(no subject)
Whoops, nearly forgot it's Wednesday! You know what means! I got the prompt "monitor" last week and didn't get a viable hit, so I decided to continue the fic I started for the previous week's prompt. Since it is an immediate continuation, I'm including the first part so it can be read all in one shot:
Chromia shut down her optics and dialed down her audio receptors, just a little. Just enough to bask in a pleasant nothingness, to shut out the stress and let her core temperature come back down to a more moderate level. And according to the internal readout, that number was ticking down, albeit more slowly than usual. To be expected, really. This routine typically involved flaring and fluttering her plating while letting her fans run but her vents were quite thoroughly blocked by all the chains.
"I'm not saying it's not bad," Moonracer was prattling beside her, tempting her to shut her audio receptors the rest of the way down. "I'm just saying this isn't the worst--"
An engine rev cut her off and Chromia's internal temperature shot back up a couple of degrees. Giving up her attempt to calm her temper as a failure, she brought her optics back online in narrow slits that fell unerringly on her companion. Moonracer flinched, her own optics wide and round and darting quickly aside.
"Well, it's not," she muttered. She perked up a little and said with more confidence as the shock wore off, "In fact, it's not even really the worst situation we've been in this week!" She gave Chromia a glare that was more like a pout. "You just don't want to admit it because the last time was your fault."
Chromia couldn't argue that. Instead, she grit and bared her teeth around the loop of chain that was functioning as a makeshift gag to be sure Moonracer couldn't ignore why she couldn't argue that. Moonracer huffed but didn't press the point.
"Listen, this is fine," said Moonracer, her tone grating in how soothing it was trying to be. "I mean, it will be fine. They might've got the drop on us but Flareup got away!"
The groan that Chromia responded with as she slumped back in her corner of the cell wasn't exactly dignified but then dignity hadn't been bound and tossed in with them anyway. She turned her glare pointedly towards the wall, since it didn't seem to be having an effect anymore on Moonracer.
"Come on," said Moonracer. There was a chorus of rattling as she wiggled her way along the wall towards Chromia. Unwilling to be ignored, she flopped hard to the side, a facsimile of a friendly shoulder bump. Chromia's answering grunt didn't seem to phase her at all and she tipped her head, as well she could, onto Chromia's shoulder. "Flareup is perfectly capable-- you've made sure of that." A glance revealed that she was shining those round optics of hers up at Chromia over a sweet smile. "The more processing power you spend on being grumpy with me, the less processing power you have to commit to coming up with a brilliant plan to be ready when she comes back for us."
There was a pause as she just smiled up at Chromia and Chromia considered her in return. Then Chromia did her level best to mutter something out around the chain.
Moonracer must have understood the intended meaning, which was Why couldn't they have gagged you too, because she giggled, nuzzled at Chromia's shoulder and said, "I'm not the one who tried to bite when my weapons got snatched."
If she understood the next series of mutters, which was meant to be, Only because you folded like hot aluminum siding under a Titan's foot, she didn't bother to respond. Or maybe she recognized the (begrudging!) affection beneath it and the next little nuzzle was a response to that instead.
A jeer arrested Chromia's attention and she curled her lip around the chains at the mercenary lackey who had been left to monitor them. The mech was not so much standing at ease as lounging outside the cell, face still covered in the scorch marks from Moonracer's final desperate attempt to hold him off. It had been pretty impressive, Chromia could've admitted if not for her gag, watching him chomp down on the barrel of the blaster-- it had inspired her own final act of defiance. The injuries, if indeed there were any, didn't seem to bother him as he watched over them with a smirk. He would be a tough one to crack, when it came to it.
Chromia snorted and broke eye contact, not bothering to react to the louder, answering jeer. Moonracer was right that she'd done enough sulking. And Moonracer was doing her part now, after all, working carefully at Chromia's chains with the hand she'd freed, now hidden behind both their backs.
Not only hadn't she been as thoroughly tied as Chromia, Moonracer had all sorts of nifty widgets hidden in her fingertips that Chromia, favoring solid, sturdy fists, did not. The tiny torches in her fore and middle fingers were just then an easy favorite of Chromia's. Moonracer pouted at their jailer, pressing herself closer to Chromia's side as though she were shrinking away from his mocking scrutiny. That kind of act was something else she could get away with that Chromia couldn't. What Chromia could do was draw herself up into a protective stance and shoulder Moonracer further into the corner, letting her at more of the chain links and better shielding her as she worked. There was no way that Moonracer would be able to free her the whole way without being caught but Chromia didn't need her to; she just needed the chain links to be weakened when she was ready.
Playing platinum possum wasn't Chromia's preferred way of doing things but she hadn't gotten so far in life without knowing how to strategize. It would've been easier going if they could communicate with Flareup but-- yeah, nope, a quick ping was still bouncing off of whatever jamming frequency these mercs had set up. They'd have to make due with being prepared for her inevitable arrival.
Chromia tried to focus more on tracking where Moonracer was weakening the chains than on worrying about her protege. Moonracer was right that Flareup was capable. This might not be a wasted trip after all if she could apply what Chromia had taught her to the energon stores they'd spotted. More relevant to the two of them in their dank little cell, though, Flareup had been trained in search and rescue first and even if she hadn't been a good fit for it, Firestar didn't teach anyone by halves. Chromia wasn't privy to those lessons and couldn't guess how exactly Flareup could apply them here. All she could do was trust that Flareup could and would.
