Lately, I've been waking up before my alarm
It is both kinda frustrating and kinda nice.
Frustrating because I don't want to wake up early, and nice because I don't get jarred awake.
Anyway, onto chapter nine.
He looks in a mirror; all his paint scuffs have been cleaned off, and he's fully fueled: he may as well go wandering. He won't leave the hotel, since he's not sure how well the planet at large will receive him, but the hallways are safe enough. Maybe he can see what the reflecting pool looks like in morning light.
The guests seem to shy away from him when he gets too close, but Optimus had lived with worse reactions from the humans for a very long time on Earth. It was rather irritating that each time he built rapport with them, the Decepticons would destroy something, or a particularly insulting, careless Autobot would come along to convince the humans that bots were insensitive glitches.
When he makes it to the pool, he smiles. It is absolutely wonderful to look at. There are crystals littering the edges of it, but they only serve to heighten the beauty. Remembering his vague thought from the night before, he starts to record it for Prowl. He's certain that the ninjabot will love it.
The pile of broken crystal shards seems intentional now, and he picks a few up to throw them in. The reflection of crystal and metal is even more stark and crisp under daylight, and the ripples the crystal fragments make smooth the edges, giving it all a shifting, surreal look. He can see why Grapple chose to spend time here.
He eventually sits on the ground, and it is several megacycles later that a pair of small arms wraps around his neck, and a tiny face rubs into the back of his helmet. He moves slightly, and pulls Sari into a hug, holding her gently. She beams up at him, and he's happy that her charge against his frame no longer makes him worry about her health. He smiles down at her. "Did you have a plan for what you wanted to do for the rest of the day?"
Her optics dart back to the racecarbot behind her. "Thought Afterburner could show us around the city. Since they're having that huge party-thing. He should know where to go to avoid the crazier bits of it."
Optimus smiles. "Are we walking or do you need a ride?"
She glances over to her consort, "He said that we will need to be in vehicle mode, and was really disappointed when I pointed out that he can't really take me there since he doesn't have seats."
"I would be happy to carry you, Sari," Optimus offers, trying to ignore the way Afterburner shoots a dark, menacing glare at him. He will have plenty of opportunity to drive Sari places after he scans a vehicle alt with seats inside.
He stands up, and she hugs him again, "Thank you, Optimus."
He smiles, and hands her gently to the racecarbot, "But I'm sure we can wait until after we leave the hotel to go to vehicle mode. Give you more time with... your consort. A new bond needs tending."
Afterburner holds her carefully, claws stroking her frame gently. When they tickle her transformation seams, she slaps his servo. "Hey, not in public, pervbot."
The racecar whispers something softly in her audios as they walk, and she kisses him lovingly before whispering back. Optimus averts his optics, not really wanting to intrude.
When they get to the door, Afterburner reluctantly sets her on the ground before transforming. Optimus keeps from laughing as the mech clearly poses just to catch Sari's optics. She kisses the bot on the window before climbing into Optimus's cab.
"Make sure you buckle your seatbelt, Sari," Optimus warns here. "I'm not sure how rough the roads or crowds will be here."
"Duh," she snaps the buckle in place, "I'm not stupid, Optimus. Not even after a night of fucking my brains out."
Optimus's engine stalls, and he can't stop the unhappy shudder that runs through his frame. It takes him a bit, but he finally manages to ask, not able to keep the horrified tone from his voice, "Why do you say such things? What would you do if I said that about me and Ultra?"
She sorts, "Then I'd have to inform you that you broke your courting, and the AllSpark is pissed at you."
He revs his engine unhappily. "That's not funny."
"It's terribly amusing." She pats his seat. "And the AllSpark is pissed at you for something you did last night. But honestly, if it won't give me the specifics this time, it probably realizes it's not something I'm gonna rag on you about."
He twirls his wheels, embarassed by the AllSpark's scolding, even if Sari doesn't care. "I'll try not to do it again, anyway."
She shrugs. "You're most likely fine, as long as you don't go too far." She pauses, looking out of his window as they travel down the streets, "How would you like to speed up the courting?
His tires squeal on the pavement as he almost runs off the road. Afterburner scrapes up against his side with a hiss, "If you cannot drive safely, Sari would be better off riding on top of me."
Optimus manages to get himself back on track, "No. That will not be necessary, unless Sari wants it. She just made a rather ... startling offer to me." The racecar's engine growls angrily before the mech speeds up, and he belatedly realizes how bad that sounded to a bot so recently bonded. Letting it go, he coughs nervously before answering her question, "I'd love that, Sari. Is there anything specific you need me to do?"
"Not really," she shifts uncomfortably, watching Afterburner ahead of them. "Just don't fuck it up. I was going to have you sleep in separate berths in his house for a couple months. Now we'll drop that down to a couple weeks."
His tires squeal excitedly, "Really? I'll get to be with Ultra sooner?"
She kicks him, still staring at the racecar, "Not if you act like this. Don't tell Ultra, either. He will fuck it up if he knows."
"He would not," Optimus protests for his intended's sake.
"He'd think I was being lenient about everything and then you'd end up sprawled out under him, having your sparkplates licked."
He blushes again, "H-he wouldn't. He knows how important this is to me."
She sighs, "Well, keep it a secret anyway. He can be happy when the schedule is moved up as he's informed you get to sleep in his berth months sooner than he thought you would be."
"I appreciate that you are allowing us this, Sari," Optimus says, turning on the air conditioning in his cab to cool her down. She'd always liked that when they were on Earth.
She giggles softly, one servo on his door and the other on his vents, "You're being very good about this, Optimus. Good enough for you and Ultra. I think you deserve to speed it up a little."
"Thank you," he murmurs, enjoying her touches. He'd never expected to have another bot inside him - he was no medicbot, after all, but he'd grown to like it. Even if the internal components for carrying a human were useless accessories as a bot, it was nice to be able to do it.
They continue down the road like that for a bit longer, and another bot rushes by. He's not sure if it is deliberate or not, but he's splashed all along his side with mud and sharp gravel. He mentally shrugs, not really minding, accidents do happen, but he has to stop because Afterburner has transformed and yanked the mech that did it off the road.
"How dare you insult the High Priestess like that?" he hisses, slamming the bot against a nearby building.
The poor bot is wide-opticked and panicking. "What Priestess? I didn't do anything-"
Sari hops out of Optimus's cab. "Let me get some of that mud off while we're waiting for my consort to calm the frag down."
He hands her a cloth. "It isn't a big deal, Sari. It isn't like he meant to do it."
She sighs and starts to clean him, "You're really too nice at times, you know that? It is pretty obvious he did mea-" She cuts herself off, rushing to the to neutrals, "Hey! Afterburner! Stop! What the fuck are you doing?"
The racecar freezes part way through digging claws into the mech's plating, "I'm going to rip out his spark for insulting you."
"No, you're so not," she grabs his servo and pulls it away from the other bot. "You're going to apologize for trying to kill him, and then we're going to get Optimus cleaned up and pretend this didn't happen." She ignores the mech frantically trying to apologize and plead for his life at the same time. "Got it?"
Optimus transforms into botmode to pick out the bits of gravel that got into his joints. "Really, we don't need to clean me up, either. It's just mud."
Afterburner's servos shake in anger, "He insulted yo-"
Sari cuts the mech off, "No. I don't care if he did, and neither should you. If you're going to react this way to mud, I'm not sure if I can let you on Cybertron where they call me a whore."
His engines roar with rage, and Sari jabs him in the chest with a single finger. "Calm the fuck down. It's gotten better now that I moved to the ninjabot neighborhood. You'll like my neighbors, if you can calm down and not try to offline anyone else this solar cycle."
The racecarbot twitches unhappily then pulls her into his arms, holding her tightly, "I will not let anyone insult you."
She sighs, "You're going to have to live with bots doing it. Now apologize to Nitroblast for trying to murder him. Splashing mud on someone isn't a reason to justify crushing a bot's spark."
"I am sorry for wanting to exact vengeance on a bot who grievously insulted you, Sari."
"I didn't say apologize to me." She shook her head. "Apologize to Nitroblast."
With a reluctance that could not be hidden, Afterburner turns to face the other bot. "I ... apologize for attacking you." Even though you deserve it was not said aloud, but it didn't really have to be. Not with the look he gives the bot.
Nitroblast coughs nervously, "I don't need an apology. But, uh," he glances at Afterburner's claws, "I absolutely accept. There is no need to demand he do anything else, High Priestess. I'll go help clean the Autobot off."
Optimus looks up. "I don't need any help."
"Please, let me make amends for splashing you," the bot insists, pulling polish from his subspace.
Optimus takes a step back, raising his servos. "Really, I'm fine. I got most of the mud off. You can get back to whatever it was you were doing." He looks at the bot's chest, "Or you could go visit a medicbot."
Sari sighs as she's carried in Afterburner's arms to the road, "He's a courting bot, Nitroblast. You're going to be way too close to his plates. Go to a medic, and be careful of mud."
