Until We Next Meet

Chapter 8

Holy...
Slag!
What did Hotrod just do to my Sparkmate?
I was going to have a serious talk with that young mech once I got my body back.
A very serious talk.
Hopefully I'd be calm enough not to beat him into scrap then and there.
Wait. What was I thinking?
I shook my helm to clear it of the jealous thoughts running through it. It was just a courteous gesture. A sign of a gentle-mech.
Still, I was happy when Orchid followed Cade into the castle.
It truly was a magnificent place. With tall turrets, a well paved road, lovely gardens. I considered living here with Orchid someday.
If Hotrod wasn't there.
I shook my helm again. I really needed to put some space between me and that young mech.
I ran after Orchid into the castle with my holoform. I thought it would be easier to walk around and see everything in human size, not...mega-robot size.
I followed Orchid into a nice-sized dining room. There were a few bookshelves, some marble statues of half-naked female humans (why humans enjoy statues like that I have no idea) and a large table in the middle with some tea and cakes on it.
Very British.
Orchid sat down on one of the large red-velvet couches and I sat beside her. Even though she couldn't see me, I still wanted to be near her.
Cade and Mr. Witwiccan began talking about the weather, with some crude remarks from Cade.
Larkspur was curled up at Orchid's small peds. He had shrank to about the size of a golden retreiver. In full size, Larkspur was, to a human, the size of a large horse. A Morgan perhaps, or a Clydesdale. I wasn't sure.
The woman entered, no ponger wearing her white sweater and blue denim jeans, but a simple black dress with a silver zipper down the back. Her black hair fell in waves past her shoulders, and though attractive by human standards, I found she could not compare to Orchid, with her dark metal skin, long white hair, and smooth, purple, white, blue, and green armor.
Cade disagreed to my previous statement.
"Wow," he whispered.
The woman sat down, as far away from Orchid as she posdibly could without being too rude.
"What's up?" Cade asked, trying to be polite. By American standards.
The woman looked at Cade strangely.
"Ah, Miss Viviane," Mr. Witwiccan said, then proceeded to tell us everything she did, mostly stuff at the Oxford University. It took like, a minute.
"Anyway, meet Cade," he finished, making the man's name sound rather dull.
"Yeager. Cade Yeager," Cade corrected, wanting to make something of his name,"I'm an inventor."
"An inventor?" Viviane asked, sitting up straighter, slightly impressed.
"Yeah," Cade smiled proudly.
"What have you invented?" Viviane questioned.
"A...lot of things," was the only reply.
"Like?"
"Like...a lot of things, like, things you have heard of," Cade replied then looked at Mr. Witwiccan like 'she doesn't know me?'
"Like?" Viviane pressed.
"Well things you will have heard of present, pasts are pending," Cade blathered.
"Ah," was all Viviane had to say.
"Ah?" Cade asked in annoyance,"What's 'ah?' See I can do it too, 'ah, I'm English and I'm too cool for feelings' what did you bring me here to be insulted by some Bembrage scholar in a stripper dress?"
I face-servoed. Nice going Cade. Way to pick up the ladies.
"Only in England is a finer education an insult," Viviane said cooly picking up a cup of tea,"And if my dress makes you uncomfortable then maybe I can take it off."
Cade nodded a little,"Alright."
Cogsman, who had been standing quietly at one wall of the room had heard enough.
He growled and ran across the table to leap at Cade and wrap his digits around the man's neck, knocking the chair the man was sitting on fall over backwards.
Orchid was up in an instant, claws unsheathed. I knew that she would protect Cade, but then again...he had been rude.
"Shall I take his head off, madam?" Cogsman asked Viviane.
"Tempting...but I can defend my own honor," the woman replied calmly.
"But I do so wish to crush his windpipe," Cogsman hissed.
Cade was beginning to make some uncomfortable sounds.
"Let him go, Cogsman!" Orchid snarled, and everyone looked at her.
"I-I beg your pardon, ma'am?" Cogsman asked.
Orchid's lips pulled back to reveal two threateningly sharp fangs that gleamed.
Cogsman visibly shivered and released Cade from his choke-hold and flipped the chair upright again before backing away slowly.
Sometimes Orchid had that effect on people.
"You must learn to control that impulse, Cogsman," Mr. Witwiccan reprimanded calmly,"Channel it into other things."
"Yes, my lord, like, making beds, or preparing meals, or polishing the silver. I am trying, my lord," Cogsman sighed, still keeping a wary optic on Orchid.
"He's a butler-type Cybertronian," Mr. Witwiccan explained,"A rare breed on Cybertron."
The elderly man looked at Orchid,"As are your kind, Miss Orchid. You may have a seat."
Orchid shot Cogsman a glare before slupming back on the couch.
Hotrod was leaning in one of the windows, which was not helping anything one bit.
"Does he have to loom like that?" Viviane asked.
"Bonjour, mon cherie," Hotrod said,"Je m'appelle, Hotrod."
The way Hotrod said his name with the accent made it a bit difficult to understand him.
"Ut-rut?" Viviane asked.
"Hotrod."
"It-rud?"
"Hotrod!"
"Hot...Rod," Mr. Witwiccan verified,"It's his French accent."
"Is he French?" Viviane asked.
"No, he just likes the accent," Mr. Witwiccan replied.
"Non, non, non, non, non," Hotrod denied,"I hate the accent! But I can't get rid of it! I am stuck with ze accent."