She had just about convinced herself that she believed that when the far wall exploded.
Maybe the next prompt will be one I can use to finish this draft? We shall see!
Chromia shut down her optics and dialed down her audio receptors, just a little. Just enough to bask in a pleasant nothingness, to shut out the stress and let her core temperature come back down to a more moderate level. And according to the internal readout, that number was ticking down, albeit more slowly than usual. To be expected, really. This routine typically involved flaring and fluttering her plating while letting her fans run but her vents were quite thoroughly blocked by all the chains.
"I'm not saying it's not bad," Moonracer was prattling beside her, tempting her to shut her audio receptors the rest of the way down. "I'm just saying this isn't the worst--"
An engine rev cut her off and Chromia's internal temperature shot back up a couple of degrees. Giving up her attempt to calm her temper as a failure, she brought her optics back online in narrow slits that fell unerringly on her companion. Moonracer flinched, her own optics wide and round and darting quickly aside.
"Well, it's not," she muttered. She perked up a little and said with more confidence as the shock wore off, "In fact, it's not even really the worst situation we've been in this week!" She gave Chromia a glare that was more like a pout. "You just don't want to admit it because the last time was your fault."
Chromia couldn't argue that. Instead, she grit and bared her teeth around the loop of chain that was functioning as a makeshift gag to be sure Moonracer couldn't ignore why she couldn't argue that. Moonracer huffed but didn't press the point.
"Listen, this is fine," said Moonracer, her tone grating in how soothing it was trying to be. "I mean, it will be fine. They might've got the drop on us but Flareup got away!"
The groan that Chromia responded with as she slumped back in her corner of the cell wasn't exactly dignified but then dignity hadn't been bound and tossed in with them anyway. She turned her glare pointedly towards the wall, since it didn't seem to be having an effect anymore on Moonracer.
"Come on," said Moonracer. There was a chorus of rattling as she wiggled her way along the wall towards Chromia. Unwilling to be ignored, she flopped hard to the side, a facsimile of a friendly shoulder bump. Chromia's answering grunt didn't seem to phase her at all and she tipped her head, as well she could, onto Chromia's shoulder. "Flareup is perfectly capable-- you've made sure of that." A glance revealed that she was shining those round optics of hers up at Chromia over a sweet smile. "The more processing power you spend on being grumpy with me, the less processing power you have to commit to coming up with a brilliant plan to be ready when she comes back for us."
There was a pause as she just smiled up at Chromia and Chromia considered her in return. Then Chromia did her level best to mutter something out around the chain.
Moonracer must have understood the intended meaning, which was Why couldn't they have gagged you too, because she giggled, nuzzled at Chromia's shoulder and said, "I'm not the one who tried to bite when my weapons got snatched."
If she understood the next series of mutters, which was meant to be, Only because you folded like hot aluminum siding under a Titan's foot, she didn't bother to respond. Or maybe she recognized the (begrudging!) affection beneath it and the next little nuzzle was a response to that instead.
A jeer arrested Chromia's attention and she curled her lip around the chains at the mercenary lackey who had been left to monitor them. The mech was not so much standing at ease as lounging outside the cell, face still covered in the scorch marks from Moonracer's final desperate attempt to hold him off. It had been pretty impressive, Chromia could've admitted if not for her gag, watching him chomp down on the barrel of the blaster-- it had inspired her own final act of defiance. The injuries, if indeed there were any, didn't seem to bother him as he watched over them with a smirk. He would be a tough one to crack, when it came to it.
Chromia snorted and broke eye contact, not bothering to react to the louder, answering jeer. Moonracer was right that she'd done enough sulking. And Moonracer was doing her part now, after all, working carefully at Chromia's chains with the hand she'd freed, now hidden behind both their backs.
Not only hadn't she been as thoroughly tied as Chromia, Moonracer had all sorts of nifty widgets hidden in her fingertips that Chromia, favoring solid, sturdy fists, did not. The tiny torches in her fore and middle fingers were just then an easy favorite of Chromia's. Moonracer pouted at their jailer, pressing herself closer to Chromia's side as though she were shrinking away from his mocking scrutiny. That kind of act was something else she could get away with that Chromia couldn't. What Chromia could do was draw herself up into a protective stance and shoulder Moonracer further into the corner, letting her at more of the chain links and better shielding her as she worked. There was no way that Moonracer would be able to free her the whole way without being caught but Chromia didn't need her to; she just needed the chain links to be weakened when she was ready.
Playing platinum possum wasn't Chromia's preferred way of doing things but she hadn't gotten so far in life without knowing how to strategize. It would've been easier going if they could communicate with Flareup but-- yeah, nope, a quick ping was still bouncing off of whatever jamming frequency these mercs had set up. They'd have to make due with being prepared for her inevitable arrival.
Chromia tried to focus more on tracking where Moonracer was weakening the chains than on worrying about her protege. Moonracer was right that Flareup was capable. This might not be a wasted trip after all if she could apply what Chromia had taught her to the energon stores they'd spotted. More relevant to the two of them in their dank little cell, though, Flareup had been trained in search and rescue first and even if she hadn't been a good fit for it, Firestar didn't teach anyone by halves. Chromia wasn't privy to those lessons and couldn't guess how exactly Flareup could apply them here. All she could do was trust that Flareup could and would.
She had just about convinced herself that she believed that when the far wall exploded.
Maybe the next prompt will be one I can use to finish this draft? We shall see!