Four Calling Birds

“Really?” Fireflight asked rhetorically while he glared at his personal terminal. The accursed machine was beeping the merry tune of an incoming spatial call. Again. When he was supposed to be meeting up with Sandstorm on the observation deck for a cube and a chat. But… What if it was his brothers? Or Creators?

He wavered and then huffed, wings drooping.

[Sorry, Sandstorm, I can’t make it but I’ll try and catch up with you later. Got another call… So sorry! I’ll make it up to you, promise!] the Vosian sent, the text barely a thought but so habitual that that was all that was needed. It was more and more often now that they kept in contact that way than through actual face-to-face communication… Fireflight hated it!

[It’s cool, ‘Flight. Just shoot me a message when you’re done and we’ll try to reschedule, alright?] The return text pinged off even as he rather reluctantly sat down and pressed ‘accept’ on his terminal. The text even had one of those symbol smiley faces tacked on that Sandstorm knew he liked. It was a small consolation, but it nevertheless brought a flicker of a grin to his faceplates. He really did want to talk to his family… It was just that he had been looking forward to star gazing with his friend, too!

“Yeah?” he spoke before the picture had even formed out of the usual multicolored static. Fireflight really tried not to look or sound annoyed, but he wasn’t sure how well he did…

“Hi, Fireflight!” Skydive greeted cheerfully after the screen flickered to life. “How’s our favorite scraplet doing? We miss you!”

“Yeah, and that’s no way to greet your brothers, anyway!” Slingshot cut in before Skydive could go off on a tangent. “We make an effort to call you and you’re all snippy. You got a hot date or somethin’?” The words would have sounded rhetorical from anyone else, but from Slingshot, they were a thinly veiled threat of bodily harm on anyone who might be trying to get in with his kid brother.

“You are always asking me that! Slings, I’m too young for any of that,” Fireflight answered, wings going up and stiff on his back, a pout forming on his derma.

“I was just on my way to refuel and star gaze a bit with a friend, is all. But of course I am happy that you call me, I love you! It’s just that I keep getting interrupted in things as of late.” And if he had been anyone but who he was he might have been suspicious. However… he was precisely not the kind of person to be suspicious.

Slingshot’s expression darkened predictably. “The same one as last time? That whatever-his-name-was… The Tarnite. He’s a helo, isn’t he?” He glanced at Skydive for confirmation.

“Yes… You seem to spend an awful lot of time with that mech, Fireflight. Aren’t there any more… appropriate choices available on your new team?”

Skydive hated that he even had to question the motives of a mech he had never met, but with all of the calls they had gotten warning them of this mech that let Fireflight hang all over him, he couldn’t help it. The mech seemed perfectly content to be with him all the time, even, so there was no limit to the amount of contact they had, and that told them that something needed to be done. If it was just an occasional thing he was sure it would be fine; Fireflight was a physical type of mech. But every orn, every place they visited…

And then their Creator called him to tell him that the two of them had snuck out on their own one night and the Tarnite had come back injured but both of them were in disgustingly high spirits! Skydive honestly didn’t know what was worse: the potential for harm, or Fireflight’s obliviousness to it.

“What do you mean ‘appropriate’? Sandstorm is nice and he likes it when I blabber.” Fireflight frowned more, his tone almost sarcastic on the last word. As a Seeker who had been told to shut up too many times, he couldn’t help it… Sandstorm was such a nice change to that! He was always willing to listen and talk back, not afraid to break in to steer him back on topic or simply tell him that there was a need for quiet time. Not ‘shut up’, not ‘stop blabbering’. No, never in a negative manner!

“And he never ever tells me I’m incompetent or wrong just because I make a mistake!” This time, he glared at both of his brothers almost viciously.

Skyfire at least had the decency to look ashamed at the pointed jab, but he pressed on nevertheless.

“Age appropriate… From what I understand, he’s significantly older than you… What if his motives toward you are impure? You know we worry about you, Fireflight, and this mech showing so much interest in you when he’s been a part of that crew for as long as you say and surely has other friends – well, we don’t like it.”

“Well too fragging bad then! For once I have a friend that likes me for me, so deal with it!” Fireflight wished he could keep being angry, but instead his dermas started trembling and his wings drooped along with the rest of him.

“I have a friend! Why is that so bad? He’s not in the least interested in anything but having a friend either!” he wailed.

