Chapter 18

Reception

Auri and Prowl are the happiest, I can tell. When they move out of the circle, hands still bound together, they are smiling, which everyone can see, but I can feel their happiness joined over their sibling bonds with me. I guess Starlight can probably feel something from them, too, and also from me. She's bouncy, abnormally bouncy, especially for being on her pedes. Bounce, bounce, bounce- I scoop her up as the party starts to move.

"What next, Prax?" she asks me, giggling and waving her streamers. "Now what?"

"Now we parade some more and eat and dance," I tell her, moving with the crowd, following Prowl and Auri back up the sand path toward the vehicles and the road.

"A parade to a party!" she squeaks. I am just as excited and happy, but I feel a little bit old for a second I as realize that she's going to get worn out and be tired and cranky in the evening after too much excitement if we party for a really long time (and I know a party can go on for a really long time). I must be responsible. I feel like I could party for a very long time, but I'll need to watch out for her. I guess I'd better watch out for myself as well. I know I can meltdown like a sparkling as much as she can if too much goes on.

Auri and Prowl climb into one of the chariots we rode in just earlier, and Ironhide motions for me and Uplink to go in the other one. Uplink is smiling in joy, but she shifts a wing at him like she doesn't exactly want to ride in some funny wagon pulled by an earth-mobile. She gets in, though. She's not gonna argue with Ironhide on a day like this. She needs to conserve her energy, just like Starlight and I can't party for too long.

We ride through the streets, and we wave our hands and streamers and toss more candy. I keep an optic on Prowl and Auri. They keep grinning happily at each other. Their hands are still bound by their cords, but they're also holding hands, too. Prowl has his other hand on the edge of the chariot, like he did the whole way here. I didn't think he liked the chariot thing much then, and I still don't think he likes it, but he's very delighted to be Auri's sparkmate now, delighted enough to not actually mind. Auri thinks it's fun, probably. She remembers to wave to everybody. Prowl nods to people sometimes. From the way they keep smiling at each other, I don't think they're going to stay very long at the party. The five of us Praxians will cut out early, but those two will go a different place than Uplink and Starlight and me. I know.

We reach the square where all the big parties are held, and the music is all around us. The humans clear out to a different area so they don't have to worry about getting stepped on by our dancing pedes, and we don't have to worry either. No worries today. Prowl and Auri lead the way to the middle of the square and start dancing. They prance and shimmy and sway and turn and all that, dancing with their wings, too, and all the bots dance in circles around them. I dance holding Starlight, and she bounces her helm and wings to the music with me.

For the next song, Ironhide pulls me over so he and Chromia and Uplink and Starlight and I can dance right around Auri and Prowl, all of us brushing against each other sometimes, tiny caresses of closeness. We are so full of joy and life that I feel like I could dance like this forever, bouncing in the nucleus of the bots who make up everything for me. Even Ratchet, who never dances, is near us, picking up his pedes a little and dancing somewhat. The twins and Bee are dancing here, too.

Prowl and Auri unwind their cords as they dance. I watch. They unwind the cords, slip them into subspace, and then proceed to dance much closer to each other, now not separated by their hands. They can now bump against each other like Ironhide and Chromia do, if they want to. Am I ready for this? They are, I guess. I guess that's the thing that matters. They are. Prowl knows how to dance just a little naughty, I find out. Auri is just as surprised as I am, but she's very much more delighted. Her whole expression glows with delight. She also knows how to –where did she learn to dance like this? Chromia probably told her a thing a two, I guess. She's too happy and having too much fun for me to be disconcerted for very long. Their happiness is infectious.

Ironhide gives Prowl a tap on the shoulder as the song changes. Prowl smiles up at him. Then Prowl and Auri tone it down for the next song as we –their dirty dancing shield- move out among the other bots. They're still smiling and looking pleased with each other, though.

We dance a number of dances, and then Prowl and Auri start dancing toward the tables of energon and goodies. I follow, of course, and other bots follow, too, gathering around.

There is an energon dispenser waiting with lots of full cubes surrounding it, and there are extra cubes that are empty that can be filled once the others have been taken. Prowl takes a full cube and pours it into two empty cubes. Then Auri takes a scoop of pre-mixed spices and sprinkles it into the two energons, giving them each a little stir with a stirring stick. Then she hands one to Prowl, and Prowl hands the other to her.

