//001//

[sword_redemption]

[There was Theophany, and fighting the Galactic Council troops. And then he heard Rodimus say something over comm, and there was a blinding flash. And now he was here, alone, standing in what looked like a courtyard, still half braced for combat. But Cyclonus wasn't next to him. No one was. Even the snow itself seemed undisturbed, a thick blanket of white, crunching under his feet. ]

[He reached for his communicube, stowing one of his twin blades, coming up instead with...a book? He'd seen them on Earth, of course, but, well, not on Theophany. And not in his own storage.]

[He flips through it, talking to himself.]

...must be the Metrotitan. All the old stories say they could teleport. Maybe he went after the others. To find the Knights of Cybertron.


But....[He looks up around the walls of the Cair rising around the courtyard.] Where is everyone else?

Comments

[sword_redemption]

[The sound startled him, but didn't sound alarming. Just...strange. ]

I, uh. Yes. Lost. There should be others with me.

...wherever this is.

[whistles_the_blues]

I assume you just "arrived" then?

You're in a pocket dimension called Paradisa, It's unlikely that the others you were with were brought here too.

[sword_redemption]

But.

I need to go back. This is all a mistake. Or something.

[whistles_the_blues]

Not really a mistake, more like a kidnapping.

[sword_redemption]

Kidnapping? But.

[He shakes it off, puzzled.]

You're strangely calm about it.

[whistles_the_blues]

There's more here for me than there is where I came from.

Even if I wanted to return, this world decides when that happens.

[sword_redemption]

That may be true for you. They need me back home.

[He's always felt like he was needed. It's too much to think he could just be irrelevant.]

So you just sit back and let it keep you hostage?

[whistles_the_blues]

[Ouch, that stung.]

When the alternative is worse, yes.

[sword_redemption]

[He's really sort of bad with the manners.]

What's worse than being kept prisoner away from everyone who matters to you?

[whistles_the_blues]

[Blues just has a complicated home life.]

Being taken away from everything that matters to me.

[sword_redemption]

[Well, touche, Drift. He has you there.]

So how can you be so complacent about being here?

[whistles_the_blues]

After from initial kidnapping, aside from the odd mishap, this place is rather accommodating.

I can imagine being in much worse places than here.

[sword_redemption]

Sounds like a lot of 'asides'.

So can I. That doesn't mean I have to like it here.

[whistles_the_blues]

No one said you had to, I just choose to.

[sword_redemption]

How?

[Also a bit of 'why' in the question, as Drift turns, to look at the walls around him.]

[whistles_the_blues]

It's just how I was programmed. This place has been good to me, I have no reason not to like it here.

[sword_redemption]

Other than it's not your home? Just because you've got programming doesn't mean you're not free to make your own decisions.

[Is he going to have to get all Social Justice Robot on you?]

[whistles_the_blues]

It's more my home than the place I came from.

...I meant that I'm programmed to make my own choices, like how I chose to like being here over my own world.

[sword_redemption]

I helped nearly destroy my home. We're trying to fix that, now. It's why I have to get back.

They need me. [Or he needs them to need him.]

[whistles_the_blues]

[He pauses briefly.]

I don't know how to get you back, I'm sorry.

[sword_redemption]

[His mouth works from emotion, before he gives a frustrated sigh, pulling himself back. ]

Sorry. It's just this isn't how it's supposed to go. It can't be.

[whistles_the_blues]

I don't know if this will make you feel better' But when you return, it'll be at the very moment you left. I don't have any proof of this, but it's what I've heard.

[sword_redemption]

So others have left.

[Robot: one track mind.]

[whistles_the_blues]

IT's not a permanent stay. There's just no way of knowing how long you'll be here. It could be a long time, or very brief.

[sword_redemption]

So it just snatched me, just me, out of all of us.

[He shakes his head.] I'm not special.