red_diode_district | Everybody learns from *somebody*

Everybody learns from somebody

Passing the doors into the library, Megatron was pleased he had gotten the schedule correct as he saw who was sitting at the desk. If it had been completely necessary due to his own schedule, he'd have come here when he could. But since he didn't have to...

Ignoring the faint itch interfacing hadn't properly gotten rid off, Megatron approached the librarian at a lazy, casual walk. It was a pity he hadn't seen any signs at all that the surprisingly fine-lined truck-alted mech had the inclination he was looking for. Things would have been a lot easier (and, really, pleasing) if he had.

As it was, since there was no one left in the current arena circuit that he trusted with what he had to hand over, perhaps he would have to avail himself of one of the clubs. It made an irritable twitch slither down the treads on his shoulders, the thought that he'd have to do that.

It was ages since he'd had to go to an open venue like that to simply get his needs properly taken care of.

And he really would have preferred the librarian. Orion Pax - it hadn't taken anything to find out the designation when to found the schedule - was witty, somehow diplomatically argumentative and didn't give in if he knew he was right or wanted to stand for his opinion, actually had some smarts to go with said use of words and Megatron wanted to know more.

More, and more personally (most of the earlier he'd simply learned over the few times he'd been in the library when the mech was, but hadn't actually approached him). So this time, he decided to actually use the librarian's assistance in what he was looking for... and perhaps get something more out of it.

"Excuse me?"

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Given their sad lack of free time to enjoy each others company lately, Orion found himself looking forward to his little idea quite a lot more than he'd expected.

It was a rather bold idea, he felt. Slipping in to see Megatron before a match. He usually preferred to avoid the arena when true blood-matches were being held. But if he timed it right, he should be able to steal a few minutes at least.

Nodding to the guards who were quickly getting used to seeing him showing up at all hours, Orion pinged the code to Megatron's door and slipped inside. He didn't entirely expect the gladiator to already be there, but his face lit up when he noticed him.

"Megatron!"

Surprise may make some lose grip of what they're holding - Megatron merely tightened his grip on the airbrush, pistons and cables tightening with readiness as he snapped his helm up.

Though even as he did so he knew who it was, Orion not having to call his name for the familiarity of his footsteps to register, or his shape outlined by the door and the lights.

"... Orion." Despite the surprise, the smile was automatic even as he cocked his helm, airbrush still held more like a weapon than the tool it was. "I didn't expect you here on a day like this."

It was a question, even if it wasn't phrased like one, though he beckoned Orion closer with his other hand even as he spoke.

"I had some free time. And I was getting tired of avoiding you on match-days."

Orion chuckled, pleased and embarrassed at once by Megatron's reaction. He stepped inside with a smile, pulling out a small cube of Megatron's favorite vintage.

"Have you fueled already? I have no idea how early you prepare, but I felt a offering was in order."

He shrugged, stepping up to the huge mech's side.

"I'd hoped to surprise you by coming in before you arrived back, but this works just as well."

He had to put the airbrush down to take the offered energon, but he hardly minded. Not when he recognised the colour and viscosity of the energon in the cube and his optics might have flared just a shade brighter in surprised pleasure at the gift.

"I haven't. I was going to finish the detailing first," Megatron said, tipping the cube down at the container with paint and the airbrush laying on the berth beside it. "I haven't had a match yet today, so you'd had to come far later if you'd wanted to arrive after it."

He smiled a bit lopsidedly and, since he did have energon right here, took a sip from it before he continued.

"I'm going to see if the current candidate for the State Games is good enough." His smirk above the edge of the cube was vicious, and he doubted the mech was - he'd seen him fight. The real possibilities wouldn't start to pop up for a few mega-cycles yet.

"Well, I was aiming for before the matches and your arrival entirely. I'm not sure how much good company I would be after a match. I'd likely be more upset at any damages than you would be."

Despite his brief frown at his own words, the librarian practically preened at Megatron's reaction to the cube, smugly pleased.

"Even if he won't get past you to the Game. And detailing?"

He glanced down the gladiator's frame, which was currently notable for it's odd lack of embellishment.

