Moar Challenge
Title: This is Halloween - Orange 2/13
Rating: PG
Warnings: Implied character death.
Pairings: Prowl x Jazz.
Characters: Prowl, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Ricochet.
Prompt: For the October Challenge of the ProwlxJazz community - Prompt: Orange
Notes: Nobody said I had to stick exclusively to Halloween traditions. And what kind of Mexican I'd be if I didn't do one of these? This piece is G1 and fits within Paint Streaks' 'Verse.
It was a bright and rich shade of orange. In fact, Prowl could not remember many flowers on Earth that were quite as bright as the ones his mate was carefully arranging in a corner of their shared quarters. The handfuls of flowers were being handled with a precision that rivaled Ratchet's skill during a delicate surgery.
"It's a Marigold," Jazz explained as he arranged the handfuls of flowers, some cut off from their long stems to decorate the purple cloth covering the table. "Though this variety is known as Zempasúchitl in its native land."
Prowl's optics flickered a couple of times at the unusual name, recognizing, although just barely, the pronunciation as something that had to come from the indigenous population of the various Latin American nations.
"Comes from Zempoalxochitl. It's Nahuatl." Jazz grinned and delicately picked another handful of flowers from the large brown paper wrapping laying on their floor.
"And what exactly are you doing with these flowers?" Prowl asked, intrigued.
"I'm decoratin' an alter fer Ricochet," Jazz explained as he arranged the handful of flowers, freshly stripped from their long twigs of leaves, into a dark blue vase. "It's for his offerin', an 'ofrenda' is what Mexicans call them."
"Why?" Prowl approached and knelt down next to his bondmate, helping him to strip away more leaves off the stems of the flowers to fit into a second vase.
"Well, jus' learned about this tradition they've got. They believe in certain days durin' the year, their deceased loved ones come back in spirit ta spend some time with them," Jazz explained with a melancholy smile as he decorated his table with the flowers. "The flowers are said ta be used to lure and guide the deceased ta its offerin', the scent and its bright colors help th'departed ta find the right offerin'."
"That's... interesting." Prowl was not surprised his bondmate had taken to one of the, to him, exotic traditions humans harbored. Prowl had long decided it was not worth to try to rationalize or over analyze too much the beliefs and traditions many humans carried from ages past. Many of them defied all logic, others seemed impractical and many more had been warped and reworked to allow humans moments of strange enjoyment. But Prowl had to admit, while he saw immediately the appeal Jazz would find in the holiday known as Halloween, he had not expected Jazz would take to other traditions such as the offering he was constructing for his deceased twin.
Jazz nodded and finished arranging the flowers he had brought up. His attention turned to a box with containing different trinkets, each as exotic as the perfume of the orange flowers that now pervaded the room. Prowl cast a quizzical glance at what appeared to be a human sized skull, and his olfactory sensors identified the construct to be made of sugar.
"Sunstreaker made it fer me," Jazz explained as he felt his mate's curiosity through their bond, holding up the skull that was quite small in Jazz's hand, but definitely was as big as Spike's head. It was decorated with more sugar paste dyed in bright colors giving a colorful and festive look to the sugar skull. The glyphs composing Ricochet's name were spelt carefully over the forehead using the paste.
Prowl merely nodded, not sure what the skull had to do with the alter. "It's a way ta remember him and ta let him know this is for him, as I have no images of him anymore; an' offer him somethin' sweet." Jazz placed the skull in the center of the arrangement. Energon treats were set down in a vase, and cube of sweetened low grade next to it. Jazz explained the purpose of each thing he placed in the alter, which seemingly included a tiny -for their standards- loaf of bread, toys painted in orange shades and white candles to light up the arrangement casting its orange glow over the many objects.
"So, is this for Halloween?" Prowl asked as he helped Jazz to clean up the room after they finished the offering. "And why is it just for Ricochet?"
Jazz shook his head, smiling sadly. "It's for the day of the dead. An' the belief is that on the first day th'sparks of their little ones that passed will come first ta share with their loved ones and be remembered. Everyone else comes on the day after."
Prowl nodded once in understanding, as Jazz wanted to make something just for his twin, who had not had the chance to even live for more than a few moments.
That night, as they recharged in their room dimly lit up with the light of the white candles and filled with the aromatic blend of the orange marigolds, a tiny light passed through their window, dancing around the offering, bouncing from flower to flower to the toys and candy, happy to be remembered.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Implied character death.
