p dir="ltr""Scrap, there he goes again. Come back here, bitlet."/p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet laughed at the exasperated expression on Sunstreaker's face as he walked back with the escaped sparkling in arms. "He's getting faster," the medic said, adjusting the sleeping sparkling in his own arms./p
p dir="ltr""No kidding. If I'd been any slower, he'd have been out the door." The buglet was dropped back into the play enclosure with his other two siblings and was immediately tackled by the oldest. The adults watched them roll around, squealing and chittering at each other, shrieks and full belly-laughs sounding whenever a ticklish spot was found and exploited./p
p dir="ltr"A soft laugh came from behind the sofa they were sitting on. Helms turned to look over their shoulders to find a smiling Rung./p
p dir="ltr""They are rambunctious, aren't they? My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you. Would it be okay if I sat and watched the sparklings for a while?"/p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker looked stunned. "Um, sure? It's fine. If you want."/p
p dir="ltr""Wonderful! It has been some time since I was last able to observe sparklings playing." He settled lightly into a nearby chair./p
p dir="ltr"The bitlets halted in their play, attention fully derailed by the new presence. They scrambled to the side of the enclosure that Rung sat closest to, chirping and making curious nonsense words at the orange mech./p
p dir="ltr""Oh my." The psychiatrist's joy was evident in every line of his frame. "How old are they now?"/p
p dir="ltr""Four months," Ratchet answered. "Four months, and they've tripled in size, regularly run us ragged, and try to eat everything they can get into their mouths. Dash there's been trying to get out into the halls for the past two weeks." He nodded at the bitlet with purple optics who was doing a remarkable job of climbing the fence -again- to get to this mech he'd never seen before./p
p dir="ltr"Rung produced a box of energon sticks. "Is it alright for them to have one?"/p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet laughed. "I'll warn you now, you feed them, you'll be their favourite person."/p
p dir="ltr""At least until someone else has snacks," Sunstreaker amended./p
p dir="ltr"Dash toppled over the fence with a clatter. He bounced right back up and made a beeline for the mech holding the snacks with a deceptively fast, lumbering gait. Of the four, the violet-eyed youngest took the most after his sire in conformation, and seemed to be most comfortable moving on all four limbs./p
p dir="ltr"He did straighten up onto digitigrade legs as he completed his approach, though. "'Nackkk?" He patted a knee and looked up with huge turbo-pup optics blinking asynchronously, antennae perked and head tilted just so. It was a look perfectly designed for getting his way. "'Nackkk, pease?"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." Rung's smile grew as he handed over one of the little sticks. "You are a very polite sparkling, aren't you?"/p
p dir="ltr"Dash grinned, sat, and immediately crammed the whole thing into his mouth./p
p dir="ltr""Oh yes. emSo/em polite," Ratchet said. "We're still working on the, ah, table manners, though." The sparkling in his arms shifted with a squeak and grating chirr, rubbing his face side to side on Ratchet's windscreen./p
p dir="ltr""Ama? Ama, want..." Golden optics flickered open and the sparkling went silent when he noticed the new mech./p
p dir="ltr"The other two were attempting to duplicate Dash's climb, eagerly assaulting the fence. Sunstreaker stood and picked the both of them up, depositing them on the floor in front of Rung. Each was handed an energon stick, which they examined briefly, then followed the youngest's example./p
p dir="ltr"The golden-eyed sparkling watched silently as his brothers devoured their snacks and then mobbed a giggling Rung for more. "Ama?" he asked, patting Sunstreaker on the arm with a tiny hand. "Can I have?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yes, sweetspark. You want to go get it?"/p
p dir="ltr"Optics went wide and pale and the sparkling buried his face in Ratchet's plating. A muffled "Nooo" drifted out from under a white arm./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker rubbed the little black back comfortingly. "Alright, bitlet. Do you want to come with me? We can get it together."/p
p dir="ltr"Optics peeped over Ratchet's elbow. The sparkling seemed to size his carrier up, seeing how serious the mech was. Arms reached up, and wrapped around Sunstreaker's neck when he leant down to lift the buglet that looked nothing like a bug./p
