Vos! And a little negotiation... None of this belongs to me, enjoy reading.
At first, Vos didn't look like much. Roadstead was leading Amber though one of tunnels piercing the city's exo-structure, and it let out into what was basically an alley-way. They had landed near the middle of the outer bowl-like structure, and so there was not the immediate vista that would be had higher up. Roadstead had avoided that because that was also where the manufacturing and defense was, and traditional view or not, that wasn't the best introduction to the city.
Vos was made to be seen from the bottom, the buildings and spires and streets catching the optic and drawing it ever up, up and up, all the way to the sky. It was always to the sky...
The clouds which surrounded the city were from its own venting as much as the temperature differential it brought, and there were very few above the city, allowing the stars and the sun to shine freely, depending on the time of orn. It was currently mid-afternoon, and as they drew further from the city-side, the full city could be seen.
Amber stopped a few steps away from the street they were going towards. She twisted around, looking up, and Roadstead had to steady her as she threatened to overbalance. The femme didn't seem to notice, twisting to look at the far side of the city.
"I... expected it to go the other, um... the other way around? I mean... up? Not... um..." Amber motioned downward, where the fancier buildings took up the bottom and center of the city.
Roadstead grinned. "Most do. Here, let's get to one of the observation platforms... We made the city to be beautiful and seen, as well as function. You'll understand more when you see it right, and I can explain better then, too."
That didn't stop Amber from turning and trying to see everything as Roadstead led her by the hand, further away from the wall. The alley had become a full street at the first intersection, but this was still a residential area, with not too many people around. They did pass a small flock of younglings, but the winglets were more interested in playing their game, some knock-off of Quiddich an OC had devised at some point.
He pulled her faster once they neared the main road, which circled the edge of this level. There was a little bazaar on most of the edge-roads, and this one was no different, shops selling energon, candies, trinkets, and doo-dads. Roadstead didn't want Amber distracted until after he had pulled her to the bench which sat very near the edge. If he couldn't fly, he'd be nervous...
"This... Is Vos." Sweeping his arm out, he let her look.
The buildings in the center were polished metal, with glass shimmering in the high spires. They were more or less surrounded by water, which fell from the top of the city down the sides in two or three winding paths, the sound enough to be heard through most of Vos, a low and steady undercurrent of sound. Brightly colored Seekers flew from place to place, landing on the balconies which were hard to see at this distance.
And they flew around crystals. Many people had heard of the 'floating gardens' of Vos... but only those who had been there understood. The entire city was the garden, with anti-grav thrusters carefully seeded and tended to produce crystals which were as at home in the air as any Seeker. It was fun to fly around them, and they were carefully spread out in all dimensions to minimize any impediment to traffic. There were chimes with them too, when the crystals themselves didn't chime. The city was really quite noisy, here on the edges and center.
The city was also quite untraversable by grounders. Vos was made for Seekers, and they saw no reason to accommodate those who were trapped on the ground. The only way to get from level to level was by wing, just as flying was the only way to reach the city, or enter the primary business and government buildings.
"...Wow..." Amber murmured, not even noticing as Roadstead pulled her to sit. "This is... wow..." Optics still flickering with her attempt to process everything, the femme turned to look at Roadstead. She only focused on the brown Seeker for a moment, and then her optics were caught by the bazzar behind him.
Or... not, he realized, turning to see as well. There was a little space between two vendors, and wind-chimes did very little to cover the sounds as one Seeker overloaded at another's hands. Roadstead chuckled. "And that's why you have those symbols on your wings."
She looked away, seeming to force herself too. "They shouldn't... I mean..."
"They're not in immediate view. As far as I can see, they're just touching... like I touched you. Maybe elsewhere, in some of the other gardens, the ones that don't float, some couples- or triads, or whatevers, will merge. Or use finger, or hands... well, you know those bits."
"What if those sparklings see?" Amber asked.
Roadstead had expected that, and twitched a wing in a shrug. "And what if they do? They wouldn't see much more than two, or more, adults touching and hugging. We do try to keep anything more less visible, or at least in places younglings are less likely to be. But we don't want them..." He shrugged again. "To be blunt, we don't want them to be like you, thinking pleasure is something wrong..."
