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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 20:13:49 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime can't help but glare up at Perceptor, and he protests, "I wasn't trying to get myself thrown in an asylum or a Sharkticon pit. I'll just have to read up on the laws here, but you know what? I don't think it'll even make a difference. This place is so corrupt, you can just buy time in the slammer for anyone you don't like, if you have the credits."
The irony of Sentinel Prime complaining about anyone being corrupt is so thick it can be cut with a knife.
"If I never go down there again on that planet, it will be too soon."
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 20:48:37 GMT -5
"I do not believe that it will, either," Perceptor replies with a frown. He hates this world. Hates it even more that he sees even the very slim glimpses of true corruption from within - and his glimpses are very slim, at that. The others in the office channel only the most above board cases to him, having pegged him as a "clean cog" right off the bat.
He moves around the the other side to work on Sentinel's other arm, cleaning out the debris left behind by the sharkticons, prying the plating up and back into place, smoothing the damages out, but all only after he has disabled the pain sensors. "I do not believe such transactions are always even reliant upon strictly credits," he observes with a dark frown as he concentrates on his work. "There is more power to be gained by the trading of mere favors, and less trail for what few honest investigators there are to find without the exchange of currency."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 21:07:47 GMT -5
"Tell me about," Sentinel Prime mutters. Perceptor thinks there's dirty dealing and skids being greased going on here? Sentinel Prime could tell Perceptor all about that, not here in specific, but in general. Except he's not going to, because that would look bad.
He watches Perceptor's work, fairly staring at it, unblinking, in the way of those patients who just have to watch the doctor put in the needle for the vaccine, have to see the plunger go down. That's excusable, right? Sentinel Prime has good reasons to be worried by his medical health care professionals!
Except it isn't true worry that motivates him. True worry is a hard thing for him to be able to make himself feel, these days. Machine logic dictates, though, that this is a reasonable area for someone like Sentinel Prime to shows concern, but the whole look of it just isn't right for concern, more a blank curiousity.
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 21:23:14 GMT -5
The blank curiosity actually doesn't ring any warning bells to Perceptor; he's numbed all the pain receptors, and would find outright concern more alarming than mere curiosity. It's never occurred to him to be concerned about any sort of medical procedure.
Lacking any continued conversation for the next bit, he falls back upon his habitual manner of muttering to himself and his equipment as he works, cajoling the bits back into their proper places with words as much as manual skill, before finally retrieving the buffer to smooth out the new welds.
By the time he finishes with the rest of the bites, dings, and slashes, Sentinel makes an odd picture, with his plating in pristine condition, but his paint marred by the scoured, bare patches that have yet to be touched up. Better to get all the repairs done first, though, before moving on to the cosmetics.
"That's that. Run me off a quick internal diagnostic, if you please, Sentinel, and then we'll give your processor a quick check to make certain that everything's still firmly in place, then it's off to the paint booth with you, and you shall be finished!" Perceptor reports cheerily.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 21:32:12 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime runs off the diagnostic, and then Perceptor drops the other boot. A bit of real panic takes hold of him, but he forces it down. He told Elita-1 to get over to security. If need be, she can wipe the tapes. The situation is under control. He's Sentinel Prime. Would he have it any other way?
Silently, Sentinel Prime pulls off his helmet and set is down on his lap. His head open up, much as Arcee's did when Shockwave went about his business in her mind. It's a reality quirk.
Sentinel Prime points out, unable to help himself, "I'll be finished? Doc, do you think about what you're saying?"
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 21:46:00 GMT -5
How utterly fascinating! Perceptor cannot help but to stare as Sentinel's head... blossoms open to provide access to all the vital areas. He circles the table, lost in his own enchanted study of Sentinel's cranial exploits for a long moment, before he recalls himself - and his incredibly rude behavior.
"Oh, my. My apologies, Sentinel. I have never encountered a feature like this before. Ah, heh. I..." he trails off, tilting his head as he considers the other's comments for a moment. "Think about what I am... OH!"
Optics almost comically wide, Perceptor turns a horribly embarrassed look of apology upon Sentinel. "You are correct. My most sincere apologies, Sentinel. That was not what I... it was a very poor choice of wording. I meant to say that you would be free to return to your duties, not that... Ah... yes. Ahem. I will just... ahh... retrieve my diagnostic scanner. Yes."
Way to go, Perceptor. Take the paranoid mech nervous about medical stuff anyway, and throw verbal gaffes like that at him.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 22:02:44 GMT -5
Great, so Perceptor about pops a gasket over Sentinel Prime's head opening up. Remind Sentinel Prime to never get busted enough to need his spark casing to be taken out of his chest, in that handy-dandy little container with handles. He bets that would just make Perceptor's engine knock with joy.
He wonders if he wants to tell Perceptor that helmets that come off and heads that open up are common to his reality, and after some soul searching, he decides that even he, Sentinel Prime, is not that much of a sadist.
