So, this next bit I thought of while driving to and from my community college last semester. I live in the country… I drive through the country to get to my school… I went up to the college this afternoon and paid for my summer class, and coming home I got behind a tractor on the highway. (Yes, dear city-dwellers, the folks out here drive their tractors on the highway). It's interesting driving through the country. Sometimes there are cars on blocks, and there are many, many tractors, and a couple of trucks that have odd-colored replacement parts. Oh, yes… and roadkill. My car smelled slightly like a skunk one time.
All my memories gather round her, Country roads, take me home
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water;
Dark and dusty painted on the sky,
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrops in my eyes...
To the place I belong...
~Not my song, it's John Denver's. And I'm not from West Virginia.
Chapter 25
Country Roads
Auri pulled into a parking lot and halted, parking neatly. Initially, she had been quite excited about leaving NEST Base and driving around a real city.
Now, with all kinds of grime on her underside, and other kinds of grime on her front and other sides, she was more than ready to back home.
She sighed.
::What goes on, my little spark?:: Ironhide asked her over the inter-com. He was just a couple blocks over from where she was.
::I don't really like the dirty.:: She replied.
::I understand. You can have a good, thorough wash as soon as you get back to NEST, though.:: her guardian encouraged.
::Yes…::
::If you flick some of the tactile sensors off, it won't be so bad. That's what I do.::
Auri carefully switched off several selected sets. ::Thanks! :) That's better.:: she sent happily. She went on with her observing, feeling more comfortable.
Another hour passed. She had been thinking about Decepticons more or less during the entire time she'd been off NEST Base. She'd thought the most about Soundwave, recalling how he'd offered to trade the Decepticon Second-in-Command for her. That was really, really scary. She thought about getting kidnapped.
It was a terrifying thought, this thought of getting swept away from her family and friends; she didn't like it.
She felt a little panicked.
Then she felt very calm and safe, for she knew that her guardian was watching her and he would never let anything happen to her.
Auri snickered at herself. Ironhide couldn't be literally be watching her, of course; he was on the ground a couple blocks over. She knew she meant that he was watching out for her.
Ironhide always watched out for her.
No Cons ever showed up, anyway.
After a while, she went to meet Ironhide and the twins in an abandoned warehouse. She pulled in carefully, still alert for Con, well on guard for any surprise attacks. Ironhide was there, talking quietly with the twins; they were very serious in return. Sunny and Sides saw Auri and grinned at her. Ironhide looked over, and then he smiled. He left the twins.
Auri transformed and scampered over to meet her beloved guardian. He scooped her up. "How was your first off-base patrol?" he asked.
"Grimy." She said without hesitation, but she smiled at him. "Other than that, I liked it! It was fascinating to see all the people and how they interacted and reacted, and how they responded to each other when piloting cars!"
"They are rather interesting, aren't they?"
Auri nodded enthusiastically. Then she lowered her head with a little frown. "I want you to come back with me." She said sadly.
"Aw…" Ironhide winced at the pain that pulled at his spark. "I know you do. And I want to go back with you, you know that. But we have other places that we need to monitor and look over. Chromia and I will be back at Base day after tomorrow, y'know."
Yes, she knew that. They had told her days ago, and she'd said that she would be alright. She still didn't like it, though. She had said good-bye to Chromia earlier that day. Now she missed her femme guardian.
"Okay?" Ironhide asked.
"Okay." She said, half-smiling.
"I love you, more than the sky can encompass, more than the suns can shine." He murmured to her, cuddling her.
She sighed contentedly and snuggled against him. "Forever, more than the width of galaxies." She said softly.
"Uh-huh." Ironhide didn't want to leave her.
"I love you, too." She whispered.
He set her down reluctantly. "Alright, drive safely now, and be careful."
"I will." She said, winking at him. "I'll make sure the twins do, too."
Ironhide chuckled. Then Auri transformed back into car-mode, as did the twins, and the three younglings drove off to meet the transport.
"That was a grimy place." Auri said as soon as they were out on a lonely road, winding through a rather rural area.
"Yep! Nobody keeps a cleaner town than we do on NEST Base." Sides said. "That one wasn't too bad compared to many cities, though."
