Ep. 0.5 - Jazzing Things Up [Closed]

It wasn't that she couldn't be friendly she just, didn't bother anymore. So when Bulkhead had passed her all she had given him was a curt nod and then tended to her data pad much as she was now. The only one on base she had any real respect for at the moment was Ratchet but even then she didn't talk to him anymore. Just that one day. Everything about her was prickly, standoffish, bossy and strict. The humans liked to call her something like a librarian, a school marm she heard from one. She just hated nonsense, to a point. Considering all the things she had gotten up to with the Twins it was a wonder she remained the same way. Perhaps that was something they had liked about her, not that she would ever find out now.

It took her a moment to acknowledge Jazz and even then she held up one wickedly sharp claw indicating for him to wait a moment. While she didn't have an official job she still took everything that she did do as serious. Right now she was updating her own personal data bank on what had transpired while on monitor duty, after she had already done that on the general of course. Her faceplate was completely expressionless as she flipped through her data pad. It was definitely not just any data pad, it was customized and upgraded as high as possible given their situation here. She spent as much time caring for it as she did her own frame, which currently was gleaming.

Finally she finished with her data pad, subspaced it and then turned so that she could focus completely on Jazz. She already knew a great deal about him, at least from the file but had yet to form her own real opinion. “Hello Jazz, what can I do for you?” Velocity stood ramrod straight and had her arms at her sides. If she were a soldier she would be being a good one but she was just standing normally for her.

Vel knew Jazz had to want something. No one approached her unless they wanted something from her nowadays. So she watched the smaller mech with a patient look to her optics and waited to see what it was he wanted.

Her helm tilted just a fraction to the left when he answered her question, indicating her slight confusion. “You wish to have my opinion you say? Such an odd thing to hear. I suppose I have no protest against this then.” Curious optics shuttered once before refocusing, more intently then before, upon his face plating. She looked him up and down then, taking in everything before nodding to herself about who knew what. Vel kept her own counsel and it wasn't until recently she even bothered reaching out toward others. It was no different from her past, she was notorious for being incredibly social but not reachable. She knew how to be in and work a crowd but not actually care about a single one of them. Detachment, that was something she had, in spades.

“Yes I am off shift now actually, I was just updating things for my own records.” Records she had from a long time back, everything in incredible detail. If anything she could always be counted on to record data, at all times, completely. “So, I will give you my opinions then on these, official...things.” Another slight tilt to her helm but no questions given. Vel was mostly unreadable at the moment, flat, emotionless, all business. Which is how she was most of the time, like she had no emotions at all.

Velocity peered off toward the exit, the way to outside and then down the hallway where there were so many empty areas and rooms. “I think I would prefer to stay inside this time. Shall we?” Nodding to Jazz she started to walk off toward the long hall nearby figuring without even looking that he would be following her. He did wish to speak with her after all, though Primus only knew what he wanted her opinion on, or why.

It didn't take long, a few turns and they would be well out of audio shot of anyone else unless they too happened to be down this way, which was unlikely. Shed turned with a fluid grace and regarded the other bot before her. “So, what is it that you need my opinion on then? I will say I am a bit shocked. No one actively seeks me out, not really.” Servos with those wicked red claws crossed in front of each other, resting, on her lower abdomen area, face almost serene if it wasn't so stern.

Though she knew some of Jazz's reputation from his file and what she had heard from a few others when they talk she didn't put any stock in it. A file could only tell you so much and others opinions of people never had mattered to her. Velocity was the type to observe someone for herself, make her own decisions and thoughts on the bot in question. This held true before, with the twins and how she was able to get closer to them simply because she ignored everyone else. Even when they called her crazy or suicidal, she hadn't stopped. Now, with Jazz on front of her the same thing was happening. Cyan colored optics scanned over every bit of him she could see, taking in body language, forced or otherwise and filing it away for later. He seemed decent but that meant nothing this soon in the game.

“I wonder if you have come to the same conclusion that I have then.” Not a question though. In fact it was a rather dry statement of what she perceived to be fact. Vel believed that anyone who didn't notice what was going on around them was either willfully ignorant or a complete and utter moron and therefore a waste of space and energon. “Everything here is a complete and utter mess!” There it was, a hint of emotion and flashing of light behind her optics. It irked her to no end just how fractured and ridiculously out of order everyone was here. “Integration has not at all been a priority. The welcome mat here has been pulled out from underneath some of us.” Bitterness in her tone and she eyed Jazz in another light, always changing and shifting the way she was looking at him.

Vel followed the movement of his hand then went back to his face, optics lingering on his mouth just a moment when he started to talk again. “You want to give me a job?” Such genuine surprise in her voice, optics shuttering a few times in her shock. “This is still something I can do, how interesting it is doesn't matter. I was waiting for someone to realize the help I could be, even as I did the meager, so-called jobs around here that I could.” Her helm tilted just a fraction, an unconscious gesture. “Would I have a superior? What would my title be?”