"You're hedonists," Amber accused.
"Yeah... And the reputation has caused problems in the army before." Roadstead wouldn't deny the truth. Seekers were hedonists. Flighty, winged, vain creatures who usually cared more for their own pleasure and happiness than anything else...
It was no surprise the Autobots tended to hate them.
They sat there for a while, and then Amber made an odd shaking gesture and stood up. "I'm hungry. Can we get some energon? And... er, where are we going to stay...?"
"Over there," Roadstead answered, motioning to one of the center spires. "I'm branded, so I can use the quarters they set aside for that, and there's room enough for you, too. As for energon, sure. There's a seller there, have at." He stood with her, but let the femme approach the energon seller.
It was clear that Amber didn't know quite how interact with the mech, even though she had seen him buy more than one cube, both on Ijurn and in Nemmis. Apparently she hadn't been paying much attention... Further evidence that she shouldn't get into a fight.
Eventually, the femme managed to order two cubes, only to be flummoxed by payment. Roadstead took mercy on her, sending his information to the shop keeper. "I'm covering it."
The keeper looked up, and proceeded to flutter his wings enticingly. "Is that the only thing you're covering, sir?" he asked politely.
"For the time being," Roadstead answered easily. "You know I have to show her around..."
"You do that, then. Come back if you get... bored," the sells-mech said, handing over the energon and adding another flirty wiggle. Roadstead ignored it. This was Vos, after all. This was normal... this was home.
"He was flirting with you," Amber muttered as they walked away, energon in hand.
Roadstead laughed, nodding. "Yup. It's the brands. They feel different than paint, with those indentations."
"...He didn't flirt with me..." Amber sounded almost hurt.
"Of course not," Roadstead agreed, lifting a hand and tracing the glyphs he had painted on her pale blue wing. "I knew this would happen, you know. I had these myself, the first time I came here..."
Amber stopped, looking at the brown Seeker in surprise. "Y- you did? But- But you like all this stuff. All this interfacing and flirting and- You said this is your home, you belong here! Why would you need something like... like these?"
A languid wing-shrug answered her. "It is. I do. Now. But I was human once... I had my inhibitions. Less than you did, and I was eager to shed them, but I had them."
"...Do you still think... I mean, you've said things about me not... being sparked a Seeker, but... Do you still think that? I-" Amber bit at her derma, and again her wing-shrug was a matter of lifting them, not twitching them.
"I don't think I want to be like this. I don't-"
Roadstead silenced her with a finger on her derma. "That proves you're not. And that's okay."
"Then why am I still... um. In this frame...?"
"Cheaper for me," Roadstead answered easily. At Amber's confused look, he explained, though he was sure that he had already told her all of this. "You're a flier. My money's on helio. And even if you were a grounder... well, reformats are expensive. You can't afford one. I can, but I don't want to. Which means..." He smirked a little.
"...Means?" Amber asked. She didn't seem happy about the conversation.
"Means you'll have to find someone to sponsor you. And then you'll have to pay him back. Contract terms to be decided- I'm quite sure I've told you about all this. Don't worry about it. You'll not find one here... Right now, you're in Vos. There's mechs who would kill to be here."
Amber twitched uncertainly, then seemed to relax at the wop wop wop of a visiting helio. "So I should shut up and enjoy myself while I'm here, is what you're saying?"
"Yes. That is exactly what I'm saying," Roadstead agreed. "Now... I know it's not your spark's preferred form, but the energon's gone, so let me show you the Flying Garden. Up close." With a flash of light, he dismissed the empty cube and took off, waiting for Amber to join him in the air.
-
They didn't even stay in Vos for a full decaorn, ultimately. Amber was seeming restless, afraid more or less any time she was more than a few steps from Roadstead's side, unless he left her in their rooms. It made it very hard for him to enjoy being home, and wasn't doing much for her socialization, or helping her fit in.
Leaving Vos was much easier than reaching the floating city. The brown Seeker simply took Amber up to the rim, and then they stepped off the edge and flew away. She had gotten much better at flying, at least. She had had too, given Vos' construction. There had been plenty of practice. It took two or three joors of solid flight to reach the outskirts of Sippar, and another half-joor for them to reach the barracks which were open to those with the brand.
