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]

"Of course I am," Megatron snorted, then shook his head, waving a hand in the air, "and 'blind panic' is precisely why I say your instinct's good, Orion. You didn't think, and you still acted in a way that got you a momentary respite."

Pausing, he tilted his helm and arched an optic ridge.

"If you'd frozen up, that thing would've gotten to you before I got there. It wouldn't have had any time to deal any real damage, but that's not the point," Megatron smirked and scraped off some liquid that had splashed on his forearm, "I'm impressed somebody who doesn't come configured with personal weapons has any such instinct at all... makes my job easier."

Since he was still fully intending on getting Orion well-acquainted with self-defense.

[ichooseboth]

"I can want to make sure you're okay too, thank you very much," Orion huffed, swatting at Megatron's unsplattered side.

"Just because you're the umpteeth-time arena champion doesn't mean you can't be injured by...by whatever those things were."

It wasn't easy to admit, mostly because the idea was so horrific, but Orion had to agree that those beings had not been normal people. Not anymore, if they ever were at all.

"But ah. Thank you? For both saving us and, well..." He gestured vaguely with the arm he'd used to block the creature, oddly pleased that Megatron thought his flailing was worth compliment.

[lordmegatron]

Megatron made no apologetic noises over his dismissal of Orion's concern, just smirked - though he did dip his helm briefly in what could be an acknowledgement.

"If I were, you would have noticed," he finally added before throwing a frown over at the statue he'd dumped the corpses behind, "it's curious, however, that for all the times I've been down here I haven't come across anything like this before..."

Looking back at Orion, Megatron arched an optic ridge.

"Either we were simply unlucky this time, or you and your poking around maybe triggered something." Megatron didn't really care; he'd get all he could out of this, but it was an interesting thought, that, maybe, the creatures had been called to them by Orion's presence.

He didn't think it was the scanning of the text or anything; he had done about as much elsewhere, if not here, exactly. And he was the one who'd taken the disc and not been stopped in any way.

[ichooseboth]

Considering the amount of splatter, he might have missed something - but Orion didn't press the point. Instead, he winced guiltily, glancing back toward the statues in question.

"I certainly hope not... I didn't sense or feel any sort of pressure plates or booby traps, but there could be something beyond my ability to detect. This place was built so long ago..."

Well, if he'd already triggered it once...

He stepped toward the statues again, scanning far more intently and watching where he placed his feet. The dust and debris was so thick in place it could possibly be hiding a sensor on the ground somewhere perhaps?

[lordmegatron]

"I've been down here before myself and moving around. I doubt there's any sensors or anything else of that sort. It might just be you," Megatron said, amusement clear in his voice, "who knows, maybe you've just got a bright and special spark."

The smirk Megatron gave Orion was very toothy, though he waved a dismissive hand in the air. It didn't matter. Even if they were ambushed by a few more of those things Megatron felt secure in his ability to keep them both unharmed, if not necessarily safe.

[ichooseboth]

"Me?"

Orion started, peering back around the leg of the spikier statute with an indignant look on his face.

"How could I even- 'Special spark' my aft!" He huffed, vents flaring with a rev.

"You seem to be trying to come up with every possible reason this could be my doing. Maybe it's your fault - you've been here before, after all. Maybe that were waiting for you to return. Or, maybe, its no one's fault?"

Really. Flinging blame around was hardly productive.

[lordmegatron]

Laughing, Megatron shook his head.

"Calm down, Orion. It doesn't really matter which it is, does it?" He still couldn't help being far too amused at Orion's indignation at his suggestion that he had a special spark.

Though to be honest, if there was anyone Megatron knew that he'd guess would be something special, it'd be Orion. Call it a hunch.

"And even if it is your fault, it's hardly your fault, is it?" he said with a grin, waving another placating hand in the air, "I didn't know, you could hardly know, and none of us are injured."

gone and worried him now

[ichooseboth]

"Um, yes, actually. It does! Especially now that you've gone and got me worried about it."

Orion's hands left the careful examination of the statue's lower leg, flying into the air in exasperation.

"We could trigger more of those things - or something worse! If there is a trap for this, who knows what other booby traps could be waiting for us?"

haha :V

[lordmegatron]

"Orion," Megatron snorted, voice flat as he spoke, "I have been quite thorough visiting this room and the path we took here; if there were booby traps or similar obstacles, I would've triggered them the first time I was here."

Especially considering what he'd taken. Them just walking around touching things would hardly do it; in that case Megatron would still have been the one to trigger something.

"So, whichever other reason might have cause those things to come up from the depths, it certainly wasn't some sort of booby trap or alarm that we triggered."

:VVV

[ichooseboth]

"Then it doesn't make any sense, unless they planned for your return or-" Orion snorted, engine revving in worried irritation. But he left off his reexamination of the statue, grudgingly returning to Megatron's side.

