There's a moment of hesitation, because Loki wasn't really prepared for a third party, and a less-known quantity, but it's a reasonable request and it's not as if the information he's prepared to discuss need to be kept from Soundwave. "Actually, I did rather want to meet him anyway. He may wish to block out as much of my mental energies as he can, as I am an alien mind and...complicated. But you are both welcome."
"I cannot invite you inside, though, as the children are sleeping." But there's space outside in the yard, where a miniature playground sits quietly, with a low wall nearby, an unlit firepit flanked with heavy logs for seating, and what appears to be the start of a construction project.
"And I don't possess energon at this time and cannot offer you refreshment; I apologize for that."
Soundwave smiles wryly. "Organic minds: all alien. Yours...is less unsettling than many humans. But more so than elephants, who are not yet sapient, but may become so. I am on your side of this particular equation, Loki. And more so for your own sake, than my own, now that I've met you. I want him to be happy. I want him to be happy, too, with someone who is not my conjunx. It isn't just that I'm jealous, although I am. It's that they're terrible for one another, and for everyone around them, when they're lovers. I hope you never see it for yourself. I was not so jealous a mech when we met him."
He gives Ravage a look that even through the visor clearly dares him to deny it. Notably, Ravage does not, and they are both still smiling.
"I cut my teeth on diplomacy and entertaining foreign guests, in my homeworld," he says with a little smile to Ravage. "To offer refreshment is the least of things that can be done to set guests at ease. But another time, perhaps. And yes, I have sparklings."
He likes that term. They are sparks, for certain. "Four of them."
He gives Soundwave a thoughtful look, and a shallow bow of greeting. "My species are extremophiles, designed to live in low temperatures. The physical structure of my body and brain is most likely innately different from most organic life, but I've never investigated it fully."
"...which, incidentally, led to some very pleasant surprises with Megatron, but I'm not sure that's quite the matter at hand." Or is it? He felt energy from the mech's spark and was fine, so maybe it's exactly the matter at hand.
"I feel as though we should be allies, you two and myself. You fall under my providence, you're close with a friend of mine, and there are...parallels. I am willing to work to make that happen, alliance or friendship or both. But my culture is not so open with emotion as yours seems to be."
"You're dealing with Decepticons." Soundwave says it as if the one word explains everything, then chuckles. "Not sure how we fall under your providence, but it would be good to be allies, or better yet, friends."
The comment about pleasant surprises draws a very knowing laugh from Ravage, even as he leans into Soundwave's arm round his shoulders. If Ravage has a One True Love (and he definitely believes that he does) it's Soundwave, and everything between them is pretty damned magical, even when they're both dead tired and can barely manage ten minutes alone. But Megatron was always fun. Even if everyone else thinks they're obnoxious together.
But then he gets down to the question that Soundwave has spectacularly failed to answer. "Decepticon culture, when it isn't toxic, is a culture of honesty and loyalty. There's military decorum, sometimes, and professionalism, sometimes, but everything's out in the open. In the early days of the movement, we were so committed to not owning each other that there were no formally committed relationships among us, even if everyone knew who was essentially married. Keeping up appearances was considered 'bourgeois' for want of a better term. We liked to think we were an army of lovers. Of course that bred its own kind of toxicity. People who disliked each other but had to pretend they were comrades, and then we stopped doing that, but then all the infighting was out in the open as well. It was exactly the sort of social mess that you'd expect to get when you put a bunch of people who were rebelling against social and class restrictions together with a bunch of people who never had the freedom to develop or maintain good boundaries. Anyhow, with the two of us I'm afraid you're dealing with the true believers. I wouldn't tell a stranger everything we've just told you, and neither would Soundwave, but if we're meant to be allies and hope to be friends, dissembling won't help."
Ravage shrugs. "He gave us our freedom. He is our closest living friend. Soundwave and he were enemies briefly and while I won't say those were the worst days of my life, because I wasn't a slave or a prisoner of war, they were worse than almost anything else. When he talks about you, which he doesn't, much, and that in itself makes me think this is serious--it's clear he's fallen in love. If he hasn't already given you his spark, it's only because he can't figure out how. I have only ever done that with Soundwave. He only ever did that with someone who hurt him terribly. I don't ever want to go through that with him again. And he'd be furious if he knew I was telling you this, but I don't care, because you need to know what a big deal this is, not just for our species, but also for him personally."
