The Diego Diaries: Stuff (dd7 15)
Things were looking good then the wind shifted and the smoke is being blown this way. I hate hacking up smoke but I'm far from the fire so it isn't as bad for me as some.
Update before posting: Its finally raining which I hope will kill the smoke and ash. Its all over and it sucks. Forest fires are horrible. If you live in fire country, too, you have my deepest sympathies.
HERE WE GO!
=0=Later on
Ratchet walked into the armory and flopped in a chair across the desk from Ironhide. Standing on it grinning at her big old dad, Halo glanced at Ratchet. She smiled brilliantly, then began to run across the desk toward her old ada. Leaning forward, Ratchet caught Halo as she ran off the desk and flew downward toward the floor. Sitting back to set the baby on the arm of his chair, Ratchet grinned. "I wonder if there's a Seeker in the tree somewhere. Femme did a pretty good example of one."
"Femme has a lot of talents. She's that end of the scale," Ironhide said with a grin. "How did the expedition go?" he asked as he finished the data on his computer preparatory to going home.
"It was interesting. Your houses in Praxus are about three feet tall. It was hard on your appa to go there but he cares about this kid. The kid was pretty shaken up. Hardie also told the parents that kids turn out to expectations and they had better have some for him. It was pretty awful," Ratchet said.
Ironhide nodded, then shut off his computer. "I know. All he had to do was look at me and I'd crawl. I never wanted to disappoint them."
"They had you eye trained, then," Ratchet said with a grin. "All my family had to do was not speak to me and I'd crawl like a worm."
Ironhide grinned. "Sounds like me." He rose and they gathered their imp, walking toward the door and home. All of the kids were going to be waiting as Corr and Chan sat with them. It was one of those nights.
Walking out with Halo in Ironhide's hold, they ambled down the corridor to the door that let them into Metro 1. The evening rush was over but there were a lot of individuals on the platform anyway. Easing out and upward, they walked to their tower and took the elevator upward. Stepping out, they walked to their door, opened it and welcomed the acclaim of the masses. The door closed behind them.
=0=Prowl
He stood at the oven watching dinner cook while in the living room Optimus was listening to the latest adventures in peewee land from his many progeny. Sitting on his big old dad's lap, their newest infant chewed on his toy.
A big cat lay immaculately on the arm of the chair purring in contentment as Rambler sat nearby practicing on his keyboard. It was a very contented scene in his house, Prowl thought as he stood by the door watching things. If anyone had thought this mech who was universally known as a slide rule with legs should ever have been in a bonded partnership to craft such a life they would've died laughing.
He probably would himself around his disdain and all around Gothic grumpiness.
He grinned slightly, then walked back into the kitchen as the timer on the oven rang. All was well in his world.
=0=Raptor
He walked into his house, then flipped on the television. The news was going on and soon Turbine would be home with dinner. It was his call today. It had been a good orn with the slaggers earlier ...
They arrived at the jail, the Generals and waited while Red Alert opened the cells for Carbide, Rockwell and Pico to step out, pick up the Backpacks of Doom™ then sullenly follow them out to the space bridge. Sun, Jack, Raptor and Micro who was coming along to speak with Delphi at his station chatted happily as they stepped into the bridge. The three followed lugging along, stormy featured and long suffering.
They stepped out at the Crossroads. Turning to the three slaggers, Raptor grinned. "You three come with me. The others have things to do and you need to help me." With that, he walked onward toward a train that was halted nearby loading up with stuff for transport to the hinterlands.
They watched him, glanced at the others who were smirking, then moped after Raptor. They reached a long cargo train, paused beside him, then glowered at the big mech.
Raptor chuckled. "Climb on board. We're riding on top."
"We're not riding inside?" Pico asked, startled at the idea that he had to ride on top of a pile of cargo unsecured and precariously perched.
"Riding inside is for slackers. Hurry up. The master is sending this one on shortly. You can either come with me or help dig out the dead with them," he said nodding to the others who were watching with amusement as the three came to the only good conclusion they could live with.
Raptor was already on top, standing on crates as he gazed downward with a smirk. Rockwell gripped the bars, then climbed up laboriously. The other two managed just as the train whistled, then began to pull the gigantic length of flatbeds and box cars forward. They tugged, bouncing the four on top a bit as finally all of the cars were engaged. Down the track it began to move, a process of picking up steam lying ahead on the flat terrain of the Hydrax Plateau.
Raptor laughed, then waved to the others as they began to fade into the night time of Cybertron. Slowly, then with some small measure of speed, they rode along toward who knew where. Raptor didn't feel up to telling them.
It was sullen, then Rockwell looked at Raptor. "How long does this last? This hazing?"
"As long as my father thinks you need it. You did after all break the laws of Cybertron and decency. Oh, right. You don't have to follow the law. You're one of 'those'," Raptor said with a grin. "Laws are for slaggers. Right?"
Rockwell stared daggers at Raptor. "How do you live betraying your caste?"
