red_diode_district | The Start of Something Interesting...

The Start of Something Interesting...

The day was calm, with no recent Decepticon attacks, and none suspected to be incoming for some time. The cons were too busy licking their wounds from the last battle, one that the Autobots had decidedly come out ahead on. The celebrations had gone on long into the night and the recreation room was already a mess.

Thus, it was the perfect chance for a lone Autobot to slip casually outside.

Mirage had no shift currently scheduled, so he was free to spend his time as he pleased. He certainly made no move to hide his departure, greeting his comrades in the halls on the way out, but the box in his hands remained unopened despite any passing curiosity. It was quietly shifted into subspace before long, and the former noble shifted into alt mode just as smoothly when he reached the doors. Despite the completely inappropriate earthen race car mode, the mech had little trouble self-adjusting before driving off into the forest covering the mountain, for business unknown...

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"...Ah."

Resetting his optics after the sudden...onslaught of words from the most unexpected of sources, Mirage could only stare for a minute in surprise. Slowly, he tilted his helm, falling back on base politeness protocols to see him through.

"Thank you? I accept?"

Shaking off the surprise, and properly processing Cliffjumper's words, Mirage shook his head.

"Really, it isn't necessary? Neither of us were of our right minds from the cold, of course. We both should have thought of using our comms."

Ducking his helm at the acceptance, Cliffjumper's engine rumbled and he made ready to turn around, having done what he'd come here to do... though then Mirage continued and his optics brightened with a blush, his field wavering briefly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Cliffjumper said, shaking off the comment, "I was a bit more alert than you were, so maybe if I'd... actually... ya know." Waving a hand in the air, Cliffjumper grimaced and shrugged.

He knew it was extremely unlikely, but if he had then the Decepticreeps might not have found them... or even if they had, maybe they might have been able to beat them off?

Somewhere, Cliffjumper admitted than what would most likely have happened would have been that he'd probably actually been shot dead, while Mirage would still have been captured, unharmed or maybe even injured.

Maybe the best outcome had been what had happened, but... it didn't feel right even if that was true. He didn't feel like he'd done enough, for a fellow Autobot or someone he vaguely admitted was somebody he had a crush... at the least, on.

"Try not to dwell on the 'what if's', Cliffjumper. It does little good- and we both might well have been captured or killed," he says, accidentally echoing Cliffjumper's thoughts.

Mirage splayed his hands out, shrugging. Motioning Cliffjumper toward the seats, he took his own beside the altar, pointedly casual.

"We should simply be glad to be alive and functional, and learn from the event as we can."

He managed a crooked grin.

"It's what good spies do, after all."

Looking away, Cliffjumper huffed.

"Yeah, yeah, they said that too. I know that. Don't mean it doesn't feel like I shoulda done more," Cliffjumper said, and then finally looked back at Mirage, confusion enough so that he sat down in the indicated seat with no protest of any sort, even if he'd planned on leaving as soon as he'd done his apology.

"And I ain't a spy, ya know. Kinda have to worry what the Decepticreeps did if ya think that." Cliffjumper grinned faintly, a lopsided little thing - he wasn't really serious, because Mirage must have been joking, right?

Mirage laughed at Cliffjumper's confusion, shaking his head.

"Of course. I was referring to myself. It is the best way I've found to deal with previous missions gone awry."

Concern and confusion were much better reactions to the suggestion than outright anger at the 'accusation'. Cliffjumper really was improving. He couldn't help but grin.

"Do try not to dwell, won't you?"

"Yeah, you'd know wouldn't you?" Even Cliffjumper couldn't seem to decide if he meant it as derision or just a comment on Mirage's expertise. He might have a crush on the mech, but he still couldn't not dislike what he did.

Even if it made him worry, too, like this past week. Even if that hadn't had anything to do with Mirage being a spy.

"Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to..." crossing his arms and trailing off, Cliffjumper huffed and looked away, "to... uh, whatever."

He'd already explained, and trying to explain further would maybe just reveal things. That thought made him squirm in his seat and his field twitched in half-flustered reaction as he stood up.

"Guess I should go and let ya do... whatever you were gonna do."

"I would," Mirage agreed with a nod, choosing to not take offense. It was true, after all.

Cliffjumper's continued, awkward fluttering made Mirage tilt his head, considering.

"You do not need to leave, of course."

He gestured toward the seats again, encompassing the more comfortable plush pads scattered around on the floor.

"I was simply planning to meditate for a while. You would not be interrupting anything."

Grimacing, Cliffjumper frowned and glanced away and then back to Mirage.

"Uh, given what happened last time, not sure it's a good idea."

Of course, Cliffjumper was pretty sure meditating on its own wouldn't mean anything weird would happen, but he wasn't going to bet on it. And while just sitting around, having actual leave to look at Mirage was tempting, that...

