#this is from the combiner’s POV | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

silkling · 2 years ago

Text

Terrestrial

So this is purely self-indulgent. I wanted to write a Combiner Terrans AU so I did.

Also, the Terrans' combined form uses far/faer pronouns. I figure if any character is going to use neopronouns, it's going to be the alien robot whose made up up five other alien robots of varying genders.

More info on this AU at the end.

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Awareness crashed into existence with all the force of a cannon blast. Vents slammed open, and optics flashed wide. A gasp escaped from a new vocalizer, and the massive frame swayed as if dizzy.

They…no, he? She? No, no….none of those were right. But what was? Knowledge bloomed, from deep in their–faer–spark. Yes. That was right. Fae were not he, or she, or even they. Fae were fae. Fae had no knowledge as to why such was the case, but it was. It was simply right. Fae felt it to the very depths of faer spark. And faer name…yes, fae knew that too.

But…what were fae? The answer came quickly, instinctively. It was an answer fae knew in the depths of their code. Fae were a bot. A Terran. No…no, fae we’re not one Terran. Fae were five. Or…were fae five Terrans? Fae felt like fae were one. Fae were faeselves. But if fae prodded deeper into faer spark and processor, they sensed the edges of five other sparks. Were fae…made up of other bots?

Fae shifted their pedes, optics wide as they looked around in confusion. The confusion quickly mixed with surprise. Fae were so big! There were green things– no, trees–all around, but fae towered above them all! Beyond the trees, was an expanse of forest that looked endless. Fae were in a clearing. A very big one. There was a large lake at the edge of the clearing. But where were fae? And why were fae here?

Knowledge, in the form of memories, tickled at faer mind. Mom had brought faer here. Alongside faer brother and sister. And faer Dad! Fae’d come with other bots. Bigger bots? But…that wasn’t right. Faer memories said the bigger bots–Megatron and Optimus–didn’t tower over the trees. So how could they be bigger if fae did tower above everything else?

Did…did these knowledge-memories come from the five bots that made fae? That…seemed right. At least, fae thought it did. But then, that just made fae wonder again how they could be made up of other bots, and how and why fae had come into being. Fae were their own bot, fae knew that much. Even if fae were made up of five others, fae were not them. Fae were fae.

Fae were started from faer internal musing when fae felt something touch faer knee. Fae looked down, and brightened when fae saw Megatron. Yes! Fae knew this bot! Fae knelt, and Megatron backed up quickly to make sure fae didn’t accidentally squash his pedes under faer knee. Probably a good idea. Faer body still felt strange to fae. But good!

“Hello!” Fae greeted, then jerked and squeaked in alarm at how loud faer voice was.

They looked to Megatron quickly, hoping fae hadn’t hurt his audials, and that’s when fae saw Mom on his shoulder. “Oh! Mom!” Fae chirped.

“Uh.” Mom was looking up at fae, clearly surprised. “Hey, kiddo.” She said. “You…think I’m your mom?”

Fae blinked, then hunched in on faeself. “Yes? You take care of me. I always call you Mom. You said I was family?” Fae frowned. “Or…you said the bots that make me are family? Do…do I not count?”

Fae…couldn’t fault Mom, if that was the case. Mom obviously hadn’t expected or known about fae. Even fae hasn’t known about faeself!

Mom shook her head quickly, then relaxed and smiled up at fae. “No, no. I’m just surprised. You’re…your own bot, right? Not a combination of my other kids?”

Fae smiled shyly. “Yes.” Fae agreed. “I am me, and I am one.” Fae lifted faer shoulders, feeling a swell of pride. Fae liked faeself, even if fae were new!

“So you are.” Mom agreed, smiling up at fae. “So, do you have a name, kiddo?”

Fae beamed down at her, armor flaring with a sense of warm, buzzing happiness. “Yes! I am Terrestrion! I am fae/faer!” Fae chirped.

“Terrestrion.” Mom mused, then smiled and leaned forward. “Hey, baby. Wanna give me a hug?”

Fae beamed brighter, and offered her faer servo. She climbed on, and fae brought her to faer face where she leaned in and embraced fae as best she could. Fae churred softly in contentment, faer face squishing into a happy, squinty smile. Mom chuckled, smiling back.

“Welcome to the family, Terrestrion.” She said warmly.

“Thank you!” Fae chirped.

There was a cough by faer knees, where they were still kneeling, and fae blinking before making sure Mom was stable in one servo, and fae offered the other to Megatron. He stepped into it, and fae lifted him up to beam.

