re_alignment | [Text] There is such a thing as too many questions

[Guys you better brace yourselves because Four isn't holding back at ALL.]

Languages are an important part of society, whatever society that may be, and is always fascinating to study. I know that translators largely make it possible for us to communicate with each other regardless of the language we currently speak... or in my case, write. I have a large appreciation for spoken word and how words, ideas, and memories look like when written in different languages. So what I want to know is: What language does everyone usually speak? I currently communicate in what humans call 'German', though I will switch between English and Arabic from time to time. I prefer not to use English too often though, it is not the most reliable language of the ones I know. For Cybertronians: Are there different kinds of Cybertronian languages like there are different kinds of Earth languages? If there are, how and why do they differ? Another couple of questions for Cybertronians: Why do some of you have noses while others don't? How does gender work for your kind? How do you see while you are transformed? Also :) Look I made a smile!

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What does "gender" mean?

[Helm tilted in curiosity, because no, that word isn't being translated well, and every time someone's said she looked like a girl... Elita had taken it for the physical sex of one half of the human species. Not something a lot more nebulous such as "gender".]

Sexual identity. Some Cybertronians look like men while others look like women. I was curious if there was a particular reason for that. Breeding perhaps?

[She shook her helm, frowning.]

"Sex" as used in biological sex doesn't mean anything to us. Aesthetic differences aside, there's no real difference between me or another mech---

[And at the word "breeding", Elita's vocalizer glitches, producing something like staggered white noise as her optics flash and widen.]

Breeding?! That's not--- We don't procreate like organics do, and sparks come from the Creation Matrix, carried by the Prime! Frames are built.

[You'll have to excuse the tone, Four. She's just a bit... shocked. Maybe even somewhat creeped out, but she does get her expression under control rather quickly.]

[Ah, this shocked her! Half of him feels sorry about it and wants to apologize, the other half is fascinated by the reaction and wants to inquire more about it. He doesn't understand why this might upset her, so he'll have to find that out won't he?]

So... the Prime is the only one of your kind able to procreate? Like the queen of a colony?

... I... have no idea what that means. [She's merely been on Earth for a maximum of a day, more probably merely a few hours, and she hadn't downloaded any information than what had been strictly necessary about Earth, so the "queen of a colony" means nothing to her.]

Only that the Matrix can and do change hands, so while there's something that, of course, makes the Prime worthy of being the Prime, there's nothing in the Prime themselves that has anything to do with transferring sparks to frames.

[She shakes her helm again, still somewhat... unsettled from before, but more confused by now and definitely more collected.]

Take away the Matrix, and the Prime would be able to do nothing in terms of creating new cybertronians.

In insects only one creature in the whole colony, the Queen, is capable of giving life to new insects. She'll often spend all of her life continuously giving birth until she dies of exhaustion. I'll bet this doesn't happen with your Prime though. So sparks come from the Matrix and they are somehow implanted into 'frames'? How are the frames made? And who chooses which spark goes into which frame?

[She'd admit she can see the similarity that'd cause Four to bring that comparison up in the first place, but the mention of "spend all her life continuously giving birth until she dies of exhaustion" has Elita grimacing and a fine shudder twitching through and along cables.]

Hardly. I can see why you'd think the structure seems similar, but nothing comes from the Prime itself... That's just not how it works.

[Elita shrugs, then, and shakes her helm.]

We build them. And there's no choosing. You have a frame, the Creation Matrix introduces a spark into it... you can't really influence anything except altmode. A frame can be built after a particular one if wanted or needed.

[She looks quite bemused at the thought of choosing which spark go where. What a thought! How would you even choose something like that? It wasn't as if you could distinguish any given spark from another.]

Fascinating! This has gone beyond the scope of my comprehension, and I really wish I could understand more about your kind. Where do the sparks come from? Can you tell me more about the Creation Matrix? What is so important about the title of Prime? What do sparks look like?

[Questions questions, Four will never run out of them.]

[So many questions! Elita stares for a moment, then shakes her helm, her free hand landing on top of the center of her chassis, above where her spark-chamber sits.]

Sparks are basically balls of bluish-white energy, and they all come from Primus, our creator, through the Creation Matrix. I just know that the Prime is the one chosen to carry the Matrix, and while he hasn't always been our leader, in present time he's certainly become so.

[War does tend to have the effect of changing the structure of things, after all.]

If a spark is visible is it possible I could ever see one?

[Four... no.]

[Briefly, there's an expression of utter disbelief crossing that pale pink face; wide optics nearly white, glow strong enough to spill out on her cheeks and give a sort of washed-out blush.

Because if Elita could be, she would be blushing. She does understand that he obviously can't precisely know what he's asking, but still.]

That---

Four.

[She straightens, shakes her helm and there's a hand over the upper swell of her chassis again. Her optics are still nearly white, but not as wide anymore.]

A spark is like... our heart, I think, if I understand human anatomy correctly, our mind - personality and self - and... ah... soul? I'm not sure that is correct, all in one.

I don't know you nearly well enough to show you my spark.

[And this beside the fact that she's an intensely private person.]

[Four thinks about it a bit and he slowly realizes the implications of his question to her. Something like showing your soul to someone is an extremely intimate gesture, and he wonders why he didn't think of this before he asked his question. For the first time ever, Four feels a little embarrassment for a questions he just asked.]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overstep myself, I didn't know...

It's... [A shake of her helm. She'd say she had overreacted, but at the same time it's hard for her to see how such a sudden question could be taken in any way... Though there were probably others who would react with more grace... or at least restraint.]

It's okay. Like you said, you didn't know... and I didn't go into enough detail before your questions that you could've guessed what it is for us.

[She smiles dryly but can't really make herself apologise for her reaction, whether Four had understood what he was wasking previously or not.]

I suppose I should perhaps have expected the possibility of something like that, considering the amount of non-cybertronians present who doesn't know how we work.

I won't do it again, I promise :( Is there anything you want to ask me? I'll answer anything!

[Four sees an exchange of information as being fair, and he hopes he can make it up to Elita someday.]

At least now you know.

[The apology and contrition is sort of adorable, but Elita manages to merely nod instead of also smiling, since especially the... er, face adds to it.]

I can't really... [then she pauses, and it's not really only from curiosity that she asks.] Do you need anything to function? I know you're quite small, so if you do, going out and finding it must be hard.

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