It was a calm, beautiful day in the forested region of Michigan, just outside of Detroit. However, the illusion of uninhabitance the idyllic peace gave was shattered when one got too close to an abandoned mine, turned Decepticon base, turned abandoned Decipticon base, turned reclaimed Seeker refuge. None of the beings living there could be said to be especially calm or quiet.
This particular time, the peace was being broken by a loudly complaining Thundercracker.
"C'mon, say I'm the best!" protested the blue Seeker to his sister who was sitting aloofly in what was becoming the common room, contemplating watching something on the Earth TV they had set up just because she knew it would annoy Starscream.
"You said you're trying to be nicer or whatever," continued the clone, "So can't you say something nice to your brother?"
That was true, she did, occasionally, try to be a kinder person. It was why she had revived Starscream and called all of her fellow clones here. But it wasn't out of altruism (or for kissing up to others' egos). She had inherited Starscream's contrarian independence. And she could think of nothing more contrary both to and from her creator than being a good person. That did not mean she was going to suck up to every person that asked. (What was she, Sunstorm?)
Crossing her arms, she sassed back, "Why should I? You say it enough. I'm starting to think you don't actually believe it."
The other clone puffed up angrily at the remark, his wings flaring in indignation. "I AM the best! I don't need you to tell me that!"
Slipstream narrowed her optics somewhat triumphantly at that. Out of all of them, it seemed that Thundercracker had inherited the least of Starscream's manipulation skills. He was so easily tricked into doing or saying the opposite of what he intended. (Then again, if one considered their creator objectively…hmm. Maybe not that strange a weakness after all.)
"I'll just go find Sunstorm, then," he huffed, crossing his arms and turning on his thrusters to turn his back towards his apathetic sister. "He's an actually decent sibling (though not as great as me, obviously), and he knows how to say something other than sass!"
He stomped off, and, after relaxing in relief that her annoying sibling was gone, Slipstream felt a brief moment of pity for Sunstorm as she turned on the TV.
Naturally, the clone who loved being complimented had gravitated towards the one that couldn't help but give compliments. Thundercracker was constantly pestering Sunstorm once he realized that getting praise out of him was a lot easier than bullying it out of Skywarp. Truthfully, it was the reason that the orange clone was avoiding his blue brother. On the bright side (sort of), the constant annoyance had helped the kissup develop the skill of backhanded compliments. So now he could insult others nearly as well as his siblings. (If he wanted to, that was. He still didn't often feel like saying rude things to others, but at least the option was there.)
Thundercracker stalked, and then as his temper cooled, walked through the old base, searching out his more agreeable sibling who would say what he wanted to hear. He barely glanced at the holes in the walls that streamed sunlight into the base. They had tossed around the idea of repairing them, but the holes weren't near enough to the more trafficked areas for rain to be a concern, and they made for convenient exits for a bunch of fliers, so the holes remained. Turning a corner, he peeked his head into his sought after sibling's berthroom, one he shared with Ramjet. No sign of Sunstorm, but Ramjet and Skywarp were seated on the bottom rung berth.
"Hey, either of you lesser clones seen Sunstorm?" he barked out. Skywarp predictably flinched at the loud question, his wings flickering in unease.
"N-no," he stuttered out, his optics flitting around the room and avoiding looking at Thundercracker.
"I've never seen him before in my life," pronounced Ramjet confidently.
If Thundercracker were more clever, he might have questioned the wording on that particular answer. Instead he decided that Skywarp was at least a good listener (and could generally be pushed into doing what TC wanted) and stepped into the room to complain, "Our sister is completely rude. She's so terrible at the whole 'being kinder' thing. If I ever wanted to be nice, I would be the nicest mech to exist ever. I would say so many nice things. I mean, family is supposed to help each other and all that slag, right? So is it too much for me to want my siblings to say I'm the best?"
Skywarp frantically nodded and shook his head in succession, trying to answer both questions and generally be agreeable with his scarier sibling. (Well, all of his siblings were his scarier siblings. Except for Sunstorm, probably. With the thought, his gaze darted to look at a side room tucked in the back, then he squeaked out a nervous sound and looked away from it again.)
Ramjet, on the other hand, smiled sweetly and chirped out, "Ok. You're the best, Thundercracker."
"Thank you, Ramjet," said TC with a self-satisfied nod. Then it sank in just who he was talking to. "Wait…" he realized, and his lying brother smirked at him cheekily.
"Why, you-!" he growled at his still impish brother, his clawed hands fisting at his sides.
