I Can Believe The Prowl Being Sub-minded. He Does Seem Like He Just Wants To Follow What Seem To Him

I can believe the Prowl being sub-minded. He does seem like he just wants to follow what seem to him to be simple rules and be shown respect. This I can also see feeding into his confusion over how Jazz is having such a hard time.

And so to move up in the world, Prowl would need a mate and sparklings like some odd SIMs thing?

The Flaw in Every Crystal Chapter 5

Welcome to Praxus Arc Part 5

Aka: The hand that feeds you

Aka: Risks and Rewards

Here we see just how cold and detached Prowl can be as he takes in Jazz’s condition after six orns being left in THAT ROOM. Spoiler: it ain’t great. Jazz has pretty much no energy to fight here, instead just wondering when Prowl will finally get bored enough to end it. Or at least the bit of his mind still online in a 3/4′s starved condition. 

We also see the return of Triage to the scene to help get Jazz all the way back up from 5/8′s slagged to probably ½ to 1/3 slagged! Yay, so helpful! I wonder what they dilute the energon with that would make it safe to consume but not add anything they can use. Also if this is the kind of fic were the transformers bodies can self-cannibalize so Jazz is loosing mass to this or if its just you offline if you don’t eat.  

And oh god, Triage tries to make small talk “So….how you doing?” “I see you decorated your room in processed energon, I prefer green paint myself, but its good to take an active part in your training, accepting the room, trying to make it your own.” “How did you like the city? See any sights?” “I never thought about travel myself, so barbaric out there…” “You just gotta let yourself be happy here, and then you will be! We can even go on double dates with if they allow it! Wouldn’t that be fun!” 

So, Prowl did almost starve Jazz. “What happened to your mate that exploded a while back?” “He didn’t explode, he caused an explosion in a small space. Then he accidentally starved to death” “Ah, rookie mistake. Don’t worry, you’ll do better next time, I’m sure. Plenty of crystals in the garden and all that.”

I assume that the serious wounds Prowl needs to regularly check are from said earlier exploding incident. Is the checking that energon isn’t leaking through or that the metal isn’t coming back in all warped?

Poor Jazz mentioned caring about something, aka his visor, and now Prowl knows what he can give/take from Jazz to keep him in line. But Jazz still has his snark to him to he’s slowly coming back. Gotta love Prowl’s “if you hand’t of curled into the fetal position in a half-starved state, your neck wouldn’t hurt now. Honestly, its simple cause and effect.” 

Now we see Jazz starting to try to feel out different situations, testing how much Prowl will let him get away with. And then Jazz gets a reward for towing Prowl’s line, a blanket. One which unknown to Jazz at the moment, will one day hold him hostage. A two sided blanket if you will. Its nice to reread stories and see the first time a reoccurring object appears.

Prowl seems almost desperate now to reward Jazz for not fighting him on energon and for saying thank you for the blanket, already giving Jazz back his arm movement. Even Jazz seems confused by the sudden shower (two) good things he has back now. Maybe Jazz’s multiple brushes with death have affected Prowl more than I thought at first. Or Prowl is getting impatient and wants to get on with more of the training already.

Now checking on Jazz becomes a habit for Prowl, like me watering my flowers or feeding my fish every morning. We even see Prowl rewarding Jazz by coming in and talking to Jazz on his level rather than talk to Jazz from above him in a standing position. Jazz, having caught on to some of the game, is working on self-restraint at having Prowl so close but not being able to do anything against him. 

It just occurred to me to wonder if Prowl is coming up with rewards as he views how Jazz is or if this is a mental valuing of the different rewards Prowl can give Jazz. Is it that he saw that Jazz was uncomfortable in recharge, so the reward was a blanket, or does Prowl assign the blanket the lowest value and was therefore the first reward given like a 5-ticket prize in an arcade? Especially since he brings up the pain-blockers now once Jazz has complained about the pain, or was he holding back offering the pain blockers until Jazz had dealt with the pain at least an orn? 

Jazz also knows that anything given to him can be ripped away, so he doesn’t want to value anything since it will hurt less that way to lose it, but feels such relief with them its hard not to care. 

Maybe Prowl is pretty much showering Jazz with rewards to try to super renforce the training? Like “I can bake these cookies for 10 minutes at 420C, or for 10 seconds at 5000C!” Its “I can give Jazz one reward a day for good behavior, or give him 10 different good things for nonbad behavior!” Like some part of him does hate the punishments and so is really trying to show Jazz that they can play nice. This is confirmed even by Prowl saying to himself that he had probably been too lenient when Jazz tries to snark about being able to feed himself. 

