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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 10:05:25 GMT -5
It is a mark of just how angry Perceptor is right now that he could not care less if Drift did break his finger. His whole hand. His entire arm. All it would do would validate his wrath. He's expecting it, no less, and is almost surprised when all Drift does is shove him away. Almost surprised, except that even the surprise is swallowed by his temper.
"Gladly" he snarls as he staggers to catch himself upon the berth. Before Drift can slip away, though, Perceptor straightens, and a cool, dark look fills his expression as he reconsiders. "No."
"No, I will not be assigning anyone else to perform your maintenance," he declares calmly. "Friends. You would treat a supposed friend thusly. Accuse them of such impropriety, assault them, deride them. Fling your supposed 'friendship' about as a weapon meant to hurt. No. I will not ask anyone under my care to suffer your behavior."
"So either deal with me, or go without. Or else you may have Kup attempt to assign you a new technician himself." And then Kup can throw Perceptor in the Brig again when Perceptor flatly refuses to inflict the swordsmech on anyone else in Med/Sci/Eng.
"This is not the world you came from," he adds quietly, his voice hard and unyielding, like the flat of a blade. "And I do not mean our base realities." He pauses to point to his chest where he wears his Autobot badge proudly, the same badge that adorns Drift's shoulders. "You claimed our symbol for a reason."
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 10:32:42 GMT -5
((ooc: worst. hiatus. EVER.))
Look. Drift has no idea how to do this 'friend' thing. The Decepticons didn't exactly have a field manual on it, okay? Seriously. He's trying.
He just happens to suck at it. The last time someone gave him an ultimatum, Drift kicked him in the face and locked his ship down while he stole an escape pod.
Drift is seriously considering a reprise of this.
"Nice to hear," he says, quietly, "you've forgotten all the other stuff I told you." The things he hadn't told anyone else. Sure, they might have seemed inconsequential, but they were huge admissions for him--the guilt, his doubts about his ability to change anything.... "Keep forgetting it."
He grunts. Fine. That's how Perceptor wants to be? That's how the nerd wants to repay Drift saving his aft? Just fine. His optics flick to his shoulders, and for a moment there's a flicker of confusion as the optical castlight is blue, not red. "This?" He feels his mouth curl into Deadlock's familiar smirk. "Mistake."
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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 10:56:52 GMT -5
"I have not forgotten anything," Perceptor replies quietly. He places his hands upon the berth that now rests between them, leaning forward just a little in his earnestness. "But if you truly wish to change the world, you cannot continue to face everything as if it were a battle to be won with fists and blades alone. Life is not a battle to be conquered, and we are more than mere weapons." It's the same argument he's had with Shockwave, that he's touched upon with Xaaron.
"Do you expect me, as your friend," Perceptor is nothing, if not a forgiving, trusting mech, "to stand by and merely observe as you fling yourself headlong down the same path, while somehow expecting the outcome to change?"
He sighs, his temper visibly cooling. "If you wish to receive trust, you must extend it. You were. I thought..." Perceptor's expression falters a little, something painfully sad filtering into the lines around his optics and his mouth, his shoulders drooping just a little in defeat.
"I would never 'jerk you around' in such a manner, Drift. I merely wished to help. I... would be your friend, if you would allow it. But it is a decision that you will have to make."
"I do not care that you were a Decepticon, Drift. That was your past, one you seek to rectify, to atone for. It is your burden to bear, but I... would help you carry it, if you would allow me. Please?" he asks softly, leaning back to gesture at the repair berth that Drift had been leaning against before Mirage had been such an ass.
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 12:14:33 GMT -5
Perceptor has seriously miscalculated Drift's ability to hear anything when riled. Turmoil could have ceded control of the ship to him and Drift still would have stapled him to the wall.
"Why." It's not even a question, so much as a challenge. Why do you even care, Perceptor? After all the things you just flung at Drift--which he's not refuting, at all--why would you even care?
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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 13:37:18 GMT -5
Turmoil would have still deserved to be stapled to a wall, though. He is one bad motherboard fragger.