"I am the god of lies," he says to Soundwave with a shrug, not exactly apologetic, but with a facial expression that suggests he knows this may not be what they'd like to hear. "I believe honesty with oneself is essential, except in extreme circumstances, but otherwise I may not be capable of embracing your philosophy. Respecting it, yes; but not accepting it as my own."
He listens thoughtfully to Ravage, then wanders over to the low wall nearby to sit. "It's good that you acknowledge your movement's previous missteps. That will build strength, in the long term. Not everyone starts from the same place, nor travels their path at the same pace. Candor can be a social lubricant or a roadblock, depending how it is applied."
There is more in his head, explanations for his behavior that he feels may be necessary, but he's diverted by the talk of Megatron. That may be telling. There's a flicker of a soft smile on his face, and he nods. "I don't believe I've ever been with a lover so openly romantic as he is. I am bonded to two others, and he is well aware of that. Because this is so new, I am deeply concerned about being fair to them. Harley, in particular, has been patient with me beyond my wildest expectations. She took me into her home when I arrived here, with no questions asked, and was the first to offer to defend me from my enemies."
"Loyalty to a cause or a nation means little to me, but loyalty to individuals is...a quality I seek to cultivate in myself."
"I am still finding my feet, seeking a balance. My children must be my first priority until they are old enough to care for themselves. My brother is unwell and needs my support--actually two versions of him, from two different worlds. I have Ian and Harley and I owe them both much, and for the first time in my life I appear to be surrounded by friends. I have often been accused of selfishness, justly; if I were alone, without children or dependents, I would have no hesitation in answering your question in the affirmative. I would drop everything and follow him anywhere he asked, whether I believed our chemistry to be eternal or a fleeting fancy, because if I were to fall, there would be no one harmed but myself."
"I am very serious about this. I can promise you that; enough so that it frightens me. And there are...injuries, in my background, which make me wary. Unwilling to disappoint, unwilling to be tamed, waiting for some catastrophe to flip everything upside down. So what you ask, do I love him, is not a simple question to answer. Not to me. And he knows that."
As Loki speaks, Soundwave's expression grows softer, and even though he is wearing a mask, his smile shows through somehow, perhaps in what shows of his eyes through his visor.
"I believe that everything will be fine," he says--probably more to Ravage than to Loki himself, though he looks carefully at them both--when Loki finishes his explanation.
"I know what you feel while you speak to us. Not being Megatron, I have no reason to care what you call it." Soundwave shrugs, then shakes his head.
"Ravage did not ask if you were willing to follow Megatron wherever he chooses to go. Please, even after your children are grown, even a thousand years from now, if you and he should find yourselves alone--do not promise to follow Megatron wherever he chooses to go. We made that promise once. We do not advise that anyone else makes it. He does not need followers. If you ever do go away with him, take his hand, and don't be afraid to pull him back from the edge of a precipice if you have to. Because you will. I think it's better, at least for now, if he follows you. And I think you can get him to do it."
"Wait, he's romantic?" Ravage grins, bemused and amused all at once. "That isn't what I would have called him when he was with me. Even the poems he wrote for me weren't exactly...romantic."
Ravage hears Soundwave's snort and looks up at him, shrugging. "I heard that," he says with a grin.
Then to Loki he says: "I think you might worry too much."
Loki makes a small oof noise under his breath and gives Soundwave a rueful look. "You're an empath," he says. On the one hand, that makes him nervous, because he often relies on deception for survival. On the other hand, he doesn't envy him the sheer chaos the Nexus is capable of inflicting on a mind attuned to receiving thought and emotion. Luckily, he is not trying to dissemble now, and they meet as friends, so he does not feel defensive.
He grins a little. "I did not mean follow in quite that sense, but your point is well taken. It remains to be seen whether we will steer one another safely or egg one another on, which is another concern I have, but I'll see what I can do."
To Ravage, he says, "You are also a poet, and I am not. Perhaps I am more impressed by his choice of words, because I do not understand quite how he knits them together."
Either that, or he somehow brings out Megatron's hidden soppy-sweet side, which is a nice thought, but one he chooses not to voice, as the mech himself might not thank him for it.
"I know I worry too much," he agrees, voice blithe and lilting now that he's expressed his doubts and been heard. He feels better, anyway! "It's part of what I am. There is a voice within me I call my anti-conscience. It tells me, in any given situation, several options I could pursue, as well as weighing the potential reactions of those around me, and the suggestions it makes first are invariably the most destructive. I have to fight it into submission to get anything friendly from it."
