Due to my ignorance regarding canon, I shouldn't be allowed to write this, but there's noone there to stop me.
So, I have this concept or idea that being an archivist in Cybertron meant that the people in charge extracted most of the information straight from the archivists' heads. Sure, there were pads, but what if simply writing was considered too unproductive and slow? And what about editing and crossreferencing? It was obviously better to leave all that to the mechs more experienced, and for that they needed direct access to the information recopilated. Naturally, the cleverest way to achive that was extracting the data right from the archivists' heads.
So they simply went and connected with the processors of their archivists. It wasn't bad, at first. But the poor archivists, those little bots didn't know anything about writing or editing, they didn't know what was important and what was supposed to be left out, so the mechs in charge decided that whatever was in their minds needed to be reviewed and then it would be up to them to decide what was relevant enough to be recorded.
With time, the archivists became little more than glorified cameras. It was their duty to record and give the information away, they had to give absolute access to their processors, they couldn't complain, least of all refuse.
One fine day in Cybertron, Orion Pax was sparked.
This system was already fully developed, Orion was born into it, it's how it had always been so it had to be good, right? It had worked so far and he'd never heard anyone complaining, he'd never had to complain.
But as he began to grow, as he learnt more, explored more of the world and himself, he realised that there were things he didn't want to share.
Things that were embarrassing or too personal. Things that were private, things that were inappropriate to share with people he didn't trust.
He tried to refuse one time. He was restrained and his superiors entered his mind against his will. He tried to keep them out, he tried, but he couldn't and it hurt.
He tried again, and again, and again. He no longer bothered with voicing his disagreement, his refusal, but he tried to stop them, to keep them away from the bits that were supposed to be his. It was painful, it was dangerous, this push and pull inside his own processor hurt him every time. Until it got nearly fried.
From then on, every time his superiors needed to extract information from him, they simply disconnected Orion temporarily.
The funny thing Orion realised afterwards was that his superiors could have done that since the beginning. Why hadn't they?
The answer was all over the Archives, in the side eyes of the other mechs, in the whispers, the looks thrown to the archivists whose secrets were all over the place, maybe all over Cybertron.
Not "important enough" to be recorded, never respected enough to be kept quite. But apparently, highly entertaining.
So Orion became careful. He became measured in his actions, feelings and speech. Hyperaware of his movements and thoughts.
The Academy was his chance. He did his best and failed, but he never had to go back to the Archives.
Now he was far away, another planet, another galaxy. Constant danger, constant fighting. But his thoughts, his feelings... Optimus Prime was the sole owner.
What's the point of this little idea aside from the additional angst?
Simply consider Megatronus, the gladiator who was made to fight in the arena in a kill or be killed spectacle for the masses.
Megatronus wasn't the owner of his own body.
Orion had no say over his own mind.
What a fun thing to bond over! 😊