randomplaces | Auspex's reality. Sanctuary of Primus. Hormah tells the story of the small one's origin

((after this))

Hormah: *PINpoints into the main room of the sanctuary and staggers a bit, then heads a little unsteadily toward the back hall and the guest rooms, deedling to herself all the way*

Auspex: *looks up from her datapad with a furrowed brow. What is she up to?* Hormah? *she sets her work aside and follows*

Hormah: *flops face down on the first empty berth and lays there for a moment, still deedlebeeping, then curls on her side with a little mutter. Her emotions are hard to read, stormy, foggy, mixed up*

Auspex: *peeks in the doorway, a little worried at this strange behavior* Hormah, what are you doing?

Hormah: *squeaks and curls tighter, emotional pain leaking out past the rest and mixing with a bit of confusion and nausea*

Auspex: *frowns worriedly. She moves to sit on the edge of the berth, peering at the younger fem with concern. She asks a quiet question* This has to do with the young sparklet Bob brought here, perhaps?

Hormah: *winces and deedlebeeps at length, then holds her head in her hands and feels dizzy. Yes, she just replied in Minicon without realizing it*

Auspex: *raises a brow, but drapes an arm around Hormah's shoulders* Perhaps... in a language I know? *she gives her a patient, but wan, smile*

Hormah: *blink blinks, then sighs and struggles up to lean against her older friend, speaking in perfectly accented Cybertronian* Ugh... don't let me float up to the ceiling.

Auspex: *is quiet for a moment, just trying to make sense of the inane-sounding request. A mental query to Primus yields a straight answer, though not terribly encouraging: Hormah's overcharged. But... why? This isn't like her. She pats her shoulder comfortingly* I don't think you're going anywhere, Hormah.

Hormah: *blinking and frowning as the anguish grows. Muttering* Don't feel so good....

*she stares at her feet, still leaning against Auspex as her optics start to glisten and then to overflow*

The little one... Bob didn't bring her. I did.

Auspex: *nods quietly* He said you brought her to him. What happened, Hormah? Maybe talking about it will help..?

Hormah: *blinking and still not noticing the tears that are now leaving tracks down her face plates. When she speaks it's still in that perfectly accented Cybertronian* Someone died, and I didn't know how to help him. Now I have to... I have to find him a new body, or he'll really be dead.

Auspex: *tilts her head, quietly contemplative* Hormah... these things happen, sometimes. It doesn't hurt less, but I hope you're not blaming yourself. He is still in the living world, then?

Hormah: For now. But I just checked on him and he's getting tired.... If I don't find what he needs he'll have given his life to give the little one hers. And then Bob's reality will have lost its Optimus Prime.

Auspex: *blinkblinks, trying to piece this together* From Bob's reality... *she focuses on the matter at hand* Surely, someone in the Nexus can help him. This is not the first time someone with a damaged body has needed a new one.. But... how did he end up that way?

Hormah: He was bitten by a giant robot spider, which infected him with the virus. In that reality Elita 1 has become a partly organic being named Blackarachnia... a Decepticon. Optimus' team thought that it was she who had bitten him, but then they found that her venom was the only thing that helped him. After awhile though the virus started affecting his spark. Their Ratchet didn't think it was safe putting his spark in a life support pod because of the damage... so Blackarachnia said that Optimus could use her body if he dealt with a problem that it had.

*She pauses, feeling dizzy and sick as her grief and horror pushes past the inebriation*

Auspex: *optics widen as she attempts to keep up with several baffling concepts at once* Goodness...

*she frowns at Hormah's reaction, and leans over to give her a hug* It's all right though, isn't it? There will be someone to help him. But this problem you mentioned... is it resolved? What about Blackarachnia?

Hormah: *shutters her optics and leans against her* The... problem was that little femme. She was growing inside Blackarachnia's body like organic babies do. Something happened in Optimus' reality, and the team got attacked. He got hurt, and the stress of it....

*shudders and deedlebeeps softly* The little femme got born, but she hurt Blackarachnia's body. And I didn't know how to stop the leaking....

Auspex: *patpats her, but hisses softly when she mentions the 'birth'* Oh dear. I see. Something like that happened to Snowcat, via LOL, when the zambonis were constructed... but that was only a case of getting the cables tied off in time. This... sounds worse. The battle instigated it? Well... but he hasn't passed on, either. This is not a lost cause, and it is entirely not your fault.

Hormah: *her feelings roil like a storm* Auspex... it hurt. It hurt a lot. I felt it. But I couldn't do anything to help.

Auspex: *winces* At least Snowcat was unconscious... but... you felt it? *she's rather surprised for a moment, but simply sighs a little, hugging her more tightly* Of all the times for you to start developing empathy....

Hormah: *quietly* It started awhile ago. I just wasn't sure till.... *shudders again* I never want to feel things like that or hear sounds like that again. *hides her face, but then forces herself to remember something else* How's the little one? What's she like?

Auspex: *pats Hormah's back with understanding. She considers her question* Well... she's very quiet. Very calm, collected, to the point. She's not frightened at all.

Hormah: *curiosity manages to make itself felt* So she's processing normally? None of that human baby slowness? Is she still helpless? She could hardly move when I saw her, she just curled up in the blanket and felt frightened and hungry. But you said she's not afraid now.... *muses on that, trying to get it processed*

Auspex: She's speaking, if not articulate, and we took care of the hunger, but no, she didn't seem very upset. She didn't seem terribly concerned that she had no name, either, but I'm sure someone will fix that soon enough. *she allows a tiny smile, hoping to encourage Hormah*

Hormah: *just leaning and feeling that storm of emotions and drunkeness* Optimus thought she was beautiful. Blackarachnia isn't interested in ever seeing her.

*the former makes her tears flow faster, the latter... well, she has no feeling about that. It's a Decepticon thing*

Auspex: *understands this well, doesn't press it* What brought about the new spark, in the first place, then? *continues supporting her overcharged companion*

Hormah: Nobody knows. She just happened. Blackarachnia wasn't even sure what was going to come out. Optimus was afraid of spider eggs. *surge of urkiness at the thought*

Auspex: *nods thoughtfully, though her optics flicker at the thought of organic eggs..* Well... the main thing to worry about, then, is that the sparklet is taken care of - and she is - and that Optimus gets a new body. And Blackarachnia? Does she have a body right now?

Hormah: She's snoozing in the life support pot. *beeps with confusion, and then abruptly goes limp as the high-grade finally wins the fight*

Auspex: *winces a bit. No body for her, either. She's about to ask more, when Hormah apparently passes out. She sighs softly, with another little wince. Well... she'll probably address the overcharging issue when Hormah wakes - that is not the best way to deal with pain, hers or someone else's, for that matter. But it's good for her to rest, right now... Auspex stands carefully, gently letting her friend slump over onto the berth.

Poor young one... Auspex knows this sort of pain very well. It takes a long time to deal with it - but Hormah learns quickly; perhaps she'll adjust quickly too. Nothing to do for the moment, anyway, but leave her to rest. Quietly, Auspex returns to the main room, and her datapad.*

((co-written with

primus_seeress mun))