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.]

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We're all refugees, here, Perceptor. No one really can, you know, lord it over anyone else.

[Except the First Forged but...yeah, that's a topic for later.]

The Hub.

[Oh, hush now, Perceptor. Would the Drift you know ever walk anywhere he could drive recklessly? ]

It's not far.

It wasn't... It isn't "lording it over" that I worry about. I just...

[Don't want to be a burden.]

Don't like assuming.

[He's terrified, he realizes suddenly. Terrified of alienating Drift, of fracturing this fragile rapport redeveloping between them.]

I told you that I over-analyze things.

[With a tiny shift that's supposed to be a shrug, he steps back to transform so that he can follow Drift.]

No assuming. You're one of us.

[That air of finality that he'll stab anyone who says otherwise. ]

[Drift does, to his credit, go slowly. It's not far to the Hub and he steers toward the hill that would give the best view: the others had been working for months, and though it's still incomplete, it's...something. Part bar, part hostel, part hangout.]

Neutral territory, we figured.

[Perceptor almost wishes, for a moment, that he wasn't so afraid of words. He wishes he could express to Drift what that note of warning in Drift's tone means to him. How it fills a hunger much deeper than his fuel tanks.]

[He's saved from that, though, by the need to keep up. Something that isn't very difficult to do; he appreciates Drift's thoughtfulness as they top the hill that Drift has brought him around to.]

[It isn't Crystal City. There's a sort of unfinishedness about the place that Perceptor isn't certain that it will ever fully shed. There have been far more artistic structures built on his own Cybertron, much less what the others must have surely seen over the years.]

[Despite that, it's one of the most welcoming, lovely places that Perceptor has seen.]

Many hands have contributed.

[Many hands, from many worlds. The melding of various influences runs down to the very depths of its foundations.]

I promise to behave.

You could say that. We all contribute, like I said.

[It probably looks a lot better to Drift's optics than Perceptor's: a ramshackle structure, though solidly enough built, a mishmosh of styles. It's beautiful to him because he helped build it, and because it represents them doing something constructive: creating, instead of destroying.]

I, uh, I wasn't saying that as a warning. [Did he goof already?]

[Perceptor can guess at the deeper meaning of the structure. It's something he'd long ago lost hope of ever actually seeing for Cybertron, even after Optimus' use of the Matrix. It had been wondering just how long until the next conflict would break out that had been part of the drive for Perceptor to join the crew of the Lost Light. The NAIL's had resented Autobot and Decepticon alike, and the tensions between the two factions' survivors had been touchy enough without that to complicate matters.]

[Plus, Drift had gone with Rodimus.]

It's remarkable.

[He means that. He hopes that Drift can hear it in his voice.]

It's been too long since we've been able to jest with each other.

[It's the only way he can think of to explain that he'd been teasing, without saying it aloud. That sentiment is true, too, though; they used to be able to tease one another in their quiet way. Sometimes with nothing more than a shared look, or a finger flicked down unobtrusively down a weapon.]

[Perceptor almost asks Drift if he, Perceptor himself, has changed too much, but snaps his vocalizer off at the last moment, afraid of Drift's answer.]

Do you think that our Cybertron has any hope for this someday?

[Hopefully Drift won't realize that the question he'd actually asked had been a substitute for a more damning one.]

I. Uh. Yeah.

_Sorry.

[Because it's his fault. Because he left the Wreckers and...yeah.]

[Shake it off, Drift, shake it off.]

It does. If it can come together the way most of us have here.

Unfortunately, we've had to unite against an enemy to get this far.

Don't be.

[See? This is why you can't have nice things, Perceptor. You break them.]

Do you regret who you've become, Drift? Because you seem much more... balanced. Content.

[No one who remains in the Wreckers can claim either state.]

[Perceptor sighs softly.]

That is a big "if". Although, given how our reality had fared, our common enemy may just be "everyone else". We are not well beloved in the universe.

[Drift is harder to break than he looks, Perceptor.]

I regret what we've done to our planet. I don't want to do that here. That's all.

[But he's found a purpose in that, if nothing else, and that gives its own stability.]

No, we're not. But we have a chance to change that--maybe change everything--here.

[Good. Perceptor tends to be a bit rough with his things.]

Agreed.

[But you're dodging the question, and Perceptor gives you a look that indicates that he noticed... but that he's letting it slide. For now.]

And perhaps take those lessons back with us to help our own Cybertron.

[Perceptor flicks a look side-long at Drift.]

Are you happy, Drift?

[Okay, maybe not for that long.]

[It's not dodging. It's evading. Completely different. Maybe. Sort of.]

That's true. But not at the cost of ruining this world.

[He owes Vector that much, at least.]

Happy? [It's not a hard question at all to answer, in one way.] Yes. Wing's here.

[That answer was hard to say, though, and he steps back, almost dreading the other's response.]

.....

...oh. That's... that's good. I'm glad for you.

[Even if he feels like he's there on the floor of Turmoil's ship, again, his chest blown out, and leaking his vital fluids into the darkness.]

[Wing... Wing will be better for Drift, though. For this Drift, with his calm and his fragile hopes and dreams. Much better than a dark and gloomy sniper. He forces a thin smile onto his features as he turns toward Drift again.]

