re_alignment | [Video]

Entry tags:

tf: idw | wing

[Video]

[ Here's a face that's been gone from the network for over a month. Wing looks a touch weary, his pinions lax, even though physically he seems in good health]

Hello Haven. I'm back now. I apologize for my absence, it was not intentional.

Sorry to ask this but, would anyone care to update me on recent events? Particularly from the Law Committee? I would appreciate it greatly.

[ He knows about Vandal, and a few of the others that have gone missing, which likely accounts for his glum mood.]

Also, committee members, I think we should put serious consideration into mapping not just the Haven but the surrounds. And clearly mark hazardous areas.

To everyone else... Please, if you're considering going exploring alone, regardless of skill level, do reconsider. Everyday we discover new hazards that persist on this world.

[ Wing might have taken down six reanimated mech frames on his own, maybe. But with the energy drain? There was no chance. ]

And well, I have a bunch of books, mostly human ones, that I don't need anymore. [ More specifically he needs to make room in his...room for someone else's stuff. ] Would anyone like them? I don't want them thrown away.

[Private to Barricade]

You're the one that told me about--what did you call them?--zombies?

Yeah. I have experience in that area now that I do not wish to repeat. [ o_o;; ]

[Private to Perceptor and Captain Marvelous]

Thank you, both of you, for coming to my aid.

I'm sorry to have put you in danger in the process of my rescue. If there's anything I can do to return the boon, please do tell me. I am in your debt.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please, accept my endless gra--

[ Oh. He trails off into a speechless moment... And a warm smile spreads over his face.]

You. You're the one. [Wing remembers the story now. He hadn't known it when he met the other Perceptor. Drift had been the rescuer then too, saving Perceptor from Overlord. That mech had felt broken long after the repairs were complete. This though, feels different. ]

I'm happy then, that things could come full circle. I hope you'll still accept my gratitude at least?

[Ah, there it is. Perceptor waits, wondering what Wing's ultimate reaction will be. He... isn't expecting it to be so pleased, though.]

I am?

[Drift has spoken of him? That... fills him with warmth, and he finds himself almost smiling.]

Of course. Thank you. For Drift.

[And take care of Drift, too. He deserves it.]

[ Wing had had hopes, certainly, for Drift's new path. But he never wanted it to be a compulsion, a manipulation, what that path should be. He'd be the same as Megatron then, just 'better intended'. No. It needed to be Drift's choice, Wing only showed the mech that those choices were there to make, and risked a great deal in the process. ]

[ And now, to be faced with the living embodiment of how right that choice was, for both of them, is beyond gratifying. You might even say Wing beams, his smile growing by the minute. ]

Yes! Of course. I was--I only got to witness his first real regret. You were his first real victory.

[ It's important, Wing knows. Stacking up the marks--or ticks it if you will--in the good column, to outweigh the ones in the bad. ]

He needed my help. [ From more than just slavers. ] I'm glad he went on to make a difference, I know that's what he'd always wanted, from the very beginning. That alone, is reward enough.

[ Drift does deserve it, even if he won't believe that himself. And the more help Wing has convincing him, the better.]

[It... hurts. Wing is everything that Perceptor will never be. Cheerful, giving, open, so earnest that it makes Perceptor's processor ache. Though he'd promised Drift, promised himself, that this would not be a competition - a zero sum equation - with Drift as the ultimate prize...]

[It's hard not to compare himself to Wing. Harder still to not come up wanting.]

I'm glad that you were there for him. He... spoke of you to me. Before.

You mean a great deal to him.

[Everything but that first victory, which has its own profound meaning. Time is zero-sum, but the potential for love is definitely not, they'd discovered that much with Vandal.]

He did? [ His helm tilts, pinions lifting, curious and more than a little touched. If he's candid, he'll admit to wondering on that very thing: if Drift had told anyone his tale or if it'd been too painful--too personal--to share.]

I...I know. [His words carry the weight of it. A deep, sparkfelt appreciation but also heavy responsibility.] I try to be all I can for him now. Since...I couldn't, before.

[There's pain, there. No matter how many times Wing tells himself it was meant to be this way, he still carries the weight of his defeat in battle, his failure to finish what he started. It casts a pall over his face, regret and a certain yearning tinting his optics. ]

I'm glad he found others to help him. To do what I couldn't. ...I'm glad he wasn't alone.

[Perceptor nods. He understands, probably better than most, the surprise of being remembered to someone. Of meaning enough to someone - Drift - to be remembered in such a way. If it didn't make him ache so much, he would have smiled.]

He did.

[Not everything, Perceptor is certain. Drift probably didn't speak of but a fraction of Wing and what Wing had meant to him... but Perceptor had been a scientist once. His whole function was observation, and some things are just too obvious to miss, even for him.]

[Perceptor shakes his head sharply, though.]

