The office was dark save for the dim blue glow coming from lit datapads and a singular pair of optics. A sigh left the mech seated before a desk. One hand held a datapad while his other hand held his helm.
Never had he believed Optimus's job to be easy, but he had never imagined this.
Line after line of data appeared before his optics. As he read it over, he had to wonder if he was retaining any of it. One rebuilding report after another, he only ever perked up when reports of Decepticon activity came up. Strange how that worked. Supply lists were quickly forgotten, as were rosters, but reports of the Autobot enemy quickly caught his attention.
War had always been easier. Not to say that was easy at all, but it had direction, where this. . .this did not.
The door to his office slid open, spilling light in that seemed almost golden. A moment later, the door way was partially obscured by a figure.
"You called, lad?" asked a familiar voice.
"Yes, Kup, I believe I did," Rodimus murmured with a genial smile on lips that was hidden once the door closed.
"Whacha need?" asked the older mech, his plating creaking slightly as he took a seat just before Rodimus's desk.
"Just to talk. . . To sort things out. . ." Rodimus sighed before looking away from his datapad. Had there been more light in the room, it would've been obvious how weary the young Prime was.
With an arched optic ridge, Kup responded, "And about what?"
"The same thing. . ."
"Again. . .? How many times am I gonna have to pound it into your thick helm?" Kup asked with disdain.
Strangely enough, Rodimus could only a express a soft chord of laughter in response to Kup. Giving a sigh, Rodimus looked to Kup, meeting his mentor's optics. "I just. . . feel that I am doing Optimus's legacy no honor. . . I'm not him. . ." Rodimus admitted.
"No one is Optimus, and you're never going to be him. That's not a bad thing, the important thing is to be you, not Optimus," Kup spoke as if he were reading a script.
"Being myself involves many rash actions," Rodimus reminded Kup.
"Tch, you're a young leader, you're expected to be a little rash. You'll worry yourself to stiff joints if you keep on," Kup murmured before crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.
Another chuckle left Rodimus's vocalizer. Rodimus supposed that Optimus had Ironhide, while he, Rodimus, had Kup as a mentor and one of his closest friends.
"You just can't be the good leader overnight, lad. You're going to make mistakes, but you'll learn from those mistakes. Some might say you'll learn more from your mistakes than your triumphs," Kup continued.
Listening to Kup, Rodimus found the sound of Kup's voice a perfect respite from the drudgery of reading all those reports. "Still, I can't blindly fumble about and expect mechs not to complain," Rodimus mused. "Too many mistakes, and they'll be demanding that I turn over the Matrix."
"Let them complain if they want to. If they're so quick to forget who it was that saved the lot of them from Unicron, then they're a bunch of glitch mice," Kup sighed. Pointing a digit at Rodimus, the dull green mech continued, "Besides, the Matrix chose you. Not anyone else, but you, and Primus knows there's a reason for that."
Softly, Rodimus gave a sigh before he touched his hand to his chest plates. Beneath thick plating lurked both his spark and the Matrix of Leadership. That was right, it had chosen him, just as it had chosen Optimus Prime many years before. Looking up, Rodimus turned his gaze back to Kup before managing a smile.
"You knew Prime- Optimus, when he had just become Prime, right?" Rodimus asked.
"That's right, I believe it was the battle of Reglon when I first met'em, nasty battle that," Kup reminisced, his helm held high as he looked off towards a wall but not at it. Surely, the old war veteran was imagining the battle right there.
"What was he like?" Rodimus asked in a fashion similar to a sparkling asking its creator to tell it a story.
"Pah! Too careful! Too by the book! Everything he did was with too much thought and too much care. Without Ironhide giving him good pushes and shoves, I think the Decepticons would've overran us," Kup rasped.
Rodimus' optics flickered as he stared at Kup in desbelief.
"What?! You think Optimus just began winning battles the first days of him being a Prime?" Kup asked. Never giving Rodimus a chance to answer, Kup continued, "Oh no, that's hardly the case, I'm afraid, laddy. Optimus lost just about every battle in the beginning, but he was all we had. He was a good mech at spark, just like you are," Kup finished. Arms crossed, Kup nodded sharply as if to properly hammer his point in.
"I didn't know that," Rodimus quietly revealed. Very little information remained of the early days of the war, leaving Kup as almost a perpetual library of information upon the subject.
"To be perfectly honest, kid, your track record so far is better than Optimus's was at that period," Kup revealed.
"Really?"
"Yeah, but don't let it go to your thick helm!" Kup chided with bright optics.
"Of course not, Kup, of course not," Rodimus chuckled.