The Diego Diaries: Chow 1 (532) edited
-0-At the feed bag
"ADA!"
"What?"
"I LIKE THIS!"
Ratchet grinned down at Orion who stood waiting for his plate. All of the infants were going to eat at the table because cute as they were dexterity was still a skill in progress. As they worked out the fixings, they were walked to the table, put up on booster seats to eat and drink from their sippy cups. Those incredible ingenious inventions were the savior of rugs even on Mars.
"Come on, Orion. Let's tie one on," Ratchet said as he walked to the last place at the table. Putting down the little plate and cup, Ratchet hoisted the infant. Getting him organized, Ratchet checked out his troops. All of the infants that had skills were parked around the table. He pulled his camera and joined the throng snapping pictures. "There. Now sit and eat. Got that? Its an order."
"ADA!"
"What, Praxus?"
"I LOVE YOU, ADA!" He grinned enormously, spoon in servo. A chorus of agreement met that remark.
"I love you all too. Eat up. Pie and dessert later," Ratchet said. Squees were had. He turned to stand behind Prowl as the adult line moved slowly along. He noted that his ada had handed a huge plateful and a nice drink to his Appa. A thrill went through him that the family had him back. An elbow brought him to reality.
"What about the ball game, loser? Praxus versus Iacon. Oh wait ..."
Ratchet planted a sharp jab between Prowl's wings.
"Ow. Sore loser." Prowl turned with a smirk. "Loser."
"Whiner."
"Loser."
"Crybaby."
"Ratchet."
Both turned to a frowning Appa. He looked at Ratchet sternly. "That is the bond of the Prime."
"He is," Ratchet said nodding his helm in the child form of contrition. "But he's still a whiner."
"You can't win," Ironhide said from a chair nearby. "Since football came back, this has been our burden."
Snorts and hoots greeted that as Prowl and Ratchet loaded up. They turned and with a pause by the table for infant course corrections and all around gimlet optics, they walked to their seats and relaxed. "I'm so glad I don't have to do the dishes," Ratchet said with a grin.
"Who says you aren't?" Optimus asked with a grin.
"I brought the turducken," Ratchet said with a grin.
"Its really good, Ratchet. Thank you," Kestrel said sweetly.
"Ah, see, Optimus? Your Ada is a nice mech. What happened to you?" Ratchet asked with a smirk.
"RATCHET!"
All optics turned to Appa Ratchet who was frowning. He looked at his wayward grandson with a big frown. "Really, Ratchet. This is the Prime."
Ratchet bowed his helm contritely in the style of well raised sparklings everywhere. It wasn't lost on anyone in the room. Ironhide grinned. "Got you crawling already. You have to tell me how you do it, Ratch. Old mech has been out of control for about a zillion vorns."
"Ratchet was raised to be a good mech," Appa Ratchet said giving his grandson the stink optic.
"They tried," Ratchet said with a wink to his Appa. His appa smiled in spite of himself.
Drift and Springer who were sitting nearby eating and drinking beer marveled at the good mood, humor and unity of the moment. Both of them had been away from homey things too long. Drift had grown up and graduated from the School of Hard Knocks, the only one available in a hard knock life. Springer had known good times but that was then. Way back then.
"I like this," Drift said to Springer. "I will never look at a senior officer in quite the same way."
Springer chuckled. "Me either."
Bob who was crashed near the window with Dawg peered up. He smelled the food, then looked for his god, Sunstreaker. Glancing around anxiously, he rose slightly and groveled his way across the room to Sunstreaker. Crawling up on his ped, Bob pressed against Sunstreaker.
Glancing down, Sunstreaker slipped him a bite. Bob ate it gratefully, bursting into a sweet purring. Everyone glanced at him. Sunstreaker patted Bob, then fed him more. The purring continued.
"That is a cute little thing for a bug," Miler said. "I like the sound."
"The humans call it purring," Ratchet said. "The little thing is as big and smart as he's going to get."
"Good thing," Venture said. "I saw Insecticons with a 'Con militia once." Miler nodded, a look of fear on his face. "They were passing through our colony on their way to somewhere else. They were huge, walked on all fours and on their peds. They were so scary."
Blackjack nodded. "We had a few try to enter the expansion. They learned the error of their ways. The 'Cons sent them because they consider them expendable. But they're intelligent. I've studied them. They're tactical and fearless. There is organization to their behavior."
"We have an infestation on Earth that's dormant, Appa. We're going to skin them alive," Ironhide said as Appa Ratchet nodded.
"You will. The Prime will lead you to victory, this I know," Appa said with conviction. Everyone in the room grinned.
:Appa is adorable: Bluestreak said.
:He is: Sunstreaker replied with a slight grin.
A rap on the door caught everyone's attention. Rambler jumped down and ran to it. Opening the door, he stepped aside. Two mechs were outside. "Come on in," Optimus called.
They entered, Old Hercy and Kup. "You have a crowd, Optimus."