You didn't fail him; you were killed. Hardly a failing on your part. No one warrior can hope to stand against all foes.

[Perceptor swallows down the words that want to rise in answer to Wing's last comment, though. No, Drift hadn't been alone. Not like Perceptor is now. BBut they are small, petty words, spiteful and untrue. He has Drift's friendship. It's enough.]

[It has to be.]

[ It's certainly pleasing to know, not just that he'd been remembered, but that Drift had someone with which to share it. It prevents the gloom of the darker subject at hand from overcoming him.]

I was willing. It was necessary. [It's the stoic tone of duty and faith born certainty, but then it waivers and grows smaller.] But then so many of the others joined us, and I had hope...

But in the end, no one else had fallen. Just me.

[ It feels like fate, designs of the universe. The Lost Light was on a quest inspired by Drift's knowledge. But what if he'd never left Crystal City to join the Autobots? If Wing had lived and convinced him to stay?]

[ Even so the words are a comfort, and it brings a small smile back to his face. ]

Thank you, for the kind words.

You mean a great deal to him, too. You know.

If the opposition had anyone who was particularly observant, then it would not be surprising that you fell. They came for Drift; your mark upon him is rather... distinct. [Perceptor shrugs faintly.] You were probably targeted specifically.

[He shrugs again, adding a nod in response to the thanks.]

[He.... knows. Drift had shown him as much when he'd arrived. Still, that changes nothing, really.]

We were close. Before.

[But Wing was much closer, much earlier. And Drift is happy.]

The slaver leader did challenge me. I don't think he'd joined the battle before that. [It's not something he'd really considered before, that he'd been singled out purposefully. It's comfort, however small, and certainly more than he had before.]

[Wing remembers from before, with the other Perceptor. He knew of Drift's wishes, even if they weren't explicitly spoken. But that had gone wrong, mistakes made. Thankfully, the biggest of those mistakes they've already surpassed here. Is it a sign that points towards new beginnings?]

[He nods, Wing's voice gentle and unassuming, almost tentative even, because he knows the subject is a delicate one.]

Forgive me, Perceptor, if this is too forward a thing to ask but...

Would you wish to be again?

[Perceptor nods, just a single, slow tip of his chin.] Drift had bound himself; there would be no reason for him to leave, even if they had managed to convince him, unless that tie was... severed.

[The war may be over, but Perceptor still has no love for the Dece- former Decepticons. Of course, he isn't all that superbly fond of a great many Autobots, either. He might still be harboring a little resentment over the whole shot-by-Turmoil-and-nearly-deactivated-and-abandoned-by-his-friends-to-die thing.]

[Perceptor jerks as if he's feeling that shot to his chest all over again. That hadn't been the question he'd expected Wing to ask. Perhaps he should have been expecting it, but... he hadn't.]

[He doesn't answer for long moments as his processor wars with itself, clamoring for him to admit the truth, while also clamoring for him to simply deny everything, to spare Drift the agony of choosing. Despite everything he's said, everything he thought he'd believed, it still, intrinsically, comes down to an either/or decision in his head. How couldn't it? And Perceptor, even if he wouldn't lose that contest anyway, would never, ever force Drift to make that choice. He'd walk into the badlands first.]

[It isn't fair. He'd been happy for that too-brief time. He'd been useful, and needed, and wanted, and losing that had hurt just as much as that dark eternity on Turmoil's ship, bleeding out and knowing that he'd been left behind. Unwanted.]

[That isn't fair, either, though. Drift had done what he'd needed to do, and seeing what Drift had become, had had the opportunity to become without the anchor of the Wreckers holding him back - without Perceptor - had been worth the pain of that loss. Even if a small part of Perceptor curled into a curdled ball of resentment and hate for having allowed himself to be that weak again... Curdled into a ball of resentment and hate of Drift for hurting him.]

[And then festered even more for even being able to hate Drift, of all mechs. Even just that tiny crumb of it.]

[He doesn't want to answer. He doesn't want to expose that weakness. Not to Wing, not to anyone. His hesitation, and the internal war that even he can't keep completely from his expression, is probably more than answer enough. Especially to one who understands probably more than any other single being could understand in the entire multiverse.]

[This time, the nod is a single, abrupt jerk of his chin as Perceptor averts his optics from the feed.]

...I would never... impose... or interfere.

[Because, really, if that had been his ultimate goal, he wouldn't have helped Drift to rescue Wing from that cavern.]

[It makes far too much sense. He'd caught a brief glimpse of an unfamiliar Cybertronian just before Braid engaged. He nods.] I'm glad I was the only one targeted.

[Wing knows it's a big question, and if one is fair, a bit on the untoward side. But things being left unspoken had festered before; Wing doesn't want that happening again.]

