a hand up, Jetfire shook his helm and made sure to pause... well, further away than he would otherwise, but since the mech was... well. Tiny, it seemed more polite to stop at a greater distance.

"Curiosity, mostly, if you'd be willing to indulge." He'd glimpsed a few others, some with a similar design to the Ratchet that had appeared at the Keep, so his first assumption would be that this mech - despite the differences - was cybertronian.

"You are cybertronian, correct? There's no easy way to confirm it, but I've noticed general design differences between cybertronians seem to come with different realities... And I've not quite seen someone similar to you before." The closest might be the Predacons, considering the animal-like kibble bits that could be seen, exiled millions of years earlier from Cybertron, but they had been of the usual cybertronian height.

[herodecoded]

The mech knew how to show respect. He must have held some consulting position on an Autobot crew, if not on Cybertron. This relaxed his stance slightly, but only slightly.

Different realities? And to think Dinobot had barely come to terms with the idea he had stepped into the Earth's past.

"Realities? What do you mean? There was only one Cybertron as far as I know."

[angleofscience]

Any lessening of tension, however small, was a step in the right direction... and a victory in itself, depending on the personality of the given mech. It was impossible to tell which applied here since the situation was rather... exceptional.

"I'd have been inclined to agree with you up until rather recently, certainly," Jetfire said with a shrug, nodding up at the sky, and the strange "tear" in it. "This is both a stranger and more familiar situation that I've come upon recently; at least there's some evidence pointing to this being Cybertron, whereas I spent some time before coming here in a place that claimed several... improbable things."

He crossed his arms and shook his helm, eyeing the piles of junk around them.

"The important thing from that, however, was that I met first one, and then another mech with a significant difference in design to myself and my friend, who'd come with me. Further, details of events in history and particulars to what we each knew to be true didn't line up. We do seem to occupy a multiverse, whether or not this is a Cybertron." Another expansive gesture around them, Jetfire then turning back to Dinobot.

"Hence my curiosity where it comes to you, since you seem to display some differences I've not seen before... Ah, apologies. My designation is Jetfire."

[herodecoded]

Exceptional indeed. Dinobot noted the rip in the sky...well, how could you not? If the boundaries of time had been torn asunder, why not space as well? But...other Cybertons brought up more questions than answers, questions he would have to answer later. Now was not the time.

"I'd soon believe this was the pit than another Cybertron," he spat, "But further evidence might compel me to believe otherwise."

Jetfire. That name seemed familiar. Definitely a name from the Great War years ago. So the question remained: what universe did this Jetfire belonged to?

"I hail from a Cybertron where the Autobots and Decepticons have long been embroiled in combat. I suppose yours would be different."

[angleofscience]

"Evidence a wider exploration beyond these... er, piles of junk might provide. Unless things are different enough none of us would recognise anything." Jetfire frowned, rubbing his chin in thought for a moment. "Of course, the difference would lie in the fact that while there are planets made out of metal, none I, at least, have seen have had Cybertron's... constructed qualities."

Jetfire's reaction to the assumption that his reality would be different wrought a wry twist of his mouth out of him, and a shake of his helm.

"That, unfortunately, seems to be a commonality so far. Insofar as yours, mine, and the two others I know of are all separate, all of them were joined by at least one thing; the Autobot and Decepticon conflict." Depressingly enough.

It was, frankly, an emerging pattern he'd prefer not to find. Of course, four out of a possibility of... millions? of variations within a multiverse was nothing, but something whispered that the conflict was not the exception, but the rule. Jetfire mentally shook his helm and ignored it.

[herodecoded]

If this was Cybertron, then something went horribly wrong. Had he returned to a timeline where the Decepticons won? Or maybe where the war had wiped both sides? But if so, that would mean this world had pulled them here as soldiers. He rumbled along with his brimming thoughts.

"It appeared this Cybertron had suffered a great loss."

So many worlds and yet...war continued. It seemed even the cosmos affirmed his philosophy.

"War is always common, it is the heart all sentient creatures. It would be foolish to think you could avoid conflict."

[angleofscience]

Casting another look around them, Jetfire shook his helm. Making such a pessimistic assumption upon merely seeing their immediate surroundings? What had the mech been through, to immediately arrive at that?

"This from merely seeing what's around us here? From the air, this area doesn't extend forever; the planet could look like anything beyond." However unlikely, Jetfire would rather believe things were... as well as they could be, instead of assuming the worst.

But, it seemed Dinobot didn't just have a more... pessimistic worldview currently, but also a lot less neutral view of their innate nature. A faint grimace slid across Jetfire's expression before his optics narrowed minutely.

"War and conflict aren't the same; conflict is a natural state of give and take, having a place within many patterns and does, indeed, exist everywhere. I don't think, however, that war is a necessity of civilizations ot sentient beings everywhere. It brings conflict to a disruptive level and while it... can be useful, if it lasts for too long, you lose more than gain by it." He knows war can have its points.

Sometimes it's unavoidable, sometimes what comes out after makes it worth it, but war, in and of itself, isn't instrinctic or something that should be viewed as an unavoidable fact.

[herodecoded]

Dinobot had seen the damage battle can wreak. It would come as no surprise Cybertron had suffered so much destruction. The decor of refuse had not swayed him otherwise.

He looked to the sky, "If anything, it would be safe to say this world had died long ago."

His optics turned to the larger mech. Were all Autobots this hopelessly naive?

"Spare your naive platitudes! War is in our circuits! Peace is merely the prelude where one must prepare for the next battle, to gather one's thoughts."

[angleofscience]

"Naive platitudes? When conflict exist without any particular instigator, but we need a mech like Megatron to pull together forces and sentiment to make war?" Arms crossed now, Jetfire stared flatly, but without heat. He knew very well the... lure of the philosophy f at least his verison of the Decepticons. Not that he'd necessarily been leaning towards war, but...

"I know very well what levels people can sink to, but that doesn't mean we can't rise up from them, either," he said with a shake of his helm, and meant himself as much as... say, Starscream. Maybe even Megatron. Though Starscream, of course, had a different point of origin when it came to the levels sunk from or rising up to.

"And if battle can't be denied... what happens when there's no one and nothing left to fight? Do you tear yourself apart at that point, unable to find some other reason for existing?" He paused for a moment, optics darkening briefly and then spread his arms wide to indicate the piles of junk around them.

"If this is indeed the end of a Cybertron and the whole planet looks like this, instead of merely a strange spot... Would you prefer the fighting to lead into this, a simple, quiet grinding halt of everything? That's what happened for thousands of vorns in my reality." He hadn't been there for it, but it'd been part of the information he'd gotten from Bumblebee.

[herodecoded]

"What Megatron seeks is beyond war. He seeks power. There is a difference." How could the Autobots be so thick-headed? Thankfully his Megatron shared names and motives so it made it easier to rant about the Predacon.

"War is simply his means. Regardless if he was behind this, a warrior always has a reason to fight. Always."

Well this was news, "I fight to prevent this! Of course you wouldn't understand..."