Rush rush rush

[koilungfish]

11/1/07 - Crowd Control

          It was a bad time and a worse place for Bluestreak to lose it, but it happened anyway.
          They were fifty yards from the gate through the wall around the Ark reservation and Sunstreaker was directly behind the gunner in the Autobot convoy when Bluestreak swerved, braked hard, and sloughed off the edge of the road. Sunstreaker jammed on his brakes and swerved as well, half to catch Bluestreak and half to avoid being rear-ended by Optimus Prime, who slammed on hisbrakes and his air-horns at the same time. Wheeljack, in the back of the convoy, must've been daydreaming, since he went bumper first into Prime's trailer, prompting a startled honk from the commander.
          Sunstreaker ignored the pile-up behind him and followed Bluestreak down the slope into the tent-town, scattering Autobot tourists and cranks alike as he wobbled to a halt. The gunner transformed, collapsing on his knees as he did, and covered his face with his hands. Sunstreaker skid-stopped to avoid driving over a tent and transformed.
          Up until that point it was pure aftermath, good old Bluestreak mashing his gears after blowing a hole through Thundercracker.
          Then the humans got involved.
          Before Sunstreaker had taken a single step towards his comrade, the first one closed in with a squeak of "Can I have your autograph please?" and then there was another and another and by the time Sunstreaker had gotten past the first tent there were five of them around Bluestreak. Then there was a guy with a colander on his head waving a tape recorder at Bluestreak and making weird shoosh-moosh-booga noises that Sunstreaker could only guess he thought were Cybertronian, and behind him was a human shouting "Aliens go home! Aliens go home!"
          She started hitting Bluestreak in the knee with her little squishy fists.
          Sunstreaker was halfway to the gunner. A glance over his shoulder informed him that Optimus Prime was too busy helping Wheeljack disentangle himself from the back of his trailer to help at the moment. Bluestreak was staring at the girl punching his knee, doors shaking. He stepped over a tent, narrowly avoiding squelching a human underfoot, and then he heard what he really didn't want to hear.
          "Demon of the Datsun! Fiend from Hell!"
          There were seven of them, homing in on Bluestreak like little black-clad missiles, and they could get through the tent-lines faster than Sunstreaker, who had to keep wading as if he was up to his ankles in mines.
          They were already onto Bluestreak, who was making little whimpering noises and trying to push them away very, very, very gently.
          "Abomination! I cast you out, unclean spirit! Begone from this mortal world!"
          One of them was hitting Bluestreak with its book. Hitting him. What did Bluestreak do to deserve that?
          Sunstreaker stepped over the last tent and stomped like a Dinobot, jolting off the human who'd climbed onto Bluestreak and was yanking on his door. "Hey!" he yelled. "Get away from him!"
          Half of them moved back. The other half - the loud half, the half that were going to give Bluestreak nightmares about grabbing hands and yelling faces and hurtful words - stood firm. One turned with book brandished like a weapon.
          "Begone, unclean spirit! I cast you out! The power of Christ compels you!"
          "No, it doesn't," Sunstreaker replied. "Get away from him before I have to mess up my polish dragging you off."
          "The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!" all seven of them started chanting.
          Bluestreak lowered his hands a little bit and looked over his shoulder at Sunstreaker, wide-eyed and lost and afraid and confused. Sunstreaker avoided his gaze, glanced back at Prime, still bent worriedly over Wheeljack's crumpled leg, then pulled his gun and fired it into the ground in front of him.
          The shot echoed around the desert like a blow of thunder. Dirt exploded up like a dark geyser. A fine rain of tan dust settled over everything for ten metres around. The humans fell silent.
          "Back away," Sunstreaker said firmly, fixing the one who'd waved a book at him with a cold glare. "Now."
          They backed. Sunstreaker packed his gun away in a fold of space and reached Bluestreak in one stride. He slid his hands under the gunner's shoulders and pulled him up off his knees. "On your feet, Bluestreak, come on."
          Bluestreak looked at him without comprehension. "Why?" It was always 'why?'.
          "Because they're idiots and they don't understand," Sunstreaker replied, which was a passable stock answer. "Come on, move your feet. I can't carry you to the road. And mind your doors on my finish."
          That did it. "Sorry, Sunstreaker," Bluestreak said sheepishly, with a faint suggestion of a smile.
          "Hey, no damage done." Sunstreaker strode over the crater he'd made and led Bluestreak back to the road, where Optimus Prime looked like he'd just about got the audio-bashing prepped and ready to go.
          Property damage and intergalactic relations and human feelings be smelted, Sunstreaker thought, Bluestreak's one of my team.

