nexus_crossings | The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

Nothing in Antillioch is clean. Or tidy. Or not covered in a thick layer of desert. Which is why the appearance of a pristine white door that may well lead to some spiffed-up futuristic hospital ward is something of a shock to Zack. There follows a brief consultation with his brother, who doesn't seem to want anything to do with it, as it's so ..spotless, and white, and... ewww. For the two hellgods it's completely out of place and worse. They're so attuned to their hell dimension that anything this hygienic sits in the craw like a stuck fishbone.

Abe, casually examining his fingernails, suggests Zack tries the handle, just, you know, to see if it's locked. We don't want anything pleasant coming in. Stupidly, Zack's curiosity wins over and he does actually open the door a crack... Abe swiftly shoves him straight though it, and the Apocalyptic prince is sent sprawling. He literally faceplants into this new, uncomfortably pure environment.

He's ended up on the main plaza, and lifts his head, not liking anything he sees. But that's Zack all over. He doesn't like anything much. He even snarls at the few unfortunate people closest to him.

Nothing about the Nexus feels comfortable to Zack. Not until he smells something drifting across the plaza. He follows the scent until he comes to a doughnut stand.

Zack is the embodiment of the post-apocalyptic hellscape. He's on nodding terms with all four horsemen, and his own essence combines War, Famine, Pestilence and Death.. or more accurately the after-effects of such things. Away from his own dimension, he feels the hunger of famine, and Zack hasn't actually ingested anything for centuries.

Now he's in the realm of the living, these soft little dough things smell amazing.

He grabs one and tears into it, ignoring the stallholders protests about something like paying, or money, or something. When the stallholder tries to physically take his arm, Zack pulls away, swipes another of the sweet dough shapes, and wrenches himself away from the stand. Zack moves through the crowds away from the still-shouting stalholder, almost bumping into everyone - he's not used to crowds.

And he doesn't understand the concept of theft.

He almost sends some poor person tumbling as he tries to make his exit. But he can't find the infernal door and that stupid sweet-dough-thing person is still on his tail. Zack grabs the nearest passerby by the lapel, demanding... “What's his fucking problem? What the fuck's money? What does that even mean?”

[ooc: Cue argument between your muse, Zack, and the doughnut seller. Mun apologises for his language and behaviour. He's not housebroken yet...]

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Soundwave almost doesn't notice that someone's trying to grab him, because he isn't mass-displaced at all right now. He supposes he's a decent choice to hide behind, given that he's much larger than either the person who's grabbing his leg or the person who's running after them.

It doesn't take him long to assess the situation, though.

"Stop," he tells the merchant. "Query: do you wish to lose the value of two pastries, or do you wish to lose whatever else people might choose to take from your open stall, plus the respect of those who value life more than profit? This person is a refugee, and starving."

He looks down at the thief. "Where did you come from, and who are you running from?"

Having spent aeons as the apocalyptic bogeyman, it simply doesn't occur to Zack to be wary of anything, et alone scared. The large mechanical creature seems as good a being as any to demand some answers from.

And he's certainly not hiding.

Even if the mechanical creature does make for good cover.

It's a surprise to Zack that the creature admonishes the sweet-dough vendor, and doesn't try to lash out at him. He's usually prepared for a fight.

"I...guess.." says the vendor, peering at Zack around one of the mechanoid's legs. "He does look kinda dishevelled."

Zack squares up the mechanoid, his indignation at the question is obvious, until it occurs to him that it does actually look that way.

"I'm from Antillioch," as if everyone should have heard of it. "And I'm not running, I was only.. didn't want to get involved with a petty mortal."

"Hey, who you calling petty?" demands the vendor. "You little gobshite."

Edited 2021-05-29 12:40 (UTC)

Soundwave nods. "Most people who steal because they prefer not to work steal money, or things they can sell, or luxuries. People who steal fuel are usually hungry--especially if they're not very good at it, and only take enough to satisfy their immediate needs."

Then he looks down at the stranger. "Pride is important when you have nothing else--I know that very well. But don't call people 'petty mortals'. Wherever you've been--no matter why you've been trapped--you need help now. You don't have money, and you don't appear to know what it is. Tell us where you came from, if you can, and why you were trapped there. People might help you out, if you can bring yourself to be civil. We're not the ones who locked you up and didn't feed you."