It does sent the precedent here for later on that Prowl in the earlier days seems almost eager to over-reward Jazz.

Till next time!

The Flaw in Every Crystal Chapter 4

'Welcome to Praxus' Part 4

aka The Great Escape, Plan A

aka My work schedule finally lightened up a bit

Gotta admire Jazz’s spirit and resourcefulness, even if it did result in him blowing himself up...multiple times..

You can really feel how desperate Jazz is here to just get out of the room and away from the house even if he doesn’t have a real plan and already knows what will happen if he tries to leave the city. 

This is really kinda a no win for him. Praxus doesn’t seem to have a homeless population he could blend in with, his frame type is different enough to get him spotted immediately, and he doesn’t have a lot with him. Even trying to get someone to help him could just leave him in a worse position of being someone’s “pet” and being blackmailed with arrest and becoming property of Praxus.

So Prowl took a while to find out that the source of the smell of hurt mech and recent explosion was THAT ROOM, which makes me worry a bit about the real possibility that Jazz could have been forgotten in there. Not for long mind you, and Jazz wouldn’t have realized, but still. Kinda darkly funny to imagine Prowl about to go to sleep, then suddenly his eyes light up with an “oh shit!” expression as he goes to check on Jazz.

Poor Jazz completely lost track of time it seems while injured, and couldn’t have gotten the door open by himself. Its good there was nothing else flammable in there or he would have gotten out of Praxus in the most permanent way possible. And from how Prowl describes what he finds, Jazz did almost make that trip.

“Prowl, what happened to that mech you worked so hard to get as a mate?” “Oh, he exploded....quite tragic...”

Probably the creepiest parts of this story is just how much Jazz’s terror and sadness are down played by everyone around him. Even here Prowl is treating this more as a costly annoyance, seemingly not even thinking that Jazz just admitted he was desperate enough to cause a small explosion to try to escape the room. The fact that the medic automatically goes to “trouble training huh?” like a firefighter called to deal with a kitchen damaged after a cooking accident/fire. I worry what something “too extreme” would be? An outright suicide attempt? Even that I could see as being spun as “oh, guess that mech just wasn’t a right fit/guess he had prior emotional problems/these things happen.” Not to mention trying to comfort someone when you’re the one causing them to be in pain. 

Prowl says the medic wears traditional colors, but is it the same colors or lighter/grayer shades of them since she is the sub in a prior relationship?

 Kinda wish there was a time glossary at the top of the chapter. Otherwise I associate joor = about an hour while orn = about a day to a transformer. So Jazz says he was locked up for an hour, medic says a few hours and Prowl says he was gone five days? I know that I’m probably reading that wrong but I don’t really have a reference. Jazz isn’t complaining about low fuel and we don’t read him refueling so I don’t think it could have been more than what they would consider a day to be...

We also see Jazz send out comms to both his friend, Blaster, and his boss. We later see Blaster trying to help out but never the boss. I wonder if the boss doesn’t know, didn’t get the comm, or got some kind of compensation to “fire” Jazz and no longer care about his employee? Maybe even a forged note from Jazz saying he quit and decided to stay in Praxus? That one I could very easily see happening.

We also see that although the medic is in a loving relationship, she can still get talked over, with Prowl stating that he would talk to Derby to come up with compensation for her mate being damaged by Jazz. I’m almost surprised that Prowl listens to her being so flippant about saying how no compensation is necessary even if she does say that her mate allows her to make some of these decisions. It does really show even in a good relationship overall the system only works because the dominate mate “allows” the sub some say in her life. It does lead to the worry of what would happen one day if the mate decided that being a medic was too dangerous and decided that she should quit. There would be really no recourse for the medic, would there?

It’s like Triage understands perfectly what danger Jazz is in and her only advice is to stop fighting and just give in. It’s especially ironic since that would probably be the fastest way to have Prowl lose all interest in him, since a Jazz who doesn’t fight back is pretty much dead inside.

 Ah yes, Jazz wanting to see Praxus “as a citizen” and the through review that included never talking to Jazz about it. “You probably misunderstood something” but too bad because its already done and you have no rights now!

You know, this type of bonding seems like a fast and easy way to get some nice, skilled personal slave labor. 

I love that Prowl sees alerting the medic to a stuck door as overly cautious but still was willing to leave Jazz alone in a room. Though I guess for him he was thinking he would only be gone for a few minutes and what could Jazz possibly do in that amount of time? Though now that Prowl can drop Jazz in an instant it really wasn’t much of a problem.

