[FIN] Let's Get Together! (Sandstrife, Mistsorrow)

[Geyser Eelborn]

Sandstrife had a cousin!

Well, probably. The explanations that Sand had gotten were still a little...vague. But apparently the colt they'd found a few days ago was actually Sandstrife's cousin. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Should she be excited to find out that she had kin? 'Tor certainly thought so. He had told her that she should be grateful to have family, someone she could rely on. She'd wanted to tell him that she already did--she could rely on him. She didn't need someone new!

And yet...

It was sort of hard to dislike Mist. Sure, he was going to be taking up attention from 'Tor, but he was also calm and steadfast. He seemed...reliable, in spite of being, y'know, an undead abomination. That's a Functionist thought, Sand told herself firmly. Only Functionists think that what you are determines what you will be. Functionists were one of the (many) enemies her father had warned her about. And maybe that was why Mist was hard to hate--he was so naive. He didn't know anything at all about the world that was his birthright. That meant that Sand could teach him, and she'd have plenty of opportunity to. They were stopping for a few days so that 'Tor could get his baring and teach Sand the fundamentals of flight. But while he was going for a morning flight, Sand had time to spend getting to know her new kinsman. With that in mind, she trotted through the copse, looking for him. He wasn't hard to find--he glowed, after all! Not a bright glow, but it was sufficient to make him easy to find.

"Morning, Mist!" she said. She stretched her wings. "Sorry about today--'Tor's teaching me to fly. But he's talking about the fundamentals of combat training this afternoon, so, y'know, there'll be something to do later."  

[Geyser Eelborn]

Mistsorrow had a cousin...

They still weren't sure. It was hard to say. But the explanation, at least as Mistsorrow understood it, was that this stallion, Dreadwing, had once had a twin brother, one named Skyquake. Skyquake had died, and his body had been desecrated with Dark Energon. Somehow...they thought this had somehow resulted in Mist's existence. He was the right color to be a child of Skyquake, and certainly Dreadwing bore a striking resemblance to his sisters. Dreadwing was absolutely convinced that, somehow, Mistsorrow was the son of his dead brother. He was still a little dubious about it, but not for the same reasons that Mist was. Dreadwing was confused because how could the dead beget children? Mist was confused, because he'd never thought about his father before, never thought about the family he might have from that half of the family...always before it had been his mother's family, and his mother's family alone that had been important. Now it was his father's family that came to the forefront.

And yet, the things Dreadwing taught him made sense. His explanations about Mistsorrow's odd blood and appearance, they all made sense, even if nothing else did. So now Mist was several days' journey from the only home he had ever known, the only people he had ever known, and he was in the company of people who...

...who treated him like family. Strangers. But family, at the same time. It was so strange and confusing that Mist thought sometimes that he'd wake up tomorrow and all of this would have been some weird dream, but no, apparently this was all real. He had an uncle, and he had a cousin, too, a girl his age who wasn't...odd like his sisters had been. She saw him differently than his sisters had. Not as the lone boy, the doomed one that only they cared about, but as a potential...friend? Sibling? He got the impression that while she might think herself above him, Sandstrife didn't pity him at all. That was actually kind of refreshing. It was nice to have someone who didn't pity him. It was like Sand saw him for what he could be, instead of what he was.

So when Sandstrife bounced up to him and shouted him awake, his annoyance was tempered with...some emotion he couldn't name, but he was sure it was a positive one. He raised his head blearily from the ground. "'S'okay," he mumbled. "Nothing to apologize for." His ears perked up when he realized the last bit that she had said. "Combat training this afternoon?" He hesitated. "May I watch...?" He would like to see some fighting. Maybe he could learn something from watching them.  

