capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

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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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Somehow, despite never having to deal with serious injuries before, Giselle knew exactly what to do. Why, her sweet little woodland friends sometimes got a scrape or tripped over a tree root - how was this much different?

Well. Aside from the obvious.

But Giselle also knew how good sleep was for a hurt body. She was very glad to see this strange man - Soundwave? was that what Shockwave called him? - rest so deeply. Though...Though she did worry after a length of time. Surely this wasn't that kind of sleep...Why, she had no idea who this man's true love was! And wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Oh, dear. Hopefully he would wake up on his own accord.

In the meantime, she busied herself by keeping him in fresh, cleaned covers, made sure there was always a fresh bit of toast or something light nearby just in case, and hushed her darling bird friends when they got too excited over the course of the day. As for herself, well...sometimes she couldn't help but hum here and there; it made time fly so pleasantly.

Even the unconscious deserved the best guest treatment, of course!

Even based on his very limited prior acquaintance with the man, it hadn't taken much for Bruno to work out that the one who'd carefully tended to him and changed his bedding had probably not been Shockwave; more likely it had been that red-haired woman he'd seen briefly. He'd almost immediately resolved to thank her the very next time he saw her, not only for the first aid, but also for the food that had been left for him. Waking up starvingly hungry was an especially unpleasant sensation when you... well... had never actually been what you'd call "hungry" before, at least not in living memory.

In any case, Giselle would be pleased to find the next time she visited the room that her injured guest was now very much awake, alert, and even wearing a fresh change of clothes (courtesy of Shockwave, surprisingly enough.)

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.

Her voice entered first, as was normal for her; with the sun out and the grocers ever-so-kind, she couldn't help but sing a little. And everyone else seemed partial to humming the tune along with her as she went, which was always so pleasant and made it impossible to frown! It was those times where her cares were furthest away, and even with arms heavy with fresh food, she felt she could float along the sidewalk, up those steps, and inside.

The song was cut by a delighted giggle as the animals gave their usual mob-like greeting at the door, and time was spent giving attention to each in turn, complimenting, thanking, and otherwise regarding each as though she'd just come across old friends (but they were new friends). These were the ones who knew her at her loneliest, shared her not-very-secret secrets, and kept tears at bay. Such sweet creatures, all of them.

Giselle padded barefoot through the house, beginning a fresh habit of peeking into the room where the sleeping guest stayed - just in case - and nearly dropped the groceries in surprise when she realized (halfway to the kitchen by then) he had been awake.

"Oh-!"

There was a great deal of rustling and hustling as she made to get rid of her load in the proper room before racing back to that doorway, catching the frame to halt her and keep her from sliding on her heels. As she caught her breath, she could see, very plainly, he was up. And the biggest, brightest smile to ever grace the house (since her last one) broke across her face.

"Oh, you're awake!"

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?"

Well, speak of the devil. Bruno's ears pricked up when he heard the door open and shut accompanied by a woman's singing voice, and decided that (unless Shockwave had any more excitable female roommates he'd declined to mention) that must be her.

He let her be for the time being though, since she seemed fairly absorbed with talking with the little gaggle of animals that sounded as though they'd mobbed the door when she came in. In the meantime he went back to sitting on the edge of the bed examining a small cut on his knuckle and trying to wrack his still-fuzzy memories of last night to recall just how he'd gotten it.

He was in the middle of theorizing whether he'd sliced it on the teeth of the one kid he'd managed to punch in the jaw when he caught sight of the woman fluttering cheerfully past the door out of the corner of his eye. He decided to take that as a cue to get up, have a very careful stretch, and set out to follow her over to wherever she--

And then suddenly she was right there back in the doorway smiling at him like he was the most wonderful thing to ever appear on this earth. He did an admirable job of looking slightly less bewildered than he really was.

"Um... yes," he answered stupidly.

The faltering reply might as well have been the most gallant declaration in the world for how Giselle beamed, clasping her hands tightly against her breast and giggling out a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad!" she declared, bouncing up on the balls of her feet. It was barely half a second when a little common sense struck her and she gasped, darting into the room and to his side, her hands out and hovering. "Oh! But please don't move too fast! It could make you dizzy and you could fall. Please, sit! I can get you whatever you need. Are you hungry? Or thirsty? I just bought the yummiest oranges today - you can have as many as you like! Oh, oh goodness, it's so good that you're awake!"

