Terms and Conditions May Apply(tm)

[schrodingersbot]

WHO: swordofpeace, schrodingersbot, and not_your_gun
WHAT: Perceptor has some... concerns to express to Magnum in regards to Wing.
WHERE: the Arena
WHEN: After Halloween, but still during the Event
WARNINGS/NOTES: Nerds and Knights and Nasties, oh my! Possible foul language.

Comments

[swordofpeace]

Perhaps not so funny, Perceptor. It wasn't really something Wing wanted to deal with himself, much less bring up in conversation.

"It won't be that awful," he said, quietly. "I am led to believe it might allow me a larger sphere of duties." Meaning: his TransTech 'owners' were probably not likely to trust him around the Twins for a long time.

He studies the path in front of them, giving Perceptor one quick, rueful grin.

[schrodingersbot]

Perceptor stopped dead in his tracks to fix Wing with an incredulous look. "Not that awful?" he gasped. "Wing, I know the different between 'indentured' and 'employed'!"

His shock gave way to anger, and a scowl settled upon his features. "No. This is my fault. I never should have trusted Magnum, even that insignificant amount."

He reached out to grab Wing's hand. intending to tug him along, their walk now one with purpose, and a new direction.

"He will fix this. I will make him fix this."

[swordofpeace]

"Compared to deportation," Wing said. "Perceptor. I heard what my possible sentences were. They were very clear. They do not tolerate Outworlders damaging their own kind."

He'd seen two mechs return from deportation, but they were both illegals. A mere Outworlder like him?

"It's my fault. I should have warned you. Magnum...has a way of twisting you around." As he knew all too well.

"Please." He slowed, letting his steps drag to slow Perceptor down. "Perceptor, you will not get the better of Magnum. Trust me."

[schrodingersbot]

"I will not allow them to deport you." Perceptor's voice, though low, was quite firm. He slowed, though, allowing Wing to restrict his pace. Some.

"It is not your fault, Wing. I am familiar enough with Malcom that I should have expected as much." He heaved a sigh and stopped, turning to pull Wing against him.

"It's not fair," he murmured sullenly. "I must try, Wing. He is too accustomed to getting what he wishes without effort."

[swordofpeace]

"You will not endanger your own safety." Wing's voice was sharp, as if trying to compensate for the Great Sword he no longer had. "Your world needs you to return."

His world...didn't. And if not Perceptor's world, some other world could make good use, virtuous use, of the mech's scientific knowledge. Wing? All he could do was fight. A pacifist who fought, as Magnum had taunted, again and again.

"He gets what he wants even with effort," Wing said, letting himself be pulled against the larger mech. Perceptor needed the reassurance, and he did, too, suddenly a bit apprehensive about meeting Magnum again, under these circumstances. "Even when I defeated him at his own Arena...he won."

[schrodingersbot]

"Neither of us knows that," he retorted gently. "There are others, now, who are more intelligent than I am, and if my skills are unique, it is only because I am a singular individual. Those same skills can easily be replicated amid a group of reasonably skilled scientists. I am more convenient, there, than necessary."

Once, that might have bothered him, sent him into a fugue from which it would take months to drag himself out of, if then. Now, however...

Now, there was Wing.

"This time, however, we have something which he desperately wants," he replied grimly, before finally leaning back from the embrace. "And I am weary of merely standing by while justice slips from our grasp, without making at least an attempt."

He tugged Wing's hand, again, continuing along the path toward the Arena. "Besides, he faced us individually. Not together."

[swordofpeace]

Wing frowned. "That's not true, Perceptor. Every mech is significant. Every mech is important."

Except himself, the mech who died--happily, willingly--for his purpose. Fate was done with him, hands washed.

"Drift mattered. One mech, and...I know he made a difference." And, Wing dared to hope, that he had made a difference through that. It was a good enough legacy. More than he could ask for.

"The only way to be safe from predators, Perceptor, is to have nothing they want." Nonetheless, he felt chastened, no matter how kindly Perceptor meant the admonition. He...this is not who he was. He did not sit by and let others decide for him.

