LET'S BREAK THIS THING IN

[invisiblepinkboat]

"---need an opportunity..." The speaker was interrupted as the door was opened, the intruder looking pleased.

"We just got it." Tall and lanky, the speaker didn't seem to have an actual altmode, but this didn't stand out among the group in the room. Only a handful possessed them, and they were all boat alts. "They asked for someone specifically like you." Everybody in the room looked at each other, and then to the one the newcomer had addressed, and a low, excited murmur started up.

Coming around the table to the door, the newcomer laid a mint-green hand against a pink, rounded shoulder.

"Will you be okay?" The question was sincere, but considering the opportunity they had just been given - and the details had already been transmitted - it was, ultimately, more a show of support than a chance for the subject of everyone's excited chatter to back out.

Not that that would happen.

Not now, not with this.

They needed this opportunity.

Comments

:D

[invisiblepinkboat]

Despite third time's being the charm, at some point hope tends to get lost, and hostile intentions always assumed.

Another tiny little cube went the way of the first, with the same sort of unconcious finesse while Optimus' words caught up to her, and she frowned, temporarily (unknowingly) granting the Prime a bit of reprieve.

"... The Matrix does not choose, then?" That would explain some things, truly, as frustrating as that was.

:3

[ichooseboth]

::...Well I meant that they would not have picked me, given what I am. Or was, I suppose, but...:: he starts over a sudden, encrypted line, wise enough to keep the conversation private when he's motioning subtly toward the senators he's talking about.

Face clouding with thought, that background hum from the Matrix picks up briefly and Optimus' optics dim as he actually checks on that very idea. He hadn't considered that before, the previous Prime's memories were all there and some had been corrupt, but surely even a Prime could fall...?

Oh, they could. Nova and Sentinel both fell, and the depths are chilling. But Zeta's memories were only there as a warning, not as a Prime.

He'd be the council's choice, and someone like Orion Pax would never have had a chance if fate hadn't intervened.

There is a quiet creak of metal, and the little tray of cake in the current Prime's hand is suddenly sporting curled edges.

[invisiblepinkboat]

::I see. One would think the point is the individual, not where they come from, at least when it comes to the Prime.:: It's more of a "common knowledge" comment, both because she cannon, rightly, ask at all about his origins. What he was has no bearing now... or shouldn't, and the setting ins't really right for her to inquire about details like that...

It's also something she's losing faith in; they've attempted to lobby two Primes by now, but have been stonewalled or herded from the beginning, and no one has any patience anymore.

The heightened hum has Elita look up from her contemplation of the tiny cubes to Optimus, and when he bends the tray, she puts her own plate down to lay a hand over one of his.

"Optimus..?" She might take some pleasure from having been given perimission to use his designation, especially in a setting like this.

*been the council's choice

[ichooseboth]

For a long moment, he can only shake his head, too indignant to speak; only briefly resting a hand over Elita's to show he isn't about to continue his plate-crumpling rampage.

The sudden knowledge is massive and terrible, and with a burst of certainty he knows he needs to do something about this. It's his duty, his right: something like this can't be allowed to happen again. Zeta was a terrible 'Prime', egotistical and corrupt, and they just put him in that position because they could.

Because they didn't dare allow the public access to the Matrix.

::The Matrix chooses, but sometimes, it seems, not everyone heralded as a Prime is.::

If he had time to think about it, if he wasn't reeling from the revelation in his own spark, he might not have spoken out, even growling over a locked line. He didn't know Elita, despite their enjoyable conversation. But really, what did it matter? Something this big shouldn't have to be hidden.

It just needed to be reveled at the most politically damaging moment.

[invisiblepinkboat]

While she had honestly been surprised and a bit worried at the destruction of the tableware, she was hardly afraid. It was not her he was angry at, after all, and if she understood it all somewhat, as well as from what she'd picked up about him, then it might even be good whatever he'd learned.

(Or good as in the outcome might be, hopefully.)

::... What?!:: Only with the support of her class function does Elita's faceplates remain in a pleasant neutral expression. Maybe slightly widened optics, her mouth briefly just a breath slacker, but since she's looking at her client, that might all be written off as a (more pleasant) reaction to him.

::That... But that would mean... I mean.:: Breathe, Elita. She could do that. Straightening, she pressed slightly closer again, offering the Prime a piece of cake from the plate he'd just mutilated with her hands, as much to have something to do as to use him for some sort of support.

Just a moment.

[ichooseboth]

::It means, someone lied. Many someones.:: If he wasn't locked down with Prime-level encryptions he wouldn't even be voicing such ideas over the comm. The staggering scope of the deception merited no less.

He was trembling with rage on the inside, both his own and that of the Matrix. It had been used for so long, having a Prime that might actually do something made the voices of the ancient Primes to the song for change.

Calmly, he took the offered cake without betraying his inner conflict. Control, Optimus. Now is not the time.

[invisiblepinkboat]

Her shock finally passed, even as it was compounded by his assertion of a lot of (powerful) individuals having lied. Elita was curious to note the impressive encryptions their channel had, and, in an attempt to keep up the ruse of something nearing normal, picke dup her plate of tiny cubes and ate another one.

::What will you do? ... What can you do---Ah. I. Apologize.:: Elita winced, realizing she was overstepping rather severely, but his allowance of familiarity had made her slip slightly, especially as she was still unsettled by the knowledge that they had been fighting for their rights not against - most probably - any actual Prime(s), but rather fakes set there by the council.