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anon-e-miss · 14 days ago

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Storm's End - 5

After dinner, Barricade took Tripwire out with him as he went out to check on the storm, The more the mers played with them, the more disorderly they could become. He had been out at sea with his originator when they had heard the sound of canons. Though they had not sung this storm for these pirates, the only place the mermecha had for pirates was at the bottom of the sea. Barricade had been mid note when they had seen the battered swoop. Lest they drown the unlucky sparks onboard, Barricade had soften his song as Camshaft had dived down and sung an altogether different song. The kraken were wild beasts who were difficult to sing for but his originator had a song no kraken could refuse for long. As soon as the creature had seen the galleon, it had been quick to ensnare it, they always were. Seeing the listing swoop was hopelessly lost, Camshaft had sung a siren’s song and turned them to Damaxus. It had only taken a soft song from Barricade to see the waves carry them home.

Given there had been more pirates in the area than they had expected, Barricade wanted the storm at full strength for a little while longer. He sang, each note carrying more and more strength as he urged Tripwire, his creation added his voice to the song. Tripwire had an excellent audio for pitch and he match his originator’s notes perfectly. Barricade smiled, full of pride and they sang together for a bream more for the joy of it than anything else. No matter the guilt Barricade felt, no matter the grief, he did not regret Tripwire. He cupped his creation’s faceplates and basked in his presence for a moment. His own originator had assured him once that Tripwire had been forged in love. Even if Ricochet’s love had been a lie, Barricade’s had not been and so all Tripwire’s spark had ever known was love. Those glyphs were some of the best comfort Barricade would ever hear.

“We should go in,” Barricade said. “We’ll have hot oil with whipped tourmaline.”

“Okay!”

Tripwire was just so happy. Of course he had his moments, he was a youngling after all but overall, he was just a happy little spark. Barricade did not know how he could have forged such a sweet and perfectly mechling, but he had. Though Tripwire had school in the light-cycle, Barricade allowed in to stay up a little late, just because he wanted to spend a little more time with him. He knew his procreators and brother loved Tripwire, all of them doted on him. When everything else had been in doubt, that had never been. His kin had loved his creation before he had ever emerged and even when Tripwire had emerged with legs and not a tail, they had loved him fiercely. Downshift set a plate of energon goodies down between them and insisted they could not just have hot energon on its own. Barricade smiled up at his progenitor. He smiled when Downshift leaned down and kissed his crest and then Tripwire’s. His family loved him. Maybe some mega-cycle it would be a stronger balm.

“Go for swim,” Downshift ordered as Barricade ate his breakfast.

“It’s my turn to watch the desk,” Barricade argued.

“Prowl’s already on duty,” Downshift told him. “Go swim. It eases your processor.”

“I...”

“Don’t apologize,” Downshift said. “I’ve told you before, never apologize for someone else’s sins.”

“They feel like mine,” Barricade said.

“I know,” Downshift hugged him close. “But they aren’t. Now go swim in that cove your like.”

His progenitor always made sure to know where his family was swimming. They were all capable, even Tripwire, of defending themselves but they humoured their conjunx, progenitor and grandgenitor. He was their protector. Even in the Mithril Sea, that had been the mantle Downshift had dawned. When Camshaft had gone to sing his siren’s song to the sailors that had ventured into the shoal’s waters, his conjunx had always been watching nearby. Just in case, Downshift had always said. There was nowhere Camshaft could ever swim where Downshift would not be watching his back. There was nowhere Prowl, Barricade or Tripwire could swim that Downshift and Camshaft would not be watching for danger. They were good procreators. The best any could hope for. Barricade worse for letting them down.

The swells were not so strong close to shore but the rain was heavy enough to keep the islanders inside. They seemed to take the red-sky at mid-cycle as a signal for danger, not to them but to another. It was lucky they took everything as a blessing from the sea herself. If there had been one of those great academies on the island, they might question more deeply and those questions would put Barricade’s family in danger. It was the superstitious nature of the seafaring folk that allowed them to swim safely here. Could it last forever? Could Damaxus be home, really? The open seas were hostile, strong as his procreators were, strong as he and Prowl had become, could they really survive? Their kin survived in their numbers, with many optics watching, many servos hunting and many voices singing. They had only their four or five voices. If they did could survive out there, would it be surviving alone and not really living at all? Was that really life? Running for these questions, Barricade leapt from the sea, reaching for the sun as he twisted in the air.

“Cade!” Barricade belly flopped back into the sea. As he surfaced, he screamed glyphlessly, full of grief and fury.

