re_alignment | accidental video;

[Behold, the shattered remains of Perceptor's lab. It looks better than before, though -- some things are back in order again. One of the tables has been pieced together again. And it's on this table that Perceptor has... crashed, for lack of a better word, with his hand knocking into the comm.]

[Days and nights working on repairs, while making trips back and forth to the medical bay will wear out even the toughest scientist.]

[Clearly visible on his arm, however, is a very different Glyph than last time... this one is now green.]

[His head suddenly jerks up, and he stares for a moment, before blinking, and... well. Realizing he just turned the thing on. He looks haggard.]

Oh. Right. There. Was an announcement I meant to make. According to my records, it would seem that I have been present on this world for--

[He glances down at what appear to be notes.]

--wait, no, I've lost... what day is it? Anyway. Not important. The point is that I've been here far longer than anticipated, and was curious as to how long others have been present on this world.

[Happy Haven-versary to you too, Perceptor. That's what you were trying to say, right?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's not too many of us that are here still that came here in the first wave, but some are.

[She pauses then, and stares, before laughing. It's dry and she's not really laughing at Perceptor, but...]

I'm sorry, but... well. For you they might be myths, but Unicron appeared in my reality in the metal, as did Primus. Some parts of Cybertron still bear the scars from the fight.

It's hard to refute proof like that, and I know the other mech who's here from my reality showed what he saw on the Link.

Perhaps there's some sort of time limit in place. As absurd as that sounds.

[He bristles. Visibly.]

I'll believe such a thing when I witness it for myself. For all anyone knows, those you described could have been something else entirely.

[He'd be more open if he wasn't. You know. Feeling suddenly defensive.]

[The laughter dies away to a lop-sided little smile.]

Maybe. If there is, I only hope it's one that takes us home and not drags us to the Badlands to be used against this Cybertron.

I apologise for laughing. [She shakes her helm, smile still lingering.] But no, it wasn't anything else, at least not with Unicron. [The smile just evaporates into a tighter, darker expression, and there's no thought to the hand she brushes against her chestplates, above her spark.]

We just knew. All of us did, no matter where we were when it happened...

All signs point to the latter, rather than the former, alas.

[All the more reason to keep researching. To better figure this out.]

[His impressive ":|" expression remains.]

Based on what evidence?

Visual. It's a little hard to miss a Cybertron-sized mechanoid taking handfuls out of Cybertron and literally swalling those same handfuls. [She tilts her helm, one upper edge of an optic arch.]

And I'm pretty sure I saw reports after the fact of space-time destabilising around Cybertron during the fight, concentrated on it. [Her optics narrow a little, aimed at the ground.]

And we knew. [Sorry, Perceptor, but that's what it is.] There's no better way of describing it. Just as we know what our sparks are for us, we knew what Unicron would do, even if we didn't know it was him before he identified himself.

... And they do, don't they? [The arch look twists into a grimace.]

[He just scrubs at his face. No, he does not want to believe this. It's not quantifiable. It's not... something concrete.]

[The evidence is all feelings and sights.]

Fine, very well.

But that doesn't mean the same thing is occurring here.

[Unfortunately you sort of had to be there.]

Possibly not. [She shugs, giving a little tilt of her helm.] I've never seen anything like the Lambda, but since the Firstforged have said it's behind it, and the Badlands... do have a similar feeling [she grins a little there.] I'm inclined to believe it as the simplest option.

Not one I'd prefer, though.

[Never that.]