(Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers; just Anwen)
(Authors Note: Hello dearest readers, fangirls (and fanboys), gamers, and fellow writers! I apologize for not uploading this chapter sooner but I was out of state for a few days and didn't think to bring my laptop with me because I wanted a few days to unwind. Also, I've been focused on finishing a project that I've spent the last four months tirelessly working on and it's finally coming to an end. Sure, I've made time for everything else (including my FF's), but this particular project has cost me a lot of sleepless nights, long hours and materials to assemble, and I have to finish it on time or else live with the consequences of my failure. So if it seems like I'm not uploading as much as I usually do, it's because I'm working on other projects that require my immediate attention. Now, with that being said, I'm happy to finally be uploading another chapter to this story as I absolutely adore writing it for all of you (and myself of course) and posting it on this site for all of you to enjoy at your leisure. Your comments are always appreciated and inspiring, so thank you for the continued support and good vibes. Until next time, stay safe, stay sane and as always, stay awesome!)
"English/French"
'Mental thoughts'
"Flashbacks" (and sometimes sarcasm)
{Cybertronian}
::Sparkbonds::
:Speaker talk:
::Comm. Link::
*:Phone calls:*
Chapter 16
Upon finishing her meal, Anwen placed the dishes inside the basket for the time being before addressing the twins, "Merci encore pour le dîner (Thank you both again for dinner). It was delicious."
"Well, if you loved dinner, I imagine you'll also love the dessert we packed for you," Sideswipe replied with a wink, to which she peered into the picnic basket and was surprised to find a tupperware container full of homemade chocolate chip cookies:
"Oh mon Dieu (_ my God), how did you know these were my favorite?"
"We have our sources," Sunstreaker casually answered while Anwen bit into one of the gooey discs of warm deliciousness.
"Mmmm, they're so tasty… Who baked these? Was it Mama Rosita?"
"Nope," Sideswipe shook his head.
"Maggie?"
"Wrong again," he smiled.
"Hmm, was it Epps or Lennox," she asked before taking another sweet bite and politely chewed while savoring the delicious flavor and texture.
"Not even close."
Anwen sat in though for a moment before her eyes suddenly widened in realization, "It was you two?!"
"Bout time you guessed it," Sunstreaker curved his lips into a slight smirk at her shocked expression.
"...How," she asked before taking another bite of her cookie.
"We 'borrowed' an array of ingredients from the human intake facility, and brought them over to the kitchen in the recreational center. Afterwards, we then looked up an ideal recipe to use."
Anwen processed this newfound information as she bit into a second cookie, "...Wow...I had no idea you two could bake."
"It's not as complicated as you fleshies make it out to be," he stated as a matter-of-factly before taking a sip of cognac.
"Well, there are many of my kind who would disagree with you on that statement, Sunstreaker," she replied before taking another gooey bite.
"I take it that we did pretty good for our first attempt at baking," Sideswipe asked with a chuckle as a soft dusting of pink appeared across Anwen's freckled cheeks, to which she swallowed and gave them a nod:
"Oh, absolument (_, absolutely)! I'm actually pretty envious that you two were able to learn how to bake so quickly. It took me almost three years to perfect my own skills and that was after many trials and errors."
"Well, this was just one recipe. We don't know everything about baking."
"Vrai (True)," she shrugged. "But it probably wouldn't take you too long to learn."
"Perhaps; but maybe next time you could teach us instead."
"Ah bon (Really)?"
"I don't see why not," Sunstreaker replied with a shrug. "It might even prove to be an entertaining experience."
"Maybe," Anwen closed the container and pushed it out of her personal bubble, "Oh mon Dieu (_ my God) these are so tasty, but I cannot possibly eat another bite at this time."
Sideswipe emitted a chuckle as he looked upon the speckled femme, "Then we'll just have to save them for later. Still, I'm glad you liked them. In truth, we were worried they'd taste awful."
"Well, it's kinda hard to screw up chocolate chip cookies," she replied with a smirk. *sigh* "I wish your holoforms could ingest solid food. I feel bad that you two can't taste your own craft: I know you'd like it if you tried it."