Very glad. So. The Hub?

[Oh, no. No. Drift winces, recognizing that walled expression. ]

Perceptor. Please. It's....

[It's what, Drift? It's not like that? It was totally like that.]

[He deflates.]

Please. Give him a chance. Give me a chance?

[It's a lot to ask, probably too much.]

[Nothing is too much. Not for Drift. Perceptor wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for Drift. He could ask for anything he wanted, and it wouldn't be enough to repay that. To repay the happiness Drift offered him once.]

A chance?

[That makes him pause and Perceptor stares at Drift blankly.]

....you haven't done anything wrong? Neither of you have. Why would...

[He shakes his head, one hand absently rising to rub at his chest plate, as if soothing an ache.]

He saved you. You saved me. He was good for you. I owe him.

[Simple logic. Targets neatly lined up and just as neatly shot down. The faint, hollow smile is back as he tries to make himself believe his own words.]

[He does believe them. He does owe Wing. He just... wishes that...]

[No. That's an unworthy thought. Drift deserves to be happy. Even if-- Especially if that means leaving Perceptor behind and moving on. Again.]

You've done nothing wrong, Drift. It's fine.

[He hates his ineptitude in moments like this. It seems so simple; everyone should be happy! But it was so hard to do in life.]

You were good for me, too, Perceptor. I just couldn't see it at the time.

[Stupid war, stupid obligation. Stupid...Drift.]

Can...do you want to meet him?

[Perceptor shakes his head. Perceptor had been a weapon to guard Drift, and a port in the storm of Autobot indifference and antagonism. Nothing more.]

[Except that does Drift a disservice. Drift... had deserved so much better, then, and he still does now.]

Don't, Drift. It's all right. You saw... what there was to be seen. Nothing more, nothing less.

[He shrugs painfully.]

I was. That's... [more than he deserved.] ...enough.

[Meet Wing? Does he want to meet Wing? Did he want to find out his true worth to his fellow Autobots there on Turmoil's ship?]

I'd be honored to.

[He can do this.]

No, Perceptor. All I could see was the war. I was wrong.

[This hurts, way more than it should.]

I know you'll like him. [It's impossible not to.] Let's get you a drink and I'll get the datapad and then when you've gotten some engex in you....

[If he says enough words it'll all be okay, right?]

If that were true, you would have stayed with the Wreckers.

[Perceptor shakes his head, instantly wishing that he could unsay those words. He hadn't meant it to sound like that. Perhaps he had, just a little, deep down in the painfully tight ball of agony in his chest, wanted to hurt Drift back, but not really. Really not really.]

If that were true.... [Try that again...] you would have stayed trapped like the rest of us. [That's... that's better, right?]

[He just nods to the rest. Perceptor knows that he'll hate Wing. He's not good enough, decent enough to be able to not hate him. But Wing also saved Drift, and Drift loves Wing, and Perceptor cannot hurt Drift by hating that which he loves.]

[He's absently rubbing at his chest again.]

Engex sounds good.

[Maybe something harder than engex. Something that makes it too hard to think and feel anymore.]

[He's just going to droop. Because that's logic, and he has no answer to logic, even though it was wrong. He honestly thought he was doing the right thing. Or...maybe, he honestly thought he didn't deserve what Perceptor had offered, that he hadn't earned it.]

Right. Engex.

[They could both use it, he thinks, leading him inside.]

Drift, wait.

[Perceptor's hand flashes out, trying to grasp Drift's arm to keep him from turning away and slipping through that doorway.]

I'm glad that you're happy, Drift.

[He gives Drift's arm a squeeze. Even though it hurts, Perceptor really is happy.]

You've suffered enough; you deserve happiness, and I'm glad you've found it. I'm glad you found him.

[He stops--how could he not--at the hand on his spaulder, his mouth twitching and unreadable as he turns. So much for running away. Again.]

Perceptor. It doesn't have to be like that. It doesn't have to be someone wins, someone loses.

[There's a mute question in his voice: does it?]

[Perceptor blinks. He isn't sure that he understands what Drift is trying to say.]

I'm not certain that is my decision to make.

But if you don't even open yourself to the possibility?

[Don't make him get all mystical about your holistic energies, dammit.]

....scientifically speaking, nothing is impossible.

[Just statistically improbable. And Perceptor... is afraid to hope for much anymore.]

[But Perceptor isn't above greedily accepting whatever crumbs Drift may offer him.]

[If Drift will allow him, Perceptor will use that grasp he still has on Drift's arm to pull the white mech into a hug.]

You are not some trinket to be contested over like a trophy, Drift. You are worth more than such petty squabbling; you deserve better. Winning... Losing... It isn't like that. It's... Just... just be happy, Drift. In whatever way that takes.

[Perceptor is a little surprised to realize that he really means that.]

Edited 2013-04-20 05:15 (UTC)

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[action] sorry these tags are so slow this cough thing sucks

[action] I feel your pain. -_-;

[action] also the cough syrup is making me sick ;-;

[action] ugh! also 1/2

[action] 2/2

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