He'd rather not Mirage notice he actually do it, so that was probably a bad idea too.

"I mean, can ya see me meditatin'?" Cliffjumper said with a snort and a roll of his optics. He was pretty sure going into the... trance, or whatever didn't count, since Mirage had helped him do that (even if it'd been unintentional), and it'd been accidental.

Mirage arched an optic ridge, dryly amused.

"It is hardly going to be that intense. Unless you plan on interrupting pointedly, you could still speak and remain and I would not be disturbed. It's not the same thing as a full rite."

His lips twitched at Cliffjumper's question.

"Yes, actually. ...With practice. It might do you some good."

"Yeah? How? What'd I even use it for, slag it all. And wouldn't it be creepy if I just sat around starin' while you tried to meditate?" Scowling more in confusion than anger, Cliffjumper shook his helm and shifted on his feet, but didn't stomp out yet.

He wasn't sure why Mirage had offered, and continued to try and make him stay. Sure, Mirage probably didn't dislike him or anything, but that didn't mean he liked him.

No matter what Cliffjumper might wish in that matter.

And since he was pretty sure the mech didn't care much for him, why... continue to insist about him staying? Especially as he'd said he couldn't actually train Cliffjumper in much of anything to help control his stupid sensitivity, since that was all priest stuff and Cliffjumper had no plans on becoming a priest. At all.

"Concentration, in times of great stress or distraction? Calm in the face of conflict, when temper is the last thing you want?" Mirage hazarded a guess, before making a face.

"It is not creepy to sit in silence with company," he huffed, giving the minibot a look. He finally glanced away, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If you wish to leave, I will not stop you, of course. I merely find it...reassuring. To sit with others after such a mission."

"I don't think meditation's gonna help me with my temper, Mirage," Cliffjumper said and flashed a lopsided grin, more than aware he had a pretty fierce temper and capable of joking about it in this situation.

He was, nonetheless, about to leave. He didn't really feel like meditating would help him, and he didn't feel like feeling even more ridiculous than he already did.

Mirage was all right, that was what counted...

"Uhm... I guess..." staring at Mirage as he made the comment about it being reassuring, Cliffjumper felt the flush that accompanied his optics brightening in a blush he couldn't stop and looked away as he sat back down.

Foolish or not, when he said it like that, Cliffjumper couldn't find it in him to leave.

"Oh, I think you might be surprised."

Mirage greeted Cliffjumper's answer with a wide grin and a shrug, settling back down into a comfortable looking cushion next to the altar.

"But either way, thank you for staying."

Mirage wouldn't say so out loud, but it wasn't just about being reassured that he was back in Autobot hands safely. Reassuring himself that the mech he had near frozen to status lock with was still functional was also important.

...You don't survive such a situation with someone without developing some sort of concern for them, after all.

"Feel free to make yourself comfortable."

"And you'd probably be disappointed," Cliffjumper couldn't help but mumble, ducking his helm at the thank you and feeling inexplicably pleased.

Even if he was pretty sure he'd get nothing out of this in the end. Well, beyond getting to spend some time in Mirage's company which, admittedly, wasn't a small thing considering the way his wiring heated up as he settled down next to the mech.

How fragging embarrassing.

"So does this work?" Cliffjumper couldn't help but ask after shifting around for a bit and finding a position he felt okay - and not silly - with sitting in for at least a while.

"We shall see," Mirage challenged, accepting the warning with a nod. He settled down in his seat comfortably, pleased to see Cliffjumper doing the same nearby.

How unexpected. But welcome.

"Well. Regular, base meditation is simply...focused concentration. It's very useful, as I said before. But a little tricky the first few times, I will admit."

Mirage settled in, hands on his knees as his optics slowly dimmed.

"For you, I would recommend thinking about the things currently bothering you: the stuff nagging at you like a rusty, broken bolt under your playing. And focusing on why .'

That didn't make sense at all.

Grimacing, Cliffjumper nonetheless copied Mirage (insofar as to where he put his hands, anyway) and stared down at the floor. Mostly because if he didn't, he'd give in to the urge to sneak a glance at the mech beside him.

Frowning, Cliffjumper also had to resist the urge to drum his fingers against his knees. Wasn't meditation supposed to be not thinking? How would getting stuck on any one of the annoying things buzzing around in his processor help?

With... whatever it was meditation was supposed to help with.

Because he did have a lot of things that were bothering him; the slagging twins, a few others. The mech right beside him - though he quickly pushed that thought away since if he lingered he'd start to think and he was pretty sure he'd blush, then.

Couldn't do that here.

A single optic brightening, Mirage smirked a bit as he caught that doubtful grimace.

