[ THE "DRIFT GOT HECKED UP BY TARN" CATCH-ALL POST ]

[auramatic]

Who: Drift, Rodimus, Ratchet, Megatron and whoever else wants to chime in
What: the inevitable fallout of the fucked up shit Tarn just did to Drift
Where: Red Alert's clinic
When: starting a few days after Tarn beat the shit out of Drift
Warnings: a lot of sad. a lot of gay

jk i'm lazy, thread starters below

Comments

[rodders]

"It's not revenge," it kind of is, "it's making sure that he doesn't touch my crew ever again." And really, how else are you supposed to get the message through to Tarn? By sending him a nice letter written in Magnus' best handwriting? Hah.

"You're okay, though." A pause. "Right?"

[quantumechanic]

"No, I needed surgery and there are no books." Having entirely failed to assuage the guilt she didn't realize Rodimus was feeling, Nautica tried to lever herself up on her elbow so she could talk to something higher than his waist, then gave up as the motion pulled at her fresh welds and patches, making her wince even through the circuit dampers.

Okay, lying down and talking to Rodimus' midsection it was.

[rodders]

"It's not that bad. I lost an arm earlier and Ratchet put it back good as new." Who is the worst at comforting people? It's Rodimus. Rodimus is. But he's at least self aware enough to sit down so they're roughly at the same level for a proper conversation. And hey, Nautica gets a smile for that - one of the few he's had in the last few days that it almost takes him by surprise.

"Anyway, Megatron and I just came back from dealing with Tarn, so he probably won't uh. Do whatever he did to you again."

[quantumechanic]

Nautica was studying both of his shoulders to check for welds--she tried the wrong one first--when Rodimus started talking, apparently at random, about Tarn.

"Tarn?" She would have been confused by that regardless, but the painkiller haze made it worse. "No, Megatron."

Now they could both be confused, even though Nautica thought she'd just cleared things up. "Sorry about your arm."

[rodders]

"Wait, what?"

Swear to fuck, if his co-captain or the one running about the clinic did this he's going to literally burst into flames.

As for his arm, he just shrugs. "I've had worse." He's been blasted straight through by his co-captain before the co and the captain came into being and got out of that fine. Thanks to the Matrix.

[quantumechanic]

"Spiky Megatron," Nautica attempted to clarify, waving a hand around her shoulder in a vague gesture with no explanatory power unless you'd already seen the Megatron in question. She happened to be using the arm with the fluid line in it, since she was lying on the other one, and she managed to catch the tubing on some of the plating on her forearm.

"Nice Megatron brought me to the clinic," she added absently, most of her limited attention on trying to untangle herself.

[rodders]

"There are officially too many Megatrons here," he muttered, rubbing the back of his helm. "Are you telling me there's another one beyond Eyebrows, Autobot, and-- okay, I'm not calling him 'nice Megatron'. Miner. There's one more?"

That settles it. He's died and his spark has gone to the Afterspark which, in some sort of cruel joke, has given him not one but four Megatrons. There is no other explanation he will take at this point.

[quantumechanic]

"He's nice!" she insisted, forgetting about the topic at hand and her efforts to disentangle herself (thanks for the help, Rodimus) to defend her friend.

Yes, pre-war Megatron's character traits was the hill Nautica was willing die on.

[rodders]

You're welcome, Nautica. "I'm letting you off easy because you don't know what happens like the rest of us do, but-- not nice. Pre-genocidal maybe. On a good day."

Rodimus was told that a true leader acted without regret after he blew up Nyon by a Megatron not so far removed from this one. He's got a hard time letting that and the near execution of Bumblebee go.

[quantumechanic]

It turns out if Megatron doesn't start a war, the future gets even crappier. What a terrible universe they live in.

Nautica paused long enough that if not for the steady glow of her optics, it wouldn't have been clear whether she'd drifted off. She was simply taking a long time to arrive at the conclusion that she was not going to be able to put together a nuanced explanation of the ethical principles involved.

"Can't blame him for things he hasn't done."

...Close enough.

[rodders]

Possibly the actual, literal worst.

Rodimus had actually considered that she'd fallen asleep with her eyes open - she wouldn't have been the first, but when she speaks again his attention snaps back to her instead of that really interesting point on the wall.

"Does it actually matter? He's going to."

it took me forever to figure out how to make this funny again, sorry

[quantumechanic]

Nautica couldn't articulate all the ways that was wrong, so she just sighed. "It's complicated."

IV be damned, she reached out in an attempt to grab Rodimus' hand. "Don't worry, you don't care about temporal physics anyway. Leave it to Team Rodimus."

She was perhaps the only other person in the universe besides Rodimus himself capable of saying that unironically.

HOW DARE no you're forgiven

[rodders]

"Hey, I'm allowed to have an interest in-- magic." He is not allowed to have an active interest in it, however. But her faith in Team Rodimus does make him smile briefly. "We're still missing Skids, unless you've found a good replacement."

He did love Team Rodimus, in all their brainy ways.

[quantumechanic]

"I'll cover for him." It was distinctly possible she couldn't spell her own name right now, but that didn't affect her confidence. "You can yell at him for slacking off later."

[rodders]

"Think you can out-learn a super learner?" Actually genuinely curious for once in his life. Mostly because Team Rodimus is the best team and he supports everyone, but he also likes having the best and the brightest at his relative beck and call. "Will do."