"Reapplying your warrior markings?" Orion's audials perked up in curiosity.

"People get injured all the time, Orion, and these are hardly death matches." Despite the little roll of his optics, there was no overt exasperation in his voice. "Everything's regulated. It'd be far worse if it wasn't." With a shake of his helm, Megatron reached out and squeezed Orion's lower arm and took another swallow of the energon, optics flickering a little.

Considering the time the painting took, he wouldn't have had time to go elsewhere and get his preferred type of energon, so it was a nice surprise to be able to have it anyway.

"And I am, yes. It needs to be done periodically anyway, but since the coming orns will be matches to decide Iacon's participants, I'm changing a few. Easier to redo them all than just a few, since the overall look and meaning changes if you change a current design by swapping out just a few glyphs." As he talked, Megatron gestured with his free hand, at himself and then at the airbrush and container of paint.

"Yes, yes, I know," Orion sighed, waving his hands.

"You know I know the facts. It doesn't make me worry any less. It is just something I'll have to learn to tolerate."

Because he wasn't stupid or selfish enough to try to convince Megatron to do something else for a living. Brutal and barbaric it may be to him, Megatron still seemed to enjoy it, and he was good at it. So long as everyone involved was willing, Orion couldn't justify anything more than worried fussing.

Eager to change the subject, the librarian gestured to the airbrush in turn.

"Do you already have the design planned out?"

"I do." Smiling slightly lopsidedly, Megatron patted Orion on the shoulder and didn't say anything more. They had had some discussions about it after all, and Orion knew as much as he ever would about it - he simply abhored violence that wasn't "necessary".

Megatron could, of course, in a way understand it, but since they weren't out after killing each other and it did make him feel rather alive, being able to pit himself against others in such a way... it gave an outlet that was needed.

"Hmmm, yes. The glyphs and symbols used in Kaon for champion on my shoulders, the symbol for a State Games champion on my chestplates... I would have used Kaon's city-state sigil, but that would be better suited for the Games themselves, and Kaon's variation of the challenge glyphs on lower arms and legs," he paused, smirking, helm tilting slightly, "I'm omitting a count for how many times I've been champion, and the other arenas I've participated in. It would be... too grandiose... to add such things for anything less than a full tournament or the Games."

By the amusement in Megatron's expression and the glow from his optics, it was quite clear he probably would've used the full decoration regardless of what was proper if he felt like it. He hardly felt any compunction about flaunting his skill.

"Oh? That is interesting to know. Can you ping me the designs before you start?"

Orion grinned; he had no idea there was an additional culture within the use of gladiator markings. But he was learning a great deal about the 'sport' since becoming involved with Megatron, despite his lack of dedicated interest.

An idea slowly came to him, and glanced thoughtfully between the airbrush and the expansive plains of Megatron's frame.

"It can't be very easy to paint yourself, can it?"

"Of course, if you want." The question barely got a glance as Megatron nodded, and, since they're practically touching and the glyphs and symbols didn't add up to much data, sent them over wirelessly.

"Those are the ones I'm going to use today, in the order I talked about them." Then he sighed, static scratching the inside of his mouth and the noise bouncing off the energon as the cube was by his lips. "Not really, no, but I can usually manage a passable job for these situations. Tournaments and the State Games have attendants to make sure everybody looks suitably presentable," Megatron said, with a little sneering-amused twist to his lips.

"But beyond that, unless we pay a detailer, which some do, we do it ourselves or borrow a fellow gladiator's hands usually." A shrug as he waved a hand to indicate the barracks and arena around them. "There's none here I am that familiar with to do that."

And he's not been in Iacon long enough to be counted as one of them - he's an outsider, an opponent, and while they're friendly... sabotage happens.

Orion accepted, assimilating the images readily enough. Eying the mentioned areas of Megatron's plating, Orion finally nodded to himself.

"If you like, I could help?"

He gestured toward the airbrush, smile going almost shy.

"I'm no artist, but I do know my calligraphy and literary iconography. The designs you send should be simple enough to replicate."

