If Krok was disturbed by this diversion from the rules, he didn't show it. "Have you met Misfire? The one who was locked in the closet for a few months and then ended up having to pay a debt on the spa planet? He's my comrade. We don't typically do formal greetings, but I figured that we should follow some sort of script in here. Professionalism or whatever."
He waved a hand, then leaned back into the seat. "How so? Restless can mean many things."
Velocity slowed her pacing and shook her head after a brief hesitation. "Is he- was he someone from back home? Riptide said I was somebody he knew and respected, and..." She plucked at her own leg plating with one hand while the other three flapped at her sides, face drawing down into what was almost a flinch before she started pacing again.
At that next question she hunched, looking away. "It-" A hitched vent in, and out as a miserable noise she tried and failed to stifle. "...Angry. I don't like being angry, not when-"
She made another, smaller noise. "Do I have to say? It's in Ratchet's notes, isn't it? Or-" No, she realized with a look of dawning resignation. It wouldn't be in his notes, because she hadn't ever told him. "It- it's fine."
"Who knows? Riptide and I are probably from different points in the timeline. If we ever met...maybe. Misfire likes people who like to get into trouble with him."
He peered at Velocity. She didn't seem the time to do well under pressure. Could she manage running from law enforcement after stealing a vending machine?
"...You kind of have to mention it. Something made you angry, and acknowledging that it did is step one. The next is to figure out why it keeps doing this to you." He set his datapad on his lap. "How long ago was this? Years? Months?"
Velocity shifted, looking here and there as if it would give her an out from this conversation, before giving a shuddering sigh. "...I-" She swallowed hard and looked towards the door, knowing the officer from security was outside in case she tried to bolt from mandatory therapy, but wanting, needing, to run and run and run.
Finally, she sagged. "I was on the recent mission with Megatron and Didi and C-Cal and BD-1 and Rung and Shotlock," she mumbled, slumping back onto the couch and rubbing one arm. "My Megatron. My friend. The smaller one? At the end, he- he took sparks we were supposed to save and made them into a weapon and- and he left," she whispered miserably, then in an even smaller voice, "He left me..."
Pain and worry started to mix with frustration and anger as she sat there, and she turned her face down towards the floor so Krok wouldn't see her expression. "...It's bad when I get angry. I can't be. But I am now, all the time. So- so I just have to figure out how to make that stop. And it'll be okay."
This was a lot to manage, let alone address in the first session. First things first, he had to get a plan on how to address all of these issues. He could say that he was fortunate that Velocity mentioned everything within minutes of arrival. This, in a sense, was an easy patient, though very, very complicated.
"Runt, right? He's...well, let's not talk about him when he's not here." Krok had opinions about Megatrons in general, even those that have not formally defected to the Autobots. Something about distancing himself from the leadership that persuaded Krok to the movement soured his opinion on the mech that started it all. Megatrons, in general, appeared to think about their personal wants over others'.
"His issues are his own to address, and I say this as a therapist and for your stead. But it's a big thing to happen, this betrayal. Am I right to assume so?" He wrote down his personal notes and a summary of what Velocity mentioned, particularly points that they had to address in future sessions. "How has this changed your opinion of him?"
Velocity shifted uncomfortably and hugged two of her arms with those opposite, hunching further to hide her face. "It- it doesn't. And it does."
She was quiet for a few moments, lifting her other two arms to hug herself further, as if to create a barrier between herself and what had been asked. "...The colony world I'm from, Caminus? It was spared from the war. I never knew anything about it except from rumors and occasional edited propaganda from both sides. And- and before I joined the academy to get my medical degree, I never really had-"
She made a small pained noise in the back of her throat. "No one. I had no one before school, where I met Nautica. And the day I finally, finally passed the exams, I- I appeared here. I've gotten to meet so many bright and wonderful people, meet him, and-"
Her mouth moved wordlessly for a moment. "I've never had anybody-" She hunched further. "...Can today be done? I want to be done."
Krok set his pen to the side. Everyone was alone in the war; that was the problem. They were alone and about to die any minute: the combination made both issues worse. It was a struggle to empathize with someone only familiar with one of those concerns, but as Rung told him many times and as the lecturers told him: the level of severity does not diminish the level of their distress.
At least this wasn't the worst story Krok had heard, and it wouldn't overload him with horror.
"What was it like, growing up there? Were there any other friends you had before Nautica?"
Velocity hunched further and turned her face away. "...No. There wasn't anybody. When I crawled out of the hot spot, there- there was nobody there. I think maybe I- a lot of those memories are fuzzy, but something burned..." She lightly touched a few fingers to a spot near the middle of her abdomen before letting it fall. "It's numb in that spot now. Can't feel anything, even pressure."