[Geyser Eelborn]

Mistsorrow was so odd. 'Tor said that most Seekers were on the more melodramatic side of things. He said that Sandstrife would fit right in with her countrymen. But Mist seemed shyer, more retiring. She hoped that he could end up like her creator someday. 'Tor didn't much match his own descriptions of Seekers, he was much too quiet and contemplative for that (though Skyquake's death, and the sundering of their spark-bond, could be the cause of that). She hoped that Mist would learn how to be like 'Tor. It was easier on a quiet person to be dignified than to act like the whole world was trying to beat him up.

Maybe Sandstrife could help with that. After all, she knew about how to be a Cybertronian, and how to be a Seeker (although Mist, without his wings, wasn't technically a Seeker, hey, the rest of the family was, so it just came naturally to think of him that way). Maybe she could teach him how to hold his head up high, like 'Tor did. Then life might be a little easier on him.

It didn't occur to her that the reason she might want to spend time with Mist was that she'd never had someone her own age to spend time with. Mist was only a little bit younger than she was. According to him, he'd had sisters to play with, but Sand was an only child.

Sand shook her head and snorted. "Of course you can watch, silly. But be prepared to join us, 'cause 'Tor wants to teach you how to fight, too. It's training for both of us, not just me." She grinned. "You can watch us fly, if you want. That bit's just for me, but the rest is for both of us. We both gotta learn how to be warriors. It's traditional."  

[Geyser Eelborn]

Mistsorrow was...surprised? Mist blinked in surprise at what she was saying. Fighting lessons? For him as well? To be a fighter, a warrior?

He'd never known what his father was. No one had talked about it back home. He was still slowly getting to know what his father was. Yes, a warrior...but Mist would be a warrior as well?

He didn't know what to think of that, but it would seem that his heart knew what to feel about that. He was...pleased, yes. He was pleased with this. In fact, he would almost say that he was happy with this turn of events. He would be learning how to be a fighter, as part of his new family--the family he'd always had and never known. It was part of his father's legacy, a legacy in which he was welcome. He had never been welcome as part of his mother's legacy, but now he realized that he could be part of his father's, the mysterious father he'd never known (and might never know).

It suddenly bothered him that he didn't know anything about his people. About his father's people. He didn't know why he was the way he was, or who these people were or where they came from or who they were fighting or why they fought. He'd been hearing bits and pieces of it now and again, but now, this time, he wanted to hear it all, from the beginning. He wanted to know this.

He wanted to know his people. Slowly, Mistsorrow got up and shook himself out. "Yes, of course, fighting." He looked up in the sky at the distant shape of his uncle on a morning flight, then looked at Sandstrife. "I guess we've got time before this afternoon, and your flying practice. Maybe...you could tell me more about our people...our traditions..." He looked at her hopefully. He wouldn't be surprised if she told him to shove off, but he had to at least ask. He had to know, and now seemed like the perfect time to find out more about his people.  

[Geyser Eelborn]

That seemed to get Mistsorrow up and off his feet. He was awake now, fully awake, and for the first time since they'd met, he seemed engaged. He looked like he wanted to know things. Sandstrife wondered what kind of upbringing he'd had so far that the idea of getting to learn how to fight was such an oddity that it filled him with energy. Obviously a scrappy one. Not a pleasant one. It's a good thing we found him. He could've been lost forever.

No matter. They had found him, they had been reunited with one of their kin. Sandstrife felt a surge of affection for her cousin, one she hadn't felt before. They had something in common now besides their ancestry--they both wanted to be warriors, they both wanted to learn swordplay and hoof-to-hoof combat. And apparently, Mist wanted to learn his family history. He hadn't seemed this enthusiastic earlier in the week, but now he was excited. She began to have hope for him. This kind of curiosity, this kind of hopefulness, looked much better on him than the hangdog expression. For the first time, her undead cousin looked alive.

She wrapped a wing around him, careful to avoid touching his open wounds. Dark energon and living flesh didn't mix, but she felt like she needed to show him some affection, some protection. She could feel it happening--the beginning of not just a family relationship, but something potentially even stronger: friendship. "Of course I can," she said. "I'll tell you it all from the beginning." She straightened her throat. "Okay, we hail from the planet Cybertron..."