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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 10, 2008 23:57:04 GMT -5
"I was repaired to a functional status, and finished the rest on my own. Appearances are of no concern to me, and that is the only thing that repair now impacts."
In other words, No.
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Post by Hook on Mar 11, 2008 12:42:04 GMT -5
The Constructicon smirks and runs his fingertips back along the curve of scarring before withdrawing his hand entirely. "You will not have to worry about such scars from now on."
Hook slips his fingertip from the loop of optic cable, strokes a processor deliberately as he removes his hand.
Then he steps away from the cyclops entirely. "Lie still for this scan."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 11, 2008 14:32:59 GMT -5
"That remains to be seen. Trusting someone's skill and trusting them are two very different things."
Shockwave relaxes slightly when that finger disentangles from his main optic line. That deliberate touch on his processor, however, makes the gun-former gasp softly and stiffen. He holds still as requested for the scan, though as soon as it is done he shifts his head so he can look at Hook.
"Do you always take such liberties with those on your table?" he asks.
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Post by Hook on Mar 11, 2008 16:54:58 GMT -5
"I thought you said you could hold yourself still, Shockwave," Hook chides as he selects the tools for opening up the cyclops's chest.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 11, 2008 17:01:21 GMT -5
"Stillness was not required at the moment. And you did not answer me."
It is worth noting that Shockwave does, however, shift his head back to a forward facing position. He is annoyed at Hook, but more annoyed at himself for that little slip.
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Post by Hook on Mar 11, 2008 22:44:30 GMT -5
"Do I always take such liberties? No." Does that set you at ease, Shockwave? Or unsettle you further?
Hook returns to Shockwave's side and lays out his chosen tools on a tray that he swings out over Shockwave's face. The needles are gone from the Constructicon's face by this point.
He places his hands on the edge of the table, then uses his lifters to assist him in a vault that leaves him standing with a foot on either side of Shockwave's middle. He kneels, almost straddling the cyclops but keeping his own armor from pressing into the unshielded circuits and wires of the ex-seneschal. "Now to your reactor."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 11, 2008 23:15:14 GMT -5
"Hgn." Hook's answer does a bit of both actually. Shockwave would worry more about how far Hook's sanity had slipped if he had taken to feeling up his patients as a matter of course. However, the answer also indicates that Hook has taken a particular interest in Shockwave, though the nature of that interest could not possibly be of a personal nature. Most likely, the Constructicon seeks to get his own back and prove he is not to be underestimated.
As if Shockwave would ever make that mistake,
The tray blocks almost the entirety of Shockwave's view, and that disconcerts him more than Hook's body atop him. Shockwave does hope Hook locked the door to his lab; this might be the most efficient potion from which Hook can work on Shockwave's reactor, but that would not stop people from gossiping about it.
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Post by Hook on Mar 11, 2008 23:55:43 GMT -5
People do not step lightly into Hook's private lab. Well, except for Starscream, but the Seeker will likely learn the error of his ways sooner or later.
Fingertips run over the surface of Shockwave's reactor, pressed hard enough against the metal to feel the texture and seams. Seeking, seeking- Ah. Here is the seam, and now Hook leans forward, curling around the bulk of Shockwave's chest to work a thin, hook-ended file into the seam he has identified.
"Your armor is quite thick. Did you take your lovers solely among technicians?"
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 12, 2008 0:14:49 GMT -5
"Do I...what?"
This? This is Shockwave boggling. Not that there is any sign of that other than a slight edge of confusion to his tone. And even that is gone when he continues.
"I have little interest in such frivolities."
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Post by Hook on Mar 12, 2008 0:19:58 GMT -5
"Hm. Another celibate Decepticon general then." The hook on the end of the file catches at a latch, and the reactor casing splits a tiny bit wider. But there are other catches to undo before it will come fully apart.
Sometimes the best way to keep patients from doing things that you don't want them to do are to ask them incredibly distracting questions. And, as Mixmaster had more than proved in the past, questions about the intimate details of someone's love-life were hard to top.
"Why do you term it a frivolity?"
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 12, 2008 0:36:15 GMT -5
Shockwave finds the sensation of that first latch being undone highly unsettling. Perhaps he should have simply removed it himself.
"Why? Because it is. An indulgence of our base emotional programming, programming that I do not find necessary. Emotions can too easily betray, are too easily twisted against oneself, and most find it impossible to indulge such desires without emotional entanglement."
"Pleasurable, yes. Necessary? No. So... a frivolity."
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Post by Hook on Mar 13, 2008 20:49:18 GMT -5
"I have heard the theory that it is a social bonding mechanism," Hook comments as he works the file forward and deeper to the second latch. "Thus, why it engages the emotional programming."
Because social bonding is useful, contrary to what some Decepticons believe. (And then there's Hook, where it's somewhat maladaptive.)
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 13, 2008 21:50:27 GMT -5
"It is a valid theory, and given the tendency of our people toward such activity, the most logical one. Just because I perceive it as unnecessary does not mean it is such for others. Gestalts in particular seem to have a vital need for such closeness. A side-effect of the mental merging perhaps, a way of searching for completeness even when separated."
Shockwave tilts his head slightly to look up at Hook. "Why such personal questions, Hook? Are you and Dead End not tending to each other in the absence of your gestalt-mates? I assumed that was the purpose in your rooming together."
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Post by Hook on Mar 13, 2008 21:57:11 GMT -5
Because it keeps Shockwave from annoying him while Hook sticks tools into vital and dangerous parts. Why else?
"Dead End and I...?" Hook pulls an unpleasantly baffled face. "That's the second time that's been suggested. Because Megatron forbid that I actually want a quiet, intelligent roommate instead of the usual set of pyschos around here."
The hook-end of the file catches on the second latch, and the Constructicon releases it, opening Shockwave's chest still further.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 13, 2008 23:26:34 GMT -5
Shockwave considers Hook's comment. "It is not an illogical conclusion to draw. Dead End seemed particularly concerned with your well-being, though perhaps not so much now. And then there is the already mentioned similarity."
"I suppose Dead End is a better choice of roommate than most, if one desires conversation beyond the typical inane chatter. A bit fatalistic for my tastes, however."
Shockwave pauses as Hook works loose that second catch. "If Dead End is not grounding you, then...? Gestalts are not meant to be alone; you will unravel."
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