Oil Slick is practically vibrating with how excited he is. The other sparklings around him are just as happy as he is, just worse at hiding it. He knows that a ninjabot it supposed to appear calm at all times, so he's trying his hardest to do that. It is hard, though.
They're going to see the garden, and they're being taught how to properly take care of them.
Organic things are messy and green and awesomeand the sparklings have all been kept away from them for the first couple of decacycles, where they were taught boring things like what ninjabots were expected to do and how they were supposed to behave and stuff like that.
Now they get to get their servos messy with real organic things.
He can hardly wait.
When the big doors slide open, it's even better than he thought it would be. The garden is hugeand it goes on in every direction as far as he can see and there are giant trees and bright colored things called flowers, and everything he could imagine wanting and more.
He looks up in amazement, the greenery and life around him is wonderful to see. He had a slight worry nagging at him for a long time before this, but it melts away at the sight of everything. He walks with his class through the place looking at everything as they go, and they're getting to a place that is the sparkling garden when one of his senseis looks at a plant in confusion, "Is this dying?"
His class crowds around and sensei Sparkride looks at the plant closer, it is turning brown and rotting in the mech's servo, and his second sensei looks at it for a long moment before frowning, "How did this even happen?"
"Is it something-" Oil Slick stops paying attention to get closer to a pretty pink flower with glittery petals that he wants to give to his mama. He reaches out to pick it, and tuck it in his subspace before anyone can see, but he cries out with dismay when his claws touch it and it shrivels immediately, turning brown and gross.
He's pulled away from the plants by sensei Horsepower, who wipes the organic matter off his claws, "Ah. We've got a black-thumbed sparkling in our group."
Oil Slick looks up with confused, half-shuttered optics, wondering if this means he's going to be kicked out of ninjabot school.
"It's alright, Oil Slick. Some bots cannot work with organic life." Horsepower smiles at him, and Oil Slick hesitantly returns the smile as he's carried out of the garden, "It means you'll be better with the crystal raising than the other sparklings will."
He bites his lower lip, searching for what he wants to say. He finally asks, "Will I ever be able to go in the garden?" He'd been looking forward to it, and now he may not be able to.
Sensei Horsepower shakes his head sadly, "No, Oil Slick. You won't. You can look at the garden from the windows." He's set on the floor, and his servo is taken as they walk, "You do, however, get to move up to a more advanced class. Most sparklings don't get to do crystal raising so soon, but because of this we can move you. We were thinking of putting you in it since you're much calmer than the other sparklings, anyway." He's patted on the head, "This just means you can do it now instead of later."
He presses his servos against the window glass and stares out at the other sparklings who are all laughing and touching the organic plants without the plants shriveling up and turning brown. "But I wanna go in the garden."
"I'm sorry, sparkling. You can't. Some ninjabots can't." Oil Slick is picked up and held firmly. Ninjabots are very tactile and like giving lots of cuddles. "You know sensei Powerhug, the bot who teaches you ninjabot history? He has a black-thumb too. He's still a very good ninjabot."
He likes sensei Powerhug, since he always make something that always seemed so boringon the datapad the most interesting thing to know. Making rhymes and showing them how to remember dates in addition to how everything goes on. "He is."
Sensei Horsepower continues holding him as they walk, and rubs his back, "Do you want to learn how to carve crystals, too?" His servo is moved, and one of his claws pinched playfully, "These will be perfect for it. You'll be given a special repair kit to keep them sharp, but you have your subspace open, so it won't be a problem."
He'd been especially proud when he'd learned that none of his classmates had a subspace yet because they kept sticking stupid things in the practice subspaces they were given. Oil Slick was more responsible and better. "Yes," he practically chirps with enthusiasm, wiggling his claws in Horsepower's grip. "Is it fun?"
"I do not have the knack for it, so it is endlessly frustrating for me, but I am told that it is quite relaxing for those bots who have the skill."
He smiles, "I hope I can do it."
Horespower throws him in the air, since his senseis all know how much he wants to fly, and they don't mind indulging him - if only to stop him asking for rides with the only flying bot in his class, a sulky jetbot that can't do more than hover. "You have claws, Oil Slick. Most of the time that means you'll do well at it." He's thrown up again, and caught deftly, "We may need to put you in a more elevated area when we do gym. You've gotten really good at landing."
Gym was really fun, because he was tossed all over and got to leap off of things to learn how to land properly, on soft, squishy padding. His favorite was a metal mesh thing, because he found out if you landed just right on it, you could launch yourself back up into the air.
