( OPEN; )

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Characters: Orion & Various
Date: Throughout August
Location: Various
Situation: All of them.
Warnings/Rating: None insofar - will update if necessary.
Note(s): Feel free to ping me for a starter, or comment with your own. Action or prose is entirely up to you.

Comments

TURTLE'S HEAD ; SHOCKWAVE ;

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[ Orion pulled just outside of the Shell Edge where the winding paths no longer could accommodate his bulk in spite of being in alt-mode. Wheels ground to a halt; his treads leaving their mark on the pristine and well cared for landscape and marble walkways. That earned him several withering stares from the few kedan that meandered around the Turtle's Head when he sent his solid light holo-avatar out. He could explain his parking job later.

Modular conductors felt stretched to their breaking point as pulled up like several long underutilised muscles locked in entropy. The holoform acted out of a sympathetic response when Orion rolled his shoulders and appeared to work a crick in his neck before made his way down a ornately carved stone bridge with bows of heavy leaves creating a verdant archway. He could see why Shockwave was so keen on making this their rendezvous; it put enough energy in its grand appearance to put the image obsessed former senator to shame. ]

[tomemyoutliers]

( Agreeing to meet up at the Head was one thing, actually doing it was another. It had seemed like the perfect place to Shockwave - ornate and beautiful, not to mention symbolic - and far enough from the city to avoid any unwanted attention. Landing, however, was proving to be a bigger problem than anticipated. The organics Shockwave had met before had been larger or of a comparable size to Cybertronians, and therefore made their world easier to navigate when Shockwave needed to meet with them. But all of the organics here were small, and thus - everything else was.

Which meant, in turn, that the only available place to land was the head of the turtle. There's a long and involved apology from Shockwave to the one extremely startled kedan - holoform still dressed in the distinctly military styled red and blue clothes. It at least gave the air of looking official, and Shockwave's own skill at convincing others eventually won over the kedan. Who, after shooting still-nervous glances at both the holoform and jet, left.

It's not long before Shockwave catches sight of Orion's holoform - tall and wearing such a bleak looking suit. No color to even call back to his alt-form and wasn't that such a shame when they had no limits to the possibilities of organic fashion? Still, Orion was Orion, and Shockwave would be glad to have him here no matter what. )

Hello Orion.

( Said as soon as he came in earshot, not bothering to hide the smile that came as naturally to the holoform as it did Shockwave. )

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[ Orion took to a slow, ambled pace around waist-high fenced bridge of lacquered cherry wood that lead out to elaborate pavillion of similar make that looked out over a water garden. He ran his hands across the lacquered railing of the pavillion bridge as he watched the water below.

There was, in actuality, method to his madness. When the maintained appearance of ones holoform required constant and intense concentration on the part of the user it was easy to slip. Something as frivolous as absent-minded wandering was all to keep himself anchored to this form; this physical presence without risking falling out of synch with this form. It also made him look, if nothing else, more human. ]

It's rather nice - this place. I used to wait for someone in a quiet venue not so far removed from the one we're at now. [ What was offered as no immediate greeting and instead went off into what appeared to be non sequitur, Orion continued on with what smacked of rambling. ]

Day after day until it felt like an eternity. A marvel you can still find such serene spot pocketed all across of the universe isn't it? [ A silence then fell between them as Orion abruptly stopped mid stride by the water's edge where he looked at everything save for whom he was addressing. ]

Hello, Shockwave.

[tomemyoutliers]

( There's a weariness about him that Shockwave would have to be oblivious to miss - even through the holoform - in the way that he carries himself and in the set of his shoulders. Weariness, yes, but also command - that this was an individual who was fully capable of parting crowds simply by walking into a room. That had been present when they last met, but not like this.

One more thing to consider, to find an answer to, in a storm of questions that Shockwave didn't know how to begin sorting through. )

It seems the desire for peace is a universal constant, or at least attempts to inspire it.

( Shockwave moved to stand by Orion's side - one hand raised to touch his arm - a gesture made out of a familiarity that's still fresh in Shockwave's mind. Apologies sprung to mind, but can one truly be sorry for actions that haven't even happened yet? That aren't actually one's own?

A pause, and Shockwave looks away from Orion and down at their reflections. )

The Institute is extremely efficient these days. I assume they were not kind. ( Too many emotional outbursts, too vocal in how corrupt the Senate was, too everything that Proteus couldn't stand. ) How long?