It had been an incredible disappointment finding out that the one upon the network had not been Soundwave. It had been too good to be true, believing that the one he cared so much about would have returned on that day, but he had allowed himself to believe. It had felt like his entire being was bein crushed. Not quite a feeling he liked or wanted to experience again. Not after so long.

He had almost decided to leave the kid, but he looked so much like Soundwave, he just couldn't brin himself to do it. Given he had taken in Giselle when she had first arrived... Perhaps he was getting soft.

Frag.

Slowly he inches his way into the room, blinking when he sees the other awake. "Do you need anything?"

And Bruno, in turn, looked over and blinked at the man when he noticed him edging into the room. He was sitting up on the edge of the bed by then and seemed to have been interrupted in the middle of feeling out the extent of the bandaging around his head.

"I--" He started to say that he didn't, but then glanced down and thought better of it. He was still wearing the black base of his riding suit (he had ditched the chaps, jacket and chest piece while still in the Porter building-- they were too recognizable, and Rua had seen him in it more than once even if it was years ago for him now) which now had a nice collection of dried blood splotches down the front where it had been dripped on liberally by his bloodied nose and mouth. Whoever had patched him up had also washed off his face, thank god, but they hadn't gone so far as to strip off his shirt.

Bruno tried to cover an uncomfortable cough. "Ah... some clothes would be a help," he said politely.

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."

... Well.

At first Bruno didn't really react at all besides staring at her a little uncomprehendingly. He waited until she seemed to be done in order to cut in, as though interrupting her in the middle of her piece would just make her start the sequence all over again.

"I... feel alright enough to stand by now, I think. But, thank you," he said, while (as clandestinely as possible) smoothing the band-aid he had peeled up back down over the cut on his knuckle before she noticed he'd been fiddling with it.

It went unheeded, a gesture she caught but a little too late, and all she noted was a bandage that had done its job good and proper. Despite his assurances, she shook her head at his words. "No, no, not yet," she insisted. "You have to sit up for a while before you stand, otherwise you'll get dizzy and fall over. Sit for a little while! I can bring you what you need. What would you like?"

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."

Shockwaved nodded slowly, "Right." And with that he vanished from the room again.

As much as it pained him, some of Soundwave's old clothes are retrieved. The kid looked good in blue, and given the weather would be far more comfortable than one of his own sweaters. Perhaps he's ask Giselle to make the kid some clothes later.

Carefully the Decepticon placed them on the end of the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

Bruno stared a bit at Shockwave's receding back as he left the room. Somehow he hadn't quite expected Shockwave to just... well. Wait on him sans complaint. Not that he was in any position to complain about it.

He waited sitting where he was until the man came back with the clothes, and then nodded thanks as he leaned gingerly across the bed to pick up the top article (a shirt) and glance it over to see that it would fit -- and also, to some extent, to quickly check that it wasn't too similar to his old (that is, "Bruno"'s) usual fare that he would run too much higher a risk of being recognized in it. It wasn't as though they'd had more than a passing acquaintance before, and Shockwave didn't seem to have caught on to him, but... there was something about the way he looked at him that Bruno couldn't quite read either.

"Much better," he said, thoroughly truthfully and with more than a hint of relief. Then he paused, looked over at Shockwave again, and dropped the shirt down to his lap like he was forgetting his manners.

"Ah, thank you," Bruno said, a little stilted but obviously sincere. "For getting me out of there, and... for bringing me here. I owe you quite a bit."

Shockwave stood in silence until he was addressed, shaking his head lightly.

"It is fine, you do not owe me anything. I could not have just left you."

Well. He could have, but the similarities to Soundwave were a bit too much for him. He could not have left Bruno without thinking of Soundwave. He could not have taken him without thinking of the communications officer.

He couldn't have won either way, but at least the boy was looking better.

Frag, he was starting to seem like an Autobot. Fallen was right.

"I am Shockwave, by the way."

Bruno just hummed a short "Mm" of affirmation and inclined his head in implied thanks again before going back to the the business of glancing at the clothing, which didn't take very much longer at all. It all looked like it'd fit just fine.

He was just beginning the task of gingerly pulling off his shirt over his injured head when Shockwave went on, and he paused to look over at him. Again, the bulk of Bruno's reaction was just a polite nod of the head.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said neutrally.

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and then he was kissed awake by yuusei and giselle was very confused

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spends days trying to find storybooks to adhere to what she witnesses in real life

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and the closest she can find is the epic of gilgamesh

wonders where the pictures are

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god i need to make more icons alkdf

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so late

NO SUCH THING (yay)

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