Avoiding the Road Back

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With that Ray transformed out of her alt-mode. She stood awkwardly for a moment. Was she supposed to pose? Stand? Sit? Was she making this to complicated? No longer wanting to just stand there she took a seat and looked at the sky. She made a mental keep as still as possible, to do so she kept her optics on the sky.

"You know amigo you should start getting your work art there," Ray commented. "Aren't there places or sites where you can do that?"

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Dylan didn't really need any time to think it over. Instead, he sat down and got to work, thinking quietly. When Ray brought up the idea of putting his artwork out there he wasn't sure what to think of that - he'd never thought he was that great after all. "I don't know. I mean, I want to do something with art. But at the same time I don't know if I'm good enough." He shrugged. "Stage fright I guess."

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"Ah stage fright. I had the same problem back when I was training as a scout," Ray replied thinking fondly of her training years. "Alone I was confident. With other bots I constantly second guessed myself. I still do."

Ray chuckled as specific story came to mind.

"Back when I first started working at the Iacon Hall of Records I was so nervous. My mentor tried to get me to calm down by giving me a task. All he said was place this file on the shelf. It was almost as if my processor shut down. There were a ton of shelves and I was overthinking everything for no reason. So I just stood there like a fool. Thankfully my mentor was very, very patient with me."

She smiled to herself at the memory. She missed her mentor a lot. Had it not been for him she probably wouldn't be here today. Who know where she would be right now.

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Dylan nodded slowly as he listened to her. He supposed that made sense, in a way. And Ratchet tried to encourage him in his own way too. But most of the time, he was his own cheering section, honestly. "I guess that does make sense. So you worked in the Hall of Records? I think I heard Optimus mention that before."

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"Yeah. Before he was a prime he worked there. I never met him there though since I worked in a different section. I never did get to actually meet Optimus. I only know him by reputation, and I heard he's a good leader" Ray clarified as she turned back to Dylan still trying to keep still.

"Have you met him?" Ray asked.

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Dylan nodded a bit. Having come in at the same time that Jack, Raf, and Miko had, he had of course met Optimus. He had been one of the first mechs he'd met coming into the base and it had been interesting to say the least. "Yeah, I know Optimus. Not as well as the others, but I do know him. He's a pretty cool guy," he explained. "He treats everyone with kindness and respect and I really appreciate him for that."

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Ray listened to Dylan's words. So what she had heard about the Prime was true, and she couldn't help but feel glad. There weren't exactly many righteous bots left anymore especially after the horrific war that caused Cybertron's destruction. Part of her wished she could go back to Cybertron, but the other part of her knew that her chances were of getting back were low and slimmed to none.

"Are you almost done?" Ray asked.

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Dylan chuckled a little at her anxiousness, though most people were pretty nervous to see if he did a good job at all really. He grinned a little, crinkly his nose as he looked up at her. “Almost! Gotta be patient, you guys are so complex this takes time!” He admitted, as he put the finishing touches on it. “Alright, a bit more here on the wheels.... and voila!” He spun the picture around as to show the picture to the Autobot. “What do you think?”

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"Es bonito! (It's beautiful)," Ray exclaimed as her optics widened. It had taken a while but the wait was definitely worth it. The picture captured all her small details and even her small tire wings. "Wow. Where did you learn this stuff?"

She gazed in amazement at the picture.

"You should start a small comic strip. Maybe you could even make some money off it."

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Dylan felt himself blush a little bit at that. As usual he didn’t think it looked that great but at the same time it was nice to know that someone did at least. When she asked how he started though - he felt a bit tense. It wasn’t a question he liked talking about much. Mostly because it wasn’t a very happy story. “I uh... It helped me through a really hard spot when I was a kid.” aka being locked away and abused in his dads attic.

A comic strip huh? It wasn’t a bad idea certainly. “Maybe it is one of the ideas I’ve thought of honestly.”

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She watched him tense a bit. It was clear that is past, whatever or however bad it was, still haunted him. She dared not ask what happened. She was just starting to gain her first friend on Earth and she didn't want to ruin it by pestering him. She noticed that the night was no longer young, and that it was getting darker.

"I see," Ray replied looking away from the drawing and back to Dylan. "Isn't it getting a little late? Do you need me to take you home?"

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Dylan looked down at his watch, nodding his head slowly, it was starting to get too late. And if he was out much longer they’d start asking questions and the Autobots did still have a secret to keep! As much as it sucked all good things had to come to an end like that. “Yeah, I should probably get going or they’ll start asking questions,” Dylan admitted. “They hardly buy my glee club excuse for where I am as is”

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"Glee club? Surely you could come up with a better excuse than that?" Ray teased a bit. "That sounds like a lie I would've came up with at your age."

Ray stood up and stretched her arms. She after sitting still for so long she could really use a stretch. She stretched her arms far passed the average limit for a Cybertronian and the same for her legs before transforming. She turned on her headlights as her engine roared to life.

"Let's get going before they start looking for you."

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Dylan chuckled a little and rubbed the back of his neck as his face went red. It really had been a pretty lame excuse hadn’t it? “I mean it just sort of came out of my mouth one day. So to be fair I had no choice but to run with it,” he explained as he hopped on with a sigh. “I should have thought of something different I know.”

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"I supposed that makes sense," Ray replied as she began to drive at a steady pace. "So where is this home amigo?"

As she drove her mind wandered back to the sky. She had always wondered what it would be like to soar like a seeker. To fly among the stars. Back on Cybertron she never understood how seekers could ever jump from such high heights and then soar high above so confidently.

"Do you ever wander what it would be like to fly?"