Holy molly Imperium Cybertronium's getting' a lot of love this week
Title: We Care A Lot.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Fluff Galore!
Pairings: Implied Smokescreen x Chromia. Hinted Ironhide x Ratchet.
Characters: Ironhide, Smokescreen, Chromia, Prowl. Mention of Ratchet and Sunstorm.
Summary: AU - Partly using Dreamwave's comics as basis. A re imagination of Cybertron's society where the line dividing slaves from nobles is so thin.
Notes: Ok so Smokescreen shot me the glare of death and demanded I wrote this. It's kind of bittersweet because you know how this ended up going, but still. Showing Smokescreen and Chromia happy times.
Not beta'ed, so feel free to correct me.
Ironhide smiled and watched quietly as the small container's seal was broken and a cloud of vapor escaped the chamber. He and his family had awaited impatiently for this day, the day when the chamber containing his sister Chromia's and her mate, Smokescreen's first sparked child would open and the child would finally join them in body.
Twenty orns ago a slave came to their home with a request to visit the High Priest's estate, where important news were expecting them.
Smokescreen and Chromia had wasted no time and presented themselves in Sunstorm's home, where the High Priest took them to meet the spark Primus had granted to the couple. After being united for three vorns, Smokescreen and Chromia had decided their union was solid and stable enough to consider offspring.
When Sunstorm showed them their child's spark Smokescreen wasted no time and began the preparations to produce his child's protoform. Nothing was spared in the construction of the protoform and ten orns later, the spark imbued the naked frame and was sealed into the chamber, awaiting until the spark had finished reshaping the protoform.
And now the chamber was opening, ready to reveal Smokescreen and Chromia their first sparked. Soft sounds not unlike the whirring whimpers of an engine's first start up, accompanied by the familiar clicks and chirps expected from sparklings; were the first indicators the protoform was ready and a new sparkling had been created.
Chromia wasted no time to peek into the chamber and her face lit up immediately as she gathered the tiny Cybertronian and carefully extracted the infant from his chamber, taking special care with the wings protruding from the sparkling's shoulders.
Smokescreen was quickly by her side and his own face lit up with joy and pride when he set his first glance on his sparkling. The infant was shockingly similar to Smokescreen, many of his key design details were remarkably similar --a extreme rarity among Cybertronians whose bodies weren't pre-made with an specific design.
The couple was nothing if not absolutely in love with their sparkling and the child was, in Ironhide's opinion, the cutest he'd ever seen, and Ironhide had seen quite a few.
The sparkling had taken a mixture of Black, White and shades of gray on his plating, his face was as pale as Chromia's and Smokescreen's, and his helm was adorned with a tiny red chevron, a feature that was prominent among Smokescreen's family --those who weren't born with the chevron were modified to bear it later on.
The first few orns of life the sparkling went without designation, as normally parents awaited a few orns to determinate the most appropriate name for the new Cybertronians. It didn't take long for Smokescreen and Chromia to pick the name Prowl for their child. The sparkling could be incredibly silent, and tenacious, and whenever he managed to escape his nursery it was difficult for anyone to see or hear him. Smokescreen had been 'ambushed' by his sparkling a couple of times when he had approached his crib to feed him. The sparkling had managed to keep himself well hidden and as soon as Smokescreen was within range he had all but pounced on his father, latching onto him and clicking happily. So Prowl it was.
Many sparklings took a few orns to recognize their new designations, but Prowl seemed to understand that was his name after the first few times Smokescreen and Chromia had called him by that designation, hinting at a smart and observing child.
Ironhide himself had had his share of special moments with the sparkling Prowl. He was well behaved, quiet while in presence of strangers or when others were talking. One could see the sparkling watching them, observing carefully their interactions and Ironhide could only imagine the gears turning in his developing processors, watching the world go by.
His then 'just friend' Ratchet had also taken a liking for the sparkling and Prowl enjoyed the attention thoroughly.
Several orns after Prowl's designation was officially registered and the sparkling was recognized as member of the nobility with a little yellow sash wrapped around his middle --which Prowl had tried to put to his mouth in more than one occasion; Smokescreen and Chromia endured the first of a few unpleasant experiences regarding Prowl's health.
