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]

Optic ridges rising up under the edge of his helm when Orion touched the thing and the forcefield disappeared, Megatron surged forward, catching the thing before it fell to the ground and held it out to Orion without looking it over.

He could be good.

"Or it's the room itself that's powering the forcefield, perhaps, though whatever you did doesn't seem to have disrupted any of the other ones," Megatron said, glancing around the room, wondering if it was Orion, and if he could open all of these, or if... maybe...

[ichooseboth]

Optics still wide, Orion accepted the book with careful fingers. He glanced between the book, Megatron, and the various other, untouched force fields.

"Ah. Right..."

He turned back to the book, a tentative, half-scared grin slipping over his face.

"...Honestly, I shouldn't even be touching it like this..." But he still turned it over in his hands. It appeared to still have power - powered by the force field, perhaps? But functional, after so long?

He couldn't help but attempt to page through it, immediately enthralled.

[lordmegatron]

Raising an optic ridge, Megatron cocked his helm.

"Why not? Just touching it is, obviously, not detrimental. If it had some sort of guards or locks, something would've happened by now," he pointed out dryly as he turned away, knowing that he wouldn't be able to read (if there was anything to read) and that Orion would let him know if he could.

Instead he walked a few steps to the left, behind them, to a forcefield within which a strange claw-looking weapon hovered, with part of the handle being constructed so that your own hand would be scraped by the backwards-pointing claws.

He couldn't read the plaque, but Orion could probably enlighten him when he could be torn away from the book. So Megatron reached a hand out, pressing it against the forcefield... nothing happened.

It was half expected, half disappointing. But that still left eleven others to try, and for Orion to do the same too.

"Anything interesting?" he asked as he slowly drifted towards another forcefield-encased item.

[ichooseboth]

"No, I mean... It's so old. Touching it could have damaged it."

Luckily, it had not, so far at least. The book was surprisingly sturdy, with little signs of wear or damage. If it weren't for the glyphs on the casing, and the fact that it simply...felt old. Well. Orion would have assumed it was a simple forgery.

"Aha... I can't even read it."

Contrary to the words, Orion was beaming>, unable to tear his gaze away from the book.

"The glyphs are the oldest I've ever seen. There are....roots of late first age in them, but... If this is really A3's book, well. Then this is the root language. We've only ever found scraps of it before now. I'll...have to work on a translation."

He was already looking forward to the challenge.

[lordmegatron]

"Too late, if so," Megatron said with a shrug, walking slowly around the next forcefield. Within it was a metalworking item - he was sure, by the looks of it, that it could be used for more than one task.

"Hmmm, I'm sure you'll figure it out shortly," he said with a grin from under the edge of his helm, trailing his fingers over the resistant energy field slowly. "What about that one?"

He pointed over to the one he'd first tried to touch, the strange, and impressively clawed, weapon.

[ichooseboth]

"Unfortunately true, but thankfully not an issue," Orion corrected, trying to fight the urge to be snippy. If it had been an issue...

He tore his gaze away from the holopages of the book. An ancient relic in his hands...or several others locked away nearby to focus on. Choices.

"Hmm... I can't be sure without examining it closer-" he didn't seem terribly inclined to move away from the book's previous resting place just yet- "But I would guess a weapon of Onyx Prime? It looks...brutal enough."

[lordmegatron]

Humming, Megatron looked back to it, nodding slowly. He'd had that thought, but been uncertain; while he'd certainly learned more about the Twelve (or Thirteen, in some accounts) when he started to dig into their past, he was hardly an expert.

"And you would need to sacrifice to wield it. Seems like that would fit Onyx," he said slowly, optics dimming. Wondering what that clawed weapon could do, what the necessary sacrifice would allow one to do with it.

But he couldn't get to it, despite that he certainly wanted to. And yet, he wasn't frustrated, not yet; some part of him was certain that he could get to at least one of the items in this room.

It was a... curious sensation.

[ichooseboth]

"It certainly does," Orion said, making a face. Reluctantly, he carefully tucked the precious book away at his side, rising up to follow after Megatron's path.

"Definitely Onyx," he confirmed quietly, giving the nameplate and the back-curving blades a lingering glance.

'...Well. Worth a shot, I suppose.' He thought. Then, steeling himself with a deep vent, Orion carefully pressed a fingertip to the field protecting it.

"Ow!"

And only got a shock for his trouble.

"...I'm not sure if I'm relieved or just confused." And slightly disappointed, but he wouldn't mention that part out loud.

[lordmegatron]

"I... am intrigued," Megatron said after a moment, optic ridge arched high up under the edge of his helm, "since it looks like you might only be able to open some of these... or only one."

Making a slow circuit of the room and not touching any of the other forefields, Megatron looked them over - they all looked the same, so he doubted that the first one had been malfunctioning in any way.

"The question is why... and which, if any further of these, you can open." And if he could open any of them as well. He had, by now, more than just a vague hope that maybe he could.

