The Diego Diaries: PAR-TAY! (dd6 198)
Had dinner last night with the Fam and came home. Went to sleep. It's today. :D:D:D Ah, Thanksgiving is such a hoot even if it makes me sick half the time. I don't eat such rich food commonly. :D I hope this makes sense. I still feel a little green. :D
HERE WE GO! (Oh, and hinie – hy-knee- is a shorthand version of hind end or bottom.) :D
-0-Morning at the Casa
"IRONHIDE! GET YOUR HINIE IN HERE!"
Heavy treads came down the hallway as he appeared carrying the baby carrier. He set it by the wall with Halo on his arm, then turned to Ratchet. "ARE YOU TRYING TO CORRAL ME, OLD MECH!?"
Ratchet grinned as he put the last dish into the dishwasher. He bent down and wagged his backside at Ironhide who laughed. "YOU CAN'T THROW THE SEXY IN MY FACE AND GET AWAY WITH IT! Take a look around."
Ratchet looked between his legs and saw five little kids staring at him with giant smiles. "Oh, hai," he said with a giant smile of his own. Standing up, he looked down at the kids who were laughing loudly. "Why, you little slaggers, you."
"ADA! I SEED YOU THING!" Orion said as the others laughed uproariously.
"So did I, Ada," a voice said.
Ratchet turned around to see a line of big boys grinning at him as well. "And what a great thing it is," he said with a dazzling smile.
Bedlam.
"Ada, when do we go to the party?" Sunspot asked.
"Soon, infant. Right now, I have to get things together," Ratchet said. "Why not go over and see if Ammas and Appas are up and moving?"
Five infants smiled brilliantly, then ran madly for the door. They exited as Quadrus watched them run into Alor and Blackjack's apartment. Then he stepped back inside. "What can we do, Ada?" he asked.
"Well, you can help me carry slag when we go. Do you know what your appa and ammas are going to be doing?" Ratchet asked as he finished up the counter. Three boxes filled with garlic and parsley butter and buns along with bags of cookies sat on the corner. They were fancy bags designed to show the contents to their best advantage. He had bagged the coconut chocolate cookies, then the other one which he would cut into bars, then place on a plate. He had melted 'chocolate' and spread it over the top, showering it with sprinkles. Hopefully, it would be tasty. Baking them earlier this morning had raised an amazing aroma in the apartment. Hopefully, it would taste that good as well.
"They're on their way, Ada," Fireball said as he leaned against Lumi.
"You finished fooling around?" Ironhide asked as he peered into the boxes. "Buns and butter. Nirvana."
"Stay out of that, slagger. Call up the others and see what's what," Ratchet said as the door opened.
A mech peered in with a grin. "Hi," Sideswipe said as he stepped in followed by Sunstreaker and the kids.
"Where's Bluestreak?" Ironhide asked.
"Upstairs," Sideswipe said. Behind him following like quails, Kup, Hercy, Lon and Bezel, Springer, Drift, Twin Twist, Sandstorm, Elita and Jetta, Mack, Lancer and Partition coming back from his genitor's house, and his brothers, Inweld and Morius followed. They gathered in the giant apartment, then began to sit around the huge living room.
Ratchet and Ironhide watched them, then glanced at each other. "You didn't adopt any of these slaggers, did you?" Ironhide asked.
"I don't think so but then I haven't been sober the whole time lately," Ratchet said with a grin. "I suppose you have your entries, right?" he asked the newcomers.
"We do," Hercy said glancing around at the others from his perch on Ironhide's chair. "I don't know about the slaggers here."
Huge laughter greeted that as the door opened and Prowl stepped in. "Well, it looks like your entire genome is here," he said to huge laughter. "Are you ready to go over or do we have to carry this party on our own?"
"Oh, Prowler," Ratchet said handing a big box off to a smirking Sunstreaker, "you're so far from my league that I'd need the Proxima array to find you."
Prowl smirked. "Loon," he said, then stepped back out.
"Gather up, infants," Ratchet said. "Let's get this show on the road." As he said that, the door opened and more folks entered. Proteus and Madura carrying a dish with a tight lid, Chromia along with Maelstrom who was grinning with amusement as he carried their offering, something that looked awfully bakery inspired...