“‘Flight…” Skydive started, but Slingshot interrupted him.

“It’s bad for a lot of reasons, Fireflight!” the smaller Vosian said forcefully. “And you don’t know that he only wants to be friends! I’ve seen mechs do more than he does for a bit of tail. How much could you two realistically have in common, anyway? He’s not even one of us, for Zephyrus’ sake!”

“You are so mean!” Fireflight half rose, leaning forward to glare at Slingshot. “You are the one who doesn’t know what you are talking about! You are doing what everyone else is always doing to us! You don’t even know him and you’re judging him! He’s never so much as touched me inappropriately!”

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking it!” Slingshot snapped back, pushing Skydive aside so he could be front and center on screen. “You think we haven’t been getting calls about you? He lets you cling all over him like some kind of space barnacle, even encourages it by holding you there! What kind of friend is so physically intimate?”

“A good friend who knows that I like feeling safe! Something you never understood, but seemed to enjoy exploiting a lot when I was a hatchling!” Fireflight snarled back, one sharp tipped finger poking at the screen in lieu of being able to poke his brother in the chest.

“Or don’t you think I remember how mean you were then too?” He bared his fanged dentals, anger taking over from the fact that he was being both impolite and disrespectful. But really? Were they not being so in return? Implying that he couldn’t even manage to form a regular friendship all on his own?

Slingshot threw his hands up in frustration. “That’s different! I’m your brother, that’s what I’m supposed to do!” he growled in exasperation. “Gods! Just, forget it! I’ll tell Air Raid to call you; maybe he can talk some sense into you!”

With those parting words, Slingshot stormed off, and the sound of a door cycling open and closed came shortly after, as well as the roar of the mech’s engine as he transformed and took off.

Once he was gone, Skydive sighed and moved back in front of the terminal. “Fireflight… You know he means well. We really love you and just, this… It doesn’t seem safe. Please understand.”

“All I understand is that you are all butting into my life even though I’m not even near you! I just want to be left alone to choose my own friends and my own life!” Fireflight growled uncharitably. “I don’t know why half the ship thinks it’s their mission to report on me! I’m not a hatchling anymore; I’m not even a youngling! I…” he broke off and actually hiccuped from distress.

“I just want to be friends with Sandstorm and have everyone butt out of it!”

“You’re also not at full maturity, and much as you may hate that fact, it is a fact. So can you blame us if we worry?” Skydive asked, but then shook his head. He had been that age once… “I know you can blame us, and you clearly do. But I wish you would think of our side as well. We’re your brothers and we want what’s best for you and, frankly, I don’t think that this mech is what’s best for you.”

Fireflight snarled at the most level minded of his brothers, feeling utterly betrayed. He couldn’t believe that Skydive, of all of them, was basing his opinions on nothing but a few Seekers’ too active imaginations. “You don’t even know him!”

This was not the Skydive he knew… Not at all!

“‘Flight, even Silverbolt is saying this is bad news!” Skydive insisted, only slightly shocked that Fireflight would snarl at him. He could see that this Sandstorm mech meant a lot to him, but… there was still an uneasiness he couldn’t ignore. None of them could.

“I don’t know him, but I do know people. And people don’t just… They don’t make friends with sweet young mechs like you without an ulterior motive very often. Rarely, in fact, if ever at all.”

“You are just like everyone else! I didn’t think I’d ever… I can’t believe you,” Fireflight sank back down onto his chair, wings dropping as he turned half away from the screen. He felt so deeply disappointed and hurt! So he had not had his first heat. That did not make him a moron. He knew how to say no, but more importantly? He trusted Sandstorm to back off if he said no! “I always thought you were better than that, Skydive. Slingshot, Air Raid, even our Creator… but not you! Not you, Sky’, you never judge like that.”

Skydive clenched his fists in frustration and, yes, a bit of shame. Perhaps it was out of his character, but desperate times called for desperate measures! “I’m worried about you, and about this relationship you’re developing! Why is that so bad? Do you not realize how far away you are right now? How am I supposed to be there for you if something goes wrong when you’re so far away?”

“It’s not bad that you worry, Sky’, it is bad that you immediately think that I am incapable of choosing honorable friends.” Big, sad optics turned to the screen, as he continued, “It’s bad that you don’t trust me even as little as that… That’s not protecting me, Sky’, that’s trying to make me afraid of the world!”  