"It's very useful in a conflict, but much less so when talking with potential friends or adjusting to a new love intererest."
"Oh, I appreciate his talent. He's a better poet than I am," Ravage says with a wry smile. "But...he is courting you, isn't he? He never courted me. I was claimed before I ever met him, Loki." Ravage leans into Soundwave, and looks up at him with blinking eyes. "I don't think you are going to egg each other on. That's what we were like, each of us pushing the other that little bit further."
"You are not alone," he tells Soundwave. "And not to offend, but I am deeply grateful that your talent is not one of mine. Take care, though--there are minds here that are more profoundly unlike yours than mine is, and might be harmful if not thoroughly blocked. Demons, angels, cosmic entities--ah. If you ever run into a man calling himself Grandmaster, avoid him at all costs. He looks human, but is very much not."
And Loki still rather likes him, but he's a terribly dangerous wild card. He should probably warn Megatron to dodge him, too, come to think of it, but he doesn't appear often.
He blinks at Ravage thoughtfully, surprised to hear that he was not courted. Yet another cultural difference, perhaps. Because he was bonded to Soundwave? But Loki has other lovers, himself, even if their claim is not exclusive.
"Well," he says mildly, "he did ask for permission to court me first. I am glad to have heard your perspective, now. I already understood I am...a rare occurrence for him, but the additional information is good to hear."
Ravage nods. "Courtship is serious. In asking to court you, he told you that he does not want a casual, recreational relationship without the possibility of any commitment. Soundwave and I once had an open relationship, but there was never any pretence that activities with other parties, even our dearest friends, would be other than recreational. He does not view your relationship as recreational.
"I was always Soundwave's consort and have never been open to having a second one. I refuse to share my spark with anyone else. I believe the humans call relationships like ours 'friends with benefits', except that amicitia is closer than human friendship by far and does not properly include the 'benefits' in polite non-Decepticon society."
"I've met the Antheans. I actually feel safe around them. But I've encountered unpleasant people as well. My own counterpart, for one. I will certainly avoid the Grandmaster. And I always take care. I worked for Megatron for...a very, very long time. There were frequently minds around that I didn't want to contact. Scorponok, Tarn, Helex, Vos... perhaps less powerful, but no less unpleasant?"
Soundwave shrugs. "As Ravage says, it is meaningful that Megatron is courting you. It is also a very good sign. Before he had his...revelations," Soundwave says, with a little distaste, "I must admit, he would probably have just tried to win you away, if he wanted you for himself. Or chosen you because there was no chance that he would have to open his spark. He did once attempt to court Ravage, when Ravage and I were very much at odds. But Ravage doesn't see it that way, because he never asked permission to court him. I, however, think 'come away with me, leave the Decepticon cause, including your entire family, and join the Autobots' was not particularly ambiguous. I forgive it only because it was also completely hopeless."
"I think, when I began flirting with him, I was envisioning something more like friends with benefits," Loki admits. "Though the chemistry was there even when we first met. Best that he was forthcoming, really."
Despite the uncertainty and mild alarm the love confession brought out in Loki, he has to concede that if they had not had that talk and had woven their energies together so intimately in lovemaking, he would feel far more disoriented about it all.
"Of the Antheans," he says, "I have only met Ziggy, and we did not get along well, though I wish him all the best."
He smirks a little at the thought of Megatron attempting to win him away. It sounds rather courtly in itself, though trying to break him away from Harley and Ian would be a disaster. His amusement only rises at Soundwave's arch comment about Megatron and Ravage's relationship, and he laughs quietly. "Right, well, I definitely like the both of you, and you're obviously meant to be together."
Soundwave laughs. "I literally did fall in love at my first sight of her," he admits. "Sometimes with us, it does happen like that. The spark knows its mate and they call to each other. I saw her spark light up her entire field and I was so disoriented at that time that I could see nothing else when she or he wandered my way. I remembered Ravage's name when I was too ill to remember my own. We were both in a bad way when she decided to take me in. When I opened my spark to him, he was mine, and we have hurt each other terribly a few times, but we know each other better now."
He thinks for a moment. "That is probably a strange thing for me to tell you, but maybe it will help you understand things. We saw this happen with him once before. He had us, and a few others. The other party had a few other people in his orbit as well, but they chose not to join us. In the end, the other party left us as well and ended up with no-one at all, but I think he deserved it, and I take a certain vindictive pleasure in seeing that he still wears a mask and helm crest that look almost exactly like mine. I hate him so much," Soundwave says, laughing with a soft, melodious and utterly vindictive tone that somehow also drips with love, though the love is for Ravage, and maybe also for Megatron, too.
