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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"Hmm."

He eyed the group and the bouncers, but without being able to hear what was being said, he still wasn't sure what they had done wrong.

"Nonetheless, I think I'll let you lead the way. I'd probably get us turned away as well at this rate," he chuckled.

"Shall we?" He gestured them forward, not letting go of Megatron but bowing out to let him lead the way.

"Even if you did, I could easily rectify the situation," Megatron said, amusement rolling through his voice as he stepped around Orion while the mech slid aside, leading the way with a twitch of his lips.

For all of Orion's worries, they didn't have any issues getting in at all. Megatron barely looked at the bouncers as he led Orion past them. The only indication there'd been any information exchanged was the slight heavy buzz of a comm. conversation, on an encrypted channel.

Not that that was necessary to get in, but Megatron already knew his way around, so why wouldn't he use it?

Leading them inside, he stepped aside inside of the door, putting him and Orion up against the wall by the entrance to let Orion get his bearings.

The club was loud, but not deafening, the music loud enough to drown out any individual noise and allow for losing oneself in dancing if one wished, but mostly facilitating privacy.

"There's a booth across the floor to the left, following the railing," Megatron said, not actually having to raise his voice much to be heard perfectly well, nodding in the direction indicated.

The club had at least three floors, the bottom one in a subtle six-sided geometry with a round, open floor in the middle currently used for dancing, with a bar to the far right. There were small stages set in alcolves around the wall on the same side of the room as the bar, all of them currently empty. The space to the left was both scattered with tables and boots of various sizes.

The next floor was basically simply a mezzanine, where more tables and booths were, and, even if unseen from below, more of those little alcove stages. Then came a glass-ceiling, cutting off the third, open floor above from the lower ones while still allowing, strangely enough, some insight, both ways.

Technically, beyond the little alcoves - which, really, could've been home in many sort of entertainment venues, even if they might be strange for a club and not one that seemed to be using them for private dancers - the place looked like a normal club, if a bit quieter.

It was probably the mechs present that made it less normal than the look of the club itself.

Beside the tables and booths that were occupied, mechs knelt, optics turned to the floor. Some were being hand fed small energon treats or a cube. In other cases, mechs were holding drinks for those sitting in their seats, feeding them in turn.

Quite a few of those that weren't on the dancefloor but passing by Orion and Megatron for any reason, usually in pairs but sometimes more than that, had two or more of the group led on a leash.

Others just sported collars.

Orion gave Megatron a suspicious glance when he felt that comm-buzz in his audials, though he didn't comment on it until they were past the bouncers and inside - and almost forgot to say anything, as the inside of the club was immediately distracting.

"Secret passphrase?" He sighed, glancing around warily. "You didn't mention anything about cheating." His tone was amused, at least.

He stuck close to Megatron, trying not to wince at the sight of mechs being led around on collars and chains.

The openly displayed acts of submission, with mechs being fed or feeding their dom...that was a sight more interesting. Orion felt his vents heat up as he quickly glanced away. It felt rather too intimate to him, to be gawking at it in public. He gladly went toward the indicated booth, trying to avoid glancing around like a tourist - and failing rather miserably.

"I'm not sure how that's cheating, since everybody who's been here at least once and plan on coming back can find it out," Megatron said with a chuckle, a faint rumbling from his engine underscoring his amusement.

He pretended not to notice the brief heating of Orion's vents before they were forcefully reset to normal, instead just brushing a hand down Orion's back before he sat down and Megatron slid in the seat opposite.

Even if he did want to kneel down on the floor right beside Orion's seat.

"What do you think?" Megatron asked, helm tilting to indicate the rest of the club beyond them. A question that could be answered many ways and could refer to quite a few things in the situation.

"Then you'll have to explain what it is," Orion huffed as they sat, the taunting of information just out of reach too much for the librarian to tolerate.

Selfconsciously, he shrugged, giving the place another glance, taking in the whole room from his chair.

