re_alignment_logs | Noticing similarities

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Noticing similarities

WHO: Jetfire, Megatronus, anyone else in Megatronus' Quadrant
WHERE: The arena.
WHEN: Around now.
WHAT: Jetfire's waiting for Starscream, and checking out the near surroundings of the temple, he comes upon the arena, which brings up some thoughts about the past. He's a huge white jet hanging in the air, you're welcome to spot him.
WARNINGS: None.

It was strange how easy it'd been to get used to having Starscream close while at the Keep. Closer than before the war, that was. Maybe it was that train of thought that actually made him pay attention to the arena, coming to a stop above it.

It wasn't similar in the least to the arena Starscream had fought in before the war, but these sort of buildings did have a similar design considering their function. Such a simple thing that had laid the base for a war that hadn't just engulfed the (more than one) planet, but the galaxy.

He didn't set down, merely drifted in the air above the arena, and despite the fact that it was empty and no one else was currently around, felt out of place even if he wasn't on the ground in the ring.

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Korra was excited. The arena was huge, and apparently available. She had no sparring partners, but she needed to train. She could go through the katas at least. Warming up for Gunmax's fireworks festival would be cool too. [She did need to take her minds off things, like the issue of figuring out how to get home and even making sure she had enough to eat and drink.]

And so Korra started with the firebending katas first, going through the forms and the appropriate flames burst forth. The fire whip, fire daggers, the dancing dragon despite her lack of a partner, and other katas. She ignored the large shadow over the arena for now.

At first he'd not paid any immediate attention to the girl, but when she started to produce fire out of nothing, Jetfire looked down with a frown and then did a quick, surreptitious scan.

Nothing that'd explain things immediately.

Keeping the static sigh where it belonged - he could deal with this - Jetfire decided to merely ask and hear her own explanation. If it amounted to some form of magic... well, at least this wasn't the first time he'd dealt with it.

Engaging full flight systems again, Jetfire lowered himself to the ground, a bit away to leave her room; he wasn't any longer the tallest mech around, but he was, currently, the biggest beside the Firstforged, so he wouldn't get close enough to appear threatening.

He was silent as she worked for a bit, and then shifted, faint frown present on his faceplates.

"If you don't mind, and know how you're doing it... How does that work?" Jetfire asked with a small wave of his hand towards Korra, indicating both her and the fire.

"Huh? Oh...." Korra looked down at her hands. "I don't know the exact details...I guess it's all still kind of a mystery. Stories say the first firebender learned how to summon and control fire from the Dragons. But it, y'know, involves martial arts--"

And Korra kicked out, fire blasting from her foot, to demonstrate. "And fire comes from the breath." She blew out a small stream of fire as another demo.

... Dragons? Jetfire shook his helm, but said nothing, understanding there really was no use in questioning that, since Korra didn't seem to know really either. But, hm. Frowning thoughtfully as she breathed out and produced fire Jetfire realized whatever this was, it wasn't completely illogical.

Fire needed fuel, after all, and air was part of such fuel.

"You use the martial arts to focus the... ah, energy? Does this involve any other substances as well, or only fire?" If Jetfire had had a better idea of the human philosophy of the four elements, he'd immediately have understood where this was leading and that Korra's control of fire did indeed possibly involve other "substances".

But the Keep hadn't been the most forthcoming, and the magic he'd seen so far had dealt with other things.

"Yeah, these moves help me focus and manipulate the energy I need to bend. I can bend other stuff, like Earth--"

And she demonstrated by bending the stone brace off her arm, having it warp in mid-air. Then she bent it back, curling around her arm.

"--and water--"

She uncapped the water bottle tied to her waist with her pelt, making it spiral around her body before bending it back into the bottle.

Twisting the cap back on the bottle, Korra looked up at the robot. "My name's Korra, by the way. What's yours?"

He'd been about to ask more, when she (did the normal thing) asked for his name, and Jetfire inclined his helm, his wings giving a small flick downwards as well before pulling up in their customary diaginally-upright position as well.

"Jetfire. It's a pleasure." Considering the demonstration again, Jetfire noted she'd only used - except for fire - things that already had an origin. Not creating the substances out of thin air.

"Do you need an already extant source for what you build up energy to control?" It seemed like that, but he would ask before making any assumption, which wasn't the right way to do things.

Especially when he could check with the "source" so to speak.

"I need already existing earth and water to bend, but I can literally make my own fire. Air's...supposed to be the same, self-made like firebending."

He noticed that hesitance and the modifier "supposed", though in itself that would be logical. Any planet that possessed an atmosphere, after all, would vontain plenty of air. But, apparently, it wasn't that easy... for Korra herself, or in general?