"You have no idea how much pleasure it gives me to see that he doesn't even know how much it shows that he thinks of us all. Ravage wrote an angry poem about him that got posted to an Autobot website and he ordered it taken down within hours. Of course I have no idea how that got there. But since someone who had an account there decided to humiliate Ravage and me by posting something that Ravage had written about me, I thought it was only fair."
After this not-quite-confession Ravage almost completely forgets what he'd planned to say and breaks down into helpless laughter. "You? Oh, I love you so much, Soundwave..."
Ravage's face would be glowing if his paint were not black and velvety. Finally, he looks up at Loki, a little embarrassed. "We know Ziggy's parents," Ravage says, "and we consider them dear friends. Ziggy is very extra. Soundwave loves his music, and we're definitely friendly with Ziggy. But Ziggy surrounds himself with relentlessly enthusiastic and positive people that make it difficult to get close to him. One of them spent a good deal of time trying to explain to Soundwave, of all people, that 'spite' is not an appropriate motivation for things. Soundwave sometimes runs at least as much on spite as he does on energon."
"I have a solid guess," Loki says, "who the other you refer to must have been, based on what Megatron has told me. Everything I know is secondhand, but if you say he deserves the misery he has found, I believe you."
"And you are extremely dangerous," he tells Soundwave with a little grin. "I like that. It's easy to make assumptions about empaths and telepaths based on stereotypes, but I promise you, I know better."
The ones that seem soft and gentle are the ones you have to be careful not to run afoul of. That, and his sense of mischief and petty vengeance seems to be equal to Loki's. He's so very glad now that he opened himself up to the conversation.
"Personally, I'm a fan of spite. Really, it's only a slight twist of the innate desire for justice and balance, and those are noble pursuits."
Soundwave is beaming and he has to actively turn his optics down so that he doesn't hurt Loki's or Ravage's optics. But the way the two of them are looking at him, for different reasons, is entirely adorable and makes him feel just a bit fluttery.
"Exactly so. Let me tell you about dear little Orion. He tried to blackmail me because he had figured out that I was the one who killed one of my men whom I knew for a fact was about to betray us and ruin our chance to get out of a prison his people had put us in, a prison I never believed we'd get out of alive. This, from someone who lay with us all! I put a stop to it by explaining that I never delete an image from my memory banks, even a painful one, if it concerns someone who has betrayed me or my own."
"He liked your spike almost as much as I do," Ravage said sweetly, with a delicate snort. "He wants you to defect because he knows that you and I are more dangerous to him as leaders of our faction than Galvatron or your brother could ever be, because we know him, and you in particular know how he thinks. Not to mention how difficult it will be for him not to acknowledge our right to recognition as a legitimate political party with its own sovereign territories. He probably won't grant us the right to take outliers from the spark harvests, assuming that ever starts happening again on a regular basis. But he can't forbid us to open our borders to anyone who chooses to denounce the Primacy."
Loki is keen enough to recognize discomfort with eye contact, for whatever reason it may come, and lets his smile linger for a split second before turning his attention to Ravage, instead. "This all sounds justified, to me. I never claimed not to take slights personally, myself."
He is equally pleased to hear how they've considered their political maneuvers, and gives a hum of approval. "I am not a joiner, as I told Ben not long ago, and frankly I would be more of a liability for a political movement than an asset, but please consider me at your disposal as a sounding-board, should you require it. And I do have some connections within the Nexus that might be more helpful than I, in specific situations."
"There's no reason for you to join us," Ravage says with a shrug. "It's always a surprise to me when someone who's not Cybertronian, and not a resident of any of our sovereign or disputed territories, wants to join us, but it usually comes from some combination of a difficult personal history, an appreciation of our principles, however badly they have been observed, and affection for at least one or two of us personally, so Soundwave and I have chosen to accept those who want to be part of our movement even if they have no intention of ever residing in our universe."
He smiles. "That you're willing to help us is more than enough. Especially since Megatron left the movement, so it's clear that you're not doing this for his sake."
"Thank you," Soundwave tells Loki, more than happy to look him in the eye now that he's managed to get his high-beams turned off.
There are so many thoughts and feelings jumbled around in his mind right now.
Loki is almost certainly feeling the spark-call, just as Ravage felt it from him, even though Loki is an alien being and hasn't a spark of his own.
