[NETWORK] THE GRID

[vosseeker]

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[redcosmedic]

You are, and I appreciate that. But it's time to be pragmatic about this.

[ Not that what Starscream had done hurts Knock Out any less now than before. What Jane had witnessed that night was proof of it. But he's doing his best to keep himself on an even keel and Jane's continued presence helps with that. If the fallout from between her and Starscream ends in her sent away from Cybertron, he isn't sure what could happen to the protoforms, and they're just about the only thing keeping the medic going right now. ]

[forceshadowed]

I'm not apologizing. You can't make me.

[ She can act like nothing had happened. She can pretend it had been a night of drunken decisions and that doesn't remember any of it. But she refuses to apologize. Even if that's the only way she can stand up for Knock Out now. ]

[redcosmedic]

The good news is that I doubt he'll expect you to. If you just carry on as usual, he'll likely not give it a second thought.

[ He is sorry that she found out what Starscream was like in this way and for the part Knock Out had played in it, unwilling or not. Starscream, against all logic and reason, appeared to like Jane, or at least enjoy having her around. Knock Out had privately wondered if she might not even instill some better traits in him before this apprenticeship was over. Maybe it was a flight frame and pilot thing. Primus knew Starscream could do with someone to talk about that sort of thing. They'd both seemed to really be in sync.

But now... with Jane acting as she was, Knock Out couldn't imagine that she'd go out of her way to engage him in anything beyond the basics required for what she had to. He certainly couldn't fault her for it.

But Knock Out felt guilty anyway, for another failure on his part to better manage himself, for letting Starscream get the upper hand in such an obvious way. Pit, he was a mess. ]

[forceshadowed]

Wow he's even more of an asshole than I thought.
Maybe I should fly us into an ambush again. Or scratch his wings when we're out flying.

[ She's really just being petty and grumbly now. But since Knock Out's called her out, she's actually starting to step back and reevaluate her situation. He's right, she can't afford to jeopardize her position now. Especially not after that ambush. At the end of the day, her best chance of getting anything done is still this apprenticeship. ]

[redcosmedic]

Everyone's a little damaged, Jane.

[ They'd just come out of a several million year war, one that had amplified and enabled the worst behaviours in all of them, regardless of their faction. None of them were saintly before the war, but it certainly hadn't done their race any favours. (And honestly, it was a wonder half of them were still functionally sane at all.) ]

I'm not telling you what you can or can't do. I just don't want everything to go to Pit because I was selfish.

[forceshadowed]

I know.

[ She gets that, truly. Although she can't imagine what it's even like for them, given that they have such long lives. She's not even thirty and she's already tired of all the wars and the fighting and just being... well, damaged. ]

Don't worry, I won't let it get to that.
I just... I'm sorry, Knock Out.

[redcosmedic]

Thank you.

[ Her sympathy means more to him than she probably realizes. But he doesn't want her to second guess herself now that it sounds like she'll give Starscream another chance. ]