*cough*
… Jazz and Mirage who only carried a good appetite, Bumblebee and First Aid, Scamper who was here because everyone else was and Metroplex could get around just fine in his pretender shell, Ravel, Tie Down, Appa Ratchet, and Docker because they 'wanted to help you carry things, Sonny' to which a wide load of slag was delivered until Ratchet pulled out his giant frying pan.
That one.
A dog and a bug cavorted around as another dog sat by the door looking bored as only an Old English bulldog could while the room seethed with bodies. The door opened again as Turbine, Delphi, Hard Drive, Aunt Lissie, Raptor who was laughing at Blackjack and his hapless slag as Alor followed with a grin, five kids and a dog, Scout and Trooper along with Flint and his boyfriend, Stu-Rt all entered with their stuff and kids. They stood in a group around Ratchet and Ironhide who looked at each other with amusement. "Jetta, how about stress testing the floor one of these orns. There's a lot of good information to be had when the freeloaders show up."
HUGE laughter and slag go with that along with proclamations that mooching was an honorable profession, all of it coalescing around in the air as they gathered up to leave. The door opened and more individuals came in including Edict, Hobbes of all individuals, Rad-R and Riff along with Bron-E and her pre-bond, Vin and Joon, Burris and Anders along with Devcon, Moda, Tress, Smokescreen, and a very morose-looking Smokey.
"What the frag, Ratchet. How do we still have room here?" Smokescreen said with a laugh.
"I have no idea," Ratchet said. "We ready to head out?"
General rumbles indicated that they were as everyone watched Ironhide tenderly lay his daughter into her carry basket, tuck her in, then grin at her. With a smirk and a jaunty step, he picked both up, then turned toward everyone. "Last one to the potatoes and buns is a slacker," he said as the mob began to turn toward the door.
Carrying boxes and kids, dogs, bugs and attitude, the entire group slowly began to head out together. Walking with Joon, Madura, Anders, and Edict, Ratchet grinned. "Where's Laslo, if I may ask?"
"He's going to meet us there. They have to sort out the family yet. All of them are required in attendance if I understand things, right?" Madura asked with a smirk of amusement.
"Right on," Ratchet said as they stepped out of two of the huge five elevators in the lobby. "This could be interesting."
"Something tells me that very little you do isn't," Edict said with a grin.
It was a huge group and a long leisurely walk to the Metro station and the stairs that led downward to the Central Labor Hall itself.
-0-Earlier
"I have everything made and gathered, Lucien. If you and the boys would help me carry things, then I will be most appreciative," Laslo said as he looked around the apartment.
Keystock and Cargo were sitting on the couch watching him. They were in a funk, the desire to be anywhere but where they were all going was almost overwhelming. They were required by the mentor clause of their court sentence to obey Ratchet. This was outside of their scope to deny. If they disobeyed one of their own rules, then they would be saying that The System wasn't worth the paper it was written on. They were stuck in their own vicious circle.
Everyone would be there, those among their own circle and that of Ratchet and Ironhide's. Apparently, the two had come together of late. Prime and his family would be there along with a lot of important educational, spiritual, cultural, and political figures. This was a holiday of joining together and was considered important in their colony and on Cybertron. There was no way out of it.
"I can't see how you can be happy about this, Ada," Cargo said grouchily.
"This is the first party I've been to in ages and its supposed to be a lot of fun," Laslo said turning to look at the three aggravated mechs sitting on the couches and chairs watching him pull things together. "I like the mechs we're going to go with and consider them friends. Don't ruin my orn," he said. "I want to have some fun today so don't ruin the party."
Keystock glanced at the others, then his ada. "We're not going to make you unhappy, Ada."
"I wish you wouldn't," Laslo said with anxiety in his voice. "I've been having a better time here and I want to continue. I would hope you would as well but for now … I have to be happy." He flustered at the counter, then walked to the hallway to disappear down it.
They watched him go, then glanced at each other. "This is a mess," Cargo said.
No one disputed it among the three.
