Kritiverse. Autobot city - Ratchet's Medical Centre. Loneliness

[dens_extra_pups]

Ratchet: *carrying an armful of worn armour out of Magnus's room and grumbling*

Magnus: *grumbling back inside there*

Orion Pax: *blink blink. Will wait until Ratchet's distracted to duck back to Magnus' room*

Magnus: *sitting on his bed without the outer armour, scowling horrifically behind his face mask* ...Don't want to look like Optimus.

Orion: *soft snort* We don't look that much alike anymore, Magnus.

Magnus: *looks up. Soberly* But this look is still famous in your name. I don't want people thinking that I'm cloning to get attention.

Orion: But you aren't. It's not your fault we ended up as build siblings... Besides, A3 was in a hurry.

Magnus: *sighs* All that doesn't matter. You know what people say when they see a bot that looks like this. *eyes flick over Orion's shoulder, and his brows quirk*

Orion: *blinks and looks over his shoulder*

Nightwish: *slips past Orion and over to her husband. Studies his face* Does that mask come off?

Magnus: *blink blink* ...

Orion: *grin* It does. *speaking from experience*

Nightwish: *pleased sound as she finds the catches and removes it. Quick peck, and then she's taken off with the mask*

Magnus: *face palm* *rueful chuckle*

Orion: *snerk* Well, there's no way people'd mistake you for me now.

Magnus: *looks down at himself, and then into the mirror on the bed tray* *rhetorical* I'm not getting any of that back, am I?

Orion: Ratchet'll give your armor back when he's done fixing it. Or I'll sic my kids on him. I'm not sure I could convince Nightwish to give your mask back, though.

Kriti: *open channel* //Thanks, Ultra Magnus! This scrap is delicious!//

Magnus: 0_0

Orion: ... *facepalming muchly* *no, he was NOT expecting that*

Ratchet: *as he walks past in the hall behind Orion* This stuff's worn out scrap. And it's out of date. Besides. I'm not afraid of your kids. I have pizza.

Orion: *thrrpts Ratchet*

Ratchet: Same to you, buddy. *looks down as tiny arms wrap around his leg* Hello, Diehard.

Diehard: *click, chirp!*

Ratchet: Why don't you go look at your uncle Magnus? *grins at the little guy* I'll get you a piece of pizza while you do that.

Magnus: *questioning look for Orion as he hears this*

Diehard: *perk, scoot! Stops to hug Daddy leg, then resumes his beeline to Uncle Magnus*

Orion: *soft chuckle as his leg is hugged*

Magnus: *looks down at the tiny form that's approaching and gasps as he sees a baby who is nearly the spitting image of his brother save for the body colour, lack of mask, and the shape of the tiny helm*

Diehard: *chirp, click, pop! Gonna try and climb up to see you, Uncle!*

Orion: *moves to help his youngest with that*

Magnus: *quietly, as he reaches toward the baby with the arm that works better* And here's even more reason for me to change my outline.

Diehard: *reaches for snuggles*

Orion: *rolls optics* Diehard knows who his parents are.

Diehard: *chirps and clicks to Uncle*

Magnus: *as he pulls the bitty guy close to his chest* That's not what I meant. Can't you see that the look is coded into your spark? It's yours.

Orion: *as Diehard snuggles happily* It's coded into both of our sparks, Dion.

Magnus: *looks up with a quizzical frown*

Orion: We were rebuilt as brothers. So why shouldn't we have familial resemblance?

Magnus: *quietly* I've seen the scorn faced by other bots who resemble you. It makes it very hard for a man to do his job.

Ratchet: *passes by behind Orion again* Oh suck it up.

Magnus: *frowns* He's unusually grumpy this morning.

Orion: *frowns after Ratchet* Yes, he is.

Diehard: *gonna hug Uncle with all his bitty might! You no has sad, k?*

Magnus: *distracted from wondering about Ratchet. Clicks softly to the black and silver sparklet as he smiles down at him*

Nightwish: *back* See, Tailgate? That's what he really looks like. *grins as she directs her new friend's attention to her husband*

Tailgate: Ooooh, wow! You were right. He is pretty!

