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Perhaps having a passing interest in history made these events harder for him to tolerate. Orion watched the proceedings from under the brim of his helm, optics dimmed though he was careful to keep paying attention. It was an honor, after all, to be summoned to preside over the commemoration ceremony.
He sighed and looked down at the small datapad in his hands, the event’s program. Some mech on the dais was droning on about Primus only knew what – the crowd certainly wasn’t paying attention. He clicked the datapad on, its glyphs glowing to life—
On this day, we commemorate the brave Cybertronians who departed the safety of this world with the mission to bring what they could of our prosperity to untouched corners of the universe. The Ark intended to return with what these intrepid explorers had learned of the world beyond our own, but they have been lost to the ages. We await the return of Nova Prime and those who heeded the call to follow him; let us celebrate their mission and maintain the vigil in the hopes of being reunited with our brethren soon—
Orion dimmed the datapad again, scowling beneath his faceplate. It was the textbook explanation for Commemoration Day, nothing that he hadn’t seen in the holovids or classrooms before.
Something told him that they weren’t being told the whole truth of what had happened to Nova Prime and the Ark but he wasn’t sure if that was on purpose, or if no one truly knew what became of them. Either way, it seemed disingenuous to celebrate a hollow holiday—
Hands pressing against his back, trailing downwards to his waist nearly made him jump off the ledge he’d stationed himself on. He startled and spun around to find Starscream smirking at him, optics bright with what he best recognized as malicious intent. “Starscream,” he hissed, leaning closer to the flier. “You can’t be here. Someone will see!”
Starscream tilted his helm. “Oh, will they? I don’t think I mind that,” he said, teasingly peering around from where Orion could duck back and keep them both hidden from view.
“Well, I do,” Orion said shortly, gently removing those hands from those plating and pressing a defensive palm against Starscream’s canopy glass. “I’m on duty, Starscream. Head back to our quarters, unless you interested in attending.’ That earned him a snort. “Worth a shot,” he murmured.
“Can’t you claim conscientious objection or something?” Starscream asked, pulling away with an irritated buzz entering his energy field. “This is going to go all night.”
“Yes, it is,” Orion confirmed. “But whatever issues I might have with the historicity of the events surrounding the Ark’s disappearance—”
“Calm down, professor,” Starscream stopped him short, snorting. “I didn’t mean that.”
You’re going to get yourself audited for unpatriotic speech, Starscream pinged him over his communication frequency.
Orion clenched his jaw. Odd, usually I’m the one cautioning you, he replied shortly.
“Someone’s tired,” Starscream said aloud, his smirk audible. “How about you finish up your shift and we can hold our own vigil our way when you’re done?”
“Only if you promise to leave, right now,” Orion said, really needing Starscream to disappear before anyone noticed anything. He was lucky he was stationed as far from the proceedings as he was, but all it took was one errant camera to stray their way…
“Oh, done and done,” Starscream purred, the warmth of his frame disappearing entirely from Orion’s peripheral sensors. “Enjoy the festivities, officer,” he said with an amused chuckle.
Orion turned his helm to look over his back, shocked to see the flier was already gone; he still hadn’t found out how the mech moved so quickly. He was distantly jealous, wishing he could have left with Starscream, but the holiday had to be over soon, right?
His optics glanced down at this datapad and saw the cursor blinking, indicating the current speaker—
--only twelve more to go.
Orion huffed a frustrated sigh through his vents but clasped his hands in front of him and stood up straight. It was twelve speakers more that had to be kept safe, he told himself, even as his mind wandered, distantly hoping Starscream had been serious about holding their own festivities later, a smile twitching onto his lips beneath his faceplate.