Plot || The Star Wars Vaikuntha Special

[hatejakku]

Who: Open
When: June 8-14
Where: Everywhere
What: The race for the crystals is on!!
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post


Crystals have fallen out of the Dream Width in a beautiful meteor shower and scattered all over the world! Due to their origins and mysterious properties, the Curti Center is interested in gathering as many as they can for researching purposes. To incentivize the public in helping out, O'aka has donated a few silver coupons to those top few who collect the most crystals. There's also a rumor that the one person (or more if there's a tie) who collects the most, wins something marvelous and mysterious~

The hunt for these crystals have taken storm across Vaikuntha and they're suddenly worth a lot. It's all anyone talks about anymore! The locals have gone crazy with it! If you weren't interested to begin with, surely the madness that is this new fad has sunk its teeth in. Besides, who knows what the crystals can actually do? Are they gifts? Curses? Dust collectors? Only one way to find out.

NAVIGATION
❄️ Snow	🔎 Shadow	🔥 Flame	🌼 Flower	☔ Rain	☀️ Sun	❤️ Love	🌵 Arrow
🎭 Sword	🎶 Chime	👻 Grey	🥚 Egg	✉️ Chrome	🏁 Rainbow	🐹 Plasma

LEADERBOARD
Character	| Crystals
Klonoa	| 08 ❄️🔎❤️🌵🎭👻✉️🐹
Kuja	| 07 🔎🌼🎭🎶👻✉️🐹
Frisk.bin	| 06 🔎☔🌵🎭✉️🐹
Uendo	| 05 ❄️🔎🎶✉️🐹
Corrin	| 04 ☔❤️🌵🎭
Red	| 03 🌵🎭✉️
Okuyasu	| 03 ❄️🌼🐹
Tyzias	| 02 ❄️🐹
Megatron	| 02 🌼🐹
Maul	| 02 👻🏁
Sephiroth	| 02 🌼✉️
Naoto	| 02 ❤️✉️
Adrien	| 01 ❄️
Castor	| 01 ✉️
Selphie	| 01 🌵
Pidge	| 01 🥚
Minimus	| 01 🌵
Kenichi	| 01 🐹
Papyrus	| 01 🔎
Naomi	| 01 🌼
Ovelia	| 01 🌼
Asriel	| 01 🎭
Kanji	| 01 ❤️

Comments

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron actually laughs. "Yes, that does sound like him." Of course Rodimus wouldn't have had a plan for after the asteroid burned up other than "hope I survive the impact and go from there". It was a Rodimus plan all over; there was no rational way such a plan could ever hope to work...

...and yet it did. He made it work. "Your information may be second-hand but I don't doubt its authenticity."

A few moments later, Megatron speaks again, more seriously now, now that the ice has been broken somewhat. "...I've been meaning to ask." He says. "About the mutiny." He hasn't felt comfortable trying to address the issue with Magnus, given how frosty their relationship was starting out, but now that things have mellowed out a bit, he thinks it might be safer. "How are you all holding up?" Rodimus had made it quite clear he intended to follow after Getaway and get his ship back, and privately Megatron had wondered about Getaway's claim that the entire crew had been united behind him in it, but events had forced Megatron to sit out what followed in the Functionist universe. It was something he'd often wondered about over the following centuries.

[legalcy]

"Oh." It had been weeks since they separated, months since they woke up on Vaikuntha. Getaway, the battle with the DJD and Deathsaurus' forces, and Mederi belonged in a different life. Those concerns would be addressed after the issues on this planet were no longer his concern.

"Shortly before you arrived, we regrouped with First Aid, Riptide, and Thunderclash. Getaway had been collaborating with various parties - including Star Saber and Pharma - to travel to Mederi, which resulted in the remainder of the Lost Light crew to turn into sparkeaters."

...He shouldn't say that so neutrally, should he?

"The medics found a way to reverse the process before we stormed the ship. While on the ship, the group was split with Rodimus and Cyclonus pressing onward while myself and a small group found ourselves in room beneath the floor reservoir. The ceiling broke which we have to repair immediately and it seems that Velocity never properly disposed of the scraplets that snuck on board while we were traveling through Mauler territory.

"Thankfully, it was not hostile towards Whirl and his allies.

"...Getaway is dead. I did not have the time to ask Rodimus for the details of the fight. Shortly after...the portal opened." Megatron returned.

