#solus prime

"I think so? I won't know until I get my grade back, but I feel good about it." A pause, and then, "Are you ok? Like, it's probably weird for me to ask you that, but you seemed kind of distant just now."

Rung's optics flicker slowly. "Come sit down and stop hovering, young Chromius, I know you're concerned too. In any case, it's a kind question, and there is something bothering me." They shift a bit so that Chromedome can sit down on their other side. "I don't think it's the sort of thing you can assist me with at all, but perhaps if I tell you it'll jog my memory."

This makes Chromedome worry even more; as much as Rung sometimes acts like they've got bit rot in their memory banks, they're really very sharp. "What is it?"

They glance around, likely to confirm that nobody else is near enough to eavesdrop—nobody is, almost everyone else has gone out and Jane-Ann is watching a movie with Mirage and Cyclonus at the far end of the room—and then say, softly, "I can't remember how Solus died."

Chromedome stares at him. "Professor, you've never forgotten anything important in your life."

"And yet, young Chromius, that very important moment is a blank, and I have the concerning suspicion that there are other blanks as well related to that one." The corners of their mouth curl down. "I have the vague idea that it had something to do with Megatronus, but that's all, and certainly he didn't kill her, he adored her. Everyone adored her."

Chromedome tamps down a surge of sudden, crushing disappointment. The death of Solus has been a mystery for thousands of years; to learn now that even the oldest member of their entire species doesn't remember it is a blow.

"In any case, I'm sure you both can understand that this is somewhat distressing to me, to learn that a loved one's death has been somehow wiped from my memory. I'm not even entirely certain who could do such a thing, excepting my own parents, and neither of them would have done it without a very good reason, they despise mental tampering."

Disturbed, Chromedome nods. On Rung's other side, Anthony says, "I'm really sorry, that's…I mean, I hate forgetting things even when they're not important, forgetting important stuff is always way worse. What, uh. What was she like?"

A beat, and then Rung smiles, slowly and faintly but with tremendous warmth. "She was absolutely wonderful, from the very beginning. I was alone for a quite a while, you know, and then there came along Prima and Megatronus, and they were the best of friends, of course, but always getting into the most convoluted arguments, and then one day our parents called us to one of the Forges and said, 'this is Solus,' and there she was, smiling and singing and already drawing all over every surface she could find."

Anthony blinks. "They just called you one day and said, 'surprise, this is your sister'?"

"Well, no, not sister, except inasmuch as I suppose you might call two cars from the same manufacturer siblings, or two statues by the same sculptor, or something like that." Rung takes their glasses off and begins to polish them with a cloth produced out of nowhere, still with that warm smile on their face. "She was exquisite. She was even smaller than me, you know, and she had so much energy. Like a coiled spring. Made it extremely funny when Vector came next, they're exact opposites, he's quite tall and very relaxed. So naturally they were extremely close—although really, Solus was friends with everyone. She and Megatronus were the only people I think I ever saw Onyx smile at. And she was always making things. Art, songs, tools, machines, sometimes weapons…I recall her once hard at work designing a little cannon for one of the first newsparks, although I…I don't remember which one, that's odd. But she was just sitting there muttering about recoil and rubbing bits out and redrawing them and wouldn't be moved, we had to hook up her secondary fuel intake to a tank of energon so she'd remember to eat. Even our parents despaired of her sometimes, she was so excitable."

It's absolutely bizarre to Chromedome, almost unreal, hearing a member of the Thirteen discussed like this. He's not especially religious, but he attends ceremonies occasionally, mostly big public ones, and the clerics of Primus don't tend to talk about any of the Thirteen as if they were people at all, more as these towering mythical archetypes. History books are a little more matter-of-fact about things, but even historians don't tend to share humorous anecdotes about the earliest members of their species. Although he supposes it's different when the humorous anecdote is being shared by another member of the Thirteen, which is…also still a lot to take in.

Anthony is bright-eyed, visibly fascinated. "I—what are they like? Your parents? Is that ok to ask?"

Rung goes very still for a pico, and Chromedome is briefly afraid that they're offended, but then they say, quiet again, "They are…many things. Including difficult to speak of, I think. Not to say that I can't speak of them, but not everything may be easily comprehensible, to either of you. Primus especially is very, hm, very big, well beyond anything that even I've been able to successfully grasp. It speaks with many voices, not all of which are saying the same things, although there's generally a consensus which is easier to focus on. It's rather overwhelming. You may well ask Optimus about it, he's had more contact with Primus in the past few decimi than I have in, oh, millenia, and I'm sure he'd enjoy the chance to talk through it with someone."

Chromedome nods slowly, not entirely sure of how to respond to this.

"Now Unicron…" The smile is back, although it's not as bright as when Rung was talking about Solus. "Unicron is also very large, naturally, both physically and as a presence, and astonishingly loud. It's always excited about things, and very distractible—Solus had that very much in common with it. It would be extremely interested in you, young Anthony, and this planet in general, it's fascinated by organic life. In fact I'm shocked that it hasn't found some way to push our current Megatron into coming here as well, since clearly Primus thinks something about this place is worthy of examination. Unicron is difficult to speak to in a different way from Primus, as well; if one can get its full attention, it is…dizzying. Its interest is like a weight." Rung pauses. "Talking to Unicron is the only time I've ever had the sense that something wanted to eat me."

Chromedome buzzes, surprised. "To eat you?"

"To consume me in some way, yes. Probably in an intellectual or metaphysical sense, although of course its mouth is extremely large." Then, abruptly, Rung looks up and across the mill, where Chromedome realizes with some surprise that Cyclonus is now watching them. "Did you need something, young Cyclonus?"

Cyclonus doesn't respond immediately, just looks at them. Her left eye is gleaming oddly green. After a moment, she says, shaking herself a bit, "No, Professor, my apologies. I was away in my processor, I hadn't realized I was staring."