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

[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."

[brokendown]

Breakdown knows vaguely what A.I. was, as in that's what gave drone-bots some smarts. But no drones could talk back, or have language-shifting speech quirks, or the personality to share their fuel. But without a spark, and Breakdown could pinpoint the source of his uneasiness with Gunmax being a lack of spark energy, that made Gunmax the most advanced drone robot he'd ever come across. Ah well, having a super-advanced drone to help him survive wherever they'd both found themselves would be better than nothing, and better than a drone he had to program. Doubly helpful because Breakdown doesn't know how to program a drone at all.

"It's familiar, but it sure ain't what I have," Breakdown grunts unbelievingly. "You're one impressive robot. But you don't act like one. I coulda sworn you were a real Cybertronian."

[engrishdetective]

"Let's just say I'm a little special where I'm from and keep it to that point, okay?" Gunmax shrugs at Breakdown. "No idea what a Cybertronian is, but I suppose I can found out later."

He boards his motorcycle, jerking his thumb towards the odd sky display. "This? Is probably going to take most of my attention. No offense meant."

Cybertronian. That's a word he'll tuck away for now, that and the other terminology that Breakdown mentioned. None of it is familiar. So that could mean a place with other sentient robots -- but then, who made them? Who the heck knows. Gunmax is sure he'll find out later, but for now, there are bigger problems at hand.

[brokendown]

"Okay, dude. None taken. You got your way to go, I guess I got mine." The drone had a mind of his own, that was for sure. Seeing him perched on his bike, ready to go, Breakdown knows this is a free spirit that can't be tamed. Maybe he's more than a drone because of it. Breakdown gave Gunmax a weak salute, and turned to continue on his way. There was a streak of movement across the sky. Maybe that was a path to find his answers. "See ya'round, Gunmax."