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The Flaw in Every Crystal (aka The Darkest Fic) My Thoughts and Feelings

So, I love this story and decided that for my third reread of it I will post all my thoughts and feelings on it as well.

Chapter 1:  'Welcome to Praxus' Part 1 

aka: The meet cute!

aka: IT BEGINS

I find giving Jazz the career of cultural investigator interesting in how many ways it is used. I have seen the career going from government jobs to being a reporter like Jazz is in in this fic. Also odd how often Praxus is associated with crystals when I believe there is a place in transformers called “Crystal City”.

So we see at first that Jazz is actually dreading this assignment at first when compared to every other place he had ever visited despite being in some dangerous areas before. Perhaps its a “better the devil you know” about an unknown place, or just the sheer creepiness of a clean city, like an empty apartment that just seems wrong somehow. And the odd sameness of suburban areas.

We also see that this cleaness and order goes all the way to customs which Jazz has to contend with before entering the city. Almost surprised there is no examination of either his subspace or his medical health if the city is truly so paranoid. Also, I wonder how hard it would be for a Praxian to leave Praxus to live somewhere else? We do see what seems to be a local stealing Jazz’s paperwork. Though I wonder how easy it would be to sell/use by someone other than Jazz. Any paperwork I would assume would have at least some visual information about Jazz that would make it hard for another person to use.

Surprised that the data work went multiple days. Would he have to go to a city hall type place? I had assumed at first it was like customs with the information being taken at the gates/terminals. Maybe there is preliminary data taken there then he has to go to another government building?

I am a bit surprised that there is such a seemingly large tourist section for a place so hard to get into in the first place. I wonder if the places there are run by people who originated outside the city or if its one of those imitations by the locals of places they have never been.

I wonder if Jazz is just randomly stopped or if he was stopped after being seen talking to a local. I wonder if Prowl set it up almost or if it was just happenstance? It was rather convenient that Prowl just so happened to be there when Jazz was dragged in. It was also just as Prowl’s shift had ended when in most stories, Prowl is known to stay late at work. It would be easy for Prowl to use this to meet Jazz, and if Prowl didn’t end up liking Jazz, Jazz’s paperwork is mysteriously “found” in a raid, lost and found, or a thief, point is Jazz can then leave and all is good. Prowl is also “Intrigued” by someone being brought in and seems to know right off the bat that no one is coming for Jazz. One could argue that since Jazz looks like an outsider and has no glyphs that Prowl can logically assume that no Praxian is coming to pick him up, but Prowl had no way of knowing that Jazz didn’t come with other friends or family to the city who would be able to pick him up later. Prowl then practically shoves them both out of the door of the police station. No question of if anyone is here with Jazz, no filing a missing report of the data or even any question if Jazz is missing anything else such as credits that most other thieves would probably want to take first in other cities. Prowl, despite being an officer, just accepts that Jazz just lost it with a remark of “hardly clever”. What would be a clever response to losing your paperwork? My cyberpuppy ate it?

I have to wonder again about how a Praxian would be able to get out of Praxus since the culture is so mysterious that only the tourist area is known. It makes it sound like everyone who is born there never leaves. Which partly you could say is the way the people are raised, but even then there should have been someone who got curious about the outside...

I do like how Prowl almost seems to be showing off the city at first by taking Jazz to his personal favorite shop. I wonder if Jazz wasn’t so quick to allow Prowl to order for him, if Prowl would have done so anyway. 

I wonder why Jazz doesn’t just say he doesn’t know what an Escort is. Could it be some of his fear of the city cropping up? Is he wracking his brain if he had heard of such a thing in the tourist district? 

It also says a lot about Jazz that he’s the type of person who would give the energon the benefit of the doubt and then drink something he hates rather than feel as though he insulted Prowl by trying to order something else. 

As for the role of an Escort, I find it interesting that Prowl says, “As such, among a few other stipulations, you are not to go anywhere without me.” Would this be during one of the routine stops that Jazz was going through at first, or is he now kinda “marked” as needing an escort?  

I wonder then if you lost your paperwork and then left before an Enforcer picked you up, would you still be unable to return or is it just if you don’t have the Escort that should be with you? It is also telling that Jazz doesn’t question being unable to return to the city if he is found without an Escort despite not knowing what an Escort was at first. This leads us to assume that being exiled from a city state is not unheard of and may even be common. I also wonder what stranger things Jazz had gone through earlier.

Did the police get where Jazz was staying when they brought him in to know to contact the hotel? They must have since otherwise they would have to pretty much send a data packet to every hotel in the area. 