“Hello! I am Terrestrion! I am fae/faer!” Fae introduced themselves. Fae knew Megatron, but Megatron did not know fae.

“Yes.” He smiled faintly. “I am aware.” He hummed. “You are very articulate, for a combiner. Especially for your first time combining.” He observed.

“Oh!” Was that was fae was? A combiner? That made sense, but fae didn’t know hat a combiner was. Fae didn’t think the five bots who made faer knew either. “Is that what I am? What’s a combiner?”

“A combiner is a bot who is made of five or more other bots, each of whom are the combiner’s components and transform into one part of the combiner’s frame. When combined, the components share their sparks, and their consciousnesses fade to allow the spark and consciousness of the combiner to form.” Megatron explained. “We just observed you combining for the first time. Your components are five young Terrans.”

Fae nodded, taking that all in. “Oh, yes, I know! I feel them! Their minds are quiet, but I know they made me!” Fae tilted faer helm. “Make me?” Fae mused. Fae knew the names of faer components too. It was like it was written into faer code, right where faer own name was.

Fae paused as something Megatron has said slid through his processors, and fae latched onto it was an eager desire to learn more. Fae wanted to know everything! “You were surprised I’m articulate?”

Megatron blinked, looking surprised again, before he chuckled in faint embarrassment. “Indeed. I have known a few combiners. The more stable ones were fully capable of speech and complex thought, but never on their first few combination attempts. I was surprised you are so stable so immediately. It is rather unusual, in my experience.”

Fae blinked, then frowned. Oh. “Is that…bad?”

“No, young one.” Megatron assured fae gently. “If anything, it is very good. It means the social bonds between your components are strong enough that you onlined without any conflicts in your own coding or core processor. It’s always good when a combiner is as stable as you.”

Fae blinked, then beamed brightly, only to pause as Megatron lifted a servo to his audial. Fae watched them talk, idly tilting faer helm to very carefully bump their nose to Mom in a gesture of affection as fae watched. After a moment, Megatron nodded and lowered his servo.

“Optimus is returning with Alex and the children.” He said.

Oh? Oh! Yes! Fae hadn’t noticed earlier, but faer siblings and Dad weren’t here, even though fae knew they’d all come here together!

“Oh! Where were they?” Fae asked eagerly.

“The kids forgot their snacks.” Mom said, sounding amused as she leaned against faer cheek, seeming content to let faer have faer affection. “So Optimus took them to the nearest store to get more. It’s a bit out of the way, since we’re in the middle of nowhere. Alex went with them to keep the kids out of trouble.”

Oh, yes. That made sense. And now fae remembered, too. Faer siblings had been so excited to go out on the weekend camping trip, to a place where faer commoners could run and play freely without fear of being seen, and then when they’d gotten here faer siblings had realized that they’d left their snacks at home. They still had food for their meals, but no snacks for in between.

Fae looked up as fae heard footsteps, and then Optimus, Dad, and faer siblings were stepping out of the tree line. Dad and Robby and Mo were holding bags, but all four of them froze when they saw the scene.

“Hello!” Fae said brightly. “I am Terrestrion! I am fae/faer!”

Optimus spat static, staring at faer with wide optics. “Combiner.” He finally gasped out.

“Yes.” Megatron agreed, clearly amused.

He gestured to faer, and fae set him down on the ground, though Mom seemed content to stay where she was.

“Optimus, Alex, children.” Megatron said. “Meet the combined form of the Terrans.”

That seemed enough to jolt Dad from his stupor, because he was quick to squeal in delight and dart over to faer. He climbed onto the servo Megatron had vacated, and fae lifted him up to smile at him.

“Hello Dad!” Fae chirped, absolutely thrilled to see that he was happy to meet faer.

“Dad!” He gasped, then turned to Mom. “Oh, Dottie! They’re-“ he cut himself off, then shook himself and corrected himself before he continued. “Faer really another Terran kid? Ours?”

Fae blinked, then beamed even brighter when they realized how easily Dad had accepted and self corrected. Fae knew faer pronouns were, perhaps, rather non-traditional, but they felt so very right for faer.

“Fae sure are.” Mom smiled at Dad and leaned in to steal a kiss from him. The act of affection made faer squeak in delight. “Though this Terran baby is a whole lot bigger than the others. We’ll manage, though.” She smiled up at faer, and fae grinned back.

“We will.” Dad agreed. He smiled warmly, then leaned in to cuddle against faer face and give faer his best approximation if a hug. “I’m so very pleased to meet you, Terrestrion.” He said cheerfully. “But why don’t you put us down? I think your brother and sister want to say hello as well.”

