Flashback - Baby Blues - (Closed)

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((ooc: Set sometime before "Upgrade"))

There were many arguments Red Alert could have made to defend why (in his honest opinion) he was not an appropriate choice for sparkling-sitter---the most prominent being that he had no idea how to care for sparklings. He knew how fragile they were, he knew how very dependent they were on more mature, more cognizant mecha, and he knew they were prone to fits of emotion that usually dissolved into crying and/or screeching. That was roughly the full extent of his knowledge.

So, naturally, when an apologetic Jazz approached him with an armful of Bluestreak and informed him that ze was in desperate need of watching, Red Alert's first instinct was to suggest that Jazz find someone—anyone—other than himself. Surely, he reasoned, there had to be someone else on base who was better suited for the job.

Clearly, he had been wrong, otherwise he wouldn't have been standing in the middle of the monitor room with a sparkling in his hands, holding hir out at arms-length as if ze would somehow break if he dared to move his arms and draw hir closer. After spending a few long moments simply staring at the tiny (so, very fragile) little bundle he held in his hands, as if anticipating hir to shatter into a million pieces or start bawling at any second, he finally eased his shoulders a bit and vented out a long sigh.

“What am I going to do with you?” He asked, his usually firm voice softened slightly for Bluestreak's sake.

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The impromptu drop off of Bluestreak to Red Alert had been something of a rush. Supplies and sparkling grabbed before being given to some one the saboteur trusted enough to leave with the little sparkling.

Said sparkling was now held in the poor security mechs out stretched hands. Optics wide and a little bewildered at the sudden change of location, the buds that will be doorwings eventually flicking at hir back in curiosity.

eventually though the innate sparkling need for contact and Bluestreaks own special brand of just wanting attention win out and ou reaches out for the security mech, whining and looking like ou's about to cry.

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Red Alert's optics brightened in alarm at Bluestreak's sudden whine, his shoulders tensing right back up again as the poor sparkling reached out towards him, for what exactly, he could only begin to guess. Was ze hungry? Was ze tired or scared, or Primus forbid, all three?

And more importantly, what was he supposed to do to assuage those problems?

Judging by the woeful expression on the little bot's face, he accurately surmised that he wouldn't have long to ponder the answers to his questions before the waterworks started. Since he was not at all confident in his ability to sooth a sobbing sparking, Red Alert resorted to using the only tear-preventing maneuver he knew.

With no small amount of hesitation, he slowly drew the fussy sparkling towards his chassis, overly careful not to jostle hir, or worse, hurt hir somehow.

"It's...alright, Bluestreak." He said quietly, his voice hushed and unsure. "Jazz will come back to get you soon."

At least, Red Alert certainly hoped so. He didn't have the wealth of experience that Jazz and Ironhide possessed when it came to dealing with sparklings. He didn't have their expertize. He didn't know Bluestreak's every quirk, or what hir liked and disliked, or what all hir little sounds and motions meant. He was, for the first time in a very long time, at a loss for what to do. He didn't have a plan for this, and that honestly scared the slag out of him. He wasn't used to being placed in situations he wasn't, to some extent, prepared for.

Never in all his life did he think he'd be out-done by a sparkling of all things.

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The whining stopped almost as quickly as it started once Red Alert brought hir in and held hir closer. Maybe not completely happy but settled. Cooing softly and snuggling in as close as ou can. Wholly and completely unaware of how thoroughly ou was undoing poor Red Alert.


It was really a pity ou didn't come with a manual but on the bright side there WAS a bag of supplies, one of which was The Thing. Which ou was now reaching for. Something to play with while staying with Red Alert.

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Red Alert would have been surprised at how quickly Bluestreak had settled down once he had drawn hir to his chassis, had he not been more or less convinced that the sparkling's current placidity was but a ruse, the calm before the storm. He did not think himself so lucky as to survive sparking-watch without experiencing at least one disastrous bout of crying.


That, and he still had little to no confidence in his ability to confidently handle a sparkling. In fact, he wasn't even certain if he was properly holding Bluestreak, which was one of the most basic tasks of sparkling-care. He knew where to put his hands, of course; he had seen Bluetreak being held by various mecha enough times to know that much, at least.


