(Untitled)

[prob_japanese]

Bumblebee doesn't particularly notice the sign on the Bar about tabs when he comes in. The Autobots and Captain Lennox have their expenses covered by that chunk of platinum that Prime dropped off with Bar early on, after all. No, he's heading outside today. As appealing as the rafters are, the dust is sort of getting old by now

Comments

[500_year_shaman]

There is a very small child, wrapped in a cloak, sitting in a tree, watching him.

Intently.

The concept of non-organic life isn't alien to him. Corporeal non-organic life, so clearly made of metal... very much is.

[500_year_shaman]

"I am not human," Hao corrects. "I am a shaman. But I have been," he continues. "Dead." He gives a small shrug, like it's nothing.

[prob_japanese]

"Oh. All right," says Bumblebee, who's more than ready to accept all kinds of things from beings who look like one sort of thing but are actually another. "That's interesting. My people have a few stories of mechs dying and their sparks going on, but that's all they've ever been- stories."

[500_year_shaman]

"It's not the end," Hao says. "Death. Humans - and I suppose other lifeforms - always seem to think it is, but believe me, it's not."

It doesn't make needless death, or the death of the young any less tragic - and it doesn't make the death of those who cause pointless suffering any less needful.

[prob_japanese]

"It's not the end for us, either," says Bumblebee, "but when we die, we don't go on as ourselves- we rejoin the source from which we came, and become part of every spark that comes after us. It's a little different, I think."

[500_year_shaman]

Hao smiles then, and it transforms his entire demeanor; for a moment, his eyes look almost as young as the rest of him.

"No, it's not all that different, actually," Hao says. "For the most part, when a human dies, their spirit returns to the Great Spirit - the source of every spirit. Rarely, a human spirit lingers as a ghost, or perhaps spends time in an afterlife, but all spirits return to the Great Spirit, eventually. Even my own, someday."

When he is finished.

[prob_japanese]

"Oh, I see," says Bumblebee. "For us the source is the Allspark, since what makes us living and not just machines is the spark. I heard stories when I was a much younger mech of some of the great heroes of the past being sent into the world again as themselves, because the sparks of later times needed them, but most of that sounded more like wishful thinking than anything else."

[500_year_shaman]

"Reincarnation," Hao states. "No, it happens. For your people as much as any others, I would imagine. Many spirits reincarnate, but they seldom..." He trails off, considering the best way to put it. "They seldom know themselves."

[prob_japanese]

Bumblebee nods. "Either way, whether they reincept or whether they become parts of many other sparks, is fine," he says. "The important thing is that no part of the spark of Primus is ever wasted."

[500_year_shaman]

Hao nods approvingly.

"You have a very healthy attitude about it," he says.

[prob_japanese]

"I had a good education," Bumblebee says. "My mentor saw to it that I learned about death early on, even though it was rare on Cybertron when I was young."

[500_year_shaman]

"My compliments to your mentor then," Hao says with another nod.

[prob_japanese]

"Thank you," says Bumblebee. "If I ever see him again, I'll tell him."

He looks out at the lake again.

"I don't suppose you have any idea if it's likely to get colder soon?" he asks, almost wistfully.

[500_year_shaman]

"No. It'll be getting warmer now," He says. "We're moving into spring." He looks out over the lake.

"...Did you want to go out on the ice?"

[prob_japanese]

"Just a little. I wanted to practice emerging from skids," says Bumblebee. "I live in southern California these days. No ice to speak of."

[500_year_shaman]

Hao's eyes flick over him consideringly.

"How much do you weigh?" he asks.