Perceptor sighs, then offers a half-shrug. "It is my nature." Just ask Mirage.
Perceptor refuses to believe what Mirage feels, though; perhaps the scientist does offer his trust more freely than most, but to call that "cheapening" it... No. Someone has to believe, to have faith, to trust in the face of the least forgiving adversity, or else, what chance does hope have in this war? And without hope... what is left to even fight for?
"And... perhaps I understand a little what it is to feel... lonely and... remorseful."
His gaze never leave's Drift's as he reaches behind him to collect the clean cloths he had prepared, holding them out in Drift's direction. "I only wish to help, Drift. It... is what I do. Your maintenance is not vital yet, but... do you hate yourself so much that you would rather suffer in silence than take what is offered freely?"
"You are not required to like me. I do not even ask that you... that you appreciate it," he explains as he waits patiently. "Merely... accept." He doesn't clarify if he means accepting just the work Perceptor offers, or accepting Perceptor himself.
In truth, Perceptor is afraid to clarify, to ask for some fraction of the acceptance he is offering to Drift. It's much easier to not know, and hope that, perhaps, somewhere withing him, that drift might actually do exactly that - accept him for his foibles and his quirks and his failures - than to clarify and find... repudiation.
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 18:52:06 GMT -5
Thanks, but...the last thing Drift wants to do is ask Mirage anything. Except, perhaps, to suck on a landmine. Drift would even say 'please'.
"Yeah. No. You don't understand. Your thing is a what-if. A 'maybe things'd be different'. Not the same." Stop comparing us, Perceptor. We're not the same. Your hands are at least clean. They can do something more than kill.
Would Drift rather suffer than speak? Yes. He deserves it.
"Accept...what?" The hard light in the blue optics probably seems unnatural. You played him, Perceptor. He's not going let go his bite just because you've bared your throat. "How 'bout that works both ways? Or does that only work for real Autobots?"
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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 19:21:47 GMT -5
Perceptor sighs, frustrated and disappointed and just plainly confused as to why anyone would rather wallow in such misery than seize even a small moment of happiness. Or at least a moment of less misery. Drift has a valid point, though. Acceptance... does work both ways.
"Accept that I do not have an ulterior motive," he explains. "Accept that I only wish to help."
He sighs again, and reaches up to rest his fingers upon his Autobot symbol. "Drift... I am not one of them," he offers softly. "I cannot imagine being forced to live my life in a haze of constant suspicion. This... everything here, is a significant change for you. I do not understand you, but I do understand that a great deal is being asked of you."
"But I am not like those that you are accustomed to. Perhaps they are merely words to you, but it is my very integrity to me, when I say that I do not wish to harm you, to take advantage of you, to make a fool of you, or otherwise impugn you or your past."
"Is it so hard to believe that I may actually wish to assist you? That someone may see some worth within you?"
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Post by Kate Mason on Apr 20, 2011 19:39:38 GMT -5
Kup rolls down the hallways at top speed. His top speed isn't very fast, but eventually, he gets there, transforms, and storms into the medical ward. His glare is a palpable, withering thing that could well boil over seas if properly weaponised.
Okay, Perceptor is not touching Drift. That's good.
Kup clears his voicebox in a burst of static and then announces, "Perceptor, I have to put you back in the brig. On charges of sexual assault. Drift, I'll get someone else in here to finish the exam, and I'll get someone unbiased to review the security footage. Do you need a counselor?"
Because Drift is clearly traumatised and would like to talk to someone about his ordeal.
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 19:51:51 GMT -5
Drift enjoys a delicious, and he thinks well-earned, smirk as Kup rolls in. He leans back against the doorframe, arms folding across his chest.
Heh. Might as well just put your name on a plaque on that brig cell, Nerdceptor.
His smirky glee lasts for about 2.5 microkliks.
Wait, what? No! NO! The last thing he wants is to have someone else review that footage. They'd see--and hear--everything. All his own goopiness. Weakness. With witnesses. Frag.
