5Hi, everybody! For those who aren't familiar with me, I'm Panda Bear Lover 317. Some call me PBL, or Darwin, and what you guys decide to think of me is purely your own opinion. Now that I'm formally introduced with my screen names, let's move on! :)
It's great to meet the Transformers fans that have been interested enough to investigate my humble work. Honestly, I'm just trying my hand in how well I can write for this Community. This piece of writing came to me when I decided to tackle the characters of Skids and Mudflap, see if I can give them more character development, even a prominent past. I also thought it would be fun to see more interaction between them and Leo. Plus, how funny would it be seeing that the poor man can't even get a proper date with his girlfriend. I aimed to keep Skids and Mudflap in character so they've stay true to themselves, but I ended up making them more serious with playful sides to them.
You guys are the judges of how well I'm doing! Alright? Great! Let's get started. Enjoy!
First Time For Everything
"You know, you've been staring at me for the past few minutes, and I'm pretty sure you haven't blinked once yet." Leo was more surprised that he hadn't been the one to stare the most so far, at the bit of Mona's cleavage that peeked out of her top, barely visible. Of course she'd still appear modest.
She was kind of scary tonight. It felt like she was trying to dig holes into his chest with pickaxe.
That was all psychological feelings, of course.
It was just his face being bored into, and there was no pickaxe.
Amused at his words, the corners of her eyes crinkled and she gave him a half smile, taking a swig of water in the process.
Mona twisted the cap back onto her water bottle, taking her sweet time before placing it down next to her, and took a bite from her sandwich.
"Well, you've been quieter than usual tonight," she replied easily, a teasing glint in her eyes, which appeared sharper than usual. Perhaps she did something different with her eye makeup. Her tongue darted out to catch what bread crumbs remained on her lips before returning to its rightful place in her mouth. "I wonder," she continued, "If it's due to the pervy thoughts written clearly on your face."
Leo's mouth dropped open and he sat up a bit straighter, his eyes dropping back down to her covered chest, "Maybe," he drawled playfully, and grinned at her easy laughter.
"My eyes are up here," she reminded him with a simple gesture with two fingers pointing at her face. "Remember, it's our first date, so don't think you're getting any tonight. I'm not low standard, and I know you're a good person. Don't try to ruin that." Her tone remained smooth and gentle, which joined perfectly with the soft makeup she'd wear on any regular day.
Mona wasn't like the other girls. She wasn't hot, exactly, but cute, was willing to engage in conversations with Leo and even hang out, which was the only reason he was ever able to have a chance with her. Most people hardly spared him a second glance unless he somehow managed to hold their attention, and even then, he didn't mean much to anyone except Sharsky, Fassbinder, and now Sam, although he doesn't see much of him anymore after graduating with an Associate's degree. Simmons was different, of course, they couldn't count exactly as friends, but perhaps he'd gained a little respect from saving the older man's life from Devastator. Skids and Mudflap don't count either. When he first met them, they behaved like immature racist jerks, and now they've been following him around aimlessly like lost puppies.
Well, that was until he managed to contact Sam and get him to pass on a message to Optimus Prime about his little issue regarding the twins. As far as he's aware, they've been taken care of, and his life has been quiet for the past five months or so.
He'd been told by Mona on a few occasions that she likes to hang out with him because of how much he's like her old friends from high school. It's not that hard to see how much she misses them either, despite her claims about how good the independence feels, just to leave everything behind and start anew. However, if there's one good lesson he's ever learnt from another man, was that it's not wise to pry into any sensitive topics. The best option is to be silent, and let a lady talk her heart out when she's ready. It's not like Leo was better in conversations unless they were about his obsession towards science fiction, or about sex. It's not like he could commit to anything of the sort though, at least not yet, because Mona's the only girl he's ever gone out with, and this is just their first date.
They've kissed a few times though, and if he did say so himself, Leo was quite exceptional for the first time, and seen enough of it beforehand in movies, literature, and pornography to know how.