Final Version Posted

Comments

[navigatorsghost.livejournal.com]

*love* Loyal, not-psycho Sunstreaker! Bluestreak having medically-plausible-looking PTSD instead of adolescent wangst! Deranged humans!

This wins. Lots. ^_^

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Rar! I did it mostly for the humans ...

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

I second the winningness of this and I like the humans. You did a good job of portraying whacko humans -- I especially liked the guy with the collander on his head.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Groovy. I shall have to bring Collander Man back for something. I'm surprised how much positive response I'm getting on this one.

[ravenclaw-devi.livejournal.com]

It does, doesn't it?

The exorcist squad is the best part, mostly because it's strangely plausible. I mean, cars that talk and move by themselves? Someone would suspect demonic forces behind that.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

^_^ Well, it just seemed like something that could happen ... although I notice nobody's commenting on "Aliens go home!" girl there.

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

I think the icon manages at least part of the feedback, yes. And my wishing to step on the Bible-bashers. And the wanting to snuggle Bluetreak better, and for the record your Sunstreater rocks.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

:: patpats:: He rocks? Hmm. Can't complain about that ...

[apprentice-lurk.livejournal.com]

Cherry muffins! :D *skritchies and ties ribbons on and skritches more* Feeling better, bossfish?

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Yay for cherry muffins! :: purrpreen:: Rather better, yes, albeit still gerzonked. And am off tomorrow, back Sunday.

[tactile-contact.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see this in a continuation of sorts. Especially for the characterizations point on Sunny and Blue. Very Nice!

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Groovy. This is the third or fourth of these drabbles someone's wanted to see more of. Things are going well! Which characterization points in particular?

[tactile-contact.livejournal.com]

For Sunny, it's refreshing to see him being mindful, and even caring, of the feelings of someone other than his brother, and while being outside of a slashy context. As for Blue, for the same reason pointed out by Nav.

Also, I like the angle taken with the over-the-top Christians. It was an idea I played around with a few years back in a fic I posted to Lexicon, but sadly haven't been able to finish. You don't see it often, and I think it's something that could be explored more deeply, considering the likelihood that such confrontations would occur.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Well, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe aren't welded together at the drive train. There's no reason why they should spent all their time fussing over one another and nobody else. It's easy enough to see Sunstreaker getting on well with Mirage, and he and Jazz seem to work well together in "The Core" [in which Sunstreaker appears to be a squad leader, no less]. Also yay for me not making a mess of Bluestreak [despite him not getting a single line of dialogue in there].

I can't help but think that such confrontations would happen, and if they're going to happen, they're going to have an effect on the Autobots caught up in it. After all, they're on Earth protecting people, and some of those people think they're demons and monsters? Not a comfy situation.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

I like.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Rar. Why?

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

I've long had a soft spot for good guys who do a good line in using pyrotechnics and voice to intimidate fuckwits into stopping, or at least taking their fuckwittery elsewhere :)

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Good on, yay.

[rusty-chevy.livejournal.com]

Yes, your Sunstreaker is most excellent - he's, like, Just Nasty Enough. And I love seeing him standing up for one of his guys instead of beating one up.

Add another one wanting to cuddle Blue. Poor lil' Datsun. :(

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't see Sunstreaker surviving long amongst the Autobots if he keeps beating them up. After all, Optimus Prime was apparently contemplating permanently deactivating one of the Jumpstarters for enjoying tearing up inanimate objects. He'd have no second thoughts about shutting Sunstreaker down for good if he was dangerous to other Autobots. He's a soldier, not a psychopath.

Bluestreak does seem to attract a lot of fussing ...

[ravenclaw-devi.livejournal.com]

You have a point there. I'm still enjoying the thought that there are Autobots that are, how shall I say, a little nastier, but... there's a difference between an Autobot who prefers "dirtier" methods (which does exist in canon - hello, Repugnus?), and one who randomly beats up his own comrades. There's only so much disruptiveness that would be tolerated.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I mean, can you imagine Optimus Prime going "Well, you beat the brake-fluid out of Joebot, but we forgive you, and we're going to let you continue to putter around being dangerous, even though Joebot is still in intensive care and half the crew is scared stiff of you."?

