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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[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."

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..."

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?"

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..."

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.

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.

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."

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.”

Edited 2016-08-22 06:57 (UTC)

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?"

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.”

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."

He’s pretty much convinced that most of the bad things that have happened to him over the last year have been his fault. And a lot of bad things have happened. A lot. Self-blame has now become kind of a Thing.

Still, he nods slightly, optics wide. “...yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right. I was just gonna, you know, go with it? But figuring stuff out is a better idea.”

She'd take him out for drinks to swap stories about the shit they both feel responsible for, but she has a feeling he's not the sort to enjoy a nice whisky.

"The problem with going with the flow is that you might not always like where you end up. But... if you're not ready to think about it, it can wait until you're ready to talk about it."

Not a nice whiskey, no, but give him a strong engex and a crazy-straw, and he’ll be super into it.

“Yeah, no, you’re right. I should do this. Avoiding the issue won’t make it go away, right? Right. Okay. So. I’m gonna sit down and then. Then we’ll work this out. I’ll work this out.”

"Right." She glances around and then juts her chin in the direction of a wall that should be sturdy enough to serve as a bench for him. "We'll figure this out."

He nods and sits carefully, folding his hands in his lap. "Right. So. Do I, uh, do I just...start with what I remember?"

"That's probably the easiest place to start," she agrees after a moment's thought. Ver curls up on the wall near him, far enough back that she's not going to strain herself looking up at him. "I've never done this before, so... can't say I'm entirely sure."

"I've never done this before either...so...if we both thing it's the place to start, then it must be so." He nods solemnly. "So. So I was on the ship. The Lost Light. It's a hop ship, y'know?" Because she'll totally know what he's talking about. "And. And, um, it was movie night and I was in a hurry cos I hate to miss the beginning."

She can make some educated guesses from context. A 'hop ship' sounds like something meant for long-distance travel, possibly in space. (She has met people and read things, and let's face it, that's not so unheard of where she's from.) (Also her possibly racist belief that robot societies have to be more technologically advanced, because robots.) "And since you were in a hurry, you...?"

She's pretty close on all of that...even the vaguely racist notion that robots have to be more technically advanced. Because they kind of are.

"I went into my alt-mode, so I could go faster. And then I ran into, um, Primus, I don't even know who he was, but he was huge and I ran into his leg. I should've been paying more attention, but I was in a hurry. I apologized, but..." He shakes his head. "I guess I made him mad, 'cos then he smashed me up. With his foot."

She doesn't mean to be racist, she isn't even really aware of the racism. She is imperfect and has tried very hard to accept all the kinds of people there were back home and that's a lot of change for any one person to manage in a lifetime.

"Alt-mode?" And now he's lost her. "I'm sorry that happened."

It's not terribly racist, and he wouldn't be offended if he knew.

"Oh, uh. I can...well. My people, where I come from, we can change into other things. Vehicles, mostly, sometimes animals. And my friend Rewind turned into a giant memory stick, can you imagine? Then there's mono-formers, but now I'm getting off the subject and I don't much like to talk politics. Anyway. Alt-mode. Alternate. So...like I am now? That's Robot-mode. That's basically the default. But see, we can also do this..."

He stands and moves a little bit away before transforming into a small vehicle with to large exhaust pipes. "See? Alt-mode!"

She'd be grateful for the little mercies in life if she knew.

Politics? Losing her again. But she'll take as much in as she can. Other questions can, she supposes, wait for later. Plus now he's suddenly a car. That was.

Well.

He did warn her.

"Wow. That's... how are you still talking?"

Alt-modes (or the lack thereof) are Very Serious Business to some Cybertronians. Wars have been fought. People have died. It's all been kind of a mess.

But yes, he's suddenly a car. And he did warn her.

"...uh. Same way I was talking before? Should I not be able to talk?"

Where she comes from, some people have 'alt-modes' in that they're Mutants or Inhumans or have magic or are shapeshifting aliens. That last one is more literal.

"I..." She pauses, takes a breath, and thinks about it. "I guess it's not that different. Sorry. I'm not used to cars talking." No, she never saw that show on tv. Or that one, either. "So... did Primus hurt you on purpose, or do you think maybe it was an accident if he didn't see you?"