Quantum Quandary

-Quantum has business in Iacon, which is not completely out of the ordinary. He had gotten rather behind on his work, due to an unforeseen -accident- that caused some amnesia, so he's working on getting back on track with his various clients. He's still not quite sure what that accident was, but it was time to move on, anyway. The assassin is just now making his way out of one of the buildings in the Senate Pavilions, after a meeting with a more well-to-do client.
-Swift Blade doesn't have any official business here, per se. In fact, she might stand out as she's not exactly high caste, but unless someone tells her to leave, she might as well stay for now. Being relatively new to the planet, she's naturally curious about all the cities therein. She's been to Nyon several times by this point and is staying in Vos, but hadn't quite made it around to Iacon until today. Since the place is quite beautiful, she's quite happy to be taking in the sites.
-Iacon is indeed very beautiful. The capital city contains some of the most posh sectors on the planet. And it's where one is likely to find society's richest and most influential people. Quantum recognizes Swift Blade immediately. But, knowing what he knows now, his optics narrow. She's a fried of Blast Off's, isn't she?
   He approaches her. "Swift Blade, right?"
-Swift Blade inclines her head politely to the mech that has approached and spoken to her. "Yes," she says. She tilts her head to the side. "Apologies, but I don't recall who you are," she admits candidtly with a faint smile, hoping she is not going to offend this fellow.
-Quantum shrugs. "We only met once, briefly." he doesn't seem offended that she doesn't remember him specifically. "It's Quantum. I had the memory problems, due to an accident. Still not sure what happened exactly. But I don't exactly have the time to brood over it."
-Swift Blade nods her head gravely. "Memory seems to be a rare commodity on this planet," she says. "A lot of people seem to have these issues. It's rather...disturbing." She sighs, but then extends a hand. "Pleased to meet you more formerly then."
-"Really?" Quantum seems to find her comment about memory rather strange. "What makes you say that? You been hanging around a bunch of misfits, huh? Hah." He snorts slightly. "I guess it's easy to get along with those sorts."
-Swift Blade smiles faintly. "Well, just from things I've heard, there seems to be issues," is all she says about that particular matter. "As for misfits, well, I hardly 'fit' in around here all things considering, so yes, maybe it is easy to get along with 'those sorts'." She doesn't seem offended or dismissive. Calmly accepting seems to be the closest description.
-"Be careful about things that you just hear from other people," Quantum grunts. "Because that very much depends on -who- you're hearing them from. The best indicator is generally what you yourself have seen or experienced, really.
-"Well, until I have been on the planet for a while, I don't have much of my own experience to go by, now do I?" Swift Blade says evenly. "I haven't been here very long and the last time I was here I was so young that I don't have much in the way of memories." Pause. "Besides, a lot of things can change in nine million years."
-"But that doesn't mean you just believe whatever you hear!" Quantum laughs, shaking his head. "So, you friends with Blast Off, then?" he asks. She'd been with him the last time he saw her. "Where's he been lately, any idea?"
-"There is a difference between believing and being aware," Swift Blade says slowly. "I'm sure people have reasons to lie and tell the truth." She presses her lips together in a thoughtful line. "I suppose you could say we're friends of sorts," she says hesitantly, not because she is worried about admitting it, but because she isn't quite sure of at what point someone moves from acquaintance to friend. "Usually I see him in Nyon." Which is the truth, but ulitmately unhelpful.
-"You see him at that bar we were at frequently?" Quantum asks. It seems odd that he keeps asking her questions about him. It's almost as if he's conducting some sort of interview. Or interrogation. "He tell you about anywhere else he goes? Kaon?"
-Swift Blade shrugs her shoulders. "I don't inquire as to where he goes or where he comes from; I simply enjoy his company while I am in it." Whether that makes her not a friend, she does not know. "I believe I only saw him go into the bar once, maybe twice," she says, stopping to consider.
-Quantum arches an optic ridge at her. "Really, so you just spend time with each other whenever you -happen- to run across one another?" He seems reluctant to believe her. "Maybe he isn't really your friend, if he hasn't even talked to you about where he's from or what he does."
