re_alignment | [VIDEO] Welcome Back?

Current Mood: pensive

Entry tags:

tf: idw | perceptor

[VIDEO] Welcome Back?

[He's been here before. At least, that is what the Acolyte that greeted his arrival informed him, warning him that some of the "other refugees" might assume some level of familiarity with him. Past friendships forged, previous alliances made, beings encountered...]

[Perceptor remembers none of it.]

[His expression as he regards the Link is calm and inscrutable, though, despite how unsettling it is to find that his memories, if they were even his own memories, are... altered. Or missing. Or incomplete. Something.]

Do I have a laboratory here?

[Why beat around the bush, as Verity would have said. Well, she might have added a few... choice terms, perhaps, but, still. The sentiment remains.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Spider venom? How... fun. Actually, that probably was fun for Drift. Of a sort.]

It would be nice to initiate our relationship on something other than running to him for help, though.

[What, the turbo-puppy-hoping-for-a-pat-but-expecting-a-kick look doesn't do it for you?]

Oh. Yes. Fine. [Perceptor offers Drift a thin, wan smile.] It's just... a lot to take in, I suppose.

[It feels like encountering Drift for their post-Wreckers reunion all over again: Drift making himself indispensable and slotting right into whatever life throws him at, and Perceptor... trying to play catch-up and not get in the way. Again.]

[It had been fun, actually. And Drift had been kind of honored that he was trusted to do it. Either that or it was a crafty attempt to get him killed for messing up Liege's floors. He wouldn't put it beyond Liege. Mech liked a clean floor.]

I understand. Believe me, I met him when I had the, er, the Red Rust.

[So hey, how's that mental image of Drift leaking his guts through his armor seams? Drift's guessing you probably don't want a hug right now.]

It is. Believe me. We can get you settled. Where are you, anyway? Liege's?

Oh.

[The rust. Yes. Perceptor winces, recalling what little Ratchet had shared about the whole process. It hadn't sounded very pleasant, and Perceptor had wanted to assist, save that there had been no need of his skills by the time he'd known anything about it.]

[But that had been then, and this is now, and a hug... would be rather appreciated, actually. Not that Perceptor is fishing for that. Or anything.]

Settled? [He pauses, suddenly realizing that... he really doesn't have a home right now. Not even a corner of a shared lab that he could call his own. He's... utterly at loose ends.]

I... guess so.

...I got better.

[So, it's all good, right? Don't look at him like that. ]

I mean, a place to stay or, you know, settled. Stuff.

[He is possibly the worst tour guide ever.]

We could...hey. Are you any good with ghosts?

[Because let's compound this social awkward with some random, but it's at least a random attempt to interest Perceptor. He liked puzzles, right?]

[That wan smile is back, teasing at the edges of his expression as he looks Drift up and down.]

One surmises as much.

[Yes, it's good. Just... don't get that bad off again. Perceptor will be most put out.]

I know. I... well, unless there was someplace Before... [He shrugs.] I suppose I-- Ghosts?

[Yes, that definitely perks his interest.]

Well, depending upon your definition of "good with"... Why do you ask?

[Because if it's anything that will get Perceptor's mind off the fact that he's homeless and lost? Yes, please.]

[It's not much of a smile on Perceptor's face, but it's something. A good kind of something.]

Pharma did a cure. But there was...uh. A kind of complication.

[Like Pharma trying to poison him with the cure? You know. NO BIGGIE.]

[He's going to gloss over the other Perceptor and how badly he'd fumbled things with him. This was a second chance: he'd do this right. Or at least try as hard as he could.]

We, uh, we kind of brought a ghost back with us when we were exploring.

[Aaaand, the smile is gone.]

Pharma.

[That's Perceptor's chilly tone. He tends to use it for traitors.]

Pharma is here.

[Perceptor really doesn't like traitors, but especially not the ones who are personally responsible for hurting his friends.]

[He'll get back to the ghost thing after he's done fuming about Pharma.]

Uh. Yeah. Pharma's here. He's, uh, also one of Liege's.

[So, say hi to your First Forged buddy?]

[This glare? It's Perceptor for "just f-ing lovely."]

Your "cure"... [And that word is dripping with disbelief.] You mentioned complications. Have you been thoroughly evaluated since then?

[Because the whole "trying to kill you with it"? Yeah, Perceptor kinda expects that.]

[Meep.]

Yes. Of course. I mean, Ambulon. He's here. He checked me over.

