genessia | Potential Action in Genessia/ Accidental Voice

THERE WAS NO ONE IN THE CAB OF THAT AMBULANCE.

AND THIS THING HADN'T REGISTERED AS EVEN A BLIP, A DROP, A SPECK OF MAGIC.

WHAT THE FUCK.

Tannusen slid out from under the ambulance in a hurry, mostly because MOVING PARTS, MOVING PARTS.

"Jethro, are you seeing this shit?"

The second he's out, the ambulance goes dead silent again. Okay he hates having a holoform in the cab. Mostly because of ~~alien racism~~ IT'S HARD LEAVE ME ALONE. It would be a good idea to peel off like a maniac.

If... if... there had been a holoform in there.

Which there isn't as was recently established.

This isn't his fault nope.

So the ambulance just sits there silent and motionless now. Nope, you're bats, Tannusen.

Silence, so far as any listeners would know it, from whatever 'Jethro' was.

"Right?" But Tannusen, you see, he had no problem 'talking to himself' out in public. That was the kind of thing you got over extraordinarily quickly when you went through chrysalises and suddenly didn't quite exist in the same world as everyone around you.

As the quote went, 'And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.' — Friedrich Nietzsche.

It summed up Faerie life in the Autumn World awfully well.

"Yeah, you'd better be recording."

And Tannusen, not at all put off by what had just gone down, proceeded to do another loop around the ambulance, eyeing it speculatively. Kenning continued to turn up nothing. This wasn't a chimera or anything like one; or if it was, it wasn't magic-based.

Something like K-2SO, or Lil.

Something.

The madman knew the sharp edges of his own madness; he knew this was not him being bats. Thus, he kicked at the thing's tires to see if they were legit; rapped his knuckles on the engine hood...

"Yes, yes, but satisfaction brought it back. Can we stop with the cat jokes for ten minutes, please?"

... Nah, this is totally bats.

Of course the stupid ambulance doesn't do a damn thing, even when Tannusen kicks the tires. He's had this happen before, honestly. Tire kicking seems to be some weird human ritual, he'd never understand it.

He does notice Tannusen having an engaging conversation with the bike, but a quick scan was enough to prove that thing was no Cybertronian.

So now he's angry and confused.

Fuck you.

That ambulance is silent as the grave.

Knock-knock, knock-knock. A pause, while Tannusen just rests his hand on the hood, tapping his fingers in thought.

You know what's more fun than dealing with someone who's apparently bats?

Dealing with someone who's apparently bats and is apparently considering something.

"You think so? But if it's alive, that would hurt like a motherfucker."

Tap-tap, tap-tap.

"Mn, true. Hasn't stopped me before."

... That doesn't sound good.

He still doesn't move, if only because if this CLEARLY BATS human thinks he's alive, this could be a bluff to get him to move.

Nope.

Not doing it.

Don't you fucking mess with him.

"I'm not using the fucking pocket knife, Jethro. God, it's like you've got even less empathy than I do."

Which... is... true, actually.

And also, is... saying a lot, because Tannusen doesn't have empathy in most situations.

Nope, when Tannusen reaches into his pocket, he produces a piece of chalk instead of a knife.

And proceeds to start drawing a wide circle on the engine hood.

...Whelp...

... God.

No he's not gonna do anything about that but he is gonna sit here and BE VERY ANGRY.

GOD.

He cannot believe he is letting some punk doodle on his hood. He cannot believe this is happening. Where is Optimus? Where is anyone?

Why is this happening to him?

What did he DO TO DESERVE THIS?

Tannusen taps on the center of the circle, once complete, and it... does nothing.

...Nothing.

Nada.

"Well."

You see, the thing about Tannusen is... he may be a lunatic, but he's a smart lunatic. A smart lunatic who's seen weirder shit than this, even back on his own world.

On any given Tuesday.

"So... I'm being observed by someone else. Is it you, fancy pants?" That question comes with another tap to the hood, and a slow smile.

Not good.

"Let's find out."

And suddenly... the world bled. Markings like ink spread out across Tannusen's skin as the whites of his eyes went black, streaks of darkness slipping through his hair like ribbons. The Bay was a confusing cacophony of every dream and nightmare and fantasy and paranoid delusion to have passed through it; even Tannusen didn't like to look directly at it.

