Mithril Sea Musings

Things have just been too chaotic for Torque. And now there's so much to do, so much to prepare. She just.. she just needs a day, at the least, to collect her thoughts and mentally steel herself for what's to come. She needs to be somewhere calm, tranquil, which is why Wheeljack will find her at the edge of the Mithril Sea when he gets her summons. Remaining a ways back from the tide, the femme can be seen sitting on the metal dust dunes, a cube of energon in hand and a pensive look on her face while staring out across the shimmering expanse that is the ocean.

"I don't think energon will skip too well, if that's what you're considering. Tossing it in to make a wish?" Is that still a think? Wheeljack seems to remember that around the Academy when he was learning that there was a practice of tossing a cube into liquid to make a wish, but then he never participated. Superstition is not something he has ever wanted to dabble in. Yet, curious as he approaches, Jackie keeps his pace and tone careful. Something definitely seems 'up' with his colleague. He hasn't seen her in a while but then he's been very busy himself, between his work with Ratchet and then the mysterious visitor to the workshop, this Quantum mech. It's been a busy time, so much so that he's missed much of the news - not that he's ever paid much of it any attention anyway. Still, Jackie gets closer. Torque told him that she was here, likely for a reason, so he'll be here. "Maybe I should offer you a cube for your thoughts?"

"It's more just to sip on." Torque muses thoughtfully and offers the approaching mech a weary smile. "Thanks for coming Jack, I appreciate it. I just.." Smile falters and she sighs, looking to her feet. "I just need someone to talk to. And maybe get some advice on what I should even be doing."

Taking a swig of her cube, she pats the sand beside her and asks, sounding careful. "Did you hear about what happened at the Forge..?"

Wheeljack moves to sit himself, though facing Torque, so looking back the way he came with his aft towards the sea. He sits bow-legged, his feet together so that he can play idly with the dust as he talks. It takes him a moment to start. "I don't know that I'm the mech to suggest what others should or shouldn't be doing with their lives. In case you hadn't noticed, I pretty much muddle my way through my own. If I had been made to be more mindful of the future, well..." He might still have his class. And a lot less dents and scraps. "It's kind of funny since I thought \*you\* had all the answers already. You're more solidly built than any mech I've ever met." He even told Ratchet how impressed he was with how 'solid' Torque was, and he meant it. However, she mentioned she needed someone to talk to so...

Jackie wiggles those big ears of his and with a familiar \*sha-UNNK8 he retracts the faceplate to share a warm smile with you. "You called the best in the business though when it comes to listening. I'm 40% ears," he grins.

Torque can't keep from smiling and chuckling softly at the ear comment, a bit of her usual self shining through her downcast mood. "Thanks Jack... See, that's why I like being around you. You help keep my spirits up." But then the memories begin to trickle in and she sighs, shaking her head. "At the Forge.. I was just doing my job in the medbay, like I always do, but out of nowhere Clench came in and grabbed me and started dragging me out into the arena."

The heavy fog of gloom begins to creep back in as she draws in on herself, legs against her chest and arms wrapping around them. Antennas lay back as she continues and keeps gaze down on the sand between them. "He said stuff about how it was time I got my hands dirty, and next thing I knew he was tossing me a gun. He.. wanted me to fight to the death, Jack.. Against him.. I wouldn't have stood a chance if Megatron hadn't come in and killed him before killing all of Clench's followers."

Biting her lip, she shuts her optics tight and shakes her head. "I'm thankful that he saved me, but then he said I inspired him to act when I stood up to Clench. I meant what I said, but I didn't mean for anyone else to get killed.. And now I'm afraid I'm gonna be associated with the start of the rebellion."

Megatron. \*The\* Megatron. That fact hits Jackie enough that it blows his ears back, but then to hear about mechs dying, well, they stay flattened. Whatever happened at the Forge was... well, as much or more than Jackie could ever have thought would come fromt hat place. It's dangerous there and yet Torque went. In that, he saw a strength in her he wasn't sure he could ever have. She did live to make it out of there.

