Chromia and Smokescreen: War-torn Siblings
Born in the Mithril Sea, Chromia carved out a living for herself as a courier and information broker. The streets of the city were tough, and thus she took many lessons from ex-military mechs like Kup. Growing up mostly under his care meant that Chromia was one of the few natives of the Mithril Sea to not sport an accent, though she was able to easily discern the conversations and words being shared through the unique dialect of the native Mithrilians.
Although primarily an infiltrator for information, Chromia additionally spent much time as a bouncer or pseudo-bodyguard to some of the wealthier classes of the Sea. This gave the young fembot the outlet she needed, and made the name Chromia synonymous with pain for the unsavory elements of her home.
It was around the time Kup passed that Smokescreen was born. Knowing she needed to provide for him and that she couldn't always be there for him, Chromia found some trustworthy Mithrilians to care for him as she made various trips and missions to bring in the shanix to give him a better life. This meant the siblings only really had the weekends together, but it was all that mattered to them.
When he was old enough, Chromia began teaching Smokescreen the martial arts and shooting skills that Kup had passed on to her. As if his sunny disposition didn't differ from her gritty attitude enough, Chromia's up-front offensive tactics were harder for Smokescreen to implement into his own personal style. Regardless, they kept this training up, and Smokescreen still learned enough from her to hold his own in a fight.
Rumors of Chromia's abilities eventually caught the eye of Special Operations Captain Prowl. Offering her a six month initiation period before a promotion to ensign, Prowl assured her that an income would be guaranteed. Realizing she could get a heftier sum of money that could go to their needs and offer Smokescreen any path out of the Mithril Sea that he desired, Chromia accepted it after telling Smokescreen of the development.
Despite taking the change in stride, both siblings were practically broken by the separation. Smokescreen was the equivalent of twelve while Chromia was nineteen, and this would be a separation far more serious than her old weekly runs through the Sea. Using jokes and cynicism respectively to hide their pain, Smokescreen made his sister promise to send mail as often as possible while Chromia made sure he wouldn't take any other 'Bot's guff.
This arrangement lasted solidly until the War broke out. By then Chromia found her servos full with recon and fighting, while Smokescreen could only pray for her and battle the Mithril Sea for both survival and a chance to last long enough to join his sister. Despite all this, they managed to keep contact, albeit less frequently - and Smokescreen heard all the tales of Optimus' campaign and goals from his sister, who had the word of Prime's trusted Prowl to validate the claims.
The minute the War began, Smokescreen swore to himself that he'd enlist in the Elite Guard, find Chromia, and help Optimus Prime defeat Megatron and bring peace back to Cybertron. Additionally, while his Mithrilian guardians were kind enough and cared for him, Smokescreen began finding a true father figure in the new Prime. Part of it was his natural charisma, and another was his message of hope in an increasingly destroyed world. But, for the most part, what drew Smokescreen to Optimus was how he kept fighting for what was right, no matter how horrible the War got.
Although the Mithril Sea was relatively unscathed from the War, the effects that resulted in dwindling energon was beginning to be felt. For this Smokescreen resolved to eat sparing amounts of it, settling for some of the flat-out ore alternatives as a substitute. Although he loved these meals, he had to restrain himself from gushing about it to Chromia too much lest she catch on and send him energon that would be better served on the front lines (despite his attempts, he always found some specially delivered crates of energon at his residence. Very little gets by older sisters...)
When his guardians passed from lack of nourishment/an attack on the home while he was making a run to get more energon for them, Smokescreen knew he could no longer stay in the Sea. Packing all that he needed, Smokescreen left for a nearby city to enlist in the Elite Guard. It took some convincing, but his determination won over the head of the recruitment center and Smokescreen was in.
He managed to send a quick message to Chromia, who similarly got back swiftly and warned him of two things for military life: don't let yourself get pushed around, and don't give them a reason to single you out for punishment. Smokescreen soon found out that this applied to the other cadets as well, and after quickly suppressing his accent to the point it was nonexistent, Smokescreen followed his sister's advice and flew through the courses.
Rocket Plume, a veteran combatant who'd been injured to the point of being retired to drill instructor, saw great potential in Smokescreen. His studies in combat were excellent, while his historical work was light years ahead of his contemporaries. For this, Rocket Plume taught him all that she knew of stealth and quick fighting, which in and of itself earned Smokescreen recognition upon graduation.
Although a "history nerd", Smokescreen was depressed and anxious over his role as bodyguard to Alpha Trion. He desperately wished to join Chromia on the front, to bash Decepticon heads in with her, and for them both to join Optimus Prime to help aid him in the fight. They were great warriors, and he knew they could be of help. It stung that they were so far apart and so far from the Prime.
These insecurities did not go unnoticed by the head Archivist. Soon, Smokescreen had struck up a friendship with the ancient 'Bot, who helped assuage his fears and fed his curious mind with all manner of historical facts and secrets. His favorites involved Optimus Prime's youth as Orion Pax, the doomed friendship between him and Megatron, and how his path as a Prime came to be revealed. Although Alpha Trion never said anything about the nature of these truths, Smokescreen had a nagging suspicion that he shouldn't reveal this last to Chromia, and thus settled to regale her with exaggerated boredom from the Hall of Records and all the interesting relics of the Primes he learned - with certain parts of the tales glossed over. Just in case.
@kzele Thank you again for the suggestion of Chromia being his sister! I love it! And thank you for this inspiration; without it, I'd never have really cracked the case for Smokescreen's sibling(s).