The road... it was gold. Not just in appearance, but in feel, and weight.

The grass of the nearby park was paper and thorns and the trees--

Of course, there was also the matter of the motorcycle Ratchet had so diligently scanned. Now a kirin, too beautiful for mortal comprehension to truly take in.

And then, all of a sudden, things were a lot less okay than they had been a few minutes prior.

Honestly, he'd not experienced anything vaguely like this in his entire life, and Ratchet was old for a Cybertronian. That was saying something.

So it was really understandable that after less than a second of this, the medic had taken quite more than enough of it.

Whirling and banging parts filled the air as the ambulance went from vehicle to a twenty foot tall, decidedly panicked looking robot, frantically scuffing the chalk off his chest as his optics sharply dilated and brightened in confusion.

"What in the name of-!?"

Tannusen actually clapped his gloved hands together, laughing.

"Aaaaand bingo, look at that! Told you!" That was at Jethro, and the kirin tossed his head, chromed antlers shining brightly in the sun. Too brightly. Too brightly. Tannusen squinted at the kirin and then turned his attention back to the confused, twenty foot tall robot.

"Was that really so hard? You're not chimerical, so I know you could have done this without the song and dance. Honestly, you must be new here or you'd know better than to play chicken."

Especially with a tiger. Not that a newbie would know that he is one. At least, prior to seeing his markings bloom across his pale skin in what could only be tiger stripes.

IT'S NOT FUNNY.

He's still trying not to flip too much shit, as he's seeing various chimera hop all around him like fleas on a dog, and he DOES NOT LIKE IT. Yeah that shit is too bright, turn it off.

"Adjubuh-

Turn this off right now!"

"Can't do, fancy pants. Enchantments last as long as Enchantments last."

Once he's invested a point of Glamour into someone, he can't just pluck it back out again. Even if he wanted to. Probably. And right now, he probably wouldn't even if he could.

Cuz robot guy here's an asshole. And Tannusen? He's an asshole.

"What's the point in hiding out in that other form? This ain't Earth, people don't flip their shit... generally... over folks being weird talking robots, or whatever."

Or tigers wearing human skin.

"I mean, they're all largely pretty stupid, but I've yet to see a witch-hunt over anything other than maybe necromancy. Or... weirdly enough, being an actual human in the wrong town."

This sounds like Greek to Ratchet. Yeah okay, he woke up in a weird place that wasn't the bunker but then this looked like earth and most of the people that waddled past him today had all looked human so he didn't think it was too far of a stretch to assume it was earth.

Somewhere.

Look everything looks the same on this stupid planet.

"'This ain't earth'- I'm sorry, I missed the sign informing me I'd bridged myself into an alternate planet."

So he missed the hologram.

Welp.

"That'd be over there," Tannusen pointed toward the hologram's platform, which... nope, best not to actually look directly at that whole area, just now. It was a mess. The hologram probably wouldn't even play correctly, to an Enchanted mind. "And to a lesser extent, in the box of crap you probably woke up with."

As far as the Enchantment itself goes...

"By the way, anything weird you see right now? Actually tangible. So if a dragon tries to chomp your head off at some point today, maybe duck."

You're not a helper, Tannusen.

He flings his hands up for a moment in frustration, sending what looked like a sapient ball of blond hair squealing into the bay.

Good.

Great.

"Are you capable of being helpful?"

"Sure," Tannusen goes to go lean back against Jethro's side, folding his arms. "But I'm an asshole."

He really is. It's one of his better qualities, in his own opinion. Thus, he owns that shit.

"I mean, I guess I could've not warned you, and let you think this is all a visual illusion. Dragons do love themselves some shiny tall shit, though. And we've got at least a dozen of them in this city alone. Real popular fantasy with the mortals, you know."

Look he's dealt with dragons, he's actually pretty good at talking to them, in his personal opinion.

At least if they all end up being as reasonable as Predaking.

He ain't never seen an organic dragon.

"You could have not done... whatever it is you've done." Enchantment, geezer.