-"I don't have a measure with which to judge by; slaves aren't allowed friends," Swift Blade says flatly. Whether he believes her or not, she doesn't care. She knows she's not lying and that is sufficient. "He is not rude to me and has done me no harm; that is sufficient for me to continue an association with him."
-"Tch." Quantum shakes his head, looking disappointed. "Right, and so you're going to -wait- until he does?" he asks, fixing her with a pointed look. "You're going to put your hand in a smelter with protective coatings on until it starts to hurt, then take it out? Doesn't sound wise to me."
-"Why should I assume that anyone is going to want to hurt me?" Swift Blade asks. "As far as I can tell, I've done no wrong, I try to deal with people respectfully, and I don't have any political presence or agenda with which to cause resentment," she says. Obviously she's never come across a sadist before.
-Quantum stares at her for a moment, as if he can't quite believe what he just heard. Then he bursts out laughing. "Well! I can tell you're new -now-." He shakes his head, calming down. "Look, lady. If there's one thing you need to know about this place, it's that you don't just go around living by a rule like that. Assuming no one's going to do anything slag-faced crazy to you just because you haven't done anything to -them-. You wanna know what Blast Off did? He murdered my best friend and partner, without a second thought. We never had anything personal against him, we were just doing our -jobs-."
-Swift Blade gives Quantum a long look. "You were one of the two that were sent after him in space?" she asks, optic ridges going up. Obviously she's not completely clueless. "What exactly was your job at the time? If you were sent to kill him, why WOULDN'T he do anything to avoid not being killed? Personal or not, people want to live, don't they?" She doesn't seem to be terribly worried...yet. "As for making that assumption, well, I could also assume that everyone IS out to get me and I doubt it would be any more accurate."
-"Maybe it wouldn't be more accurate," Quantum shrugs. "But it sure as frag would be -safer.-" He sighs. "It doesn't matter whether we were sent to kill him or not, he was the one who maybe -assumed- we were trying to, even if that wasn't -actually- the goal. He didn't exactly give us the benefit of the doubt, you know. In fact, if I recall correctly, I specifically remember one of us telling him that he had something that belonged to our client at the time, which he -did-, obviously implying that he'd better give it back to us. But did he? -No-."
-Swift Blade shrugs her shoulders. "I was not there; I have no way of knowing the verity of either of your claims," she says. "I haven't gotten to the root of things, but until I do," she sighs and shakes her head, "I'm not really willing to condemn anyone." Live and let live. This doesn't happen on Cybertron. "As for safer, well, it seems to be that if I borrow so much trouble I will hopelessly be in debt." She spreads out her hands, palms up, in a helpless gesture.
-"Better to be safe than live with regrets, isn't it?" Quantum says bitterly. He's angry, that's for certain. Angry and bitter, and broken. "It's not a matter of -condemning-." he scoffs. "If it were, -everyone- would be condemned, because -everyone's- screwed up in life. Some worse than others, but screw ups are screw ups. And you never know when they're gonna happen. No, it's about protecting yourself, and making sure there's something -left- of you after all the people you decided to 'live and let live' are through with you."
-Swift Blade softens slightly. "Going against my beliefs to keep myself safe /would/ be a regret," she says gently. "This world is much worse off than I anticipated, but, for better or worse, here I am. The laws prohibit me from leaving again." She looks up at the sky for a moment, her expression rather thoughtful. Finally she fixes her optics back on Quantum. "Is seeking revenge for your fallen comrade going to bring him back?" she asks. "Is it actually going to make /you/ safer?" Ah, so many broken people on this planet.
-"A regret worse than losing someone you care about?" Quantum hurls back at her. He stares appalled at her question. "How can you even -ask- me that? As if you somehow know better than I do? Why don't you ask -yourself- that question? What if it had been -you-, what would you do, huh? How would you -feel-? Have you ever even -had- some slag like that happen to you before? You might have been slave, but did you ever have to watch someone else kill your best friend?" he challenges.