“You!” He cried. “You! You!”

“Y’re alive,” Ricochet said, sounding startled. Barricade shifted quickly and ran up the beach.

“You... you...” he was at a lose for glyphs.

“I can’t believe yer alive,” Ricochet said. He sounded... happy?

“No kidding!” Barricade exclaimed. “Did you ask them to spare me when they slaughtered my kin?”

“No!” Ricochet raised his servos as he shook his helm. “My skip got sabotaged. I was makin’ repairs when the Death’s Head sailed wit... wit tails in their hold. I sailed out to our meeting place after I sent Lockdown runnin’ but... there wasn’t much... some bones. I thought ya was dead.”

“I should have been!” Barricade snapped. He told himself not to believe but their was a pang in his spark. “Do you know what mer do when another sells them out to poachers? They kill them!”

“No!” Ricochet gasped. He fell to his knees.

“They don’t suffer half-breeds to live either,” Barricade hissed, tears in his optics. “The only reason I, we are alive is because my procreators wouldn’t abide it.”

“I swear,” Ricochet begged him to believe. “I swear on my life I don’t know how they found ya but it wasn’t me. I swear. I wouldn’t let ya or the bitty be hurt.”

“Not a bitty now,” Barricade murmured.

“I know,” Ricochet said. “We saw’m on the dock, sassin’ the sailors.”

“He... he’s proper,” Barricade replied. “But mostly he teases.”

“I’d like to know him,” Ricochet said.

“You need to stay away,” Barricade said. “My progenitor will rip your spark out and eat it if he catches you near.”

“I swear, Cade, please believe me,” Ricochet said. “I ne’er told a spark. Not even my twin. Even when I thought I lost ya... I ne’er told’em. I won’t e’er tell’em, just please let me know my creation.”

“I need to talk to my family,” Barricade said. “It’s not just me. It’s not just Tripwire... everything is at stake. If I make the mistake...”

“I swear ya can trust me,” Ricochet said. “I swear.”

“What are you even doing here?” Barricade asked.

“Tryin’ to get supplies to the Dead End,” Ricochet explained. “Straxus’ got’em cut off.”

“Smuggling.”

“Medical supplies, rations,” Ricochet said. “We tried through the desert, border’s locked too tight. Ori figured Damaxus might work... it’s changed a lot.”

“We changed it,” Barricade said. “We brought life back to the sea and prosperity back to the mecha who make their living on it and we sink any vessel that looks at them as prey.”

“We ain’t pirates,” Ricochet assured him. “We’re just tryin’ to keep our friends alive.”

“I’ll talk to my family,” Barricade said. “Give them a wide berth until I say otherwise.”

Ricochet looked devastated. It was enough to make Barricade’s spark break but he turned and ran back into the sea. He could not trust so easily again. Even if what Ricochet said was true, over twenty vorns had passed and mechanisms changed. Barricade had hated this mech for so long. Poachers had never found the shoal. Could it just be a coincidence that those pirates found them? Had they followed Ricochet, unseen, when they had rendezvoused before? Was it still Barricade’s fault that those innocent younglings been slaughtered? Barricade ran up to Tripwire’s berthroom and curled up on his youngling’s berth. He hid his face in his servos. Even if Ricochet was innocent, his own servos were still stained with energon for letting any landmech close.

“Barricade?” Prowl knelt by the berth. “Barricade what happened?”

“He’s here,” Barricade said.

“Who?”

“Tripwire’s progenitor,” Barricade said. “Ricochet.”

“Ricochet,” Prowl repeated the designation. Surprise was stark on his largely neutral faceplates. He nodded his helm and took a long intake. “Have you warned our procreators?”

“No,” Barricade shook his helm. “He told me it wasn’t him. He told me his skip was vandalized and he didn’t know about the slaughter until Lockdown sailed into port. He said he sent that pirate running.”

“You believe him?” Prowl asked.

“My spark does,” Barricade said. “He begged me to let him know Tripwire. He begged me on his knees. He swore he never told anyone about us, even in death.”

“He has been hurting alone for a long time them,” Prowl said.

“Unless he’s lying,” Barricade replied.

“He would be a fool to reveal himself to you if he was,” Prowl replied.

“He seemed happy to see me,” Barricade said.

“If he is at all what you believed him to be,” Prowl said. “The other half of your spark, as you told us he was, then sun has risen for the first time in his spark for vorns.”

“Originator and progenitor...” Barricade said.

“We will talk to them,” Prowl assured him. “It would be good for Tripwire to see that he was kindled and emerged in a love that survived vorns of separation. They will see that.”