The bot transforms and flees, shouting apologies back at them. Optimus transforms down as well, popping a door open for Sari.
Afterburner glares at him. "You should have helped me."
Sari slips out of the racecar's arms as Optimus chuckles softly, "And what would killing him have solved? If getting splashed with mud was something worth getting upset about, I would have never been able to survive earth."
Afterburner picks Sari back up, cuddling her close, "No one should ever give such a deliberate insult to the priestess."
She pokes the mech in the faceplate, "Sari. I liked it more when you just called me by my name. We're married. Don't call me by a title."
"Sari," the bot kisses her gently. "My Priestess."
She plants both servos on his sparkplates, and Optimus looks away. "I suppose I can deal with that sometimes."
Afterburner's engine purrs happily. "I want to carry you the rest of the way."
She sighs, "I guess we can walk. If you think it is close enough."
His happy engine grinds down unpleasantly. "It's a bit far for a walk. Are you sure you won't consider riding on top of me?"
"Not without a seatbelt." She mock-whispers the next part, and Optimus knows she does it just to horrify him. "Or without a berth nearby."
Optimus shudders as Afterburner nuzzles into her. "I'll scan an earth vehicle so you can ride in me as soon as possible. Are you sure we can't go there when we leave the planet?"
She presses a soft kiss to his faceplate before slipping out of his arms. "I am. We'll go after we set up on Cybertron."
"Not soon enough, if you have to rely on your Prime for transportation," Afterburner grumbles, following after her. "What do you even do in that cab of his?" Claws keep Optimus from closing his cab door after Sari slips inside. "There's nothing interesting in there."
She snorts, pushing the claws away, "I sit. What did you expect?"
Afterburner looks like he wants to hiss, but is just barely refraining, "His windows are dark. I want to see you."
"You can call me on the com if you want to talk. You don't need to see me every fragging second of the day." She slams Optimus's door, and then pats the door handle. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Optimus reassures her. She never slams his doors hard, even when she's irritated or upset.
Sari is immediately commed by Afterburner, and since the racecar is just next to him, Optimus hears every word. "Are you okay?" The carbot is very twitchy as they ride along the road, making Optimus sigh.
Sari sighs with him. "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"
"You are inside an Autobot who is not well-loved on our planet." The bot skims closer. "And it must be very boring inside of him. You should come out. Ride on me." He revs his engine. "I'll make it exciting."
She rubs her temples in irritation. "If I had wanted exciting, I would already be with you. I am riding in Optimus because he has seatbelts."
Optimus picks one of the more relaxing songs he has in his database, and turns the volume on low on his radio, hoping it will help ease her potential processor ache away. "She is fine where she is, Afterburner. If she wished to be elsewhere, she would. Sari is a very strong-willed individual."
The racecar's engine growls angrily, only to stop when Sari snaps out, "Stop that. Optimus is never going to be a bot you need to be jealous of because of me. He helped raise me for god's sake. And I fragging told you, he's the virgin half of a courting couple. You're being stupid."
The bot slides away from them and sulks all the way to their destination, which is apparently a crystal garden-maze of some sort. Afterburner transforms and holds out his servo for Sari. "I will guide you through the maze. There is a stunning collection of rare crystals at the center, and any bot that finds their way there is entitled to take a single piece to remember it by."
She sighs, but allows him to pick her up. The mech's glare at Optimus solidified his suspicion that the offer is only for the tiny femme. He transforms into bot mode, and looks around, "Com me when you are ready to leave, Sari. I'll go explore on my own."
"Don't get yourself lost, Optimus," she warns him, before Afterburner disappears with her into the maze. He's glad there are few bots here at the moment, because the ones who are nearby are glaring at him in a very unfriendly manner.
He stifles a sigh, and heads into the maze. He's glad for his mapping systems, but he'll go with the old standby for mazes. Servo on the wall, and follow the wall the entire way to get to where you want to go. He knows that you're supposed to follow the left wall, but he imagines that, since this is a Decepticon friendly planet, they would know that, and make the shortest distance to the right. He heads right.
After a klik of walking, he stumbles upon a small alcove behind a delicately beaded crystal curtain. He pushes the strings of crystal apart, and his optics widen.
It's a berth.
A berth in the middle of the maze. He flushes crimson. Oh, Primus, he's going to offline if he accidentally stumbles upon bots actively interfacing in one of these.
He hurries on his way, and makes a note not to go too close to any of the beaded curtains. He wouldn't be surprised, however, if the only way to get to the center is by going through several of the places with berths. Ignoring that thought, he continues on.
Primus, he's sick of hearing bots interfacing loudly when he passes the berth areas as quickly as possible. In one particular alcove, his audios inform him that there were five different bots involved in making the noise.
He makes it to the center of the maze fairly quickly when he offlines his audios so he doesn't pay attention to the various bots. It is... impressive, that's for certain. The many colors and array of crystal is utterly stunning. The light of the sun hitting it is almost blinding. He records a little bit of it to show Prowl later, knowing the ninjabot will like it.
With his audios back online, he can even hear the crystals. Some of them have absorbed the sunlight, and ring out beautiful, soothing tones when the wind blows through them. He sits on one of the many benches around the edges, to watch and listen. It is very soothing, and he imagines he would be able to achieve recharge here very easily.
He vaguely considers actually doing it, but remembering the looks from the bots when he headed in the maze stops him. Instead, he just starts to record the sounds. It will be nice to hear it when he does recharge, and again, Prowl would like it. He could also send it to Ultra, since it would be nice to be able to share it with his intended.
Every color and type of crystal he could imagine can be found here - save for the rarest kinds, which would never be placed in a public-accessible area - and it means that Optimus has a very hard choice to make. What kind should he take back with him? Something that went well with Cora crystal? Perhaps he should take something in a stark, contrasting color, for better visual effect?
He's searching through them slowly, looking around carefully, when Sari is carried in by a very smug Afterburner. A quick glance at Sari confirms his suspicion, telling streaks of paint on her frame, and he returns his attention to the crystals. He's debating between a white and blue striped one and an orange one with green dots when Sari walks up to him and says, "White and blue. It will match more of your garden when you grow them."
The crystal breaks off easily from the main collection, and he tucks it carefully away in his subspace. They have planting solution back on the ship somewhere-if they don't, he'll purchase some.
Sari prods a few of them, tapping them to see if they resonate with interesting tones or not. She eventually picks a piece of a truly hideous crystal - it's mottled and diseased looking, but it rings with the most haunting noise when anything taps it. "This thing looks totally gross. I bet the sparklings will love it when they visit."
Afterburner makes a face at the crystals, but picks a piece that matches Sari's paint. "I have so many of these things. Never got in the habit of growing them."
Optimus tilts his head in confusion. "What about all those crystals growing by the reflecting pool?"
"Got staffbots, don't I? I don't take care of those fragging things." The fact that he's a consort is made very plain by the way Sari shoves both crystals into his subspace and the bot doesn't so much as flinch. "I used to break them apart and throw them in the water until the bot taking care of them stopped by my room one night and dumped the pieces on me. Now he keeps a stack near the edge of the pool so I'll stop damaging his precious pets."
Optimus shrugs. "Well, it is a little hard to damage crystals irreparably."
The racecarbot gives him a slightly surprised look before smiling, "That's what I said. He didn't seem to believe me."
Sari gives them both a look that seems to indicate they are being glitches. "Were any of the crystals expensive or hard to grow?"
Afterburner waves his servo negligently. "I bought the whole start-up lot at some old rummage sale in a shop going out of business ages ago. Couldn't have been anything special in there, seeing as I got the entire box for less than a cube of high-grade."
Sari frowns, but nods. "Are we ready, then?"
Optimus looks around. "Yeah." He isn't looking forward to passing by all the various berths filled with bots, but he does want to return to the hotel. Or go to whatever party Sari decides is next. He doesn't mind either way.
Surprisingly, Afterburner leads them out of the maze in a way that passes by less than a servo-full of berth areas. "There's a festival with several booths stocked with organic food, if you would like to visit it, Sari."
She nods slowly, leaning against the carbot. "Sounds good."
The mech seems to relax, claws gentle on her frame. "We're hoping that you like what there is, since this planet isn't like the other ones you visited. We never had a vested interest in making sure you fixed a curse like the one placed on New Axis."
"It was a stupid curse. They didn't need to give me anything to make me lift it." Her mouth twists a bit in thought, "Well, if they ever invited me there specifically to do it, I'd expect compensation for travel expenses, but we went to New Axis on vacation."
Afterburner kisses her softly on the helmet. "Never the less, it is always better if you like what we provide."
She cuddles against him. "I won't get angry if I can't eat something. I can barely stand to eat the things you guys think are fantastic. I don't expect anyone to know exactly the best way to cook."
"If you'll teach me, I will gladly learn it for you, my Priestess," Afterburner whispers into her audio, tweaking a pigtail with his claws. "Then you can see if it tastes as good off my servos as energon does off of your spark?"
Optimus flushes crimson and offlines his audios.