"It...certainly different. It should take some, ah, getting used to-"

He paused, unable to help but stare as a hulking femme tank lead her equally huge partner past the table on a glowing energon lead. Though nothing was showing, something about the way the mech walked - nearly stumbling, legs quaking - and the smirk on the femme's face, was enough for even Orion to come to some kinky conclusions immediately.

Venting hotly, he looked away with a cough, gesturing to Megatron.

"I. Well. So what do you personally do here for. ah. Fun?"

With a grin at Orion's annoyance, he sent over the 'password' over their own private comm. frequency, nodding blandly as Orion stumbled over his words... and then broke off completely.

Considering the pair that had just walked past, it wasn't hard to guess at what had caught Orion's attention, and Megatron chuckled, straightening up as Orion turned back to him.

"I'm not much for dancing, so it's mainly been a place to socialise... take a drink once in a while just for the atmosphere. I met my first dom in Iacon here, before Maul," Megatron snorted as he said Maul's designation, optics narrowing briefly.

Then he shook his helm, optics brightening into a sharp glittering glow as his glance went from some of the stage-alcoves and then back to Orion.

"I have, both here and elsewhere, been up on stage a few times... either with my dominant's blessing, or with them up there as well." He wasn't, exactly, an exhibitionist, but as a gladiator you either were predisposed to taking pleasure in being seen, or you learned to deal with it, if not like it.

Megatron had found out early that the spellbound, vent-stopped or roaring, attention of an audience was something that gave him a thrill and was pleasing, in almost all contexts.

Deliberately ignoring Megatron's amusement, Orion chose to take a moment to fuss with the comms.

"See? So much easier," Orion huffed, saving the password frequency - just in case. He refocused at the mention of Maul, face pinching with a growl of his engine.

He really, really didn't like him.

But he didn't outwardly comment, instead glancing over toward the stage.

"...Oh? What were you doing up there?"

He really had no idea. Dancing? He couldn't really see it, unless it was light the battle-dancing Megatron had shown him in the park.

He'd vaguely assumed Orion wouldn't make the connection at first, but still, the fact of the open innocense in the question made it very, very hard not to laugh. It meant he ended up chuckling quietly, engine revving in tune with his muted laughter.

"Ah, well." sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest, Megatron counteracted his arms partly shielding the sparklights on his chestplate by brightening the lights, "while I didn't like it much, one of my doms used it as part of a punishment, tied me up up on a stage like that. I preferred the event where I basically played the dom for another submissive... by acting only on what my dominant told me to do. I was collared on stage, once."

He could bring up more circumstances, of course, but it was probably better to not bring up too many at once. Let Orion take that in and actually consider and realise what the stages were there for.

Dancing? No, not so much.

The answer was unexpected enough to make him sputter, throwing an incredulous look between Megatron and the nearest stage.

"That's-"

He made a face, distressed by the very idea, as his already abysmal impression of Megatron's former doms took another dive. Unexpectedly, his engine rumbled out a growl.

"Just. No." He shook his head, arms crossing over his chest, immediately resolving not to do anything even remotely similar.

"Orion, no." Megatron shook his helm, making a point of catching Orion's optics and holding his gaze. That wouldn't do, especially with the assumptions he could practically see lay behind that vehement repudiation.

"While the punishment was hardly something I liked, I didn't like it because I was being tied up, not where it was happening. The other things I had nothing against... and usually liked, too," Megatron said with an arched upper optic ridge, still not letting go of Orion's gaze.

Even if Orion was extremely far from being an exhibitionist, which was perfectly all right, he wouldn't let the mech think all of those things had been bad.

Orion, yes.

Orion held his gaze easily, for once not afraid of messing up or doing the 'wrong' thing in their burgeoning relationship. Megatron's reassurance did little to reduce his primary objection.

"It's not just that, he grumbled, engine still growling. "Though I don't like that either."

He gestured down at himself, trying to articulate words that really only wanted to come out as snarls.

"It is foolish, but the idea of these another doms, not just employing distasteful punishments, but existing the way they did just makes me-"

He hissed quietly under his breath, trying and failing to suppress the petty possessiveness.

