We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
“Less than two mega-cycles ago, my Autobots on Earth managed to divert a disaster that would have ended the war in Decepticon victory,” said Optimus frankly. He let that hang a moment as if to say ‘so that’s how I am doing’ because, really, what else needed saying… that said, he continued anyway. “I do not know how much of our immediate events the others have caught up on, but Megatron’s field lieutenant, Barricade, brought a weapon of mass destruction to this planet for his master’s use against us. Shockwave then armed it.” Optimus leveled a very controlled look in his friend’s direction. “I would be lying if I said stopping Megatron was easy or without cost. Ironhide killed Barricade to acquire data to destroy the weapon and there were human casualties both ally and civilian.”
We came very close is what he meant. Close enough that it’s staying with me, because with the resources and constraints here there were no options but desperate, ‘right’ options… no smart options. Optimus sensed that a talk about tactics was not what Jazz and been angling at… but it would have to do.
“Megatron’s plans were stopped… but I fear he is more unstable than ever.” He glanced toward the far wall. “That concerns me.”
Jazz had already heard most of the scuttlebutt about the last Decepticon engagement. He had Things to say to Optimus on that front, too. But not now.
Jazz was very good at hearing what was not being said.
I am afraid. I am sparksore from what we have had to do. I am grieving for those we have lost. I am worried. My burden is heavy, and I cannot put it down.
The Prime's burden. Jazz would not have taken it for the entire universe.
Jazz nodded and laid a hand lightly on Optimus' arm. Contact. Contact and a listening audial had always been the only things he could offer in the face of that weight.
"I don't blame you. It's a worry-making thing." Jazz pushed support through his field. "Let me know, Optimus. Whatever part of the load I can carry, I will."
His hand curled to cup Optimus' plating, a pulse of more personal support echoing between them. "And whatever you need, I'm here. You accept me for who I am. I do the same for you, worries and all. Just remember to set the load down every now and then...just for awhile." Or I'll come after you and make you. Wouldn't be the first time. Don't think I won't....
Optimus looked at Jazz, optics less impassive than he might have preferred on a regular basis. While the influx of old allies and experienced mechanisms was a welcome change from repeated loss and anxiety, Optimus knew the price of that was dealing with soldiers who not only knew him, but knew him well enough to get past the mantle of ‘Prime’ and infringe upon him with their concerns. Arcee had grown to be that way in their time here on earth and now Jazz and Ironhide had joined them – part of him tightened at the thought of keeping up appearances when things began to wear on him again.
Nevertheless, the weight of Jazz’s hand against his plating and the contact-pulse of support through direct EM proximity was welcome – very few mechs under his command would so easily attempt such a comfort. Sometimes, he wondered if the distance between himself and others was truly the status of Prime… or just because it was easier to bear leadership in this manner. It was easier when the mechs you risked did not so easily sync their concern to your doubts or pinpoint the pressure points that could buckle you under. Jazz had been here less than a meta-cycle and already had a hand on a fault line… in more than one way.
“Jazz, your being here and accepting a command has already allowed me to lay down a portion of what I carry. If I should ever require more of you, outside the realm of military duty, I will call on you.” He nodded slightly, a flicker of a smile crossing his mouth. “I promise.”
Jazz did not make the mistake of thinking that he was close to his Prime, no matter how friendly or casual he could get away with being. Jazz's was just one spark among the scores that Optimus had, briefly, touched and brightened and inspired. Later, when Jazz had been brought into his cohort, Jazz's relationship with Optimus--if looked at generously--was that of a friendly acquaintance, a cheerful moon of an inner planetary system named Ironhide.
Jazz had, however, seen more than enough of Optimus' leadership style to understand that Optimus did not think of effort and responsibility and personal need the way normal mechs did. Jazz had seen good, strong, intelligent mechs crumble and break under a tenth the weight of the responsibility Optimus shouldered. Optimus demanded more of himself than any other mech would have ever asked of him. Tactically, physically, morally, intellectually, analytically, Optimus Prime was an engine of leadership that hardly ever faltered.
Hardly. Not never. And when those exceptions came, Optimus had next to no personal support. Loyal friends, but no one to go to for comfort. Guards that would die for him, but no mate. An army that would crumble to chaos without him, but no cohort. Jazz, social to his core, had always thought that the Prime was one of the loneliest posts in the universe. Optimus had borne it well: tireless, never noticing the lack.
Which was fine. Until it became too much. Jazz had always kept an optic on that, when he could. Because it was a slagging shame that of all of them, Optimus had no one to turn to when he needed it. He could not be cohort to the Prime...but he could offer some of the same comfort, and remind Optimus over and over again that he was there.
If I should ever require more of you, outside the realm of military duty, I will call on you.
Liar, Jazz thought fondly. That's all right, though. I know where you live.
Jazz smiled. "I'll hold you to that, big boss."
~FIN
Last Edit: Feb 19, 2012 21:31:16 GMT -5 by Deleted