Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Aug 26, 2009 10:14:12 GMT -5
"Mirage, joining the Decepticons would have been neither the easy, nor the obvious road for me to spite my build type." Oracle points out with quiet patience. "While it might have appeared to be both in the short term, the results of what might have happened should some of the secrets that have come out while I've been on Gillanan been discovered then, the results would have been unpleasant I imagine. I had no wish to return to being either lab experiment or pet killer, as you called it." If he was looking for a moral argument, sorry she's fresh out. She actually does prefer the Autobot ideals, it just didn't factor in her decision very much and she wasn't going to lie to him and say otherwise.
Listening to the rest of what he has to say, she chuckles softly and attempts to tap him on the nose lightly without fully pulling her hand from him. "Hey, I appreciate that, I do. Most of my early history isn't fun to remember but if I couldn't handle it I wouldn't be telling you at all. I'd be letting you keep trying to pry it out of me until I wanted to pitch you out an airlock." Alright so the tone is cheerful, even if the words aren't entirely joking.
Switching gears back to the previous conversational thread, she actually hopes she's not poking too tender a spot for him. "And you? You mentioned being courted by both sides, but what made you finally choose? And why the Autobots?" She's rather curious herself. He's no more a white knight type than she is, though she suspects both of them are on the lighter side of the middle on the sliding grey scale.
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Post by Mirage on Aug 26, 2009 17:10:32 GMT -5
It is a tender spot, yes, but not terribly so. And it is an expected question, and so he is prepared. He ceases nibbling at her wrist and hold her hand in both of his, bringing it down to the table.
"The old ways were obviously lacking, and something needed to be done to upset the system, yes. But Megatron went about it in a decidedly poor way." He shakes his head. "Too much wanton destruction. Too much needless death. They turned their guns not just on those who opposed them, but on those who stood aside. Neutrality was not allowed."
"Though some did try, tried so very hard, to remain so," he says softly, "Too many from my class thought the war was either a faraway thing that could never touch them, or thought refusing to choose a side kept them and their way of life safe."
"It did not."
Mirage looks down at their clasped hands. "I cannot name a single friend from my circles who attempted to remain neutral that is still alive."
He sighs and looks up again, "I wanted what was best for Cybertron. Neither faction could give me that; both would destroy her. But the Autobots were the lesser of the two evils."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Aug 26, 2009 17:49:10 GMT -5
Listening to him speak, Oracle finds there really isn't much else she can do but listen. While she understands what he's saying, she doesn't really have the proper framework to do more than absorb what he's telling her and try to put it into some kind of perspective.
What she didn't miss, was that it did seem to still hurt.
When Mirage looks down at where his hands are clasping one of hers on the table, she brings her other still free hand to rest lightly on top of all three. The motion is a little awkward, but she has figured out by now that he seems to equate casual touch with comfort and some sort of grounding touchstone both, and she's trying to help.
"Sometimes the lesser of two evils is the best you can do, and you at least had a noble motivation behind your choice." Oracle can't help but point that out. It sounded like there might have been more than a few flaws in the execution, but the intent wasn't entirely selfish.
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Post by Mirage on Aug 26, 2009 20:37:09 GMT -5
Of course it still hurts. For Mirage, it had been but hours before he was displaced that he lost those last few friends, lost them when the Decepticons destroyed the last neutral base at Altihex. But it has been months now, and distance lessens the hurt.
The attempt at comfort is appreciated, though, and he gives her hand a gentle squeeze in return.
However, he shakes his head at her attempt to name him noble, "Hardly, love. That choice was as selfish a one as any other I have made. I know that too well to pretend to any false nobility."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Aug 26, 2009 21:27:41 GMT -5
Returning the light squeeze of hands, Oracle made a soft noise of dissent. "Selfish, noble. Sometimes I'd call them sides of the same thing, but I won't argue with you over it." She then grinned in what appeared to be wry amusement at some memory. "I decided philosophy was much better left for others after I managed to get pulled into a debate over the nature of fear versus courage." It had been kinda interesting sure, but it wasn't worth the knots her logic processors got all tied into.
Looking momentarily thoughtful, she turns her attention up to the sky before looking at Mirage again. "So curious one, have I satisfied most of that interest for the moment? If I have, perhaps we can walk while I ask the last few of my own, and any you still have as well? Assuming of course you don't have yet another surprise planned for this evening." She doesn't move to rise from the table yet as she gives him a teasing grin.
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Post by Mirage on Aug 26, 2009 22:22:37 GMT -5
Mirage gives her hands one last kiss before disentangling from them, then finishes off his drink. "I think a walk would be an excellent idea. I've no other actual stops planned- for this trip, that is."
He smiles as he rises and offers her his hand. "Or questions planned, either. Though I can not guarantee more will not come to mind."
