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Post by Hook on Mar 13, 2008 23:36:00 GMT -5
The Constructicon likes to think that people fret about him going insane because they want a top-notch surgical engineer around, not because they want to get into his berth.
"One, I am perfectly capable of living without the gestalt. I have done it before. Two, there is no evidence that gestalts require close proximity and daily interaction in order to maintain mental stability. Three, all gestalts are inherently different, so what applies to one does not necessarily apply to the others." Hook bites off the words. A viewer from the doorway might be surprised to realize that he is also not punctuating them with jab from the file.
But no, he continues to seek out that deep third latch so that he can finish with this.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 14, 2008 0:00:05 GMT -5
"Of course. What I have observed in my studies does not necessarily translate to fact in every reality or case."
Shockwave tilts his head to look at Hook again, "But do not pretend to sanity, Hook. Such destabilization in some form or another is a guaranteed side effect of the gestalt process. Too many voices, too many personalities melded. Can you honestly say you are not feeling their loss?"
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Post by Hook on Mar 14, 2008 0:07:47 GMT -5
Ah, there is the last catch!
"Feeling their loss is not at all equivalent to going insane." Honestly. He's not so fragile that being abandoned in the middle of nowhere, rejected by the one person who should be as close to him as a brother, and forced to face the fact that Omega Supreme is out there and means to kill him very dead is enough to send him careening over the edge.
...
He's not.
Hook hisses in vexation as he undoes the final latch and bares Shockwave's reactor.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 14, 2008 0:20:09 GMT -5
"Oh I would wager you are already insane Hook. It is the failure of your coping mechanisms that concerns me."
Shockwave goes very still and quiet as that last latch is undone. Now is not the time to poke and prod at Hook. Not with such a sensitive area open to the Constructicon's exploration.
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Post by Hook on Mar 14, 2008 0:22:23 GMT -5
Hook reaches out, fingers skimming over those faint smiling scars, then up the curve of Shockwave's head, finally to curl around the central optic-point of the cyclops. "Don't forget, Shockwave, that of the Constructicons, I am- was the stabilizer for the mad engineers."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 14, 2008 0:36:45 GMT -5
It takes every ounce of will Shockwave possesses not to reach up and snatch Hook's hand away. He even manages not to stiffen, though the sharp hiss that escapes him is telling enough.
"That you are," Shockwave does not bother with the same correction Hook made, "But sanity can be quite relative. You stabilize them, they in turn stabilize you. Your group chose to be gestalt, you were not built such, and that is both an advantage and not."
The next comment is risky, given the situation, but Shockwave wants to know. "What will you do if we manage to fetch him for you, Hook? If he is Autobot, he is pre-gestalt, and you can reprogram him all you like but without the others can you really make him what you need him to be?"
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Post by Hook on Mar 14, 2008 0:42:46 GMT -5
Hook's fingers tighten. But, oh, that infinite self-control over his hands keep him from blinding Shockwave.
"Yes."
He must. There is no other possibility.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 14, 2008 1:18:53 GMT -5
Shockwave's optic pulses, and his hand actually moves to rest on Hook's thigh as if in warning. Risky, yes, but oh so satisfying to push the Constructicon's buttons so, after Hook has been trying to push Shockwave's. Still, his tone when he speaks is soft, almost a low purr, "Oh really? I think your reach extends your grasp. But my offer of assistance still stands."
"Now, I am growing very tired of you taking these liberties, Hook, of these prods and warnings. Unless you intend to slay me during the course of this farce, you will have to deal with the consequences of whatever you do to me. So get on with it, one way or another."
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Post by Hook on Mar 14, 2008 14:08:21 GMT -5
Consider the tableau. Hook is astraddle a Shockwave stripped of his armor, the Constructicon curling dangerously around the bulk of the cyclops's reactor shielding. One green hand clutches at the light of Shockwave's optic, and one stripped but normally purple hand rests on Hook's smooth silver thigh.
Consider this carefully, for they are both madmen and murderers.
Light-levels ratchet down on Hook's visor, and tension eases out of his struts. He settles back, hands on his knees, and his visor dims well below working levels.
There is stillness.
Then the light-levels rise once more, and he tilts his head so that Shockwave can see his face. "Do you ever consider what might happen if I do snap, after all the prodding you have done?"
And that is all as he sets about removing what of the reactor shielding is capable of being removed.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 14, 2008 20:49:34 GMT -5
When Hook settles back, Shockwave lets his hand slide down that silver thigh, sharp needles of rarely-felt sensation sparking through him from that light touch. His hand comes to rest on the outside curve of Hook's knee, and Shockwave's head tilts so as to better observe the Constructicon.
Other than that, Shockwave's stillness is a match to Hook's.
Shockwave does not consider himself mad, though it takes perhaps a special breed of madness to play as long-reaching a game as Shockwave has played over the eons. Certainly any observing would think him mad, to have pushed the Constructicon so on such a sore point and in such a setting.
Hook asks his question, returns to his work, and Shockwave straightens his head once more. "Of course," he answers.
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Post by Hook on Mar 15, 2008 13:43:41 GMT -5
Then why do you continue to do it, you fool?
The suggested answer is that Shockwave wants Hook to go insane and destroy people. Not that that makes any sense, but Shockwave stopped making sense when he started this little game.
Hook gathers up the last of the reactor shielding and stands, shrugging off Shockwave's hand on his knee as if it were dead metal. Then he hops down from the table and lays out the shielding in the rest of his exhibit of Shockwave's armor.
"This will be a different scan than previously done, and may cause odd sensations in your electrical circuits."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 16, 2008 0:12:24 GMT -5
It was not Shockwave who began the game this time.
He stills again, systems tensing in preparation for what he knows will be an uncomfortable sensation. Though perhaps uncomfortable is not the proper term. As the scanner runs over his reactor, his electrical systems, tiny shocks of feedback fire through him, and he can not quite stop his fingers from twitching ever so slightly as circuits misfire.
Damn. He really does hate this.
Once the scan is done, he says, as if the previous conversation had not happened, "Hellbender. I have been working on a solution to his current lack of a transform. However, such an endeavor will likely require contributions from us both."
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Post by Hook on Mar 18, 2008 21:42:59 GMT -5
Hook views it as another round of the game Shockwave started in the unfinished security center.
At Shockwave's words, the Constructicon tilts his head up to the ceiling. After the demand of minute study of a particularly dull piece of metal has been met (or, more likely, the Constructicon stops wondering why people who are not Constructicons themselves must be so difficult to deal with), Hook looks down at Shockwave again. Or he would, if there was not a tray in the way of the cyclops's face.
He reaches over and shifts that back to where it belongs. "I have also been working on such a project." Don't ask when, among everything else. "Collaboration would likely prove... useful."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 18, 2008 23:13:57 GMT -5
Well, now Shockwave can see without obstruction. Such a novel concept.
"I expected no less. You would not be one to let such a challenge pass you by, after all. Once you are done with your exams, perhaps?"
Shockwave is starting to get rather tired of being naked. Surely, the Constructicon is done with his scans now.
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Post by Hook on Mar 20, 2008 20:59:34 GMT -5
"Once I am done with the exams," Hook agrees. That may be quite a while, given the amount of information the Constructicon has to process from each exam in addition to his other duties.
Yes, Shockwave has bared his circuits quite long enough. Hook selects the reactor shielding and begins to work it back into place.
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