[peace_through_empathy]

The news about Getaway's activities-and of what he'd done to the crew-cause Megatron to stop dead in his tracks in shock. "Good God, why?" He asks in disbelief. "That's..." He's quiet for a moment. "That's something I would have done, once." An army of sparkeaters? Oh yes, if Shockwave or Bludgeon, or...Flatline had come to him with that idea, and demonstrated it was workable? Megatron would have been lining up prisoners to be converted...and Decepticon soldiers who had displeased him. Forget the K-Class entirely; he'd have fast-tracked them all into sparkeaters.

And if they could not be controlled, then no harm done either; unleash them on a planet, step back, and watch the chaos. He'd have done so gladly.

"...Can they be saved?" He asks, finally. Assuming they'd even had a chance to try and figure that out with everything else that was going on, and still to come, with the Functionists hot on the AVL's heels. He rubs the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Everyone made sparkeaters...I should have let the trial finish on Luna-2. Accepted my fate there. Maybe none of this would have happened if I hadn't been so damned insistent on not letting Starscream have the last word on my life." In the end, what would it really have mattered if he did? Would finding Cyberutopia really have meant anything in the long run for his...his legacy, his memory? Megatron: Killed trillions, but did one good thing before he died, so that's all right then.

How did he ever think that made sense? And just like always, other people were still paying for his mistakes. Even Getaway might have done better things with his life, or at least not developed such an extreme personality if he hadn't been born into the war Megatron started.

[legalcy]

Ultra Magnus nods in response. The Megatron that he knew - the tyrant and murderer, the mech with no morals left to lose - would not be acting out of character if he ordered hundreds of his soldiers to be converted into sparkeaters with no plan to return them to their normal state. The atrocity would be on the same level as anything else the Decepticons did. Ethics be damned if it produced results.

"They were. We had our team of medics - alongside two Decepticons who you met on the ship - research a cure. They were fatigued but recovering when we left them on Mederi to inspect the rift." With enough resources, it comes to no surprise to Minimus that their brilliant medical group could save the crew. The details of their success are unknown, but there was little time to inquire the process of such an advanced medical procedure.

It was not Megatron's fault (directly, that is) that Getaway used the mutineers to his own ends. Everything in the present could be attributed to Megatron with enough extrapolation. In fact, it's almost ridiculous to think that Megatron could blame himself for this incident.

"If you had never started the war, we would not have been searching for Cyberutopia. This situation would not have occurred, and if it did, the setup with be different. The crew would consist of different members. I likely would not have joined the Lost Light." What would be the point? Cybertron was his home, and adventure was a dangerous affair. Dominus would have agreed to search for the Knights of Cybertron. He wouldn't back away from an adventure.

"Getaway was not in favor of Rodimus as captain, even without your presence on board. You are not the reason for every event, Megatron."

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron nods in relief. "...Good." He says. The crew might have followed Getaway's mutiny, but that was a fate nobody deserved. And it wasn't as though they were in the wrong, exactly. Megatron's intentions were good-had become selfless even, though they hadn't started that way, but that didn't change what he did. Or indeed, how shockingly lenient his treatment by Autobot High Command had actually been, given his crimes. Not even by Autobot High Command, even; that had all been Optimus. Because he believed in Megatron; or wanted to, at least.

Still, Magnus also has a point; Megatron might have been part of Getaway's vendetta, but it was hardly the only one. Rodimus did have some fairly severe deficiencies in his captaincy of the Lost Light. The mutiny was probably inevitable from the moment Getaway stepped aboard the ship; Megatron probably just hastened its arrival.

"No, I suppose not, but I didn't exactly help, either." He admits. "...But, thank you, Magnus. You do help keep things in perspective. I...appreciate that."

After a moment, he extends his hand. "I don't know if I've said that since we arrived. How much I appreciate you. And your company. It has made this whole experience easier to handle. I know it hasn't always been easy, and I don't deserve it, but...thank you, Minimus."

[legalcy]

Ultra Magnus sighs. It was short-sighted to believe that every event was caused by yourself, even if you had a hand in it. Multiple factors lead to various situations - it is a matter of looking at life objectively.

Megatron's acknowledgement of that skill has him look at the side of the road. The walkway is clear; the markers for forest that cannot be disturbed by human activity are located in obvious locations.

"Noted."

