Femme to Femme, Seeker to Seeker

-The Forge - is is one of Slipstream's favorite places to come and yet also one that she dreads. A believer in the power of words, the grusome acts of celebrationt hat take place in the arena tend to be cause for concern for her. If the emerging force she is willing to become a part of is to be distracted by anything, she feels, it will be themselves. The Decepticons might never escape the Forge if they revel too much in bashing themselves. Yet, it is also addictive to be here, to walk among those present to hear what they have to say. The solidarity is captivating.
Slipstream often keeps to herself in the Forge, not seeking to draw too much attention to herself. Starscream hasn't truly publicly thrown in with Megatron yet, so she can't really betray her commander. There is also Barricade to consider as she wouldn't do anything to overshadow his authority, especially here. However, when she spots Swift Blade, Slips is very willing to come out from her perch as she has been meaning to talk to the fellow Seeker for a variety of reasons.
"You seem to be settling in to live on Cybertron well enough," she says in greeting as she makes her approach.
-Initially Swift Blade had come here to look for Megatron, but if he is busy, she certainly isn't going to make a scene trying to catch his attention. She's a patient femme, which generally serves her well. Still, she looks quite surprised as she is approached by another Seeker femme. Tilting her head to the side, she regards Slipstream with a fair bit of curiosity. "Excuse me, but have we met before?" she asks. "As for settling in, I wouldn't call it that, considering how completely unsettled Cybertron /is/ in these cycles."
-There is a familiar nod, a polite one. "Around Vos. I am Commander Starscream's messenger. so likely in passing or perhaps in mention." Slipstream seeks to adopt a more casual stance than the formal position she just presented herself with, however. She would like to get to know this fellow femme... which is not as natural a process for her as it should be. "Unsettling is a word for it, yes. Uncomfortable might be another. Yet, there can be no change without some discomfort - at least for someone," she smiles. "I meant that you have only recently returned 'home', as it were, correct? There must be a lot of adjusting you have to make, let alone process what the rest of us are adjusting to as well."
-Swift Blade ahhhhh softly. "Yes, that makes sense," she says. "I suppose someone who came back so recently is bound to be mentioned now and then." She considers this for a few moments, then shrugs her shoulders. "I admit, this was not the homecoming I had looked forward to over the millions of years I was gone. But I am here, so I must adapt. There really isn't much choice in the matter." She sighs. "I don't know that I'm adjusting well, but I'll just have to keep trying until I succeed or fail utterly."
-Slipstream does have an unshared interest in that 'returned' status that she can't really share, at least not yet. "It can be hard... I would imagine. Like you mentioned, this is a troubled time so it's not as though you can just slip into life, unnoticed. It must be difficult." She frowns as she thinks about that. Showing... pity? "I might be able to help, if you need it that is. I could put some contacts I have to use, perhaps some of the Commander's as well, to help you establish what you might need. To have something your own, your own space for example, might give some comfort." It certainly did for her. "With so much uncertainty, some security would do wonders," she thinks.
-"Security, it would seem right now, is an illusion," Swift Blade says, perhaps a little flatly. "On all sides I hear one piece of advice as clear as a bell: choose a side or die. It seems a matter of survival as everyone is polarizing into groups. And everyone, naturally, assumes that their side is the one I should join." She makes a motion of impatience with one of her hands. "Remaining neutral, it would seem, leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth."
-Slipstream can immediately relate to Swift Blade and there is a visible wave of relief that washes over the Seeker. "Until very recently I felt the same," she shares. In fact, Slips moves closer to Swift, as though she has a secret to share. "I was prepared to run, to hide... anything. I had to get away. I didn't see any other alternative." It feels good to express to someone! Yet, Slipstream tries to reel it in, to not give too much of herself away. Yet already she's far less... formal? ... than she was a moment ago. She's less Starscream's enjoy and more just another bot, or so she feels in this moment. "Security is what *you* make it, what you are willing to take for yourself. Or find. It's not something to be granted but claimed. You will need to know what you need it to be. If I can help you to get it..." Well, she will. Slipstream isn't want to just commit blindly but she sees a fair amount of herself in Swift Blade.
Slips then shakes her head, still close, as she shares more. "You *will* die here if you join without being committed." She sounds certain of that, mostly because she knows how her... ah, Barricade would deal with it. "It is better to be *honest* with your feelings, about this above all things. If you are not willing to decide then *don't*, because playing at loyalty for what is to come is the quickest way to be killed."
