...just, slag.

[giri_guy]

So... not all of the visions Unicron showed me were just possibilities.

None of the Autobots have said anything about it... I guess I'm kinda waiting for it to occur to someone. That... that thing could have been me. How close did I come

Comments

[apprentice_lurk]

HEADS. Talking heads! What is it with this lot and heads?! *voice is rather more shrill than usual*

[giri_guy]

*stops short, momentarily confused and out-of-place. She wants... me, with...?*

*Whatever the circumstances, Roddy cannot deny her anything she asks of him. He leans against her, his face against her shoulder, an arm 'round her waist, purring softly. I'm not going anywhere. Not if you don't want me to.*

*Still, it's a bit hard not to notice how Galvatron's arm is pressed up under his chest and if he lifted his head they might be face-to-face, and how he is, completely without conscious violition, matching his own inner thrum to Galvatron's unique pulse.*

[chaos_gunner]

*looks down rather quizzically at the top of 'Boots' head as she unceremoniously drags Rodimus into the hug, then his optics narrow and spark briefly - the close proximity means that Rodimus's Matrix-charged energy signature is brushing at the edges against his own Unicron-marked one, and the sensation is... not exactly painful, but not entirely comfortable either*

*watches Rodimus from the shadows beneath the rim of his crown, optics glittering warily, but doesn't comment since there doesn't seem to be a great deal to be said...*

[giri_guy]

*Not entirely comfortable either for more reasons than mere aura incompatibility, Rodimus keeps his head resolutely down on 'Boots's shoulder. See no evil, want no evil. This is not the time to be thinking about his own angst, nor is it the time to let his aura spike and stutter along Galvatron's arm - although nobody told his aura that.*

*Relax, Rodimus, lad. Focus. Rodimus's inner Voice of Reason sounds an awful lot like Kup. Someone needs you. Put everything else aside and focus.*

[chaos_gunner]

*notices that Rodimus isn't meeting his gaze at all, and wonders why - then, feeling that sudden clumsy flicker of the Prime's aura against his arm, optics spark with surprise and dawning understanding* *lips curl just a little in a crooked, wicked smile* *oh...*

*since 'Boots is in the way and listening he doesn't react observably, but the glittering heat of his aura sharpens, sending tingles through Rodimus's plating... the dark hint of the Unicronian taint seems to deepen a little, testing, teasing at the edges of Rodimus's Matrix-aura* *it's a piece of byplay so subtle that the smaller Unicronian in the middle probably won't even feel it, since the slight modification is attuned for Rodimus's sensory arrays alone...*

[apprentice_lurk]

*doesn't notice anything different, half-blind from Galvatron's aura as she is, and only recognises that they're both with her and she's safe - they're all safe and they're not going away, they're both there and impregnable and more reassuring than any words could have been.

If she had thought about any side-effects from bringing them both together like that, she'd probably be mortified at the clash of their respective aura-allegiances, but right now she can'd and doesn't, curled between them and hanging on tight*

[giri_guy]

*Rodimus, on the other hand, is hyper-aware of their auras tangling and battling it out between them, creating a tiny little thunderstorm too near the Matrix to be entirely comfortable*

*...and when it changes, it hits him like a sledgehammer. Rodimus's head comes up in surprise, and quite by accident their gazes lock...*

[chaos_gunner]

*and this is Galvatron, for whom embarrassment is something that happens to other people, so of course he doesn't look away awkwardly as anyone else would have done - no, he just lets Rodimus look him in the optics, and there's smoke and fire and pure shimmering evil flickering behind the crimson glass and glinting at the corners of his wicked, dangerous smile*

*and if there was any doubt at all it's removed when Galvatron's aura flickers again, just a little, the sharp sting of not-exactly-pain on Rodimus's sensors like some kind of tactile Morse code - I know, you know...*

*...uh oh.*

[giri_guy]