Which is interesting to think about, but leads to dangerous paths, because Loki is everything dear sweet Orion once promised to be but was wholly unable to be.
Which is dangerous, because dear sweet Orion once terrified Soundwave, until he gave in to that cloyingly bright fascination, knowing better each step of the way, not failing to notice that Ravi was often too much of a challenge for Orion to ever have meant some of the things that he said, and then the betrayal came.
And he will not think about how things could be once more what they never really were before. No, he will decidedly not think about that, even though Ravage and Megatron were kinder and gentler and not at all toxic together when Orion was there in the middle beside him.
Let it stay as it is. Two and two do not have to be four, especially not when the other two are not yet done with being one and one. He has Ravage all to himself now, and he's wanted that far longer, and he'll savour that as long as he can have it, which is, hopefully, forever.
It's rare for him to be attracted to anyone other than Ravage, but if Orion taught Soundwave anything, it was that being attracted absolutely did not mean he had to act on it, no matter how rare it was, no matter what Megatron or even Ravage said.
"I wonder," he says conversationally. "Do you think that when we finally sign the treaty, someone will tell dear sweet Orion he needs to stop dressing like me, because with two of us on the opposite sides of a table for posterity, and Ravage beside me, people other than Ravage and Jazz will finally notice?"
After all, if he can manage never to kiss Jazz again, he can certainly manage not to kiss anyone else that he shouldn't.
"It also strikes me as amusing. Even though Orion didn't take Megatron back after Megatron joined his tribe of idiots, Megatron tried to court Ravage, and Orion tried to blackmail me into joining them. I wonder what Orion would have tried to do if they had actually got both of us to stand with them under that banner."
Soundwave would curl his lip in distaste if he could. Instead, he just laughs.
"From what I've heard, I do approve," he tells Ravage with a wry smile. "I may be the god of lies, but I don't like it when they're used to uphold the status quo. The status quo, more often than not, needs to be disrupted."
That is what a Trickster does, and the Trickster nature is even more fundamentally a part of Loki's identity than divinity is. "My tendency is always to take the side of the underdog, the outcast, and the disrupting influence. That's why I feel you are part of my providence, at least in part. It's my duty and privilege to offer my congratulations, even if you never require my assistance."
He is not aware of Soundwave's mix of thought and emotion, which is just as well, because attraction is nothing he is prepared to deal with right now, when his bond with Megatron is so new. But he would be immensely flattered. His sympathy for Soundwave is already significant, in part because of the parallels he knows exist. He does not dare mention them now, because that may be more information than Soundwave would ideally like for him to know right off the bat, but it's fascinating and pleasing to meet what seems to him like a brighter mirror of himself from an entirely alien species and culture.
"...wait," he says thoughtfully. "He dresses like you? Surely there's some amusement to be had there, at his expense. Is it a coincidence, or does he do it deliberately? If you made a subtle change at peace talks, would he echo it?"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_serpent
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 02:28 pm (UTC)"I cannot invite you inside, though, as the children are sleeping." But there's space outside in the yard, where a miniature playground sits quietly, with a low wall nearby, an unlit firepit flanked with heavy logs for seating, and what appears to be the start of a construction project.
"And I don't possess energon at this time and cannot offer you refreshment; I apologize for that."
1/2
Date: 2020-12-01 03:42 pm (UTC)2/2
Date: 2020-12-01 03:53 pm (UTC)He gives Ravage a look that even through the visor clearly dares him to deny it. Notably, Ravage does not, and they are both still smiling.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 04:33 pm (UTC)He likes that term. They are sparks, for certain. "Four of them."
He gives Soundwave a thoughtful look, and a shallow bow of greeting. "My species are extremophiles, designed to live in low temperatures. The physical structure of my body and brain is most likely innately different from most organic life, but I've never investigated it fully."
"...which, incidentally, led to some very pleasant surprises with Megatron, but I'm not sure that's quite the matter at hand." Or is it? He felt energy from the mech's spark and was fine, so maybe it's exactly the matter at hand.
"I feel as though we should be allies, you two and myself. You fall under my providence, you're close with a friend of mine, and there are...parallels. I am willing to work to make that happen, alliance or friendship or both. But my culture is not so open with emotion as yours seems to be."
