peacewithouttyranny | Noctium Overflow

[From here]

"I do not know a green shrine maiden."

What's a shrine maiden even?

Anyway, he doesn't allow himself to be distracted with the who or how or what as there are these pesky plants to deal with still, even if they aren't very challenging to beat. With Koishi's approval, he drifts closer towards Koishi as he fires another barrage, scoring direct hits on several more approaching vines.

"Keep alert on them, girl... We'll clear this street of these invading vines."

"That's too bad. I'm sure she'd love to meet you!"

Koishi summoned more thorn vines, restraining some larger stalks and holding them still so they could be blasted by her new robot friend.

"I got it! Don't worry about me." She was clearly having a ton of fun.

Clearly enough! He fires ballistics at the stalk Koishi's restrained with her thorn vines, exploding them into small pieces of disgusting slimy white plant goo. If only he has his energy blaster with him. Way less explosive than his only weapon, but can't deny it still does the job well.

With the two working together, there's not much these sentient vines could do to defend themselves against the flying duo. Especially when one of them is taking this seriously. And sooner rather than later, the street is cleared of vines. Well, living vines at least.

"I believe that's all of them" But just in case, his visor starts to scan their surroundings to find any lingering around still, or even ones hiding under plain sight.

She followed after the robot, summoning vines and firing bolts of magic. At this point she had delegated herself into a more supportive role. While she was powerful her magic could not compare to the raw force of actual arms fire.Once the plants were gone Koishi did a little spin in the air, clapping her hands.

"That was amazing! You're really good at that!" She meant it too.

She's an excitable one, if that's a word for it. Koishi's praises get a quiet head tilt from him for a moment before properly responding with a nod because apparently saying 'thank you' is too much. Now that he's given the area one final scan, Soundwave decides this street is free from those vile plants.

At least for the time being.

"Do you want to rest for a moment?"

He probably needs a little break himself, but he's saying that more for Koishi than for himself.

Rest? Nah. No rest for the Koiball. Instead she'll zip forward and attach herself to his chasis, squishing her cheek into his shoulder.

"I'm fiiiiine." Nuzzle nuzzle. "You're very good at danmaku. Even if those blasts were a bit strong for danmaku. I bet you would be very good at it!" Now she was just babbling.

Also there appeared to be tentacles coming out of her sleeves to further secure herself to him. Koishi took cuddles very seriously. Even when she was cuddling metal.

Oh! Oh, that was not what he expected her to do next. It's surprising since he figured such a fleshy organic person wouldn't immediately squish themselves into his... hard metal surface. Is he even comfortable to hug for her? He doesn't ask.

He attempted to fly back to recreate the distance they were at before, but it seems Koishi had the idea to... trapped him with her tentacles. At least, to her credit, he doesn't try to violently remove her and doesn't sound too uncomfortable with the physical contact... Not like his monotone, robotic voice would make that easy to tell, even if he was.

Rather, he's weirded out by her and her tentacles.

"I don't know what a danmaku is."

A beat. And when it's becoming apparent she's not stopping the cuddling anytime soon, he then adds:

"Could you let go? We don't have time for this."

At the very least her tentacles were not the slimy variety. They were actually quite dry with an almost velvet like texture to them. So she wasn't going to leave numerous horrible smudges all over his chassis. Which made them perfect for giving snugly warm hugs.

"But you're nice and cool." Despite the objection she did let go, the tentacles sliding back into her sleeves. He asked nicely, after all.

"Danmaku is how we duel in my world. Since everyone is super powerful it wouldn't be good if we fought for real since no one would win once the fight was over."

Thanks Primus for that. No slimy goo coming under his joints. "Hm. Like I said, we have no time for that."

Not like any other time he'd allowed snugly warm hugs. Maybe when she's poisoned by those white sap he'd considered such a thing. But considering the whole thing about Chroma, he couldn't be too fussed about physical contact anyway.

Soundwave twists his body in the air and starts to move, watching out for any civilians needing help down below. Though her explanation about danmaku piques some interest.

