The Diego Diaries: Valles Ho! (dd7 353)
=0=Morning at last
He lay on his back staring at the ceiling as all around him the Squad was sawing logs. It wasn't that early. He could see a hint of sunlight through the door nearby. It was a flap that was fastened after they'd crawled inside the night before …
"Watch yourself, Lazlo," Edict said with a chuckle. "We're going to bump helms."
Lazlo who was crawling on his servos and knee assemblies into the tent that held his gear laughed. "The floor is bouncy," he said as he stumbled in. He made it to his gear sack and began to pull out his sleeping bag. It was cold and the bag was warm, had an inflated bottom and a long flap that folded back to allow him inside easily. For a moment the place churned with mechs snickering and laughing as they fought to get their bags open and crawl inside.
The inflating bags flew out of servos to hit the ceiling in the tall tent before landing on their owners again. It took about three times longer than it should have before most of Ratchet's tent and the other one was inside a warm bag. Miler and Kestrel who were sober helped everyone, especially the 'new' drunks like Corr and Docker. Ravel was helped into the tent and stuffed into his bag where he fell into recharge immediately.
Stealth and some of the others including Corsair who came with Arcee LOVED the Squad, getting slag faced in a clubby group and crawling to a tent, something NEVER done by the quiet sweet natured high caste mech. Life was actually GREAT.
When the last one was safely in a warm bag, the doors lowered and everything copacetic, Miler left for the other tent while Kestrel settled down in this one. It was quiet a moment.
"No pillow talk."
[Chuckles from those still awake]
"This was fun."
"I'm glad, Stealth. You're in the club. Everyone is in the club," Ratchet said with a smile. He was staring at the ceiling of the tent listening to the tiny pennant flag on the peak of it flapping in the breeze.
"Those mini-cons are funny. I think their fireworks were better than Christmas Surprise." Prowl grinned. "I never saw fireworks close up before."
"You have, Prowler. Think about it," Ratchet said.
It was silent a moment.
"I see your point," Prowl said, then he grinned. "It's on the top of your helm." He laughed loudly and so did all the other drunks.
"Good thing your ada is in the other tent, Prowler. You'd get your servo patted," Ratchet replied.
"I never got patted. They'd give me silence. I hated that. I'd rather get a thousand spankings than one silent treatment," Prowl said.
It was silent a moment.
"We never spanked Ratchet. Much," Docker said as everyone snickered.
"He deserved it though. Right?" Bluestreak asked somewhere in the darkness.
Docker grinned. "More than once."
"GUILTY AS CHARGED!" Ratchet said to great laughter.
"We gave him the silent treatment because he hated it so much," Docker continued.
"You, too?" Prowl asked as he glanced around to find Ratchet.
"Yep. Me, too," Ratchet said with a chuckle.
"He would crawl on his knees to get back in line with us. He'd go out of his way to try and get us to talk to him but we wouldn't," Docker said. She grinned at the memories of a tiny light green mech trying to get his elders to speak to him again.
"It's a small world," Prowl said quietly.
"Smaller. We didn't have enough shanix to have much of a world," Ratchet began. He grinned. Prowl had a few buttons and GUILT about The System was chief among them.
"I'll give you some, Ratchet," Edict said, then he laughed loudly because he was shit faced.
"Me, too," Lazlo said. "I'll draw you some tomorrow."
Ratchet laughed because that was genuinely funny.
It was silent a moment.
"I hate you," Prowl said to great acclaim and laughter.
=0=There
Optimus Prime gathered his infants and checked them over. "You did everything you need to do? Has everyone been to the washroom?"
"WE HAVE!" -four tiny kids
"We helped them, Atar," Spirit said. "They're such little sparklings."
"They are," Prime said with a grin. "Time to go to recharge."
Everyone bellowed and hopped around, four little dancing babies, then ran for their rooms. The elder kids and Prime tucked them in, then Prime walked his older sons to their berth rooms. They chatted, organized their berths, then were tucked in. Prime kissed his sons, checked his little ones, then walked out to the living room to watch the news. He sat down in his chair in the dimly lit room, then glanced at Prowl's.
For a moment it was terribly lonely, the kind he felt during many periods of the war when it seemed endless, hopeless and lonesome. He had everything he wanted now but the one who was cavorting in the Valles. It was hard to be home alone anymore, even with the children. He vented a sigh, then tuned into Prowl. It was fuzzy but the mech replied.
:Hi:
:Hi, yourself. What are you doing, Prowl?: He settled into his chair to relax.
:Lying in my sleeping bag in the tent. Everyone's pillow talking:
Prime grinned. :You are drunk. Right?:
Amusement reached him. :Slag faced:
:Everyone is fine here. When are you coming home tomorrow?:
:It won't be long: Prowl said. :Are you alright?:
:I am. Good night, Prowl:
:Good night, Orion Pax: Prowl said then drifted off.
Prime sat in his chair filled with emotion, then the door opened nearby.
His father peeked in. "Are you staying up or what, Orion?"
"I am up," Prime replied.
Tagg walked in, then sat down in Prowl's chair. "I cannot recharge. Need company?"
Prime grinned. "Always," he said as he turned on the news. They would watch it together, chat a while, then both mechs would turn in here.
=0=There, but lower
"I put the last one to bed, Atar," Genesis said as he peeked into the berthroom of Halo.