It was probably obvious that she would be accepting this but she didn't answer him right away. Her questions should be an obvious enough answer to him, hopefully. “This was close to what I did during the war for the unit I was involved with.” There was more to it than that but it didn't need to be explained. Her rank was very high back then but that wasn't what she expected now. Vel still hated thinking about her old unit, because she would never be over their deaths. Sadness filtered through her field even though she held it tightly, but she ignored it for now. This was more important after all.

“What is it about you that changes things? How do you rate in all of this? You come in and suddenly everyone is cooperating and things get in line?” Velocity wasn't able to hold back her complete skepticism and definite annoyance. It was too much too soon and rather ridiculous when she thought about it. Her optics bored into him, not hostile but she wanted to make it painfully obvious that she was taking note of everything he said and did right now, more than before. Though her words were stern and almost snappish there would be no hostility, apparent at least, in her field.

It wasn't that Vel had wanted to be an officer she just wondered how he was. Yes she had read his file but it still didn't make complete sense to her especially with certain things tacked on. “Quartermaster would be wonderful but I will accept only if your answers satisfy me.” Too many new people, too much mess and a while lot of suspicions. Jazz would have to be quick and glib, make her believe and like him in very little words. Velocity did not suffer the ramblers and had been dealing with politicians most of her life so she knew too much talking was fodder for misdirection.

Her helm came close to him as she bent some to be optic to optic with the smaller bot. It was a sign of her trying to be somewhat respectful, not that she would do it all the time but looming over your superior officers wasn't always advisable. Still she waited though and hoped he wouldn't try and make light of her questions or he would lose any respect she may have been getting for him. This could have been a simple thing but she had to turn into complicated, go figure. Nothing with her was ever simple even if everyone thought it was.

His response was good. Velocity had been suspicious, still would be for a little while as she wasn't the type to blindly trust anyone anymore. Yet, he had said the right things and performed the correct actions in her mind to allow him a little more respect and some trust where there hadn't been any before or at least not much.

Her reasons for being so suspicious were simple and made complete sense to her. Something out of nowhere when there had been nothing at all. This newcomer suddenly sparking a flurry of activity and everyone getting things done? It had been mostly unheard of before him. Truth was Vel liked that these things were happening and had been trying not to be the cynical cranky femme, which is exactly what had happened.

Her bright colored optics scanned over him down then up, taking in everything she could in a scant moment. Mouth parted and she vented harshly before actually speaking. “I understand that is your job Jazz. I am just looking out for my best interests since no one else cared before now.” Her tone lost any harshness to it and there was a world weary quality to it that signified if she wasn't so proud her shoulders might even be hanging down. “I'm sorry if I came off too harsh but it is all a little too cut and dry for my taste and since the war I have become increasingly suspicious of authority figures.” Vel frowned then and a sense of discomfort filtered through her field as she finally backed off and leaned opposite the smaller bot along the wall.

“Once you are treated by a commanding officer as I was it is hard to easily trust anyone. Not that I ever did trust all that easily but anymore it's near impossible. I fear it has kept me very far away from everyone and I have become something of a cynical and dare I say it...bitchy individual.” Slowly a smile slipped on her face plating but it just as easily faded off. “Let's just say I was betrayed and injured and practically ripped apart, physically and otherwise. It takes awhile to recover from that and I don't even know if I ever can, fully.” Her helm tilted downward as she studied her claws in the dimmer light here in the hall.

“If the offer still stands after my outburst I am very much interested. Someone has to take these reckless bots to task and keep things in line.”

Jazz would spend quite a bit of time playing with that file before he got anything and what he would get didn't seem to coincide well. Jettison was known as a fiercely loyal Autobot who always got the job done no matter the difficulty. Sure there would be a few mentions of excessive force used but it was always against the enemy and nothing more. Either he was good at covering his own tracks or he scared others so much that no one reported him. That wasn't the case with Velocity though. She knew what would happen if she reported him and had died so much inside once things had been made clear to her and she had come back online that she didn't care about it anymore.

“I've begun to notice that Prime is a bit different, much gentler indeed.” She looked off and shook her helm, a sadness to her optics. “What Jettison did was unnecessary. He took the only others from me that I ever cared about. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they are dead now thanks to him. The only reason I wasn't able to die alongside them is because Jettison said he needed me, and then summarily beat me while I was already so damaged. He almost killed me.” Both servos were placed out, palms upwards. “I loved them Jazz, greatly. There is more to all this but I don't wish to dredge it up completely right now. Later I will tell you.”

Vel had pretty much already answered that question about the live ones but she elaborated. “Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jettison, myself and two others whose names I cannot remember, I wasn't seeing or hearing too well at the time. He left them behind Jazz, my boys, my loves. He left them.” She left them, the guilt weighed on her heavily even if she was fully aware this wasn't her fault at all.

“Why bother filing a complaint now, he could be dead for all I know. It just seems pointless.” Her heavily armored shoulders shrugged slowly and she leveled the rather peppy and fairly attractive mech with a look. “So, when do I start this?”

<<Jettison is probably alive yes. And I had her mention it because she thought it seemed relevant right now XD Hope this is all good and sorry for the wait.>>