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Alex set the kabobs on the grill, while the children happily ran around and played in the field, as the food cooked.
On the side, Tarantulas was quietly reading a datapad, in a web hammock he'd made to hang out, in his altmode. Bumblebee was in the bunker fetching something, and Dot was setting the table.
Nightshade suddenly stopped down on the lid in their altmode, via mass shifting. "Hello dad." They warmly greeted.
"Hey, Nightshade." He replied to them, and gently reached his hand to gently rub their head, but didn't quite touch them. "Done playing with your siblings for now?"
"Mhm." They hummed, maneuvering themselves to rub up into his hand as permission. "I was also curious. What are you making for dinner?"
"Ah, Mo said she was craving quesadillas, so I'm making some kabobs to go with it first, since they take longer to cook."
"Ooh~" they hooted.
"That's the one with meat, leaves, debatedly classified fruit, and cheese in a shell, yes?" Tarantulas asked, overhearing the conversation.
"No, I believe that's a burrito," Nightshade replied, before turning back to Alex. "right?"
Alex warmly laughed. "No, that's a taco, that Tarantulas is describing. A burrito is a little different."
"Ah."
"Oh."
"I understand what you meant, with your intentions though." He smiled.
"Hm. Yet another bizarre yet increasingly intriguing way to consume your nutrients." Tarantulas noted, before he went back to his pad.
Nightshade puffed up some and lifted the lid, before perching on Alex's shoulder to look at the food.
"It's okay, honey. Foods can be confusing." He assured them.
They only hummed.
"Hey, Nightshade, could you go bring your siblings over? It's starting to get a bit dark." Dot called, and they started to lift off to fly over. They nuzzled Alex one last time before zooming over.
They flew off, and maneuvered around them, to land on Hashtag's shoulder.
"Hey 'Shade." She smiled at them. "Wanna rejoin?"
"No thank you." They politely declined. "Mom told me to come get you all because it's getting dark."
"Oh." She said. "Alright. I'll round them up, and bring 'em back. You can go help mom set the table like you always do." She smiled at them, knowing her sibling all too well, while they halfway hid behind a wing, face lightly flushed.
They nodded, and took off. They landed on the window ledge, and looked, before noticing that the table was already set, and shut their beak before they actually spoke.
They then turned to go perch on Alex, but he wasn't at the grill, so they just settled on landing on the little flat on the side. So off they gently glided over to it.
Then they landed and noticed a little platter. It had a bunch of sticks skewering a variety of cold, wet colorful pieces. It was like a kabob, but clearly wasn't quite the same.
They glanced around. No one to ask. Or at least, no one who would actually know. So they gently picked one up with a leg to poke at it with their beak. Just to investigate, they were curious.
They poked. And prodded. And tried to pick up some kind of a scent or something to better understand what it was. Nothing. They moved their beak to see if perhaps biting it would perhaps yield any results: maybe if they squeezed it, or opened it up a bit it would start to emanate some sort of smell, or something.
They delicately bit it, just a nibble, and without thinking much of it didn't spit it out immediately, more focused on trying to forward their investigation into the little orb. There was no scent still, just more wetness and the inside was a different, very very pale lime-ish color, compared to the nice dark pinkish outside.
However, they perked as that little bit in their mouth seemed to give them an answer. It was good, and they certainly liked it and it's sweetness.
Having yielded results, they pulled the whole thing off, and started to nibble on it, getting soft, minimal, yet satisfying all the same, crunches. They happily enjoyed the little treat.
"Nightshade." Dot called, and they quickly turned, rotating their head all the way around to look at her.
"Can you bring those over here?" She asked. "Preferably by walking and using your hands, so they don't fall and get dirt on them."
They nodded, and she turned to do something else. They took another two off of the top and set them down, before transforming and bringing the plate over.
"Thank you, Nightshade."
"You're welcome." They gently set it down on the windowsill, before going back to collect the sticks, and once they were safely in their claws they sat up on the roof of the house, right over the window.