Jetfire nodded, helm tilted as he crossed his arms in thought and rested his chin on a curled finger.

"Air isn't working like it 'should' for some reason, here or is that an issue you have normally?"

Korra sighed, deflating.

"It's always an issue I've had, either here or back home."

He had suspected as much. When all the other... ah, substances, seemed to work as they normally did for her, it didn't make sense air - which did exist easily and in abundance - shouldn't be available to control.

"I suppose training is your only recourse to rectify this, or is there some part of this... er, discipline, you haven't mastered yet, in practise or thought?" It wasn't exactly his way of thinking, to phrase these things like he was, but it seemed to be the way that would fit Korra's type of... magic... the best.

"I guess training's the way to go--but it's going nowhere!" Korra threw her hands up.

"But I'm pretty sure it's a spiritual issue too, air's supposed to be the most spiritual of the elements, and I fail at that, too."

"I doubt I can help," Jetfire said with a dip of his helm. Besides the fact that he was wholly unfamiliar with this (magical) practice, they were of different species and functioned completely differently. He didn't think it'd translate well.

"Even if there are certain martial arts in my species' culture where, if properly mastered, one is supposed to be able to harness the spark's power..." Jetfire shook his helm, looking upwards briefly. "I don't know any of them, and considering the differences in how we function, I doubt useful teachings could be translated functionally enough to be of use."

"...But you can fly, right?" Korra tried. The guy seemed like he wanted to help, and she was desperate. "Airbenders can pretty much fly. You have any perspective on that, or tips?"

Korra blinked. "The 'spark?' What's that for you guys?"

He wasn't sure what he could offer would be useful to her, and no matter what, it'd probably come out more technical than she could use simply because that's how he thought (and had to think, when it came to flying).

"Airflow and currents, wind, temperature. How those all work together, not just in the spot I am in, but where I'll be... And where I probably won't, on the other side of the planet." Tilting his helm down to look Korra over, Jetfire shrugged.

"Even if it doesn't seem like it, all air on a planet is part of a single airmass. What happens in one place affects the rest, and to successfully fly, you have to be aware of that." He paused, glancing off towards the dim glow of the light from Prima's temple.

"... I belong up there." This was said a lot more quietly than anything earlier; as close to private... perhaos even "spiritual" as Jetfire would get. Not that he didn't mean it quite literally, technically, as well. His frame was made for flying.

Part of his function.

"Ah... the spark," Jetfire murmured and turned back to Korra. "Made of energy with as of yet unknown properties, it makes us what we are, allows us to function. While a processor and an intact case of that is needed as well, without a spark, the frame would be inert, nonfunctional."

"Sounds like everything is...connected," Korra slowly said, digesting his words.

"So it's like your soul? Your spirit?"

"Simply put, yes. Air might usually not be visible, but it's as physical as the fire you just... created, or the earth," Jetfire said with a nod at Korra, and, more specifically, the stone bracer.

Then he had to pause and consider what Korra was saying, because even with the translation the words she chose weren't being translated into "spark", but similar, related words and even concepts. In the end, Jetfire nodded.

"Insofar as they can be considered equivalent, yes, that's what it is."

It would, perhaps, have been worth noting that Megatronus Prime considered the airspace above the arena his just as much as he considered the arena itself to be his, before setting out to survey it from above.

He'd never had much appreciation for being spied on. (Liege did quite enough of that for everyone.)

For that matter, it had been a long time since they'd had smaller mechs crawling across the face of Cybertron instead of simple monsters, and anyone that he didn't recognize who decided to cross his territory was subject to an inspection. Or an impromptu invitation to battle. The variety was nice, given that his own Acolytes were too obedient to offer much resistance.

It was without warning that he materialized in the air beside Jetfire, giving his wing a harsh slap before gravity dragged him past the flyer. He felt that was enough to make his message clear: Down, jet.

If he'd known that, he'd certainly have taken it into account and perhaps, at least, chosen a spot either closer to the ground, on the ground somewhere, or higher up in the air even.

As it was, there'd been no closer thought than the arena's familiarity causing him to pause above it... long enough to be spotted, obviously. Jerking away from the slap, Jetfire wasn't simple enough to not understand the... ahem, hint given.

So down he went, and despite there - surely - being no reason for it, he still felt unsettled. The whack itself had done nothing except a brief, stinging pain, even on a part of his frame that was naturally and by necessity less armoured and more sensitive, but there was... something.

"I apologize. I didn't actually mean to stop here." Not that he hadn't intended to stop somewhere in the quadrant, but--- Looking up to actually face the Firstforged, Jetfire stopped.

Froze, really, as momentarily he was looking at someone else but that didn't make sense. Shaking his helm with a frown, Jetfire cast a better look over Megatronus, and while yes... there were similarities... That meant nothing.

