[VIDEO] Welcome Back?

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[He's been here before. At least, that is what the Acolyte that greeted his arrival informed him, warning him that some of the "other refugees" might assume some level of familiarity with him. Past friendships forged, previous alliances made, beings encountered...]

[Perceptor remembers none of it.]

[His expression as he regards the Link is calm and inscrutable, though, despite how unsettling it is to find that his memories, if they were even his own memories, are... altered. Or missing. Or incomplete. Something.]

Do I have a laboratory here?

[Why beat around the bush, as Verity would have said. Well, she might have added a few... choice terms, perhaps, but, still. The sentiment remains.]

Comments

[video]

[sword_redemption]

[Drift should answer the question. He really should. But right now, he's not really finding words.]

[Beyond the one.]

....Perceptor?

[video] 1/2

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Even if he'd known that Drift is here, Perceptor never would have expected that he'd answer. Drift, as he recalls, moved in more rarefied circles now.]

[Or then. Back on the Lost Light.]

[Which... is not here.]

[VIDEO] 2/2

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[He should actually answer, rather than stand there looking like he's been smacked by Brainstorm's latest idiocy.]

I, uh.... Yes. Hello, Drift.

[VIDEO]

[sword_redemption]

I. Uh.

Yes. You were here before.

[It hadn't gone so well between them; the awkward coolness that had grown between them in the latter days of the war edging towards coldness.]

[VIDEO]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Well, at least Perceptor is not alone in his surprise. Somehow, that... comforts him.]

Yes. That is what the Acolyte told me. [He gestures to the glyph on his upper arm. Liege Maximo's glyph. He's still digesting that, too.]

But not where it might have been. [Or who he might have actually known. Or how well.]

[He's unaware of the former chill between them. Awkwardness, he understands all too well; Drift had left for Earth, while Perceptor had remained with the Wreckers. Their time on the Lost Light together had done little to repair that distance between them, what with Drift working so closely - and often - with Rodimus, and Perceptor...]

[Hiding. Quite frankly.]

Do you know?

[That's safe enough to ask, right?]

[Video]

[rungout]

[This is..interesting. Considering last he was aware Perceptor had disappeared much like Whirl had.]

I'm not..sure if you do, I know the other Perceptor residing here does..



It's good to see that you are safe, Perceptor.

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

...Other... Perceptor?

[There's another.... him?]

[video]

[rungout]

Ah--yes.

He's from another...timestream I suppose is a good way of saying it.

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Fortunately, the concept of other "timestreams" does not phase Percetor overmuch. It's all but required by the tenets of quantum theory and physics.]

[It's the being smacked with evidence of timestreams that actually include him - which he had expected in an academic way, but had not been in any way prepared to confront realistically - that is really boggling him.]

Ah.

[Well, at least there are some familiar faces here.]

[Assuming that this is his Rung. Which, depending upon the various theories regarding alternate universes, it... might not be.]

Are you and I from the same "timestream", Rung?

[pasteurized]

[...What kind of question is that?]

Don't tell me amnesia is the next bug going around.

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

Others who have returned have not lost their previous memories?

[Of course, he would be the "lucky" one.]

[video]

[pasteurized]

I haven't kept track of who's been leaving and returning. Looks like there isn't much fanfare when someone drops off the map.

[No, Perceptor, the lucky ones are the ones who actually make it off this rock for good.]

If you did have a lab here, someone might have scavenged it during your vacation if you've been gone long enough.

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

Hm.

[Hence the quotation marks.]

[Perceptor sighs. Of course it couldn't be that easy.]

Clearly you recognize me. Who are you?

[And what the heck is a human doing on Cybertron? Yes, yes, "Refugee". But, still. Humans.]

video;

[thxforthememories]

... You came back?

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[He's been waiting for this, actually.]

Apparently. However...

[He pauses, examining the individual on the other end of the link carefully.]

I have no memories of my time here, Before.

[Yes, it has taken on a quality that gives it a proper name. "Before". As in "Before he'd arrived this time."]

[video]

[thxforthememories]

But --

No! No, you... that's not -- How can you forget?

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

...I did not choose this!

[Neither forgetting, nor even being here. Although, this reaction seems to indicate that his time here Before might not have been quite as... pointless as his time on the Lost Light.]

[...or maybe... as lonely?]

[Video]

[shutupndrive]

[Well this is weird.]

You..look like notdad.

[Video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

"Notdad"? Who is that?

I am Perceptor. Who are you?

[Because you look... almost familiar, but not really.]

[Video]

[shutupndrive]

I figured you were Perceptor. You look like Notdad, who's also a Perceptor.

[And one of his guardians. Thus, notdad.]

Name's Smokescreen.

[video]

[angleofscience]

I'd say 'welcome back', but it seems you are a slightly different version if you remember nothing... And woke up in the temple?

[Since otherwise he'd have walked in from the Badlands, obviously.]

And I'm unsure about a lab. [Jetfire shakes his helm, frowning slightly.] The previous one might have had one, but in that case I'm unaware of the location.

[video]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

Yes, the temple. Liege Maximo's temple.

[Perceptor offers a hesitant little smile.]

Jetfire?

[Looks like Jetfire. Sounds like Jetfire. Hopefully this is his Jetfire, or as close to his as Rung and Drift have been, at any rate.]

An interesting theory. Perhaps I am from a near-identical version of a familiar reality? Or perhaps a different point in time from the same time stream, and that variance was enough to render me effectively a new copy of myself?

[video]

[angleofscience]

Yes, that's my designation. [There's a twitch of a smile and then Jetfire shrugs.] But, if you're from the same reality as Drift, Ultra Magnus and quite a few others that are present, I am not the Jetfire you know.

[So not quite that lucky, Perceptor.]

Possibly, or, if memories aren't retained in the chance that we're sent back to where we come from and time relative between the dimensions appear to not move, any awareness of having left would be gone, and when brought back no recollection of being here would be present...

[He frowns slightly, folding his arms over his chestplates.]

There's not been enough proof either way, and certainly not many enough that have disappeared and then come back to be able to tell which might be the most correct.

[audio]

[rstlsslegsyndrm]

You could speak to the other Perceptor. He may know if you - or your predecessor - had one. If not, I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing his lab with... himself. In a way.

[audio]

[gunfondlingbattlestat]

[Perceptor quirks up a brow ridge. He isn't certain if he would tolerate sharing lab space with anyone else, even himself. Would his alternate truly be as accommodating?]

[Would Perceptor be able to tolerate being near one who might be like he had been... before Turmoil?]

[He nods anyway.]

A good thought. Thank you.

How many others have arrived here?

[You know, from their own reality.]