"I'm sure we would, sweetspark."
"Speak for yourself," Sunstreaker rolled his eyes and frowned. "The very idea of consuming anything sweet makes my tank churn."
"Why's that," Anwen curiously asked, to which Sideswipe answered:
"Well, Ani, Sunny's always had a sensitive intake when it comes to sweets." Even though he could feel his twins piercing gaze burning holes into his holoform, Sideswipe continued his tale, "When we were little, our creators would sometimes give us energon candies, but he always opted for the sour ones because he couldn't handle sweets. Reason why is because he would always end up with a system disruption, or a 'tummy ache' in your terms. Said disruption would then leave him feeling miserable and berth-ridden for a couple of groons."
At Sunstreaker's visible frustration, Anwen gently placed her hand on top of his and gave him an understanding look, "I'm not going to laugh or judge you for having a sensitive tank, for I too understand what it's like to be unable to tolerate certain foods."
"Is that so," he curiously asked in a neutral tone.
"Oui. While I have no food-related allergies, I can't handle eating fish curry because it doesn't settle well with my digestive system and usually leaves me feeling sick. Knowing this, I just avoid consuming it in general."
"Smart move. I do the same thing when it comes to sweet energon. It's just best for me to avoid it rather than suffer with the consequences afterwards."
"Exactly," she agreed. "I also can't stand chicken noodle soup. Just seeing it or smelling it makes my stomach violently churn."
"And why's that," he asked while Sideswipe raised a brow and continued to listen in. Of course, he learned from Maggie that she had an intense dislike for that particular soup, but now he was going to hear why that was.
With a sigh, Anwen casually rolled her bottle of peach tea in her hands before answering, "I have a strong dislike for it because that's practically all my second foster family would offer me in terms of food. Sure, I'd sneak some scraps off their plates after they'd finish their dinner and left me to clean up the mess, but overall, I wasn't allowed to eat the same food they did. Unless, of course, they had guests over. They wanted to keep up appearances for their friends and family, but afterwards, they'd drop the act and treat me like the unwanted child that I was."
Both twins felt their energon boil at that statement before Sideswipe calmly asked, "Why did they even agree to foster you if they didn't want to care for you?"
"Money," she simply stated. "I was just a paycheck to them." A frown lined her freckled face as she looked upon the twins, "I'm sorry for rambling."
"Sweetspark, you don't need to apologize for anything," he gently rubbed her shoulder in a comforting way, which brought a small smile to her lips.
As Sideswipe offered a bit of comfort to the young ginger, Sunstreaker spoke up, "As much as we appreciate you sharing a bit of your past with us, I think it would be best to hold off on further stories that leave you feeling upset."
At that, Anwen nodded in agreement, "Oui. I don't want to ruin our lovely outing by digging up bad memories from my past. Nor do I want you both to feel obligated to do the same right now. However, I still want to know more about you two, if that's alright?"
"Fine by me," he casually replied with a shrug. "So, what would you like to know?"
"Well, I'm curious to know how old you two are."
At that, both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe looked at one another before he spoke up once more, "We're plenty old by your species standards, but Cybertronians in general don't really keep track of their age. However, since you asked: we're 23 vorns old."
"Sooo, a vorn is the equivalent of a year?"
"Not exactly. An Ano-cycle is a year on Cybertron, which is 400 days long as opposed to Earth's 365. A vorn is 83 years; but since our species is practically immortal when it comes to aging, we simply roundup our age in vorns rather than Ano-cycles."
"Wait...if a vorn is 83 years, and you both are 23 vorns, that means...you're 1,909 years old!?"
"Correct," Sideswipe replied with a smirk. "Although, we're approaching our 24th vorn in another few years or so, which means our current age is around 1,984 years...give or take."
At the shocked look upon the young gingers face, Sunstreaker glanced at his brother and stated, "I think we broke her."
He merely nodded and placed a hand on her forearm, "We're sorry for overwhelming you with that bit of information…"
"No," she shook her head and gave them a shy smile while her cheeks remained a reddish hue, "I was curious about your age and you both answered accordingly. I just didn't realize how much of a significant difference there would be."
