#learn by example

"PLEA- "

Aborted coughs cut their cry short, leaving them to heave in gulps of acrid smoke. Tears streamed down their face, slowly washing away the blackened dirt and blood staining their skin until heavy drops clung along their chin and fell to the floor.

Surrounding them on all sides were hungry flames that climbed the walls and licked along the ceiling. The place was groaning and crackling, boards snapping and falling in bursts of embers and flame. It was deafening, a living hell that encroached closer and closer to the crying body stuck in the middle.

"Don't leave me! God, don't leave me!" Their body was broken and screaming in pain. They tried to drag their mangled limbs across the boiling floor, but they lacked the strength to pull their dead weight. A flailing arm reached out to the figure beyond the flames. The coldness of their gaze was a cruel contrast to the overbearing heat. The figure remained still, watching the hopeless soul hack up cough after cough as little rivulets of blood and saliva drooled from their mouth. Their lip curled. Disgusting.

"No! NO! Please! Don't leave me here! DON'T LEAVE ME! "

Large chunks of burning debris crashed around them and covered up their cries. Their throat was raw and bloody, but their turmoil was incessant as they pleaded to the retreating back of the figure. The figure was more focused on spinning around and walking away, leaving them to burn.

Reaching the exit, the Whumper stepped through the archway to join their awaiting men. A lackey kicked the door closed behind them as others carried heavy crates to block it. A precaution.

The Whumper moved forward steadily, kicking up the dirt beneath their boots until they reached their mark. Arms held behind them by one of the Whumper’s larger men was the Whumpee who quickly tried to shuffle back from the Whumper with wide eyes. The man holding them growled and shoved them with a tighter grip, silently commanding them to cut it the fuck out. Still, the Whumpee stepped back again, almost involuntary. The man wrenched their head back by the hair and shoved their face into the side of the Whumpee's.

"Stop. Moving."

The Whumpee obeyed, but all that time their eyes never left the Whumper, and the Whumper never stopped looking back. With the now still Whumpee, the Whumper moved in closer and took a gentle hold of their chin. The fear coming from the Whumpee was palpable, so potent that it could bring a full smile to the Whumper’s face, but deep within the reflected flames in their eyes was an anger that if left alone, could fester. Now, we can't have that.

"You’re not leaving them, ar--"

"I don't like disobedience, (Whumpee's name)." The crackling of flames filled the silence. The Whumpee swallowed but their gaze never wavered. With a defiant flicker, they opened their mouth to speak, but the Whumper cut in, clear in their motive to nip this rising problem in the bud.

"Don't disappoint me."

With a flick of their wrist, they flung the Whumpee's chin from their hand and stepped around them. The man holding the Whumpee kicked them behind their knees. The Whumpee just barely caught themselves on their hands when they fell. In the next moment, they were grabbed by two other men who picked them up and dragged them back to the awaiting vehicles.

As the framing of the building began to creak and fall, a piercing scream erupted into the night sky, only to be cut short like the blast of a firing gun. The Whumper slammed the car door behind them and watched the building fall in on itself through the rear view mirror.

Two birds, one stone. They eyes flickered over to the Whumpee curled up between two of the Whumper's men, silhouettes framed by an orange and yellow glow.

If the Dinobots had never gone back to the Autobots and stayed Decepticons, Grimlock would have quickly gotten fed up with a lot of his ‘comrades’. On the bright side, the Decepticons make a habit of punching people who annoy them and Grimlock GLEEFULLY takes part in it. Megatron gets to use the Dinobots through manipulation to cause as much damage as possible to the Autobots, rubbing it in the Autobot’s faces that they made the weapons currently wreaking havoc on their forces.

Grimlock, however, eventually gets sick and tired of the constant retreats and the gloating over absolutely nothing. Not to mention how most of the energon is being shipped back to a planet he’s probably only seen once and has no emotional attachment to whatsoever. He challenges Megatron, though unlike Starscream just goes with a fist to the face. With no goody two shoes prime to tell him no, with only shocked Decepticons to watch in a stupor and be cowardly, there’s nothing holding Grimlock back from killing Megatron.

Not even Soundwave will risk getting in the middle of the all out battle royale that ends with Megatron’s fusion canon lodged on the tyrant’s head and Grimlock’s sword tearing through the silver chest. In the aftermath, Grimlock walks over to Megatron’s command chair, covered in his own and Megatron’s energon and claims it as his own throne, Sludge and Slag looking smug, having already known the outcome. The Autobots would either surrender or be destroyed.

All Hail Grimlock.

One of the Best Ways to Teach is by Example

Do you ever have an experience where something you see, makes it very clear how something came into existence?

A little of the Deja Vu experience but not quite. Let me explain… since that statement seems really convoluted.

I was at our local market this past Saturday, with my Mom. She had called up and wanted to go, so we took off together. It’s a place where you can get lots of fresh food,…