Metrodash was not waiting for them, but Roadstead wasn't bothered by that. There was no way the grounder could have known they were coming this orn, after all, and the grounder had his own things to attend to. Sometimes Roadstead wondered what things, but he had never asked his pet. It didn't matter, not enough to bring up. So, the first thing Roadstead did was take Amber to the rooms and put away what little they had carried from Vos, what they had brought and what they had bought.
From there he decided to wait. It was mid-afternoon, and even if Shockwave would be willing to see him now, Roadstead would not get out of the visit what he wanted to get out of it. It would be better to wait, to spend time elsewhere and try, again, to soothe Amber about the society of which she was now a part. Accordingly, the second thing Roadstead did was to take Amber to a bar.
There were many bars available in Sippar, but Roadstead wanted to be careful. Even after Vos, there was a lot that would frighten Amber, like the 'strip' club-slash-brothels which were available. Clubs with loud music and hard high-grade would also frighten her, so ultimately he took her to what was more or less a night-club, with singers and dancing but nothing too over-the-top.
The club wasn't very busy in the middle of the afternoon, and the pair of Seekers were welcome guests. Roadstead was blatantly lounging, listening to the Helio singer. On Earth, the song would be husky, jazzy. Here, it was still 'jazz', but with variations. There were always variations, because human music didn't sound the same to Cybertronian audios, it didn't sound good, and so they had re-made every style, every song they wanted, and then began creating new ones.
She moved, laying against the instruments and crooning, moving her rotors up and down, stroking them at times as needed. It was all very 1940s, as interpreted by giant alien robots, and Roadstead enjoyed it. Amber was watching closely, mouth open and vents working slightly harder than usual, gaze locked on the movements. On the rotors, if Roadstead guessed right.
"Enjoying yourself?" he asked, a pointless question. Amber wasn't even sipping the mid-high grade they had bought.
Amber's answer was an indistinct sound, a bob of her head and an incorrect twitch of her wings. Roadstead laughed a little, and stayed quiet until the singer was finished and the stage was turned over to a pair of racer-dancers.
"You think you'll like that form?" Roadstead tried again, sipping his own energon. It burned a little, and those who knew said that it tasted as much like whiskey as energon could. He didn't care, never really pining for his human life once he had mourned his friends.
"That form- Oh. Oh, yeah... That's going to be so strange. But, I mean... yes." Amber didn't really seem to be paying attention to him as she spoke. "Did you see how her rotors moved, so graceful... And so much more flexible than these- I mean, not to say anything bad about-"
"Shut up," Roadstead interrupted, but his voice was fond. It didn't hurt him that Amber, helio-spark as she was, was unhappy with her Seeker-frame. He would be happy to hand her off to someone else and let her have her proper form, but there had not yet been the right person. He could afford to wait still.
Amber fell silent with a slightly abashed laugh, and watched the dancers for a while. After a bit, she asked, "So... where are we going after this?"
"After what?" Roadstead asked. "After we're done here, we're going to Shockwave, or at least I am, and since Metro doesn't expect us or know we're home yet, you'll come with me unless you want to try flying home alone. There might be someone in the building who's interested in you, anyway. Or if you meant after Sippar? Nothing. This is the end of your tour."
"Oh... Um, when you say interested..."
"To take you in, Amber. You know that." He wanted to go back to the front... Amber nodded, reassured that he hadn't meant 'for the night', and silence fell again, for a while.
"What will I do, since I'm not willing to... er, pay the way..."
Roadstead chuckled and shrugged. "You can clean. Fetch and carry. Learn a trade. Apprentice work. Care for younglings. Most of the things you might have done on Earth have a counterpoint here. It's not as hard as you seem to fear."
"Oh. ...I might like to care for younglings... Or learn a trade... Don't know about cleaning but... I guess it is something I can do..." Amber was pretty clearly encouraged by his words, and Roadstead wondered how she had failed to notice the variety of jobs on her own. Either way, she understood now, so at least there wouldn't be a problem about it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the shows and making the club owner happy by spending credits. Eventually the night-club started to fill up, afternoon cycling into evening, and Roadstead stood. They had whiled away enough time here, and Roadstead didn't want to miss Shockwave. Amber stood with him, following the brown Seeker to the door, and then they took off.