Very rarely do people see his devotion to order as a positive attribute. It's usually a topic of complaint in Swerve's or an obstacle to their tomfoolery, with a few tokens of gratitude once in a while. Hearing Megatron reminds Minimus just how much he missed that constant, reliable respect. Megatron doesn't have to say all of that; Minimus knows he can trust him...somehow. It still hurts to remember the feeling of betrayal when he and Rodimus returned from the Functionist Universe missing two of their members. The realization that he too was duped by Megatron's words was enough of a shock to have him forget his schedule and give up on his inspection.

The appreciation hurts.

He turns back to Megatron only to notice the extended hand. This gives hims pause.

"Er..." His optics flick upwards to Megatron's face. This gesture could mean many things depending on the situation, but he had little information to confidently assume what he had to do next. "Are...you suggesting we agree to work together?"

What was he thinking? Of course they work together. As co-workers. Comrades, perhaps. Friends...would be a bit of wishful thinking on his end.

[peace_through_empathy]

Megatron can see the conflict playing out in Magnus' face regarding the compliment, and it pains him to see. Even with their friendship slightly on the mend, with the two of them able to interact politely, professionally, there remains one major hurdle Megatron cannot seem to clear; convincing Magnus that he never betrayed them. Staying in the Functionist Universe was never his choice, but without verification from a third-party Magnus would trust or some form of proof beyond his word (which he recognizes is no longer enough), there just doesn't seem to be any way to change Magnus' mind. The thought not longer makes him angry, it merely saddens him.

Still, maybe something new, and workable can still be salvaged from all this. Seeing Magnus' confusion at his extended hand, Megatron merely chuckles. "While I do enjoy our partnership and wish for it to continue Minimus, this is...I just wished to say thank you. Working with you remains a privilege and has made our time on this strange little world much easier. And I am thankful for that...for you. That's all." His arm remains where it is, waiting to see if Magnus will ultimately accept the gesture in the spirit in which it is intended.

[legalcy]

There was no agreement behind this gesture. No straightforward message of business trade or respect. True, there was some element of both in this situation, but that was not the purpose of the conversation. Minimus thinks that most people don't shake hands when it comes to personal matters...unless they do. He would not be surprised if this were a part of life that to which he was uneducated.

"Your aid has been appreciated," He responds. True, Megatron has been a reliable ally in the past months regardless of past behavior. He hasn't don't anything against the group, though as long as he remains in Vaikuntha, he has no method in which to attend his trial. There never arose an opportunity to abandon him. It's wishful thinking, Minimus reminds himself of this likely possibility that Megatron is being genuine. But it would be nice to have someone who has similar interests as he, who reads everything he writes, who takes everything seriously, who he thought trusted him...

Perhaps he's too easily lead astray by promises of his greatest desire. Tyrest offered fame and respect, and Minimus was prepared to erase his old identity in a matter of minutes. Megatron offers companionship, and this new realm of emotions and individual closeness is the greatest temptation.

"I- I look forward to partering with you in future missions." The temptation is too great. He grips Megatron's hand and refuses to look away from that still handshake.

He feels like something, he can't tell what, will be fine.

[peace_through_empathy]

For a long moment, Megatron's hand hangs in the air, and he becomes concerned he's over-steppe, become too familiar. Has he in fact just made things worse?

But then Magnus' hand closes around his, and the handshake is returned, and Megatron-after months of not even realizing he's been doing it-untenses. A corner has just been turned. The compliment is polite, formal, professional; and yet Ultra Magnus does not waste words carelessly. Everything he says is done so with carefully considered precision. And he does not speak falsely. Therefore, what he is saying is 100% true...and that there will be future missions the two of them will be going on.

Megatron smiles, satisfied. "So do I, my friend. So do I." The handshake is held a moment longer, before finally it's dropped. "Anyway, we're losing daylight. Shall we press on?"

[legalcy]

The handshake feels warmer, softer somehow that the others he had taken in the Magnus Armor. Casual contact is a wonderful sensation yet uncomfortable to sustain when wearing armor. It was disingenuous. Ultra Magnus formed no bonds with other mechs. He could not get too close to anyone.

Minimus lets go of Megatron's hand and lifts his head to face him. "We ought not to waste time." A serious nod, but one with some energy behind it. This isn't the distant gesture of a professional keeping away from his coworker.