He glances at the vendor with a shrug. "Most people who've been locked up somewhere that they're filthy and starving by the time they get out aren't inclined to be nice. I'll pay for the pastries he took this once, but if someone else has looted your stand in the interim, that's your problem." He sends his PINpoint code to the vendor.

It wouldn't be the first time he's paid for stolen fuel, although at least this person, unlike his namesake, hasn't already run up a substantial tab.

The perceptiveness of the mechanical being stuns Zack into silence for a moment. He's not considered himself prideful before. Even if he has nothing to fear from mortals and just wants to get out of the crowded environment, he was running, and tried to deny it. And now he's using the mechanoid's leg as cover.

“But he is a mortal. Petty's all they know,” Zack mutters, although his protest lacks conviction. “I never said it was anyone's fault. It's Abe's fault. He pushed me through the fucking door, and now I can't find it.”

The door itself is currently changing positions all over the Nexus. It's because of Zack's brother Abe/Abdiron, an evil hellgod. The Nexus doesn't really want anything to do with him, hence the door leaping around trying to disguise itself from both ends. It might also be because the Nexus is responding to Zack as someone in need of rescue from such a being. Who knows the mysteries of the Nexus or how it works?

Wisely, the vendor doesn't rise to Zack's insults any more. He's okay with the mechanoid protecting him from such a freak, and with his payment. “It's okay,” he mutters, “My kid's watching the stall. But thanks, sir, for the payment.”

He turns and leaves, and Zack peers out at his retreating form from behind the mechanical creature's leg.

"You're welcome," Soundwave says. He can probably afford it better than the doughnut vendor can.

Soundwave looks down at the stranger. "Anything that can die is technically 'mortal'. I'm over four million years old, but I won't live forever if I don't watch my aft. So technically, I'm a petty mortal too, and yet I cared what happened to you, and I still do. You need a bath, and you probably need something with more nutritional value to eat, although there's something to be said for pure sugar and starch when you're starving. You said you're looking for the door you were pushed through. Are you actually sure that you want to find it? You're probably better off here. You can probably do some sort of work, and get money, and assure yourself of a safe place to stay with the locks on the inside, and food."

As it's so large and mechanical, Zack can't help wondering if this creature and its kind might not be exactly gentle on its home planet. In his experience, machinery tends to go with pollution, but he's more occupied trying to take in and retain everything it says.

The first thing he takes from it, is 'what does aft mean?' but doesn't ask. Instead, he puts his fingers in his hair and tugs at it, as if he's getting a headache. This shouldn't be possible seeing as he's made of dust, but happens frequently.

“Slow down! One thing at a time! Mortals destroy. It's all I know. I don’t know if I want to go home, but I want the choice. And I don't know what a bath is. Or money. Or starch.”

"Fair enough," Soundwave says. "Most living things destroy, although they also create. That's just how the universe works."

"True," Zack agrees. Now able to get a handle on the conversation. "It is the natural order, which means everything has predators to keep it under control. Mortals are always so horrified when they realise my kind exist to keep them under control... and there are even bigger entities to keep us under control."

He stops to breathe. "That said, this environment isn't natural, it looks like all kinds of creature is here. Artificially. Somehow. So I'm not going to try and slaughter anyone who doesn't provoke me."

He doesn't know yet that his powers are useless here, but hey, he can still do as much damage as any healthy humanoid with a blade and an attitude.

Edited 2021-05-30 19:21 (UTC)

Soundwave is beginning to have an idea why this person is difficult to read. He--Soundwave's gathered that much--is not the type of organic humanoid he appears to be. If he's telling the truth, he's a god of some sort; and he does believe what he's saying, but that doesn't mean it's the truth, or at least not the truth anywhere outside his own universe.

Soundwave shrugs. "If you try to kill people just because you can, and believe that's your ecological niche, you'll get no further help from me or mine. Furthermore, you'll find this place frustrating. There is a magical field in place that prevents people from doing nonconsensual violence to one another. You can't even hit someone with your fist if they don't think they deserve it, at least not in the inhabited areas."