“Oh!” Fae gasped, then nodded eagerly and lowered faer parents down.

They stepped off faer servos, and Robby and Mo wasted no time in clambering onto faer servos instead. Fae lifted them again, smiling as faer siblings all but vibrated with glee. In fact…fae would feel their excitement, bubbling alongside faer own. But how? A nudge from faer memories, and fae realized how. The cybersleeves! Yes, fae were connected to their siblings!

“Hello!” Fae greeted.

“Hi!” Mo gasped, her eyes wide and shining. “You’re really a combiner? Made up of our siblings?”

Fae nodded. “Yes! The Terrans are my components.” Fae paused. “That makes me Terran too, I think.”

“Yeah it does.” Robby grinned. “And it makes you our sibling just as much as the others.”

Fae chirped happily, overwhelmed with the sheer joy of their acceptance. They laughed, holding their cybersleeves to their chests.

“Oh, all those happy feels are you?” Mo giggled, grin in up at faer through her laughter.

Joy was infectious, it seemed. Especially when fae were directly connected to faer siblings.

“Yes!” Fae beamed. “There is much to be happy about! I am new, and I exist! The world is so exciting, and there is so much to learn! I have a family, and Mom and Dad care for me, and you are my brother and sister and you love me!” Fae announced, all but vibrating with the force of their glee and excitement.

Robby was laughing, patting faer servo with one hand. “You’re right! That is a lot of to happy about!” He laughed again. “But oh man, you’re so bright!”

Fae blinked. “Bright?” Fae looked down at faeselves. “Are my biolights dialed up too much?”

Mo gave a squeal of laughter, her hands clapped over her mouth as she sat in faer servo.

“No.” Robby grinned. “Not, like, physically bright. Just…you. Your personality. Your feels. All the other stuff. You’re bright.”

“It’s nice.” Mo chimed in, giggles fading as her grin brightened. “Bright feels are always good, even if they’re intense enough that it feels like I might explode.”

“Please don’t explode.” Fae said somberly. “I love you too much.”

“Aww.” Mo giggled, rocking forward so she could throw her arms against faer face and hug faer cheek. “Not literally. It’s just a lot. You have a lot of really big feels, but it makes sense! You’re a really big bot!”

“Oh.” Fae blinked, then relaxed and smiled again. “That’s good!”

“Very.” Mo nodded seriously, and then she laughed and popped to her feet. “So! Let’s play!”

“Play?” Fae blinked again.

“Play what? Faer too big to play our normal games.” Robby pointed out.

“I could…be less big? I could split again.” Fae offered, though fae wasn’t eager to. Fae’d only just come into being! They wanted to exist for as long as they could!

“You don’t need to.” Mo assured. “I know a way we can all play!” She pointed to the lake at the edge of the clearing.

Oh, yes. Fae had forgotten about that. But when Mom and Dad and all of the group had arrived here, Mom had decided to make camp here. Because water activities were fun for camping trips. But fae didn’t understand what that had to do with the conundrum at hand. At servo? Hm.

“Oh!” Well, it seemed Robby understood, even if fae didn’t. “Yeah, good idea Mo!” He turned to faer. “Hey, Terrestrion, can you put us down? We’ll be right back.”

Fae nodded, then lowered their servos. Faer siblings slipped off, then hurried to the truck Mom had driven here in. Fae watched as they rooted around the trunk, then grabbed something and scurried around the back. Fae blinked, confused as fae tilted faer helm.

A moment later, Robby and Mo slipped out from behind the truck wearing their swim suits.

“Come on, Terrestrion!” Mo called out, racing over. “You can still play with us by the lake!”

Fae didn’t see how, but fae would humor her and see what she had in mind. Fae crawled over to the lake, seeing no point in standing just to walk a short distance, then sat on the edge as Robby and Mo caught up. Behind them, Mom and Dad and Megatron and Optimus followed.

The adults had been talking quietly, but fae hadn’t been paying attention. It wasn’t faer business, but fae supposed they were wanting to stay close to Robby and Mo and faeself to keep an eye–optic?–on everything.

“Alright!” Mo crowed. “Now you pick us up, and we can use your hands as a diving board!”

Oh! Yes, now fae understood!

“Not too high!” Mom’s voice was sharp as she cut in. “Terrestrion, honey, I don’t want you standing up if you’re going to play like that, okay? It’ll be too high of a jump otherwise.”

Mo and Robby complained, but fae blinked and nodded. “Okay Mom!” Fae wouldn’t do anything to hurt faer siblings!

“And be careful, okay?” Mom said gently. “Your brother and sister are a lot smaller than you.”