( How long did you wait for me, has it been since I told you to remember me? Shockwave so disliked the feeling of floundering that came with not knowing, the way it set the world at an angle and sent every internal gyroscope scrambling to regain a sense equilibrium. )

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'Attempts to inspire it.' Ha.

[ Orion repeated the comment with a flash of teeth that superficially appeared to be a smile. What was it humans liked to say about the road to hell being paved with the best intentions? Both Shockwave and himself were never in want of 'best intentions.'

At the last second, Orion jerked his arm away from before Shockwave could find purchase on the artificial fabric. It was then he noticed he kept glancing down at Shockwave's hands; there were two perfectly functional hands where he had become so accustomed to just the one. The horrors those hands could construct and unleash on sentient life were no stranger to Orion, and because of this he balked all the more at allowing Shockwave to stand so close. To touch him with those hands.

He looked down at Shockwave, the thought already long formed in the back of his mind that deep down that smiling face hid the capacity to carry out all those atrocities without needing Proteus and the Institute's skullduggery to tear Shockwave out and stuff a monster in its place. It was the same Shockwave he remembered after all these years that secured Zeta the Primacy, after all. The thought of Zeta cast a cold, dispassionate look to Orion's features before he looked back down at their reflections still dancing on the water. ]

Four [ Orion said quietly, forging any mention of the long-dismantled Institute ] Four million years.

[tomemyoutliers]

( Shockwave didn't even have to try to project the expression of hurt and confusion at Orion's shirking away on the holoform it came so naturally. Something had changed there, too, and it was as strange and unfamiliar as this organic world Shockwave had awoken to. Not that Shockwave couldn't adapt, learn, and manage, but it was Orion Pax. All of the hopes and dreams for Cybertron and the future of their race.

But all of that fell away at his words, and whatever Shockwave had planned on saying vanished. )

Four-- ( Shockwave had prepared to hear the worst - a few thousand, perhaps half a million - but four million years. The holoavatar took a step back from the edge of the water, turning away from both it and Orion. ) Four million years.

What of Cybertron? The Primacy? Proteus and the rest of the Senate? My Outliers? ( There was too much to try and consider, and too many things that Shockwave needed to know. Four million years and Shockwave had been-- well that Shockwave didn't know. ) What-- what happened to me?

( It wasn't supposed to have gone the way it did, but Shockwave refused to lose hope that it all had slipped away. Orion would have picked up the mantle meant for him, Dai Atlas would have done something about the energon crisis they faced. The war would have come - that much was inevitable. But it was what had happened after that concerned Shockwave the most.

Cybertron. What of Cybertron? )

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[ Orion let the conversation fall into an arching silence as he asked of himself, where do I even start? Never before in his long years had that question felt so bitter. Shockwave could fill in the blanks where the Institute was concerned, and going into the details of it would have been senselessly cruel besides. Should he be angry? Definitely, but to condemn Shockwaves later actions would have been accusation made of pretense for all Shockwave knew.

Ignorant of how far they fell after the Senate's own spite led to their destruction and the long war the followed must truly be bliss. ]

Gone.

[ It was a single word that carried the wait of millions of lives snuffed out in the very war Shockwave had predicted and planned for. He knew he should be angrier, act angrier, should be shouting even. Over not just for his own losses, but for Shockwaves as well. That they even brought their war the Earth was entirely Shockwave's doing.

Even now, even after everything Shockwave had done for the Decepticons...he was still furious to have let the Senate won in the first place. Losing Shockwave was the start of more problems than he cared to admit. Still he couldn't rise to the occasion and all sound and fury fled from him. ]

Your Outliers or whatever was left of them after the fire disappeared and integrated themselves into the chaos of the coming war. The Senate has long since been dissolved after Megatron personally led a coup that ended with every senator save yourself and Dai Atlas died in the massacre - But before then Zeta took the Primacy.

[ Now he knew something was wrong; he was always all anger and bitterness when the mere mention of Zeta was made, but it did not signify. He could only hear his own words as if he were just going the motions as if everything was just hollow - scripted. ]

His rule was corrupt from the start but we never saw it before it was too late and the already fragile relationship between the 'New Senate' and Cybertron reached a breaking point. Megatron took it as a sign to overthrow not just the Senate but everything. Before we knew it Cybertron was in all out war...and the Matrix chose me as its new bearer.

