red_diode_district | 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?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ichooseboth

"I was joking," Orion laughed, nudging Megatron with a shoulder. "But you cannot deny that they obviously designed his personal glyph with harsh lines and edges on purpose. It was the personal mark of a warlord Prime, after all."

It was obviously another one of those things that frequently came up in Orion's scholarly debates; his opinion was a stubborn one. But the question made Orion twitch slightly, a grumbled sigh escaping him despite the excitement in his field.

"Unknown, unfortunately. I've seen it before - most of us have, if you bother to look at some of the more archaic manuscripts - but no one knows what it means. We've never been able to figure it out. It only pops up once or twice. This is the most I've ever seen it referenced."

From:

lordmegatron

"Intimidation is key, yes," Megatron said with a small smirk, considering the original, uninverted glyph thoughtfully. It might come in handy, at least the look of it, though it'd need some embellishment...

"Hm. Could we maybe get some context to what it might refer to in these etchings?" Waving a hand down the wall, Megatron didn't have too much hope - Orion had so far obviously not managed to translate anything beyond what he already knew or otherwise, with that knowledge, could gather from context.

But it was worth asking. Something told him that glyph, always given a pretty unnatural space from the preceding and following glyphs, was important</i< in some way.

From:

ichooseboth

"That is the plan," Orion confirmed, turning back to sigh at the wall again.

"Even if it will take some time. This sort of thing isn't exact. Meanings and translations of dead languages are often up for debate, and previous context for this glyph has been...inconsistent. To say the least. That's part of why we can't figure it out."

A moments pause with the scanner, and Orion was able to bring up a small holo of a old and crumbling looking wall painting, mechs in professional scanning equipment and datapads around it. The strange, round glyph was barely visible somewhere near the bottom, right where the wall crumbled away.

"The Hardwire-Tintop artdeco manuscript, dated to the second age. The most popular speculation is that the glyph is referring to dying star or a scraplet infestation, depending on translation for the contextually important bits. It breaks off pretty ominously."

Another click, and the image switched to another; this time, a tiny manuscript, written in shaky hand-lasered etchings.

"The Malloy letters, from the end of the second age. The previous context is gone, and the writer - unknown - rambles on about end times in obvious insanity. The glyph could stand for some sort of doom the mad mech predicted - supposedly his own demise to his slow, processor rust, according to most."

Orion waved a hand helplessly, indicating that it was all he had; but he didn't sound terribly convinced by the conclusion.

From:

lordmegatron

Optics dimming while Orion talked, Megatron stared at the two holos with narrow concentration, resting one hand on Orion's shoulder, twitching the wheel there as he thought.

"Depending on what you can get from this," here he paused to wave at the wall, "and whatever else we might find down here, there's at least one thing those three interpretations seem to agree on, isn't it?"

Reaching out slowly to brush the wall in front of them, with the offending glyph so starkly separated from the ones around it; not a usual appearance in cybertronian writing at all.

"A catastrophic end, though whether that's something personal or societal..." a pause, and Megatron turned his head, arching an upper optic ridge as he looked down at Orion, "since while no one can argue the inevitable end of a scraplet infestation unless it's treated immediately, such a thing could affect only one... or a whole civilisation."

The most interesting thing, to Megatron, was that, and that the glyph (and whatever it referred to) wasn't new. It seemed to be about as old as it could be, after all.

From:

ichooseboth

Orion grinned, pleased by Megatron noting the similarities - and the hand on his tire. His engine gave a little rev in return.

"Very true! The few others are just as vaguely similar, even if there is still nothing concrete. Hopefully, this-" he tapped the wall, "-one will make a difference."

He paused for a moment.

"If you want to wait long enough for me to translate the whole thing properly, at least."

His tone implied that he better.

From:

lordmegatron

"I guess I must," Megatron said, smirk now showing fang and he leaned in to give a little nibble to the base of Orion's audial, since his hand at the tire hadn't been shrugged off, "since I fear that you'll beat be into stasis-lock otherwise so you'll be left to work in peace."

Chuckling, he straightened back up, but kept his hand at the base of the wheel and cast a glance down the corridor again.

"I think that it'd be interesting, if you'd be able to interpret enough to get another possible explanation out of that glyph. It seems important, after all. No other is given space around it like that, are they?"

From:

ichooseboth

"Go-oood," Orion's grunt turned into a groan, and he gave Megatron a swat as he pulled away.

"I just might. I don't need to be distracted while working on something like this."

An audial twitch, and Orion gave Megatron a final glance over his shoulder. "After, however..." He grinned.

