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Who: Windblade AND YOU
Where: Anywhere around LA
When: NOW
What: Unicron's herald (kind of) tries to get a read on how likely Earthlings are to listen to people trying to tell them their world is next in line to be devoured by spherical robot Galactus
Warnings: none yet

She’d done her research on the way over.

Aliens she’d spoken to on her brief stops to refuel had told her that Earth was a smallish but densely populated planet with a galactic position that made it a prime target for some of the nearby hostiles. But although it hadn’t yet achieved interstellar travel itself, it had successfully repelled every invasion attempt to date, and made peaceful contact, from the sound of it, with a few other races. Windblade expected the inhabitants to be powerful, but not necessarily dangerous, and planned on a straightforward arrival. Land somewhere noticeable but safe; announce her purpose here straight away. A planet already familiar with extraterrestrial attacks shouldn’t need much convincing of the imminent threat of Unicron, after all.

And after the last three planets she’d stopped at? She was kind of looking forward to it.

She hadn’t counted on having company.

The Alternian vessels thronging around the edges of Earth’s solar system had been much more than Windblade was prepared for. Evidently they’d been keeping it quiet, because nobody she’d spoken to on her way had said anything about it. Her own ship was small and she’d managed to make her way through unharmed – almost. A couple of them had ended up tailing her halfway across the solar system, and they’d gotten a few hits in before peeling away – apparently they didn’t want to get too close to Earth itself.

She had to make an emergency landing, wrenching open the door and soaring out in jet mode and letting the autopilot take care of the dangerous part. But it turned out she got lucky. For one thing, her craft didn’t explode on landing. For another, she’d landed in a desert.

Not exactly the visible, honest landing she’d been originally planning for – but with the unexpected Alternian spacecraft circling the solar system, she knew she couldn’t count on all of her previous information. As far as research went, she was as good as back to square one.

Which is why she’s now busy gathering information via a holographic avatar projected into the nearest significantly sized human settlement.

You might spot her avatar flickering occasionally as she watches humans mill around a street corner or mall or coffee shop (she has not, of course, touched her own drink). This is some slightly troublingly intense people watching. She looks like she's mentally making notes for a nature documentary.

If you look noticeably nonhuman, she'll probably actually approach you first: "Excuse me – am I correct in assuming this isn't your home planet?" She sounds as if she's conducting some kind of survey.

And if you look noticeably nonhuman in a large-robot-that-turns-into-a-car way... probably we should discuss that first!! Hit me up

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Oh for the love of... why does she keep running into these flickery aliens? Have they gotten more common lately, or is this just one of those things where once you're aware of something it suddenly seems to be everywhere?

Artemis has no idea if her programming would even allow that kind of perceptual fallacy to happen, but it's not like she can ask Dr. Clarke about it. So she just won't think about it for now.

Instead, she approaches the woman standing on the the street corner, keeping her hands in her pockets but her shoulders tense in case this one tries anything. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?" Her tone isn't confrontational, exactly, so much as very cautiously curious. But her phrasing could probably use some work, honestly.

Windblade looks at her in surprise, clearly not having anticipated being approached. "I'm... gathering information for a science project," she says. She is super unconvincing.

Edited 2014-12-29 00:20 (UTC)

Suspicions rising over here. She hopes that this species being HUGELY SHIFTY doesn't turn out to be a pattern.

"Really. What's the project on?" She cocks her head slightly, raising an eyebrow.

"It's..." What's the word? "People-watching." That is definitely a technically accurate descriptor of what she is doing. There's a brief, uncertain pause, and then she says – not so much worried as curious – "Nobody has asked me that yet. Are you an undercover law enforcement agent?"

Artemis stares at her dubiously for a moment because who just asks people if they're undercover law enforcement. "...no. I'm not." Not here, anyway.

"I just... tend to notice suspicious behavior."

"You consider watching people suspicious?" she asks – again, earnestly curious, as if she's hoping to take some constructive criticism and use it for future slightly off attempts to blend in with humans.