He ex-vents slowly. "I'm called Soundwave, by the way." He hopes this discount Unicron can be reasoned with. But he knows it isn't a certainty. "The natural order is called that because that's what results when life evolves randomly. There are no ethics in nature. The advantage of sapience is that it permits the development of ethics. If I cared about the natural order of things, I wouldn't have helped a stranger."

The composition of apocalypse-spirit's body is unusual. He's not quite a god, but is as powerful as makes no odds. It's not power alone that makes a god though. Zack is the spirit of a dead child, given form by using the dirt from dead worlds. He's comprised of dust and grit throughout. He shouldn't feel pain as he has no nerve-endings, but he's supernaturally connected to nature, so he does. He shouldn't feel hunger, but he does, or emotions, or physical sensation.

"It's not just 'cause I can." Nobody has ever argued all the points with him before. He's ignorant enough to think that this only reinforces that mortals don't get it. "Sentience means the ability to reason and rise above, yeah... but how many mortal races refuse to see sense when their planet's screaming in their faces? But here isn't dying. I accept it's not my jurisdiction. I'm lost and out of place, which is why I'm prepared not to harm anyone, 'cause it's not justified."

Zack is no orator or debater. He's probably not getting his point across at all. He sighs and flops down on the ground, sitting where he lands. "And 'cause you've just told me there's magic to stop me."

It's true the mechanical being - Soundwave - did stop to help him though. Zack has never stopped to help anyone and he's billions of years old.

"I'm Zack. I don't understand the ways here. I don't understand the living. I don't know what's expected of me."

Soundwave ex-vents slowly. "Well," he says, "what's expected isn't always the right thing to do. But I think that what's expected here is that you don't harm anyone else. Beyond that, what's expected is that if you want to take something, you'll give something else. That's usually money. But you don't own anything. So therefore, it's reasonable for others to help you, particularly those who have more than enough property and resources to care for themselves and those who depend on them."

He thinks for a moment. "You are free here. And you're not wrong about the damage sapient beings do to the planets they live on, but most of the time, they do that damage out of ignorance, not malice."

As he says the words, he winces, because now he is going to have to admit that humans had no idea what they were doing to the Earth when they first started using internal combustion engines. They know now, but now the individuals who are blocking the necessary changes are doing so because of the hierarchical, capitalistic social structure. Which Optimus thinks he can take down by force, and that won't work.

But Soundwave does know how to dismantle such structures, and suddenly it is very clear to him that his penance for writing up many of Megatron's infiltration protocols is that he is going to have to use them. To do good, this time, instead of to do whatever Megatron thought he was doing.

He has, yet again, been overly harsh in judging the humans. He would thank Zack for the lesson in humility if he thought he could explain it without causing further confusion. But he knows better.

"There are a lot of reasons why mortals have trouble stopping once they do realise that they're damaging their homeworlds. Most of them have to do with hierarchical power structures. And killing a lot of them creates conditions that just reinforce hierarchical power structures, because people tend to flock to whomever they think is the strongest when they're scared. So I think there are probably better ways of dealing with that than killing a lot of people, but...we don't have to discuss that now." Soundwave shrugs.

"Have you ever been in a situation where your actions weren't dictated by the situation, or by others? Because that's what this place is. You can mostly do whatever you want, here."

Edited 2021-05-30 22:47 (UTC)

As the machine carefully outlines the rules of the place, Zack looks up. A small part of him is a little relieved at being given some boundaries. He's used to obeying his brother, has been for aeons, so ultimate freedom is just a little terrifying.

Another part of him also wants to argue that ignorance is no excuse, but he doesn't have the words. And that his solution isn't killing a lot of people, he's virtually dragged to a dying world, and is compelled to become the elemental forces that comprise an apocalypse.

But again, he doesn't have the words.

“It's prob'ly better if we don't discuss it now,” he agrees, swiping a hand through his hair.

Maybe listening to this mechanical being will help him find those words. That thought piques his interest sufficiently enough to pay more attention to the mechanoid's tutelage.

He has to think about Soundwave's final question though. “When it's quiet, and when Abe doesn’t need me, I can do what I want.” occasionally a long time passes between one world dying - under the correct criteria - and the next. But with so many billions in existence, it's not frequent.

