10 Snuggles - Festival - Light My World
Jazz introduces Bee to a new cultural celebration
Autumn always made Bumblebee think of fire for some reason. Probably had something to do with all the warm colors he saw wherever he went - all rich earthy tones of brown, red, yellow and orange - the humans only adding to them with all their fall-timed festivals like Halloween and Thanksgiving, or at least it was so in the U.S.
He'd passed by plenty of carved and lit pumpkins that night, along the way from Tranquility to the outskirts as he drove Sam and Mikaela to the Auto-base to visit with the other Autobots. It'd been 2 weeks since the three of them had last seen the others, and truth be told, he was missing his companion.
The two humans chatted to each other about what the other Autobot had probably done in their absence, and Bumblebee started to wonder how Jazz had fared. He didn't like to leave the white mech alone for long periods of time, since he was still prone to falling into a little bit of a depression. Too much time to himself and the Solstice would start to brood about his death and subsequent revival, so the Camaro was quite anxious to get back home and check on him.
He turned onto the gravel path that led through a grove of concealing trees and opened up to a field that held the rundown-looking hangar that housed the base, never once slowing his pace. He stopped in a cloud of dust and let it settle before letting his passengers disembark, then transformed to his robot form and stretched.
"Poor Bumblebee," Mikaela said, patting his leg. "Should go tell Ratchet to get some oil in those joints, they sound really stiff."
"I'll take care of it, not to worry," he replied assuringly. "C'mon, let's go inside and see how everyone's doing."
He ushered the two humans into the hangar and they were greeted warmly by the three older Autobots, all of whom stopped what they were doing and came over to hear tales of trio's journey to Disneyland. Ironhide shook his head slightly.
"I'll never understand you humans and your fascination with rodents. Sam keeps one as a pet, another one is a global icon, and yet you also want to exterminate them," he said.
"Rodents include rabbits and squirrels, too, Ironhide, and they can be kinda cute," Mikaela said.
"In which case, your friend Trent was probably complimenting you when he referred to you as a 'little bunny'," Bumblebee said.
Mikaela threw a nearby hammer at him which he caught deftly in his hand.
"I don't think he meant the animal kind of bunny, Bee," Sam said.
"Oh really? What other kind of rabbit is there?" Ratchet asked, perking up. "And why would calling Mikaela one be insulting?"
Sam looked around nervously, realizing the mess he'd just talked himself into. Next to him, Mikaela smirked, waiting to see how creative he would get in an effort to talk himself out, and how much would be revealed in the process. Sam was hopeless when it came to lying. Bumblebee chuckled, then excused himself and stood.
While he would have liked to stay and listen to Sam's potentially entertaining explanation, he was worried about Jazz. The white mech was nowhere to be seen whereas normally he'd be all audios about the stories the humans were sharing. It only made him all the more concerned that his companion was not yet back to normal. He looked around, wondering where his partner could be, when he felt Optimus Prime's gaze on him. He glanced at the Autobot Commander.
"He's down by the stream, Bumblebee," Prime told the scout.
The yellow mech smiled his thanks and hurried out.
Sure enough, he found the Solstice kneeling by the water's edge, surrounded by lots of little flickering lights, and as he neared he saw that the source of the lights were flames burning on the end of a wick soaked in oil. Both wick and oil were held in tiny clay containers that Jazz was carefully, one-by-one, lowering into the water, so that they would keep burning even as they floated.
While this behavior was certainly strange, it didn't surprise Bumblebee at all. He merely walked over to where his friend was, mindful not to step on any of the oil-lamps, and stood beside him.
"So what did you do while I was away?" he asked the mech.
Jazz looked up at him. "Did you know humans have interesting festivals?"
Bumblebee nodded. "Of course, but what has all this got to do with Halloween?"
"It doesn't." Jazz smirked. "Ah, little Bee, where we live ain't the only society y'know. There's a whole world out there with cultures so vastly different to the one over here. This..." he swept his arm over the oil-lamps. "... is part of Diwali - the Indian Festival of Light, which is today."
Bumblebee paused. While he had been on Earth longer than the others, his primary focus had been it's people. It was Jazz who was more of the culture buff, so again, it didn't surprise him that the other had been able to find out about such a festival and that he wanted to be a part of it in some way. He crouched by the white mech.
"And what happens at this festival?"
"Well, the humans consume lots of traditional sugar-infused confectionary, celebrate with lots of color and lights and music and dancing, and generally have a good time."
"Ah, no wonder you like it." Bumblebee lowered a lamp into the water.
"Actually it was the significance that got me," Jazz replied. "The Festival of Lights in the Hindu religion is a celebration of good over evil, of your memories, happiness; of hope for the future. I figured I'd just thank the Allspark or whoever it is up there who saw fit to give me a second chance at this, and celebrate the life I got back."
Bumblebee hugged him gently. "I'm glad they gave you back, too. I wasn't ready to let you go yet."
Jazz returned the hug, then picked up a pair of small circular trays on which were arrayed a simple arrangement of colorful flowers. In the center was an oil-lamp burning brightly. He handed one to Bumblebee and together they placed each in the water. After both trays had floated further downstream, they stood.
"So what's going on inside?" Jazz asked.
"We'd best hurry," Bumblebee said. "If we're lucky, Sam should be still trying to explain to Ratchet what the Playboy bunnies are."
Jazz visibly perked. "Ooh, this I gotta see."
~END.