"...in general, not especially. But most humans don't typically stand around in one place for extended periods, doing nothing but staring at other humans."

She realizes an instant too late that that may have sounded a little too much like she was talking about humans as a group she didn't belong to, but there's no good way to fix it now.

"I've only been here for three hours," she protests – and then she realises something about what the stranger just said... but it's not that it sounds like she's speaking as an outsider.

"... You think I'm not human." She doesn't sound all that offended or bothered, though.

"...three hours." Three hours. Artemis could stand around and stare at people and do nothing else for three hours, easy, but humans don't tend to have that kind of attention span. No wonder this alien is so bad at blending in, if she thinks there's nothing suspicious about that.

"I'm fairly certain you're not human," she corrects.

If she's been rumbled, she doesn't look too concerned. That look of curiosity is still there, as if this is an opportunity to learn something rather than a situation she needs to worry about. "Is that common?" she asks. "I mean... Do you meet a lot of non-humans?"

"Well, it's not exceptionally uncommon, anyway." Hmm. Lack of any sort of particularly strong negative response to being found out may be a good sign. "Earth does have a certain amount of contact with other planets these days, so encountering extraterrestrials isn't unheard of."

She nods, thoughtfully. "Have you met many of them yourself?"

"A couple." She shrugs slightly. ...actually, come to think of it, there's one encounter she's had with an alien that may be of interest to this one.

"In fact, I recently encountered one who... I suppose I may be wrong, but he may have been the same species as you."

Going by the way she blinks, her attention sharpening, it is indeed of interest.

"Which species–?"

"He didn't say, but... my first hint that he wasn't human was that he was flickering, the way you were before. And I'm pretty sure he was..." She briefly checks through her files to match the right data together. "A Cybertronian."

Cybertronian.

Windblade hadn't wanted to let herself hope.

She leans forward, alert, her eyes wide.

"What do you know about Cybertronians?"

Artemis flinches back and tenses, an automatic response to people suddenly moving toward her, then mostly calms down again. "Mostly what's been on the news and such - we didn't know they were here at all until relatively recently."

Well this robot doesn't turn into a car. He turns into a dinosaur. So does that count?

Grimlock is probably not supposed to be out on his own like this. Generally any time he's been out and about up until now, he has been with someone from Alpha Force. But he was sick of sitting in one place and no one from Alpha Force had been around, and it's sort of hard to tell a giant metal dinosaur "no" when you don't have super powers. So he's on a leisurely stroll, and fortunately not doing much damage other than scaring some people. CONDOR is probably lurking in the shadows somewhere, just to keep an eye on him.

He doesn't notice Windblade at first, until sensors pick up some sort of weird anomaly. He's not exactly smart enough to figure out why this person isn't reading as a real human, but she does have his attention.

Her avatar's eyes widen a little as she spots the giant metal dinosaur – as anyone's would, but her reaction, while surprised, isn't so much fear and alarm as some of the humans who've just fled the scene. The bot's construction looks almost Cybertronian... but not quite...

But someone like Windblade has no reason to assume that's because his creators were attempting to ape Cybertronian technobiology. The only conclusion she can draw? That he's some other species of cybernetic alien she hasn't encountered yet.

"Excuse me," she says as she walks up to the towering dinobot – her tone is a little furtive. "Have you been on this planet for long?"

Grimlock turns to her in surprise, rising up to his maximum height and craning his neck to look down at Windblade imperiously... even though he doesn't really understand the question.

"Planet...?" He searches his memory banks for the right information. She asked how long, right?

"...Me Grimlock been activated for 6 months now." then he leans in close, getting his snout in her face. "Why lady want know?"

Hmm. Perhaps he just didn't understand her? He does seem a little... confused.

She tries again.

"Where do you come from?"

The tyrannosaurus blinks. “Me Grimlock come from lab. Me not know where it at.” Sssstrike two.

