Actually, I think this one technically has more words than any of my other ones... Hmm.
Ah well. This one has Dion in it!! Not much, but a little. I have a huge theory on the Dion Controversy, which you see a little of here, but I've yet to type it out or anything. Anyway. This one is more serious than the others. The (adopted) bunny is the very first line of the... ficlit? drabble? one-shot? I can't really decide what these fall under... And I really need to figure out how to work my lj. I'm seriously regretting ignoring blogs all these years.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. This is good, because I'm sure the serious would be utterly random and make no sense if I did.
Warnings: Lots of vague pronoun references towards the end that I can't seem to find another way to word. What could be taken as a subtle implication towards Prowl/Jazz. Seriously, if you know a way to cure my pronoun references... I will worship you. Maybe not as a god or anything, but certainly as an awesome, amazing person.
Perceptor sees further into reality than others do. He can see the way words warp, meanings shifting with tone and poster and context. He can see the way even the most unfriendly members of the Autobot troops unconsciously hover worriedly over their comrades. He doesn't often think about the things he sees, but sometimes they are just… too difficult to ignore.
Like the way that Jazz nearly flinches when someone insults Prowl, as though the insult were directed at the saboteur himself. Or the way Bumblebee scoots just a tiny bit closer to Cliffjumper, Brawn, and any other minibot present when scared or upset. Or how, almost without thought, the Aerialbots, Protectobots, and Dinobots explain things to each other, sharing the knowledge they learn day by day. The silent protectiveness everyone feels towards the humans who are so small and shockingly similar to the Cybertronians, capable of remarkable good and terrifying evil. Little things that detail the people who make up the Autobot's elite.
But everything isn't so little. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, who sometimes seem more scared of their fellow Autobots than the Decepticons. The way nobody seems to care enough to get closer to them, or the other outcasts, like Mirage. How, sometimes, when close to snapping, Ratchet takes to staring at the sky for hours on end, never moving a muscle. The facts of life aboard the Ark that are so obvious, so normal, that everyone tends to ignore them – as the humans put it, not seeing the forest for the trees. Or, in this case, not seeing the trees for the forest.
And a few things which go beyond important, things that he doesn't think he should see. The silent mech who follows Optimus, intangible, who catches him looking and introduces himself as 'Dion'. Mournful eyes that belong to everybody and nobody, bearing witness to the death of their race as hundreds die in the war while the survives are forced to kill their sparks off, bit by bit just to survive another day. Details of their race and their planet and their war that he doesn't have enough background information to understand.
These are the things Perceptor sees, a reality with so many nuances and curves and shadows that, sometimes, he wonders if what he's seeing is real at all. These and a million other things that he isn't really sure he wants to see, has the right to see. So he tries to ignore it, most of the time, but every once in a while he can't. Those are the times that he glances just a little bit deeper into the world he lives in, the reality that wraps itself around him.
And it scares him. He doesn't tell anyone. Once, though, he sees Dion approach Optimus, seemingly whispering into his ears. Optimus seems more cautious with him after that, more concerned, as though he knows. Ratchet and Ironhide pick up on their Prime's worries, and follow his lead, though they don't know what the cause is. From there, most everyone is more careful with him. And he wonders, vaguely, what he could learn if he looked at their actions. But he isn't sure he wants to know, even if, in this, he isn't worried that it might not be something he should know.