Pairings: Prowl x Jazz.
Characters: Prowl, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Ricochet.
Prompt: For the October Challenge of the ProwlxJazz community - Prompt: Orange
Notes: Nobody said I had to stick exclusively to Halloween traditions. And what kind of Mexican I'd be if I didn't do one of these? This piece is G1 and fits within Paint Streaks' 'Verse.
It was a bright and rich shade of orange. In fact, Prowl could not remember many flowers on Earth that were quite as bright as the ones his mate was carefully arranging in a corner of their shared quarters. The handfuls of flowers were being handled with a precision that rivaled Ratchet's skill during a delicate surgery.
"It's a Marigold," Jazz explained as he arranged the handfuls of flowers, some cut off from their long stems to decorate the purple cloth covering the table. "Though this variety is known as Zempasúchitl in its native land."
Prowl's optics flickered a couple of times at the unusual name, recognizing, although just barely, the pronunciation as something that had to come from the indigenous population of the various Latin American nations.
"Comes from Zempoalxochitl. It's Nahuatl." Jazz grinned and delicately picked another handful of flowers from the large brown paper wrapping laying on their floor.
"And what exactly are you doing with these flowers?" Prowl asked, intrigued.
"I'm decoratin' an alter fer Ricochet," Jazz explained as he arranged the handful of flowers, freshly stripped from their long twigs of leaves, into a dark blue vase. "It's for his offerin', an 'ofrenda' is what Mexicans call them."
"Why?" Prowl approached and knelt down next to his bondmate, helping him to strip away more leaves off the stems of the flowers to fit into a second vase.
"Well, jus' learned about this tradition they've got. They believe in certain days durin' the year, their deceased loved ones come back in spirit ta spend some time with them," Jazz explained with a melancholy smile as he decorated his table with the flowers. "The flowers are said ta be used to lure and guide the deceased ta its offerin', the scent and its bright colors help th'departed ta find the right offerin'."
"That's... interesting." Prowl was not surprised his bondmate had taken to one of the, to him, exotic traditions humans harbored. Prowl had long decided it was not worth to try to rationalize or over analyze too much the beliefs and traditions many humans carried from ages past. Many of them defied all logic, others seemed impractical and many more had been warped and reworked to allow humans moments of strange enjoyment. But Prowl had to admit, while he saw immediately the appeal Jazz would find in the holiday known as Halloween, he had not expected Jazz would take to other traditions such as the offering he was constructing for his deceased twin.
Jazz nodded and finished arranging the flowers he had brought up. His attention turned to a box with containing different trinkets, each as exotic as the perfume of the orange flowers that now pervaded the room. Prowl cast a quizzical glance at what appeared to be a human sized skull, and his olfactory sensors identified the construct to be made of sugar.
"Sunstreaker made it fer me," Jazz explained as he felt his mate's curiosity through their bond, holding up the skull that was quite small in Jazz's hand, but definitely was as big as Spike's head. It was decorated with more sugar paste dyed in bright colors giving a colorful and festive look to the sugar skull. The glyphs composing Ricochet's name were spelt carefully over the forehead using the paste.
Prowl merely nodded, not sure what the skull had to do with the alter. "It's a way ta remember him and ta let him know this is for him, as I have no images of him anymore; an' offer him somethin' sweet." Jazz placed the skull in the center of the arrangement. Energon treats were set down in a vase, and cube of sweetened low grade next to it. Jazz explained the purpose of each thing he placed in the alter, which seemingly included a tiny -for their standards- loaf of bread, toys painted in orange shades and white candles to light up the arrangement casting its orange glow over the many objects.
"So, is this for Halloween?" Prowl asked as he helped Jazz to clean up the room after they finished the offering. "And why is it just for Ricochet?"
Jazz shook his head, smiling sadly. "It's for the day of the dead. An' the belief is that on the first day th'sparks of their little ones that passed will come first ta share with their loved ones and be remembered. Everyone else comes on the day after."
Prowl nodded once in understanding, as Jazz wanted to make something just for his twin, who had not had the chance to even live for more than a few moments.
That night, as they recharged in their room dimly lit up with the light of the white candles and filled with the aromatic blend of the orange marigolds, a tiny light passed through their window, dancing around the offering, bouncing from flower to flower to the toys and candy, happy to be remembered.