re_alignment | [Video]

Entry tags:

✘ tf: prime | cliffjumper

[Video]

So there I was, just about to give some Cons the thrashing of a life time, when all of a sudden I wind up here with no warning whatsoever. Kind of rude, don't you think?

I'd say someone owes me.

[Despite how terribly upsetting this is for him, he sounds pretty calm and mellow.]

Now the question is, what's a guy got to do to have some fun around here?

[Nope, he's not going to give an introduction right away. He's too busy wondering if he's going to be bored here. Priorities.]

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Let me guess: instead of asking for directions, you drove around aimlessly until you saw the entrance and went "Hmm, this looks about right"?

[Ratchet's smirking, not frowning, though. It's hard to be that mad at a bot who you've been thinking of as dead.]

And I think you've won yourself whatever answers I can give to the questions you have... and a full medical exam.

[He claps his hands together and looks a bit scarily gleeful? Looks like you're getting the full work up, bud. Sorry.]

[There's a smirk back. Oh Ratchet, you know him so well.]

How'd you know--

[Wait, wat? Cliffjumper holds his huge hands up defensively, shaking his head. HE DIDN'T EVEN GET IN A FIGHT YET.]

Ratchet, look, I'm fine! See? Not even a scratch. That's usually a good thing, remember?

[Don'tgivehimthatlookwhyareyougivinghimthatlook]

[You get a snort and a hand around your wrist guiding you to a berth.]

If that's the case, then this won't take more than a minute. Now sit your aft down.

[He looks Cliff in the eye and pulls the guilt card.]

Last I saw you, you were dead, y'know. Give an old mech some place of mind, would you?

[Guilt card is effective.]

You do not play fair, my friend.

[With a reluctant look, Cliff does sit down and hopes Ratchet is right about this only taking a minute or two.

So... Ratchet thinks he died, too. Oh dear, he has more reason to believe him than he does Wheeljack. It's time for some answers.]

Think you could fill me in on that while you have me? You know, the whole dying thing? Can't say I saw that coming when I woke up here.

[A sly flick of his optics.]

You learn not to when you're a medic and you have to deal with such a variety of stubborn patients.

[He starts his scan, orange light glowing brightly from the sensors on his forearm as he runs diagnostics. He speaks as he lets them run-- now that the scans are running, he doesn't have to focus on them so thoroughly.]

There's... not much to tell, I'm afraid. I wasn't there personally, but what I know is that you and Arcee were ambushed by a large number of Decepticons and they detonated a large amount of energon. You were captured and taken back to the Decepticon ship, where Starscream... offlined you.

[Ratchet is trying to keep himself cool and impersonal, but his optics are dimmed as he tells this tale, processor flashing back to the way Arcee had cradled Cliffjumper's broken horn in her hands. (And of the zombie that had attacked them, but that... he's not going to tell Cliff about that travesty.)]

[Yeah, it's best to leave that part out. He's already raging over the part where Starscream offed him. Ohhhh believe him, Ratchet, it's taking him every ounce of self control to keep him from getting up and trashing the place.

And he doesn't have a lot of self control to begin with.]

Starscream? Starscream's the one who snuffed me? We're talking about the same bot, right? That... no! I'm not buying that, that's not the way I'd go down.

We are indeed talking about the same mech.

[He lifts his head with a sigh, scanner having finished its run and found nothing but a few superficial scratches that could be left to Cliff's self-repair.]

To be fair, I believe you were overwhelmed by Vehicons and a recent explosion. He probably just got a lucky shot...

[But a lucky shot is all it took.]

[Oh, are we done now? Good, now Cliffjumper can get up and throw some things in his tantrum.

Overwhelmed by Vehicons? He's overwhelmed by Vehicons all the time, what made this time any different? ...Okay, an explosion, BUT STILL!

I hope you weren't expecting some kind of reasonable reaction, Ratchet. He's pissed and is taking it out on anything he can get his hands on.]

[Ratchet lets Cliff up and waits for him to get a couple good throws in, then steps in and grabs his wrist with the ease of a medic who is very used to tantrums and also pretty good at making his height and weight count. The mech can lift Bulkhead, after all.]

Okay, you got one because you're my teammate and friend and another because you got offlined by Starscream. But that's it. No more messing up my instruments. I need those.

[He frowns at Cliff.]

If you need to get your anger out, do it in a way that's not going to risk someone's life when they get wheeled in here and I can't find my welder.

[Cliff looks up at Ratchet, a mix of sadness and anger in those glowing blue eyes of his. He looks back and forth between his wrist and the hand grabbing it, wondering if there's a way he can pull it out.

But... he calms down. It's hard, but he manages, and soon enough all that's left is a sad expression.

He might not admit it, but he's really sorry.]

It's tough, you know? You always imagine how you're going to go down and... that's just not the way I pictured it. I still can't believe it. How are you supposed to take news that you never gone through?

I ... can't say I know. But I am sorry.

[ Ratchet doesn't let go of Cliffjumper's wrist, but his grip does loosen as the other mech relaxes and their hands come down. ]

It's curious, though. The fact that you're here and obviously not offline...

[ He doesn't know what to make of it. Are you not his Cliffjumper? Or perhaps you are and instead of dying, you somehow were teleported here and that wraith that the team had found at the Decepticon base had been something else ... ]

I thought we'd had fairly certain proof of your death, but now I can't discount the fact that we might have been fooled by an elaborate ruse.

[ This is all extremely confusing, and he rubs at the edge of his chevron, trying to goad his processor into making sense of the situation. ]

Don't look at me, I have a grand total of zero answers for you.

[Trust him, he wants to make sense out of this as much as Ratchet does.]

Now, I'm not the kind to go and kill a special moment, but you want to let go of me now?

I'll have to investigate... [But before he can start thinking about how he can save Cliffjumper's life, Ratchet starts and lets go of Cliff's hand.]

Ah, sorry about that. I was preoccupied.

[He "clears his throat", a human affectation that he's picked up from somewhere, and changes the subject.]

So it looks like you're healthy. For once.

[Ratchet gives him a bit of a stink eye.]

I'm hoping you'll stay that way.

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