Barricade [Bayverse] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
namesnotprowl) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
re_alignment_logs2013-01-02 10:46 am
namesnotprowl) wrote in re_alignment_logs2013-01-02 10:46 am
Entry tags:
Questions, Questions [CLOSED]
WHO: Barricade and Solus Prime
WHERE: Solus's workshop under her temple
WHEN Today or so
WHAT: Barricade and Solus have things to discuss
WARNINGS: n/a
Barricade follows the map he was given carefully, noting side tunnels but sticking to the path he was given. The last thing he wants is to get lost under his own FirstForged's temple. That would just be embarrassing. He doesn't even really know how far down he's gotten.
He shifts back to base mode shortly before reaching the marked destination, exventing quietly. Better to enter a meeting walking, really.
... maybe he ought to knock.
WHERE: Solus's workshop under her temple
WHEN Today or so
WHAT: Barricade and Solus have things to discuss
WARNINGS: n/a
Barricade follows the map he was given carefully, noting side tunnels but sticking to the path he was given. The last thing he wants is to get lost under his own FirstForged's temple. That would just be embarrassing. He doesn't even really know how far down he's gotten.
He shifts back to base mode shortly before reaching the marked destination, exventing quietly. Better to enter a meeting walking, really.
... maybe he ought to knock.
no subject
Solus nods in agreement, before giving him a look that contains a hint of smug pride as she leans in to examine the mark.
"...Indeed. It is quite normal in this situation, and nothing to be concerned about. It has grown because the strength of your...alignment, of sorts, to me has grown. It grants you a boon."
She'll just wait to tell you what it is until after she sees how you react. Some of you are so touchy.
no subject
"Well if this... alignment starts feeling like a... a symbiont-host connection, I'm afraid I'll have to be concerned. I don't have the best track record with them." Which is probably phrasing it kindly, really. He only brings it up because McCrane had asked him about it and he was a little fearful of what that meant. Still, his curiosity overrides things a touch. "A boon. This isn't going to be like McCrane's over-the-shoulder flashlight, is it? Because I still have functioning headlights."
no subject
Solus made a face, as close to sputtering in indignation as she ever got.
"I can imagine why you might jump to such a conclusion, but no. In the end, this connection is only beneficial. And it is certainly more useful than a flashlight." If a simple 'flashlight' was all that her brother's gift truly was.
"Prima's gifts involve Light. Both literally, as I am am sure you have noticed, and more...metaphorically. Hence McCrane and his 'flashlight'. Mine, however, lie in other areas. As do your own. Which is why my mark found it's way to you in the first place."
Her smile returned, slowly.
"So I would rather hope you find noticeably more efficient self-repair systems a far more acceptable boon than a 'flashlight'."
no subject
And he does like how stuck on his (rather crude) shorthand for McCrane's boon she is. It surely got him the reaction he'd been hoping for; he'll take the little victories of occasionally surprising a FirstForged, whether it's with wit or an apparent lack of it.
Though the mention of what said boon actually might be makes his wings perk up, flicking lightly. "Considering how often I normally end up trashed, I certainly couldn't complain." And the less time he spent on a berth in the medbay, the better. He's a decidedly antsy patient.
"Suppose it make sense how many medics are in your temple, then."
He practically can't swing a flail without accidentally swatting one... and he trusts approximately none of them with his repairs. Possibly because he's the only one that knows his dimension well enough to do the repairs.
no subject
"But yes, I imagine it will help. Do not expect miracles, as it is still only a minor boon. But it will assist with the efficiency and ease of the small things, and could keep you from the edge in a tight situation."
no subject
"The miracle would be me not getting hurt, promise. But I'm hardly going to complain about getting a bit of assistance in the repair department." It's the kind of thing he likes to hear. And the little things can be the hardest for him to get to, anyway.
no subject
Something secretive slips into her gaze, and she smiles her faint, appraising smile.
"If you continue on as you have, it may well go further on in your favor."
She gestures idly to the side of him, to a small tray of small (for her) cubes, that glow far more brightly than usual. ...Were those there before? Unlikely.
"Feel free to partake, or store some 'for the road'." She was pleased enough with how the meeting had gone to share some of her good stock, like a proper host.
"I do, however, have a question for you before you go."
no subject
He starts a bit when he notices the cubes, brow ridges quirking up. Okay, he does not remember those being there before. And those are a lot shinier than normal.
"Ah, thank you." He cautiously picks up a cube - definitely sized for someone a lot bigger than he is - and looks back up to her.
"A question?" All Spark only knows what... but Solus answered his questions, so he might as well return the favor. "All right. What is it?"
no subject
She gives him a brief chance to drink - or not - before she continues.
"While the timing was not the best for a long conversation, you once mentioned something that intrigued me. Something about a device you called a 'solar harvester', I believe?"
She quirks an optic ridge, but there is neither condemnation nor inappropriate intrigue in her question. Merely curiosity.
no subject
"I remember." He remembers not enjoying that conversation particularly - or what happened after - and he'd almost forgotten that he mentioned that thing. "Yeah. It was this artifact, left over from the time of the Primes. Did exactly what it said - it harvested solar energy - just... not in a way you'd expect. There's a pretty long story behind that, too."
