Of Squirrels and Comic Books (closed)

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee was a little saddened in that she didn't take the larger pages from him, but he wouldn't hold it against her! She was much bigger than he was, and while he could handle the pages with care? She wasn't used to Earth and everything on it yet, so probably had no idea just how flimsy and fragile paper actually was. So it was probably a good thing that she didn't take them – he would've been crushed if the pages got torn! Still, he offered out of politeness regardless. He didn't want to be rude!

--Ya do?-- He piped up excitedly. The fact she'd said she liked it more than made up for the fact she didn't take the pages to look for herself. --I'm glad! Raf will like that, too!-- He would offer to let her sit in and watch he and Raf act out the pages of some of the comics, but he wasn't sure if she would judge him for being ridiculous and overly childish. She seemed nice enough, but it was just something that he and Raf did for fun on their own – play and being silly was more than a welcome relief for Bee in the middle of this war against the Decepticons and MECH, and nobody did play quite like him – but he was always worried about others of his kind judging him. That's part of why he adored Raf. He didn't judge, and would humor Bee with silliness sometimes.

Maybe one day she'd stumble across them anyway. Especially if she happened to go upto the remains of the Ark, that's where they acted out a lot of the scenes, as nobody else went up there. Bee frequented there to play make-believe, a lot of times by himself when Raf was at school.

--I do have more, yeah!-- He'd reply quickly as he started shifting through the larger pages that he had to show her. On one of them was a huge muscular green guy beating the crap out of someone, another was yet another Spider-Man panel – this time he was with some guy in a green suit with a purple cloak and a weird orb for a head, another was an angry looking guy with claws coming out of his hands! The last one was a guy dressed in all black with a cloak looking ominous.

--This is the Hulk, this is Spider-Man again, but this time he's with Mysterio. That's a neat name. Mysteeeeeerio. And this other guy is Wolverine! Then this last guy? That's Batman! I aint sure why they all seem to name themselves after animals but hey!--

Like Bee could really talk.

--I need to ask Raf to make a couple of Batman pages bigger for me. He's really awesome. He has a butler and all these weird gadgets! Hangs out with a sidekick called Robin! Another animal! Sometimes there's Batman cartoons – actually same with Spider-Man! Think they both have a few movies too! Maybe sometime we can catch one on the television if ya want!!-- Again, he beeped a mile a minute. He'd totally forgotten that there were movies! Not that he ever got a chance to really sit down and watch an entire movie in its entirety – they were too long, and there were errands and jobs to be done! He hadn't even taken into account that she didn't know what a movie was, or what any of the animals he'd named were. He'd honestly forgotten what it was like to have everything be shiny and new - but that was mostly due to his own excitement at talking about things he loved.

--In the meeeeantime though, here!-- He'd chirp, gently setting down the bigger pages on his berth and bending down to the tiny box. Carefully, oooh so carefully, he would pull out a comic. It was pathetically tiny in his digits, and Shale probably wouldn't be able to even make sense of anything on it – but he'd hold it up regardless, proud as punch as he did – all the while being ever so careful not to rip the tiny booklet.

--This guy is Batman! See the thing on the cover there with the light and the symbol? He has a batsignal! That'd be so awesome right? I'd totally get a Bumblebee-signal or something if more humans knew about us! Then I could save the day! They'd just blast it up into the sky and I'd be there real fast to help out!--

That'd be hilarious. Fowler doing a Bumblebee signal. What would it even be? Maybe his face! He'd have to draw a symbol like Batman! Maybe he could do the Autobot symbol... Nooo then anyone could respond to it! Like Carbine! No!

He'd have to think on it.

He beepily laughed before rubbing the back of his neck. He realized he'd been rambling on and on and had spaced out a second there with his thoughts. He did that when he was excited, and he really was - he hadn't gotten to show anyone his comic book collection in the longest time, and she had said she liked it.

--Ahah... I guess when I get more of the pages made bigger ya can come check em out if ya want? In the meantime though did ya want to go pick out a room? Or did ya have more questions and stuff?-- He'd ask, bending down to put the tiny Batman comic back into the tiny box, before giving the whole thing a nudge with his pede so it slid back under his berth. He wasn't trying to get rid of her or anything of the sort – he just didn't want her to feel like she was obligated to stay, plus he didn't have much in the way of comics to show her - at least not until he got more of them printed onto larger paper – or someone was nice enough to inform him that digital comics were infact a thing.

There was probably a reason they hadn't, though!

