re_alignment | [Video -> TEXT] [TRANSMISSION ORIGINATING FROM: LIEGE'S FORTRESS]

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✘ 9 | 4

[Video -> TEXT] [TRANSMISSION ORIGINATING FROM: LIEGE'S FORTRESS]

[Well... okay he's never seen anything like this before. Is it like a typewriter? Because he knows how to use a typewriter. Four doesn't really understand what a "network" is, but he's determined to find out. He's been told that this will help him communicate with others, and... as frightening as that is, he really, really, really wants to talk with people.

Even the robots, who he figures can't all be bad...

Right?

He plays around with it a little, and accidentally turns on the video function. Tiny optics blink out onto the network, and he continues fiddling around with it until he manages the texting function.]

areallofyoulostlikeiam?

[Wait, how do you do spaces? Give him a moment, he'll figure this out.]

My name is 4. There are a lot of machines and living things here. I have never seen anything like you before. can you answer some of my questions please?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Depends what you mean by 'lost'.

[Four hesitates for a moment. What does he mean by "lost"?]

I mean separated from your loved ones, and taken away from everything you know. I'm lost without my family, have you seen them?

Oh.

[A curious pause.]

I don't think I've ever had that. So...I guess I'm not.

But I can help you look for yours? And maybe you can make some friends here. While you wait.

Does that make you lost in a different way then?

[He pauses, friends? Yes, he doesn't mind making friends, there were no one to become friends with back home. Four likes that word and he hopes he can apply it to people soon!]

Will you be my friend? What's your name?

Can you be lost if you've never had a place that was home?

If so, yes.

[Erk...!]

I...uh. I'm not a very good friend. But I'll try.

Yes, I think that's what makes you lost, not having a home. I have only read about friendships before, the kind you get with a stranger, so I can't judge what a "good" friend is or does. I will try to be a good friend too!

....then I guess I am.

[You are a confusing little thing.]

You've only 'read'.

[That's a little...odd. But Drift's only fought for, you know, four million years, so maybe he's not one to comment on it.]

What have you read about, though? At least it's a place to start?

I have read stories about friends who help each other in their times of need, and who share the good times, and the bad times. Friendship seems like a very necessary things among humans, as it seems to give them a sense of belonging. I have also read stories about traitorous friends, and I hope that I do not make any of those here. What do friends mean to you?

I couldn't say; I'm not human.

But everything I had that was ever worth anything was from a friendship.

[Uh yeah. About those traitorous friends.]

You won't. And if you do, you'll have other friends to protect you.

[He gives a smile, that might look a little tense.]

Friends? People you can trust, you can count on.

So my family are my friends too.

[He can live with that.]

Do you robots make families? How are you created?

If they act like that, yes.

You can only ever judge someone by what they do.

[Oh, here's the question of the ages. ~~that canon never really covers~~]

We don't have families. Not that way. [The way he saw on Earth.] And we just...we are. [There was the old distinction between forged and contructed cold, but he'd been in the gutters where such discrimination didn't really touch him. Down there, living was offense enough.]

You are what?

[Because surely there is more to existing than just being.]

Do you not have brothers or sisters? Or, perhaps, others you consider your brothers and sisters.

I am what?

...you mean Cybertronian?

[He shakes his head. ]

No, we're not...we don't do that. There are mechs who are made together, brothers, like they might be on Earth. There are branched sparks, who feel each other's emotions.

Most of us, though, are just..alone.

It's terrible to be alone. Can you tell me more about yourself? Do Cybertronians consume food of some kind?

There are worse things than being alone. Trust me.

[But, well, enough about that emo topic. Moving on.]

We consume energon. And we had a culture, before the war. We're trying to get that back.

[There are other things that Four would prefer to talk about, but that one word catches his attention.]

You're at War? What happened?

[Oh and here he is again, having to tell the story of the war. The funny thing is, every time he tried, even with the Autobrand burning on his armor, bright and red, the story was always the same.]

Injustice happened. Injustice and neglect and desperation so that those who suffered thought they had no other answer but to lash out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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