Reunions And Other Little Surprises Part 4

"Nautica, you're swooning again."

"Huh?" The purple femme almost banged her helm on the table as she came to her senses, shuttering her glazed-over optics before looking innocently at Chromia and her own lidded optics.
 
The blue femme wasn't buying it. "You've been staring like a lovesick turbofox at those Seekers at the bar for the past five klicks."

Nautica immediately straightened up, almost knocking her drink glass off the table in the progress. "Was not! I was... admiring their weaponry."

Chromia snorted in disbelief while finishing off her current glass. "Oh yeah, you were definitely focusing on their hardware. Just like you were 'just examining' that sniper's optic reticule when you kept staring at him, or how ou were 'studying' his codpiece in the supply closet last vorn." She flicked one of Nautica's audio antennae before she could rebuke. "Pull yourself together, for Primus sake, I don't want anyone thinking we're out to get fragged."

"That sniper's name was Perceptor and we went on at least two dates before that happened! And FYI, he's also a scientist. He showed me his weapon collection and everything." The purple femme pouted fiercely, but she knew better than to get further into a fight she wouldn't win. Instead she leaned across and tapped Windblade's servo, bringing the red femme out of her own trance. "Hey, Windy, there's a mech over there I think you'd like."

Even if she wasn't still getting her processor back in order, Windblade would have never known who Nautica was talking about in the surging mass of bots crowded around the bar. She doubted there would be any mech on the planet that would look twice at her anyway when Nautica was there to pull their attention in like a black hole- but with Chromia's sparkday surliness almost spoiling the atmosphere, Windblade decided she'd do well to humour her. She feigned an interest by squinting hard at the gaggle of bots.  "Which one?"

Nautica graciously narrowed her search down with a gesture towards the left side of the bar nearest to the stage. "It's the tricolour one, the Seeker with the other purple and blue ones."

Windblade couldn't place the other two, but their red companion was not someone she was  expecting (or hoping) to see tonight. She looked away quickly enough to almost pop her optics from their sockets, burying her faceplate in her empty glass to hide the rush of hot energon in her cheekplates. "I... don't think so, Nautica," she mumbled, pretending to knock back the dregs of her drink.

Nautica raised an eyeridge with another curious glance at the mech her friend so readily rejected. "Why not?"

"Just trust me. It's not meant to be." Windblade wasn't about to delve into the less savoury parts of her Cityspeaker work that had brought her under such fierce scrutiny from Starscream in the first place, let alone admit to having contact with him before.

For once, Nautica seemed to accept the curt answer. "If you say so..." She looked over at the Seekers one last time, actually catching the attention of the blue one half-way through a rant at his purple friend. He seemed to forget all about the other mech as he raised his glass in her direction with a cordial smile she couldn't help but replicate with a wink. Then his wings started wiggling at her, and she couldn't stop a giggle bubbling out of her vocaliser.

Chromia looked at Nautica as if she just spat up a scraplet. "Primus, you're embarrassing."

Windblade meanwhile allowed some relief to settle the tension wrought in her cables- if they were focused on Nautica and her never ending flirtations then they wouldn't ask her any more about 'the tricolour mech'.

That hope lasted for as long as it took Chromia to drain her current glass and glance around the bar. "So where is this tricolour creep anyway?"

"Chromia! Be nice!" Nautica protested, snapping her helm away from her suitors.

Her blue friend scoffed and crossed her servos over her chest. "Why should I be?"

"Well, he's got red on his paintjob- that's your favourite colour when it comes to mechs..."

Even if red was Chromia's favourite colour, she wasn't a fan of her cheekplates going such a deep shade of it at Nautica's implication. "Shut up."

Nautica smiled smugly at shutting the boisterous femme down so easily. She turned back to Windblade. "Well, at least you've not got any competition for him."

Windblade spluttered on her high-grade as indignation flooded in. "I am not interested in him!"

Nautica seemed about to call her out on the frenzy of her denial, but a flicker at the corner of her optic stopped her. She turned to face it before getting that unsettling smug look again. "Well, you can tell that to one of his friends." She nodded to where the purple Seeker was approaching from the bar.

Chromia tipped her helm back and rubbed at it as she groaned. "Ah, scrap, the day just keeps getting worse. Permission to frag off?"

"Permission denied," Nautica said pointedly before putting on her best 'friendly face' for their visitor.

The mech kept his twitching wings aloft in typical smug Seeker fashion even as he leaned down to be optic level with the femmes. If Windblade didn't already know he was associates with Starscream, she could have guessed it from how similarly unsettling their grins were. "Evening, ladies. Name's Skywarp. Hope I'm not interrupting anything, I just couldn't help noticing how stunning you all looked on stage."

Nautica grinned a greeting and Windblade managed a polite smile, but Chromia was less than impressed. "Was that before or after you got backhanded by a femme half your size?"

Neither Windblade or Nautica knew what she was referring to, but Skywarp obviously did from the sudden burst of energon making his faceplate warm and his wings dipping lower. There was a hiss of static from his vocaliser as he tried to think of a rebuke, but it was replaced by a sigh of relief when he spotted the blue Seeker gesturing over to him. "Er...excuse me a klick, dears, my trine brother can hardly work his T-cog without my help." He managed one last wink before pelting back over to the bar.

