re_alignment | 01

Entry tags:

✘ tf: idw | swerve

01 - Video;

[When the vid feed pops up on the Link, it starts with Swerve looking pretty confused, but this isn't exactly new to anyone who knows him.
To those who don't, welcome to Swerve-ville! Population: This boxy motherfucker and a whole lotta mouth.
He does perk up pretty quickly though, which again, isn't all that surprising. Swerve is pretty ace when it comes to looking like he's perpetually in a good mood.]

You know, I kind of thought we'd crashed through some kind of portal at first, 'cause this looks a lot like Cybertron. So I was thinking maybe there was some kind of massive surprise twist on the way and the Knights of Cybertron were actually on Cybertron the whole time, but it was an alternate version of Cybertron and the quest was actually supposed to teach us a lesson about perseverance and friendship.

Buuuut then some mech who was with me when I came out of recharge explained most of the actual situation to me. Kind of a disappointment, really.

[Though, if he thinks about it, this is actually pretty good. If there was a test on how everyone on the Lost Light was best friends, they would have failed it pretty quick. Because they're them.]

But, uh, just a note here? Waking up to a mech who was watching you during recharge just to explain the whole situation? Actually pretty creepy. So... might wanna get management on that.

((OOC: Tags forthcoming when I return from classes.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, I've talked to Magnus, but not about learning anything... He's slightly different from the one I know.

[She shrugs and then looks over at her own glyph, considering it.]

I'm rather sure we get them the moment we pass through the Lamda, so while the glyphs mark us as aligned with one Firstforged or the other... They don't actually have a hand in it.

He did a pretty good job when it came to catching Tailgate up on the full unabridged version of the Autobot Code. [No he didn't.]

Didn't think Lambda was sentient enough to do that, but I don't know freaky space portals very well and I didn't exactly get the whole introduction.

But speaking of introductions, I'm Swerve. And I don't even recognize you as some sort of other version of someone I already know, so you are..?

Elita One.

[Well, at least there was no assumptions of, or calling her "Arcee".]

And... if I understood things correctly, it's not the Lamdba that does it, but whatever besides the Firstforged that are trying to counteract the Lambda's effect on this reality.

[No one has said "Primus" specifically, but if the Firstforged said that, she wouldn't be surprised.]

... The Autobot Code? [She tilts her helm and considers Swerve curiously.] While we certainly have laws and conduct for a war situation, I didn't know another reality had a whole... Code.

[He met Arcee once and Elite is, thankfully, not psychopathic enough for him to mix them up. As far as he knows. Wouldn't want to assume and all.]

And the Lambda came from what? Or where? Or who? Nothing? Does anyone know, or did no one give us the memo? Actually, it was probably in the briefing but I might have missed that part.

Well, it's kind of the same thing. It's not like everyone follows it to the letter. The Wreckers probably don't, but they're Wreckers, so they're not really expected to. Decepticons definitely don't, but again, it is the Autobot Code.

[That "as far as he knows" shouldn't get disproven. Unless something happens.]

I... think the suggestion has been that Unicron is responsible, but I'm not completely sure of that. It wouldn't suprise me if so.

[There was a certain chaos about all trhis junk falling through, after all, as well as individuals from other realities, even less humans who certainly didn't belong on Cybertron. She can't help but chuckle at the flow of words, though.]

I suppose so, yes. [Shrugging, Elita taps her chin.] Not that there's a lot of the law that's relevant while we were at war, though more should become so now that things are settling... A "Code" sounds like it'd be more... inclusive than just laws, though.

[Something already happened. It's called the Lambda. But still, point taken.]

Unicron? Yeah, that sounds like a mech, alright.

So he is..? [IDWverse has a lot of things, but Unicron is not one of them, as far as anyone knows.]

It's a lot like a go-to guide for not committing war crimes and basically not making the galaxy think we're as bad as the other guys.

Try "the opposite of Primus" and a "deity that likes to eat planets and destroy realities" rather than a mech. I'm relieved you haven't had to fight it, but you haven't even heard of it?

[That's a... rather amazing thought, to her. Not that they had known, before Unicron woke up, much about it, but they'd been aware of the name itself, if only vaguely.]

... You'd need a guide for that?

[What is this moonman langauge.]

Sounds like a regular laugh-riot, but nope, not even a little. Is that weird?

[In IDW land, you've got your Primus, your Mortillus, Adaptus, Solomus, and that one whose name starts with an E. Epitemus! Yeah, that's it. No Unicrons here. Sorry.]

Well, I didn't. I was a non-combatant, and my field of science couldn't exactly make twisted machines that had no right to be brought into the war.

That was Brainstorm's department.

I'm not sure, really. We didn't know much at all about Unicron before both it and Primus were woken up, but the designation was still something we were aware of.

[Yet anyway.]

... If that happened at all, your war must have been different than the one that was fought in my reality.

[She shakes her helm, both curious and a bit unsettled.]

[Shrug.] Afraid I got nuthin'. He hasn't come up as far as I know. I guess he could exist, but he must be a pretty well kept secret back home if he does.

Did your war last for several million years, span a ton of planets, involve 'cons Phase Sixing a few planets, and wind up getting your race blacklisted on the Galactic Council?

Might, since Unicron appears to be able to cross realities. It might not even be around in yours... yet.

[Hopefully never?]

... [She's a little bit stunned.] Over eight million years, though part of the high command was lost for around four million... the Ark and Nemesis were lost on Earth, we later found out.