She swallowed. "I worked at factories so I had enough shanix to have a place to recharge at night. Usually I made enough. And I, um. I knew the people at a few pawn shops, and- and cheap clinics. I used to linger ant the clinics and just watch people go in and out. How hurt they'd be going in, almost dead sometimes, bleeding energon and crying... And how much better they were when they left. I wanted to be able to help like that. To fix what hurts."
"After that, I started going to the library, and found out I couldn't get into the medical academy on my own without a mentor or some kind of sponsor to pay for my tuition, but-" She glanced back up, a glimmer of pride in her optics. "I found out about the scholarships. If you could make something new and useful, they'd let you go for less, or even for free. So I studied, and practiced, and tried thing after thing after thing..."
She sketched out a shape in the air, a curved rectangle. "I invented a new adhesive mesh patch that could be used instead of welding, and would harmlessly flake off after the plating beneath healed enough. Got to where I could produce 100 a day, and marched into the school and showed them 1,000 patches." That glimmer grew into a smile, small but real. "I got in."
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no subject
He waved a hand, then leaned back into the seat. "How so? Restless can mean many things."
no subject
At that next question she hunched, looking away. "It-" A hitched vent in, and out as a miserable noise she tried and failed to stifle. "...Angry. I don't like being angry, not when-"
She made another, smaller noise. "Do I have to say? It's in Ratchet's notes, isn't it? Or-" No, she realized with a look of dawning resignation. It wouldn't be in his notes, because she hadn't ever told him. "It- it's fine."
no subject
He peered at Velocity. She didn't seem the time to do well under pressure. Could she manage running from law enforcement after stealing a vending machine?
"...You kind of have to mention it. Something made you angry, and acknowledging that it did is step one. The next is to figure out why it keeps doing this to you." He set his datapad on his lap. "How long ago was this? Years? Months?"
no subject
Finally, she sagged. "I was on the recent mission with Megatron and Didi and C-Cal and BD-1 and Rung and Shotlock," she mumbled, slumping back onto the couch and rubbing one arm. "My Megatron. My friend. The smaller one? At the end, he- he took sparks we were supposed to save and made them into a weapon and- and he left," she whispered miserably, then in an even smaller voice, "He left me..."
Pain and worry started to mix with frustration and anger as she sat there, and she turned her face down towards the floor so Krok wouldn't see her expression. "...It's bad when I get angry. I can't be. But I am now, all the time. So- so I just have to figure out how to make that stop. And it'll be okay."
no subject
"Runt, right? He's...well, let's not talk about him when he's not here." Krok had opinions about Megatrons in general, even those that have not formally defected to the Autobots. Something about distancing himself from the leadership that persuaded Krok to the movement soured his opinion on the mech that started it all. Megatrons, in general, appeared to think about their personal wants over others'.
"His issues are his own to address, and I say this as a therapist and for your stead. But it's a big thing to happen, this betrayal. Am I right to assume so?" He wrote down his personal notes and a summary of what Velocity mentioned, particularly points that they had to address in future sessions. "How has this changed your opinion of him?"
no subject
She was quiet for a few moments, lifting her other two arms to hug herself further, as if to create a barrier between herself and what had been asked. "...The colony world I'm from, Caminus? It was spared from the war. I never knew anything about it except from rumors and occasional edited propaganda from both sides. And- and before I joined the academy to get my medical degree, I never really had-"
She made a small pained noise in the back of her throat. "No one. I had no one before school, where I met Nautica. And the day I finally, finally passed the exams, I- I appeared here. I've gotten to meet so many bright and wonderful people, meet him, and-"
Her mouth moved wordlessly for a moment. "I've never had anybody-" She hunched further. "...Can today be done? I want to be done."
no subject
At least this wasn't the worst story Krok had heard, and it wouldn't overload him with horror.
"What was it like, growing up there? Were there any other friends you had before Nautica?"
no subject
She swallowed. "I worked at factories so I had enough shanix to have a place to recharge at night. Usually I made enough. And I, um. I knew the people at a few pawn shops, and- and cheap clinics. I used to linger ant the clinics and just watch people go in and out. How hurt they'd be going in, almost dead sometimes, bleeding energon and crying... And how much better they were when they left. I wanted to be able to help like that. To fix what hurts."
"After that, I started going to the library, and found out I couldn't get into the medical academy on my own without a mentor or some kind of sponsor to pay for my tuition, but-" She glanced back up, a glimmer of pride in her optics. "I found out about the scholarships. If you could make something new and useful, they'd let you go for less, or even for free. So I studied, and practiced, and tried thing after thing after thing..."
She sketched out a shape in the air, a curved rectangle. "I invented a new adhesive mesh patch that could be used instead of welding, and would harmlessly flake off after the plating beneath healed enough. Got to where I could produce 100 a day, and marched into the school and showed them 1,000 patches." That glimmer grew into a smile, small but real. "I got in."