"I can't exactly say that the idea of me being some sort of lure to these things makes me very comfortable," he grumbled under his breath.

"Let's just. Move on, shall we?"

[lordmegatron]

"I thought being special would've been anyone's dream," Megatron said with a smirk, patting Orion's shoulder and pointing back the way they'd come, "if we backtrack out, we can follow the hall outside... I'm sure we can find more interesting things."

Megatron was sure - even more so now with the entrance of these things, that there was at least one other door in this... display hall or whatever it was, but he had, so far, been unable to find it.

The corridor outside, where the winding walkway they'd taken down to get here ended, did have doors, both open and closed. Megatron was, privately, hoping that with Orion's optic and... what might be a coincidence, what might not, that he might be able to open the closed doors.

[ichooseboth]

"Hrmph. I just want to find special things, not be a special thing, thank you. Especially if it somehow involves being a magnet for...forgotten, underground hunter-creatures."

Orion huffed, nudging Megatron back with his pat shoulder.

"I'm not sure how much 'more interesting' we can survive," he teased, easing back into his study of their path. The corridor had obviously once been very grand; it's size and scale where undiminished, but the colors had long since been lost, and Orion could see signs of scraping damage. Where precious metal gilding had been forcibly pulled away, perhaps?

He paused at the doorways ahead, considering.

"Which way?" he asked, though he quickly had no intentions of heading forward immediately - the carvings and glyphs on said doors invited examination.

[lordmegatron]

"We don't always get to choose if we are or not, Orion," Megatron said, mock-seriously, and then shrugged, waving a hand at the doorways spread along the corridor.

"Any of them, for whatever reason, that attracts your interest?" If Orion chose one of the rooms he'd already explored, he could probably steer him away reasonably quickly. What he wanted was to see what Orion chose... if he was seeing something Megatron wasn't, or if, maybe, there'd be something down here that would pull him towards a particular door.

Much like Megatron had felt drawn to the golden disc the giant statues had been holding.

[ichooseboth]

Orion didn't bother to dignify that with a response, rolling his optics without turning from the doors.

"Oh, both of course," he said, hands tracing glyphs as he dispatched his scanner, recording the markings in glorious full-rendering. He peered down the corridor through the open doorway, naturall - curiosity and all that - but when the view proved to be more of the same worn-down halls... Well.

The still-closed and tempting door perked his audials more.

"Hmm, all of this is a good deal more worn down than the first rooms- pity, it must have been quite nice back when it was still in use. But that also makes it a bit more difficult to make out. Something about the hall with those statues. 'Doom-something'? No, no, 'Death,' perhaps? Something about a ceremony, in vague glowing terms." His engine snorted, and he continued fussing for several moments.

"I'm sure some of this is just supposed to contain directions, but it's all wrapped up in formal enough verbal-gilding to give a Towerling a headache- Hmm... Ah, here we go."

And Orion calmly stepped through the now open doorway, headlights guiding the way as he passed into unexplored territory.

[lordmegatron]

Optics brightening with pleasure as the door that had been locked for him opened up, Megatron hummed in quiet agreement. It did indeed seem like Orion had a particular... touch, down here.

Interesting.

It made him wonder what it meant.

"Directions in how to open the door, or directions for what's behind the door?" Megatron asked as he followed Orion through, but he didn't put his sword back into subspace.

Better to keep it out and ready in case they got jumped again. Not that they would get jumped again; Megatron was keeping a careful few scanners out for potential ambush.

[ichooseboth]

Orion made a flippant gesture, oblivious to the difficulty anyone might have had with the door before he came along.

"'To open-'..? What, no, it just probably hasn't been opened in a good long while- no, it's directions."

A pause.

"I think. Their methods aren't entirely obvious, and the syntax is just- well. Better left undisguised. But I think this should lead the way." He gestured excitedly as he walked, even though he was rapidly vanishing around the doorframe. "To a reliquary! Possibly Primal in nature."

[lordmegatron]

Keeping his face carefully blank of any particular expression as Orion fumbled through his reply, Megatron was... amused, at the way Orion was reasoning things away.

Unconscious self-protection to diffuse any attention? The thought was worth considering, but the moment Orion mentioned reliquary and Primal, Megatron put that aside and strode after Orion, all too eager to see this himself.

And if there was something to use? All the better.

"That... would be quite a find, wouldn't it? And I didn't take you for a picky linguist, Orion," Megatron said with a chuckle, eyeing the mirror-smooth gold-panelled walls of the corridor they were now walking through.

[ichooseboth]

"I've read 'commoner' glyphs from the exact same era about as complex as our own. Versus the ones down here, which can get to the point where they use about fifteen words in a place where three would work just as well? You would get picky too!"

Orion huffed back, headlights leading the way down a increasingly grand corridor. Compared to the halls and doors outside, the new area seemed far more pristine; at least, the gilding on the wall carvings seemed to still be there.