Phase Sixing? Not something I recognize. Though the war did of course spill over into other planets. And there's no Galactic Council.

[Whatever that is.]

Spooky.

The Galactic Council sort of looks out for the interests of all the races that are members of the whole thing. There are a pretty good amount last time I checked, but politics aren't really my thing.

It's like... okay, imagine a world that's been slowly brought to the brink of collapse. And then imagine a crazy powerful mech coming in and wiping the whole thing out. Like everything and everyone is slag. That's Phase Six. It's a 'con thing.

[Serious topic or not, that makes her chuckle a bit.]

... Huh. No, we don't have anything like that in my reality.

[She pauses then, and stares, listening to the explanation and slowly shaking her helm.]

Definitely seems like it could be a Decepticon thing. I don't think Megatron ever deployed something like that, but then, there never were much fighting on other worlds.

[Not that other worlds didn't get hit, though.]

[Aha! Made her laugh. This obviously means they are on good terms. And also that didn't sound like a crazy laugh. So yaaaaay.]

Yeah, our involvement with 'em got pretty bad for a while. Decepticons would mess something up, then we'd show up. Autobots would be doin' somethin' somewhere and then 'cons would show up. Eventually we all got stuck with a bad reputation.

[Not that they didn't deserve it.]

[Yes, a perfectly normal, if quiet laugh. Nothing crazy here!]

... And I assume both deserved it, and it wasn't just Autobots getting stuck with a bad reputation because of the Decepticons always coming after, or us being the same species?

[She hesitates before saying it, because honestly the idea is utterly strange to her. She wasn't actively involved for a long time in the war, but it was hard to miss, and the "bad" stuff usually only had one source. But from how Swerve's talking...

It's not too hard to pick up the details, expressly vocalised or not, and put together something of a picture.]

[Swerve just sort of shrugs. The Autobots did questionable things, but the worst of their atrocities never really made it to the public, so he has no idea.]

I always figured it was more of the latter, honestly. I wouldn't know about much about us deserving it or not, since I wasn't a combatant. I just invented alloys and the like. I always figured we did the best we could with whatever we could manage.

Doesn't surprise me. [She huffs and shakes her helm.] I wasn't actively always involved myself, but you do what you can...

[She does tilt her helm curiously at one thing, though.]

There was enough of a population to have completely uninvolved civilians?

Yeah, surprisingly! We didn't even think there was until they all came outta the metalworks after the war was over. Cybertron sort of called everyone home, and they came by the shipload. Some were still coming in when I left, I think.

Hmmm. It's odd to consider, but on the other hand, you either had to leave the planet, or join either faction. There were some, myself among them, who left for various reasons. I know Springer in my reality was fighting Decepticons alone for example, but he's technically an Autobot...

[Her optics widens a bit at the mention of a "call", since that was similar, but not exactly like...]

Called them? We had something similar, but I think they were returning to find out later what the noise had been... And luckily they came after Unicron was defeated.

That's kinda the problem with a huge war. You lose track of soldiers and scientists and so on. Everyone does their own thing for a bit. Mechs get stranded on planets.

Yeah. When it rebooted it told us all to come home. It was kinda nice to hear, but I figure it's kind of hard to call a new hostile Cybertron 'home'.

It looks similar to this one?

After Unicron was defeated, the Last Autobot created a tiny race of cybertronians to help clean Cybertron up... The rest of us simply had to rebuild what had been destroyed, otherwise it was the same.

[As far as she had seen, anyway; she hadn't actually gotten to spend much time on Cybertron after the war was... temporarily, it now seemed, over.]

I wouldn't really know. None of us would. I hadn't been off-planet since we bailed outta the shuttle, and when the Lost Light left, things were a little too busy exploding for be to get a good look at it from the air. Even the short time we spent there were spent in a small area, since it was to dangerous to go anywhere out there.

The Last Autobot? [That doesn't sound good.] Like, every other Autobot died?

[It does sound rather grim, doesn't it? Elita shakes her helm.]

Luckily, no. I have no idea why he was called such, but he created the minicons... ressurected Optimus Prime [again, but perhaps that doesn't need to be said]. Considering most thought Primus had perished against Unicron, perhaps that was part of why he was named that as well.

[Primus hadn't, obviously, but it's easy to forgive anyone to make that mistake during such a climatic and exhausting event.]

Your... "rebooted" Cybertron seemed like it might be more volatile than this one, then, excluding the Badlands. You had issues during takeoff?

[Curious name for a ship, though. "Lost Light"? That seems to simply be asking for trouble, really.]

Okay, yeah, that's a little impressive. Even if I've got no idea what lead up the all of that, like, at all.

[Swerve looks pensive at that, and then switches gears to a more sheepish sorta look.]

It might be. I haven't really checked out the Badlands yet.

During take off, someone got too close to the quantum generators and ended up mashed into them. Ore was his name. [He doesn't say that Ore didn't actually like him much unless he was pretending to be Pipes.]

[She just shakes her helm; it'd probably take a bit too long to discuss all the ~adventures~ and the history of her reality to lead to that. It'd involve "demons" and mutants as well.]

I haven't, either, but it's probably just as well... Doesn't seem like a place you should go to, but I should probably get a better idea about it.

[If only so she could do her "job" well if it was needed.]

Engines and science isn't my thing, but that doesn't sound good. At all. They're responsible for things like your version of space bridges or transwarp portals?

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