Ramet tensed in kind, inviting the oncoming fight, and Skywarp flinched away from the inevitable violence.
"Oh no! I'll never beat you!" cried out the liar clone in his best Skywarp impression (which, since they had the same voice actually turned out pretty close despite his dripping sarcasm.)
"You got that right!" snarled Thundercracker as he tackled the white jet and they both went down to the floor in a squabbling pile.
"D-did TC just roast himself?" wondered Skywarp aloud, watching the fight tentatively from where he was still seated on the berth (though he was strongly considering moving to the top bunk).
"Our clever brother is getting quite skilled at utilizing that unique linguistic quirk of his," commented Sunstorm as he emerged from the sideroom he had been hiding in. He watched the fight with no small amount of satisfaction, and narrowly stopped himself from loudly cheering on his favored sibling. He had hidden from his impressively persistent (read: obnoxious) brother this long, no sense in blowing cover now.
"Hm. Y-yeah," agreed Skywarp absently. The two watched the fight for a bit longer before the purple and black clone turned to his brother with an amiable flick of his wings, "So. Wanna go watch TV with Slipstream?"
"A wonderful idea, brother," agreed Sunstorm cheerily. The two dodged some errant fists as they scooched around the tail end of the fight and made their way out the door. As they left, Sunstorm placed a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "I'll make sure she doesn't choose anything too frightening."
With any other of his siblings, Skywarp would have assumed that they were mocking him. With Sunstorm, though, he knew he actually meant it. (Sure the way he was he was forced to say nice things. That didn't mean he was forced to be nice. He chose to do that on his own.)
"Sounds good," agreed Skywarp with a nod.
They were halfway through an episode of some kind of squishy relationship drama when Thundercracker and Ramjet ambled into the room, smudges and dents across their frames showing as a testament to their recently concluded argument.
"So who won?" asked Slipstream with a biting edge to her voice, feigning disinterest by barely looking away from the TV.
"I lost horribly!" answered Ramjet blithely with a sharp grin. Thundercracker pouted, his arms crossed petulantly, and the lying clone's smile wavered. "It wasn't even remotely close," he offered, slightly more gently, nudging his brother's shoulder.
"An impressive fight from both of you," Sunstorm complimented diplomatically, wanting to get to focus on the dramatic reveal the humans were having on the screen.
Thundercracker looked over at his complimentary brother, and if the others didn't know him better they'd say he almost looked awkward. "Ramjet told me you were hiding from me," he huffed, but it was half-hearted at best and didn't carry his usual bluster.
"How canny of him," the orange jet answered hesitantly, his gaze darting to his white and red brother uncertainly.
Thundercracker ex-vented a sigh, and somehow crossed his arms tighter than they already were. The others could swear they heard the metal of his plating groan in protest. "Look, I'm supposed to be the best brother. I can't be the best brother if even the nice one of us doesn't like me." His posture straightened and he got back some of his attitude, "So I'm going to be the most amazing brother. I am going to give you the most personal space and show the most respect!" The sentiment was nice but he somehow made it sound like a threat anyway.
It was pretty much as close to an apology as their egotistical brother could give. Sunstorm appreciated it for what it was. He had started to feel like his proud brother was only using him for what he said, treating him like some compliment dispenser rather than a mech, than family. He would be grateful for him to treat him more like a brother again.
The orange Seeker beamed an eponymously sunny grin, replying, "Masterfully spoken!" he placed his hand on his chest, leaning in a slight bow, "I'm too grateful to be receiving such wonderful sentiments! I humbly accept."
"Good!" replied Thundercracker, his prideful posture fully returning. Gesturing towards the TV, he asked, "So what are you losers watching?"
" 'As the Kitchen Sinks'," answered Skywarp with a shaky smile, "Some fleshy drama. It's weird, and everyone yells at each other a lot. But kinda fun."
"Could you either shut up and sit down or leave?"sharply complained Slipstream, who had been valiantly attempting to ignore her family's dramatic arguments in favor of watching those of the fictional humans.
"It sounds horrible," said Ramjet, sitting next to Sunstorm who was on the end of the pile of blankets and padding that they were using as a couch (Cybertronian sized furniture being hard to come by on Earth).
"I'm the best at shutting up!" replied Thundercracker bombastically as he moved to sit on the opposite side.
The afternoon still wasn't quiet, but there was a kind of peace as they all settled together to watch cheesy television.
Ramjet totally wouldn't throw hands with anyone who hurts Sunstorm, lol.