What he didn't know was how firm or gentle his grip was supposed to be. He didn't want to hold Bluestreak too loosely and risk hir wiggling out of his grasp, but likewise, he didn't want to grip hir too hard and accidentally hurt hir. Ze was just so terribly delicate, it seemed, to Red Alert, that even the slightest amount of pressure would make hir shatter like glass. He wondered briefly (and not for the first time) why Primus made such precious things so damn fragile, before glancing down at the supply bag Bluestreak had started reaching for. Since giving hir what zir little hands had grabbed at had worked so well before, he figured he may as well try it again.


Kneeling down, he shifted Bluestreak closer to his shoulder so that he could better support hir with one arm, while the other reached into the bag. He pulled out a bitlit-sized energon-cube first, which he then held up for Bluestreak to see.


"Is this what you're looking for?" He asked, while giving the cube a small shake for the sake of illustration.

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Unaware of Red Alerts concerns Bluestreak was content enough to be held as ou was putting up only a minor fuss as ou was shifted as Red went through the bag. Shakeing hir little helm as the cube was offered up.

"Ah, ah!"

Still reaching for the bag getting a little more insistent as The Thing came into view. Chirping and trilling as ou continued to reach for the toy.

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The corner of Red Alert's mouth quirked upward briefly as Bluestreak shook hir little head and babbled something in sparkling-speech.

"Of course not. What was I thinking?" he said, his tone bordering between wry and indulgent as he set aside the cube.

Reaching into the bag once again, Red Alert was given pause as his hand encircled the aptly named Thing. He had no idea that was what the mind-boggling contraption was actually named, but he found himself mentally referring to it as such regardless, simply because he couldn't think of anything better to call it. After eying it for a moment, twisting it about in his hand to try and make sense of it, he finally concluded that it was most likely a toy of some sort, though what a sparkling was supposed to do with it, he had know idea.

"Is this what you're looking for?" he asked, holding the Thing in front of Bluestreak just as he had with the cube.

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The tiny little bundle of parts spared a moment to look up at Red Alert as he spoke, giving him a chirp as if to reply. Attention returning to the bag, Reds hand and The Thing he was holding.

The reaction was immediate. Already large optics widened and little hands reached out, grabbing motions with tiny fingers. Chirps, trills and clicks in all volumes and frequencies escaped from hir mouth.

Obviously Red Alert had found what Bluestreak wanted.

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Though Red Alert was not fluent in sparkling-speech, he knew right away what Bluestreak's happy chirps and grabbing-gesture meant. He had, on his second try, found what the sparkling in his arm wanted.


Seeing how he had fully expected to flounder his way through the entire supply bag before he found the object Bluestreak had so desperately wanted, considered this quite the accomplishment.


"Ah. So this is what you wanted." He said, looking the Thing over once more before handing it over to Bluestreak, placing it in hir grabby little servos. "Personally, I can't see the appeal." he said, more to himself than Bluestreak.

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Maybe there was no appeal to Red Alert but to Bluestreak The Thing presents a world of possibilities. Small hands strong enough to press one of the multitude of lights on The Thing creating a pattern with lights and sounds.

Of course, Bluestreak is a sparkling and like with all young of any species eventually they will try and put everything in their mouth. Not really trying hard but still biting down on The Thing enough to cause lights to go off in hir mouth. Pulling back in delighted surprise before doing it again.

For now perfectly content to snuggle in Red Alerts lap and play with hir toy.

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The sudden burst of lights and sounds emanating from the aptly named Thing caught Red Alert by surprise; he had assumed the toy was simply an oddly-sculpted hunk of metal. He hadn't expected it to be interactive.


He also hadn't expected Bluestreak to try to fit it in hir mouth.

"Bluestreak, don't--ah." He cut himself off mid-warning, unsure whether or not his reprimand was actually necessary.


