outsiderslogs | what are you, my dad? (closed)

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what are you, my dad? (closed)

who. Marco

fun_police
what. Marco pushes his ability to escape consequences.
where. their swank pad.
when. backdated to immediately after the kill post
warnings. secure your tables.

[ By the time Marco finally reaches to the door, he's completely wiped out. It's been a long day, and he's spent every ounce of energy he has in him keeping his thoughts more or less in check. He knows it's not over yet, but all he wants to do is fall over and veg out for a week and deal with everything else later.

So he slips in and drops his shoes one at a time, then his delivery boy jacket, in a line straight from the door to the couch, where he proceeds to flop down and flip on the little viewscreen-tv without skipping a beat.

It's channel-surfing time, baby. ]

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[Unfortunately for Marco, he would soon find his channel surfing vacation interrupted by the approach of heavy footsteps from behind. It was easy to guess why he was getting a visit from his roommate. The fact he hadn't immediately gone out post-broadcast was a minor miracle in itself.]

[Prowl's tone was clearly concerned. He'd seen how death affected young humans back on Earth post-invasion, and he'd be honestly surprised if Marco had nothing to say after being so close to the death so prevalent on the station.]

You made it back safely.

[ Marco doesn't even look up from channel surfing when he hears Prowl approach; this is, obviously, unavoidable, but he really, really doesn't want to hear this shit now. ]

Uh-huh? What's the deal, big guy?

[ Don't mind the snippiness, Prowl. ]

[That wasn't.. Exactly the response he was expecting. But he continues anyway.]

[God he's so shit at doing the comfort thing, but he tries.]

I understand an event like this can be quite unsettling for a human your age.

If you wish to take time to discuss what happened...

Nah.

[ Keep your thousand yard stare on the TV, Marco. Maybe Prowl won't notice that it's weird if you aren't running your mouth. ]

[No such luck, Marco. Prowl accesses his omni tool and flicks off the TV remotely.]

[They're having a chat. Now.]

Are you certain?

Dude, I was watching that!

[ See, now Prowl's going to get a dirty look from Marco, who flips it back on again. ]

I don't wanna talk about it, okay? Unless you're just gonna like bust my balls for being stupid, and plenty of other people have beaten you to that one.

[Prowl might have gone about this in a bit more of a gentle manner, too. But something in his optic sensors just been pinged when Marco turned to look at him.]

[That.. can't be right.]

[He's just going to circle around the couch. Don't mind that wall of robot suddenly blocking your view of the TV. He's got quite a stern look on him.]

Show me your hands.

[ Ruh-roh Marco. ]

What? Why?

[ He folds his arms defensively, tucking his hands under his armpits in a show of indignance, but right now he's getting a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. ]

[And that action pretty much ironed in his suspicious.]

[Both optics narrow as he stares at him squarely in the face. The sensors go off again.]

Do you have something to hide?

[ Hands ain't coming out, bro. ]

Do you have something to suspect? Come on, dude, I've had a shitty day, leave me alone.

[ Marco can deal with a lot of stern glares from Prowl. This one, though, has a different feel to it, and he's finding it disturbingly hard to come up with a better deflection. Usually, he has all sorts of stupid comebacks to throw at people until they leave him alone; call him too tired to do it today.

Or that he didn't actually expect Prowl to be suspicious, instead of just hovering. ]

No.

[He bends forward, extending a hand, palm up, to receive the hand he was expecting.]

It would be trivial to use force, so I suggest you cooperate.

[Complete 180 on the tactics there. It almost seemed like he was taking a page out of how to interrogate prisoners, rather than talking to his room mate. Better just listen to what he says, Marco.]

[ Yeah, no, Marco doesn't like this at all anymore. Hands still under his arms, he wiggles backwards on the couch, though there isn't really anywhere for him to go and Prowl's massive robot body is basically blocking off any other escape route. ]

Dude, you mind telling me what the big deal is? Whatever happened to the fourth amendment?

[ He tries to force a weak smile, but his expression kind of resembles a cornered rabbit at the moment. ]

[Something seems to adjust within the machinery of his eyes, as if they were refocusing.]

You have traces of gunshot residue on your face.

[The answer was stated matter-of-factly. There was no anger, just a cold, dead fact quite literally staring him in the face.]

[Want to try and explain yourself?]

[ .... yeah about that ]

Okay, screw the fourth. Can I take the fifth instead?

