I do hope that itās not your intention to keep Dev from ever getting The Velle back. I know he would never give up on getting his ship back. Though it is currently the theme of the thread in making him miserable, I do think that he should eventually have his āhappily ever afterā and someday become an influential wealthy Bot. Somethingās gotta give, some day!
I am all for having him have a delay in that goal that happens multiple times. He can have the constant frustration of set-backs in that goal. Frequently saving the funds to rent or buy a ship to go to Earth, only to have something unexpected require him to use those funds for something. (ie. one of his little ones gets sick or hurt and he has to use the funds for their care. One of his friends gets into a crash, maybe, and he pays for their medical care? Some disaster happens in an attack against āCons that leaves many homeless/in need of medical care or the like and he gives his stash as a donation to help?
Maybe he invents something, but the finances earned donāt equal enough to buy a ship? Maybe those who have such ships wonāt rent/sell to a āCon? Not to mention, thereās probably not yet enough ships to be sold very often. Those that have ships tend to hold onto them rather than sell them. Very few want to or will allow the ships to be rented out for a trip to Earthā¦ itās too far away. No oneās going to Earth anyway, so thereās no demand for a commercial flight to Earth, leaving it up to rentals and private ships being the only option. Maybe what space-bridges that exist arenāt being allowed to be used by āCons? Or the cost is too expensive for Dev to afford? Or the tech was lost in the war?
Others (namely āracistā Autobots) sabotaging his efforts in that (unintentionally since they wouldnāt know his goal or about his ship really) but sabotaging him by way of trying to prevent him from achieving success in society. Not just Devision, specifically though, as they would be trying to thwart any Decepticon from financial successā¦ with some Autobots really not wanting there to be āwealthyā Decepticons. So they would be trying to undermine any that seem to be going somewhere in society.
I can see Dev facing constant frustrating set-backs and maybe losing multiple Ā (unskilled) jobs and having to get evicted from his home many times overā¦ to add to his misery. Devision being too proud to ask Jazz and Rico for help in getting employed and housed, so he would have to struggle on his own, on top of him being Ā a single āmomā to his Seeker twins and the kid he and Jazz have and struggling with that. Which makes me wonder, would Jazz be paying āchild supportā to Dev for raising their hybrid child? How involved would Jazz want to be in their little oneās life, once Devās on his own with the trio of kids (Devās Seeker twins and the Jazz-sired kid)?
I still think itās not like Dev would never see Jazz, if Jazz is still working with Prowl and the Prime. As I imagine Devision could work closely with Prowl and Prime to try and make things better for ex-slaves. Helping to make the laws, punish the worst offenders, interviewing former slave-owners, working towards the restoration of Vos as it really āshould beā as a Seeker-City similar to how it was pre-war? As well as restoring Tarn and Kaon to the Decepticons. Maybe that way, heād still be very influential but behind-the-scenes. Helping to make that happen, and in designing the designs of the cities. Maybe the Prime has to recall all Bots living in those territories and order their re-location so the cities can be bulldozed and re-built as a restoration of their culture and history. Devision would want to have the cities fortified much like a castle to keep out Autobots (heās very paranoid against the Autobots) to help prevent them from ever reclaiming Decepticons as slaves again. (I imagine the cities of Kaon, Tarn and Vos would be Decepticon-only and be very very unlikely to allow Autobots inā¦ One would pretty much have to be vouched for by a āCon to be allowed in. Or have a permit. Theyād be very xenophobicā¦)
Devision would definitely not want to drop out of shaping their world for the benefit of Seekers/āConsā¦.and all Cybertronians. He would want to help in the initiating of programs to help āCons adjust from slavery to freedom. Learning skills, getting housing and jobs, preventing further cruelties, getting the health-care they need. Especially their mental-health by setting up programs to help them recover from the rapes and beatings.
Accepting help from Hydraul and Action-Shot instead, in looking after the kids and in finances sometimes, just to get-by. Or while he works. Ā Heās too poor to get the tools, materials, and property needed to do his own thing his way. Ā
No owning an Art Gallery on his own, instead relying on artistic Autobot friends who own Art Galleries to host his art in and that of friends displaying his art in their homes, just to get his art seen and sold. He cannot afford many of the tools heād need to be a jeweler, let alone get the gold/silver/gems for making such. Maybe he would have help with that from the Twins at some point? (At least not UNTIL the restoration of Vos, Tarn and Kaon when/if the Autobots are kicked out of those cities/territories. Total recall of Autobots in those territories. I really want that to be!)
