#dustblades

> Cybertron, the War, and its impact

When the war first broke out, Dustspin sided with the Autobots. Thanks to her ability to outmaneuver enemies and other dangers in flight, she was often utilized to fly into Decepticon-claimed spaces to gather intel, or to aid with aerial attacks. Which is how she first met Hazard – a handsome, intelligent and skilled bot, who seemed just as smitten with her as she was with them. Only, unfortunately, Hazard was a loyal Decepticon.

At first they would meet in secret, cross enemy lines for dates or even sneak away from the battlefield to see each other. But Hazard was always committed to the Decepticon cause, and though they did have strong feelings for Dustspin, they failed to understand why she would stand with the Autobots.

Loyal as they were, the opportunity presented to them didn't go unnoticed. Whether they thought of it themself or if someone found out about their love and coerced them, it doesn't matter in the end, because they saw no issue with the plan: Dustspin was an incredibly valuable source of inside information on the enemy.

Dustspin never truly meant to cause harm to the bots that trusted her, but she was young, and foolish, and she loved Hazard. She loved them more than any stupid war trying to come between them, more than pointless factions. And if they were so deeply, utterly and truly convinced that the Decepticons were right... then maybe it was Dustspin who had it wrong.

The fallout was drastic. The impact of Dustspin's betrayal left those she'd fought with reeling, struggling to take back any semblance of control after the breach of security she'd left them with. Many plans now revealed and far too many crucial details known to the Decepticons, the number of consequential casualties exceeded more than a few.

But it was fine, right? Hazard assured her that she'd done the right thing. And they were together now, finally on the same side and no longer having to hide.

Dustspin never felt quite comfortable among the Decepticons, but she loved Hazard, so she willed herself content. Even when their true colors became more and more blatant, she continued to turn a blind eye to them. How could they possibly be bad, after all, when they loved her so much? They were cold, and unkind, and hungry for power, but they did love their sweet little Dustspin. They never laid a servo on her, even when she misbehaved or spoke out of turn, even when her thoughts veered back to the Autobot propaganda she'd been fed, no matter how hard they tried to show her the truth in the way of the Decepticons. Still, a part of her, somewhere, was never fully convinced.

It was a long time before Dustspin finally gathered the courage and the needed self-reflection to end it. Far too long – far too many battles, far too many deaths. Each had made it harder and harder for her to even hope she could ever return to her old life, but in the end, even that did not matter. She finally knew that Hazard was a monster, no matter how much she loved them or how much they loved her, and she knew she needed to get out, no matter what. If only to finally no longer be complicit in the slaughter of those who used to be her allies.

She never expected the Autobots to trust her again. But Optimus Prime is kind, and even in the worst of times, he wants to believe in second chances. It wasn't an easy road, and it took a very long time and a lot of hard work, but, eventually, Dustspin managed to regain the trust of those she'd betrayed.

The only one who never truly forgave her was herself.

Fueled by self-loathing and anger, Dustspin joined the Wreckers, throwing herself into danger over and over again in an attempt to prove her loyalty, to make up for what she'd done. She didn't care if it killed her. In her mind, she deserved it, and she doubted she'd truly be mourned anyhow. The primary thing that separated her from the others was most certainly her respect for authority – terrified of being marked a traitor once more, Dustspin follows orders without question. She wouldn't dream of defying them, even if she were to be directly ordered to lay down her own life, she wouldn't as much as hesitate. The Autobots took her back, and she owes them everything, including her own spark, if they ask for it.

> Griffin Rock

Following a multitude of space shenanigans and various escapades, Dustspin wound up on the Jackhammer with Wheeljack, eventually headed toward Earth. Now, working directly under Optimus Prime himself was both an honor and utterly nerve-wrecking. As much as she reveres him, even with over a million years having passed, Dustspin can't look him in the optics without guilt. And, while she respects her Prime, she didn't quite understand his affinity for those tiny natives of this planet. They just looked squishy and kind of gross to her.

Sensing that Dustspin would do well without the pressure of having Optimus breathing down her neck at all times, and could use quite a lot of human-bonding-time, and not to mention non-Wrecker team building (bless her, she's used to being surrounded by tough bastards that can take what she dishes out and vice versa), Optimus took her to Griffin Rock. She was not a fan.

There was no way Dustspin was going to defer to a bunch of squishy alien critters. She begrudgingly takes orders from Chief Burns – because Optimus Prime himself directly told her to – but that's it. And she will go on rescue missions, because she is a loyal Autobot and of course she would never let any living creature come to harm if she could help it – never again – but that does not mean she'll like it. She will be complaining the whole time.