It had freaked out his senseis, which only made it even betterto do.
He'd been taken away from that mesh after smacking himself into the wall a couple of times.
He's dropped on the ground, and he rolls just like he'd been taught before stopping in front of a door. Horsepower nods approvingly, and then peeks into the room, saying something Oil Slick can't make out. After a moment, he's tugged into the room, "This is sensei Road Rocket, Oil Slick. He teaches how to properly care for crystals. The open class for this time slot is actually a little ahead of what we'd have put you in if you hadn't had a black thumb, but he will teach you the basics, and we'll see how you do. How does that sound?"
He nods slowly, not really sure if that's good or not. He is fairlysure he'll be able to do it, since he picks things up pretty fast. "If I can't do it, what will I do?" He doesn't want to be kicked out and put in normal sparkling school because he can't grow anything.
Road Rocket's visor flashes with amusement, "If you can't do it fast enough, we rearrange your schedule. We're just testing to see how you do. If you can keep up, then you wouldn't have had to do too much for other classes, and you get to keep the senseis you're used to. Don't worry."
"Okay." Ninjabots are supposed to be fearless, so Oil Slick steps forward, away from sensei Horsepower, and when Road Rocket kneels down and opens his arms for a hug, Oil Slick runs forward and clings to him. "I'm Oil Slick. I have a black-thumb."
Road Rocket laughs, and his audio fins wiggle a little bit, prompting Oil Slick to reach up and grab at them with his claws. "Welcome to our class, Oil Slick. You can sit beside Prowl. He's a bit older than you, but he is used to helping with the younger sparklings."
He looks around, unsure who that is, and a black and gold cyclebot waves a servo. He's gently pushed, and he hurries over to sit next to the mech. Prowl smiles at him, "Hello, Oil Slick."
He smile back nervously, "Hi." He wiggles his claws in a tiny wave, "Is this hard?"
Prowl shakes his head, "Not if you pay attention. Sensei Road Rocket may take you to the side to explain some things, but I'll be here to help clarify what you need. I normally do some tutoring when it comes to this. Maybe you'll help me with that when you're used to it."
Oil Slick nods eagerly, and leans against Prowl. They're usually encouraged to share desks, to foster 'cooperation' and 'tactile appreciation.' Oil Slick just knows that it means that he gets to cuddle and be warm in his classes and he likes it. Ninjabot school is so much fun.
His optics widen as a big hunk of crystal is put in front of the both of them on their desk. The other bots all get a piece to share too, but Oil Slick thinks theirs is best because it has purple streaks in it.
He rubs the flat of his claw along the streaks, and he has a flash of the bot from his dreams next to him. The bot is holding him close and talking about how he loves something he gave him and how purple and green are so wonderful then he loses it because Prowl is gently shaking him. "Oil Slick. You've been sitting there staring at the crystal for a klik. We have to do this."
He shakes his head to clear it, shuttering his optics. He rubs his helmet and nods, "Sorry. I just... It happens to me."
Prowl just smiles at him, "That's fine. Some of my other partners did that, too. I'm used to it." The crystal is moved closer to them, "We need to explain what type of crystal this is and how to properly care for it. Sometimes we get hybrids, but that just means sensei thinks we can handle identifying harder things. I once had to identify a crystal with five different types in it, and explain how to take care if it." The cyclebot pauses, "... my partner at that time was able to, while I struggled."
Oil Slick looks at the crystal, which is very pretty, but he doesn't know anything about it. Other than that it's pretty. "Do we have datapads to help us?" He prods the crystal, and taps it with his claws in various places. "I don't know." He bites his lip, "I don't know what this is at all."
Prowl pats his back, "It's okay. It takes time to learn it. They don't expect you to know yet."
He taps his peds on the floor, still nervous, "Then why am I doing this now? I'll just do really badly and my mamas will have to send me to normal sparkling school." He doesn't want that. The thought of it makes his spark pulse erratically, and he clenches his servos.
Prowl tugs him into a hug, "You're fine. We always do this in the start of class. Get given a crystal that we may not know at all, and try to identify it. Here." A datapad is put in front of him, "List everything you can see about it."
He looks at his partner nervously, but starts to write down that it has purple streaks. "There."
Prowl chuckles, "There's more than just that. See how it isn't all smooth? And how it has a clear part? You can't just ignore no color for color."
