legionworld | Legion World's fine but it ain't home [Open]

Who: Sawtooth and whomever would like to join him
What: The Time Trapper's newest acquisition is more than a little freaked out by, well, everything and tries to adjust.
Where: All over the ship, namely the observation and hab decks
When: After THATH/OM/GAU
Warnings/Notes: None so far - just a lot of introspection.

It's a lot to take in, all of a sudden. They'd won; Starscream had been apprehended; he'd been on his way with his brothers to start a new life in safety-

And then he'd been here, and found out that all of existence could be ending if someone didn't do something about it, and he'd been asked to help. The whole of existence needed help, and they'd grabbed him. Not Aerobolt, or Strongarm, or Optimus Prime; him.

It all made Starscream seem small, and Sawtooth even smaller by comparison.

He'd said yes, of course. He couldn't not say yes - not when he can help. Not when he can make a difference, hopefully for the better.

For now, though, he's trying to get his bearings. It's loud on Legion World, and busy, and full of species he's never seen before, but somehow the biggest change is that everything seems to be sized for him and not someone five times his size. It's nice to have everything at his eye level, or only slightly above it, instead of twenty feet in the air and too large for him to manipulate without acrobatics or creative thinking. Buzzstrike in particular would be thrilled-

Buzzstrike isn't here. No one is.

He shakes the thought and moves on, poking his head into lounges and the sim room and the mess hall, and stopping at the observation deck. He's never really gotten the opportunity to really look at Earth. Sure, he'd glanced at it upon approach once, but they'd all been too busy trying to convince the Scavengers to leave Earth for him to ever appreciate the planet, even if he'd wanted to. Earth was dangerous for them.

But here, as he stands and stares at the view, it's...beautiful. Now that it's no longer a danger to him, he can appreciate it at his leisure.

He's starting to discover he can appreciate a lot more without the threat of Starscream hovering over him like a lightning storm.

The habitat deck, as it turns out, is a lot more confusing than the rest of the ship, the way it switches from one completely alien landscape to another the longer he walks. He's walked through more than one biome that he knows doesn't belong to him, trying not to disturb the occupants and silently hoping that they're somewhere else. Trespassing is a poor first impression.

He finds the wrong beach twice before he happens upon the one that he knows is his; after all, nowhere else on this deck looks like Cybertron. The beach spans into the horizon, metal gravel along the shoreline interspersed with huge steely boulders and a sea that glistens silver in the light. It's not home - he's in the wrong dimension, and Cybertron can't ever be home again - but it looks like it, and for now, that's good enough.

His brothers would love to see this.

He clambers to the top of one of the boulders, takes a seat, and stares out to sea, finally letting himself think about how much he misses them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We didn't really have a destination in mind, to be honest. We would stay some place as long as we could, before the humans that lived in the area got too close or too curious, and we would move on."

But she tilts her head slightly, studying the creature's face. "...you know what it's like, don't you?"

There's really only one piece of information in there that surprises him. "Wait, are you not human?"

He can understand the concept of being nomadic; for him, it hadn't exactly been a choice.. "Not exactly. We weren't traveling so much as we were being pursued."

"Of course not." She wrinkles her nose, tilting her head at him. "I suppose we must all look the same to you, but we're quite different. Or different enough. I suppose it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it?"

As he explains his circumstances, she gave a little huff.

"Why do you think we left if the humans became too inquisitive? We were trying to avoid them. It never ends well when they find us."

Obviously that had been the wrong thing to say. "I'd only ever met two humans before I came here. I don't have much experience with them." It's not much of an explanation, but it is the truth. "I'm sorry." For not knowing; for the circumstances where she'd come from; for all of it, really.

"That's probably for the best. They're not very good at dealing with people who aren't like them. With some exceptions." Her lips twisted wryly, before she reached over, fingers laying gently against what she imagined was Sawtooth's shoulder.

"It's alright. You look like you feel even more out of sorts than I do."

"I think I met the exceptions." The humans had been working with the Autobots, and that meant Optimus Prime. If anyone's judgment could be trusted, it was his.

He offers her a wry, toothy-by-default smile. "Well, I did just arrive here."

"Here, you mean?" She considers this a moment, tipping her head before nodding in agreement. Most of the humans she's met here have been of an alright sort. "Well, we're meant to be the exceptions, aren't we? That's why we're here."

If they're all meant to be cut from the cloth of heroes, it makes sense there'd be a larger concentration of decent sorts here.

"Feeling homesick?"

"No, I mean on Earth. They were helping the Autobots, and the Autobots were trying to help us, so..." He trails off and shrugs. Chalk it up to dimensional differences.

(He's also tired of being an exception among Minicons, but that's neither here nor there and definitely not her problem.)

"I...don't know." He looks back out at the ocean. "It's been a long time since I've had anything I'd really consider home. I think this is as close as it gets." So that's a solid maybe.

Her tattooed brow creases at that sentiment, one she finds very familiar. Wherever I am, that's home to me. Her lips tug upwards in a wistful smile as she nods, her eyes straying over the horizon somewhere over that glittering expanse of water.

"'As close as it gets' isn't so bad. It can be pretty good. It just depends on who you have with you."

She means to be kind. He's fairly sure of that. That doesn't stop the ache from welling up in his spark. He'd always been connected to his brothers, even more so after they'd survived the experiments, and now that connection is gone, severed and aching like a missing servo, and he-

He's alone.

"I don't have anyone," he says, voice quiet. "My brothers are still on Earth - the Earth in my dimension."

"You're not alone."

There's a solemn look that crosses her face, something almost pained, before she brushes it aside and looks at Sawtooth once again.

"I know what it is to miss your family. And nothing will ever be as good as being home with them. But you don't have to be alone, either."

The last thing he's expecting is to find someone who understands that loneliness, and yet here she is, empathizing.

He might have just made a friend.

"Thank you." It's not much to offer, but it's all he has at the moment. "I think I needed that."

"We all do, sometimes." It's hard to tell what it is exactly that the shark-creature is feeling, but she can hazard a guess. She thinks.

Her hand lifts to tuck a loose lock of hair back behind one pointed ear. "I was lucky enough to make many friends, the first time I was separated from my clan. I've found it helps when you're a stranger in an even stranger land."

Legion World's fine but it ain't home [Open]

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