The Diego Diaries: Stuff Doin' (dd8 183)
=0=The next morning at the corner
They waved as the last buses headed out to school on this, Second Friday. The weekend loomed ahead and there were plans afoot apparently.
"Where are you going now?" Ratchet asked.
"I have to get Halo to school. They moved the last group out last night from the Temple and the Monastery. Remember?" Ironhide asked.
Ratchet stared at him, then shrugged. "Okay. Who remembers the petty details?"
"What are you going to do? You might get a kid to follow you and take notes," Ironhide said as the lights changed and more traffic drove past.
"I'm working at home. I have slag to do considering Elder Day is coming this weekend," Ratchet replied. "Let's meet up for lunch unless you have slag to do."
"I'm going to be on Cybertron until about noon but I'll bridge back. Where?" Ironhide asked.
"Club Cybertron. Its been a while since we were in a brawl," Ratchet replied as Ironhide began to follow a rapidly disappearing Prime and Prowl toward The Fortress.
He waved his servo, then began to hoof it to catch up.
Ratchet watched him go, then grinned. "Nice aft, big boy," he whispered, then walked toward the building, the lobby and an elevator upward. He disappeared into the early morning crowd of neighbors. It was only when he was going upward that it would occur to him that Ironhide hadn't taken Halo to school.
=0=The Fortress
"I'm heading for Nova Cronum. Anything you need?" Ironhide said as Prowl and Prime sat at the command table staring at him.
Neither of them told him about how Ratchet was stalking up behind him. Why make it easy?
"No," Prowl said as he sat back to fold his arms over his chassis, an unconsciously self protective action. "But he might need something." Prowl nodded to a space behind Ironhide.
Ironhide glanced that way, then spun around. "I thought you were working at home."
"I thought you were GOING TO THE TEMPLE SCHOOL WITH HALO!" It was comical how the three bots facing Ratchet, Prime, Ironhide and Prowl leaned slightly back as the fog horn of Ratchet's battlefield voice blew over them like a cold wind.
They sat frozen a moment, then relaxed. At least Prime and Prowl did.
Ironhide was shaking his helm. "YOU SLAGGER! YOU MADE ME DEAF!"
"Don't change the subject, whiner. Hand her over," Ratchet said.
Ironhide bowed his neck, then slid Halo out of his carryhold. She rose up on his servo to be even with Ironhide's face. Staring at Ratchet eyeball-to-eyeball the whole time, he kissed her forehead, then held her out.
Ratchet glommed her, then smirked. "Loser. Such a loser little whiner."
"Fragger. WHAT A SAD AFT YOU ARE TO STEAL A MECH'S SPARKLING!" Ironhide returned because a strong offense usually meant he could keep some of his fingers before this was over.
"You'd take her to CYBERTRON!" -foghorn
Ironhide shook his helm again, then guffawed. "I hate when you do that."
"I sorta love it. Consider it a new form of foreplay. Why the other night in the ber-"
That's as far as he got.
=0=Moments later
He ambled out of The Fortress with Halo on his arm, then began to walk down the sidewalk toward the junction where Temple District began. As he did a vessel of a type he'd never seen flew overhead on its way, it seemed, toward the high desert beyond. Faces in the windows of the ship waved at him. Dialing in, he noted Turquoise so he waved back. "Interesting ship, that one, Halo," he said as they disappeared in the sky. "Right now, we have to get back into the saddle. You might miss something. What if they taught 'two' today and you weren't there?"
Halo who was wearing a puffy blue onesie, a cap to match along with blue mittens glanced at him. "I go to kool?"
"Yep," Ratchet said as they reached the junction. He waited for the traffic and lights to allow him to cross to the other side of the wide highway that bordered Metroplex, Metroplex Highway 1. "Kool is cool."
"I not goin' Atar?" she asked as they began to cross the street.
"Nope. Atar busy. He's just a workin'," Ratchet said back to her in the peculiar but cute speech that both she and Orion labored under.
"I not go wif lou?" she asked as she peered into his face.
Ratchet stared at her a moment wishing she could. "You need to go to school. That way you can read books to me. I need someone to read to me."
She stared at him, then leaned against his chassis as she sagged. It was a silent trip to the Temple down the streets of The City which were filling up with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
=0=Nova Cronum
He waited for his amma to get a thing straight with an aide before they would leave for inspections. Turbine would be great company and by the time noon would come able to sneak off to Mars for a quick lunch.
There's nothing like 'grandmas' when a mech was low.
=0=At the Temple
He walked down the path to the great stairs that led upward inside with a drooping child on his arm. Climbing the steps, pointing out things to cheer her up, he entered the vast building which was busy with clean up now that all of the refugees were in the hospital or on their way. He made his way toward the school end of the edifice to pause at the doorway.
Sela was there chatting with a couple of genitors while their children hippity-skippitied into the school. When she had finished her conversations, she walked to Ratchet. "Look at you. What a cute little suit," she said as she held our her servos.
Halo stared at her, then Ratchet, then her, then burst into tears.
=0=Moments later in the corridor
Halo had been taken into the school by an aide as Ratchet and Sela stood in the corridor. She was crying and wan as she was gently relieved of her suit, then carried to a rocker with the aide. Sitting, he settled her, then began to rock as other children ran around the room playing and chatting before things began. She was the only one who wasn't happy to be there.