"No one would win?" Wouldn't a duel have a winner. One shall stand, one shall fall kind of deal?

Just accept her love, Soundwave. She loves to love everyone. Including big ol' robots. Though the cuddles are, indeed, best saved for after the job is done.

She turns to fly after him but she's certainly not as fast as he was should he try to pour on the speed.

"Yeah. Creatures where I come from would break mountains and shatter the land if they fought for real. So danmaku duels let us settle disputes without disrupting everything. And if you lose then you have to honor that loss. Even if it was to someone objectively weaker than you are."

He would when he stops being tsun in every possible moment. Don't let that stop her or anything later.

He's mindful enough to keep the thrusters going on a consistent speed. Just so his companion is able to fly by his side without having to worry about being left behind and trying to catch up to him. Maybe when he sees danger ahead he would apply a boost to the thrusters, but for now, it's sort of a leisure flying.

"Being able to do those damage to the land... I see. What kind of creatures lived in your world?" He's not too surprised hearing that since there are creatures from his world capable of that. Though they are a rarity, and certainly don't abide by any rules. "So danmaku duel is a safe way to fight, basically."

Tsunbot is adorable bot.

"Lots of different creatures. Oni can do things like rip the peaks off mountains or cause earthquakes and big sis has a pet that can control nuclear fusion. Just like in the sun!"

She nodded. "Yeah! Danmaku makes it so even weaker or more specialized creatures can have their voices heard. My power is over the subconscious mind. I can hurt people with my powers but that doesn't really help if everything is on fire. Danmaku makes sure that doesn't happen."

"A pet that can control nuclear fusion..."

Okay. That one sounds unbelievable.

"Power over the subconscious mind? That does mean... You can directly affect a person's subconscious?" He's even more curious now. Please explain more.

"Yeah! Utsuho swallowed the yatagarasu. So she can generate nuclear fusion. She's really good at it too but radiation is pretty dangerous to people."

She's dead serious, Soundwave. She also can't lie.

"Oh! Yeah! I have the power to control the subconscious mind. But my head has been kind of fuzzy since coming here so I haven't been trying all that much. I think its because of the weird energy here. But satori youkai are psychic. And I'm a satori. I used to be able to read minds but I got rid of that power. So I have this one instead."

Kind of a rambling explanation but at least she was being clear.

Edited (I couldn't resist adding the link.) 2019-04-02 17:43 (UTC)

She's... certainly serious. He's not quite sure what to say, really. Other than to accept her on her words. Even if she can lie, being an empath himself, Soundwave is sort of a living lie detector. He could tell.

Her other answer, though, deserves a bit more attention. And it elicits a frown under Soundwave's faceplate.

"I see. A powerful ability to have control over, I admit... I'd say we would have something in common, but you got rid of yours. I understand why you would."

He doesn't specify at all with that, unless asked. But he would get rid of his if he could, especially during his earlier lifetime. The ability to read minds is not as great as it sounds.

Her words certainly sounded genuine and there was no blip of dishonesty in her mind... Though there really wasn't much of anything. Everything about her thought and emotion wise seemed very... void-like.

"Ohh. So you can read minds too. My sister can still read minds but since cutting out my own mind reading I haven't been able to have my mind read for some reason. Maybe I just don't think enough anymore. I miss my sister's mind. It wasn't very smart."

If anyone understood the pain of mind reading it would be the Koishi and her sister. Neither one has powers that turn off short of extreme physical trauma and/or lobotomy.

He gives Koishi a nod to that.

"I can."

He can't exactly turn off his ability either, but he has some form of control now that he's able to not passively read anyone's mind anymore, focusing only on the words she speaks out loud, missing out on her emptiness.

"Not thinking enough does not necessarily mean you're not thinking at all. Perhaps disabling your own power granted you immunity to mind-reading? I do not know enough about you or your species to give a solid answer."

There is one person who's immune to his mind reading in his universe. And that person is an insane, emotionless bot who values logic. Or rather, he serves chaos now or something like that. He doubts Koishi is anything like Shockwave.

