[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

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

Predaking tends to be imposing even when he's not especially trying to be. He knows that he's looking for a Cybertronian who resembles a cat, so he's been surveying the edge of the Wilds from a comfortable height. Between his size and power, he's confident that there's very little here that can threaten him. He's found a cave to live in deep in the Wilds, hidden from the larger Nexus but big enough to give him a safe place to live.

He's big enough that his form blots out the stars as he passes.

When he catches sight of Ravage and the other Cybertronian, he lands in front of them, wings foldoing back as he gets himself comfortable. He nods his head slightly to let them know he means no harm, but he waits for them to confirm their own identities before he transforms. He prefers his dragon form in some ways, but he needs to transform in order to speak to Cybertronians.

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave also sits up. Until he knows for sure that's actually Ravage's friend, he'd prefer to be between them.

"Designation: Soundwave of Stanix. You are Predaking, as Ravage says?"

[dontpetmeibite]

"Of course he is," says Ravage, and to Soundwave's consternation, slips in front of him and into his lap.

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

The dragon nods again, and then transforms into his robot mode. He hadn't recognized the other Cybertronian as Soundwave until he identified himself as such.

"Greetings, Ravage and Soundwave of Stanix. You don't look like the Soundwave I know. You are a different one? The Nexus allows people to meet other versions of themselves, from many different worlds. Ravage spoke to me as a friend and fellow Predacon. Neither of you have anything to fear from me."

The fact that Ravage treated him like a person immediately meant a great deal to Predaking. None of the Decepticons where he came from did that.

[soundwave_ascendant]

"I'm the only Soundwave I know." Soundwave is so startled that he speaks fluently without trying, because he's not even thinking about how he sounds. "Ravage was expecting you to meet us here, though not necessarily tonight. But you recognised Ravage? Surely if you met another Soundwave, you met another Ravage...?"

He'd have died without Ravage, after all.

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

Predaking considers the question. Ravage is distinctive - but no, Predaking never heard of anyone where he came from by that name.

"I know Ravage because he was the one who first approached me. Where I come from, I never saw any Ravage, though I didn't know that other Soundwave especially well. You already talk more than he did. I heard you and Ravage are taking over leadership of the Decepticons, and that you will accept the last Predacon into your cause. Ravage has CNA from my people, who were wiped out by my world's Decepticons. I thought we might be able to help each other."

[soundwave_ascendant]

"Of course you are welcome here. Especially if you can help him."

Soundwave looks down at Ravage, a little worried. "I don't even know what a Predacon is, only that some people wanted him crippled because of it."

He still feels horrible knowing how they used him to keep Ravage down, even though neither he nor Ravage knew the entirety of the story.

[dontpetmeibite]

"You'd be welcome here, regardless," says Ravage. "I told you, if you've got no other family of your own left, then at least you know you're related to me."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"What I know of the Predacons is...imperfect." Predaking doesn't like admitting it, but he wants to be honest to Ravage. "There may also be differences between your world's Predacons and mine. We were an ancient people, many of us giants, who hunted Cybertronians for energon in ancient times. But we were wiped out by an event called the Great Cataclysm - until my world's Megatron had his lead scientist, Shockwave, bring us back to life for his army. I was the first to be created. I was able to access their computer system and learn about Project Predacon, as they called it."

He wonders if Predacons were also feared where Ravage and this Soundwave come from, hence the harsh treatment.

"I told Ravage that at least one Predacon-Cybertronian hybrid, Ser-Ket, was created by Shockwave. She was disturbed. But I think that had more to do with Shockwave's conditioning and her being a fanatic than being a hybrid. "

[soundwave_ascendant]

"I know of six. Two aviforms. Four feliforms."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"I have decided that, since my fellow Predacons Darksteel and Skylynx are dead, I accepted Ravage's offer of a new family. I've heard that you seek to change your faction for the better. That you're taking humans in as members now."

Humans aren't prey to Predaking - they had been beneath his consideration. His kind fed on energon, not organic life.

"Consider me interested in an alliance. On that note, I will be impressed by any human who can stand beside a Predacon and Cybertronians in battle - humans are not a physically strong species, but they are cunning and intelligent."