capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

WHO: Not!Soundwave and everyone who wants to slam into him.
WHERE: Wavehaus!
WHEN: Anytime during the week after Shockwave dragged him home (i.e. since Monday)
WARNINGS: Eh.
SUMMARY: Look at that guy you rescued, now look back at Soundwave. Now back to the guy, now back at Soundwave. Sadly he isn't Soundwave, but he could smell like Soun-- wait nevermind.
FORMAT: Words with optional braket accessories.

If there was some small measure of comfort that could be gleaned from all this, it was that there was something oddly nostalgic about having a concussion.

He'd only achieved awareness in fits and starts at first, during the flight, just enough to demand to Shockwave that there be no hospitals and no healers. Even the experience of arriving at the man's apartment had been scattered and confusing, and apart from the somewhat surreal first impression of meeting Shockwave's roommate and their... pets... the only thing that he remembered clearly was that he'd fallen asleep on the very first bed-like surface that had been presented to him. Deep, real, human sleep.

Apparently he'd slept for a good long while, because by the time he awoke the sun was up, his head had been bandaged, and his mind was a great deal clearer. Granted, that only left him at best where he'd been immediately after being re-imPorted, and that was a mess that would take much more than a bandage and a nap to fix.

That... that was going to take a lot of very careful thought; and, for now, some distance between himself and his friends. And in that light, he hoped he'd be allowed to stay here. Shockwave may not know it, but he occupied for him a relatively comfortable sphere between an acquaintance and stranger, and as for Shockwave's friendship with Kiryu... well, if it came to that, Kiryu did strike him a man who could keep a secret. Besides, he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of trying to thrust out on his own in this city while still recovering from a minor traumatic brain injury.

So, for now, he would stay.

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Shockkwave had said it wasn't him. He'd been...mostly clear about that when Kiryu had called to say he was coming over. Kiryu didn't really care about that at this point. Even if it wasn't Soundwave, Shockwave himself could probably use some company. And as fond as he was of his family, Kiryu really wanted to hang out with someone else for a little while.

So in the end, here he was, knocking on Shockwave's door, waiting for someone to answer.

If there is anything more awkward than being the only person within close enough earshot to answer the door when you are staying in the home of two (for all intents and purposes) complete strangers, then... it... is probably one of the several other awkward things that had already happened to Bruno today. In any case, it looked like he'd have to be the one to walk up and pull open the door.

So he did.

... It took a certain effort of will to keep his face detachedly neutral and free of recognition and his posture normal when he saw who it was. It was the kind of nigh-instantaneous shift of gears that Cassandra for one certainly would have noticed, but not anybody with an untrained eye. Hopefully.

And so now Kiryu had a man with a bandage around his head and a largely unreadable expression staring him down from the other side of the door jam.

"Yes?"

For a moment, Kiryu could only stare at the guy who'd answered the door. This close, he really didn't look like Soundwave, although the similarities were still uncanny, and there was something familiar about him that Kiryu could hardly hope to put a finger on. If anything, he was more interested than before. And surprised that Shockwave still let him stay.

And then he realized that he'd probably been staring too long and he should probably say something. "Is Shockwave around?"

Bruno was very keenly aware of the staring, keeping an almost predatory watch for any change in Kiryu's expression that would indicate any recognition more powerful than his (apparent) resemblance to Kiryu and Shockwave's old friend. He didn't really bother to hide his attention; he even played it up a little bit. A cool and appraising stare was fortunately not something Kiryu was likely to associate with the Bruno he was "used" to.

"Not at the moment," he answered when Kiryu finally spoke. "He needed to leave for work. I believe he should be back relatively soon, though," he explained honestly.

Nothing like Bruno, but so much like Soundwave, enough that he could see one reason Shockwave might have had let him stay. And it did make him feel a little bad about staring. Just a bit.

He did frown a bit when he heard Shockwave wasn't around. Coming here was little too out of the way to just turn around again, and he'd come here planning to stay for a little while.

"Can I come in to wait for him?" he finally asked, although he really wasn't sure how Shockwave would react to that. He raised a hand to show the small handled box he was carrying. "I brought him some tea."

And, none the wiser to the way it made the resemblance even more uncanny, Bruno just kept right on doing it. After all, the cool stare did a good job of hiding the stab of uncertainty that hit him at the prospect of hosting Kiryu alone for any protracted length of time.

But then, he didn't exactly have any obvious reason to turn him down.

After a moment or two longer, he took a step or two back to pull open the door and make way, inviting him in with a quick tilt of the head and a neutral "Nnh."

Kiryu did start to bristle a bit with all the staring, but he tried not to be obvious about it since he'd been doing the same thing earlier. But he does end up seeming a little less polite and more like his usual self as he nods and walks in.

"You're new, right?" he asked as he looked around for the best place to set this stuff down. The kitchen was always good, but then he'd been tempted to make some of it. "How're you dealing so far?"

"You could say that," he answered flatly. He let Kiryu lead the way through the apartment; seeing as Bruno had only been here for less than 24 hours so far, Kiryu probably still knew the lay of the land better than he did anyway.

At the other question, he shot a dry glance around the impeccable apartment (thank you Giselle) and carefully ran a hand over the back of his bandaged head. "I've dealt with worse," he replied.

Now that the unpleasant jolt of finding his one of his own universe-fellows at the front door was starting to wear off, it began to occur to Bruno that this could actually be a good opportunity. He'd been wondering desperately how his friends had been doing these past few days, in the wake of his... well, apparent port-out at best, and brutal murder at worst. His own comm was still either lost or broken and he didn't have any good "in-character" excuse to insist on borrowing one, but even if he had, not all his acquaintances were exactly the "broadcast everything to the Network" types.

He would have to slide carefully sideways into the subject to avoid stirring up any suspicion, though. "I take it you've been here longer, putting it that way," he broached casually, crossing his arms.

Kiryu laughed a little and turned toward the kitchen, deciding that Shockwave would probably not mind if he used his things if he also got tea out of the deal. "Almost two and a half years. So just a bit longer." He shrugged and set the box down on the counter and smirked as he added, "Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones who gets out before too long."

Edited 2011-08-22 08:47 (UTC)

"... 'Lucky,' huh..." he murmured under his breath. He hadn't really thought of it that way. "Maybe."

He gave Kiryu a genuine little intrigued eyebrow raise at the span of years, though. It wasn't as though Bruno hadn't been told before, but it was still something to be impressed by whenever he let it really sink in (especially for a guy whose entire living memory still only barely covered two years.)

"That is one hell of a tenure, though," he said, shifting his weight to the other foot (one of his knees was still a bit sore.) "Is that pretty common in this place, then?"

Kiryu paused and frowned at the counter as he thought about that. He didn't really make much effort to notice how long most people stayed, but there were definitely fewer and fewer people he recognized as being around a while now. Most of them he'd never actually spoken to.

And thinking about this always made him remember all the close friends he'd made that were gone now. Especially one who finally wouldn't come back...

"Not really," he finally said. "Seems to be more common to leave after a year or less. Maybe a little over a year."