[tomemyoutliers]

( Gone.

Shockwave can't process it - the heaviness in his tone and the idea that all Shockwave had ever worked for, ever wanted from Cybertron and their race had vanished. But what cause would Orion have for lying?

The war was predicable. Shockwave knew that was coming - anyone would have been a fool to think it could've been avoided. But everything else. Every single plan that Shockwave had - nothing. Nothing came of them, nothing would come of them, and it was all wrong.

Shockwave knows that control over emotions has never been a documented character trait, knows that by all means there should be yelling or something other than the pervasive feeling of calm that filled every thought. )

It wasn't supposed to have gone that way - Zeta was never to have taken on the mantle of Prime after I found you. ( But instead of accusatory, it comes out calmly, as if they weren't talking about their planet and the apparent slow destruction of it. Shockwave finally turns back to Orion - expression strangely calm despite the range of emotions Shockwave knows are there. ) Optimus Prime. At least it came to you eventually.

( Shockwave gave him the name, and simply assumes he'd have taken it. )

And the war? It destroyed our planet and not the energy crisis?

( Gone. )

WA-2A ; RUNG ;

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[ Having meandered around the mezzanine that connected the suites in the building with their neighbors long enough, Orion stopped pretending to admire the architecture and disappeared into the building proper. That he was forced to rely on his holo-avatar to comfortably move in any populated area of Keeliai was tiresome, but was married with a few purely superficial benefits. Other foreigners were always more receptive to someone that looked like themselves, and it was hard to deny the sights that would have otherwise been out of his reach.

All that did little to remove the feelings of dread and exasperation as he stopped outside of Rung's suite; seeing a psychiatrist was never on the top of anyone's list of prefered actives. Still he felt duty bound to, at the very least, pay his fellow Autobot a visit. Even if he doubted it would be anything like a casual visit. Orion was sure the name Rung had passed through High Command more than once - this wasn't simply any psychotherapist; Rung was the name in his field whom had several psychological profiles on every whose who in High Command and then some.

It wasn't without some pause that Orion finally knocked. ]

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[ Rung was adjusting. Slowly but surely he was familiarizing himself with his new home and the area surrounding it, wandering a little farther each day, taking in new sights and sounds and committing each detail to memory with the patience of a saint. While he still stands head and shoulders above the natives and most of the population, Rung is still just barely short enough to fit where he must without the use of a holoform. He sticks out like a sore thumb, of course, but he remains adamantly convinced that honesty with these people will benefit them in the long run.

While he tends to his own needs, he's also waiting for Orion to make himself known. Ever since their first conversation he's kept his schedule more or less clear, prepared for the former Prime to drop by at a moments notice. He didn't expect Orion to show up with any great expedience, given their current situation and Orion's... general unease. Still, when the knock finally comes and he opens the door to see the other mech's holoform, Rung can't help but feel a little relieved.

He smiles brightly, stepping aside to admit the projection. ]

Hello, Orion. Please come in. I hope you didn't have any trouble finding me?

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[ Though the product of pure, wholesale science the holo-avatar system had a funny habit of reading into the users' personality and state of mind and altering the hard light projection to mirror these factors out of some strange, sympathetic response. An obvious downside to such a precise piece of technology is it made the user something of an open book if they weren't careful. With his projection sporting bags under its dark eyes and something of a disheveled look to his suit, Orion had fell victim to overly complex tech.

Orion ducked into Rung's suite and ad hoc office with his always commanding air to him that hadn't left him simply because he resigned from Primacy. At first the ex-Prime said nothing not even giving Rung even a cursory look or any sort of preamble. Striding across the suit, Orion stopped just by an open window. He looked down with hands clasped behind his back and shoulders taut - so tense it was coming through his holoform. ]

I came here to offer an apology for my earlier behaviour, though I hope you'll understand that the conversation was of an undeniably sensitive nature.

[ The art of non-apology is strong in this one. Orion rolled on the balls of his feet and deliberately coughed once into his fist. ]

We will table the Tyrest problem for now; I didn't come only to apologise but also to enlist your help. To get right to the point I am hoping you can provide a crew manifest of the Lost Light.