Maybe he comes up with things that make his friends wealthy? Like a treat-shop that uses his recipes and his artistic design of treatsā¦ that makes a killing, but because heās a āCon/Seeker (if it were known he was behind it-the business would likely flop in a mostly-Autobot society) and thus itās a well-kept secret. So one of his Autobot friends owns the shop(s) and pays him royalties. Which he donates to the many programs that help out Decepticons. Since many Autobots wonāt. (The Autobots that are his friends that are and have remained good will be the ones that benefit from his work/ideas.)
However, once the slaves are free, what jobs could Dev have? Would there be things that ex-slaves might be barred from doing? Similar to the Caste-system of pre-war Cybertron? Or would that mostly be up to the employers? Would some Bots pay any employed āCons less than their employed Autobots? Would Prime then have to initiate some sort of law/laws to prevent job and housing discrimination? As well as an equal-pay initiative? I bet that āCons would have a harder time getting promoted too.
Jobs like architecture, medics assistant, nurse, medic, jewelry-making and designing, food-service (if the head chef/boss)... all might be too difficult for a āCon to get the training for and acceptance inā¦ maybe? How well would a Decepticon artist be received? Or that would likely vary depending on the Botā¦ probably.
I am thinking that he would create plant-based cloth in a lab, just by manipulating molecules or atomic structures to achieve the goal. Since heās unable to acquire the plants/seeds to grow them on Cybertron (given that Cybertron is not conducive to growing organic things) and he currently does not have his shipās hydroponics bay. So heād go into trying to re-create silk, cotton, other organic cloth, and synthetic cloth in a lab. Maybe with WJās help? Then he could return to making costumes and outfits for other Bots and himself.
I also really donāt like the idea of him never getting The Velle back. Thatās just too sad. Too sad, and I do want him to be able to show Jazz Ardenia and find The Colony again (I hope to have him introduce Jazz to some of his family there-not everyoneā¦ but some of them.) Iām fine for that being much, much, much later on though. Jazz and Rico can have a few crops of kids born, raised and all grown before that happens, however. I really like the idea of Jazz being the one to make it possible for Dev to get Velle back though. Maybe as a surprise/anniversary gift?
I think he could still be wealthy many times over, with the different things heās involved in, but being the relatively selfless little Seeker, heād be more interested in investing it it the programs, and housing projects and job-training and such of Seekers/āCons. Especially once Vos, Kaon and Tarn are restored to the āCons as Autobot-free zones where the only Autobots allowed are (as mentioned before) those with a āCon vouching for them or permits given to them. But theyād still need some trained as medics, medic-assistants and most other jobs to be able to be self-sufficient and functional. Which likely means training under an Autobot who knows that sort of thing.
Iām starting to repeat myself I think.
Ohā¦
I kinda want Axel to be redeemed a bit, by way of using his wealth to employ former slaves (those he owned and others) in his hotelsā¦ and maybe heās one of the first few Autobots to create programs for helping ex-slaves to get the psychological care they need after being abused (and especially raped as most of his had been being mere āamenitiesā for his hotel rooms). Maybe he comes to the realization that he was wrong to utilize āCons in that way, and feels shame for it post-slavery? (Especially knowing that he was responsible for many āCons to be raped and repeatedly at that-some of which WILL be some of Devās kids. Iām also thinking one, at least, was one Jazz metā¦ when he utilized Axelās hotels.)
Axel would come to his senses and see the āCons as people again instead of just objects and possessions. Then he would be doing all he can to ācorrectā his mistake and help fund the programs, hire the āCons, and start a psychology ward for the ones with serious mental issues. Maybe he would pay for some to get pnemosurgery for the worst cases? Assisted-suicide, too? If thatās even legal in post-slavery society Cybertron. Anyway, I think heād be invested in doing right by the āCons-both the ones he harmed and the rest of them.
