OPEN |

[aurable]

CHARACTERS: Drift and YOU
LOCATION: Simulation Room + Closed Starters
DATE: Mid-Late September, Post Wish Full
CONTENT: Drift finds a familiar simulation program
WARNINGS: possible discussions of terminal illness and substance abuse TBD MA! the robots are fucking again!

A FRIENDLY REMINDER

[ Drift had not stuck around for what passed for a debriefing, leaving before Dengar had even gotten a word in edgewise. The situation was Yzak had been an unfortunate advantage to slipping under the radar. For two days, it was decidedly easy for someone nine feet tall and made of metal to fade into the background. Then, he started popping up in sudden bursts. Once or twice, at some odd hour, he would poke his head into the infirmary or go knocking on a seemingly random door only to say nothing and walk away without saying much — a melancholic jumpscare, where instead of "boo" the monster merely shakes his head and leaves.

Later into his self-imposed and unexplained isolation, things had taken a turn almost into normalcy when a group text went out:

Driving lessons at 0900 in the Sim Room
Sword and closed-quarters practice at 1300 in the Training Room
By appointment with thirty minutes advance notice at the latest

Absolutely nothing. Drift had reconnected with the rest of the crew in so many words and with as much affection as a timed reminder for a phone app. At the very least, notifications and replies look as though they're being read now. ]

A CITY WITH NO PEOPLE

[ The doors of the simulation room open with a whisper of hydraulics sliding open like a soft, unintrusive announcement. Bursting into view with quiet brilliance is an endless horizon with a view from the peaks of an alien world. You enter onto the balcony of a polished white steel building with a view falling down into the perfectly recreated, dizzying heights of a sprawling city. Above is a night sky streaked with a nebula's pale, milky spill and thousands of stars painted around and through its cascade. Flicking lights shine like fireflies on the roads coiling up and around the buildings that grow ever higher towards a massive focal point — a spire that, even at night, illuminates everything surrounding it. All of it was a facade of life, the illusion only broken up by the vacuous silence where the sounds of the rush of traffic or even the stray snatch of conversation or laughter carried up by the wind should have been.

Drift stands at the edge as an almost unobtrusive silhouette against the skyline. He could have easily been mistaken for a statue if one of his finials hadn't slightly flicked in the direction where he heard someone sidle up beside him. Eyes that glowed a cold and pale blue against the dark color of his face stared out over the balcony. Even without pupils, it was clear he hadn't offered so much as a glance in the direction of whoever decided to join him. ]

It's something else, isn't it? [ A neutral response to an otherwise incredible view. Drift hadn't moved an inch, and his tone of voice was quiet, almost like someone who had just woken up from a very long nap and was only speaking on reflex. ] This simulation was made by...[ Imperceptible movement — a slight bow of his head. ] by someone else. The capital city wouldn't have been my first choice, and it's not how I remember it.

See that? [ Drift pointed to the tower, voice perking up slightly but still holding the stupor of a lecturer who had repeated himself once too often to care. ] The Primal Basilica, or at least I think it is. Xrisora reminded me a little of this place, thought I'd see how deep the mirage went. [ Drift nodded as if confirming something to himself ] They did a pretty thorough job.

Quiet, though. [ Finally, he turns his head two degrees to catch you in his peripheral. ] I can leave if you need the room.

Comments

CLOSED

[aurable]

MEGATRON

[aurable]

[ Drift had considered leaving the matter to rest and handle itself over time, but he knew better. The only reason he had been actively avoiding this entire affair was that he was afraid. Not only for how uncomfortable this was inevitably going to be for all involved but also for the fact that he already knew exactly how this would end. What he needed to do was painful, doomed to go nowhere and only make things worse, and unfortunately, completely necessary.

Finding Megatron in the med bay alone was to be expected. Right now, he was the only attending physician on the station and undoubtedly busy, but he had come at a time they were without the company of prying eyes and anyone's curiosity. Announcing himself with a knock, Drift says the words no one wants to hear: ]

We need to talk.

Re: MEGATRON

[flickerandfade]

[ Megatron raises an eyebrow as he looks up from one of the charts. Leonard had left everything in good order, but Megatron still fretted--even if he could memorize every part of the human body, he wasn't used to treating it's injuries, wasn't familiar with stress tolerances... the whole thing made him feel vaguely ill, if he was honest. Not that he'd admit he was that nervous to anyone except perhaps Minimus. ]

We do? About what?

