To have any amount of record archived was optic-opening for Starscream. Were they handled with passing curiosity in mind or combed clean of any potentially useful information? Probably the latter. Back when upstart rebellions could find advantage in knowing people where they were at instead of maneuvering around constantly changing technology.
" The fact you can read them at all is impressive, but I would have to dock a few points under the assumption that what you have on your reading list are summaries and re-translations, " a beat of his wings, " fascinating, nonetheless. "
He breaks intense optic-contact, if only for a moment, to flicker over the poster once more before it travels out of their view. In another life, he would have been a beautiful Seeker with all curves and plastics like the one showcased before them. Instead of all this industry-grade bulk he was forced into at construction, denying him everything but the nature of flight. There was some speculation on how life pre-war would have been for him if he wasn't some manufactured toy before his constituents. The very same who likely still whisper and gossip aimlessly about him in the grave.
Beating his wings again, he perishes the thought.
" Would you really appreciate it, or are you giving me an automated response of interest? " he teases, trying to parse through what was actually Optimus and what was him being polite.
Memory bothers him at the honest question. The Seeker loves to act proud of his state, pretend as if he owned it when he was no more another politician in its round table of leadership, but it was never truly his own. " I miss a lot, " he replies with some uncertainty.
The people, the culture, the freedom. It has been a terribly long time that it begs to question if he actually had such liberties in the first place, or in comparison what he's endured and possessed now, the nostalgic value of his youth gleamed in comparison.
" Its beauty, mostly, " he concludes, " Iacon is dull, harsh, and brutalist compared to what Vos had to offer. Think towers to the sky in palettes of primary on whites. There would be archways everywhere and all buildings had so many balconies, they were practically like branches. "
Verbal description alone doesn't encompass what he wanted to convey. Pictures wouldn't do it any justice either. You just had to be there.
" We have Restoration Movement now, but with everyone bleary-opticed about war, it reflects heavily on the arts. I fear the Vos of my youth is a tale rather than history. " His voice tightens, lamenting the death of not only a culture, but his spirit as well. A flick of his wrist to propel useful thoughts forward.