“Sometimes I sleep, or wander. A lot of the time I'm looking for something to eat or drink.” He stands up and starts to walk around the mechanoid's legs, a little more interested now and examining the being. “What do you do here?” he asks. Maybe that'll give him a bit of a clue.

"I do a lot of things here; this place is a safe haven for many of my people, while we try to take back what is ours in our own universe. And hopefully to save a world or two from destruction."

This being can't be from his own universe, Soundwave muses, or he would surely have come after the Decepticons while Megatron was leading them during the worst centuries of his madness.

"I lead a faction among my own people that has had to do a lot of recovering from its own ignorance. I'm trying to create a just, sustainable, and non-coercive society in a universe that is ruled by cruelty and violence, and having a place where violence isn't possible to retreat to has made my work easier. Since we are guests in this place, we try to help others where we can, and participate in the local economy."

Soundwave ex-vents quietly.

"And that," he says, "was a lot of big words. The words I used are accurate in terms of what I'm trying to do, but if you don't understand any of them, I'll be happy to try to explain further."

He shrugs. "No sapient being should have to wait for another's permission, or distracted state, to be free to go where they will, especially not for fuel."

[Soundwave: doesn't understand the supernatural. Didn't even believe in it till he came to the Nexus. Three years ago he didn't believe in any gods and now his best friend is dating one.]

“I hope you do save them,” he mutters. “It's a much better solution than mine.” He knows that. It's not only far less painful for Zack.

“I don't choose to destroy,” he tells Soundwave, deciding that although they’re not discussing it yet, the mechanoid should be made aware that Zack doesn't just cruise around the cosmos punishing people on a whim.

Interested in the perspective of such an alien being, Zack takes in Soundwave's objectives and ambitions. Yes, some of it does go over his head, but he gets the gist.

“You just want to make things better. Not just for you, but for your society. and other societies.” It seems... noble. Zack isn't used that quality in mortals.

It's Soundwaves final words that really give him pause, however. Zack is quiet for a few moments as he considers them. Abe never lets him travel outside of Antillioch much, unless a dying planet is compelling Zack to appear there. And he controls all of Zack's food... which amounts to fuel.

“Is that true of me too? Am I sapient?”

"When you say that you don't choose to destroy, do you mean that you must obey the orders you're given because of the consequences for disobedience, or that you literally can't resist the orders?" Soundwave muses. "Those are two different problems. I've experienced the first one often enough, but my spouse has experienced the second one. In our species, the second one is easier to fix; it's code, which can be deleted or disabled. Fixing the first one involves fixing a society. And...yes. I do just want to make things better. For everyone. Wait a moment..."

Soundwave uses the mass-displacer on himself, because it's difficult talking to someone who doesn't come up to your knee in a public place; you have to raise your voice, and you attract too much attention. He's not as good at shrinking himself as Megatron is, but he can get himself down to about ten feet, a little more than a third of his natural height, and then he's small enough to sit down on the ground so they can more-or-less face each other.

"There," he says, "that'll be easier. I want to make society better for everyone because it's the right thing to do, but also because any time one group of people is allowed to be miserable, the misery spreads. People who can't get the fuel and coolant and shelter they need will riot, and they have the right to do that. People who are allowed to remain in states of unhealth breed and spread disease. People who aren't educated make bad decisions that harm their environment and the other people who live there. The only way to solve these problems is universal free education, health care, and the assurance of a living wage and shelter for all. Does that...does that make sense?"

Zack's final question, though, almost knocks Soundwave over.

"I think you're sapient. There are no good tests for sapience, because all of them are biased against the poorly educated and people from minority cultures. My conjunx is a brilliant poet and philosopher and she once failed a sapience test, partly because she was poorly educated and partially because she was forced to take it by someone who was cruel to her and maintained her in a state of constant stress." His cheeks darken briefly.

"I could give you the Ambus test but it's scrapwaste. Instead...I prefer to assume sapience in anyone with whom I'm able to have a coherent conversation. Sapience is the ability to think, imagine, lie and communicate."