[Still, he's about to give Preceptor time, tell him he doesn't have to respond right away. The war of emotion is clear to Wing, and it pains him that this is video, that he can't reach out and offer comfort, even if its acceptance is uncertain.]

[But then the answer comes, and though it's perhaps not exactly what the knight expected, there's something pleasing in it. It hadn't been lost to Wing, the fact that the scientist had joined Drift in the rescue mission. And even if that was motivated by wanting Drift to be happy, the fact that Perceptor would put that happiness above his own is a note in harmony with Wing's.]

[He would smile, if it weren't for the other's pain.]

[It's an undeniable risk, what he considers now. Wing barely knows Perceptor. But Drift does. And there is no one in this place that Wing trusts more. So yes it's a risk, not unlike the one he made on an outcropping above the slaver base: endanger yourself and all you hold dear in order to help another. Maybe the circumstances are different here, but like then, it feels right.]

And if...you were allowed? accepted? ...encouraged, even?

[Because if there's one thing he's tired of in this place, it's seeing mechs in pain. ]

[...allowed? Encouraged? It's fear that refuses to allow him to fully comprehend what Wing has said.]

I... don't understand. I just... I want him to be happy.

As do I.

[He smiles. The reaction isn't too surprising, he'll give it time.]

But don't you deserve happiness too?

[Want? Yes. Deserve? That's very much the wrong question to ask, and Perceptor's expression shutters closed.]

That isn't for me to decide.

[Though it's pretty clear that he has an answer: "no".]

Life itself finds too many ways to deny us happiness without us doing it to ourselves.

[ He sees those barriers as they come down, he knows that look. ]

Would you...join me for a drink?

[Perceptor has no answer for that. Nothing that doesn't expose him too much. Nothing that wouldn't likely inspire a lecture; Drift likely learned to hone his worrying skills from someone, after all, and Wing taught him so much. Why not that, too?]

[He should turn down the request. Wing is asking uncomfortable things, offering dangerous dreams. It's easier to hide when they aren't face to face.]

[Hope pricks at him, though. A desperate hope, and his promise to Drift. To give it a chance. To give... them a chance.]

Shall I meet you at the Hub?

[If said lectures open new doors, pave new roads and clear new skies to travel, then it's worth it. Especially if that aims towards a brighter future.]

If you'd do me the honor, please. You know the place already then?

[Perceptor nods again, still not quite allowing his optics to drift to the feed.]

Drift took me there when I arrived. I will meet you there shortly.

[And now he's committed, even though he'd rather find somewhere high to hide and observe from. He's given his word, so there's no backing out now.]

[Unless Wing stop him, Perceptor cuts the feed and heads, reluctantly, toward the Hub as if he were rolling toward his own deactivation.]

Good. I'll see you there.

[ Though he'd started with wanting to address relationships, Wing finds himself more preoccupied with the way Perceptor seems so troubled, beyond what Wing might expect for what is quite likely an awkward conversation. He was already curious to learn more about the scientist; now it's grown two-fold.]

[ It takes him only a few moments to get there though, ~~because he's a jet and he cheats~~, arriving at the bar first. It's quiet this early in the day, which suits Wing just fine. He's certain their new bartender Dead End is around somewhere, perhaps in the backroom, but for now he'll poke around behind the bar to see how they've rearranged things in his absence.]

[Perrceptor's alt is quick enough for a ground-based vehicle, but it is no jet. From the distance, though, he sees Wing arrive at the Hub, and can't quite help but to admire the sleek lines Wing presents in his alt form.]

[It's not too much longer before he arrives, but Wing should have plenty of time twin inveztigate the bar at the Hub before Perceptor slips through the door.]

[Now that he's had some time to stew in his thoughts there's a little bit of nervousness brewing. Wing is good intentioned, but history--even here--has shown that his good intentions don't always make for the best results. So now the jet frets a little that he'll misstep and ruin the already delicate balance in place between them all.]

[It's not that he hasn't made this work before, but every situation is different, and this one has some fairly heavy circumstances to it. Still, Wing hopes it's those circumstances that can bind them together.]

[He goes to put on some soothing music to help calm his jittery circuits, moving to the sound system near the small stage. Wing used to come here late at night, when nightmares would leave him feeling anxious and recharge was not his friend. He'd put on some inspirational music, open the skylight and lay on the floor watching the stars.]

[He can do one of those things right now at least, so he's there flipping through the music selections. But that's when Wing comes across the playlist he'd made for Ultra Magnus. As if the full whiskey bottles hadn't been bad enough: proof that Vandal was no longer here. The stage too, long empty of Soundwave's presence. And the medibay yesterday, devoid a certain grumpy medic named Ratchet.]

[It's more than he can take, all at once, and a sudden rush of grief threatens to overwhelm him. So many losses, all good friends, all people he considered under is care. He shakes under the weight of it, pinions slicked and quivering as denial cracks into cold, grief-fueled anger at what this place does to people. To friends. To loved ones. But now is NOT the time. Not with Perceptor on his way.]

