[ti]Ep 3.5[/ti]Your Autobot is Outside [ Miko | Closed ]

[Sunstreaker]

Episode 3.5 | Week 1 | Day 3

Sucks.

The word ran itself ragged through Sunstreaker's mind, round and round.

Because a certain bot couldn't fulfill one of their usual obligations, it had fallen to someone else to do the deed instead. It meant the unenvious task of picking one of the resident fleshies up from late school detention, and someone else meant Sunstreaker. The fleshie had a name of course, although Sunny wasn't on a name-basis with any one of the mudball's billion or so native inhabitants. Why would she be? They were... gross. All that flesh... blood... hair.... teeth. Plus they shed -- they actually shed.

They shed like. Hair. And skin. And teeth, apparently.

Sunstreaker made a guttural noise to give life to her disgust as she cruised through Jasper, holding it in through her soundproof interior. They'd better not shed any teeth on her seats, now.

In reality, it wasn't accurate to say she was cruising through Jasper, per se. She'd blinked through it, to be apt. The town was so small that Sunny could speed through it, glance up at the sky, and manage to miss almost every identifiable landmark as she left the city limits. Why couldn't they have based right next to a city, instead? Some place with infrastructure, and overpasses, and towers, and life. Instead, this.

Thank goodness nobody was around to bear witness to her lament. Sunny would drop the first person to call her a bitchy diva to her faceplate (even if it were true, proven, and validated). It was a big reason as to why the job had fallen to her of all people. The other Autobots, all happy and hopeful and annoying, had more or less had human interaction in one way or another. Not Sunstreaker. The sum total of her human interactions since coming to Earth had been in the form of honking at some poor trucker who'd broken down on the side of the road one night. She was much less than an upstanding representative of her species, by that metric.

And so the Lamborghini, which in all likelihood cost more than the City of Jasper's municipal budget, rolled up to the front of Memorial High School. Who's memorial? Did some stupid human die so they could build a school? Questions she didn't want the answers for.

Hopefully her passenger was perceptive enough to recognize the Autobrand on her hood. Otherwise her aft was walking.

[Miko Nakadai]

Smearing a hand down her face, Miko could only glare at the only clock in the room as she waited for these last, dragging minutes to tick over to the hour, granting her some sweet, sweet freedom. This detention had dragged on for way longer than most - or at least it felt like that - which said a lot, considering how often she seemed to spend her time in this room.

She’d actually got the missed work done quickly, for once, though Mr. Stickler-For-The-Rules at the front of the room hadn’t let her leave early for whatever reason, nor had she been allowed a seat by the window. It was probably because they knew she’d try to make some sort of escape - wouldn’t be the first time - or distract others around her by waving frantically at whoever it was outside to free her from this eternal torment.

Tick. Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Uggghghhhhhhhh.

After what was an agonizingly long last few minutes, she was allowed to leave - a simple handwave indicating as such, the teacher not even looking up from his book of Sudoku as he permitted her freedom.

Resisting the urge to run, after all, she didn’t want to get put right back in here, Miko would move with a sense of urgency toward the front door. There were no other students around to get in the way - aside from those who were doing after school activities in various classrooms, or those poor suckers still stuck in detention - and so it was a straight shot to the outside world.

Pushing open the doors with probably a little more oomph than was needed, Miko could only huff a loose strand of hair from her face as she scanned the parking lot for Bulkhead. He wasn’t in his usual spot - nobody was - but ah, it didn’t take a genius to work out which car was the Autobot tasked with taking her back to base.

Sunstreaker stood out like a sore thumb among the battered - yet well-loved - vehicles in the lot, belonging to students who’d managed to scrape together enough cash for their first beater car, or teachers who simply weren’t paid enough for anything too ritzy.

The Autobot emblem on the hood all but confirmed her suspicion, and she was quick to make her way over, heavy backpack bouncing behind her as she made her way down the few stairs and toward the Lamborghini.

“Hey!”