-"Since I had no friends, no, I can't say I do. Which is why I ask, because I /don't/ know," Swift Blade says, lowering her optics a trifle. "I did not mean to diminish your experience." Her tone is contrite. She makes a gesture skywards. "I was cut off from my own people; isolated. I was not a person. Who would I have had to be close /to/?" she inquires.
-"Then you don't have a right to even -ask- me that question." Quantum quips angrily. "You think he's a 'nice mech' because he's never done any harm to YOU personally, but did you ever stop to think about how much pain he's caused other people? And not just -one- other person, either. He killed those two patrol officers, I'm sure they had friends too. Or do you just not care."
      "Pff, or is it just that he's told you way too many sob stories that you just can't help feeling sorry for his pathetic aft?"
-"I don't know about nice," Swift Blade says slowly. "In fact, I don't know that I would call most people 'nice'. As for rights," she shakes her head, "you have as much right to not answer questions." She is quiet for a few moments while she processes her responses to Quantum's words. "It's not a matter of caring, exactly," she finally says. "I am not an officer of the law and I have no personal vendetta against him. Why would I attack him?" she asks. Then she tilts her head to the side. "Sorry for him? I suppose you could say that I'm sorry for many people on this planet. It is full of strife."
-"So you're going to associate with a slag-licker like that, just because he hasn't done anything to you personally?" Quantum scoffs again. "I'm telling you, he doesn't deserve a single -dram- of mercy or compassion. And it IS a matter of caring. What you're saying, basically, is that because it isn't your job to enforce the law, and since he hasn't done anything against YOU, you don't care what the frag he's done to anyone else."
      "Awfully self-centered and arrogant, if I may be blunt. As if you were the only person in the world who mattered." he adds. Right, because he isn't all of that himself. Not.
-"Not exactly," Swift Blade says. "He's done a lot of things that he shouldn't. But something brought him to that point. Just as something brought you, and your departed friend, to the point that you had to confront him," she says. She does wince a little as she is being accused of arrogance, and she doesn't refute the point. Is she actually arrogant? Well, if she looked at herself from some angles, perhaps she could be seen that way. "I will not stop you from being blunt, as you are most likely correct. But again, I am new here, or at least very recently returned. It is only by observation that I can really know and understand what is going on with this world, and jumping into quarrels is not the best course." She sighs. "Besides, he was the first person I met on this planet, so perhaps I'm a little biased," she also admits.
-"Pff, well that's just dumb bad luck." Quantum shrugs at the mention of Blast Off having been the first impression of this place. "But I guess it wasn't a pretty accurate one, since this planet isn't exactly the best place in the galaxy, either. Far from it in fact." He fold his arms. "Ha! So what, you're saying that nothing is anyone's fault? He can just, blame his 'oh so unfortunate' life events for all the scrap that he's gotten himself into? I could just shoot you in the head, right now, and kill you so fast you wouldn't even know what hit you, and then just say I shouldn't be condemned for it just because 'something brought me' to do that?"
-Swift Blade looks mildly exasperated by this point. "If it pleases you to twist my words, then feel free," she says with a 'Primus grant me patience' tone in her voice. "I'm just saying that no one is simply a list of what they did wrong. People are complex. Do I believe that he shouldn't go to justice for his crimes? Not really. But I also know there are many who question the...methods...of justice on this planet, so I am not surprised that he fears it." She shrugs her shoulders. "As for not condemning people, I just said I wasn't going to condemn people. This is because I am still an outsider; it isn't my place."
-"And I just said it's not about condemning, it's about protecting -yourself-. Especially since you, apparently, are so ignorant." Quantum points out. He makes an exasperated sound, because he isn't as intent on concealing how he's feeling as she is. "But whatever, you wanna go get yourself screwed over by hanging out with a murderer, you go right ahead. See if I care, since you seem to operate on a philosophy of not caring about anyone but yourself, as well."