“Progenitor said he would rip out his spark and eat it,” Barricade reminded him.

“As originator sings a song that makes his energon boil,” Prowl reminded him of their originator’s contribution to the threat. “They love you and they love Tripwire. If your spark says he is true than we must give him a chance. Tripwire deserves it.”

It was rare that they left Tripwire recharging alone in the hotel. They gathered on the beach, under a starless sky. Barricade felt so uncertain as his procreators looked at each other, considering what he had said, without speaking a glyph. Downshift looked so angry, Barricade worried he had made a terrible mistake. If Ricochet was true... but Downshift did not believe and killed him anyways... it would be more energon on Barricade’s servos. Prowl leaned into him, glyphlessly reassuring. Saying nothing, Downshift and Camshaft nodded. His originator and progenitor wriggled closer and pulled Barricade into their arms. They loved him. That was the one thing in this life Barricade could always be sure of. They loved him. They loved Tripwire.

“You’re a good origin,” Downshift reassured him. “Even when it was hardest. You’re right, Tripwire deserves the chance to know his genitor.”

“Just like that?” Barricade asked.

“We trust you,” Downshift assured him.

“Should you?” Barricade asked.

“We can meet him first,” Camshaft offered. “Listen to him speak and see if we think he is true.”

“We don’t need to,” Downshift said. “We trust you. But we know, you don’t trust yourself. If it’ll ease your processor, we’ll speak with him.”

“I would like to hear exactly what he did to Lockdown,” Camshaft declared, fangs catching the light as he smiled.

“I think I’d like to hear that story as well,” Downshift agreed. Tired from sparkache and hope, Barricade nodded. He hoped this meeting would go better than the last. There was no way he could survive losing his family. There was no way he would want to.

#anon-e-miss writes #valveplug #maccadams #mechpreg #storm's end #tf prowl #tf jazz #tf barricade #tf ricochet #tf punch #tf camshaft #tf downshift

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starsheild · 3 years ago

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The Other World pt8/ AUAugust 7th-Family

Two birds with one stone...

“I ne’er woulda guessed.” Punch said, rolling the talisman round in his servos as he looked at his own creation and the newlings cradled against Jazz’s chest. “It’s rare the Crystal Fae venture outta Praxus.”

“I thought they was just stories.”Jazz admitted. “Just like the tales ‘o merformers we got.”

Punch vented. “Ther real. Both ‘o ‘em. They jus’ don’ like bein’ known. Safer ta be a story. Fewer mecha hunt fer stories ‘n legends.”

“But ya know ‘bout ‘em.”

“Had some dealin’s with mermecha when I was younger.” Punch admitted, offering the talisman back to Jazz as one of the newlings started to whine. “Let’s get’m their fuel ‘n we’ll talk.”

“Ain’ much known ‘bought the Crystal Folk, but the tales say they ani’t real fond o’ outsiders. ‘M guessin’ yer Prowl prolly broke a lotta rules carryin’ on wit ya, and even more havin’ these two.” Punch said as he cradled one of the newlings, holding the fueling cube at the perfect angle for the little one. “That mech that brought’m to ya must care a lot about ‘m, to get’m out and warn ya off.”

“Said Prowl was ‘s brother.” Ricochet said as he joined them. “Said if Jazz loved’m he’d stay away.”

“A warnin’.” Punch said seriously, looking squarely at Jazz. “N’ one ya should listen ta. If the tales are true, ya go sniffin’ ‘round an’ the Crystal Folk’ll off ya without a thought.”

“Them too?” Jazz asked softly, looking at the bitty in his arms and the one his Ori held. His bitties. It explained so much… the odd feelings in his spark that he hadn’t been able to explain, the extra warmth of Prowls frame those last meetings. If only he had known, if only Prowl had told him, he didn’t know what he would have done, but he would have come up with something!

“Them too. Gettin’ ‘m to ya is prolly the only chance they had.” Punch agreed. “I’d bet his brother took a risk doin’ what ‘e did.”

Jazz cradled the newling closer. “Ya think Prowl’s ok?”

Punch shook his helm. “That I can’t guess. I’d guess ‘e functions, if nothin’ else, from what ‘is bother said. Beyond that…”

Jazz took his other newling back, cradling them both close as they settled into a contented charge. His spark ached for his love, longed for Prowl. As he looked at them he had to acknowledge that this was the closest that he might ever be to him again. For Prowl, for them, he would give them the best life he could.

#AU August 2021 #J/P FaeFormers Bits #Otherworld #RoughWrite

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