[Bay] War Without End - Still and Quiet
a/n: So. I have a few little ficlet/oneshot thingies that go with War Without End but aren't part of the main storyline. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to post them to aggregate sites like AO3 (aka separately or under an umbrella title) so until I do, I'll just put them on my livejournal. Here's the first of them. Enjoy!
Title: Still and Quiet
Universe: War Without End, pre-Drift's part, Bayverse
Characters: Thundercracker, mentions of others
Rating: K+
Warning: None
Description: Snippets of moments of peace.
For dellessa's NaNo prompt of WWE-verse, Thundercracker, downtime
Each of them have their own coping mechanisms. Their moments of peace. A chance to, not relax, but ventilate in the midst of crisis.
Drift meditates, when he's not taking care of his swords. He sits in the middle of the dying cornfield and communes with the energy of the universe.
Thundercracker doesn't even pretend to understand it.
Ratchet's idea of relaxation is to recharge. Barring that, Thundercracker sometimes catches him sitting still, letting Drift perform basic maintenance on his hands. All purely innocent of course.
Skywarp loves all those insipid Saturday morning cartoons, the louder and brighter, the better.
Wheeljack tinkers and listens to old love ballads from numerous species across the universe. Sometimes, he sings along.
Dreadwing writes. Thundercracker catches him hunched over a datapad, one too small for a mech his size, but he says he doesn't want to burden Wheeljack with trying to cobble together a larger one. His stylus scribbles over the screen, a smattering of old Cybertronian languages that he's probably the only one who can translate.
He never says what they are. Maybe it's a journal,Thundercracker doesn't know. He doesn't pry either.
Tracks maintains his plating with an interest that borders on obsession. If he's not painting or polishing, he's modifying. Ratchet has yelled at him about fragging up his coding more than once.
Prowl trains.
Thundercracker has seen him in action. Prowl knows all of the classical arts and when time permits, allows himself to indulge in a few extra rations. Which in Prowl terms means consuming what Ratchet's been telling him to consume.
And as for Thundercracker, he likes silence.
To sit in quite contemplation with his cadre, his fellow survivors and refugees.
Of course, this means his downtime is spent with either Prowl or Dreadwing, together and apart.
Sometimes, they play games.
Other times they sit together, fields mingling with soft respect.
It's all the quiet Thundercracker needs. A calm to ease the ache in his spark, the yawing emptiness where Starscream had been and Skywarp can't entirely satisfy.
And in the midst of the madness, the strain, the anxiety...
It's enough.
****
a/n: More postings to come as we race toward the end of the year. I"m still trucking on Critical Mass, which has doubled in size, much larger than I thought it would be. Hopefully, it entertains. Until then...
Feedback is welcome and appreciated. I do hope you enjoyed!
This entry was originally posted at http://dracoqueen22.dreamwidth.org/266914.html. Feel free to comment wherever you find most convenient.
Title: Still and Quiet
Universe: War Without End, pre-Drift's part, Bayverse
Characters: Thundercracker, mentions of others
Rating: K+
Warning: None
Description: Snippets of moments of peace.
For dellessa's NaNo prompt of WWE-verse, Thundercracker, downtime
Each of them have their own coping mechanisms. Their moments of peace. A chance to, not relax, but ventilate in the midst of crisis.
Drift meditates, when he's not taking care of his swords. He sits in the middle of the dying cornfield and communes with the energy of the universe.
Thundercracker doesn't even pretend to understand it.
Ratchet's idea of relaxation is to recharge. Barring that, Thundercracker sometimes catches him sitting still, letting Drift perform basic maintenance on his hands. All purely innocent of course.
Skywarp loves all those insipid Saturday morning cartoons, the louder and brighter, the better.
Wheeljack tinkers and listens to old love ballads from numerous species across the universe. Sometimes, he sings along.
Dreadwing writes. Thundercracker catches him hunched over a datapad, one too small for a mech his size, but he says he doesn't want to burden Wheeljack with trying to cobble together a larger one. His stylus scribbles over the screen, a smattering of old Cybertronian languages that he's probably the only one who can translate.
He never says what they are. Maybe it's a journal,Thundercracker doesn't know. He doesn't pry either.
Tracks maintains his plating with an interest that borders on obsession. If he's not painting or polishing, he's modifying. Ratchet has yelled at him about fragging up his coding more than once.
Prowl trains.
Thundercracker has seen him in action. Prowl knows all of the classical arts and when time permits, allows himself to indulge in a few extra rations. Which in Prowl terms means consuming what Ratchet's been telling him to consume.
And as for Thundercracker, he likes silence.
To sit in quite contemplation with his cadre, his fellow survivors and refugees.
Of course, this means his downtime is spent with either Prowl or Dreadwing, together and apart.
Sometimes, they play games.
Other times they sit together, fields mingling with soft respect.
It's all the quiet Thundercracker needs. A calm to ease the ache in his spark, the yawing emptiness where Starscream had been and Skywarp can't entirely satisfy.
And in the midst of the madness, the strain, the anxiety...
It's enough.
****
a/n: More postings to come as we race toward the end of the year. I"m still trucking on Critical Mass, which has doubled in size, much larger than I thought it would be. Hopefully, it entertains. Until then...
Feedback is welcome and appreciated. I do hope you enjoyed!
This entry was originally posted at http://dracoqueen22.dreamwidth.org/266914.html. Feel free to comment wherever you find most convenient.