[aurable]

[ This wasn't a good time, Megatron needed to ready himself for the possibility of a larger human patient caseload. Only, there was no good time. If Drift were human, this is the part where he would sigh heavily and debate falling into the nearest chair. Instead, his shoulders hike up a little as he braces himself. ]

Alright, I'm going to start by saying I know this isn't your fault, and the entire situation is out of your control and what I'm about to say is in confidence as a concerned amica. [ Drift pauses, possibly to let the gravity of that admission sink in — or to hype himself up to continue. ]

I don't know what to do about Rodimus. [ And once that comes out, the rust follows. Tumbling out with the nervous energy and desperation that had been snowballing inside of him, ] He's practically haunting the place, dejected and listless all because for, I'm sorry, whatever reason that is beyond my comprehension he loves you.

He loved you when he thought he lost you for good after your trial, and he still loves you now that he's lost you all over again. You're all he's here for, and it's frankly terrifying watching him go to pieces

over you.

[flickerandfade]

Of course.

[ Megatron doesn't like how this is starting already. He stills as Drift starts to speak to him, his attention fully focusing on Drift. It's only polite to pay the mech his full attention, since he's saying this is important, after all. He waits, quiet, and listens. Listens and grows slightly mortified as it's laid out for him. Part of him wants Drift to be wrong. It's not possible.

It's hideous. ]

I'm not worth any of that. If he would talk to me I'd tell him as much but he's been avoiding me for some reason.

[ Wait. ]

He heard about Minimus and I, didn't he?

sim room;

[choicely]

[ It's not the view she anticipated seeing when she walked into the simulation room — but out of all the other likely places on the station, Yennefer has narrowed down the odds of his being anywhere to here.

She's already having a time deciding what she's more disconcerted by — returning from the mission to find her once-shared room reduced to a solitary space (with Billy having disappeared or presumably returned to his own sphere at some point during their departure) or the rising impression that Drift appears to be avoiding her. Rather than let the latter suffuse her with feelings of anxiety, or concern, that she might have done something worthy of offense, her first response is to become frustrated, and over time, it becomes easier and easier for those feelings to build. Simpler, even, than wallowing in misplaced guilt.

Now, having only a limited number of places to look for him in, it doesn't take her long — although she doesn't like being made to search, regardless, and any missives she had previously sent to him had clearly been acknowledged without any form of response from him. It only prompts some of those initial frustrations to brew hotter, closer to brimming over, though any who know her well would only be able to recognize it by the subtle flare of her nostrils, or the distinct spark in an otherwise impenetrable violet gaze.

She doesn't say much, as he speaks — giving him more than ample opportunity to answer for himself — but when he offers to leave the tension within her becomes distinctly plucked, and it's all she can do to keep herself from snapping.

That doesn't mean her tone is any less crisp when she finally addresses him directly, glancing at the profile he affords her with that turn of the head. ] It might have occurred to you that I had a distinct purpose in coming here, Drift, and it isn't to see the sights.

[aurable]

[ Maybe it was that familiarity that caused Drift to offer Yennefer such a tepid response. A subconscious bulwark against the dawning realization she had sought him out, maybe to have him answer for all those ignored messages — or out of concern. Either way, a heaviness pushed down on Drift on all sides, making him keenly aware that he couldn't slip away without notice. There is a sort of culpability in that, he thinks. — He hadn't wanted to think anyone gave a damn where he went, and here came living contradiction marching in with a fire under her heels lit by her impatience for his self-pity.

At first, Drift doesn't react. Yennefer held onto her anger and whatever source for it, leaving it on such a long simmer with a firm grip. She didn't seem the type to relent for apologies or excuses and Drift had neither at hand. At least, none that felt appropriate. It didn't feel right to explain he wanted time to mourn a stranger. A stranger with the face of someone he confessed to having loved so deeply, he let it sharpen his edges to such jagged points it was tearing the ties he made here to shreds.

Instead, he opted for a mutual halfway point between his grief and her fury, ]

Leonard is gone. [ He said, sidestepping her words and pointed look. ] Came here to think.