Right?

Jetfire earned himself a few points in the Prime's view for obeying the silent command rather than panicking or shrieking out loud. Quite a few others wouldn't have taken as well to sudden manipulation of their extremities - but this one was somewhat stockier than the average jet; more durable, perhaps.

He still held a generally poor opinion of flyers as a whole.

"Don't apologize. The fact that you stopped is what kept me from inflicting far worse on your wings. The abominations are not quite so compliant."

Megatronus was accustomed to a certain amount of awe being directed at him when in the presence of his lessers, so Jetfire's response failed to surprise him. He took the opportunity to inspect the smaller mech at the same time, optics seeking out Jetfire's Glyph. It wasn't the one he'd expected to see.

"You're one of Liege's," he said, doing a good job of covering his curiosity. 'Respectful' and 'polite' weren't terms he generally associated with the Liege Maximo's chosen ones. (Unless, perhaps, they wanted something.)

Built to take a beating, especially now compared to earlier in his function, and while the comment about doing far worse if he'd reacted in some other way brought a frown to Jetfire's faceplates, that was all.

Well, except for Jetfire folding his arms over his chestplates, unintentionally shifting the glyph more into view.

"I see," said with a shrug and then continued. "I do know the difference between something harmful or not, so there was no reason to react in any other way." Not that the Prime phrasing it like that wasn't... telling.

And the longer the Firstforged spoke, the more he kept hearing echoes of a very similar voice. He kept from shifting on his feet, but merely barely so.

"Yes. He's... interesting." Jetfire paused, knowing that wasn't actually the word(s) he'd really choose to use from what had begun to emerge about the Firstforged he was... aligned to.

"... You're Megatronus Prime." That almost felt off, but Jetfire was getting frustrated with these... half-familiar flashes, the pitch of the mech's voice... Just because he shared similarities with the one who'd identified himself as the Fallen, meant nothing.

A tank wasn't like another tank, but they did share a similarity in design, so that was probably where it all came from. He barely kept from huffing in annoyance at himself.

There was a twitch to his mouth that might have been called a smile, though it was hidden from sight by his facemask, and his amusement was even less evident when he spoke.

"Yes. He is," he said.

Again, 'interesting' would not have been his adjective of choice to describe Liege Maximo, however well he and Liege tended to get along as compared to their often strained relationships with the other Firstforged. He knew his brother too well, and he knew the type of servants his brother tended to attract too well. Either this jet was out of place, or he was very, very good at playing a part. There was only one way to know if he was here for something.

"Very astute of you; I am. Was it your intention to seek me out, or were you merely interested in surveying my territory?"

He had no reason, of course, to suspect what thoughts were occupying Jetfire's mind. He simply assumed the jet's tense posture was due to being in the presence of a much senior mech.

Out of place, too curious for his own good and willing to try almost anything for science... any one of those would work, except for the assumption that he was a very good actor. Of course, Jetfire was starting to realize he might be out of place.

"Ah... not exactly, no. While the intention's always been to know the layout of the whole of Haven, I was merely waiting for Starscream." He shrugged, not thinking closer about being anything but perfectly truthful for the reason he was here.

Of course, and against his better judgement, something muttered that it was good he'd met this Firstforged face to face in particular. The rest of Jetfire disagreed, though he kept from rubbing his chestplates above his sparkchamber.

Familiarizing himself with the layout of the Haven - snooping, in other words. Now that was something he'd expect of one of Liege's refugees.

"Starscream? Surely you could simply follow the sound of whining and self-aggrandizing directly to him."

He spoke matter-of-factly rather than with any real humor. The jet's ego and argumentative nature certainly hadn't escaped him. In terms of temperament, this one seemed far more agreeable and not quite so concerned with ensuring everyone in the vicinity knew how important he was. He wondered what interest he had in the Decepticon.

"What is your name?"

If that's what the honoured Prime would prefer to call it. Otherwise Jetfire would further call it "gathering parameters for navigational purposes", or maps if you wanted to be simple about it.

"... Jetfire, Megatronus Prime." Hesitating or not before answering, he could hardly decline to answer, and straightened from the shallow nod he'd directed at the Prime.

"And I could do that, yes. His location usually isn't very hard to pick out. If he takes too long I certainly will. Until then, however, I have time enough to wait since he does know I'm here." Jetfire shrugged, vaguely amused even by the matter-of-fact comment. He was well-aware of Starscream's... behaviour, and, well...

"I'll... ah, attempt to make sure he's elsewhere if something actually goes badly for him," Jetfire said dryly, somewhat relieved that they did have a lot of space to roam should Starscream need to... vent.

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Noticing similarities

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