They touch the edges of the cube together and move out of the way so everyone else can get energon cubes. Bot pass cubes around and over to each other so we don't have to make a line or mill about. Sunstreaker hands me a cube, and Sides hands Starlight a tiny her-sized cube.

She starts to lift it to her lips.

"Wait for the toast," Sides whispers to her.

"Oh." She looks around.

When everybody has a cube, Prowl looks at Auri like he'd delighted but can't remember what words are.

Auri raises her cube, and everyone follows suite. "To life," she calls.

"To life," everybody calls back.

Then Prowl and Auri link their arms around and drink from their energons. Everybody else drinks from their energons after that. Starlight and I drink ours, too. I sort of thought Auri would feed Prowl her energon and Prowl would feed her his, but given that they aren't 100 percent coordinated and Prowl doesn't have the steadiest of hands, I imagine that that could have gotten a little messy. Although, they already have oil and spices sprinkled on them, so a little energon wouldn't have been that much more.

Now that we've had the toast, the party is free to do more dances or drink more energon and eat goodies or play games, whatever anybody wants to do. Some bots have to go back to their jobs since the whole base can't be left unattended, but most of the bots are still here, and we party on.

I hand Starlight up to Ultra Magnus after a little while so she can have a break from being in the party, but she can still watch the whole party. I steal Auri from Prowl and dance with her in a partner dance while he watches and smiles, optics twinkling. I give her back halfway through for five seconds, and then I make Prowl dance with me instead while Auri giggles at us.

Then we are back to a group dance, but Sunstreaker and Sides tease Prowl by dancing around Auri for a minute until she pokes them away and dances up to Prowl. I laugh as Sides pretends to be surprised.

I lose track of time in the party, but I'm watching Prowl and Auri a lot, smiling at their smiles and glowing optics, and I notice when they start thinking about leaving. This party could go on for hours after they leave, but they're ready to be by themselves. I think I am probably ready to be someplace quieter, too, with fewer bots. Uplink and Ratchet have already left and gone back to med-bay. I would like to go to med-bay, too. It is like home with Ratchet there.

I go to Prowl and Auri and hug them.

"Hi, Prax," Auri says, smiling up at me. "Radiant" is the word for her expression.

"Are you leaving now?" I ask them even though I'm pretty sure they are.

Auri blushes a little. "We were thinking about it," she says. Prowl nods in slightly in agreement.

"Okay," I say. I'm not exactly sure what to say next. "I'll see you tomorrow, I guess," I say, and that makes them smile at me with twinkling optics.

"Hey," Sunstreaker says, coming out of nowhere and draping an arm over Prowl's shoulders. He has had more high-grade than he usually does, and I can tell.

"Hello, Sunstreaker," Prowl says. He can tell, too, but he's tolerant at the moment.

"So," Sunstreaker says. "We've decided that the whole beach on your favorite side of the beach is completely off-limits for everybody, bot and human, except for you two, if you wanna… hang out there for a bit, watch the waves n' stuff, nobody's gonna be around to see."

This surprises Prowl and Auri both a little. They love the beach but hadn't thought to ask to have a private section of it reserved for themselves.

"Oh," says Prowl, wings shifting as he thinks. He probably has to rearrange a schedule.

"That's delightful, Sunny," Auri says happily, "Thank you!"

"We knew you'd like it," Sunstreaker says, smiling. "All those little dates you took on the beach anyway… makes sense to give you private space there for a bit."

Prowl nods. "I appreciate it."

Sunstreaker slide his arm off Prowl's shoulders and gives his shoulder a pat instead. "See you later…" He moves over and gives Auri's helm a light kiss. "Enjoy the Prowling."

Prowl's optics widen with something a little like dismay, and I am also bothered, but Sunstreaker moves away before either Prowl or I can find any words at all to utter. Auri is just pressing fingers against her lips as she smiles. I also do not know what to say now, so I kiss them each on the helm and then scamper off to find some way to distract myself. I will go to med-bay, and Ratchet will give me chores to keep me distracted, and Prowl and Auri will go to the beach and…

My wings twitch as I start to look for Starlight so I can take her back to med-bay. Surely Prowl and Auri won't do the actual thing on the beach. Sand could get places. They will just sit on a blanket and talk and kiss. Anybody could tell they wanted to kiss more. They'll do that. They'll probably touch. Probably.

I find Starlight at the DJ table, sitting on Blaster's shoulder and bouncing her helm to the music. She has a fist full of candy and is sticking a rust bunny in her mouth as I come up.