-0-Room 113, Central Labor Council Hall
They entered, noting once again that the Autobot City Professional Assistant Association had made things right. Long tables with places for entries lined the walls. Dinner was beginning to be organized along another wall utilizing a buffet-style set up. Maxi and Blondi were generaling the whole operation with their usual perfection even as Lee-Lee and Holi grabbed the entries for the table.
"Sit, Ratchet. All of you. Then give me Halo," Lee-Lee said as she set the cookies down. She got Halo and the carrier, earning a tiny pout from Ironhide which his ada captured in snapshots. Frowning at Alor, he walked to a nearby table to sit and talk demolitions with an uptight Red Alert and a mellow Inferno.
Ratchet watched him go, then grinned. "I wonder if Red and Inferno need a little help in the romance department."
"You have a sickness. Physician, heal thyself," Alor said with a grin. Both of them chuckled together as Maxi secured Scout, disappearing into a gaggle of young mechs and femmes who were purloining sparklings as they arrived.
Following their ammas and appas, a herd of infants, a bigger Seeker infant and a number of Prime infants showed up. Orion walked to Ratchet, then looked up at him. "ADA! WHERE YOU!? I DO ME!? SHE COMED TO THERE AND DO THE DOING?! WHAT YOU!?"
Ratchet stared at him along with everyone in the rapidly filling room. "Okay."
Orion smiled. "I LOVE YOU, ADA!" he said, then hugged Ratchet's ankle.
HUGE laughter greeted that as more came in. Dishes both large and small arrived and ended up with the 'buffet committee'. Entries were laid out, a delectable array which necessitated a 'cop' to watch them from the marauding gangs of infants that began to congregate together.
The big kids hung with the younger soldier and professional civilian mechs, eating up their stories and commentary as a buzz settled over the room. Groups sat and stood together as even more and more arrived. The buffet line was astonishing and a huge box that had been emptied of its contents was then filled with dozens of bags of dinner rolls. It was drawing attention from just about everyone including Ironhide.
A rustle at the door drew optics as Optimus walked in carrying two big boxes. They were filled with dishes that contained 'whole cooked turkeys' that Prowl had fancied up because he was that kind of slagger. Infants were confiscated which appeared to be the price of entry as the group carried the boxes over to set them up. Chevron and the Temple crew arrived, then shortly after, Cyclonus and the bunch from the Monastery. Behind them, fogs of humans rolled in to be placed on the tabletops for their own good.
Music played softly as even more arrived. Arcee and Magnus, half the Watch crews and a number of individuals who ran departments and worked in the operational centers here and there came in bearing entries and their part of the dinner. Rainmaker and his bonds along with his five handsome suns arrived along with Starscream, his family and the Council of Elders of Seekerkin. They were greeted along with Paragon and Arrow carrying entries, food and infants. Herling and his family, the school board and theirs, a good dozen metro-titans and dreads including Tennyson and Paribolus in pretender gear arrived to find out 'what this thanksgiving thing is all about'. Gee-Gee and her family along with half the prison security teams, both her associate wardens, Roadbuster, some of those who ran the stable and every teacher they knew with their kids arrived with food and entries.
They came in and Ratchet was glad they were there and that they had the biggest dining room for public affairs in the colony. They would use every inch of it before Maxi rapped the meeting into order.
"Welcome. Ratchet has a few words to say." She smiled at Ratchet.
"I DO!?" Ratchet replied to a tsunami of laughter and catcalls. "Well … I was thinking lately of how much we have to be thankful for. There are so many new faces and we welcome you. Anyone who comes, welcome. We're glad to know you and to be here today to party and talk. Thank you."
Applause and catcalls galore arose, then subsided. Maxi grinned. "Dinner is served."
Even though they tried, Ironhide and Optimus Prime would have to wait a while in line.
-0-TBC 11-24-17 edited 11-25-17
NOTES:
There's a famous website with captioned cat pictures where cats are shown doing something, then a funny saying goes with it. Cheeseburger cats. The idea is that cats can't spell but they have a lot to say. :D "I can has cheeseburger?" is a common thing that they're show to ask. Saying hello or hi spelled this way … hai … is also part of the site's cat speech. :D Ceiling cat, all manner of stuff, its hilarious. :D