Cyberformed: Inbox

[petrifiedshadow]

"Hello, this is, um, Starflight. Sorry I did not answer right away but please leave a message and I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible."

Text | Voice | Video | Action


Art Source: pencilcat on tumblr

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[cybercatastrophe]

"My Megatron is big and silver, with filigree scrollwork on his chest," Ravage replies. "Not the really mean one. When I was smaller, I used to sit in his lap like an Earth cat. Was this from the roomba thing? And who is Cody again?"

[petrifiedshadow]

"Oh, that sounds like the Megatron who was on the Moira. I talked to him a few times, but not here. Most of the cybertronians I recognize from there haven't recognized me so he's probably a different version." He fiddled with the MID comm device on his wrist, which hadn't been able to connect to the Moira's network since he got here. "To be honest I've– I've been avoiding all of them anyway, I was told they were dangerous."

"Cody is one of the humans. He's pretty small and has yellow fur on his head. Or– I guess they call it hair? It was for the roomba thing, but I didn't go."

[cybercatastrophe]

"You're lucky you didn't go. Someone got murdered," Ravage said flatly, as she began to arrange the cushions and the table on the floor. "Cody is the tiny one! I remember him now. I was worried about him. I'm glad he's all right. And Megatrons are dangerous, but we can all be dangerous. The thing about Megatrons is that they're military leaders. They lead the Decepticons. I'm a Decepticon. In some universes, like mine--the Decepticon movement was a revolution against a horrible, oppressive government. I have been told that there are universes where they're just imperialist looters."

She lifts up the patterned, embroidered fabric. It would not be comfortable to lie upon, but...

She unrolls it and folds it in half, very long. "Can we suspend this from the ceiling, right over my berth? So that I have kind of a curtain around my bed, and the light hits the sparkles and the colours filter the brightness?"

[petrifiedshadow]

"I– I heard about that. Cody left before it happened so he wasn't there. I'm glad Verity is ok now."

He listened to her explanation with his head tilted to one side, "I mean, I avoid a lot of the Autobots, too. They're just all so big. What you're describing sounds kind of like the Talons of Peace, almost. The Talons are an underground movement trying to stop the War of Succession. A lot of them are pacifists who are trying to stop the fighting, but some can be very scary and dangerous. Like Kestrel." It wasn't exactly the same, but he understood the kind of overwhelming oppression that would lead to a revolution like the one she was describing.

He moved towards the fabric where she had it folded. He reached out, feeling the texture under his claws, "That would be really pretty! I can't fly all the way to the ceiling, but I can hold it up if you want to see how it looks."

[cybercatastrophe]

"That would be nice. I didn't know there were limits on how high you could fly, but then, you're not Laserbeak, and you're not a Seeker, so I shouldn't assume." Ravage smiles. "I'll have to ask Tiny Soundwave if his bird can do it sometime."

[petrifiedshadow]

"It's not that I can't fly that high, but my wings are going to hit the ceiling if I'm not careful. That why I was thinking someone tall could attach a hook or something to hang it."

With that he grabbed the folded part of the fabric and arranged the rest of it as she described on either side of the berth. He moved so he would have more room and jumped into the air, wings flapping to gain altitude. He hovered as high as he could, his wingtips brushing the ceiling every few beats.

"How's this?"

[cybercatastrophe]

"Perfect!" says Ravage, clapping her hands. "And yes, of course we can attach a hook, but can you get close enough to hang it? If not don't worry, we can ask someone else. Did you perhaps bring the hook? I didn't know where they were. I could make one out of wire if we need to."

[petrifiedshadow]

Starflight looked up at the distance remaining between himself and the ceiling. Unfortunately his wingspan was quite a bit longer than his arms or neck could reach.

"I don't think so. I'm sorry."

He descended in a flutter of silver dotted wings and landed in front of her, handing over the fabric. "I didn't bring one, I need to go through the supplies and see what we have, but I can do that now and let you know if I find anything."

[cybercatastrophe]

"Hey hey," Ravage said, "no need to be all apologetic because I'm not very good at doing the math around wings."

She reached out like she wanted to pat him, but wasn't sure if that would be okay. "I can get someone else, it's no big deal, and you certainly don't have to run right back."

[petrifiedshadow]

Starflight flinched as she reached out towards him, but after a few moments he leaned forward to nudge her paw with his shoulder and complete the gesture. He understood that she meant to be reassuring, but he'd been in too many situations where he'd been injured for something as simple as a touch. The dramatic lighting shaped scar running across neck and chest was testament to that.

"Sor– that would help, thanks. I don't have anything more important to do at the moment so I don't mind doing it now. Cody was actually just asking if we could make our room more interesting and I really like your idea. Do you mind if I copy it?"

[cybercatastrophe]

Ravage smiled and squeezed his shoulder very gently. "Of course not. I'm not the first person who ever hung fabric from the ceiling around a bed. It's not actually an original idea. It's a fun idea, and that's what counts."

She in-vented, then. "Sometimes," she said, "where I come from, people touch me whether I want them to, or not, because I look like a cat to them, and they want to pet me like one. And they either don't know that I'm a person, which is one thing, or they don't care, which is another thing entirely. I want to be helpful, but I don't want to do that to anyone else. You understand?"

She noted the scar, because the way he shifted unconsciously brought it to her attention. "I suppose someone hurt you. I've been hurt, too. You just can't see it because I had some parts replaced."

[petrifiedshadow]

Starflight gave a sad sort of snort, "That happens to me all the time, isn't it the worst? People are always surprised I can talk, which is kind of ironic considering humans don't talk in my world. I appreciate it, though. Really."

He pulled back from her grip, but was clearly more relaxed about it than he had been before. "That's something I really wish we had the technology for on Pyrrhia, being able to heal people like that, or at least help replace what they've lost. I've met some humans who had really advanced prosthetics and I can't help but think about how many dragons injured in the war would benefit from something like that. One of my guardians lost his wing and arm in a battle and it made a lot of things impossible for him."

[cybercatastrophe]

Ravage smiled at him. "The number of people who have expressed surprise to me that I am able to talk--and I don't just talk, I also write poetry and essays--is beyond ridiculous. I wrote under a pen name for a really long time because it was dangerous to write under my own designation and publishers wouldn't believe my stuff was any good, anyway. I don't ever want to make you our anyone else feel the way that feels, so you let me know at once if I ever do anything that is uncomfortable for you."

She looked up at the ceiling. "I'll ask someone tall to help me hang that up. Or a Seeker. Their wings don't move the way yours do. I wish my sister Laserbeak were here. She'd do it easily, and you'd like her a lot. She's very fun. She's a bird, but she's much smaller than you, and her wings don't need as much space. I think...I think it's easier to replace parts for us because we're mostly metal. Our armour plate isn't alive like your skin is. The protoform underneath is, but protoform regenerates around the struts and under the plate once those are replaced, as long as the neural receptors and energon lines are there to keep it alive."