The Start of Something Interesting...

[lastonepercent]

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...

Comments

[lastonepercent]

"And that," Mirage said, sadly triumphant, "is exactly why we do not like to share our ways with anyone outside the priesthood."

He leaned back in his chair, all limbs and angles as he shook his head.

"There are rules. Limits. Both for safety and morally-inclined reasons. Breaking those...have nasty consequences."

[cliffjumper]

"... I guess," Cliffjumper repeated with a roll of his optics, even if it didn't seem exactly fair. But, on the other hand... you could probably do some damage if it was possible to do more than what Mirage had explicitly told him or the things he knew were involved with this sort of power, so it did make sense.

"Just 'cause ya can do something doesn't mean you should do it?" Cliffjumper tilted his helm and yeah... he did agree. Then he flickered his optics in confusion.

"Consequences? Like... actual, not from anyone else 'cause they saw what ya did, but rather as a... uh, reflexive reaction in response to what you did, consequences?"

[lastonepercent]

"Mmm. Both." Mirage grinned wryly.

"Those who are found by the Priesthood to break the rules...well. We dealt with such things internally," he said, expression hinting on feral.

"But there are tales of those who, hidden above reproach or censor for too long, broke the unwritten rules too wantonly, too vastly, and well. Primus has ways of making his wrath known."

[cliffjumper]

Staring at that expression, Cliffjumper almost shivered. Almost, but he kept control of it, because like slag was he going to tremble in front of Mirage, whatever the circumstances!

"...Really? So what's supposed to have happened for them?" Whether he believed it or not, Cliffjumper sure was interested either way.

[lastonepercent]

"Hmm. Well, the rumors of spontaneous mechanical combustion came from somewhere, after all," Mirage laughed, only half teasing; he didn't want to scare the mech too badly, after all.

"But honestly? They tend to meet poor fates, generally in the most deviously karmatic way possible, if they don't simply... vanish entirely."

[cliffjumper]

If Mirage was trying not to scare CLiffjumper, he'd failed. Not that the minibot wasn't doing his best to pretend he wasn't unsettled, but that didn't take away the fact that he most certainly was.

"... you ain't just yanking my wires, are ya?" Staring narrowly across the room at Mirage, Cliffjumper scowled, arms crossed over his chestplates. He wasn't sure he believed all that, but on the other hand he had asked... And while he was pretty sure Mirage was perfectly capable of having him on (from a sense of revenge, if nothing else), he didn't think that was what was going on currently.

So... that probably meant the stories he mentioned either were true, or he believed them to be. Which was... scary unsettling.

[lastonepercent]

"No, I'm not." Mirage smiled half apologetically, largely unrepentant. If frightening Cliffjumper just a little kept him from making foolish mistakes with whatever bits of priestly lore he learned during this endeavor, it would be worth it.

Both for his sake, and for others.

"There are only a few confirmed cases, of course. But enough circumstantial evidence to back up others to make it a very viable result."

[cliffjumper]

Well, Mirage had certainly succeeded in his goal.

"Creepy," Cliffjumper muttered and tightened his arms a little where they were still crossed over his chestplating. He wasn't, exactly, superstitious, but Mirage was being serious enough that the part of him that... almost... (okay, actually) was certainly was feeling twitchy.

"... so, is there any other things, ya know, in general, people don't usually believe in that's actually or probably true?" The question spilled out before he'd thought about it, but Cliffjumper didn't regret it.

Well, no more than the little squirming part inside that was already on edge, but if that was true, what else could be?

[lastonepercent]

"Well yes. It is supposed to be unsettling - it defeats the purpose if it is not."

Mirage gave Cliffjumper a long, searching stare. Did he really, really want to know? He was clearly disturbed enough as it was... Finally, he shrugged.

"Probably. You might have to ask for specific instances though. Things I know as 'true' might not register as rumor - and I surely do not know all rumors that lack any truth."

[cliffjumper]

Cliffjumper just huffed at that, once again wondering if Mirage was just having him on, but something told him that no, Mirage wasn't. So that still left something existing that was pretty terrifying to think of, and not in a way that could be rectified.

"Didn't really have any in mind... just, ya know... remembered there's always these things people say sometimes, even if they don't believe 'em?" Gesturing with a hand loosely, Cliffjumper shrugged and stared at the floor.

"... really hope they won't want us to do too much stupid stuff... Especially not any slagging thing like you'd feel right at home with," Cliffjumper said, changing the topic mostly because he was tired of feeling unsettled.