[renne.livejournal.com]

This wins for a characterisation of Sunny that doesn't make him seem borderline insane. Well done.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Thankee. I've never quite understood where the idea that Sunstreaker is a dangerous psychotic comes from.

[ravenclaw-devi.livejournal.com]

DW MTMTE (where he was called "sociopathic"). And from there, certain fanboys getting off on that take on him. "OMG, I can so relate to him being a creepy psycho!"

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Which is one of the major reasons why I ignore DW-MTMTE if I can. Some of character traits were taken and torqued to the point of caricature, and Sunstreaker is the shining example. Sunstreaker the creepy psycho is ... wrong. He's an Autobot, and beyond that, he's serving directly under Optimus Prime. Crumpling your team-mates' faces will just not do.

[renne.livejournal.com]

Sociopathic /=/ dangerous psychotic, though.

re

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

There's a mention of him having 'sociopathic tendencies' in his old TFU (http://www.seibertron.com/comics/universe/original/?tf_id=sunstreaker) entry as well, though there it's more of a passing mention under weaknesses and it comes after a mention that he is also a calm, competant war machine.

I think too many people get the idea that mental illness = Whibble-whibble-p'kang, whoops! There goes my Thribble! and use mental illness, no matter how mild, as an excuse to have characters behave erratically and without consequences for their actions.

What really drives me nuts though are the fics where Sunstreaker is in (mental) pain -- usually because Sideswipe's been hurt -- and nobody, NOBODY, does a damn thing to try and help Sunstreaker. Because apparently the Autobots are all about ignoring a fellow 'Bot in pain. Or worse, everybody's afraid of Sunstreaker as if he's the only Autobot out there who might be dangerous (Blades -- Mr. "I likes to fight hand to hand so's I can slice my enemies"? Repugnus? Mr. "The Autobots bring me in when they want something nasty done").

Dun.

Re: re

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Indeed. They way his TFU is written up, Sunstreaker's 'sociopathic tendencies' make sense as a *part* of his character makeup - as an emotional detachment that lets him function as a competant warrior, but that also keeps at a distance from his fellows.

Rare indeed are fics that treat mental illness, let alone a specific mental illness, with respect and understanding.

And there does seem to be a certain amount of neglectful hurt/comfort fic about Sunstreaker around - almost to the extent of making him a martyr to his own antisocial tendencies, if you see what I mean, for the sake of making him more sympathetic, which is pretty silly, because if his antisocial tendencies are played down from "Oooh, scary Lambo!" to something more sensible, he doesn't need "redeeming". Mueh. Autobots are total love-bugs. I really can't see them ignoring a fellow in pain, even if he outright tried to drive them away.
And yes, there are other dangerous Autobots - Blade and Repugnus, as you say. The Aerialbots in cartoon were four shiftless, loud-mouthed Seeker fanboys with a leader with manipulative tendencies. The Dinobots almost killed Optimus Prime. Skyfire had known associations with the 'con 2IC. I'm pretty sure there are other, more dangerous, more screwed-up 'bots around [like the guy who collects bits of his enemies for target practice and/or recycling]. Being an Autobot is all about having faith in and trusting your comrades, not shunning and despising them.

[renne.livejournal.com]

I think it's a misunderstanding of sociopathy. Just because someone doesn't play well with others doesn't necessarily mean they're a psychotic whackjob.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

I was under the impression that sociopathy as a term and as a diagnosis had gone the way of the dodo anyhow. And yes, antisocial =/= psychotic. Sunstreaker was written up in TFU as being antisocial. In MTME he was written up as basically a creepy psycho, but *labelled* sociopathic. Hence Ye Olde Confusion.

[sapphirebreeze.livejournal.com]

Interesting. The Autobots need more firehoses... they're a favorite for crowd control (you can, of course, argue that there are plenty in the media who would happily spin it badly if the Autobots did use firehoses for crowd control, but then, they do that when the military has to resort to them, too, and it doesn't stop 'em). It makes sense that something like that would attract the crazies... heck, it does enough of that on the internet!

quote: Optimus Prime, who slammed on hisbrakes

You need a space between 'his' and 'brakes'.

[koilungfish.livejournal.com]

Well, there's a new job for Inferno ... I should think the media could spin most things the Autobots do badly. And yes, I'd expect the Autobots to attract crazies. I'd also expect the Decepticons to attract crazies, but only until brieefly.

I see it. Thank you. Blasted Word :(