-Swift Blade smiles faintly. "I had been telling people that it's better to remain neutral than to join a cause for which I have no belief in simply to save my life." She doesn't seem to mind that the other femme is moving closer; she doesn't have the need for space that some do, nor is she paranoid by nature. "I am generally inclined to be honest when I speak with others, though I'm not always the most acute when trying to understand my own feelings," she admits. "Though I do consider them quite frequently, sometimes I surprise myself." Her expression is wry. "As for loyalty, it is not something I intend to give lightly, for when I /do/ give it, I plan to give it completely," she states.
-"That is far more wise than a lot of mechs these days. I have seen a lot of it here, actually, that blind loyalty, given in the arena. It never ends well. You hold onto integrity, Swift Blade. it will be difficult to do but I think that it will keep you alive far longer than anything else in your arsenal." Okay, so maybe Slips doesn't have a whole terrible lot in common with Swift. Maybe before... long before Slips started down the path that lead her to here, but now - not so much. Still, it is refreshing to find someone so ... pure? "It is said that it is often hardest to be honest with yourself," she smiles, clearly not worried about Swift's admission. So, Swift shouldn't be either!
Slipstream does want to help this fellow femme, however. "What has been the hardest thing to adjust to since your return? Is there something you feel you are going without?"
-Swift Blade's expression grows even more thoughtful. "Other than a sense of peace, not really. And I believe it will be some time before that happens...for anyone on Cybertron." She looks fairly pleased at being labled as someone with integrity. "For millions of years I was a slave. I had to do as I was told or suffer the consequences. After a while I learned not to fight it; I was very young and afraid when I was abducted by the Quintessons and sold. I didn't have the will, at the time, to make a stand like a more experienced mech or femme might have." She sighs. "But I had a lot of time to think over those many years; when I wasn't actively following orders, I was left mostly alone with little to do but consider my life. When I was finally free, I didn't know what to /do/ with myself other than return home. And so, here I am. I have existed for millions of years, but I've only /lived/ this short while on Cybertron. It has not been easy, and I certainly have no intention of dying." She smiles faintly. "While things are not easy here, I have been treated as an equal by many, I have been able to make friends. And perhaps that is why I have been so hesitant to choose sides; no matter what I choose, there will be those who will become my enemy simply because of that choice, whether I feel any ill will towards them or not."
-"Even your closest of friends can become your greatest enemy," slipstream cautions. From experience. She herself was abandoned, cast aside and by the one she had trusted most, if not devoted herself to. Yet, she tries not to dwell on that anger least she let any of it show. "Your allies, your friends and your enemies are like you sense of security. They are what you make them to be or what you are willing to allow them to be. Because someone makes a decision does not mean than they make yours for you. If a friend chooses a side - even the wrong one," she smiles, "The friendship can still remain. If you decide to war against an ideal, that shouldn't mean you also have to war against the individual. Remember, it's what *you* make it," she nods in and with confidence.
Slipstream is quiet for a moment as she considers something. "Do you have your own place? I think I could arrange for you to have space in Vos. It would be within the Seeker compound but... your own recharge station at least. I know how much that meant to *me*."
-"Well, I'm currently there for training, so I have the most basic of needs taken care of," Swift Blade says. "After that, I suppose it will depend on what happens in the next little while." For a moment she seems rather lost in thought, her mind switching over to a different track than what the conversation had been following so far. After a time she smiles apologetically. "What you say make sense, and I'm not eager to count anyone as an enemy so easily; but they may not see things the same way." She sighs. "Some have been quite plain in their disapproval that I do not jump eagerly to their side."
Claspsing her hands behind her back, Swift Blade continues. "My first few masters had me fight in arenas. They weren't quite like the one here, but while there I learned to fight because I had to fight, not because I was prompted by anger or animosity. My hope is that I can continue to have that level of...clarity."
-"Then those that do don't know you. They will either come around or leave you," Slips says cooly. She's speaking from experience? "Or stab you in the back. I don't believe *that* aspect about us as Cybertronians has ever changed. It's always been like that, at least for as long as I can remember. You just have to be smart about who you choose to share anything of yourself with," she smiles.
