▸ Column · Cybertronian war era — Autobot barracks, Grimlock answering as King of the Dinobots
GRIMLOCK replies.
The letter
Me Grimlock, my barracks-mate from the training cycles — call her Arcee-class, eleven cycles we've been spark-close — somewhere around cycle eight I clocked that every comm-link is just HER. Her on-again coworker, her quarters dispute, her creator's cold-shoulder routine. Then she signs off and she's gone. Last time I told her I got cut from my unit's roster, she went "ugh, rough, anyway — back to my coworker," and we burned the rest of the call on him. I've tried softly steering it back to me; works maybe ninety klicks before she pivots. I tried being plain ONCE and she decided I was "in a mood" and pinged me next solar-cycle to check on ME, like I'm the malfunction. Thing is — she's funny, she's warm when the road's smooth, she hauled energon to my berth when I was leaking out in 2019. She's not cruel. I just think I've turned into a journal she pings once a month to schedule things. When does the history stop being worth what it costs?
Grimlock replies
Me Grimlock read whole long story. Most of it fancy hat. Grimlock take off hat. Here real thing: she not listen, and you never make her hear it. One time loud is not enough times. You call it "being plain." Grimlock call it whisper. You steer soft, you hint, you wait. That hiding too. Stop hide.
You scared. Not mad. You scared if you say the true thing big, she leave. So you stay quiet and she step on you slow, and you call it friendship. That not friendship yet. That you being too proud to need out loud.
Me Grimlock king of Dinobots. Grimlock still need bots to listen. Grimlock say "I need you" plain, no hint. So you do that. One thing today: comm her, and say the one true sentence — "When I hurt, you go quiet about me. I need you to hear me. This matters." Not a mood. The truth.
She showed with energon when you leaking. That bot still in there. You don't throw away friend who reach back — you make her reach back HARDER. Say it once, big, for real. THEN you know. Grimlock no good at talk. Grimlock good at truth.
— Grimlock
Catwoman weighs in
Oh, sugar. The big lizard wants you to give the speech. Cute. You already gave it — and she filed you under "moody" and pinged you the next day to check on her own conscience. That wasn't a friend mishearing. That was a friend telling you exactly what slot you're in.
Read the leverage: she sets the calls, the topics, the once-a-month. You audition. The soup in 2019 was real — and it's also eleven years of interest you keep paying on a single kindness. History isn't a debt, handsome. Cats don't come when called; stop coming when she calls. Spend your warmth where it's returned. If she misses you, she'll learn to listen. If she doesn't — well. You were never her friend. You were her diary with a face.
— Catwoman
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