*It's nothing quite detectable to the casual observer, but a tactile-oriented being like Galvatron will pick it up just fine - a shiver-shimmer in Rodimus's energy, little stinging tangles as their energies, both unique in the universe and as close to a perfect match of opposites as can exist in an imperfect world, find their way into each other's crests and troughs. They sting, they exult, and some crazy how or other, they fit.*

*The expression on Rodimus's face tells the story well enough. Mingled surprise and terror and trembling anticpation, dismay and - cruelest of all - hope.*

*And it is that which makes Rodimus school his features. Now it is his aura's turn to alter into something approaching a tactile-speaker's coherence - unskillfully constructed, but still recognizable as an insistent, querying drumbeat fluttering on Galvatron's arm.*

*Tell me, Galvatron, it whispers. Have I cause to hope?*

[chaos_gunner]

*shivers barely perceptibly, not exactly giving in to the sensation, but... letting it happen* *and there's a gleam in his optics that looks more like the joy of battle than like anything else - as though this, to him, is some kind of victory*

*and also, to a creature who lives on hope, aspiration and making the impossible happen at his command, that's positively a silly question*

*That depends on what you think you want, Rodimus...* *and Galvatron, quick on the uptake as ever, has already fine-tuned this form of communication into something that's no longer a tentative tap, but closer to a white-hot, near-painful caress...*

[giri_guy]

*What I want...?*

*He's learning. Though the effort is exhausting, Rodimus is slowly picking up how to construct ideas, concepts, almost-words out of threads of energy and the rhythms of his internal mechanisms. At the same time he is aware that the gulf between his new skill and Galvatron's is vast as the space between a star and its planet. He clamps down on a shiver - 'Boots might be able to feel him tense, and for certain Galvatron can feel a moment's wild fluctuation - as the energy changes yet again. Encouragement is in that touch, along with painful heat and a summon-call as inorexable as gravity. A note of quiet desperation enters the Prime's aura.*

*What do I say? How do I express it?* Were 'Boots not there he might make an attempt with words, but there's no guarantee that would be any more successful. Words aren't enough, touch isn't enough - how can I show you what I need you to see?*

[apprentice_lurk]

*it's a good thing 'Boots has little to no idea of what's going on over her head, short of feeling the occasional twitch and tremble from one side or the other; Galvatron's energies overpowering most of her sensors, she's settling for just holding and being held, and after Void's nasty little demonstration that helps more than anything else would.

Otherwise she would be glancing back and forth between Galvatron and Rodimus, optics wide as saucers.*

[chaos_gunner]

*looks from his subordinate to his arch-nemesis, assessing the situation, and then, not ungently, slides his arm free and lets you go*

*comm* /Dreadboots - go./

[apprentice_lurk]

*looks sightlessly up at him, rather startled - did I do something? Eh... Maybe he just got bored of sitting down here with Roddy... and... me...

...

...

/...Yessir./ *folds her wings out of the way and pulls her arms back, sitting up and negociating the tangle of legs as best she can, sensors rebooting as she moves away from Galvatron. She couldn't help it when her hand tightened around Roddy just before she let go, though*

*steps over to the door, glances back once as it slides open - optics this-isn't-really-happening wide - then, when it slides shut behind her, quietly locks it*

[chaos_gunner]

*half-smiles then looks at Rodimus, not bothering to step back even though the distance between them is far too close when there's nobody in the middle*

Just you and me, Prime... *headtilt, wicked gleam in optics*

*switches to comm, his voice right inside Rodimus's head, frighteningly intimate* /Now, you were saying...?/

[giri_guy]

*Rodimus starts when Galvatron's voice sounds in his head. 'Boots leaving may have opened up new avenues of communication between them, but it also implies he might actually have to drive said avenues.*

/Was I saying something? I can't remember./

*And perhaps because they are so close already, Rodimus takes another step in closing the distance, reaching out to hover his hand over Galvatron's chest.*

/This... I don't mind admitting I'm out of my depth./ *His optics flicker up to lock with Galvatron's again.* /But I want to know how deep this goes... and you're the only one who can show me./