Dot watched them curiously, before she rolled her eyes, having watched them land by the grill again, thinking they just wanted to be close to the warmth. It was a bit chilly out, so nothing too unusual. She noticed them up on the roof as well, quietly keeping to themself.
"Just going to sit up there, baby?" She asked with a smile.
"Mhm." They hummed back, and briefly looked over the ledge to her, from where they were feasting upon the tasty chunks.
They looked at her. They could trust mom. She'd tell them, and she knew full well what they were, so she had reliable trustworthy answers. And she probably wouldn't mind them asking, or just taking some for their own devices.
They turned and picked one up with their beak, and went to turn, before noticing Hashtag coming over. They were hit with a wave of possessiveness over their little treasure, and recoiled, hiding it as they narrowed their optics and a low growl like sound came from them, carefully watching their sister approaching.
Hashtag waved to them, before going to sit by the window underneath to talk with mom, while Robby and Mo got washed up for dinner. They felt a sense of calm, understanding that she clearly wasn't after it, and let up on their glare.
They went back to gnawing on a piece that looked very similar to what they knew was an orange slice, just not pointy, and without the peel on the round side. It clearly had individual little cells, and the membrane kept them all together in slice form. It was soft, and tender, easy to squish, yet still required a little effort. It was also sweet, but with a twinge of tanginess. Another win for them, deciding they definitely liked it.
The next one was a yellow-orange colored slice, covered with little red flakes. They gnawed a piece off, and chewed it a little, before a spike of almost pain hit them, and the flavor was not appealing. They gagged and started to spit it out. It dropped out of their mouth, and they started using their wings to scrape their tongue as best they could.
Hashtag looked what had dropped down onto the windowsill, shocked, and then looked up at Nightshade. She looked just in time to catch them angrily tossing the rest of the slice off into oblivion. She snorted at the action, albeit confused.
"I can fit the 'disrespect your surroundings' meme over that so well." She quietly laughed to herself, not noticing Dot coming over to look at the windowsill.
Dot cleared her throat, and looked at Hashtag. Hashtag looked at her.
"Oh, uh, sorry mom. Nightshade did something kinda funny. I wasn't laughing at you." She tried to amend, clearly misunderstanding.
"No, I got that, from how you were looking up at them." She said, dismissing that concern. "I'd like to know what this is about here."
Hashtag looked at the spat up remains on the windowsill, and gave a long "Ohhh." sound, realizing. "Yeah, 'Shade dropped that, before they yeeted something off into the lawn."
"Nightshade Malto."
Nightshade visibly stiffened, from the ledge of the roof, and peered over at Dot, obviously knowing they were probably in trouble.
"Get your feathered little bottom down here with whatever it is you've got up there."
They somewhat recoiled, and quietly nodded. After a few seconds they came down, and set the skewers down in front of her, keeping their head bowed, but a claw remained on the handles. Dot looked at the skewers, then them.
"Move your claw." She said.
They didn't.
"Nightshade."
They puffed slightly, before slightly moving it just to edges.
"Let go of the fruit skewers. Right now."
It took a second but they finally let them fully go, disappointed.
"Good." She said, before turning to get the paper towels. "Now transform, because you're going to need to anyway, to clean up this mess."
They nodded, and did so, sitting there keeping their digits just lingering on the sticks.
"Here, 'Shade, I'll hold onto those for you." Hashtag said, gently taking them, and holding them in her hand.
Nightshade looked at her, rather distrustful, almost expecting her to do something to them. In return she gave a gentle smile and affirmation over their bond, to assure them. They somewhat relaxed, but remained anxious.
Dot firmly set the paper towels in front of them with a wet wash cloth. Nightshade took them, cleaned up the mess on the windowsill, wordlessly.
"Hashtag, give me the fruit skewers." She said.
"I can hold them." Hashtag said. "They'll probably be more secure that way anyway."