Whirl: *gonna peek around Nightwish* *snort* You just think so because he's the same color as your guy, Tailgate.

Tailgate: *huff, baps Whirl's leg* That's not what makes Nightwish's husband pretty!

Orion: *muted his vocalizer, is silently laughing*

Magnus: *hardened old solder is BLUSHING himself dizzy here!*

Nightwish: *challenging smirk at Whirl* You saying he's not pretty?

Whirl: He's not the kinda pretty I like to look at.

Diehard: *chirp, clickclickclick*

Orion: *gonna hurt himself with the force of that silent laughter if he's not careful*

Nightwish: *gentle but noticeable bap for Whirl*

Whirl: Oy! *whap!*

Tailgate: *meeps*

Nightwish: *bap bap bap! SWAT!*

Whirl: *whap, swat, bap!*

Tailgate: *more meep, seeks shelter*

Ratchet: STOP FIGHTING IN MY WARD!

Nightwish: *so scram!*

Whirl: *ditto that!*

Magnus: *looks behind his bed as concern overcome mortifacation* Are you alright, Miss?

Tailgate: *biiiig optics behind her visor* That was scary!

Magnus: *kindly and reassuring smile* They were only playing. There was no danger. *realizes something and turns his head to look at Orion with surprise* Fixer isn't here.

Orion: ... 0_0 She isn't.

Diehard: *clickstorm!*

Magnus: *expression changes to sympathy* *quietly* Separation anxiety.

Orion: *quietly* Yeah...

Tailgate: *wibble* Poor Ratchet.

Magnus: *thinks of how sad and lonely he'd be without Nightwish within reach. Quiet throat clearing sound as he hugs little Diehard*

Diehard: *chirp?*

Orion: *absent frown, is talking to Ariel about this. And also pestering the Prime*

Jazz: //Can't be together all th' time, 'Rion. Fixer's in India for two weeks ta advise 'em on their space program.//

Orion: //Mech, think who you're talking to. And remember how long Ariel and I were apart. Ratchet's hurting from the loneliness.//

Jazz: *slightly shaky sigh* //If I gotta deal, so does he.//

Orion: ... *brow ridges up* //Where's Showtime?//

Jazz: //With Desi, on tour.//

Orion: *much wince* //I see.//

Diehard: *more chirp and clickstorm*

Magnus: *quietly, to the little mechlet* Uncle Ratchet misses Aunty Fixer. She's not here right now, and he's sad.

Diehard: *wibble*

Magnus: *kindly* Do you want to go help him eat his pizza?

Diehard: *much think, then a nod* *chirp*

Magnus: *looks up at Orion* Will you help him down?

Sideswipe: *is the sound of shaken Lambo syndrome from the waiting room*

Orion: *small nod, moves to get his bitty son* *quietly* Jazz's mate is on tour with her sister.

Magnus: I know. I've been watching them on the news. *checks on Tailgate to see if she's recovered from her fright*

Tailgate: *moving to crawl out from behind the bed*

Diehard: *much clickstorm as he's set on the ground, then he's toddling off to love on Uncle Ratchet*

Orion: *gentle hand on the little femme as she tiptoes past him*

Tailgate: *visor lights with her quizzical grin*

Magnus: *sighs* And now I better rest. *tries to settle himself down, forgets he's a different shape now and nearly falls off the bed* !!!

Orion: *awks and moves to help*

Tailgate: *meeep!*

Magnus: *shaky intake as he blinks at his brother* Yes. I better get some sleep.

Orion: I'll get you tucked in. *putting action to words*

Magnus: *grim expression cracks into amusement as he squirms slightly* Orion, you jerk, I can't move.

Orion: *much grin* That's the point! *tuck tuck tuck! Then he's grabbing Tailgate and booking it from the room*

Tailgate: Eeep!

Magnus: *amused grumbling as he wriggles a bit more, and then a long drawn out yawn as he settles down and shuts his optics off. Falls asleep in the middle of praying for help for Ratchet to cope with loneliness*

((Written with random_xtras))