TFA: Together We Stand (Season 1)

Chapter 33

Mantis patted away any invisible dust on her holoform's clothes and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles before ringing the doorbell to the quaint cottage-like house.

"Coming." The door opened and Argent's head popped out. The old lady had a beanie over her salt and pepper hair with a coat thrown on to ward off the cold. Her blue eyes widened in recognition at the familiar 'girl' visiting her and a delighted smile came.

"Mantis! You're certainly a sight for sore eyes." She said.

Mantis smiled. "How are you, Argent?"

"Fine fine. Please come in. There's plenty of room for you in the garage." She added with a meaningful glance towards her true form currently in her alt-mode.

"Thanks." Mantis said with a grateful nod. Her holoform entered the house while her actual body entered the garage, shielding herself from the cold snow.

"Would you like some.....oil?" Argent asked, taking a seat by the fireplace, the coals in the grate glowed red, radiating steady warmth through the living room.

"No thanks." Mantis said waving off her offer.

"So, what brings you here?" Argent asked.

Mantis just shrugged, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. "I just....felt like it." She said.

Argent's face softened. "You want to talk about something?" she asked.

Mantis shook her head. "No, I guess.....I just needed someone to....to spend time with." Then she paused trying to put it into words.

"I haven't exactly been off-planet before, much less an organic one like Earth and well, I guess....being with you gives me a sense of normalcy here that's a bit different from what I'm used to." She said.

Argent smiled and gently patted her knee. "You can come talk to me whenever you want, hun. I have a pretty open schedule."

"You sure? Don't you have work to do?" Mantis asked, not wanting to bother the kind lady.

Argent waved it of dismissively. "That can wait." She said. "And frankly, I think it's time I stopped spending my days taking care of plants and start taking care of someone else instead."

"Actually that's also the reason I came by. You doing ok? I mean, you humans don't do so well in cold sometimes, right?" Mantis asked.

Argent felt a surge of warmth at the sincere concern from the sweet 'girl'. "I'm fine, hun. It's you I'm worried about. Riding off into battles against tin cans." She huffed. "Big bullies, the lot of them."

'Big  is an understatement.' Mantis thought, remembering just how puny she and Bee were compared to them.

As she gazed into the glowing red coals between the grates, she was briefly reminded of the red optics of the Decepticons. Starscream's glinting with treachery; Lugnut's with that berserker battle crazed sheen; Blitzwing's- one with a calculating coldness, the other with exploding uncontrollable rage and the other of pure insanity; Blackairachnia's filled with grief, loss and hatred.

It struck her just how real those Decepticons were everytime she thought about it.

"Penny for your thoughts, hun?" Argent asked gently.

Mantis blinked, realizing she zoned out once again. And she was once again asked the same question with the same phrase. Was it a trend among older wiser people or something?