one. video.

[nofollowing]

[ At first, the video is so up close and zoomed in that all there is to see, is a bright warm light. But as the camera starts to pull back, it becomes more apparent that it might in fact be a bright eye, a lens of sorts, narrowing and widening as it twists. It's squinting more like, curiously, until it's wide open all over again, a face soon staring down at the device.

More of him comes into view as he pulls it back - a robotic head, then his neck, barely his shoulders - which is right around when he’s distracted by a bird passing overhead, looking around himself a bit before he finally drops his attention back down to the comm.

For a moment, he tips it every which way, offering everyone a wonderfully disorienting show (and if you can make it out through the blur, the visual of a junkyard in Maurtia Falls behind him). When he finally stops, he just looks confused, head tipped sideways as he attempts to ascertain the situation at hand. If he had a larger grasp on the English language, you bet your patooties he would be saying something about how this isn't where he’s supposed to be.

Which can be proven instead by what he does say, voice all grinding metal as he rolls the words like rocks. ]

Home? ...I, hero?


[ ooc; if you think you can figure out where he is, feel free jump right in to action if you want! ]

Comments

voice.

[zodbob]

[Silently Zod watches the feed as the comm is tipped around like nothing and there's a moment of...not shock, but wonderment rather. The voice comes out and it sounds simple but still full of understanding.

He doesn't want to transmit his image, but for once he'll at least transmit his voice. This robot appears very old in design - it might not comprehend text, he thinks.]

Hello? Can you hear me?

[May as well ask as a test of recognition.]

voice.

[nofollowing]

[ Oh. This will be difficult. There's a good long pause here because it's speaking to him, and he doesn't really know how to speak back yet. Well- he knows some things. But knowing isn't speaking and usually it's Hogarth telling him what to do and where to go and well..

He taps the device a few times to make sure it's working before- ]

Hello?

video

[bindsthedead]

We're supposed to be heroes. But we can't go home.

video

[nofollowing]

[ Head.... tilt. It's a good thing his concept of home is a little confused, but even then- ]

Rockwell? [ But that wasn't really home. Not quite. Besides, the hero business is by far more the important thing, here. ] Heroes. Like Superman.

video/

[ktfod]

[A- robot? But then, there were others around, he'd not surprised by much anymore.]

Yeah, you're a hero now, if you want to be, if you think you can cut it. As for home, no idea when you or anyone'll go back. You get used to it.

video/

[nofollowing]

[ Hm. Hmmmmm. Somewhere inside his head there are gears turning... and also he has to wonder if he's supposed to be talking to this many people. ]

Want? [ Because man, why wouldn't you want to be? ]

video;

[parallels]

[So she's seen killer robots before. Far too many times for her liking. But this one doesn't seem like one of those.

He seems almost childlike in how he curiously examines everything. It's kind of endearing. Which is a weird thing to think about a massive giant robot.]

I'm afraid you aren't home. None of us are. We're in a strange version of America.

And we're all heroes. Even you.

[It's more complicated than that but coming here is a lot to take in.]

video;

[nofollowing]

[ People keep saying that and it has yet to get any less pleasing. Which is why he..... looks absolutely pleased and inclined to smoosh himself closer to get a better viewpoint. ]

You?

video;

[fistofthejoestar]

[extensive vocabulary or not, Jonathan's pretty enthralled by the robot, although he (poorly) tries to keep that childish excitement out of his face for politeness' sake. the guy's obviously pretty disoriented by this whole thing, it's not right to have a stranger gaping at him. ...even if he did look like something out of a science-fiction illustration from home.]

If you choose to be. This place is what you make of it.

video;

[nofollowing]

[ As if he could possibly mind enthusiasm! Especially when it comes to that particular sentiment, he's all big smiles and happy faces because it's what he chose to be and this is apparently where he's supposed to be, but man it sure would be easier if he could speak a little better. ]

Make heroes?

video

[paintjobs]

[ huh, that's interesting. it's enough to make Knock Out find somewhere acceptably remote to robot-out, and even turns on the video for the full effect of being non-human. ]

Well. You look a bit Cybertronian, but you're certainly not anyone I know.

video

[nofollowing]

[ HOLY GUACAMOLE BATMAN. Excuse him while he looks rightly SHOCKED. And you speak so much better than him, that's just not fair. ]

Uh. uh. You know?

video

[princessia]

[ On the other side of the video feed, there's a purple and pink doll shoving its face close to the screen. Elize is somewhere there with him, but the excited doll is going to hog up the camera space for now. ]

Wah-hey there! What are you?

video

[nofollowing]

[ What. What. What. WHAT IS THAT. Excuse him while he shoves his face into the camera. ]

You?

[hartleylittleworkingsong]

[Massive robots aren't really something that Hartley would pay attention to, strictly speaking. They are, in his experience, something best left for someone else to deal with - or spare parts.

This one has a voice that makes him want to dig the hearing implants out of his head.

But it doesn't escape his notice that the robot sounds confused, or that his vocabulary is a little behind where he'd like the conversation skills of an enormous robot to be. An inability to communicate can be frustrating - do robots get frustrated?]

That probably isn't your home. They've given everyone else real homes - you should have a place where you can't get caught in the rain.

