The Diego Diaries: Shadow Box Interlude 5 (231/69) edited for boo boos :D
-0-The camp site
They sat around the fire device, its light streaming out into the deeply inky darkness of night time that was Mars away from the urban areas of settlement. They had finished dinner and set up their tents in a circle as per the handbooks …
"ATAR! WHAT ME?!" Orion stood in the tent he would share with Ironhide and Praxus. His little sleeping bag was spread out and its intriguing features waiting to be activated. It had a bladder under it that with the flip of a switch on a tiny panel at the foot would inflate. Any baby that used it would have a soft pad underneath to protect them as well as heat their little afts. It was specially designed for Mars by The Adventure Group, a sporting goods business started by ex-athletes from Praxus who taught survival and adventuring once upon a time.
"That's your bed, doodle bug," Ironhide said as he spread out the one for Praxus. His own would be across the doorway so that the little mites wouldn't go a yondering in the middle of the night. They would have to climb Mount Ironhide to do it.
"ATAR, WHY SHE!?" Orion asked pointing at the tiny bag that would hold Praxus. Praxus staring at it turned to look at Ironhide too.
He finished laying out his own bag then turned pausing as he looked at both babies. He grinned and shook his helm. Two miniature versions of himself were standing on the ground looking up at him with his colors and Ratchet's garbing them boldly. They were amazingly cute together. "You two are the best thing ever," he said. "That's my bed and that one belongs to Pax. Both of you and I will recharge here tonight.
In a tent nearby, Optimus Prime was having the same conversation with Miracle and Kaon who stood side-by-side holding each others servos and dollies. "This is where you and Kaon will recharge," he said to Miracle.
Miracle smiled, a strange reflection of himself that never failed to give Prime pause. He grinned. "That is where I will recharge," Prime said pointing to the doorway. Miracle smiled again. Prime was dazzled again.
Nearby …
"THIS IS SO GREAT! WE GET A TENT BY OURSELVES!" Spirit said gripping Sunspot's servos tightly. Both little mechs jumped up and down for a moment. They turned to Rambler and T-Bar who were smiling at them. "THIS CAMPING IS FUN! I LIKE THE AUTOBOT SCOUTS!" Spirit said with joy.
"I do too." Rambler looked at his little sleeping bag, then the floor of the tent. "Where do you want to recharge, Spirit?" he asked.
"I want to recharge with all of you!" he said with excitement. "We can play and tell stories. It will be like a sleepover!"
Rambler grinned. "It is a sleepover."
"Yeah," Spirit said looking outside at the gathering darkness. "But it won't be home."
They all walked over and peered out. As they did, nearby next to their own another shuttle was landing.
-0-In the shuttle
They sat in the roomy confines joking about Prowl's driving as he flew them to the campsite in the bottom of a deep canyon. It was getting very dark and they were due to arrive in time to do something called 'smores'. Apparently, when scouts when on campfire outings they did 'smores'.
Prowl had researched it for Optimus and had discussed it like it was the invasion of Cybertron with Rampage, showing him the diagrams, images and other details of 'smores'. They had taken on the challenge and in the back of the shuttle in a big box the particulars necessary to do 'smores' were ready to use.
"When are we going to get there?" Sideswipe whined like a child, needling Prowl who sat in the pilot seat in front of him. "Are we there yet?"
"Slagger," Prowl replied with a grin.
Ratchet lounging in the seat beside him grinned. "Are we there yet, Granny? Some of us have things to do."
"Such as?" Prowl asked casting a gimlet optic at the big red and white mechanism beside him.
"Well, I intend to recharge all over the berth tonight since the ball and chain is on bivouac with the younglings."
A flurry of searches met with big grins. "I like that one," Sunstreaker said. "Bluestreak, ball and chain. They both start with the same sound. Coincidence? I would say no."
A rap on the chassis greeted that remark and the snark gathered. Ravel sat watching them with a big grin. "This is so fun."
Everyone had an 'aww' moment, then it picked up again. It was merciful when they landed.
The little mechs ran out of their tent and straight to the shuttle where everyone was off loading. They were twirled by Sunny and Sideswipe, hugged and kissed by everyone else as they looked around at the encampment. It was neat, arranged in a circle and had space for a lot of individuals to sit around the brightly lit 'campfire'.
Orion walked out of his tent followed by Praxus and Ironhide, yelling and running for his ada. Ratchet hugged him, then Praxus and they were passed off along with the other infants. "How's it going?" Ratchet asked with a smirk as the 'troop leaders' joined them.
"It's going great, right Prime?" Ironhide asked glancing at his confederate.
"Oh great," Optimus said with a chuckle. "We have been crawling in the dirt all orn."
"WE FOUND METEOR THINGS!" Spirit said holding his arms up to Prowl. "WE'RE GIVING THEM TO YOU, ADA!"
Prowl grinned and hugged the youngling tightly. "What a good little mech you are, son. I can't wait to see them."
He hopped down and ran to the shuttle that had brought them to this spot returning with a heavy little yellow bucket. "I can show you now," he said with a giant smile.