"But for now, this is too important and exciting - if we weren't trying to be stealthy, this sort of find could be a career maker. I don't understand why they're hiding it down here..."

Well. Maybe he did. If it told as much history as he suspected...

From:

lordmegatron

"Being able to work under pressure and distractions is a very good ability to have, Orion," Megatron said with a wide, pleased smirk, engine rumbling slightly deeper even after Orion's groan quieted.

Then he shrugged, snorting heavily even as his engine stayed with its deeper, softer idling.

"I think you do. And unfortunately, this can't be your career breakthrough, even if we weren't trying to be stealthy. Since they're obviously presenting a history which does not include these underground parts, as they're forbidden to be explored..." trailing off, he tilted his helm, an upper optic ridge quirked.

From:

ichooseboth

Orion huffed a rude engine noise Megatron's direction at the comment about 'distractions', field going more and more grumbly as the larger mech continued.

"Yes, yes, I know. It doesn't mean I won't complain about it." He made a shooing gesture. "Go on, go poke around and discover some other groundbreaking lost history I can't write a thesis on. I'll be right here for a while. Just don't... fall in a hole or something."

From:

lordmegatron

"Who says I haven't already found something, and am only waiting for you to be done here so I can show you?" Megatron said, his optic ridge still hiked up to disappear under the edge of his helm, amusement clear through his field.

But he did wander off a bit down the corridor, once again following the etchings and trying to see what Orion was, or maybe some pattern he hadn't seen before.

"Though if you wrote that thesis, I'd read it. I'm sure it would be good enough to sweep cybertronian academia off its collective feet." Something which he didn't doubt; Orion had a knack for writing - and oration, when he could get over his shyness about taking up space.

From:

ichooseboth

"Oh, you better not-!" Orion sputtered, nearly rising to leave the wall mural to chase after Megatron. But he resisted, engine grumbling, settling on shaking his datapad at Megatron's back before turning back to focus on the wall.

"Flattery will get you no where at this point!" He called back. It was a lie, of course. His engine grumbling toned down a notch with a flicker of warm pleasure. But really, it wasn't the time.

He had a wall to translate, and it was easy enough to loose himself in the familiar process.

From:

lordmegatron

"I have been here before, Orion," Megatron said with a smirk that was probably audible in his voice. Really, there were many things he wished he'd get the chance to show Orion, and some of them weren't even here, underground under Iacon, but rather back in Kaon.

Whether that would get the chance to happen, though, was more uncertain, though he did hope it would.

"But concentrate on that wall to begin with. If nothing else I'm sure we can find time to come back later. None of this is going to disappear." It was, after all, difficult to move these things, and Megatron knew of more than once entrance to these deeper areas after you got underground.

From:

ichooseboth

Pausing in the middle of a rather easy, familiar line "-the Primes joined, together in loyalty, if not ideals, training and learning in the name of their Creator-" to fling a pointing finger over his shoulder.

"Not what I meant," he huffed. "Finding new things now without me is totally forbidden. Showing me things you have already found before is completely different."

It made perfect sense.

From:

lordmegatron

"You're going to have to explain that one, Orion," Megatron said, trying to smother his amusement and not really concerned that he failed. An Orion so caught up in his excitement over new, mysterious old findings was an extremely adorable Orion.

And amusingly prickly, as well.

"And considering it's easy to get lost in here, I'm not going to go out of my way to go explore and leave you behind." Mostly because while he didn't care about himself, he wasn't about to let Orion get lost somewhere.

From:

ichooseboth

"Which part?" Orion grumbled back, throwing Megatron a quick, teasing field-flick from across the room.

"I'm going to be right here, after all. Just don't get lost without me and we'll be fine." He didn't even bother to glance back, already distracted but the next translations. Voice fading out, he scooched forward across the floor, heedless of the scuff marks he was doubtlessly leaving on his knees.

"...huh. That's...Not. Hn. That can't be right."

From:

lordmegatron

Megatron might have answered and elaborated 'which part' it was, but, even smirking in amusement over Orion not moving while he went exploring, but Orion's sudden confusion and his voice trailing away pushed any such thoughts away.

"What is it? What'd you find?"

He strode back to stand beside Orion where he knelt on the floor, arms crossed over his chestplating and optics narrowed. This sounded like something that he definitely wanted to hear.

From:

ichooseboth

"Well. These lines don't entirely make sense?"

Scooting forward again with a rough sound of stone against his knees, Orion practically pressed himself up against the wall in his confused determination.

"There is that glyph again, see here? But the context is all off. See over here?"

He pointed over to a glyph even the most obtuse of newspark knew - the simple glyph of Primus had remained largely static and unchanging for most of known Cybertronian history. It wasn't hard, when it was a stylized silhouette of the planet itself, with constant but currently unknown glyphing in the middle.

