nexus_sages | (no subject)

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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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"They're imaginary creatures," the boy explains, "or, well, not so imaginary here." He pulls out a smartphone to hold up to the Cybertronian, displaying the 'mons he's caught. "You find them with your phone, and then catch them, and then raise them to fight!"

"I don't have a phone..." He's not entirely sure what a phone even is. "Wait...you enslave them and make them fight?"

"You're a big robot, though," Loki points out. "Don't you have some sort of computer in you, somewhere?"

That question, which sums up the whole franchise pretty well... "eheheh, it sounds really terrible, put like that. I think the official explanation is, these 'mons want to get stronger, and their best chance of that is working with people, so they try to get themselves noticed. It really does sound like something much more skulduggerous, on first blush. Also, they're imaginary, which is I suppose small comfort." He reaches up to pat something on his shoulder, which isn't there.

"Oh...so, they're not forced to battle for millions of years in a war that turned out to be entirely pointless? Then that's...that's good, then." He frowns slightly, head tilted. "...and I guess I am a big robot, huh? The biggest robot here in this present conversation at any rate. All. All full of computers and the like, which are exactly like phones?" He still doesn't know what a phone is. "...are you petting an imaginary battle creature?"

"Hm?" Loki glances at his hand. "Ah! No. That's Ikol. He's my bird. It's a long story, mostly unpleasant." Look at the smiling child. Don't think about the story about an imaginary bird that is somehow different from the imaginary monsters. "A phone is sort of... oh, mortal technology isn't my strongest point, but it's a little portable computer that talks to other people's portable computers, and lets people talk to each other through them. Using radio waves, or some such." He gives a spooooky finger-waggle. Radioooooo~

"And they can take pictures, and play games, and tell you where you are, and so forth."

“Most long stories are,” Pipes answers. “Unpleasant, I mean.” At least in his experience. He’ll try not to think about it.

His fingers wiggle in an unconscious mimicry of Loki’s. “...oh! Oh, like a communicator!” And the unpleasant thoughts have been lost in the excitement of figuring something out. “And GPS, I have both of those, will those work?”

"One of the tragedies of myth," Loki muses with a sigh, "is the tragedy of myth."

Recognition is a much happier subject. "Yes, communicators and GPS! As for whether it will work, let's find out!" With a poke, Loki turns on his Starkphone's WiFi and holds it up to Pipes. "My phone is trying to talk to other networks. Can you hear me now?"

He tilts his head like a huge metal puppy and listens. Then his optics widen behind their red shield. “I can! At least, I think I can. It’s...different. But I can hear you!” He giggles gleefully. “That’s brilliant!”

Loki grins triumphantly, looking down to his phone again. "Okay, I think I see you, too. I'm gonna try sending you a text."

[Greetings from Asgard!]

"Asgard? Is that your planet? Uh. I mean."

He huffs and goes to text.

[Greetings from my brains I guess. What's Asgard]

Loki grins, throwing a thumbs-up, then texts back. [It's a Realm--planet doesn't quite apply, more a layer of reality. Another dimension, I think, is the term science-types put to it.]

Pipes returns the thumbs up, whirring happy little whirs. [Dimensions, they're just all over the place huh?]

[Oh, tell me about it. We just tripped over a tenth realm, recently. All this time, we'd thought there were only nine. How do you lose a realm?]

[Well you put things in a special place so as not to lose them and then forget where you put them, yeah?]

[I think I see where you're going with this, and I like it.] Loki grins. [Do you want a link to download that Pokemon game I was talking about?]

[Maybe? Are they gonna live in my head after I catch them?]

[Well, they're stored in the hard drive. But they don't do much when you're not actively doing something with them, so... maybe?] Loki offers a smile to leaven his shrug.

The smile is infectious and Pipes trusts it completely. [Okay, then. Let's do this!] Because what could go wrong?

Lots of people trust Loki at the start. It's after the chaos starts that questions arise. The link to download the app isn't long in coming.

The thing is, Pipes will probably still trust Loki, even with chaos.

He follows the link, murmuring 'loading loading loading,' under his breath as it, well, loads. "I think it's working...hey, um, do we get to name the imaginary battle creatures? Is that I thing I can do?"

"Yeah, you get to name 'em," Loki confirms. "I like to name some after people I know." A few prods to his phone, and he shows Pipes a Snorlax named Volstagg--which, admittedly, Pipes lacks the reference to appreciate twice over.

Nope, he doesn't get the reference at all. So he just says "Cooooool" as he peers at the phone, and leaves it at that.

"That means I need to know your name! So I can name my first one after you!"

There's that grin again. "I'm Loki. Loki Laufeyson, and pleased to meet you!"

Oh, the grin. It makes Pipes’ optics squinch into happy crescents. “Pleased to meet you too, Loki! I’m...wait. Guess! Guess what my name is!”

((Sorry for the delayed reply.))

A guessing game? Loki's eyes light up with delight before he settles into a pose of contemplation, one arm crossed over his chest to support the other at the elbow, whose hand cradles his chin. "Hmm. I'll admit, I don't know your people's naming conventions, so I hope I don't say anything offensive. I'm going to make my first guess... Wheels?"