Smokescreen wasn't sure how it had happened, he and his mate were playing with the sparkling Prowl when he suddenly froze. After several times trying to call him and get his attention Chromia called Ratchet while her mate tried by all means to pull the sparkling out of his lock. Perhaps by instinct or maybe just mere luck, Smokescreen began to stroke the back of Prowl's tiny chevron while talking to him, and after a few kliks the sparkling was moving again, clinging to his father and crying loudly.
After some examination, Ratchet determined the episode was bound to repeat itself a few times during Prowl's early sparklinghood, as the infant was accessing the sophisticated and intricate net of logic and analytical centers within his CPU much sooner than it was normal, producing a glitch that locked his motor functions in order to concentrate all his processing power in said portions of his CPU.
The easy fix for the glitch was to provide the sparkling with physical stimulation to force his processors to direct some of the power back to his motor functions. Ratchet expected the glitch would be fixed once Prowl had matured enough to access and handle his logic centers appropriately.
After the first time his glitch acted up, Smokescreen and Chromia had been particularly careful and observant of his behavior and determined the glitch appeared only when Prowl was perceiving contradictory input or things he apparently was unable to understand, his logic processors tried to provide him with the answers and thus all the processing power went to those sectors in his CPU.
The Defensor family learned fairly quickly the best way to handle that little glitch and Prowl kept developing wonderfully, learning to walk and talk, albeit the later was developing faster than the prior. Prowl's wings were quite large for a sparkling of his age and they were sure the sparkling's wing would be way bigger than his father's once he reached maturity. Beautiful as his wings were, they were giving Prowl all kind of frustration about being able to stand and walk on his own.
Not long after that, Smokescreen took his family to his other pride and joy, the beautiful gardens he had presented to Chromia as gift when he asked her to become his mate. Prowl was ecstatic with the glowing shards and clusters of crystals reflecting the light provided by the light posts.
"Like them, Prowl?" Smokescreen asked softly, bouncing his son gently on his arms. Prowl nodded and stretched a little white hand to try to touch the nearest cluster. Smokescreen chuckled softly and moved closer, bringing his son close to the growing, glowing crystal. Prowl's hand pressed flat against the crystal, pleasantly cool and smooth.
After running his little hand over the crystal, feeling the tapered edges of this particular formation, the sparkling Prowl bent forward a bit more to bring it within reach for his mouth, intending to sample the crystal.
"No, no." Smokescreen took a couple of quick steps away and pulled Prowl gently back against his chest plates. "Those are not for little sparklings to nibble, Prowl."
"No?" Prowl asked and tilted his head curiously, casting a glance back to the cluster. It glowed like the sweet energon his parents fed him, and looked even tastier.
"Not ready for solid diets yet, I'm afraid." Smokescreen laughed softly and stroked the back of Prowl's helm, nuzzling the sparkling's cheek lovingly. "Besides, those don't taste good."
"Your uncle Ratchet wouldn't like it if he had to extract one of those out of your primary conduits." Chromia smiled and poked the golden crest of her son's helm. Prowl nodded and leaned more comfortably against Smokescreen's shoulder.
"Tell you what." the primarily blue and red mech tilted his son's head around to face him. "When you can walk properly, I'll help you to plant your own cluster, sounds good?"
Prowl nodded vigorously, his blue optics brightened and glowed with excitement.
"Very well, what about a smile for daddy, huh?"
Prowl smiled widely and cheerfully to his father, his wings twitched the smallest bit, the growing appendages were slowly beginning to gain some mobility. Smokescreen's own wings twitched just a little in return.
Chromia smiled fondly, watching Prowl's wings twitch back, it was as if father and son were having a conversation of their own entirely through their wings. "Cute," She whispered to herself, admiring the view of her mate an child.
A meta cycle later Prowl's body had grown a little, and with longer legs the sparkling began to tilt his personal battle against his center of gravity in his favor, and albeit still wobbly and getting tired of walking too soon, the sparkling had managed to give his first firm and secure steps, much to the joy of his proud parents and uncles.
"Remember I made a promise, Prowl?" Smokescreen asked while he helped his sparkling to feed himself. His motor coordination was still off though Prowl insisted in wanting to hold his energon cube and suck through his tube all by himself, and Smokescreen just helped him to 'aim' for the tube correctly.
