re_alignment | audio;

Entry tags:

brave police: j-decker | kagerou

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[For a long moment, when the feed clicks on... there's nothing. Only static. Did the manic-seeming BP start fidgeting with his Link again?]

[Then, abruptly:]

I'm sorry.

[The words are soft, choked. They're rough around the edges, as if edged by jagged points. If he were human, he'd have sounded like he'd been crying.]

[Despite the tone, the plea, it's clear the old Kagerou is back in the driver's seat again.]

I'm --

I'm so sorry.

[ click ]

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You're that police-bot.

[It comes out kind of a growl, but . . . a /tame/ one compared to what it could be. His reaction is to be fragged off, he /wants/ to be . . . but letting himself would require acknowledging that you and that other you are related, and to do THAT he'd have to admit the same of himself, and he's staunchly REFUSING to lay any claim on that broken, whimpery excuse for a Seeker.]

. . .

Don't think we've ever properly met. I'm Thundercracker.

[Forget the previous encounter and start over?]

[He keeps the video off. Honestly, where he's got himself wedged up into is somewhere he's better off keeping secret.]

[Everyone needs a safe retreat, right?]

...

All right.

[Kagerou that is not how you socialize. And he'd probably make more of an effort if he weren't reeling from the previous events.]

. . .

[Safe retreat is definitely good. Holing up in it isn't, though. Not always.]

Listen . . . what happened was glitched as slag, I won't pretend it wasn't - it was for me too, and a lot of other people from what I've been gathering.

[He huffs. He doesn't know this mech. Why is he bothering? Well, except for maybe some misplaced determination to prove to himself that he's NOT afraid of the policebot. Or . . . something.]

You're a flyer, right?

[Flying makes everything better. Even if only in the moment.]

I don't... know what that means.

[Hey, at least he's talking. That's... better than curling up and blocking out the world. Right?]

Yes?

Don't...?

[Right, not Cybertronian. What's a wording the Earth bot would get.]

Fucked up. It was fucked up. Nightmarish mess.

I'm going flying. Join me?

[Boy, someone's come a long way. A year ago, he'd never have even considered inviting a non-Seeker out with him. These days, he'll accept pretty much anyone for a flying companion. ~~Especially since Skywarp isn't answering his comms...~~]

Mess. I know... "mess".

[The rest of the words, though. They make no sense. So he ignores them. In favor of being stunned by the next words.]

What...? Why would...?

Why?

. . .

[The mech's Earth-built, right? How would he not know-...?? Whatever. Stick to smaller words.]

Yeah, mess. Big mess. Big, very bad mess. [He's not making fun, just being very matter-of-fact. With very elementary vocabulary. His own patience is thin at best right now, so...he's doing the best he can, he actually is trying.]

Why not?

You can fly and you've never just . . . taken to the skies?

Go as high as you can get. Go as fast as you can go.

There's freedom in the skies, sparkling. [He's pretty sure he's heard McCrane talk about this mech at least once or twice. And if they're anything CLOSE to the same age, then "sparkling" is more than appropriate, at least in his mind.] Up high, you're free, above everything, where no one can touch you. Sty clear of clouds, and you can see any threat long before it reaches you. /If/ it can reach you. Most can't. And you can lose yourself. There's space to let go. You can just cruise and let the world pass below you. Or you can push yourself to exhaustion and race the wind itself and feel untouchable.

[It's the present Thundercracker speaking - this is his view /anyway/ - but . . . right now, there's no small amount of influence - of pain and LONGING - from the memories of the other him as well. The one who'd had the skies stolen from him a long, LONG time ago...]

There is no place at all like the open freedom of the heavens.

I have.

[It comes out defensively. None of this... tone... is helping. It feels like more assumptions again. He'd thought everyone here was passed that.]

I know.

But it doesn't change anything. It doesn't make it go away, or make it right.

It just stops the thinking for a while. That's all.

[He snorts.]

I'm not stupid. I never said it solved anything. But it's a break. A fragging needed one sometimes. I don't know about you, sparkling, but I get accused of thinking too much all the time as it is. [Actually, the wording Skywarp uses is 'brooding' but he's not going to admit to things /that/ far.] Even I need to get myself to stop thinking once in a while. Much as I hate to admit it sometimes, it does help clarify things at least a little, once you do finally start thinking about whatever again. Does for me, anyway.

Whatever. You want to hole up, hole up. You want to get out and do something, then do it. I'm going out. Follow my comm-sig if you want to join me. [And he'll shut off the link, though the comm itself does indeed remain active.]

[Why the Pit did he bother again? Oh, right…because he's gotten soft since arriving here ~~the FIRST time, over a year ago now~~. Though, really? He'll take just about anything over the spark-crushed desolation and hardness that was . . . /that/.]

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[Video] LOL TC's probably not the best influence, especially right now...

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