He writes those things down, but he doesn't know how to write many words yet, so he has to struggle and pull up the little helper icon and speak the words to it. It's embarrassing to have the older sparkling watch him not know how to write things. But Prowl doesn't say anything, and he doesn't tease him for not knowing words.
Oil Slick bites his lip again and stares at the crystal, wanting to redeem himself. "It's . . it has a very rough edge at the top, but it's smooth at the bottom. And it sounds hollow when you tap the clear parts."
Prowl smiles, "Keep going. But you need to keep in mind that it isn't always put on the table the same way. You saw how it was on its side when sensei put it on the table. Just say 'rough on one side and smooth on the opposite' or something like that. You can also label the sides by numbers or letters." Prowl gently takes the datapad from him, "I normally don't do this, but maybe you'll have a better time if we draw it."
He likes to draw. He's always liked to draw. That and sing, but he doesn't normally sing. His mamas say he'll be able to sing really well when he's older. And he's pretty good at it in music class as well. "I can do that."
The datapad is given back, "Labels really help if you do that. You can't just draw it and say it is done. You have to write what you see."
Oil Slick looks at the crystal that Prowl drew, and erases a few parts of it to make it more accurate. He taps the crystal again, and then marks all the spots where it sounds hollow, and all the spots that sound solid. Sensei Road Rocket comes over and smiles at them.
"Any luck finding out what your crystal is yet, little bots?"
Prowl looks at the datapad, "You gave us a hybrid. I know that the clear is a quartz, but I'm not sure what specific type."
Road Rocket nods, "And what have you found, Oil Slick?"
He keeps from making a face at the crystal, ninjabots are composed at all times. "I know that it sounds like it will fall apart if you hit it too hard."
His sensei chuckles softly, "Well, you have a breem until we take out the datapads to identify it. Just take your time."
Oil Slick sees a sparkling a few desks away pick up his crystal and lickit, and he pauses, "Are we supposed to taste the crystals, sensei?"
"Taste the-" Road Rocket sighs, and turns to the sparkling, "Whiplash, stop licking your crystal. Your job is to identify it, and we have been giving you tasteless crystals for a reason."
The sparkling just stares at Road Rocket, and then deliberately puts the crystal in his mouth and tries to chew on it.
Sensei rushes over to take care of that, and Prowl leans on him to look at the datapad. "Do you know what the purple bit is? You zoned out, and some of my other partners could identify a crystal when they did that."
He looks at it again, and all he knows is that it is the exact same shade of purple of the bot next to him in his dreams. He has long since stopped talkingabout the bot, since no one believed him when he spoke about it before. All he knows is that the bot loves him. Or he thinks the bot does. He isn't really sure.
He pokes the crystal, and it rings hollowly. Staring at it for an astrosecond longer, he shakes his head. "No."
Prowl sighs. "That's okay. I'm not sure what it is either." He flicks it with his fingers, and a bit of the purple crumbles away onto the desk. He stares at it, and then tells Oil Slick, "Write down that the hybrid is softer than quartz."
Oil Slick uses the pad to help him write, focusing intently on each word to try and memorize it into his processor, so he won't have to call it up again later on.
He'll do well in this, and never have to go to normal sparkling school.
He looks at the chunk of crystal in front of him, studying the faults inside of it. He's been doing the crystal carving for awhile, and now he got told to make something that means a very great deal to him. The hard part is the fact that he was told that heis not allowed to use his creators or any of his pets or fellow ninjabots. None of the others in the class were given this requirement, and he isn't exactly sure what they're trying to prove.
He is thinking about making it a flying bot or something to do with singing. He loves singing. He always feels a special warmth in his spark when he gets a compliment on it. Like he'd been wanting it for a very long time, but had always been told he was terrible at it.
Which doesn't make sense, since he is always told how wonderful his voice it.
It's probably going to end up something abstract, maybe wings that morph slowly into musical notes, or something like that. He wants it to have meaning. Even if he loses points because his senseis may not understand what it is.
It's either that, or he is going to end up sculpting his mystery bot, and that will lead to all sorts of questions and teasing that he's too old to have an imaginary friend. So he's thinking wings and music notes, and staying away from his special dream bot.
Sharpening his claws, he starts to work on it.
Almost immediately after, Prowl drops from the ceiling. It is only because of long practice at pretending to not be startled that he doesn't cut the crystal clean through, and instead carves easily. "Did you need something?"