"This is going to kill me, these infants," Ratchet said as he watched with a sense of failure.
Sela grinned. "She's getting better every time. She usually just watches Ironhide leave, then walks to her little locker to put things away. By the time she's done she's with her friends. Everyone is a friend already. I think the break in the orns was what's thrown her. She's making progress. She's just such a buddy to Ironhide. It takes time to assimilate."
Ratchet vented a sigh. "She's ready for more. It took a lot of threatening to get him to get it organized. I figured either here or the Academy."
"Don't worry about her, Ratchet. She's fine. We have a new school bus that's going to drop them off so genitors don't have to come here to get them. Where would you like her sent? A couple of them are going to day care."
Ratchet considered that. "How about dropping her off at RTR Tools for now. I can come when school's out this time to take her a home. I'm working from there today to get some things done. I can be there to get her from the bus when it comes."
"I'll put that on the plan then. RTR is going to make her the last dropped off. Its amusing that all of our students live here in Autobot City. That wasn't intended but it makes our route easier," Sela said. "Don't worry about her. See?"
They both glanced into the room and could see Halo talking to a couple of little femmes. She almost looked herself.
"Alright. Call me if you need anything. I can run real fast," Ratchet said as Sela laughed.
Sela walked into the room, then closed the door behind her.
Ratchet listened as she greeted the children by name, then they sat down to sing their morning song and chat. All of their orns started and ended this way. He grinned as he walked down the corridor to the Temple beyond. He waited to watch a spark be sent to a happy family from the Well, then headed outward again. Stuff needed doing at home.
=0=Up there
He moved his computer into the living room and put it on a teevee tray table in front of his chair. Walking to the counter in the kitchen, he retrieved a large bowl, his recipe from the household datapad, then began.
'Eggs' were cracked then WISKA-WISKA-WISKED!
All manner of things were added, WISKED! and more stuff as well. He stirred and beat things with his oversized whisk, straining to make the dough smooth. When it was and he'd added the last thing, he set the bowl aside, then retrieved three large rectangular-shaped baking pans.
Pulling out the spray no-stick stuff, he gave them a good once over. When he was satisfied, he looked at the can. Spraying a bit into his mouth, he coughed, then turned to the sink to gulp water. After a moment, he frowned at the can. "Nasty slag," he said as he put it into the cupboard.
Pulling out a long tapering bottle of flavored vinegar aka 'wine spritzer', he filled a glass, drank it all down, then filled it again. "Ah. Better," he said as he walked to the ovens. Setting the temperature and timer, he slid all three of them into the racks inside the two ovens. "Good idea to have two. I might get this all done before hard aft comes for lunch."
With that out of the way, Ratchet filled a plate with cookies and then with glass, vinegar bottle and plate in servo, he walked to the chair to sit. Relaxing a moment, eating a couple of cookies to help get the taste out of his mouth of spray, he began to work on the stack of stuff needing his attention with haste.
=0=RTR Tools
"I got a text from Ratchet. He said that Halo might come to the shop after school on her school days," Ravel said to Tie who was sharpening the edge of a sword that looked like it could cut you if you just looked at it.
"That's marvelous. Its only .. what … four orns, then three off?" Tie asked.
"For now," Ravel said. "Its why Ironhide chose the school." He grinned. "I don't have the spark to tell him that they've got the school going on Cybertron so Lady Sela will be here now and they're going to be able to extend the schedule to allow 11 school instructional orns to match everyone else. Of course, the length of the orn will be shorter by three joors."
"He won't like that," Tie said with a chuckle. "I wouldn't tell him. When the school submits this to the School Board, he'll find out."
Ravel grinned. "Poor Ironhide. He so does love his children." He glanced at Tie. "He wants to meet up for lunch at Club Cybertron and will signal when he's available."
"Sounds good to me," Tie said as he inspected the edge with a special magnifying tool.
It would be a pleasant morning at RTR Tools.
=0=Springer and Drift
The second morning in school for Tell of Polyhex-Kaon was just underway. There were a lot of deaf kids in the district but most of them were victims of war and their fixes were ongoing with good prognoses for most of them.
Tell was different. He was born this way and would take a different path toward regaining hearing, then learning what sound was and how to communicate with it. He didn't care at the moment. He was with his dads as they walked toward the classroom again.
Meeting them at the door, Mr. Gramble smiled. "Welcome to the second orn of the rest of your life."
"Comedians," Springer said with a chuckle. "How's he doing?"
"More tests. This afternoon we can have a meeting to go over the findings. Given that Ratchet is not only his amma but his primary physician, he's coming as well," Gramble said as he took the baby into his arms. "Hi, sweetie pie. Let's go and play some more," he said. He nodded to the two, then walked into the school where kids were playing with adults.
They watched him go, then walked to the lounge. Sitting on the couch, then glanced at each other. "The rest of our lives," Springer said.
Drift nodded. "Great, isn't it?"
Springer nodded. "Yeah," he said as they both sat back to wait.
Both of them meant it.
=0=TBC 06-07-2021