Notes Of A Precious One (Volume A1)

CHAPTER 9

Barricade transformed back into robot mode and stretched his arms over his helm, yawning as he did.

He and Frenzy had made a pit stop somewhere near the edge of a forest, and the latter was now out chasing whatever tiny thing entered his line of sight while the former took stock of what they needed to do next.

There was not much info on the girl, which he took to mean she was not exactly social, or at best, not social outside of her own cultivated circle of companions. She did appear to have a particular fascination for food though, as evidenced by the many food pictures she had in her reel.

But her eyes...Barricade just couldn't put his digits on it. There was something off about them, something he knew wasn't right but was there nonetheless. Vivid cobalt-blue and gazing at the camera tiredly, as if imploring the photographer to hurry up, but there was a startling sparkle to them that also seemed out of place.

[Soundwave acknowledges, Barricade] came the eerily cracked voice from over the comm. The voice of a voxbox long unused such that a few resets were needed. [Report].

"I - Frenzy, more like - found a clue to the AllSpark, but we aren't able to procure it yet", he told the mech over the comm.

The Decepticon Communications Officer paused awhile before replying. [Remain as discreet as possible. Minimal casualties preferred if possible].

"Affirmative", Barricade replied, then terminated the link and whistled for Frenzy.

"Stop playing with the bugs. Come on", he ordered the Mini-Con.

"Yes! Yes! Attack! Attack"! Frenzy chattered as he flexed all four of his razor-sharp limbs.

"Not attacking. You just have to lure someone here for me", he clarified.

Frenzy let out a crackled whine. "No fun. Humans gross".

"Gross or not, we need her for the AllSpark's location", Barricade reminded him, then nudged him towards a row of bushes. "Now get lost".

"Yes boss-boss"! Frenzy chittered, then dove into the green thicket.

-

The party was...interesting, so to speak.

The moment Mr. Mason had dropped them off at the parking lot outside of the clearing and they had all checked off their names on the guest list, Aprilynne had looped her recently-tanned arm in Amalia's brown one and started flitting from table to table, introducing the girl to her own friend groups, which included a few college students as well. Stephanie showed Amalia some of the games they had set up, while Ryder simply motioned for her to join him at the keyboard stand once she was done with his sisters.

Amalia felt somewhat surprised by the theme colour of the party. Black, silver and blue. It felt oddly fitting, though she wondered why Aprilynne had picked those colours when she wasn't even fond of them (except blue because that was the colour of her favourite flower). Maybe she'd meant it as a show of appreciation for her friend's help?

Azura was thoroughly enjoying herself, on the other hand, visiting table after table for pets and rubs and rewarding them with licks. A few of the partygoers had also brought their own dogs, ranging from tiny and fluffy toy breeds to large and muscular hunting/bloodhound breeds. A chocolate-hued daschund padded up to the dogbot and yipped at her in play. Amalia moved to intervene, then stopped when Azura accepted the other dog by running her huge blue tongue along its back.

"Don't worry about her. These dogs are friendly", Stephanie assured her, then nudged her in Ryder's direction. "What do you say to a little fraternising between musicians"?