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Post by Kup on Oct 26, 2010 23:41:59 GMT -5
"Because your version might be different," Kup snaps.
He sighs and slumps back onto his berth, though he remains seated.
"Punishment decision's been made, I can't override it, but that don't mean I don't want to know what happened. I know you run into problems with authorities not willing to listen to your side." He shrugs. "I like to think we ain't like that here."
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Post by Swerve on Oct 27, 2010 9:42:01 GMT -5
"Already told my side." Swerve lets his arm drop back to the berth. He doesn't relax; his whole body tenses with the recollection, both hands tightening into fists until the thin struts and spars of his hands squeak in complaint. He ignores it. "Went off to do some driving and clear my head. The others showed up talkin' about racing. I said I wasn't fraggin' racing kids so that fume-sucking plane called me a coward." He spits that last word out, fury tempered by something Swerve is too unfamiliar with to name. It softens his voice as he continues, "So fine. I ran against 'em. And when the girl got in over her head, I split 'cause I didn't need to stick around with two kids and that flying dipstick when what I wanted more than anything was putting someone through a retaining wall face-first." He almost punches the wall again. "But I couldn't–!"
He falls silent for a few seconds when the whine and vibration of the cooling unit become too much to talk around. When he speaks again, his voice is even more ragged.
"Then I ran into the Decepticons," he mutters. "Middle of nowhere, no smelted people standin' around to get in the way and they're slaggin' 'Cons, I figured I'd get a fight and it wouldn't cause anybody else problems. Only then the Primus-fragged plane got in the way." And the rest is in the blasted report, he doesn't bother saying.
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Post by Kup on Oct 27, 2010 12:28:48 GMT -5
Kup considers what Swerve is saying... and a lot of what he isn't saying. He doesn't miss the softening if the other's voice, the points where the racer hesitates. He sighs and nods. "A bad business, all around. Sounds like they didn't mean no harm by it - they just don't get that for you, there's a slim line between racin' and fightin'. They didn't think what they were asking you for."
Then he shakes his head and peers up at Swerve. "But did you really expect 'em to let you run off and deal with the 'Cons on your lonesome?" He snorts. "Trust me, lad, 'Bots are real bad about letting their own face off against trouble without back-up, even when it makes every bit of sense in the world."
Well, except for when it comes to watching Optimus Prime facing off against Megatron one-on-one. That's all right, then.
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Post by Swerve on Oct 28, 2010 10:22:03 GMT -5
"I noticed," Swerve says bitterly, glaring at his hands. They'd have been better off if they'd left me be. Abruptly, he heaves himself upright and turns to Kup, confused and angry in the same cycle of the fuel pump. "Why– I mean, it's in the file – I said I race oilsport! What the smelt do I have to do?" he sputters. "Put on a live fraggin' demonstration? So people actually get it?!"
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Post by Kup on Oct 28, 2010 19:21:38 GMT -5
"Why not? We've got that weird holo-training room thing. The name should be a dead give-away, but... some of those guys are pretty oblivious, and..." Kup grumbles and rubs the back of his head. "Some of them kids ain't near as good about actually reviewing the database as they should be. Gotta yell at 'em about that."
Then he studies Swerve intently for a moment. "You... really did expect 'em to just leave you to face the 'Cons on your own, didn't you?"
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Post by Swerve on Oct 29, 2010 17:59:29 GMT -5
At first, all Swerve can do is shrug. He makes an indistinct noise after that, uncertain how to phrase himself.
"Not – I didn't exactly," he mumbles, but as he carries on, his agitation returns full force. "It wasn't like that. I never–" He makes a helpless gesture. "But I didn't call 'em and I'd gone ahead!" he went on. "Wasn't like I asked – they just showed up!" And that's what he doesn't understand. He rubs his head with one hand and stares at the floor. "If I'd said something… doesn't make any smelted sense." But slightly more sense than asking him to race.
He peers at Kup from under the ridge of his brow and presses his head into his hand, not wincing at the sharp pains in his processors only because he's still scowling in confusion.
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Post by Kup on Oct 29, 2010 22:26:04 GMT -5
Kup swings his legs up and around so that they're laying on her berth and he's sitting at the head, leaning against the desk that butts up against it. He looks up at Kup and smiles faintly.
"You don't need to ask, la- Swerve," he corrects quickly, not that Swerve seems all that bothered when Kup slips and calls him 'lad' anymore.
The smile remains in place, with perhaps the right corner pulling up slightly higher. "Now you know better."
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Post by Swerve on Oct 31, 2010 15:40:23 GMT -5
Swerve just shakes his head, grimacing now as he shrugs off his confusion. If he doesn't get it, he doesn't get it.