Dot looked at her with a look of the same amount of convincing she had that GHOST was actually good.
Hashtag still kept them secure in her hand, very gentle, but still firm enough that Nightshade knew they couldn't get them away from her without her doing so of her own free will.
"I can tell you're trying to play both sides of the fence here, Hashtag."
"Yeah." She readily admitted, still not giving them up. "Nightshade is concerned they'll be taken, and you don't want them to have them right now, so I'm holding them so neither of you need to worry, until judgement is passed."
Dot stared at her, and after a moment of the two just staring back and forth, she sighed. "Fine. But at the very least put them on a plate so your hand won't get all sticky."
Hashtag simply watched, and slightly smiled at Nightshade, who looked at her with a small grateful smile, as they threw the paper towel away, before they gently wiped the windowsill down with the washcloth.
Dot returned with a plate, and Hashtag set them down, before Dot firmly held it, and looked to Nightshade.
"Where's the rest of this one?" She pointed at the half eaten one.
"Gone." Nightshade very hesitantly said, for lack of better word, not knowing how else to explain where they went.
"Where?"
They were quiet, trying to figure out what to say. It took a minute, before they finally spoke, with full honesty.
"In my mouth."
Dot stared, for a moment. "You ate them."
"I guess?"
"Like, they went in your mouth, you chewed them up, and swallowed it?" Hashtag asked.
"Yes, I believe that's how it went."
"You actually ate human food." She said, kind of amazed.
"You're being 100% serious. Because Hashtag said she saw you toss a piece into the lawn."
Nightshade went quiet, face flushing with embarrassment. "That was... a knee jerk reaction..." they said quietly. "I only did it with that one."
Hashtag started laughing at them. "Oh my god. You hated it so much you had to yeet it."
They were further embarrassed. Dot sighed.
"Which one was it?"
They looked at them a moment, before pointing at the right one. "That one."
"The mango."
"Nightshade vs. Mangos!" Hashtag gleefully exclaimed, likely already making a new file for it on her HUD.
"That's what it's called?"
Dot ignored the question, and proceeded. "You really disliked it so much you had to throw it up on the windowsill, and throw the rest of it in the lawn?"
"I didn't mean to make such a mess on the windowsill... I'm sorry..."
Dot stared, analyzing them over. After a minute, she sighed. "Don't do it again, alright?"
"I won't." They said, almost sadly.
"I'll let you off with the toss this once, since it'll turn into compost for the saplings. But just this once." She said, finishing sternly. "Tossing food is wasteful, and if you don't like it, just set it aside."
They hummed, understanding, as they finished up. She watched, and Hashtag quietly giggled to herself.
"I would take it you like the fruit skewers, aside from the mango."
"Yes. They were appealing."
"And you feel okay?"
"Yes. I feel just fine." They calmly said, tilting their head.
She looked them over. Calm, quiet. Just checking for any possibility they weren't.
"Alright." She said. "I suppose it's fine if you have them. But if you start to feel sick, you come tell me, or at least someone."
Nightshade was a little surprised. "I... I can?"
"You clearly understand the consequences to your actions, and you've already cleaned it up, and you're not showing any signs of a negative reaction, so there's no reason why you can't."
They seemed kind of amazed, and smiled. "Thank you."
"Yo, wait, if Nightshade can, can I try? Think we can all do it?"
"We can experiment another day, Hashtag." Dot told her, with a fond eye roll. "Though, you may have a point. So you can try one if you want, but as I said to Nightshade, if you start to feel sick at any point, let me know."
"Can do!" Hashtag agreed brightly, gently reaching over, but not quite taking it. She was clearly letting Nightshade do it, she was trying to establish the trust between them further.
They gently handed one to her, and there was a small pulse of warmth on their bond, as she thanked them.
“Thanks, ‘Shade.”