The mech wraps arms around him, nuzzling his back, "So, Oil Slick, I was wo-"
He moves his head away, "No. I don't know how to convince sensei Yoketron that you are the bot for him."
"You're so good at carving," Prowl hums, kissing his cheek playfully. "You could carve something for me to give to him? Maybe a spark?"
Oil Slick makes a sparkling chirp of dismay, "I'm not carving you a spark. Go away, Prowl. I'm trying to work on my assignment, and you probably have work to do too. If you want Yoketron, you have to get him on your own." He ducks out of Prowl's reach again.
The other cyclebot grabs him by the waist, "But you're so much betterat this sort of thing than me. You got Streetwise to kiss me by that little bit of advice to give him candy from my servos. You know a lot. Tell me how to get Yoketron."
He makes a face, pulling away, "Sensei Yoketron is much more experienced than Streetwise. I'm not going to be able to help you. Go bug someone else. I want to work on this." He has a sudden flash in his head of laughter and being kissed while being tugged into large arms, then shakes his head, pushing Prowl away. "I can't just ignore it on your whims."
He wishes the flashes of the mystery bot and him with wings weren't coming more often. It is so hard to concentrate now, and that means he won't be able to do his homework if he keeps getting harassed. He was planning on just hiding in this room and working, but being off by himself for solitude doesn't really work in a school full of ninjabots.
No bot here knows the meaning of privacy, other than 'something that means I can't let them know I'm watching.' He sighs, and turns his back on Prowl, frowning at the sculpture, which his claws have instinctively shaped into a similar jet-form to the bot in his dreams. He hacks a wing off and works on shaping the remainder into musical notes and waves.
Prowl rests his chin on Oil Slick's shoulder and stares down at his sculpture. "You love making abstracts, don't you?"
He fights off the urge to shove the other mech away, "It leaves it more open to interpretation." And keeps bots from knowing about his mystery bot. He's never telling anyone about him ever.
His waist is given a playful squeeze, "But senseis prefer something more solid."
He frowns, "Have you been talking to Jazz?"
Prowl waves a servo, "He's fun to talk to. You should do it more often. It is very hard to ruffle him."
He rolls his optics, "His creators run a purple cora crystal garden. Any bot exposed to that constantly is hard to get a reaction out of other than faint surprise."
"Oh yeah? Well, we made out behind the big crystal and he totally got all hot and revvy, so he's definitely got more emotions than dull surprise." Prowl grins, "Making out is fun. I'll show you when you're old enough to appreciate it. Then you'll get why I want sensei."
He snorts, "You want sensei Yoketron because you're a slutbot."
The bot scoffs, "I want sensei because he is wonderful."
Oil slick pushes the other cyclebot away, "That's nice. You go harass him, then."
Prowl shakes his head, "I tried that. He pushed me off the desk and told me to work on my stealth."
"How is this," he waves at the room, "being stealthy? You're in plain sight and talking to me."
The mech waves a servo dismissively, "I'm out of hissight."
He rolls his optics, and points at a corner of the ceiling, "See right there? Some of the senseis like hiding there to check on bots. You can tell that someone is there right now because there's a faint glimmer from a shiny paint and the small sound of venting." He glares up at the corner, "Yeah, I know you're spying, Tap-Out! Maybe youshould go harass Yoketron for more training."
The minibot drops from the ceiling. "Hey, I never claimed I was good at the ninjabot part. Better at the boxing part." He grins, and sidles up alongside Oil Slick, "I like your sculptures. I could show you a more private place to work, if you want. It's a place only the senseis know about. Plus me."
Oil Slick is tempted, but it also sounds like an attempt to get him alone to make-out. "Maybe."
Tap-Out looks a bit smug at Prowl and says, "You won't be interrupted."
Absolutely an attempt to get him to make-out. "Another time." He will most likely want to do it when he's older. He knows that he likes being kissed by the bot when he dreams. He hopes that it is just a sign that he'll adore being with the other ninjabots when he's older.
Tap-Out nods, then turns to Prowl, "How about you? Want to ... practice our stealth?"
"Sure." Prowl wraps an arm around Tap-Out and tugs him close. "Jazz showed me how to do this thing with my glossa. I want to show you too."
Oil Slick watches them go, whispering to each other, and shakes his head. Bots got weird when they got older, and he's dreamed about kissing his bot with glossa a lot. It felt really nice in the dreams, and it make his chest feel warm.