She clashes with Blades by far the most. When Dustspin first met him, she felt nothing but contempt for the copter bot. Everything about him rubbed her the wrong way. His constant whining, his anxious nature, the fear of practically everything... when he'd been in stasis throughout the entire war. He never had to experience any of its horrors, none of the pain, none of the terror. He had no right to be the way he was. He'd never been given a reason to be afraid. To say it quite frankly, his innocence pissed her off to unspeakable levels.

Blades, meanwhile, didn't like Dustspin much better himself. A talented flier and a powerful warrior, she's everything he's not, and while he tries not to let these things get to him, sometimes they do. Especially when Dani managed to befriend Dustspin (okay, maybe some of these humans are pretty alright) and got hooked on high-speed stunt flights, inadvertedly leaving Blades without his partner. Dani never meant to make him feel replaced, of course. But she couldn't deny that she was having the time of her life in Dustspin's pilot seat. So long as she kept her hands to herself and away from the controls, Dustspin even found herself enjoying the enthusiastic company.

Then, gradually, things shifted. Dustspin slowly got used to her new family, established herself as part of the team, and started to soften, just a bit. She also discovered that human television is incredibly entertaining – and suddenly, she and Blades would spend their free time together, binging Cupcake Hoarders, and arguing less and less. And maybe it's not his fault that he was in stasis, and maybe she's really just jealous that he was lucky enough to never have anything truly bad happen to him. Maybe it's good that it didn't. Who else among the Autobots can still say they hold any innocence? He's sweet, and he is brave – despite being scared of just about everything, he doesn't let it stop him – and, above all, he is good. For a cynical Wrecker, that's a rare thing to see, much less to believe.

And it's really not his fault he missed the war. Doesn't she think he'd have changed that if he could have? So many of his friends are dead, his entire planet is gone, and he wasn't even there to help. As much as he knows he likely wouldn't have made much of a difference, he'd give everything for the chance to at least try. And Dustspin doesn't really know how to respond to that.

Instead, she shows him how to fly. Sure, he knows how to get off the ground, but he doesn't truly understand it. Doesn't see the motivation, the freedom, the beauty of it. Dustspin coaxes him into going on flights with her, to try to show him that it can be fun if he lets it. Blades is never going to love flying, but he learns to at least appreciate it. Especially when Dustspin manages to get him high enough to go over the cloud cover, where the clouds right beneath you make it feel like you're not even that high up, and the view is downright breathtaking. He still prefers staying on the ground and watching movies, but, alright, maybe it's not that bad. With a friend.

> What comes after

Dustspin doesn't live in Griffin Rock permanently. Rather, she visits periodically, always showing up unannounced and then staying anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks at a time before moving on again. Sometimes she travels around with Wheeljack, looking for trouble; other times she joins up with Team Prime to help them on their missions, as, unlike the Rescue Bot team, she's more than experienced enough to handle Decepticons. Sometimes she's just by herself, exploring the planet she now calls home. Being alone is the only time she can feel at peace, away from all the pressure of proving herself and yet never feeling worthy of anyone's approval. But even so, she always comes back.

Everyone knows when Dustspin and Blades begin to develop feelings for each other. Blades especially is just painfully obvious, it's almost embarrassing to watch. Dustspin is far more subtle, but her visits become more and more frequent, and she's noticably less feisty around him. Nobody is surprised when the two of them start sneaking off inbetween missions (except maybe Heatwave, who really didn't think Blades could pull that).

There's a whole lot of healing that needs to be done though. Neither of them believes themselves to be worthy of the other. Blades is too sweet, too innocent to be with someone broken and blood-stained like her. Dustspin is fearless and competent and could do far better than an aerial bot with a fear of heights. And yet, somehow, it works just right. Dustspin, for the first time, finally gets to experience what love is truly supposed to be like; and she will protect it with all that she has to give.

Which she's going to have to prove when Hazard makes an appearance on Earth.

Neither of them would want to be full-on making out in public, by the way. The most they're willing to do while being looked at would be a quick peck on the lips. Even Chase is reasonably fine with having snuggles at home while team members are in the vicinity, but kissing is a private affair.

And neither of them would embarrass the other on purpose – Chase would not understand why anyone would want to do that to a partner they supposedly love, and Nightpurr would never do it to Chase because they know he wouldn't find it cute.

🎈which one of you is more “go with the flow”, when it comes to planning dates, and who stresses about those things?

Chase 100% is the one stressing about every detail, especially in the beginning of the relationship. He wants everything to be perfect, and he wants to do it right. But, unfortunately, Chase has never been that great when it comes to anything in the "social events" area. He just doesn't quite get it. And this being Earth, and (technically) human dating, makes it even harder. He tries to plan dates by the book (why and how does he have a literal book on this) and probably has everything planned out to the minute. And then proceeds to get stressed out when real life doesn't work that way.