Her avatar blinks back at him. "Oh," she says. "Oh. I'm looking for aliens, I thought you might be one."

Since they'd moved into the city, Ultra Magnus had been sending out his holomatter to try and familiarize himself with the human culture at large. Usually this just meant walking around scrutinizing everything. So while most people might not have noticed, the flickering holomatter avatar, to someone as detail oriented as Magnus it was hard to ignore.

While it was possible an Autobot had arrived on planet and either been too irresponsible or incapable of reporting in, with an unknown number of Decepticons on the planet, it was better to remain cautious. So, rather than pinging the signal or confronting them straight away, Ultra Magnus was hanging back, watching with a healthy amount of suspicion.

The last thing Windblade is expecting is someone watching her. She doesn't notice it straight away. After a while, though...

At first she tries to ignore him. But it's hard to keep her gaze on the other humans walking up and down the street when she knows this one is there.

Watching her.

After a couple of minutes she strides over to him, polite but unafraid: "You've been watching me. What do you want?"

He didn't look surprised, it wasn't as if he was being surreptitious, but he did begin scowling. More than previously, anyway.

"You are using a holomatter avatar." It was said as a statement, but the tone was rather like that of a professor expecting a student to give the incorrect answer.

She blinks, clearly surprised.

"... Yes," she admits. "I didn't want to alarm anybody. Is that technology common here?"

"No, not particularly. In fact, with the exception of cybertronians, very few species utilize hard light avatars." He replied with meaningful look. He was certain she was cybertronian,

"Also, there appears to be a flaw with your holomatter generator, your avatar is flickering at approximately 2 minutes intervals."

Her avatar's eyes widen in a look of genuine shock – but not just shock. Behind that there's something else, a flicker of wary hope.

"There are Cybertronians on this planet?"

"That's correct. Is that surprising? The presence of cybertronians here has been public knowledge for some time." Unfortunately. That really was a whole mess of events.

She just stares at him, thoroughly overwhelmed.

"I've only just arrived," she manages after a moment, forcing the words out, hurried. "That's why I'm using an avatar – I wanted to measure the public attitude to non-native lifeforms before I revealed myself. But I – if there are Cybertronians here I need to meet with them immediately. It's very important."

Well, that certainly got a reaction. He needed to find out quickly if he was dealing with an Autobot or not. They could certainly use an extra hand, but it was unusual that they hadn't heard reports of their presence on Earth. They had been communicating with the other forces, afterall.

"Are you an Autobot? What's your name?"

An Autobot?

The word is wholly unfamiliar – and it shows on her avatar's face.

"No – a Cybertronian," she admits. "My name is Windblade... of Caminus." The clarification isn't one she's had to make for some time. Or ever, really.

"Caminus?!"
He looked noticeably shocked. That was certainly a name he hadn't heard in a while. He probably wouldn't even remember it except for having to go over historical legal documents for Tyrest.

He couldn't help shaking his head a bit from that,reaching out to shake her hand.
"I apologize for not being upfront with you, but I am Ultra Magnus of the Autobots- of Cybertron. We should talk, in person if possible."

Of Cybertron.

She doesn't know how to feel. She knows this is more than she could have ever hoped for – but... something like apprehension crosses her face along with the hope and relief.

"Of course," she says. "Where can we meet? I have important information that this world needs to know as soon as possible."

She doesn't know what to do with the hand he's holding out.

That's fine, one less awkward formality to deal with. Especially dealing through holomatter avatars to begin with, which he had never been a huge fan of.

"There's an airfield nearby that is no longer in use. I can send you the coordinates." It was one of the first locations he could think of where they wouldn't cause much of a commotion. Even with the populace knowing above Cybertronians he would rather avoid any extra attention.

She nods keenly. The idea that a fellow Cybertronian might be attempting to lure her into some kind of trap doesn't occur to her.

It's a good thing she ran into an Autobot first.