So Sentinel Prime just shrugs and waves a hand dismissively, pointing out, "Don't worry about it. Keep it up, and I might start thinking you have a sense of humour."
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 22:28:43 GMT -5
That manages to pull a faint snort from the scientist as Perceptor returns with a few little electronic gizmos in hand. "A sense of humor? Please be Sirius."
Wait... that doesn't work so well in a verbal format. Hmm... "Everyone knows that a scientist could not create a humorous statement if one handed them all the appropriate participles, adjectives, and subjects neatly bound with a bow tie and a detailed schematic. My own sense of humor petrified itself millennium ago. Perhaps I took it for granite."
Badum-Cha.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 22:57:26 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime frowns at Perceptor. First, Perceptor was creepy. Now, Perceptor's just being painful. Go back to being creepy, Perceptor. Sentinel Prime can handle disturbing better than corny jokes.
He directs, "Point taken. Just put the doohickeys in my head before you give me a headache."
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 23:07:04 GMT -5
Perceptor pouts, just a little. He was trying, honest! "Very well," he sighs. "I shall 'stick to my day job', as it were."
Moving to the head of the berth, Perceptor carefully attaches the various sensors and probes before tugging a small table over to take his place. The reason becomes obvious a moment later when he transforms, landing neatly upon that table in the perfect spot to deploy his scope to peer into Sentinel's main processor, and all the sub-processor units that he now has unfettered access too.
Almost immediately, however, he notes... differences from the last time he had examined Sentinel's functions - right after his confinement in the asylum. Significant differences from then, in fact. Systemic changes, but primarily centered around his emotional processing centers, it seems.
Not to put too fine a point on it, it almost appears as if someone took a metaphorical awl and jammed it crudely into those areas, and thrashed it around. There was certainly no notable skill involved with the mangling, that Perceptor can detect.
"Sentinel?" he inquires, suspicion and concern warring in his tone. "Is there something you need to tell me?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 23:25:50 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime's processors are also different than his baseline check-up readings from before the asylum.
He sits still for the most part. Sentinel Prime's trying to be a good patient, and with his head open like it is right now, falling off the berth and smacking into the floor would leave him an oil-drooling mudflap. He should be afraid. He feels a little cold. That's all.
So Perceptor's noticed something, but what exactly has Perceptor noticed? That's the trick. Sentinel Prime replies casually, "Why, Doc? You see something?"
C'mon, Perceptor. Give Sentinel Prime something to work with.
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 24, 2010 23:38:28 GMT -5
There is no possible way that Sentinel could not be aware of his altered state. In fact, it is perishingly unlikely that Sentinel would not have been aware of it being done to him when it was done, unless he had been rendered unconscious at the time that the alterations occurred. When could that have been, though? Was he held by the Quintessons before his "trial"? Where else has he been.
Perceptor is quiet for a few long moments as he continues scanning through Sentinel's systems, bringing up the information from his past scans and comparing it to what Perceptor is seeing now. He finally transforms again, sidling around the table to one side to stare gravely down at Sentinel.
"Your processor has been... tampered with. Significantly so. Primarily regarding your emotional response matrix. What happened, Sentinel?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 24, 2010 23:55:01 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime looks up at Perceptor, and he asks, voice steady, "Didn't I just tell you that my Perceptor deleted his emotions?"
That's a very misleading answer, not an answer at all, but Sentinel Prime's always been a good liar, and one of the best ways to lie is not to lie at all. If he can make Perceptor think that he took the equivalent of an ice pick to his own processor, that's all the better by Sentinel Prime.
Didn't he already establish that there's precedent for doing so in his reality, ever so cleverly seamlessly dropping that tidbit of information into the conversation?
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Post by Perceptor on Nov 25, 2010 0:00:39 GMT -5
Perceptor frowns. Hard. "You did mention that, yes," he replies, his optics narrowing. "However, that would imply an alteration to the programming and software, not a... a mutilation of the hardware components."
"Additionally, when I asked if there was anything that you wished to tell me, that would have been an appropriate time to mention that you had taken it upon yourself to perform... alterations... upon your own functions in that manner. Such duplicity by omission implies to me that you are, in fact, not personally responsible for the... for that," he replies, waving toward Sentinel's still-opened head.
"What. Happened?"
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Post by Sentinel Prime on Nov 25, 2010 0:16:46 GMT -5
Sentinel Prime turns a hard look on Perceptor and, slightly caustically, he points out, "I could waste my time with screaming nightmares and running out of the room in a fit just because someone gave me a pat on the shoulder, or I could shift gears and get on with life as best I can. I pledged myself to the Autobots, and I owe you all my service. I can't give it if I'm a mental wreck. Perceptor, you were asking if there's anything wrong with me. As far as I'm concerned, it's my body, and it's my mind, and there's nothing wrong with me. So you can take your implications and kindly get out of my head, because I'm not broken, and I don't need fixing."
Best to specify both of those things. Science Guild types never know when good enough is good enough.
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