[ Because Marco knows when he's busted hard. But what's there for him to even say? He doesn't see a way out of this, which is his least favorite position to be in, but he can at least keep putting the ball in Prowl's court and play defense as long as he can. ]

Do you think the Talons will care which arbitrary law you bring up? I'd be surprised if they let you try to explain anything at all.

[This talk just got very, very real.]

[The hand retracts. You don't need to show him anything more. He's already made his verdict.]

You'd get killed in a fraction of a second. Do you have the slightest clue of what you've just done by involving yourself?

[ Marco's gut finally hits rock bottom, bounces a little, and settles into a heavy puddle somewhere around his ankles. Now that he can feel the ground again, he starts to recover himself.

And he's not that happy, either. ]

The Talons aren't going to care about anything they don't know about. So how about you help me not get killed by not talking about this, okay? Everyone and their mother except for you thinks I'm the stupid pizza boy who found a dead body. [ Prowl, you're getting that stare bounced back at you now. ] Except for you.

[Oh, there are so many ways this plan can go wrong. You're not off the hook yet, Marco.]

No, we're going to talk now. I doubt this is the last time you'll pull an imbecilic stunt like this unless you understand the full extent of your blunder.

I'm going to assume you did this for one of the gangs. I doubt someone would privately contract you. Most likely an initiation, since this is your first time. And yes, it is your first time because you didn't think to clean yourself as soon as you finished the kill. Most likely Eclipse, as they require a murder to join.

How long do you think it will take for someone to find out, Marco? That deduction took approximately two seconds from one incriminating clue you left behind. You don't think someone will be interested in finding out who killed him? You gave them their prime suspect by broadcasting your face with the dead body.

I talked to a Talon about two seconds after the broadcast, and he didn't know a freaking thing!

[ marco scrambles up on the couch now so he's perched on the back of the seat. gotta reduce neck strain here. ]

So it sure is lucky for me that not everyone on this station is a psycho robot cop who's butthurt about not having any laws to enforce so he's looking for any excuse he can find to throw around his big metal trunk full of wishful authority, huh?

[ oh yeah he went there ]

Are you dense?

Even for a human child, I'd expect you to have a modicum of an idea of the implications I just spelled out for you. You were sloppy. Any bare investigation of the area will probably point to you, assuming the person doesn't have a pocket calculator for a brain.

[He's not even going to touch on the moral implications of someone his age deciding killing another person was okay.]

And now you're with the Eclipse. This will be far from the first hit they'll order you to do. Are you ready for that? Are you ready to kill people on someone else's behalf?

I'm willing to do whatever I have to so I can survive, even if it means killing the enemies of my allies.

[ he's standing up on the couch now, but his voice cracks at the end. as soon as the words are out of his mouth, he knows it's not true, but it's too late now. it was too late the moment he walked in to eclipse and asked to be on their team. ]

So I'm only going to level up from here. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be.

[And Marco almost makes it to eye level too.]

Is that what you think? That you'll do one or two reprehensible things and be set for the rest of your life? That is a fantasy.

You don't have the slightest idea of the slope you've just climbed on. It is path filled with pain and suffering.

[Is he speaking from experience? Nah.]

You're better off turning around now while it can be looked at as a mistake of your ignorance.

Fine! You're right! I'm outta here.

[ and marco does turn around; he hops off the back of the couch and goes for his shoes. mostly because he doesn't want to face prowl after the last bit of that exchange. ]

Where do you think you're going? Did you not listen to a word I said?

[Prowl circles around the couch to follow him, but doesn't stop him from putting on his shoes.]

Your best option is to stay indoors.

[ marco keeps his head down; nominally, it's because he's pulling on his shoes, but it's another convenient excuse to not have to look at prowl. ]

To chill out with someone who's not going to be a total jerk about everything. That okay with you, dad?

[ his voice wavers on that last word, though. he didn't want to take things that far; somewhere, in a different universe, he'd gone missing from his actual dad.

never mind that. he's grabbing his jacket, too. ]

[Although he's never dealt with human children in particular, he recognizes this type of behavior.]

[He'll be back after some thought.]

[That doesn't mean Prowl is going to let him walk around on his own, of course. Not after what he'd just done. He says nothing further to Marco as he makes his way out.]

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what are you, my dad? (closed)

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ruh-roh indeed

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i am sorry for his grumpiness

never sorry

prowl needs to learn how to teenager

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psht, teenagers

how do teenagers even work