( Jazz still seems extremely wary of this tiny stranger. With a reassuring squeeze to his conjunx's shoulder, he heads off briefly to check up on the children. Lockdowns are never fun. )

Be 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒? ( His tone quickly becomes incredulous, his servo still rested on the holster of his pistol. ) Yeah, we'll see.

Okay, babe. Out with it. What's Lodestar tellin' you?? ( He's just been following along behind her, his mouth drawn down in a grimace. ) Am I going in guns blazing or not?

( Immediately alert to his conjunx's shock, and then her message. Right-o. Saying their hasty good-byes, and EXITING. )

( Stickin' his tongue out, crouching to place his servo on a red dot. )

( Looking Swindle up and down from behind his visor, but he won't say nothin'. He'll behave for the party. )

Optimus is a great 'bot! Is he a great 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦-𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑟? Ehhh.

( Good-natured shrug. ) You invite the big O.P.?

( Fashionably late, of course. ) Heyyy. Kinda ... empty in here, mech! ( Little glance at wifey.... this is what u wanted to go to?? 🤨 )

( <-- Assured Lightbright that "Rodimus won't even notice we aren't there on time". )

( Snuggling the wife. Do NOT let her see the opp. )

Four, it is. ( * 😊 ) ( ssmmoooooch. )

'Kay. When?

... You want to go? ( helm tilt. )

Party?

What'd I do.

( * 💭 WHa. git outta my head gurl. 🤨 /j )

kids are fraggin' weird these days...

( * 💭 who's the fugly kid........ )

( literally shining bright like a diamondddd. )

me if i see that bug.

( scaled part of lodestar to avoid MORE water. )

i feel like. uh. i should be concerned about this.

( COVERED. HEAD TO FUCKING TOE. IN GLITTER. )

no, no. this is fine. ( his back does feel better ... first time being like. picked up? normally? hrm. )

( SHOCKED. but nonchalant about it. blinkblinkblink. ) oh.

( * 😞 ) ( shuffling over. )

( BACK PAIN. leaned over. guh. )

you mind 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛' 𝑜𝑢𝑡 for a minute, frostbite, pal?

... yeah. sure, you can tag along with 'em. shouldn't take long. you'll be summoned out there eventually.

it's not up to you, 'con. just because you take 'em off doesn't mean you magically become a good 'bot. prowl says you go to the precinct, so you go to the precinct. ( whoopsie, he's here to test out some theories, sorry frost. )

oh, i don't know, the 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠? removing your insignias and altering your optic color means you get reclassified. again. not as a "neutral", either. don't kid yourself. ( INSTIGATING?? )

warrant. just some housekeeping. ( holding up a servo to cut off starscream, who opens his mouth. ) you'll 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑦 of the warrant, and an itemized list of what was taken. you're being summoned to the precinct for data logging & classification updates.

( turning a little more. looking them both up and down. ) oh. alright. ( he's squinting but you can't see it. )

mmmnope! all good, mech. what's with the physical changes? ( again peering at starscream out of the corner of his optic while he fiddles with one of the cameras. )

( side-eyeing the seeker. not very obvious because of his visor; stepping over to pluck up a couple things, including starscream's datapad. ) great. you'll get one. ( also removing the cameras??? a few, at least. )

heyyy. just droppin' by to check a few things. mind if i come in? ( flashing his credentials & a warrant, not that he really needs to. )

( KNOCK KNOOOOCK. heyyyy frostie. )

( it's certainly blueprints, but what they're for isn't immediately obvious. certainly something pertaining to radition. )

( giving over the datapad he's lookin' at. it's fairly nonsensical. just lots of drawings. )

( ...ssssliding over an nda. typical stuff. )

mmh. i just hope i don't end up assigned to 'im next. ( nuzzling nuzzling. ) i've been combing through what i managed to snag from his lab, and it's, er. i can't really make sense of what he was doin'.

( oh hello. shifting his arms to accommodate her, one wrapping around her waist. ) you'll want to hear about this, queenie. there's some chatter about letting starscream walk.

( FFFINE. he'll drink it. anyways come sit, wife, he wants to tell you the tea. )

( nnnnnnnyes. )

( he is STILL sorting through the information taken from starscream's lab. what even is all this shit bro. )