p dir="ltr"Rung had managed to settle the other three with another snack and a story. Dash was curled up in his lap, nibbling the treat while he listened, antennae flicking rhythmically, and the other two were perched on either side of the back of Rung's chair./p
p dir="ltr""Sorry to interrupt. Gage would like a treat, too, but he didn't want to come get it by himself."/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." The orange mech shook out a couple of energon sticks and held them out on the flat of his palm./p
p dir="ltr"Gage watched from the safety of his carrier's embrace. After a moment, and some subtle nudging from Sunstreaker, he hesitantly reached out and delicately picked up one stick at a time. "Th-thank?" he said, voice quiet./p
p dir="ltr""You are very welcome, little Gage. I'm happy to meet you." Rung smiled./p
p dir="ltr"The sparkling blinked a few times, chirring quietly to himself and carefully studying this new mech. The energon sticks were temporarily forgotten in his curiosity. "Who...?" he eventually asked./p
p dir="ltr""My designation is Rung." The mech positively beamed./p
p dir="ltr""Un!" Dash piped up, antennae perked and optics bright. His siblings picked up the shortened name and turned it into a chant./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker facepalmed with a groan./p
p dir="ltr"Rung managed to get the buglets hushed, then corrected them. "Rung," he said, enunciating clearly, then waited for each to repeat it in turn./p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"It took them a while to peel the sparklings off of Rung, but eventually the playpen was packed back into subspace and the psychiatrist had departed for his office. Three sleepy sparklings were left in his wake. Dash still bounced around the room, wiggling antennae at everything and trying to crawl under the furniture when Ratchet got a comm ping./p
p dir="ltr"::Ratchet, this is First Aid. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything. Do you - and I know this is going to sound odd - but do you know where the blankets are? I can't find a single one.::/p
p dir="ltr"::I hope this isn't anyone's idea of a prank. If they're not in the secondary storage closet, then no, I don't. And I'm not in the mood to go chasing them down, either. Call in the usual suspects and ask them. Ratchet out.::/p
p dir="ltr""What now?" Sunstreaker gathered up the blankets they'd brought with them, then lifted Gage and gave the bitlet a soft nuzzle on the cheek./p
p dir="ltr""Some fragger's decided to make off with all the medibay blankets apparently. Bunch of frelling embrilliant/em mechs on this ship." He shifted the now-sleeping Shadow more securely against his chest and accepted both Gage and a kiss from Sunstreaker./p
p dir="ltr"The golden mech picked up Gadget and then snagged Dash by the collar faring before he could get too far away. The hyperactive buglet wriggled and waved his antennae at his carrier while chirping indignantly. Gadget blinked sleepily at his struggling sibling, then laid his head on Sunstreaker's shoulder and burrowed into his neck with a sigh of tiny vents./p
p dir="ltr""Ready to run the gauntlet, Ratch?"/p
p dir="ltr"A snort. "No, but we need to get back to quarters and get these bitlets to recharge. I'm just hoping whoever's on Whirl duty today is actually paying attention. I'm really getting to the point where I can't run, and transforming isn't an option anymore. And I really, emreally/em don't feel like dealing with him anytime soon."/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"Bob shoved the remains of a thermal blanket into the corner of his newly-made nest and surveyed his handiwork. It would do, at least temporarily. He really needed to get some scrap metal and retrieve the cubes of energon he'd stashed away to hide amongst the soft folds of blankets so he wouldn't have to hunt when he clutched./p
p dir="ltr"He'd been feeling the breeding cycle creeping up on him, probably triggered by his golden mate's birthing of their clutch. His second mate, the white healer, was still carrying the clutch his first mate had sired on him. Bob was pleased with his small Swarm and the way it was growing. With his own breeding cycle, their numbers would likely double./p
p dir="ltr"Heat flashed through his systems abruptly, then focussed itself on his gestation chamber and he whined. His mates should be on their way back to quarters by now. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise for them when Bob begged to be bred when they returned? Neither had ever asserted themselves to take his valve, but with one exception, he hadn't ever offered it, either./p