[choicely]

[ She's not entirely convinced it has anything to do with the fact that Leonard and Billy had borne an unsettling resemblance to each other — something she could overlook in most instances given that the doctor had been who he was and Billy, well, had differentiated himself from that almost immediately. Then again, the timing of their departures was something to consider, if only in passing.

Theirs aren't the only disappearances that she's felt recently, if she allows herself to be more honest with it, but rather than open her arms to it and welcome the emotion in, she's chosen the alternative. The other side of it, however, means that she finds herself inconveniently seeking out whatever company remains rather than choosing to distance herself further, as might have been her tendency early on. ]

I know. [ In regard to the first part; for the second, she relents somewhat, with a quiet slump of her shoulders. ]

There are several gone now. And I've suddenly found myself with an empty room.

[aurable]

[ She wasn't yelling at him; he hadn't expected her to. Yennefer may have had a temperament that could leave the coals burning long after whatever stoaked her ire in the first place, but he learned she kept a tight leash on it. That didn't exactly make him feel confident in quickly earning her forgiveness, either.

The weight he had been carrying made another push, and Drift sank into a low crouch before swinging his legs over the edge of the balcony. ]

And now you're faced with finding out you didn't miss the quiet as much as you thought. [ Drift said it more to himself than to Yennefer, but when the contour of her proud frame slackened, he believed he hit the mark. ]

Billy...Billy had a good heart, and sometimes I wonder if I'm one of the few who saw that in him because of the simplistic, childish need to see heroes in shades that aren't gray. It's funny, you know? Underneath all that vitriol, there was still a kid in there.

And Leonard, he — [ Both finials twitched and flattned down, ] — he was sick, he told me. It's always the ones taking care of everyone else that... [ Drift shakes his head as a shaken, almost wet sound escapes before being stifled. ]

When people here choose to leave, it still feels like they were taken away. Even if they're better off going, it's still [ At his side, Drift unconsciously starts to pick and scrape at the painted metal surface of the rooftop. A nonsensical series of lines — vertical pairs ending in one horizontal and crossing over the other in a six-set series, repeating as he found a pattern that kept his fidgeting mind partially occupied. ] a loss.

sim room

[victorylap]

[ He's been trying to track Drift down since they got back on the ship. Mostly because he's a whirlwind of emotions and he doesn't know how to express them, even know. A mixture of resentment and self-loathing and anger. He's never enjoyed being second best at anything, even if he also feels like he deserves to be at times. Even if he knows that if he wants to be a hero he should discard that resentment. Ideally he shouldn't feel it in the first place.

He won't say any of this out loud of course, but he'll still try to find his amica.

Seeing a Cybertron-that-was, even if it's a little off in places, is still a gutpunch. He just listens to Drift for a few long moments, optics trailing over the vista. The glowing lights, the spires, the buzz of the city. Even now, even a million cycles on, it hurts a little. To be reminded of what they've all lost over that time. It's never coming back, even if they're rebuilding. ]

So. Why the trip down memory lane here?

[ He's being a bit flip, but he's not unaffected. He's just pretending to be. ]

[aurable]

[ Drift was talking to dead air when Rodimus entered the simulation. Not because he didn't think he amica wouldn't care about what Drift had to say or the illusory glance back into their past, but rather that he didn't want to discuss his reasons for being here. Their respective heartaches they had been ignoring and refusing to address for weeks had been building to a crescendo that threatened to break before either could bend. ]

Because they're not my memories. [ Drift explained as he sat at the balcony's edge with his back still turned to his friend. Just as mild and borderline flippant as Rodimus, an equally insincere in being seemingly unaffected by what had happened. ]

The other Ratchet created this, so it reasoned I should want to see what the 'other' Cybertron was like.

[victorylap]

Oh.

[ That's all Rodimus can say at first, because what else is there to say? The other Ratchet - not their Ratchet, not Drift's Ratchet - had been here briefly and then was gone. He knew it had to sting. He just didn't know what to say about it. He's never been good at that, really. ]

...it looks pretty similar, honestly. But not quite right.

