Nautica the Fixer

++ Iacon ++

Gleaming gold, silver and blue as far as the eye can see: the capital of Cybertron itself can be breathtaking to behold. Architecture both old and modern reflect a sense of stately order as well as artistic beauty, with gentle arches, gilded domes and spiraling towers that rise into the skyline. Even the walkpaths and roads are copper and bronze, the maintenance workers here diligently tending to them to prevent any kind of rust and corrosion. The city itself almost seems alive, with glowing powerconduits in circuit pathways running along the streets and buildings, powering external lights and glowing holomatter signs. Cyan-colored crystal and glass windows reflect the hue of the sky in day, or glow from internal lighting at night.

Populated mostly by high caste and above, Iacon is the seat of Cybertron's government, military and intellectual class. At the end of the main road into Iacon is Trion Square, which features an enormous video screen, every bit as big as a combiner, constantly flickering with news feeds,  state-sponsored messages and advertisements. Translucentia Heights, the most elite residential area on Cybertron, is nestled into a corner of Iacon's living quarters. Energon refineries, technoversites, merchant plazas, a nurturing creche and even a nature preserve fall within the massive polity's boundaries, making Iacon one of the few completely self-sufficient cities on the planet.

Quantum can be found sitting around at an upscale bar in Iacon, once again drinking his woes away. He'd wanted his memories back, but now that he had them, he also remembered now why his life SUCKED and why he was so slagging angry. Ah, well. Life.

Nautica may be an optimist and occasionally rather naive due to her sheltered academic past, but she does have something of an appreciation for good, smooth engex. So when she departs the Camien Embassy this cycle, it's an upscale bar that draws her attention this time. It's not as if she has the shanix to treat herself /that/ often, but she'd rather drink rarely and drink /well/ than drink the cheap stuff constantly.

The Camien engineer makes her way into the room, glancing at those around as she heads towards the barkeeper. She pauses just short of halfway there upon spotting Quantum, however. She can't help but give him a once-over, clearly doing an almost reflexive spot-check on the quality of earlier repairs. Making certain there's no leaking foam from his engine pods, or anything like that.

The repairs seem to be holding up very nicely. No leaking quantum foam to threaten existence! So far, so good. Quantum himself doesn't look like he's in the best of moods, though. But when he sees her approaching, he seems to...lighten up just a little bit. He nods briefly her way. "Nautica, right? You...helped me earlier. After that weird accident, whatever happened. Still haven't figured it out."

The Camien nods as she reaches Quantum's table. "I did. And I'm glad to see that you seem to be in better shape than when we met. Though... perhaps not a better /mood/." Nautica pauses, then gestures to the free seat. "Do you mind if I join you? Or is this one of those times for drinking alone?"

Quantum shakes his head. "Go ahead." Nautica's earned a sort of...respect from him, which is a rare thing, reallly. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Well, you're certainly free to ask," Nautica replies. "I may not always have an answer. For instance, I still haven't entirely figured out how your jump engines were miniaturized to that level -- though I /do/ have a few ideas now, based on what I saw of the design. I've been working through them in my spare time." She seems to realize this may not be quite what Quantum was hoping to talk about; slipping into the seat opposite Quantum, she folds her hands on the table and leans slightly forward. "So... what did you want to know?"

Quantum listens to her go on about her personal project, which actually lines right up with the question he's wondering about. "Right, you've been working on that for a long time, as you said...and you seem to be pretty fascinated by it. And I was just..." he glances away momentarily, as if not sure how to phrase it. "I mean, i just kind of -fell- into your lap, and even though I definitely wasn't someone you'd have a good opinion of, you helped me anyway--instead of...well, exploiting me." He gives her a pensive look. "You could have lied to me, and convinced me I was your experiment or something, and then taken me apart and reverse-engineering the slag out of all my parts. You would've had everything right in front of you."

The Camien's optics dim for a moment. "/Never/," Nautica answers, firmly. "I may not be quite the idealist I used to be, but I would /never/ do that to another. Being held as someone else's experiment, used as a tool -- or studied -- simply for your 'capabilities'..." Her hands lift from their position on the table, her arms folding in front of her. She tries to make it look casual, but there's an almost... defensive edge to the posture, as if she's shielding herself from something. "No. I don't care what knowledge you might get as a benefit. You don't do that to someone else."

Quantum gives her a questioning look. "Even if they weren't exactly nice to you before?" Which was certainly the case. "I know I said some things..." he lowers his optics toward the table in front of him. "I mean, -I- would have exploited me." he admits. "But barring that, I definitely wouldn't have -helped- me."