p dir="ltr"Well, that was about to change./p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"Bob didn't meet them at the door./p
p dir="ltr"This was the first odd thing Ratchet noticed. The second was that all of the cushions from the sofa in their quarters were missing./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker commented on the third. "What is that smell?" He sniffed the air again, deliberately this time, trying to both decipher the scent and find its source./p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet drew in a deep vent and immediately blew it back out. "Call Rung or Drift, see if they can watch the bits." He could already feel himself reacting to the aerosol compounds after just that one sniff. "And for god's sake, shut down your olfactory sensors before it hits you too hard."/p
p dir="ltr"Optics flickered and brightened in sudden understanding. "That's Bob I'm smelling, isn't it?" His high-performance engine revved hard, and that particular pitch told Ratchet everything he needed to know./p
p dir="ltr""Yeah, kid, it is. Now, are you going to call, or do I have to?" His mate wandered back toward the berthroom door still in hunt mode and he chuffed a sigh. "Forget it. At least give me Gadget before you open that door."/p
p dir="ltr"With two sparklings sleeping in his arms now, it was a little more difficult to get the door open again and herd the other two back into the corridor. Gage walked along easily enough with a hand on Ratchet's leg, while Dash took the opportunity to live up to his name since the medic couldn't grab him./p
p dir="ltr"The sparkling took off down the hall, completely ignoring Ratchet's hissed orders to stop, sprinting along on all fours to the nearest intersection. Antennae perked and wiggled in each direction as he deliberated, then flattened to his helm as he rocketed off around the left-hand corner./p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet's cursing followed in the sparkling's wake. Dash chittered joyously as he ran until a mech stepped into his path and he couldn't stop in time. Pincers closed around one of his feet and he was hauled up to dangle in front of a single yellow optic squinted in not-so-innocent curiosity./p
p dir="ltr""Well, looky here. I've caught a tiny bug~"/p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet laughed at the exasperated expression on Sunstreaker's face as he walked back with the escaped sparkling in arms. "He's getting faster," the medic said, adjusting the sleeping sparkling in his own arms./p
p dir="ltr""No kidding. If I'd been any slower, he'd have been out the door." The buglet was dropped back into the play enclosure with his other two siblings and was immediately tackled by the oldest. The adults watched them roll around, squealing and chittering at each other, shrieks and full belly-laughs sounding whenever a ticklish spot was found and exploited./p
p dir="ltr"A soft laugh came from behind the sofa they were sitting on. Helms turned to look over their shoulders to find a smiling Rung./p
p dir="ltr""They are rambunctious, aren't they? My apologies. I didn't mean to startle you. Would it be okay if I sat and watched the sparklings for a while?"/p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker looked stunned. "Um, sure? It's fine. If you want."/p
p dir="ltr""Wonderful! It has been some time since I was last able to observe sparklings playing." He settled lightly into a nearby chair./p
p dir="ltr"The bitlets halted in their play, attention fully derailed by the new presence. They scrambled to the side of the enclosure that Rung sat closest to, chirping and making curious nonsense words at the orange mech./p
p dir="ltr""Oh my." The psychiatrist's joy was evident in every line of his frame. "How old are they now?"/p
p dir="ltr""Four months," Ratchet answered. "Four months, and they've tripled in size, regularly run us ragged, and try to eat everything they can get into their mouths. Dash there's been trying to get out into the halls for the past two weeks." He nodded at the bitlet with purple optics who was doing a remarkable job of climbing the fence -again- to get to this mech he'd never seen before./p
p dir="ltr"Rung produced a box of energon sticks. "Is it alright for them to have one?"/p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet laughed. "I'll warn you now, you feed them, you'll be their favourite person."/p
p dir="ltr""At least until someone else has snacks," Sunstreaker amended./p