She knew enough about Autobots to not actually touch the door, though - as that was just bad manners - and with as shiny as Sunstreaker was? She would wait until the door was pushed open for her, not wanting to inadvertently upset them.

[Sunstreaker]

Whoever owned the Lamborghini must have been one high rolling tenth grader. In this case, Sunny was the high rolling tenth grader. She hadn't given herself too much criticism for choosing what was arguably the most flashy, gaudy alt-mode out of all the Autobots posted to Earth. Because of course, while she was loud and eye-catching, she also came with built-in camouflage. Being loud and annoying. Anyone who could pinch enough pennies together to roll up to a public school in a Lambo was probably made of more money than anyone in Jasper would see in a lifetime.

She was awe-inspiring, but at the same time, an Eiffel Tower-sized Up Yours! to the good working class folk of southern Nevada. Better not to give the attention addict what she obviously craves, right? For the most part, Sunny had been far too annoying for people to notice up to this point.

But now, the moment she'd been dreading was upon her.

It was here.

Sunstreaker's cams registered the little human excitedly bounding toward her unsullied exterior, pausing for a moment to observe the awfully pink plumage she was sporting. Was that the term for it? Plumage? Humans were practically birds, right?

Time seemed to crawl to a halt as Miko closed the last few feet of distance between them. Sunny's ultimate fear, in that moment at least, was for the dirty... shedding... fleshy human to reach out and touch her door handle. Up to this point, she had spent an exorbitant amount of effort to avoid making contact with a single human. And she'd managed to pull it off for weeks!

But then, the human held off.

Ah, she thought. This one's not completely feral.

Sunstreaker's passenger door swung up -- indeed, she was one of those models -- and allowed Miko ample room to climb inside. Speaking of inside, Sunny's interior was an absolute money assault on the senses. A vibrant gold-yellow trimming stretched to touch every surface of her luxurious people compartment, contrasted with rich black stitching and fabric, building to an electric pulse of atmosphere.

Her seats were low-slung and contoured to perfection, despite her aversion to being turned into a bus for humans, hugging her interior like a tailored suit. Her dashboard was sleek, modern, and a seamless fusion of matte carbon fiber and well-brushed aluminum. An Autobrand gazed out from where the Lambo-logo normally would, set into the center of the steering wheel.

But she was no mere Autobot; she was a masterpiece.

A masterpiece that was about to have her seats covered in human skin flakes.

"Alright..." a feminine voice echoed from the dash. "No dirt, no dust, no mud... then you can hop in..."

[Miko Nakadai]

A quiet ‘whoa’ was the only noise when the door opened up instead of out, and Miko couldn’t help but smile. While Bulk was her best friend and she’d grown used to the safety and familiarity of his altmode, there was something totally cool about getting to ride back to Omega One in something so flashy.

The interior of the Lamborghini was just as fabulous as the outside, and Miko took a moment to look everything over. She didn’t have quite the appreciation for cars like most, and so probably didn’t value the quality of just how everything seemed to work together, but she did know one thing, and man… Sunstreaker looked good.

It was probably a good thing she didn’t move immediately, as the voice that came a moment later informed her of a few little rules.

“Oh, uh, sure!” she seemed a little taken aback - none of the other Autobots who had picked her up, or even those she’d been out with on errands, had really cared about grime, but given just how perfect Sunstreaker’s finish was? It made total sense that she wanted to keep it that way.

She wasn’t dirty by any means, though living in the desert meant there was probably some dust on her shoes. It simply couldn’t be helped, though she was quick to inspect the bottom of each combat boot in turn, just to make sure it was nothing excessive. It hadn’t rained in a while, so there wasn’t any dried-up mud or any sort of filth, at least not enough to cause much of an issue.

“Iiii think I’m good!”

Moving forward, she was careful as she took her place in the passenger seat, setting her backpack down gently between her feet. Again, she wouldn’t touch the door - though was quick to put on her seatbelt. Safety first and all that, even if it wasn’t like anyone cared. She was probably way safer in an Autobot than driving with her host dad, but eeeh all it took was one nosy cop pulling them over and it’d be Fowler griping at them about sticking to the rules, which… ugh, no thanks!