He's thankful for Sari's shake of the head. He onlines them cautiously in time to hear, "-se me. Remember? Don't say things like that in front of him."
Afterburner sighs, but nods. "Yes, Sari."
She shoots Optimus an apologetic glance. "Sorry. I guess he's not housebroken yet. Gonna have to work on that. And on reminding him he's not allowed to swoon over the Seekers when they visit."
The racecar seems to deflate. "But seekers a-"
She snorts, "Very pretty to look at, but frustrating. Starscream bittered them for me, even if his clones are funny."
"They're so very talented in the b-"
"Yeah, I'm sure they do all sorts of crazy acrobatic awesomeness when they're interfacing," Sari prods him. "But I don't want to hear about it. I have to hear enough when they drop by and gossip with each other."
The mech just sighs, "But I am allowed to look, right?"
"As long as you don't try anything or suggest they join us. That's not happening."
Afterburner vents another sigh, this one long and theatrical. "For you, I suppose I can try not to end up underneath another seeker."
Sari's optics glow, and her engine revs, "Not unless he's a consort too. And I don't plan on having any seekers."
Afterburner nuzzles her lovingly. "You said. A bot can dream, can't he?"
She kisses him. "Not when it involves seekers powered by the AllSpark."
Optimus coughs, and they separate, turning to face him. "You mentioned something about a festival? I would like to see it. Do they have any games or other activities going on?"
He gets a half-frigid look from Afterburner for interrupting his kisses. "They might. I'm unsure if they'll let you play any."
Optimus mostly expected that, actually, but he's not going to let it get him down. He smiles slightly, "That's fine. I'll just watch as you win Sari a prize in one."
Afterburner seems to perk up a bit. "I can. When we get there, you can choose what you'd like me to get you, Sari."
She gives Optimus a dark glare. "Yeah. Sure. I'll pick something out."
She flits up to Afterburner's shoulder and sits on him. The festival is within walking distance, and they can hear the music and the sounds of bots enjoying themselves long before they see it. Optimus is surprised by the number of bots attending. Perhaps they are making the best of a festival they felt they had to throw for Sari.
They make their way through the festival, Optimus trailing a little behind, since he doesn't want to interrupt Sari and Afterburner fawning over each other. He's stopped by a rather large jetbot glaring down at him, who grabs him roughly by the shoulder and growls out, "What are you doing here?"
Optimus stares briefly at the servo holding him in place. "I was accompanying Sari and Afterburner to this festival, before you stopped me. Did I do something wrong?" He looks back behind him, trying to determine if he's inadvertently knocked anything over. Optimus can't see anything out of the ordinary.
The bot's optics narrow, claws tightening on his shoulder to leave tiny dents. He takes a calming ventilation, nothing good will come of this if he gets hostile, and the jet hisses out, "The priestess doesn't need a tiny Autobot truckbot to ... accompany her to the festival."
"She did," Optimus protests, letting the insult go in and out of his processor. "I am the only bot on this planet with seatbelts for her."
The bot's blank look when he said "seatbelts" does not make him feel very safe, especially when the claws tighten. He's about to elaborate when there's an angry blue glow over the jet's shoulder. He winces and offlines his optics as Sari shrieks out, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I," the bot stutters, dropping Optimus, "Priestess, I was only defending your honor. This Autobot defiles you with his presence."
Her engine growls dangerously, and her optics flash bright blue. "You claim that my chosen companions do what to me?"
The mech starts to stutter, and Optimus steps quickly between the bot and Sari. He puts a servo on her shoulder, "It is just a misunderstanding, Sari. I'm sure he didn't mean what you think."
"You know," she says casually, hopping up to Optimus's shoulder so she can see the jetbot again, "you're really lucky I'm not like other Priestesses. They'd curse you like that," she snaps her fingers in demonstration, and the jetbot drops to his knees, whimpering out apologies. "But I'm not like that. I won't punish you for the stupid, stupid things you said. Or for insulting my family, because that's what he is. He helped raise me, and you think you get to imply that I'm banging him? Frag you."
Optimus sighs, and yanks Afterburner closer so they both can pet Sari soothingly. He ignores the racecar's surprised look, instead pays attention to the jetbot's pleading. After the third iteration of not cursing the planet, he lets his optics wander along the crowd that has gathered, and is unsurprised at how horrified and worried all the bots are.
"I already said I wasn't gonna curse your stupid planet," she mutters. "But you're going to fragging apologize to Optimus and you're gonna hand over your best bottle of polish and repair solvent so he can fix the gouges you left in him."
The jetbot yanks out the solvent and polish instantly, right along with a cloth to clean. "Yes, priestess. Anything you sa-"
She waves him off. "I'm not the one you have to talk to. Get to it."
The mech stands up, looking very hesitant as he says, "I... apologize for my behavior," a quick glance at Sari then back, "Optimus Prime."
Optimus takes the polish and solvent from him - an entirely unnecessary demand, because he has his own supplies with him. "Apology accepted. We had a simple misunderstanding, and I'm sure it won't happen again. I understand that Autobots have not been entirely favorable in the way we have treated your planet and allies in the past, and I can promise we are working on rectifying that."
The jetbot just gives him a slightly terrified look, and takes off. The crowd around them disperses as well, and he's left staring at the bottles in his servos. Afterburner snorts, "You should have cursed him, Sari."
She sighs, "I was tempted, but it is sort of like with the mud splashing. You don't kill a bot for words or small insults."
"Temporary curse?" Afterburner asks, hopefully.
Sari taps her fingers against Optimus's armor. "Maybe. Give him an itchy spark for a week or something. Would that seem fair to you, Optimus?"
He sighs, and shakes his head, "He already left, and I don't think any curses will help in the long run."
She moves over to Afterburner, letting the mech hold her, "He'll know why he has it, though. AllSpark is talking about how I shouldn't let that go unpunished."
"You told him you wouldn't be cursing him," he reminds her, leading them over to a booth with some sort of sharpshooting challenge. He'd always been more adept at close combat. "Unless you want them to think you're going crazy, you probably shouldn't turn around and immediately curse him."
She glares down at the area the jet took off to. "Fine." She looks around, "What is your best game at festivals, Afterburner?"
The carbot blushes faintly. "I am actually very good at netting turbofish. I use the ones I win to put in the lobby pool. You liked my oldest one."
"The really big one with the old man whiskers?"
Afterburner shutters his optics. "The what?"
"Old man whiskers," she mimes them with her hands, and the racecarbot just stares at her. Sari huffs, "Like freakin' Alpha Trion has, okay?"
Afterburner huffs, muttering unhappily, "My turbofish isn't an Autobot."
She kisses the bot. "Alpha Trion is awesome, and I'd like your fish even if he didn't have the totally awesome whiskers. He has a nice rainbow shimmer to him. Very pretty and wonderful."
"He is very old and he has a highly developed personality processor," Afterburner nods at the bot in control of the booth. "The ... Optimus would like to attempt this game." He turns to Optimus, "The first attempt at any of these booth games is free - it costs credits after that." Kissing Sari's cheek, he adds, "But not for you. You can play for free the entire solar cycle, my Priestess."
Optimus looks at the game, tilting his head at all the moving targets. "I'm pretty sure Sari will do a lot better than me at this, but I can try if you want."
She looks at it. "Well, the Allspark let you have those guns. You can try using them, you know. I may have let you keep your axe, but there's no reason why you can't attempt to shoot."
He picks up one of the booth guns. "I'm shamefully out of practice with these. I really should go down to the range more often. What is my goal for this game?"
The booth attendant gives him a neutral look, and waves a servo at the targets. "Knock at least four down to win a prize. The more you get, the better the prize. Hit all ten and you win a special ticket for our end of the solar cycle raffle."
He nods easily, and takes aim. He is highly unsurprised that he misses completely. He shakes his head in amusement, and keeps trying. By the last shot, he barely manages to hit the target. Setting the blaster down, he smiles and shakes his head, "I'm really quite terrible at these sort of things." He moves out of the way, "What about you, Afterburner? I bet you can blow my one target hit completely out of the water."
"Of course I can." The mech takes the gun and waits for the targets to reset. "Just watch and see how it's done." His first shot misses, but he knocks targets down with relative ease. "Seven of them. What would you like for a prize, Sari?"
She looks at the row of prizes for that number of targets. "Oh wow. Mirrors and polish bottles. And ... I'm not sure I want to know what that thing is." She rolls her optics, "I'll take one of the mirrors. Maybe I can wear it like a necklace."
The mirror is handed over, and the attendant smiles blandly, "Want to try your luck, Priestess?"
She shrugs, "May as well. I can't do much worse than Optimus, that's for sure."
She's handed the gun, and she shoots all ten targets in short order, making the attendant smile more genuinely. "Here's your ticket, Priestess. If you get another ten targets again, I can't give you another." He waves a servo behind him, "But you get your pick of any prize, as long as the points add up to twenty."