p dir="ltr"Dash toppled over the fence with a clatter. He bounced right back up and made a beeline for the mech holding the snacks with a deceptively fast, lumbering gait. Of the four, the violet-eyed youngest took the most after his sire in conformation, and seemed to be most comfortable moving on all four limbs./p
p dir="ltr"He did straighten up onto digitigrade legs as he completed his approach, though. "'Nackkk?" He patted a knee and looked up with huge turbo-pup optics blinking asynchronously, antennae perked and head tilted just so. It was a look perfectly designed for getting his way. "'Nackkk, pease?"/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." Rung's smile grew as he handed over one of the little sticks. "You are a very polite sparkling, aren't you?"/p
p dir="ltr"Dash grinned, sat, and immediately crammed the whole thing into his mouth./p
p dir="ltr""Oh yes. emSo/em polite," Ratchet said. "We're still working on the, ah, table manners, though." The sparkling in his arms shifted with a squeak and grating chirr, rubbing his face side to side on Ratchet's windscreen./p
p dir="ltr""Ama? Ama, want..." Golden optics flickered open and the sparkling went silent when he noticed the new mech./p
p dir="ltr"The other two were attempting to duplicate Dash's climb, eagerly assaulting the fence. Sunstreaker stood and picked the both of them up, depositing them on the floor in front of Rung. Each was handed an energon stick, which they examined briefly, then followed the youngest's example./p
p dir="ltr"The golden-eyed sparkling watched silently as his brothers devoured their snacks and then mobbed a giggling Rung for more. "Ama?" he asked, patting Sunstreaker on the arm with a tiny hand. "Can I have?"/p
p dir="ltr""Yes, sweetspark. You want to go get it?"/p
p dir="ltr"Optics went wide and pale and the sparkling buried his face in Ratchet's plating. A muffled "Nooo" drifted out from under a white arm./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker rubbed the little black back comfortingly. "Alright, bitlet. Do you want to come with me? We can get it together."/p
p dir="ltr"Optics peeped over Ratchet's elbow. The sparkling seemed to size his carrier up, seeing how serious the mech was. Arms reached up, and wrapped around Sunstreaker's neck when he leant down to lift the buglet that looked nothing like a bug./p
p dir="ltr"Rung had managed to settle the other three with another snack and a story. Dash was curled up in his lap, nibbling the treat while he listened, antennae flicking rhythmically, and the other two were perched on either side of the back of Rung's chair./p
p dir="ltr""Sorry to interrupt. Gage would like a treat, too, but he didn't want to come get it by himself."/p
p dir="ltr""Of course." The orange mech shook out a couple of energon sticks and held them out on the flat of his palm./p
p dir="ltr"Gage watched from the safety of his carrier's embrace. After a moment, and some subtle nudging from Sunstreaker, he hesitantly reached out and delicately picked up one stick at a time. "Th-thank?" he said, voice quiet./p
p dir="ltr""You are very welcome, little Gage. I'm happy to meet you." Rung smiled./p
p dir="ltr"The sparkling blinked a few times, chirring quietly to himself and carefully studying this new mech. The energon sticks were temporarily forgotten in his curiosity. "Who...?" he eventually asked./p
p dir="ltr""My designation is Rung." The mech positively beamed./p
p dir="ltr""Un!" Dash piped up, antennae perked and optics bright. His siblings picked up the shortened name and turned it into a chant./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker facepalmed with a groan./p
p dir="ltr"Rung managed to get the buglets hushed, then corrected them. "Rung," he said, enunciating clearly, then waited for each to repeat it in turn./p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"It took them a while to peel the sparklings off of Rung, but eventually the playpen was packed back into subspace and the psychiatrist had departed for his office. Three sleepy sparklings were left in his wake. Dash still bounced around the room, wiggling antennae at everything and trying to crawl under the furniture when Ratchet got a comm ping./p
p dir="ltr"::Ratchet, this is First Aid. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything. Do you - and I know this is going to sound odd - but do you know where the blankets are? I can't find a single one.::/p
p dir="ltr"::I hope this isn't anyone's idea of a prank. If they're not in the secondary storage closet, then no, I don't. And I'm not in the mood to go chasing them down, either. Call in the usual suspects and ask them. Ratchet out.::/p