... Ah.

He might have repeated that out loud, in a little 'hm' of realisation of what was going on beyond a misunderstanding. He shouldn't be grinning, but Orion dealing with possessiveness was too precious for words.

The mech hadn't seemed the type, and yet here he was, snarling like a razorcat over an intruder. And as long as that possessiveness didn't go too far - not that Megatron wasn't possessive as well, so what was 'too far' was hard for him to judge, really - there was no harm in that.

"I see." And he did, so his grin widened while his optics dimmed and he kept Orion's gaze for a moment longer, before he tilted his helm to the side and deliberately dropped his gaze to land somewhere at the height of Orion's chestplates instead. "None of them are here now, Orion."

He's not precious, he is a fierce, angry truck-librarian.

Orion huffed, arms tightening across his growling chest.

"I know that. Logically, I'm perfectly aware of it."

He didn't look away, but something inside him was soothed when Megatron looked away first. Which was also foolish, but nothing about the situation was logical.

"But I don't like what they did. And I am so very, selfishly glad that they are gone."

He reached across the table, palm up, silently asking for Megatron's hand - and the reassurance of touching him.

Hmmm. Maybe. Perhaps both? Because Megatron thought Orion was being very precious right now. As well as a little fierce, too, absolutely.

"Hmm. I'll try to minimise talking about anything specific they've done, or mention them directly. How's that?" He was still amused as he put his hand in Orion's questing one, but that still didn't hide the faint, warming thrill caused by Orion's possessiveness.

He couldn't say he didn't like it, because he did. More than that, it stirred interest and heat as well.

Accepting Megatron's hand, Orion gave his fingers a squeeze, soaking in the reassuring contact.

"No, no, you shouldn't have to."

Orion sighed, vents rattling with the lingering - but slowly fading - growls. He kneaded a thumb across the back of Megatron's hand.

"It at least lets me know what things never to do. And -occasionally - the things that I should try."

The last bit looked like it was almost painful for him to admit, but he managed it.

Ah, Orion was such a treasure, it was almost painful to have to sit here and listen to him be so mature and self-aware of what he and Megatron both should and shouldn't do.

"I'm not sure what I've done to deserve you, but I'm not letting you get away now." Laughing quietly, Megatron briefly squeezed the wrist he had wrapped his fingers around and grinned faintly, mostly visible by the slight reflections and highlights from the muted and coloured lights of the club.

"I think I have mentioned that I don't like being restrained with no easy way of getting loose myself, but if I haven't - I don't. You holding my wrists or telling me to keep my hands somewhere wouldn't count, but actual restraint aren't... something I'm fond of," Megatron said with a tilted shrug and a smooth, nearly bland tone of voice that tried to hide the hidden and faint tension.

There weren't many things he didn't like, but that was one of them

"Understandable. And you did," Orion agreed, again committing that dislike of Megatron's firmly to memory. Growls firmly abated, his helm ducked slightly at the praise, audials twitching.

"And you can hush about that. There is nothing to do with 'deserving' - but that is reassuring. I can agree I'm not letting you go, either."
He managed a grin, giving Megatron's hand another squeeze.

"So. What can we do around here that won't send me into a fit? Dancing, maybe?"

Megatron just grinned in response, pleased at the similar claim, and then shrugged.

"If you want to do that, certainly. That's why I suggested today, since there's no particular event going on. But whichever you want to do," Megatron said, lips quirking into another grin, "I suggest you acknowledge the mech aimed for us when she stops beside the table, because she's not going to intrude before you've given her permission."

The mech in question was tall - but slender. Her altmode was questionable, but there were bunches of kibble in several places that could be housings for hover mechanisms... or something else entirely. Despite the suggested flimsiness of her frame, there was a certain weatheredness to her armour that could be seen even under the muted, flashing lights in the club.

A gladiator, probably.

"I wouldn't mind giving it a try...what?"

He started, only to reset his optics in surprise at the sudden shift in conversation. He glanced over, surprised to see the femme stop aside their table, optics down.

