— 𝐢𝐜 𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 𝐟𝐨𝐫 databurst.

[skjoldpike]

SILJE STORSTRAND ∞ IC INBOX
A U D I O • V I D E O • T E X T • A C T I O N— username: $ladyamalthea | qubit house, room 404 K҉̿ͭ͘͜v҉̨̊͢͠͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠t҉̷҉̢͖͔̹͛̌͊͘͜͢͠͡͡i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠r҉̵҉̛̠̩̥̋ͦ̆͆͟͞͡͞͠a҉͖̟̜̞̂̃̑̽͢͢͠͡ Ṡ̷̢̫̞̻͈͋͛̓̅͜͜͜͠͠͠e̵̡̫̫͍͕̎ͭ̐͟͟͝͞g̷̵̸̡̼̱͎͎̞ͤͬ̅͢͟͞i҉̧̯̤̙͔̑ͧ̅̔ͦ́͜͟͢͝͠z̷҉̲ͥ͆̿̆ͭ͞, room 621 —

Comments

[redcosmedic]

[ With its pronged tip, it certainly resembles a spear or even a trident, and he notices that she seems transfixed by the glowing core. ]

You're not? They have these miraculous things called mirrors, you know... I think you'd be less in denial if you tried looking at yourself in one.

[ But all sarcasm aside, she really does look like she could use a few days of downtime. The tells of someone burning the metaphorical candle at both ends are distressingly similar across their respective species, and Knock Out is well-acquainted with them. Millions of years of war hardly leave time for a lot of R&R. ]

Besides... if you're too exhausted, I'm the one who has to correct the mistakes after the fact. This is simply preventative maintenance, nothing more.

[skjoldpike]

I know a dead person when I see one, Doc. [ It's said with a small smile, because she's a nurse after all — and a valkyrie.

Though the mention of mirrors has her shifting her gaze from the weapon on the table to the mech's plating; whether it's glossy enough to actually show her reflection or not, she make a show of looking herself over. She might be exhausted from lack of sleep, but she's touched by Knock Out's gesture and it's lightened her mood considerably. Not that she expects him to own up to caring or anything.

Which is exactly what he does a moment later, chalking it all up to preventive maintenance. He's right, of course, though it's been a while since they'd had to work really hard and pull off a medical miracle anyway. ]

Ah, ja, so I'm getting a doctor's note too. [ A callback to their conversation about Tailgate. ]

[redcosmedic]

[ Silje can certainly use Knock Out's gloss finish as a reflective surface, and he rolls his optics though in a way that suggests he's not as put-upon by it as he strives to portray. He offers her a canny smile as she mentions the doctor's note a la Tailgate. ]

Of course, all proper paperwork.

Although I'm surprised your partner didn't take a step like this, before it came to me doing it.

[ His would have. ]

[skjoldpike]

[ They're in certainly much better terms now that she can risk checking herself out in the "mirror" a little longer, though Knock Out's comment makes her stop and abandon the act, giving him a small, strained smile in turn. ]

He can't tell me what I can or can't do until we're married.

[ It's... complicated, her and Victor. Even without the doppelganger incident, though that's only highlighted some of their issues a little more. They've patched up, too, but she's still unable to reconcile some things in her head, in her heart. ]

[redcosmedic]

[ Knock Out gets a very peculiar expression, like he wants to emphatically refute that but is holding himself back. ]

Well... I don't claim to know the finer ins and outs of every Earth culture's version of marriage, but that wasn't exactly what I meant.

[skjoldpike]

[ She's chews the inside of her cheek. Of course that wasn't what he'd meant. ] Victor's a good guy. He tries to take care of me, but... I've just been so used to doing things on my own, you know? And after everything that's happened, I... it's complicated. Like, we have baggage from thousands of years ago, and I still don't know what to do about it.

[ She's not sure what compelled her to open up, but it's too late to take back what she's said now. She just gives him a sheepish smile a moment later. ]

Sorry, Doc. You're a doctor, not a therapist.

[redcosmedic]

[ Knock Out's smile is wan, amusement dulled by sadness. ]

Everyone has baggage, Silje. There aren't any free rides in life. Get it sorted out sooner rather than later... you never know when you'll run out of time.

[skjoldpike]

[ Her smile fades, and she purses her lips together into a thin line, trying to think of a response to all that but failing. It's true, everyone has baggage, and having been to the hotel before coming to Svelte has kind of put their weird situation at the forefront but... at the end of the day, the doctor's right. You'll never know when you'll run out of time.

She finds a place to sit, because while she probably shouldn't be bothering him, he's not told her to go away either. ]

How did you know he... [ She catches herself before she could finish the question. How did you know he's the one for you? Just because they're "friends" doesn't give her the right to ask about his personal life, right? Even if she'd seen that intimate memory and all back then. So she switches course, and starts with herself. ] Nevermind, I— I never told you, did I? Victor and I, we... we've lived another life before. Reincarnation, if you've heard of the concept.

[redcosmedic]

[ Yet Knock Out seems to know where the aborted sentence was headed, because the holoform follows to where she sits, although he doesn't join her; it's just a construct of pixels and code, it doesn't get tired from standing too long.

And his answer... is surprisingly brief, if unexpectedly profound: ]

Simple: I was better when I was with him, than when I wasn't.

Breakdown felt like... filling in pieces of myself that I hadn't realized were missing.

[ But he does mod at the remark about reincarnation, that he knows it. ]

Cybertronians have something similar, with sparks.

[skjoldpike]

[ And Knock Out's answer is surprisingly like what an organic in love would say that Silje just looks back at him for a quiet moment. Of course she's long known that they're not robots per se, but it still strikes her whenever he says or does something that's profoundly... well, human. ]

I know I felt that, in the past. [ Tricky thing, reincarnation. ] I didn't even know him that long, from what I remember, but we had something special. Something that we defied his family for, and his family is... [ She gestures vaguely with her hands as she tries to find the polite term to use, considering what his father had put her through and all, but she just settles with: ] Royalty. Technically. And I was just a nobody.

Then we met in this life, and there was that spark and all, but... the more I think about it, the more I wonder if we're just dancing to the same old tune, and we can never really be together, the way other people are. [ That's when she chuckles and shakes her head, gesturing like she wants him to forget everything she's said. ] Maybe this is a therapy sim, Doc. Maybe this is why I've not been able to leave.

[redcosmedic]

[ Knock Out blinks his optics in startlement when she elaborated, because what she was describing was — however inexplicably — not unfamiliar. ]

I understand. Not the royalty thing, per se — but opposite ends of a caste system, except I was the high-caste one.

[ His smile is once again wan. ]

If it's a therapy simulation, I don't think many of us will be leaving.

[skjoldpike]

You do look like a prince.

[ She's teasing just a little bit. He's pretty and shiny! Compared to all the other Cybertronians she's seen, anyway. So is it any surprise that she comes to that conclusion? ]

If it's a therapy simulation, we should at least be able to talk to our therapist. But Doubleneon ignores us most of the time.

[redcosmedic]

Flattery will get you everywhere, Nurse.

Maybe it's more like exposure therapy, then.