Prowl looked up to his father and nodded, not bothering to stop his suckling through the tube. Smokescreen laughed softly.
"As soon as you're done with that energon we're going to the gardens to carry with that promise." Chromia smiled and stroked the back of Prowl's helm gently. "Oh no, don't you dare, young mech." she admonished the sparkling when Prowl began to suck harder and faster to finish his meal quicker.
Prowl smiled sheepishly and slowed down his suckling. He didn't want to wait that long!
"Patience, Prowl," Smokescreen tipped his son's nose playfully. "Good things come for those who are patient, remember that."
Prowl nodded and continued with his meal, twitching his wings softly, the originally fully white wings were beginning to gain a stripe of a pale gray shade over the edge, and his parents suspected it would grow darker until it was as black as Prowl's armor, just like Smokescreen's own wings sported a white stripe over the blue of the rest of the appendage.
Smokescreen grinned and twitched his own wings a little, and Prowl's twitched again in response. Sometimes Chromia wished she could understand this secret language her mate and child shared.
Once Prowl was done with his energon, the couple took their sparkling's hands and headed for the family's gardens, over that meta cycle the crystals had grown a little, just little bits and new protrusions that were barely perceptible for the untrained optic.
The couple took their sparkling to the middle of the gardens where some room had been made to accommodate a new container with the mineral fluid that would nourish the upcoming cluster. "Ready?" Smokescreen knelt down and retrieved a case, pushing the lid up gently to retrieve a beautiful shard of a pale lilac shade. "This is your shard, Prowl. You're going to care for it and help it grow as big and beautiful as these clusters around us."
The sparkling fell to his knees by his father, locking his blue optics over the shard that was now being entrusted to him.
"It's a big responsibility, Prowl. If you don't tend to it, the shard will break." Smokescreen's voice was serious and solemn but Chromia could hear the tingle of excitement and pride in her mate's voice.
Prowl's optics widened a little as he digested this information, and after a few kliks to process his father's words, the sparkling nodded.
"All right. Let's prepare it."
Chromia headed for a small storage unit not too far away from the gardens and returned with some containers she handed to her mate. Smokescreen opened one of the containers, and poured a small amount over the casing bathing the shard with the first fluid. He took the shard and wrapped his sparkling's fingers around it. "Have to make sure the shard's properly coated with this fluid." Smokescreen smiled and guided his child's little white hands to run all over the shard to coat it with the fluid.
After applying different liquids to the shard the Defensor noble poured in an intricately decorated container some of same liquid that filled the containers where growing clusters floated. "Just one third of the container for now. We'll have to change the fluid again in a few orns." Smokescreen took his sparkling by his waist and helped him to reach the container which was as tall as him. "Now put the shard in the liquid, Prowl."
The sparkling did as he was told and plunged his little hands into the liquid, releasing his shard once he felt the bottom of the container.
"There we go. You've planted your own shard." Chromia smiled and made sure to keep her optics on her sparkling to make sure he wouldn't try to get his hands to his mouth to sample the residuals of fluids that coated them. "And now it's time to get you clean, and then recharge time."
Prowl nodded and smiled happily and excitedly, casting a glance to the container where his shard rested, hoping the shard would grow into a big cluster soon.
"We'll be back to tend for it in a few orns, all right?" Smokescreen smiled and picked his child, carrying Prowl in one arm while he held Chromia's hand with his free hand, heading back to their home.
After washing the sparkling and feeding him again, Chromia tucked Prowl back into the little berth that was his crib, making sure her son was comfortable and then kissed the crest on his helm. "Recharge well, dear." She whispered to her son who was already beginning to fall offline.
"Pleasant recharge, Prowl." Smokescreen stroked his son's cheek gently. "We love you."
Prowl's optics flickered a few times before finally powering down, mumbling a 'love you' back to his parents with a mixture of clicks and broken words, quickly falling into the pleasant lull of recharge.
Smokescreen and Chromia allowed themselves a few kliks to watch their sparkling and make sure his recharge cycle would go through without problems. The couple smiled to one another and made their way out of the room, silently thanking Primus for the gift he granted to them.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Fluff Galore!
