Bonding Party!
It’s not exactly a celebrity wedding, but considering a lack of budget Snowcat and Demolishor have done pretty well for themselves. The words “BONDING PARTY HERE” have been spray-painted on the door in purple, along with a big Decepticon symbol on both the door and the wall. For tonight, the assembly room is Decepticon territory
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The smirk, however, is perfect to a T - "I heard there was a party?"
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Now... I'm not overcharged here. And I'm seeing two of you. *He raises an optic ridge.*
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F-15 alt-mode. And... ghost. Starscream feels a sense of dislocation, as if he's looking at his own ghost--but no, he's exactly where he should be, inhabiting the F/A-22 shell.
So, an alternate of himself. Or something much nastier, disguising itself in his own form. Was he in the wrong timeline? Were his nagging doubts confirmed--had Skyfire slipped across time with that wormhole jump? In their own universe, had they just mysteriously vanished, never to be heard from again? But then, who had this universe's Ratchet commed, then? He'd been expecting Skyfire and himself, so they couldn't have jumped timelines unless Ratchet did too, and--
His CPU ached.
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He looks from the F-15 to the F-22 and back again.
"This could get... weird." A pause. "Scratch that. It's already pretty weird. I blame the Nexus."
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"Now, don't fear me," Starscream says. It's not the calming tone he - one or the other "he" - used towards Octane in that crypt; there is a more teasing cast to it. After all, if you can't snark at yourself, who can you snark at? "It's just me. Or shall I say, you?"
The tone used covers the fact that Starscream is, in fact, feeling cautious. He doesn't know what to make of his alternate. He's a him, but does that make him a natural ally, or natural competition?
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"Nexus. Of course. I should have realized. There's enough other Nexus regulars here, and I knew there were others of me. There's even some idiot with my name and colors who likes to pull off his wings and use them as sword blades."
He smirks. "Fortunately, you're not him. You're a lot more like me. Or I'm like you. What brings you here besides the free booze? Anyone we know?" Starscream waves a hand around at the crowd.
"And..." he lowers his cold voice somewhat, "just how did you get yourself in such a state? I could assume," he says, still speaking with the overly-precise tones of the inebriated, "the same way I did, but if everything happened the same, it would be the same timeline and we'd only be me."
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In answer to the question as to the reason for his coming, Starscream smirks. "Would you believe me if I said I was just that bored?" he replies, gesturing. "Not that I would turn down meeting someone we know... or another," and he leaves it at that.
"As for how I got in this state..." Starscream lowers his voice as well. "It would be the same way, if 'the same' involved someone shooting you in cannon mode without taking the time to talk to you first.
"And whether we'd be you or me is semantics, no?"
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He winces almost imperceptibly. "Yes, that part would be very much the same." A whine of compressor blades spinning up and down, almost like a sigh. "He's dead, you know. In this timeline, anyway. This Galvatron isn't really him. But I still think he's the one who shot me."
Someone we know... Starscream looks at his other self sharply, thoughts racing through his mind. Something had to be different between our timelines. What if that was it?
"You wouldn't happen to be looking for a certain Autobot, would you?"
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Besides, there is that other consideration, one that seems to concern the other Starscream a great deal. "You know me far too well. But then, you are me. That being so, I suppose you already know about a certain big white shuttle..." Starscream narrows his optics in a way that suggests that by his standards, he's already said too much. The only reason he was willing to admit even as much is because he is speaking to another Starscream.
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Oh yes, it does concern Starscream a great deal. Optics narrow slightly; what does this other Starscream want with Skyfire? Understanding? Reconciliation? Or.. revenge?
"You could say that. We came here together; he's my partner now."
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One of you mentioned something about a Starscream who used his wings as swords? He's from my universe, what about him?
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"Nothing. I didn't keep track of his doings," Starscream responds to Pyro in as neutral a tone as possible.
When he speaks to his counterpart again, he is careful to use the mind-speak that serves for private comm among ghosts. //Did you say, 'partner'? But... how?!// There is carefully reined-in shock and confusion evident in his tone, as well as a sense of disbelieving envy.
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"Hey Dusky!"
He waves to the other Seeker from his side of the room, without heading over to the door. He figures Duskwing will probably come further into the room in a moment or two anyhow.
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"He's an idiot with my name and colors. That's annoying. He pulls off his freaking wings! And hits people with the edges!" Starscream winces all over. Wingblade's habit of doing the same thing also gave him the creeps, but he's not going to mention that.
Optics widened almost imperceptibly. // Chance. Fate. I fell into his path at the moment I was in a bit of trouble, and he was most... vulnerable. // He understands the significance of the envy and shock--and it fills him with dismay.
If I had not found Sky when I did... He remembered all too well how bitter and angry and despondent and lost and so utterly lonely he had been.
// Where-- what happened to your Skyfire?// he asks, and takes a step forward. He cannot keep the pain out of his voice--he is Starscream, creature of quicksilver emotions for all to see. This is himself, as he would have been, as he sometimes feared he'd wake up and ( ... )
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He tells him still, for a reason he can't quite discern. Perhaps it is that he owes his other self as much? //He is dead from my hand. He can't have survived in the state I left him in... yet, I've never seen him on the other side.// There is an utterly vulnerable frown at the last admission.
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