Chimera could be far smarter than any mortal or they could be as dumb as a bag of rocks. And on this world? With these people generating the dreams and nightmares and fantasies?

Tannusen... Tannusen would err on the side of dumb as a bag of rocks.

"Sure," Tannusen repeats with a grin that flashes canine teeth that are so sharp they hurt to look at. "But I'm an asshole."

Fuck you, buddy.

"Also, your logos weren't right for the local hospital. You can be generic on Earth, but this place is way too small for that. Not that most of these people will notice."

And with that, Tannusen turns to grab onto the horns of Jethro's saddle and hoist himself up into it. Stirrups are for quitters.

YEAH HE GATHERED.

To be fair any ounce of fear he's feeling, and trust him, there is a lot of it, has been carefully redesigned and sent out with a shiny ANGER skin on it.

He's scared shitless.

But fuck you, you don't get to see that you weird stripey person.

He does have to begrudgingly admit... it is good advice. If this place is too small, a generic emergency vehicle might stand out if there aren't nearly enough various medical agencies.

Ratchet however is first of all way too proud and way too insulted to thank someone who is making him trip bearings right now. He also doesn't wanna be alone while he's tripping bearings, so there's an annoyed burst of air and sound from the medic before he attempts to just-

"You are not leaving me alone like this."

YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU GROSS KID.

"Cool story, but if you want to be on a less bad trip, I suggest we get the fuck away from the Bay. The more mortals have been somewhere, thinking and dreaming and panicking, the stronger my world shows itself in that spot. And this is where everyone wakes up. Thinking, and dreaming, and definitely panicking. Every fear, every nightmare, every paranoid delusion..."

That's right, it's an overlapping of worlds. Not just... drugs, like it must seem.

And a hell of a world, at that, if it contains all those things from all those minds.

Tannusen gets settled on Jethro's back, and the chimera just starts walking thattaway. Off toward... somewhere. Aimed... over there. Really, the goal is to find somewhere real people haven't invested much of the Glamour they generate, into. And... somewhere this asshole will fit, so Velvet Lust is out.

(Velvet is full of Glamour, yes, but it's a calm sort of place. The eye at the center of the storm.)

Yes good fine sure, he will happily leave this land of nightmares and screaming behind forever and ever, whatever. He isn't too concerned about one lone stripey not!human leading him around town on a magic deer, okay. Not anymore.

He's past the point of wanting to be wary, this is a severe sensory overload please help.

Somewhere, anywhere that wasn't the bay. Rather helplessly, the medic follows, staring squarely at Tannusen and Jethro and no where else.

Tannu and Jethro are pretty easy to stare at, especially that unfathomably pretty kirin. They lead him all the way to the Attleton archway and through it, and -- WELL AWAY FROM THAT CIRCUS -- off to some boring suburb that doesn't have any rentals available to real people. It damn near looks normal, as long as you don't look up at the sky.

Don't look up at the sky.

"There, nice and low-key banal." Not enough to start cooking the Faerie or his chimera, but enough to reduce the nonsense down to a dull roar. 1s and 2s instead of 7s and 8s like most of the trip, or the flat-out 9 of the Bay.

Yes please no circus thanks.

He's also not looking at the sky, don't you worry.

By the time they get to Attleton and find a nice boring cul-de-sac to sit in, Ratchet pretty much never wants to leave Attleton ever goddamn again.

You're a prick, Tannusen.

There's still little things squirming and crawling and hopping across the pavement but... Well he can deal with these ones.

"What in Primus... was all that?"

Tannusen's sympathy for those freaked out by temporary glimpses of the chimerical side of reality has been pretty minimal through-out his twenty-one years of living this way. His kind tends to be very frightened teenagers going through intense emotional trauma when the world suddenly shifts to the side, and like hell does the mortal populace cut them any slack.

Even if he hadn't been a mad-man, a lunatic, before he'd come charging out of that brush Trench had shoved him into as an angry tiger...

The world would have treated him like one anyway.

"What that is, present tense," Tannusen leans his arms against Jethro's neck, getting comfy where he sits, "is the chimerical side to the Autumn World. You're getting a little glimpse, is all." Tourist. "Much of my magic won't work on the non-Fae without an Enchantment. You're all too boring."

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