The Diego Diaries: Thanks 1 (530) edited
-0-At the City Works Depot in the Industrial Park, Mars
They stood in the warehouse where all the city decorations and the like were kept. An enormous rack nearby held the huge banners and flags that were used to mark Cybertronian occasions or events such as football games or the Festival of Primus. At the end in neat rows were the numerous Christmas Surprise trees that would be taken to the cities and placed in prominent spots. Banners of the Emblems of the Primes, the specific ones naming Optimus Prime as well as those marking holidays both human and Cybertronian were held neatly, their massive forms carefully hung up against wrinkle or injury. All of them were ready at a moment's notice.
Such as the much anticipated world championship football game in a couple three orns.
Three giant trees that would stand in the intersections of Autobot City were being loaded onto trucks by overhead cranes. They were amazingly life like and full with lights already wired onto them thickly. A simple white star topped them, a star that would glow in the darkness of evening for all to marvel over.
More enormous trees were being fabricated for the other cities. Three each were to be placed at notable intersections, cheerful additions to brighten up the lives of war weary exhausted newbies as well as those who had been here forever. For the next three orns, the Public Works mechs and femmes would be erecting the symbols of solidarity with Earth all over the colony.
-0-Gypsy
Gypsy watched as her newest group of separation specialists finished with a young mech separating his first infant. His bond stood next to him holding the baby wrapped in a blanket as the last measurements of his partner were being taken. It had been a classic separation, smooth and beautiful. The three mechs with her had a natural talent for this work. She would give them high marks for their effort and the colony would have a separation team on the EMT forces, Emergency Medical Teams that were now stationed at Centurian. They would be first responders and handle medical emergencies as part of the Consolidated Fire Department in affiliation with the hospital. The main fire station in each city would have a certified team for emergencies.
She watched with delight as a new family got its start and a new team certified itself for a new city. She remembered the orn she and her family had touched down here, a new group looking for a safe life. Now she ran a hospital, took care of an important portion of the population, was the official doctor of the Wreckers and taught at University. It was truly a miracle she thought as they all turned to her with expectation. "Bravo," she said with a smile.
-0-Neo
"When do you suppose Ironhide is going to let us know where the infants are?" Neo asked Roto.
"Probably never," Roto said with a grin. "He's taken an early orn off for Thanksgiving."
"That is a nice holiday," Neo said. "Given our situation, we have a lot to be thankful for. I know that Laret and I do."
"We're having dinner with friends, then going for a hike in the Valles. Terri is part of a flying club. One of them made a ship and he wants to fly us there. I hope it holds together," Roto said with a grin.
"Oh my. You are a brave one," Neo said with a grin as she picked up Mimi for her massage.
The afternoon wore on for this, the last orn before Thanksgiving vacation for the schools. The colony-wide break would last three orns and lead into the weekend where the championship game for Cybertronian Adult League football supremacy would be decided.
Praxus Science v Kaon Kavaliers.
It was going to be broadcast to Earth in all its violent glory. It was going to put the Super Bowl in the shade. Probably.
-0-Mr. Terradive's class
She sat in her seat watching everything around her. She was overwhelmed with amazement to sit in a chair in a real school. Other children had welcomed her happily and she felt less scared and more hopeful that this experience would be as wonderful as she thought it would be. Her genitors had walked her to her door, then sat a bit with her brother, watching her be welcomed as well as assigned her own seat and cubby for her brand new things.
Mr. Terradive had talked to her a moment, then had Spirit show her the room. She had followed quietly, marveling over the many things that she was going to be using and seeing in her own learning path. Her ada, atar and brother watched her and she peeped a glance at them as she went here and there with Spirit.
When they had stood for recess, Mr. Terradive had talked to her family and they had hugged her to leave. She watched them go, then looked up at Terradive. He grinned, then showed her how to line up. A romp around the playground with their class had given her confidence. Soon it would be like old time sake for her to come and go with them. For now, it was still all new and she was shy.
Avor, 26 and Boe walked out of the classroom, then took the elevator upward to the Learning Center Annex where Boe would begin. All of the students that were age appropriate for Youngling Intermediate but didn't have enough skills and learning to attend would go for individualized plans to catch them up. Most of their highly motivated students were in regular classrooms in jig time. Boe would not be an exception. When he was settled and their own fluttering sparks calm, Avor and 26 left to wander the colony. They would do so until it was time to get their younglings. They would be regaled by tales of their orn all the way home and night would be a matter of study and mutual support.