"Nah, it's not really fair to let me play for free if no one else gets to after the first try." Sari looks between the prizes and Afterburner. "I'd like that can of metallic orange flakes. I think they'd look pretty on you, Afterburner."
The carbot kisses Sari on her head as he's handed the flakes. "Would you like me to put them on now?"
She smiles. "You may need to get polished up first, but sure."
Optimus offers them the polish the jetbot had given him. "Use as much as you like." He had no use for it. Sari only pushes it back at him.
"Afterburner has nicer polish than that, and you really needed the upgrade, Optimus."
He sighs, and puts it back. "I don't need an upgrade. I like the stuff I use." Sari looks like she's about to scold him, only to break out into giggles as Afterburner pulls polish out of her subspace. Raising an optic ridge, Optimus can't help but smile, "I'm glad you're finally using your subspace for more than just candy and emergency supply storage, Sari."
"My wonderful, sweetheart boyfriend insisted," she complains, only to giggle again when the racecarbot pulls a cloth out of her subspace to apply the polish. "Turns out ... I'm ticklish there, when he does it."
"That isn't really unusual, Sari. Most bots just don't know because only a bot you're bonded to uses your subspace normally. There's a reason they thought you were dating Cyclonus when you used his."
Afterburner polishes himself quickly. "She has better taste than jetbots, apparently." He even smooths polish over his spoiler. "Not many come to be enlightened about how stunning speedster bots can be, but Sari appreciates our model type."
She sprinkles the flakes over him, watching them settle into the polish coat and stick. "Smug today, aren't you?"
The bot presses a kiss to her helmet. "Why wouldn't I be? I am bonded with the most beautiful and talented bot in the universe, and I get to show her off while she shows me off."
She chuckles softly, "Let's head to the next booth. See what else there is."
They work their way through the booths, winning and losing, enjoying themselves. Optimus did embarrassingly bad at a memory challenge game - though he's half-certain the game was a cheat, because the cards should not have moved that much. Sari aces every game based on aim, and Afterburner puts on an admirable show at everything they try.
They end at the turbofish catching booth. Sari and the Prime look at the fish darting around quickly, and then to the tiny flimsy metal nets. Optimus frowns, "You can catch them with those things?"
Afterburner smirks, "This is my best game. I can catch them every single time."
The booth attendant, a pretty blue femme with silver streaks, leans over the counter, "And that's why we have a strict limit on how many you're allowed to snatch away from us, Afterburner." She taps a sign with his picture on it and the number ten in a bright red circle.
Sari gives the femme a suspicious look, but turns to her consort. "I want to see how you do it before I try."
Afterburner grins at her, his pointed teeth glinting even brighter than in the picture. "Of course, my priestess."
He holds out a servo, and the booth femme reluctantly gives him a net as she mutters, "You're lucky we aren't allowed to sabotage you."
"You could give me a damaged net, and I'd still be able to catch these sweet little turbofish." He kneels down and studies the darting, sleek forms of the turbofish. "The problem is, of course, that as soon as a net touches the water, they feel the vibrations and panic." He dips the net in lightning quick and pulls out a tiny, silver turbofish that flops about, stunned. "These are the easiest ones to catch." It's dropped into a tiny holding container, where it zips around the small confines angrily. "This one is for you, Optimus."
Optimus takes it carefully, "Thank you, Afterburner. I just thought that you'd want to catch your bonded a fish first." He looks at it. "But I suppose you'd want Sari to have one that is the hardest to get, not waste your ten fish limit on me."
The femme leans over the booth again, "That one counts for his limit, since he caught it."
"Thank you very much, Moonracer," Afterburner scowls at her, before turning a bright smile at Sari. "Are there any ones you like best? I'll get those for you."
Sari looks at the fish, "You said you can get any of them?"
He preens. "Of course I can. Any turbofish that you want, it is yours."
She points at the fastest largest one that darts around almost angrily. "Even the ones that are clearly only meant to draw customers in?"
"Fraggin' Afterburner ends up getting our best ones every time we host this festival," Moonracer grumbles, handing him a new net. "Here, use this one. It's defective."
Afterburner takes it from her, and the handle does appear to be in danger of breaking apart. "I appreciate the added challenge."
Sari watches happily as Afterburner twists his servo quickly and catches the one she pointed to instantly. It goes into another small container, this one a tiny bit larger than the one Optimus's fish went in to. Sari pets it softly on the fins, smiling when it snaps at her angrily. "I like him."
"You know, we're gonna stop putting the rare ones out until after you show up," Moonracer mutters, handing him containers as he slowly depletes the tank of its most attractive and valuable turbofish. "Leave you a bunch of cheap silvers and golds to deal with."
Afterburner smirks at Moonracer. "Well, you won't have to deal with me soon enough. I'm leaving the planet as soon as the festival is over." He flashes his consort marked servo under her nose. "I'm sure you heard tell why."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll never come and visit to rob us all of our best bred Turbofish," she scoffs. "Even if you had to sneak away to do it."
Sari gives the femme a dirty look, "Afterburner will never have to sneak away just to catch fish." She tugs the carbot into a kiss, "He likes them, so I'm never going to keep him away from them." She's picked up and nuzzled. "It may not have been on purpose, but I want him happy."
Afterburner smirks. "See, Moonracer? Sari likes me. I'm her first consort."
Moonracer shutters her optics. "Really? I mean, no offense, Priestess, but you pick Afterburner as your first consort? Was high-grade involved in this decision?"
Sari gives the femme a dark look. "I'm sure you can figure out why it happened easily enough. You may find him unbearably smug, but I adore him."
Afterburner kisses Sari on the top of the head as Optimus sighs and explains, "He caught her before she could hit the ground when she was stopping the AllSpark from possessing her and breaking a bond. There was absolutely no high-grade involved."
"And you ended up with Afterburner as your consort." Moonracer shakes her head. "Good luck with him. You'll need it, especially when you see the kind of expensive transport he's going to want for his precious turbofish."
Sari nuzzles Afterburner's faceplate. "Can't be any more expensive than what I'm already using. And they will look wonderful in the pond he wants to put in the backyard." She sighs, "I hope we can keep all the damn ninjabots from meditating near it, though. Bad enough they sneak in to rearrange the crystal garden."
Afterburner perks up at that, "So these ninjabots visit frequently? What model types are they?"
She smacks his shoulder, "Don't even think about it, bot."
Optimus clears his throat, "Could I have a net? I want to see how badly I humiliate myself on this."
Moonracer smiles and hands him one, "Of course. It really isn't as easy as Afterburner makes it look, though. The turbofish like to break the metal of the nets."
He kneels down and watches the fish dart in the water - they're faster than he was expecting, and as soon as he dips his net in the water, trying to corral a fish towards the edge of the tank, a swarm of them descend on the net and leap through it, tearing the mesh to shreds.
He laughs in delight. "They certainly are vicious about it, aren't they?"
Moonracer smirks, "They like breaking the nets, and we really have put in the angrier ones in for festivals near here. Because if we have nicer ones, Afterburner got them even easier."
Optimus grins, "Well, I have one, anyway." He runs his fingers along the container holding the fish he was given before turning to Sari. "Are you going to try?"
"Sure," she takes the net Moonracer offers her, and dips it in the water near a gold turbofish. They swarm to her servo - and nip at her fingertips, ignoring the net entirely.
Moonracer blinks. "Never seen them do that before."
Sari smiles. "I think they like me." She puts the net to the side. "It wouldn't really be fair if I tried catching them," she murmurs before dipping both servos in the water to pull out a single turbofish cupped in them. It swims around irritably before jumping out and landing back in the water. "See?"
A loudly revving engine draws Optimus's attention. Afterburner's optics are dim with unconcealed lust, and he pulls Sari up to kiss her. "You have to let me see if you can get my turbofish reacting to you like that."
She kisses him back, running fingers along his headfins before pulling away. "Not really a big deal. Your large one eats out of your fingers."
"He's over a million stellar cycles old, Sari. And I'd been feeding him like that since he was that size," the racecar points out the turbofish he gave Optimus. "You saw how he hates everyone else."
"He liked me," Sari says. "Only splashed me once, instead of the four or five times he did to anyone else who came near that pool."
"Well, he outright attacks Acidstorm." There's a thoughtful pause. "Which is why the seeker despises him, really."
Sari smiles, "Well, he'll have fun in the pond you make for him. I'm sure of it."
Afterburner frowns, "He's old, Sari. I don't know if he'll survive the trip."
"I'll make sure he makes it to our new home, Afterburner. I promise." She kisses his cheek. "AllSpark powered bot, remember? If I can't abuse my powers to keep a fish alive, what good are they?"
The racecar cuddles her close. "Even if you can't, it's fine."
She kisses him again, "AllSpark says I can. Don't worry about it, okay?"
Optimus finds it disturbing how close they are, after knowing each other a grand total of one solar cycle. Even with a bond, it seems unlikely for them to have built such a strong rapport out of nothing. He hopes it doesn't crumble around them. He wants Sari happy.
http://girloz14.livejournal.com/162615.html
Frustrating because I don't want to wake up early, and nice because I don't get jarred awake.
