DeceptiKids

DeceptiKid's Christmas Special

"You want me to what?" Tala asked loudly, attracting the attention of their fleeing classmates. Daisy cringed instinctively.

The last day before the end of term always made Tala a little on edge, especially the Christmas break. Tala hated spending time with her family. Granted, she hadn't seen them as much since they'd joined the Decepticons (Daisy was still a little suspicious about that name), Tala giving her mother the vague excuse of 'studying at a friends' or 'sleepover' and her mother and stepdad never questioned it, but a school break was going to almost guarantee she'd be stuck going home every night again.

Or maybe not. So Daisy had thought.

"It's just - I know you hate spending Christmas at your place and I dunno, I thought it might be nice for you to... I don't know, relax a little?" Daisy explained, "It's a break, you know. I just hate it when you come back and you're all stressed out." She smiled, "I already asked my auntie, she said you can bring Stitch."

Tala seemed to be considering it, her face pulled together tightly, "... Fine. It's better than Christmas at home I guess. Plus Stitch loves to see Macy and Kero."

Daisy beamed and hugged her tightly, "Thanks! My families a little, well, weird. But they're okay. They try." Daisy cupped Tala's face with her hand, "I promise, it'll be fine."

"...Thanks for thinking about me, Daisy-chain." Tala said, cheeks flushing.

Daisy felt the warmth on her hands and smiled, "That's what best friends do."

- - -

"I've always had an appreciation for your species dumb traditions." Knockout admitted, "The winter ones are especially interesting, so many different celebrations but also quite similar - almost makes me want to purge from confusion."

Tala sat on the edge of a medical berth, her enersuit half transformed so her face and hair was still visible, "Gee thanks." She muttered sarcastically, swinging her legs back and forth, "Yeah, the only ones you need to remember for us is Christmas for Daisy and Hanukkah for Alex. I'm not sure what Max celebrates. You'll have to ask Alex, my sign language isn't that good yet."

Knockout raised an eyebrow, "You don't partake in holiday traditions?"

"Yeah." Tala shrugged, "Not really a religious person, my Lolo said my dad was super religious but uh, he left."

"Left? What does that mean?"

"It's-... my mom, she's kinda... they got divorced and then found out they were having me. She told him if he left and tried to contact me she'd make sure he would never get to see me again. I dunno if he ever tried to but..." She sighed, "Doesn't matter, I don't remember him. Lolo tells me about him when he calls - uh, don't tell my mom he calls. She doesn't know."

"I wouldn't do that, Tala." Knockout said solemnly, "I was just confused because, well, Cybertronians can't produce young unless they're spark-compatible, bonded and in a safe environment - there are also theories they need to want them but that has never been proven. Then again, human reproduction is weird and gross - I shouldn't be surprised at this point."

Tala blinked, "Oh yeah, you guys are all like one sex right? So where'd the whole gender thing come from?"

Knockout flinched at the word 'sex', Tala didn't seem to notice, "In crude terms, I suppose so. The whole 'gender thing' came from exploration of other worlds, some thought different pronouns suited them better. It's mostly based on taste. The closest thing we have to your 'gender binary' is our alternate modes, but even then not all of us quite fit the mould made for us."

Tala seemed extremely interested, having leaned forward as he spoke but seemed confused, "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Hmm, I tell you when you're older," Knockout said, a smile tugging at his lipplates when Tala shouted 'Hey!' in response. Suddenly Knockout went stiff and held up a servo - a hint to Tala to be quiet, which she responded to by crossing her arms - and pressed the other to one of his his elf-like auditals. He nodded and gave a quick verbal confirmation to whoever was comm'ing him before turning back to Tala, "Emergency comm. A miner got slashed by mining equipment and Breakdown is busy with another one, c'mon."