A Prompt! - Bad Examples
This one was prompted by Tiamat who gave me a whole slew of awesome choices. Against my expectations, this one got finished first. A happy li'l ficlet featuring Jazz, Sideswipe, and a very unhappy Pursuit...they'd better start running now! Also included is mention of Charade, Pursuit and Flattop's sparkling, created on Earth.
“So let me get this straight,” she growled. The two mechs before her shifted nervously. “You decided to take a sparkling. My sparkling. Three days old. Outside. Without permission. Up the mountain. And teach him to… to…”
“Drop balloons filled with honey onto people’s heads as they walked by?” Sideswipe supplied helpfully. Jazz mentally died a little inside.
“Look, Suit,” the saboteur tried to ruffle the livid femme before then. Oh he was praying to Primus that his perpetual charm would do the trick here. “We were both lookin’ over him an’ made sure nothin’ would happen to the li’l tyke.”
“Until he fell and needed to be rushed to medical!” Pursuit snarled, her doorwings held high and tight. Jazz flinched back and tucked his proverbial tail.
“Uh yeah…till then.”
Prowl watched the proceedings silently, angrily. The top of his head was still smeared in the hard to remove sticky substance, a part of the pink balloon that had done the trick was still hanging off one edge of his chevron. His arms were crossed and optics narrowed. If his creator decided to kill the two mechs here in his office, he’d be the first to offer her an alibi.
“It was just a couple scrapes,” Sideswipe tried next. “You know how First Aid is… he’s worse of a mother hen than you are.” He chuckled nervously at his own joke that died in an awkward trail of frightened squeaks the second she turned her gaze to him.
“Charade doesn’t even have all of his software fully installed and running yet!” she exploded, approaching them menacingly. “And you two took it upon yourselves to take him outside and in danger!”
“It was jus’ for a bit o’ fun,” Jazz said. “We were gonna bring him right back.”
“He fell! That’s not fun! I trusted the both of you to watch over him without anything happening!” Her optics were pale with anger, every servo tightened in barely restrained fury. She’d defended each of the mechs here in this room with the same fury once, and they were surprised and terrified to be on the other end of such a maternal force. Mother rhinos had much to learn from an angered femme defending her young. “Give me one good reason to not send you both into medical with severed heads!”
“Because we’re still the best babysitters you have?” Sideswipe asked. He was a mech who never lied, deceived yes, but not lied. Pursuit only wished he was wrong in this matter. Unfortunately for her, he was not. Very few of the soldiers were willing to babysit, especially with as much trouble as little Charade was turning out to be at times.
“Pursuit,” Prowl gently spoke to his angered creator. “If I may…”
It was then that the comm. in his office went off, and First Aid’s voice chimed in. [Prowl, this is First Aid. Is Pursuit with you?]
“I’m here,” she answered for the XO, the worry in her voice apparent. “How is Charade? Will he be alright?”
[Oh yes, not to worry,] the medic replied in his usual cheerful voice. [He’s made a full recovery.] Only something else colored it… Jazz and Sideswipe both tilted their heads to hear more.
They weren’t the only ones to notice either. “Is there anything wrong?” Prowl asked.
[No, not really…it’s just…] There was a squawk from the apprentice and a loud clanging sound that sounded like metal on metal. [No no!] he cried, not to the assembled ‘bots in Prowl’s office. [Put that down! Eep!] Another clang.
Prowl leaned forward and frowned. “First Aid, what is going on down there? Do you need assistance?”
[I got it!] First Aid said, [It’s just…Charade. He’s taken to…eep! To throwing bags of energon drips. Stoppit! He says they’re balloons….oh no don’t do that!] Another crash. Then silence.
Then a longer silence once the comm. shut off.
Pursuit looked back at her two favorite babysitters, murder in her optics.
Prowl leaned back against the wall and watched. He might need that alibi after all.
“So let me get this straight,” she growled. The two mechs before her shifted nervously. “You decided to take a sparkling. My sparkling. Three days old. Outside. Without permission. Up the mountain. And teach him to… to…”
“Drop balloons filled with honey onto people’s heads as they walked by?” Sideswipe supplied helpfully. Jazz mentally died a little inside.
“Look, Suit,” the saboteur tried to ruffle the livid femme before then. Oh he was praying to Primus that his perpetual charm would do the trick here. “We were both lookin’ over him an’ made sure nothin’ would happen to the li’l tyke.”
“Until he fell and needed to be rushed to medical!” Pursuit snarled, her doorwings held high and tight. Jazz flinched back and tucked his proverbial tail.
“Uh yeah…till then.”
Prowl watched the proceedings silently, angrily. The top of his head was still smeared in the hard to remove sticky substance, a part of the pink balloon that had done the trick was still hanging off one edge of his chevron. His arms were crossed and optics narrowed. If his creator decided to kill the two mechs here in his office, he’d be the first to offer her an alibi.
“It was just a couple scrapes,” Sideswipe tried next. “You know how First Aid is… he’s worse of a mother hen than you are.” He chuckled nervously at his own joke that died in an awkward trail of frightened squeaks the second she turned her gaze to him.
“Charade doesn’t even have all of his software fully installed and running yet!” she exploded, approaching them menacingly. “And you two took it upon yourselves to take him outside and in danger!”
“It was jus’ for a bit o’ fun,” Jazz said. “We were gonna bring him right back.”
“He fell! That’s not fun! I trusted the both of you to watch over him without anything happening!” Her optics were pale with anger, every servo tightened in barely restrained fury. She’d defended each of the mechs here in this room with the same fury once, and they were surprised and terrified to be on the other end of such a maternal force. Mother rhinos had much to learn from an angered femme defending her young. “Give me one good reason to not send you both into medical with severed heads!”
“Because we’re still the best babysitters you have?” Sideswipe asked. He was a mech who never lied, deceived yes, but not lied. Pursuit only wished he was wrong in this matter. Unfortunately for her, he was not. Very few of the soldiers were willing to babysit, especially with as much trouble as little Charade was turning out to be at times.
“Pursuit,” Prowl gently spoke to his angered creator. “If I may…”
It was then that the comm. in his office went off, and First Aid’s voice chimed in. [Prowl, this is First Aid. Is Pursuit with you?]
“I’m here,” she answered for the XO, the worry in her voice apparent. “How is Charade? Will he be alright?”
[Oh yes, not to worry,] the medic replied in his usual cheerful voice. [He’s made a full recovery.] Only something else colored it… Jazz and Sideswipe both tilted their heads to hear more.
They weren’t the only ones to notice either. “Is there anything wrong?” Prowl asked.
[No, not really…it’s just…] There was a squawk from the apprentice and a loud clanging sound that sounded like metal on metal. [No no!] he cried, not to the assembled ‘bots in Prowl’s office. [Put that down! Eep!] Another clang.
Prowl leaned forward and frowned. “First Aid, what is going on down there? Do you need assistance?”
[I got it!] First Aid said, [It’s just…Charade. He’s taken to…eep! To throwing bags of energon drips. Stoppit! He says they’re balloons….oh no don’t do that!] Another crash. Then silence.
Then a longer silence once the comm. shut off.
Pursuit looked back at her two favorite babysitters, murder in her optics.
Prowl leaned back against the wall and watched. He might need that alibi after all.