[Sunstreaker]

So. There was a human sitting inside her now. A line had been crossed. Not a transgression by any means, but there was now a time that Sunstreaker could not return to. A time in which her lavish interior had been one hundred percent unsullied by human skin flakes. That time was now gone -- forever. She summoned her willpower to suppress the thoughts of those halcyon days. If she didn't think about them, they weren't there. But deep down she knew that things would never be the same.

The passenger-side door glided down beside Miko, cutting her off from the dustiness of Jasper to ensconce her a world of high-speed luxury.

Sunstreaker pulled away from the curb with startlingly little time to rev up, compared to many of the economy-class minivans that frequented the pick-up and drop-off line. There was absolutely no question that she was one sleek ass ride, of course. She pulled into the right lane, relatively empty of traffic so far. The "good" kids had all gone home, so there wasn't any massive line snaking around the block. Though, Sunny wasn't kidding herself by thinking they wouldn't hit any traffic at this hour.

"Name's Sunstreaker," Sunstreaker remarked, using the intonation of a too-cool-for-school NCO introducing themselves to a fresh-faced recruit. She made note of the seatbelt's click. Despite that rebel exterior, seemed Miko was at least 1% lame.

It was redundant. Sunny never crashed.

"First test." A test! And school wasn't even in session! But, they were both about to learn something about each other very soon.

"Hit the radio."

[Miko Nakadai]

Even though there wasn’t really any noise outside, as most of the kids from the school had already long since departed, the moment the door eased down and settled beside her, it was like everything beyond the interior was… weirdly quiet. She was used to being a passenger with Bulkhead, used to the rumble of his engine, the scuffs of dirt from just his general day-to-day and her combat boots - he didn’t really care about the dust, or at least he never complained - the way she seemed to fit just right in the seat, and the fact he didn’t mind her throwing her guitar case in the back.

This was sooo different. Sunstreaker was so weirdly pristine and while she wasn’t about to open a can of soda or anything, it was so clean in here that she felt like she should just sit still against the perfectly contoured leather seats and do nothing.

Gasping softly as they pulled away from the curb and her head bumped the headrest at the sudden movement - whoa, okay, that was waaaaaay faster than Bulkhead who seemed to take the slow and steady approach, especially in front of the school - Miko could only smile.

It was a shame there weren’t many people around to see, though even in its busiest, there probably weren’t too many people around Jasper who would even appreciate such a pretty car.

Though that was probably a good thing, the last thing they needed was Vince and his friends challenging another Autobot to a race, even if she was sure Sunstreaker would absolutely kick all their asses.

“Sunstreaker? Nice!” made sense, given the hue of her paint - and with how fast she could go, it was probably fitting.

At the mention of a test, Miko’s nose would wrinkle - though she’d grin at just what the test actually was, followed by a gentle scoff.

“Are you kidding? Radio out here in Boringville Nevada?” she waved a hand almost dismissively “Sure, if you want to listen to country or lame talk shows about model trains or whatever…”

Rummaging into her pocket, she’d hold up her pink flip phone - though wouldn’t open it just yet. She had a question to ask before any further steps were taken in this little test - as it absolutely went both ways.

“You aren’t into country, are you? ‘Cos we totally can’t be friends if you are.”

[Sunstreaker]

The test was simple. Does your taste in music suck bad? Yes or no. Passing it was practically a requirement for anyone attempting to roll with Sunstreaker, let alone riding in her. Now, the 'Streaker knew what her own tastes were. They'd been developed over the course of a lengthy, storied career of illegal street racing. However, she had found that for some™ reason Earth did not carry Cybertronian stations. Just a blatant missed opportunity, if one lingered around her long enough to hear her opinion on the subject. She'd only dipped a digit into the human music scene thus far. Certainly not an extensive enough foray to develop refined opinions on, just yet.