I guess the city may not have a lost/found for Jazz to fill something out if his belongings seem to automatically belong to the hotel. I’m also surprised that its that the belongings go to the city if the hotel can’t “use” them. I wonder if selling counts as “using” or if the hotel must actively be using them. Though Prowl seems confident that they can get the items for Jazz if needed. Is there a time limit or is Prowl entitled to them as the Escort before the hotel?

Interesting knowing what happens later on that Prowl says “my home” at this point. This does seem to me to lend a lot to the Prowl setting him up theory, or Prowl would have eventually just taken Jazz to the train/exit and....exiled him? Or could Jazz come back with new paperwork as long as he left with an Escort? Kinda funny to imagine Prowl dropping Jazz off and then just turning away and going “Welp goodbye forever...”  

Also odd that Prowl confirms he works from late at night to early in the morning. So by this time frame Jazz was out and about first thing in the morning in order to be brought in as Prowl’s shift was ending. So the meal they got together would be considered the morning/brunch meal rather than lunch or dinner. Jazz must have really been out of sorts then to be willing to waste so much of a day going straight to Prowl’s home in what at most must be the early afternoon. UNLESS IT WAS A SET UP, *ahem* anyway...So it seems that Prowl is willing to stay up late to him, early morning/afternoon, to take Jazz to wherever he wants.

And the question that will ruin it all  "You said you had questions about the culture of Praxus. Were you only interested as a tourist or did you want the full experience?" If only Jazz had said just as a tourist, I wonder if it would have changed anything at all... It is interesting that Jazz doesn’t give a clear cut answer to this question, saying that he would be up for “almost” anything. Prowl then clarifies that Jazz wants to be considered a citizen, to make sure he can record Jazz saying it as proof of their relationship later on? I can see when having to file paperwork to make him and Jazz mates, Prowl could produce this as Jazz consenting. Does bring up the really messed up unable to withdraw consent implications for all relationships though. Prowl said the paperwork would be done by tomorrow, so I wonder if he means that the mate contract can be filed the “apparently” same day they met as long as Jazz “agreed” or if simply being an Escort requires paperwork that Prowl must go back to file since they did leave the police without Prowl filing any official paperwork. UNLESS HE ALREADY HAD IN PREPARATION FOR JAZZ BEING BROUGHT IN LATER.

Thus concludes chapter one. Till next time.

The Flaw in Every Crystal Chapter 6

Welcome to Praxus Arc Part 6

aka Enter Player Two

aka Someone deserves an Oscar

aka I forgot how long these posts can get, and feel this may be the longest. Sorry.

So, Prowl is returning from Jazz’s punishment for talking back to him at the end of the last issue. Though he did leave Jazz the blanket for behaving before then. Jazz is trying to take as much comfort as he can from wrapping himself in the blanket and dreading Prowl’s return. 

Prowl says he is examining all of Jazz’s movements as a prelude to bad behavior which I assume would cause Prowl to leave again. Prowl is trying to get Jazz to start self-policing his actions and start to correct behaviors before they are committed; we see this since Prowl asks if Jazz understands why he was punished. If Jazz acknowledges what Prowl found to be wrong, Prowl can assume that Jazz will not do it again, or punish him even further if he does. 

We also see the narrative here, we can assume its not direct thoughts since the story is told in seemingly third person but more in Prowl’s perspective (at least at first), that Jazz refuses to sallow his pride, and later when Jazz is referred to as “The Praxian’s bonded” when he starts acting the way Prowl wants him to. This is interesting since in most other stories, pride is seen as an unbecoming trait; something to cometh before the fall if you will. Yet it is not boasting that Jazz is committing here, he is not thinking of himself as more skilled or higher than anyone. Instead he simply thinks of himself as higher than his current station as a non-person. This is why I said the narration, though seemingly third person, is colored with Prowl’s view. Therefore it is accusing Jazz of thinking he is above his station, as Prowl’s sub-mate, since that is how Prowl chooses to conceptualize Jazz’s actions at the moment.

Unless this is now how Jazz has begun to see himself now as well. Viewing pride in this context as self-respect rather than how he compares himself to others.

I almost want to say that we can see more of Prowl’s impatience here to move things along since for Jazz’s remarks Prowl makes a threat rather than leaving again to let the isolation wear at Jazz more. 