Well, Koishi is certainly emotionless. But she's really good at faking it and borrowing other people's emotions so its fine. The insanity is up for debate.

"Ohh. I've never met a mind reading robot before. That's really neat." She dipped a little in the air, turning over. "Maybe that's it. My powers have some recoil when I use them now so I wouldn't be surprised if things are too mixed up to read properly. If big sis were here she could probably tell you more since she knew me before and after."

So long she doesn't go around collapsing time and space, she's probably way better in the insanity scale.

"I'm not a robot." Not in the traditional sense of the word. "I'm a Cybertronian. And I'm the only one of my species with that power."

So meeting another person with mind reading power is, well used to, anyway- it's kinda like meeting a kindred spirit. There's a pause as he considers his next question, pondering if it's too personal to ask. He does voice it out, eventually.

"Do you feel better without it? Unable to read minds anymore, that is."

No. She can't do that. ~~But her mun's other character can.~~

"Ohhh." A pause. "Most metal people I know are robots." Then again, she hasn't met many robots either.

Koishi thought on the question for a moment, frowning. "It was... A mistake. I mean, I'm free now but I also don't have any preference one way or another... Even so, it was unquestioningly a mistake. Mind reading made me miserable but now I'm just empty. And I know I hurt my sister by getting rid of my powers."

She pursed her lips. "But I know myself enough to know that if my eye were ever fixed I would just end up doing it again eventually. I was never very emotionally strong like big sis is."

"Empty." Ah. "So mindreading wasn't the only thing that was removed."

Being emotionally constipated is too much of a price. It's a bit offputting, really. Anyone who's 'empty' is normally a dangerous person and can't be easily trusted. But, Koishi seems a bit young to have dealt with something like that.

"My apologies. I shouldn't have asked." ... "Having this power is miserable, yes. I wasn't able to function properly with it... and it took years before I find the focus I need to be emotionally strong."

That is not something he normally shares to anyone he just met. But a fellow mind reader is extremely rare enough to find, it's worth to tell bits of his backstory.

"No. It's fine you ask. You can't hurt me. Even if you were trying to. I've been empty for well over a century. Even if I had feelings to hurt it's nothing I haven't heard before." She smiled back up at him. It was no different than before. She really was very good at faking it.

"It truly is miserable. But I don't have the option of having the control needed to reign it in. I've always been 'power' and my sister has always been 'control' so I can't really function all that well without her. If I could still read minds, I mean." A pause. "I'm just glad she can function without me."

Informing people of her condition is something Koishi generally does, but rarely one she explains so intimately. Someone who understood the pain of being an empath and a mind reader is a rarity.

It's hard to fake anything to an empath. It's hard not to feel nothing from that smile either. When he tried to read deep into it, there's nothing at all he could read from her. Nothing is receiving into his receptors. And yet, despite the fact that she's empty, just a void, he can't help feeling saddened over what she had dealt with.

After all, though he doesn't know what it is like feeling empty, he knew the miserable difficulties of being an empath.

Soundwave pauses in his flight and turns to face Koishi. Then, tentatively, a hand reaches out towards her and places on top of her head, or hat more likely. He's not good with words of comfort, hence being a bot with few words, but physical comfort is at the very least he could offer to a suffering fellow empath.

Koishi paused when they stopped, tilting her head a little. She opened her mouth to ask but then she found a hand on top of her head. She blinked once and her smile became a little softer.

"You don't have to feel bad for me. I can't even feel bad for myself. It's just a cautionary tale, if nothing else. And I'm not hurting anymore so, if nothing else, there's something small that's good that came out of this. I do appreciate the sentiment though. You're a good person."

"I know you can't."

That's why he's doing this, even though it's likely she can't feel good from it just as well. Being called a 'good person' sounds odd for some reason, but at this particular moment, there's no denying he is one. His hand lingers on her head for a moment longer before quietly retracting his hand back to his side.

"... Let's keep going." With that, Soundwave gives a nod and continues forward.

Noctium Overflow

Koishi Komeiji

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject