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"You did what Alex and Ranger Malto raised you to do," he says, knowing from experience that any platitudes given to Twitch won't convince her that this isn't her failure. Not yet. Maybe eventually, maybe they never will, but not yet. "By trying to understand her and discuss the cause of your rift. You did nothing wrong."

He keeps his expression neutral, mulling over what to say. What to do. A big part of him wants to go and speak to Anemone again after this, but he thinks that will likely make things worse, and knows that to a certain point Twitch and her have to work this out themselves. That's not to say of where Hashtag factors into it all, too.

"As bad as this feels now, I don't think you two truly hate each other. This won't be the end for either of you. Megatron has a... complicated legacy, as all Cybertronians do here, but you are both of a new generation who has the opportunity to move past that."

Even if currently...

"But regardless of anything, what happened at that school--" this is the first time he's heard her describe it as evil. "--has had a clear effect in both your behaviours. Twitch... are you able to tell me more about what happened?"

Twitch frowned at the floor. She wanted to argue, to protest. She did hate Anemone. She really did. The mention of her parents only made her feel sad, maybe later the words would be comforting.

But all of that was shoved aside with the slam of a door and the crackle of a speaker.

The only good child is an obedient one.

"NO!" she said, a little more sharply then she had intended.

She buried her face in her knees and pulled her legs closer to her again. "No..."

The only good child is an obedient one.

Ah.

Optimus moves a little closer again, not trying to hide the concern in his expression. He had always known that what happened was quite catastrophic, but has yet to have a proper chance to try and talk to Twitch or Hashtag about it. So much keeps happening.

"It's okay. You don't have to. I apologise for bringing it up."

"It's alright," he says again. "I know everything seems so much right now, but this isn't all it will be. Things will get better. I promise."

The only good child is an obedient one. The only good child is an obedient one. The only good child is an obedient one. The only--

She had managed to not thing about it for days. She had had peace recently. But now she couldn't get the voice out of her head. How long was she at that school with these words running over and over and over and over? She had gotten her memories of her parents back but she remembered so little of her time at the school. Was there something else she was missing?

"I just want it to stop..." she said, her voice strained and quiet.

Oh, no, that definitely wasn't the right thing to say. Optimus realises he's treating this too much like Twitch is an adult, and just how little context he has for what happened to them in the school.

He wants to tell her that she's safe on the ship, but he cannot even guarantee her that after what had happened before, both with Anemone and Megatron.

"I promise you you are safe in here, no matter what," he says instead, reaching a hand out for her if she wants it. "We will work through what's happened together. It will stop."

He's a lot more firm as he says this, truly believing it with all his spark, even if he's saying it again just to try and be even more clear. "It will be better. No matter what, you have Hashtag, Megatron, Elita and me."

Twitch holds her head in her hands, trying to think of something else. Anything else.

But it's those words. Again and again and again and again and again and--

"She won't leave me alone. I--"

Finally, the small bot turns to Optimus and throws herself at his hand. "I'll be good, I'm sorry."

He lets her fully bump against his hand, brows pinching. Optimus knows immediately she isn't speaking of Anemone. It must be that Queen that she mentioned in the brig-- the one that had told her so many horrible things about herself to try and break her down for a reason he can only think of as seeking obedience.

"You're not being bad, Twitch, you have nothing to apologise for. You've done nothing wrong."

If the Queen did to Twitch and Hashtag what she did Anemone, and they just haven't been able to or willing to discuss it with them... he frowns for Hashtag especially, who he already knows just plays everything off as fine. That's not really a habit he wanted any of them to end up with.

"I know a lot seems to be going awry at the moment," Primus above does he know it, "but no matter what, you have done nothing wrong."

He wants to say the Queen isn't here, that she can't get to Twitch or her family, but figures mentioning her by name probably wouldn't go down well.

Edited 2024-09-12 20:36 (UTC)

Twitch is trembling as she tries to call herself down from the panic. If she wasn't feeling so frazzled, like she was filled with voices and sparks that all wanted to send her spinning and running and fighting, she would almost be embarrassed. In a way, it hurt.

But Optimus was here, and he was telling her it was okay and she was forcing herself to believe in. She latched onto his voice, onto his hand, into everything that reminded him of home.

"Keep talking," she croaked, flinching, full body, with how much it sounded like a command. But she needed his voice, it was the only thing even close to drowning out the one on repeat in her head, reminding her just how much her disobedience and stubbornness ruined the lives of those around her.

When she latches onto his hand, he decide to outright pick her up, as easy as it is-- she's the smallest of the terrans, so it's simply a case of shifting his palm slightly. When he's got her, he stands up and walks out a little further into the room so she's not stuck between the two standing bookcases.

This is very troubling indeed. He will need to discuss this with Megatron.

"Don't forget you have your family here. We would drop everything to help you with your burdens, even if you feel you should not share them to protect us from the pain," he says gently. "I know you would not allow it, were the roles reversed... would you not encourage any of your siblings to speak up and accept the support of their loved ones? Whatever has happened... you will always have us by your side."

As Optimus moves her, Twitch simply curls into his hand further. There has been very few instances where she has looked more like a child.

As he talks, she slowly, very slowly relaxes in miniscule increments. She doesn't respond, but it's all she can do to keep herself together at the moment. She aches. Soul and body. She is so tired.

He stops, leaning back against his desk, which is slightly more towards the middle of the room.

"It's okay, you're safe," he says again, slightly quieter. "When did you last recharge? Do you want to stay here for a while? I won't go anywhere."

She doesn't respond at first, but after a time (a few minutes, a few hours, who could say) the small bot has finally stopped trembling.

Slowly, she nods. "I want to say," she says, her voice barely more than a whisper.

She's quiet for a bit longer and when she speaks again, she sounds dangerously close to crying.

"I want mom."

"If she knew, she would find a way to get here through the bridge," he says quietly, knowing that no force on Earth would stop her or Alex from tearing apart reality if they knew their kids needed them. "But for now you can stay here as long as you want, or if there's someone else on board who can help, I will call them."

Twitch makes a small sound, a sigh or a whine or a whimper, it's hard to tell. She is relaxed in Optimus' hand now, but it's in the exhausted way only a post breakdown could bring. There is still a tension to her, not physically, not completely, but like she's waiting, sitting on fragile, shattered glass, waiting for the panic to return.

It took a while before she said anything. "Candy."

Rung always gave here those sticks she learned to love when she was upset. It was unclear if Optimus would pick up on this context, because she certainly wasn't giving any further clarification.

His optics shutter a few times, clearly surprised at the ask, but-- he does indeed have Terran-safe candy in his subspace, collected from Maccadam's. Optimus pulls out some cave water that's been mixed with gelatin and coloured, shaped like little glowing crystals. He moves to carefully set her down on the desk, then holds the bag of candies out for her.

"Here, take as many as you would like."

There is a brief, soft trill of anxiety as Optimus sets her down.

He's leaving-- her mind starts to scream but he doesn't and in the same moment, he hands her a bag of jelly looking candies.

It's not what she wants, but she doesn't have the voice to express what she's really looking for. All the same, she appreciates it.

~theonlygoodchildisanobedientone~

Twitch takes the candies with a mumbled thanks and slowly eats them. They aren't the comfort familiarity of Rung's rust sticks, but there is still a flavor of home that warms and settles here that comes with the cave water infused in the candies. She feels like crying. She's so tired.

Within minutes, the candies are gone.

...

Optimus produces another bag, because he carries a good amount of them. What if he was going to be with both Hashtag and Twitch? He knows they would share, but he's not going to risk one of them getting less than the other! A good mentor is a prepared mentor. Or whatever it is he is to them.

These are the same, though rolled in a crunchy energon-based sugar.

"Here you go. I have plenty more."

Candies in excess aren't excellent for system function, but he thinks she can get away with it this one time. He would be lying if he said he's never had a slight wobble then sat in a corner and shoved energon candy by the fistful into his face before, anyway.

Twitch quietly takes the bag and eats these much more slowly. She's still curled in on herself but she's clearly much more settled now.

"Thank you," she says after a bit, holding the bag in her hands but done with them for now. She might regret that later, but for now. It helped. Still...

She looks up at Optimus. "do you have any Rust Sticks?" Her voice still didn't have its usual boisterous energy, but it was finally wasn't sounding so Shakey and broken.

"Oh, uh..."

He blinks, his finials shifting as he quickly scans his internal subspace. Maybe somewhere... nope, axes, gun, datapads, energon, cave water, painkillers, more axes, broken stress ball, crumpled up receipts... hmm.

"No, not with me. I can order some from Maccdams if you want them."

Twitch frowns. "No... It's okay."

She eats another candy from the bag.

"Can I... recharge here?" She really didn't want to go back to her room. Or be alone.

"Yes, of course."

Wouldn't you know it, he has a bunch of blankets and pillows stashed away that he was going to give to Hashtag at the next movie night for her to do with as she pleased. They will work now.

Optimus stands to retrieve them-- the size difference between him and Twitch is such that she could remain on his desk, but that feels... ignoble. He piles the extra blankets up on his berth - which is generally spartan - and then moves his desk chair next to it.

"This should be comfortable for you. Recharge as long as you need, Twitch. I will not go anywhere."

Twitch crawls in and snuggles herself into the blanket pile. She doesn't normally need a bed like Mo or Robby did when they slept, but this is... comforting and she can see why they would like it.

In moments, she is out.

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