re_alignment_logs | (no subject)

Starscream looked up at what he was doing and just shrugged his shoulders. He kinda expected this to happen sooner or later.

The lectures? They always came.

"He stole part of my experiments. So yes."

They came for a reason, too!

"And it never occurred to you that with your glyph powered as it is, your relative power is different enough that beating on him might be a bit... overkill?"

He wouldn't drag a hand down his faceplate. Instead he just stood there, optics narrowed.

"Listen here."

Starscream moved forward and pointed a finger directly on Jetfire's chest. He did not like these lectures. He did not like them at all.

"I warned him. He stole from me and would not drop my experiments. He took stuff that I needed. I gave him a chance! And he decided to fight back and then flee instead."

Staring down at Starscream for a moment, Jetfire shook his helm. Starscream had... part of a point, but of course that wasn't all of it and he wouldn't let Starscream talk as if it was.

"The electrum was, undeniably yours, so pouring it out shouldn't have happened. However, you had at least one thing in there was wasn't yours." He wouldn't do things like lean down and try to crowd Starscream, but he did tilt his helm. "If you wanted to... ah, borrow it for a while I wouldn't have minded, but that's not what you did, so what he did was remove a few things you have... liberated for your own use."

A pause as Jetfire unfolded his hands to rub his chin.

"What's the difference there from what you did when you... procured the equipment?"

Starscream would have rolled his eyes if he had eyes to roll. But since he did not he just huffed and moved over to sit in the chair by the desk.

"It's not like you couldn't replace any of that equipment. Or anything else I might have borrowed."

He tapped his fingers lightly against the desk for a moment before looking to Jetfire again.

"But the electrum. Oh ... that was rare like that."

"The point, Starscream, is that you shouldn't have stolen it at all. Me or anyone else being capable of replacing the items or not." Jetfire was just going to glance down at the round himself in as much or a rolling motion that could be done, the glow twirling around before he straightened and leaned back against the wall beside the door.

Don't try to remove the goalposts here, Starscream! You stole, and that's what the point is.

"You still have some left, though?" He was trying for politely curious in support of Starscream's loss - even if he agreed with Starscream's alternate that Starscream having that element, considering what it seemed to be capable of bestowing on you if you coated yourself in it, wasn't a good thing.

What he wanted to do, though, was question Starscream about its capabilities, chemical and molecular make-up, if it was similar to the electrum created by their own bio-mechanics...

All that might be visible in the way Jetfire had leaned forward just a shade, optics brightening slightly form their earlier, dimmed seriousness.

Jetfire stop being so ethical about things. It's annoying. He shrugged up at the larger jet and sort of smirked, even as upset as he was over what his alternate did.

He knew Jetfire rather well, and ... his expression there? Oh that gave away a load of information.

"Too bad for you, the portion my overly-white alternate took was the part I might have let you take a look at. Ah well. Maybe if I find some more, huh?"

Sorry, no can do.

Jetfire narrowed his optics slightly at the smirk, but he wouldn't have been able to hide what he really wanted even if he knew he was showing those signs. They weren't that obvious after all, and Jetfire was far more concentrated on the topic at hand.

"Fine," Jetfire said with a static sigh - he was not pouting, no, "that does mean he didn't get rid of all of it though... and what about notes and the research you've done so far? Even if he managed to destroy that and you didn't have a duplicate somewhere, you still have a processor."

Not that Jetfire believed - which was probably obvious enough from the slightly arch look and cocked helm - that Starscream only had had one set of research notes. And, anyway. Even if that was it, Starscream had a perfectly good memory.

He must remember something.

Jetfire would probably get back to the stealing later, but he was oh-so-curious about the electrum. He'd assumed earlier that all Starscream had had had been enough to coat himself in during the fight with Megatron, which was why he hadn't pursued the question earlier but since that was clearly not true he wasn't about to just let his curiosity go.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to give anything to you after you yelled at me."

Starscream turned back to Jetfire and smirked at him with the biggest and most smug expression. Yeah so the larger jet was fishing for information. Well, if he wanted any of that science he was going to have to apologize to Starscream for even starting this argument.

He shrugged in his seat and leaned back in a completely causal fashion. Go on Jetfire. Keep trying.

Oh. Oh no. Apparently it was time to get back to the issue of stealing already, because that? He crossed his arms as his expression flattened out and he narrowed his optics.

"For an absolutely valid reason." If Starscream actually thought he'd get an apology for him complaining about having items stolen from him, well.

"You're the one who's used equipment you've... liberated from others in your research, so I think it'd be perfectly germane to demand some sort of compensation given that it came with the help of said stolen equipment."

So yeah, he'd continue trying. One way or another he'd get what he wanted.

Oh Jetfire. That will never work. Starscream relaxed in his chair a bit more and seemed to consider things.

