autobotscoutriella: Picture of Cybertron screencapped from Transformers Prime (Cybertron)
autobotscoutriella ([personal profile] autobotscoutriella) wrote in [community profile] fandomweekly2019-01-02 11:51 pm

[#001] Archaeometric Dating (Transformers)

Theme Prompt: [#001] - Second Chances
Title: Archaeometric Dating
Fandom:  Transformers (AU Bayverse, though continuity doesn't matter for this one)
Rating/Warnings: G / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 958
Summary: Lancer and Greenlight have met before. They just missed each other the first time.


In hindsight, it was only a matter of time before the war found Greenlight's peaceful corner of Iacon. Open attacks on the capital city were still rare, but brief shootouts or small explosions--those were all too common, even if before today they had never reached her streets.

The little energon joint where she'd done her first-year archaeometry assignments and the tiny Archive outpost where she and Lunar Storm had pestered the clerk on duty every fifth circle when the new datapads arrived were home. Watching shrapnel from the explosion rip through the windows of both hurt, almost as much as the shock wave that knocked her stumbling backward. Unfortunately, she didn't get time to think about it, because the second and third explosions tossed her back into the rubble, and straight into someone who had been running toward the explosions, Primus knew why.

"Look out--!"

The landing was not at all soft. Greenlight found herself on her back, groaning, with someone bending over her and shaking her shoulder. "Hey! Hey, can you hear me? How many digits am I holding up?"

"Ohhh. Ow." Greenlight pushed herself upright with a little help from a gold servo and rubbed the back of her helm, trying to figure out why the stranger next to her looked so familiar. "Three. I'm good."

"Good. I think you'll be fine." The stranger knelt beside her and tilted her helm curiously. "Hey, do I know you?"

Did she? Greenlight finally got a good look at her helper's face, and memories flooded back.

Ancient ruins, stretching out for miles around them. Glyph, lecturing away on the different ages of the three layers in the wall the little group stood beside. Trying to hang on Glyph's every word, make the most of a once-in-a-lifetime trip—and failing because one of the most attractive mecha she’d ever seen was on the other side of Tap Out and she lost focus whenever the gold-framed student’s EM field brushed against hers.

Trying to work up the courage to talk to her—then getting pulled away by one of the colony transfers and vowing that she’d do it the next night.

Leaving without even finding out her name.


And there she was, bulkier with metal-dusting tools replaced with a handgun and a comm amplifier, but still so pretty that Greenlight found herself fumbling for words.

"Uh--yeah, I think--were you on a r-research trip to Nova Cronum with Glyph once?"

The gold mech looked puzzled for a moment, then lit up. "Oh! Yeah, I was! A couple decades back! I--" Sirens chirped, and red and blue flashing emergency lights reflected jarringly off shimmering yellow plating. "Ah, slag, that's the bomb squad. C'mere, let me help you. We'll clear out and find somewhere less...explody."

Greenlight couldn't say no, because her rescuer was hauling her upright before she had time to protest and guiding her down the street well away from the source of the explosions It seemed to have gone quiet, but nothing felt like a guarantee anymore.

"No casualties. We got lucky," the gold mech added once they'd made it far enough away for the sirens to fade. "I'm Lancer, by the way. Autobot. Was a brand-new archaeometrist before the war kicked off--that trip with Glyph was the best part of my academic career."

"Greenlight. I just got my certification a couple years ago. And--mine too." She wanted to say more, but her knees were still shaking, and it felt strange to talk about archaeometry with a blown-up street behind her. "You--you ran straight in to rescue me. How--"

"Oh, that." Lancer shrugged a shoulder. "Autobot. 'S what I do."

"Yeah, but..." Greenlight carefully disengaged herself from the other mech's arm and tested to make sure she could stand on her own. "Thank you. Really--thank you."

"It's nothing." Lancer almost seemed to be blushing, despite her words. "But you're welcome."

They stood in silence for a second, and Greenlight realized she couldn't just walk away. She'd never expected to see the pretty mech from that trip again--if she walked away, the odds that they would never cross paths a third time were too high.

"So, uh, action archaeometrist. That's...that's pretty awesome. Shouldn't you have an electro-whip or something?" Primus, referencing a sparkling’s holovid was stupid. Greenlight could practically feel her cheekplates turning an unnatural shade of embarrassed blue.

Lancer grinned and shuffled in place a little. "Oh, they're--I guess they're not super practical. But, uh...I might've, y’know, set my comm ping tones to the tune of the holovid theme."

It was so unexpected Greenlight couldn’t help but laugh. “I—I always wanted to do that!”

“I think half my classmates did.” Lancer offered her an arm again. “’Fact, I bet we had some of the same classes. You’ve had a rough night. I get it, I do." There was sympathy in her voice. "You want to go get a drink and figure out how many teachers we had in common? Autobot base. It’s on me.”

The decision was easy. She’d missed her chance once. She wasn’t going to miss it again. Accepting the arm with a brief wistful glance at the damage done to her once-familiar street, Greenlight followed Lancer away from the lights and the destruction. "So...uh, you ever have to read Perceptor's analysis of Rust Sea mineral deposits? Primus, that was the most boring class."

"Yes! I had to read it first-year and I almost quit, but then I had a class with Glyph on pre-Quintesson civilizations and fell back in love with archaeometry. Ooh, is that etching on your arm based on the Old Vosnian fresco? I was going to get one like it before the war..."
catdetective: (Marvel)

[personal profile] catdetective 2019-01-03 08:59 am (UTC)(link)
Oh mercy but this is cute.
etoile_noire: (Default)

[personal profile] etoile_noire 2019-01-03 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Very cute!
Thanks for sharing it.
sarajayechan: Butters rocking an adorable bunny onesie for Pajama Day ([VLD] Allura)

[personal profile] sarajayechan 2019-01-04 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Aw, this is cute!
sunspot: girl in a yellow shirt leaning next to a big brown cat (Default)

[personal profile] sunspot 2019-01-04 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Such cuuute robot crushes!
dray: (Default)

[personal profile] dray 2019-01-05 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Please tell me we get to read more about these two in future challenges, because I'd be all over that! I loved this! Exactly the right amount of fluff (so much!) and danger (oh no!)--more please!
alobear: (Default)

[personal profile] alobear 2019-01-06 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
This is lovely - such sweet, mundane, relationship-type detail in amidst all the chaos - very nicely done.
badly_knitted: (Jack - Big Smile)

[personal profile] badly_knitted 2019-01-07 04:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Not too familiar with any version of Transformers, but this was adorable! I've never imagined mecha flirting =D
wallwalker: Venetian mask, dark purple with gold gilding. (Default)

[personal profile] wallwalker 2019-01-08 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
This is very sweet!
m_findlow: (Default)

[personal profile] m_findlow 2019-01-08 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
This was just wonderful! I felt completely drawn into a world I know nothing about and loved it.
rivulet027: (Default)

[personal profile] rivulet027 2019-01-08 08:45 am (UTC)(link)
They're so cute!