Pairings: Implied Smokescreen x Chromia. Hinted Ironhide x Ratchet.
Characters: Ironhide, Smokescreen, Chromia, Prowl. Mention of Ratchet and Sunstorm.
Summary: AU - Partly using Dreamwave's comics as basis. A re imagination of Cybertron's society where the line dividing slaves from nobles is so thin.
Notes: Ok so Smokescreen shot me the glare of death and demanded I wrote this. It's kind of bittersweet because you know how this ended up going, but still. Showing Smokescreen and Chromia happy times.
Not beta'ed, so feel free to correct me.
Ironhide smiled and watched quietly as the small container's seal was broken and a cloud of vapor escaped the chamber. He and his family had awaited impatiently for this day, the day when the chamber containing his sister Chromia's and her mate, Smokescreen's first sparked child would open and the child would finally join them in body.
Twenty orns ago a slave came to their home with a request to visit the High Priest's estate, where important news were expecting them.
Smokescreen and Chromia had wasted no time and presented themselves in Sunstorm's home, where the High Priest took them to meet the spark Primus had granted to the couple. After being united for three vorns, Smokescreen and Chromia had decided their union was solid and stable enough to consider offspring.
When Sunstorm showed them their child's spark Smokescreen wasted no time and began the preparations to produce his child's protoform. Nothing was spared in the construction of the protoform and ten orns later, the spark imbued the naked frame and was sealed into the chamber, awaiting until the spark had finished reshaping the protoform.
And now the chamber was opening, ready to reveal Smokescreen and Chromia their first sparked. Soft sounds not unlike the whirring whimpers of an engine's first start up, accompanied by the familiar clicks and chirps expected from sparklings; were the first indicators the protoform was ready and a new sparkling had been created.
Chromia wasted no time to peek into the chamber and her face lit up immediately as she gathered the tiny Cybertronian and carefully extracted the infant from his chamber, taking special care with the wings protruding from the sparkling's shoulders.
Smokescreen was quickly by her side and his own face lit up with joy and pride when he set his first glance on his sparkling. The infant was shockingly similar to Smokescreen, many of his key design details were remarkably similar --a extreme rarity among Cybertronians whose bodies weren't pre-made with an specific design.
The couple was nothing if not absolutely in love with their sparkling and the child was, in Ironhide's opinion, the cutest he'd ever seen, and Ironhide had seen quite a few.
The sparkling had taken a mixture of Black, White and shades of gray on his plating, his face was as pale as Chromia's and Smokescreen's, and his helm was adorned with a tiny red chevron, a feature that was prominent among Smokescreen's family --those who weren't born with the chevron were modified to bear it later on.
The first few orns of life the sparkling went without designation, as normally parents awaited a few orns to determinate the most appropriate name for the new Cybertronians. It didn't take long for Smokescreen and Chromia to pick the name Prowl for their child. The sparkling could be incredibly silent, and tenacious, and whenever he managed to escape his nursery it was difficult for anyone to see or hear him. Smokescreen had been 'ambushed' by his sparkling a couple of times when he had approached his crib to feed him. The sparkling had managed to keep himself well hidden and as soon as Smokescreen was within range he had all but pounced on his father, latching onto him and clicking happily. So Prowl it was.
Many sparklings took a few orns to recognize their new designations, but Prowl seemed to understand that was his name after the first few times Smokescreen and Chromia had called him by that designation, hinting at a smart and observing child.
Ironhide himself had had his share of special moments with the sparkling Prowl. He was well behaved, quiet while in presence of strangers or when others were talking. One could see the sparkling watching them, observing carefully their interactions and Ironhide could only imagine the gears turning in his developing processors, watching the world go by.
His then 'just friend' Ratchet had also taken a liking for the sparkling and Prowl enjoyed the attention thoroughly.
Several orns after Prowl's designation was officially registered and the sparkling was recognized as member of the nobility with a little yellow sash wrapped around his middle --which Prowl had tried to put to his mouth in more than one occasion; Smokescreen and Chromia endured the first of a few unpleasant experiences regarding Prowl's health.
Smokescreen wasn't sure how it had happened, he and his mate were playing with the sparkling Prowl when he suddenly froze. After several times trying to call him and get his attention Chromia called Ratchet while her mate tried by all means to pull the sparkling out of his lock. Perhaps by instinct or maybe just mere luck, Smokescreen began to stroke the back of Prowl's tiny chevron while talking to him, and after a few kliks the sparkling was moving again, clinging to his father and crying loudly.
After some examination, Ratchet determined the episode was bound to repeat itself a few times during Prowl's early sparklinghood, as the infant was accessing the sophisticated and intricate net of logic and analytical centers within his CPU much sooner than it was normal, producing a glitch that locked his motor functions in order to concentrate all his processing power in said portions of his CPU.
The easy fix for the glitch was to provide the sparkling with physical stimulation to force his processors to direct some of the power back to his motor functions. Ratchet expected the glitch would be fixed once Prowl had matured enough to access and handle his logic centers appropriately.
After the first time his glitch acted up, Smokescreen and Chromia had been particularly careful and observant of his behavior and determined the glitch appeared only when Prowl was perceiving contradictory input or things he apparently was unable to understand, his logic processors tried to provide him with the answers and thus all the processing power went to those sectors in his CPU.
The Defensor family learned fairly quickly the best way to handle that little glitch and Prowl kept developing wonderfully, learning to walk and talk, albeit the later was developing faster than the prior. Prowl's wings were quite large for a sparkling of his age and they were sure the sparkling's wing would be way bigger than his father's once he reached maturity. Beautiful as his wings were, they were giving Prowl all kind of frustration about being able to stand and walk on his own.
Not long after that, Smokescreen took his family to his other pride and joy, the beautiful gardens he had presented to Chromia as gift when he asked her to become his mate. Prowl was ecstatic with the glowing shards and clusters of crystals reflecting the light provided by the light posts.
"Like them, Prowl?" Smokescreen asked softly, bouncing his son gently on his arms. Prowl nodded and stretched a little white hand to try to touch the nearest cluster. Smokescreen chuckled softly and moved closer, bringing his son close to the growing, glowing crystal. Prowl's hand pressed flat against the crystal, pleasantly cool and smooth.
After running his little hand over the crystal, feeling the tapered edges of this particular formation, the sparkling Prowl bent forward a bit more to bring it within reach for his mouth, intending to sample the crystal.
"No, no." Smokescreen took a couple of quick steps away and pulled Prowl gently back against his chest plates. "Those are not for little sparklings to nibble, Prowl."
"No?" Prowl asked and tilted his head curiously, casting a glance back to the cluster. It glowed like the sweet energon his parents fed him, and looked even tastier.
"Not ready for solid diets yet, I'm afraid." Smokescreen laughed softly and stroked the back of Prowl's helm, nuzzling the sparkling's cheek lovingly. "Besides, those don't taste good."
"Your uncle Ratchet wouldn't like it if he had to extract one of those out of your primary conduits." Chromia smiled and poked the golden crest of her son's helm. Prowl nodded and leaned more comfortably against Smokescreen's shoulder.
"Tell you what." the primarily blue and red mech tilted his son's head around to face him. "When you can walk properly, I'll help you to plant your own cluster, sounds good?"
Prowl nodded vigorously, his blue optics brightened and glowed with excitement.
"Very well, what about a smile for daddy, huh?"
Prowl smiled widely and cheerfully to his father, his wings twitched the smallest bit, the growing appendages were slowly beginning to gain some mobility. Smokescreen's own wings twitched just a little in return.
Chromia smiled fondly, watching Prowl's wings twitch back, it was as if father and son were having a conversation of their own entirely through their wings. "Cute," She whispered to herself, admiring the view of her mate an child.
A meta cycle later Prowl's body had grown a little, and with longer legs the sparkling began to tilt his personal battle against his center of gravity in his favor, and albeit still wobbly and getting tired of walking too soon, the sparkling had managed to give his first firm and secure steps, much to the joy of his proud parents and uncles.
"Remember I made a promise, Prowl?" Smokescreen asked while he helped his sparkling to feed himself. His motor coordination was still off though Prowl insisted in wanting to hold his energon cube and suck through his tube all by himself, and Smokescreen just helped him to 'aim' for the tube correctly.
Prowl looked up to his father and nodded, not bothering to stop his suckling through the tube. Smokescreen laughed softly.
"As soon as you're done with that energon we're going to the gardens to carry with that promise." Chromia smiled and stroked the back of Prowl's helm gently. "Oh no, don't you dare, young mech." she admonished the sparkling when Prowl began to suck harder and faster to finish his meal quicker.
Prowl smiled sheepishly and slowed down his suckling. He didn't want to wait that long!
"Patience, Prowl," Smokescreen tipped his son's nose playfully. "Good things come for those who are patient, remember that."
Prowl nodded and continued with his meal, twitching his wings softly, the originally fully white wings were beginning to gain a stripe of a pale gray shade over the edge, and his parents suspected it would grow darker until it was as black as Prowl's armor, just like Smokescreen's own wings sported a white stripe over the blue of the rest of the appendage.
Smokescreen grinned and twitched his own wings a little, and Prowl's twitched again in response. Sometimes Chromia wished she could understand this secret language her mate and child shared.
Once Prowl was done with his energon, the couple took their sparkling's hands and headed for the family's gardens, over that meta cycle the crystals had grown a little, just little bits and new protrusions that were barely perceptible for the untrained optic.
The couple took their sparkling to the middle of the gardens where some room had been made to accommodate a new container with the mineral fluid that would nourish the upcoming cluster. "Ready?" Smokescreen knelt down and retrieved a case, pushing the lid up gently to retrieve a beautiful shard of a pale lilac shade. "This is your shard, Prowl. You're going to care for it and help it grow as big and beautiful as these clusters around us."
The sparkling fell to his knees by his father, locking his blue optics over the shard that was now being entrusted to him.
"It's a big responsibility, Prowl. If you don't tend to it, the shard will break." Smokescreen's voice was serious and solemn but Chromia could hear the tingle of excitement and pride in her mate's voice.
Prowl's optics widened a little as he digested this information, and after a few kliks to process his father's words, the sparkling nodded.
"All right. Let's prepare it."
Chromia headed for a small storage unit not too far away from the gardens and returned with some containers she handed to her mate. Smokescreen opened one of the containers, and poured a small amount over the casing bathing the shard with the first fluid. He took the shard and wrapped his sparkling's fingers around it. "Have to make sure the shard's properly coated with this fluid." Smokescreen smiled and guided his child's little white hands to run all over the shard to coat it with the fluid.
After applying different liquids to the shard the Defensor noble poured in an intricately decorated container some of same liquid that filled the containers where growing clusters floated. "Just one third of the container for now. We'll have to change the fluid again in a few orns." Smokescreen took his sparkling by his waist and helped him to reach the container which was as tall as him. "Now put the shard in the liquid, Prowl."
The sparkling did as he was told and plunged his little hands into the liquid, releasing his shard once he felt the bottom of the container.
"There we go. You've planted your own shard." Chromia smiled and made sure to keep her optics on her sparkling to make sure he wouldn't try to get his hands to his mouth to sample the residuals of fluids that coated them. "And now it's time to get you clean, and then recharge time."
Prowl nodded and smiled happily and excitedly, casting a glance to the container where his shard rested, hoping the shard would grow into a big cluster soon.
"We'll be back to tend for it in a few orns, all right?" Smokescreen smiled and picked his child, carrying Prowl in one arm while he held Chromia's hand with his free hand, heading back to their home.
After washing the sparkling and feeding him again, Chromia tucked Prowl back into the little berth that was his crib, making sure her son was comfortable and then kissed the crest on his helm. "Recharge well, dear." She whispered to her son who was already beginning to fall offline.
"Pleasant recharge, Prowl." Smokescreen stroked his son's cheek gently. "We love you."
Prowl's optics flickered a few times before finally powering down, mumbling a 'love you' back to his parents with a mixture of clicks and broken words, quickly falling into the pleasant lull of recharge.
Smokescreen and Chromia allowed themselves a few kliks to watch their sparkling and make sure his recharge cycle would go through without problems. The couple smiled to one another and made their way out of the room, silently thanking Primus for the gift he granted to them.