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[comeonguess]

Until he joined the crew of the Lost Light, Pipes had only ever been on Cybertron and space stations. And so, he joined up to see the universe, and have adventures, and make friends. He was very eager, very enthusiastic, very excited to be on his way.

Unfortunately, most people don't really like being around someone who's very eager, very enthusiastic, and very excited. Most people find that very annoying. So the making friends thing didn't really pan out all that well.

And as for adventures...mostly, he got hurt. He got shot and sick and hurt. Which...are sort like adventures. Maybe?  At least he got to see some of the universe. He also got to see a lot of the medibay. 

Then he saw the bottom of Overlord's foot. A few times, actually. 

And then? Then, well. Then he died.

And that's where we come in...

A small mech wanders into the Nexus...well, he's small by Cybertronian standards.  To the average humanoid, sixteen feet is possibly not that small. It's funny how that works, isn't it?

He looks around, optics bewildered behind their visor shield. "Um," he says after a moment, fingers twisting together with soft metallic whirs. "Um, is this the Afterspark? Cos...this is not at all what I was picturing."

 

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[brave_heart_verity]

[Before I tag in: Ver's got a truth-sensing curse stuck in her that she can't turn off. She knows when people are lying and she can see through illusions; she doesn't know what the truth is or have psychic powers. More details here. If you don't want to deal, let me know, I know it can get annoying. Also, if you're cool with Ver tagging in, she'd know whether or not the Nexus is the Afterspark, so please let me know what's the right answer there.]

[comeonguess]

((That's fine! Pipes mostly only lies to himself? I don't think the Nexus is the Afterspark, I think it's just a weird thing that has happened. As it does. Because reasons.))

[brave_heart_verity]

[Thanks for the heads-up!]

Big robots? Not the first one she's seen. Her long curious look mostly concerns wondering if there's someone inside piloting it or if it's a sentient being on its own. It can be very hard to tell from where she's standing. Meanwhile, he can contemplate the myriad colors humans can come in: pink hair in wild Viking braids and tattoos down both arms almost belie the simple striped sailor shorts and tank top she's wearing.

"No," she answers finally, after she's turned the question over a few times to make sure. "I don't know what that is, but it'd be a lie to say that's here, so."

[comeonguess]

He's never seen an actual human before. They're very small. He's honestly never felt so big before.

"It's. Um. It's where you go when you die? You die and then your spark goes to the Afterspark. But you're probably right, I don't think fleshlings are supposed to be there, so this probably isn't it..."

[brave_heart_verity]

She's a particularly small model, too. Not quite small enough to be mistaken for a child (at least, among people familiar with the species), but she's no giant towering over her fellow humankind.

"Ah, an afterlife. Well, I'm not dead. Are you?"

[comeonguess]

He kind of wants to pick her up. But he won't. Yet.

"I think so? I don't think even Ratchet could've saved me..."

[brave_heart_verity]

That's a good plan. She wouldn't much appreciate being picked up and toted around.

It's also easier to look sympathetic when she's not yelling at him. "I'm so sorry." For a number of things. Being dead's probably bad enough. Ending up in the wrong place is just insult to injury.

[comeonguess]

He still wants to do it, though. He's not used to people being so much smaller than him. Even Rewind was taller and he's just ridiculous.


"It's okay..." He's lying. "I had a really full life?" Another lie. Ah well.

[brave_heart_verity]

There will likely be plenty of people more interested in robot-back rides. Other small, squishy humans like herself. Or people who look like humans, anyway.

The lies make the corner of her left eye twitch, which can be hard to see behind the glasses, but the distinctive downward twist of her lips is easy to spot. "If you say so."

[comeonguess]

He will gladly give all of those people robot-back rides. It’ll be brilliant.

He tilts his head curiously. He knows that distinctive downward twist of the lips. He sees it a lot. “I’m. Um. I’m sorry.”

[brave_heart_verity]

It'll be adorable. Ver will be taking lots of pictures if she finds out for blackmail.

...shit. She's being trying so hard to be better about that. "No," she sighs, "you didn't know. And now is not the time for you to focus on my issues. Let's just... figure out what you need and go from there, okay?"