"Hi, Star," I say.

"Pwaf!" She waves at me, having stuffed the whole rust bunny into her mouth now.

"It's time to go to med-bay and get some quiet," I say.

"Oh…" she looks around. She swallows the last bit of the airy, melty treat. "Did Prowl and Auri leave?"

I nod. "They left already."

"Okay." She holds out her arms, and Blaster hands her over to me. "Bye, Blastmech," she chirps, giving him a wave as she settles against me.

"Catch ya later, little scrapper," Blaster says to her. "See ya, Prax."

"See ya," I say. Then Starlight and I get some goodies to go from the table of treats before we leave entirely.

The streets seem extra quiet as we go back to med-bay, after seeing them full of the parade and music. Starlight talks about the parade and the ceremony the whole way back, delighting over riding in the chariot and seeing so many people and getting to wave her streamers and dance and everything. It was definitely a wonderful parade, and it made me happy, too. Prowl and Auri being happy at the end of it was the best thing, I think, but I let Starlight babble on over all her favorite details. I will have my time to think and talk later; right now it's my job to listen to Starlight.

When we get to med-bay, we find Uplink about to go shower and wash all her polish off.

"Do you want to come wash, too?" she asks Starlight.

Starlight looks at her own sparkling polish. She's managed to scuff some of it off already, somehow, and it isn't perfect anymore. She likes her sparkly polish, but she does prefer it to be perfect. Still she hesitates.

"With lots of bubbles?" Uplink asks, quite wise and knowing. Bubbles will win out over sparkly polish, I know, and she knows.

"Okay!" Starlight says, reaching for Uplink. I hand her over, and Uplink takes her away, asking her about the fun she had.

I sigh a little, relaxing without responsibilities and without activities now. I hope Prowl and Auri didn't forget to put down a big blanket before they sit on the beach. Sand has a way. Although, even with a blanket, they will still have sand in their pedes at the very least. Sand really has a way. But we have a private shower now… they can wash the sand away… together… fingers gently touching, soft scrubbies and bubbles cleaning away beach grime…

"Done with the partying?" Ratchet asks out of nowhere, and I jump.

"Yes-" I settled my wings. Did I jump?

Ratchet holds an arm out a little, and I go to him and tuck into a hug. He knows. He knows I'm a just a bit stressed about this. He holds me for a while and rubs my helm until I'm ready to do something else.

"I don't know what to do right now," I say. Prowl and Auri are probably kissing, nuzzling. Prowl's fingers are probably tracing the little curves in Auri's armor. It's been long enough that she's probably started to test out how it feels to slip her fingers under his armor.

Ratchet says something about laundry, so I nod and go to the laundry room, touching each doorframe as I go. Auri was shy with Prowl sometimes because she didn't want to be improper, but I think she's going to be bold now. There aren't really improper things for them now that they're spark-mates. Some things, I guess, could be in certain situations, but not things they would be likely to do. They have sense.

There are towels to fold, all different sizes of towels. I start with the little ones. Fold in half, square into rectangle. Fold in half again, corners all meeting. It's simple. I'll do the hand towels next, and then the smallish towels, and then the big towels, and last of all the extra big towels. Prowl and Auri probably have an extra big towel on the beach so they can sit and sprawl without worrying about too much sand.

Fold in half, square to rectangle. Prowl and Auri are probably doing okay. Fold in half again. I am pretty sure. Corners all meeting. They'll be talking to each other. They know how to look after each other. And they have sense. And Prowl knows what he's doing, and Auri is smart.

Fold in half, square to rectangle. And they want to be with each other. That's the important part. Fold in half again. Corners… I realize what's bothering me. Corners all meeting. It's Pretty, the first virgin I serviced at that place.

Fold in half, square to rectangle… She came in with several other femmes, her friends, and they had drinks and watched the dancers and flirted with the mechs. And… fold in half again… after a while, she came over to me and shyly asked to spend time with me. Corners all meeting. When we went to the supervisor to get a room, the supervisor told her about me having limited verbal capabilities and suggested a different mech. One who could talk and who had worked with virgins before, unlike me.

Fold in half, square to rectangle… Pretty was firm that she wanted me. (That wasn't actually her name, but I gave it to her). We were the only Praxians in sight. I think that's why she wouldn't change her mind. The supervisor gave in, but talked to me privately telling me extra things to make sure everything went well for Pretty. Fold in half again. Pretty and I went to our room, and she was trying not to cry on the way, so when we got in our room, I wrapped her in a blanket and cuddled with her on the couch as a few tears tricked down from her optics. Corners match.