-Swift Blade isn't actually feeling a whole lot. She's not the most emotional of people out there from long years of being emotionally starved. Yes, starved. She doesn't intend to be selfish. "In theory, what would you have me do?" she asks quietly. "If you are unsatisfied with my current position, then clearly you must have an idea of what I /should/ be doing."
-"I just told you, -genius-." Quantum snaps derisively. "Stop hanging around criminals, especially ones prone to murder." As if he's not technically a criminal himself. One the law overlooks, of course, but he is still very much a killer in his own right. But he doesn't mention that. "Like -Blast Off-. But since you seem to be so stuck in your own ignorance and so filled with yourself, it's not like I can do anything about it." he shrugs.
-"I meant, right now," Swift Blade says. "Since I am not, currently, hanging around Blast Off, that is not something I can do at the moment." She raises her optic ridges. "Ignorance doesn't vanish in an instant; it takes time and learning. I am learning, even if it is slowly. But you seem to think I should have known things that I wouldn't have had a way of knowing when I first landed here." She turns her head away slightly. "Still, I am sorry for your loss and my seeming insensitivity to it."
-"Well I'm trying to -help- you learn right now, but you don't seem to want it." Quantum counters. "You already have your own ways of thinking, and you're stuck in them so hell if I care." He shrugs again, and scoffs at her apology. "You -can't- be sensitive to it because you've never felt it yourself. So 'sorry' isn't going to cut it, and it's not going to help in the least." The only thing that -does- help, is RETRIBUTION.
-"I can't understand it, because I haven't felt it, so my apology is worth nothing?" Swift Blade says slowly. "You are placing blame on me for never having been close to someone." She tilts her head to the side. "You are angry and hurt, and you have every right to be. Perhaps I should leave you alone, since I am only exacerbating your troubles."
-"That's right." Quantum confirms bluntly. "See, you're smart, so why don't you put those smarts to good use, huh? Apologies aren't going to do slag, -nothing- is going to do slag except -retribution-, swift and sweet. -Then-, maybe I'll be able to get at least a hint of satisfaction. And maybe I'll be able to rest easy."
-Swift Blade shakes her head slightly. "Smart. I don't know that I'm smart; I just see what I see." She sighs. "If you kill someone in retribution, chances are they know someone who will come after you. And then either you or that person will likely die, and someone else will be seeking retribution. The question becomes, when does it stop? When there's one solitary mech or femme standing here alone?" Yes, it might be following it to the extreme, but sometimes you have to go that far to see where your actions will lead. "That is why the law needs to take care of these things."
-"You're not setting it up," Quantum says dismissively. "-I'm- setting it up. And besides, don't you think he should make that decision himself? Since you seem all for giving him the benefit of the doubt. Pff, trust me, he -will- want it. It's on his favorite turf, after all. But if does refuse..." he shrugs. "I don't know, keep it, give it back to me, whatever. Maybe you should keep it--you never know, it might come in handy one cycle."
-"I didn't say I wouldn't do it." She tucks it away. "I'm..." she starts to say, but then holds back another apology. "When I see him again, I will give this to him. And then he will make his decision. Whatever he decides it is out of my hands." She looks like she wants to add something, but is at a loss of what else to say.
-"Good." Quantum seems satisfied by this. Of course, what she doesn't know, is that the device has a small, yet potent amount of chemical explosive inside of it that will wreak some -serious- havoc on Blast Off's systems if he were to make use of it and it were to be detonated while he was wearing it...
"Just tell him I want to end this once and for all. If I can't avenge Sublight, I might as well be dead anyway." he says bitterly, before stalking off and disappearing onto the crowded street.
-Swift Blade is not the most technically savvy person in the world, so even if she was suspicious, she probably wouldn't try to examine it too closely. Of course, Blast Off is quite paranoid, so there's always a chance he'll get it checked out. She watches the mech stalk off and sighs deeply. Despite all his negative words and insults, she does not hate him, but feels a well of compassion. So many broken souls in this world, and so few who are able to fix them.