[ That's safe, isn't it? ]

[aurable]

Mmm, [ Drift made a gruff, noncommittal sound as he dropped to his haunches before swinging his legs over the side of the building they were standing on. Letting his legs dangle down over artificial oblivion. ]

You see one shining capital segregated from the lower castes, and you've seen them all. [ It was almost a joke, but the flat inflection in Drift's voice made it difficult to tell. ]

But I always did like the view.

text

[adept]

[ Yuri supposes that before he makes tracks to one room or another, he'll first respond to the message. ]

So how does one go about setting an appointment? That something we do with these devices of ours?

[ He wouldn't want to show up and find he's interrupting someone's appointed training time. ]

[ooc: I figure it can transition to action after brief discussion, if that's good with you. ]

[aurable]

( ooc: works for me! )

I can keep track of availability and you can set your device with a reminder alarm. The training is sizeable and rarely if ever booked through the entire day.

[adept]

[ So it's as easy as setting a time. Somehow, Yuri didn't expect that, complicated as things often seem around here. ]

Sounds simple enough. Mind if I ask which you'd recommend for a guy like me?

I know my way around a sword, but I'm short the usual training partners. As for driving, it's horses and wyverns where I come from.

[aurable]

What's a guy like you? I'm a proficient swordsman with uhh quite a few years of experience and more besides with firearms, mostly sniper rifles and automatic

for personal reasons I don't use firearms anymore but can offer thorough instruction and safety lessons

Car.

I'm the car. Sorry, I don't neigh or do anything special for apples.

sim room

[legalcy]

[Minimus is nearly knocked off-balance when he walks into the room and, expecting just about any other location, sees a Cybertron from long before the war. He recalls standing this high above the aerial streets with his brother and House mentor, though the specifics of the sights were different. The first time they were brought to the capital, the twins spent half of the time listening to the introductions to the finest of Cybertronian culture, and half of the time staring out at the landscape.

From up high, it's a beautiful city. The lights are the results of millennia of urban design, becoming an piece of art in how they are arranged to best provide light in the night. But by now, Minimus knows what happens in the crevices down below.]

Oh- I see. [Drift is here. That makes sense as to why today's illusion is one of Cybertron.] It's eerie in how dissimilar yet familiar this is, compared to my recollection.

[He's not unnerved, he swears. He's folding his hands behind his back not because he's unsure of how to approach the topic of Ratchet. It's simply a way to stand.]

[aurable]

Something could be said for certain consistencies that carry over into other universes. [ The comment was distant and unemotional, as if Drift was bored by the fantastic spectacle laid out before him.

Minimus knew about the situation with Rodimus, to an extent. They had a falling out, Drift had witnessed Rodimus storming off back on Xrisora. It was also why Minimus was low on the list of people that Drift cared to see right now, but it wasn't the smaller mech's fault. He had every right to be here, even if Drift was keeping him a conversational arm's length and his reception tepid at best. ]

Can't argue it's still a nice view.

[legalcy]

It is.

[He stands in silences and traces the city outline against the horizon.]

We did what we could, with the princess. [Even now, Minimus can't stop thinking about how the orb flat-out refused another bargain. His first chance to undo someone else's mistake here, and nothing could be done. Only the elderly xrisora's sacrifice - with whom he danced earlier in the evening - could undo it.] You were correct. The orbs are not fair.

[aurable]

No, they're not. It hasn't stopped us from banking everything on them, though. [ Drift leans over the railing, his back still turned as he continues to speak as though his attention was elsewhere. ] You did what you could, and as far as outcomes go, that was the best of a terrible situation.

[ Which is something Minimus should know, but Drift suspected he wanted it confirmed. There wasn't a doubt in his mind the mech absorbed every detail of the previous missions in the debriefings on file several times over. ]

Why are you here, Minimus? [ A beat ] I mean, right now — not more the abstract "why are you here on the Ximilia."

text. un: stardust

[shadysided]

Teach me how to chop heads off!

[Okay, okay, she's not wanting to chop heads off so merrily.

But it is important to know how to use weapons and fight without them.

So!]

Re: text. un: stardust

[aurable]

[ It would seem the Youths™ are out in force ]

I'll teach you how to hold a practice sword and start with how not to get your own head chopped off before we graduate to that point.

text.

[shadysided]

[They sure are, gramps.]

Gee, can you have a little more faith in me?
I know how to throw axes! I think I can handle not cutting my own head off.

[aurable]

I'm the one with ten thousand years of experience
My way or the highway,zigs