“Um, Starscream? Are you busy?”
Standing in the doorway of Starscream’s office, Cirrus fidgeted with the slim metal box he’d brought with him. Starscream looked up from his console and maps and flicked a wing before answering. Try as he might, Cirrus couldn’t help twitching his own wings closer together.
“Not any more than usual,” Starscream said at last. “Come in.”
Cirrus shuffled forward, drawing a suspicious look from Starscream. He reset his vocalizer and straightened up. “I made something,” he ventured, holding up the box. “Um, for you.”
Leaning forward, Starscream switched of his holomap and moved aside the datapads he had stacked on his desk. Cirrus set the box down and turned it around so Starscream could see inside when he opened it.
“Ah,” Starscream said, “Your crystal growing is coming along nicely.”
“It’s not just crystals!” Cirrus said, excitement overtaking his nervousness. “I gave you crystals last year.”
“Last year...?” muttered Starscream, but Cirrus went right on talking.
“These crystals are connected to this datapad” - he switched on a datapad, which made up the bottom of the box. A geometric design appeared around each crystal. “Go on, press on one!”
Purple wings fluttered with excitement as Starscream tapped a pale green crystal. A second datapad in the lid of the box activated, displaying a map of Vos and it immediate surroundings, with a glowing marker and crystal name on a location. “That’s where I found that one,” Cirrus explained. “Keep pressing it.”
As Starscream tapped it a few more times, the marked area grew larger, got an overlay of a different color, a zoomed in, 3-dimensional view of the area’s surface scan, and finally a readout of the crystal’s growing conditions.
Cirrus explained as it went. “That’s the whole area where those grow now, and then the historical range. I found it in the archives I was working on. They don’t all have that but I can update it remotely when I find out.” His optics glowed bright as he talked, and he found he was a lot prouder than he thought he would be when he was building the box. His Spark was practically bursting with pride.
“And I thought, later on, since you want to have crystal gardens in the city, something like this...” His fans came on and he had to reset his vocalizer again. “Maybe even with more data. Also, people might want to grow their own, that’s why I put the growing conditions in there... like... maybe these could be in the gift shop... and..”
Cirrus found he couldn’t talk. He was too choked up, and he didn’t know why. He was so happy he just couldn’t talk anymore. When Starscream stood up it surprised him, but rather than make him nervous like it often did, he just beamed as the older Seeker walked around the desk to stand in front of him.
Starscream’s wings were spread wide and high, and he smiled as he looked up at Cirrus. For a moment he didn’t say anything either, but finally he puffed air out of his vents and said softly, “Thank you, Cirrus. You have a way of making Vos’s restoration seem imminent.” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “The visitors to the Crystal Gardens will love these as much as I do. It’s a wonderful idea, and I think one only you would come up with. You have a talent for... nurturing things.”
Cirrus’s wings fluttered faster, and he gulped down whatever words were struggling to find their way out. In place of talking he managed a shaky smile and a nod. He loved to grow things, but he never knew if Starscream approved. It made his quarters so messy and it wasn’t related to any of the important things Starscream always talked about. It was just a hobby. But now - now it was a talent. A talent that was his.
At last he managed to whisper, “Thank you Starscream. I- I mean - You’re welcome! I’m glad you like it!” He’d found his voice, and the pride that filled his Spark overflowed into excitement that had him rocking on his heels and bouncing his wings. He was already halfway out of the office as he called over his shoulder, “I’m going to go flying now but I’ll put in more details on that program, so use it a lot. It will get better and better!”
“I look forward to it,” Starscream said to no one, a crooked smile crinkling the mesh under his eyes. He returned to his desk and sat for a while, flicking through all the maps and crystal facts Cirrus had loaded into his present. At some point it occurred to him to check Earth’s calendar, and he just shook his head, though his smile remained. Silly, sentimental Cirrus. Nurturing things. Starscream waved away a tinge of ammonia on the air.