(Untitled)

[primus_seeress]

((description of the temple here))

Auspex has returned to the sanctuary, followed by another version of Ratchet that she has met in the Nexus, who wished to speak with her in a place not quite as... in the middle of everything... as the Nexus is, especially with the Chaos Bringer loitering nearby

Comments

[party_doc]

((For the sake of Ratchet's personal continuity, I'm going to assume the move to Cybertron takes place after he meets Vitalicon.))

His footsteps seemed to echo across all of Cybertron as he entered the temple, metal on metal, son on the father. It had been a long time since he'd attended service - when was the last? Before leaving on that fateful voyage, when Prime had chosen to damn them by sending the Ark crashing to Earth? Before that, even? He was standing before the mosaic representing Primus and Unicron becoming trapped in their asteroid prisons, as ever aware of the bitter poetry of the whole slagging thing.

As ever, the voice deep within his spark was snide, overblown.

Warrior School: Physician, heal thyself

[primus_seeress]

*After a long pause, fingers touch Ratchet's shoulder gently. Sympathetic indigo optics peer down at him in concern* Of course you are, for asking. Your spark is... strange, somehow, and you carry many heavy ghosts of the past. Tell me?

[party_doc]

His shoulders slump.

"Where am I to start, priestess?"

Apparently, the decor wasn't to Megatron's liking. Ratchet clutched his chest as his laser core sparked sharply, tipping him to one side. He grunted, steadied himself with his other arm.

[primus_seeress]

*Auspex's optics brighten in alarm, and she moves around to the side he's leaning on, to kneel beside him and hopefully help steady him* What..? *she pauses for a moment, sorting through the many impressions* It's like you have... more than one person in your spark. You only possess one in your shell, but it's... jumbled. Do you know of this?

[party_doc]

Ratchet is a respectful Autobot by nature, and was once very devout - but the look he gives Auspex just then conveys something along the lines of "What are you, slagging stupid?"

"I'm... aware, yes."

[primus_seeress]

*Auspex senses the momentary disdain that accompanies the look and the thought, and winces slightly* You would be very surprised to know how unaware many people are of their conditions, even serious ones. I needed to ask.

Will you tell me of the circumstances that introduced this other-ness to your own spark? It's... not something I've encountered very often.

[party_doc]

"Where, precisely, is the best place to start?" The academy days? Pushing Perceptor to work in the same department that Jetfire and Starscream would eventually join? Setting Orion Pax up with a lovely, familiar feminine Autobot at a party? Or after the crash...

He looked about. "You don't have a font here. For the Rite of Oneness. I suppose your law and religion are a bit more separate here than they are on the Cybertron I came from..."

[primus_seeress]

I assume it was a single event that... fused the energy of someone else's spark into your own..? Start wherever you'd like, whatever weighs on your mind. I will listen to anything you tell me.

*she blinks at the momentary distraction, but answers* If I'm understanding you correctly, there are similar formalities that can be performed in a sanctuary, in this world, though they are usually reserved for special occasions. Such a vessel is stored away when not in use. The major capitols and palaces also have such things.

[party_doc]

"Mm." His hands clasped behind his back and he looked up at the high ceilings, then over to the mosaic of Primus entering the asteroid that would become Cybertron, two smaller rocks nearby which would become its moons. A graphic of Earth came up in his optics, overlaid the mosaic. The vectors of movement depicted matched, and while the two bodies weren't to scale... it was all too appropriate. Of course, Earth only had one moon... anymore

[primus_seeress]

It... was quite memorable in my universe as well, yes. They had hoped to find a new source of energy, as the planet's supply had been wasted in war. When they did not return... Cybertron suffered famine, and necessary shutdown. Very little happened here, while we waited for news. There wasn't enough energy to be had, to do much of anything

[party_doc]

I suppose that is part of my question. Is my "calling" my role, or the circumstances that come about as I attempt to fill that role

[primus_seeress]

*She tilts her head thoughtfully, listening to his troubled thoughts with open sympathy, hand still on his shoulder, though she watches for signs of his discomfort at that* Your function is a surgeon, but you find yourself filling the roles of war instead..? Perhaps... there is a reason you were chosen to be the one left to act, after this ambush, but... tell me more about this? What happened?

[party_doc]

His face darkened.

"Megatron. Betrayed and deposed by Shockwave, he was prowling the corridors of the ship--our ship--and he found me. To say we 'fought' would be absurd, he swatted me around like stray scraplet. I tried to stand my ground, but... In the end, the only way to save myself was to be a Decepticon. To lie, to trick. I claimed I knew of a way to beat Shockwave, which I did not. I wanted to buy time. And Megatron called my bluff."

He looked around one more time. "The font." As though one might now appear, even after her explanation. "We had one on the Ark, of course. And Megatron knew how the rite went. And so we split our wrists, merged our fuel. I was sworn to uphold the rite, to make good on my claims. We were brothers now, I and the lord of all evil."

A shadow passed. "We are brothers still."

[primus_seeress]

You did not expect him to believe you, when you lied? *she sighs, brow furrowing in thought* Or more that the safety of your fellow Autobots was more important than your honor? This rite... is it a promise to the other participant, a promise to the powers in charge of Cybertron, or to Primus, or something else?

I assume this promise was not fulfilled... what happened?

[party_doc]

Simply: "I swore an oath in Primus's name, and became the first Autobot in known history to break that oath."

Pause.

"What happened is that I won anyway, by deception and guile, and with added muscle. I rose the Dinobots--you might recall them from the records as the Dynobots..." It was perhaps only sentient robots who could pick up the sliver's difference in pronunciation there-- "...only for their well-known leader to proceed to dominate the Autobots in Prime's absence, ignoring the Decepticons, trying our comrades in farcical trials, TORTURING our own people..."

He slumped against a nearby bench. "Prime always saw the good in him. But I know what he had Wheeljack build, that thing he strapped Blaster to. Primus, what did I do to my friends...?"

[primus_seeress]

*She winces. Oath-swearing is dangerous... even Primus doesn't recommend it. She feels badly for him... what a choice to make..*

Er.. I know Sludge, actually. Or one of the dimensions' counterparts, at least. It sounds as though they are older, in your dimension. They aren't even yet a vorn old, in his, and in mine.

*Auspex sits nearby, patting his arm, probably ineffectually, but she does wish to reassure him* I... your Dinobots sound very different than what I am used to. That... *her optics flicker for a moment* That is very hard, yes. You mustn't blame yourself for that, however. You were not responsible for his actions.