McCrane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mccrane) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
re_alignment_logs2014-03-26 08:16 pm
mccrane) wrote in re_alignment_logs2014-03-26 08:16 pm
Trajectory
Who: McCrane and Prowl
What: McCrane is having doubts about heading the police forces again. Prowl is there to offerutter manipulation comfort.
Where: The shooting range attached to police headquarters
When: Nowish
Notes: Prowl is a warning, right? If so, then Prowl.
As much as McCrane thought his life was going to be complex, it had instead become utterly simple. He'd been worried about Gunmax returning different, but it had not been as awkward as he'd feared it would be. It wasn't the same, of course...but he couldn't have expected that.
He'd also been worried that Kagerou would not have time for him once Shadowmaru appeared, but that worry had also proven incorrect.
The one worry that he still had, of course, was the Enforcers.
When he had been left in charge, he'd been forced to face a number of situations that he wasn't prepared for. Overlord. Tarn. Megatronus. They were moments that he knew he would not have made it through without the support of Blurr, his Brave Police family, and his fellow officers. Some of them were moments he would not have made it through if it were not for Prowl.
The mech left him with a sense of unease that he had never been able to shake. Prowl's years of experience dwarfed Deckard's, and there had never been a moment when McCrane had not caught himself wondering if he was doing his job right or if Prowl was watching him, and judging his every move. It had been endlessly motivating, and also endlessly terrifying.
However, Kagerou had uncovered nothing suspicious about Prowl. McCrane's unease sat unsatisfied, and there was nothing he could do about it. Soon enough, Prowl was going to be a fellow officer instead of someone under his command, and then...well, then, perhaps it would be easier to learn from him.
Despite that, McCrane was not considering Prowl as the mech who would take over the police. It would mostly likely be Blurr, and also Deckard. One Cybertronian, and one Brave Police.
He'd been happier when he and Blurr had maintained the same relationship.
He had not yet decided how to breach the news to the Police Force, however, and so he found himself worrying over that fact while perfecting his aim in the shooting range. The rifle that the old Gunmax had given him still never left his side, but he knew he could be more accurate with a pistol if he practiced.
He enjoyed practice. It was a simple matter of statistics--paying attention to the atmospheric conditions, correcting for line of sight, calculating the mass of the bullet and the force of the acceleration chamber and the distance to his target.
This, he liked.
Leading, he also liked, because it was about making a number of disparate elements work together. It was about order.
It just...was something he felt incapable of doing anymore.
...
What: McCrane is having doubts about heading the police forces again. Prowl is there to offer
Where: The shooting range attached to police headquarters
When: Nowish
Notes: Prowl is a warning, right? If so, then Prowl.
As much as McCrane thought his life was going to be complex, it had instead become utterly simple. He'd been worried about Gunmax returning different, but it had not been as awkward as he'd feared it would be. It wasn't the same, of course...but he couldn't have expected that.
He'd also been worried that Kagerou would not have time for him once Shadowmaru appeared, but that worry had also proven incorrect.
The one worry that he still had, of course, was the Enforcers.
When he had been left in charge, he'd been forced to face a number of situations that he wasn't prepared for. Overlord. Tarn. Megatronus. They were moments that he knew he would not have made it through without the support of Blurr, his Brave Police family, and his fellow officers. Some of them were moments he would not have made it through if it were not for Prowl.
The mech left him with a sense of unease that he had never been able to shake. Prowl's years of experience dwarfed Deckard's, and there had never been a moment when McCrane had not caught himself wondering if he was doing his job right or if Prowl was watching him, and judging his every move. It had been endlessly motivating, and also endlessly terrifying.
However, Kagerou had uncovered nothing suspicious about Prowl. McCrane's unease sat unsatisfied, and there was nothing he could do about it. Soon enough, Prowl was going to be a fellow officer instead of someone under his command, and then...well, then, perhaps it would be easier to learn from him.
Despite that, McCrane was not considering Prowl as the mech who would take over the police. It would mostly likely be Blurr, and also Deckard. One Cybertronian, and one Brave Police.
He'd been happier when he and Blurr had maintained the same relationship.
He had not yet decided how to breach the news to the Police Force, however, and so he found himself worrying over that fact while perfecting his aim in the shooting range. The rifle that the old Gunmax had given him still never left his side, but he knew he could be more accurate with a pistol if he practiced.
