Short thing...
Well, short, 420 words... *shrug* Also: Dinobots are fun! And my head hurts now.
"Grimlock is pregnant."
"He's what?" Spike asked, looking from Grimlock to Ratchet and back again.
"Me Grimlock going to have bitlet!" the dinobot proclaimed, seeming very happy about the whole thing.
Ratchet pointed at a small, well, relatively small, gray body, which had been the first thing Spike had noticed and led to this whole surreal conversation. "More correctly, Grimlock is carrying, and it's time to transfer the sparkling into a separate body, which we were just about to do. If you stay out of the way, you can watch the process, Spike."
"HOW is Grimlock pregnant? He's a... I thought he was... well, you know, he!" Spike wasn't sure why the issue was so hard to believe. They were, after all, talking about twenty feet tall robots, or at least pretty close, so he wasn't sure why gender mattered, but... well, it just did!
"Us Dinobots interfacing. All of us! And us Dinobots have good merge... and want bitlets, bitlets fun, good to have! Want so much, me Grimlock get little spark! You Spike see it?" The Dinobot thumped his tail against the floor but stayed mostly still. It was, Spike thought, the most well-behaved he had ever seen the Tyrannosaurus mech. The conversation went even more surreal as Grimlock opened and Ratchet reached in with a small, clearly specialized, tool. Spike gasped when the tool was withdrawn with a small blue light at the end.
"Is that... i-it's beautiful..." Spike was entranced as the medic put the small spark into the grayed body and then promptly handed the smaller chassis to Grimlock.
"There you go, Grimlock. Swoop can monitor it... if he says to bring it back, you listen to him! But it should be okay, right now you need to spend some time with it. Let it get to know you," Ratchet instructed.
"Thank you, Ratchet," Grimlock said, thumping his tail against the floor again. Holding the small form carefully, he left the med bay.
Smiling, a rather odd expression to see on his face, Ratchet turned to Spike. "Amazing, isn't it? New life..."
"Why were you... um, calling the baby 'it'? And why is Grimlock a 'he' if he can... um..." Spike wasn't sure how to put things.
"We don't have what you'd recognize as genders. What we do have doesn't translate right, which is why you think it refers to gender. Sparklings don't have it at all, so the get called by, what translates as, 'it'. The sparkling will be it until its first upgrade, but it's not until the second upgrade that the... ah, distinction is finalized," Ratchet explained.
Deciding the rest of the explanation was not that interesting, since he knew it all already, Ravage slipped away from his place in the air vents. Soundwave would be very interested in this news!
----
And... yeah, I kinda stole sanjuno 's whole grayed out thingy. I don't think she'll mind... *hopes*
"Grimlock is pregnant."
"He's what?" Spike asked, looking from Grimlock to Ratchet and back again.
"Me Grimlock going to have bitlet!" the dinobot proclaimed, seeming very happy about the whole thing.
Ratchet pointed at a small, well, relatively small, gray body, which had been the first thing Spike had noticed and led to this whole surreal conversation. "More correctly, Grimlock is carrying, and it's time to transfer the sparkling into a separate body, which we were just about to do. If you stay out of the way, you can watch the process, Spike."
"HOW is Grimlock pregnant? He's a... I thought he was... well, you know, he!" Spike wasn't sure why the issue was so hard to believe. They were, after all, talking about twenty feet tall robots, or at least pretty close, so he wasn't sure why gender mattered, but... well, it just did!
"Us Dinobots interfacing. All of us! And us Dinobots have good merge... and want bitlets, bitlets fun, good to have! Want so much, me Grimlock get little spark! You Spike see it?" The Dinobot thumped his tail against the floor but stayed mostly still. It was, Spike thought, the most well-behaved he had ever seen the Tyrannosaurus mech. The conversation went even more surreal as Grimlock opened and Ratchet reached in with a small, clearly specialized, tool. Spike gasped when the tool was withdrawn with a small blue light at the end.
"Is that... i-it's beautiful..." Spike was entranced as the medic put the small spark into the grayed body and then promptly handed the smaller chassis to Grimlock.
"There you go, Grimlock. Swoop can monitor it... if he says to bring it back, you listen to him! But it should be okay, right now you need to spend some time with it. Let it get to know you," Ratchet instructed.
"Thank you, Ratchet," Grimlock said, thumping his tail against the floor again. Holding the small form carefully, he left the med bay.
Smiling, a rather odd expression to see on his face, Ratchet turned to Spike. "Amazing, isn't it? New life..."
"Why were you... um, calling the baby 'it'? And why is Grimlock a 'he' if he can... um..." Spike wasn't sure how to put things.
"We don't have what you'd recognize as genders. What we do have doesn't translate right, which is why you think it refers to gender. Sparklings don't have it at all, so the get called by, what translates as, 'it'. The sparkling will be it until its first upgrade, but it's not until the second upgrade that the... ah, distinction is finalized," Ratchet explained.
Deciding the rest of the explanation was not that interesting, since he knew it all already, Ravage slipped away from his place in the air vents. Soundwave would be very interested in this news!
----
And... yeah, I kinda stole sanjuno 's whole grayed out thingy. I don't think she'll mind... *hopes*