Bath Time Conversations

With the planned party for tonight, Orion has basically been 'asked' (read: ordered) to attend. That would be enough to explain why the mech is in here getting cleaned up after several cycles of duty. But it wouldn't explain why he's making sure that there are a few extra coats of polish being added to make sure that a high-gloss shine is brought out in the the usually red armor. As a pair of maintenance arms work on the back of the shoulder actuator, Orion just seems to be relaxed at the moment, even more so without that faceplate of his.
Feint enters the facilities, happy to get cleaned up at last; there were no such opportunities in the brig below, it was not considered a high priority for her among the Decepticons, and she's been pouring over the first of series of modifications to her frame.
She's still assymetrical and sporting extra legs, but at least shares the same color scheme uniformly. Rather than just an odd flat face, she seems to have replicated most of her original head, with the exception of a full face visor, gently rounded, glossy dark gray, almost black.
"Good morning Commander Pax. I hope I won't disturb you - just thought I might indulge myself with a thorough cleansing."
Being called Commander still just doesn't feel right, so Orion has to take a moment before he realizes he's being addressed. "Feint, I said it was Orion or Pax. No need to be so formal." the mech comments with an amused smile, though it only ghosts there for a moment. "It is a free all-access area, and part of the base that you have access to, so yes, feel free to make use of it." he comments as the shoulder joint is finally finished. Little brushes still whirl across his frame, working on buffering the applied polish to a high sheen.
"I've seen you've decided to make some progress in replicating yourself. Are you finding everything that you need and to your liking?" he asks. "Or is there anything that I need to push up the line to see about getting taken care of for you?"
"Sorry, old teaching dies hard. Halogen was very keen on making sure I behaved myself as a proper Senate-Elect... so much for those plans now, mmn?" Her 'face' lights up, displaying a digital replicate of her original visage in a pleasant smile. "Pax, then. I've difficulty with being informal." She goes to one of the nearby washracks - an open stall like a decontamination shower - and begins selecting the level of washcycle she'd like.
"I'm taking my time about it on purpose. Think of it, Pax - slow or fast, I'm being given carte blanche to choose my own frame. How many Cybertronians would die for such a privilege? How does one properly approach the reality of creating oneself? What sort of affect would such a change have on how others view me, when they are told to love their altmode and the function it entails?"
"There has been a great many that have found themselves in a line of work that they never first imagined they would be suited for, Feint. It has been an adjustment for all of us." Even himself, as his frame is drastically different than the body he was in when he crashed Shockwave's lab to find her there. "You are not the first Cybertronian I have come across that wishes to make changes for him or herself, and I am pleased that you have found the freedom to do so. Take your time, there will be no rush on you discovering who you are and want to be." he comments with a small chuckle. "While there are those that still hold onto the old ways, I can sense a change - that things are bound to be better eventually and there will be a Cybertron where if we are not who we wish to be, we can strive to be different. To improve. To grow and to perchance, dream."
Then as he realizes he's waxing poetic, the large mech chuckles. "Forgive me, Feint. I have not had much time to speak outside of the usual work toalk, but it seems I should steer our conversation back there. You mentioned to me recently that you believe that the Institute has been recreated. Have you spoken to anyone else on this matter?"
"No," Feint says. "And it's quite alright to be poetic, I'll take intellectually stimulating conversation any day." Because talking to Blurr is like talking to a stubborn, impatient preschooler. "I did have a conversation with Blurr when he visited me but he is... well, he's less than enthused on my attitude towards the Decepticons. He thinks I've been 'tainted' by them." She turns on the machine.
The sounds of liquid being pushed through sprayer jets hangs in the air like the warm mist rising from Feint's stall. "I don't just think the institute has been recreated. I know it has been."
Orion lets out a sigh. "That much time of seperation may have caused rifts between you and your cojunx endura, Feint." the mech admits as he turns to allow the buffers to start working on the front of his armor, another spray of polish and a series of gridlines appearing over him to guide the buffers into place. "Should I schedule for you and him to speak to a counselor?" he suggests as he turns to glance at her, and then continues. "I want you to speak to my special operations officer on what you have gleaned so far from your time with working with those in the Institute. Perhaps he can do some checking up and knocking over of cans to figure out where they may be holed up. Between Jazz, and one of the detectives, Nightbeat, perhaps we can find them and shut it down once and for all." Pax offers as he considers.
"Speaking of the Institute. I know you have had past dealing with them, and those dealings may have caused some strain between yourself and others in the ranks. I want you to know that I do not hold any grudge or ill-will for any past trangression, Feint. However, I have spoken to one that feels that she cannot approach you out of anger for what you had to do in the past."
"Blurr believes in 'guilty until proven innocent', and that anyone who has not been personally vetted as 'trustworthy' should be attacked and killed in order to prevent them from harming others. As you might imagine, I am the diametric opposite of that belief," Feint explains. "I appreciate the request, but I'm a fully qualified counsellor in my own right -- Blurr is still locked in a state of immaturity. There's nothing to be done for him until he decides he wants to grow up. He doesn't fully grasp what an endura actually *is* - he thinks its someone who will accept and agree with anything he does or says unconditionally and prevent him from being lonely. I think you can see where that sort of attitude is going to lead."