Anyway, onto chapter nine.
He looks in a mirror; all his paint scuffs have been cleaned off, and he's fully fueled: he may as well go wandering. He won't leave the hotel, since he's not sure how well the planet at large will receive him, but the hallways are safe enough. Maybe he can see what the reflecting pool looks like in morning light.
The guests seem to shy away from him when he gets too close, but Optimus had lived with worse reactions from the humans for a very long time on Earth. It was rather irritating that each time he built rapport with them, the Decepticons would destroy something, or a particularly insulting, careless Autobot would come along to convince the humans that bots were insensitive glitches.
When he makes it to the pool, he smiles. It is absolutely wonderful to look at. There are crystals littering the edges of it, but they only serve to heighten the beauty. Remembering his vague thought from the night before, he starts to record it for Prowl. He's certain that the ninjabot will love it.
The pile of broken crystal shards seems intentional now, and he picks a few up to throw them in. The reflection of crystal and metal is even more stark and crisp under daylight, and the ripples the crystal fragments make smooth the edges, giving it all a shifting, surreal look. He can see why Grapple chose to spend time here.
He eventually sits on the ground, and it is several megacycles later that a pair of small arms wraps around his neck, and a tiny face rubs into the back of his helmet. He moves slightly, and pulls Sari into a hug, holding her gently. She beams up at him, and he's happy that her charge against his frame no longer makes him worry about her health. He smiles down at her. "Did you have a plan for what you wanted to do for the rest of the day?"
Her optics dart back to the racecarbot behind her. "Thought Afterburner could show us around the city. Since they're having that huge party-thing. He should know where to go to avoid the crazier bits of it."
Optimus smiles. "Are we walking or do you need a ride?"
She glances over to her consort, "He said that we will need to be in vehicle mode, and was really disappointed when I pointed out that he can't really take me there since he doesn't have seats."
"I would be happy to carry you, Sari," Optimus offers, trying to ignore the way Afterburner shoots a dark, menacing glare at him. He will have plenty of opportunity to drive Sari places after he scans a vehicle alt with seats inside.
He stands up, and she hugs him again, "Thank you, Optimus."
He smiles, and hands her gently to the racecarbot, "But I'm sure we can wait until after we leave the hotel to go to vehicle mode. Give you more time with... your consort. A new bond needs tending."
Afterburner holds her carefully, claws stroking her frame gently. When they tickle her transformation seams, she slaps his servo. "Hey, not in public, pervbot."
The racecar whispers something softly in her audios as they walk, and she kisses him lovingly before whispering back. Optimus averts his optics, not really wanting to intrude.
When they get to the door, Afterburner reluctantly sets her on the ground before transforming. Optimus keeps from laughing as the mech clearly poses just to catch Sari's optics. She kisses the bot on the window before climbing into Optimus's cab.
"Make sure you buckle your seatbelt, Sari," Optimus warns here. "I'm not sure how rough the roads or crowds will be here."
"Duh," she snaps the buckle in place, "I'm not stupid, Optimus. Not even after a night of fucking my brains out."
Optimus's engine stalls, and he can't stop the unhappy shudder that runs through his frame. It takes him a bit, but he finally manages to ask, not able to keep the horrified tone from his voice, "Why do you say such things? What would you do if I said that about me and Ultra?"
She sorts, "Then I'd have to inform you that you broke your courting, and the AllSpark is pissed at you."
He revs his engine unhappily. "That's not funny."
"It's terribly amusing." She pats his seat. "And the AllSpark is pissed at you for something you did last night. But honestly, if it won't give me the specifics this time, it probably realizes it's not something I'm gonna rag on you about."
He twirls his wheels, embarassed by the AllSpark's scolding, even if Sari doesn't care. "I'll try not to do it again, anyway."
She shrugs. "You're most likely fine, as long as you don't go too far." She pauses, looking out of his window as they travel down the streets, "How would you like to speed up the courting?
His tires squeal on the pavement as he almost runs off the road. Afterburner scrapes up against his side with a hiss, "If you cannot drive safely, Sari would be better off riding on top of me."
Optimus manages to get himself back on track, "No. That will not be necessary, unless Sari wants it. She just made a rather ... startling offer to me." The racecar's engine growls angrily before the mech speeds up, and he belatedly realizes how bad that sounded to a bot so recently bonded. Letting it go, he coughs nervously before answering her question, "I'd love that, Sari. Is there anything specific you need me to do?"
"Not really," she shifts uncomfortably, watching Afterburner ahead of them. "Just don't fuck it up. I was going to have you sleep in separate berths in his house for a couple months. Now we'll drop that down to a couple weeks."
His tires squeal excitedly, "Really? I'll get to be with Ultra sooner?"
She kicks him, still staring at the racecar, "Not if you act like this. Don't tell Ultra, either. He will fuck it up if he knows."
"He would not," Optimus protests for his intended's sake.
"He'd think I was being lenient about everything and then you'd end up sprawled out under him, having your sparkplates licked."
He blushes again, "H-he wouldn't. He knows how important this is to me."
She sighs, "Well, keep it a secret anyway. He can be happy when the schedule is moved up as he's informed you get to sleep in his berth months sooner than he thought you would be."
"I appreciate that you are allowing us this, Sari," Optimus says, turning on the air conditioning in his cab to cool her down. She'd always liked that when they were on Earth.
She giggles softly, one servo on his door and the other on his vents, "You're being very good about this, Optimus. Good enough for you and Ultra. I think you deserve to speed it up a little."
"Thank you," he murmurs, enjoying her touches. He'd never expected to have another bot inside him - he was no medicbot, after all, but he'd grown to like it. Even if the internal components for carrying a human were useless accessories as a bot, it was nice to be able to do it.
They continue down the road like that for a bit longer, and another bot rushes by. He's not sure if it is deliberate or not, but he's splashed all along his side with mud and sharp gravel. He mentally shrugs, not really minding, accidents do happen, but he has to stop because Afterburner has transformed and yanked the mech that did it off the road.
"How dare you insult the High Priestess like that?" he hisses, slamming the bot against a nearby building.
The poor bot is wide-opticked and panicking. "What Priestess? I didn't do anything-"
Sari hops out of Optimus's cab. "Let me get some of that mud off while we're waiting for my consort to calm the frag down."
He hands her a cloth. "It isn't a big deal, Sari. It isn't like he meant to do it."
She sighs and starts to clean him, "You're really too nice at times, you know that? It is pretty obvious he did mea-" She cuts herself off, rushing to the to neutrals, "Hey! Afterburner! Stop! What the fuck are you doing?"
The racecar freezes part way through digging claws into the mech's plating, "I'm going to rip out his spark for insulting you."
"No, you're so not," she grabs his servo and pulls it away from the other bot. "You're going to apologize for trying to kill him, and then we're going to get Optimus cleaned up and pretend this didn't happen." She ignores the mech frantically trying to apologize and plead for his life at the same time. "Got it?"
Optimus transforms into botmode to pick out the bits of gravel that got into his joints. "Really, we don't need to clean me up, either. It's just mud."
Afterburner's servos shake in anger, "He insulted yo-"
Sari cuts the mech off, "No. I don't care if he did, and neither should you. If you're going to react this way to mud, I'm not sure if I can let you on Cybertron where they call me a whore."
His engines roar with rage, and Sari jabs him in the chest with a single finger. "Calm the fuck down. It's gotten better now that I moved to the ninjabot neighborhood. You'll like my neighbors, if you can calm down and not try to offline anyone else this solar cycle."
The racecarbot twitches unhappily then pulls her into his arms, holding her tightly, "I will not let anyone insult you."
She sighs, "You're going to have to live with bots doing it. Now apologize to Nitroblast for trying to murder him. Splashing mud on someone isn't a reason to justify crushing a bot's spark."
"I am sorry for wanting to exact vengeance on a bot who grievously insulted you, Sari."
"I didn't say apologize to me." She shook her head. "Apologize to Nitroblast."
With a reluctance that could not be hidden, Afterburner turns to face the other bot. "I ... apologize for attacking you." Even though you deserve it was not said aloud, but it didn't really have to be. Not with the look he gives the bot.
Nitroblast coughs nervously, "I don't need an apology. But, uh," he glances at Afterburner's claws, "I absolutely accept. There is no need to demand he do anything else, High Priestess. I'll go help clean the Autobot off."
Optimus looks up. "I don't need any help."
"Please, let me make amends for splashing you," the bot insists, pulling polish from his subspace.
Optimus takes a step back, raising his servos. "Really, I'm fine. I got most of the mud off. You can get back to whatever it was you were doing." He looks at the bot's chest, "Or you could go visit a medicbot."
Sari sighs as she's carried in Afterburner's arms to the road, "He's a courting bot, Nitroblast. You're going to be way too close to his plates. Go to a medic, and be careful of mud."
The bot transforms and flees, shouting apologies back at them. Optimus transforms down as well, popping a door open for Sari.
