Mentor Solarflare
Featuring Flamestrike, requested by Tyrrlin

From the start, Flare liked this tall, lanky femme; she had a clean, honest grey face, as well as an affable manner. So, naturally, she was more than willing to mentor the newcomer, more so than the other femmes that had recently arrived on Earth. Unlike the others, Flamestrike had chosen an unconventional altmode, a chimaera called a gryphon. That fact alone, if she had not been made aware of Flamestrike’s personality beforehand, would have sent the avian femme streaking to her side. The Autobots were in dire need of more animal-based warriors.

“Rather … green,” Flamestrike remarked quietly, perched on a rock overlooking the valley outside Autobot City. She chewed the word, as if Cybertronian had no comparable term to describe what she was seeing.

“Green, blue, brown, gold … and much more,” Solarflare conceded, fanning her wings. “You’ll get used to it – and probably want to stay after this is over.”

Flamestrike’s golden beak drew down in uncertainty. “How can you be sure? I mean, I know you’ve been down here a long time, but …”

Flare shrugged. “Never hurts to have hope.”

Tan metallic hindquarters shifted, and a flame-colored bladed tail tip tapped against the stone. “No, I suppose not.” Flamestrike gazed out over the valley.

“It’ll get easier,” Solarflare urged, trying to buoy the other femme’s spirits.

“That’s what Elita told us, back on Cybertron. We scraped and scrimped all over the planet, won battles, lost battles. Things look pretty bleak back there, but I’m sure you know that already.”

Flare tilted her head. Apparently she hadn’t been indoctrinated. Flamestrike looked at her. “Where did you come from, anyway? Not with our band. One of the other rebels?”

“I never came from Cybertron,” she offered up, wondering why she felt so free with her personal information with this femme. Succinctly, she told Flamestrike her tale, watching the other femme’s green optics go wide in her avian-feline face.

“Wow,” Flamestrike breathed, flexing her red pinions. “I guess Optimus Prime chose right, when he asked you to mentor me. You’re a native.”

Flare beak-grinned. “Of a sorts. Now, are you ready to flex those wings of yours? I’m going to take you on a quick loop. We have to be careful, though, Megatron’s Seekers have been spotted in the area lately.”

Flamestrike rose and stretched, arching her back, catlike. “Ready when you are!”

With a cry, Flare launched her grey-white-black body into the air, followed closely behind by a bounding Flamestrike.