"... Well when you put it like that, it seems that my memory files have grown a bit fuzzy. It was right there too. Oh, I'm sure it'll come to me again."

And then he paused and leaned forward a tiny bit.

"If you apologize for yelling at me."

"Yes, I'm sure it has," Jetfire said and if his voice was any drier it'd be a desert.

For a moment, Jetfire stared at Starscream, helm cocked and the glow from his optics sharpened from its usual softer default. He had, vaguely, expected something like this.

Not this, precisely, but obviously Starscream wouldn't take well to being scolded. Refraining from telling him off, however, wasn't an option either.

Why did he have to have enough of this strange electrum to not just use once, but research it? As Jetfire thought it over, Starscream's phrasing suddenly jumped out at him.

Well.

"I suppose I could, if that's your objection to this conversation." Starscream had, after all, just asked for an apology for yelling at him, not for what Jetfire had been 'accusing' him of.

"So I apologise for yelling." Tilting his helm, Jetfire sounded utterly serious and managed to not smile. That'd be rather crude, after all, even if it wasn't his fault Starscream wasn't more precise over what he wanted an apology for.

Edited 2014-05-22 11:08 (UTC)

Oh Jetfire. Starscream knows your little game there. He almost laughed at the attempt and just leaned forward in his seat inside.

"Not so fast. Apologize for why you yelled too."

And with that he leaned back and straighten up, looking as smug as can be.

"And then perhaps I won't hunt down my alternate and remove his head."

Well, there went that, though he wasn't willing to give up just yet and shook his helm.

"Changing the terms after the demand has already been met is rather dishonest, and sort of invalidates it, don't you think?" Not that Starscream cared about being honest, but at present it was his best angle of attack.

Frowning, Jetfire then crossed his arms over his chestplates, straightening up firmly as he stared at Starscream. He didn't get closer, but with Jetfire's size he didn't really have to.

"And put that thought aside, Starscream, or I'm going to do something we will both regret to make sure I can keep an optic on you for a while."

Jetfire can frown at him all he wanted. Starscream was not giving in on this. He had his reasons even if the over-grown calculation machine did not understand. He did not always have to explain himself.

Even if Jetfire did choose to loom over him.

"Is that a threat? I thought we both moved beyond that sort of thing."

"I hope you don't think I'd just stand here and say or do nothing while you threaten to go kill someone," Jetfire said with a shake of his helm as he rubbed his chin, loosening slightly from his stance... but not by much.

So now he had Starscream demanding he apologise for scolding in return for whatever research data he had on the electrum plus hingeing not attacking his alternate on that as well.

With a sigh, Jetfire tilted his helm up to the ceiling.

"I'm not going to ask you to aplogise for stealing, but could you at least promise to ask next time you take something?" Dipping his helm back to look at Starscream again, Jetfire cocked it and quirked an upper optic ridge. "I do use the equipment in the lab, and it's frustrating when it just disappears."

Of course, Starscream promising to do it didn't necessarily mean he would, but Jetfire could actually keep his curiosity under control and not ask what Starscream needed the equipment for.

"I'll think about it. I may even give some of it back."

Maybe.

He finally stood up from the chair and moved over to plop himself down on the berth. All lazy-like. But it was his, so he could do what he wanted.

"But I still can't guarantee the safety of my alternate if he attempts to raid my base again. If you wish you warn him -- go right ahead, I won't stop you."

But if his alternate ends up in his base again, he will do something.

Starscream could do what he wanted in his own room, of course. Jetfire eyed him as he sat down though, wondering if Starscream was just feeling... restless, or if there was a point to the move.

"I hope you enjoy helping me look for replacements, if you would rather not." Even if that might only mean make Starscream fly or walk around him with as he searched probable locations for the whole devices or resources to build new such.

Then he shook his helm and allowed himself a slight, if dry, smile.

"And I doubt your altermate is going to try that again."

... Not alone, anyway, Jetfire was pretty sure, if there was another attempt.

"Perhaps you should put more locks in?"

Actually Starscream was just going to lay back and lounge on the berth and probably make some comment later that Jetfire's rambling made him tired.

Not that Jetfire was really rambling, but Starscream would say that anyway.

He raised his hand and waved it rather dismissively at the question.

"I did. The computer system decided that my alternate passed the authentication tests. It's not like I allowed this to happen."

With a snort, Jetfire finally left his vigil at the door and crossed the room to sit down at the foot of the berth, drumming his fingers on the nearest leg.

"Other locks in addition to the systems tied to your energy signature and whatever other authentication tests you added. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have attempted to outright break in, but since the door just opened for him..." He smiled faintly and shook his helm.

If he found a building like that and the door just opened for him..? Yeah, he'd go in and check the place out too.