There were always several constants to Sunny's musical tastes, however.

LOUD.

And aggressive.

Slow, steady music had a tendency to put her to sleep. In a metaphorical sense. Miko definitely did not dress like someone who enjoyed slow, relaxing music would. Sunny was perceptive enough to deduce that. She hoped. She could be wrong, of course. But that was impossible.

Miko technically passed the first test as Sunny smoothly rounded a corner.

Choosing not to play wasn't a winning move, but it wasn't a losing move either. If Sunstreaker had ever heard country music, she had lacked the ability to connect the name to the sound. There had definitely been local music that she'd detested, though. Perhaps hers and Miko's opinions were in alignment on that front.

"Kid, I got no idea what any of these Earth genres are named." Simple facts. "I like loud, and I like aggressive. Can you swing something like that?"

[Miko Nakadai]

Loud and aggressive?

Okay, Sunstreaker just immediately moved up a notch or two on the list of cool Autobots – and while she obviously wouldn't ever take first place, as that was a position held by Bulkhead – maybe after today she'd be top three.

Maybe.

She wasn't quite sure what Cybertronian music sounded like, for one. Their version of loud and aggressive may have been something completely different from what counted as that here on Earth. Bulkhead didn't seem to mind her choice in music, but would Sunstreaker? They had toooootally different personality types, though hey - maybe the yellow femme would surprise her!

"Well you'd probably hate country then. Good start!" she grinned. She wasn't about to search any to demonstrate just how awful it was, either – as she didn't want that anywhere near her search history to mess with the various algorithms no thank you – but if Sunstreaker wanted to look it up later? That was on her.

Turning her attention to her phone, she was quick to type something - humming quietly as she did so. To go straight into the kinds of metal she enjoyed may be a little offputting, as she knew it wasn't for everyone, but there were plenty of stepping stones to get to that point.

"Okay so this is a liiiiittttle more pop than the stuff I normally listen to, but- I figure we can start out easy and work up to the really good stuff, only 'cos I don't wanna scare you!"

They probably only had limited time, after all this was supposed to be a simple school run, but ehhh, she was sure Sunstreaker wouldn't mind driving around for a little longer, especially when it came to good music and being free from the boring snore fest of Omega One.

"Let me know if this isn't loud and aggressive enough and we can switch to the next one!"

Ah, now the real test had begun. Sliding her thumb to the enter key on her phone and hitting it, the first song of what was probably many would begin to play. It needed way more guitars, but eh… for a starting point on getting schooled on music? It was probably okay.

[Sunstreaker]

Miko had told her straight to her dashboard, but even without the disclaimer, Sunny knew when she was getting low-balled. Her passenger was being awfully... considerate (?) of her driver's tastes. Navigating interspecies music tastes was more art than science, of course. It would have been much, much easier to just give Miko her usual playlist. But of course, Sunstreaker was a gracious host and would allow the filthy little human to try this and that with her speakers

The sound of upbeat, rebellious pop flooded the interior as the ostentatious super-car came to a stop behind a blue sedan at a red light. The smooth, cool hum of her engine had previously been the only constant sound in the background, but now that had all changed.

To say the Lambo had a good sound system was like saying Omega Supreme was a little on the shorter side.

A heavy, resonant THUMP accompanied every little pop of the bass as the song played. But, a tasteful thump. Sunny wasn't some junker who'd put all her Shanix into the woofer, of course. It was a tasteful-yet-intense level of bass. Good for a passenger who wanted to leave with all their hearing after the ride.

The song itself wasn't too bad. It was okay, really. A bit happier and more whimsical than what she typically listened to.

Miko could do better, though. Sunny had a feeling deep down about it.

She appraised the song in its entirety in total silence, finishing just as she rolled through the now-green light.

"More."

The mark and hunger of a true noise-enjoyer. If Miko's music wasn't blasting out of every inch of her frame by the time they got to her house, they must have gotten something wrong.