"You like to fight then? No wonder you are at the Forge. This ... is indeed a place for those that like to demionstrate that to each other. Rather loudly," she groans. Still, she tries to smile. "You wish to see others fight, to know what sorts of strength they possess? Ah," she grins a little, "Is that the allure of Megatron to you?"
-Swift Blade shakes her head slight. "Actually, I do not /like/ to fight. I simply found that I could do it when I had to; that I can do it impassionately." She smiles. "Megatron doesn't exactly have...allure...for me. I met him once so I could determine the mettle of his metal." She shrugs her shoulders. "Frankly I was impressed." She lets that statement sit for a while. "As for sharing myself, I have nothing to hide that I am aware of." On second thought, she thinks about that for some time. Does she have anything she needs to hide from others...or herself?
Shaking her head, Swift Blade resumes conversation. "If people do not respect my decison, then it will be their choice to disengage from me as a friend; I am not likely to initiate that step. If someone shows themselves to be trecherous and stabs me in the back, then that is a flaw in their personality, even as it will be a flaw with my naivety."
-"Well, it could be fatale. If anything, it will come when you least expect it," Slips shares, a twinge of bitterness there. She scowls for a moment and continues to shove a good deal down, further down. "I'd hate to see that happen to you," she nods however because, well, there's already one Slipstream in the world. There's no need for another to be made. "You shouldn't go offline before your time."
Slips shifts a little, her wings giving a bit of a brissle behind her. "We all have things to hide, or should. It's what makes us interesting," she smiles. "It also means we keep a part of ourself for ourself. I'm suuuuure," she teases with a smirk, "That you checked out all of Megatron's metal." She does conside though as there is something you said that completely baffles her. So, she has to ask. "How can you fight impassionately?"
-"Well, I'm not exactly young anymore," Swift Blade says ruefully. "Though I did spend a lot of time in stasis, so I guess I'm younger than my actual years will tell."
She blinks a few times as Slipstream mentions /all/ of Megatron's metal, as though the statement's implications are lost on her. "I fought because my masters told me to; I would be punished otherwise. I had no animosity towards my opponents, but I wanted to do well simply because if I had to do a task I might as well be competant at it." She shrugs her shoulders easily. "To me it was a test of skill, nothing more. It was not a war situation, and the only thing at risk really was a bit of pain and the displeasure of my masters." There's a trace of bitterness and distaste as she speaks of these masters.
-"But to commit, to act against another... you have to put some of your spark into that, don't you?" Slipstream treads along a thin line here as she's not willing to reveal too much yet she is far too curious to walk away from this topic. "I can understand the blocking out of your opponent, just seeing them as another target... but what of yourself? You *had* to have put something of yourself into that? Rage, desperation, desire to survive... nothing?" It baffles her to think that it could have been totally impassionate. "How could you just ... turn all of that off??"
-"I connected myself with the actions," Swift Blade says. "The motion of my swords, the motion of the other being." She considers for a moment. "Perhaps impassionate isn't exactly the word for it. My emotions were centered on the activity itself, not the being on the recieving end of it. It wasn't a contest of wills, it was a contest of form," she says in an attempt to clarify. "I was not angry, or offended, or righteously indignant. I had respect for my opponent and for myself...even if no one else did." She was a slave after all. "You have to realize, I was not connected with many people; emotionally I was isolated. It was not easy for me to fall into a state of high emotion."
-Slipstream has to take a moment. That's something to process. Her own entry into violence was a very conscious, personal choice and her continued journey with it was always one of raw, pure emotion. From what she has seen, before and now on Cybertron, it's been fairly easy to relate that experience to others. Even Megatron, Primus, he's *filled* with passion. So, what Swift presents is something foreign and thus something fascinating. "It would be something to watch you fight some time then, to see this skuill in action. I see why Starscream was so pleased to have found you, upon your return. Why others have taken notice as well. Maybe this also explains why you are hesitate to pick a side, as it were. For you, the fight is something to be done with skill, not heart."
-Swift Blade does have heart, it's just not inflamed by fighting. "I admit, I am a bit rusty. After a while, my masters," again she speaks with distaste, "had other uses for me. But I have had to fight at least once since returning to Cybertron, and participated in a sparring match here as well." She smiles faintly. "Unfortunately, most of my ranged weaponry was removed." What a terrible thing to do to a Seeker, but she doesn't know how terrible since she was removed from the planet at such a young age. "To choose a side, I must be firmly convinced that the choice is the right one for me, and for the side. I would not want to dilute someone's cause by having no faith in it."