p dir="ltr""What now?" Sunstreaker gathered up the blankets they'd brought with them, then lifted Gage and gave the bitlet a soft nuzzle on the cheek./p
p dir="ltr""Some fragger's decided to make off with all the medibay blankets apparently. Bunch of frelling embrilliant/em mechs on this ship." He shifted the now-sleeping Shadow more securely against his chest and accepted both Gage and a kiss from Sunstreaker./p
p dir="ltr"The golden mech picked up Gadget and then snagged Dash by the collar faring before he could get too far away. The hyperactive buglet wriggled and waved his antennae at his carrier while chirping indignantly. Gadget blinked sleepily at his struggling sibling, then laid his head on Sunstreaker's shoulder and burrowed into his neck with a sigh of tiny vents./p
p dir="ltr""Ready to run the gauntlet, Ratch?"/p
p dir="ltr"A snort. "No, but we need to get back to quarters and get these bitlets to recharge. I'm just hoping whoever's on Whirl duty today is actually paying attention. I'm really getting to the point where I can't run, and transforming isn't an option anymore. And I really, emreally/em don't feel like dealing with him anytime soon."/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"Bob shoved the remains of a thermal blanket into the corner of his newly-made nest and surveyed his handiwork. It would do, at least temporarily. He really needed to get some scrap metal and retrieve the cubes of energon he'd stashed away to hide amongst the soft folds of blankets so he wouldn't have to hunt when he clutched./p
p dir="ltr"He'd been feeling the breeding cycle creeping up on him, probably triggered by his golden mate's birthing of their clutch. His second mate, the white healer, was still carrying the clutch his first mate had sired on him. Bob was pleased with his small Swarm and the way it was growing. With his own breeding cycle, their numbers would likely double./p
p dir="ltr"Heat flashed through his systems abruptly, then focussed itself on his gestation chamber and he whined. His mates should be on their way back to quarters by now. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise for them when Bob begged to be bred when they returned? Neither had ever asserted themselves to take his valve, but with one exception, he hadn't ever offered it, either./p
p dir="ltr"Well, that was about to change./p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"\oOOo/p
p dir="ltr" /p
p dir="ltr"Bob didn't meet them at the door./p
p dir="ltr"This was the first odd thing Ratchet noticed. The second was that all of the cushions from the sofa in their quarters were missing./p
p dir="ltr"Sunstreaker commented on the third. "What is that smell?" He sniffed the air again, deliberately this time, trying to both decipher the scent and find its source./p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet drew in a deep vent and immediately blew it back out. "Call Rung or Drift, see if they can watch the bits." He could already feel himself reacting to the aerosol compounds after just that one sniff. "And for god's sake, shut down your olfactory sensors before it hits you too hard."/p
p dir="ltr"Optics flickered and brightened in sudden understanding. "That's Bob I'm smelling, isn't it?" His high-performance engine revved hard, and that particular pitch told Ratchet everything he needed to know./p
p dir="ltr""Yeah, kid, it is. Now, are you going to call, or do I have to?" His mate wandered back toward the berthroom door still in hunt mode and he chuffed a sigh. "Forget it. At least give me Gadget before you open that door."/p
p dir="ltr"With two sparklings sleeping in his arms now, it was a little more difficult to get the door open again and herd the other two back into the corridor. Gage walked along easily enough with a hand on Ratchet's leg, while Dash took the opportunity to live up to his name since the medic couldn't grab him./p
p dir="ltr"The sparkling took off down the hall, completely ignoring Ratchet's hissed orders to stop, sprinting along on all fours to the nearest intersection. Antennae perked and wiggled in each direction as he deliberated, then flattened to his helm as he rocketed off around the left-hand corner./p
p dir="ltr"Ratchet's cursing followed in the sparkling's wake. Dash chittered joyously as he ran until a mech stepped into his path and he couldn't stop in time. Pincers closed around one of his feet and he was hauled up to dangle in front of a single yellow optic squinted in not-so-innocent curiosity./p
p dir="ltr""Well, looky here. I've caught a tiny bug~"/p