He hitched his shoulders, heading toward the route that took them to the side entrance, where, it seemed forever ago, on that strange night, he had followed Magnum into the heart of his own darkness.

[schrodingersbot]

"If you wish me to accept that," Perceptor replied with a bleak smile, "then you must accept it as well." He turned an expectant look down upon the smaller jet as he paused at the door. "You matter. You are important."

Perceptor may not be capable of convincing Wing that he should not shoulder the sheer amount of blame that he did for the incident with the Twins, but he would convince Wing of at least a portion of his worth, even if he had to resort to somewhat... questionable tactics... to do so.

"Shall we?" he asked, nodding to the door after he'd cycled a fortifying vent. He prepared to follow Wing's lead.

[swordofpeace]

"Perceptor. It's not the same. I've...I'm done back on my world. And my thought--my hope--that I could change Magnum and change the war? It's...it's just vanity."

He shrugged it off, or tried to, his shoulder pinions flaring and slicking as he turned to confront the unimposing side entrance of the arena. Where, he knew now, the combatants entered. Not the glamorous audience, but a narrow, cramped, entry for those who were about to pit their lives against another mech.

...it was fitting, he thought.

Oh Magnum! You has visitors!

[schrodingersbot]

"Perhaps your world is done with you, but I am not," Perceptor replied fiercely. Not here, and, science willing, not back on his own world, either.

Cutting the discussion short with a frustrated chuff, he reached forward and knocked upon the door. Loudly.

[Have a minion! And a random icon.]

[not_your_gun]

It is hardly Magnum that answers the back door of his arena...

But a wrangler, put there to check in mechs for matches. He looks the two of you over...and nods, once, to Wing, whom he recognizes. "You here to see the boss? He said to let you up."

Perceptor is given an extra-cursory glance. "Who's the nerd? Does he have a pass?"

[you are so lucky I don't still have blackout little birdie]

[swordofpeace]

Wing winces at what the carte blanche permission implies, and has to bite down an explanation. Which would probably look guiltier than he felt.

If that was possible.

"He's with me." A feint, a challenge. "We have business to discuss with Magnum."

[suddenly has urge to play Duck Hunter]

[schrodingersbot]

Perceptor had planned on trying to polite and cordial route, first. He truly had. And he should certainly have been accustomed to the unflattering moniker.

He should have been.

Something about the dismissive tone and the rude name and the whole reason they were there and the implication that Wing was Magnum's to command about since this certainly hadn't been a planned visit...

"If Magnum wishes to see the technology he bargained for, then the 'nerd' had certainly better be admitted," he observed coldly.

[Soundwave would not approve.]

[not_your_gun]

"With you, hmm?" The mech glanced to Perceptor, and whistled, low. "So there are perks to working at the top. Not bad."

His face fell pretty quickly, especially with the biting tone the scientist used, and he stepped to the side. "Alright, alright. Second corridor to the left, take the lift up to the top. You know the way."

[swordofpeace]

Wing winced, outright, at the guard's tone, and his appraising, too-knowing gaze. "It's not like--" he cut himself off. It's not like that? It...probably was.

He tried to think of something to say, somewhere between Perceptor's hostility and the guard's snarky judgment.

"...thank you." As he slipped past the mech, he murmured to Perceptor, "Please, be calm. Agitation only serves to distract us."

[schrodingersbot]

From the cold anger of being insulted, to the indignation of being sized-up so blatantly, to, amazingly enough, guilty chagrin at the guard's reaction. He was too easily led about by his emotions, sometimes.

"I am sorry," he replied softly, glancing at Wing as they moved out of earshot. "You are correct."

Maybe they should not try speaking to Magnum, after all. It was too late to back out now, though.

"It is not?" he asked, trying to squelch his disappointment. The odd looks and inappropriate advanced he'd been receiving over the past few days had been... awkward, and a little uncomfortable with his utter unfamiliarity regarding how to respond, however, if anyone had the right to claim Perceptor's affections, it would be Wing.

He very carefully avoids asking just how often Wing has been here, that he "knows the way" so well.