-Dilute. Words stick with Slipstream. They have meaning, weight, and that one resonates. "There might be a way I can help you afterall," she considers aloud. Slipstream moves closer, to Swift Blade's sides and takes a moment to examine the other Seeker's arms. "There might be a measure of security I can get for you afterall," she smiles it's not that she's in the weapons business but still, the Seekers have resources. Surely the Commander has an armory. "It simply wouldn't do for one of us Seekers to be seen as anything less than the whole," she promises with a smile.
-"The Commander did mention retrofitting," Swift Blade says with a little smile. "I have been tampered with by aliens for so long, that sometimes I feel like I must be something else entirely." She sighs. "Though the last master I had," and THIS time there isn't that distaste or bitterness, "did manage to make me more fuel efficient, which is a boon considering the state of the planet's resources." Then her smile widens a triffle. "And Blast Off has taught me a little about shooting, and I believe he would be willing to instruct me further."
-"Well, it is my job to make sure Starscream hears what he should. If the Commander has already considered your retrofitting, then I shall be only too pleased to remind him of it," Slips smiles sweetly. It feels good to know she can help Swift Blade. Normally she would want to twist someone to her service,t o know that they are on her side but... there is something about this bot that Slips wishes to preserve. Something she doesn't wish to see touched... at least not again. "I can't undo what was done to you but I will ensure you can return to what you started as. A ... new old beginning?" She grins.
-Swift Blade nods her head at this. "It could be seen as such," she agrees. "And it will be good to be able to hold my own; he did complain that I was rather slow." She doesn't seem terribly hurt by this, but she also doesn't seem terribly emotional either way; she had even confessed as much. "Though I imagine he is quite busy with all his duties, and he has already helped me quite a bit, so I am in no hurry. Perhaps he is waiting until I finish my training, or reach a certain point in it, to decide what is best to be done with me." No, she doesn't know about the true nature of Starscream and certainly is ignorant of his trecherous mind. So far she has seen him as a benefactor, even if she can't dismiss that he is arrogant.
-"... or he has forgotten because he's become so involved in any one of his little pet projects. He's also been terribly moody lately, more than usual," Slipstream considers. "He would get to it in time but there's no need we can't give him a gentle reminder," she smiles as she gives a flicker to an optic. A wink! Slipstream has your back, Swift Blade. "No matter what the Commander's intention, it is best we get you back to your full self. It will help you to better know who you are, right? To feel your full self. "Before you were taken from Cybertron, what did you do?"
-"I was still in Primary Programming School," Swift Blade says. "As I mentioned, I was very young." She sighs; there is a reason she seems so disconnected from her homeworld. "If it will not cause any problems, I wouldn't object to you giving him a reminder; I just don't want to come across as too forward or impatient."
-"The Commander values those that look after themselves. If anything, he'd be relieved to know that it means something to you." Of that Slipstream sounds sure. She knows that in part that is because Starscream likes knowing what others value, to be able to use it against them... but she's not seeing much of a way for the Vosian leader to play Swift Blade in this. "Ah, yes. Hence the desire to have the training now. You do strike me as soomebot that enjoys being a student. You value learning. That is how you adapt," she suggests. "You need to learn all you can. Perhaps I can speak to Barricase, see if someone like Garboil would be willing to show you around, inform you of what has happened on Cybertron since you were removed. In detail."
-"An historian of sorts?" Swift Blade asks about Garboil. "That could be interesting and informative." She smiles faintly. "I enjoy learning, mostly because it was something formally denied me in my years of slavery. I watched, I observed, and I kept my council. Most of the time I was expected to not speak unless spoken to. Except for when I was doing bodyguard work; then I was allowed to show a little more initiative in the name of protecting my charges," she says. As for playing Swift Blade, well, some people can do it, but it has little to do with pride or vanity in her case, or anger.