[comeonguess]

Absently, his fingers begin to twist together. He really, really doesn’t want to upset anyone, or make them feel bad. “Oh. Oh, I don’t imagine I’d need anything, what with the...uh. The being dead. Thing. So you shouldn’t worry about it. At all.”

[brave_heart_verity]

Oh, he's in for a world of hurt if he starts assuming everything wrong with Verity is his fault. "I won't worry, but I'd like to help. You aren't at all curious why you're here and not where you expected to be? Figuring that out might be a good idea."

[damn_yourself_early]

Did someone say eager, enthusiastic, and excited? Why, that's practically an invocation of the God of Mischief (all that's missing is some profanity and a stubbed toe)! And here the little tyke is.

"Does the Afterspark have a waiting room, typically? Because this might be that," he suggests.

[comeonguess]

If Pipes had toes, they'd be stubbed, if that counts for anything.

"Far as I know, it doesn't have rooms at all, waiting or otherwise," he answers, frowning slightly. "...'course, it's possible I didn't pay close enough attention to theological discussions..."

[damn_yourself_early]

"That does tend to be a problem," the tiny humanoid muses, "mortals discussing what comes after mortality. There aren't all that many who've come back to report. How do you feel?"

[comeonguess]

"Well...I feel decidedly not dead, for one thing." He huffs softly and looks down at Loki. "See, that's what's confusing me. Cos I was...I'm pretty sure I was doing that. Dying. But now here I am very not-dead, with a little fleshling talking to me and things don't make any sense."

[damn_yourself_early]

"Can I ask what happened," the boy pries, "or... would that be too sensitive, just now?"

[comeonguess]

He shrugs. It probably is too sensitive, but what's done is done. "I got stomped on. Like, a lot. I know that much. You ever been stomped on? It's all kinds of not fun."

[damn_yourself_early]

"I have, actually, and I have to admit. As far as fun goes, stomping does as well, but in a different direction--perpendicular at best." The boy hops up on a fragment of wall, balancing on one foot and adopting a "thinking" pose with one hand to his chin, the other arm out for balance. "So, you thought you were dying, and you ended up here. I don't suppose you were doing any sort of exotic travel at the time? Any weird massaging of the fabric of time and space?"

[comeonguess]

That's an amazing thinking pose. Pipes is duly impressed by it. "I was mostly dragging myself across the floor while trying to keep my spark in my chest. Might've been crying some....uh."

He strikes his own "thinking" pose. "I was on a starship at the time...with one of those whatsit things...quantum engine? Would that be exotic enough, you think?"

[damn_yourself_early]

"Hmmmmaybe," Loki concedes. "Science isn't really my forte, but 'quantum' is one of those words for 'everything gets weird and we don't really understand it, but it kind of works most of the time,' right?"

He does great thinking poses.

[comeonguess]

He really, really does. He's actually kind of Pipes's thinking pose hero right now.

"I think so? I dunno. I mostly did reports and got shot at. But that sounds right."

[damn_yourself_early]

Loki drops from his thinking-pose to perch cross-legged on the narrow top of the wall fragment he's chosen. "Well, then there's a couple possibilities. One is that yes, you're dead, but some great cosmic accident has routed you here instead of your properly destined afterlife. The other is that your method of travel left space a little spongy, and something hit you just hard enough in just the right place to push you through." He pauses as a thought occurs to him, and he admits, "it could also be some third thing I haven't thought of, of course. But whichever, here you are: welcome to the Nexus!"

[comeonguess]

"The Nexus, huh?" That sounds familiar, but he can't place it at the moment. "Thanks, I guess?"

He sits carefully on the ground, legs splayed in front of him. He'll have to think about this for a minute. "The dying one's probably it. I mean, thinking about it, if you think about it, if it was the one where I didn't die, I'd probably still be all mashed up and stuff, yeah? Seems to me that I would be. But I'm not, see I've got legs and everything! So. So...I died and came here. That sounds...as plausible as anything else that's happened to me, honestly."