"Pick a direction, love."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Aug 27, 2009 10:34:27 GMT -5
Oracle considers her own previously abandoned drink, her fuel levels, and her own plans for the next short while, then takes a long sip before replacing her half empty glass on the table again.
Standing gracefully and stepping away from the table, she takes Mirage's hand, then after a short and slightly hesitant pause gently tugs him in closer to her side and wraps an arm around him. "I had something in mind in addition to my few questions if you were up for it, but we'll get to it I'm sure. As to my questions I didn't have that many left myself, at least not that I wanted to ask tonight. A few for later though. But for now..." She looks around, taking in the street around them. "I wouldn't really know how to get where I'm going, so how about I pick a destination instead of direction and you take us there? Back to that first tall building would be lovely." She smiles at Mirage, and waits until they've started off before she gets to the business of asking her questions.
"What's it like, having been a part of this?" Her tone is distinctly curious as she gestures around them with a hand. It's almost as far opposite from what she's familiar with as you can get and still be on the same planet, so she wonders how truly different it is. Well, universe differences aside.
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Post by Mirage on Aug 27, 2009 22:02:33 GMT -5
Mirage smiles fondly as she pulls him closer. He feels that despite the rough patches, he has passed a test of sorts. He dares to twist his head and press a quick kiss to her shoulder as he turns them in the proper direction for the building she has requested.
Her question is a bit surprising. He considers his station, his life before, almost as a thing to take for granted. That she finds it worthy of inquiry is surprising. Pleasant, but surprising.
"It is difficult to answer such a question, love. My only frames of reference are 'this' and war. It is not the best sampling."
"There were perils, odd as it may sound. When you are in a circle that has little to do but find ways to entertain themselves, well....sometimes those methods of entertainment become increasingly more and more extravagant. Edgy. Risky. It was not all indolence and indulgence. And some social settings could be more dangerous than a minefield."
Again that faraway look. "Still...it was my life. And it was a good one, I feel."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Sept 1, 2009 20:21:06 GMT -5
Oracle tightens her grip slightly for a moment to pull him just a tiny bit closer in response to the kiss as she smiles down at him. She supposed if she couldn't 'cheat' this might be a bit awkward to walk like this though, sudden stops could result in wing collisions that would be uncomfortable.
She's rather pleased he's taking her question so seriously, even if she apparently didn't phrase it quite right. "I don't mean what was this like in comparison to anything. I'm just curious as to what it was like here. It's so alien to me, you know? And I don't doubt that there were perils at all actually. I mean I'm the last person to ignore the darker underside to things that seem pretty." As Oracle speaks the last few sentences, a momentary look of 'oh, yeah...' crosses her face before a few minor shifts of posture and carriage sand away the roughest edge of the aura of nervous violence that showed up when Mirage started poking her secrets with a stick. She doesn't skip a beat in the conversation to spite whatever just occurred to her. "If it hadn't been a good one, I don't think you would have remembered it with quite the same fondness, or fought so hard to save what you could." There's a slightly confused pause. "Would you?"
It would make no sense at all to her for him to have fought to save a life that he didn't enjoy. Not unless it was out of fear of change, and she didn't see that cowardice in him.
Glancing down the street as she waits for his answer, she tries to see if she can recognize anything. Well, other than the mirror building. When that comes around the corner she'll probably know it, it's pretty distinctive, being reflective and all.
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Post by Mirage on Sept 4, 2009 22:47:39 GMT -5
Mirage does dislike change, and quite a bit at that. He doesn't fear it, no, and he can adapt to most any situation, but Mirage prefers the comfort of the familiar. True, he enjoys testing boundaries and charting new territories, but he likes to have that safe haven to retreat to. It is that desire as much as his wanting to please Oracle which prompted this experiment.
"No, I would not," he answers after some length. Mirage shrugs. "I do not know if I can truly answer your original question with any type of objectivity. This," he waves his hand, "is all I have ever known, Oracle. Could you adequately convey the feel and pulse of your own environment? Explain what it means to fly to one who can't?"
"I can only say that it was a life pf privilege, and like most such, it was not bought without price and penance."
The building she seeks should be just around the next corner.
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Sept 4, 2009 23:19:19 GMT -5
Looking contemplative for a moment, Oracle almost says something, then closes her mouth and ponders a bit further before nodding. "No, I couldn't convey what it means to fly, or at least not adequately, not with words. I might tackle the challenge of my environment since it was much more pedestrian than this, but I do get your point." His choice of comparison amuses her, considering where she's taking them. The life of privilege bit...well everything had a price, and everything had a cost. Sometimes they weren't the same thing and it sounded like to her he knew that pretty well. And that maybe luxuries weren't the only things that had hidden costs got more expensive as you went up in social circles. Go figure.