"Is there a problem with that," Sunstreaker asked.
"What? No, no, no, bien sûr que non (of course not)! I don't mind it whatsoever. I just find it a little mind-blowing and shocking that you two are almost 2,000 years old. That's amazing!"
At that, he lightly smirked, "It's not that significant to us, but I suppose it would seem rather impressive to your species."
"Oh oui. Of course, now I'm curious to know how old your fellow Autobots are."
The twins shared a look before Sideswipe replied, "Even we don't have the answers to that, sweetspark. We know Bumblebee and Bluestreak are younger than us by a few vorns, but as for the rest of our comrades, we can't really say for certain. However, we do know that both Ironhide and Ratchet are older than Optimus."
"Ah bon (Really)," she curiously asked with a smile.
"Yep," he smirked and gave a curt nod. "Of course, we don't know exactly how much older they are compared to him because we've never bothered asking."
"Et pourquoi pas (And why not)?"
"Because we didn't feel it was necessary," Sunstreaker replied with a shrug. "As I said, Cybertronians don't really keep close track of our age since it's just a number in the end."
"I suppose that makes sense." She then glanced up at the (now) starry sky and asked, "Where is Cybertron from here?"
At that, Sideswipe smiled and pointed up towards the Milky Way, "See that tiny star on the far right?"
"That one," she asked while pointing up to a rather distant star.
"Almost," he then scooted closer and leaned next to her before gently guiding her finger slightly upwards and a little more to the right. "There. That seemingly tiny and rather distant star is our sun, and beyond that lies Cybertron...our home."
Étonnante (Amazing)," Anwen stated as she continued to stare up at the stars.
"Yes...it is," Sideswipe softly replied as he looked at the speckled femme. Primus, she was beautiful in this lighting. Of course, he already thought she was lovely, but at the moment her amber eyes resembled stars while her pale, freckled skin seemed to softly glow in the moonlight. In their current proximity towards each other, he could practically feel the warmth of her cheeks as her face was mere centimeters from his. He could also feel her pulse through the veins in her arm and noticed that it had quickened upon his touch.
Before either of them could say anything, the silence was suddenly broken by distant thunder: "I didn't think it was supposed to rain again," Anwen bashfully stated as distant lightning flashed across the sky.
"Neither did we...at least not until later," Sideswipe admitted.
"Perhaps we should gather everything up and head back to base," Sunstreaker suggested. "If a storm is indeed on the way, I'd rather be stuck indoors than out in the rain."
"Same here," Anwen admitted. "I don't relish the idea of any of us being struck by lightning and barbecued. Nor do I want to add more scars to my body...unless they're in the form of a tattoo."
At that statement, Sunstreaker raised a brow, "You'd like to get a tattoo?" He placed the cognac and empty glasses inside the picnic basket, along with the container of cookies and her sealed bottle of peach tea.
She nodded at his question with a shy smile, "Oui. At least, I'd like to someday...preferably when my brother comes back so we can get one together. That was our plan: He said he'd refrain from getting one until I was at least 20 years old...and since I'm turning 20 this year, I hope we can still achieve that goal together…," she felt her eyes misting over but she quickly rubbed away any tears that threatened to emerge. With a sigh, Anwen regained her composure and smiled, "Anyways, let me help you two gather up the supplies before the storm rolls in."
XXXXX
Once everything was packed away, Anwen rode in Sunstreaker's alt form while Sideswipe followed behind. As they rolled along, she glanced over at his holoform and shyly stated, "Merci for a lovely outing. I had a wonderful time."
"I'm glad to hear that," he sincerely replied. "Of course, that was just dinner. Sideswipe and I have other activities planned when we return to base."
"Oh? Comme quoi (Like what)?"
"It's a surprise," he neutrally answered while she made a slight pout of mock disappointment. "You'll just have to wait and see."
"Oui...I suppose I will."