A long, awful, awkward story, but he leaves out two of those adjectives. If Solus wants to hear it, he'll talk and let her decide.
no subject
"Hm. For energon, I assume?"
It wasn't hard to catch all the references made to energon shortages by the various (often hungry) Marked that poured in from various Cybertrons of the future. A harvester for any sort of energy would be the logical solution.
"It sounds like a story I might wish to hear. Tell me of these Primes, and what they crafted."
Be it useful...or cautionary.
no subject
Now that part had been a lot of science he never understood... because really? He couldn't. He wasn't there.
"All right. Well, have to go all the way back. In the beginning, there was this cube... the All Spark. It landed on what would be Cybertron and, to my knowledge, made the Primes to help it terraform the planet into what we knew. The Primes were... vastly powerful and had much more intricate designs than the rest of us did, but the majority couldn't transform in those days."
They didn't really have mystical powers, for the most part, which is part of why the FirstForged perplex Barricade as much as they do.
"But there was a problem. The Cube could only make so much energon; it needed solar energy to make more, and had crash-landed on a planet too far from any sun to leech the energy passively. So once the planet was finished, it tasked the Primes with getting it that energon, and made the first of us that could shift into vehicle modes, to help them find suns to... well. Harvest."
Can Solus see where this is headed yet?
no subject
Interesting.
But yes. She did see where the story was heading. Though she still had to ask, if only to confirm.
"So they went to these stars. And how much did they harvest from them?"
Given the dire tone, she's going to guess 'the entire thing'.
no subject
"They had their rules, though, as far as the suns they destroyed to feed the Cube. No stars from systems supporting sentient life. Just... one of them disagreed with the rule. Formed the first version of the Decepticons and turned against the rest. 'And forever after he was known as the Fallen', as it goes. The ones that weren't slaughtered killed themselves, to seal away the Matrix - the key to the last solar harvester in existence. The Fallen was also sealed away, in a tomb buried on Cybertron."
Which he admits is probably par for the course in some ways, in most universes. Aside from the whole 'destruction of suns' part, that is. But after that is where it gets tricky.
"Two Primes survived. A scientist, Sentinel Prime, and the youngest of them, Optimus."
no subject
And it is a grim picture. Probably not her brothers then, though the stories of Matrices and the 'The Fallen' have been told to them before, from many worlds. And oft ignored as unrelated to them.
Perhaps unwisely.
Solus makes a face, pausing for a moment as she tries to picture such a powerful construct. It could be made, easily so if she were so inclined. But there was hardly any cause to make such a destructive device. They had energy aplenty. But her curiosity around it was largely settled.
"Unfortunate that this device was so abused, and your Primes betrayed. But only two survivors? And what of this cube?"
no subject
Which is why he doesn't them a whit even when he's stuck in other dimensions. There have been too many instances of Primes nearly getting him, his species, his planet, or all three destroyed.
"Only two Primes that survived; some of the other Cybertronians survived, as well. As for the All Spark... without a steady supply of solar energy, its energon production dropped off. The survivors of the war and what few hatchlings they produced split into clans and started warring over the little energon that was left."
no subject
Solus vented a quiet sigh. 'Poor luck' indeed. Such fates seemed to afflict far too many worlds.
"Your tale is a unfortunate one, Barricade. I am saddened to hear of it. I assume this war lingers on without respite?"
no subject
"Not that one. Sentinel Prime, with help from his charges Optimus and Megatron, figured out a way to pull a star to Cybertron. The proximity was just close enough to get the Allspark to produce more energon. Most of the clans united. I was hatched on a sunlit world in golden times."
His plating shivers a bit, rattling against itself. "But when the Science Division dug up the Fallen's sarcophagus and Lord High Protector Megatron of the Defense Forces took an unnatural curiosity in it..." Barricade lets it trail off. There's your war without respite, Solus.
no subject
And she isn't even going to ask about Barricade being 'hatched'. Another time, perhaps.
"Unfortunate, that those times did not last. This 'unnatural curiosity' led the Fallen's release, and to your current war?"
no subject
Barricade nods shortly. "I can only assume so. That and... we had an encroachment around the same time. Invaders showed up and attacked us, presumably to get the Cube. Lord Megatron used the unease of potential further attacks to get most of the Defense Force - the Deceptions after - on his side. Then he sent us after the Science Division - what became the core of the Autobots. We'd been fighting ever since."
no subject
Solus slowly nodded. Such a dark tale, one that seemed to end poorly. She would share some of this with Alpha Trion - he would surely find it a grim curiosity.
"Thank you for answering my questions despite the subject matter, Barricade. I will ask no more of your time if you have no further questions yourself."
no subject
The details that Barricade had, anyway, dug out of reports and idle gossip from the early days. And his own recollections of the invaders and the start of the 'Cons.
"If it helps keep someone else from making our mistakes, the telling at least has some value. And that part of the subject is long-past." It didn't hurt the way later things did. Barricade shakes his head. "I asked you the only two I have at the moment. If any more come up I'll contact you, and I hope you'll do the same in return."
If it's anything he can help with, anyway.
Well that only took like four months. :V
Another nod, and she gestures to the remaining stack of cubes.
"Agreed. I will contact you if I need anything further - feel free to take another before you leave."
Then she turns, already going back to her hammer and forge. A clear dismissal, but she trusts him enough for Barricade to show himself out.