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Post by Mirage on May 10, 2011 21:18:58 GMT -5
Mirage is knocked forward slightly by Sentinel's slap. He gives the Prime a Look. That stung, and Mirage is pretty sure Sentinel meant it to do so.
"Oh, I know I'm something special," Mirage drawls, "You aren't the first Prime to try and recruit me for a cause- not even the first Sentinel Prime. I'm afraid you're still trailing behi-"
His snark cuts off as Sentinel very much invades Mirage's personal space again. The words spoken finally break through Mirage's mask of negligent arrogance. His lips draw into a thin line, and his optics go cold and hard, flat.
In the same low tone as Sentinel, Mirage says, "It does, but the range would not extend to your seat. It is a personal cloaking device after all."
"Now get out of my face."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on May 10, 2011 21:30:45 GMT -5
There's the reaction he was wanting! Suppressing a slag-eating grin, Sentinel Prime looks blank and innocent back at Mirage. What? It's not Sentinel Prime's fault that Mirage is built out of tissue paper.
He murmurs, "Oh, I could get closer. Say there's something on your screen that I just have to see. Oh, Mirage, I did try to be discreet. You chose this, not me."
Sentinel Prime pulls back, though, and settles himself comfortable in his seat, continuing lowly, "I guess I'll be putting these up tomorrow all around the ship." He taps his datapad and brings up a... wanted poster, featuring a grainy picture of Decepticon Mirage, probably taken from Sentinel Prime's own optical feed, when he watched that video Omega Supreme pulled out of Hound's dead head. "Get them printed out all nice and glossy... Wonder if your girlfriend'll come comfort you when you're crying in the fan room over that?"
He turns and looks at Mirage, wide-opticed and conversational, and asks, "Do your boyfriends know about her?"
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Post by Mirage on May 10, 2011 22:24:44 GMT -5
If they were on Mirage's Cybertron, Mirage would handle this by completely ruining Sentinel socially so badly that no one would speak to him for fear of losing status. Or perhaps they would duel- but Sentinel as the challenged would have choice of weapons and the Prime knows Mirage's strengths and lacks.
The problem is that they are not on Mirage's Cybertron, and there is a small part of the spy which is contemplating something which scares the spy terribly.
"It was agreed," he says quietly and at length, "that the details surrounding that arrival would not become public record." Tacitly agreed. Rodimus didn't actually make it an order. However, there is the threat there that going forward with his plan might set Sentinel at odds with another Prime.
"Just as I do not make public record the details of my love life. I am upfront with my lovers that I am not into exclusivity. None of them have issues with that arrangement."
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Post by Sentinel Prime on May 10, 2011 22:39:08 GMT -5
Do it, Mirage, and Sentinel Prime's paranoia will be proven correct. Murderer.
"Was it?" Sentinel Prime asks absently, lazily.
He's completely sincere as he explains, hands up in the air, waving blithely, "I've been nice to you, Mirage. AllSpark knows, I could use more friends, and I like a challenge. I was sincere in everything I did for you." Sincere and self-serving at the same time, good and evil held in either hand, weighing him down. "And you went and made me look like an idiot in front of Rodimus Prime and Glyph."
Sentinel Prime's voice cools and hardens, like a jacket of ice, "So now you get to see that I don't do nice well, especially when it's thrown back in my face." He pulls up a picture of Mirage crying in the fan room on the datapad, for good measure. "Never heard of hazing?"
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Post by Mirage on May 11, 2011 21:53:39 GMT -5
"I did what?!?"
Confusion crosses the spy's features as he rubs his temples. Gah. He is so much more prone to stress headaches since....
"Sentinel, I wasn't trying to do anything of the sort. I was merely making conversation, and trying to ignore the fact that my head felt ready to explode at any moment." Like it does not, thank you very much Mr. Sentinel Prime.
"Are you seriously doing this because you think I tarnished you in their optics? Even after you were offered a command position?" Mirage laughs bitterly, "Surely your feelings are not that delicate."
He straightens in his chair, "I think you're taking this route just because you can, and because you enjoy having power over people. You may have been genuinely nice before, but you are just as genuine in your pettiness now."
"Do you make a habit, Sentinel Prime, of forcing to your pleasure those who would have none of you?" Because really, that is what Sentinel is doing. Forcing Mirage to do as Sentinel wishes and all. Just because he can.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on May 11, 2011 22:06:43 GMT -5
"What's worse, Mirage? The Autobot who doesn't report the approaching Decepticons because he can't be bothered to put in the effort, or the Autobot who lets them inside on purpose maliciously? You end up ambushed either way. I think you know what you're like, and you don't care to turn it off, because that would be inconvenient for you," Sentinel Prime speculates when Mirage insists that he wasn't trying to embarrass Sentinel Prime in public.
Does this touch back on that conversation with Botanica, Prowl, and Cheetor? It does!
He states firmly, "I need someone with your skills. The team needs someone. I have a way of getting you. That's really all there is it to it."
Does Sentinel Prime enjoy getting Mirage back a bit? More than he'll admit.
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Post by Mirage on May 11, 2011 22:49:41 GMT -5
Mirage has spent the past minutes examining the conversation from that long ago day. He honestly sees nothing wrong with anything he said. Often, Mirage can see where someone misinterprets, or where he was being deliberately antagonistic. This had been simple conversation, typical of many Mirage had participated in, but maybe there was something....
No. Mirage refuses to become one of those people who constantly questions his past actions, looking backwards always. He was not in the wrong. He is sure of it.
"I know exactly what I am like, and do make an effort to temper my words. Very large efforts, successful efforts, and yet people like you continue to find me at fault for nothing," Mirage counters coldly.
"Fine then. If you are so determined to have me that you would create active dislike where before there was at best vague indifference, then so be it."
So you win, Sentinel. For now.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on May 11, 2011 22:57:18 GMT -5
"'People like you'," Sentinel Prime repeats back, amusement ghosting on his face. "I'm not the only one to call you on this? You know Mirage, maybe it's not us. Maybe it's you."
The amusement breaks out into a full-on grin, and he puts his datapad of dirty secrets away. Sentinel Prime can handle hatred and resentment. Haters are gonna hate. He's dealt with it before and is quite familiar with it.
He tries to give Mirage a decidedly gentler pat on the back and says, "Fantastic. I knew you'd come around. I'm quite loyal to mine, you'll find. I mean... I'd jump on a bomb for them. With my shield malfunctioning."
This behaviour shift might seem jarring, but Mirage is Sentinel Prime's now, and Mirage can loathe and detest Sentinel Prime as much as he wants, but Sentinel Prime will look after Mirage, anyway.
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Post by Mirage on May 12, 2011 10:25:23 GMT -5
Mirage turns back to his console. "Go frag yourself, Sentinel." Yeah, don't expect much conversation from Mirage for the rest of this shift.
And once this shift is done... Mirage is going to try and track down another Prime. They are overdue for a conversation.
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Post by Sentinel Prime on May 12, 2011 10:32:18 GMT -5
"That'll make you go blind, you know," Sentinel Prime says absently.
He settles back into his work, diligent and meticulous as ever, but he does add, "If there's ever anything you need of me, don't hesitate to ask. Except for. You know."
Anything except for Mirage's freedom.
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