A forest of tall mechs looked down at him and grinned. Then they all took a seat on a stone or rock to be shown. He reached into his tiny bucket and took out a meteor fragment. "I found this with Atar," he said holding it up. He smiled. "ATAR WAS MY BUDDY!"
An 'aww' moment made the rounds as he walked to each one of them to show his find. Rambler grinned. "Spirit really knows how to find meteor fragments," he said proudly.
Spirit looked at him and nodded. "I like Scouts! I like this so much!" He then continued to wow his audience with his finds. At the bottom of the bucket were two very red rocks. He held them up. "Orion found these."
Ratchet grinned. "Scouts does him good then?"
"He was licking them," Spirit said with pride.
Ratchet nearly blew his audials out of his helm trying to quell his laughter but no one else tried. They laughed and howled. Spirit looked at them a moment trying to figure out the point, then he sort of drooped. Prowl noticing first elbowed others and they paused looking at him, then Spirit.
Spirit looked at them uncertainly. "He was trying really hard."
It was silent a moment, then Ratchet leaned forward. "He had such a great role model in you and your brothers."
He looked at the others who nodded smirks and grins firmly in place anyway, then smiled. "He's so cute."
Another 'aww' moment made the rounds. When all was shown and exclaimed over, so did Spirit.
"So we can conclude that 'camp' was a rousing success?" Miler asked with a smirk as he sat holding Iacon. She was smiling at everyone delighted in the good energy and happiness of the group. Her twin was standing between Miler and Venture examining rocks. Hero was firmly on the arm of her atar.
"We brought the stuff for smores," Prowl said with a grin. It passed right over the helms of the younglings.
"Why don't you come see our tents?" Sunspot asked turning from hugging Tie Down to look at the gathered adults.
They all rose and with squadron precision were led to the sites in question to ooh and ah the possibilities. Ratchet put down Praxus's sleeping bag and glanced at Ironhide. "I would have loved to have something that soft to lay on a few times in bivouac. Nice going, Only One."
Ironhide nodded. "The company wants a report when we get back. So far I like all their equipment."
"These tents are big and roomy," Ravel said. "The infants will have a very nice night when they go to recharge."
"We want them between us," Optimus said as he walked out of the tent. "We want them to feel safe."
Ratchet followed and looked at the stars. "It's really dark. If they had full spectrum optics they might enjoy it more."
Prowl nodded. "Or not," he said with a smirk. "I am told that you tell ghost stories around campfires when you are making smores."
"So was I," Ratchet said. They turned and walked to the shuttle to get the box, carrying it to the fire. Setting it down, it was opened. Inside were 'chocolate bars', 'graham crackers' and 'marshmallows'. Ratchet fascinated with the marshmallows popped one into his pie hole. "That's good," he said with a grin. He pulled out a lot of skewers and directions. "Well, who will be the sacrificial lamb?"
A flurry of glances greeted that, then they all turned to look at Bluestreak. "What?" he asked as a skewer was pressed into his servo.
With Ratchet reading directions, everyone sat and watched Bluestreak as he built a 'smore'. When he had skewered the 'marshmallow', he put it in the fire for a moment. It melted nicely. Pressing it on a 'cracker' and adding a top along with a bit of 'chocolate', he looked at it. "This looks good." He took a bite and chewed it, all optics watching him. "I think this is epic," he said taking another bite.
Smores were then had by all.
A little bit later...
"Who's going to tell the first scary ghost story?" Ratchet asked. Everyone looked at him like he had a few screws loose. "You have to tell ghost stories. Its in the manual."
"It is?" -Ironhide and Optimus
"You were supposed to research this," Ratchet said with a grin. "You always tell scary stories in the dark around campfires."
They looked at him, then each other. Sunstreaker smirked. "Why don't you tell us about the moment you realized, Sideswipe, that you would never be as good looking as me. That had to be pretty scary."
That was buried in the scorn it deserved.
"I remember one time when I bought a pudding for Festival," Ravel said semi-lost in thought. "I remember finding a razor fragment in it." They all looked at him for a moment. "I found it very scary. It was for Ratchet and Tie."
They all looked at Ravie with a nod and a grin. "I can imagine, Ada," Ratchet said. "What did you do about it?"
He looked at Ratchet and shrugged. "We threw it out. We couldn't take it back, Ratchet."
For a moment the awful past intruded, then Ratchet stuck a marshmallow on a skewer. "Here, Ada. Have this instead."
Ravel did.
"Who is going to tell a scary story, Ada?" A little bot sitting on the seat beside Prowl looked up at the gathered group. They all looked at him, a little white and red mech with a hopeful expression. Spirit looked at his atar. "What kind of story do you know, Atar?"
Optimus considered the endless supply of scary stories that he could relate, then quashed them all. He was sure that the expression on his face was the same as the ones on everyone else. "Well, there was this little mech named Spirit who liked to sneak up on everyone," Optimus began.
All of the sparklings and younglings were enraptured. Especially Spirit.
TBC
2013 (3)
NOTE: I am working on my desktop because my laptop died. I will be wearing a black arm band for that intrepid little guy for the rest of this week. As for now, the Acer and the old Dell desktop are my little buddies. I would tell you more but Prime's telling a ghost story and I don't want to steal his thunder. :D :D :D