[NEXUS RP] Soundwave, Ravage, Predaking, Laserbeak

[soundwave_ascendant]

Just at the edge of the perimeter between Destron Hall-to-be and the Wilds, Soundwave lay back on the hillside and looked up at the stars, which were so different and so familiar all at once.

Ravage was a pleasant weight against his side, head resting on his shoulder, fingers entwined with his, as they wordlessly pointed out constellations they knew to each other, drawing new ones where their knowledge ran out.

With his free hand, he pointed to a pair of stars in a tandem orbit, circling each other but always keeping their distance.

Ravage shook his head. {We used to be like that, but not for long. And we didn't explode when we finally breached the distance.}

{I remember a few explosions. You were especially beautiful afterward.} Soundwave laughed, then frowned. Rumble and Frenzy were inside with Laserbeak, Ravage was right here beside him, the other cassettes were dormant, and there was no-one around for miles--until now.

Who was that strange mind-- and what was blocking out the stars at the edge of the Wilds?

Comments

[soundwave_ascendant]

"If it had been up to me," Soundwave says quietly, "as deadly as you are, and are capable of being, you would have been able to spend your entire life writing."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"I see." Fighting comes instinctively to him, but after a moment's thought Predaking can understand what Ravage is getting at. "Aggression comes naturally to Predacons. Combat is in our CNA. But it wouldn't hurt to try a new thing. The Nexus is a quiet place. Even in the Wilds, I've been able to settle in peace. I avoid flying over the territory of the Eliksni, but that's more for the safety of the people here than my own."

Predaking has faced everyone from Megatron to a horde of Terrorcon perversions of his own people to Unicron himself. It takes more than a horde of bugs with guns to intimidate him.

"I imagine I would have a lot to say if I did become a writer. My short life is...eventful." There's deep, but very sincere laughter. "If I had the memories of the original Predaking I was cloned from, I would have even more."

[dontpetmeibite]

"It is in our CNA," Ravage agrees. "I can feel it working inside of me now, and I've never been afraid to fight. I was one of the best we ever had in the field, and even though my conjunx would like to keep me safe forever, he'd be the first to admit that. But I don't want to create a world that is only for those who love fighting. I want to create a world that is safe for those who want to do other things."

He looks up at Soundwave. "Like people who like to make music, and build things...?"

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave's facemesh flushes a little, and he blinks his eyes slowly at Ravage, whom he knows can see through his visor.

Ravage blinks back, of course.

"Consort's point: well-taken." He ex-vents. "We will need you to fight at our side, for a while, Predaking; but, one hopes, that there won't be a need for fighting, eternally."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"Then I can use my strength and my power to help you and Soundwave and this Ben to create such a world. That would give me the purpose that I feel I've lacked." Predaking hasn't exactly accomplished much aside from surveying the Wilds and claiming the cave as his new home.

He can follow what Ravage is saying, and nods in agreement. It would give him something to do, and while he can't forgive his world's Decepticons he can forgive these ones. They had nothing to do with their counterparts' crimes against his people.

"Even I admit that it would be better to have a world where we no longer had to fight. I was made to be a weapon, but I serve no one - and my people should not have been used as pawns in a war."

[dontpetmeibite]

"Would you care for some energon?" Ravage reaches over to the small pile of cubes they brought out to share while they stargazed and holds out a few; he doubts just one will suffice. "We brought more than we needed, in case we decided to rest out here all night. And...do you read? I feel that you must, since you got all of Shockwave's data and were able to understand it. There is a lot that you can read over and think about for yourself. It sounds like the Decepticons in your world were nothing but shabby knockoffs of what we are supposed to be.

"We haven't always lived up to our principles. Megatron had a few bad millennia there, and some of us got overly enthusiastic when they finally found themselves on the other side of the power differential. But we'd have never done anything so terrible as what was done to you."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"Yes, I can read. Starscream thought I couldn't, of course - he was calling me a mindless animal and hitting me even when I was figuring out how to use Shockwave's computer and access his data."

Predacons are used to hunting for their energon, but it's easier this way - and Bumblebee had believed in a world where Predacons and Cybertronians could live together. So Cybertronians are off the menu.

"It is...tempting, when you hold power over the people who've hurt you, to abuse that power. I won't say I'd have a problem with killing my world's Starscream if I crossed paths with him again. He has Darksteel and Skylynx's deaths to answer for, too. But I do know restraint. It was because Ravage addressed me as a person that I listened to him, since I'm not otherwise inclined to trust Decepticons. The ones I knew would never have let a human into their ranks, not as an equal. They thought they were vermin."

He shifts back into the dragon to set to work on the energon cubes.

[dontpetmeibite]

"We felt that way about humans for a while," Ravage says quietly, "because their lives are so short, when they first began to appear on Earth, that we couldn't see them as potentially our equals. But I started to doubt that after they developed technology.

"Megatron wouldn't listen to me about that back then, but even he's changed his mind recently. I used to ask him how, if form and function and utility didn't matter, why it should make a difference if one was made of metal or flesh?

"I'm used to being treated as an animal myself, though. Especially by Autobots. Soundwave and I would've conjunxed long ago, before we were even a century old, but back then, it was considered a perversion of function for us to be lovers and sparkmerge, even though there was absolutely no law against using someone like me."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"Your world," Predaking finally says, "has improvements to make. I don't know the history of the Decepticon movement where I'm from, whether it started with good intentions or whether it was rotten from the start. Megatron disbanded it, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are factions trying to take control for themselves. But if you and Soundwave are telling the truth, and I think you are, I will join you."

He thinks about his size, and wonders how Cybertronians manage the ins and outs of the Nexus. It's even harder for Predacons. He's big and his claws-slash-fingers are not meant for small handheld devices.

"Though I'm not sure how to use one of those PINpoints - I know how they work, but I don't know how I would use one. They're much too small for me to operate."

[dontpetmeibite]

"Soundwave figured out how to integrate the PINpoints with our circuitry. I'm sure we could do the same thing for you. Then I can use it to send you all of the data I want you to have." Ravage finished his energon cube and set it aside.

[soundwave_ascendant]

"Wasn't difficult...if you will trust me," Soundwave offered. "Might have to scan your system to see how different it is."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"That will solve the problem," says Predaking, considering the offer. "Integrating the PINpoints with my circuitry and sending the information I need that way. It's difficult to live in the Nexus without one, and you may need to call on me in the future. So yes, Soundwave, I will trust you to scan my system and adjust my circuits as necessary. I may live like a wild animal out here in the Wilds, but I am not one."

[soundwave_ascendant]

"Neither of us thinks that," Soundwave says quickly. "I don't...after everything Ravi has been through? Beliefs like those have caused us incredible suffering, too."

[alittlebirbtoldme]

Laserbeak arrived as Soundwave finished speaking, having heard the call he sent her over comms. She set his tool kit down in front of him and studied the giant dragon-mech thoughtfully.

[dontpetmeibite]

"That's my sister, Laserbeak. We think she's probably one of us, too. She doesn't talk much out loud. She was made in the same batch with me."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"You mentioned that all of you have Predacon CNA. If any of you have instincts manifest because of that CNA, I may be able to teach you how to control it. I see you have tools with you. I assume they belong to you, Soundwave?"