He shouldn't have been surprised, really. Of course Orion would offer to help. It's still surprising, and his optics flare and widen momentarily as his hand pause partway up to his mouth with the cube.

Moment later and he finished the motion, taking another swallow and then grins, wide and easy.

"You'll probably do a better job of it than I do, since it isn't easy to paint yourself." Shifting up on the berth to make room, Megatron ignored the little curl of heat around his spark chamber and pushed away a few memories of similiar and very, very different scenes.

Both of gladiator glyphs and symbols as well as... glyphs of other meaning being applied.

"I wouldn't say no to some help, as that will cut down on the time I need to spend preparing."

Audials twitching in excitement, Orion's small grin turned blinding.

"I'm glad to help. Here-" He reached out, stepping up to the berth to reach for the airbrush. If it conveniently caused him to press up against Megatron's frame in the process, so be it.

"I can work on it while you fuel."

It wasn't as if he would protest having Orion up against him, no. With a tilted half-grin, Megatron leaned back just a shade to allow Orion access to the airbrush and container of paint and then settled himself better on the berth, energon cube in one hand.

"I like the sound of that idea. Start wherever you wish, there's not really a procedure for that, and everybody has their own method." At some point he might have asked Orion for his help, maybe, but since he knew Orion's dislike of gladiator business, he'd been content to keep that part to the side, as much as possible.

It wasn't as if Orion hadn't reached out and shown interest where he was comfortable to do so, and Megatron had shown him what parts he thought he might enjoy - like the matches that relied on skill more than actual beatdowns, like the "slow dance" combat moves tournament.

"Of course."

Orion chuckled, taking the airbrush and paint - and leaned up to steal a kiss as well, hand resting briefly on Megatron's chest plates.

Then he stepped back, eying up the gladiator's frame in a more professional capacity, mentally resizing the image files to fit on the bare patches of armor. The airbrush was simple enough to set up, attaching the vial of paint; he pulled out an old cleansing rag to test the spray, before nodding in satisfaction.

Reaching for Megatron's unencumbered arm, Orion straightened it out so he could reach for his shoulder armor. Smoothing a hand across it with a amused smile back at Megatron, Orion began painting the first, broadest lines of the design.

Humming into the kiss, Megatron gave Orion a nip as they parted and gave up his arm as it was grabbed, merely resettling himself for balance. Meeting Orion's smile with a little smirk of his own, he flexed his hand at the first, light touch of paint on armour.

High-pressure, narrow-beam airbrushing wasn't just excellent for sharp details, but met armour with enough force to lodge itself against the surface better. It actually stunned the sensors underneath momentarily, but Megatron was used to it.

The reason he paused with the cube at his lips and offlined his optics, letting out the next vent slower than usual, was that he wasn't applying the paint himself.

Orion's hand as it held his arm might be small, but it was firm, and Orion was steady, intent, beside him, and the room was his own, as secure as it could be. Slowly, Megatron began to relax, keeping his stance easily and continuing to empty the cube, but there was a certain... acquiecience that hadn't been there before.

"Sorry," Orion murmured, without looking away from his painting; though he did pet paint-free armor in apology. He'd forgotten what a kick those airbrushes had. He was rarely one for artificial coloring over his own nanites.

After constructing the base of the design, Orion tweaked the nozzle to a smaller setting, switching over to the detail work.

Despite his unfamiliarity with 'artistic' painting, he was turning out to be as good as his word.

"No need to apologise, Orion. I'm well-used to the feel of it." He didn't glance down as he spoke, rather kept his helm tilted back slightly as he watched the wall across the room above Orion's bent helm, optics unfocused.

"I've seen paid detailers be more wasteful and make more mistakes and thus taking more time and having to redo the designs than you are," Megatron smiled briefly and shook his helm, "the poor mech came back numb for two cycles after he was done, and when the sensor nodes started to recalibrate and work properly again, he just couldn't sit still."

Taking a deliberately small swallow of the energon to make sure it would last long enough, Megatron offlined his optics again, chuckling.