[Miko Nakadai]

Whoa.

To say that Miko hadn't been expected that sound system would be an understatement, to the point she almost jumped at the first sudden thump of decent bass. Bulkhead was usually pretty conservative when it came to music volume, oh he liked it loud sometimes, but that was usually when they were on the open stretch of road heading toward Omega One - but Sunstreaker unfortunately had him outmatched in the subwoofer department.

Okay, she had definitely moved up on that list of cool Autobots from that alone - but still not quite enough for top three, though of course the ride was far from over.

She wasn't quite sure how to gauge a reaction to her first pick of song. The fact it was allowed to play through from start to finish was probably a good sign, though of course Sunny could simply be being polite about the whole thing. Perhaps that was some Cybertronian custom, to play songs in their entirety? Though there had been plenty of times when Bulk had said 'snooore' and switched to something else.

The reply that did come was a single word, and was met with a grin.

"I did say I was starting you out easy!" she laughed. "Okay uhh what's next…"

Typing something quickly, she nodded in approval at her second choice - clearly she was in a female vocalist sort of mood, though perhaps that was because Sunstreaker seemed the type to appreciate girl power or whatever it was called.

This one certainly had more guitar and was rougher than the last one, though was probably still rather lacking in the aggression department.

[Sunstreaker]

The road, and other related concepts such as distance, time, and space began to slip away as Sunstreaker felt herself sink into the role of music critic. Or at least, enjoyer of very very loud noise. Thus far, Miko hadn't hit her with anything too weapons-grade. Still testing the waters. Respectable, but it did impart her with an appetite for more. Sort of. Not just more, but the maximum. A hunger to have her audials blown out by the end of their trip. The little morsels the human had tossed her way thus far had only stoked the flames.

The next track felt more or less the same to her. Lacking that punch, that aggression. It had attitude, anger, but still... there was more it didn't have.

Sunny let the track play out without interruption much like the first, which ultimately resulted in somewhat of an awkward car ride for the both of them.

"Miko," Sunstreaker began, her tone akin to a parent finding their child with a pilfered cookie. "Safeties off, now."

She was being exceptionally polite to the meat-thing sitting in her passenger's seat right now. Miko was her guest, and Sunny was making a point not to upset her. She held out hope of course, as Miko had mentioned starting her off slowly, implying that there was something to look forward to. Hopefully.

This was not nearly hard enough yet.

But now, she'd given the human a blank check to smack her right in the mouth. Figuratively.

[Miko Nakadai]

Okay, so the second song wasn't enough. It made sense, compared to what Miko normally listened to? It was preeeetty tame… though she'd wanted to ease into this based solely on how everyone else seemed to react to her music.

Which was to say, not well.

It might've been why she felt so weirdly nervous. It was one thing to chat about various bands, it was another to audibly assault someone who had no idea what they were getting into. All her life she'd been told to turn the music down, or to put on something that didn't have quite so much screaming.

Like that'd ever happen!

Sunstreaker was at least polite enough to let the song play out in full, though it was kinda awkward, if only because Miko could kinda tell that the femme expected more. It was kind of refreshing, though even then she found herself hesitant to go all in. Though it was the way her name was spoken – in a tone that she'd heard a few times from various parental figures over the years – that made her realize that okay, it was probably time for all or nothing.

Or, at least one step away from that.

"Well, okaaay… If you're sure!"

Using her thumb to go down what seemed to be a pretty significant list on the tiny flip phone, Miko wrinkled her nose as she umm'd and ahh'd over what would be the perfect song. The obvious choice would be something by Slash Monkey, but she didn't want to just introduce them to anyone - they had to prove that they could handle it!

"Let's try this one…"

It was time for more girl power - and as the song started, Miko hoped that this one would hit the mark. It was taking everything in her to not air guitar along, which she hadn't quite felt the urge to do with the two previous songs, so that was probably a good sign, right?