"I can't say I'm surprised you were capable of removing the forcefield around A3's artifact, however," Megatron added with a grin.

[ichooseboth]

"Or it was just a fluke and the field was already unstable," Orion said doubtfully. He really didn't think he had some sort of 'magic touch' - Megatron was clearly developing some strange theories. And he was going along with it.

Oh well. It didn't hurt to check. Much.

"I'll still try, even if I think it is a silly idea." He said as he continued on down the line, eying what was one of Solus' less-impressive tools, according to the plaque. Another brief touch yielded similar results, though Orion was able to withhold his grunt of pain.

[lordmegatron]

"I don't think you need to touch the field by much, Orion," Megatron said, shaking his helm; he himself already had, of course, and not felt anything, but maybe it was a difference in build and purpose. He did possess stronger plating, even if he had just as many sensory nodes.

"And it's only a silly idea if we've gone through the whole room and gotten no results, though I would think it rather odd if only one forcefield mechanism out of these were malfunctioning," Megatron said over his shoulder as he came back to his previous position and turned to the next forcefield.

Within, a curious piece of crystal - perhaps some form of energon - floated, giving no easy indication of who it might have belonged to. Even more interestingly, nearly opposite from it, within its own forcefield, hovered a similar, if differently shaped, piece of energon.

The top of it was rounded and tipped with spikes - the other one seemed to end more in a blade.

It was impossible to know if that actually indicated some sort of use of these two seemingly complementary pieces or was just how the crystals had formed naturally.

"Over here, Orion."

[ichooseboth]

"Hmm?"

Orion turned from his perusal of the next item - a tiny thing, vaguely sphere-shaped, that looked sized about right for minicon hands - following Megatron's gaze to the oddly-matched pair of items. He didn't even pause to glance back down at the plaque, approaching after only a strange moment of disorientation.

Orion was closer to the spiked crystal, but instead passed it up to step up next to the bladed one. He felt...intrigued. He'd never admit to feeling drawn to it or any such nonsense, but...

He really was.

"...'Twelve'. Something belonging to the twelfth Prime. Supposedly. The translation has always been a little contested, but..."

Trying to suppress the strange feeling, Orion, trailed off, giving the spiked artifact's plate a glance- and frowned, lips moving silently as he attempted to retranslate again.

"...What." A shiver crawled up his back plates.

[lordmegatron]

Eyeing Orion and how he sort of veered off towards the more distant forcefield and the crystal within, Megatron 'hm'ed quietly and raised an optic ridge. It was... curious. Orion's sudden confusion after turning around and glancing at the other plaque, however, was even more so.

"Something interesting?" Megatron asked, stepping around the forcefield - he almost touched it but kept his hands at his sides for now - to have a look at the plaque, but of course he couldn't read it.

[ichooseboth]

Ignoring Megatron for a moment, Orion spun sharply on his heel, glancing around the room and pointedly recounting the stations that held relics. Including the one held in his storage, the number obviously hadn't changed.

"Ah..."

It was still thirteen. Thirteen. The sheer number of theories and religious ideologies this room could prove or disprove was staggering. And that wasn't even the most disconcerting part.

"This..."

Staring between the relic's name plate and Megatron didn't do much to help the growing shiver and sense of vertigo. It seemed like he'd done nothing but lose his usual eloquence since they had arrived down there; jaw working, it took Orion a moment to get the words out.

"It. Looks like someone tried to scratch out the glyphs? But, as best as I can tell..."

Just say it.

"'Weapon of The Fallen One, Me- Megatronus Prime'."

[lordmegatron]

Staring while Orion seemed to work himself up over... whatever it was he'd read, Megatron crossed his arms over his chestplates, helm cocked. Waited, though not very graciously, one leg twitching just slightly with the need to tap on the floor.

And then, finally, Orion spoke. His first comment made Megatron want to snort - he knew enough myths to have figured out that the simple fact that there were thirteen items in this place was... damning enough, for some stances.

But that was all.

Then Orion continued, and Megatron stilled.

Frowned.

... Interesting.

Frowned, and then grinned sharply.

"Indeed? That's a... curious name, isn't it?" Then he turned on his heel and put his hand to the forcefueld - and it dissolved with a muted crackle when he'd barely touched it, letting the crystal fall into his hand.

A second it lay there, and then it melted, sliding into cracks and gaps with a sensation of liquid fire. Megatron gritted his teeth and didn't move.

[ichooseboth]

Orion was not impressed by Megatron's lackluster response. Not that he had time to complain, what with Megatron shoving his hand right through the field and claiming the object without trouble-

Only for it to melt.

"Megatron!" Orion cried out in alarm, jerking forward to seize the mech's wrist, as though he could somehow stop what had clearly already slid deep into Megatron's plating.

[lordmegatron]

Grimacing, he flexed his hand in Orion's grip. His hand, which was most definitely empty. He felt a tingling crackle of... tension in his hand, running from the surface all the way to his spark chamber.