[Deleted]

Bumblebee was beyond pleased that she liked his little collection, she could feel that from here. He must not have had many chances to share it with someone like this. While someone else may find it childish and inappropriate in times such as these she found it - much like the energized little bot - charming. And if it kept his spirits up when most others were slowly losing their minds to this war then that made it all the better. She didn't want to see this kind of energy snuffed out.

Keeping said energy flowing Bee shuffled through the larger pages to show her the other heroes he kept the exploits of. A large green humanoid creature in a very violent display of power - the Hulk. Another shot of Spiderman but this time with a figure dubbed Mysterio - who's name Bumblebee delighted in quite a bit. A very angry looking individual with sharp blades protruding from his hands called Wolverine. And a rather brooding looking fellow in a dark costume with a long cape - Batman.

As he showed her each of them she would nod and regard the picture before he moved on to the next. The Hulk fellow seemed rather violent for her taste, and she couldn't help but chuckle a little as Bee said Mysterio a second time. As for the other two their pictures didn't show too much for her to make a solid judgement, though Wolverine's abilities did look painful. Sure bots with blades were a dime a dozen but they never actually came out from under their mesh like that.

Her excited host then began beeping exuberantly about Batman. His butler (whatever that was), his cool gadgets, and his colleague Robin. There were even some cartoons of both Batman and Spiderman, as well as movies that they could catch on tv. Deuce had said something about movies... what had he said? Star... battle? Or something akin to that? She hadn't truly been paying attention at the time as the task of not bleeding out had been her priority.

Bee set the larger pictures down before reaching into the box and VERY gingerly plucking a booklet from its contents. He was right, these things were tiny! How did Bee read them like this? Shale bent down slightly to get a better look - or rather one at all. The cover showed said caped crusader and in the background the 'batsignal' illuminated a large portion of the sky. A Bumblebee signal. The very thought made Shale stand up straight again with another chuckle.

"Wouldn't that be interesting to see?"

A light signal just for the little scout, it was actually kind of cute. Bee placed the comic just as carefully back before nudging it back under his berth, saying he needed more large printouts of Batman and she was welcome to them once Raf got to making them.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

While she would have loved to stay in such welcoming company it was late. And she was sure that Bee had things to do come morning, so would she most likely.

"That might be for the best, I'd hate to keep you up. Probably important things to do tomorrow, for both of us."

Her recovery period was coming to an end and she was sure she'd be put to work right away. If anything Bee said was true she'd have her work cut out for her.

[Bumblebee]

Pleased was an understatement.

While there were a good handful of Autobots at the base now, Bumblebee never really felt like any of them would understand the point of comics or really get his love for them. They had datapads to read things on if they wanted, and a few of them had even discovered the wonders of the internet! Holding a tiny little booklet made of flimsy paper was just so... Primitive and pointless. Even smaller bots like Bee had trouble due to the size of the comics themselves – so why would anyone else even bother?

Not that it'd stop Bee reading them, as he'd just shown Shale! Then again he did have the unfair advantage of having amazing optics that could see the tiny print with relative ease.

Smokescreen was probably the only one of his kind he'd even consider showing his comic collection to if it was ever brought up, due to the fact he was closer to Bee's 'age' than most - and even then he wasn't sure the other mech would share Bumblebee's passion. Besides, he was more than content knowing that Raf shared this same love for comics, and that was more than enough for Bee. It was one of the many reasons they were best friends, afterall! As long as he and Raf had this mutual interest, he wasn't too bothered that none of his kind really cared for them – and even if Raf grew bored of them? It was unlikely that Bumblebee would any time soon.

He'd been slightly hesitant to even show Shale, but she'd asked what they even were, so he just had to show her! That was the nice thing about those who were new to Earth. They had absolutely no expectations of anything – and most things would be completely shiny and new - so any positive energy and excitement that Bumblebee radiated towards this shiny new thing, would hopefully rub off on the other and grow into them possibly liking whatever it was.

What he hadn't expected though was that she'd actually shown interest and then gone on to say she liked them. She'd stood patient and listened as Bee told her all about the various heroes – and that wasn't even the tip of the iceberg when it came to the awesome characters in the collection he had! That was more than anyone else had ever done - well, what Bee assumed they would do, anyway.

Sure it might've just been a feigned interest in them due to Shale not wanting to offend... But luckily Bumblebee was mostly too naive to even pick up on it if she had. But still – the fact that she'd shown interest and had said she liked them at all? It meant more than Bumblebee would let on – even with his crazy happy field giving a lot away.

