[Visible to All][Posting from the Junk Pile]

[mccrane]

This is McCrane.

[He is aware that there is some way in which to lock this to only his fellow Brave Police Officers, but he's not familiar enough with the settings yet to do this, so everyone can see it.]

One of the large inhabitants has informed me that we can take up residence with him.

Should we accept this offer?

I have yet to find any gasoline...

[As if now realizing that this might actually be useful if there are a number of viewers, he pauses, and changes tactics.]

Has anyone found anything that looks like this? [He holds up his one, single can of gasoline, hoping that the camera on his communicator can catch it.] It might become necessary.

[Considering they'll. Die. If they don't find a supply of it.]

Comments

[mccrane]

Understood.

[He's pretty good with lists!]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

..._criminal. [Strange, he's never thought of himself that way. It's a bit of a shock. Then again, where he's from, the law is pretty loosely enforced. Even Ultra Magnus had been known to turn his back on, say, Wrecker things.]

I was granted amnesty, though.

[...yay?]

Three weeks. That's what he'd said. [Optimus Prime does not lie, McCrane.] He just showed up one day. And didn't seem to realize how much had changed. [It was a really busy three weeks!]

[He frowns. See? He told you he wasn't a science type.] That's....true. [And depressing.] We may have done damage just being brought here.

We need to know, you're right, before we can do anything.

[Other than worry. Which now he's starting. He'd just thought that he was here and everyone else was back on the ship and everything was fine. Well, as 'fine' as a usual day on the Lost Light.]

[video]

[mccrane]

I'm not here to pursue your crimes. From what I've heard, you have atoned for them enough.

[That whole 'endless war' thing was the worst punishment he could think of, at any rate.]

That is hard to believe without proof. [Optimus who?]

But I'm inclined to think our worlds are safe. If we're coming through at different times, then it can't have damaged any one time badly. [That's the extent of his science. However, it makes sense to him. You can't arrive next week if last week vanished.]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

It's hard to tell if you've atoned enough. Some will never forgive me.

I don't blame them.

[You want proof? Well, you are not going to like Drift's theories about the Knights, then.]

Some things you have to take on faith, McCrane.

[He frowns. This is true. Pharma clearly came in after he did, and he hadn't complained about catastrophic anything. Just losing his hands. Which Drift knew wasn't his fault. ]

It also means we're still there, at least in some reality. Otherwise those coming later would notice us missing.

[This kind of hurts his head. Either that or Pharma's cure has a side effect he didn't remember being warned about.]

[my_own_trope]

Mm.

[/Click]

[rotafortunae]

[Okay Aunt McCrane, you got him there. He sighs.]

There's some plants around Alpha Trion's sector, but there's only so long one can survive on leafy greens and tomatoes. I've been composing a list of common staples for Trion to see if we can get more food here, but it's slow going. Let me tell you, I might be moved to murder if it meant I could find a roast chicken, perhaps with some mashed potatoes... or even a loaf of bread!

I'll survive for now, but I do wonder about the children here. They're a bit more fragile, and growing, they'll need something a bit hardier than this sparse fare to get by...

[video]

[mccrane]

Sometimes, working toward atonement can be enough on its own.

[He doesn't know what to tell you about those that won't forgive you. He just knows he isn't one of them. Well, provided you don't go on a killing spree here.]

Faith.

[He feels odd about that word.] Would it be alright if I chose to rely on facts, unless proven otherwise?

Such as what you've brought up. Perhaps the simple act of us arriving from different times is what destroys them to begin with.

[He's so optimistic, can't you tell?]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

I hope so. It doesn't always feel like it.

[ Because penance should hurt and sometimes, it doesn't. Sometimes he finds himself....happy.]

There are some things there aren't facts for, though. Things that simple knowledge falls short of explaining.

...but then. We can't go back, because there's no back to go to.

[McCrane is clearly Japanese for 'buzzkill'.]

[video]

[mccrane]

[He remembers feeling guilt...so much guilt, that he shut himself down from his own inability to cope with it. If he hadn't had others relying on him, and the need to stay alive, and do his duty...he would have stayed shut down.]

I learned it is better to be alive, and have the chance to make a difference. What more do you think you need to do?

[Granted, his situation wasn't the same as Drift's. He'd almost killed innocents on accident, but it hadn't actually happened, and he'd never do it on purpose. He doesn't think he even could.]

I don't understand. What can't be explained?

[McCrane has too much LOGIC for this to make sense.]

..

....

It was only a theory. [He says softly, after a moment, hoping it isn't true.]

[video]

[sword_redemption]

Yes, it's better to stay alive and try to do some good. Or if you must die, die protecting someone.

[And not, say, ignominiously rusting out on a medibay berth somewhere.]

I need to fix things. The war, everything.

Lots of things can't be explained by facts. Emotions, for one thing. How you can look at the sunset [Cherry blossoms optional] and feel something, when all you're seeing is planetary rotation.

...It's a theory we need to be concerned about, before going 'home'. [See? Facts get you into all sorts of depressing trouble. You should join Drift on the Bright Side.]

[mccrane]

If I see any organic creatures at all, I will be sure to let you know. [He can understand the need for a varied diet, even if his is only varied between 'gasoline' and 'diesel' and only when he has to drink gasoline.] It isn't impossible that there might be a chicken out there.

Somewhere.

Can you describe what one would look like?

[As far as he's seen, they seem to be drum-shaped objects with crusty shells and a bone sticking out the end.] This world does not seem any more hospitable to humans than it does to the Brave Police. [Now he's worried about the children.] Was it like this where you came from? [The strange worlds with buildings on?]

[video]

[mccrane]

You sound like a good person, Drift. [You get a small smile for it, too.]

I hope you can do all that you want to. It would be nice for your kind to experience peace, once more.

[Especially since he can't deny that you're correct.]

...

Perhaps. But I don't have to take emotions on faith. I feel them. I should not take them for granted, but they exist, whether I believe in them or not.

I will have to keep gathering information, then. Any that you can find and share would be very helpful.

[video]

[sword_redemption]

I'm trying.

[Trying so hard it hurts.]

Honestly I'm not sure we know how to do it. When I left Cybertron it didn't seem possible.

[And part of him wonders if he should have stayed, but no. He was a fighter. And there was no place for warriors there.]

But. [How do you explain faith? He's not even sure Wing could do it.] Well, what's the connection between what you see and what you feel? What is that?

....

We all need to share what we know. [Particularly if Knock Out was right about the Primes.]

[rotafortunae]

Well, yes. Hence why I traveled so much. Few resources, there, a land where nothing grew.

But I don't have the option of traveling from here, it seems.

Anyway, as for chicken...

[Video now. He sketches a rough doodle of a chicken]

They're birds, but rather fat, and they don't fly. We have to kill them, then skin them, gut them, clean them, and then cook them.

[noparachutes]

Cybertronian.