[The knight passes several long vents through his cooling system, seeking inner balance, his back to the bar's tall double doors. If anything, those losses are an inspiration towards taking better care with those that remain. At least his nervousness is gone now, and he's pushing down the last of the grief when he hears the soft sound of the door clicking closed. He turns from his spot near the stage, putting a gentle smile on his face.]

I'm glad you're here.

[There's music playing. That surprises Perceptor at first. There hadn't been any playing when Drift had brought him. It's soothing and quiet, very unlike the atmosphere of Swerve's raucous, rowdy establishment on the Lost Light.]

[Wing is impossible to miss, his bright white plating drawing the optic as soon as Perceptor adjusts to the interior.]

You are?

[Simple courtesy? Or something more? He can't tell, and isn't sure if it had seemed like Wing had been... steeling himself? When Perceptor had entered, or if that is just how Wing is.]

I'm glad that you have recovered from your excursion. To that cave, I mean.

[It can certainly get raucous in here at times, but monopolizing the quiet mornings is Wing's secret indulgence.]

[He moves to greet Perceptor, hands out and palms up in a welcoming gesture, his wing panels flicking to shake off the last of the tension.]

Yes. More friends here is never a bad thing. And...I do hope to become one. [There's an offer and a question in those uncertain yet hopeful words, one that's not demanding an answer right away though.]

Ah-ha yes, as am I. Add that experience to the list of strange new things learned the hard way: no matter how harmless ghosts are reported to be, their tainted, reanimated frames most certainly are not. [A rueful smile: Drift had certainly been insistent about Wing being more careful in the future. He was the one with the monopoly on risky behavior in this relationship.]

Can I get you something from the bar? I'm not the best hand at synthing drinks, but I make a fair Hedonia Sunrise.

[It's a gesture that hearkens back to quieter, simpler days, when Perceptor had been more concerned with research grants and experimental procedure than he had trajectories and force equations. It's been so long, in fact, that he doesn't really remember a socially appropriate response, and so opts for mirroring Wing's actions back to the jet.]

I... hope that as well.

[He is surprised that he means those words, not merely for Drift's sake, but also for his own. There's something so open and honest about Wing that beckons one in, and Perceptor... wearies of being on the sidelines.]

Experimentation and observation.

[He murmurs that with a soft chuff, making it a joke - one that is between them, rather than at Wing. At least, he tries. Hopefully it will present as such. He is... perhaps a little... rusty at some of this.]

Even under controlled environments, experimentation and observation are not always, ah... safe.

[Case in point: Kimia and Gideon's Glue.]

Hedonia Sunrise?

[Perceptor tilts his head in surprise. It's been so long since he's had anything more outre or exciting than engex that he'd pretty much forgotten such things existed.

I-- all right.

Drift told me that you are working on developing living quarters here? At the Hub?

[Of course at the Hub. Perceptor sighs inwardly; could he be any more redundant?]

Edited 2013-05-09 06:04 (UTC)

[It's been ages since "we come in peace" has been a common Cybertronian sentiment so it's no surprise Wing's gesture seems a little archaic. Of course, with arms open like that it's also a great prelude to hugs which Wing also likes to do a lot. He thinks he's overwhelmed Perceptor enough for the moment though, so there's a smile and a soft touch to each forearm instead.]

Thank you.

[There's a chirp of a laugh at that, and Wing is agile enough to run with the theme.] Yes of course! Nothing like unknown variables to skew the results.

[Watch him fake science speak Perceptor. Hang out with a bunch of scientists for centuries and you pick up just enough lingo to get cheeky with.]

That's the spirit! [He grins, giving Perceptor a gentle clap on the arm before moving around behind the bar to busy himself with making drinks, talking as he goes.] This place is always trying to take things from us. You have to grab for what happiness you can find, even the little joys.

[Wait. Good sentiment, bad context.] Er, not that I condone substance abuse as a substitute for positive life experience. [Have a Wing Serious Face, but then there's a glimmer in his optics.] Just as an occasional enabler.

[That question takes him by surprise though. ] Living quarters? Yes, they're complete actually. I've, well, just been occupied and unable to make the announcement. Actually... Soundwave was going to, he started the project... [A shadows falls over his face for a moment] _{But, he's gone now}.

[video - private] No worries you're not late at all! :D

[video - private] awesome

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[video - private] apologies! wall-o-text!

[video - private] I eat yummy walls-o-text for breakfast, omnomnom!

[video - private] sveeeet! much shorter this time.

[video - private] Hehe, points for stunning Perce silly?

[video - private] ayup!

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[video - private] --> action?

[video - private -> action go!]

[video - private -> action yeeeeess]

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[action] oops my turn to wall-o-text

[action] wall-o-text!

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