Chromia rolled her optics and sipped at her refilled glass. "Is it possible to get second-hand embarrassment after knowing a bot for less than five nanoklicks?"

Nautica groaned and looked wistfully after Skywarp as he retreated. "I don't know why I bother taking you anywhere nice, Mia."

"Hey, I'm the sparkday bot here, I deserve to have some fun!" she protested.

"Well I deserve the chance to meet some nice mechs without you scaring them all off!" Nautica scowled. Caught in the middle, Windblade felt like she should have stepped in to defend the poor Seeker, but she was just glad to have the spotlight off herself for once (as well as for the fact Starscream had seemed to disappear).

"Trust me, Nautica, there'll always be more when I'm not here." Chromia paused her second sip when she looked back over to where the Seekers were stationed. Now two were approaching with Skywarp more or less dragging his blue friend along behind him.

"Get ready for round 2," she muttered as they pulled up before the table again.

"Might I introduce my trine member, Thundercracker!" Skywarp announced with a flourish that his friend clearly didn't appreciate from how he cringed, only giving a brief nod before averting his optics. Either he was shy or could sense Chromia's hostility. Or, like everyone else, Skywarp just annoyed him.

Nautica must have thought he looked cute cowering away from them from how she beamed up at him. "Nice to meet you both," she chirped, holding her chin up with her servos. "I'm Nautica, and this is Chromia and Windblade." She gestured to each one in turn, ignoring Chromia's sneer. Windblade at least was open to being friendly, giving a polite wave to the mechs.

Thundercracker seemed to open up from the warmth on the two femme's faceplates. His wings and backstrut straightened out as he looked curiously at Windblade. "I heard you had a gift for talking to Metrotitans, but I didn't know your vocaliser had other hidden talents."

Windblade felt herself blushing as the self-consciousness from the stage rushed back to her all at once. "Well, singing is... quite popular on Caminus," she mumbled into her servo as it covered her mouth. These two were friends with Starscream of all mechs?

Thundercracker gave a rare sincere smile at her. "Well, it certainly wasn't wasted on us," he said. "If there's more of it on your home planet then we might consider visiting ourselves. Our other brother especially enjoyed it..."

Windblade's faceplate went warm enough to sting her digits, forcing them away from shielding her embarrassment. Primus, she'd never be able to live the evening down now- she could already picture how Starscream would mock her for it the next day.

"Tricolour creep," Chromia hissed next to her, digging an elbow into her side. Despite her own reservations Windblade shot a warning look at her before turning back to Skywarp.

"You mean Starscream? I..." She tapped her chin as she tried to think of something that wouldn't offend his trine. "...work quite closely with him. I never knew he liked music."

"Oh, you'd be surprised how much he likes to keep hidden," Skywarp said, momentarily brought out of a muted conversation with Nautica- whatever he'd said to her, it had the purple femme blushing just as much as Windblade. "Like how he can spend thousands on himself yet can't even remember a gift on his own trinemate's sparkday, or-"

Thundercracker frowned and prodded Skywarp in the side with his elbow. "Don't you start that again."

Skywarp just shot a scowl a him before turning back to the femmes. "Well, I suppose Starscream isn't so bad. You just need to know how to handle him properly, like an ill-tempered turbofox. You know how it is, if he's tense he ends up drinking. And after he has enough drinks, well, he gets quite..." He waved his servos around, as if searching for the right term. "'Loosey-goosey'. Downright agreeable. Tell him there's a shot glass on the other side of a cliff and he'll fall right off it before he remembers how to work his T-cog."

"Warp!" If Thundercracker's hiss wasn't enough to interrupt him, the hard thud on Skywarp's shoulder did the job. He pulled him a short distance away from the table, ducking into a semi-private exchange that Windblade only caught from being at the edge of the booth. "I know it's soaked in Primus-knows what right now, but guard your glossa! That's not just our trine leader you're talking about to strangers, he's the leader of the damn planet. Not to mention he's our friend, practically family to us-"

"And your point is?" Skywarp asked with a bored tone.

"That like with family, some things are best kept secret. Like how Starscream gets when he's had too much to drink..."

She could practically see Skywarp rolling his optics. "Oh, calm down, Cracker, it's all just harmless chat! Besides, just about everyone in the bar has seen Screamer overcharged. If anything he'll thank us for breaking the ice with the girls. Not to mention getting him in with his little red siskin-"

Before Windblade could eavesdrop further, Chromia abruptly rose from her seat and edged past her. "Well, I'll be at the bar if you need me." From her voice and the look on her face she seemed to have cheered up considerably. That was quite suspicious, to say the least.
 
Nautica was watching Thundercracker again, deaf to what he was saying to Skywarp, but she paused her staring to glance curiously at Chromia. "What'cha doing?"

"Just seeing if the bar serves any Camien drinks," she answered innocently.

Nautica tented her digits under her chin. "Ooh, what kind?"

"Supernovae."

Windblade and Nautica both shared a look. "That's quite a strong one, don't you think?" the red femme asked with a hint of worry.

Chromia dismissed Nautica's words with a wave of her servo. "Oh, don't worry, they're grown mechs. I'm sure they can handle it." She was off before the others could ask any more. Windblade had an unsettled, roiling feeling in her spark that only multiplied when she saw Starscream emerging from the oil change rooms.