1/2
Date: 2020-12-01 04:38 pm (UTC)2/2
Date: 2020-12-01 04:59 pm (UTC)But then he gets down to the question that Soundwave has spectacularly failed to answer. "Decepticon culture, when it isn't toxic, is a culture of honesty and loyalty. There's military decorum, sometimes, and professionalism, sometimes, but everything's out in the open. In the early days of the movement, we were so committed to not owning each other that there were no formally committed relationships among us, even if everyone knew who was essentially married. Keeping up appearances was considered 'bourgeois' for want of a better term. We liked to think we were an army of lovers. Of course that bred its own kind of toxicity. People who disliked each other but had to pretend they were comrades, and then we stopped doing that, but then all the infighting was out in the open as well. It was exactly the sort of social mess that you'd expect to get when you put a bunch of people who were rebelling against social and class restrictions together with a bunch of people who never had the freedom to develop or maintain good boundaries. Anyhow, with the two of us I'm afraid you're dealing with the true believers. I wouldn't tell a stranger everything we've just told you, and neither would Soundwave, but if we're meant to be allies and hope to be friends, dissembling won't help."
Ravage shrugs. "He gave us our freedom. He is our closest living friend. Soundwave and he were enemies briefly and while I won't say those were the worst days of my life, because I wasn't a slave or a prisoner of war, they were worse than almost anything else. When he talks about you, which he doesn't, much, and that in itself makes me think this is serious--it's clear he's fallen in love. If he hasn't already given you his spark, it's only because he can't figure out how. I have only ever done that with Soundwave. He only ever did that with someone who hurt him terribly. I don't ever want to go through that with him again. And he'd be furious if he knew I was telling you this, but I don't care, because you need to know what a big deal this is, not just for our species, but also for him personally."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 07:44 pm (UTC)He listens thoughtfully to Ravage, then wanders over to the low wall nearby to sit. "It's good that you acknowledge your movement's previous missteps. That will build strength, in the long term. Not everyone starts from the same place, nor travels their path at the same pace. Candor can be a social lubricant or a roadblock, depending how it is applied."
There is more in his head, explanations for his behavior that he feels may be necessary, but he's diverted by the talk of Megatron. That may be telling. There's a flicker of a soft smile on his face, and he nods. "I don't believe I've ever been with a lover so openly romantic as he is. I am bonded to two others, and he is well aware of that. Because this is so new, I am deeply concerned about being fair to them. Harley, in particular, has been patient with me beyond my wildest expectations. She took me into her home when I arrived here, with no questions asked, and was the first to offer to defend me from my enemies."
"Loyalty to a cause or a nation means little to me, but loyalty to individuals is...a quality I seek to cultivate in myself."
"I am still finding my feet, seeking a balance. My children must be my first priority until they are old enough to care for themselves. My brother is unwell and needs my support--actually two versions of him, from two different worlds. I have Ian and Harley and I owe them both much, and for the first time in my life I appear to be surrounded by friends. I have often been accused of selfishness, justly; if I were alone, without children or dependents, I would have no hesitation in answering your question in the affirmative. I would drop everything and follow him anywhere he asked, whether I believed our chemistry to be eternal or a fleeting fancy, because if I were to fall, there would be no one harmed but myself."
"I am very serious about this. I can promise you that; enough so that it frightens me. And there are...injuries, in my background, which make me wary. Unwilling to disappoint, unwilling to be tamed, waiting for some catastrophe to flip everything upside down. So what you ask, do I love him, is not a simple question to answer. Not to me. And he knows that."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 08:42 pm (UTC)"I believe that everything will be fine," he says--probably more to Ravage than to Loki himself, though he looks carefully at them both--when Loki finishes his explanation.
"I know what you feel while you speak to us. Not being Megatron, I have no reason to care what you call it." Soundwave shrugs, then shakes his head.
"Ravage did not ask if you were willing to follow Megatron wherever he chooses to go. Please, even after your children are grown, even a thousand years from now, if you and he should find yourselves alone--do not promise to follow Megatron wherever he chooses to go. We made that promise once. We do not advise that anyone else makes it. He does not need followers. If you ever do go away with him, take his hand, and don't be afraid to pull him back from the edge of a precipice if you have to. Because you will. I think it's better, at least for now, if he follows you. And I think you can get him to do it."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 08:52 pm (UTC)Ravage hears Soundwave's snort and looks up at him, shrugging. "I heard that," he says with a grin.
Then to Loki he says: "I think you might worry too much."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-01 09:27 pm (UTC)He grins a little. "I did not mean follow in quite that sense, but your point is well taken. It remains to be seen whether we will steer one another safely or egg one another on, which is another concern I have, but I'll see what I can do."