Now that I think of it, we don’t really see the isolation set in the way that I would expect it to if utilized to its utmost potential. Jazz never reaches the point of isolation-induced hallucinations that we can see so readily in humans separated from others. Though I can’t tell if this is because of Prowl checking on him so regularly that it doesn’t get to that point because an insane mate isn’t the goal here, Jazz’s mental fortitude, or if its just a case of Transfomers don’t work that way.

We see Jazz realize that just rebelling from a place of no power won’t really do anything. So I get to be reminded of one of my favorite lines/themes from TAAO about how its a game with very high stakes, but a game all the same. And now Jazz has decided to play it. Its too bad though he seems to still have enough pride to see himself as a player instead of a valuable piece in his own right. He cannot help but think that Prowl would let him offline in that room, while I highly doubt that Prowl would intentionally let Jazz die. Because Jazz doesn’t see himself as the king piece of the game (the most valuable, least mobile, and the thing that ultimately decides the game’s outcome), he can’t properly use the one thing that Prowl values most in the game: Jazz himself. I remember vaguely that in the future, and even here Jazz freely talks about how he will die if left here, and how Prowl will kill him, but it is always in this context. Prowl and Triage can brush off these concerns because they both know that it is not what Prowl wants to happen. But I wonder what would happen if Jazz held himself hostage, therefore threatening the one thing Prowl cares about that he would always have access to. Sure Prowl could then restrain Jazz to stop the threat from going through, but it would still at least be out there and give Jazz some much needed leverage against him. But I can totally understand if Jazz doesn’t want to go that direction since it would really require total commitment to follow through on the threat, otherwise it becomes meaningless and Jazz obviously doesn’t want to die period so it may not even occur to him.

Jazz keeps his answers short and vague to allow himself to play the part and get Prowl to fill in whatever he wants to. It seems almost like a call and response exchange from a play between Jazz and Prowl. We also see that this is just a prelude to the training meant to get the “mate” in the proper state of mind to be rebuilt with new values like in any good cult, army, what have you.

Though it is interesting that beyond saying how Jazz can’t have a job and how much better Praxus is than anywhere else, Prowl never really belittles Jazz. We don’t get any yelling at him, no talk about how his is worthless, or was before at least, and nothing to really make Jazz doubt his own self-worth beyond treating him like a prisoner. Maybe because Prowl can’t see the point in lying to Jazz like that when Prowl doesn’t feel that way about Jazz?

Prowl then gives Jazz the rules and makes sure they stick. Asking Jazz to memorize a huge list of what would be expected from Jazz, mostly serving Prowl in all aspects and keeping the house. Its the reciting that is probably key since once Jazz can repeat it easily it will be that much harder to ever get ride of the words. Jazz of course fails in the broad sense but gets the choice of punishment between being immobilized or starved again. Still gets to keep the blanket though so the food and cuffs must be seen then as lesser punishments.

Also, is having sparklings required of all couples? Prowl does make reference to it a lot as something that must happen someday but there doesn’t seem to be any kind of rush or time limit in place. Especially since Prowl even brought up that Jazz may not even have to carry if they find a third.

Anyway, Jazz is in full actor mode now, pretty much giving Prowl the mate he wants Jazz to be. We see more of Prowl wanting to be over this part of the training, as I have mentioned before, since Prowl says that Jazz could probably leave the room soon instead of keeping it more vague (like a more “we will see” or “only you can decide that” wording) since I assume leaving the room would be a more ultimate reward. 

We then get Jazz begging Prowl to not force the energon on him, on one hand because he truly can’t stand it, but on the other telling Prowl a great weapon to be used against Jazz in the future. Prowl does also get reward ideas from it as well. Prowl also rewards Jazz for asking for the list to be recited by condensing the rules to make it easier for Jazz to remember them. Though Jazz still finds himself unable to get past the part about being expected to reproduce with Prowl. 

We also see that Jazz sees Prowl as expecting perfection while Prowl at first only wants Jazz to put in an effort, but he doesn’t say “I appreciate the effort” so the rewards just seems random and therefore even more terrifying to Jazz while all making sense to Prowl therefore making Jazz’s fear confusing to him. I would say that it was a total failure to communicate, but that would imply it was ever anything other than a total failure. 

And then Prowl’s good old over rewarding comes back in full force. Jazz got stuck at the same place as before and doesn’t think he did any better, but Prowl wants to encourage Jazz to try. So Jazz gets all of the rewards (no more restraints, getting out of the room, getting access to reading material) at once with zero explanation as to why and with the fresh memory of what punishments being honest can sometimes bring from Prowl. 