Glancing between her and Megatron, silently asking if he was serious about that- and quickly grasping that it was no silly joke, he glanced back toward the fragile-looking gladiator.

"Ah. Can I help you with something?"

Though rather bewildered, he managed something close to his best 'helpful librarian' voice.

No, not a joke at all, and Megatron said nothing when Orion glanced at him, merely tilted his helm in what could be a nod just as much as waiting for Orion to do something... and since he did, there was nothing he needed to do.

"Yes, sir. May I speak to your submissive?" She continued to keep her gaze lowered, though she was otherwise relaxed - if in a somewhat military way what with her pose.

She knew Megatron well enough to have been able to tell that him and his... companion wasn't actively engaging in the general... atmosphere of the club, but she wasn't about to reveal that. And this mech had 'newbie' written all over him, so why not help him along?

The faintly amused buzz of Megatron's field briefly against her own confirmed her assessment.

::Hrmpf. You're no help at all.:: Orion grumbled over their shared comm-line, giving Megatron a quick side-eye before focusing on the waiting visitor.

"...Yes. Go ahead."

Orion couldn't help but think that this was a bit much, but he gave the femme a nod, lightly gesturing Megatron's way with his 'permission'.

::I'm not trying to be, Orion.:: Yes, he'd admit that outright, his tone over the comm. teasing and amused, turning to her after Orion had given his permission and she'd dipped her helm, murmuring a thank you reflected in the flickering wave of her EM field.

"I see you finally managed to get rid of that waiting disaster. You should've beaten him up more." The gladiator, compared to her subdued (or maybe restrained) behaviour when aimed at Orion, seemed to swell out beyond her field's reach as she turned to Megatron, using her hands and field both to underscore her words.

"I'm starting to think thrashing Maul was encouraging him, despite that he professed to only be a sadist," Megatron said with a snort and a shake of his helm, before he half turned back to Orion.

"Orion, this is Ragna. Ragna, Orion Pax. We are... proceeding." His little grin was mostly amusedly teasing again, but the glow of his optics and his gaze on Orion was warm.

"Ah." And by the glance she threw Megatron, apparently that single-word description of his and Orion's relationship meant something, something that made her grin before she turned back to Orion and gave him a half bow, optics low.

"Sir. And thank you."

He settled for huffing at Megatron over the commline before letting it drop, focusing instead on the interaction taking place before him. The difference in Ragna's words and tone and even field when addressing Megatron versus himself was as fascinating as it was occasionally confusing. If he didn't know the cause, he'd almost be insulted.

Instead, Orion's stiffness melted away at Ragna's words, his own field control relaxing to more friendly levels.

"A pleasure to meet you, Ragna," Orion said with a nod of his helm, giving her a somewhat sly grin.

"It's no problem at all, really. Anyone who shares my dislike of that mech is welcome."

For a brief moment, Ragna's subdued respect... or rather, submissiveness, disappeared into a burst of static as she snorted, shaking her helm.

"He was bad business from the start, but I didn't know Megatron was involved with him - and didn't know him well enough at that point, until later," Ragna said with a shrug, her and Megatron's optics meeting, even if he looked vaguely annoyed, "so there was no chance to warn beforehand."

"I'm hardly helpless, Ragna. Even if he did prove to be hard to be rid off, without something unpleasant happening," Megatron growled, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chestplates.

That was the issue trying to get involved with the scene in a place that you weren't familiar with yet - running afoul of unpleasant individuals with no scruples, who could take advantage of someone who didn't know them or their reputation.

But it still did, Orion barely kept himself from saying aloud, though it was probably obvious in his expression. He sighed, forcibly shaking himself free of the bad mood mentioning Maul threatened to bring on.

"Yes well, he's gone now."

Orion allowed himself to smile faintly at Megatron's pouting expression, reaching across the table to pat a crossed arm.

"Yes, you're perfectly capable of defending yourself, as I well know. So. How do you two know each other?" he inquired politely, turning to Ragna.

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