Nightpurr isn't even bothered. They do want it to go well, of course; they really like Chase and want it to work out! But they don't really mind if things don't go as planned, and are able to just laugh off any mishaps. Nightpurr is just happy to be there. They could have the worst date in the history of dates, and they'd still just be there like "yay i get to spend time with Chase!"

He does mellow out about it once he realizes this (and believes it), and grows more comfortable with himself and the situation. But early-days dates were incredibly nerve-wrecking.

💘 are they the type to engage in PDA? Are you? Do either of you like to embarrass the other?

Blades sure does try! It's hard to stop him, really. Once he's secure enough about their relationship, he just can't help himself. Dustspin is getting hugs! Blades is clingy, and there just isn't anything she can do about it without hurting his feelings. And you may think that this means she has to tolerate him constantly hanging onto her arm or similar things, but no. Rest assured, she likes this. It may not show on her face, but she'd be sad if he stopped.

Dustspin doesn't feel all too comfortable reciprocrating, except maybe if it's only in front of people she trusts. She's just not much of a cuddler (Blades knows that is a lie). But just the fact that she allows Blades to do this and doesn't try to stop him should speak volumes to anyone that knows her.

Also, while she doesn't snuggle (when being observed) – Dustspin will pull Blades into a deep and passionate kiss in front of the entire island if she ever feels like it. She does not care who sees that. Blades is the one who gets embarrassed (but he's not complaining either). Get kissed, idiot.

And I just feel like they'd be so obnoxious about PDA when they're in the firehouse with just family. Can you guys stop snogging we're trying to watch a movie.

🎈which one of you is more “go with the flow”, when it comes to planning dates, and who stresses about those things?

Blades isn't nearly as meticular as Chase, but he does want things to go right once Dustspin actually agrees to go on a proper date with him. Because, holy fuck, she actually said yes? He's basing a lot of his date planning on knowledge he's gained from tv, which is probably not the most ideal base to build on, especially if you're two giant robot aliens in disguise. He just doesn't want to disappoint her. For one, because he really likes her, but also because Dustspin is scary. You don't want her to be displeased with you.

Blades just overthinks it a lot, because that's just the way he is. He's a worrier. Even if he knows that everything is probably going to be fine, he's still going to worry.

Meanwhile, Dustspin appears completely nonchalant and too cool for these things, but on the inside she is stressing. She's only dated once, and it was millions of years ago and also bad. This is way out of her comfort zone and she has no idea how to even behave. Why did she even agree to this; Blades deserves way better. What if she messes it up and he gets hurt?

The kicker is really that they've hung out plenty of times before. They basically live together. This is different. Why is this different?

🧡 - If you were to plan some kind of date; would you be going out or staying in?

Probably a bit of both! Blades would love to just get snacks and watch a movie while cuddling on the couch, plus it's a bit difficult to be actually going out when you're Cybertronians on Earth. Even the drive-in theater is a bit hit or miss for a helicopter and a jet (though post-reveal they do go there frequently).

Dustspin isn't big on the whole romance deal, and she's perfectly fine with a good movie, but even so she's still mostly an outdoorsy sort of person. Blades will have to go on flying dates with her, there's just no way around it, but seeing how happy Dusty is while practically jumping through the clouds, and spinning around in a way that leaves a trail of vapor behind her, makes it worth it. Just don't make him do any of those crazy maneuvers...

The upside of flying is the locations they can get to! The two of them do a lot of exploring and sightseeing on remote places, and they have a bunch of secret date spots nobody else knows about or is capable of reaching. Many of them were initially found by Dustspin by herself, because she likes to just fly around in general, and she insists on bringing Blades to all the pretty ones (he will be complaining the whole time because he does not want to be flying, but he will like it once he's there).

Blades also likes to show off his newly learned lad pioneer skills whenever they're out in the wild somewhere. Sure, Dustspin has a lot more survival skills on account of being a wrecker, but they're not earth-specific. Plus it makes him so happy...

Blades also took Dustspin to build sandcastles at least once. She is very bad at it. Blades how are you doing that (Dusty kept accidentally breaking things but Blades was just happy to be there).

💚 - You decide to go see a movie, what kind is it? Romcom, horror, action/thriller?

Blades loves romcoms, Dustspin really can go either way depending on her mood. Yeah, she likes action movies, but sometimes she just doesn't want to be thinking of heavy themes and stuff. Especially not on a day that is supposed to be about love and romance and mushy stuff. She lets Blades pick (she knows nothing about earth movies early on anyway) and ends up getting WAY more invested in the cheesy romance movie than expected. Full-on yelling at the screen when a character makes a dumb decision and everything. They're both crying at the happy ending too. Dorks.