"It's being used in parallel with the glyph of Primus."

From:

lordmegatron

"Hm." Kneeling down himself, Megatron traced a finger first over the glyph for Primus, and then the unknown one, tapping the wall.

"What about the context around them?" Maybe it meant something that the glyphs were being used parallel to each other, or maybe it was the context that was important?

Something tickled in the back of his mind, thoughts of the things he'd found out on his excursions, something about purpose, and Megatron frowned at the two glyphs.

From:

ichooseboth

"Well..."

Orion cleared his vocalizer, trying to overcome the sudden strange reluctance that curled in his processor. Speaking of his thought process out loud was generally very helpful when it came to puzzling out the worst of the translations, but...

He did not usually feel dread while translating. He cast a wary glance around the dark cavern, as though that was actually the source of the feeling, before continuing.

"It's making reference to the First Primes and their preparations for their original duties to Primus. Their skills and 'defining' purpose comes up - referenced before, but always unspecified - before that damned glyph comes up."

Orion rolled his tense shoulders in a wary shrug.

"It thought it might mean they were being trained for defense - the 'calamity' mentioned in the previous writings? But the context. It's very, very clear."

A pause, as Orion cleared a bit of static from his throat, a chill working it's way up his struts that had nothing to do with the cold ground.

"Very clear. And in the first tense. In a equal standing with Primus. It's...being used for...in reference to a person?"

A God.

From:

lordmegatron

"This one." Megatron tapped the offending glyph, feeling a similar chill to Orion. But as it crawled through him it simply made him more aware, sparking the sort of readiness present during arena fights.

There was nothing to fight down here, though, and he didn't look around like Orion did.

Something still tugged at the back of his mind, and some noise echoed through the corridor quietly. Probably just shifting metal.

"Whatever those duties were, they probably had to do with this one," Megatron said, once again tapping the glyph separated from the others, not using anything more defining than 'this one', and not quite sure why, except that...

That what?

Whatever this being was, this god was, if the catastrophes described earlier could reliably be connected to it (his sense of battle-readiness twitched again, alert), would it mean the Thirteen's purpose was theirs as well?

From:

ichooseboth

"I would imagine so."

Unlike Megatron. Orion jerked at the not-so-distant sound, audial nubs twitching in the direction of the corridor.

"-though there are many different ways it could mean. Are you sure we're alone down here?" he asked, in something close to a panicked whisper. The revelation - ominous as much as it was groundbreaking - was making him jumpy. If there was anything the government would want to hide down here, this had to be on the list.

From:

lordmegatron

Noticing Orion's sudden twitchiness, Megatron tilted his helm, listening... But whatever might have made the noise was conspicuously silent for now. If anything had made that noise.

"As far as I know, we should be yes." But he was frowning. "If there's anything else down here, it's not something I've met before."

Standing up, he clapped Orion on his shoulder.

"Want to look at that wall more or continue on?"

Noises or not, even if there was something down here with them, Megatron was confident he'd be able to handle it.

From:

ichooseboth

"...we can move on. For now. I'll want to come back later, but... Just let me get a complete scan." Casting another wary glance around, Orion got back to his feet and held the translation device back from the wall relief. A soft buzz, and the lasercam on the device was scanning the wall as Orion slowly walked the breadth of it.

"I can translate more thoroughly later-" something it was taking a great deal of restraint to manage- "I just don't want to pass by without a record."

And he would download a copy to his own internal storage as well, just in case.

From:

lordmegatron

"We're coming back this way unless something really unforeseen happens," Megatron said, waving a hand in dismissal, "since we came in this way, and while I don't mind exploring, it's safer and easier to get out the same way you get in."

But he was pleased Orion wouldn't need to stay right here to do the translation, both because they didn't have all the time in the world and wouldn't see much by stopping here, and also because he had wanted to show Orion more than just this.

Even if Orion had liked this very much.

He walked down to the end of the etchings, waiting for Orion to finish his recording and catch up with him before he started walking, now with one hand ready to pull out his sword out of subspace if it was needed to.

From:

ichooseboth

"...Right then," Orion grumbled dryly. He didn't want to know what Megatron considered 'unforseen' Finishing up with the scan in good time. The light of the scanner flickered out only a few moments later, data safe and sound on the device.

"Well. We better get moving." Clutching the scanner (and socketing the device with on of his own cables to download,) Orion nodded in Megatron's direction...even if his audials remained tilted and turned up, listing for further noise.

He really, really did not want to leave the find behind them, but for now he would tolerate it.