XXXXX
Shortly after arriving back at the base, the twins escorted Anwen over towards the Autobot barracks where upon stopping outside of one of the Cybertronian-sized doors, Sideswipe punched in a security code and opened it, revealing a large living space. Upon entering, he smiled down at the young redhead and stated, "Welcome to our humble abode, Milady."
"Merci for permitting me to enter," she replied with a slight bow of her head.
"Of course. Like I said the other day: we don't get many visitors, so you're the first human to enter our domain."
"And the only one who'll ever be permitted to enter," added Sunstreaker with a slight grunt.
"I'm honored." Out of respect and instinct, Anwen then removed her rollerblades, backpack and helmet, and set them beside the door, leaving her standing in her socks.
"Is that some kind of human custom? To remove one's footwear upon entering a homestead," Sideswipe curiously asked, to which she gave him a small nod:
"Oui. Or at least in some cultures it is. I was always taught to remove my shoes or rollerblades upon entering someone's home because it was a way to keep the floors from getting dirty and as a way to show respect."
Both twins looked down at their own peds/wheels and shrugged. "We can't exactly take our 'shoes' off, but we can respect your decision to do so. We try to clean ourselves off before we enter our room because we don't like tracking in dirt and mud either, hence the large doormat outside the room," he winked, making her smile. "But as you can see, we didn't track in any debris."
"Indeed not," she agreed. Stepping forward, Anwen then looked around the large room with fascination: there were two Cybertronian-sized beds against the back wall, while along the right side of the room was a large shelf containing various cans of paint, cleaning rags, buffers and waxes. Against the left wall was a large desk and a stool, and along the central back wall, in between the beds, was a massive painting:
It was a cityscape portrait featuring large, futuristic-looking buildings, skylines and metro-systems. While the buildings were of different shapes and sizes, they all featured various metallic shades of gold with some silver and blues reflecting the neon lights on their surfaces and windows. The city itself was like a beacon of light compared to the background sky which was filled with various shades of blue and purple, with tiny white specks in its midst.
With a bewildered expression, Anwen stared in wonder at the magnificent artwork until a familiar voice caught her attention. "Like the painting?"
She kept her gaze upon the canvas and nodded, "It's the most stunning and realistic-looking cityscape I've ever seen. It's like I'm looking at a photograph...but there isn't a city here on Earth that even remotely comes close to looking like this."
"That's because it's not an Earth city. That there is Iacon: capital city-state of the Autobots."
"C'est manifique (It's magnificent)!"
"The painting, or the city portrayed in the painting," the silver frontliner asked with an amused chuckle.
"Tous les deux (Both)! Who painted this?"
Sideswipe smirked and gestured towards his twin, "Sunny painted it."
Her amber eyes widened almost comically as she looked upon the golden mech, "You painted this?!"
He crossed his arms and gave a nod, "I did. It took almost a month to create. I had to make the canvas out of wooden planks and a clean tarp, and I spent days looking through old holo-images to figure out which one I wanted to paint."
She looked back at the painting with fascination, "I've never seen anything so breathtaking. You're an amazing artist."
His optics softened at the young redhead as a slight smirk made its way across his face, "Thanks, Anwen."
There was a tugging sensation in her chest as she looked upon the golden frontliner, "De rien (You're welcome), Sunstreaker."
Sideswipe couldn't help but smile at their exchange before he noticed a tugging at his spark and knew his twin was experiencing the same thing. "So, Ani, aside from the artwork, what do you think of our room?"
She smiled up at the silver mech and replied, "Je l'aime bien (I like it). It's cozy and from what I can tell, it's almost as big as my entire apartment."
"Really?"
"Oui. But your room is perfectly proportioned to suit your size and needs. Though, I admit that your furniture is a bit too large for me. I can't even climb up to the stool to sit down."
A smile appeared across his face as he looked upon the young femme, "Then we'll just have to acquire some furniture for you sometime; but for now, we've got something else planned."
"Oh? Sunstreaker mentioned you two had another surprise in store."
"Yep. Now, if you'll close your eyes for a few minutes, we'll finish getting everything ready. And no peeking," he teased with a wink, making her smile as she complied with his request.