Wheeljack considers, his brows pinching as he thinks before he speaks - which is a rare occassion. "In the Academy I didn't have many friends, not like real pals. I had one, thank the All Spark, who kep tme together but there were these others. Lab partners, I guess is the best way to describe 'em. Bots that were there but not really \*there\* if you know what I mean," he seemingly rambles. Why is he sharing all of this?

"Their names said it all, really. Grabber, Blowback, just bots that didn't really have the spark for what they were learnin'... or could've been learning' anyway. One of 'em was this smart mech, Sparkplug, but he never did apply himself. Hima nd I got assigned to collaborate a lot, on projects, you know? Sparkplug had this habit of dealin' with things he shouldn't have, more than me even, mostly 'cause he just didn't pay attention. I was freshly made, eager and I encouraged it a lot more than I ever should of, but it was excitin', you know? Well, after about the third lab we blew up... guess who they always blamed for it? Yeah, the mech stupid enough to stand 'round to get caught for it," he chuckles a little. Still, he looks to Trorque and smiles. "You might of been there but, well, if your spark was in it or not, that's up to you. Seems to me this Megatron is itchin' to be caught for all of this. That's who they'll remember that did it. I guess you gotta' decide if you \*want\* to be a part of somethin' like a rebellion or if you were there to see it start."

Torque peers up past her knees to listen to Wheeljack, antennas twitching up a little in curiosity. She doesn't expect him to share a personal story, but she understands what he's getting at. "I don't.. At least not with how Megatron wants to do it. I told him that and.. he actually let me leave. Just like that. ...Even though he killed those mechs, I think I'm starting to see how strong he really is. He's ready to take the blame for everything. But.. I'm not the kind of person that can be part of that, not if that's the route he's taking."

Legs falls back to a crossed position and she sighs, rubbing her forehead. "I even told that to one of his followers that visited me. I just hope no one else will try to come convert me... In the meantime I've made the shop into a full clinic to help the Forge refugees, but I dunno how long that'll last. I've also been.. meaning to talk to this Orion Pax mech. People say he might know what to do about all this."

He's quiet. Very quiet. Yet, after a bit he speaks. "It's been comin' for a long while. Ever since I've been online at least. I've seen it buildin'..." And, well, Jackie feels guilty that he hasn't been able to 'fix' it. Something as grand as tackling the social imbalances of a whole plantery system are well beyond any one mech yet still, he's long been aware of it just without any solutions on how to handle it. For that he feels guilty. Torque at least wasn't aware, he suspects. Yet, now she surely has a sense of what's coming to Cybertron. "A lot's goin' to get broken, if not everything. Everything will be torn down, busted and..." Here he looks to her and Wheeljack smiles.

"When it \*does\* come," because it is, "Cybertron's gonna' need the best it has to put it back together again. That's you, Torque. You stood up to Megatron! Maybe we'll all be alright afterall when this is all done, with you to put us back together."

He.. really thinks highly of her, doesn't he? Torque's always been the modest sort, never puting herself on a pedestal, but it makes her smile knowing someone is cheering for despite that. "Heh.. For such a smart mech, you're still missing one thing.."

Amber gaze lifts to meet his own as a thoughtful smile warms her features. Her usually sunny, exuberant self dims in favor of something more.. tender when shifting up onto her knees and leaning in close to wrap him up in a meaningful hug and mutter softly into his shoulder. "I can't do it all myself, you know that. I'll be counting on you and everyone else to be there with me, working as a team.."

Wheeljack does have to chuckle. Smart mech. He's heard that a lot but never really felt it. What is 'smart' anyway? Doing the right thing? He's been doing the wrong thing since he first came online. Well, when it comes to things concerning himself, but when it about others... Jackie is pretty sure he has a good sense about people. Starscream turned out to be every bit the idol he has always made the jetbot out to be, afterall! So, Jackie is sure he's sure about Torque. She \*is\* a good mech, if not one of the best. She's bright, sensible, tough; all the things he hopes to be.

And then she's hugging him.

