re_alignment | [Video]

[So this entry is tagged 'party progress', but when the video comes on it's very obviously not.

Everyone know that strange "guy" with the modulated voice always wearing the suit? Well, say hello to Vandal. She's not wearing the suit today. No helmet, no ~~courier text~~. Turns out she's just your typical female human. But she's... not looking so good.]

Someone I-

Please. I don't feel right... I ca...

[Behind her, appears to be her little home, partially painted normally, but the paint job trails off into clusters of complex glyphs and symbols. The center looks like two pillars, spiraling up to two points, twisted like a helix.

Vandal is shaking, face coated in a fine layer of sweat.]

I'm turning into one of those things, I need to stop it I need to-

[Her hand is lifted. Sure does look like a normal hand, but she holds it out as though it were some grotesque limb.]

It's starting already! Please god- it won't go away this time! Someone please.

I need to cut it off before it spreads!

[Someone is obviously hallucinating.]

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Has she ever done this before?

Don't think so. ...But she's got these nightmares, Stars. There's something up with her brain.

[Oddly, there's a bitterness in his tone.] I tried tellin' Drift and the medics. The medics didn't say nothin' and all Drift could do was complain. Smeltin' pieces of...

[his own tone gets a little harder, more resolute. He's used to getting his hands dirty, he doesn't think anything of stepping up here to give Soundwave a strut to lean on.]

So tell me; I'll help you. What kind of nightmares? Ones where parts of her body change, or...?

...Yeah, an' more.

She dreams of this statue. I dunno what it is. It's big, white, with two towers twistin' around each other with carvings in it. Monsters, pile of dead bodies. She usually sees herself as a monster.

She sees double sometimes, too. Like a mirror, but not quite. She attacks herself.

There's somethin' in her mind. Not an infection, but it's weird. Like somethin' is stored there. I think it's triggerin' this. I don't know enough about human brains to figure it out, though.

I try to upload nicer dreams. They don't ... work for long.

[It occurs to him that, whoops, never told Starscream about one other part.]

Oh, um. Haha surprise, I can read minds, by the way...?

[he takes that all in, considering it deeply, trying to rotate the angles in his own mind to see where things could fit. It's an unconscious mechanism, born of centuries of practice, and he doesn't even think about it as he listens.

She attacks herself. Some things fit, and some things don't, but he's pretty sure the things that don't only don't because there are gaps that can be filled in later. If there is a later.]

Rogue programming, maybe? I don't--...not sure if you can do that to humans, either, I always thought they were too primitive for direct upload...ing.

[that would be that last part sinking in there. And he's just. Very silent for a moment because there are other, incredibly important things happening right now and he has to focus on Vandal and not distract Soundwave from doing his thing, here. His voice is level and measured.]

...We'll talk about that. Later. It's important that you focus.

Humans can be programmed in another way. It's... I dunno, if it was a Cybertronian, I'd say it's like a hardcore virus, but I can't tell if that matches for a human. It overwrites what I upload. S'pose if I study more on human brain functionality, might learn more on what it is.

[Soundwave hesitates and it shows in the pause he has. If it's bothering Starscream, he isn't sure, but he's afraid for a moment.

But they seem to voicelessly agree there's more important things to worry about. Still, it doesn't mean he can't add a bit here.]

I'm sorry. For not sayin' so earlier. But... okay. We'll talk later about that.

M'gonna get to Vandal an' try to calm her down. Got a song in mind, and if that doesn't work, I... I got something else I can try.

We need a human medic. I don't know scrap about how they work.

[he doesn't respond to the apology. He can't trust himself with that yet, though he notes it. Dragging himself away from it like a dog away from a bone]

Something else?

...We got nothin'. [And it aggravates him. They have so many medics, but no human doctors.

Figures.]

I can try to interefere with whatever she's hallucinatin'. I jus'... gotta be more gentle than usual.

[he feels that aggravation, moves to console him on it] As long as you're careful, doing something is better than nothing. It'll work out, Soundwave. We'll make it work out.

[it's easier to set aside his emotions than he suspects it is for Soundwave, but he also thinks their strengths complement, that way--that he can level Soundwave out of panic and if necessary, Soundwave could level him out of anger.

It's just a serious shame neither of them knows much about human health.]

Gentle's definitely the byword, here. Is there anything I can do in the meantime, anything you think I could get for her or you?

Smelt yeah I will. Not gonna just sit around 'bout it.

[There's a loud exhale from Soundwave's vents as he's driving.]

Just need you to keep her talkin'. Less focused on harming herself. I'll get there soon as I can.

Me? I'll. I'll deal.

Good mech. We're all counting on you.

[a noise of assent] I can do that.

Okay, but remember what we talked about.

Didn't forget. Just can't worry about that now.

...Catch up with you latet.

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