re_alignment | [ AUDIO ][ Origin: Leige's Temple ]

Entry tags:

✘ tf: idw | first aid

[ AUDIO ][ Origin: Leige's Temple ]

I'm sorry for lying to everyone. I'm sure everyone is aware I was by now. It was stupid of me.

I have a lot of reasons for doing what I did, none of them important.

Until further notice I'll be found either at Vector's temple or Pharma's lab at Leige's. Please ping me if you need me.

I trust you, Drift. I said I would talk to you when I knew what I wanted to talk about.

Tell me exactly what you remember about Delphi. Everything that happened.
[ /Drift ]

Have you seen Pharma acting strangely at all in the last few months?

[ /Ambulon ]

I... haven't heard from you in a few days. Are you alright?

[ /Fort Max ]

[ He really has to think about this one. ]

I'm going to need some time to think about things.

[ /Ratchet ]

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[ No, actually, he gets it. ]

I'd rather just... put that behind me. I made a fool of myself and everyone I lied to.

[ He makes a small noise, regretful. ]

The message. I sent it... That's where I met you, in the morgue. You know, just after the whole... ah. Dent thing.

Then what happened?

[Then you deserve some sort of award. ]

First Aid. Please. A lot of weird things happened. I got, uh, turned into a girl.

[He nods. ]

Uh. You told us about the monoformers and then Ratchet wanted to talk to Pharma who was, well, you know this. [. He feels like he should be saying something more useful. ]. In that closed-off room where he'd been trapped. And then Pipes started getting sick and I got distracted and had to take him down. But I guess he must have splashed me because I got it too.

I guess you medics are immune or something. [He may sound a bit envious. ]

...A girl? A girl what? So like... You had a gender?

[ Just way over his head. But First Aid goes quiet a moment, thinking ]

No, we're not. At least, I don't think so. Ambulon and I must have been infected but-- it must have been dormant for some reason. I've seen mechs last two, three days before the symptoms.

Yes. [He says this the same way someone might admit to having a terminal illness: a sort of shameful resignation.] A human female. In a dress. [He moves his hands to his sides as though fluffing petticoats.]

_{their clothes are unbearable}. [In case you ever wanted to know. You know, for research.]

Well you're more resistant than Pipes or me. Less than a cycle for each of us.

[He hates that, because it means he was weak.]

Anyway, I got sick and then the monoformers attacked--or something. I can't remember it very clearly. But you somehow woke up Fortress Maximus and, I mean, obviously we lived.

And then I guess I somehow cut off Pharma's hands. Or someone stole my blades and did that.

[He gives a helpless shrug: he's not feeling very useful.] I'm sorry. That's all I know.

That bad? Vandal and Kay are human females and seem to be okay...

[ First Aid presses his fingers together as he thinks. Not that he can see that. ]

I don't think it has anything to do with being resistant or not. It must be... triggered by something. I'm not sure what. Something that Ambulon and I didn't do, but everyone else did.

[ He makes a small, thoughtful noise. ]

Somehow the monoformers got free, after they'd been locked up for all that time. [ You can pretty much cut a knife through all the suspicion in his tone. ] I woke up Fortress Maximus with my jumpstarter.

Drift, do you trust Pharma?

They must be used to being small and fragile.

First Aid. I hurt myself walking. TWICE. [WALKING. You know, simple ambulation.]

Triggered? But we didn't do anything. I mean you and Ratchet went everywhere we went, and I don't think Pipes and I touched the same thing or anything.

[He can't figure it out.] Maybe it was getting emotional that did it?

[An emo virus? Is that even a thing that's possible?]

Pharma? He healed the Red Rust. Why wouldn't I trust him? It wasn't his fault I had some sort of reaction to the cure or something.

I-- Hmm. Humans are... remarkable creatures though. I thought Hal was going to die when I had to-- [ Ah, he'll spare you the gory details. ]

It must be, in some way. Pharma was in quarantine all that time, remember? Yet he became infected. I don't think it has anything to do with... emotional outburts. I mean, I would have been infected ten times over.

[ You try being one of only two medics running a plague ward for five days and try and remain composed and optimistic during it. ]

I... see. Forget I said anything, then.

[Drift gives an awkward shrug.] Maybe I was doing human wrong. [This would not surprise him in the least. ]

How could you get infected in quarantine? [Drift doesn't have a clue about virology.] Well, is there something you did or we did that you didn't?

[He can't even imagine....]

First Aid. [He frowns.] What? You can trust me.

No, Drift. You have been a cybertronian for millions of years. Vandal and Kay were born human. I think there's a difference there.

That's the thing. You can't. It's the point of quarantine. Keep the infection contained. Or in Pharma's case, keep the infection from getting in. [ So yeah, suffice to say, it's a big missing piece. ] That, I don't know. I was in the ward when Pipes started showing symptoms. I can at least trace his infection back to when he well-- You know. Had contact with the dead. You're the only one who knows what happened, Drift. I need you... Do you remember any details?

[ He vents, weighing his options. ]

I've been suspicious of Pharma for some time. There's been... things, that just don't seem normal. He's been keeping secrets and being vague, passing off things as 'not important'. In Delphi, even before the plague, death rate was on the rise. Pharma isn't a clumsy doctor. I can't imagine so many would die from carelessness.

One difference. Another is shoes.

[Yeah don't ask. He's just going to rotate his ankle gimbal a bit in gratitude. ]

[He frowns, trying to remember.] Pharma was the one who noticed it, when we went to visit him, that Pipes was showing symptoms. I guess he knew what to look for better than us.

And Ratchet told me to handle him, but, you know not kill him. _{that would be counterproductive and you know, that whole thing with Dent}. He backed me into a corner, and I had to transform to get out of the way to get around him. I knocked him out. And then we came back and I guess he'd splashed me.

[Drift frowns. That's a serious accusation. And he wants to believe the best of everyone. But...he's not as naive as he wants to be.]

Maybe he's losing his touch and he knows it? The cure he gave me. It, uh, I was told that maybe it had been corroding my fuel lines.

It would explain why he's so irritable all the time, if he's aware he's losing it. It, uh, Ratchet kind of does the same.

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[ AUDIO ][ Origin: Leige's Temple ]

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