Obediently, Zack waits a moment and is amazed as the mechanical entity alters its - his - size. He gapes a little, and reaches out a hand to touch. This is much easier. The mechanoid is tall, but it makes Zack feel a little less like he needs to be careful not to get trodden on.

He hasn't forgotten the initial question but pays attention while Soundwave continues. “I don't get civilisation,” Zack is forced to confess. “My home's a hellscape, a wasteland. Nothing in the cosmos is fair and I always thought.. was told that it's best just accepted.”

He struggles with it a bit more. “But if it's possible for people to get shelter, knowledge and healing, and food; I don't see why they shouldn't have it.”

A lot of what Soundwave says about sapience and his conjunx (which Zack assumes means 'mate') strikes a chord with Zack's own life. He's poorly educated, where his brother is smart and knows so much about the workings of the multiverse. His food is restricted, so he's often in a state of stress.

He now can't help wondering why Abdiron would do that to his own brother, when this mechanoid wants only the best for people he doesn't even know. It hits him in the chest like he's just run straight at a spike and impaled himself. Zack tugs at his hair, and whines, then he bends almost double, makes a fist and hits himself hard in the chest. He looks up at Soundwave like an animal in pain.

“Can they feel?” he almost sobs. “Can they get happy or angry or think their heart's gonna explode? You asked how I'm compelled. It's both. If I refuse, I get all hell for it, and worse, and I can't even refuse for long. It hurts too much. I'm sucked to a planet already in its death throes, and what I unleash is too awful and too complicated for words!”

Zack struggles to breathe, and crumples to the ground. It's as much as he can do to turn slightly and prop himself up with his arms. “All that stuff you said is my life. And now you tell me I have the right to riot.”

He has no frame of reference. No way of knowing how to deal with this.

[ooc: Whew, okay. so that happened...]

Edited 2021-06-02 18:12 (UTC)

Soundwave allows himself to be touched. Moreover, when Zack bends over and wails, he very gently rests his hand on Zack's back. Soundwave is a telepath and an empath, and he's very aware of this pain; it's a kind of pain he's familiar with, even though this is a different sort of being than the ones he's usually having conversations like this. Gently, he tries to radiate calm and compassion.

"Yes," he says quietly. "Ravage is my love and she can feel." He tries not to think about the order he gave Ravage that nearly broke them up, before they were able to get her old coding removed. This isn't about his guilt, this is about Zack's pain. But he can't help the memory coming to surface even if he doesn't engage with it.

"She can feel and suffer and before we had the coding removed, she felt awful when she tried to refuse an order. This is a terrible thing to do to someone and I did not actually avenge her as well as I should have upon the person who put that code in her processor. She is free now. I don't know how to free you, but...there should be a way. I am very busy, but if I can, I will try to help you find a way to free yourself, or find someone who can help you, since I do not understand your anatomy and biology."

He ex-vents, again. "And you absolutely have the right to riot against whoever is forcing this upon you. And the reason I defended you is that people have the right to eat and drink and refuel themselves. Revolt against an unjust government is...is a moral obligation."

He winces. He should've stood up to Megatron. With his powers--with Ravage's power over Megatron--they should've at least tried. Megatron valued them more than he ever valued Starscream.

They had a lot more to atone for than Soundwave wanted to think about.

No wonder he was so furious about everything Megatron did when he went off the rails, and when he handled Ravage with less than the respect and adoration that she deserved. But the person he was really angry with was himself, for letting it all happen. He would not allow anyone to make him compromise his principles that way again, not ever. Forgiving Megatron was one thing, forgiving himself quite another.

"I don't pretend that I understand your situation or the mechanisms by which it functions, but the thing about being a sapient individual is that we don't just have to submit to the laws of nature. We can be fair, even if the universe isn't, and act to mitigate the universe's unfairness."

He pats Zack's back a little, trying to soothe him. "This is why humans and Cybertronians damage their planets, you know. We start out learning how the world works, so that we can make sure we all have enough to eat and a safe place to sleep and be educated. But sometimes we don't know that our solutions to problems cause damage. That's why I said that people who kill their planets very often are simply ignorant. There is a lot that people don't know about how the universe works. And if that information were made available, people would be far less inclined to come up with harmful solutions to their problems."