"I felt like I was being stared at the whole time." Sunny said.
Auri snorted. "A shiny yellow sports car rolling through a rather plain town…? Um, Sunny, DUH! Of course you felt like you were being stared at!"
Sunny chuckled. "Duh! But, I do like the attention!"
"So, how do you like cruising through the boondocks?" Sides asked Auri, dodging a pothole.
Auri swerved hard to miss the pothole. "Oof. Next time give warning, will you?"
"Sure thing, Aurilaze." Sides replied apologetically.
"Thanks." Auri said, "Uh… boondocks… 'Rough, remote, or isolated country'…" she found the definition online. "I like all the fields, and the trees. And I like how the houses are far, far apart."
"Yeah, that's the way they do it out in the boonies."
"Hey! Five points for a car on blocks." Sunny called out, starting a road game.
"Well, six for a tractor sitting in the field." Sides retorted as he rounded a curve.
"No way! Tractors are more common than cars on blocks!"
"Fine. Four points a tractor."
Auri spotted another tractor. "What if it's a small tractor?" Auri asked. It didn't seem right to take so many points for such a small thing.
"Oh, three points." Sunny said.
"Six points, two small tractors!" Sides sang.
"No fair, Sides; you're in front and see everything first. You can only call one." Sunny objected.
"Five points, C.O.B." Auri called.
"That was mine!" Sides protested.
"Gotta call it before you can claim it." Sunny said smugly. Then a moment later he called. "Six points, truck with unpainted replacement parts!"
"Ooooh! Now that's ugly!" Side said in disgust. "Get new parts and not paint them? Ick!"
"Seven points, tractor with accessories." Sunny called.
"Fourteen points," Auri chirped, "Two T.W.A.'s for me!"
Auri was allowed to call more than one at a time, the twins decided over the intercom.
On down the road the three went, racking up points merrily as they went.
Then Sideswipe, who was in the front slowed down hard, almost coming to a halt, before going along at a crawl.
"Why so slow, brother?" Sunny, in the far back asked. He wasn't fond of creeping along at ten miles per hour.
::Seven points, TWA, on the road right in front of me.:: Sides replied over the inter-com.
::Can't we pass it?:: Sunny asked.
::No, we cannot:: Prowl's Aurion wasn't about to let them break any road rules.
::Not yet, anyway.:: Sides replied.
The three high-dollar cars poked along behind the tractor for a quarter of a mile. They got several stares as they went past a farmhouse.
Sunny's holograph driver smiled and raised a hand in greeting at the surprised old couple who were sitting on the porch.
::Eat it up, brother.:: Sides remarked dryly over the com.
::Hey, what? I was just being nice.::
Side dropped it and closed the comm. line.
They poked on some more.
::Passing zone! Hold onto your hat, mister:: Sides flashed his signal and shot over into the left lane before tearing ahead and swerving back into the right lane. Auri followed more politely, and Sunny came right behind her.
"Eight points!" Sides was jubilant. "Two tractors!"
Going fast again made him very happy.
"You only get four!" Sunny corrected. "Hey! C.O.B., another seven for me!"
"Three, small tractor."
"Ro'kill!" Sides yelped, swerving.
"What?" Auri asked, "YUHHHK! EEW! EEW! EEEEEEEK!" she squealed.
"Sh! Keep it down!" Sunny cautioned.
"That was gross!" Auri squeaked, weak with disgust.
"I gave warning." Sides protested.
"I didn't know that word." Auri fussed.
"Road-kill: killed stuff that's lying in the road." Sides explained.
"Eeeeewwww…." Auri moaned.
::Are you gonna tell her that it was a skunk?:: Sunny asked Sides privately over the intercom.
::ME? Why me? It wasn't my fault! You tell her; she likes you better!:: Sides sent back.
::What?::
::Well, she does!::
::You tell her about skunks!::
::No! Sunny! It's not decent!::
::Tell her!::
::NO!::
"Dude, twins. Wake up!" Auri ordered, giggling. "I just added thirty points, and you never even said a peep"
"We were intercomming. Arg! Look what you made us lose, Sunny!"