Afterburner glares at him. "You should have helped me."
Sari slips out of the racecar's arms as Optimus chuckles softly, "And what would killing him have solved? If getting splashed with mud was something worth getting upset about, I would have never been able to survive earth."
Afterburner picks Sari back up, cuddling her close, "No one should ever give such a deliberate insult to the priestess."
She pokes the mech in the faceplate, "Sari. I liked it more when you just called me by my name. We're married. Don't call me by a title."
"Sari," the bot kisses her gently. "My Priestess."
She plants both servos on his sparkplates, and Optimus looks away. "I suppose I can deal with that sometimes."
Afterburner's engine purrs happily. "I want to carry you the rest of the way."
She sighs, "I guess we can walk. If you think it is close enough."
His happy engine grinds down unpleasantly. "It's a bit far for a walk. Are you sure you won't consider riding on top of me?"
"Not without a seatbelt." She mock-whispers the next part, and Optimus knows she does it just to horrify him. "Or without a berth nearby."
Optimus shudders as Afterburner nuzzles into her. "I'll scan an earth vehicle so you can ride in me as soon as possible. Are you sure we can't go there when we leave the planet?"
She presses a soft kiss to his faceplate before slipping out of his arms. "I am. We'll go after we set up on Cybertron."
"Not soon enough, if you have to rely on your Prime for transportation," Afterburner grumbles, following after her. "What do you even do in that cab of his?" Claws keep Optimus from closing his cab door after Sari slips inside. "There's nothing interesting in there."
She snorts, pushing the claws away, "I sit. What did you expect?"
Afterburner looks like he wants to hiss, but is just barely refraining, "His windows are dark. I want to see you."
"You can call me on the com if you want to talk. You don't need to see me every fragging second of the day." She slams Optimus's door, and then pats the door handle. "Sorry."
"It's alright," Optimus reassures her. She never slams his doors hard, even when she's irritated or upset.
Sari is immediately commed by Afterburner, and since the racecar is just next to him, Optimus hears every word. "Are you okay?" The carbot is very twitchy as they ride along the road, making Optimus sigh.
Sari sighs with him. "Why the hell wouldn't I be?"
"You are inside an Autobot who is not well-loved on our planet." The bot skims closer. "And it must be very boring inside of him. You should come out. Ride on me." He revs his engine. "I'll make it exciting."
She rubs her temples in irritation. "If I had wanted exciting, I would already be with you. I am riding in Optimus because he has seatbelts."
Optimus picks one of the more relaxing songs he has in his database, and turns the volume on low on his radio, hoping it will help ease her potential processor ache away. "She is fine where she is, Afterburner. If she wished to be elsewhere, she would. Sari is a very strong-willed individual."
The racecar's engine growls angrily, only to stop when Sari snaps out, "Stop that. Optimus is never going to be a bot you need to be jealous of because of me. He helped raise me for god's sake. And I fragging told you, he's the virgin half of a courting couple. You're being stupid."
The bot slides away from them and sulks all the way to their destination, which is apparently a crystal garden-maze of some sort. Afterburner transforms and holds out his servo for Sari. "I will guide you through the maze. There is a stunning collection of rare crystals at the center, and any bot that finds their way there is entitled to take a single piece to remember it by."
She sighs, but allows him to pick her up. The mech's glare at Optimus solidified his suspicion that the offer is only for the tiny femme. He transforms into bot mode, and looks around, "Com me when you are ready to leave, Sari. I'll go explore on my own."
"Don't get yourself lost, Optimus," she warns him, before Afterburner disappears with her into the maze. He's glad there are few bots here at the moment, because the ones who are nearby are glaring at him in a very unfriendly manner.
He stifles a sigh, and heads into the maze. He's glad for his mapping systems, but he'll go with the old standby for mazes. Servo on the wall, and follow the wall the entire way to get to where you want to go. He knows that you're supposed to follow the left wall, but he imagines that, since this is a Decepticon friendly planet, they would know that, and make the shortest distance to the right. He heads right.
After a klik of walking, he stumbles upon a small alcove behind a delicately beaded crystal curtain. He pushes the strings of crystal apart, and his optics widen.
It's a berth.
A berth in the middle of the maze. He flushes crimson. Oh, Primus, he's going to offline if he accidentally stumbles upon bots actively interfacing in one of these.
He hurries on his way, and makes a note not to go too close to any of the beaded curtains. He wouldn't be surprised, however, if the only way to get to the center is by going through several of the places with berths. Ignoring that thought, he continues on.
Primus, he's sick of hearing bots interfacing loudly when he passes the berth areas as quickly as possible. In one particular alcove, his audios inform him that there were five different bots involved in making the noise.
He makes it to the center of the maze fairly quickly when he offlines his audios so he doesn't pay attention to the various bots. It is... impressive, that's for certain. The many colors and array of crystal is utterly stunning. The light of the sun hitting it is almost blinding. He records a little bit of it to show Prowl later, knowing the ninjabot will like it.
With his audios back online, he can even hear the crystals. Some of them have absorbed the sunlight, and ring out beautiful, soothing tones when the wind blows through them. He sits on one of the many benches around the edges, to watch and listen. It is very soothing, and he imagines he would be able to achieve recharge here very easily.
He vaguely considers actually doing it, but remembering the looks from the bots when he headed in the maze stops him. Instead, he just starts to record the sounds. It will be nice to hear it when he does recharge, and again, Prowl would like it. He could also send it to Ultra, since it would be nice to be able to share it with his intended.
Every color and type of crystal he could imagine can be found here - save for the rarest kinds, which would never be placed in a public-accessible area - and it means that Optimus has a very hard choice to make. What kind should he take back with him? Something that went well with Cora crystal? Perhaps he should take something in a stark, contrasting color, for better visual effect?
He's searching through them slowly, looking around carefully, when Sari is carried in by a very smug Afterburner. A quick glance at Sari confirms his suspicion, telling streaks of paint on her frame, and he returns his attention to the crystals. He's debating between a white and blue striped one and an orange one with green dots when Sari walks up to him and says, "White and blue. It will match more of your garden when you grow them."
The crystal breaks off easily from the main collection, and he tucks it carefully away in his subspace. They have planting solution back on the ship somewhere-if they don't, he'll purchase some.
Sari prods a few of them, tapping them to see if they resonate with interesting tones or not. She eventually picks a piece of a truly hideous crystal - it's mottled and diseased looking, but it rings with the most haunting noise when anything taps it. "This thing looks totally gross. I bet the sparklings will love it when they visit."
Afterburner makes a face at the crystals, but picks a piece that matches Sari's paint. "I have so many of these things. Never got in the habit of growing them."
Optimus tilts his head in confusion. "What about all those crystals growing by the reflecting pool?"
"Got staffbots, don't I? I don't take care of those fragging things." The fact that he's a consort is made very plain by the way Sari shoves both crystals into his subspace and the bot doesn't so much as flinch. "I used to break them apart and throw them in the water until the bot taking care of them stopped by my room one night and dumped the pieces on me. Now he keeps a stack near the edge of the pool so I'll stop damaging his precious pets."
Optimus shrugs. "Well, it is a little hard to damage crystals irreparably."
The racecarbot gives him a slightly surprised look before smiling, "That's what I said. He didn't seem to believe me."
Sari gives them both a look that seems to indicate they are being glitches. "Were any of the crystals expensive or hard to grow?"
Afterburner waves his servo negligently. "I bought the whole start-up lot at some old rummage sale in a shop going out of business ages ago. Couldn't have been anything special in there, seeing as I got the entire box for less than a cube of high-grade."
Sari frowns, but nods. "Are we ready, then?"
Optimus looks around. "Yeah." He isn't looking forward to passing by all the various berths filled with bots, but he does want to return to the hotel. Or go to whatever party Sari decides is next. He doesn't mind either way.
Surprisingly, Afterburner leads them out of the maze in a way that passes by less than a servo-full of berth areas. "There's a festival with several booths stocked with organic food, if you would like to visit it, Sari."
She nods slowly, leaning against the carbot. "Sounds good."
The mech seems to relax, claws gentle on her frame. "We're hoping that you like what there is, since this planet isn't like the other ones you visited. We never had a vested interest in making sure you fixed a curse like the one placed on New Axis."
"It was a stupid curse. They didn't need to give me anything to make me lift it." Her mouth twists a bit in thought, "Well, if they ever invited me there specifically to do it, I'd expect compensation for travel expenses, but we went to New Axis on vacation."
Afterburner kisses her softly on the helmet. "Never the less, it is always better if you like what we provide."
She cuddles against him. "I won't get angry if I can't eat something. I can barely stand to eat the things you guys think are fantastic. I don't expect anyone to know exactly the best way to cook."
"If you'll teach me, I will gladly learn it for you, my Priestess," Afterburner whispers into her audio, tweaking a pigtail with his claws. "Then you can see if it tastes as good off my servos as energon does off of your spark?"