It would be glorious.
-0-The fam
Ratchet paused by the Metro, Prowler in arms. A rip roaring time was had by all at RTR Tools. Dinner for Thanksgiving was parceled out with messages dropped for the twins and Springer. Those mechs weren't getting off easy either. "You go play. I'll keep Prowler and get things done. Tomorrow is going to be a whirl."
"We're heading for the armory in Centurian. Its almost finished." Ironhide looked at the infants. "Ready?"
"We are!" Sunspot said with a giant grin. Everyone nodded with giant smiles.
"See ya," Ironhide said as he turned gathering leashes.
"Ironhide?"
"What?" he asked pausing to stare at Ratchet.
"Call the school."
Ironhide paused a moment, his guilt writ large before it disappeared altogether behind a bland unconvincing look of innocence. "See ya." He turned and the mob followed.
Ratchet watched, then chuckled. "Coward." He looked at Prowler who lay in the crook of his arm, his onesie suit and Seeker bag resembling a koala bear covering him against the gathering cold of a semi-cloudy orn. "Let's go get our stuff for tomorrow." With that, the two ambled down the street toward the Mall of Metroplex and the massive grocery store therein.
-0-Trine and Bluestreak
"What do we get?" Sunstreaker asked as they wandered through the aisles of the Grocery At Tyger Pax. Everywhere they turned shelves groaned with food items, sundries and liquor. Masses of all manner of items were there for inspection and selection including a tantalizing array of confections and desserts.
"Ratchet said something about bringing appetizers," Bluestreak said wandering along the aisles showing 'vegetables'. "I don't really know what that means so I'm going over the files on Teletraan III right now. There must be recipes for 2,000,000 different things including the human stuff. I don't quite know what I'm going to do here."
"Ask someone to make some and we can pick it up," Sideswipe said. He grinned. "You can say you did them yourself."
"You lie a lot, Sideswipe. Its one of the things I like about you," Bluestreak said pausing next to a pile of different wrapped 'cheese'. He picked one up testing its softness. It was very soft. "This looks good."
"What the frag is cheese?" Sunstreaker asked as he held the basket. It was half full of things needed and the impulse buys that insure that some households have a great assortment of anchovies, sardines and odd ball cookies on hand at all times.
"Its that goopy stuff that you get on the top of pizzas," Bluestreak said glancing at the case nearby with stacks of boxed ready to heat and eat pizzas. They had white 'cheese' on top. "Like these."
The twins looked too. "I like that stuff. This is the same thing?" Sideswipe asked picking up a blob that would have been mozzarella anywhere else.
Blue looked at it, then nodded. Sideswipe threw it into the basket, then they all turned moving forward in their quest for 'appetizers'.
-0-At The Grocery in the Mall of Metroplex
He walked along holding a basket over his arm. Lying in it with a big grin, Prowler watched the world from his slightly swinging vantage point. Nestled around him were the odds and ends things that old Ada needed to do this and that. Old Ada had finally figured it out. He was going to bring a turducken to the party but the story would prep it and he would cook it. The pies and purely Cybertronian desserts that he also would supply would come from the Energon Basket across the mezzanine.
Ambling along, smirking at his happy tweeting little infant/koala bear, he felt the raw awfulness of the part few orns slough off his back. The store was playing Cnristmas Surprise and Cybertronian music over the intercom, the shoppers were happy and all was getting more normal.
He also had a new youngling.
Enlarging his mental landscape wasn't hard. Being a clannish people, Cybertronians were always taking in others. He himself had grown up with a changing number of younglings who would come for the night and stay for decaorns at a time. Poverty, sudden orphaning from an industrial or mining accident, the incapacitation or rejection of a genitor or genitors … all of it had modified their behavior over time.
There were always orphans who needed support. There were always Youth Centers to put them in but many were the families, friends or clans that tried to keep their younglings with them when they could. Adding a youth by adoption or not was common. For Springer to reach out even in jest in this manner was not uncommon. Entire families were created that way in the ghettos of Cybertron.