"Kaon has quite a few skilled and even artistic engineers and architects, but the artistry demanded of a good detailer seems to be less available, unless you want to pay too much." Gladiators could be rather well-paid, but unless you were a consistent champion or were sponsored, credits didn't exactly pour out. Not to the level that the nobles and noble-level merchants claimed.

Tweaking the nozzle again for the smallest details, Orion set to work on the final touches.

"If you say so."

Orion still gave the unpainted metal under the mark a half-serious pat, soothing inconsequential hurts.

"Well. As loath as I am to steal the job from someone else, if my work satisfies you, I would be happy to do it whenever you like."

Orion grinned, glancing up from his work, where he was setting the airbrush aside in favor of venting warm, dry air on the mark, helping it dry.

"What do you think?" He reached for a nearby mirror, offering it over to Megatron.

Another lopsided smile slid over Megatron's lips at the second pat - not unkindly because Orion's caring was indeed part of why Megatron liked him, but still. That he would give it when it wasn't needed seemed a bit of a waste so sometimes it was a little... incomprehensible.

"If you job stands up to inspection, I don't see why not..." He trailed off there, onlining his optics with a little shake of his helm and straightened up, studying the symbol for a moment and then leaned forward.

"Especially as I could repay you in any way you might like for the effort you'll put in," Megatron murmured into Orion's audial, hand curled around one of his knee joints. "Because I wouldn't mind you doing it at another time, but let's see how you hold up with the whole design first."

With that, Megatron straightened back up, giving Orion a lazy smirk. The only thing he wouldn't let Orion help with would be his decorations for the State Games, and that was because he'd like to see Orion's reaction to the full effect, while not having worked on it and seen it grow into being gradually.

Orion's engine purred at the insinuation, and he tilted his helm to hum his appreciation right back into Megatron's throat cabling.

"I'm sure that can be arranged..."

He reached around Megatron's armor, carefully avoiding the still-damp shoulder, to lean up for another kiss.

"I'll have to enjoy this while I can - once I paint your chest, I'll have to avoid scratching it all up." He chuckled against Megatron's lips, hands curling against chestplates.

Laughing, Megatron slid the hand he had on Orion's knee joint a bit further up and leaned down into the kiss, not minding at all a bit of a... distraction. Since he had help and it'd go faster what with Orion being able to reach all parts that weer to be detailed far more easily than Megatron could, there was more time.

::I'm sure we can come to some sort of... agreement... regarding your 'pay'. Do you intend to drive a hard bargain?:: He gave a nip to Orion's lips and opened the flow of power a bit more to the lights underneath Orion's hand - it wouldn't be overly visible, but Orion would see it anyway.

::I think I might. I should be well compensated for my work, after all.::

Orion's fingers curled over the sparklight, frame pressing into the light automatically. The display was one that he didn't get to see enough of. He returned those nipping kisses eagerly enough, leaning against the berth and ending up between Megatron's thighs.

::I would love to see what sorts of 'payment options' we can negotiate...::

But that was a bit too much for him; Orion snickered, curling into Megatron's neck as his frame shook with delighted mirth.

::I don't know, given the lack of experience in this that you're offering...:: Trailing off, Megatron grinned when Orion could no longer keep up the facade and kissed the tip of the nearest audial finial with a slow slide of his lips.

"You may demand whatever payment option you think would be fair, but whether I agree or not..." Laughing quietly along with a deep, rumbling purr of his engine, Megatron slid his arms around Orion's back and kept them there for a moment.

"However, no matter how pleasant this is, we are under a bit of a time constraint..." Shamelessly, he gave a swat to Orion's aft, the break from Orion painting the symbols having shaken him out of the beginning descent into a less... dominant... frame of mind.

"We can reopen negotiations later..." Orion purred with only a faint snicker, sighing at the kiss to his audial. It never ceased to please him how the tough gladiator could defy every expectation brought on by his heavy-duty frame.

Nodding, Orion reluctantly pulled away- only to yelp at the swat, more in surprise than anything else.

"Megatron!" He laughed, giving a bit of exposed circuity in the larger mech's side a pinch.

"Don't start something we don't have time to finish!"

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