To Ravage, he says, "You are also a poet, and I am not. Perhaps I am more impressed by his choice of words, because I do not understand quite how he knits them together."
Either that, or he somehow brings out Megatron's hidden soppy-sweet side, which is a nice thought, but one he chooses not to voice, as the mech himself might not thank him for it.
"I know I worry too much," he agrees, voice blithe and lilting now that he's expressed his doubts and been heard. He feels better, anyway! "It's part of what I am. There is a voice within me I call my anti-conscience. It tells me, in any given situation, several options I could pursue, as well as weighing the potential reactions of those around me, and the suggestions it makes first are invariably the most destructive. I have to fight it into submission to get anything friendly from it."
"It's very useful in a conflict, but much less so when talking with potential friends or adjusting to a new love intererest."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 03:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 02:37 pm (UTC)And Loki still rather likes him, but he's a terribly dangerous wild card. He should probably warn Megatron to dodge him, too, come to think of it, but he doesn't appear often.
He blinks at Ravage thoughtfully, surprised to hear that he was not courted. Yet another cultural difference, perhaps. Because he was bonded to Soundwave? But Loki has other lovers, himself, even if their claim is not exclusive.
"Well," he says mildly, "he did ask for permission to court me first. I am glad to have heard your perspective, now. I already understood I am...a rare occurrence for him, but the additional information is good to hear."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 03:44 pm (UTC)"I was always Soundwave's consort and have never been open to having a second one. I refuse to share my spark with anyone else. I believe the humans call relationships like ours 'friends with benefits', except that amicitia is closer than human friendship by far and does not properly include the 'benefits' in polite non-Decepticon society."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 04:37 pm (UTC)Soundwave shrugs. "As Ravage says, it is meaningful that Megatron is courting you. It is also a very good sign. Before he had his...revelations," Soundwave says, with a little distaste, "I must admit, he would probably have just tried to win you away, if he wanted you for himself. Or chosen you because there was no chance that he would have to open his spark. He did once attempt to court Ravage, when Ravage and I were very much at odds. But Ravage doesn't see it that way, because he never asked permission to court him. I, however, think 'come away with me, leave the Decepticon cause, including your entire family, and join the Autobots' was not particularly ambiguous. I forgive it only because it was also completely hopeless."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 05:41 pm (UTC)Despite the uncertainty and mild alarm the love confession brought out in Loki, he has to concede that if they had not had that talk and had woven their energies together so intimately in lovemaking, he would feel far more disoriented about it all.
"Of the Antheans," he says, "I have only met Ziggy, and we did not get along well, though I wish him all the best."
He smirks a little at the thought of Megatron attempting to win him away. It sounds rather courtly in itself, though trying to break him away from Harley and Ian would be a disaster. His amusement only rises at Soundwave's arch comment about Megatron and Ravage's relationship, and he laughs quietly. "Right, well, I definitely like the both of you, and you're obviously meant to be together."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 08:04 pm (UTC)He thinks for a moment. "That is probably a strange thing for me to tell you, but maybe it will help you understand things. We saw this happen with him once before. He had us, and a few others. The other party had a few other people in his orbit as well, but they chose not to join us. In the end, the other party left us as well and ended up with no-one at all, but I think he deserved it, and I take a certain vindictive pleasure in seeing that he still wears a mask and helm crest that look almost exactly like mine. I hate him so much," Soundwave says, laughing with a soft, melodious and utterly vindictive tone that somehow also drips with love, though the love is for Ravage, and maybe also for Megatron, too.
"You have no idea how much pleasure it gives me to see that he doesn't even know how much it shows that he thinks of us all. Ravage wrote an angry poem about him that got posted to an Autobot website and he ordered it taken down within hours. Of course I have no idea how that got there. But since someone who had an account there decided to humiliate Ravage and me by posting something that Ravage had written about me, I thought it was only fair."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 08:11 pm (UTC)Ravage's face would be glowing if his paint were not black and velvety. Finally, he looks up at Loki, a little embarrassed. "We know Ziggy's parents," Ravage says, "and we consider them dear friends. Ziggy is very extra. Soundwave loves his music, and we're definitely friendly with Ziggy. But Ziggy surrounds himself with relentlessly enthusiastic and positive people that make it difficult to get close to him. One of them spent a good deal of time trying to explain to Soundwave, of all people, that 'spite' is not an appropriate motivation for things. Soundwave sometimes runs at least as much on spite as he does on energon."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 08:38 pm (UTC)"And you are extremely dangerous," he tells Soundwave with a little grin. "I like that. It's easy to make assumptions about empaths and telepaths based on stereotypes, but I promise you, I know better."