[Sunstreaker]

The audacious yellow not-car had nearly ferried her passenger to the outskirts of town by now. Miko's foster parents were naught but a few turns away at this point. All things considered, Sunstreaker had done a marvelous job of not screwing such a simple task up. Not that she ever screwed things up. She didn't, of course. Miko's music selection had been... passable thus far. Though their intensity had subtly build up and up as she unleashed more of her arsenal, Sunny was waiting for that kick. That bite.

Which is why that when Miko's next song began to kick and bite into her speakers, the femme gunned it just as the light turned green.

The guitar assault...

The punishing drums...

The HEAT...

Sunstreaker silently flew into nigh full throttle into the environs surrounding Jasper's outskirts, completely blowing past her turn to Miko's house. What was this music?? It was an assault on her audials, but an assault that put a fire in her, a fire to go smash the other guy flat. Humans would have called it adrenaline, which Sunny didn't have for obvious reasons. But it had a feeling to it. An intensity that burned within her.

"FINALLY!!"

Her command of the road, even while pushing up to ninety, was utterly insane. Thousands of years of practice, plus a set of good tires and a low center of gravity, had given Sunny a finesse like no other. Poor Miko, though. She had no idea she'd gone and signed herself up for a fieldtrip.

[Miko Nakadai]

Now that they were super close to her house, Miko knew it was probably now or never to get this right, as they simply didn't have time for another song.

She hoped even with the music that hadn't quite met the mark that she'd made a good impression regardless, as Sunstreaker did seem like someone she'd want to hang out with again in the future. Cool Autobots were kinda few and far between, and Sunstreaker was definitely one of the more awesome ones!

She found herself holding her breath as the song started. Was it going to be too much now? It was certainly a step up or five from the songs played moments prior, which was usually where most seemed to draw the line before shrugging it off as nothing more than annoying noise.

As the guitars started, then the drums – then the scream – Miko realized that they'd completely missed the turn, with Sunstreaker actually speeding up.

"Uh-" she started, voice barely heard over the music, almost as if she was about to hesitantly bring up that they'd blown past the street.

That was a good thing, right? It was absolutely the type of music you could speed to, and it seemed like maybe, just maybe she'd finally got it right.

A thought confirmed with a single word.

"Woohoo!" she grinned, settling back into the chair as the femme continued on at speed. If Bulkhead ever found out they were going this fast, he would be stressing for a week even if Miko was completely fine. He never went as fast as this, even with her perfected pouty face trying to convince him otherwise.

"This. Is. AWESOME!!"

[Sunstreaker]

Early on, Sunstreaker had been afraid. Not of death or dying of course, but that Miko's "reputation" would be a bust. She'd not had the chance to meet her before tonight, but Sunny had heard. The wild child of the gaggle of humans nesting at Omega. She'd deliberately kept her distance from the lot of them until now, intentionally of course. They were messy, complicated beings that she didn't understand, nor wish to devote the energy to begin doing so.

Her greatest fear of the night was that Miko would be lame.

Perhaps the final verdict was still out on that for the moment, although evidence to the contrary was forthcoming and promising.

Sunstreaker tore down the sleepy streets leading out of Jasper, her sparkbeat rushing to the beat of the song. Though, it was less of a song, and more of an assault. She liked it. Her choice in alt mode certainly helped the display. Most people would expect the owner of such a gaudy vehicle to drive recklessly and without regard for pedestrians. It was the literal perfect cover. Anyone actually respectable wouldn't give such a display a proper glance.

Of course, the art of being subtle was not (nor had it ever been) on Sunstreaker's mind.

Miko's cheers only endeared herself to her driver even more. Concerning, considering Sunny's prior stance on humans.

Although her driving seemed utterly wild, there was a method behind the blaring madness. Her route was still etched into her mind, and Sunny had simply chosen to take a 'longer' path to the residence. She was being cautious. Circumspect, even.

But mostly, it just felt good to let loose after being cooped up for so long.

"Hanging on back there??" She called from over the drums and vocals.