--Right?-- He chirped, lowering his arm and shifting his servos to his hips once he'd shoved the box back under the berth. --Maybe Raf and I can make a little spotlight sometime or something. Can't really make a big one, since I cant really be shooting huge lights into the night sky!! That'd give us away to the Decepticons and MECH in a nano-klik!-- He laughed.

Now that was a scary thought! Still, a cool Bumblebee-signal spotlight for inside the base would be pretty awesome.

He'd stride back through his quarters and toward the door once more. His field leveling out some, and becoming more calm and neutral – there would be no way he'd be able to even think of recharging later if he was still all keyed up over the comic books and new friend!

--Oh, nah, ya aint keeping me up! Don't worry! I just know what it's like being new to Earth, gotta get ya recharge schedule used to these weird Earth Breems and stuff. Uh. Humans call 'em 'hours'. Things start pretty early here usually! And ya can't get on the right schedule if I keep ya around here showing ya stuff all night!-- He chuckled, moving from his quarters. Stretching his arms briefly above his head with a soft hiss of hydraulics before loosely shaking them out as he slowly made his way down the corridor. He moved slowly, hoping Shale would overtake and look into the vacant rooms, before picking one for herself.

--Ones that don't have a lit up keypad out front are free to take. If ya do take a bigger one, ya may have to get a roommate when we get more arrivals to the base, just a fair warning!-- Bee would never have that problem, as much as he would love a roommate – his quarters were far too small, and the fact that Raf hung out with him a lot was a little off-putting for some of his kind. But hey, it meant Bee had more room for all his cool stuff and he got a place to hang with Raf out the way of everyone else, so he wouldn't complain one bit!

Although the thought of new arrivals to the base was a welcome one – and was one that Bumblebee hoped would happen, hence him saying 'when' and not 'if'. They needed all the numbers and help they could get to even think of taking on the Decepticon army, so if Bee did have to take a roommate someday due to them being over populated at the Omega Base? He wouldn't mind at all!

[Deleted]

Bee's field had just about engulfed the entire room with happiness. It was truly refreshing. Being social was never her ideal, people in general weren't her thing really. But having spent the lengthy time frame from the exodus up until about three days ago in an escape pod had changed her mind on that... even if for just the moment. Maybe she hoped to run into a friendly face tonight and didn't know it?

The reminder that not only were there Decepticons to worry about but also a human threat caused a marginal tug at the corners of her mouth. She'd done so much to try and avoid combat, now she was smack in the center of it and a new element had been thrown in from the humans. Red Alert and Bluestreak had caught her up to speed on what'd been happening when she arrived at the omega outpost. Both sides and even neutral bots on this planet had lost members to MECH. Even the Decepticons weren't impervious to their reach.

But still she smiled and gestured to herself as he mentioned building his own signal for personal use indoors.

"Count me in, I've done some wiring before."

Nothing truly intricate, just lying down cables really, but she could at least point out what they should do. It could make for a busy and enjoyable afternoon. As Bee stepped away from his spot she moved to the side to let him through before making her way back through, using the same path she used to get in to keep from stepping on anything. Once out in the hallway she did take the lead and hung a left at the corner. Anything not lit up was fair game.

And if she picked a larger room she'd most likely have a room mate when more bots came crawling it off the woodwork.

That thought made her a little uneasy. She'd lived alone before everything went south so she wasn't used to having someone else live so close. But at the same time a smaller room wouldn't benefit anyone, especially her. She was big. She knew that she was. And that meant she needed a lot of space. A room like Bee's wouldn't fit that criteria, most likely she'd break something. A bigger room would have to do. For now the... 'promise' of a room mate was far away so she would have plenty of space to herself until that time came.

She stopped about four doors down from the corner before she turned around to Bee.

"I think this'll do."

Tonight certainly didn't play out the way she wanted it to. But she was thankful for that. Sure being rudely awakened as she was had been a very irritating experience, but Bee had made it up in spades by now. Now she knew where everything was and had a room to call her own, also a friend. Something she never thought she'd revel in before. Bee wasn't the kind of mech she would even consider taking to back home but that by no means meant she regretted having met the young scout.

But something in the back of her mind told her there was more he wasn't telling her just yet. Oh well, all in due time she supposed. Before disappearing into the empty room she gave Bumblebee a firm smile.

"Thanks again Bee, see you around."

(End)