Jackie's eyes (and ears) go wide as he's stunned for a moment, taking a pause before he hugs back. He's never... well, that's a first. "You don't have to do anythin' alone that you don't wanna'," he promises her in that moment. "I'm with you for as long as you'll have me." He can build just about anything, save for a sentence with a thought towards his phrasing.

Torque needed to hear that. To hear someone will stick by her. True, she's tough and smart in her own right, but she's not perfect, so it's nice to know she has someone to pull her up out of the darkness whenever she feels down. "Thank you.. That means a lot to me." Giving him one last squeeze, she backs off to give him space, but not before lingering beside him a moment, hesitating when turning her head to him. ..No. No more hesitating.

Carefully, Torque leans over and presses a soft kiss to the mech's cheek and smiles sheepishly when resting her forehead against his and viewing him with bright optics. "You're a good mech, Wheeljack.. I'm glad I'm friends with you."

"So sorry, what? You ... said something?"

Oh, he's still holding her. Somewhat. Right? His arms are still there, somewhat slightly around her and she's close. So close. Well, not like right against him like a moment ago but still so close that... wow, her optics are bright. Jackie's not sure how he never noticed before. Or did he? Something is touching her still, other than the arms. Oh right, forehead. Because there she is. "h Hello," he smiles as he says that for seemingly no reason. He should have said something else, right? His processor isn't coming up with much else.

He's smiling, right? Grinning? He can't seem to will his lips down so he knows they have to be up in some fashion. He should say something. Do something. Anything other than stare. He should be encouraging. he should say how much her friendship means to him, how it energizes him, motivates him. He should share how he feels. Anything other than just staring. And grinning.

Finally, Jackie \*does\* say something.

"You want to build a spaceship together?!"

....So much for a meaningful moment. Torque stares blankly at his question, rather bewildered that he'd ask that out of the blue. It wasn't something she expected, but then this is Wheeljack we're talking about, so it makes sense he'd blurt out something random from nerves.

So instead of getting upset, Torque grins and bursts out in a hearty laugh and sits back. Every pent up nerve and anxious flutter within her pours out until there's nothing but her joyful self left, allowing her to sigh happily and wipe an optic once she calms down. "You know just what to say, dontcha? Heh.." She shakes her head and smiles up at him before reaching forward to playfully bump his shoulder with her fist. "Once we're allowed off this planet, you can count on me to help."

Oh... good. She's laughing? It's a good laugh, Wheeljack realizes. He smiles a little as she sits back and then bumps his shoulder. Pals? Wrench-buddies? She certainly heard what he said but maybe she didn't quite get what he was getting at. He \*knows\* that venturing off-world isn't allowed but then that was kind of the point. He meant to say that he'd be willing to take all risks with her, any - all of them! He meant more with what he said than what he actually said though, yeah, sure, he'd actually build a space ship with her too! He has the designs even. He's long thought about converting the workshop into a mobile craft, something to venture from site-to-site. But then that's only like one of a million things he means to ask Torque to build with him.

"No... what I mean is..."

Less thinking. Jackie has never been one to dwindle in the realm of proceedure, not when you can just \*do\*. So, he does.

Unless stopped, he'll kiss Torque. Not on the cheek either. His aim isn't great but right now, it's meant to be purposeful.

Torque blinks at him. He meant it another way? Like a metaphor? "What did you mean--Mh!" She tries to grasp at his meaning, but she's cut short by a pair of lips suddenly overtaking her own. It's in that moment that everything around her just.. stops. Optics widen, glowing almost as bright as the violet blush blossoming on her cheeks. This is... unexpected, something she can hardly fathom right now. Something she can hardly endure as her chest almost aches with how hard her spark beats.

Wheeljack sure knows how to surprise someone, that's for sure.

And while she may be shocked, Torque doesn't back down, doesn't shy away. No.. She accepts it, welcomes it, and.. enjoys it. Tension melts away as optics dim and close, hands raising to gingerly hold his head while tilting hers just enough to deepen the embrace for a few long moments before parting and resting her forehead back against his. "Yes.." Torque mutters quietly with a meaningful smile, nearly glowing with delight. "I'll build that spaceship. And everything else."