[The same treatment given to humans should be given to whatever gets drug through to this world. They could have at least given him a warehouse. Hartley pauses for a moment, surprised to be thinking of the robot as him so quickly. He suspects that, in a weird way, the robot's halting speech and confusion reminds him of his sister.]

You can be a hero, if that's what you want to be. It's your decision.

[nofollowing]

[ At the mention of rain, his gaze shoots straight upwards. That is.... worrisome, yes. ] House. [ See? They gave him a house. A place. He hasn't found it yet, but it's supposed to be there somewhere and he really has no idea what to do about it. Which is why he's here, at his new job, because it's the only place he knows where to be.

Not that... he knows how to say that. But it's still a fact.

Finally he blinks and blinks again and looks back at the camera, mouth crooked with silent concern. But, back in Maine this is where he would've stayed, too. No one had a place for him, he never complained. ]

Choose hero.

video

[viced]

How fucking big are you?

Ah -- sorry, I don't think you're going to be home anytime soon.

video

[nofollowing]

[ Was that a question or was that a question. Picking up the wee little device, he unfolds his legs and heaves himself upwards until he's standing all the way up. And since he can't give you an exact measurement in feet, just stick with how far away the ground looks from here. Because he's fifty feet tall. ]

No Rockwell.

[theslayerofgod]

[Whoa there, duckie, you look like.... he's not sure but you definitely remind him of something.]

Be a hero if you want to. But... are you sure you want to live in a junkyard?

[nofollowing]

[ He blinks and then looks around himself, as if assessing the damage of where he's located. Looking back, he nods a little too enthusiastically, even if this isn't even remotely his home. Supposedly. ]

Food. [ And then he perks up again, looking like he's just been poked particularly hard by a memory, by the things they'd said. ] J..ob.

audio;

[missedtheflag]

[Being a newcomer himself, he's been monitoring the network for information while trying to settle into this world, but this is the first time anything of a robotic nature has appeared, and he's curious.

Seems like this robot was made with rather primitive technology, given his design and poor grasp of language.]

That's right. The government here considers you a hero.

audio;

[nofollowing]

[ Siiiiigh, this is so much easier when he can see what he's doing, practically dropping the side of his head against the comm so he can listen.

He apologizes for his poor grasp of the english language. He's working on it. Really, he is. ]

And you?

audio;

[orangehoodie]

[Instead of a video, it's audio. There's shuffling, and the sound of a dog whining before a boy's voice gives him a soft "shh" to sooth him and then speaks into the mic]

Hi. If you're looking for home... I think you're a bit far from it, now.

audio;

[nofollowing]

[ Aaaand again, oh boy, this makes it just that much harder. If only he knew more words. But he tries to listen closely, knowing words he's heard before but not having the vocabulary yet to know how to reply. ]

Rockwell?

voice; comm tag reads "tadashi"

[tadeadshi]

[He's about to comment on the tech but -- hold up. HOLD UP.

Dude. Wait no if this thing got brought here, then it's possibly sentient so. Scale it back some. And no one in the responses has stepped in to claim they know it or anything about it so...]

I... don't think you're close to home. I'm sorry, buddy, I don't know where Rockwell is.

voice;

[nofollowing]

[ Yeah, neither does he. He just knows it's called Rockwell. But he knows 'buddy', Hogarth calls him that. And yet he's still tipping his head to the side, trying to figure out what to say. He likes Rockwell. He just knows it isn't really where he belongs. It's not home home. Hogarth is, sure, but Rockwell? Maybe not. ]

Not home.

video

[microbrobotics]

[ Normally Hiro doesn't do video posts, but this - this deserves it. He stares at his comm in unmitigated awe. ]

No way.

video

[nofollowing]

[ Hey it's a little dude! You're small like Hogarth. That's wonderful. Watch him smoosh his face all up close to the screen. ]

Yes?

[hands4healing]

[What? Winry blinks a few times, tilting her head to the side as if to follow the movement of the camera.]

You're here. It means you're a hero!

[nofollowing]

[ That's what everyone keeps saying! He nods a few times, fervently, before smiling all too happily. ]

Are you hero?

video | id reads "power girl"

[boobwindow]

[ At first, she has no idea what she's supposed to be looking at until she gets a better view of what it is: a robot.

Her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open in silence for a few seconds before she decides to speak up. ]

... hi there, big guy.

video

[nofollowing]

[ He's pretty much used to the gaping at this point and he smiles all excitedly. So many people! This is exceedingly thrilling. So many people who aren't horrified.

Which is exactly why he waves. ]

action.

[janebond]

[ Believe it or not, she can steal parts from a junkyard. Well - not steal exactly, more like scope around and see what she can use to modify any of the car(s) she plans on getting in the near future. At first she thinks the Iron Giant is part of the landscape: you know, superheroes, giant robots, not out of the realm of possibility. People did all kinds of things for tourists. But then he talks, in a deep, resonating tone that makes her think of whales. She grins up at him. ]\

Hey. Don't mind me.

action.

[nofollowing]

[ Hey. HEY! His job is supposed to be security, but see, they apparently didn't understand that the only way to make him protect anything is to point a gun at his head. And so mostly he's kind of amused because she's wandering around here and she shouldn't be.

But he wanders places he's not supposed to go, too.

Which is why he reaches out and gently pokes her. He sees you there. He sees you. ]

Hide and seek?