Fandom: Transformers G1
Author: gatekat and starshield on LJ
Pairing: Jazz(Sirenis)/Prowl
Rating: PG-13
Codes: Slash
Summary:
Disclaimer: The authors are only playing with their own twisted muses. Transformers belong to Hasbro. Fandom-side, check the inspirations page (anhrefn-hyfryd .livejournal .com/22919 .html) We draw from a ton of amazing stories and authors you should read.
Notes: klik = 1 minute; breem = 8.3 minutes; joor = 1.2 hours; orn = day/32 joor; metacycle = 6 (5.9285) years; vorn = 83 years/14 metacycles
~text~ bond/hardline talk
::text:: comm chatter

All or Nothing 8: A Meeting of Truth

Impact hovered down the hall from the suite her creators shared. Prowl had been closeted in there with them most of the morning, and she had a pretty good idea of what was being said. What she could not be sure of was how her brother was going to take it, and what he was going to decide.

For all that Prowl acted far older than his actual vorns, deep inside there was still a young spark, one easily injured and prone to jumping into something with all the typical eagerness and wisdom of youth. She wanted her brother to be happy and healthy, wanted him to live a life of his choosing, the privilege of being a younger royal. If Jazz was the answer to all of that she would be delighted, and help her brother move stars and planets to win the mech he had fallen so hard for.

But before she did anything she needed to establish, for her own sake if nothing else, that this was what Prowl wanted, and that apart from the influence he could not defend against he was still thinking the same thing. The door opened and Impact stepped into the shadows, waiting for Prowl to emerge, hopefully alone. She watched their creators each kiss him on the center of his chevron, and the embarrassed quivering of his doorwings at it, before he turned to leave and they returned to their suite, probably to talk more.

That left Prowl, walking on autopilot as he processed the last several joors, alone and easily captured.

"So spill." She instructed, stepping from the shadows to walk beside him as he passed her, oblivious.

"Mmr?" Doorwings twitched at her appearance before the processor attached to them caught up.

Prowl was very distracted.

"I believe you know all the pertinent points," Prowl looked at her, his pale blue optics troubled and tired.

"Not from your perspective, little brother, and that is the important one right now." Slipping from healer to the mode of older creation caretaker that she had not used in quite a while Impact shepherded him down the hall. "Refuel, I think. Recharge. And talk. The last two in whichever order you decide, but the first one definitely first."

"And just in case you were considering it, recharging before you talk will not get you out of talking." She added, taking the liberty of opening the door to his quarters herself and waving him in.

"Yes, sister," he murmured, less resistant than he'd been in hundreds of vorns. "Though it all comes down to a single fact; I do not have enough facts to do more than I am doing. I am doing my best to learn about Jazz, the things that are not public knowledge. Sirenis has accepted my invitation to talk with Lord Crystal's chit to protect him. Then I will speak with Jazz once more, though the holo-comm so we can speak and see each other without his voice affecting me."

"Sit." Impact pointed to a chair and the energon she already had waiting. Good mildgrade and some of her brother's favorites to tempt him into refueling. Once he was settled and she was sure he was going to listen the femme pulled up her own chair.

"That seems sound to me. So why the stress?" She asked once he was obediently well into the energon.

"The unknown," he sighed, shuttering his optics briefly as he sank into the softly cushioned chair designed especially for his frame. "My tactical computer has just enough to work with and not nearly enough to tell me anything useful. There isn't a single major outcome that can be ruled out yet."

With a deep x-vent he reached for an oxidized copper confection, allowing it to dissolve on his glossa and savoring it despite his state.

Impact sighed, sympathetic. If she knew her brother, he was going to worry at the problem until he drove himself mad, even though there was nothing he could do without more information. Still...

"Can you satisfy yourself with planning responses for all of those outcomes and leaving it at that? At least then you might manage from real recharge."

"That's what I've been doing," he muttered, reaching for the energon cube. "I'm tempted to call First Aid for a sedative. Once I'm down, there is a 73.9778% chance I will remain in recharge for a minimum of six joors. Less than is optimal, but more than enough to function efficiently."

"Not in the state you're in." Impact countered. "If you still want one when we're done I'll get you one." She was also going make sure that everyone knew he was not to be disturbed until he woke himself.

Prowl merely nodded his acceptance and focused on refueling. He did need the fuel. He needed a long, quiet recharge with his tactical computer turned off. He needed more information as quickly as possible so he had some clue what to do.

"Did our creators say something that upset you?" Impact prodded gently. The more she knew the greater chance she would have of possibly laying some of his fears to rest and allowing him to rest more easily.

He x-vented sharply and stared at his half-finished cube. "They did not mean to. It is what I already know. I'm moving quickly. I don't know what is causing this response or anything about Jazz that would lead me to court him normally. I know I am possessive of him, very much like what I feel towards Sirenis, only tempered by his status. Courting him is merely a way to keep that under control while we learn about each other."

"So what are you afraid of? You won't like him after you get to know him? That you won't like him if the reaction can be controlled? He seemed to like you well enough."

Prowl hummed his consent to her statements, his optics on his cube before he drained it. Then in a move he hadn't done since he'd gotten his mechling upgrades he curled his pedes under him, slid his doorwings down close to his chassis, and brought the entire tray of confections to his lap as he curled in on himself.