Bluestreak was obviously enjoying hirself, and it didn't seem like ze was doing any harm to hirself or the toy by chewing on it, but still. For All Red Alert knew the Thing was not meant to be chewed on, and any second now Bluestreak could possibly break something off and get it caught in hir throat.


But then again, it was so unlikely as to be impossible that Ironhide had given his precious little bitlet a toy made with materials that weren't sturdy enough to withstand a sparkling-mauling.


Taking this into consideration, Red Alert finally stopped agonizing over whether or not to stop the sparkling in his arms from nibbling on hir toy and decided to just let hir be...for now. He wouldn't hesitate to intervene and pull the toy away from hir, if it seemed ze was going to hurt hirself with it. With this thought in mind, Red Alert stood back up just as carefully as he had crouched down, adjusted Bluestreak more comfortably in his arms, then turned on his heel to return to his seat in-front of the security monitors.


It would be difficult to watch a sparkling and the monitors at the same time, but Red Alert was up for the challenge. He was, after all, no stranger to multitasking.

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On a good day, when Bluestreaks attention span seemed longer ou could be kept occupied with The Thing for hours on end. The bright lights, the sounds keeping hir happily playing and blessedly out of trouble.

Today was not one of those days. The Thing did indeed keep hir occupied for a time but ou eventually grew bored of just playing with it on hir own and decided now was the time to play. How many times will an autobot pick of The Thing for hir before they snap.

Chiping up at Red Alert to get his attention before 'accidentally' dropping it.

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For a sparkling, Bluestreak had impeccable timing. Just as Red Alert sat down in front of the monitors, ze dropped the Thing, which bounced twice, then rolled to a slow stop beside his pede. He vented a soft sigh through his vents, before casting a look down at the troublemaker sitting on his knee.


“Your manual dexterity leaves something to be desired.” he said flatly, before reaching down to retrieve the toy.


After giving it a quick glance-over to make sure it hadn't picked up any dirt or miscellaneous debris from its brief time on the floor, Red Alert handed the Thing back to Bluestreak, then returned his attention to the monitors.


Not even a second later, the tell-tale thunk of the Thing being dropped echoed throughout the monitor room.


“...Really?” Red Alert asked, his tone bordering on incredulous.


Once again, he retrieved the fallen toy, however when he returned it the second time, he made sure to place it more securely in the sparkling's tiny little servos. He watched hir hold the toy for a few moments, to assure himself that ze had a firm hold of hir toy, before cautiously glancing back up at the monitors.


Thunk. Right on cue.


“Bluestreak.” His tone was one of warning and mild reprimand. Glancing down, he narrowed his optics ever so slightly to let the object of his frustration know he knew exactly what ze was doing.


Once was an accident. Twice was a coincidence. Three times was intentional.

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Oooooh Red Alert is one of <i>those</i> care takers. Like Chromia, wouldn't let hir get away with shananigans as she called them. Ou looked up at the Security mech, optics wide as possible and chirped an apology. All the while holding The Thing close so he know's ou wont drop it again.

Unfortunately this left the little sparkling bored and looking at all the buttons at the control panel with rather intense interest.

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Well, that went surprisingly well. Red Alert had expected his light reprimand to result in more crying and/or whimpering from the little sparkling, maybe even a tantrum. A little lip wobbling and a chirp of apology was a better reaction than he had dared hope for.


"Apology accepted, Bluestreak." He said, before giving the tiny bot a light, almost pathetically gentle squeeze, to let hir know all was forgiven.


For now. Should ze purposely drop hir toy again, ze would receive the same reprimand as before. Red Alert was not about to encourage an impressionable sparkling to engage in undesirable behavior by being lenient and letting hir get away with whatever ze wanted---even something as minor and inconsequential as this.


He'd leave the soft-handed discipline to Ironhide.


Seeing how Bluestreak looked genuinely contrite, Red Alert was wiling to give hir the benefit of the doubt and trust that ze wouldn't cause trouble again for at least the next three minutes. After one last glance confirmed ze had hir toy securely held in hir hands, he returned his attention back to the monitors, though he still half-suspected he would be interrupted again by something in due time.