They weren't disturbed on their way through the government buildings, Roadstead going slower than usual so Amber could look around. It was well worth looking. The building was a monument, a fort, and very nearly a city-within-a-city, and they had to land some distance from it. Thanks to the influence of the OCs, this central government complex was known as Darkmount, though it was rather fanciful to call it a 'mount'.
It was only when they approached Shockwave's office that Roadstead realized they were lucky he was in. It was pretty clear he was in, because when they reached the foyer before Shockwave's office there were three other mechs, near identical to each other. It was the lens one bore which gave them away, and he nodded respectfully. Reflector might not be able to fight, but he had still earned his rank.
"Hello, Roadstead," the triplicate voice said, Reflector looking at the Seekers in a way Roadstead didn't really mind. "You will have to wait a little, Shockwave is busy... Who is this?" They were particularly looking at the femme.
It was not a surprise that Shockwave was busy, nor was it a surprise that Reflector knew him- probably even without pinging. The spy liked Seekers, and was visual, finding it as easy to remember who was who by color as Seekers found it. "Her name is Amber," Roadstead answered.
Interest kindled in three pairs of red optics. Roadstead knew what they were thinking. Name, no designation given. That meant Amber was new, and an OC, and it showed. Reflector would wonder how new... "Hello, Amber. How are you liking this life?" they asked, standing and coming closer to the femme.
"Um, I... it's, um... It's very interesting..." Amber answered slowly, looking at the three. Probably, Roadstead thought, wondering who they were. Reflector was not well remembered, even with actual speaking roles in G1. Luckily, the camera chose to be amused by that, and not insulted like some others.
"You have been enjoying yourself...?" Reflector asked, still coming closer, with a very clearly hungry light in their optics.
Roadstead thought he should warn them, though. "She's only Seeker-framed. Probably Helio-sparked." That would also answer their other question, most likely. She still had her seals... and if she had fit in the Seeker-frame, Roadstead was sure that Reflector would try to get her from him. It was almost a pity that she needed reformatting.
"We understand," one of the units answered. Probably the lead one, and while Roadstead knew their individual names, he couldn't remember which was Spectro and which was Spyglass, or which role either took.
"Sure you do..." Roadstead smiled a little, shrugging. He wasn't going to interfere, not really. "Just remember, Amber, you can say no."
That got him a startled look from the femme, and a Reflector unit was sniggering. "Do you think we would not tell her that ourselves? But if you're putting it that way..." the two non-sniggering units said. "We would like pictures..."
"You always do," Roadstead answered, only to get a rude gesture in answer. If the camera had wings, he was sure they would flip him a 'buzz off', and either way, he knew to shut up. He had done his part, and Reflector... well, they might take advantage of Amber, but they would be careful when they did so, and leave her with compensation. She wouldn't, or shouldn't, feel used.
"Er. P- pictures...?" Amber asked, glancing from Roadstead to the three mechs. "Pictures of... what...?" Oh, it was likely she knew what they were alluding to, but she was unwilling to accept it. Reflector would do her good, then.
"Of you." It was probably Spectro, Roadstead did think he was the leader- pinging for ID was useless, they were all set to reply with the Reflector designation.
Amber curled up a little, but only a little. She was learning... "Of me. ...Why?" She could ping them just as well as Roadstead could, and knew the ranks well enough to know where she stood. Reflector's brand alone was enough to show that.
Viewfinder answered, lightly tracing the lens he carried. "We like Seekers. It doesn't matter about your spark... We are visual, and care about the frame- Oh, but we wouldn't just take from you...!"
"No, of course not. If you give us the time to take the images... You need to reformat, he said. That's expensive, this can help." Reflector was shameless in getting what they wanted, and Roadstead tuned them out. He was sure that Amber would be going with them... and he was pretty sure that the camera would get everything they wanted from her.
The door opened then, a tank-mech coming out and bidding Shockwave goodbye. Roadstead stood, waving at Amber and Reflector and smiling as neither seemed to notice. They would manage... And in the mean-time, he was hoping to get lucky with Shockwave again.