First Aid's here, too. And he said, uh, some things about Pharma.

...I think he's in jail.

[Perceptor leans in, as if he can examine your most minute systems visually, from the outside.]

And they examined you closely? Ensured that you are safe now?

[Because that is the single most important thing, right now.]

[He can read that look. And knowing how reckless Drift is, he's trying not to imagine all Perceptor's seeing.]

They said I'm fine. They even checked me after I died.

[...ohslag.]

.....after you what?

I. Yeah. I kind of died.

[Just a little bit? ]

But, you know, that's all in the past. So.

[SOOOOOOOO....yeah he has no idea how to finish that.]

"Kind of." You "kind of died."

[That... it...]

[It's so Drift. Once upon a time, he might have buried his face in one hand, heaved a sigh, and muttered something profane in at least one or two non-Cybertronian languages. That perceptor was left bleeding out on a floor "in the past". This Perceptor merely stares at Drift.]

[Hard.]

An effect of the lambda? Or of your patron?

[Or is it just something that Drift does, special, this not-being-dead-anymore thing?]

[He'll just wince. Damn you and your scientific accuracy and stuff.]

I was, uh, pretty dead. Really. Quite dead. Entirely dead.

[Closer?]

It's, uh, it's something the First Forged can do.

[Accent on the 'can'. If they want. ]

[Very much closer, yes. Perceptor isn't impressed with your accuracy. In fact, he seems rather... unimpressed by it. Or maybe by the whole subject.]

Ah. Fortunately, you won't be requiring that particular ability of theirs again, will you.

[Note how that isn't a question.]

Now, you mentioned ghosts.

[Drift can face down spidermonsters and even hold steady in front of Vector's wrath, but for some reason, Perceptor's glare just...ouch.]

I'm, uh, not planning on it any time soon, no.

[Because of course that means something.]

Ghost. Just one. That we know of. Barricade said he was attached to the datapad we found.

[Drift is so good at coherent narrative.]

[Hey, if his glare is ouch enough to keep Drift from being too foolish, and thusly keeping him alive, he'll take it.]

Good.

[Because that means that if you go and die, Perceptor will KILL you. That's what.]

Just one. Attached to a datapad.

[He's done more with less. It's good.]

Perhaps we could meet and you could explain more in depth?

[Drift doesn't want to know how that could work. It's Perceptor. He could make it happen.]

[Drift looks flustered and embarrassed. He's so bad at this. He's just been trying so hard not to make whatever mistake he'd made with the other Perceptor that he's been, well...making OTHER mistakes. ]

Uh. Yeah. I can meet you? Outside Liege's?

[But they've been endearing mistakes. The faint smile is back, glare banished back to the shadows of the "not dying again" conversation.]

Yes, of course. I will await you here.

[Some visible relief at the return of the smile, faint as it was.]

Right. Good. Uh. Wait there.

[Perceptor might already hear the roar of engines, even before the transformation's complete. Surely Drift's still allowed to drive like a maniac? At least in the circumstances?]

[If Drift weren't driving like a maniac, then he would worry that Ambulon and First Aid screwed up. As it is, there's something very close to happiness welling up inside as he stands near the front of Liege's temple to wait for Drift to arrive.]

[Given the growing rumble of that familiar engine, it shouldn't be much longer now.]

[It isn't much longer before Drift roars over the last corner, brakes screeching, shedding speed. He unfolds from his alt, even before he's fully stopped. There's a moment where he wants, obviously, to lean in for a hug, but pulls himself back, rigidly, looking instead just kind of...nervous.]

Perceptor. [He sounds breathless. It's not from the drive.]

You look. I mean. It's good to see you again.

[Perceptor watches the approach with an appraising optic. Drift has such a graceful economy of movement. He misses those times on Cybertron, backing Drift up as long-range support for more than just the camaraderie; watching him fight had been... exhilarating.]

Drift.

[He tries not to feel disappointed for the lack of that almost-hug - not that he'd expected one, or even had realized that Drift had wanted to... merely that... Perceptor had wanted one.]

[Perhaps it's the shock he'd just received a few minutes ago. Perhaps it's merely a symptom of how unsettled he feels. He doesn't know, and for once, decides not to analyze it as he leans in for the embrace he craves.]

You, too. I'm glad that you are no longer dead.

[video]

[video] just occurred to me: you want Ironfist's old lab? Could be fun.

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