Prowl I assume believes Jazz can remember how Prowl likes things from how they were living together while “dating”. It seems almost like Prowl believes that since Jazz is now showing some effort, the training is pretty much done and Jazz is now fully integrated can get to the on-the-job stuff, telling Jazz about the home and what Jazz can do when not maintaining the order of the house (less his mind “either” away). 

Or it could be that Prowl’s subconscious hatred of the training and hurting Jazz leading him to just wanting to skip the rest of any training and get to the end where they are happily married causing him to bring Jazz out so quickly. Otherwise I think in “normal” mate training, it would go into a step-by-step order wherein Jazz gains more rooms or at lease time outside as he proves himself more and more rather than all or nothing. 

We also see that Prowl accepts Jazz saying he knows Prowl’s house rules without having Jazz recite them back. This further supports Prowl’s dislike of what goes into training since he leaves out this part of the training that could be so easily applied here because this part is personal to life with Prowl rather than a generic part of mate-training itself. Prowl even thinks to himself how it is going so nicely when if it truly was going as well as Prowl assumed, Jazz would have recited the rules back to prove he was listening.

Even later when Jazz breaks one of the rules, Prowl doesn’t make Jazz recite any of the rules back to him, only says to not let it happen again.  Instead just saying he heard and accepted Jazz’s request to get on the couch without saying “this time only” or saying “You will be punished if that happens again” assuming Jazz will automatically know. And later confuses the information more by dealing out a punishment the next time Jazz gets on the couch without saying directly that it was that reason. Though come one Prowl, Jazz having to ask permission to get back on the couch after getting a book to read on the couch with you was just ridiculous.

 “Upon both of them entering the room, Prowl shut the door then turned to Jazz. ‘You have been doing well today..’.” Yep Prowl, Jazz said the same words as yesterday in a more cultured manner, got a tour of the house and then sat on the couch with nothing getting torn apart or exploded. Truly Jazz is now fully trained and well on his way to being the perfect mate. Its things like this that give me hope Prowl can be turned against his upbringing because this rush out of the training leads me to believe that at least some part of him finds it wrong. (I’ll get to what happens later when I get there. I have theories on that as well. Though I know too the authors aren’t sure what way they want to take Prowl, I’m just saying this is laying noticeable groundwork if they want to end up going that way in the future.)

Not gonna lie, if I were Jazz, I probably would have went for poison in the morning energon, even if Prowl would have noticed right away. But come on, it was right there. At least he could have thought about adding a little extra to Prowl’s!

“ "Continue to perform excellently and you shall receive even more rewards," Prowl promised. “ And boy do I believe he would have set the “excellent” bar low and rewards bar high. Probably after like two or three vorns of minimal effort, Jazz may have been able to swing a “vacation” to another city, then just made a run for it.

And we leave on Jazz going back to “THAT ROOM” for the work day with no restraints and whatever books from Prowl’s collection he wanted.

I feel like I came up with a lot more meta a theories for this chapter than the last couple.

But anyway, till next time!

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!

Flaw in Every Crystal

I live, I die, I live again

Chapter 15:  'Retraining Arc' Part 7

aka: It’s ELECTRIC, boogey woogey!

Even after waking up again I admire how well Jazz is able to hold it together. I would probably just keep screaming my head off eventually. When Prowl did open the door (an orn later I assume) he comes in a blinding light. Interesting that Prowl just turns off his eyes rather than employ any kind of shade to them. Instead he relies on his wings to find where Jazz was left in the room. 

Prowl opens up in full trainer mod, I guess having given up again on any other option since his and Jazz’s fight last chapter. Jazz is still defiant at this point and brings up the beating again that had before caused Prowl guilt. Prowl’s response now is just not to acknowledge it and instead punish Jazz for speaking out of turn in one of the harsher ways we have seen so far for this type of transgression. So Prowl is trying to force Jazz into a state of complete helplessness by keeping him blinded and in pain via the electro-whip. 

Prowl is stating some of the rules that I believe Jazz was first told before the retraining ever took place, but in a harsher light this time and I think worded a bit differently. Just went back and checked; The statements before were more of what was expected of Jazz in a household sense. Like make sure everything is clean and dinner is out, and make sure to care of any kids in the future. Now the rules are much harsher in tone and more about obeying Prowl as a mate rather than explaining Jazz’s cultural role in the story.

Jazz refuses to give in to Prowl and is thus whipped till he finally falls unconscious. Though Prowl leaves the bright light in the room for Jazz to “adjust” to. Now bright lights have been used before to prevent sleep in others as a means of torture, I wonder if this is what Prowl is trying to pull? If so, it is odd to leave the light when Jazz is already unconscious. There is also nothing really to see in the room that Prowl would want Jazz to avoid and it halts the wing speak lesson, though that also seems to be put on hold. 