It's going to be hard to deal with the oil companies and the financial elites, he thinks. Especially if he's not going to do it the way Optimus wants to. Earth is going to need a revolution, too. And revolutions only work if they come form the bottom up, not the top down.

(It would've been so nice if he'd had a chance to get used to being in charge before he had to oust Galvatron and his followers from the faction, and even nicer if he'd had a while to figure things out before Optimus came charging in like the cavalry nobody ordered with the bright idea of solving Earth's problems.)

"Anyhow...we will work to save our worlds so that nothing dies, but it seems to me like you are being used to enforce the unfairness and cruelty of nature on its own. And I don't know how to free you from that, but we have a moral obligation to try, if we can help at all."

If he knew he's stirring up uncomfortable feelings for Soundwave, Zack would be deeply sorry. When he can't control it, yes, he'd inflict the maximum amount of pain on anyone who crosses his path. But in himself, when he's coherent, he's not out to hurt anyone. Right now though, he can't see beyond his own emotional hurt and confusion.

And he seems to be spending a fair amount of time on the ground.

Every word that the mechanoid speaks sounds to Zack like good and wise counsel. How has he not seen this before? He's not stupid or slow. And yes, where there is the capacity for reason and fairness, surely it should be employed?

The soothing contact does actually help, although it breaks his heart that the bloodless metal hand of a mechanical entity is more sympathetic and comforting than anything Zack has experienced. He doesn't yet understand that Soundwave can radiate empathy. Abe may be a god of hell, but his flesh is warm. There should have been comfort to be found there... but now Zack looks back, there seldom was.

“I'm sorry.” He looks up, and tries to scrabble to his feet again. Zack can't bleed. Nothing organic can come out of his body, but strangely, tears can. That might tell people something, if they knew what to look for. “You must think I'm so weak and useless.”

He pulls himself to his feet, meek now. Washed out with all of the emotional gore he's probably been blasting at the empathic mechanoid. “I know you said you're busy, but I want help. And if I can, I'll pay it back. All of it.”

"Well, one of the things I'm busy with is helping people who need it," Soundwave says gently. His worries are his own; it's not Zack's fault that he sometimes brings those worries to mind. "And I don't think you're weak or useless at all." He offers Zack a polishing cloth for his tears, though it's large enough to serve as a capelet and smells of the wax Soundwave and Ravage use to protect their metal armour.

"Let's get you some food, for now. You can stay for a bit at the Embassy if you need to. We can discuss it after you've eaten. Don't pay me back. I can afford it right now and you have nothing. Someday, you will have money, and someone else will have nothing. Help them, and I'll be more than repaid. I once lived on the streets with nothing to my name except my own frame. I'd be dead if my spouse hadn't taken me in. But she's one of the kindest people I know, and we love each other, we have for millions of years now."

The proffered cloth is taken. It's probably the cleanest thing Zack has ever seen, despite the wax. He's never understood kindness, mainly because his brother's idea of that is not exactly kind in the true sense. but then, it's hell.

The gentle tone of the mechanoid though, is something that reaches him.

Sounwave is going to help him, and all that is asked is for Zack to help somebody else. "M'glad you found someone," he says, handing back the large cloth. The term 'millions of years' doesn't come as a surprise to Zack. He's billions of years old, not that he can remember all of that. It's too much to cram into the mind he owns. Memories fall away, unless significant events are enough to stand out.

"Been longer for me, and no mate. Hell dimensions aren't good places to find one." He's not fishing for sympathy. It's just the way things are.

"Food would be good. Please. That's all I can think about."

"I know a place that will serve us both." It's the bar he goes to with Five sometimes--the one that had Cybertronian booze that knocked him right on his caboose and had him trying to catch rabbits in the park. Fortunately, they also have food. "I could eat something myself."

Soundwave smiles. "I have been very fortunate in the matter of finding a mate. I wish stories like mine were more common. Ravage and I just found each other when we were extremely young and even more desperate. We didn't wait until we were 'ready' for love; we wouldn't have survived without it. But I believe you can find someone when you're out from under the things that are holding you back right now."

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The Post-Apocalyptic Doughnut Thief

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