Fae went still, face shifting into something more serious. “I would never hurt my family, Mom. I will protect them. All of them. Always. My job is to be like a guardian.”

She blinked rapidly, then softened. “Good.” She said softly. “But how about you let us adults protect you as well, alright kiddo?”

Fae smiled shyly. “Okay, Mom. And when I’m stronger, I can protect everyone.”

Mom nodded, then turned back to the other adults, and fae took that as faer cue to look back to faer siblings. They lowered their servos, letting Robby and Mo climb on, and then lofted them above the depths of the lake.

The two humans jumped, and they all continued to play that way. For some time, Robby and Mo were content to just keep jumping off their biggest sibling, but eventually the game changed. Fae began to splash at them, making small waves that sent the humans tumbling and laughing. Fae were careful, optics sharp as they kept a close watch over faer siblings. Fae were ready to pull them out the second it look like they needed it.

As time wore on, fae continued to play with faer siblings, and the adults went on to set up camp properly. Fae found faeselves lost in thought. It was understandable that Mom would be worried. But fae also knew that fae would snuff faer own spark before willingly hurting any of faer family.

Fae didn’t realize that they’d lagged in the game until fae felt Robby touch faer servo.

“Terrestrion? You okay?”

Fae blinked, opening faer mouth to reply before fae paused. “I am well. I am merely….” Fae paused, searching. “Tired.” Fae realized.

“That is no surprise.” Megatron said from behind faer. “You have been combined for several hours. Most new combiners cannot hold their form for this long.”

Hours? But it hadn’t felt like that! But then when fae looked around, fae realized that the sky had changed significantly. It really had been hours.

“Oh.” Fae frowned. “But…I do not want to go.” Fae said softly, suddenly nervous.

“It won’t be forever, baby.” Mom said gently, walking over.

Fae turned to her, then crouched until faer chin was pressed to the ground so she could press a hand to faer cheek.

“We’re still out here for a few more days. You can combine again as much as you want while we’re here. And when we get home…” she paused.

“It’ll be harder for you to combine.” Dad said as he walked up to faer as well. “We’ll have to make sure you only ever combine somewhere where there’s no one around. Finding the time and space for that will be difficult. But we will manage it, I promise you.” He smiled and leaned into Mom. “We’ll make it work. You’re family now. We’ll take care of you.”

Fae swallowed, spark thrumming with nerves. “Promise?” Fae whispered.

“We promise.” Mom said gently, meeting faer gaze evenly.

“Okay.”

Fae smiled shakily, still nervous, and a Robby and Mo sidled up next to Mom and Dad to shoot fae a reassuring smile. It would be okay. Faer family would take care of faer. Megatron and Optimus were standing close by, and fae could feel the gentle reassurance in their fields. All would be well.

Fae released a slow vent, then closed faer optics. Fae had to figure out how to decombine. Fae delved into their processor, following the strings that connected faer to faer components. In the spot where the strings met, there was a nook. Fae looked it over, tugging at it. This was how they were supposed to decombine. But how? Fae didn’t know what to do.

Fae felt a prickle along their coding, like an instinct urging faer on. Fae was supposed to lean into the nook? No…no, fae was supposed to tuck in. Curl faer consciousness into it and tuck tight.

Okay. That was doable. Fae relaxed, gathering faeselves close and tight, then tucked in and let faeselves drop into the nook.

Awareness faded, and a single conscious split five ways. Nestled into the sparks and processors of faer components, Terrestrion slipped into a peaceful rest.

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So, as mentioned in the beginning, Terrestrion uses neoronouns. There's a reason for this. I figured that, since fair made up of five bots who all use different pronouns, it'd make the most sense. He/him wouldn't fir because of Twitch, Hashtag, and Nightshade. She/her wouldn't work because of Thrash, Jawbreaker, and Nightshade. They/them might have been good, but I still felt like even that wouldn't work for all the others (sans Nightshade). So I needed something different. Then far/faer was suggested to me and I feel like it fit! So that's that.

ALSO! This is important. This is marked 1/2 chapters. I am planning a second chapter, but I don't know when I'll be able to post it. But just know that this work is functionally complete. Chapter 2 is just going to be these same events from Dot's POV. So this fic is self contained, basically. Chapter 2 won't add any new story, just new insight, and also some tidbits into what Terrestrion wasn't aware of or paying attention to.

Also also, for anyone curious: I picture Nightshade and Hashtag as the legs, Jawbreaker as the torso, and Twitch and Thrash as the arms.

So I think that's all I wanted to say. Let me know what y'all thought!

Until next time, folks!

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