“But you know what? If that is how it is going to be I’ll just not talk to any of you! You don’t know Sandstorm, you don’t know anything but what some mean sparked nasty know-it-alls been filling your audio receptors with. And it is really sad that you chose to trust them over me,” Fireflight growled and reached out to cancel the call.

Knowing his brother well enough to know that he was really serious this time, Skydive raised his hands up in surrender and said, “Wait, Fireflight, don’t hang up! Please… You’re right… We don’t know him. But we do know how trusting you can be, and how easy it would be to take advantage of you. As you so aptly pointed out before, we’ve done it…”

“And you think I didn’t learn anything from you?” Fireflight stopped, glaring at his brother, dermas pressed into a tight angry line. “I’m not as trusting as you think, not anymore! You all taught me to be careful.” Dermas twisted in something that might have been a wry smile if not for the fact that the normally so cheerful Seeker was royally pissed off.

“I trust Sandstorm! And right now? Right now I trust him a Pit of a lot more than I trust any of you! Zephyrus be my witness on that!”

“You trust some mech you’ve only known a couple of groons more than your own family?” Skydive asked incredulously. He didn’t think he should be as shocked as he was, and who could blame him? As family, they had always been there for him… Surely Fireflight didn’t mean it. How could he trust this Tarnite more than his own brothers?

“Yes! Which isn’t very fun to say, but yes, frag it, Sky’, I mean it. Think it over. He’s trusted me since we met, but you guys? You didn’t even call to ask if I had gotten friends or if I enjoyed my first tour of duty! No, you called and jumped on my wings for having a friend who ‘undoubtedly’ was only out to get my seals! And why? Because some nosy Seekers on here told you he was ‘grabby’ with me. You didn’t ask me if it was true or not, you just stamped him as bad news and me as an incompetent moron!” Fireflgiht spat, and then sat back, visibly fighting to get his rarely raised temper down to a manageable level. He hated being angry, more so when it was at his family, all of whom, faults and all, he loved dearly. But in this, he was angry at them all! Furious with them, really, to the point that he was truly tempted to cut off communication with them for a good long while. Maybe even till this tour was over and he went back to Vos.

“So yes, I don’t really want to talk to any of you. You are all a bunch of judgmental, entitled fraggers!”

“Well it’s not like you tried to prove otherwise! You just huff and pout like a hatchling and then expect us to believe you when you don’t defend yourself. I mean, you’re not even denying your… physical closeness. But he is grabby with you. Holding you all the time, I hear, and he’s even pet your wings!” You just didn’t play with a Vosian’s wings unless you wanted something! Surely even Fireflight knew that!

“I should not have to defend myself!” and the snarl was back, “Air Raid never had to do so, Slingshot never had to, you never had to! I don’t see why I have to!” It just was not fair!

“He’s never done anything I haven’t allowed. Just as I never do anything he does not allow, and if you guys can’t believe that you then I really do not want to talk to you right now. The one time, one time, he pet my wing I told him not to do so, and why, and since then he hasn’t touched them!” not that Skydive would believe him, none of them believed him when it came to this.

Skydive growled and made a cutting motion with his hand. “None of us ever consorted with an outsider! Other Vosians, that’s one thing… But this mech isn’t one of us and he doesn’t know our ways – whether or not you explain or if he listens, he doesn’t understand us. Do you not see the situation you’ve put yourself in, Fireflight? Distant kin, they may be, but Tarnites operate entirely differently. I don’t want to see you hurt, and I fear that’s exactly what this will come to if you continue this relationship with him.”

“It is a friendship, and it is mine! Not yours, not Air Raid’s, not Slingshot’s and not our Creator’s!” Fireflight jumped up again, wings flaring with rage.

“There is no reason for you all to get involved just because Sandstorm happens to be a Tarnite, and I am telling you right now! One more of these calls and I will tell the comm. officer, who by the grace of Zephyrus is not a Seeker, to cancel all incoming calls. So you guys can choose how you want it to be, hm, since you like deciding things for me so much! Now goodbye!” Smiling rather viciously, the white Vosian slammed a hand onto the ‘end call’ button, and every button around it, making the screen blank and the terminal emit a series of protesting beeps.

Really, the nerve of them! He had missed out on time with Sandstorm for that load of slag?