Take Two

[chiaro_oscuro]

Ben Solo is out in the Plaza, wearing a dark sweater with a stitched-up hole in it and a sleek, dark blue cape. He's going out of his way to look flashy, though the effect is undone by the fact that he looks, for lack of a better word, disoriented. Like he isn't sure what he's doing or what he wants. The reason why becomes clear when he speaks - he's trying to keep a secret. 

As for what it is, there are clues in his flushed features and reddened ears. A large Corviknight is perched beside him, and he's got his notebook under one arm. This time he isn't drawing or writing, instead focusing directly on the person who approaches him. His eyes and the quiet in his voice point to his lack of confidence.

"I was, ah, wondering something. Let's say you wanted to do something for a good friend." He breathes in. "More than a friend. Someone you have plans to propose to. How should I go about making the occasion special for her?"

He wrings his hands a little bit. "Sorry. I'm...not usually like this. But I want to do it right by her, and put what she wants first."

Comments

[adpacempertyrannidem]

"My guess, Ben, is that she just wants you to speak your truth directly from your spark. If you're talking about a proposal, that is." Megatron glances shyly away. "It's what I did, when I asked his permission to court him. I haven't exactly proposed, it's not time yet...but he damned well knows my intentions. But when I asked to court him, I just told him, very clearly, that I could not forward with things without telling him that I was going to fall in love with him...that I could already feel it beginning, in fact."

He shrugs. "Some people would have called that crazy, given that we hadn't known each other very long, but it would have been very dishonest to hide it."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"Rey and I were enemies before this. A lot's changed since then, including the two of us." Ben touches his chest, where his heart is. He has no spark, but that's his equivalent.

"I've been thinking about this for a long time. Getting it right, too." Ben can't help but be nervous. "I'm glad things are working out between you. Loki's a good friend of mine."

[adpacempertyrannidem]

"I know you had a difficult time. I won't say 'journey' even though I thought of it, because I refuse to sound like Drift." Megatron smiles. "But she loves you, you know that. I don't think you'd be here if she didn't. Even more materially than when I say I wouldn't be here without Loki; she literally brought you back; Loki made me decide not to let myself die."

He puts his hand over Ben's. "That's how I know that whatever you do will be perfect," he says, with a wider smile. "Are you sure some of this nervousness isn't the feeling that maybe you don't deserve this? I know sometimes I have that feeling. But the universe doesn't give us what we deserve. Often that's a misery, but once in a while it's a blessing."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I think the bond's why I didn't just disappear after I died. It tethered me to a physical body. The Force just took me elsewhere to heal, and drew her here when the right time came." Ben shrugs. "I'm glad not to be a Force ghost."

"I...sometimes think I don't deserve good things. But there are people here who want the best for me besides just Rey - more than I ever imagined, and from places I never expected - and I'm not going to give up on myself now. I still can't believe it."

[adpacempertyrannidem]

"Good. You did what you had to do, and now you get to do what you want to do. That's a good thing." Megatron sighs. "Did you know that Soundwave and I are friends again? I never thought that would happen, either."

[chiaro_oscuro]

"I never thought I'd be friends with an Eliksni, but Variks is one of my best friends. I'm glad you made up with Soundwave." Ben wonders whether he'd ever get along with Rey's friends, or if - understandably - too much harm had been done for them to ever be truly comfortable around him.

[adpacempertyrannidem]

"Variks seems like a good person. I'm sorry we didn't get much of a chance to talk at your party. Thank Starscream for that, I suppose." Megatron sighs. "I'm glad of it, too, and so's he, but the person who is happiest about it is, of course, Ravage, who spent far too much time feeling rather like the two people she loved best in the multiverse were playing tug-of-war with her--even before we actually were."

His cheeks colour briefly, the energon flush under silver mesh all too easily visible. "Have you met their daughter? They took in a young femme who was recovered from a bad situation; she's the same frame-type as Ravage, and turns out--unsurprisingly, given that Ravage's frame-type was experimental--she may actually be a close genetic relative, not just to one, but to both of them. You will like her a great deal, I think. Her name is Viridian."

He studies Ben for a moment. "Rey and you will have to make peace with her people one or two at a time; are you worried about that? If I can be friends with Rodimus and Minimus, I do think it's possible."