ROCK'EM SOCK'EM ROBOTS [BIG OPEN FIGHT LOG]

[sufferist]

Who: Signless, Robots, and YOU
Where: City Hall, and all over downtown LA.
When: April 14th
What: Signless bates the Cybetronians into having a big fight in downtown LA while attempting to get a valuable artifact. Earth civilians and superheroes are SUPER WELCOME to notice the fuss and try to stop the fighting/safe people from collateral damage.
Warnings: SUDDENLY ROBOT ULTRAVIOLENCE

Signless leaves himself, and the hammer, visible at first. He wants them to see him, to know that the battle is imminent - and with any luck, a conflict will start. He'll do his best to disappear and keep them hunting for him as as long as possible after he's initially been spotted. Maximum collateral damage is his goal.

It also helps that he's an empath. He'll be taking whatever opportunities he can to agitate people's emotions, whether it be anger, panic, or fear, in the attempt to make ever more chaos.

This is a party style log, meaning you can make you own threads and scenarios. Signless will be around with the hammer. LET'S MAKE THIS AS BIG OF A CLUSTERFUCK AS POSSIBLE, GUYS.

Comments

[sufferist]

His reaction is perhaps not what she would have been expecting.

His first response is to just snarl furiously and raise his scythe in an aggressive stance. There is no conflict in his eyes this time - he's threatened and apparently fully willing to deal with it.

"Do not challenge me," he growls.

[scribes]

Di jerks back in surprise at that response. He hadn't acted that viciously even with they had first encountered one another. Surprise shifts to hurt, which shifts to confusion before she finds her resolve again.

"Signless, you need to stop this. I don't know what on Alternia you are trying to accomplish but why are you dragging innocent bystanders into this? There are still humans out there caught up in this mess. Allow them to be able to go in peace." She pleaded.

[sufferist]

His glare sharpens, and while her pleading has at least had some effect in the recent past, there is a lack of recognition in his demeanor that is rendering it useless. His confusion at her presence is obscured - he reacts to her like he barely knows who she is.

He swings his scythe in her direction, though it's more to ward her off than anything that has a chance of striking her. He feels very far away from all of this.

"What the Cybertronians do to them isn't my concern."

[scribes]

Di does not move.

What had they done to him? It was as if all the progress that he had made towards realizing who he was, what he had once believed in had been wiped clean. Her eyes held his as she tried to search for even the vaguest hint of conflict, confusion, recognition, anything but her heart dropped when she realized there was none to be found.

Something like being wiped clean was exactly what had happened, wasn't it? The only alternative was that Signless had come to the decision to stick by the Condesce on his own, and Di just couldn't see that. It wasn't him, and it especially did not make sense after how torn he had been the last time she'd seen him. Was this what he had been afraid of?

She shouldn't have let him go.

Di stands her ground and purses her lips. She shouldn't have let him go, but if she was able to get through to him once, she could do it again.

"How is it none of your concern? Were you not the one hurt by your belief there was no justice in this world? How is this," she threw her arm out, indicating the wreckage of the city, "going to mitigate that? You can still spare lives, Signless."

[sufferist]

His brow furrows. She's being presumptuous, he thinks. Like she knows how he feels based on who he was before, because he doesn't remember having said anything like that to her now. He's hardly wanted to see her - she's irrelevant to this. To him.

"It's not my responsibility to make up for the mistakes of others. I owe these humans nothing. I owe you nothing."

[scribes]

"Mistakes? What mistakes? How are they at fault for you deliberately initiating a battle between Cybertronian's in the middle of the city? When you go and do that, simply at the behest of that princess who calls herself an Empress then yes. The least you could do is put an end to it as soon as possible."

[sufferist]

He doesn't snarl, or hiss. Instead his reaction is totally cold as he swoops in closer to her, more immediately threatening her with his weapon.

"And who are you?" he demands. "Who are you to make demands of me? You're nothing."

[scribes]

While there was a spike of unease in her when he drew closer, Di stood her ground. It was only when he asked that question that she took a step back, eyes widening in shock.

"Who am I?" she echoed weakly, as if the words hadn't quite reached her. The ground felt as if it had been swept from underneath her and she felt a bit dizzy as the realization of what all had been done hit her.

"I'm Magdal," she speaks, even as a part of her knows that is useless, "Disciple."

[sufferist]

He recognizes the names. He recognizes the context for her identity. But there is something about it missing - a sense of important, or urgency. Like someone he knew but doesn't care enough about to keep on mind. Something far away and almost forgotten.

It gives him a moment of pause, but only that.

"Leave me now and I'll spare your wretched life," he growls.