A little while later she's making her way to the coordinates he provided. She transforms as she comes in close to the ground, landing lightly on the tarmac of the disused airfield and looking around with bright, inquisitive optics. She might have a little while to wait – her alt mode is quite a bit faster than Magnus's is.

It sure is, Windblade, it sure is.

As anticipated, it did take Magnus quite a bit longer to get there. When he pulled into the airfield it wasn't hard to spot Windblade waiting for him, and he immediately transformed, crossing the remaining distance on foot.

"Windblade." he started in greeting, and also to verify he was the person she'd been talking to. "You said you were from Caminus?"

"Ultra Magnus." She nods, her expression serious. "I am – or I was. Caminus was destroyed, several years ago – by Unicron."

"That's unfortunate to hear. Caminus hadn't been heard from in a long time, along with many of the other colonies, it was always a mystery as to why." He didn't seem terribly surprised to hear unicron was at fault, considering what had brought them to Earth in the first place.

"Yes, we had heard unicron was active, that is one of the main reasons we are here on this planet at all. Our leader, Optimus Prime, noticed an unusual energy signature heading toward Cybertron and came here to investigate."

Windblade looks startled. They knew?

She has to remind herself that it's hardly surprising, but for so long she's been used to being the only one who knows what Unicron even is – or, indeed, who believes he exists...

"... So you're here to stop him," she says. Her wings dip slightly, a subdued expression of tremendous relief.

"Yes, that was Optimus' original intention once he discovered it was Unicron. However, he was unable to do so, and since then we have been dealing with the more immediate threat of Decepticon activity."

Having seen more the data Optimus had collected, Magnus was a little more accepting on Unicron's existence than he had been a few months ago.

"While I know Optimus Prime is working on a plan to stop Unicron before he reaches Cybertron, most of our resources have been focused on preventing Megatron and his forces from harming innocent lives here on Earth.

She shakes her head, slowly, her relief subsiding. She doesn't understand half of what he's saying. Decepticon activity? Megatron and his forces? Are they going to be able to stop Unicron, after all?

"Wait," she says, holding up a hand. "Who is Megatron?"

"Excuse me?"

It was Ultra Magnus' turn to look shocked. The last thing he expected to hear from any cybertronian, colonial or otherwise, was 'Who's Megatron'. The war had been raging for thousands of years across the galaxy and had hardly been isolated.

"Are you saying you've never heard of the Autobots or Decepticons, or the Cybertronian Civil War at all?"

"Civil War?" she repeats, looking mountingly concerned. "No. No, I... Caminus lost contact with Cybertron thousands of years ago."

"The war has been rather notoriously widespread. I'm surprised you never managed to hear of it in your travels." Considering cybertronians had been officially blacklisted from certain systems, he imagined she would have encountered some sign.

"In summary, cybertronians have been fighting a species wide civil war for the past seven thousand years after a revolutionary sect called Decepticons attempted to seize power and overthrow the political leaders of the time. The Matrix of Leadership was passed to Optimus Prime, the current leader of the Autobots, who promoted peaceful and non-violent changes to solve many of the societal issues at the time. The leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, rallied his followers and began what has proven to be one of the most defining events in cybertronian history. Even after the effects of war decimated the Cybertron, the war has continued off world and spread across the galaxy. Unicron's sudden appearance drew both Optimus Prime and Megatron to this planet, and we have since been working to try and stop the Decepticons from harming any innocent lives here on Earth."

She stares at him. It's a lot to take in. She's surprised she hasn't heard about this, too – but on reflection Unicron's travels have for the most part not taken her through systems or sectors with a lot of broader galactic... well, relevance. And she'd assumed the same would be true of this world – the Alternian presence further out in the system had been a surprise.

Presumably it would be a surprise to Unicron too. The thought is reassuring.

"Species-wide," she echoes. Decimated Cybertron, she thinks. There's a pause. "I've been travelling across the galaxy to warn Cybertron about Unicron. Are you saying there's nothing there?"

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Woops my paid ran out

its ok we can imagine

Re: its ok we can imagine

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