"It's what I do," Nautica says finally, shaking her head. "I'm a mechanic; I try to fix things." Her tone turns slightly sad, as she adds, "And not everything is fixable, I know that now. But... I still /try/. Because I want to leave things better than I found them. If I get to have any legacy, that's what I want it to be."

"I..." Quantum starts quietly. "...I admire that." he finally finishes. He even partly wishes -he- were like that. There's a pause, before he continues. "Well, I don't know a lot about -how- they made me this way, but I might be able to find some old research notes. And of course if you'd like demonstrations, I'd be happy to oblige."

"You'd be indulging my curiosity, I'm afraid, and not necessarily too much else," Nautica warns, though there's a brightness to her tone again that suggests indulging her curiosity is something that she generally appreciates people doing. "It's a project I've been working on since I ended up stuck on this planet due to the Clampdown, but I'm afraid there's not many /practical/ ways it could really help with the current energon situation."

Quantum shrugs. "I guess it's the best I can do to repay you for repairing me, even though I didn't deserve it." He sighs. "Heh, I don't think anyone's going to find any kind of 'easy fix' for the energon situation before things get out of hand."

"No," Nautica admits, with a sad smile. "They won't. None of us will. But we'll keep trying, because maybe we'll find a way to lessen the blow. And maybe there's still some miracle out there we haven't thought of, after all." Putting the somber topic aside, she regards Quantum curiously. "But enough of that for now. It sounds like you /did/ get your memories back afterwards? No permanent damage, then?"

Quantum shakes his head. "No...although now I sort of wish I -hadn't-." he shrugs. "You're really optimistic, you know." he says with a smirk. "I guess that's not a bad thing. Must be nice, being that way. Always seeing the positive, always wanting to help. Even the people who don't deserve to be helped."

"Oh, I see the negative too," Nautica admits. "And there have been moments I've been less than optimistic. But I like to think that if I hold to optimism, if I believe there /is/ a way to fix something, I'm more likely to keep looking and /find/ a way than someone who decides it's hopeless and gives up. Even a small chance is better than /no/ chance, after all."

But then her tone sobers, as the Camien regards Quantum sympathetically. "But, you 'almost wish you hadn't' regained your memories? I'm sorry, then. It seems like this planet has an awful lot of bad memories to go around."

"I guess you're right..." Quantum says distantly. "It's hard for some of us to keep up that kind of attitude, though." he sighs. "I don't know...part of me wishes I hadn't, but the other part..." Another sigh. "I could never forget Sublight." He sighs firmly, as if he's decided, now. The assassin peers at Nautica as she regards him with...is that sympathy? Well it certainly has been a -while- since anyone felt anything close to sympathy for him. "I don't know where I'd be if it hadn't been for him." he says sadly.

"Was he an amica endura, or just a good friend?" Her tone remains sympathetic; after all, Nautica has sympathy enough to go around. It can be abused and expended at times, her brilliant mind turned to anger, but right now -- even with her rough experiences of not so long ago -- that reservoir remains largely full. Primus forbid someone ever betrays her trust enough to drain it completely; the Camien polymath's intellect would probably not be a comfortable thing to experience were it not leashed to some extent by a good heart and a desire to help others.

 "Amica endura, the only one I ever had." Quantum answers, shrugging. "Only one I ever -expected- to have, too. I don't exactly have the best track record. A lot of people would say I shouldn't have taken the path I chose. But hey, it paid the bills, and it worked so I don't give a frag." He takes a swig of his engex, finishing it up. "It's not my fault people want other people dead and are willing to pay a slagpile of shanix for someone -else- to get it done." The mech stands up, turning to leave. "Thanks for...tolerating me. We should talk again."

"I've been lucky," Nautica answers. "I have two amica endurae, and both of them were with the Camien delegation too. Honestly, their going was why I /joined/ the delegation; I didn't want to be left behind. So if I'm stuck here due to the Clampdown, at least they're here with me." She doesn't comment on the rest -- assassination is perhaps not a topic she particularly feels comfortable with, or qualified to comment on. This is Cybertron; half of the bots she has met since her arrival either kill other bots, experiment on other (unwilling) bots, /eat/ other bots, or kidnap immature bots to turn into tools. This is rapidly raising the bar to exceed before she'll become incensed; she simply doesn't have the fuel cells to maintain that level of outrage indefinitely.

So as Quantum moves to stand, she does as well, though she seems to be prepared to head to the bar for that drink she originally came in for. "I'd love to. You know where to find me, at least some of the time: the workshop or the Camien Embassy. In the meantime, I hope whatever path you walk next treats you better than the last one."