Sideswipe felt the glare before he saw the glarer. As he entered the rec-room he stopped short, seeing who it was. Sunstreaker, of course, ran helm-first into his brother's back. Cursing, he pulled back before catching a hint of his twin's mood over their bond, "What did you do this time?" he growled. Sideswipe had an innate ability to get in trouble with the worse bots to get angry, and often he pulled sunstreaker down with him. When his twin didn't immediately respond Sunstreaker peaked over the others shoulder, and saw that his brother's bad luck ran true, 'Ah, so that's why the rec-room's so quiet'. Standing in the center of the deserted rec-room was a femme. Her base paint was black, with grey edging the plates of her thick armor, of course that was hard to see under the bright orange paint now dribbling down her frame, disrupted only by the smiley face stickers that dotted it. The femme had her arms crossed on her chest plate and was glowering at Sideswipe, who chose that moment to snap out of his shock.
"Ah, hello Nightstrike! You look different, did you do something with your hair?" He pretended to look thoughtful, the prankster just couldn't resist having a bit more fun with it, even if he was digging his own grave. A look of faked realization dawned, "No, it's that new paint isn't it? I must say, you look great in that new color, I told you she could pull off the orange didn't I sunny?"
"I told you not to call me that", Sunstreaker muttered from around the palm now plastered to his face. The femme wasn't amused, she only continued to glare at the red twin. There was silence for a time, a tense silence as the twins awaited her verdict. Finally Nightstrike sighed and shook her helm.
"I was warned," she began tiredly, I knew that your pranks would come to me eventually, but really sideswipe," she paused and waved a servo, indicating her entire frame, paint, stickers, and all, "This was the best you could do?" Said mech simply stared, caught off guard by the disappointment in her voice, Nightstrike continued, unaware or not caring about her audience s confusion, "this prank is old, over used, and not particularly unique, though the addition of stickers to the paint is different, it's actually just an adaptation on the traditional glitter, and not a very far divergence either, the least you could have done is lace it with fast-drying glue and strew boxes of items about on the floor to make a collogue, or add paintballs for a more mottled approach, all in all, your attempt shows little imagination or creativity, and is disappointingly. . . juvenile." as she ended her speech she returned to glaring at her audience, seemingly daring them to repute her judgement. Sunstreaker was trying, and failing, to grasp the fact that one of the strictest, most no-nonsense warriors and, had just given his brother a lecture on how un-interesting his prank was. Sideswipe on the other hand was not happy, when someone insulted his pranks they were, in extension, insulting him.
"You hard-afted officers wouldn't know a good prank if it hit you in the faceplate!"
"Oh, really?" The change in her tone stopped Sideswipe's anger cold, he looked at her, and shivered at the smirk that was forming on her lip components, it was almost a smile, "is that . . . a challenge?", as Sideswipe continued to stare, speechless, Nightstrike stepped forward, quickly closing the distance between them, so that their noses nearly touched, reminding him of how all she actually was compared to most femmes. Her optics were half shuttered as her breath brushed his faceplate, challenge," she purred, "Accepted." And with that the smirk broke into a true devil's grin, she took a slow step back, then, still smiling she turned on her heel and exited the room. For a moment the twins just stood, then they turned to each other, they didn't need to use their bond to know they were thinking the same thing: What had they begun?