An awkward silence had fallen between the couple for an uncomfortable amount of time before Mona spoke again. "I have been wondering for a while," she began, "About your website."
"I have many websites," Leo replied, "Which one are you talking about?"
She ran her thumbs across her fingertips as her hands rested in her lap, a nervous habit of hers. "One of your former ones," she admitted, "Two years ago," Leo's eyebrows furrowed as he began to understand which she was talking about. "The Real Effing Deal."
"It's been on your mind for two years?" he took a quick gulp from his own water bottle and set it aside, "Why didn't you say something before?"
She looked a bit sheepish now and shrugged, "I couldn't find a better time to bring it up." Mona admitted, "I'm just wondering why it was taken down and never mentioned again."
Oh, how would he answer that question?
Sorry, at the time I only tried to get attention by being overly dramatic and immature. Once I finally met the giant effing robots, I realized that attention was the last thing I wanted, and vowed to do everything in my power for the sake of aftermath cleanup to just keep my mouth shut and remove the stupid site. Plus the Government's paying for my current expenses, which also plays a role in my silence.
Simmons must have been thinking the same thing, because he took down his site too.
And then the former agent wrote and published a book about it instead, the crazy dumbass.
"Leo?"
The young adult was snapped from his thoughts, "Uh," he did his best to shrug and look disinterested, and decided to pull out what Sam claimed when they first met, "I figured from the quality of the videos that it was fake, and anything overheard on the internet was rumors at best." He paused, "You remember my friend Sam Witwicky, right?"
Mona nodded slowly, "Yes, we've met a few times before, he's nice,"
"Yeah, yeah," he continued, "He's actually the one to knock some sense into me, quite a reality check," he shook his head slowly from the memories, "I was childish at the time," Leo smirked, "But now I'm a new man!" He raised a fist to add more dramatics, before lowering it again to grab his sandwich and bite into it. A moonlight picnic actually wasn't a bad idea for a first date. "So, you've seen the site?"
Mona drank more of her water and adjusted how she sat on the blanket. "Yeah, a friend of mine introduced it to me back when I was a junior in high school." A small blush dusted her cheeks as she continued, "I constantly checked for updates since then...up until the site was taken down. I suspected that the government was behind that, but now I'm not so sure from what you're telling me." Mona pursed her lips, "It's just...since then, I was obsessed with conspiracy theories behind the supposed terrorist attacks and other issues going on around the world and when the idea of alien robots was suggested with videos and stories behind it, I got hooked." She smiled, "I suppose whenever something unusual happens nowadays, pointing the finger at potential aliens doesn't sound as crazy anymore. I know plenty of people that like to poke fun at the subject."
Oh, she has no idea.
Leo admittedly didn't have any words for what she said, and swallowed, waited for her to either continue or change the subject.
She spared him a glance and smiled, much to his surprise. "The idea is still interesting to me, but I'm not obsessed anymore, and whether any of it was real or not," she leaned closer, "You're pretty good with convincing stories and compiling everything into something neat and organized."
Leo laughed, a hint of nervousness was still detectable, "You can thank Sharsky and Fassbinder for their help."
She hummed in agreement, "I should have suspected that their gifts were involved," and she finished her sandwich.
"It was a team effort to improve my digital empire," he abruptly shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, making his cheeks puff out ridiculously like a hamster, and Mona laughed.
"Now that's a cute sight that could beat out kittens any day." she looked thoughtful, "Perhaps you should move onto rodent calendars next. I love chipmunks and gerbils,"
Leo emptied his water bottle to help wash down the rest of his sandwich and grimaced at the sensation of the food going down all at once, and hiccupped. He screwed on the cap and packed it into a small bag with the rest of their garbage, "I'll ge-" he hiccupped suddenly and recovered, before trying again, "I'll get to work on that," and he hiccupped again.