Not that thinking about possible high-class parties or whatever was much better, if in a very different way.

[lastonepercent]

"Oh, I'm sure they will have us do things that will keep us both on the edge of our struts," he laughed, giving the red mech a shrug. They still had some time left - the conversation was getting interesting enough to delay a little longer.

Especially when it came to regional superstition. Something the Towers themselves were not immune to, of course, but no way to know for sure what Cliffjumper was actually referring to.

"You're going to have to give me examples, Cliffjumper. Vanishing t-cogs? Rust walkers? Spark ghosts? Circuit watchers? I've heard a number of stores, but I doubt I've heard them all."

[cliffjumper]

Shifting in his seat, Cliffjumper huffed, looked out of the window, and then back to Mirage.

"... Like spark ghosts, yeah. And, ya know... stupid stuff like destined spark mates, or bein' able to use more than the one ability some people get through the power chip rectifier... slag like that."

He hoped Mirage wouldn't laugh about the mention of spark mates. Not that he believed in that, or anything, but he was embarrassed just mentioning it. He had to admit he was curious about the tales of those who either had no power of the spark mediated through their power chip rectifier at all still being capable of using abilities like they did, or someone having more than one.

[lastonepercent]

"Well, I don't know about destined spark mates," Mirage grinned, helm falling back with a chuckle. The idea was as cheesy as it was sparkwarming, really. It wasn't something Mirage pondered all too often, even if it warmed his vents at the thought.

"That is rumor and legend even to us, despite some rites that may hint otherwise."

He shook his helm, optics bright. Sorry Cliffjumper, no yes or no answer on that one.

"But yes, there are confirmed records of spark ghosts - very rare - same for multiple-ability outliers."

[cliffjumper]

"Oh." Cliffjumper wasn't sure whether he was relieved or a bit annoyed it wasn't true. Even if Mirage didn't know one way or another. Because the thing was if it was true, then all the twittering about it would at least make sense.

On the other hand, if it wasn't true there wasn't anyone who fit better for anyone else beyond the usual ways.

With a little huff, Cliffjumper shook his helm and then looked back at Mirage, frowning.

"Really? How's the latter even supposed to work anyway?"

[lastonepercent]

"Ghosts? Or you mean outliers?"

Mirage could only shrug, somewhat helpless.

"We are unsure. Most aren't stupid enough to allow themselves to be caught and tested. Sparked with multiple chips or a glitch in the chip-reading programming? I don't know, I am a priest not a theoretical medic."

[cliffjumper]

"Both, I guess..." Cliffjumper said, tilting his helm as Mirage attempted some scientific explanation. And while that was probably more logical and funny both, it wasn't what he'd expected as a reply.

He grinned nonetheless.

"Well, maybe you should change career, that was a pretty good attempt." Well, to be honest, Cliffjumper didn't know at all if it had been, but teasing Mirage, even now in this sort of truce, just came out anyway.

[lastonepercent]

"Ha ha, very amusing." Mirage huffed, only half serious.

A quick check of his internal chronometer made Mirage start in his chair, sitting up with a quick stretch.

"Well. If we're done here, we should probably get going. Or at least, I should. You could probably stay here if you wished, though I should take that tour soon."

Though relaxed once again, Mirage wasn't sure if pressing Cliffjumper to take the tour and behave at the same time would be a wise course of action.

[cliffjumper]

Cliffjumper, torn between wanting to know what their (very) temporary 'base' looked like, and not at all feeling like treading on whatever fine line Mirage considered 'reasonable' in this situation, hesitated for a moment before he grunted and shook his helm.

"You go. I'll keep an optic on things in here," Cliffjumper said, and he'd just have to... trust that Mirage would tell him anything he needed to know from the tour. Even if that made his spark rebel, he also didn't feel like having the same sort of situation like when they'd first gotten onboard.

[lastonepercent]

"Very well," Mirage agreed, trying not to sound too relieved. Stretching, he slid out of the comfortable seat with a florish, plating and field settling back into a more appropriate 'priestly/diplomatic' mindset. He gave himself a once-over in the nearest mirror, buffing a mostly imaginary scuff from his arm with a quickly appearing-and-disappearing polishing cloth.

"Comm me if anything changes."

Giving Cliffjumper a final nod, Mirage headed out the door, giving the diplomats a comm ping to let them know he was on his way.