The Diego Diaries: Week End (304)
=0=Season Finale of Platoon
(Cut to arena. Two groups of tiny tiny bots crowd around several very tall adults who look GIGANTIC next to the little bits. Appears to be just before the migration arrives)
"That was the last game of the season this go around. All of you did such a good job. We will have the big ceremony during the playoff game next week end. You will find your coach when you get here and they will take you to where you should stand. Any questions?" -Coach Blurr and several assistant coaches, one official)
(Cut to two tiny femmes holding each others hands) "Will we get to carry our flag?"
(grin) "Yes."
"Will we get to carry our team belts? They won't know which team we are if we don't."
"Yes." (Bigger grin)
"Can I bring my baby brother?" (Big optics look into the bemused optics of her gigantic coach)
"I don't think so, Spinner." (Coach Blurr grins and glances at another bot who grins and shakes his helm no.) "The officials think he can come when he's big enough to be on a team."
"Can I bring my mouse?"
(All glance at the smaller of the two waifs) "You have a mouse?" -Coach Blurr
"I got my mouse from the Well. The mechs at The Animal House got him for me. You should see him. He's so cute." (Enormous smile from tiny wisp. All other tiny helms nod in agreement)
"We are the Mighty Mice, Coach Blurr. Kip can bring her mouse and we can show everyone." (Tiny earnest little mech named Pi says with a big smile)
"We can talk to your genitors, Kip." (Coach Blurr smiles. The conversation goes on, then they are dismissed to genitors who gather them and walk to the entrance gateway of the stadium. Coaches and officials watch them go)
"Blurr."
Optics peer down to the ground. "What?" he asks with a grin.
"Your team. You coach. Why?" -voice off screen
"I was a professional athlete on Cybertron. I played a bit of football but my sport was racing. No one ever beat me. Ever. I like coaching the little kids. We sort of drew teams out of a hat like you say. I got the micro mini-cons and we had to start a league for them because they were so small, the others run them over."
"How did your team do?" -voice
(All of the mechs grin) "The micro mini-con league doesn't keep score. They play for the joy of it and to have everyone excel. They decided among themselves not to keep score and we don't. They also agreed that there should be two goalies on each team so that anyone who wanted to be one could." (Grin) "They crack me up. Try and argue that score keeping is important to one of those little things." (Blue Autobot picks up tiny footballs which look like miniscule peas in his servos and shows them to the camera) "They play with this. Isn't it cute?"
"Adorable." -voice
"They play a tough tight game for little bits." (Coach Blurr stows balls in tiny sack for the season)
"They are tough?" -voice
"Like iron." (grin) "I love this."
-0-(Cut to Ops Center, The Fortress)
(It is quiet as the Beta shift work at their stations. The room is vast, filled with equipment and monitors. A massive computer terminal dominates the far end and has several mechs sitting at stations around it. A table in the center of the room is being used for discussion by a number of familiar bots including the prize of them all, Optimus Prime)
"The migration is going to be sorted out for a few orns." (The winger, Prowl is speaking) "We have housed everyone and the usual loose ends are presenting themselves. We have teams doing follow ups and referrals as usual and it appears to be in servo for now."
(Camera goes slowly around the table filming the bots as it goes. Ironhide, Prowl, Prime, Ratchet and a couple of others sit to discuss events. They were the last group to re-enter the system behind the remaining ships being reclaimed)
"We will get the medical report together when I care more. Right now, I'm tired. It would appear that everyone has done their jobs really well. I have no outstanding problems to report." (Red and white medico leans back and glances down) "You do know this might not make the final cut."
"We know." -voice off screen. "Can't blame us for trying."
"Sure I can." (Grin) "Make sure you get my good side." (White doctor bot gets slag around the table as they lean back to relax. Optimus Prime is spectacular)
"Every side is your good side." (Ironhide weighs in)
"Suck up." (Optimus Prime weighs in) (Chuckles and slag all around)
"What was the migration like? You went out in it, right?" -voice
"We did. It went very well." -Ratchet
"You had how many new refugees this time?" -voice
"Over half a million." -winger with a calm unnerving stare
"You got that many and housed all of them?" -voice
"It's what we do." -Optimus Prime with a grin.
"Sir, do you expect in future that you and your image will become common among humans?" -voice
"I had hoped it wouldn't but sometimes things happen. It was for strategic reasons that we kept some information out of the media." -Prime
"What is your opinion of the unrest on Earth?" -voice
"It is not to be unexpected. I would hope that people begin to understand the danger that faces them with Megatron and the Decepticons. Believing that he'll go if we leave and seeing it happen are two different things. Many have thought so and none of them remain viable worlds."
"You have been enemies for ages. How do you view this whole situation between your side and theirs?" -voice
(pause) "It didn't start out badly but he has goals for himself that don't allow for the welfare of anyone else. Any leader who puts their own interests ahead of those they lead has no right to the loyalty of the people."