Optimus flushes crimson and offlines his audios.
He's thankful for Sari's shake of the head. He onlines them cautiously in time to hear, "-se me. Remember? Don't say things like that in front of him."
Afterburner sighs, but nods. "Yes, Sari."
She shoots Optimus an apologetic glance. "Sorry. I guess he's not housebroken yet. Gonna have to work on that. And on reminding him he's not allowed to swoon over the Seekers when they visit."
The racecar seems to deflate. "But seekers a-"
She snorts, "Very pretty to look at, but frustrating. Starscream bittered them for me, even if his clones are funny."
"They're so very talented in the b-"
"Yeah, I'm sure they do all sorts of crazy acrobatic awesomeness when they're interfacing," Sari prods him. "But I don't want to hear about it. I have to hear enough when they drop by and gossip with each other."
The mech just sighs, "But I am allowed to look, right?"
"As long as you don't try anything or suggest they join us. That's not happening."
Afterburner vents another sigh, this one long and theatrical. "For you, I suppose I can try not to end up underneath another seeker."
Sari's optics glow, and her engine revs, "Not unless he's a consort too. And I don't plan on having any seekers."
Afterburner nuzzles her lovingly. "You said. A bot can dream, can't he?"
She kisses him. "Not when it involves seekers powered by the AllSpark."
Optimus coughs, and they separate, turning to face him. "You mentioned something about a festival? I would like to see it. Do they have any games or other activities going on?"
He gets a half-frigid look from Afterburner for interrupting his kisses. "They might. I'm unsure if they'll let you play any."
Optimus mostly expected that, actually, but he's not going to let it get him down. He smiles slightly, "That's fine. I'll just watch as you win Sari a prize in one."
Afterburner seems to perk up a bit. "I can. When we get there, you can choose what you'd like me to get you, Sari."
She gives Optimus a dark glare. "Yeah. Sure. I'll pick something out."
She flits up to Afterburner's shoulder and sits on him. The festival is within walking distance, and they can hear the music and the sounds of bots enjoying themselves long before they see it. Optimus is surprised by the number of bots attending. Perhaps they are making the best of a festival they felt they had to throw for Sari.
They make their way through the festival, Optimus trailing a little behind, since he doesn't want to interrupt Sari and Afterburner fawning over each other. He's stopped by a rather large jetbot glaring down at him, who grabs him roughly by the shoulder and growls out, "What are you doing here?"
Optimus stares briefly at the servo holding him in place. "I was accompanying Sari and Afterburner to this festival, before you stopped me. Did I do something wrong?" He looks back behind him, trying to determine if he's inadvertently knocked anything over. Optimus can't see anything out of the ordinary.
The bot's optics narrow, claws tightening on his shoulder to leave tiny dents. He takes a calming ventilation, nothing good will come of this if he gets hostile, and the jet hisses out, "The priestess doesn't need a tiny Autobot truckbot to ... accompany her to the festival."
"She did," Optimus protests, letting the insult go in and out of his processor. "I am the only bot on this planet with seatbelts for her."
The bot's blank look when he said "seatbelts" does not make him feel very safe, especially when the claws tighten. He's about to elaborate when there's an angry blue glow over the jet's shoulder. He winces and offlines his optics as Sari shrieks out, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I," the bot stutters, dropping Optimus, "Priestess, I was only defending your honor. This Autobot defiles you with his presence."
Her engine growls dangerously, and her optics flash bright blue. "You claim that my chosen companions do what to me?"
The mech starts to stutter, and Optimus steps quickly between the bot and Sari. He puts a servo on her shoulder, "It is just a misunderstanding, Sari. I'm sure he didn't mean what you think."
"You know," she says casually, hopping up to Optimus's shoulder so she can see the jetbot again, "you're really lucky I'm not like other Priestesses. They'd curse you like that," she snaps her fingers in demonstration, and the jetbot drops to his knees, whimpering out apologies. "But I'm not like that. I won't punish you for the stupid, stupid things you said. Or for insulting my family, because that's what he is. He helped raise me, and you think you get to imply that I'm banging him? Frag you."
Optimus sighs, and yanks Afterburner closer so they both can pet Sari soothingly. He ignores the racecar's surprised look, instead pays attention to the jetbot's pleading. After the third iteration of not cursing the planet, he lets his optics wander along the crowd that has gathered, and is unsurprised at how horrified and worried all the bots are.
"I already said I wasn't gonna curse your stupid planet," she mutters. "But you're going to fragging apologize to Optimus and you're gonna hand over your best bottle of polish and repair solvent so he can fix the gouges you left in him."
The jetbot yanks out the solvent and polish instantly, right along with a cloth to clean. "Yes, priestess. Anything you sa-"
She waves him off. "I'm not the one you have to talk to. Get to it."
The mech stands up, looking very hesitant as he says, "I... apologize for my behavior," a quick glance at Sari then back, "Optimus Prime."
Optimus takes the polish and solvent from him - an entirely unnecessary demand, because he has his own supplies with him. "Apology accepted. We had a simple misunderstanding, and I'm sure it won't happen again. I understand that Autobots have not been entirely favorable in the way we have treated your planet and allies in the past, and I can promise we are working on rectifying that."
The jetbot just gives him a slightly terrified look, and takes off. The crowd around them disperses as well, and he's left staring at the bottles in his servos. Afterburner snorts, "You should have cursed him, Sari."
She sighs, "I was tempted, but it is sort of like with the mud splashing. You don't kill a bot for words or small insults."
"Temporary curse?" Afterburner asks, hopefully.
Sari taps her fingers against Optimus's armor. "Maybe. Give him an itchy spark for a week or something. Would that seem fair to you, Optimus?"
He sighs, and shakes his head, "He already left, and I don't think any curses will help in the long run."
She moves over to Afterburner, letting the mech hold her, "He'll know why he has it, though. AllSpark is talking about how I shouldn't let that go unpunished."
"You told him you wouldn't be cursing him," he reminds her, leading them over to a booth with some sort of sharpshooting challenge. He'd always been more adept at close combat. "Unless you want them to think you're going crazy, you probably shouldn't turn around and immediately curse him."
She glares down at the area the jet took off to. "Fine." She looks around, "What is your best game at festivals, Afterburner?"
The carbot blushes faintly. "I am actually very good at netting turbofish. I use the ones I win to put in the lobby pool. You liked my oldest one."
"The really big one with the old man whiskers?"
Afterburner shutters his optics. "The what?"
"Old man whiskers," she mimes them with her hands, and the racecarbot just stares at her. Sari huffs, "Like freakin' Alpha Trion has, okay?"
Afterburner huffs, muttering unhappily, "My turbofish isn't an Autobot."
She kisses the bot. "Alpha Trion is awesome, and I'd like your fish even if he didn't have the totally awesome whiskers. He has a nice rainbow shimmer to him. Very pretty and wonderful."
"He is very old and he has a highly developed personality processor," Afterburner nods at the bot in control of the booth. "The ... Optimus would like to attempt this game." He turns to Optimus, "The first attempt at any of these booth games is free - it costs credits after that." Kissing Sari's cheek, he adds, "But not for you. You can play for free the entire solar cycle, my Priestess."
Optimus looks at the game, tilting his head at all the moving targets. "I'm pretty sure Sari will do a lot better than me at this, but I can try if you want."
She looks at it. "Well, the Allspark let you have those guns. You can try using them, you know. I may have let you keep your axe, but there's no reason why you can't attempt to shoot."
He picks up one of the booth guns. "I'm shamefully out of practice with these. I really should go down to the range more often. What is my goal for this game?"
The booth attendant gives him a neutral look, and waves a servo at the targets. "Knock at least four down to win a prize. The more you get, the better the prize. Hit all ten and you win a special ticket for our end of the solar cycle raffle."
He nods easily, and takes aim. He is highly unsurprised that he misses completely. He shakes his head in amusement, and keeps trying. By the last shot, he barely manages to hit the target. Setting the blaster down, he smiles and shakes his head, "I'm really quite terrible at these sort of things." He moves out of the way, "What about you, Afterburner? I bet you can blow my one target hit completely out of the water."
"Of course I can." The mech takes the gun and waits for the targets to reset. "Just watch and see how it's done." His first shot misses, but he knocks targets down with relative ease. "Seven of them. What would you like for a prize, Sari?"
She looks at the row of prizes for that number of targets. "Oh wow. Mirrors and polish bottles. And ... I'm not sure I want to know what that thing is." She rolls her optics, "I'll take one of the mirrors. Maybe I can wear it like a necklace."
The mirror is handed over, and the attendant smiles blandly, "Want to try your luck, Priestess?"
She shrugs, "May as well. I can't do much worse than Optimus, that's for sure."
She's handed the gun, and she shoots all ten targets in short order, making the attendant smile more genuinely. "Here's your ticket, Priestess. If you get another ten targets again, I can't give you another." He waves a servo behind him, "But you get your pick of any prize, as long as the points add up to twenty."
