#crinis

When Cleverbot was thrown at him, seemingly out of nowhere, Crinis' tentacles automatically whipped out to catch him before he could think it through. As a result, as soon as he caught Cleverbot, his knees buckled and he crashed to the floor, only barely catching himself with his hands as his tentacles curled around Cleverbot. He made an odd wheezing, moaning noise. "Primus...!"

((Let's be honest. If Cleverbot and Crinis' heights were reversed, Cleverbot would find tiny Crinis hugging one of his legs like a koala.))

Sometimes Ala sees his own wings and wants to scream and break things to ignore the urge to rip them off and the wave of nausea that causes. Sometimes Cohors sees his Autobot symbol and is reminded of the opposite faction, and has to curl up alone so that his mind doesn't project the symbol onto everything around him. Sometimes Brachium comes back from a job and lets himself bleed awhile, knowing it's not the case but hoping that somehow he'll feel cleaner if he bleeds out the 'bad' energon. Sometimes Crinis wishes he could just reach into his head and rip out his coding mess so that he won't go berserk anymore. Sometimes he winds up caught between himself and his coding, and just bashes his head against the wall in the hopes it will fix things. Sometimes Manicula kills someone for a job, then winds up starving himself for a few days because he can't stand to look at energon. Sometimes Faciem remembers coming out of a rage to discover he'd murdered his parents, and he locks himself away to scream until his vocalizer refuses to even spit static. After all, he lacks optics with which to cry. Sometimes Oculus thinks of his sparkling self and demands to know what he did to get hated so violently, and why he had to be born looking so plain. Of course, he never gets answered.

Corpus purred, watching Crinis shake as he knelt over the glowing energy blade. Stalking around him, he caressed Crinis' tentacles in a mockery of affection, enjoying the feel of his field as it told him the medic's tanks were rolling, beyond ready to rebel and have him purge. "Who freed you from the Institute, Crinis?" he asked. The medic's optics snapped from the blade to him, as they should. "You did, sir," he whispered. "Very good~ Who saved you from being trapped as an observer in your body?" "You did, sir." Corpus was still smiling pleasantly when he came to a stop before Crinis, holding a whip. "Are you grateful, Crinis?" "Yes." The whip struck his cheek and he flinched, but his optics didn't shut. He'd made them all learn that shutting their optics was worse than keeping them open. "You're such a beautiful liar, Crinis," he purred. "You're not grateful for my generosity at all." He reveled in the flare of distress from the other mech's field. "I am! I am grateful, sir!" he tried to assure him, only for the whip to flick dangerously close to his lips. "If you were grateful," he said, smile still pleasant but voice deadly, "You would not have disobeyed the client, disobeyed ME, and lost us a good chunk of money." He'd been so bored lately. Both of them knew that Crinis' nature would force him to disobey. Both of them knew Corpus had set him up for punishment. But Crinis knew the ritual, and Corpus did so love dangling the possibility of mercy over his helpless servant's head. "I'm sorry, sir," Crinis whispered. "I'm so sorry, I'll never do it again-" The whip struck his other cheek. "Such a liar~" he crooned. "We both know you'll spare the pretty ones and the children every time." 'The pretty ones' being whoever the client or clients wanted to have abducted for fragging, in addition to their other wants. "How did you let them go this time, Crinis? What did you do while Cohors and Faciem were ripping apart the enforcers and blowing up this particular city hall?" As always, Crinis had to answer honestly. "I had a ship," he said quietly. "I bought it on our way to the planet, and... And I sent a drone ahead to gather all the secondary targets and their offspring to get them on a ship and send them to a randomized location with enough fuel to keep them safe. It was done before we arrived, so I was under the town hall making sure no one could escape underground while Cohors and Faciem set up." Corpus smirked. "Unfortunately for you, I managed to procure their coordinates. And I'll give them to that client unless you do something to please me." "Anything!" Crinis replied, predictably, his optics wide and desperate. "Drop yourself onto that blade you've been eyeing so nervously," he purred. "Scream loud enough, and I could be convinced to delete the coordinates from my memory files and from the ship's computer." Crinis dropped, and Corpus laughed while the medic screamed, his interfacing equipment being sliced through. And this was only the beginning.