re_alignment | video; locked from Prime!Starscream

Entry tags:

✘ tf: prime | vehicon/fracas (occ)

video; locked from Prime!Starscream

[When the video comes on, Fracas is shifting on his feet, only pausing to rub the back of his neck and let out a reedy laugh. He coughs when he finally gets control of himself, then claps his hands together and mutters to himself before speaking up.]

S-so, uhm. I... I guess everyone's noticed the new Starscream. Well, he's the Starscream from my world. More the point, I.

I need help.

He can't know there's a Vehicon here. That I'm here. I will end up dead again and I-I don't... I don't want to die again. There. There has to be some way to keep me completely off his radar, right?

... ^Right?!

[Fracas's voice cracks for a moment without him even realizing it.]

S-something. Anything. I just. I can't. I r-really can't.

Please?

[He could not possibly look any more desperate and pathetic, even if he had a lip wibble.]

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As long as he doesn't know I'm here there's time, but one Vehicon kind if sticks out. He knows exactly what we look like and I'm the only one, which means I'm the only one he can... force to work for him.

[He's at least had a little time to calm down by now... slightly. But explaining his situation is still odd.]

He can't force you to do anything you don't want to do...can he?

[Wing hopes not anyway. That's as good as slavery.]

Well it's that or die horribly. I... we aren't designed to take much punishment.

[It's a situation that Fracas is used to... but doesn't want to be in anymore.]

We...? [Hmmm.] What about some upgrades? Or well, what kind of combat training do you have?

Vehicons. There's thousands of us... back home, anyway. We... we're labor and. Cannon fodder.

I guess I could convince Knock Out to upgrade me... I have more combat training than I used to; someone... he's been teaching me since I got here. But me, against an officer? Against one of Megatron's former Seconds-in-Command no less?

Cannon fodder!? [Wing is no less horrified by this idea than he would be genocide.] No mech should be as such.

You are only as weak as you consider your potential to be. Simply because they designate you cannon fodder, who is to say you cannot excel beyond that?

[Ah, he sees the purple brand now, and the fear, especially of a superior, makes sense. Well. Wing will have none of that.]

What does that brand on your chestplate mean to you?

Edited 2013-05-18 04:15 (UTC)

[Fracas twitches back at the exclamation, ducking his head briefly.] We're drones to them. All of them. The only one that didn't think that... he's gone.

And with as little training as we have, with thin plating and cheap blasters thrown into combat, what else are we supposed to be?

[He hesitates then, seeming to stare at Wing for a few moments before he tilts his head down to look at the insignia on his chestplate.]

It meant putting an end to the society that shackled the lower castes. Now I... I don't know. I don't think about it.

[Oh dear this one is jumpy. But Wing is starting to understand why.] But none of them are here, are they? Except for him. One mech. With no support. And you have...how many here willing to lend you aid?

But those things can change yes? With the right resources? The potential is there.

[There's half a smile that plays over Wing's face. He's pleased to see the contemplation. That this mech doesn't just regurgitate the expected answer. He locks the feed.]

Perhaps it's time you did? You have self preservation, you have free will. If the Decepticon ideal which you chose to stand for was about removing the shackles of the lower castes, why do you allow them to shackle you into the role of menial labor and disposable soldier?

More than one. Even the Autobots... they tear us down without a second thought. At least. At least until I started talking to them here. But you're underestimating Starscream, he'll try to make an ally of anyone.

They can, but. Even if we lived long enough, we don't have access to them at home. Ever.

[He wouldn't know what answer to regurgitate if it was handed to him, really.]

We were all serving the same army, no matter what position it was in. It didn't matter. And now... they'd do worse to us if we tried to leave than the Autobots would do to us in combat. The officers were gladiators and Energon Seekers; we're miners and communication techs and mechanics.

I'm a mechanic. The only thing I've ever managed to defeat was a centipede.

The Autobots became just as bad as the Decepticons in my universe too. That's why I never joined either of them. [It's sickens him really, to think this might be a common thing.] Those aren't the only two choices. And here, they need not be a choice at all.

[He nods, taking it all in, contemplating.]

It seems to me that you and your fellows have clearly been mistreated and misrepresented. They've simply replaced one malevolent dictatorship with another, and it sounds as if you're no better than slaves.

The Decepticons are just using you. Like a tool. You deserve better.

[He smiles then.] Would you want to be more than that? If you had your choice. If they had no power over you.

[Wing's question, more than anything, is what gives him pause. Fracas hesitates, dipping his head slightly.]

I like my job. I do. I'm good at it.

I haven't. Done anything else, in a long time. Except for here. And I've never not had superiors.

[Sure, he had a certain amount of independence, mostly because none of the officers knew how to do his job, but still.]

I. Don't know.

Well I've never been without superiors either. As a courier I always had a supervisor and as a knight we had Dai Atlas to lead us. Even now we have the First Forged. But simply because they hold a station above us does not mean that we should not question them or leave their service if it is not in our best interests.

[In all of those situations Wing has had reason to question the authorities above him. In the first one, he didn't and it meant the end of many lives, almost his own.]

I'm sure there's use for your skills here if you wish to remain a mechanic. But you should be free to make that choice, not pressed into service under someone who threatens your safety and compromises your well being.

Think about it. This is a new place. The lines of power are different. Things don't have to go back to the way they were. Mechs will try, but the more each one of us resists, the more we can leave the old ways that were leading us to extinction behind.

Questioning them gets you on the fast track to field work. Which is mostly a death sentence. And I don't. Talk to the First Forged enough to question them. They're just kind of... there.