"Why we focus on the 'why'- is because you need to remember these things are not that terrible. Whatever it is, it's probably not as big of a deal as the back of your processor has been making it out to be."

Venting a deep sigh, Mirage's frame made several clicks and pops as it relaxed to a noticeable degree.

"It's not worth the distraction at this time. You are at rest, calm and safe here. Distractions can wait."

Squirming in his seat, Cliffjumper huffed. That was, weirdly, more reassuring than it had any right to be.

"If you say so," Cliffjumper muttered, still not quite able to believe Mirage was right about it, or that it'd help. On the other hand, some of the things he was bothered by could (probably) not touch him here, either literally or metaphorically.

They were quite deep inside the Ark and the mountain both, so even if any Decepticons attacked - even if there was a spy or traitor - they'd have to go quite far to get here. And Mirage was safe.

Well, in some ways. In other ways the mech was basically a live bomb, and that thought had Cliffjumper glancing sideways at Mirage and then straight forward again, frowning.

Okay, so besides that... well, yeah. Maybe none of those things mattered right now.

But establishing that and ignoring thoughts of Mirage only made him all the more aware of other things. Like his frame and all the little workings and how was he supposed to relax with that?

"I do," Mirage quipped, optics dimmed to the point of offlining. Oblivious to Cliffjumper's concerns about him, Mirage vented again, frame continuing to relax by degrees. He certainly practiced what he preached, frame and field slowly oozing calm contentment.

"Once your worries are assuaged, focus on your frame. The rumble of your engine, the tension in your joints. Let it calm and relax; get comfortable. Feel the flow of your energon, the beat of your spark. Steady it slowly."

This was ridiculous!

Scowling at the wall beyond the altar, Cliffjumper squinted his optics nearly shut as he at least tried to do what Mirage was saying to do. Thing was, while he certainly could pick up on all those things, that was as far as he could get.

And then Cliffjumper realised he hadn't ever paid enough attention to actually feel/hear his own spark before. Not in the way Mirage walking him through this actually helped him do, and it was distracting.

Slowing it?

It was all he could do to just catch it, a slightly static whisper that was too soft for a crackle and didn't really have weight, but still washed through regularly...

Cliffjumper didn't have a clue of it, but his somewhat scrunched and annoyed expression probably looked pretty funny from the outside as he tried to follow Mirage's suggestions and didn't really relax... but he wasn't really squirming around either, incredulously distracted as he was.

His expression was pretty funny, as Mirage was sneaking a peek to check on Cliffjumper's outward progress. Stiffing a laugh, Mirage grinned and cast his field awareness toward the minibot's frame, ghosting just outside the edge of his awareness.

What he found was surprising and pleasing. Cliffjumper was on the right track. And he wasn't squirming as much anymore, finally.

"Very good, Cliffjumper. Good progress. What do you feel?"

"Gah!" Jerking, Cliffjumper twisted around in his seat and stared at Mirage before he shook his helm, looking away with a blush.

"Dunno," Cliffjumper muttered with a scowl, crossing his arms over his chestplating as he settled back properly in his seat again.

"Don't get how I'm supposed to relax with all that noise goin' on." Not just his frame in general, but his spark too - he could swear he could almost pick up the colour of it, like he'd seen those strands of light during Mirage's ritual, but that was just strange, since it was still in him.

This was annoying and odd and he wasn't sure if he wanted to try again.

Mirage snorted at the reaction, amused and a little surprised himself. Cliffjumper was not supposed to be able to sense that.

"Noise'?" Mirage raised a optic ridge.

"It's your frame. Calm it, or allow the orderly hum wash over your audials and drown everything else out."

"Well, it's noisy when that's the only slaggin' thing to focus on," Cliffjumper said, optics narrow as he turned his helm away, embarrassed. Because yeah, it was just his own frame.

It wasn't even that it was really loud or busy or anything - at least he didn't think so, but who knew what Mirage meant by 'calm it' - but sitting there focusing on it and it just seemed to take over everything else.

Not that he was sure why he even felt embarrassed - in fact, having realised it, it made him somewhat annoyed instead. Just because he couldn't get this didn't mean he had to be embarrassed, right?

"... but I guess it kinda was doin' the latter." Not that he was sure if just getting caught in the noise was what Mirage meant at all, because he'd also been hyper-aware of any other noise.

Enough so that when Mirage spoke, it'd startled him.

Whoops.

Shrugging fluidly, Mirage settled back, glancing over Cliffjumper's frame. He didn't pull back his field, curious if that was what caused the minibot's jump before.

"Focusing on the noise your frame produces, or letting it fade out as you focus mentally inward, is the easiest way to fall into meditation, in my experience. It will take time to master, of course. You will have to experiment and figure out which works best for you."

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