"It's all right," he said, staring hard down at his hand and feeling the tension slowly build, trying to push towards... what. At the edge of his vision in his HUD, a few commands flickered by as something that hadn't even asked for access to his systems installed.

"I feel fine." And he did, though there were a few worrying side-effects - running a scan didn't result in anything new being noted. It was as if whatever had just installed hadn't just been, had always been there, was supposed to be there.

Which was interesting, Megatron had to admit, but he'd like to know what it was.

The tension tickled in the gears and cables of his right hand and he flexed it again.

[ichooseboth]

"This doesn't look 'alright'!" Orion all but snarled, fear for Megatron obvious despite the anger overlaying it. Megatron's pain had been obvious as well - the change was too sudden, and Orion glared suspiciously at the supposedly 'fine' hand and arm.

"What did it do?"

He took a chance, smaller, dexterous fingers examining grey digits that dwarfed his own with care.

[lordmegatron]

"Nothing that I can determine, which is concerning, but---" Megatron cut himself off, feeling a sudden spike of that tension, and quickly took hold of Orion's hand and pulled it away.

"A moment, Orion..." Gritting his teeth, Megatron resisted the prickling, tugging charge and tension for a moment longer, and then gave in, hand folding back like it was the most natural thing in the world (it felt like it) and out came...

"Hm. Energo-morningstar?" Blinking at the weapon now hanging on a glowing chain from his wrist, Megatron wasn't sure what he thought about this.

An extra weapon was, of course, always useful, but the way it'd been introduced...

[ichooseboth]

"Um."

Orion jerked at the sudden emergence of the weapon, a prickle of fear creeping up his backstrut. For Megatron, or of Megatron - or rather, that weapon - he wasn't entirely sure.

"Uumm. O..kay then. That's new," Orion said, flabbergasted. But even then, he couldn't help but note it's obvious resemblance to the now vanished crystal.

"A...form of mod? What kind of mod even works like that?"

[lordmegatron]

"One that we clearly don't know how to replicate, or even get close to," Megatron said thoughtfully as he tilted his arm, the spiked ball at the end of the chain swinging gently, "the crystal-based encoding is advanced enough, but then to be able to retain all information when the crystal changes state..."

He grunted and twitched his wrist without much thought, and the weapon disappeared as his hand folded out again. Now that he knew what it was and what he needed to do, it was simple enough.

"Would you be willing to take a closer look at its twin?" Megatron asked, nodding to the crystal on the opposite end.

[ichooseboth]

"Clearly not," Orion agreed, morbidly watching Megatron play with his new weapon until he put it away.

"...Why? You think I can get at it, like the book?"

He wasn't sure if he should be horrified or intrigued by the idea, and settled for giving Megatron a doubtful look.

"If I can, I'm not sure I want some half-sentient mod leaking its way into my systems."

He eyed the bladed orange crystal out of the side of his optic, undeniably drawn to it despite his fears.

[lordmegatron]

"Maybe you can," Megatron said with a faint smile, and then snorted, "half-sentient? Honestly, Orion. At best it's been encoded with an algorithm for a range of suitable systems to respond to when it's near, to activate the installation process and mine happened to fall within that."

Folding out the spiked ball on its chain and then away again, easy as thinking, Megatron arched an optic ridge and glanced down at Orion.

"At the worst, or rather, simplest, it simply reacted to the next touch, and the forcefield was there to keep it in place and anyone who would earlier have wandered in would've known not to touch it if they weren't looking for a weapon."

Privately, Megatron thought that if the orange crystal was a weapon encoded in the crystalline matrix, then Orion could well do with a weapon that could not be easily (or at all) removed from his person, and only responded to his own thoughts to activate.

[ichooseboth]

"Uh huh. Or, half-sentient," he muttered, only half joking. Sighing, he glanced between Megatron's fist where the weapon continued to retract-engage to the display for it's 'sister' crystal. There was no real reason to think Orion would be able to get at it, or even that it would do the exact same thing as the purple crystal had.

But he still could not deny his strange - for lack of a better word - attraction to the thing.

Orion backfired his engines, snorting. "Ugh. Fine," he growled, before reaching over and pressing a palm against the force field.

He was only fractionally surprised when his hand went right through, field dissipating under his touch. But the sudden lack of resistance did keep his hand from stopping, and he ended up with warm, orange crystal right up against his palm.

"Oh, frag me."

[lordmegatron]

"You've read too many cheap thrillers," Megatron said with a roll of his optics, waiting for Orion to give in - which he did, because it was obvious he was being sort of... pulled.

Which, maybe, a better person would've made sure Orion didn't give in, consciously or subconsciously to said pull. Megatron wasn't that good of a person, however, and he was also rather convinced it was safe - and would only mean an advantage for Orion if he did it.

So he didn't try to lunge forward to snatch the crystal away when the force field disappeared and the crystal fell, for a brief moment, into Orion's hand.

And then, of course, it melted, like the purple one had.