And now Prowl has a new, harder to break out of room. Yaaayyy... we also see how adaptable Jazz can be, now going along with it since he doesn’t want to die and starving out of spite won’t get him to his goal. We see Prowl almost treating Jazz like a child, feeding him, petting him, and then saying “Are you going to be good now and behave?” In pretty much the same wording my parents would say to me after a time out.

And it seems like at one point Jazz did read the bonding datapad. We see Jazz trying to discuss things with Prowl and Prowl not rejecting, but still acting like he’s indulging Jazz in this. Odd Jazz mentions seeing his mentor, yet he didn’t try to comm him. Could it be the mentor is worse off than Jazz and couldn’t help?

It’s really sad to see Prowl react to what he wants from Jazz. It seems like he wants only Jazz’s good traits. Its almost like he wants two different mechs. The perfect sub in public and the Jazz he finds interesting in private. I could almost see that working and Jazz going along with it if it was an outside force keeping Jazz there rather than Prowl. 

Prowl mentions training almost like its an arms race with wound returned for wound until you just wear the other down. Prowl really thinks too highly of himself. Jazz point blank tells him, no, this isn’t going to work, continue and you will lose me. And Prowl just waves it off saying Jazz could still have goals that he may even get to keep if a third carries. Though I cannot imagine Jazz with another in the house. He would either hate/try to hurt the third if they didn’t go along with trying to escape. 

And then Jazz lashes out at Prowl again after Prowl says how much better Jazz will have it here. Only to be locked away again. I wonder if one of the other things Prowl secretly likes about Jazz is how Jazz can get so much of a rise out of Prowl, even having Prowl leave while flipping Jazz the middle figure in door speak. And Jazz is left in the dark trying to soothe himself.

Thus ends another chapter. Till nex time!

Chapter 6: To Finally Meet You

So Jazz gets to experience being a bit of a local celebrity as everyone wants to get to know the person who Prowl’s subconscious is so fond of. I guess that Smokescreen went around the base telling everyone about Prowl’s possible future boyfriend. Jazz is a bit guarded with the answers though, maybe because he figures prowl and him will get embarrassed by what happened? Or, you know, just privacy. We see the privacy thing again when Blowout and the captain brush off questions about Prowl later.

Jazz also gets worn out rather fast, which makes sense since it hasn’t been that long since he crashed. Then he had pretty much no one to talk to for awhile, and having to leave Prowl like that would leave anyone kinda tired.

I wonder a bit about the empty room for him. Is it just that they power the building so the rooms are usually wasted or is having extra rooms a precaution in case someone is found?

And man, Prowl must be dirty as heck since this is the first time Jazz has a washroom that he can see and made no mention of Prowl cleaning up. I imagine that right after the long patrol they take all the enforcers out and just jet clean them with a hose at first before they get a proper shower.

Poor Jazz feeling bad about leaving and thinking of just going into hibernation now. I wonder if he did the enforcers would just leave him in the hab? I actually wonder why Jazz has to ask and they didn’t just offer right away. Maybe they don’t have any on them? Or they want to question Jazz some more and give him time to adjust first. Also wondering if you can enter late, is there a danger of waking up from hibernation early? What would you really do at that point?

 I wonder why Smokescreen went to get Jazz instead of just comming him? Why move Jazz? Doesn’t that make it easier for Prowl to find them rather than having Jazz in one of what I assume to be many identical rooms. 

So, they are prepared for a long patrol coming back and know it means something bad. I wonder if there was ever a long patrol who hated someone at the station and his long patrol brain decided to come back and take care of it?

So did Prowl somehow track the moving vehicle they came in, or is he still able to logic out even with his brain mostly shut off that the station was the most obvious place to take Jazz? That seems to be Jazz’s theory as well at least. I wonder if Prowl would be able to answer the question when he wakes up or if it will be nothing but a vague feeling. And the chief says this morning so its still the same day Jazz came in, meaning that either they were already very close to the station or Prowl made some great time.

I guess that no one put the mate thing together until Smokescreen told people because earlier Jazz said he didn’t want to talk about that part. I wonder if Jazz had spoken up earlier about how Prowl fully acted around Jazz someone would have put it together to be on the lookout for Prowl coming around? Or would someone gone out to find Prowl right away and met him halfway?