"Doesn't slaggin' make sense," he says anyway as he tiredly sinks back to his berth and presses his forehead to the cooler metal. Been here how long and still can't sort them out? He groans at himself, at his aching processors, and muffles the noise with one forearm.
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Post by Kup on Oct 31, 2010 19:39:29 GMT -5
Kup looks over at Swerve, faint smirk pulling up the right corner of his lips.
"So tell me, Swerve, would you have just left one of them to run off and fight botha those huge slaggers on their own?"
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Post by Swerve on Nov 1, 2010 17:51:41 GMT -5
"Why not?" Swerve mutters with a small shrug. "If that's what they wanted and they didn't yell for help, sure, let 'em at it." He frowns into the berth, however, at a thought that springs to mind. What if they needed help and weren't asking? "…I mean," he adds in a discontented rumble, "if I could tell they were gettin' scrapped, okay, yeah, I'd lend 'em a hand. What's that matter?" He looks up without lifting his head; all this heavy thinking isn't helping his temperature drop even if it isn't climbing any more.
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Post by Kup on Nov 1, 2010 22:17:04 GMT -5
Kup grins. "I think you already know. Or if you don't, you're close to knowing."
"You might not have been getting scrapped yet, but they were figuring you'd need help with that one eventually." He shrugs. "Now just think honestly about those two and tell me you wouldn't have. And remember - I've fought Wreckage before, so you can't pull one over on me about him being no lightweight, even if I don't know much about the other guy."
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Post by Swerve on Nov 3, 2010 10:34:38 GMT -5
Swerve does indeed think on it. Jumping in to help someone isn't exactly how he did things back home, sometimes in spite of himself. It was just a natural reaction topside; in the underground, it was dangerous and could have been suicidal. He'd learned to just look the other way when he knew he couldn't do anything but get himself wrecked. So of course it makes sense that a bunch of polished Autobots would step in where they thought they'd be needed and no never mind made of his need to hurt people.
After he sorts through all this, processors audibly grinding at points, he punches the berth.
"They could've waited or something, smelt 'em for rivets," he growls. I couldn't have made a bigger case of not wanting them in the fight without beating them up myself. What more did they need? Exit signs? Between the plane and the Decepticons, he'd been angry enough, he might well have shot Primus if given the chance. "And," he adds, glowering at Kup, "don't ever fraggin' suggest I'd try to pull one over on anybody."
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Post by Kup on Nov 3, 2010 13:12:11 GMT -5
"Yeah, they coulda waited," Kup shrugs. "Most of 'em are young and stupid. Whaddaya expect? I'm not trying to lay all the blame on you, I'm just trying to make you understand why they pulled that." Then he smirks. "Or maybe pointin' out that you already understand, is more like it."
Then he snorts. "And Swerve, you pull things over on yourself all the time. You might not ever be intentionally dishonest, but until you figure out how to be honest with yourself, you ain't gonna be able to be completely honest with the rest of us, either. If you were there already, it wouldn't have taken this damn long for the others to find out about that heating situation to begin with."
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Post by Swerve on Nov 4, 2010 13:26:24 GMT -5
"I didn't slaggin' wanna hand everyone how to kill me on a nickel-plated platter!" Swerve snaps, sitting up sharply, need to cool down forgotten. "Yeah, sure," he goes on venomously, "all we gotta do to get that crankshaft old Swerve outta the way is get his coolant boiling. He'll melt down his own processors in no time! Easy!" And now, apparently, the whole ship will know. And somehow, nags that cold, paranoid part of his spark that kept him going during those early days in the underground, they'll find a way to use it as leverage on him. Make him need them – they'll get Perceptor to brew up a coolant that has to be completely drained out and replaced regularly knowing Swerve's no chemist. Find ways to keep him on the ship so he can't go out and buy or steal some for himself.
Of course, he should know better. He does know better – when he can think straight. But he's angry and he's dug up too many old fears. He doesn't want to need others, their support or their companionship, and he's starting to realise that he has come to rely on the latter. He edges toward the wall, putting his back to it with his legs scraping against his berth, and he watches Kup.
"Real easy," he croaks, holding his head with one hand. And why wouldn't they use it? It's what I'd do. His fingers tighten, catching on the aural ridge that spans his head. "Took me fifteen blasted bodies to get here and it's still no good."
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Post by Kup on Nov 4, 2010 16:59:21 GMT -5
Kup just looks at Swerve for a long moment. Finally he says, "Lad, unless there's something else you ain't told me, I'm assuming that all the normal methods of offing a person still work on you. Meanin' if we had wanted you outta the way, we already got plenty of ways that don't involve gettin' you spun up first. And generally, most of 'em would be even easier... not that it's ever been that hard to get you spun up to begin with."
"But that ain't the point. The point is, when you've got the right motivation, you're willing enough to 'pull one over' on someone else." And none of Swerve's ranting contradicts that little detail.
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