Mona smiled as they stood up, "Try rolling down that hill," and she bent over to fold up the blanket. Instead of taking her advice, Leo tried holding his breath, but it didn't work very well for him after three attempts. "Careful," she warned him with a playful smirk evident in her voice even with his back turned, "I wouldn't want you to pass out or anything, much less cause brain damage,"
Leo groaned before hiccupping again. "I think I need water," and he was about to ask Mona if he could please have the bag to get a new sealed one, but his back collar was tugged and something wet trickled down his back. He squealed in surprise and Mona laughed, backing away from him. "I would have tried scaring you, but I'm terrible at trying, so I figured that taking you by surprise could compensate for that fear," she smirked, "Did it work?"
He grumbled and searched through the bag until he found an extra water bottle. Leo unscrewed the cap, whirled around and grabbed her arm so he could dump its contents over her, much to her protest. Mona delivered him an unamused look and rushed him.
On instinct, Leo dropped the bottle and cap, turned and started running away. Much to his misfortune, he's not very active while she's part of a track team, so it didn't take much effort for her to catch up and tackle him.
Leo rolled onto his back and smirked up at her. Their faces were inches apart, but she moved away when he tried to kiss her. "You're all wet," she raised an eyebrow at his words, "Maybe you should lose a few layers to dry off."
Mona snorted and moved away from him so he could get back up. "If that's your mindset, maybe you should take your shirt off and cool down."
Leo shrugged, "Can't blame a guy for trying," and he followed her back to where their folded up blanket and bag sat. Mona picked up the discarded bottles, screwed on their caps and placed them in the bag before picking it up, and the blanket.
He dug into his pocket for his keys and manually unlocked his Honda Accord EX 1993, then unlocked the rest of the doors from a switch on the inside. It took a bit of time, but he got used to the older car. Honestly though, he thought Bumblebee was a lot cooler, and it was sad to see him go when he was consistently called for black ops missions against Decepticons, or involved in human affairs.
Now Leo can't help but wonder how Mona would react if she was introduced to the Cybertronians. Would she behave the same way he did, or would she be too busy fangirling over how incredible the entire concept was, and then start asking questions. He could already vividly imagine the scenarios and the headache that could potentially go with it.
Mona was usually quiet until she's urged to talk, and then it's nearly impossible for her to stop until she's given time alone to calm herself down. Throughout the two months of knowing her, Leo's never seen a midpoint between both extremes and it could sometimes get annoying for others if it's not himself. However, it was sometimes so endearing, especially her enthusiasm that he couldn't help but easily forgive that every time.
Plus she has nice boobs. A little bit of eye candy never hurt anyone.
Leo got another look at her eye makeup when she climbed into the passenger seat and placed the folded blanket and bag into a back seat. "You look nice tonight," he complimented her, and she smiled, thanking him, "Sure you still don't want to shed some layers tonight?" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She rolled her eyes playfully and punched his shoulder, "You are such a boy!" Mona laughed, "All you seem to pay much attention to is someone's boobs."
"You have very beautiful eyes," Leo pointed out to try and prove her wrong, but failed miserably, because he kept his eyes on her chest.
Mona flicked his forehead and the young man quickly looked away, laughing with her. He turned his key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. "Did you have fun tonight?" he asked, trying to make sure she had a good time so she wouldn't dump him the next day. For most people, first relationships don't end well, but Leo wants to make this last and ensure that when it inevitably ends at some point, at least there won't be horrible memories in its wake. Deep down under his playful behavior, he really cared.
He turned onto the empty, gravel road and started driving back to the college campus. Neither of them had classes the next day, but Mona was very serious about getting to bed at a reasonable time. If something threw her off schedule, she'd be paying the price for the next few days. Leo was witness to that before, and it wasn't pretty. She was very tired and grumpy, and because she hung out with him most, he usually received the brunt of her...crude behavior.
Mona had openly admitted to Leo on several occasions that she could get very bitchy when she's sleep deprived, and needs desperately to stick to a strict schedule.
Light snuck into the car from the back window and Mona looked over her shoulder briefly, and then faced forward again. Leo paid it no mind.
