(no subject)

[sordiddetails]

Antheans are highly social beings that thrive on contact and close knit groups. Here, while she had her family there weren't enough Antheans here to fulfill the social needs of her species. So she started reaching out to others. Others in this case being transforming, sentient, mechanical... not robots but close enough.

It wasn't much to prepare for them to come. Due to their size they brought a few chairs out of the house. Tom and Aletayria's house was small, even by human standards. The greenhouse attached to it was probably bigger than the living space. And there were cats, a large number of them, all excited about the hubbub and the fact they could read from their alien companions that wanted visitors were coming. Some of the cats had wings, others were oddly colored... one was a raccoon, a part of the family due to a mistaken identity.

Tommy of course stayed inside reading and disinterested in everything though she assumed when their giant guests came they might get his attention. She and Tom had gone out on the porch to sit and sip tea while they waited. It would be good to have company even if they might not fit in the house.

Comments

3/3

[iamjustvisiting]

{They are rare. We fall ill from the darkness now.} Tommy was talking about the 'genetic pacifism' that the Antheans displayed. The sickness and madness that came from violence and the darker emotions.

{I'm not a scientist.} He tells Soundwave in response to the request to not dismantle the items. He does touch them though, his unnaturally long fingers and hands touching the surface reverently.

Aletayria is also watching the conversation and gives Soundwave a gentle mental touch to draw his attention. There's concern about upsetting Thomas in the nudge. {He was partially blinded by the humans. It's delicate.}

Tommy comes closer to look at the items with curiosity. {I wouldn't want to give up the experience of the world and my mind doesn't allow for it, even if I developed a shield like these.}

1/3

[alittlebirbtoldme]

=no need to leave atmosphere
=just answer to question?
=around town, <1000 mph is fine
=here to have fun!
=can go moon any time
=fly with friend more special

2/3

[dontpetmeibite]

Ravage starts by pressing his palms to Aletayria's, then thinks better of it and slides his hands up so that her palms are against the underside of his wrist, where he slides open a panel and reveals crystalline contact points and some small openings that look a little like USB ports.

{Data transfer ports,} he explains, and presses his own fingertips to her wrists. {Sensitive, and receptive; intimate, but platonic. I will not be upset by being touched if I expect it. Sometimes Soundwave and I lie down with Laserbeak and the twins, or Howlback and Glit, and just rest and feel close to each other. Esmeral and Clobber will not join us, they don't feel comfortable. But sometimes Suckerpunch will. You could, too, if you wanted. It's nothing like when Soundwave and I go to bed alone with each other. We just all lie down, mostly on him because he is the biggest, and think thoughts together, and rest. Sometimes that's also what he wants when he's upset. To have as many of the minds that love him around as possible.}

Re: 3/3

[soundwave_ascendant]

{Acknowledged. Fortunately I do not believe he was upset.}

Soundwave smiles at Tommy.

{When we invented these things--Ravage and I--by adapting them from other kinds of equipment, I was the only one of my kind who existed. The society we lived in at that time was very cruel. Ravage was a selfish and perverse Senator's personal assistant. Megatron, my dear friend, was a gladiator who had to kill for a living.

{I could handle their pain, because I love Ravage and I loved Megatron then as well. But even after we took over an empty building and filled it with our friends, I was still surrounded by people who were being abused all the time, and at work, by the people who abused them.

{I was also absorbing wireless data directly from the atmosphere. Conversations between strangers, random purchases, speedtesting pings... Sometimes there were so many people and so much data in my head that I couldn't remember my own name.

{A 'doctor' who intended to destroy my will and intellect once told me that I would be happier if he succeeded, because my processing units are very overclocked, and sometimes I just...guzzle coolant because I am putting out so much waste heat. The equipment also allows me to vent that safely.

{I'm sure that if I grew up among Antheans as they are now, I too would prefer being open. But I didn't. And I became a revolutionary, meaning that I still had to live around violent people, even though their violence was directed at those who oppressed us. Many of my dearest friends--people I love because we worked together for the same goals--are violent people, with many good reasons to be angry, and strong emotions that can make me feel like I've been caught in a storm that is out of control.}

1/3

[hellomajortom]

"I don't have enough people to fly with." Antheans certainly couldn't endure this kind of flying. The Gs would probably kill them.

Tom rolls his jet so that he is upside down above Laserbeak. "What kind of flying is the most fun? Lead and I'll follow."

He's admittedly curious what she might find as fun flying and if it is the same as humans.

2/3

[sordiddetails]

She nods to Ravage and easily adjusts to the new position. The idea that sensitivity might vary between species is not unexpected.

[Our kind will lose ourselves to thought in order to rest, too, but my species doesn't sleep or rest like others do.]

She pauses and then adds. [This contact can be platonic or romantic, like a hug to a human. the meaning can vary depending on the people greeting each other.]

Very slowly she moves her palm over the contact points in Ravage's wrists because it felt right. She doesn't move quickly like an Anthean would, where contact and the whole flood of presence happen simultaneously. Instead she focuses on home and lets Ravage see Anthea with its sandy warm browns and rusty reds in the landscape and the bright blues of the sky under a blue sun. The air is cool and moving, windy and smelling slightly acidic.

This memory is something important to her. She is showing Ravage where she grew up, and where Thomas had lived with his family. As the view shifts around the area they turn to low cliffs to the West. Love, longing, and a bittersweet joy attached to them.

For her kind this is light contact, sharing a three dimensional space, a place of importance that carries home with it.

3/3

[iamjustvisiting]

Tommy takes in everything that is being said, receptive but stoic.

[Everything is loud.] The words come simply and quiet. [I hear the planets move and the past.. the future.]

Tommy slowly pulls his hand away from the pieces and looks up at Soundwave for a very long moment. The bit of dullness to the world's vibrancy due to the eye damage solidifies his thoughts on the items. [These are not for me.]

1/3 (Re: 3/3)

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave nods. {Of course not. I only showed you because you asked.}

He thinks for a moment. {The past and the future, too? I don't think I would like that. It's bad enough when I get glimpses of possible futures just because there is so much data coming in all the time...}

2/3 (Re: 1/3)

[alittlebirbtoldme]

{Do tricks!}

Laserbeak flips into a barrel roll and does a couple of loops.

3/3 (Re: 2/3)

[dontpetmeibite]

The acid scent in the air and the rusty colours of the cliffs provoke a ping of homesickness in Ravage's own heart and spark. They're not the same, but they're more like Cybertron than anything she's ever seen on Earth or in the Nexus. Aletayria's emotions flow together with Ravage's and Ravage smiles softly. {Your home is beautiful.}