"Good, son," Ironhide said as he helped tuck his daughter into her crib, the one that was Orion's because it was 'the first, and thus more historical, Ratchet'.
That one.
He grinned at the baby, then walked to the door dousing the lights. The other kids were bedding down the babies, then walked out to the living room. Ironhide followed, then sat in his chair. The big boys and Sunspot sat down on couches and chairs.
"I don't like it when Ada isn't here," Quasar said. The others nodded.
"You and me both," Ironhide said. "He's out in the Valles with his friends. He said he'd be home tomorrow."
"What are they doing there, Atar?" Sunspot asked from the lap of Fireball.
"They're playing and talking. Grown up stuff," Ironhide said.
"Maybe we can go to breakfast together," Quasar said.
"That's a good idea," Ironhide said. "We can do that when he gets home. He's not going to be interested in cooking. Thank goodness."
Everyone grinned at Ironhide. It was a family joke now.
"I like Ada's cooking," Fireball said loyally. "He's a good cook."
Ironhide grinned at the children. "Loyal slagger, all of you."
They grinned back.
Conversation continued as the night wore on before the kids rose to go to bed carrying Spot and Sunspot with them.
Ironhide watched them go as he sat on his chair. It was quiet after they disappeared down the hallway. Then the door opened a crack.
His father peered in. "You busy?"
"Nope. Come in," Ironhide said as his father walked in, then sat on Ratchet's chair. "Where's Scout?"
Blackjack patted his carry hold. "He's in there. Flipper is at home guarding our stuff. There's nothing like having a guard cow is there."
Ironhide glanced at a dog bed by the window where Robby was standing. He didn't lie down. He did like to stand in it when he slept most of the time. "Nothing. What a great idea they were."
"Won't get an argument out of me. Have you heard from Ratchet?" Blackjack asked.
"Nope. Old Mech is probably slag faced upside down in a gully," Ironhide said.
They both laughed.
"Your Ada said goodnight. He's shit faced, too. He said something about bright lights and a mini-con stampede."
"Sounds like a winner," Ironhide said as he turned on the news. They would watch it together, then recharge here.
=0=Morning
Ratchet relaxed in his bag content with the warmth and comfort. Nearby, Prowl sat up, stretched, then went back to sleep. He grinned. They had to do this more often.
=0=Late that night
Blackjack lay on the berth next to his son. He was warm, recharging loudly and comfortable. Next to him, his son was warm, wide awake and wondering how his ada put up with the snoring. Dialing down his audials, Ironhide joined his father in recharge.
=0=Up there
Optimus Prime lay on his berth recharging. The evening had been pleasant, warm and happy with his father's company. When they went to recharge, Tagg slept in the 'amma and appa room' as the kids called it, the berth room they used when they stayed over. Given the schedule of everyone in the family, it was often. It was also a very large fancy pants suite just like the other eight.
Prowl thought they looked good in it. Kes and Tagg would never get used to luxury. Prime was humble in his spark that he could provide that comfort to his genitors. To him, there were no others that he knew who deserved it more.
Morning would come slowly.
=0=Springer and Drift
They rode together to the airfield, then boarded a runabout to fly to the Valles. They had received a call that there was a set of explosions in the campground by the big trails that led to the 'falls', an ancient waterfall that was splendid to see now with its dusty water shaped rock formations. It was Campground 17.
They flew there through the dark skies, then Drift checked the complaint. "It's in 17. Isn't that were Ada and The Squad went to camp?"
Springer snickered, then he laughed loud and long. "Why I do believe it was," he said as they began to make their descent.
Drift grinned. "Habit?"
=0=Mini-con Center
They clambered back to their camp and noted that only some of it was burned to a crisp. Some of it was flung about and would take a bit of time to gather together. Fortunately, one of their group was a doctor, a much lauded son who had graduated shortly ago, so there were enough scripts to sober everyone up right away by WIFI transmission.
They stared at the fiasco, then their disgruntled elders. Hustling their tiny peds, they cleaned it up, set their elders up in chairs, then hustled again to get the birthday food together. Everyone pulled 'cake and ice cream' out of refrigerated boxes having decided that both were AWESOME and their ammas and appas deserved it. When everyone had a big slab of both, they sat down to eat.
That was when Drift and Springer reached their campsite.
=0=Nearby
They set things up again, checked the tents, discovered that a bottle rock had taken one of the pennants off the peaked roof of one of the tents, mourned it a moment, then sat down to eat snacks and drink beer. That was when they saw Drift and Springer.
=0=#15 and #16
Springer and Drift noted the burned and scorched spots on the ground including a huge one with a depression filled with melted glassey sand created from intense heat. They noted that everyone had their most innocent face on as they were offered cake and ice cream.
"No thanks, Amma. We just wanted to make sure you were alright. The flashes and sounds were loud enough to warrant a wellness check of your group," Springer said.
"Oh, we're well, infant," an ancient appa said. "It was good of you to check on us. Our infants might learn a thing or two about taking care of old people." He glanced around the group with scorching optics.
The youngers looked studiously at their plates.
"Well, we'll check next door, then head out. Congratulations and be careful out here," Springer said as he and Drift began to move on.
"Thank you, infant. Have a good night and thank you," an amma said, one so tiny it almost took a magnifying glass to see her.
It was a very happy group of shorties that saw them leave. The drunks they finally found in campsite #17 were equally surprised to see them.
=0=TBC 8-14-2020