"That there is no fix. That there are others out there. That even if my reaction to Jazz and Sirenis can be mitigated it won't help against someone else. That ... fixing this means I won't feel that again," he quivered at the memories and distracted himself with a treat. "I want to feel that, whatever Jazz's voice does to my spark. Just not every time he speaks."

Impact moved closer, reaching out to stroke Prowl's helm gently, comforting him like he was a youngling once more. They were all legitimate fears, some that she had no real counter for, because she was not the one facing them.

He didn't even hesitate to lean into the comfort, wanting it more than he dared to admit. "Jazz ... showed me things," he whispered, his entire frame trembling at the mixture of denial and blunt truth he had to accept. "Crisp Wing ... he's why you're so aggressive about screening my potential lovers."

It was all Impact could do to not freeze, to continue stroking her brother's helm soothingly, and some of the anger she felt at the mere mention of Prowl's first lover still came through in her voice. "Yes. We messed up, and you paid for our mistake." She moved closer to him, protective. "I'm sorry."

"He hid it well," he murmured, leaning into her comfort and shuttering his optics as he rested his forehelm on her shoulder. "How damaged am I, that even knowing what it should be like, enjoying what it should be, I still want what he showed me?"

Impact wrapped an arm around him, holding him close, trying to find it in her spark to answer him because he was her brother, and she would never see him as anything else. "What do you want?"

"To dominate, to hurt, but especially a dry valve to take," he answered with the kind of brutal, factual honesty that could turn the worst subjects intellectual when he wanted to. "Not so much with Jazz, but when I think about desires, that is always near the top."

Impact considered this long and hard, holding Prowl close as she thought about her answer very carefully. A small part of her processor also pointed out that it was a very good thing that the mech who had caused all of this was long gone and beyond her reach. Even better that he did not have more time with Prowl than he had. If three vorns could do this, she dreaded to think what hundreds ... or a bond ... could have done to her brother.

"What makes Jazz different?" she murmured against his chevron, trying to buy herself more time to think.

"Rank," Prowl answered easily, though it disturbed him the more he thought about it. "He's a royal. That desire is directed at those I rank."

"What else?" She pushed, hoping that wasn't all, that there was something else there to work with.

"It's the only difference I can think of," he admitted uneasily. "What I ... fantasize is directly linked to the other's status."

Impact hummed softly, trying to get him to settle again. She wanted him to recharge eventually, and getting him worked up was not going to lead to a peaceful rest for him. This wasn't anything she could really help with. She couldn't even answer his question. The line where interfacing preferences became damage to fix wasn't in her training. It wasn't even her field. She fixed chassis, not processors.

"Have you ever taken someone against their will?" she asked cautiously, desperately hoping she knew her brother well enough to know the answer.

"No," he shook his head sharply against her shoulder. "I came close with Sirenis, but I didn't. I pay the pleasurebot well when I indulge. Never have with a lover."

She hummed softly, considering that and the implications. That there was a level of detachment that was both comforting and disturbing, but the most important point was that he hadn't forced anyone. If it was going to happen it was likely to have already.

Impact eased the tray from his lap before it slid to the floor, laying it aside. "I heard you mention the Gardens. Planning to show Jazz around yourself?"

"Yes," a soft purr vibrated from his systems. "I want to see his reaction, show him that Praxus is a place he will enjoy spending time."

She chuckled, the sound approving as she teased him. "I have yet to meet someone who was not captivated by them. You plan to ensnare him even more."

"Of course," he chuckled, still snuggling into her. "Just because I agreed to keep a residence in Protihex with him doesn't mean I'm not going to try and convince him that he'd be happy in Praxus full time."

She hummed in agreement, processor wandering down that path.

"Arrangements could be made so that members of his family could visit as they pleased. Might make him feel the need to visit home less often. And protection would be provided for your doorwings." Impact teased, tweaking the edge of one very lightly.

"Mmm, maybe I don't want them protected," he purred playfully. "Not against Jazz at least."

"After that display you put on I don't think you can. His brother poked him hard and still didn't manage to get his attention." Her field rippled lightly along Prowl's, gauging his mood and state of relaxation. The results were pleasing, her brother finally starting to unwind.

A soft snicker escaped Prowl's vocalizer, a sign of both how tired he was and how much he'd relaxed in his sister's embrace. "He does have a thing for wings, and he's very good with his hands on them."

"Double lucky. Take advantage of that." She prodded him gently. "Still want that sedative?"

"Mmm, yes. I think I would. I do feel much better, but my tactical computer and logic center are still in overdrive."

"Up with you then, and to your berth while I find you one." She rose and pulled him to his feet. "Be right back," she added as he walked towards his berthroom. The slight sway in his step and flutter of doorwings in remembered pleasure weren't missed, and made her smile.

She could only pray that Jazz was as good in the long run as he was so far. He brother deserved some happiness, especially as the royal least likely to find it.

The sedative was delivered with specific directions. "Take it all. Do not fight through the effects if you start waking before it is done, just go back to recharging. I will come get you if anything happens that demands your attention. Understand?" She held just out of reach, waiting until he agreed before actually handing it over.

"Yes, Impact," he said evenly, already relaxed on the berth with his secondary systems powered down. "I do not want to go anywhere."

"Good." She handed it over and waited until the rest of his systems dropped into recharge before letting herself out. "Rest well, little brother."