"Nah, it's not really fair to let me play for free if no one else gets to after the first try." Sari looks between the prizes and Afterburner. "I'd like that can of metallic orange flakes. I think they'd look pretty on you, Afterburner."
The carbot kisses Sari on her head as he's handed the flakes. "Would you like me to put them on now?"
She smiles. "You may need to get polished up first, but sure."
Optimus offers them the polish the jetbot had given him. "Use as much as you like." He had no use for it. Sari only pushes it back at him.
"Afterburner has nicer polish than that, and you really needed the upgrade, Optimus."
He sighs, and puts it back. "I don't need an upgrade. I like the stuff I use." Sari looks like she's about to scold him, only to break out into giggles as Afterburner pulls polish out of her subspace. Raising an optic ridge, Optimus can't help but smile, "I'm glad you're finally using your subspace for more than just candy and emergency supply storage, Sari."
"My wonderful, sweetheart boyfriend insisted," she complains, only to giggle again when the racecarbot pulls a cloth out of her subspace to apply the polish. "Turns out ... I'm ticklish there, when he does it."
"That isn't really unusual, Sari. Most bots just don't know because only a bot you're bonded to uses your subspace normally. There's a reason they thought you were dating Cyclonus when you used his."
Afterburner polishes himself quickly. "She has better taste than jetbots, apparently." He even smooths polish over his spoiler. "Not many come to be enlightened about how stunning speedster bots can be, but Sari appreciates our model type."
She sprinkles the flakes over him, watching them settle into the polish coat and stick. "Smug today, aren't you?"
The bot presses a kiss to her helmet. "Why wouldn't I be? I am bonded with the most beautiful and talented bot in the universe, and I get to show her off while she shows me off."
She chuckles softly, "Let's head to the next booth. See what else there is."
They work their way through the booths, winning and losing, enjoying themselves. Optimus did embarrassingly bad at a memory challenge game - though he's half-certain the game was a cheat, because the cards should not have moved that much. Sari aces every game based on aim, and Afterburner puts on an admirable show at everything they try.
They end at the turbofish catching booth. Sari and the Prime look at the fish darting around quickly, and then to the tiny flimsy metal nets. Optimus frowns, "You can catch them with those things?"
Afterburner smirks, "This is my best game. I can catch them every single time."
The booth attendant, a pretty blue femme with silver streaks, leans over the counter, "And that's why we have a strict limit on how many you're allowed to snatch away from us, Afterburner." She taps a sign with his picture on it and the number ten in a bright red circle.
Sari gives the femme a suspicious look, but turns to her consort. "I want to see how you do it before I try."
Afterburner grins at her, his pointed teeth glinting even brighter than in the picture. "Of course, my priestess."
He holds out a servo, and the booth femme reluctantly gives him a net as she mutters, "You're lucky we aren't allowed to sabotage you."
"You could give me a damaged net, and I'd still be able to catch these sweet little turbofish." He kneels down and studies the darting, sleek forms of the turbofish. "The problem is, of course, that as soon as a net touches the water, they feel the vibrations and panic." He dips the net in lightning quick and pulls out a tiny, silver turbofish that flops about, stunned. "These are the easiest ones to catch." It's dropped into a tiny holding container, where it zips around the small confines angrily. "This one is for you, Optimus."
Optimus takes it carefully, "Thank you, Afterburner. I just thought that you'd want to catch your bonded a fish first." He looks at it. "But I suppose you'd want Sari to have one that is the hardest to get, not waste your ten fish limit on me."
The femme leans over the booth again, "That one counts for his limit, since he caught it."
"Thank you very much, Moonracer," Afterburner scowls at her, before turning a bright smile at Sari. "Are there any ones you like best? I'll get those for you."
Sari looks at the fish, "You said you can get any of them?"
He preens. "Of course I can. Any turbofish that you want, it is yours."
She points at the fastest largest one that darts around almost angrily. "Even the ones that are clearly only meant to draw customers in?"
"Fraggin' Afterburner ends up getting our best ones every time we host this festival," Moonracer grumbles, handing him a new net. "Here, use this one. It's defective."
Afterburner takes it from her, and the handle does appear to be in danger of breaking apart. "I appreciate the added challenge."
Sari watches happily as Afterburner twists his servo quickly and catches the one she pointed to instantly. It goes into another small container, this one a tiny bit larger than the one Optimus's fish went in to. Sari pets it softly on the fins, smiling when it snaps at her angrily. "I like him."
"You know, we're gonna stop putting the rare ones out until after you show up," Moonracer mutters, handing him containers as he slowly depletes the tank of its most attractive and valuable turbofish. "Leave you a bunch of cheap silvers and golds to deal with."
Afterburner smirks at Moonracer. "Well, you won't have to deal with me soon enough. I'm leaving the planet as soon as the festival is over." He flashes his consort marked servo under her nose. "I'm sure you heard tell why."
"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll never come and visit to rob us all of our best bred Turbofish," she scoffs. "Even if you had to sneak away to do it."
Sari gives the femme a dirty look, "Afterburner will never have to sneak away just to catch fish." She tugs the carbot into a kiss, "He likes them, so I'm never going to keep him away from them." She's picked up and nuzzled. "It may not have been on purpose, but I want him happy."
Afterburner smirks. "See, Moonracer? Sari likes me. I'm her first consort."
Moonracer shutters her optics. "Really? I mean, no offense, Priestess, but you pick Afterburner as your first consort? Was high-grade involved in this decision?"
Sari gives the femme a dark look. "I'm sure you can figure out why it happened easily enough. You may find him unbearably smug, but I adore him."
Afterburner kisses Sari on the top of the head as Optimus sighs and explains, "He caught her before she could hit the ground when she was stopping the AllSpark from possessing her and breaking a bond. There was absolutely no high-grade involved."
"And you ended up with Afterburner as your consort." Moonracer shakes her head. "Good luck with him. You'll need it, especially when you see the kind of expensive transport he's going to want for his precious turbofish."
Sari nuzzles Afterburner's faceplate. "Can't be any more expensive than what I'm already using. And they will look wonderful in the pond he wants to put in the backyard." She sighs, "I hope we can keep all the damn ninjabots from meditating near it, though. Bad enough they sneak in to rearrange the crystal garden."
Afterburner perks up at that, "So these ninjabots visit frequently? What model types are they?"
She smacks his shoulder, "Don't even think about it, bot."
Optimus clears his throat, "Could I have a net? I want to see how badly I humiliate myself on this."
Moonracer smiles and hands him one, "Of course. It really isn't as easy as Afterburner makes it look, though. The turbofish like to break the metal of the nets."
He kneels down and watches the fish dart in the water - they're faster than he was expecting, and as soon as he dips his net in the water, trying to corral a fish towards the edge of the tank, a swarm of them descend on the net and leap through it, tearing the mesh to shreds.
He laughs in delight. "They certainly are vicious about it, aren't they?"
Moonracer smirks, "They like breaking the nets, and we really have put in the angrier ones in for festivals near here. Because if we have nicer ones, Afterburner got them even easier."
Optimus grins, "Well, I have one, anyway." He runs his fingers along the container holding the fish he was given before turning to Sari. "Are you going to try?"
"Sure," she takes the net Moonracer offers her, and dips it in the water near a gold turbofish. They swarm to her servo - and nip at her fingertips, ignoring the net entirely.
Moonracer blinks. "Never seen them do that before."
Sari smiles. "I think they like me." She puts the net to the side. "It wouldn't really be fair if I tried catching them," she murmurs before dipping both servos in the water to pull out a single turbofish cupped in them. It swims around irritably before jumping out and landing back in the water. "See?"
A loudly revving engine draws Optimus's attention. Afterburner's optics are dim with unconcealed lust, and he pulls Sari up to kiss her. "You have to let me see if you can get my turbofish reacting to you like that."
She kisses him back, running fingers along his headfins before pulling away. "Not really a big deal. Your large one eats out of your fingers."
"He's over a million stellar cycles old, Sari. And I'd been feeding him like that since he was that size," the racecar points out the turbofish he gave Optimus. "You saw how he hates everyone else."
"He liked me," Sari says. "Only splashed me once, instead of the four or five times he did to anyone else who came near that pool."
"Well, he outright attacks Acidstorm." There's a thoughtful pause. "Which is why the seeker despises him, really."
Sari smiles, "Well, he'll have fun in the pond you make for him. I'm sure of it."
Afterburner frowns, "He's old, Sari. I don't know if he'll survive the trip."
"I'll make sure he makes it to our new home, Afterburner. I promise." She kisses his cheek. "AllSpark powered bot, remember? If I can't abuse my powers to keep a fish alive, what good are they?"
The racecar cuddles her close. "Even if you can't, it's fine."
She kisses him again, "AllSpark says I can. Don't worry about it, okay?"
Optimus finds it disturbing how close they are, after knowing each other a grand total of one solar cycle. Even with a bond, it seems unlikely for them to have built such a strong rapport out of nothing. He hopes it doesn't crumble around them. He wants Sari happy.
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