I'm not part of your machine... | Transformers Prime | Soundwave Centric

13 - She's Gonna Be a Lot Like Me, But I Don't Want to Be At All Like Me

Soundwave didn't know how to respond, their still newly rediscovered voice refusing to work with them. They tired and tired again to say something-- anything-- but nothing happened... They instead opted to shake their helm.

Optimus slowly nodded their struggle to communicate shining through and becoming readable by the leader. "Well, is there anything we can do?"

They paused, not knowing, no bot had offered before. Sure, they sat with them until they found the ability to move and speak again, but never tried to do anything to help them. They didn't know how to respond... eventually letting a question mark pop up on their visor.

Optimus nodded again, "Hmm... Unsure then?"

They nodded in response.

"That's okay, we can figure it out," Optimus assured the bot in front of him. "Do you think you could move back to the medbay area?"

Soundwave shook their head violently. It was too bright and too warm for them.

"Okay, we can work with that." Optimus continued with assuring them and asking questions to them. "Would it be okay if I got Ratchet to come over here and check on you?"

They nodded slowly, okay with Ratchet but somewhat unsure about what would come next.

Optimus stood and left to grab Ratchet for Soundwave. Ratchet soon came by himself and sat himself in front of Soundwave.

"Sound-" Ratchet stopped, quieting himself before continuing, "Sorry, Soundwave. How do you feel, rating it from 1 through 10? 1 being the worst and 10 being the best."

Soundwave took a moment to think, not sure how to rate the way they feel... they decided on a 3. They displayed it on their visor as their answer.

Ratchet nodded, "Okay," He had to think for a moment, super sure how to help. "What do you usually do when this happens? If this has happened before..."

Soundwave thought, what do they do? They usually just sit there for some time before getting back to whatever they were doing before. They did their best to shrug.

Ratchet sighed. "That's okay, we can figure this out." The medic tapped at the floor idly for a moment.

Soundwave copied the action, somehow making a louder noise from the tapping.

This gave Ratchet an idea, sending it to Optimus to look up and send back information on. The two kept on tapping for the next few minutes. Soon, Ratchet's request was met with an answer. Something that was dubbed stimming by humans. A self-stimulatory behavior, usually repetitive or unusual body movements or sounds. 

He could work with this. "Soundwave?"

The aforementioned bot looked up at the medic, the tapping pausing for just a moment.

"Are there any repetitive motions you do? For example, like rocking or doing something with your servos."

Their helm tilted at that-- they quickly looked it up through the networking built into them. Eventually, they both nodded and shook their head.

Ratchet was both relieved and confused, "What do you mean by yes and no?"

They tapped on their creation resting on their chassis.

"Something to do with the youngling?" Ratchet enquired.

They nodded, pausing for a moment before slowly detaching creation. Who started squawking and chipping at their creator, no doubt able to understand the distress they were in. They looked back at Ratchet, unsure whether to continue... The chirps at them gave them fuel to press on. Then they laid themselves on the ground, placing the somehow loud and quiet creation on top of their chassis. The tight space barely allowed for this, but the bot looked more comfortable than they did before.