If the Seekers had known of Sunspot's plight the entire Cybertronian army could not have deterred them from finding and rescuing him. They were ferocious about their infants and Seekers never ended up in orphanages like others. Their culture didn't allow it. Their clans and tribes would even reach across to each other to accommodate lost infants. How Sunspot managed to be missed would always be a huge mystery.
Ratchet reached The Infant Center, then entered. Walking through the aisles he paused. A pair of white hoodies hanging on a rack made him smile. On one was the following: 'Ctrl + C' and on the other was 'Ctrl + V'. He had found his gifts for Iacon and Uraya. The grand ada in him blazed to life so he spent time gathering hoodies for all the infants. The twins were covered so he considered Kaon and his little mech wings.
Checking out the rows and rows of hoodies on the racks, he settled on a very cute hoodie that had short sleeves with extensions. The extensions that would reach his wrists were covered with the images of tattoos. He would have full tattoo sleeves without the tattoos. It went into the basket. Glancing at Prowler who looked at him with a big smile, he grinned. "We're halfway done with Christmas Surprise shopping. If I find something for you, close your little optics. Okay?"
Prowler who listened thoughtfully grinned madly. "A."
Ratchet chuckled. "I didn't hear that. Your old atar will cry when you have to go to school. He is still in mourning with Orion and Praxus. A word to the wise. Don't even discuss Hero with him." Ratchet grinned, then turned. He paused. Hanging on a rack for older infants was a hoodie that was perfect for Sunspot even with his Seeker format. It was a penguin hoodie. "Score," Ratchet said as he took it too.
A short stop at the checkout, several wrapped presents in his hold and a pause by the door to look at pet couture, Ratchet wandered out to head for The Book Store. Entering, moving up and down the aisles, he found two books about the history of two city-states on Cybertron. He took them for his Appa and Atar, then found a compilation of murder mysteries for his Ada. Ravel had become addicted to English mysteries. Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers were spoken with reverence around the little mech.
Burdened by packages with several family chalked off, he left the Mall heading for home. By the time he reached the apartment Prowler was soundly in recharge. He put the infant down in his crib tucking him in. Putting the presents with his stash in the closet of his own room, he walked to the window to look outside at the bustling city and those beyond.
"The humans say you have to be thankful for things in your life," he said to no one but himself. "Well I am. My old mech, my family and friends … this place. How can I not be happy and thankful?" He stood by the window musing on the vagaries and miracles of life as the moments ticked by when his old mech and the youngest members of his extended menagerie wandered in with all their good cheer and sweetness.
-0-In Terra
Dar stood by the window staring out. A friend sat nearby reading a book, sitting with them as was the custom. Bar was nearby preparing something to eat. Friends would come over after work to keep them company so food was in order. They themselves had not been to work. They wouldn't go until after the funeral. Friends and the priests were preparing that terrible ordeal.
All he and Bar had to do was get through the orns until the sunlight reached them again. He didn't think that orn would ever come. His only child was in the Matrix and even if that was what all hoped for someday, he was distraught that this was so.
He had heard the humans speak of Commotion on the news broadcast, telling of his dash to save them. It had been a revelation out of the infinite mercy of Primus to conceive of the idea that his son had a purpose, a merciful reason for his dash into danger. He had mulled it over discussing with Bar what he thought. They had sat together holding servos and as they talked it became their theme. Their son wasn't being foolish. Commotion was being honorable and brave. Their son was there to save the aliens from dying. Their son didn't die for nothing.
It was comforting in a strange way. He would never be able to put it into words. He just felt it. When the pain seemed to overwhelm them, it came upon them that their son was brave. Then it pushed back a little leaving them only slightly less anguished.
It was all they had for now and they grasped it with both servos. In the long run it would help them. But for now there was only desolation. For now, they could only move through their orns as best they could. There was nothing to be thankful for now.
Maybe later. Maybe in some far off orn …
-0-TBC November 26, 2013
NOTE: Tomorrow is the American Thanksgiving Day. It is a time for family, food and football, the Three F's. I wish everyone who celebrates it a wonderful day. For those who don't, I wish you the same happiness anyway. :D For me, there are many things to be thankful for, chief among them this story and your company. Happy Thursday from me to you. Arctapus