[AND SO: riptide allows himself to be ferried to the brig without much complaint. a couple days later, when the strings appear around the ship, he doesn't really pay them much heed. whatever. what new bullshit. he knows one of them is attached to getaway, and he hates that.
doesn't realise there's one connecting him to magnus! riptide hasn't bothered to touch them much after he felt getaway's.]
[Eventually, Minimus has to sweep the brig and create safe walking paths free of strings and other hazards. He returns to the brig armed with a long broom and a sack of bricks, avoiding touching any of those unnecessary emotions. Strangely, there's one connected to his hand that won't sit aside like a well behaved string, no matter how much he angles it.
It turns out that it's because it's directly linked to one of the mechs jailed here.]
Riptide? [He hooks the end of the broom handle on the string and pushes it aside.] Please organize your cell. I have some supplies to keep them from touching you.
Nah, I'm good. [he says with a shrug, then holds a hand up when he realises it makes one of the strings move with more intensity. it connects to minimus, and one of riptide's optical ridges raise.] Woah...
Right? Super weird. I guess it's a subspace thing?
[he reaches out to touch it and push it aside while he grabs a brick, then gasps lightly, expression delighted.]
Is this how you feel about me?!
[riptide doesn't have to words to say "parental" but he sure does understand that protectiveness and appreciation. his own feelings towards minimus cant heavily toward a lot of love and respect too, despite the situation he's currently in.]
[Too late, time for emotions. Minimus grabs his own end as if he could possibly yank it out of Riptide's hands and ends up feeling a sense of respect. Despite being in jail, he...cares about making Minimus happy?]
[his optics widen a little when minimus says that and he shrinks back into the cell a little.]
Uh.
[riptide's expression pinches as he tugs the string slightly.]
I guess that matters to me, yeah. [he's trying and failing so hard to be normal about this.] 'Cuz... you know, I don't really... know how that feels. To have someone you care about be proud of you.
[Who? Riptide was an MTO, an expendable soldier. He had no older sibling to approve of his successes. No Tyrest picked him to play the role of his tool.]
The mutiny was understandable from your perspective. You were unhappy with Megatron's position on the ship, and you took Getaway as a leader. [Minimus also was angry about Megs but look where they are now.]
I do wish you see you improve yourself, Riptide. I can see that you wish to be better.
Um. [awkward nervousness floods the string.] Getaway's thing, he... convinced me that everyone thought I was just a dumb waste of time because I keep doing things wrong and... you know.
[Well.......Minimus can't say that no one on the ship thinks that.] Megatron has spoken to me of your effort to learn. From our conversations, he is fond of working with you.
Did he say that was true of everyone that was left on Necroworld?
I don't think there's going to be another one. [riptide starts to pace around the cell as he thinks this over. clomp clomp clomp.] If there's going to be any problems it's all the Decepticons following their own Megatrons, right?
I'm saying this genuinely, not just as an Autobot, by the way.
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[AND SO: riptide allows himself to be ferried to the brig without much complaint. a couple days later, when the strings appear around the ship, he doesn't really pay them much heed. whatever. what new bullshit. he knows one of them is attached to getaway, and he hates that.
doesn't realise there's one connecting him to magnus! riptide hasn't bothered to touch them much after he felt getaway's.]
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It turns out that it's because it's directly linked to one of the mechs jailed here.]
Riptide? [He hooks the end of the broom handle on the string and pushes it aside.] Please organize your cell. I have some supplies to keep them from touching you.
[Namely, bricks.]
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[He sets the bag on the ground and starts sliding bricks between the bars one by one.]
Strange how it appears to grow shorter the closer we are to one another.
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[he reaches out to touch it and push it aside while he grabs a brick, then gasps lightly, expression delighted.]
Is this how you feel about me?!
[riptide doesn't have to words to say "parental" but he sure does understand that protectiveness and appreciation. his own feelings towards minimus cant heavily toward a lot of love and respect too, despite the situation he's currently in.]
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[Too late, time for emotions. Minimus grabs his own end as if he could possibly yank it out of Riptide's hands and ends up feeling a sense of respect. Despite being in jail, he...cares about making Minimus happy?]
...What?
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What, what?
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...You...wish that I were proud of you?
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Uh.
[riptide's expression pinches as he tugs the string slightly.]
I guess that matters to me, yeah. [he's trying and failing so hard to be normal about this.] 'Cuz... you know, I don't really... know how that feels. To have someone you care about be proud of you.
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[Who? Riptide was an MTO, an expendable soldier. He had no older sibling to approve of his successes. No Tyrest picked him to play the role of his tool.]
What of your friends? Surely they care for you.
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[he leans back against the wall of his cell, shifting uncomfortably.]
I guess it was easier to, uh, distance myself from it again when I wasn't around anyone for all that time.
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I do wish you see you improve yourself, Riptide. I can see that you wish to be better.
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It wasn't... just that, you know.
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I am listening. [He could learn something about improving the command structure on this ship.]
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I didn't see a reason to disagree with that?
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Did he say that was true of everyone that was left on Necroworld?
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...Yeah. I mean-- why would I have wanted to stay around a bunch of people I thought considered me... lower than dirt?
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...
As did we.
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I'm saying this genuinely, not just as an Autobot, by the way.
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