After a few turns and going through intersections, Mona glanced behind them again. "Leo?" she whispered, as if she was worried someone else would hear her, "I think we're being followed,"
He glanced behind them in his rear view mirrors, "I'm sure it's just a coincidence," he shrugged it off, stopped briefly at a stop sign before taking a left turn. She glanced behind them again, "There's two cars," she stated, "Pull over, and see what they do,"
Leo let out a long, quiet exhale, turned on his right blinker, and slowed to a stop on the right shoulder, he put the Honda in park and sat with his arms crossed. A few seconds later the first car passed by.
And then it pulled over in front of them. Mona glanced backward and saw the second car behind them. She shifted uncomfortably, "Leo, I'm getting nervous," and started playing with her seatbelt.
One of the two cars was a bright green while the other was a dull cross between orange and brown, though it was hard to pinpoint during nighttime.
Leo started cursing, unlocked his seatbelt and opened his door to step out. "Stay right here," and started mumbling on how these guys just can't leave him alone.
"Do you know these guys?" she frowned, "You're not in any trouble, are you?"
He shook his head, "Nah, these guys are just annoying and like to pester. It's probably best you don't meet them though. They're difficult to deal with sometimes."
She watched silently as he shut his door and strode over to the green car, and the driver's side window must have rolled down, because Leo started talking through to whoever was driving. Mona couldn't see inside the vehicle though.
Crossing her arms, she strained to hear what was being discussed, but all she could pick up was Leo's annoyed voice and someone else with a hillbilly accent, and then another similar voice joined the conversation. She frowned but continued watching with discretion until she picked up on arguing. Mona began to worry that Leo was going to get hurt, or cause more trouble than necessary. Nothing bad's happened around him yet, and she didn't want it to start now. Listening to her moral conscience regarding his safety, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. "Leo, please just tell me what's going on," she insisted, "I'm starting to get worried," there was a pause, "And sleepy," she lowered her voice to a whisper so only he would hear.
Grimacing, the young man turned back to face through the window of the green car, and Mona still couldn't catch a glimpse of the driver. "Look, this can wait, okay? I gotta get my girlfriend home, we have more important things to do!"
"You's got a girlfriend?" a voice from the other car spoke up, "Lemme get a look at 'er," the car rolled around Leo's own vehicle and stopped a good three feet away from her, and the front lights started flashing and they heard a catcall, "Look at dat! She got nice tits!" Mona raised an unamused eyebrow at that.
"Will you guys cut that out?!" Leo started yelling, and she sighed. He was going into another tantrum, just like the time when Sam left. Both men were unhappy that it'd be harder to keep in touch.
"Leo," she tried getting his attention.
The green car drove closer insistently, "Dis can't wait, man. It's important. It's about life and death matters! We's on a mission!"
"Leo," Mona called to him, louder, sharper. Her next words died in her mouth though when the green car let out a hissing sound.
And then components to it began shifting around.
Eyes widening, she backed up until she touched the orange car's bumper, and the engine revved at her, startling the lady. Now confused, the only comfort she could latch onto was by grabbing Leo's hand and stared gob smacked at the green humanoid creature staring right down at them. If she didn't know any better, she'd think that the metallic being was looking smugly at them.
Then it reached down at them, and Mona let out a startled yelp when a giant, surprisingly warm hand wrapped around her torso, the other doing the same to her boyfriend, and they were lifted off the ground.
Before the poor girl could even consider screaming her head off or try to fight the robot, she heard more hissing and shifting. The next thing either human knew, they were sitting inside a car, and seat belts slid out to buckle them in.
"Sit back an' relax, man." that same hillbilly voice came through the radio. "We's goin' on an adventure!"
Another voice came through the driver's open window from the orange car, "Let's make like ninjas and disappear! Whooo!" and both vehicles floored their accelerators, spitting up gravel in their haste to get away from the area.
Shocked, Mona twisted her torso and head to look out the rear window at Leo's car steadily getting smaller as it was left behind. She then faced forward again with wide eyes, and struggled to keep her breathing steady. "Leo?" her quiet voice grasped his attention this time, and he cautiously looked her way, swallowed hard, and squeaked.