"Always room for more. Besides, I invited you," Optimus said standing. "Come in and eat with us."
The old mechs looked at each other, then grinned. "Sounds like a plan," Hercy said.
"If you old coots would bond, you wouldn't have to go scavenging," Ratchet said with a grin.
"What the frag, Ratchet. Who would have us?" Hercy said with a grin.
"I'll find out for ya," Ratchet said with an evil grin.
The entire room chilled for a moment.
-0-In a prison lock up nearby
Silo, Magec, Source and Target stood in their small isolation lock up for officers as a group from somewhere in the city beyond pulled up with dinner. Apparently, a city wide celebration honoring allies had arrived on the calendar so everyone got a bigger more varied dinner than usually had in prison. It wasn't that the food was bad. It was astonishingly good. Just today, it would be even more so.
They moved back as guards directed, allowing mechs to off load the vehicle, placing an astonishing array of foods both known and unknown on their table. Nearby, the small barracks that held them would be their normal dining area but the meal was being prepped outside today. When the last dish was place, the workers stepped out to head back to the Prison Food Dispensary in the Industrial Park Food Preparation Annex.
The gate went back up and the guards moved onward. Silo glanced at the others, then walked to the table and its mass of foods and drinks. Staring at the bounty, he considered the spread as the others stepped up too. "I have never seen this kind of food before."
"I have never seen this much food before," Magec said as he took a plate and began to fill it.
"Impressive," Target said as he picked up an appetizer. He put it in his mouth, then paused. The flavors were astonishing, the texture as different as anything he had ever eaten. It was delightful. He glanced at his exec, Source who looked at him with expectation. "It's incredible," he said taking a plate himself. They would spend the afternoon dining, drinking good non-alcoholic beverages and watching the football games being piped into their barracks. It was the most incongruous orn they had spent in literally millions of years. It almost felt like home.
Minus the good food.
The drinks.
The comforts of their barracks and the quality of the game broadcast.
At least it felt like that to Magec and Silo. The other two didn't venture an opinion.
-0-In the clouds
"ADA!"
"What, Orion?"
"PIE!?" His little optics twinkled as Ratchet sat pausing between trips to the buffet. He was feeling pretty good as it was but the variety of food beckoned.
"I PIE YOU!?" Orion asked again.
Ratchet stood, then walked to a small table that held about four different kinds of human pies and five or so traditional Cybertronian confections with pie like properties as well as CELEBRATION CAKE, RATCHET! that had nearly brought Ironhide to his knee assemblies.
Picking up a plate, he managed to put 'pumpkin', 'blackberry' and 'cherry' pie slivers on it. Taking a new spoon, Ratchet led the way back to the table. Setting it down, he hoisted the infant up. Orion looked up with a huge grin. "PIE! GOOD PIE!"
Ratchet chuckled. "You must be watching Twin Peaks behind my back."
Orion dug in, so Ratchet inspected everyone else, then sat back down himself. Conversation was going on all around as the herd grazed through the impossible array of food that was brought.
"What about Christmas Surprise? My house or yours, Prowler?" Ratchet asked to be ornery
Prowl paused his fork, then shot Ratchet a gimlet optic. "We have about 2-3 decaorns before planning that. You rushing things for a reason?"
"Nope." Ratchet grinned. He glanced at his appa. "We have mid line seats at the stadium to watch Praxus lose, Appa. You will be there too. Then we usually go to Cafe Praxus to exult over Prowl's deep sighs and whining. Its the next big event on our social calendar."
Appa Ratchet perked up. "We can go to the stadium? Its allowed?"
The conversation paused a moment as everyone turned to look at the little mech with a huge plate filled with confections his son, Ravel had given him along with his favorite 'tea'. Ratchet sat forward. "Yes, Appa. Until all are one," Ratchet said gently.
"I will carry you there myself," Sunstreaker said fiercely.
All of the mechs in the room nodded. Appa Ratchet looked around, then looked at Prime. "Thank you. I have never seen a game before. Ratchet almost got us into one once. Remember?" he asked his grandson.
Ratchet nodded. "You would have loved it. Iacon stomped Praxus 31-0."
For once, Prowl didn't say a word.
-0-TBC November 29, 2013
NOTE: A note about how the older bots are smaller than the younger ones. When I visited York, England once (what a great town!) I saw a strange (to my experience) sight. All of the elderly were so tiny. They seemed to be about four foot ten to five feet two. They always were incredibly well dressed … suits and hats for men, hats and matching purses and shoes for the women. Nice overcoats. They were so classy. Then all the younger folks were like giants over them, towering in height in comparison. Just in a generation or two, things were better and the difference was amazing. I think the same thing here as well. Those who could save for a good protoform -Ratchet's family and Nitro's- have big younglings. Nitro got a normal size protoform because more advantages came for him than his mini-con family. It seems an evolutionary thing, succeeding generations being bigger. The same thing has happened in my own family. That explains that tendency in this story. Thank you for the questions. They are the best. Hugs!-me :D:D:D