Mortified doesn't to come close to cover how badly Velocity wanted to crawl into a hole in the floor and never come out. She hadn't yet let go of Megatron despite all of the things she somehow hadn't thought he would tell Nickel, and in fact hung on tighter.
"He's already won!" She said in a strangled half whisper. "All that I can do now is harm mitigation. Refuse him what he wants and keep him from using me to harm anyone on the ship or elsewhere, that's why I-"
She suddenly closed her mouth and shook it again, unwilling to tell either of them about how she'd been investigating the flight plan over the next few weeks, to see if they would be passing by any asteroid belts or similarly deserted places she could hide in until she couldn't catch up with the ship again.
"What good would it do anyone if he alters my mind during an operation, or counting out medication? How would it be worth it to have someone sitting over my shoulder to make sure I don't hurt anyone?"
"Oh I'm about mitigate some harm all right," Nickel snaps, posture going instantly from relaxed to HIGH ALERT. She huffs under her breath and paces wheels squealing as she absorbs the massive info dump she's just been given. Were does she even BEGIN.
"Already won?" she finally stops, tone utterly incredulous. She looks right at Velocity. It's the kind of hard stare that can be felt even if she keeps hiding behind Megatron.
"Is that what you said about your university? And your professors, and all those mean girls who mocked you after you failed your exams over and over? Or was that a tale of someone different? Most people who failed nine times would have given up a fragging LONG time before they got to that point," she wheels closer to the bed, somehow managing to loom over it despite her size. She's angry enough to spit nails. Angry that Lottie's kept this bottled up an hidden, angry that this loser WRITHE things he can what he pleases to someone she cares about...
"So you failed this exam. Absolutely BOMBED it. So do what you do best," she jabs a finger at her, "And buckle up, study up, and re-take it. I will not accept failure."
[Velocity has gone utterly still and quiet while Nickel speaks, watching her wide golden eyes. This is the first time during this whole conversation that she hasn't shrunk back at all. Something about it seems to have caught and held her attention. When Nickel comes to her triumphant finish, Velocity finally replies. Her voice still comes out small, but steadier than it was a minute ago]
Eleventh time's the charm, then? [There's a ghost of a smile, there and gone, and she ducks her gaze back down again] ...If you're right, I'll um. I might have to find something new to do, then. Something different. I only passed that last time because I took a verbal test.
[She's still not sure how long this borrowed determination will last, but the shuttles aren't going anywhere. They can be a sort of reassurance. An ejector seat of sorts. If all else fails, eject your closest doctor]
"He hasn't won while he's still a being that can be eliminated," Megatron says, taking the predictably Megatron approach. He fondly remembers strangling Writhe in their last fight, even if he didn't manage to pop his head off like he wanted to. "Do not forget that he is simply Bos'Kit's lapdog-- an obnoxious turtle who was given power he didn't deserve and uses it to make people's lives miserable because he has been free of consequence, until he very suddenly won't be."
Ah, and he's pleased Nickel is able to do her Nickel thing and, more importantly, be listened to. He thinks, from how Writhe is not a being that Velocity would take advice from, but happily listens to all the terrible things he tells her about herself, that this situation has made her hearing a little selective.
"Now, do finish that thought and tell me what you were about to say. That's why you what?"
Velocity nodded while attempting to look anywhere but at either of them while she attempted to get herself under something resembling control. This, naturally, failed spectacularly as soon as he asked that question.
The room was bathed in golden light as her optics went wide and bright in a "singlehorn caught in the headlights" expression. "Uh. Um. I didn't- I just meant-"
Velocity squirmed, thinking of how Nickel told her that friends didn't lie to friends, and then she slumped. "...That's why I was going to take a shuttle and go somewhere isolated and disable my motor functions," she said shamefacedly down at the floor. "I was going to go there earlier today but the Optimus I met, he-"
She drew in a vent and looked back up. "He was nice. He hugged me. So- so I came back here."
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"He's already won!" She said in a strangled half whisper. "All that I can do now is harm mitigation. Refuse him what he wants and keep him from using me to harm anyone on the ship or elsewhere, that's why I-"
She suddenly closed her mouth and shook it again, unwilling to tell either of them about how she'd been investigating the flight plan over the next few weeks, to see if they would be passing by any asteroid belts or similarly deserted places she could hide in until she couldn't catch up with the ship again.
"What good would it do anyone if he alters my mind during an operation, or counting out medication? How would it be worth it to have someone sitting over my shoulder to make sure I don't hurt anyone?"
no subject
"Already won?" she finally stops, tone utterly incredulous. She looks right at Velocity. It's the kind of hard stare that can be felt even if she keeps hiding behind Megatron.
"Is that what you said about your university? And your professors, and all those mean girls who mocked you after you failed your exams over and over? Or was that a tale of someone different? Most people who failed nine times would have given up a fragging LONG time before they got to that point," she wheels closer to the bed, somehow managing to loom over it despite her size. She's angry enough to spit nails. Angry that Lottie's kept this bottled up an hidden, angry that this loser WRITHE things he can what he pleases to someone she cares about...
"So you failed this exam. Absolutely BOMBED it. So do what you do best," she jabs a finger at her, "And buckle up, study up, and re-take it. I will not accept failure."
no subject
Eleventh time's the charm, then? [There's a ghost of a smile, there and gone, and she ducks her gaze back down again] ...If you're right, I'll um. I might have to find something new to do, then. Something different. I only passed that last time because I took a verbal test.
[She's still not sure how long this borrowed determination will last, but the shuttles aren't going anywhere. They can be a sort of reassurance. An ejector seat of sorts. If all else fails, eject your closest doctor]
no subject
Ah, and he's pleased Nickel is able to do her Nickel thing and, more importantly, be listened to. He thinks, from how Writhe is not a being that Velocity would take advice from, but happily listens to all the terrible things he tells her about herself, that this situation has made her hearing a little selective.
"Now, do finish that thought and tell me what you were about to say. That's why you what?"
no subject
The room was bathed in golden light as her optics went wide and bright in a "singlehorn caught in the headlights" expression. "Uh. Um. I didn't- I just meant-"
Velocity squirmed, thinking of how Nickel told her that friends didn't lie to friends, and then she slumped. "...That's why I was going to take a shuttle and go somewhere isolated and disable my motor functions," she said shamefacedly down at the floor. "I was going to go there earlier today but the Optimus I met, he-"
She drew in a vent and looked back up. "He was nice. He hugged me. So- so I came back here."