"Yes?"
Snapping her scrutinizing gaze his way, she asked, "Do most of your first dates end up like this?"
Blinking in surprise, he could do nothing else but smile sheepishly and admit, "This is my first date. I just didn't expect these guys to interrupt our evening. Please don't kill me!"
Her rapid gasps got louder, "They won't hurt us, right?"
There's the big question right there, and at least he could answer honestly. "No." Leo reached out with a hand to pat her shoulder reassuringly to support his answer.
Skids and Mudflap both remained surprisingly quiet, probably giggling to themselves about their situation.
It didn't take long for Mona to calm down more, glanced at Leo once again and gave him a small smile. "Obviously we're going to be out later than I'd like," she started, and got that glint in her eyes that meant she had a few ideas in her head, "But I think it's safe to say that this is the most...interesting first date I've had yet."
More whoops and catcalls were heard through the radio, and Leo groaned and slapped his forehead in exasperation. "Looks like we impressed you're lady more than you did!" One of them taunted, and then turned flirtatious. "And by the way, pretty gal, we're both single if ya lose interest in dis shrimp taco," and then more laughing was heard through the radio.
Mona sent Leo a look asking for help and he just shrugged, "They don't mean a word," he whispered, "Just go with it. They both have the maturity level of five year olds with autism." Both sources of the voices apparently heard what he said and protested against his claim.
She blinked and raised an eyebrow. "I have autism." Mona pointed out, unamused.
Leo grimaced from his choice of words. Not the best way to impress anyone. "Uh, whoops,"
More laughing could be heard from the radio, but Mona ignored it and crossed her arms to address the cars. "So what was the point in taking us? What do you want?"
That was when the laughing stopped, and the atmosphere grew a lot thicker from tension.
Okay? Was it good? Constructive criticism, no matter how brutal, is always considered helpful and useful, but only if it's detailed. I can't read minds...as cool as that would be. ;)
Uh, so this is meant to be a short story. There will only be five chapters total for this, just to test my skills and improvements with writing in this fandom.
If you guys haven't noticed yet, I have a poll on my profile page (today's 8/29/15) for you guys to vote over which Community you want me to write for when I'm done with this particular story. The choices are either Tron, or Transformers.
Now, Transformers takes place in Bay's movies, with my own little twists and additions. I've planned out 3 series for it as of now (plus more), although future movies will determine when I start to change the plot into my own ideas. If the fifth movie doesn't go how I like it (also depends on when it comes out and what I'm writing at the time), I'm highly likely to break off right after Age of Extinction and only use certain elements from the future movies as nothing more than pointers for a certain direction. Total of books are undetermined.
Tron is going to be a bit different. That first book is my own. Very few canon characters involved and the plot is my own. Then it goes into Tron: Uprising for the second book. The third will take place to connect into Legacy, go through the plot from there. The rest is my own imagination again. Total of books for these is about seven, and unlike Transformers at the moment, I have it all planned out.
Eventually for both, I'm going to break off canon events and stride off into uncharted waters within my own head. What's awesome for these books is that you don't have to be completely familiar with either fandom, because I'm starting from very basic information, and you guys (who could possibly not know much about it) can go along with the plot, and grasp the concept and mythology as you go along.
For both fandoms, I am going to be inserting my own OC characters (both are girls *sigh* I know). Canon events are unlikely to change until the time comes. There will be romance, but it's slow, and won't happen for either Tron or Transformers until at least the second book. I intend for the romance to be nothing more than a sideplot, and shouldn't take up too much from the action, adventure, and the torture I plan to put my OC's through. *insert evil laughter here*
Wow, this is a very long Author's note, but obviously, I like details...they're important. Although they shouldn't be as long as these in the future. :)
So...school for me is starting in two days, and I have no idea when I'll update next, but until then! Toodles. (Again! I enjoy compliments, but I like constructive criticism even better!) :)