"Uh oh? Uh oh?" I asked, wiping her cheeks with a soft cloth. She apologized and said it was stupid. Everything was stupid and horrible. "Talk, talk, okay," I told her. Fold in half. She was here because her commander was adamant about not taking a virgin into war with Decepticons. "Bad enough you're a small femme as it is!" she had been told. She was so upset at being held back. So upset she couldn't fight for her family. She didn't even know where her family members were now. But she had to do something.

Fold again. I didn't have words, I didn't have ideas, I didn't have any solution. I could only listen dumbly. She was upset because she hadn't wanted it to be this way. She'd wanted it to be with someone special, no offence. She meant a spark-mate. She wanted to be with a spark-mate, have a parade and the blessings, and… all that. Corners…

Corners match up.

"Myself little special," I said, nodding to convince her. She tried to smile at me. I dipped my finger in the energon cube I had for her. "Bless, bless," I said, putting my finger twice on her helm. This made her giggle and wipe the tears from her optics. I didn't know what else to say. "I guess my friends have gotten laid twice already by now," she tried to joke. "Busy-busy," I said, shaking my helm and rolling my optics a little. "Well…" She shifted her wings sheepishly.

Corners match up.

We got up, and I put on music and held out my hands. "Dance, dance," I said, moving with the music. "Good." I nodded. She halfway smiled, halfway shrugged. Then she came and danced with me for several songs. This was to warm up our frames and get used to movement together. I got her to smile sometimes, and she even laughed a couple times. Then she led me back over to the couch and said "come on" very softly. "It'll be okay," she coaxed.

"Prax?" Ratchet says in the doorway, and I flinch, startled.

I pull a big towel over my helm.

Ratchet comes over then. He replaces the towel with a cozy blanket and leads me away to the med-bay lounge. "Here's a couch, mechling," he says gently, so I peek out from under the blanket, see the couch, and curl up on it. Ratchet sits down beside me, so I climb onto his lap, cuddling against him as he puts his arms around me.

After a little while, I tell him about Pretty, and he listens.

"I wish I could have helped her," I whisper. "I did my job, and she wasn't distressed when I did it, but I wish…" I put my hands against my optics.

I feel Ratchet sigh, air running through his cooling system. "I think listening to her and letting her share her story with you was the kindest thing you were able to do in your situation, and you did that," he says.

I nod. I think about that, and I feel some comfort in it.

"You know it's completely different for Prowl and Auri, right?" Ratchet asks me after a few minutes.

I nod again. "I do," I say. "I do know. But there is an anxious corner in my processor that doesn't help me very much."

"Ah," Ratchet says. He gives my helm a tiny poke and puts his face close to it. "Hey, anxious corner, listen up," he says, and I have to laugh a little at him being silly for my sake. He's never silly. "It's very different with Prowl and Auri, you hear? Those two are both grown consenting bots in full control of what they do with their frames, and they are very eager and happy to be united."

"Eew," I pretend to complain, but I'm still laughing because I'm grateful and relieved. "Not uniting on the beach," I tell him.

He makes a dry amused sound. "I would hope not."

"They could do some wing service, though…" I reflect, not bothered by that thought.

Ratchet tilts his helm. "Is my squeamish praxling actually smiling there?"

I laugh softly, a little embarrassed. I feel warmth on my face. "I don't like the squirmy stuff, but I did like doing wing services," I admit. I brush my fingers across the air, remembering the exquisite feel of delicately wired wing connectors and sensitive wing panels. "Soft little touches, tiny tickles, gentle lick-lick-lick, and small kisses, tasting… trickling sweet oil on them usually, and swiping softly. It's not intrusive. It's just soft and sweet and gentle…"

Ratchet's vocs makes that small sound it makes when he doesn't know exactly what to say. I've caused it many times, I know, so I end up laughing softly again.

I wave a hand. "Never mind, Ratchet," I say, still smiling. "I'll change the subject. You can tell me about restorative procedures for strained tendon cordage, or something."

Ratchet chuckles as he gives me helm another pat. "That sounds a little heavy for today. What if we start you art therapy research instead?"

Pushing the blanket off my helm, I beam up at him. "That sounds perfect."