No, mere cussing doesn't quite express the chill mortification that is sucking the heat from his systems, and leaching away any traces of the smirk.
"I-...I...I DON'T NEED A FRAGGIN' COUNSELOR!"
This went horribly wrong, horribly fast.
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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 19:58:20 GMT -5
"...w-what?"
Imagine the look one might get if a pink and purple pony with wings had suddenly sprinted into the room, picked up a massive iron girder, and smacked the incredulous viewer right in the back of the head, while shouting, "GOONGALAGOONGALA!"
Yeah. That look. The look that is plastered all over Perceptor's face right now would look.... pretty much like that.
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Post by Kate Mason on Apr 20, 2011 20:10:46 GMT -5
People summoning Kup to report wrongdoing generally seem to be less than pleased by the results. Case in point: when Sentinel was a whiny little priss over Firebolt's salty language, the kid didn't really get what he was expecting.
The fact that Drift was smirking doesn't make Kup hugely sympathetic, but hey, maybe Drift really has been wronged and scarred for life. He has to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. It's hard for Kup to keep a neutral look on his face, though, as he offers, "If you ever change your mind, Drift, just let someone know, and we'll get you someone safe to talk to."
Then he strides over to Perceptor, reaches out to grab Perceptor by the arm, and growls, "Yeah. What I said. C'mon."
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 21:27:11 GMT -5
The only trauma Drift needs a counselor for is this right here. He'd much rather go back to being molested by the nerd than have his...mortifying admissions made public. He's not scarred for life, he just wanted to get away from Perceptor before he stabbed him.
Next time? Just stab him.
"I don't need to talk to anyone!" In fact, talking's the whole problem. "Just want him to stop fraggin' messing with me!"
Right. Kup's a reasonable mech. He--normally--makes sense. He'll understand. "Look. You've got it wrong. We can settle this without anyone ending up in the brig. Just...get me another medic to finish your stupid intake physical. That's all."
He just keeps thinking of that footage......
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Post by Perceptor on Apr 20, 2011 21:36:50 GMT -5
Perceptor is too flabbergasted to resist Kup as the elder mech takes him by the arm. He'd only been attempting to help. Honest. And now... he's being charged...
"I was merely performing routine maintenance..." he murmurs as he stumbles along with Kup.
He'd rather expected Drift to ask Kup for a new medic; Perceptor had suggested it first, even. But to go this far... Worse, Perceptor cannot even summon up enough presence of mind to be angry at Drift right now. Instead, he's worried about someone else becoming privy to even those few secrets that he'd shared during the exam. And more, what Perceptor had alluded to as they'd spoken.
He speaks too much. Way. Way. Too. Much.
ooc: out of thread, I guess?
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Post by Kate Mason on Apr 20, 2011 21:50:42 GMT -5
Kup doesn't really want to put Perceptor in the brig. So he looks at Drift sternly and asks, "You sure? You just want a new medic and Perceptor out of the room? Don't want to press charges?"
He pauses, though he doesn't let go of Perceptor. It's not like Kup thinks Perceptor would be hard to put down, if Kup had to. It's just the image of the thing.
Long Haul's coming. Poor Long Haul, Kup thinks.
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Post by Drift on Apr 20, 2011 22:09:28 GMT -5
"Press...charges?" Drift gives a look of utter and complete incomprehension. What sort of torqued up protocol is this? "NO I don't want to press charges. For frag's sake you think I couldn't fight him off if I had to?" Seriously. Drift's seen Perceptor in combat and lolno. Not a problem.
The point is, he didn't want to slice up Perceptor. He's trying to do this Autobot thing. Thought Autobots were, you know, sensible. None of this 'counselors and invade your fraggin' privacy' stuff. That was like...Turmoil's schtick.
Drift actually looks pretty unhappy now because this whole...intrusion's been like cold water on his anger and...now that he looks back on it. ...it's actually even more embarrassing. He'd...purred.
And Drift sucks at negotiation. "Come on. No need to lock him up. Not...threatened by him or anything. Just don't want him touching me."
See? Reasonable Autobot solution, right?
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