::Tell her!::
::No!::
::Sideswipe!::
::NO! NO! NO! NO!::
::Sideswipe, you had better tell her.::
::I TOLD YOU! IT IS NOT DECENT!::
"It's no fun when you don't play." Auri said, sounding a little put out.
"Four points, tractor!" Sunny called. He didn't want her getting upset on the road with Ironhide so far away.
"That was mine!" Sides protested.
"You take the three-point little tractor."
Auri had the most points by the time they reached the transport. The twins grumbled good naturedly about it, and she was happy as they boarded the transport plane. The plane took off, and Auri dropped into recharge shortly thereafter.
For the first twenty minutes of the trip, the twins argued over the intercom, each insisting that the other would have to tell Auri about skunks and what happened to anything that came in contact with skunks. The argument ended in a stalemate, and they dropped into recharge themselves.
Two of the human personal on the plane seemed to get rather air-sick while the other four gagged and stuffed their shirts against their faces.
OoOOooOooOOoO
Auri felt somebody prodding her gently. It was night time. Somebody had rolled her car-form onto the pavement. She wasn't in the transport plane anymore…
"Auri, wake up. We're back home." Sunny said.
Well, that was nice to know…
"Hey, come on." Sides coaxed.
Yeah…
"Aurrrrri," somebody rocked her back and forth on her wheels.
She didn't really like that…
"She's not responding… too tired."
"Hey, Auri, can you transform? We'll carry you if you'll transform."
She dragged her last strands of wakefulness together and managed to transform. Sunny caught the femme-ling as she crumpled back into recharge.
"You know." Sides said. "She's not gonna wake up enough to open the door to her quarters, and we've never been able to hack that door."
Sunny sighed. "I'm too tired to think."
"Eh… let's just go sleep in that open hanger."
"Okay." Sunny hoisted the femme-ling to his shoulder and followed his brother. They trudged into the hangar.
Sunny set the little femme down, making sure she was in a comfortable position, and then he and Sides went and curled up several yards away, using each using the other for a pillow.
OoOOooOooOOoO
Auri came out of recharge slowly, her systems slightly disoriented by the travel and her location. She opened her optics, blinking a little. She had slept in an odd position, and now she knew why. She was in an airplane hangar. It was an open hangar, and the nocturnal darkness was fading away into the soft grey of early morning.
She sat up and looked around, not feeling alone. There were the twins a couple yards away, sleeping like a pair of kittens, cuddled up against each other and sprawled out at the same time.
She smiled at them. Her cute twins.
Then she sighed. Were humans going to make something out of her sleeping in the same building with the twins? She hoped not. They were brothers to her, not objects of lust.
She got up. She had things to do that day.
First thing she had to do was take a good, hot, soapy shower to get all the city grime off. She transformed and drove off to the bathhouse, scanning the website and catching up on the news as she drove.
She slipped into the bathhouse and was disappointed to find it empty. There was nobody to splash with, nobody to chat to.
Taking off all her exterior armor, she put it to soak in a small tub, and then she stripped off her interior armor and set it to soak as well before going over to the shower facet.
She enjoyed the warm, clean water flowing over her bare, silver protoform and reveled in the foaming scrub. Mm, mm, it was good to get clean. The whole room steamed up as Auri covered herself with the bubbly soap. She scrubbed more, and then she rinsed. Once her sensors finally confirmed her free of grime, she sat under the rain of the shower and cleaned her armor piece by piece, putting each piece back on once she was done cleaning it.
Once she was satisfied, and fully armored, she turned the water off and went to get a towel.
She wished Chromia was there to talk with her and towel her wings gently.
But Chromia wasn't there. She was out patrolling with Ironhide and some other bots.
Auri was left under Ratchet's care.
She sulked. She really, really liked Ratchet. The twins seemed to think he was some kind of monster, but he was always so kind and sweet to her. He was like an uncle. She liked him lots. But she wanted Ironhide.
She needed to refuel. She could have gone to Ironhide and Chromia's quarters, or the Pub, to refuel, but she wanted Ratchet to get Energon for her and ask her about yesterday's adventures. She was not at all happy that Ironhide wasn't there, but Ratchet would look after her. She tossed the towel in a bin and headed out to go see the dear medic.