Raptor grinned. "There is no caste system now. A Prime and Primus Himself banned it. You can honor fight Prime or you can wait until Primus shows up and steps on you to get that through your thick helm. Or you can come with the rest of us to the promised land. Either way, I'm entertained."
"You don't like us very much, you who are so pure," Carbide said.
Raptor looked at him, then grinned. The train was going fast enough that a nice breeze could be felt against their armor. "You don't make it possible. You only know how to take and expect. Liking someone connotes give AND take. What do you know about real friends? I've been around high castes all my life and none of you seem to have them. You don't seem to understand the concept."
"We have friends. Lots of them," Rockwell said.
"You were at the caste courts, right? You were there with Partition and his family," Raptor said. "He thought he had friends, too, Lucien. So did Partition. They actually did. They had one friend. Funny how that one mech who stood up for them wasn't high caste. Why didn't you vouch for Lucien and his family? For Partition? They could have used a friend. You didn't did you. Why?" Raptor asked.
"I don't know them," Pico said as he looked at the countryside going by. It was broken and menacing in the darkness.
"Why would that matter?" Raptor asked.
Pico stared at him. "I don't know them so I couldn't vouch for them."
"Ratchet didn't know them either but he did. He did when no one else would. He stood up and took them on. Why do you suppose he did that?" Raptor asked.
No one answered a moment, then Carbide looked at Raptor. "He's your relative. If I tell you why I think he did you'll throw me off this train."
"You might be right but then you miss the whole point. None of you have a clue why he helped that family, why they were able to change their lives because he did. Lucien was going to prison and so was Partition. Now Lucien is the political aide to the Secretary of State and Partition is bonded and working toward a degree in medicine. He's Home Guard and he's a Watchman-Medic. That's character. They didn't know they had it, any of them, but for Ratchet's persistence. I may turn you three over to him myself."
They stared at Raptor with surprise. "You wouldn't," Rockwell sputtered.
"Tempt me," Raptor said.
It would be quiet a while on top of the train heading toward a number of villages where the locals were waiting to show him all the good things they were able to do in the rebuild and redesign of their towns. It would be glorious.
For Raptor.
=0=Delphi and Hard Drive later that same orn at the homestead
Delphi grinned, then signed off. He glanced at Hardie who was sitting in the chair next to him perusing the television schedule for something 'good'. "Raptor just messaged me. He thinks it might help the slackers if they have to spend alternating orns with Ratchet as their supervisor. What do you think?"
Hardie grinned, then glanced at Delphi. "I don't mind. Ratchet has a strange affect on others. If he could salvage Lucien and Partition, then nothing is out of his voodoo reach. I'll ask him."
Hardie made the call.
=0=Ratchet at the same time elsewhere
He was playing Go Fish with Orion and Halo while Hero did 'homework' and the others played madly in her room. Everyone else was hanging in the big boy lounge down the apartment.
"Lou doin' dis," Orion said as he took a card from Ratchet for whatever reason, then handed it to Halo. "Ha-Ho, you doin'." Orion stared at Halo with a giant smile and he handed her the card.
She smiled giantly back. "Lou doin'?" she asked. "I not doin' the she?"
Orion nodded, then took her servo. He led her to one of three piles of cards that were stacked according to some kind of convoluted idea he had that he could only explain with hand gestures and a lot of cuteness. "Lou doin' dis," he said as he gently took the card, stared at the piles, chose, then put it on one.
Halo smiled at him, then clapped her servos.
Orion then took a card from a pile for some reason and gave it to her. "Ha-Ho, you doin'. I, Orion doing this she," he said gesturing to her to keep the card.
Because.
Ratchet who was mesmerized by the weird logic and their overall incredible cuteness nearly missed the call from Hardie.
:Ratchet?:
Ratchet blinked. :The One and Only here:
Hardie chuckled. :I want to put a proposition to you from Raptor. Feel free to hurt his little feelings. He wants you to do some voodoo with our three knuckleheads on rotating orns. He seems to think they need it:
Ratchet smirked. :Done deal. We can go to breakfast in the morning and work it out. Diner On The Corner?:
:We'll be there. Thanks, Ratchet. Hardie out:
Ratchet stared at the two kids who decided between them that Ratchet had to give up five whole cards from his hand. But it wasn't a lost cause. They also decided that he needed two more back. The only thing outstanding was to choose which of the piles they would come from.
Infants. They're inscrutable.
=0=Grapevine
:Raptor:
:Here:
:Its go:
:Good. Thanks, Atar. Raptor out:
Raptor grinned, then sent the word out. They also would send the word out and by the time everyone decided that the Diner On The Corner was ground zero for breakfast and a floor show, everyone would know and come.
Given the grapevine and the basic busybody nature of mechs far and wide, it was conjectured that even Razorclaw would show up.
Maybe.
=0=TBC 6-15-19
ESL:
inscrutable: (in-screw-tih-bul) something or someone that is unknowable. Someone or something that is hard to know.