She raises all of her arms over her head to let the spray yets handle everything below the torso. It's quite a relief. "Their mistrust and anger is perfectly normal. For the sake of those I was helping, I had to play the part of the evil, manipulative mnemnosurgeon, and those I helped had to play the part of the altered, mentally sterilized victim. Thought control and the elimination of free will has been going on for thousands of years, Pax - Blurr was an early victim, as was Quickswitch. You yourself know about the list of DRA registrants being used by the first insititute to cleanse the population of unapproved thoughts and attitutes towards their superiors and society as a whole. You only found one lab. There are thousands, and they have been long and hard at work."
"Physician heal thyself comes to mind." Orion glances down. He never said he had all the answers and the leadership role on this grand scale is still new to him and it shows. "As I said, Feint. I have never held it against you, nor will I. We have all done things in the past that may be looked back on in the future with regret or as a missed opprotunity." the mech admits. "As far as Blurr goes, if you need seperation from him for a bit, I can make sure it is provided." he offers, reaching up to rub at the back of his head.
"I remember what you did with Scattershot, and I appreciate it. But not everyone knows of the work you did underground. Arcee is convinced that you /did/ carry out the transgressions she says she saw you carry out. I have advised her to seek you out to at least speak her piece and I hope she will remain to hear your side of the story." Orion sighs.
"Thousands of labs means lots of future work and job security. I'm not saying we can bring them all down overnight, but perhaps if we can find out who is at the top of it all, we can bring them down and then work on disassembling the rest. I don't want the small institute stations - I want their headquarters. And that's what I'm hoping that perhaps you can work on with Jazz and Nightbeat and whoever 
"Oh, I will be fine with that. I need to continue to build my skills and prepare for the worst. The Institute workers have done unspeakable things to civilians, Decepticons -- even other Autobots," Feint advises. "There is a reason why the Decepticons fight so hard and why they regard you all with such hate. Consider their position: The very act of trying to free themselves has been consistently met with state-sponsored menticide. Megatron himself... they tried to silence him before he even left the mines. They tried to destroy his brain module quietly through a close friend who was intentionally infected and then released back into the Decepticons. When you look around and believe that the populace will not help you because their free will has been taken from them... how hard would -you- fight?"
"That doesn't forgive them the transgression of slaughtering an entire Senate simply to reinforce those beliefs, Feint." Orion responds, though his voice has the heavy leanings of a sigh in it. "I know that Sentinel has.. had done massive, unspeakable things. Things that go against the very concepts of supporting life in any form. That go against Prima itself. We are not those Autobots, Feint. They died with Sentinel Prime in that catastrophic blunder that he made." the mech closes his optics for a moment as he shuts down the polishers. "When I was on the run from Sentinel and Shockwave realized he was going to be captured - it was Zeta that the Senator pointed me to for help. Not only for me, but for the outliers I was trying so desperatedly to protect from becoming weaponized or worse done to them. I only regret that you were not with us during those times so that I could have perhaps prevented what happened on the Senate floor and beyond. And for that, I am truly apologetic, Feint."
"Don't be, Orion." OMP she used his first name so informal. "I've been through scrap and slag, but its given me a perspective and skills I'd never have had before. I've seen the world through multiple sets of optics, multiple points of view. It's given me a broader look at the world - even beyond the deep sight I possess still as an outlier."
The washrack completes its cycle, and now goes through rinse and dry.
"Thank you, Feint." Orion comments as the polishing is finally finished and the mech steps out of the buffering area, his polish now a high gleam. "And we'll find a way to make it right and to allow everyone the chance to choose the life and way of their own."
Feint steps out of the racks, clean but unpolished. She turns her head towards Pax and sighs softly. "I wish I'd met you first," before heading into the detailing station.
Met him first? What is she referring to? Met him before Blurr? Megatron? There's a momentary confusion at that before the large mech brushes it off. "Well, we did eventually meet. And hopefully it can be made right for you. Not just for you, but for all of Cybertron. It's not too late yet, and it can still be changed. We just have to be willing to sacrifice a little of ourselves to make a whole of a world. And if we're each able to do that." Welcome to Ariel's lament. Sometimes it take a punch in the head to get through to get Orion to realize exactly what he's staring at.
Ariel is content to wait and be patient. Feint has waited too long. "Not entirely what I meant, Orion, but I agree with you in your sentiment. What I meant to say was that I wish I'd met you before Blurr. You're a much better conversationalist." She lays back into the detailing harness and lets the machine go to work, polishing, repairing, painting.
"Well, you can come talk to me whenever you need to, Feint." Orion may get it - but he coyly plays it off without wanting to harm the femme's feelings as he considers. "Maybe a different shade of blue, brighter, to share your new outlook on life." he suggests as he finally steps out of the maintenance area to head back to his office.
Maybe he should mech up and tell Ariel how he feels.