[scribes]

Even had she not felt as dizzy and devastated as she did now, Di would likely not have been driven away by that threat. Yet it made it all the harder for her to concentrate, to really articulate herself when all she could think of was how much farther gone he was, how she was now 'nothing' to him.

"I made a promise to you, even if you do not remember. A promise not to leave you alone. Signless, think! Don't you see how deeply the Condesce has her claws mired into you. Is this what you really want? To needlessly cause people pain?"

[sufferist]

He folds back his ears defensively, glaring at her. A promise? He feels like maybe they've spoken recently, but nothing important. Just more of this drivel, perhaps. Which doesn't really make sense, but he's not in a place to analyze this logically.

He scowls, and takes an earnest swing at her with his scythe.

[scribes]

She jumps back quickly enough to avoid fatal injury, but scythe slices through cloth and skin to draw out some of her olive blood. She's more shocked than in pain though the wound cuts deeper than it looks. She presses a hand against her ribcage to staunch it.

"Psii. Rosa. Others who stayed by you till the very end. Did you forget about them too?" she continues, this time readying herself should he come at her again.

"Will you give the one who tortured, kill you, and has done so much to others exactly what she wants?"

[sufferist]

He doesn't seem eager to swing at her again, like he was expecting that she would get out of the way the first time. Instead, he lets the blade cut a gash into the roof of the building, and keeps his eyes on her in a steady glare.

"They're dead," he hisses, but the mark that question leaves is visible, if only for a moment. With Rosa especially. "It doesn't matter anymore. There's nothing worth having left."

Which is why it feels so much easier to just try to make the rest of it leave.

[scribes]

So he does remember them, at least, and he still seems to care for them if his reaction and attempt to dismiss them from the conversation is any indication. That's something at least.

"That's not true. There is plenty worth having if you would just open your eyes to it but she keeps obscuring it all from you." She countered automatically. She could feel blood seeping into her gloves making them sticky and uncomfortably warm.

[sufferist]

"It's only by her hand that I stand here today," he snaps, starting to close in on her. "It is the only reason that I'm alive."

[scribes]

"It's because of her that you were murdered to begin with," Di easily responds, backing up, "it's because of her that Psii and Rosa met their fates, it's because of her that our society is the wreck where hatred and violence are lauded and the different are persecuted."

Her eyes remain firmly on Signless' "She's the one who has molded the thoughts of trolls towards anger, superiority if they are highbloods, lack of self if they are lowbloods. She is the one who has altered your brain even now."

[sufferist]

One would think that a thought like that, of being manipulated on such an intimate level, would surprise someone or cause them discomfort. Somehow, though...it doesn't. It even sounds likely, perhaps even expected. She's managed to control everything else in his existance so why not that too.

Though the tension in his body slackens somewhat at those words, his expression dulling and hopeless.

"There's no escaping it," he says. "Not for long."

[scribes]

As much as she hated to see such resignation coming from him, it seemed like something easier to work with that outright anger.

"Yes there--" Suddenly she flailed a bit when she came to the edge of the building. She teetered for a moment before righting herself, and gave a quick glance behind her, cursing herself for not remaining aware of her surroundings. She gave a jerky shake of her head before focusing on Signless again.

"Yes, there is, Signless. You came so close to breaking free last week. You are strong. You can do it."

[sufferist]

He grips the scythe tightly, his gaze lingering on he more intensely than before. He doesn't really remember what happened last week very well. Half of him is just ready to swing at her and be done with it, and the other half is just...tired.

So many nights were like being asleep: caught up in a dream were full control of his actions ever eluded his grasp.

"You couldn't know," he growls softly, raising his scythe.

[scribes]

Disciple didn't know how long she could keep the conversation going in these circumstances. There was chaos all around them, if they lingered it was only a matter of time before Starscream found them, and with her head thumping and making her vision go fuzzy it was hardly like she could evade Signless.

Hell, she wasn't certain if she would be able to even if she was uninjured.

The look she gave him was just sad, not even scared. A faint sense of defeat filled her, but she squashed it. This time she would have to be the one to retreat, but it wouldn't be the end.

"That temperamental Cybertronian is coming for you." She said quietly, tucking her good foot behind the ledge, readying to jump down when that swing came.

[sufferist]

He stares at her, uncomprehending for a moment. He knows who she's talking about - but for some reason the fact that she's warning him about that makes him angry and defensive. Something about her bothers him, intensely, and he snaps.

"Just leave me be!" he yells, swinging his scythe.

[scribes]

When he swings Di hops back, grabbing the edge of the building with her hands, and propping herself against the wall on her good leg. Di spots a thin ledge below--if she can manage to get there, she can make her way over to a window and get out. There is a brief moment of hesitance, a desire to still try and do more but now is not the time.

Without a look up, she drops down to it, and makes for her escape.