Still, her musings on what Mirage has said didn't prevent her from missing the sight of the building she had been watching for, and she quickly steered them over in that direction, heading back up for the balcony they had been on before. While she probably could have found another high point, this one worked well and the symbolism suited her too.
Stepping out of the elevator and finally letting go of Mirage, Oracle crossed to the railing of the balcony and looked up at the moons for a moment, then across the city before turning back to look at him. After a moment she held out a hand to him. "I said I would take you flying, yes?" She smiles a bit enigmatically. "So do you trust me not to drop you?" She doesn't ask something as open ended as if he simply trusts her, since it wouldn't be a fair question and she wants an honest answer. It's also a rather valid thing to ask, considering they've already discussed how tempted she's been to do something permanent to him that night. Though considering their location, it's not exactly as much of a concern as it might have been.
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Post by Mirage on Sept 5, 2009 12:14:55 GMT -5
Mirage takes some moments to seriously consider her question as he gazes out over this imitation of the city he so loves. At length, he turns to her.
"I do not think you would drop me, no, though if you did, I would not be harmed. I made a point of engaging the same protocols for this scenario as we use for training. No damage done here would be real, and a lethal blow would stop the simulation."
And alert certain parties, but he does not add that. He imagines she can infer that if he was cautious enough to do one, that he might do the other.
"I hope you do not think ill of me for such a precaution."
He reaches out to try and take her hand. "If the offer is still available, I will gladly accept it."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Sept 5, 2009 16:56:43 GMT -5
If she hadn't been in the process of rebuilding her masks, Oracle's flinch probably would have shown.
That isn't the answer she wanted to hear at all, though she honestly does appreciate his candor. Oracle always will prefer knowing where she stands and to hear the harsh truth over pretty illusions, even if those illusions were what she wanted to see. She had assumed the sim room had been set up that way from the beginning, to be honest she didn't know that function could be disabled in the first place though that could be because she had a tendency to use anything and everything for training anyway. That Mirage would remind her of the fact that there was little point in attempting to kill him, whether by dropping him from heights or through other means, after saying he didn't think she would drop him in the first place...did not give her much faith in how honest he was being.
"I don't think ill of you for the precaution no." There had been other times that night it had been much more of a safety net then now. "I might have thought you foolish without it." Even at this moment it wasn't the simulation room's protocols that bothered her, simply how Mirage had phrased things. She could handle not being trusted. Oracle didn't like it, who would, but she was used to it. It was hard to for people to trust someone that didn't trust them after all.
Injured feelings aside though, she had made an offer and she wasn't one to renege simply because she was told something she disliked. Capturing the hand Mirage extended to her she pulled him in close before scooping him up into her arms. "It's still available." He wants to go, she said she would take him and is capable, as far as she's concerned that's that. "It's a good thing you aren't much bigger though, or this might be a bit awkward. Do hold on though please." She gives him just long enough to get a secure grip before bounding up onto the railing with a short flare of her thrusters, pausing there for only a moment before diving off. There's a good reason she wanted a high place to take off from, since the dive lets her counter the weight of carrying Mirage until she can get up enough speed to stay airborne. It's only a few moment though, before she's arcing back up toward the skyline with a roar of her engines.
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Post by Mirage on Sept 5, 2009 18:26:21 GMT -5
Mirage offers no resistance as Oracle bundles him up, though he can't quite help a gasp as she dives off the balcony. Mirage doesn't mind flying or heights in general, but this is a far cry from anything he's ever done. His grip on round her neck tightens a shade before he can force himself to relax. It takes time, but he slowly relaxes.
He nuzzles along her collar, "This is amazing, but, love, don't over tax yourself on my account."
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Oracle
Minor
The future is always in motion.
Posts: 426
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Post by Oracle on Sept 5, 2009 20:00:10 GMT -5
Taking her attention from the sky in front of them for just a moment, Oracle chuckles as she dares to press a light kiss to the top of his helm. "I won't. You aren't so heavy as to strain me so long as I don't try anything fancy or attempt to go too slow. I just needed the inertia from that dive to get us up here, since I don't have antigravs to help."
Reaching the altitude she was aiming for, she sets about a spiral pattern so that Mirage can see the city from the best angles. Part of her is somewhat mulling over his nervous reaction when she went over the railing, but it isn't immediately pertinent so she'll think more about it later. Like when there aren't pretty things to look at. Speaking of which, she was rather glad it wasn't exactly obvious she was paying more attention to Mirage than the cityscape. That she could look at later, she was only going to get a chance to see his reaction once.
"I have enough fuel to stay up a while, so don't worry about that. Just tell me when you want to go back down." He might outlast her reserves, but if that was the case she could say something then. For now she would rather let him enjoy.
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