"But yes, finding an actual Primal reliquary would be a massive find. More so depending on what was actually contained within. If anything, of course."

The last was added reluctantly, but true. He fought to keep from raising his hopes too high. Finding something grand was not common in the least - grave robbers and scavengers were always more likely to have cleared locations free of their precious finds vorns ago.

[lordmegatron]

"Ah, even the learned mech complaining that fewer words could do in the place of more?" Megatron laughed, well-aware that Orion was hardly pretentious and was exactly the type to choose as few, but effective, words as possible to convey what he wanted.

If anything, Megatron was the sort of orator who liked words... but he was also perfectly capable of adjusting the level of his speech to the audience.

"I think..." he added after a moment, optics dimming in near-predatory anticipation, "that we will find something in here. Unless those who put whatever might be kept in the reliquary took those items away themselves."

Considering the way had been clear for him down to the statues and the golden disc had been there for unknown megavorns, Megatron didn't doubt something that was being kept behind a locked door would be far more likely to still be in place.

[ichooseboth]

"It happens," agreed Orion blandly, casting a brief, sly glance over his shoulder. "Except in my research papers, of course."

He shook his head. "Id' say don't get your hopes up too high just yet, Megatron...but I think so, too."

He'd rather not expect too much...but really, being optimistic was in his nature. He couldn't stay pessimistic, especially in the face of what wonders they had already found. The hallway was long - noticeably so, probably to create an aura of importance right before such an important room. There was another set of doors, more impressive and grander than the last. It was unknown if they were actually locked or not - Orion tried them, and they opened easily at his touch. He only spared Megatron a brief glance, excitement thrumming through his line and making his field brighten.

"Alright... Here we go."

He pushed the doors wide open.

[lordmegatron]

Megatron stared and then burst out laughing, shaking his helm.

"Of course."

Following along, Megatron didn't pay much attention to the increasingly grander surroundings; he could tell the reason for the design of the corridor, and while it was something he'd have used himself, it didn't really have an effect on him.

When the doors slid apart at Orion's touch, however, Megatron could admit to the low, buzzing anticipation that suddenly crawled along his circuits as they stepped through.

The room beyond was gold and crystal, circular with tiered stairs down into a depressed center.

Around the room, seemingly at random and within shimmering force fields, hovered thirteen... items.

Pure surprise and excitement made Megatron tighten his grip on Orion's arm, and his engine revved once before he ruthlessly squashed it.

[ichooseboth]

"Oh."

Orion froze in the doorway, blocking the way and unable to go on. Even barely felt Megatron clutching at his arm. Frozen, jaw dropping, his field collapsed into an stunned, excited jangle.

"Oh my god."

Even unable to bring himself to move, Orion's optics could see enough.

"...Thirteen? ...Thirteen."

He was almost afraid to step inside; afraid to wake the dream or dispel the illusions on the room.

[lordmegatron]

Megatron almost laughed at Orion's exclamation. It was very fitting, really.

"Indeed," he said instead after a moment of silent staring, optics glittering ruby within the crimson light. This find could mean everything. "Interesting that there's thirteen of them and not twelve..." he murmured, optics darting between them.

"Move, Orion," he added quietly, softly, but gave Orion a firm push to hopefully move him forward into the room and out of the doorway. He wanted to explore. See if those forcefields were merely to keep the items floating in the air, or if they were impenetrable and thus would leave the items inviolable.

can't rmemeber if he actually called Trion, Trion or A3 so. TRANSLATION ERRORS?? IF I;M WRONG LOL

[ichooseboth]

"You would think so," Orion murmured, voice lax with shock and awe. The significance of having thirteen shining displays - instead of the customary twelve - hinted at a answer to all sorts of rumors and legends...

Hinted. He'd have to examine them...

Breaking into a wide, blissful grin, Orion surged forward at last, brushing off Megatron's shrug and stumbling toward the nearest shielded display. Conveniently enough, it was a book of some sort; a positively ancient looking, yet nearly pristine notation pad. Ignoring the force field to all up press his face against the item as closely as he could get, Orion was forced to pause a moment, to translate the small plaque.

"...second age, differing style from the book itself; obviously added much later; 'The Causal Tome of...A3.'"

Orion nearly fell on the force field.

Let's go with A3 as a probably deliberate misdirection!

[lordmegatron]

Drawing up close to Orion and trying not to laugh at the way he was basically behaving like a newspark in front of something exciting, Megatron was certainly... ah, interested.

"So that means someone, probably several someones, have been down here, but everything has been kept untouched," Megatron said slowly, rubbing his chin as he eyed the book.

It didn't hold much interest to him, and while he certainly wanted to usher Orion onwards, he'd let him gush over this for a bit.

"Though maybe because no one has known how to get through the forcefields rather than anything else," he added with a dry grin.