Everybody learns from *somebody*

[lordmegatron]

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?"

Comments

[lordmegatron]

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.

[ichooseboth]

"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.

[lordmegatron]

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.

[ichooseboth]

"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.

[lordmegatron]

"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.

[ichooseboth]

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.

[lordmegatron]

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.

[ichooseboth]

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.

[lordmegatron]

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.

[ichooseboth]

::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.

[lordmegatron]

::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.

[ichooseboth]

"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!"

[lordmegatron]

There wasn't even the slightest twitch at the pinch, though Megatron reflexively grabbed the offending hand and gently squeezed it as he laughed, a smirk on his lips.

"Unless you have a penchant for spanking you haven't told me about, or would like to punish me for... inappropriate behaviour with your person," he smirked, still shameless, "then I haven't started anything, merely given you an incentive to get back to work." The tone and the glitter in his optics belied the "innocent" words, though he was serious. They really didn't have time to actually get too heavy here and now.

[ichooseboth]

"Ha! That's not what I meant and you know it," Orion laughed, shaking his helm with a only slightly heated exvent.

Hands on Megatron's chest, Orion physically pushed himself back to create a more 'professional' distance, shaking the airbrush at the gladiator.

"And no, as far as I am aware, that is not a particular kink of mine. Other arm, please."

Still smiling, he gestured to the arm still gripping the cube.

[lordmegatron]

"That's established then," Megatron said, amusement colouring his voice and optics warm as he held out his other arm and turned slightly aside to help Orion get a better angle. He didn't really care one way or another if Orion might have had that particular kink, but it was a rather simple (and safely defused) situation to have found that out in.

"Of course. And I don't know, what did you mean? I can't know how you might interpret what I'm doing." Another lopsided, sharp smile as Megatron gave Orion a sideways, sparkling glance.

This was amusing and nice at the same time and he realised he'd somewhat missed having someone there before matches, gladiator or not.

[ichooseboth]

Palming Megatron's shoulder into a more easily-accessed position, Orion started painting the second emblem.

"Trying to goad me, perhaps. Or stir up something that has to wait until after your match?"

Orion paused long enough to give the side of Megatron's helm a teasing, single-fingered flick that clanged dully. Smirking, he resumed painting immediately, cheekily precluding any retaliation as it might mess up his work.

[lordmegatron]

"Ah, caught me." There was a small grin still on Megatron's faceplate as Orion started up the airbrush again, but his optics quickly guttered out as the paint slowly was worked into and over his armour.

It was relaxing in a way that partly had to do with the numbness of the assaulted sensors muddling their input. It wasn't quite the same plateau that came from a match high when the pain fed into itself and simply boosted him along, but similar, and it was also partly the motion of the paint itself, and, when he could do that, letting someone take care of him in that way.

He didn't allow himself the same unguarded relaxation when he went to a professional detailer, so this only happened when he had someone close to him to offer.

"And what would you do about it, if that was the case?" Optics still offline, Megatron's voice had gone soft, not quite a murmur really, just a... quieting of the usual rumbling tone.

[ichooseboth]

"Then I would be stuck, annoyed and frustrated, until after your match."

Orion sighed in mock-exasperation, stealing glances at Megatron's placid face as he painted. He smiled.

"I would have to take care of it when you got back."

The hand braced on Megatron's shoulder gave a gentle squeeze.

[lordmegatron]

"Having to wait can be a very rewarding experience... from both sides, I'm told." Chuckling, Megatron tilted his helm in Orion's direction as he spoke, not bothering to online his optics, merely enjoying the feel of Orion's sure strokes, the squeeze of his shoulder and the heavy, but restrained, humming flicker of Orion's EM field.

"I would be interested in seeing how you would take care of it, so perhaps I shouldn't stop, hmm?" Not that he could or would do much right now - the symbols and glyphs did need to be painted, he did have some sort of image to uphold, after all!

(More than "some" - Megatron was well-aware of his image and had made sure to cultivate it as it fit both him, and his audience(s).)

[ichooseboth]

Hand moving in steady, even strokes, Orion painted on the next few layers of the design. After doing the first, he was able to go far more quickly with the second, confidence building when he didn't ruin the marking with his inexperience.

"Maybe. But I'd rather not be tempted to ruin your paint before I even finish."

Orion's smile flickered into a smirk, even if Megatron could not see it. His field gave a teasing pulse, settling against the larger mech's.

[lordmegatron]

Smirk twitching into view as Orion spoke, Megatron tilted his helm, his field rippling at the push from Orion's. With his optics off, and other sensors turned higher to compensate, Megatron was once again amazed by the strength of that field.

The mech might be of a somewhat shorter-than-tall average, but the strength of his person and his chassis wasn't actually most evidenced in his altmode and rather broad shoulders. No, rather that seemed to lie more in the EM field, the abundance of electromagnetic charge displaying the hidden potential rather than the base facts of his frametype.

"You'd simply have to take responsibility not to ruin it then... or is temptation such a diffifult thing to resist?" Perhaps it was terrible to do so, but Megatron straightened a little, keeping his shoulder where it was while he arched his back and let the sparklight strengthen somewhat.

[ichooseboth]

"Take responsibility for your paint job-?" Orion grumbled

Even if the shoulder didn't end up moving, Orion still reflexively stopped painting and gave Megatron's chest a swat.

"Oh stop that!" Orion snickered, shoving a hand at that glowing sparklight.

"You make temptation quite hard to resist, I'll have you know - keep trying to distract me, and you'll miss your match at this rate!"

His engine and field were at stubborn odds with his words; rumbling engine revving as his field pulsed against Megatron's, only getting stronger and more insistent with the temptations presented.

[lordmegatron]

Laughing, Megatron dimmed the sparklight to a less... distracting level, taking the swat without attempting to defend himself. He did, however, reach out to curl a hand around the nearest of Orion's knee joints, his field failry thrumming with the weight of Orion's against it.

"Oh, I doubt I will miss it, since I can quite easily leave and you'd merely have to live with your frustration until after it... so I'm afraid you will have to take to better threats for my good behaviour."

If there was more time, he would have carefully twisted around and slid his lips against an audial finial - in fact, if they'd had the proper rules set down and if he knew Optimus knew what to do and would like it, he'd have pushed, regardless of the time constraint.

He'd never minded going into a match with a hevay curl of thwarted charge and the stern disapproval promising... punishment... after at his back, after all. Given everything however, he barely gave the knee a squeeze.

[ichooseboth]

Orion made no move to remove Megatron's hand' indeed, he rumbled faintly at the contact, quietly pleased despite the words.

"I'm sure I'll think of something."

The librarian grinned as he painted the final details with a florish, pulling away to let the shoulder dry.

"After all, you could always go to you match and return to find no one here. I'm actually capable of taking care of charge on my own, after all."

As was Megatron, of course, but it wouldn't be the same for either of them. As he pointed out silently, throbbing out his field against Megatron's as he spoke.

"Ready for your chest now, at least."

[lordmegatron]

"But where would the fun be in that?" Megatron said blandly, with a quirk to the upper edge of an optic and his field pulsing against Orion's in response to the heavy throb.

Megatron turned around in his seat then, facing Orion and laid his free hand on Orion's knee. With a quick little grin, he leaned down to drop a kiss on Orion's chin guard and then skate over his lips before he straightened back up, optics glowing rather unrepentantly.