-"Less of a historian and more of an ... information specialist," Slipstream smiles warmly. "It might not all be factual, come to think of it, but important. You're smart," Slips decides aloud. She's in a sharing mood right now. "You listen to others. It will be good for you to see how others see Cybertron. Keep to the facts though, for deciding, rather than opinion. There's a lot of that these days." As if on cue, somewhere int he background there is a rather boisterous cheer over something. Slipstream smiles. "You mentioned friends on either side. This means you know some non-Decepticons, I take it?"
-Swift Blade nods her head to this. "Although, sometimes it is hard to tell where some people fall, there are those who definitely do not seem to be Decepticons." Then again, she doesn't know that Starscream is one, so there you go. "I know a fair number who are much more interested in upholding the law than fighting it, but law without wisdom, mercy, or the ability to adapt is no good." She shrugs her shoulders. "I believe in order, not chaos, but it has to be the right kind of order or else it becomes stiffling and promotes stagnation."
-Slipstream is willing to indulge this. "What is the right 'kind'? How would this order be structured, who would be in charge? I fear any system that allows for freedom also invites tyranny," she tsks sharply. That is just an opinion, not a judgment on what you have said. "I agree on both the stiffling and the stagnation, two things to be feared for sure. There has to be a balance yet also room for development. What are we if we are not allowed to transform? To become what we are meant to rather than be constantly recycled, into what we have already been. Your friends on the other side, the ones that seek to uphold the law? They wouldn't bend it to maintain it?" She sounds like she believes they would.
-Swift Blade listens to the questions carefully. "Well, the law must not be so unreachable," she says. "If it is meant to protect us, then we should be able to observe it more. I might not have a very clear idea on what the exact right kind of order is, but from what I see the current order is the wrong kind." She shrugs her shoulders. "A person who wants to lead must be able to understand those whom they are leading. At the moment too many people are considered worthless because of the function they are meant to perform. But don't we also depend on those very people they wish to ignore?" She shakes her head. "It certainly isn't a just system. And a system must realize that it will be under scrutiny and allow that scrutiny to happen. Keeping the people silent means that the law has something to hide, and if it feels the need to hide it, I doubt it is for a benevolent purpose."
-"Because of the function they are *assigned*," Slipstream is quick to point out the difference. "An assignment that is decided by no other factor that the desire of those that control the system." Still, she's listening and not seeing to only react but rather to engage. It's nice to have someone to talk to that is willingt o see the other side to things, even if she herself can't agree with it. "There are other ways to silence those that are willing to follow, howver. To promise something and then yet deliver something else, that too is a silence, one of intent. To speak of the virtue of the law and then yet run amok of it, to decide when and how that applies to who..." Slipstream shakes her head. "Honesty must be spoken and expressed more commonly," she believes.
-"Honesty is hard to come by when people are uncertain, but it's even harder when people are afraid," Swift Blade says. "I don't lie easily," she says. "It is not a talent that I come by naturally." She shrugs her shoulders. "That doesn't mean I say everything I think, but if I do say it, chances are, I also think and believe it." She smiles faintly. "Of course, that doesn't always mean I'm right. I grant that, with my lack of time spent on Cybertron, I am likely wrong in a great many things."
-Sometimes, to survive you have to lie. Slips has maintained a lie for millions of years. Yet... it is also impossible to not respect Swift Blade's strength for not needing to. To find another way to survive. She finds herself liking this fellow Seeker a whole lot more than she even meant herself to. "None of us can be right if some of us are wrong. Either we adapt, we transform or ..." She shrugs. They fight. Like they are about to. Slips knows Cybertron is going to gte torn to pieces. "What matters is what you believe in and how true to that you can remain."
-Swift Blade's survival as a slave was a very different matter than general life on Cybertron, even though some individuals might as well BE slaves, at least they were always with their own kind. She was not. "What I believe," she begins slowly, "is that people are complicated and it's not usually very fair or helpful to judge too quickly." She smiles faintly. "But I suppose that leads me to claim that I believe in fairness. From what I've observed, it is the complete unfairness of the current system that has so many people angry, that has caused so much suffering." She lets out a long sigh. "When I was young, the Quintessons were the enemy. They subjugated us, sold many of us as slaves. I came here to find that they were gone but our own people have taken up the mantle of oppression against Cybertronian citizens." She presses her lips into a thin line. "It feels /almost/ like a betrayal."