He wraps his arms around his chest, remembering it, and almost falls over when he has another sudden flash of being pulled into a spontaneous dance and getting dipped, his wings brushing the ground as he laughed in joy. He pants when he comes back to himself, and shakes his head to clear it.
He doesn't have time for this, and wishes it would just stay in his dreams. It is so much less embarrassing to do this in recharge, rather than were his senseis can possibly see him.
Sensei Road Rocket had pulled him aside a few stellar cycles ago and asked him about the times he was zoning out in class. Oil Slick had stammered his way through an explanation that he wasn't recharging well, and Road Rocket hadn't bought it at all.
Fragging ninjabot senseis were too good at knowing when he was lying about something.
He just worked extra hard to avoid zoning after that.
He shakes his head, and returns to his sculpture. He has to get this done, and there's no better time to do it than now.
He hums a song he barely remembers under his venting, singing the words he knows softly, and works on his carving.
Oil Slick rubs his optics, having just sat up in his berth. Checking the time on his internal chronometer, he keeps from groaning. It is too late to go back to recharge, but too early to get up. Sighing softly, he rubs his chestplates, feeling a bit like he was kicked in the spark. His dreams are upping in intensity, and know he is almost certain he knows who his mystery bot is.
Blitzwing.
It doesn't make sense for him to be dreaming about Blitzwing. To dream about him before he even knew Blitzwing's name.
No. It makes more sense that he must have dreamed about a bot vaguely like Blitzwing, and then his fevered processor latched onto that bot's name and image when he learned about him at school.
His spark feels funny again, pulsing like that time the medic pumped charge into him to make sure his cables were all working okay. He rubs his chestplates again, and gets out of his berth. He's going to go to the obstacle course, and see if that will help clear his processor.
He'll need to set it so it isn't as high as he normally puts it, since he's running badly because of all the interruptions that he's been getting about his mystery - or maybe not so mystery? - bot. If he puts it too high, his creators will hear it, as well. They'll want to join him if they do. Sadly, even at how badly he's doing, their best isn't really as good as what he's doing.
As much as he loves his mamas, it is frustrating to have to hold back when all he wants to do is stop thinking.
Well, what he really wants to do is grind his sparkplates on something, but that's stupid, and doing his obstacle course is better for him. Especially now that he's just about reached his full size, which is really tall for a cyclebot. It helps that he has very long, thin limbs. Mama Glitterfrost said it came from her side of the family.
He wonders if he has seeker in him. Since he's fairly sure he's a seeker in his dreams. But he can't bring himself to ask either of his mamas. Not when looking in the mirror shows how he isn't really going to pass any beauty contests. He doesn't really like that, actually, but he lives.
Even if he always has this nagging feeling that he should be the prettiest bot anyone has ever seen. He has his voice and he can draw. He is the bestbot at singing now. He knows how to do it properly, and was even the lead in the musical just this vorn. Which is pretty amazing since he isn't fully out of sparklinghood just yet.
His spark pulses again, and his processor flashes on an image of Blitzwing stripped to protoform, smiling at him.
Oh, Primus.
He stumbles, but regains his balance quickly. Where the slag had he seen an image of Blitzwing without his armor?
No. His processor was just being oddly specific in making the details up. There was no reason to believe that Blitzwing had a string of protoform decoration lights up his side, or that he made the cutest noises when those lights were nibbled on.
He rubs his optics tiredly. Maybe he should try to recharge instead of doing obstacles.
But...
He doesn't want to dream of the bot his processor insists is Blitzwing. The Decepticon was never sparkbonded, anyway. Sparkbonded bots are celebrated loudly, since they're so rare. The bonding is hard on the spark until they stabilize, and Blitzwing wouldn't have had the downtime to recover from it. He doesn't care, either - no matter how much his spark protests that thought. He just needs to focus on his reflexes, and doing obstacles will help.
He just needs to focus, anyway.
Even if he wants to rub himself on things. He's pretty sure that won't help at all, especially if he gets caught doing it. So he'll race.
Oil Slick turns on the obstacle course-his creators are relatively wealthy, in that they can afford the complex track like this. Most paired femmes are given better deals on things like this, which helps, though all the upgrades they've added over the vorns were financed by themselves.
He sets it on a quiet course, not wanting the drones to fire shots at him.
He takes a deep inhalation before diving headfirst into the track. He'll focus on this, and keep his processor off of Blitzwing. Which will be a bit difficult when he keeps flashing back to the image of the jetbot in protoform.
He wishes he knew why the thought of it makes his spark hot.
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