He enjoyed practice. It was a simple matter of statistics--paying attention to the atmospheric conditions, correcting for line of sight, calculating the mass of the bullet and the force of the acceleration chamber and the distance to his target.
This, he liked.
Leading, he also liked, because it was about making a number of disparate elements work together. It was about order.
It just...was something he felt incapable of doing anymore.
...
no subject
The Autobot couldn't help but think of his days with Optimus as he watched the Earth-AI shoot his rounds, utterly silent as he reflected on the constant irritation of managing lionized or inexperienced superiors. McCrane was the latter, which made him marginally better. He tended to be much more easily swayed by carefully calculated words.
Prowl waits for McCrane to reload before he breaks his silence,"I'm starting to think using up ammunition is your favorite pastime."
no subject
He jumps, visibly.
The box of shells compresses in his hand, but despite being startled he manages to slide in the bullet he'd been handling. Closing the chamber, he looks up at Prowl.
"Ammunition is one of the few things we can produce easily here, with the amount of scrap we find." He offers the pistol to Prowl--wondering if the Cybertronian has fired a projectile weapon before or if, like many of the natives, he preferred the energy types. "My accuracy percentage was only 95% with short range armaments. That...was not acceptable." With his rifle or his shotgun, he had been able to break the 99th percentile barrier.
That had been a day worth celebrating.
"Honing my skills...it is also a good way to help me think. It helps me come to terms with my abilities, and sometimes..."
He sighed, and looked at his target and the percent score that was registered near it. Even with his practice, he had only been able to raise it to 96%. The other Brave Police were better with the pistol than he was.
"Sometimes it helps me come to terms with what I am not capable of. Would you care to try?"
no subject
When five percent meant hundreds of thousands of soldiers, it wasn't something Prowl took lightly. He takes the weapon into his hands, feeling the grip and the mechanisms with a cold, analytical look in his eyes.
"Archaic. But effective."
His own weapon of choice, despite the Decepticon blasters in each arm, was a particle rifle. It was clean and accurate and wasn't wasteful. But one doesn't go through a four million year war without having fired a significant amount of any variety of weapon, projectile included. It didn't take long for him to acclimate.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked for a Cybertronian battle computer if you're having trouble with this."
He looks up.
"It'd be a far more valuable use of your time, considering suspects tend to be more unpredictable than target simulation. Particularly the psychotic kind we get enough of."
no subject
When projectiles could not pierce armor, then lasers could melt it. When lasers bounced off, then projectiles could make a dent. When everything else failed...well. Rose had a sword, and Power Joe had nunchucks.
Prowl...Prowl used anything. McCrane had seen the damage he could do with a table, and he'd been impressed. It was not hard to be impressed when the cybertronian cop handled a new weapon for the first time and could shoot as well as those who had been using it for years.
That was one of the many reasons that McCrane both admired Prowl--and felt uncomfortable around him.
"What is a Cybertronian battle computer?"
no subject
"It was an upgrade during the war."
The new bullets slide into place.
"A battle computer calculates the path of least resistance in a combat situation."
The chamber slides back into place securely. He finally turns to face McCrane.
"It is a targeting system and provides overall improved situational analysis and awareness. I've had one since I was born on Cybertron, and it's helped me in far more than simple firefights."
no subject
It is admireable, but it is also worrisome. McCrane remembers Gunmax talking about a battle system that was ordered to be installed on the other Brave Police members in order to improve their aim. He remembers feeling discomforted by that thought...and he is discomforted by it, now.
"Those were the specialties that I was programmed with...to be the tactical advisor to the Brave Police. I don't know how well that technology would integrate with me..."
He looks at the target, noting that it is undeniable that Prowl has an impressive hit-count.
"...or what else it might change. What did you have to sacrifice, to have it installed?"
no subject
The loss of interpersonal relationships was the result of the war, not his mind. He was certain of that.
When people needed to be broken down to probabilities and personality subroutines - that was out of necessity.
"Soldiers that chose to get the upgrade live normal lives - as normal as living through a war can be. But now they have a tool that can help them live another day."
He hands McCrane the revolver.
"I'm certain the medics and scientists here can work something out for you."