[Like Soundwave; they were present but they didn't order him around or threaten him with harm so he can ignore them on a day-to-day basis. Which was better.]

But you... you're right, I guess. Things. Things are different, here. E-even with the same people. But I.
I don't see him just letting me go. Just like that. Especially since he has a lot of pent-up aggression and hasn't taken out an Autobot in ages. Not really. Vehicons are the only ones he ever scraps anymore...

More proof that they do not deserve your allegiance, and certainly not the spill of your vital energon. [That makes him think though.] Who is your First Forged, by the way?

See? All of us are trying to adapt. Those can't are the ones that will suffer, clinging to the old ways. And no mech should suffer a bully. Seeing as how Starscream challenges no one but those weaker under him, that is clearly what he is. He is more afraid than you realize. Those who insist on asserting dominance usually are uncertain of it themselves.

But I apologize, I've been remiss. What is your name, friend?

It's. It's Solus Prime, but I mostly stay in Megatronus's temple. [And there is a gold outline around his Glyph that he doesn't know what to make of.]

He's only seemed afraid of those way more powerful than him... Lord Megatron, mostly. And maybe Soundwave a little. Never... really thought of him as a bully. Just a boss.

It's- I mean, I'm Fracas. Geeze, a-and here I am freaking out and I didn't even... I'm sorry, what's yours?

Solus makes sense for a mechanic, I seem to have garnered some favor from her as well, I think. [He suspects, anyway. He shows his glyph, gold with the violet outline. Seems they have the same colors, but reversed. He nods, pleased.] Gold. That is a good sign. But why stay at Megatronus's?

What he shows and how he truly feels are certainly two different things. Especially in the Decepticon ranks. He sounds more insecure than he lets on, at least from what you say.

Well met. [Have a smile.] No need to apologize, in the situation it's quite understandable. Please, call me Wing.

Where I come from, I am a knight of the Circle of Light. I have more than a millennium's worth of training in martial combat. If you wish Fracas, I will teach you.

Oh, yeah. S-so, who is the gold one, anyway? I know Solus and Megatronus, but... not the others so much. [He ticks his claws together.] I've been training there, with Shockwave. The big one that owns the worm? He letting me stay with him, at least until I'm not so... murder-able.

I couldn't say. Getting to know officers is dangerous. It means they notice you.

Wing. I-it's nice to meet you.

[He perks slightly, at the offer for training. More training. Well... he could use some options, really...] You'd do that? I. I wouldn't want to impose, or anything.

That would be Vector Prime. He wants to keep us safe, including you. [He muses a moment. Shockwave does not surprise him, though it does not delight him, either. ] I'm certain that you could establish multiple residences in different temples near people willing to defend you. That would give you more places to feel safe.

At least until you feel confident standing up to him on your own. Because no one deserves to live in fear. So yes. I will train you. And please, it's no imposition at all. Helping another is the highest calling one can aspire to.

[That last comes with a small smile, but then he goes solemn for a moment.]

You must understand one thing however. My order preaches the preservation of all things Cybertronian: history, culture, knowledge but life above all else. Our kind's greatest folly was the misapplication of violence. If I teach you, it must be to know that you will care in it's application.

Huh. Well, I guess I should. Thank him sometime, or something. [He's not even sure how he ended up with Vector Prime's colors on his arm, really.] That... I could do that. It's not like I'm not getting around anyway.

[Fracas starts when he realizes the implication of what Wing's saying about his order, and waves his hands a little in a slight halting gesture. He's more surprised - and definitely flustered - than anything.]

Don't get me wrong, I need to know how to, but. I really don't like fighting. The last time I did in the field a centipede was trying to eat me, here. I-I transferred to the Maintenance Division because I didn't feel comfortable in Security anymore. You wouldn't believe the paperwork doing that. I'd rather not have to at all, but... well, there's monsters, and if I'm getting all this training I might as well help stop them.

Right? It'd. It'd be a waste of everyone else's time and effort otherwise.

Couldn't hurt. [Being polite and grateful never did, in Wing's mind.] It's an idea, for now. You could get a redeco too. But that's all hiding, which is no way to persist through life.

[The reaction surprises him, but not in a bad way. Also, Fracas uses the word 'help', which resounds well with Wing and reflects the gold in the Vehicon's glyph.]

Very well then. When would you like to start? And have you ever used a melee weapon?

You'd be surprised how well hiding has worked for me over the centuries. O-of course, there were always about a thousand more Vehicons and no one could tell us apart...

[Which is terrible, he realizes, but it's also the truth. At least admitting his general distaste for fighting isn't so awful.]

I uhm. I'll need to talk to my medic about a few things, but... maybe next week or so? A-and I haven't; I'm not equipped with one but I need to learn.

I imagine it's a little different when you can hide in a crowd, in plain sight.

Still that's no way to live, in fear. You deserve better than that, yes?

[Try and convince him otherwise Fracas.]

We can begin whenever you like. I'll see about fashioning some practice swords, but basic hand-to-hand is where we'll start. You should always be able to defend yourself without a weapon.

[He comes from a universe where getting disarmed is a whole easier than it is in yours, if that wasn't already obvious.]

I... it was just normal. It was wasn't about... deserving things. You... you're going to be stubborn about this aren't you.

[He's not sure how to feel about that. It's kind of nice... but also really, really weird.]

Well i-if I don't have a weapon then I'm technically fighting without arms, but. That would be good to learn in case there's not time to get anything ready.

[And so that he's accustomed to close-ranged fighting since everything in the world wants to get up close and punch Vehicons in their faces.]

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