[banging fists on table] MORE ROBOT DRAMA MORE ROBOT DRAMA MORE ROBOT DR

[knaval]

Who: riptide and some other dudes
When: after magnus's post
Where: riptide's room
What: sad fish boy
Warnings: cw for possible discussion of war, violence, ptsd, generally the depressing shit you get with these metal tittybabies



a. magnus

[accepting his fate, riptide allowed magnus to drag him to his room, no longer fighting.

if he had more knowledge of the situation, he would respond differently. he doesn't, though, and all he knows is he takes part in something that results in all his friends being left for the djd. after everything he's experienced in regards to tarn aboard to moira, after everything everyone has done for him, he was still stupid and selfish enough to leave them all for dead.

what the fuck did getaway say to him?

these are things that riptide will wonder about until he's physically unable to stay awake anymore, but for now he just lets whatever's going to happen to him happen.]

b. megatron

[they didn't finish the wall.

riptide eventually gets sick of laying on his bed staring at it like a useless sack of shit and gets up, sliding off the berth to carefully press at the edges still sticking out awkwardly.

he still thinks the table looked fine where it was.

sighing, riptide gets to work. missing brainstorm and nautica intensely for a moment before telling himself he doesn't deserve to.]

c. anyone else

[you want this sad fish? come yell at him in his room. he's not leaving.]

Comments

[asafepairofhands]

"You think that would be better? You think Sideswipe would be happier, knowing you were murdered for good by Tarn? Can you even imagine what kind of brainless faux-heroics he'd attempt trying to avenge you? Do you really think I'd be happier?"

Ratchet doesn't get up from the edge of the slab, but he's still looking at Riptide with that same chilled, flensing expression on his face.

"We all make stupid, bad, cruel decisions that we can't take back sometimes, Riptide. You can't just die to absolve yourself of the responsibility of dealing with it, even Rodimus is smart enough to know better than that."

[knaval]

"That's how it works normally. That's how it worked for millions of years with Tarn and everything. And you know-- at least Bee wouldn't have been upset when I was so stupid during that Caducan invasion. I upset Sideswipe then, too."

Riptide eventually drops his gaze away from Ratchet.

"It would've been comeuppance. Betray all my friends to Tarn then get tortured and killed by him. Pchoo... full circle. No extra dumb disappointing bits after."

[asafepairofhands]

"Well, I'm sorry you weren't permanently murdered when you thought it would be most convenient," Ratchet says, his voice very dry.

"Unfortunately for you, you are still alive, which means screwing up sometimes. And if you think that's cosmically unfair, for you to be alive after what you did in the future, then congratulations, life isn't fair and neither is death and we're all just doing the best we can." He gestures, a little helplessly. "It feels weird to tell you that you can't undo what's already been done when you haven't even technically done it yet but--well, you can't do anything about it, at any rate. I get that it's a difficult thing to process, but I have apparently just come from giving Drift the pinnacle of all lectures about how moping around and beating yourself up over actions you can no longer change serves nothing and no one, so I have it all prepped and ready to go if you really want to hear it."

[knaval]

"It's normal." He mumbles. "No, I'm fine. Just... record it or something and slide it under the door. I can't concentrate enough for that right now."

[asafepairofhands]

"Mmmm." Ratchet tilts his head, a too-familiar glitter of a physician's interest in his optic. "You been recharging at all?"

[knaval]

Riptide shakes his head slowly.

"Brain too noisy."

[asafepairofhands]

"Mmmmm."

Ratchet's quiet for a moment.

"Just let me know if it gets too bad, I'll see if I can help."

[knaval]

"With what? A boff on the noggin?" he asks, just a little bitterly.

"If I was fine after Tarn I'll be fine now."