Work Text:
In Chromia's opinion, Cybertron's polar regions had very few redeeming features.
Oh, they were pretty enough. The seemingly endless ice reflected back the rare glimpse of sunlight into fractured rainbows, and moonlight on snowfields produced an ethereal glow that made the whole world seem soft and harmless. Unfortunately, the illusion vanished the moment she set foot outside. Beautiful landscapes were no consolation for losing traction five times in a thirty-yard drive. And even the landscapes disappeared as soon as one of the inevitable snowstorms rolled in - which, judging from the clouds piling up on the horizon, would be happening within the next two hours. She'd thought the polar regions couldn't get worse, until she'd experienced her first storm.
"Are you brooding again?" Elita One elbowed the door open, bringing a burst of cold air into the monitor room. Chromia yelped.
"Don't let the wind in! I just got this place up to an almost normal temperature." At least, she thought wryly, she wasn't alone in the polar regions. That would have been worse.
"No such thing around here." Elita strode across the room and set a small energon cube in front of Chromia. It steamed invitingly and smelled slightly like copper. "See if this helps. It's just standard mid-grade, but I heated it up with the last of the copper shavings."
Chromia tasted the cube, closed her optics, and sighed in bliss. "Anyone ever tell you you're the best?"
"It's been mentioned, but feel free to say it again." Elita winked and settled down on the other side of the bench with her own steaming cube. "Look on the bright side. We'll be rotated off this assignment in two weeks."
"Can't come soon enough." Chromia leaned back in the chair until it creaked alarmingly, staring up at the wall of monitors. "I still don't understand why the Senator needs a full bodyguard unit just to dig for Pred bits in the ice. Dunno about you, but the scariest thing I've seen is a dexi-squirrel eating another dexi-squirrel. Pretty sure his personal aides could handle sitting here watching the cameras."
Elita chuckled and sipped delicately at her energon. "Rule number three, don't question the senators. If he wants guards to protect him from the cannibal dexi-squirrels at the safest dig site on the planet, he'll get them. At least this assignment doesn't involve much mud."
"I'd take the mud," Chromia muttered, scanning over the monitor controls to make sure everything was still in place. It was. "Storm's rolling in, see that? Gonna be a cold night."
Elita leaned forward to check the readouts for herself. "You're right. It should get here just about when we get off shift. Good luck for us, bad luck for Metalhawk and Hyperdrive."
"Guess that's something, but it's not like the barracks are any warmer." Chromia returned her attention to her drink, which warmed her straight down to the struts when she took another sip. "Primus, this is good. Anything in there besides copper?"
"Just the copper, but it was mostly dust, so it might've blended in more than usual. Nothing special," Elita said. "As for the barracks, they're not that bad. There's plenty of ways to stay warm in there."
"Oh yeah?" Chromia quirked a suggestive brow ridge in Elita's direction. Elita looked at her blankly for a second, then snorted with laughter.
"I meant blankets and bunk-sharing. Though I'm not opposed to your suggestion, either, since we'll have the barracks to ourselves."
Carefully balancing her drink in one hand, Chromia slid down the bench until she could drape an arm around Elita's shoulders. "Thanks for the mid-grade. It's helping."
"Couldn't tell from how cold your hand is," Elita said dryly, but thoroughly undercut her own sarcasm by wrapping her own arm around Chromia's back. "You better stay over here for a few minutes."
Chromia laughed and rested her helm on Elita's shoulder. "Not worried we're gonna get in trouble for -" She set her drink down long enough to make a 'quoting' gesture. "- 'inappropriate public displays of affection'?"
"We haven't crossed the line of 'inappropriate' yet." Elita smirked up at the monitor screens. "Anyway, I don't think the squirrels are going to complain. Anybody else comes in, we tell them we're huddling for warmth, because it's too damn cold in here."
Grinning, Chromia settled down against Elita's shoulder and went back to sipping her still-hot mid-grade. "Just two more weeks of this, huh?"
"Two weeks of hot drinks and plausible deniability for on-duty cuddling," Elita said. "The cruelest posting on the planet."
"Well, you know, when you put it that way..."