They nodded, and ate the next chunk - a nice yellow one. It had a nice flavor, kind of acidic, but tangy and sweet. It was nice. The one after that was an orange cube, in a mellow shade of the color. It was… mild, and not too flavorful, but sweet, they supposed? Not their favorite.
Dot seemed to chuckle at the pair’s reactions, after she came back from whatever she’d been doing. Alex had also similarly come over.
“Well, as long as it’s safe, I’m not complaining.” He smiled, before laughing as he followed up. “I think the only concern is that they’ll eat us out of house and home.”
Hashtag smiled and laughed along.
“We won’t eat the house?” Nightshade tilted their head, very confused. “It’s made of inedible materials, and your own shelter, why would any one of us do so??”
Admittedly, they sounded very judgmental at the thought of them eating the house. Thankfully, Dot and Alex seemed to take much humor in it, rather than offense at their tone.
“No, no, that’s not what that means.” Hashtag said. “It’s like saying eating so much you may as well eat the house, right?” She turned to their parents.
“That’s a way to put it, close enough to the real definition.” Dot answered.
“Oh.” Nightshade lightened up, and their face was covered with pinkish-colored flush of embarrassment, and recoiled, wishing they could hide behind their wings in their root mode. “My bad…”
“No, no. It’s okay. You’re neurospicy, sib. It’s expected.” Hashtag gently reassured, in a silly way. “Tones and that kind of language is kinda hard. I get it.”
She was very understanding. Nightshade could tell how she was attaching her intended tone to all her glyphs. What was originally a subconscious process, she’d started to be more conscious of, and doing personally for them sometimes. This also led to her sometimes attaching emojis or emoticons to them, like how she put a sparkle emoji on the word ‘neurospicy’. It was to have fun, and she never meant any harm by it. They thought it clever.
“Anyway, what are these? Like, you said they’re fruit, and gave one a name, but what about the others?” Hashtag asked.
Nightshade nodded, now very intently staring, interested.
“We’ll go over it later.” Dot said. “Can you two help your father bring the kebabs over in here?”
Hashtag looked, and nodded, getting up to go do that. Nightshade followed. While they carefully picked them up, and set them on the plate Alex had handed Nightshade, Hashtag started talking.
“So, you mind if I meme that shot of you yeeting the mango? ‘Cause I could fit the ‘disrespect your surroundings’ over that so good.”
Nightshade looked to her. “I- I hadn’t realized you’d been recording.”
“Ah, I wanted to do a mini-interview with mom about Megatron, since yknow, there’s probably so much in there to know. And it would be some innocent fun, and she probably doesn’t get asked about her best friend, and get to gush over him much, now does she? Figured it’d be some good banter.” She answered, just kind of rambling. “Then that happened, well, now I have it documented.”
Nightshade thought on it for a moment. “I don’t think I mind too much.” They said. “But nothing over the top or too weird, alright?”
She fist pumped, and gave a small ‘yes!’, clearly excited about having convinced them to let her meme it.
“And, ‘Shade:” she began again. “Love your curiosity, ‘n stuff. You scored for us big time.” She said as praise, trying not to seem backhanded.
They just smiled, and gave a gentle nuzzle. “Not a problem. A little bit of risk taking is what’s necessary in discovery, so we can call it science.” They winked.
The two walked back, smiling, as Alex and Dot wrapped their own conversation up -
“So, they can eat human food.” Alex said.
“Seems like it.” Dot said. “They seem to like the fruit for the most part, that’s for sure.”
It was quiet between the two.
“Wanna expand the table, or do you think it’ll be alright?” Dot asked with a smile.
“Ah, it’ll be fine. They like the outdoors anyway. It’ll be good. Unless it’s too cold, then we may have to change something for winter-”
“We’ll get there when winter comes, don’t worry.” Dot said, giving him a peck on the cheek. “For now, what matters, is now all of the kids have a reason to be at the dinner table with us.”
“Yeah.”
Hashtag and Nightshade started to come back over, both smiling, just like Dot and Alex were. More company at the dinner table would be nice.