-"It *is* a betrayal. Promised life and yet pushed into being cogs in a machine that really benefits no one. What the Quints did... that can't be forgiven, or forgotten. I doubt you will ever forget what they did to you. So why should we forget what is being done to us? What baffles me is that I can't find a reason for it." Slipstream sighs as she shrugs, looking as lost as she feels about that. "Fariness is a falsehood," Slips believes. "You can only have fairness if it concerns only yourself because as soon as someone else is involved, it can never be truly balanced. It's more about making it *right*," she stresses. Again, she's not meaning to judge your viewpoints, just that it's nice to be able to share her own. "As much as it can be."
-"Maybe 'fair' isn't the best word. An equal chance to be heard and considered?" Swift Blade suggests. Sometimes people use words that seem right, even if they aren't exactly what they mean. It's not deceit, it's just the way the mind can work. "No one should forget, but it seems those currently in power have forgotten what we once went through. And it isn't the cause of the Decepticons that gives me pause; it's some of the methods," she states. "When I saw that report, I felt it wasn't entirely right, but I was sure it had to be based on something." She frowns, remembering how she felt at the time; it had been a bit of a shock.
-"The violence, you mean? There are many that are ... upset. I would certainly agree that it can be shocking, even necessary. There will be more," of that she is *sure*. Slipstream was almost ready to run from all of Cybertron. "More violent, more destructive. Between us? There may not be much of a Cybertron left," she sighs. Slipstream doesn't like admitting it but she knows it to be true. "What is left though... I pray that we rebuild it stronger than before."
-"It is daunting," Swift Blade agrees solemnly. "And there are likely many who will not be able to adjust to peace after all the fighting is done with. But since this war is coming it must be dealt with." She sighs. "I do not fault people for wishing to uphold the law in theory, but this particular set of laws does not seem to warrant such devotion. But, perhaps, I am biased."
-"Just... if someone preaches of the virtues of the law and yet are willing to defy it? That is when you should really be the most careful, SwiftBlade. Those are the *true* deceivers. At least with the Decepticons, with Megatron, he has made *no* effort to hide his intentions. But should someone speak about the law and then ignore it 'for the greater good'.... then they have appointed themselves as the judges, willing to change what is *right* for what they think is *fair* when and where they want. If they talk about *equality* and still appoint themlseves as leaders... then it is no different than what we live with now."
-Swift Blade nods her head and gets that 'aha' look. "So, if you are going to challenge the law, then you cannot hide behind that same law?" she asks. "And if you claim to follow the law, then you must completely follow it?" She wants to make sure she is understanding what the femme is saying. "A forthright challenge of the law can be esteemable if the actions of the challenger are consistent with the case he, or she, is making."
-"No, if you are going to challenge the law then you have to be willing to demonstrate where or how it should be different. If you are going to uphold the law you can't decide when and where it applies to *you*. Equality means balance, not just when you wish for it to apply. The opposition to the Decepticons, it will be there. There are bots that will believe they are fighting for what is right. But they will go to lengths that are well, well beyond the laws and yet they will hide behind the virtue of them. *That* is deception." Slipstream sighs. "Which is what the Decepticons will prove. They will operate beyond the law to be met with resistance of equal or even greater force, which only proves their point. Hence the violence the Cons are showing now. How better to show the people of Cybertron of the lies they live under?"
-Swift Blade thought that was something along what she said, but it just might be the use of different words and phrases causing a block. Still, she shrugs her shoulders again. "But that violence needs to be directed, precise," she says, "or else the general population will be living in fear under the hands of the Decepticons, even if there are fewer lies involved." Oh, the irony of the Decepticons being less deceitful. "The report of the attack said that the innocent workers were killed in a great number, and the idea of that was distressing, but I wasn't entirely convinced it was true." She frowns deeply, one might say it's even a scowl. "Lying about it is a cowardly thing; if the Decepticons are going to be judged by the population, let it be for their own merits and flaws, not for false reports."
-"..." Slipstream looks, well, a little wounded because, yes. She shares your sentiment. She wishes she could tell you one way or the other what the true nature of the attack was but... she doesn't want to know, doesn't know. She herself doesn't wish to realize the full details of the brutality of the Decepticons carry out even if she suppoers it. "I would agree, Swift Blade, on both counts. It does need to be more precide. Careful and not such an ... emotional outburst. Also, should the Decepticons be judged, it should be for the truth of their actions and not the depiction that is sold to the public."