fic: "Pieces of the Dead" (Transformers 2007; PG)

[hradzka]

Title: "Pieces of the Dead"
Author: David Hines / hradzka
Dedication: for Marjorie M. Liu, aka webpetals, who loves Optimus so.
Author's Note: This story operates in TRANSFORMERS movie continuity with some tips of the hat to other formats. Thanks to brown_betty for a terrific beta.
Summary: Sam and Optimus take a road trip

Comments

[persephone_kore]

I really enjoyed this. I kept thinking about organ donation, but I don't really feel like Sam would have necessarily thought about organ donation. I really liked the characterization and the discussion of different ways the Transformers and humans deal with death and the fact that each weirds the other out a bit, and I liked Sam's worries and Optimus's reassurance about them. And the adventure was fun, and the mistake about which vehicle was the Autobot cracked me up, and I liked Erlene and Bill George and, at a remove, Jeannie.

[hradzka]

Thanks very much. I liked the way the characters came together in this story; I hadn't intended them to be quite so vulnerable, but stories decide where they're going sometimes.

I think you're right that Sam might not have thought of organ donation; even if he did, I suspect he'd still be squicked by the idea of doing it voluntarily and as a memorial: "Grandpa's dying. I think I'll take his pancreas." As Optimus notes, humans taking on parts as Autobots do would be painful and life-endangering, at best, so it's no wonder the idea weirds Sam out. And Autobots' remains being burned or buried would just be a cruel and senseless waste, from Optimus's point of view.

[persephone_kore]

*grin* Well, yeah, it's not something we do unless, well, we have a part that needs replacing. We don't do well with extra pieces, whereas I gather Transformers can and do, so for us it would be dangerous and macabre. But organ transplants did come to mind as the closest physical equivalent we actually practice: not a psychological equivalent, since it's not part of the memorial rituals for friends and relatives, but still a kind of salvage

[webpetals]

Oh, David. What a wonderful story. This was Christmas and my birthday and every special little holiday all rolled into one. You made my day. I love this so much. Thank you, thank you.

[hradzka]

You are very welcome! I like to write gift fics, and I figured you deserved one of your very own.

(Also, I wanted to write something Transformer-ish, so the idea of giving you something made for good outside motivation. Hey, you're too busy on the stuff people actually pay you for to write fanfic these days, so us non-pros have to help you out and occasionally write stuff you'd like to read.)

[webpetals]

That is just so incredibly sweet. And it was exactly what I love.

[cazcatharsis]

I near peed myself with laughter when the Universal Greeting stuff came up, especially when Sam brought out the Ash-speak. :D

oh gods, not 'the touch!' my ears! lol... i listened to that song incessantly when i was a kid, drove my older bro up the damn wall.

Sweet story, quite well done. I like the little bit where Prime talks about everything not having to be an epic... pretty much like this story. it's the little things really that make life interesting, builds us up for the eventual and inevitable shitstorms (more or less). :D

[hradzka]

Hey, "Klaatu barada nikto" worked in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL! It didn't work so well for Ash in ARMY OF DARKNESS, but at least Sam knew the whole thing.

Thanks very much for the kind words.

[lurkerlynne]

Would've worked better if Ash had said the whole damn thing. But then, he wouldn't be Ash, would he? XP

I liked this, especially the whole Orion Pax thing and genders. And I could almost hear Optimus say "I am not shitting you." ::giggle::

[hradzka]

Thanks for the kind words! Ordinarily, I wouldn't have Optimus swear, but this is a fic based on a Michael Bay film. As you may be able to tell from the constant sunsets.

(Actually, I didn't realize the fic opened and closed with sunsets until after I'd posted it. I think my subconscious knew exactly what it was doing, though.)

[dinogrrrl]

Nice job, dude! Really good characterizations, and I really liked Optimus and Sam's interactions. (but you do have Barricade mis-named as Prowl up there, unless that's a personal preference thing :P).

This one's a keeper for me, it'll be a good one to re-read every now and then. :)

[hradzka]

Thanks for the catch! It's fixed now. (Thought I'd got everything -- don't have the memory I used to alas.)

Very glad you liked the story.

[sbx]

This was a really amazing story. It's just so well written. I just have one problem that I have to nitpick about.

He'd nearly died before, when Mikaela saved him from Frenzy, when Bumblebee saved him from Prowl

In the movie the police car wasn't Prowl, it was Barricade. Other than that, your story was perfect.

[hradzka]

Thanks very much for the praise and the catch! Glad you liked the story. First time playing in the TF sandbox, so it's good to know it worked out all right in the end.