The ones that seem soft and gentle are the ones you have to be careful not to run afoul of. That, and his sense of mischief and petty vengeance seems to be equal to Loki's. He's so very glad now that he opened himself up to the conversation.
"Personally, I'm a fan of spite. Really, it's only a slight twist of the innate desire for justice and balance, and those are noble pursuits."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 09:48 pm (UTC)"Exactly so. Let me tell you about dear little Orion. He tried to blackmail me because he had figured out that I was the one who killed one of my men whom I knew for a fact was about to betray us and ruin our chance to get out of a prison his people had put us in, a prison I never believed we'd get out of alive. This, from someone who lay with us all! I put a stop to it by explaining that I never delete an image from my memory banks, even a painful one, if it concerns someone who has betrayed me or my own."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-02 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-03 01:30 pm (UTC)He is equally pleased to hear how they've considered their political maneuvers, and gives a hum of approval. "I am not a joiner, as I told Ben not long ago, and frankly I would be more of a liability for a political movement than an asset, but please consider me at your disposal as a sounding-board, should you require it. And I do have some connections within the Nexus that might be more helpful than I, in specific situations."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-03 06:44 pm (UTC)He smiles. "That you're willing to help us is more than enough. Especially since Megatron left the movement, so it's clear that you're not doing this for his sake."
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-03 07:29 pm (UTC)There are so many thoughts and feelings jumbled around in his mind right now.
Loki is almost certainly feeling the spark-call, just as Ravage felt it from him, even though Loki is an alien being and hasn't a spark of his own.
Which is interesting to think about, but leads to dangerous paths, because Loki is everything dear sweet Orion once promised to be but was wholly unable to be.
Which is dangerous, because dear sweet Orion once terrified Soundwave, until he gave in to that cloyingly bright fascination, knowing better each step of the way, not failing to notice that Ravi was often too much of a challenge for Orion to ever have meant some of the things that he said, and then the betrayal came.
And he will not think about how things could be once more what they never really were before. No, he will decidedly not think about that, even though Ravage and Megatron were kinder and gentler and not at all toxic together when Orion was there in the middle beside him.
Let it stay as it is. Two and two do not have to be four, especially not when the other two are not yet done with being one and one. He has Ravage all to himself now, and he's wanted that far longer, and he'll savour that as long as he can have it, which is, hopefully, forever.
It's rare for him to be attracted to anyone other than Ravage, but if Orion taught Soundwave anything, it was that being attracted absolutely did not mean he had to act on it, no matter how rare it was, no matter what Megatron or even Ravage said.
"I wonder," he says conversationally. "Do you think that when we finally sign the treaty, someone will tell dear sweet Orion he needs to stop dressing like me, because with two of us on the opposite sides of a table for posterity, and Ravage beside me, people other than Ravage and Jazz will finally notice?"
After all, if he can manage never to kiss Jazz again, he can certainly manage not to kiss anyone else that he shouldn't.
"It also strikes me as amusing. Even though Orion didn't take Megatron back after Megatron joined his tribe of idiots, Megatron tried to court Ravage, and Orion tried to blackmail me into joining them. I wonder what Orion would have tried to do if they had actually got both of us to stand with them under that banner."
Soundwave would curl his lip in distaste if he could. Instead, he just laughs.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-12-04 02:15 pm (UTC)That is what a Trickster does, and the Trickster nature is even more fundamentally a part of Loki's identity than divinity is. "My tendency is always to take the side of the underdog, the outcast, and the disrupting influence. That's why I feel you are part of my providence, at least in part. It's my duty and privilege to offer my congratulations, even if you never require my assistance."
He is not aware of Soundwave's mix of thought and emotion, which is just as well, because attraction is nothing he is prepared to deal with right now, when his bond with Megatron is so new. But he would be immensely flattered. His sympathy for Soundwave is already significant, in part because of the parallels he knows exist. He does not dare mention them now, because that may be more information than Soundwave would ideally like for him to know right off the bat, but it's fascinating and pleasing to meet what seems to him like a brighter mirror of himself from an entirely alien species and culture.
"...wait," he says thoughtfully. "He dresses like you? Surely there's some amusement to be had there, at his expense. Is it a coincidence, or does he do it deliberately? If you made a subtle change at peace talks, would he echo it?"
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: