#Sunrazor is just really excited about plants yall

[quibble-auk]

Transformer OC chapter thing!

Previous

Yeah, a little prewar chapter. It’s got a bit more world building surrounding the areas in it. Not too much tho.

I’m really just having fun with my gals.

@thebrokenmechanicalpencil, here’s my fluff. Wholesome Sunrazor content.

I wrote this while listening to “when he sees me” from the original broadway cast of Waitress. I’ve been itching to make an animatic with that song for ages but every time I sit down to do it I stare at my screen for thirty minutes then doom-scroll.

WARNINGS!! Hah, there are none. Just an idiot in love. Oh and me putting stuff in here so I hopefully don’t forget it for my exam tomorrow. You’ll know it when you see it. I actually know nothing about plants. Idk what I’m doing at an agriculture school.

Valkyrie hummed slightly as she quickly returned her communicator into her subspace. She rose from her seat at the bar counter with an effortless grace, the movement fluid and composed, and sauntered over to where Sunrazor was hunched on the floor. She looked over the larger golden mech’s shoulder thoughtfully, smiling fondly, her hands positioned behind her back as she leaned over.

Sunrazor didn’t pay the motion any attention. Instead, she focused more on the small tree-like houseplant she was actively crouched over. Her large hands cradling one of its fragile branches as she inspected it with a careful, almost reverent touch. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally break it.

Despite how the Towers mech seemed to wait patiently for acknowledgement, Sunrazor could hear her fingers tapping each other as she waited. The golden mech paid it no mind. The entire reason she had risked coming over to Valkyrie’s personal apartment had been to see what was wrong with this plant. Valkyrie could be patient enough to at least let her do that before bombarding her with personal questions Sunrazor didn’t have the answers to.

She exhaled slowly, muttering to herself as her eyes scanned the plant’s condition. “Yeah, it’s definitely got gall,” Sunrazor mused aloud, eyes narrowing in concentration. “It looks like crown gall disease, probably a bacterial infection, Agrobacterium tumefaciens is usually the culprit.”

Sunrazor settled her weight backwards a bit, pulling her hand away from the plant and resting them on her thighs, “Was it repotted recently?” The guardian looked over her shoulder just in time to see Valkyrie blink back an expression of shock. Sunrazor almost jumped back when her helm almost collided with Valkyrie’s.

The pastel mech had rested a delicate hand on her shoulder and had leaned in further to look at the plant. Her brow furrowed and lip down turned in a small pout as she contemplated the information. Which was not adorable at all.

“Not too recently. I picked it up from the offworld importing center a few weeks ago and haven’t repotted it yet,” Valkyrie’s proximity had not changed at all as her face went from deep concentration to shocked, “Wait– you can tell all of that from just looking at it?”

“Well– I um– no? I mean– Kinda?” Sunrazor stumbled over her words, which was a great move on her part, really, Powercase would be so impressed. She hastily moved her head back down to look at the plant. Valkyrie shouldn’t have been so close to her, a mech of her standing shouldn’t be acknowledging her, let alone be friends with her! “Insects aren’t really a problem on Cybertron, at least not for a houseplant, so that just leaves bacterial and fungal galls. Crown gall is pretty common in woody plants, especially after they’ve been–”

Sunrazor cut herself off and blinked, “Sorry–you probably don’t wanna hear about that. I um– I can write down some treatments I’d recommend you use, if you’d like.”

Valkyrie looked over at Sunrazor, “Do you have plants of your own?”

Why hadn’t she backed up yet? Sunrazor suppressed the urge to lean away from the other or look at them, keeping her gaze firmly locked onto the plant. She shook her head slightly, “No, most plants have to be imported and I– well, you know— sentry salary and all that.”

Sunrazor tried to smile it off, but maybe she was forcing the smile just a bit too much? She didn’t know, she was never good at this, not like Blight or Powercase. Sunrazor watched the other from the corner of her eye for a reaction. The Towers mech had no idea what she was talking about, judging from how her expression had shifted, “Plants are expensive, I don’t earn enough to buy one.”

Primus, she was making this worse.

“Oh,” Valkyrie looked back down at the plant, removing her hand from Sunrazor’s shoulder.

She really was amazing at this, wasn’t she? Sunrazor just had to go and make it awkward, she could have just said no and left it at that! Instead she just had to bring up her work and how much money she made! Drawing attention to the fact that they should not be in a room alone together. They shouldn’t even be talking to each other! Sunrazor was going to get reassigned! What was she thinking? Why did she think this would ever-

“Well, you know a lot about them,” Valkyrie butted into Sunrazor’s thoughts, finally pulling away completely and stretching a bit. She looked down at the other, laughing softly “I really shouldn’t be surprised, considering how much time you spend in the gardens here!”

Sunrazor felt her eyes widen at the statement. It was true, on the rare occurrence that she did get a break she would spend her time in the Tower’s gardens. And she had been lucky enough to be added to the rotation list of sentries positioned in them. Valkyrie wasn’t wrong at all, she did spend a lot of time in the gardens.

But Valkyrie knew she did and Sunrazor hadn’t told her that.

That meant that Valkyrie had either been asking around for her, or had begun to actively seek her out. This Tower’s mech wanted something from Sunrazor and she couldn’t figure out what it was, and if she didn’t figure it out soon she was going to get into trouble. Was she trying to get her reassigned? Was she looking for friendship? For something more? Sunrazor clenched her jaw tightly, she needed to write down what Valkyrie should use to treat the plant and get out of here before she messed up.

The pastel mech was looking at her communicator again, “A couple friends and I were planning on going to the arena in Polyhex soon, but one of them canceled so now we’ve got an extra ticket. I know you're pretty busy, but would you want to come?”

She looked innocently up from the communicator and at Sunrazor. Who was staring at her in shock now, limbs locked painfully into place and she struggled to process what had just been offered.

Valkyrie—a Towers mech—wanted to take Sunrazor—some random guardian sentry—to go watch gladiator matches with her other Towers mech friends.

Sunrazor’s thoughts spiraled. This couldn’t be real. No one would believe her. Not in a million years. She opened her mouth, trying to find the words, but they escaped her, leaving her struggling to respond, her voice stuck somewhere between disbelief and utter confusion. She blinked harshly as Valkyrie waited for a response. After several beats of silence Sunrazor finally managed to find her voice, “I uh– I can’t go.”

Smooth. Real smooth Sunrazor, now she’s going to think you don't want to hang out with her. The golden mech would have kicked herself had she not still been crouched on the floor. She could feel her fans start to pick up as plating pressed against her. Sunrazor unlocked her joints and quickly stood up to face Valkyrie. She ignored the various popping and groaning of her protesting frame, “It's not that I wouldn’t want to go or anything!”

Sunrazor was stammering, speaking way too quickly than she should have, “I just can’t! I’m a guardian, we aren't allowed to attend!” She deserved a gold star for how well this conversation was going.

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, her expression shifting slightly as she processed Sunrazor’s words, looking the towering mech up and down. For a moment, there was only a quiet tension in the air.

“You’re not allowed?” Valkyrie repeated, her tone a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

Sunrazor’s eyes flickered nervously, and she fumbled to find the right way to explain herself. “It’s—uh—well, I mean, technically it’s against the rules. Guardians aren’t supposed to–unless you work there of course–watch the matches? Not, um, not in person at least. It could–um–trigger more… aggressive… programs and–well. Yeah. That stuff,” she stammered. The words were coming out in a jumble now, and she could feel the pressure mounting as Valkyrie’s gaze didn’t waver.

Once again the silence stretched on for an awkwardly long time, Valkyrie seemingly weighing the options of potential responses. Eventually she seemed to land on one, “Have you ever wanted to go?”

The golden mech might have laughed, had she ever wanted to go to one? Who didn’t? It was almost impossible to go anywhere without hearing about them, it was the ultimate form of entertainment after all. The only place the richest of Cybertron mingled with the common people.

Sunrazor and her roommates always watched the occasional broadcast that Kaon sent out of their larger matches; they had been content with this. At least for the most part. But it wasn’t like they could do anything about it, this was just the way the world worked. They had aggressive and possibly harmful programming, not attending these matches was a small price to pay in order to protect others.

Her hesitant silence must have answered for her, a mischievous and sly smile found its home on Valkyrie’s face, “What if you didn’t go as Sunrazor?”

The guardian blinked a couple times, struggling to catch up with the words that just escaped Valkyrie’s lips. “What?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. She could have sworn she heard wrong, but the amused gleam in Valkyrie’s eyes said otherwise. There was something devious in the way she was smirking.

“What if you didn’t go as you?” Valkyrie repeated, her tone lighter, almost teasing. “You could come with me as someone else.”

Sunrazor’s plating flared slightly in confusion and alarm before snapping back down to press tightly against her. Her gaze snapped to Valkyrie’s, her body tensing involuntarily, her limbs locking again. “What are you saying?” she asked, her voice quieter this time, as if speaking louder might unravel the strange thread that Valkyrie was weaving. She manually unlocked them and there were audible clicks as the locks were released.

Valkyrie leaned in a bit closer, giddily looking up at the other, “What if you went in a disguise! You could pretend to be my bodyguard!” She was grinning, eyes alight with something.

Sunrazor wasn't sure if it was adorably endearing or absolutely terrifying.

“We can give you a new name so Skyline and Vexstrider won't have any idea who you are!” Valkyrie had grabbed Sunrazor’s forearm now, eagerly holding it with both hands. Her door wings were raised from their usual resting position in excitement, “We can touch up your paint too!”

The golden clad mech couldn’t stop herself from looking down at her paint in a small panic. Did she need to get a touch up? Had she been with Valkyrie this entire time with chips or scratches in it? Valkyrie seemed to notice and giggled, wings fluttering.

Primus, help me.

(Our girl is only kinda head over heels. It’s just an itty bitty crush. Nothing much. A+ for effort tho. She’s trying so hard to not admit it. Another good song is “I won’t say (I’m in love)” from Hercules