I feel almost like the light is something Prowl read that is sometimes done in these mate training when it isn’t going well without truly thinking about why/how it would be effectively used.

I wonder, Prowl seems to be focusing more on electro-weapons than he ever has previously. Is it as a kind of barrier between him and Jazz to prevent any repeat beatings and then guilt? After all it does seem like it would be harsher to physically beat a person than to have an instrument causing it, like a one degree of separation from causing the pain. It isn’t Prowl who then is harming Jazz, but rather an instrument, even if that instrument is Prowl’s. Electric shocks also bring to mind the experiments wherein people were asked to shock someone by a person in authority to test people’s limits. Different situation I know but I do wonder if it would have been different if the person was asked to punch or physically harm the test subject rather than just having a flow of current doing unseen harm (as in bruises, blood, and such).

We then see Jazz reacting in pain and fear, begging Prowl to stop rather than giving Prowl the submission that he truly wants. Though I have to wonder if Prowl realizes how hard it would be to think straight when in a large amount of pain? Prowl is an enforcer but Praxus doesn’t usually have violent crime; he was in pain after Jazz’s revenge, but in those points he was usually in shock or struck back.

Prowl once again leaves Jazz unconscious from the pain and turned the light off saying “Let Jazz make of that whatever he would.” This reinforces to me that Prowl really had no use for the light other than hearing/reading that sometimes one was used since he disregards it so quickly here. He makes it sound like it will be a mind game with Jazz with the light, but this is the first time Jazz had been exposed to it so I don’t see how that really fits. I almost want to say that Prowl had started feeling guilt again at Jazz’s pleas but instead of acknowledging it and that the guilt was the reason he turned the light off, Prowl instead justified taking it away as another act of the training. 

We also see that Prowl leaves the light off when he comes back in as well. Though he is now showing a lot of annoyance at Jazz’s mantra of begging for mercy from him. I am a bit surprised that Prowl seems so in control at Jazz’s state when it is so different from what he has seen until now. I would almost want to say that Prowl’s anger at Jazz’s pleading is also because this behavior seems so abnormal but still not what Prowl wants.

Prowl must see at this point Jazz is too hurt or scared to be able to comprehend what Prowl is asking of him but continues on. Could this be that Prowl thinks Jazz is faking it somehow since Jazz has been able to trick Prowl before? Or is it that Prowl wants to punish Jazz a bit more for giving Prowl a taste of how well that could get on a few orns before going back to insulting him and Praxus again?

Prowl seems to finally get it that Jazz is too overwhelmed at the moment to do much of anything and instead of hitting Jazz again and again chooses to repeat himself, though making threats all the while. I wonder then if the order of importance  of the laws changed because of Jazz’s behavior or if the order was always the same but Prowl thought that some went without saying? Anyway, Jazz at least did a C+ job and avoids further punishment on that front. 

When Prowl came in next and was like  "Forgetting the rules already?" Prowl questioned, stalking forward. "You are to always acknowledge your mate, as such." I was kinda confused because of the whole “only speak when spoken to” thing until the sensor wings were brought up. Prowl also mentions, I think for the first time here, how Jazz would in fact be an enforcer’s mate because of his connection to Prowl and how he would then be expected to know the laws. Though I wonder if its to know the laws or because some dom may randomly stop him in the street, realize whose mate he is, and then randomly quiz him about it.

Interesting that Prowl’s reward for Jazz trying and appreciating a want to please is something Prowl regarded highly even when Jazz was first being taught. It is like Prowl is trying to go back to that point, only by using force this time when words failed before. Unfortunately Jazz is desperate to not be hurt, so Prowl’s harsher methods deliver results. 

Thus we end the retraining arc and begin the Life in Praxus arc! After the intermission of course.

Till next time!

Extra in regards to The Flaw in Every Crystal Chapter 15

I now realized (well actually last night in the shower) that it could be that the harsh white light is to symbolize how much harsher things will be for Jazz from here on out. Whereas before he was trapped in darkness which is scary in how much it hides and how mentally scarring it can be. And heh, Jazz was “in the dark” about his situation. Anyway, darkness can be a great many things but in all my reading I have never come across a “harsh” darkness. Instead darkness is described more as soft or suffocating like a heavy blanket at worst. Light on the other hand can be considered harsh and leave no ability to hide.

So yeah, realized this and didn’t want to edit the earlier post so here’s an extra.