I also wonder from what he is saying if some mechs signed up for long patrol then got the happy news that they were in love because instead of staying in their territory they went into the city to find the person they liked and protect them instead. Or is it because Prowl met Jazz during the long patrol that caused the problems, but if they met before the patrol it wouldn’t be an issue? The directives being overridden by mates is part of the staff meeting and Barricade later figures it out right away by what Prowl says so it can’t be that uncommon. The fact that Barricade brings up if he was ugly when talking to Prowl, how awkward would that be? You go into this state, go through all this, wake up and then decide to pass on the person.

I’m surprised that they let Jazz come up with all of the plan. Then again he has known the long patrol Prowl the longest and has the most experience in this particular area.

The scene of Prowl and Jazz in the courtyard was really cute and beautiful to imagine. I’m such a sucker for the whole “person takes off their coat to give it to the one they care about” trope.

Odd that Prowl just lets Jazz lead him places now instead of trying to drag Jazz off somewhere, but I guess to Prowl as long as Jazz is around he can be calm.

Props to Jazz for having such a good plan and follow through. The rest of the Prowl/Jazz segment, I really don’t have much else to say but how cute I find it. Gives me all the warm fuzzies.

Funny that Jazz looks over Prowl kinda the same way that Prowl did after ‘getting’ Jazz back from Smokescreen and the others last chapter. It’s kind of sad that Jazz is still worried that though this part of Prowl likes him, the awake Prowl could still reject him.

And then we get Prowl’s first word, proving that he could at least fully remember how Jazz introduced himself when they first met even if the rest is muddled.  

I like that Prowl guesses right away what place Jazz means. I assume that means Prowl grabs a bit there along with the other enforcers a lot. And that Jazz interrupts before Prowl can apologize because Jazz thought Prowl did nothing to apologize for.

I suppose that there must be really deep elements of bonding if even when his higher brain functions were down, Prowl knew the proper movements to propose to Jazz. And what a story to tell the future creations this will be!

I wonder then if when taken off patrol the long patrol and station patrol just kinda switch places? Were Prowl and Jazz together waiting for everyone to wake up? Did Prowl take over station duties? Did they get to go on fake “mini” dates in the station? Or were they put into hibernation right away as to not have to worry about it?

So is Jazz just going to vacation in Praxius for awhile? Did he have to move from the station to a hotel once it opened? I assume that if he is taking a vacation, Ricochet is paying for it.

And that’s the end. I really loved this story and found myself going back to read it a lot, so I decided to do this. Thanks to the author WandersUnderStarlight for the story and the reviews of my reviews. I am really glad that you liked them!

Till next time!

I meant Romeo/Juliet in that the mate better suited to being sub is the one holding higher rank. It would be like if Derby couldn’t move up the ranks and therefore would have to sub, forcing her to chose to hold her military position, give up her job, or not bond Triage.

If I understand it correctly.

The Flaw in Every Crystal

Chapter 8

Intermission Number 1

Aka Triage’s situation

So, Triage became limited in who she could treat on a regular basis to people of her own class. Even triple-checking. I wonder if this is because the medic or the patient might lie, or both. Does this mean that a medic could have to drop a patient once they bond, but then pick that patient back up if the patient bonds as a sub?

Interesting that Prowl would have to hold a high rank to allow Triage to have an occupation, but said that Jazz could do approved work. So, is medic considered higher valued that Prowl would need to rank up to do that but most stuff Jazz could do Prowl would be high enough rank for?

Is it possible to be too low of a rank to bond someone? Derby is mentioned as having to climb up a few ranks. Has there been a Romeo/Juliet type thing ever?

Why didn’t Prowl try to trine with Derby and Triage to rank up. Was he worried Derby wouldn’t go along with the plan to get out of Praxus? Or was it the lack of feelings between them all?

You know, it might just be me, but I kinda how that the reason Drift and Ratchet showed up in Dying of the Light is because Riptide told him the Rod squad would be there. Probably just to go pick them up or something.

Riptide is/was friends with Drift and it would explain him and Ratchet knowing to go there then....just saying.

I always just took it as Ravage died because he was so much smaller than most. Like damage is more serious to them while big bots can easily take more of a hit. Didn’t they kinda say that back when Rewind go exploded in MTMTE and needed an energon transfer?

Death of Ravage was so unrealistic for me. Like come on! Red Alert  survive beheading! Ravage was just torn in half. Okay, maybe Velocity not experienced enough for this kind of wounds but miracle medic Ratchet was right there! And no one was repairing him. Like WHAT.