"You were the last legal leader of your home world. You carry the moral authority as well as the legal right to rule. Even the former Decepticons here agree." -voice
(Nods) "Yes. It is here what it should have been on Cybertron. We are remaking ourselves and our future into what it should have been instead of what it is. We owe our people protection and care."
"There are those on Earth who feel the threat of so many of you here on worlds that they consider ours." -voice
"I am aware of that. It could have been possible that we were hostile but we aren't. We are doing our best to be good neighbors. Having us this close if we had been hostile would have spelled the end of your world. Not having us here means the same thing. You do not sufficiently possess the technology and fire power to defeat them on your own. We have evolved and expanded because our people came when I called for soldiers to come here and help defend. I doubt that the numbers and problems of this many Cybertronians would have been welcome on Earth and we couldn't turn our backs on our helpless people anymore than you could your own. We live here in peace and defend this system and light years out from here with all that we have. And if you look around, that is a lot."
"What do you think you would say to allay fears among humanity on Earth about your presence and that of your people?" -voice
(Pause) "I think that all of us coming in peace is the thing that should be remembered. It could have been much different. It could be the Decepticons massing here. Because of Megatron's captivity, he will never leave until his vengeance is assuaged. His humiliation. To think otherwise is delusional."
"Will you ever come to Earth or show yourself to the masses in any significant way?" -voice
(Slight grin) "If this makes it past the review board, I suppose it will be the first step."
-0-(Cut to dojo)
"Where did you get that great dog?" -voice
"That dog is a work and a wonder." (Big greenish Autobot with stogie speaks from the midst of a group of content bots) "He came to show us all the way."
(Cut to dog who is sprawled on his back, his legs akimbo and his tongue lolling out. He's recharging rather noisily)
"He's ours." (Tense yellow and black Autobot replies, Sunstreaker) "He's the family dog. His name is Dawg."
(Camera tunes in and focuses on his tattoos) "So you have a bad ass Old English bulldog with tattoos. Looks like Wrecker tats and the Autobrand. Awesome." -voice
"He is." -Sunstreaker
"We're seeing more and more of them in the city. I even saw a miniature horse being ridden by a baby with a disability." -voice
"Most of them are service animals." (Other twin, Sideswipe tells) "My little brother needed one because he's had a hard life and our ada organized it."
"Your ada is Ratchet, right?" -voice
(Nods) "Yep." -Sideswipe
"Atar means 'father' and ada means 'other father' or 'carrier', right?" -voice
"That's right. We don't have a problem with all the gender crap you humans have. All the femme versus mech crap." -Kup
"You don't have differences between partners? Sort of roles and such?" -voice
"No." (Mech named Springer says from his comfortable chair, his peds up on a low table) "I'm a mech and so is Drift but in our relationship he's clear on who cracks the whip."
(Snorts and derision met that)
"What do you think about that, Drift?" -voice
"You can't broadcast what I think of it." (Grin)
"So … basically its a male world with male behavior and male expectations?" -voice
(Everyone pauses to consider that. Kup leans forward, his stogie in servo) "If you tell me what the frag you're saying, I would tell you an answer."
(Scorn and mockery met that)
"If you had a processor that could hold more than ten words at a time, old mech, you could hit that one out of the park." -Springer
"Frag that. All I know is I don't have to do the candy and flowers crap. I don't have to go to 'chick' movies and all that. My world is pretty simple. A good meal, a good action flick and a good frag."
(More scorn and some agreement. Lots of grins. Including the voice and the team when they edit the piece keeping all of the remarks in)
(They're money)
"Do you have a bond, Kup?" -voice, filled with humor
"Don't need one. Bot can frag around without setting up house."
"With who? Name someone." -Springer
(Grin) "Soundwave." (Gets a sharp elbow) "Okay. Who have you fragged?" -Sideswipe
Gimlet optic meets that question. "Do you think I'd tell you?"
(Grin) "I won't tell. Who was it? Anyone I know?" -Springer
"It was probably his desk calculator." -Sunstreaker who gets a kick from a ped.
"You would need a calculator to count the fragging I've done in my time. And now. Especially now." -champs on stogie with a far away look in his optics.
"Tell us a yarn then. Tell us about what it was like to frag Unicron. I want details." -Sideswipe
"I would but you would weep." -Kup with a smug grin.
"You got that right." -Sideswipe before he gets a fist to the noggin.
-0-Later when the show is over and everyone in the Habitat is winding down
"I can't believe they let you leave Optimus in," Lennox said sipping his beer with half the crew of the show and everyone else.
"I do. Did you hear what he said?" Jessie Landon said as she lounged nearby. "He's the greatest."
"Did Kup knock Sideswipe hard?" Epps asked with a grin.
Leonora Huttle grinned. "It only hurts when he smiles."
-0-TBC
05-15-2013